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	Jett Cleary	✔	S	S
9	Wayde Egan	✔	✔	✔
10	James Fisher-Harris	✔	✔	✔	✔
11	Jackson Ford	✔	✔	✔
12	Leka Halasima	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
13	Morgan Harper	✔
14	Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔	✔
15	Sam Healey	✔	✔	✔
16	Edward Kosi	✔
17	Jacob Laban	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
18	Ali Leiataua	✔	✔	✔
19	Jye Linnane	✔	✔	✔	✔
20	Freddy Lussick	✔	✔
21	Te Maire Martin	✔	✔
22	Luke Metcalf	✔	✔
23	Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔	✔	✔
24	Marata Niukore	✔	✔
25	Adam Pompey	✔	✔	✔
26	Tanner Stowers-Smith	✔	✔	✔
27	Taine Tuaupiki	✔	✔
28	Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔	✔
29	Demitric Vaimauga	✔	✔	✔	✔
30	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔	✔	✔
S1	Kayliss Fatialofa	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
-	Morgan Gannon	-	✔	✔	✔
-	Haizyn Mellars	✔	✔	✔
-	Motu Pasikala	T	?	?

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

Top 30 2026: 29/30
Supplementary 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Morgan Gannon (Leeds Rhinos), Haizyn Mellars (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
2026 Losses: Edward Kosi (South Sydney Rabbitohs)

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Morgan Harper
Can negotiate with other clubs from Nov 1, 2025 (Entering final year) : Rocco Berry, Tanah Boyd, Kurt Capewell, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Freddy Lussick, Te Maire Martin, Luke Metcalf, Marata Niukore, Taine Tuaupiki, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck

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[MrFrankWhite]

They would be crazy not to as they aren't getting any one else

What the. You are privy to Bears recruiting? Who have they locked down?

 

[Warriorsfan92]

Of course his previous injuries are relevant as they were all injuries. That's what's being injury prone means. There is no common cause to the injuries for an injury prone player and all of them are down to bad luck but some players have bad luck and are "injury prone" nonetheless.

Here are some numbers and I don't expect these to carry the day as people on this web site don't rate stats but on other websites I have been on the stats I am about to post would be a smoking gun.

Warriors games with Luke Metcalf at Halfback 2025 season 15 games team average score 21.27
Warriors games with Tannah Boyd at Halfback 2025 season 4 games team average score 22.00

With all due respect, this is my profession & my point was his season ending injury of an ACL rupture had nothing to do with any of his previous injuries.

 

[John Nick]

Sure but not the crashed one

True but can we afford to get/build a new one and hope that they are just as good and not crash again.
No of course not. No certainties in this game

 

[Wrighty]

With all due respect, this is my profession & my point was his season ending injury of an ACL rupture had nothing to do with any of his previous injuries.

Then I apologise for casting shade on your expertise. We are saying different things though. I am sure you understand my point. All of his injuries make him injury prone per the common every day man use of the term even though there is no medical substance to such a label I agree. However in my observation some sports people just do get bad luck, Jacob Oram in cricket was always getting unlucky accidental injuries none of which had any relation to the other injury.

 

[Warriorsfan92]

I guess it’s black and white for me. Are we a better side with Metcalf in it? Yes. Can we win a premiership with him? Based on the performances this year (leading dally m), yes. Now, on to Tanah. Both answers is a resounding no. And that’s really as simple as it gets for me.

Re-signing Metcalf is the absolute priority.

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Then I apologise for casting shade on your expertise. We are saying different things though. I am sure you understand my point. All of his injuries make him injury prone per the common every day man use of the term even though there is no medical substance to such a label I agree. However in my observation some sports people just do get bad luck, Jacob Oram in cricket was always getting unlucky accidental injuries none of which had any relation to the other injury.

Both Oram’s parents were physios as well & it still didn’t help the poor bugger!

 

[UpTheWahs]

Sure, but his previous injuries had no relation with his ACL rupture, and he was on track, before the freak injury, to see out the season. No hammys, no shoulders, calves, nothing. Injury free until a one off freak injury. He’d already shown his body was resilient

While his previous injuries probably had next to no relation to his ACL rupture, the ACL rupture itself will now make him prone to further injuries in the future. Once you do your ACL it's never the same again, physically and most importantly mentally, specially for someone who's best offering is the running game. Acceleration + sudden course correction will always trigger fear of rupturing your ACL. You also see players who's done their ACL have it ruptured again. Several players out there who's had 2+ ACL ruptures. Depending on how severe the injury was, for example, when I did my ACL playing cricket, I ruptured my ACL completely, partially ruptured by meniscus, partially tore my calf and had significant bone contusion, all from one incident. While I'm back playing sport, I still walk down stairs and wet surfaces like a sloth for the fear of redoing it, 5 years later.

On that premise, would you not re sign Barnett, since he got the same injury?

Barnett is an ageing prop who never had pace or lateral movement and is merely expected to run it straight at the line for another year or two max. On the other hand, Metcalf is a running half known for his pace and evasiveness, which requires stop start /sudden course correction, which are ACL killers.

I think I saw a stat somewhere that Luke Metcalf has never played beyond 15 games a season including reserves. That would be a massive concern even before accounting for this post ACL player we are potentially going to throw stupid money at.

 

[Wrighty]

Both Oram’s parents were physios as well & it still didn’t help the poor bugger!

In his final injury he took a regulation outfield catch and used incredibly bad technique with the way he cupped his hands and broke his finger. It was put down to bad luck but it wasn't luck for people like me who have played cricket at a high level. You either use standard cup or reverse cup and he did neither it was idiotic. No other black cap or international player I have seen has broken a finger on a catch like that just him. When people break their fingers on a catch it is usually a caught and bowled where the ball has been smashed at the bowler at close range. He was in the outfield for a standard catch. What I don't approve of though is the NZ public laid into him and when he went to parties people would punch him on the arm and say did you break your arm shaving today Jacob? He complained about it in an interview and said people were ruthless with him.

In general if you detect a tone of accountability towards Luke for his injuries rather than writing it off as "it could happen to anyone" then that is correct I do have a tone of accountability. Turning up consistently and playing is your livelihood and an expectation. It is a skill to be an iron man like Blayke Brailey and play every game bar one for the past 5 years straight. You need to look after your body. You need to work on your flexibility through plenty of stretching and building up flexibility. Teams are getting better at this now by incorporating yoga classes which would have been seen as a pansy thing in the 1980s. I hold Luke to account and Rocco Berry to account for their injury proneness. It is not good enough. we were counting on both of them and neither one of them ever finishes off a season. How come Pompey can be an iron man and it is just bad luck that Rocco gets injured. The answer is luck has nothing to do with it. Rocco is probably so eager and the staff too eager to rush him back into line ups that his body has not knitted together from the last injury. Luke had taped up his entire leg the day he got tackled and for weeks on some break away tries he had been running ginger. But we played him anyway as we figured every one plays with niggles and then no surprise he couldn't withstand a standard NRL big shot at him. He was damaged goods going into the match and we killed the golden goose by not giving him a game or two off to get right. And he was part of those conversation and wanted to play every game. Tannah could have been used sparingly throughout the season to rest Luke every now and then but we didn't do that. It was not a fluke injury in my book for many reasons. Some reasons practical and some subtle such as not knowing how to a take a hit. To be fair to him he was blindsided and didn't see it coming so didn't brace for it. But he should have seen it coming that was naieve not to see it coming and should have braced for it. It was his fault to be hit blind.

Finally to lay all my cards on the table I have seen my cricket team mates get injured and 50% of the time while they thought it was a freak accident I could see by the way they planted their feet it was all their fault. So I have some personal bias I admit from years of seeing uncoordination lead to injury. I am an old man now but back in my day I was a cricket athlete and I trained all winter long to put myself in top shape for cricket in the summer. I did not get injuries and self care is as important as how many runs you average.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

It was Peter O’Sullivan actually - considered by plenty to be the guru on the subject of signings (I’m not a fan however). $700k… now there’s some comedy.

I think 700 is over actually. I mean what was SJ on in 2023?

Get real mate! He cant out more than 15 games together.

 

[Inruin]

So who do we realistically sign instead? Plenty of players have gone through bad injury runs & come out the other side - Benji, Teddy both had awful starts to their careers with injuries. Trell hasn’t played more than 17 games in a season since 2019. Cleary’s missed plenty of footy. I say take the gamble & pay Metcalf the big bucks - fortune favours the brave!

I think this will be the main issue. Who do we realistically sign? And who realistically signs Metcalf for more than say $800k? We also look like we have moved or are moving away from having big chunks of salary cap locked up on single players.

Personally I don't think Metcalf is worth a million and I don't think we would or should pay that.

He is likely to be back around a quarter of the way in to the season. It will take him a fair while to get his confidence up and get up to full match fitness. This year, even when we had our full strength team on the park and dominance we still only had the 12th best attack. We bagged some quite lucky wins early in the season. The Panthers C team and the Broncos game before his injury are a better reflection of where he and the team are IMO. Next season we are likely to run with Boyd and CHT for the start of the season with LM to return and Jett/Hanson/Linane as back ups. I think next season is going to be a tough watch.

The bigger recruitment decision is who can we get in the center/wing positions that are quality? That could make up for our mediocre halves.

 

[John Nick]

I think this will be the main issue. Who do we realistically sign? And who realistically signs Metcalf for more than say $800k? We also look like we have moved or are moving away from having big chunks of salary cap locked up on single players.

Personally I don't think Metcalf is worth a million and I don't think we would or should pay that.

He is likely to be back around a quarter of the way in to the season. It will take him a fair while to get his confidence up and get up to full match fitness. This year, even when we had our full strength team on the park and dominance we still only had the 12th best attack. We bagged some quite lucky wins early in the season. The Panthers C team and the Broncos game before his injury are a better reflection of where he and the team are IMO. Next season we are likely to run with Boyd and CHT for the start of the season with LM to return and Jett/Hanson/Linane as back ups. I think next season is going to be a tough watch.

The bigger recruitment decision is who can we get in the center/wing positions that are quality? That could make up for our mediocre halves.

With due respect it's not what you or I or anyone else here thinks they know how much he is worth
Other clubs will determine his price and then our management will then have a decision to make.

 

[Noitall]

With all this talk about Metcalf, I think CHT has been a great foil for him and they’ve complemented each other well. CHT has been on the leaderboard for try assists for much of the season. Many didn’t think Metcalf at halfback would work with him predominantly playing as a running five eighth, with that being Jye Linnane’s position too, could the Warriors view him as a halfback?

 

[Milking!]

Validity of club interest isn’t the point, it’s what Metcalf is worth as the top dog half on the open market come November. What do you think we need to offer to keep him?

900k minimum - and that’s factoring in the injury risk.
Young-ish half leading a top 4 side and well in the hunt for Dally M pre-injury.
If I’m a bottom 8 side or Perth, I’d roll the dice on that deal.

 

[CWC]

In his final injury he took a regulation outfield catch and used incredibly bad technique with the way he cupped his hands and broke his finger. It was put down to bad luck but it wasn't luck for people like me who have played cricket at a high level. You either use standard cup or reverse cup and he did neither it was idiotic. No other black cap or international player I have seen has broken a finger on a catch like that just him. When people break their fingers on a catch it is usually a caught and bowled where the ball has been smashed at the bowler at close range. He was in the outfield for a standard catch. What I don't approve of though is the NZ public laid into him and when he went to parties people would punch him on the arm and say did you break your arm shaving today Jacob? He complained about it in an interview and said people were ruthless with him.

In general if you detect a tone of accountability towards Luke for his injuries rather than writing it off as "it could happen to anyone" then that is correct I do have a tone of accountability. Turning up consistently and playing is your livelihood and an expectation. It is a skill to be an iron man like Blayke Brailey and play every game bar one for the past 5 years straight. You need to look after your body. You need to work on your flexibility through plenty of stretching and building up flexibility. Teams are getting better at this now by incorporating yoga classes which would have been seen as a pansy thing in the 1980s. I hold Luke to account and Rocco Berry to account for their injury proneness. It is not good enough. we were counting on both of them and neither one of them ever finishes off a season. How come Pompey can be an iron man and it is just bad luck that Rocco gets injured. The answer is luck has nothing to do with it. Rocco is probably so eager and the staff too eager to rush him back into line ups that his body has not knitted together from the last injury. Luke had taped up his entire leg the day he got tackled and for weeks on some break away tries he had been running ginger. But we played him anyway as we figured every one plays with niggles and then no surprise he couldn't withstand a standard NRL big shot at him. He was damaged goods going into the match and we killed the golden goose by not giving him a game or two off to get right. And he was part of those conversation and wanted to play every game. Tannah could have been used sparingly throughout the season to rest Luke every now and then but we didn't do that. It was not a fluke injury in my book for many reasons. Some reasons practical and some subtle such as not knowing how to a take a hit. To be fair to him he was blindsided and didn't see it coming so didn't brace for it. But he should have seen it coming that was naieve not to see it coming and should have braced for it. It was his fault to be hit blind.

Finally to lay all my cards on the table I have seen my cricket team mates get injured and 50% of the time while they thought it was a freak accident I could see by the way they planted their feet it was all their fault. So I have some personal bias I admit from years of seeing uncoordination lead to injury. I am an old man now but back in my day I was a cricket athlete and I trained all winter long to put myself in top shape for cricket in the summer. I did not get injuries and self care is as important as how many runs you average.

The one where he closed his finger early and exposed the back of the finger to the cricket ball? That was incredibly stupid given his history

Regarding Metcalf, if I were the other teams’ recruitment manager, he’s probably looking for a 3-4 year million dollar deal and I don’t know if I’d want to throw 3-4 million on a guy with no proven track record of playing a full season.

What if he tears his Achilles 3rd round of the first season? Just another bad luck. Who’d look like the dumbass?

 

[CWC]

With all this talk about Metcalf, I think CHT has been a great foil for him and they’ve complemented each other well. CHT has been on the leaderboard for try assists for much of the season. Many didn’t think Metcalf at halfback would work with him predominantly playing as a running five eighth, with that being Jye Linnane’s position too, could the Warriors view him as a halfback?

I think the future is a running halfback with a big boot. We’ve got other goal kickers

CHT’s a good 6.5 to compliment them. So Linnane/Jett apparently both 6s so Webby probably plan to convert them to 7s

I’d say TT fits that criteria of fast, support play and has a long kick, seems to be composed too

Hopefully the article if it’s from the agent, is just the club and them unable to settle on market price and they’re using it to gauge where that line is. Would be pretty disappointing if he just want the $, without Webby and us paying for the hammy rehab he’d probably have retired by now

 

[JustVisiting82]

True but can we afford to get/build a new one and hope that they are just as good and not crash again.
No of course not. No certainties in this game

If you guys spin this analogy out much longer, pretty soon it's going to be hard to tell whether you are still talking about Metcalf or bonding over your shared interest in aircraft safety.

 

[OtautahiEast]

I’d offer Metcalf 700k base salary
100k bonus if he plays more then 20 1st grade games another 100k if he plays us to the top 8
And another 150k plus if he plays 20 plus games and we finish up top 4.
Performance based.

 

[Neo]

I’d offer Metcalf 700k base salary
100k bonus if he plays more then 20 1st grade games another 100k if he plays us to the top 8
And another 150k plus if he plays 20 plus games and we finish up top 4.
Performance based.

How do you balance your salary cap when there is a $350k difference in what you could be paying him each season? If that manager has other players on the roster and they find out about bonuses that aren’t applicable to them how do they feel? Does he then try to play busted to reach the games benchmark?

I know some players do get small bonuses for playing origin or internationals but they are manageable within the cap

 

[Five&Last]

How do you balance your salary cap when there is a $350k difference in what you could be paying him each season? If that manager has other players on the roster and they find out about bonuses that aren’t applicable to them how do they feel? Does he then try to play busted to reach the games benchmark?

I know some players do get small bonuses for playing origin or internationals but they are manageable within the cap

The answer is they don’t.

Big incentive payouts like that is fan fiction made up on this forum.

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Those of you suggesting $700k - might as well make no offer because the chances of Metcalf resigning for that are zero. Geez didn’t we offer Braden Hamlin Uele $2.2m over 3 seasons? You guys are suggesting the Warriors would have been prepared to offer a fringe first grade prop who almost never plays more coin a year ago than what we would look to extend Metcalf on from 2027? Read this slowly - YOU ARE DREAMING.