How a sellout Wellington crowd lifted the Warriors to victory over the Dolphins in stirring Anzac Day occasion
Monday, 27 April 2026
Warriors captain James Fisher-Harris has been there and done it all in the NRL. For him, the intensity and noise at a packed Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night rivalled all those big occasions.
“It felt like a finals game, how loud it was. The lights and entertainment before, the crowd roaring, it was pretty special,” Fisher-Harris said, after his Warriors beat the Brisbane-based Dolphins 20-18 before a sellout crowd of 34,812.
Wellington city heaved before and after Saturday’s game, doused in blue Warriors hoodies and flags on a crisp, clear Anzac Day evening. It was the high-flying NRL team’s first capital visit in three years and tickets sold out 11 days in advance; 36% of those to visitors from outside the region, said stadium chief executive Warrick Dent.
The attendance was the third highest for a Warriors game in New Zealand in the club’s 31-year history, beaten only by two at Eden Park, Auckland.
Mayor Andrew Little was at the match. “It was a great game, even better result, and Wellington put on its best face for the estimated 13,000 who travelled from out of town to be at the match.”
The crowd was fizzed up but largely well behaved, aside from some untimely “cha hoo!” cries during the poignant bugling of the Last Post before kickoff. A police spokesperson said three people were taken into custody, but police were overall pleased with the behaviour of the attendees. Mercifully there were no pitch invasions, thanks to a plethora of security staff patrolling a temporary fence around the perimeter.
The pre-match Anzac remembrance ceremony was spine-tingling as both sides lined up and members of the Defence Force carried in huge Australian and New Zealand flags.
Coach Andrew Webster said post-match: “I’m Australian, and that New Zealand national anthem was unbelievable. I had goosebumps.
“To be out there and experience that was amazing, everyone singing, and looking at the big screen and seeing our players and how emotional they were and proud they were.. it was a great day for rugby league but really good for the whole country of New Zealand.”
The game itself featured some spectacular tries - two apiece to Warriors wing Alofiana Khan-Pereira and the Dolphins’ Kiwis international Jamayne Isaako from Christchurch - and some brutal collisions.
Warriors Mitchell Barnett and Ali Leiataua were both forced off after sickening head clashes. The latter saw Dolphins interchange forward Thomas Flegler sin-binned for 10 minutes amid roars of “off, off!”. Dolphins centre Jake Averillo left the field clutching his hand which was split open after a heavy tackle from Leka Halasima, and he was ferried away in an ambulance.
When Warriors fullback Taine Tuaupiki dived over for the match-levelling try, and Tanah Boyd nailed the go-ahead goal from the sideline, the decibel level went off the charts.
The Warriors then defended their line like their lives depended on it for a tense final 15 minutes.
“These boys should be proud that they didn’t send them (fans) home unhappy, they sent them home with a victory,” Webster said.
“And we didn’t play our best football, but I felt like they were digging their heels in and saying, ‘We’re not losing tonight’, so I was proud of that.”
The crowds lingered long after fulltime, youngsters calling out for their Warriors heroes like Halasima to emerge for selfies and signatures.
Dolphins captain Isaiya Katoa, who attended Pomare School in Taita before the family moved to Sydney when he was 10, was a class act. With as many as 100 family members in the crowd to support him, Katoa gifted his boots to a lucky fan and was still signing and posing for photos at the players’ tunnel an hour after the final siren, shivering in bare feet.