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The Warriors’ first-ever match, on that famous night back in 1995, came against the Brisbane Broncos.
There have been some classics between the two clubs in the 28 years since, but none bigger than Saturday night’s NRL preliminary final showdown at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
It features two sides who have endured recent struggles, but who now find themselves just one win away from a grand final, with the Broncos in search of a first premiership in 17 years, and the Warriors, of course, still hunting down a maiden crown.
Here’s a by-the-numbers breakdown of how the teams stack up ahead of what promises to be an epic encounter.
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Suncorp Stadium is considered Australia’s premier rugby league venue, such is the close proximity to the field for the crowd, and with a sellout crowd of 52,500, the place can make for quite the intimidating atmosphere for opposition teams.
However, the supposed cauldron has not exactly fired the Broncos up this year. In a season where they have played 12 games at the venue – in front of crowds all in excess of 26,000 – they have won only seven, at a paltry 58%, for a side which finished second on the ladder. Five of those six wins there in the regular season came against teams outside the top-eight.
The Broncos – who have won only four of their last 10 clashes against the Warriors – however, have won eight of their past nine finals games at Suncorp, including their 26-0 week-one demolition of the Melbourne Storm a fortnight ago.
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Suncorp Stadium has not exactly been a place the Broncos have thrived this year.
12,496
In a big pointer to the Warriors’ turnaround in 2023, go no further than looking at their kick metres for the season, where they lead the competition, with 15,066 (though are sixth for per-game average, at 579.5, with the Broncos 10th at 562.6).
Star halfback Shaun Johnson has been massively influential, finding a crucial long-kicking game to get his side into the right parts of the field and set their strong defensive line.
He has peeled off a whopping 12,496 metres off the boot – more than 1.5km more than the Cowboys’ Chad Townsend, in second. No-one has kicked for as many metres since Jarrod Mullen, in 2013 (13,809) for a Knights side who finished seventh and then lost their preliminary final.
1,621
The battle between two of the game’s best big men will be one to savour, as props Payne Haas (Broncos) and Addin Fonua-Blake (Warriors) go full-tilt in the middle of the park.
They are each absolute keys to getting their sides on the front foot, and their typically powerful charges see them lead the competition for post-contact metres, with Fonua-Blake topping the charts with 1,621, and Haas in second on 1,507.
On per-game numbers, it’s Haas, who was contracted at the Warriors as a 15-year-old, topping the count, as he did last year, with 71.8 metres, with Fonua-Blake fourth, but the next highest-forward, with 64.9m.
Dan Peled/Photosport
Payne Haas, left, and Addin Fonua-Blake will go toe-to-toe in the middle of the park in a mouth-watering head-to-head on Saturday night.
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Former Warrior Reece Walsh has been an undoubted standout of the competition in this maiden season of top-grade with the Broncos. However, there has also been an element of rocks and diamonds about him.
While the 21-year-old fullback has produced an array of dazzling attacking plays, and is rightly set for a massive salary upgrade from the modest AU$450,000 he is currently on, he also leads the competition in errors, with 48.
That is three more than Knights winger Dominic Young – who was kept quiet by the Warriors last weekend, including that memorable bundle into touch – with Broncos winger Selwyn Cobbo third, with 37. The highest Warrior on the list is winger Marcelo Montoya, who, at 12th equal, with 30, is level with another Bronco, in centre Kotoni Staggs.
Mark Nolan/Getty Images
Reece Walsh has been in scintillating form for the Broncos, but also leads the competition’s error count.
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He’s been one of the major success stories of the Warriors’ season, and there is history in the offing for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak – of the athletic, diving, one-handed put-down, fame.
The mulleted right-winger has scored 22 tries in this campaign, which has him just one off the club record, jointly held by Francis Meli (2003) and David Fusitu’a (2018).
Not since 2014 have the Warriors had a player in the top-10 tries chart (when Manu Vatuvei was ninth with 17). This year DWZ sits third-equal (alongside the Knights’ Greg Marzhew), with just the Dolphins’ Jamayne Isaako (24) and Knights’ Dominic Young (25) ahead of him.
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