After they were both well under par in the opening round of the season, the One New Zealand Warriors and the Sydney Roosters now go head-to-head in an epic round three contest at Go Media Stadium on Friday night (8.00pm kick-off).
Coming off their 8-30 reverse against Canberra in Las Vegas, the Warriors lit up on Friday night for a 36-16 win over the Sea Eagles, who were outstanding in demolishing North Queensland 42-12 in round one.
Then in Friday night’s second match an under-manned Roosters side rebounded from a shattering 14-50 loss to Brisbane by stunning four-times premiership-winning Penrith 38-34 in an exceptional clash in Sydney.
All of which means the Warriors and Roosters are now on course for an absolute blockbuster for the second straight Friday night lights special at Go Media Stadium.
Playing in front of the biggest crowd of the round (21,212), the Warriors scored three tries in each half to make it three wins and a draw in their last five encounters with Manly at Go Media Stadium; but only their 14th victory in 43 meetings overall.
They achieved it through a 91 per cent completion rate (43 from 47) compared to Manly’s 72 per cent (26 from 36) while they missed just 16 tackles to Manly’s 39. In another key statistic they conceded only six penalties to 12 for the Sea Eagles.
Match: Warriors v Roosters
Round 3 -
home Team
Warriors
8th Position
away Team
Roosters
14th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
The Roosters have gone into the 2025 season with a host of changes following the departure of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Joey Manu, Luke Keary, Joseph Sua’ali’I, Terrell May and Sitili Tupouniua.
For their encounter with the Panthers they also had Victor Radley, Sam Walker, Brandon Smith, Lindsay Collins, Egan Butcher and Nat Butcher on the injured list with Spencer Leniu suspended.
And yet they matched it with Penrith to go to halftime at 18-18 before going on to outscore the premiers seven tries to five in a spectacular clash.
Cue what should be a classic this Friday night.
There’s little in the overall record between the two sides in their 47 matches since 1995, the Roosters with 24 wins, the Warriors with 21 and one draw.
The Roosters, though, have been dominant in more recent times winning the last eight on end dating back to 2018; the last time the teams faced each other at Go Media Stadium, the Roosters won 14-0 (the fourth time the Warriors have been held scoreless in 312 matches at the venue).
