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Became a fully-fledged Warrior out of Wellington's Upper Hutt club, but not without a battle. After excelling for the Warriors' unbeaten reserve grade side in 1998, Lewis attracted some interest from across the Tasman but was eventually secured by the Warriors for 1999. A Junior Kiwi in 1998 (scoring a try in the second international against the Junior Kangaroos), he was seen by Mark Graham as one of the main contenders for the centres in 1999. It didn't work out that simply. Nigel Vagana and Joe Galuvao were the preferred duo for much of the season. And, when Lewis came into the playing squad on the interchange bench against Balmain, it wasn't without controversy. A sideline incident during the game saw him suspended by the club for a week. However, Lewis then rose above that to make 11 first team appearances. The first five were as a bench player but he was in the run-on side as a centre for each of the last six games of the year. He also impressed on trips to Brisbane to play in the Queensland Cup competition and scored six tries for Auckland North in the National Provincial Cup competition, including one in the grand final loss to Auckland South. Also played for New Zealand Maori against Great Britain last year.
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