Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

[kos]

Fair enough. I was looking at Clark really closely the last couple of years and thought he was very solid. It would be interesting to hear @kos perspective.

Same for Barnett for me. He was playing great footy and was there or thereabouts. RCG, TPJ, Saifiti, Paulo etc have all fallen by the wayside and he was next man up for NSW. I'm not saying his game hasn't grown and the Warriors haven't been a big part of that, but I really thought his trajectory was heading that way anyway. The transition to prop has been awesome.

Clark was very very good for GC in 24
Improved against for us this year playing a more direct game mixed up with some ball play
He s a tough REWA hombre

 

[Ever Hopeful]

When Barney came over to us, people forget that he was massively damaged goods. He had a reputation as a bit of a loose cannon who spent more time on the sidelines than actually on the field. A bit like Mad Jack who Newcastle eventually signed as well. Webby turned him into the middle who now effectively has a lock on a starting position in NSW origin and is the spiritual leader of our club. If he stayed at Newcastle, I've got no doubt he'd be finishing up now in super league given the way that club has deteriorated. If ever there was an example of the webby effect, it's Barney.

I just don't see it as black and white as the "Webby effect." He had a rap sheet, but one that is largely coloured by one forgettable incident. This incident was the catalyst for him making the choice to get out of his comfort zone and grow up. He also became a father in 2022. I'd argue both trump a Webby-effect. He was a 2-time club player of the year for the Knights.

I thought he was an absolutely brilliant signing (before he got here), and doubt very much that he was headed for the Super League glue factory.

It is awesome that it has been a symbiotic match, this is undoubtedly a good club to grow as a player and as a person - if the player is willing. Perhaps the opposite of the Taukeiaho situation.

 

[Ferdie]

Pretty Grim reading looking at his stats page like NayNay says
2025 42 tackles made 23 missed 64% tackle efficiency. Basically he is a turnstile. We have a lot of work to do here.

I don't really watch many Gold Coast games, but I'd be curious to know how bad his missed tackles are.
For example, Capewell was one of the worst in the comp for missed tackles this season, but that was partly because he was always making the effort to get to someone, often when he didn't have a chance of succeeding.
Whilst DWZ had a lot of misreads that were so bad he didn't lay a finger on them, therefore no missed tackle.

 

[WAH MAN]

When Barney came over to us, people forget that he was massively damaged goods. He had a reputation as a bit of a loose cannon who spent more time on the sidelines than actually on the field. A bit like Mad Jack who Newcastle eventually signed as well. Webby turned him into the middle who now effectively has a lock on a starting position in NSW origin and is the spiritual leader of our club. If he stayed at Newcastle, I've got no doubt he'd be finishing up now in super league given the way that club has deteriorated. If ever there was an example of the webby effect, it's Barney.

Sounds like NAS's story. But without premierships

 

[WAH MAN]

I just don't see it as black and white as the "Webby effect." He had a rap sheet, but one that is largely coloured by one forgettable incident. This incident was the catalyst for him making the choice to get out of his comfort zone and grow up. He also became a father in 2022. I'd argue both trump a Webby-effect. He was a 2-time club player of the year for the Knights.

I thought he was an absolutely brilliant signing (before he got here), and doubt very much that he was headed for the Super League glue factory.

It is awesome that it has been a symbiotic match, this is undoubtedly a good club to grow as a player and as a person - if the player is willing. Perhaps the opposite of the Taukeiaho situation.

I thought we were scraping the barrel with both Barney and Ford. Then asked why do we need an old guy in Capewell.

 

[cock_o]

Interesting Stat

 

[Noitall]

I thought we were scraping the barrel with both Barney and Ford. Then asked why do we need an old guy in Capewell.

I thought at the time too that the salary we were paying Dylan Walker to play off the bench sounded crazy but he came here and proved a great signing. I think there are plenty of examples of Webster getting the best out of recruits. AKP says it’s Webster that sold him to come over

 

[Ever Hopeful]

Interesting Stat

Yes, he has been fantastic. A little bit apples and oranges. At a guess I'd say he played a third more minutes for us, and probably, at least for the first half of the season, had a lot more help alongside him with go forward.

I'm really not trying to take anything away from him btw, he was great. I'm just saying that he looked great at the Titans too, in different circumstances.

I'd say he feels a bit more ownership of his place in the pack here, which has no doubt helped him grow an extra leg.

 

[Vancent]

Interesting Stat.

Case closed.

 

[Five&Last]

Titans have a habit of releasing diamonds and keeping rocks.

Meh Jahrome Hughes is the only one i'm kicking stones over

 

[j_p]

I don't really watch many Gold Coast games, but I'd be curious to know how bad his missed tackles are.
For example, Capewell was one of the worst in the comp for missed tackles this season, but that was partly because he was always making the effort to get to someone, often when he didn't have a chance of succeeding.
Whilst DWZ had a lot of misreads that were so bad he didn't lay a finger on them, therefore no missed tackle.

Are all those times dwz was stuck in no man's land not count toward any negative statistics?

 

[Five&Last]

Can't see Tyrone Munro playing at all next year with this recent news. They're probably now regretting letting go of Haizyn Mellars to us.

Also Ed Kosi could get some serious game time next year.

 

[JaggedJ]

That's a pretty long list of "it's not his go" for Tyrone.

 

[Makasene]

I thought at the time too that the salary we were paying Dylan Walker to play off the bench sounded crazy but he came here and proved a great signing. I think there are plenty of examples of Webster getting the best out of recruits. AKP says it’s Webster that sold him to come over

My take is not necessarily that Webster identifies specifically how to improve one individual, but rather has created an environment where committed individuals are able to thrive.

That is a true high-performance environment, not something we could say between the years of 2012 - 2022. And, truthfully I don't think the environment has ever been as professional as it is now.

It also comes down to the individual, look at David Fafita for example. Lethal player but lacks commitment and kicked stones about playing on the left (or something weird like that).

Comparing stats from one team to another is tricky, and I agree with Ever hopeful that it's not as clear cut just to compare Clarks output from 2024 / 2025 - although it is obvious how impressive and improved he was for us.

Our true strength (that Melbourne, Penrith et al do) is to create a team where each individual just has to do their job for us to compete. Think back to the times of 'kick it to Manu' or 'leave it to SJ' are not strategies that result in Premierships.

 

[Noitall]

My take is not necessarily that Webster identifies specifically how to improve one individual, but rather has created an environment where committed individuals are able to thrive.

That is a true high-performance environment, not something we could say between the years of 2012 - 2022. And, truthfully I don't think the environment has ever been as professional as it is now.

It also comes down to the individual, look at David Fafita for example. Lethal player but lacks commitment and kicked stones about playing on the left (or something weird like that).

Comparing stats from one team to another is tricky, and I agree with Ever hopeful that it's not as clear cut just to compare Clarks output from 2024 / 2025 - although it is obvious how impressive and improved he was for us.

Our true strength (that Melbourne, Penrith et al do) is to create a team where each individual just has to do their job for us to compete. Think back to the times of 'kick it to Manu' or 'leave it to SJ' are not strategies that result in Premierships.

I’d agree with that and would say that type of commitment was lacking in a player like AFB last year and went some way to creating a disharmony. Just my take as a fan. Not a fan of players signing contracts a year out and think that commitment often isn’t there. I look at someone like Leo Thompson this year not hitting the heights he did last year with a move to bulldogs happening

 

[Ferdie]

Are all those times dwz was stuck in no man's land not count toward any negative statistics?

That's my understanding at least....other than the obvious points against on the scoreboard.

 

[Falcon]

Have to politely disagree sir. While both were decent, they've gone to another level. Barnett one of the first picked for Origin this year, and Kangaroos when earlier I don't think he had ever been considered. Same as Clark - we bought the best lock in the game this year, likely for interchange player money. They've gone another level. Although Barney I think got an extension, probably at a higher rate.

Also, I was looking at AKP's stats, and while they're pretty bad (2.0 missed a game), the standard for most wingers look to be 0.8-1.5 missed tackles, with Roger exceptional at 0.6 missed tackles a game. He only needs to improve a small amount to come back to the middle of the pack, he's never gunna be the top defender but hopefully he can get to around where most wingers are, with the huge upside of being a fast try scorer

Centre partner will play a big part in tackle efficiency too.

 

[Falcon]

Clark was very very good for GC in 24
Improved against for us this year playing a more direct game mixed up with some ball play
He s a tough REWA hombre

I was so upset he didn’t get over the line this season… he did everything else!

 

[snake77]

It is good to have the Khan-Pereira signing announced. It was likely to happen with the talk around it and the comments that he was wanting to move to New Zealand.

It was pretty well known that he was likely coming here. Better to have it confirmed and we can move on discussing how he will fit in.

McFadden and Webster will be aware of the deficiences in his game. The club is tracking better with its recruitment than it has in the past. Someone posted a comparison with Montoya's signing and how he wasn't met with a lot of excitment at the time. He turned his career around here. Let's hope that continues with Khan-Pereira.

He sounds excited to come here. Calling us a successful club might be a bit of a stretch. Well he is coming from the Titans I suppose. Obviously during recruitment the potential new coach is going to come off better than your old one. I can't recall seeing him with the Titans much this year, I assume he wasn't favoured by Hasler. The speculation about coming to the Warriors started before Hannay signed on. He could have turned it around but likey also wants the cap space and freshen up the squad.

He's keen to come here. Now he needs to do the work over the off season.

'I'm more than excited': Titans speedster joins Warriors

Khan-Pereira cited a 40-minute chat with Andrew Webster as key to his move.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[Hitro]

Interesting Stat

Think he averaged more minutes here than GC so that will have an impact too