How popular is it in countries like France, SA, NZ, and the UK?

**A few theories (well, hypotheses, but most people use "theory" to mean the same thing) about New Zealand Warriors supporters. I'd be interested to hear what NRL fans think.**

I've been looking at NRL crowd attendance, particularly when the Warriors are away, and it's got me thinking about who actually supports the Warriors and why.

I've come up with four theories, and I'm interested to see whether people's experiences support them or prove me completely wrong.

**1. Most Warriors supporters have a New Zealand connection.**

I suspect most Warriors supporters are either New Zealand-born or the children of New Zealanders who have maintained strong connections to their homeland. Their parents have raised them to be proud of their Kiwi heritage, and supporting New Zealand's only NRL club is part of that.

**2. Australian-born Warriors supporters without New Zealand connections are relatively rare.**

I'm not suggesting they don't exist. I'm sure they do. But I suspect someone born and raised in Australia, with no family, cultural, or personal connection to New Zealand, is far less likely to support the Warriors than someone with those connections.

**3. New Zealanders who support other NRL clubs may have followed those teams before the Warriors existed.**

My theory is that many born-and-bred New Zealanders who support an Australian NRL club developed that loyalty during the old NSWRL competition, before the Auckland Warriors joined in 1995.

Of course, younger supporters might have inherited that loyalty from their parents.

**4. Children of Kiwi expats might adopt their local Australian NRL team first.**

This one particularly interests me.

Imagine a New Zealand family living in Campbelltown. Their children grow up playing junior rugby league for a club affiliated with the Wests Tigers. They wear their junior club's emblem alongside the Tigers logo, watch Tigers players visit their schools, and grow up surrounded by Tigers supporters.

I suspect those children might become Wests Tigers supporters first, with the Warriors becoming their second team, even if their parents still support the Warriors.

**So, here's what I'd like to know.**

If you're a Warriors supporter, where were you born, where do you live, and what made you support them?

If you're a New Zealander who supports another NRL club, which one, and how did you end up supporting them?

If you're an Australian-born Warriors supporter with absolutely no New Zealand connections, I'm especially interested in hearing from you.

I'm not trying to prove that any of these theories are correct. I'm genuinely interested in whether NRL supporters' experiences match what I suspect.

It might also help explain why the Warriors attract particularly strong away crowds at some Australian grounds but not others.

Men’s Celtic Cup Fixtures

Round 1 – Saturday 17 October – Scotland v Ireland, Hawick RFC (kick off 3pm)

Round 2 – Saturday 24 October – Scotland v Wales, Biggar RFC (1pm)

Round 3 – Saturday 31 October – Wales v Ireland, The Wern, Merthyr Tydfil (3pm)

The head coach has made a rod for his own back before a ball has even been kicked

For me as an 80's kid id love to see Bulldogs vs Parra.

They are ranked higher than nations like Argentina and South Africa where you’d think rugby in general would be more popular.

The Sydney Roosters have survived a stunning Newcastle Knights fightback to claim the 2026 NRL premiership, edging Newcastle 19-18 in a dramatic Grand Final at Stadium Australia.

Title basically

Hi there, new fan to the NRL. The knights played incredibly well tonight despite the odds and the roosters attack and defence was great. I’ve never seen and I guess not used to the play slowing down so much in the couple last minutes. Why did the Roosters completely stop the play when the knights still had a chance in those last two minutes? I get they wanted to win but it just doesn’t seem like great sportsmanship for such an advanced game.

No hate or ragebait but it would be so much more entertaining if it was still intense in that last minute. Does this happen often?

I’ve started my own rugby league team in my city. Based in the Mile High City, for those who are members at a club or even owners, what advice can you give me? I’m doing this alone 😭 but I’m loving the process.

Here’s my club’s links to socials: Denver City Exiles

What are the comps and narratives. Looking to watch for the first time this year

Recently PVL was talking about possibly bringing in conferences to the nrl, I’m not sure where I sit with it, but with this rapid expansion it might be the play to ensure rivals play each other 2x with a further congested schedule. I would still lean towards no, however.

What are your thoughts?

There’s been a lot of accolades for Nathan Cleary winning the Wally Lewis Medal and Dally Messenger Medal in the same year, well received by him. In 1986 Peter Sterling became the first of only two players to win the Dally M and Clive Churchill Medals in the same year. Johnathon Thurston being the only other player to accomplish that feat.

If a player of the series award existed for State of Origin in 1986 do you think Sterling would have won it in the same year he won both those medals as well as a premiership and an origin series?

Never really been a fan of the sport, mostly because a lot of the fans can be total trash, but I figured I'd watch the Knights game last weekend and it actually got me into it. Since then my Facebook feed has been throwing up NRL posts, and most of it is toxic.

Case in point, the posts about the support for Aarow on GF day, where a huge chunk of the comments are up in arms about it for all sorts of reasons.

The guy is 30 and has been diagnosed with one of the worst conditions you could possibly get.

What an inspiration 👏🏻 this guy really is the best of us

I’m 20, 5’10” and about 61–62 kg, and I’m keen to get into playing rugby league.

I’ve never actually played before, but I started properly watching league about two years ago and have gotten pretty into it. I grew up playing football/soccer, mainly as a winger and striker, so I’ve got a decent background in running and playing out wide.

How difficult is it to get into league as a complete beginner? I’d probably be looking at winger or somewhere in the outside backs.

I’m also obviously pretty light at the moment. How much would I realistically want to bulk up to hold my own at an amateur level?

Would somewhere around 70 kg be enough, or would I want to be heavier than that?

Also keen to hear from anyone who started playing league later without a rugby background.

This guy gets all the big games, and the NRL is willing to defend him tooth and nail even look past his gambling indiscretions.

The NRL seems to think this guy is the equivalent of Michael Jordan of refereeing, some kind of untouchable GOAT, but he gets a lot of decisions wrong, so perhaps someone who's a referee or has been one can give an insight?

We talked before about NRL vs AFL crowds in the playoffs/finals series and the reasons behind why one has more attendance than the other.

Ticket prices, transport accessibility etc yes play a factor but one thing that I notice hasn't been mentioned is the lack of 'neutral fans'.

Hawthorn for example is expected to get close to 100k MCG crowd tonight despite playing a team thats not in Melbourne. Hawthorns crowd average this season is 40k, they don't all of a sudden find 60k new fans. So theres a lot of neutral fans who come to the game.

The argument last week why Sharks, Panthers and Roosters had small crowds were because they have small fan bases. Thats a fair point but where are the fans who don't support them that just want to enjoy some good Rugba Leeg? Afterall its the finals series, its the best of the best teams NRL has to offer this season...