The Warriors kicked off their home ground campaign in stunning fashion with a deserved 30-16 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
A strong attacking start by the Warriors was not utilised and the Eels took advantage when a penalty deep in the Warriors half allowed Luke Burt to open up the scoring and kick home a valuable two points for the visitors.
Some beautiful running from Parramatta's five-eighth Feleti Mateo saw him breeze through three attempted Warriors tackles before flicking a wide ball to Eric Grothe who dotted down in the corner taking the score to 6-0.
Burt struck the upright and was denied the extras so the score remained the same as the players had a small drinks break in an attempt to cope with the hot Auckland afternoon.
There must have been something in the water as the Warriors then went into overdrive and refused to be tackled as they gained more and more meters down the park.
Some superb skills were shown by Warriors wing Patrick Ah Van as he offloaded three balls in row allowing the rest of the backline to run before winger Manu Vatuvei was sent a perfect outside pass and scored in the corner.
Michael Witt had his famous kicking radar switched on as he expertly placed his conversion between the uprights from the far left touchline and levelled the score at 6-6.
But the Warriors scoring didn't stop there as they crossed again, with Grant Rovelli threading through a kick that was picked up by Jerome Ropati before passing it back inside to Rovelli who sprinted ahead to score under the uprights.
The Witt conversion then took the score to 12-6 as it would remain for the rest of the half as each team was forced to defend some spirited attacking play.
It didn't take long for the Eels to get the ball back in the Warriors half with their attack made easier by Vatuvei losing the ball in a tackle and allowing Joel Reddy to score in the corner taking the score to 12-10 with Burt missing the conversion.
This wasn't enough to put the Warriors back in their shells however as some determined attacking play and some poor Eels ball handling allowed Vatuvei to again dot down, this time on the end of a clever Rovelli kick.
Witt again nailed a sideline conversion to give the Warriors an 18-10 lead and put the Eels under all sorts of pressure.
Once again it didn't take long for the Warriors to strike as goal line pressure resulted in superstar centre Brent Tate scoring his first try for his new club with Witt's successful conversion stretching the lead to 14 points before the hour mark.
Vatuvei was not done by any stretch and he managed a 70 meter run before Evarn Tuimavave was set up to score a run-away try under the sticks with Witt maintaining his 100 percent record and taking the score to 30-10.
Parramatta gave the rest of the game all they had and finally cracked the Warriors defence through a late try to Burt who converted taking the final score to 30-16.
Warriors 30
Tries: Vatuvei 2, Rovelli, Tate, Tuimavave
Conversions: Witt
Parramatta Eels 10
Tries: Grothe, Reddy, Burt
Conversions: Burt
Penalties: Burt
Sportal's NRL Player of the Year:
3 - Manu Vatuvei (Warriors)
2 - Grant Rovelli (Warriors)
1 - Brent Tate (Warriors)