1997 Warriors Home/Away Jersey

Jersey Name 1997 Home/Away
JerseyYear/s Jersey Active 1997
Jersey Type First Grade Home First Grade Away
Jersey Supplier Nike
Main Jersey Sponsor DB Bitter
Sleeve Sponsor DB Bitter
Upper Back Sponsor Players surname
Rarity Common

Warriors would leave the ARL and join the News Limited run Super League competition. Super League saw the introduction of a few generic designs by Nike that would only differ in club colours.

Because the ARL owned the teams logos they could not be used by the Super League franchises. One bonus for clubs was that they would receive all the revenue from merchandise sales whereas previously the ARL had kept the lot.


There was only one jersey for both home and away fixtures with the only difference being the colour of the shorts and socks. Blue for home and red away.

Both the Warriors 1st Grade and Reserve Grade wore this jersey.

OFFICIAL REPLICA

Nike would have sole rights to jerseys and would be the only suppliers. There were 2 versions sold to the public. One simply had the Super League badge on it while the other had the teams sponsors laminated on as well.


The basic jersey was sold for $119.95. These were known as cleanskins and were completely plain except the Nike logo on the left breast and the Super League badge just below the collar in the centre of the upper chest area. DB Bitter protested these jerseys and tried to stop them being released. This jersey is the one thats most commonly available.


The other jersey which was sold had full sponsor logos which seem more flexible than the players jerseys so dont suffer from flaking. These jerseys cost a whopping $199 back in 1997 which is more than a 2023 jersey. Quite expensive and its because of this reason you dont see very many around, especially in good condition.


PLAYERS JERSEY

Players jerseys had full sponsors. They may have also had the Telstra badge but this was not always the case and differed from game to game and player to player.


All had a number and players surname on the back. All players were issued a number and regardless of what position they played they would wear that number. This was based on American sports where numbers were synonymous with players.


Typically 1-17 were your preferred team but not always the rule. Marc Ellis preferred #15 as he saw low numbers as being for forwards like in rugby union.


European Super League still uses this number system.

Below is a list of the Warriors 1997 player numbers.

1. Matthew Ridge
2. Sean Hoppe
3. Tea Ropati
4. Phil Blake
5. Lee Oudenryn
6. Gene Ngamu
7. Stacey Jones
8. Joe Vagana
9. Syd Eru
10. Grant Young
11. Denis Betts
12. Steve Kearney
13. Tony Tuimavave
14. Mark Horo
15. Marc Ellis
16. Brady Malam
17. Bryan Henare
18. Shane Endacott
19. Logan Swann
20. Awen Guttenbeil
21. Paul Staladi
22. Hitro Okesene
23. Anthony Swann
24. Iva Ropati
25. Ben Fahey
26. David Bailey
27. Paul Rauhihi
28. Joe Galuvao
29. Meti Noovao
30. Hare Te Rangi
31. Frank Watene
32. Aaron Whittacker
33. Ricky Henry
34. Phillip Leuluai
35. Charlie Kennedy
36. Jerry Seuseu
37. Glenn Coughlan


The only other variation of this jersey worth mentioning were the Reserve Grade Grand Final jerseys that had their own special badge that was embroidered straight on to the jersey.

The Reserve Grade side finished fourth and then beat Cronulla, Perth and North Queensland to make the Grand Final. Ultimately the Reserve Grade went down 12-40 to the Bulldogs.

Grand Final Team

Glen Coughlan, Iva Ropati, David Bailey, Joe Galuvao, Paul Staladi, Meti Noovao, Aaron Whittaker, Hitro Okesene, Steve Buckingham, Grant Young, Tony Tuimavave, Jerry Seu Seu, Bryan Henare.

Bench: Ben Fahey, Frank Watene, Paul Rauhihi, Ricky Henry.

Coach: Gary Kemble.


Players jerseys are quite rare and all suffer from flaking of the sponsors logos and player name and number. There are some great decal makers out there that can reprint logos and numbers if you wish to restore them...