Captain Apii Nicholls capped her return to the One New Zealand Warriors by being named the Harvey Norman NRLW Player of the Year at the club’s annual awards function in Auckland on Tuesday night.
The 32-year-old fullback was the first player signed for the Warriors’ comeback campaign to the competition as head coach Ron Griffiths set about building his squad.
She was inspirational throughout the season, appearing in 10 of the team’s 11 matches to bring her career tally to 38 games.
Mixing silky skills with her brave defence and her accomplished all-round game, Nicholls finished with her first try of the season in the record final-round 44-6 victory over Wests Tigers.
She averaged 104 metres with three try assists, 25 tackle breaks and two line breaks.
Rare try for Nicholls as she grubbers and chases to score
The other nominees for the award were second rower Kaiyah Atai, standoff Patricia Maliepo, utility Emmanita Paki and prop Harata Butler.
Nicholls was also a contender for the Players’ Player of the Year along with Atai, Paki and record try-scoring winger Payton Takimoana.
Atai won the award as judged by her peers. Coming out of local football in Auckland, she played every game, mostly in the second row, making 248 tackles and averaging 74 metres a game.
In the other awards, rugby league rookie Tysha Ikenasio was named the NRLW Clubwoman of the Year ahead of the other contenders Emily Curtain, Butler and Maliepo.
Atai, Takimoana, Maliepo and prop Ivana Lauitiiti were the finalists for the rookie of the year award which went to the outstanding teenager Lauitiiti.
Takimoana won the Harvey Norman-One New Zealand People’s Choice.
One New Zealand Warriors | 2025 NRLW awards
Harvey Norman-One New Zealand NRLW Clubwoman of the Year | Tysha Ikenasio
NRLW Rookie of the Year | Ivana Lauitiiti
NRLW Players’ Player of the Year | Kaiyah Atai
Harvey Norman NRLW Player of the Year | Apii Nicholls
