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	Tohu Harris	✔
13	Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔	✔
14	Sam Healey	✔	✔	✔
15	Edward Kosi	✔
16	Jacob Laban	✔	✔
17	Ali Leiataua	✔	✔	✔
18	Freddy Lussick	✔	✔
19	Zyon Maiu’u	✔	✔
20	Te Maire Martin	✔
21	Luke Metcalf	✔	✔
22	Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔
23	Marata Niukore	✔	✔
24	Motu Pasikala	✔	✔	✔
25	Adam Pompey	✔
26	Taine Tuaupiki	✔	✔
27	Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔	✔
28	Demitric Vaimauga	✔	C
29	Dylan Walker	✔
30	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔	✔	✔
S1	Kalani Going	S
S2	Tanner Stowers-Smith	S
T1	Jett Cleary	T	S	S

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

Confirmed Top 30 2025: 30/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2025: 2/6
Unconfirmed Top 30 2025: 30/30
Unconfirmed Supplementary 2025: 3/6 (Luke Hanson, per Zero Tackle)

Confirmed Top 30 2026: 21/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Nil
2026 Losses: Nil

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Tohu Harris, Edward Kosi, Te Maire Martin, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Adam Pompey, Dylan Walker, Kalani Going (S), Tanner Stowers-Smith (S), Demitric Vaimauga (C)

---

This thread is solely for Warriors recruitment and retention discussion. Any posts not related to the above will be deleted.

Repeat offenders could have their access to this page limited.

Please be mindful of what you are posting in this thread before clicking the reply button.

 

[Noitall]

You would have to think he’s the roosters long term 13, especially with how he’s kept Radley out of the starting line up at times this season.

Compassionate grounds to come home has worked for others, we didn’t want to let AFB go but circumstances arose

 

[Noitall]

My Intel went walk about with Shaun Stevenson lol

Doesn’t mean there were never discussions

 

[nzwarriorsfaithful]

nzwarriorsfaithful well? Spill the tea?

It was an opinion post this is taken out of context lol…

 

[Noitall]

It was an opinion post this is taken out of context lol…

That hurts. At least how each middle has gone to another level and Leo Thompson citing JFH as the reason for his rise is grounds for optimism for our current middles

 

[The Warrior Waka]

It was an opinion post this is taken out of context lol…

Speak it into existence!!

 

[Noitall]

Thompson wants NRL future sorted before Rnd 1

Leo Thompson wants to have signed his next NRL contract before the season starts and his brother's arrival at Newcastle won't necessarily sway the Knights prop.

www.espn.com.au

Interesting article around Leo Thompson. The last couple of paragraphs gives me the impression he might leave the knights the way he says he won’t stay just because his brother is there and hopes he debuts so they can play some games together. Does he hope he debuts next season so they get some games together before he goes? Or hopes he debuts and they get to play together in general?

 

[Tookey 2.0]

You would have to think he’s the roosters long term 13, especially with how he’s kept Radley out of the starting line up at times this season.

Just had a look, and was surprised to see Radley is only 26, thought he'd be closer to 30 actually.

It looks like Radley was moved to 2nd row for the rest of the year, with Whyte only starting 5 of those games at 13, with Connor Watson starting more at 13.

But yeah, Whyte would be a great get for us as a 13 for years to come. If Terrel May is only worth 450k a year, I wonder what Whyte would get for as he hasn't quite hit his straps in the NRL just yet.
I'd be happy to sign Dylan Walker for 1 more year (2026) if it means we can bridge the gap and pick up Whyte for 2027, but like most of you I'd prefer we got him for 2026 or even 2025.

Imagine though, a 2026 team with:
Ali
Halasima
Sifakula
Laban
Zyon Maiu’u
Whyte
Healey
Metcalf

There's a lot of youth and excitement in there, as long as we have a few old heads in there too to keep them on track

 

[Noitall]

Just had a look, and was surprised to see Radley is only 26, thought he'd be closer to 30 actually.

It looks like Radley was moved to 2nd row for the rest of the year, with Whyte only starting 5 of those games at 13, with Connor Watson starting more at 13.

But yeah, Whyte would be a great get for us as a 13 for years to come. If Terrel May is only worth 450k a year, I wonder what Whyte would get for as he hasn't quite hit his straps in the NRL just yet.
I'd be happy to sign Dylan Walker for 1 more year (2026) if it means we can bridge the gap and pick up Whyte for 2027, but like most of you I'd prefer we got him for 2026 or even 2025.

Imagine though, a 2026 team with:
Ali
Halasima
Sifakula
Laban
Zyon Maiu’u
Whyte
Healey
Metcalf

There's a lot of youth and excitement in there, as long as we have a few old heads in there too to keep them on track

As a 13, he is the one. It was handy to see Thompson played at 13 against Tonga and feel like he’s a straight out front rower. You could see in the passing from Whyte that he’s a natural ball player coming from the centres in union at high school I reckon

 

[Wellington Warrior]

Congrats to Luke Metcalf and his partner who are expecting their first child…
As history shows… this is usually followed by a request for an early exit on compassionate grounds to be closer to family and support…. Hope not in this case.,

 

[Cces]

The big challenge will be making sure we get the Titans Clark - not the previous one who started at the Warriors!!

I'm pretty sure we're not getting a 19 year old with ambitions on being an NRL Halfback

 

[kos]

Erin was totally consistent and on his A game every game I saw at robina this year about 11 games.

 

[Ever Hopeful]

Erin was totally consistent and on his A game every game I saw at robina this year about 11 games.

I reckon he has been for a good couple of years. Solid player. I complained previously about our lack of speed recruitment, but our other weakness in 2024 was the bench and I think we've done well there.

Perhaps it is the right tactic, if we don't drop in intensity we win a lot of our games this year speed or not.

 

[Defence]

My biggest takeaway from the pacific nations is how much speed matters and we simply don’t have enough

Apparently the fox is looking for 500,000 a year for 2 years.
We should be all over that.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Erin was totally consistent and on his A game every game I saw at robina this year about 11 games.

Erin was the only one not getting smashed by those tank png players. Probably cos he looked like one of them lol.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Apparently the fox is looking for 500,000 a year for 2 years.
We should be all over that.

I'd take him. No chance of any spare Coke finding its way into Fox's nose. Mohawk won't share.

 

[kos]

Erin was the only one not getting smashed by those tank png players. Probably cos he looked like one of them lol.

He s a Rewa boy isn’t he?

 

[Worried2Death]

Congrats to Luke Metcalf and his partner who are expecting their first child…
As history shows… this is usually followed by a request for an early exit on compassionate grounds to be closer to family and support…. Hope not in this case.,

Hope not. If the birth is in NZ that baby is a Kiwi and that makes mum and dad our whanau forever, just like Ivan's mob. No takebacks.

 

[CWC]

Don’t risk releasing Metcalf and 20 years later seeing Nathan Metcalf winning 4 premierships in a row

 

[The Warrior Waka]

He s a Rewa boy isn’t he?

Not sure bro?

 

[Playdaball]

On a side note, I wonder how Dylan Walker is going since his family moved back to NSW?