Canterbury-Bankstown 22–48 New Zealand Warriors — Qualifying Final, 2003 NRL Finals Series
13 Sep 2003 · Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW · Attendance: 18,312
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Qualifying Final, 2003 NRL finals series: Canterbury-Bankstown 22–48 New Zealand Warriors, at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW on 13 Sep 2003.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture.
Scorers
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Tries: Vagana; El Masri; O'Meley; Utai Goals: El Masri (3/4 conversions) |
| New Zealand Warriors | Tries: Meli; Meli; Meli; Meli; Meli; Webb; Webb; Tony; Faumuina Goals: Webb (5/7 conversions); Faumuina (1/2 conversions) Sin bin: Webb |
Team sheets
| Canterbury-Bankstown | New Zealand Warriors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Patten | Fullback | Brent Webb | 1 |
| 2 | Hazem El Masri | Wing | Henry Fa'afili | 2 |
| 3 | Nigel Vagana | Centre | Vinnie Anderson | 3 |
| 4 | Ben Harris | Centre | Clinton Toopi | 4 |
| 5 | Matt Utai | Wing | Francis Meli | 5 |
| 6 | Braith Anasta | Five-Eighth | Thomas Leuluai | 6 |
| 7 | Brent Sherwin | Halfback | Stacey Jones | 7 |
| 8 | Mark O'Meley | Prop | Jerry Seuseu | 8 |
| 9 | Adam Perry | Hooker | Monty Betham (c) | 9 |
| 10 | Steve Price (c) | Prop | Richard Villasanti | 10 |
| 11 | Steve Reardon | Second Row | Logan Swann | 11 |
| 12 | Andrew Ryan | Second Row | Awen Guttenbeil | 12 |
| 13 | Travis Norton | Lock | Sione Faumuina | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Willie Mason | Motu Tony | 14 | |
| 15 | Dennis Scott | Ali Lauiti'iti | 15 | |
| 16 | Corey Hughes | Wairangi Koopu | 17 | |
| 17 | Glen Hughes | Iafeta Palea'aesina | 20 | |
| Steve Folkes | Coach | Daniel Anderson | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Bill Harrigan |
Match report
Francis Meli's five tries remain one of the great individual finals performances of the era, as the 6th-seeded Warriors ran in nine tries to rout reigning-era powerhouse Canterbury-Bankstown. The Bulldogs never recovered after falling behind 16-4 at halftime.