2001 New Zealand Warriors season

• 4 March — Round 3: Ali Lauitiiti played in his 50th match for the club.
• 24 March — Round 6: The Warriors defeat Brisbane for the first time, 13-12.
• 16 June — Round 16: Jason Death played in his 50th match for the club.
• 24 June — Round 17: Awen Guttenbeil played in his 50th match for the club.
• 15 July — Round 19: Logan Swann played in his 100th match for the club.
• 27 August — Round 25: The club reaches the play-offs for the first time when a 24-24 draw with Melbourne secures a finals berth.

In November 2000 Tainui sold many of the clubs assets to businessman Eric Watson. This purchase included the clubs NRL license, the intellectual property rights and the training base but controversially did not include the player contracts.

The club was re-branded as the New Zealand Warriors, with new colours of black and grey — resembling the national sporting colours. Mick Watson was hired as CEO while little known coach Daniel Anderson was appointed head coach.

The Warriors had a new jersey in 2001, produced by Puma, similar to old designs but with the new owners adding black to the design.

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 2001, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Pre Season trials

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
3 February	Canterbury Bulls	Rugby League Park, Christchurch	Win	74-12	Toopi (2), Koopu (2), Myles (2), Jones (2), Beverley, Tookey, Seuseu, Fa'afili, Betham, Meli	Jones (7), Myles (2)	4,500

Regular season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
18 February	Round 1	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	8-24	Fa'afili	Cleary (2)	11,134
25 February	Round 2	Northern Eagles	Central Coast Stadium, Gosford	Win	24-16	Beverley, Guttenbeil, Jones, Meli	Cleary (4)	8,012
4 March	Round 3	Wests Tigers	Campbelltown Sports Ground, Sydney	Loss	10-29	Koopu, Meli	Cleary (1)	8,899
9 March	Round 4	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	34-8	Betham, Campion, Cleary, Tony, Toopi	Cleary (7)	8,730
18 March	Round 5	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	24-30	Betham, Meli, Morgan, Swann	Cleary (3), Jones (1)	12,141
24 March	Round 6	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	13-12	Fa'afili, Swann	Jones (2 & FG)	13,921
31 March	Round 7	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	24-45	Toopi (2), Fa'afili, Meli, Wood	Cleary (2)	15,894
7 April	Round 8	Canterbury Bulldogs	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Draw	24-24	Fa'afili, Meli, Justin Murphy, Toopi	Jones (4)	27,724
16 April	Round 9	Penrith Panthers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	52-8	Meli (2), Murphy (2), Swann (2), Toopi (2), Richard Blackmore, Fa'afili	Cleary (6)	16,876
21 April	Round 10	Cronulla Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Loss	16-26	Lauiti'iti, Swann, Villasanti	Cleary (2)	9,011
29 April	Round 11	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	42-30	Seuseu (2), Fa'afili, Jones, Meli, Tony, Toopi	Cleary (7)	9,857
12 May	Round 12	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	20-40	Tony (2), Betham	Cleary (4)	15,167
20 May	Round 13	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	18-35	Blackmore, Fa'afili, Swann	Cleary (3)	10,819
26 May	Round 14	Canberra Raiders	Manuka Oval, Canberra	Win	22-10	Death, Jones, Swann, Tony	Cleary (3)	7,112
1 June	Round 15	Northern Eagles	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	30-34	Betham, Campion, Cleary, Death, Fa'afili, Toopi	Cleary (5)	12,282
16 June	Round 16	Wests Tigers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16-21	Fa'afili (2), Jones	Cleary (2)	8,333
24 June	Round 17	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	18-38	Guttenbeil, Jones, Tony	Cleary (3)	9,013
7 July	Round 18	Parramatta Eels	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	29-18	Cleary, Hape, Jones, Paleaaesina	Cleary (6 & FG)	10,554
15 July	Round 19	Brisbane Broncos	Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast	Loss	12-48	Fa'afili, Tookey	Cleary (2)	15,813
22 July	Round 20	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	30-37	Tony (2), Meli, Paleaaesina, Toopi	Jones (3), Cleary (2)	8,188
28 July	Round 21	Canterbury Bulldogs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	34-8	Betham, Murphy, Jones, Fa'afili, Swann, Tookey	Jones (5)	10,391
5 August	Round 22	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Win	48-32	Jones (2), Meli (2), Fa'afili, Lauiti'iti, Swann, Toopi	Cleary (8)	8,234
11 August	Round 23	Cronulla Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30-0	Koopu, Myles, Swann, Toopi, Villasanti	Cleary (5)	10,131
18 August	Round 24	Sydney Roosters	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	14-8	Hape, Jones	Jones (2), Cleary (1)	15,665
27 August	Round 25	Melbourne Storm	Telstra Dome, Melbourne	Draw	24-24	Hape (2), Fa'afili, Myles	Jones (4)	13,298
2 September	Round 26	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	18-30	Koopu, Lauiti'iti, Tony	Jones (3)	24,568

Final Series

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	Parramatta Eels	56
	8	NZ Warriors	12
											1W	Parramatta Eels	24
	2	Canterbury Bulldogs	22			4W	St. George Illawarra	28				Brisbane Broncos	16
	7	St. George Illawarra	23			2L	Brisbane Broncos	44									Parramatta Eels	24
																	Newcastle Knights	30
	3	Newcastle Knights	40								2W	Newcastle Knights	18
	6	Sydney Roosters	6			3W	Cronulla Sharks	52				Cronulla Sharks	10
						1L	Canterbury Bulldogs	10
	4	Cronulla Sharks	22
	5	Brisbane Broncos	6

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
9 September	Qualifying Final	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	12 - 56	Koopu, Tony	Cleary (2)	17,336

Twenty Seven players were used by the Warriors in 2001, including three players who made their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
24	Stacey Jones		HB	23 April 1995	26	10	24	1	89
26	Richie Blackmore		CE	14 May 1995	8	2	0	0	8
33	Awen Guttenbeil	/	SR	14 April 1996	26	2	0	0	8
42	Logan Swann		SR	1 March 1997	22	10	0	0	40
50	Jerry Seu Seu	/	PR	16 August 1997	23	2	0	0	8
55	Ali Lauitiiti	/	SR	19 April 1998	26	3	0	0	12
59	Jason Death		HK / LK	8 March 1999	21	2	0	0	8
61	Monty Betham	/	HK / LK	8 March 1999	24	5	0	0	20
62	Cliff Beverley		FE	21 March 1999	9	1	0	0	4
64	Wairangi Koopu		CE / SR	9 April 1999	18	4	0	0	16
65	Francis Meli	/	WG	2 May 1999	25	11	0	0	44
66	Clinton Toopi		CE	2 May 1999	24	11	0	0	44
73	Ivan Cleary		FB / CE	6 February 2000	22	3	80	1	173
76	Mark Tookey		PR	6 February 2000	11	2	0	0	8
77	David Myles		CE	14 February 2000	17	2	0	0	8
80	Shontayne Hape		CE	18 March 2000	14	4	0	0	16
81	Henry Fa'afili	/	WG	26 March 2000	27	14	0	0	56
84	Jonathan Smith		SR	24 June 2000	5	0	0	0	0
86	Kevin Campion	/	LK	18 February 2001	23	2	0	0	8
87	Richard Villasanti	/	PR	18 February 2001	21	2	0	0	8
88	Justin Morgan		PR	25 February 2001	11	1	0	0	4
89	Jason Temu		PR	4 March 2001	4	0	0	0	0
90	Motu Tony	/	UH	9 March 2001	19	10	0	0	40
91	Nathan Wood		HK / HB	24 March 2001	17	1	0	0	4
92	Justin Murphy		WG	7 April 2001	9	4	0	0	16
93	Iafeta Paleaaesina	/	PR	1 June 2001	5	2	0	0	8
94	Anthony Seu Seu		PR	15 July 2001	1	0	0	0	0

• Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

Players not required by the Warriors each week were released to play in the 2001 Bartercard Cup. This included Anthony Seuseu, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Cliff Beverley, Shontayne Hape, Jason Temu, Motu Tony, Jonathan Smith, Justin Murphy, Mark Tookey and Kevin Campion who all played in the Bartercard Cup and the National Rugby League in 2001.

Jerry Seuseu won the club's Player of the Year award.[2]

• Warriors official site
• 2001 Warriors Season at rugbyleagueproject.org