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 Faitialofa	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
-	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: 21/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Nil
2026 Losses: Nil

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Morgan Harper, Edward Kosi, Te Maire Martin, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Tanner Stowers-Smith

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[Billyspleen75]

Played five eighth 4 times. No idea if he was any good at it.

Morgan Gannon - Playing Career - Positions - RLP

A stats breakdown of positions played by Morgan Gannon, a rugby league player who played for the Leeds Rhinos.

www.rugbyleagueproject.org

Tohu played five eighth 6 times. So quite similar then

 

[Canonball]

That's the first reference I've seen of him being able to play halfback too. A 1.91m 101kg back rower who can play halfback.. Sounds like potentially a young Yeo/Harris clone

Our interest makes sense only if this is the case, which is a relief, cos I was wondering what the hell we were doing otherwise

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

That's the first reference I've seen of him being able to play halfback too. A 1.91m 101kg back rower who can play halfback.. Sounds like potentially a young Yeo/Harris clone

So we’re looking at him to play lock replacing Walkers ballplaying?

How many games has he played lock?

 

[Tookey 2.0]

I'm sure a lot of the surprise about this bloke is more worry that he'll take game time away from our young rookie forwards that were all expecting good things from, but there's plenty of time and space for all of them imo.

Capewell and Marata will likely be gone by the end of next year.
Fish will be 31 before the 2027 season starts, Clark will be 29 and
Barnett will be 33 in April 2027.

If we sign him, give the Englishman a year on the bench in 2026 to get up to speed in the NRL, before starting off 2027 with:

Fish
Egan
Vaumunga
Laban
Leka
Clark

Healy
Either
Barnett
English guy

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

Don't stir up the gingers, there's joyous celebration at this news in their community, it takes all sorts I say.

Hey, I take offense to that.

But yeah, pretty much.

 

[WahsaurusRex]

Looking at those who watch the cup team week in, week out- Who is the most likely to slot into the 13 long term of the young crop of forwards we've got??

Demitirc played lock in '23 until doing his ACL, and since being back he has played in the front row since.

Ieremia-Toeava can play everywhere it seems- An edge with the size to play prop and the skill to play centre, smells similar to Yeo's early days to me

Though, I see a bunch of mentions of Leka in the teamlist thread taking up Walker's minutes.

And as a side note, do Kayliss Fatialofa and Tanner Smith-Stowers look the goods? Is Kayliss even in the same conversation as EIT, Laban, and Halasima in terms of our young second rowers, or are they all a cut above him? Is Tanner on track to be a starter one day, or is he looking more of a regular bench prop?

 

[Dippa]

If Australian-based players leave on compassionate grounds, what do you expect from UK-based players?

Sam Tomkins was signed on a multi-year deal with the Warriors and requested an early release due to being homesick. Unless Morgan Gannon has a desire to play NRL and base himself in Australasia long-term then we shouldn't even be entertaining such a deal.

 

[Blain]

If Australian-based players leave on compassionate grounds, what do you expect from UK-based players?

Sam Tomkins was signed on a multi-year deal with the Warriors and requested an early release due to being homesick. Unless Morgan Gannon has a desire to play NRL and base himself in Australasia long-term then we shouldn't even be entertaining such a deal.

Tomkins was a star, this guy is a young fella looking for a shot at the big time - Potentially. English love NZ, especially the young bucks.

I don't mind us think outside the box, 3 years seems a little heavy, but if he has half the Superleague chasing him like one of the articles says, then maybe that's needed. The money isn't big in the ESL, about $4 million, or $150k average. So he wouldn't command big cash, I don't mind rolling the dice on a guy to sit as the 25-30th player in the squad. There is bugger all out there on the NRL market lets not forget.

I don't think he would be better than Leka or Laban, and I don't think he would take their spots for 2026 once Marata and Capewell go. He seems on paper a good ball playing utility forward for the bench, which we clearly don't have.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Capewell and Marata will likely be gone by the end of next year.

That’s a worry. They need to be gone by the end of this year.

 

[Kestrel84]

That’s a worry. They need to be gone by the end of this year.

Surely one of Capewell and Marata get an early release and don't play out 2026. Not saying how or if its smart, just that is kind of the feeling I get. They seem surplus to requirement by then, and it wouldn't shock me if Capewell decides he wants to go back to Aussie early.

 

[Tookey 2.0]

Surely one of Capewell and Marata get an early release and don't play out 2026. Not saying how or if its smart, just that is kind of the feeling I get. They seem surplus to requirement by then, and it wouldn't shock me if Capewell decides he wants to go back to Aussie early.

For Capewell, I always envisioned that 3rd year (2026) by mid year he'd likely get pushed to the bench with a young buck taking over the starting role, so I'm not too worried with having Capewell and Marata on our books.

We've deffo overpaid for Marata, but at the end of the day I don't think we'll be able to exclusively rely on the young bucks from Rd 1 next year. And as we've already seen this year, it doesn't take much for your team to lose a couple of key players in quick succession, so having Marata and Capewell as capable back ups sits okay with me atm.

 

[Tonbridge(aka Swanley)]

We need a replacement for Tohu and Walker, a ball playing lock, if this pom fits, then so be it.

 

[Theking267]

Tanner Stowers Smith has improved a lot seems a lot lighter on his feet and has nice footwork to go along with his with his high work rate. Kayliss looks to be a Kotoni Staggs type player he’s been more effective as a centre. Definitely looks a good option to play on left side of attack. Can see him taking over from Pompey at left centre in 26

 

[MrFrankWhite]

We need a replacement for Tohu and Walker, a ball playing lock, if this pom fits, then so be it.

Incorrect assessment. We are doing better this year than last when we had Tohu. Walker has not been a significant factor in our 66% win percentage.

Winning is everything, the rest is noise.

 

[Blain]

Incorrect assessment. We are doing better this year than last when we had Tohu. Walker has not been a significant factor in our 66% win percentage.

Winning is everything, the rest is noise.

Yeah don't mind what you're saying, if we don't have the players to play the same way, we need to change our style of play to suit.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Yeah don't mind what you're saying, if we don't have the players to play the same way, we need to change our style of play to suit.

We already have. Clark is already better at 13 this year than Tohu was last year. Walker has been playing a much smaller role this year.

People are stuck in 2023.

 

[Playdaball]

Fish was a compassionate signing for us.

As was CNK & AFB

 

[Inruin]

Incorrect assessment. We are doing better this year than last when we had Tohu. Walker has not been a significant factor in our 66% win percentage.

Winning is everything, the rest is noise.

Does your view change if in three or four rounds we are at say 40% win percentage? Is our three games too small of a sample size? Are we overlooking performance for a couple of results?

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Does your view change if in three or four rounds we are at say 40% win percentage? Is our three games too small of a sample size? Are we overlooking performance for a couple of results?

Of course. New data, new assessments. But expecting us to swap out players and turn into Melbourne is fantasy. We can win ugly all the way to the GF for all I care.

But we aren’t an experienced team that’s been together for a couple of seasons. And yet still, atm, we are finding ways to win. If and when that changes cool, but I also think it’s unfair to plan changes based on losses that haven’t happened yet.

 

[SouthernWorrier]

Incorrect assessment. We are doing better this year than last when we had Tohu. Walker has not been a significant factor in our 66% win percentage.

Winning is everything, the rest is noise.

Spoken like a Moneyball fan

Agree re: Walker. He's been good and I would have preferred to keep him for the year but he's one of a number putting in a good effort off the bench, certainly not having the came changing impact of 23. I'd be happy w Laban because I want to see him on field, but I'd start him and bring Clark off the bench in a slightly more creative Walker type role.