Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment and Retention Discussion​

Player	2026​	2027​	2028​	2029​	2030​
Mitchell Barnett	✔​	✔​
Rocco Berry	✔​
Tanah Boyd	✔​
Kurt Capewell	✔​
Erin Clark	✔​	✔​
Wayde Egan	✔​	✔​
Kayliss Fatialofa	✔​	✔​
James Fisher-Harris	✔​	✔​	✔​
Jackson Ford	✔​	✔​
Morgan Gannon	✔​	✔​	✔​
Leka Halasima	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​
Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔​
Sam Healey	✔​	✔​
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava	✔​	✔​
Alofiana Khan-Pereira	✔​	✔​	✔​
Jacob Laban	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​
Ali Leiataua	✔​	✔​
Jye Linnane	✔​	✔​	✔​
Freddy Lussick	✔​
Te Maire Martin	✔​
Haizyn Mellars	✔​	✔​	✔​
Luke Metcalf	✔​	✔​	✔​
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔​	✔​
Marata Niukore	✔​
Adam Pompey	✔​	✔​
Tanner Stowers-Smith	✔​	✔​	✔​
Taine Tuaupiki	✔​
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔​
Demitric Vaimauga	✔​	✔​	✔​
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔​	✔​
Jett Cleary	S​	U​
Sio Kali	U​
Braelan Marsh	U​	U​	U​
Motu Pasikala	U​	U​

✔ = Signed to Top 30, C = Club option, M = Mutual Option, P = Player option, S = Signed to supplementary list, U = Unclear

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

2027 Top 30: 21/30
2027 Supplementary: 0/6

2027 Gains: Nil
2027 Losses: Nil

Off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2027: Rocco Berry, Tanah Boyd, Kurt Capewell, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Freddy Lussick, Te Maire Martin, Marata Niukore, Taine Tuaupiki, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Will be off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2028 from November 1st, 2026: Mitchell Barnett, Erin Clark, Jett Cleary, Wayde Egan, Kayliss Fatialofa, Jackson Ford, Sam Healey, Eddie Ieremia-Toeava, Ali Leiataua, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Motu Pasikala, Adam Pompey, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak

 

[Noitall]

Man if I had $1 for every year that I thought either Rocco or Ali had a centre spot locked up and were due to have a break out year, id have like $5 right now.

No, I mean Rocco had a good half year in 2023, but apart from that our centres have largely been promise with not much delivery.

Will be interesting to see what they do with Leka, and if they try to fix one of our problematic center issues.

Man, we really are overdue for either Rocco or Ali to smash it next year....

The way they were having Vaimauga, Halasima and Leiataua at the beginning of the season speaking on occasions together gave me the impression that they were a group they saw the season just gone as a breakout one and it was for Vaimauga and Halasima. Leiataua started really well with Tuaupiki while DWZ was out but they shifted him to the left and he didn’t have the same impact. Tuaupiki was found out in his unfamiliar role as winger with Capewell inside against cowboys

 

[Leon Black]

We get excited about Linnane because of these highlights lol, the guy runs like a Papenhuyzen and has a boot


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7srSXk1GlTw

2 ACL’s and proving at NSW Cup level before we get hyped over YouTube clips.

Reminds me of Glen Fisiiahi, Brad Abbey, Tui Lolohea, Omar Slaimankhel and co.

See them against the one time NRL standard, older more physical players in NSW Cup.

I hope he makes it but we need to see him in action after 2 ACL’s at a higher standard.

 

[Leon Black]

It's more the lack of confidence in other options. CNK will lead us to 9th place on the ladder. Linnane is a mystery box and could be anything... he could even lead us to 9th place on the ladder.

Linnane was more than a year younger than Sharpe when they were carving up Flegg together. He was a superior prospect to Sharpe at that time. But he’s since missed out of a lot of development. So I don’t think anyone is pointing at Sharpe as a reason Linnane should be playing. Completely different paths.

The playmaking and speed combination is what everyone is after (i.e. Reece Walsh). I guess none of us really know until we see how Linnane is moving around the pitch, if the two ACL's have zapped some of his athleticism he'll be a non factor next year and probably more.

I’ve been watching this great game since the 1980s and seen plenty of hype trains come and go.

Two ACLs and never played higher than Flegg — that says enough.

My all-time favourite case study in overhype was a kid named Barney Haslett. He was poached from Manly by Parramatta around 2008, touted as “the next Brad Fittler,” and even featured on The Footy Show.

I don’t think he ever made it to NSW Cup level — a reminder that publicity, potential and YouTube clips don’t always translate to performance.

 

[Defence]

2 ACL’s and proving at NSW Cup level before we get hyped over YouTube clips.

Reminds me of Glen Fisiiahi, Brad Abbey, Tui Lolohea, Omar Slaimankhel and co.

See them against the one time NRL standard, older more physical players in NSW Cup.

I hope he makes it but we need to see him in action after 2 ACL’s at a higher standard.

Tend to agree but I love the way he takes the line on- u can see his competitive nature come through which wasn’t a strong point for any of those guys.

 

[Warriorsfan92]

2 ACL’s and proving at NSW Cup level before we get hyped over YouTube clips.

Reminds me of Glen Fisiiahi, Brad Abbey, Tui Lolohea, Omar Slaimankhel and co.

See them against the one time NRL standard, older more physical players in NSW Cup.

I hope he makes it but we need to see him in action after 2 ACL’s at a higher standard.

Was in the knights top 30 as a 17 year old. He's been identified for a long time. We only got him after the brown signing, otherwise knights had him locked down

 

[Brightman]

Two ACLs and never played higher than Flegg — that says enough.

Yep you're right, Luke Metcalf has definitely got the jump on this Jye nobody when it comes to experience..

 

[Matiunz]

Interesting quote in that article, "“Growing up with him, I’ve always loved league. I’ve always preferred watching it, I just never got to play it.”

Makes me wonder how many kids in NZ just never play league because it's not at their school or they didn't have a local competition, or they couldn't play both codes because of clashes etc?

I was pretty much one of those, was Warriors obsessed but had no options but to play union until after I left school

 

[Muddogz]

We don’t have a chance of signing Linnane if he doesn’t have the two ACL injuries. He’s a high reward low risk signing and he looks like a very similar player to Metcalf. Don’t think he’s going to be ready next year but we have four experienced halves for next season.

Linnane, Cleary, Hanson, Thompson the idea is right. Sign young Australian halves and hope you hit with one of them.

 

[Warriorsfan92]

We don’t have a chance of signing Linnane if he doesn’t have the two ACL injuries. He’s a high reward low risk signing and he looks like a very similar player to Metcalf. Don’t think he’s going to be ready next year but we have four experienced halves for next season.

Linnane, Cleary, Hanson, Thompson the idea is right. Sign young Australian halves and hope you hit with one of them.

The reality is there’s no alternative either. Nz does not produce halves. Yes there’s the odd anomaly, but they’re few and far between. Even look at the kiwis, SJ & now Foran have had to delay retirement to play, as there’s no depth with 2 injuries (Hughes, nikorima).

It’s the right strategy regardless, but it’s also out of necessity.

 

[Five&Last]

I’ve been watching this great game since the 1980s and seen plenty of hype trains come and go.

Two ACLs and never played higher than Flegg — that says enough.

My all-time favourite case study in overhype was a kid named Barney Haslett. He was poached from Manly by Parramatta around 2008, touted as “the next Brad Fittler,” and even featured on The Footy Show.

I don’t think he ever made it to NSW Cup level — a reminder that publicity, potential and YouTube clips don’t always translate to performance.

There's a million case studies that go in either direction

They will have to give him a go at some point to see what we have. Like others have said, if he didn't have those injuries he's probably starting for the Knights by now (or thereabouts) and we would have no shot at landing him. Just like we have no shot at these other elite young halves like Coby Black, Mitch Woods etc. He still got promoted to development list at Knights off the back of his first ACL.

 

[CWC]

Oh well I'm more hyped about Linnane than like all our kiwi junior playmakers lol, Luke has 2 ACLs and triple hammy tears and we're like "please re-sign Luke Skywalker PLEEEEAAAASE!!!"

That's what hype is about, now it's whether the kid can deliver

 

[mrblonde]

Bit like Ben Henry, Nathanial Roache...

Who knows what they could have been had they possibly been able to shake free from the Injury Stick. ACL after ACL after ACL after....

In fairness to the player, you can't say "Well, they sucked because of the ACLs!", it's more "what where they before the ACL?"

But in fairness to the Warriors, do you invest in a player who - for whatever reason - appears to be a magnet for the Injury Stick?

I'd sign for 2 seasons, no promise of NRL-level pay etc, see how it plays out. But maybe I'm a sucker for happy stories: "He came back from huge injuries to win Dally M" etc etc...