Born in Rotorua, Warbrick played club rugby for Auckland side Ponsonby while boarding at St Stephen's Native School.

Two years later, he was selected for the first New Zealand representative team, and playing mainly as a three-quarter, appeared in seven of the side's eight matches on their tour of New South Wales.

Warbrick effectively retired from rugby after returning from the tour, with the exception of an appearance for Auckland in 1894, and went on to work as a farmer and tourist guide in the Bay of Plenty.

[6] His father, Abraham Warbrick, was originally from England, while his mother, Nga Karauna Paerau, was Māori and the daughter of a Ngāti Rangitihi chief.

[8] With his family still based in the Bay of Plenty, Joe Warbrick was sent to board at St Stephen's Native School in the Bombay Hills, where he started playing rugby union.

[12] The Australian New South Wales colonial team became the first overseas rugby side to tour New Zealand in 1882 and played seven matches throughout the country.

[13] By this point Warbrick was back in Auckland,[10] but this time playing for the North Shore club,[6] and he again won selection for the provincial side.

[2] In 1884 a team of New Zealanders, organised by the Canterbury player and administrator William Millton, and Dunedin businessman Samuel Sleigh, was selected to tour New South Wales.

His ambition was for "Māori football" to be as famous as Australian cricket, whose national side had already developed a strong rivalry with the English.

Warbrick encountered challenges assembling the side; there was opposition from some players to including part-Māori in the squad, which prompted several early recruits to withdraw.

[42] Warbrick was eventually compelled to add five Pākehā (European non-Māori) players to the squad, which resulted in the side being renamed the "New Zealand Native football team".

[49][50] It was his last game until November that year,[49] and the loss prompted the addition of Patrick Keogh – one of the five Pākehā in the side – to the squad before its departure from New Zealand.

[53] The side played regularly – they averaged just over three games per week while in Britain – but Warbrick did not appear until 7 November when the team faced Tynemouth.

[58] The loss and aftermath soured the relationship between Warbrick's team and the RFU – who accused the Natives of poor sportsmanship after they had protested at the awarding of the controversial tries.

[59] By the time the team departed for Australia in late March they had played 74 matches in Britain, winning 49, losing 20, and drawing 5.

His comments to the English press – who directed much of their focus towards him – were viewed negatively by some members of the squad; he was accused of neglecting to acknowledge the contributions of players such as Thomas Ellison, Gage, Keogh, and Edward McCausland but to extol the efforts of himself and his brothers.

[65] Warbrick said of his time in the British Isles: "My impression of England and its people during the tour was a very favourable one, more especially does this apply to private individuals.

[66] Following the tour he also criticised the partiality of the English referees, and believed that the English administrators displayed a double standard in their treatment of the Natives;[65] the RFU treated the Native team's motives for touring with suspicion, believing the enterprise to be speculative and criticising them for not upholding the amateur principles the RFU liked to espouse.

[67] Yet the RFU continued to select Andrew Stoddart for England, despite him touring with the speculative and unsanctioned 1888 British team that travelled to New Zealand and Australia.

[65][68][i] Warbrick and the team sailed to Australia for a leg of their tour described by historian Greg Ryan as "little more than a testimony to the motives of Scott and Eyton as speculators.

When Joe Warbrick spoke to the team at half-time, he threatened to expose the accused players; this was enough to prompt an improvement in the Natives' play, and the side recovered to win 11–7.

The matter was not resolved until after the team arrived in Dunedin when the ORU announced there was no evidence "justifying the accusations", and dismissed taking any further action.

[79] Despite the grueling schedule and high number of injuries, the loss to Auckland ended a remarkable streak that had started with a victory over Widnes on 9 March; the Natives had not lost a rugby game in 31 matches, winning 30 and drawing the other.

[73] The Natives played a total of 107 rugby matches, including 74 in the British Isles, and the tour remains the longest in the sport's history.

[85] As the captain and instigator of the 1888–89 Natives – the first New Zealand team to tour the British Isles – Warbrick had a lasting impact on the development of rugby in his homeland.

"[87] The speculative nature of the tour, which was outside the control of an official authority, concerned many of the provincial unions and gave further momentum to efforts to form a national body.