New Warriors owners in it for the long haul

The new owners of the Warriors say providing a stable platform for the rugby league club is their priority.

In what is a joint partnership, the majority stakeholder in the NRL franchise will be the Carlaw Heritage Trust, which is an arm of the Auckland Rugby League.

An Auckland business with a long-standing history of supporting rugby league, Autex Industries, has partnered with the Trust in the purchase.

Trust and Auckland Rugby League chairperson Cameron McGregor said they are clear in their immediate primary focus.

"We're here for the long term and we want to bring stability to the club.

"I'm sure with Autex and ourselves we will provide that. It's all about the future and providing the platform to enable the club to go into the future with confidence."

The sale of the club comes at a time when, after several years of poor results, the team is performing well.

For the first time in their history, the Warriors won their first five games of the season and after eight rounds they are third on the NRL ladder with six wins and just two losses to their name.

McGregor provided assurance for fans and followers who may be worried that new ownership would mean a raft of changes just when the team appeared in strong shape.

"We have no desire to come in and make any immediate changes.

"We're here to support Cameron [George] and his team and what they are doing now," he said.

"We're looking for stability in the club and we want to bring some financial strength to the club as well."

McGregor also said they want kids in Auckland and around the country to grow up wanting to play for the Warriors and knowing that is possible.

"We see this as an opportunity long term to re-establish the pathways in our games, so our under-sixes playing out there now have a vision to be able to play to right through to the professional level and the NRL."

Club chief executive Cameron George was happy to have any potential distraction the sale brought behind them and believed they could move forward with confidence.

George said his initial discussions with the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust, who had a 67 percent stake, and partners Autex Industries had been positive.

"To have support from the new owners is really great.

"I've had a good discussion with these gentleman and they've certainly demonstrated that to this point and I'm sure that will go forward.

"There's been a couple of months where there's been some question marks about different things and different people and different comments and statements, but I'm really excited about what we can all do together."