The stage is set and the occasion is waiting as the top-four chasing Bulldogs travel to New Zealand to compete in Shaun Johnson’s emotional final game at home. Johnson, 33, announced 2024 would be his final season earlier this month and will play the final game in front of his home crowd tonight against the Bulldogs. Go Media Stadium, the Warriors’ home ground, has aptly been renamed Shaun Johnson Stadium to honour both the occasion, and the man who brought them within 80 minutes of Grand Final glory in his debut season. Their task is not easy - taking on an in-form Bulldogs side fighting for a berth in the NRL top four at season’s end. Canterbury will be without the industrious Josh Curran, who has been one of their standout players this season, although Max King is named for his first game since Round 18, when the Bulldogs narrowly beat the Warriors in a controversial contest at Accor Stadium.
The Emotional Farewell
Andrew Webster has paid Shaun Johnson the ultimate compliment, saying the legendary halfback shaped the way he wanted to coach as the Warriors prepare for the retiring playmaker's emotional farewell. Providing he plays against former side Cronulla next week, Johnson is set to retire at the end of the season as a veteran of 268 NRL games - 224 of those for the Warriors - and finish his career as the club's most significant playmaker since Stacey Jones. The 33-year-old will first run out at Mt Smart Stadium, to be renamed Shaun Johnson Stadium, for the final time when the Warriors host a resurgent Canterbury on Friday night. A sold-out crowd will be on hand to see off the man who helped push the Warriors to their most recent grand-final appearance in 2011, and inspired a generation of Kiwi kids to pick up the footy with his colourful style of play. "It's going to be a huge occasion," coach Webster said as the Warriors also prepare to farewell departing forwards Addin Fonua-Blake and Jazz Tevaga. "One, we love playing here. We've sold out every game. It's probably our opportunity to say thank you to those three boys and to the fans. There's a lot to play for." Webster said he had been personally impacted by "all three" of Johnson, Sharks-bound Fonua-Blake and Tevaga not offered a contract for 2025. Working with Johnson has influenced Webster's tactical outlook on the game.
A Lasting Legacy
"When you work with an elite halfback like that, the conversations you have around rugby league can shape the way you do things and want to play," Webster said. "Shaun's certainly had that. Shaun has been unbelievable for this club and I've said it before, just for the game in general. Super happy for him and I hope we send all three of them out on the right note." As Johnson's career comes to a close, having been hampered by injuries this year, so too does the curtain fall on a disappointing season for the Warriors. Webster took the Auckland side to their first top-four finish since 2007 in his first season in charge, but his second never truly recovered from a slow start. In total, the 14th-placed Warriors lost seven games by six points or fewer this season, the most of any team, with two of those coming in golden point. But Webster would not accept excuses as a "not great" season approached its conclusion. "We wanted to achieve more. We haven't played as well as we can, that's the frustrating bit," he said. "A lot of people have said to me, 'if you had've won a couple more games, so close, you were so hard done by'. But I think in the pit of our stomach we all know that we haven't played the way we wanted to. That's on us to get it right next year."
Warriors Lineup for the Farewell
Departing Jazz Tevaga will start and Chanel Harris-Tavita has been brought onto the bench for the One New Zealand Warriors’ 25th-round clash against Canterbury Bankstown at a sold-out Shaun Johnson Stadium tonight (8.00pm kick-off; match day sponsor: One New Zealand). Tevaga moves into the front row, captain Mitchell Barnett is switched to the second row and Marata Niukore goes onto the bench while Harris-Tavita replaces Tom Ale on the interchange. The changes mean Tevaga, Shaun Johnson and Addin Fonua-Blake will now start in their last home game together for the club.
Milestone Moments
On a night dripping with emotion, the 33-year-old Johnson’s 223rd appearance for the club will be his 87th at his beloved home ground, more than 13 years after his first there against the Wests Tigers on June 12, 2011. That day he was a two-game rookie surrounded by several players who rank among the longest-serving in the club’s history in Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Lance Hohaia, Micheal Luck and Russell Packer. Tonight he’ll stand alone as the most experienced player on the park playing his 267th career game in a journey which has been built around 11 first-grade seasons with the Warriors from 2011-2018 and 2022-2024. For Tevaga, playing his 137th game on Friday, Shaun Johnson Stadium – as it is for this week – is equally a place of the heart and a wrench for him to play on for the last time as a Warrior. In his four-year stay with the club, Fonua-Blake (28) has had just two seasons based at the stadium after Covid ensured his first two campaigns were spent in Australia. He plays his 84th game for the Warriors this week and is just as attached to the place that has been home for him. Johnson, Tevaga and Fonua-Blake were named in a side which originally showed just one change from the one that lost 10-24 to Manly Warringah last Friday night with Wayde Egan returning at hooker replacing Freddy Lussick, who moves to the interchange. It also means Egan will make his 99th appearance for the Warriors, leaving him in line to join the 100-game club in the season finale against Cronulla Sutherland next week. Two other milestones are in reach before the season is over, both of them for winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak. His 12th try of the season last week left him one short of his 50th try for the One New Zealand Warriors (he has 49 in just 67 appearances) and two away from reaching 100 NRL tries.
The Bulldogs Look to Spoil the Party
After having their slim hopes of playing finals football completely extinguished last week the Warriors face a formidable assignment against a Canterbury Bankstown side eyeing the chance of a top four finish. The Bulldogs are fifth on 32 points – two behind the Sydney Roosters and the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks – after winning four straight and six of their last seven including a 13-12 win over the Warriors on July 6.
