The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Auckland Warriors, and are affectionally known as the Wahs. The Warriors are coached by Andrew Webster and captained by Tohu Harris. The Warriors are based at Mount Smart Stadium in the Auckland suburb of Penrose.
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). The club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League season and currently hosts the majority of their home games at Brookvale Oval in Brookvale. They train at the New South Wales Academy of Sport in Narrabeen and their Centre of Excellence in Brookvale. The team colours are maroon and white, and they are commonly known as Manly.
Paul Vautin, nicknamed Fatty, is a former Australian rugby commentator and former professional rugby league player, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining the network in 1992 and also hosted The Footy Show from its beginnings in 1994 opposite co-host Peter Sterling, until 2017. An Australian Kangaroos test and Queensland State of Origin representative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club rugby in Brisbane with Wests, before moving to Sydney in 1979 to play with Manly-Warringah, whom he would captain to the 1987 NSWRL premiership. He also played for Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, and in England for St Helens.
Ryan Cross is a former Rugby Union footballer for Racing Metro 92 after signing from USA Perpignan in the French Top 14. He previously played for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition, the Western Force and the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby and the Australia national rugby union team.
Geoffrey Toovey, also known by the nickname of "Toovs" or "Tooves", is the former head coach of the Bradford Bulls and former professional rugby league footballer. Toovey played halfback for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, then played as a hooker later in his career at the Northern Eagles. He played 286 first-grade matches in all, and captained Manly to the 1996 ARL premiership and the 1995 and 1997 grand finals. He played in 13 international matches for Australia between 1991 and 1998. Toovey is the former head coach of Manly-Warringah.
Cliff Lyons is an indigenous Australian former international rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Clive Churchill Medallist and two-time Dally M Medallist, he made 309 first-grade appearances with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, winning grand finals with them in 1987 and 1996. Lyons also represented New South Wales and Australia, being part of the successful 1990 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France.
The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as Wenty, are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963, the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions and, since 2003, the semi-professional Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield competitions in NSW, Australia. The club also fielded a team in the Canterbury Cup NSW as part of a joint-venture with the Parramatta Eels between 2008 and 2019 acting as Parramatta's feeder club.
Sydney, formerly the Sydney Rays, was an Australian rugby union team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). It was one of two sides from New South Wales that played in the final season of NRC in 2019; the other was the NSW Country Eagles.
The 1988 NSWRL season was the 81st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and saw the first expansion of the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership outside the borders of New South Wales, and another expansion outside of Sydney, with the addition of three new teams: the Brisbane Broncos, Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. The largest NSWRL premiership yet, sixteen clubs competed during the 1988 season, with the J J Giltinan Shield for minor premiers going to Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. The finals culminated in a grand final for the Winfield Cup between the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Balmain Tigers. This season NSWRL teams also competed for the 1988 Panasonic Cup.
Mark Lennon is a former Wales international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s 2010s. He played at club level for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, the St. George Dragons, the Castleford Tigers, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Hull Kingston Rovers, the Crusaders RL, as a fullback or scrum-half, however he could fit into any of the backline positions with ease making him somewhat of a utility back.
Matthew Ballin is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL) and also the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. Ballin is the current head coach for the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles which is the feeder team playing in the NSW Cup Competition, prior to that he was the Under 20s Head Coach. Ballin is also the assistant coach for the Queensland Maroons He has played one game for Queensland in State of Origin. He played at hooker and previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, with whom he won the 2008 and 2011 Premierships.
Frank Stanton, also known by the nickname of "Biscuits", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, and was a successful club and national representative coach in the 1970s and 1980s. He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. Both his playing and his club coaching careers were with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, although he later also went on to coach the Balmain Tigers and North Sydney Bears. He enjoyed success as coach of the Australian national side from 1978 to 1984, being at the helm in the period when the Kangaroos began to consistently dominate the other rugby league playing nations. Since the death of Norm Provan on 13 October 2021, Stanton is both the oldest and earliest winning of all the living premiership winning coaches.
Les Kiss is an Australian professional rugby union coach who is the current head coach of Super Rugby Pacific side the Queensland Reds. Prior to this he was head coach of London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership until the club went into administration in June 2023.
Jye Mullane is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in Australia for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
Cheyse Blair is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a centre or second-row forward for the Castleford Tigers in the Super League.
Liligiifo Sao is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and loose forward for Hull F.C. in the Super League.
Darren Coleman is an Australian professional rugby union coach.
Jackson Hastings is a Great Britain international rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Mahe Vailanu is a Tongan Australian rugby union player who plays for the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific.
The 2022 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 73rd in the clubs history since their entry to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in 1947. Des Hasler coached the club for the fourth consecutive year and twelfth overall. Daly Cherry-Evans captained the club for the sixth consecutive year. Pointsbet became the new major sponsor for the club taking over URM who moved onto a premier partner role. The season was notable for an incident when seven players boycotted the round 20 match against the Sydney Roosters due to their refusal to wear the club's "pride" jersey.
