Bigger than the All Blacks?: How the Warriors aim to become the greatest brand in NZ sport
Cameron George hopes the Warriors can become New Zealand’s greatest sporting brand. It’s a lofty goal but is also emblematic of the club’s rise as Michael Burgess explains
Cameron George believes the Warriors can become the biggest brand in New Zealand sport.
It’s a lofty goal, given the presence of legacy national teams in the marketplace, but maybe not quite as crazy as it sounds. The ebullient Australian is never short of a turn of phrase but he is serious about aiming high.
“There’s no ceiling,” he says. “We want to win premierships, of course, on the field, but off the field, there’s no ceiling, mate.”
The club is booming across the board, at a level never seen before. On Saturday evening, the NRL side will run out at a packed Go Media Stadium, the 27th sellout crowd from their past 30 matches in New Zealand. The team looks headed for their second top four finish in three seasons, a position only achieved on two other occasions (
2002 and 2007) since 1995. The NRLW side is back, the reserve grade team is riding a long unbeaten run, the junior grades are enjoying success and the development systems are cranking out talent.
But off the field is an equally big story. There has always been a loyal fan base, interspersed with moments when the club captivated the nation. But the current Warriors tribe has never been as far-reaching or passionate. Supporters can’t get enough, reflected in unprecedented commercial interest in the franchise. Hence, George’s lofty targets.
“We want to be New Zealand’s greatest brand in sport,” says George. “That takes time but we want to continue to build that. We want to have the best and the most attractive commercial interests in the country. We want our stands full all the time because people want to come and have a great experience, wherever we play in New Zealand.”
While it’s hard to imagine the Warriors ever supplanting the likes of the All Blacks or the Black Caps, they are certainly creating a huge footprint. The club are attracting global bands, with a record number of commercial partners (26). Their corporate hospitality (lounges and suites) for the 2025 season had sold out before Christmas and merchandise sales are through the roof.
“Obviously we don’t play at World Cups or anything but we want to do well in our competition and be successful in [the NRL],” says George. ”Our commercial numbers are hitting levels never seen before and I would say a lot of other clubs or sporting bodies in New Zealand would love to have the crowd numbers and support we get. We’ve got a queue of brands wanting to be on our jumpers. I remember the days where we had blank spots and it was a third of the price of what it is now.”
‘The single biggest transformation’
It’s been quite a turnaround. It started – ironically enough – during
the Covid pandemic when the club was marooned in Australia for three seasons. While it was an awful period, which stretched players, staff and families to breaking point and brought mostly forgettable results, there was a silver lining, as the club built a deep connection with the fan base. With home games staged on the Central Coast and Redcliffe, they had to find new ways to engage with their audience.
“We had to transform from being wholly reliant on seats and suites as an in-person product to a remote product that was based on clicks and eyeballs,” says Warrior’s head of commercial and marketing Glenn Harris. “That was probably the single biggest transformation.”
Back then they had a relatively small website, a Facebook page and a supporter database that received electronic newsletters. Now they are a digital behemoth, with the largest marketing team in the NRL creating and curating content. That has delivered a social media audience of 1.3 million, growing at a rate of 30% year on year.
‘Build a system that enabled development’
There’s also stability at the club after years of uncertainty. The sale of the club from previous owner Eric Watson was protracted and messy.
“We were shopped around like a used car,” says George.
Then there was the subsequent falling out between the new owners (the Auckland Rugby League and Autex Industries) before Autex took full control. Numerous playing personnel came and went during the Covid years while the club burned through head coaches with Stephen Kearney, Todd Payten, Nathan Brown and Stacey Jones (interim) all in charge during that period, which meant ideas, structures and priorities were constantly changing.
The biggest key to the Warriors’ turnaround since the start of the 2023 season were the appointments of Andrew Webster (head coach) and Andrew McFadden (head of recruitment and pathways).
Webster has been the perfect fit – completely overhauling the club’s culture, driving improvement in every individual and restoring accountability. McFadden has put the focus squarely back on development – after the grassroots were cut off during Covid – and picked a series of recruitment winners. Teams across all grades are making their mark, while the scouting reach has expanded and broadened, with academy programmes in the regions, outside the typical catchment areas. Last week the club announced a new academy programme in Logan City, 30km south of Brisbane. It’s also become cool to be a Warrior, helping in the battle for young talent against the 16 other NRL clubs.
“Being able to secure the services of ‘Webby’ and Andrew McFadden was massive,” says George. “It just gave us the expertise, knowledge and experience and on what development and pathways should look like. Then empowering Andrew [McFadden] to build a system that enabled development to happen, come through and shine at the NRL level.”
The fruits of that labour are the emergence of Demetric Vaimauga,
Leka Halasima and Jacob Laban, among others, who are the most talented crop of youngsters the club has developed in years.
Stars of the show
For George, the reset of the club began at the end of the 2022 season, as the club returned permanently to Auckland. Webster made an immediate impact, which permeated throughout the organisation, while the squad were hungry to succeed. That came together perfectly with the unexpected early success in 2023, where they won four of their first five matches,
including a crazy comeback from 20-0 down against Cronulla. That revival coincided with a proactive approach to content and marketing as the club brought the fans inside the inner sanctum, with Webster’s blessing.
“To his credit, he completely opened the door to us,” recalls one staffer. “That’s a big thing for a coach to do in his first year. It allowed us to document the boys off the field in a new way. We wanted to make the players as relatable as possible.”
Fans got to know Shaun Johnson as a person, they saw Tohu Harris applying acres of strapping tape to his knees or shared a coffee with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak the morning after his four-try effort against the Dragons in Wollongong. That access, coupled with the digital relationships already built during Covid, added fuel to the fever around the team, culminating in the Up the Wahs mania,
which took over the nation towards the end of that season.
Warriors’ jerseys seemed to be everywhere and the catchphrase became ubiquitous, heard in offices, cafes, airports, on the streets and even in traffic jams, as fans would salute each other across lanes. The club embraced that to the point where, by 2025, they have almost outsourced their brand.
“The fan sits at the very heart of everything we do,” says Harris. “We often talk about the players being the stars of the game, but the fans are actually the stars of the show. They are the ones that bring the energy, that buy the tickets, that wear the merchandise, that show that sense of belonging and unity, they are the ones that came up with ‘Up the Wahs’. They effectively have control of our brand now. When you do that, it’s a pretty special place to be.”
The evidence is everywhere, most recently shown with the colourful pre-game marches of the Warriors tribe outside Suncorp Stadium for the matches against the Broncos and Dolphins.
Last Sunday there was a discernible Warriors’ chant in Newcastle, which Webster pointed out was unheard of at the notoriously parochial venue.
‘Grow our professionalism’
Of course, on-field success remains key. The Warriors bucked the trend in 2024, selling out every home game despite a difficult campaign, with only nine wins from 24 matches.
“Success is defined so many ways,” says Harris. “The scoreboard’s one but not the only thing for fans.”
That’s true. And the payoff from the Warriors’ investment into their fans – and a unique game day experience – is that supporters remain much more loyal, similar to an English Premier League scenario. But the renewed pride in the club has been principally fuelled by the on-field achievements.
Webster and his staff have changed mindsets, refused to dwell on travel or officiating or injuries and seen the payoff. There is a clear game plan that suits the team and a lack of cliques. The approach to coaching and development works for everyone from veteran Australians to homegrown tyros.
A club insider said there had been a definite shift, with an “air of excellence” expected from the group.
On a broader level, George admits the club had to lift the standards “across the board”.
“We’ve had to grow our professionalism,” said George. “We’ve had to take ownership of things. We’re not the victims – we are the leaders.”
There have been personnel changes, on and off the field, while George credits
the energy and support of Autex boss Mark Robinson as instrumental.
“He wants to invest and he wants to win,” says George. “Robbo has backed us in so many ways”, giving the example of the millions spent on the pathway programmes.
‘The best sports entertainment brand’
The sold-out signs up this Saturday continued a remarkable run, stretching back to April 2023. Across that period only three home matches have been at less than capacity, a remarkable feat in the current market. At the same time, television ratings are increasing on both sides of the Tasman. Sport is notoriously cyclical – but the Warriors hope their footprint will be permanent.
“We want to be the best sports entertainment brand that this country’s ever seen,” says Harris. “We want to deliver things for our fans that they’ve never seen before. The ambition that Cameron stated is absolutely spot on; our mission is to be not only the best sports brand, but one of the best brands that this country has ever produced. Sure, we don’t live in an environment where everyone else stands still and we have to be respectful of those around us but we are focused on doing the best we can.”
“We’re still building something here and it’s not the complete package yet,” adds George. “We’ve still got a fair way to go but we are finally getting to where we have always wanted to be.”
The final word goes to Webster, who came to be seen as a messiah type figure back in 2023.
“When you take a job you ask what the club’s plans are and they have been so true to it, especially with pathways,” says Webster. “Their goal, remember, is for every kid in New Zealand to want to play for this team and that is happening. They are investing in it. We are a club, not just an NRL team.”
www.nzherald.co.nz
www.nzherald.co.nz
