KEY POINTS:
Warriors bosses will send a letter of apology to an Australian league player's girlfriend after she was slapped on the back of the head at Mt Smart on Friday night.
As the Warriors delighted supporters by closing out the Roosters 30-13 to reach the second preliminary final, one fan hit Braith Anasta's girlfriend Erin McNaught, Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said.
The incident happened while the home team was on attack and was totally "inexcusable", he said.
"I understand he was behind her and sort of connected with her with an open hand. It sounds like someone was over excited and was just basically being an idiot."
While the slap wasn't understood to be hard, it had upset Ms McNaught, who is a model.
The club would send a letter and had offered to track down the offender, Mr Scurrah said.
"I've been in touch with the Roosters club. We're just waiting to hear back from them. They don't want to blow it out of proportion. It sounds like there was no animosity."
The incident was exacerbated by five ejections from the north stand after bottles were hurled at Roosters' fans, with some landing near players. The culprits were served with two-year trespass notices.
The crowd was largely well behaved.
"It was electric - 99 per cent of the people there were absolutely fantastic, a few idiots have taken the gloss off," Mr Scurrah said.
However, there will be no repeats of the "free love" shown to fans in 2002 when the Warriors charged towards their first and only grandfinal appearance and club owner Eric Watson gave away 10,000 tickets to New Zealand passport holders for the Sydney final.
"Economic conditions" wouldn't allow it this year, but the club would be encouraging as many supporters to get to the game as possible.
With the Warriors under-20 side also playing at the Sydney Football Stadium, it was shaping up to be an exciting night, Mr Scurrah said.
TICKETS ON SALE
* Warriors season ticket holders had first dibs yesterday at tickets for Saturday night's preliminary final against Manly, with 500 reserved tickets priced as low as A$10.
* This morning there were still 500 $10 tickets available to the general public as well as family passes ranging from $20 to $180.
* New Zealand fans can call Ticketek in Australia on 0061 132 849.
