Why blue-collar Rugby League Park might have suited Warriors better than flashy new stadium for Cowboys clash

Thursday, 18 June 2026

Sixteen years on from Kevin Locke's miracle match-winner, the Warriors are back in a purpose-built Christchurch stadium.

The Warriors make their debut under the roof at One New Zealand Stadium against the Cowboys at 4pm on Sunday.

Mitchell Barnett will be a chance to back up after playing just 25 minutes for NSW while Kurt Capewell played 50 for Queensland.

You can follow live updates from the sold out Warriors and Cowboys match right here on Stuff from 3.45pm.

Finally, the wait is over for Warriors fans to tuck in under the roof in Christchurch and let out a big old ‘Ooh Ah, Up the Wahs’ inside One New Zealand Stadium.

Tanner Stowers-Smith will be playing his first NRL match in his home town.

Come Sunday’s match against the Cowboys, it will be just six days short of the 16th anniversary of that infamous moment when Kevin Locke almost wrote himself off on the Lancaster Park goal post, to deliver a famous Warriors win over the Rosters.

South Island league fans have been waiting to watch the Warriors inside a decent stadium in Christchurch ever since.

Sure, there were half a dozen matches at the spiritual home of the game in Christchurch, the once magnificent Rugby League Park, but they took place at the temporary stadium that became the home of rugby after the devastating Canterbury earthquakes.

When Locke scored his two miracle tries in that 20-18 upset win over the Roosters back in 2010, the southerly rain was coming in sideways.

Mitchell Barnett is a chance to back up after State of Origin.

A repeat of that atrocious weather on Sunday won’t matter under the roof at One New Zealand Stadium, or will it?

See, if there’s one place a Townsville-based side, as the Cowboys are, wouldn’t want to play, it would have to be a cold, miserable, dewy or possibly even wet night in an open-air stadium in the South Island.

Given the way the NRL has sped up the game this season with the six again rules and push to bring more fatigue into the contests, it’s far more speed kills than big men rule in 2026.

Used to playing on hard and fast tracks in the tropical North of Queensland, the Cowboys have certified fliers across their backline in the likes of Scott Drinkwater, Zac Laybutt, Tom Chester, Murray Taulagi, and Jaxon Purdue.

It’s an area where the Warriors can’t compete.

So while it might be cosy for fans to leave the jacket at home and settle in under the comforts of the roof, one final game at the working-class Rugby League Park, aka the Addington temporary stadium, might have been just the ticket for Andrew Webster’s Warriors against the Cowboys.

Mid-season wobble or downward spiral

Yes, they were split by the bye, but that doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that consecutive losses against the Panthers and the Sharks mean the Cowboys in Christchurch is close to a must-win if the Warriors are going to remain a top four side.

It’s the second run of consecutive losses for the Warriors after the rounds four and five defeats to the West Tigers and the club’s kryptonite so far this season, the Sharks.

Last week’s loss at home being one of the more dismal performances of the season, despite the attempts to mask it with the shot clock controversy.

Saturday week has the Warriors travelling to Brisbane to take on the high-flying Dolphins, who are currently fourth and looking better every week.

The eighth, ninth and tenth placed Rabbitohs, Cowboys and Tigers (18 points) are just four points or two wins behind the Warriors, who remain second on 22 points. Losses to the Cowboys and Dolphins would make it four straight and the Warriors would potentially be clinging on to a top eight spot by points differential only.

Overcoming the missing pieces

Luke Metcalf could solve the Warriors goal kicking woes if he was brought back.

The loss of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s yardage carriers out of their own end and Tanah Boyd’s goal kicking, long kicking game and game management have been felt harder than ever in the last two weeks. If the club can’t find a way to cover these better, remaining in the top four will be about as difficult as finding a ticket to Sunday’s sold out clash against the Cowboys.

The Metcalf files

Is it when or if the Dragons bound Luke Metcalf retains his halfback jersey? For those of us outside the four walls of the club’s MT Smart base, who really knows?

Rocco Berry is yet to play first grade this season as he returns from a shoulder injury.

Metcalf’s inclusion would solve the current goal kicking woes. Back up option, Adam Pompey missed a more than kickable shot to take the Sharks into the deep water of golden point last Saturday night.

Metcalf’s long kicking game and speed through the middle could be a big asset, but has Te Marie Martin done enough wrong to warrant being dropped? And, after Metcalf’s ugly contract saga that resulted in him being granted a release at the end of the season, is he singing off the same hymn sheet as the rest of the squad?

Backing up

Unlike the Panthers loss, this time, Webster has named his State of Origin representatives Mitchell Barnett and Kurt Capewell on the extended bench, meaning they are a chance to back up. But nothing can be taken for granted until they are properly assessed after Queensland’s 44-24 thumping off New South Wales in Melbourne on Wednesday night.

Barnett will be a chance to back up after playing just 25 minutes, across two stints, for NSW while Kurt Capewell got through 50 high intensity minutes for Queensland.

Team changes

Left winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira is out with a quadriceps contusion, replaced by Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Don’t rule out a late re-shuffle, though, with Barnett, Capewell, the fit again Rocco Berry and Metcalf potentially being possible late inclusions.

Warriors: 1: Taine Tuaupiki, 2: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 3: Ali Leiataua, 4: Adam Pompey, 5: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 6: Chanel Harris-Tavita, 7: Te Marie Martin; 8: Tanner Stowers-Smith, 9: Wayde Egan, 10: Jackson Ford, 11: Jacob Laban, 12: Marata Niukore, 13: Erin Clark. Interchange: 14: Sam Healey, 15: Eddie Ieremia-Toeava, 16: Demitric Vaimauga, 17: Kayliss Fatialofa, 18: Rocco Berry, 20: Luke Metcalf. Reserves: 21: Makaia Tafua, 22: Mitch Barnett, 23: Kurt Capewell.

Cowboys: 1: Scott Drinkwater, 2: Braidon Burns, 3: Zac Laybutt, 4: Tom Chester, 5: Murray Taulagi, 6: Jaxon Purdue, 7: Jake Clifford; 8: Tom Mikaele, 9: Reed Mahoney, 10: Jason Taumalolo, 11: Heilum Luki, 12: Jeremia Nanai 13: Reuben Cotter. Interchange: 14: Soni Luke, 15: Griffin Neame, 16: Matt Lodge, 17: Coen Hess, 18: Liam Sutton, 19: Sam McIntyre. Reserves: 20: John Batemen, 21: Jaxson Paulo, 22: Ethan King, 23: Wiremu Greig.