Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

FormerlyJamesW · Apr 13, 2026

juju said:
Love Marata... but the Knights press release is a bit OTT

"Marata is one of the top edge defenders in the game"

Shhhhh.

Let them believe that he's the second coming. He's off our books next year!

snake77 · Apr 13, 2026

Good luck to Marata Niukore at the Knights. We have young forwards coming through, we need to fit them into team or make room to promote into the top 30. So, him moving on isn't surprising. I wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at retaining him there was a difference in years offered between the two clubs.

He was great in 2023, giving Johnson a big body to dump the ball off to or use as a decoy. It would have been good to have seen him turn into a middle. I'm sure that was mentioned by the coaching staff, but it never seemed to eventuate, and he was used to back on an edge. Long-term, the more mobile guys we have are more suited there.

Good for him to get the stability of a 3 year contract with the Knights.

Yesterday was a bit of a blip. If the Knights are on the up and play similar football to what they were before Brown, Ponga got injured (short sample side). He could be going into a club on the improve.

Jaffa J · Apr 13, 2026

I like Niukore but he was one of our worst buys ever 800k and not even top 10 in his position just wasn’t good value for money unfortunately good luck at the knights

Bay39er · Apr 13, 2026

snake77 said:
Good luck to Marata Niukore at the Knights. We have young forwards coming through, we need to fit them into team or make room to promote into the top 30. So, him moving on isn't surprising. I wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at retaining him there was a difference in years offered between the two clubs.

He was great in 2023, giving Johnson a big body to dump the ball off to or use as a decoy. It would have been good to have seen him turn into a middle. I'm sure that was mentioned by the coaching staff, but it never seemed to eventuate, and he was used to back on an edge. Long-term, the more mobile guys we have are more suited there.

Good for him to get the stability of a 3 year contract with the Knights.

Yesterday was a bit of a blip. If the Knights are on the up and play similar football to what they were before Brown, Ponga got injured (short sample side). He could be going into a club on the improve.

Do you think the Knights yesterday thought fuck not Marata and played accordingly

Defence · Apr 13, 2026

Jaffa J said:
I like Niukore but he was one of our worst buys ever 800k and not even top 10 in his position just wasn’t good value for money unfortunately good luck at the knights

I think that was always the sticking point with him- he was a good, tough professional player who actually seemed a good fit at the time but… he was paid marquee money.

rugged · Apr 13, 2026

Jaffa J said:
I like Niukore but he was one of our worst buys ever 800k and not even top 10 in his position just wasn’t good value for money unfortunately good luck at the knights

I think one of the worst ever may be a stretch - I would think Tomkins and Mateo were bigger let downs for big money.

Victor_Radley's_Scrotum · Apr 13, 2026

@Wrighty who was that old poster who was feeding you fake mail?

The Warrior Waka · Apr 13, 2026

Cces said:
What do you mean by this?
Could the same be said for Niukore?

Pro on and off the feild. First person at training. Last to leave. Mr Clean Skin, Gets out in the community and works with the youth. Perfect mentor for our pathways youngsters.
Nuikore could be that guy too. I never mentioned his name. And he may be a good influence behind the scenes. I don't know. Hes been handling the situation with his sick wife the past few years. I will not speak bad about him. Wish him well at Newy.

Jaffa J · Apr 13, 2026

rugged said:
I think one of the worst ever may be a stretch - I would think Tomkins and Mateo were bigger let downs for big money.

All are bad though I do think the Tomkins hate is a lil overblown

You could argue Niukore is the only player who hasn’t gone to another level under Webby

juju · Apr 13, 2026

Jaffa J said:
I like Niukore but he was one of our worst buys ever 800k and not even top 10 in his position just wasn’t good value for money unfortunately good luck at the knights

That's way over the top.

His signing on overs was a symptom of a club at the time.

We've had alot worse buys and bigger salaries when the salary cap was smaller.

tajhay · Apr 13, 2026

Congrats to any knights fans who stumbled across finding more about Niukore.

This is what you are getting:

Jaffa J · Apr 13, 2026

juju said:
That's way over the top.

His signing on overs was a symptom of a club at the time.

We've had alot worse buys and bigger salaries when the salary cap was smaller.

True it was a club issue but still doesn’t deny the fact he was on 800k and wasn’t performing i like Niukore but I’ve always been critical of him and his contract

sydneywarrior92 · Apr 13, 2026

juju said:
Love Marata... but the Knights press release is a bit OTT

"Marata is one of the top edge defenders in the game"

let them believe that..

CWC · Apr 13, 2026

tajhay said:
Congrats to any knights fans who stumbled across finding more about Niukore.

This is what you are getting:

View attachment 16870

Now I know why Knights PR team opted to brand him a strong defender

Wahs_Ultras · Apr 13, 2026

Good on Niukore for locking in his future but I’m finding it comical how much the Knights fans are talking up this signing. He’s had a few seasons now under Webby to find his feet, but he has never really lived up to his true potential/expectations.

sydneywarrior92 · Apr 13, 2026

Wonder if Setu Tu wants to come back given the shit storm he has just walked into at the dragons. I'd take him back in a heartbeat.

CWC · Apr 13, 2026

How's Ed Kosi going at...South?

Cces · Apr 13, 2026

sydneywarrior92 said:
Wonder if Setu Tu wants to come back given the shit storm he has just walked into at the dragons. I'd take him back in a heartbeat.

Why would he want to come back? The only thing he'd do if he was back in Auckland would be extending his record of most NSW Cup appearances for the club

Cces · Apr 13, 2026

It's interesting how many on social media are bemoaning the loss of Niukore & talking about how "brutal" he was against the Storm.
7 carries for 46m, 16 tackles @84%, 0 offloads, 2 tacke breaks, 1 penalty conceded & scored 1 but also let 1 in.
10 total offloads & 10 tries in 65 appearance.

CWC · Apr 13, 2026

Cces said:
It's interesting how many on social media are bemoaning the loss of Niukore & talking about how "brutal" he was against the Storm.
7 carries for 46m, 16 tackles @84%, 0 offloads, 2 tacke breaks, scored 1 but also let 1 in.
10 total offloads & 10 tries in 65 appearance.

IMO the commenters on the mainstream media/officials social platforms just believes whatever the journos and pundits say.
I probably have dementia and might be repeating myself but during the 2015 cricket world cup the radio/tv hosts were literally guiding the public to call for sacking of Ross Taylor the goat who was slight out of form but still managing to bat through 10-40th overs for the closers to come in and accelerate.

I like forums like this or the kiwi cricket ones where people actually know what they're talking about

Player	2026	2027	2028	2029
Grant Anderson	-	✔	✔	✔
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	✔	✔	✔
Te Maire Martin	✔
Haizyn Mellars	✔	✔	✔
Luke Metcalf	✔	✔	✔
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔	✔
Marata Niukore	✔
Adam Pompey	✔	✔
Tanner Stowers-Smith	✔	✔	✔
Taine Tuaupiki	✔	✔	✔
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔
Demitric Vaimauga	✔	✔	✔
William Warbrick	-	✔	✔	✔
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔	M
Connor Bowden	U	U	✔
Jett Cleary	S	U
Luke Hanson	S
Motu Pasikala	S	U
Caelys-Paul Putoko	S
Jason Salalilo	S	U	U
Makaia Taufa	S	U	U

Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

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