Recruitment Warriors 2025/2026 Recruitment & Retention

Warriors 2025/2026 Recruitment & Retention Discussion​

-	Player	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
1	Bunty Afoa	✔
2	Tom Ale	✔
3	Mitchell Barnett	✔	✔	✔
4	Rocco Berry	✔	✔
5	Tanah Boyd	✔	✔
6	Kurt Capewell	✔	✔
7	Erin Clark	✔	✔	✔
8	Wayde Egan	✔	✔	✔
9	James Fisher-Harris	✔	✔	✔	✔
10	Jackson Ford	✔	✔	✔
11	Leka Halasima	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
12	Morgan Harper	✔
13	Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔	✔
14	Sam Healey	✔	✔	✔
15	Edward Kosi	✔
16	Jacob Laban	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
17	Ali Leiataua	✔	✔	✔
18	Freddy Lussick	✔	✔
19	Te Maire Martin	✔
20	Luke Metcalf	✔	✔
21	Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔	✔	✔
22	Marata Niukore	✔	✔
23	Adam Pompey	✔	✔	✔
24	Tanner Stowers-Smith	✔
25	Taine Tuaupiki	✔	✔
26	Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔	✔
27	Demitric Vaimauga	✔	✔	✔	✔
28	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔	✔	✔
S1	Kayliss Fatialofa	S
S2	Kalani Going	S
S3	Luke Hanson	S
S4	Eddie Ieremia-Toeava	S	✔	✔
S5	Sio Kali	S
S6	Patrick Moimoi	S
-	Kahu Capper	T	T
-	Jett Cleary	T	S	S
-	Morgan Gannon	-	✔	✔	✔
-	Jye Linnane	-	✔	✔	✔
-	Motu Pasikala	T	?	?

C = Club option, M = Mutual option, P = Player option, S = Supplementary contract, T = Train & Trial contract

Confirmed Top 30 2025: 28/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2025: 6/6

Confirmed Top 30 2026: 25/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Jye Linnane (Newcastle Knights), Morgan Gannon (Leeds Rhinos)
2026 Losses: Nil

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Morgan Harper, Edward Kosi, Te Maire Martin, Tanner Stowers-Smith
Off Contract from 01/11/25 : Rocco Berry, Tanah Boyd, Kurt Capewell, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Freddy Lussick, Luke Metcalf, Marata Niukore, Taine Tuaupiki, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck

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[BangBro's (still banging)]

They always try to link it back to Australia it’s why RTS won the Dally M because he was teaching us how to play from his experience at the Roosters. JFH is teaching us how to win because he’s won 4 premierships with the Panthers. Leka’s only playing well because JFH is here otherwise he would be inconsistent

So you dont think much of webby then?

 

[sup42]

They always try to link it back to Australia it’s why RTS won the Dally M because he was teaching us how to play from his experience at the Roosters. JFH is teaching us how to win because he’s won 4 premierships with the Panthers. Leka’s only playing well because JFH is here otherwise he would be inconsistent

Australians will be Australians.

South pacific Yanks, biggest blow arses in the southern hemisphere.

To be fair in the broader picture they are right.

Australian Rugby league when taught to New Zealand players does make them better.

But hey, so what, they have a system like the All Blacks come from here. And the New Zealand league player comes from a system only slightly better than bush footy...and not even as good as Aussie Bush footy.

I'm a patriot, Kiwis and NZ māori are my main teams, Warriors third (don't worry I am a Warriors fanatic which should tell you how much think of my country in the black in white as my number one passion).

But I cannot deny that the Kiwis started beating the Aussies consistently when the Kiwis started playing low scoring Australian football.

Same for the māori team, they roll the Aussie indigenous through low scoring Australian styled Rep footy.

The Aussies are tribal about their league.

Take Greg Alexander for example, he likes the Warriors now, because anything they do well comes from Penrith (he means Webster and anything good he does came from Brandys favorite club).

Aussie....meh....

 

[sup42]

Brush the chip off your shoulder.

He has a point.

You don't.

I do not agree with everything he says but he has a point and any non self righteous NRL apologist will acknowledge the Warriors are (rightfully) the outsiders in the Australian NRL narrative.

 

[Muddogz]

I think the article also points out the risks of paying a half good money after only one great season.

I’d definitely be throwing good money at Metcalf without going crazy, he has had injury problems and he doesnt have the long history of quality play behind him to throw a million plus at him.

We are the only team however who can increase his pay for next season and Webster has designed a style of attack thats suited to his strengths. Two big advantages that we have over other teams.

 

[sup42]

That word compassionate leave
Will always be there
Find a local SJ asap
Who has a Wahs heart
Prob solved

In the the last thirty years of Modern day New Zealand Rugby league this country has produced five SJ level halves.

Johnson
Jones
Marshall
Hughes
Paul (Henry).

So on average one appears five times in thirty years or 16.7% chance times fifteen other club scouts competing to secure said player in other words the chances of the Warriors finding the next SJ is VERY small.

Enter Andrew Mcfadden who hires a dozen junior Australian halves......coz he is a footy genius who thinks about this shit and has the answers before any of us types a word in the dark.

McFadden is the Warriors coach who survived sacking, yeah one of a kind. After failing under the weight of the NZ League system....Cappy is not Fucking around, Cappy says fuck the next SJ lets just buy the best of what our cap money can afford and stack the Warriors with halves in all grades and make them look like the average really good Australian club that has heaps of decent halves in every grade - screw the sleeping Giant .

McFadden will be why we win a premiership.

I worship the ground that bald Aussie walks on. He is the mastermind behind the throne.


View: https://youtu.be/PP2FyYSUJ54?si=8BkYSlkvgLJ9bH7M

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

Cappy is not Fucking around

But yeah, I agree. Cappy has really sorted our recruitment out.

 

[sup42]

View attachment 13450

But yeah, I agree. Cappy has really sorted our recruitment out.

Our recruitment is radically different from anything any of us imagined.

None of us thought we would have a Tanah Boyd or a Cleary in our undergrades...coz shit that type of stuff has never happened in any of our experiences of the Warriors....Healy.....Freddy at prop.....TMM at fourteen.....

Mate this place under Cappy is having some kind of magic. It is crazzzzzzyyyyy.

We even have a kid coming from the superleague that is supposed to be the most promising junior forward in England.

Add to that the tying up of the best of the South islands talent....something the Warriors never did as they focused on South Auckland and produced a conveyor belt of near do well overweight entitled flat track bullies.

Cappy is a freak.

 

[Wah's Up]

Good interview on recruitment


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ZJw73ysBs

 

[Get them onside ref!]

Our recruitment is radically different from anything any of us imagined.

None of us thought we would have a Tanah Boyd or a Cleary in our undergrades...coz shit that type of stuff has never happened in any of our experiences of the Warriors....Healy.....Freddy at prop.....TMM at fourteen.....

Mate this place under Cappy is having some kind of magic. It is crazzzzzzyyyyy.

We even have a kid coming from the superleague that is supposed to be the most promising junior forward in England.

Add to that the tying up of the best of the South islands talent....something the Warriors never did as they focused on South Auckland and produced a conveyor belt of near do well overweight entitled flat track bullies and fat losers.

Cappy is a freak.

Freak out
La freak

 

[Cces]

We even have a kid coming from the superleague that is supposed to be the most promising junior forward in England.

That title probably suits Junior Nsemba more so than Gannon.
On Gannon, looks like he's now a first choice in Leeds' Second Row with 5 consecutive starts.
To continue the glazing of McFadden, he's done an incredible job. His predecessor, Craig Hodges, wasn't too bad either with CNK, Barnett, Metcalf & TMM joining/rejoining under his watch

 

[Tpadds]

Listened to Healey's interview on sports nation where he was questioned directly about the family being back in Aus scenario. He mentioned that his partner is hopefully planning on moving to NZ at the end of this year. Pretty good indication he's at least committed to seeing out his current contract.

On retaining Metcalf, certainly worth an upgraded contract offer if he is on around the 500k mark. However the Nicho Hynes scenario is a perfect example of a player getting blown up in the media and ending up falling well short of expectations after signing a massive contract.

For the first time I can remember I have huge faith in the club to handle the negotiations in a way that's likely to get a good result for both the club and the player.

Worst case scenario if he does decide to move on. I back the pathways system to bring through a strong replacement option.

Great time to be a warriors fan.

 

[sup42]

Good interview on recruitment


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ZJw73ysBs

While I am on my soap box ranting about McFadden.....

The genius of the club returning a Warriors coach and giving them the recruitment keys is that they are finally breaking the cycle of under achievement.

We all know that the Warriors hire people to run the team, and that from that comes some good innovations, and a lot of bad.

Then they fire that guy and rinse and repeat....

That is the entire failed history of this team we love, hire a coach, get some good from them, lots of bad, and fire them before they can take those lessons and apply them.....go round and around repeating the same mistakes.

By hiring McFadden Mowhawk finally released us from the cycle of failure (I am not a Mowhawk sycophant, I do not even like the guy, credit where it is due, he did good this time).

McFadden as a Warriors coach was the first Aussie coach able to teach these guys how to run an Australian attacking structure. McFadden was the one that brought in shapes, out the back door plays, and NRL structures.

So he actually knew the way to bridge the gap between the technical Australian systems and the New Zealand raw product - this guy did what Daniel Anderson and Ivan Cleary could not.

So skip forward to today. McFadden brings in as many Aussie halves as we can afford, the reason is obvious, he knows from his time here as headcoach that the undergrades of the club need Aussie structures to bring out the best in the Kiwi athletes running off those structures.

Cappy has literally identified that having as many Aussie undergrad halves as possible means the super talented NZ running player gets ball in structure and therefore is more likely to learn and show they can carve the opposition off a world class set up and platform base.

This is Cappys real genius, all our Raw kiwi kids are getting the same exposure to Aussie environments as they would normally seek by pissing off from NZ and bypassing the Warriors to get the Aussie education offshore.

Now the Warriors are looking at offering the best education in junior football in the NRL thanks to McFadden bringing in all these Australian spine players to give these kids of ours a Penrith and Storm like Junior platform.

The Warriors are truly headed for an era of winning in our current set up. No joke, we have the Staff to finally fix this club.

 

[Get them onside ref!]

I think the article also points out the risks of paying a half good money after only one great season.

I’d definitely be throwing good money at Metcalf without going crazy, he has had injury problems and he doesnt have the long history of quality play behind him to throw a million plus at him.

We are the only team however who can increase his pay for next season and Webster has designed a style of attack thats suited to his strengths. Two big advantages that we have over other teams.

Correct
We haven’t made the playoffs yet
Relax folks

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Listened to Healey's interview on sports nation where he was questioned directly about the family being back in Aus scenario. He mentioned that his partner is hopefully planning on moving to NZ at the end of this year. Pretty good indication he's at least committed to seeing out his current contract.

On retaining Metcalf, certainly worth an upgraded contract offer if he is on around the 500k mark. However the Nicho Hynes scenario is a perfect example of a player getting blown up in the media and ending up falling well short of expectations after signing a massive contract.

For the first time I can remember I have huge faith in the club to handle the negotiations in a way that's likely to get a good result for both the club and the player.

Worst case scenario if he does decide to move on. I back the pathways system to bring through a strong replacement option.

Great time to be a warriors fan.

Didnt Hynes already have a contract with the Sharks at the time? He had just come from the Storm at the end of the season prior.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Yeah Nah the Sharks fucked up big time

Hynes, 26, was already contracted until the end of 2024 but penned a new six-year deal on Thursday that will keep him at the club until 2029.

Sharks make history with ‘surreal’ $7m Hynes deal; Broncos land Bennett blow: Transfer Centre

Sharks make history with ‘surreal’ $7m Hynes deal; Broncos land Bennett blow: Transfer Centre

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Yeah Nah the Sharks fucked up big time

Hynes, 26, was already contracted until the end of 2024 but penned a new six-year deal on Thursday that will keep him at the club until 2029.

Sharks make history with ‘surreal’ $7m Hynes deal; Broncos land Bennett blow: Transfer Centre

Sharks make history with ‘surreal’ $7m Hynes deal; Broncos land Bennett blow: Transfer Centre

www.foxsports.com.au

Clubs are panicking because of the threat from the Bears.
Hynes is hella overrated. Even Sharks fans wish they kept Metcalf over him.

 

[Completion Rate]

I think he’s a smart guy and he would know that with the big salary comes big expectations. He likely backs himself but he’s got SJ right there to tell him what comes with earning a million dollars a season, and that’s going to be the case wherever he goes, just look at Nicho Hynes at the criticism he receives for the salary he earns. He seems really happy here and a popular member of the team. He sees that the club seems to be moving in the right direction so I really would be surprised if there’s not an extension coming. I think it needs to be a package extension and they extend CHT too and back the pair of them

This is it. He's a footy nerd, he knows the lay of the land and we'd be naive to think he isn't aware of the pressure a big salary would have on him to perform. I think he'll take the bag for sure, but wouldn't put a target on himself over the team. I'd imagine they'll agree so some form of rachet clause that will effectively backend a 3 or 4 year deal. With that said though, at 26, there aren't too many opportunities left for him to take a big paycheck so he may also play it by ear and go big for shorter terms.
He's lucky the form is so good he can dictate terms.

 

[Noitall]

https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/13581534881?profile=RESIZE_1200x

Eels forum watching the Metcalf situation

 

[Lance155]

https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/13581534881?profile=RESIZE_1200x

Eels forum watching the Metcalf situation

Don't see Metcalf going anywhere for the 6 jersey. The guy is desperate to be a 7. We may be in strife if Cleary continues to rise however

 

[Noitall]

Don't see Metcalf going anywhere for the 6 jersey. The guy is desperate to be a 7. We may be in strife if Cleary continues to rise however

They got a spare million they had for Brown and were offering close to for Galvin