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	The Greatest of All-Time	✔	✔
5	Kurt Capewell	✔	✔
6	Erin Clark	✔	✔	✔
7	Wayde Egan	✔	✔	✔
8	James Fisher-Harris	✔	✔	✔	✔
9	Jackson Ford	✔
10	Leka Halasima	✔	✔	✔
11	Tohu Harris	✔
12	Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔	M
13	Sam Healey	✔	✔	✔
14	Edward Kosi	✔
15	Jacob Laban	✔	✔
16	Ali Leiataua	✔
17	Freddy Lussick	✔	✔
18	Zyon Maiu’u	✔	✔
19	Te Maire Martin	✔
20	Luke Metcalf	✔	✔
21	Marcelo Montoya	✔
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	✔
D1	Kalani Going	D
D2	Tanner Stowers-Smith	D
T1	Jett Cleary	T	D	D

C = Club option, M = Mutual option, P = Player option, D = Development contract, T = Train & Trial contract

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

Confirmed Top 30 2026: 14/30
Confirmed Development 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Nil
2026 Losses: Nil

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Jackson Ford, Tohu Harris, Ed Kosi, Ali Leiataua, Te Maire Martin, Marcelo Montoya, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Adam Pompey, Taine Tuaupiki, Dylan Walker, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Kalani Going (D), Tanner Stowers-Smith (D), Chanel Harris-Tavita (M), Demitric Vaimauga (C)

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[Warriorsfan92]

One of Metcalf and TMM are going to get hurt in the first 8 games, almost guaranteed. We'll be playing a non half in our halves approx 30% of the time if it's these three. Busted SJ is better than playing CNK or Walker at 6, which we still had to do even with four halves.

Our defence better fucking improve after how shit it was.

Yea. We really need a third half option. CHT is a good fill in, but if he’s there for an extended period then that’s a serious concern. You look at any other successful club and their cap is spent on the spine. For us, we’ve spent it on the pack. We need a cap restructure imo. The storm have an elite spine & workman forwards & other club castaways and they’re in the GF. It’s a simple blueprint

 

[Tookey 2.0]

Yea. We really need a third half option. CHT is a good fill in, but if he’s there for an extended period then that’s a serious concern. You look at any other successful club and their cap is spent on the spine. For us, we’ve spent it on the pack. We need a cap restructure imo. The storm have an elite spine & workman forwards & other club castaways and they’re in the GF. It’s a simple blueprint

I would like to agree and respectfully disagree with you sir.

Yes, it's a simple blueprint, but if it was that simple everyone would be doing it.

I don't know how, but Storm have always had a pretty big luxury with spine players. I know they're not all juniors but over the past 10 years they've had:

Papz
Munster
Hughes
Grant
Drinkwater
Hynes
B Smith
C Smith
Slater
Cronk
Widdop

And probably a few others I've missed. Most teams would be lucky to have 2 or 3 spine players of that quality in a 10 year period but they are consistently having 3-5 top players in their spine, with many having to leave to get game time somewhere else.

Simple blueprint, almost impossible to replicate imo

 

[Warriorsfan92]

I would like to agree and respectfully disagree with you sir.

Yes, it's a simple blueprint, but if it was that simple everyone would be doing it.

I don't know how, but Storm have always had a pretty big luxury with spine players. I know they're not all juniors but over the past 10 years they've had:

Papz
Munster
Hughes
Grant
Drinkwater
Hynes
B Smith
C Smith
Slater
Cronk
Widdop

And probably a few others I've missed. Most teams would be lucky to have 2 or 3 spine players of that quality in a 10 year period but they are consistently having 3-5 top players in their spine, with many having to leave to get game time somewhere else.

Simple blueprint, almost impossible to replicate imo

Perhaps but that’s where their priority lies, and then players want to go to learn from that spine & it produces a conveyor belt of talent. It’s a chicken & egg situation but they’ve clearly got a plan that they’re executing

 

[Cces]

AFB will be missed but the optimist in me thinks losing him & gaining JFH will be a net positive. AFB might've run for about 50 more metres pg in 2024 but he also played an extra 13'ish more minutes. JFH's minutes will likely increase under Webster so that 50m difference will likely end of more like 25m & I can live with that considering getting into field position to score wasn't a major issue this season, stopping the opposition was. Both tackle at 96% but being a bit smaller JFH is better laterally, seems more likely to put a momentum shifting shot on & IMO is less likely to give up on the play when covering from the inside

 

[tyrael]

AFB will be missed but the optimist in me thinks losing him & gaining JFH will be a net positive. AFB might've run for about 50 more metres pg in 2024 but he also played an extra 13'ish more minutes. JFH's minutes will likely increase under Webster so that 50m difference will likely end of more like 25m & I can live with that considering getting into field position to score wasn't a major issue this season, stopping the opposition was. Both tackle at 96% but being a bit smaller JFH is better laterally, seems more likely to put a momentum shifting shot on & IMO is less likely to give up on the play when covering from the inside

JFH upside will be his aura. His mana.

He'll make everyone play 5% better.

Who is captain next year? Tohu? Or we going straight for Fish?

 

[SJ2k]

I think it should be Fish tbh, dude's mana is off the charts. His status in one of the goat NRL teams is something special. Let Barney focus on himself. Tohu can focus on being fit and providing whatever value he can.

 

[Tookey 2.0]

This year we were fantastic with our forwards and as most agree, were able to get us down to the right end of the field. I can't see this changing too much next year. Yes we are losing Adding but with JFH and hopefully our rookies improving and a fit Tohu, we should still have that platform.

The halves struggled big time this year. SJ's decline, injuries and then shuffling the team around meant we there were issues all over the shop. IF, and it's a big if - TMM and Metcalf are fit for 20+ games next year I feel that we have enough upside in our halves to comfortably make the 8. We don't know how TMM and Metcalf will gel, but TMM showed enough as a dominant half, with LM showing he's still dangerous on attack and is learning to put his outside men away. If they click and get things going we could even be pushing top 4 imo.

Biggest thing that needs working on is our grit on d. I'd be happy to strip everything back this year and focus on d. We were about 120 points - or 20 tries worse defensively this year than last year. Not even looking at how well score our points, if we did nothing differently to our attack from this year but improved our D back to where it was last year we'd be top 8.

So, for me there's a lot of excitement. If nothing improves but our D, I think we'll be very close to top 8. If we improve a little in other areas I think we'll be 6-8 and if things click well with our halves and we have one or two break out year from Sifa, Halasima or Ali then I think we're pushing top 4.

 

[Tohu’s_Knees]

Some good points being raised by some members. And I agree with a lot of it.

According to the “Legz” website.

JFH has played 21 games, averaging 46.52 minutes. Total 977 minutes.

AFB has played 23 games, averaging 60.26 minutes. Total 1386 minutes.

Barnett played 23 games, averaging 65.48 minutes. Total 1506 minutes.

JFH is obviously replacing AFB, so……..
AFB plays an average 13.74 minutes more than JFH.
13.74 x 21 (the amount of games JFH played)
Amounts to 288.54 minutes.

Divide 288.54 minutes by 46.52 (JFH’s average) = 6.2

AFB essentially played 6.2 more games than JFH did. NOT including the actual amount of literal extra games he played.

That……. Is a massive hole. Can JFH make up some of it? Probably, not all of it though. Not to mention he’s getting injured a lot more.

Tell you what, those who discredit Tohu better hope he comes right. Because he is/was our Yeo. The “ball playing lock” most are desperate to have.
Yeo is 195cm and 107kg
Tohu is 195cm and 112kg
Basically, they’re huge.
Walker? 181cm and 98kg

We’ll probably have to go back to a proper 4 prop rotation. Barnett can’t take on much more, I predict his numbers won’t be the same as this year so that’s even more that the others have to take on.

Penrith and Melbourne’s bench’s are huge.
We have, Tom Ale and Erin Clark and a young but talented Sifakula……..
Bring back Bunty lol

 

[CWC]

TBH the biggest recruit from now on is the defensive coach

We are averaging 21 points on attack and conceding 24 per game, the likes of Manly/Knights conceded 21 per game and the best teams ie Sharks, Dogs, Storm, Roosters etc about 17-18 (Panthers at an insane sub 400 total) if we cut down 1 try given away per game we'd have a positive PD and probably win 4 more games to finish with 33 points good enough to finish 6th/7th, without even improving our attack which looked better since mid season with Taine at the back & CNK at the front, and TMM dishing up try assists and Metcalf providing pace.

The No.2 priority is halfback depth, or is Hughes interested to play 2-3 seasons with us, when is he off contract? We can make the cap work.

 

[CWC]

Just thinking about the centre rotation, I was wanting Ali/CNK combo to start the season now I'm leaning towards Pompey/CNK, due to RTS at left wing, it'd be pretty leaky with 2 clueless "newbies" defending the same edge, might be better for Pompey to coach RTS into rhythm & Ali to focus on D, then bring him in after a couple of months when RTS is confident

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

Just thinking about the centre rotation, I was wanting Ali/CNK combo to start the season now I'm leaning towards Pompey/CNK, due to RTS at left wing, it'd be pretty leaky with 2 clueless "newbies" defending the same edge, might be better for Pompey to coach RTS into rhythm & Ali to focus on D, then bring him in after a couple of months when RTS is confident

RTS is a 31 year old with over 200 NRL games. If he is a clueless "newbie" at left wing wtf would you play him there?

 

[hornbybrown]

Ali not having a new deal is starting to make me nervous. In one month he can negotiate with other clubs.

That right at this moment is the most important thing we need to get done,

 

[CWC]

Some good points being raised by some members. And I agree with a lot of it.

According to the “Legz” website.

JFH has played 21 games, averaging 46.52 minutes. Total 977 minutes.

AFB has played 23 games, averaging 60.26 minutes. Total 1386 minutes.

Barnett played 23 games, averaging 65.48 minutes. Total 1506 minutes.

JFH is obviously replacing AFB, so……..
AFB plays an average 13.74 minutes more than JFH.
13.74 x 21 (the amount of games JFH played)
Amounts to 288.54 minutes.

Divide 288.54 minutes by 46.52 (JFH’s average) = 6.2

AFB essentially played 6.2 more games than JFH did. NOT including the actual amount of literal extra games he played.

That……. Is a massive hole. Can JFH make up some of it? Probably, not all of it though. Not to mention he’s getting injured a lot more.

Tell you what, those who discredit Tohu better hope he comes right. Because he is/was our Yeo. The “ball playing lock” most are desperate to have.
Yeo is 195cm and 107kg
Tohu is 195cm and 112kg
Basically, they’re huge.
Walker? 181cm and 98kg

We’ll probably have to go back to a proper 4 prop rotation. Barnett can’t take on much more, I predict his numbers won’t be the same as this year so that’s even more that the others have to take on.

Penrith and Melbourne’s bench’s are huge.
We have, Tom Ale and Erin Clark and a young but talented Sifakula……..
Bring back Bunty lol

Was thinking
JFH 25min -> Erin
Barney 55min -> JFH
So JFH 50min, Barney 55min, Erin 55min altogether
Marata 25min -> Sifakula/Halasima 30min (15 either half) -> Marata 25min (50min total)
Tohu 30min -> Walker 50min, Tohu as injury cover

If Capewah & Marata injured for half the year like this season -
Laban 40min -> Barney to left edge x 20min -> Laban
Tohu 15min -> JFH (Tohu to cover extra 15min for a total of 45min)
Sifakula 40min -> Halasima
So you use 2 extra rotations

Or Laban 60min while Tohu spells Barney after HT for 15min -> JFH, then Barney takes Laban's edge at 60min mark

I'm putting Sifakula on the edge as Clark will take the top bench prop minutes anyway, and we look like we could sign kiwi props for 2026, might as well develop with Halasima to be the future 2nd row pairing from 2027 when Capewah/Marata are done or winding down

 

[hornbybrown]

Some good points being raised by some members. And I agree with a lot of it.

According to the “Legz” website.

JFH has played 21 games, averaging 46.52 minutes. Total 977 minutes.

AFB has played 23 games, averaging 60.26 minutes. Total 1386 minutes.

Barnett played 23 games, averaging 65.48 minutes. Total 1506 minutes.

JFH is obviously replacing AFB, so……..
AFB plays an average 13.74 minutes more than JFH.
13.74 x 21 (the amount of games JFH played)
Amounts to 288.54 minutes.

Divide 288.54 minutes by 46.52 (JFH’s average) = 6.2

AFB essentially played 6.2 more games than JFH did. NOT including the actual amount of literal extra games he played.

That……. Is a massive hole. Can JFH make up some of it? Probably, not all of it though. Not to mention he’s getting injured a lot more.

Tell you what, those who discredit Tohu better hope he comes right. Because he is/was our Yeo. The “ball playing lock” most are desperate to have.
Yeo is 195cm and 107kg
Tohu is 195cm and 112kg
Basically, they’re huge.
Walker? 181cm and 98kg

We’ll probably have to go back to a proper 4 prop rotation. Barnett can’t take on much more, I predict his numbers won’t be the same as this year so that’s even more that the others have to take on.

Penrith and Melbourne’s bench’s are huge.
We have, Tom Ale and Erin Clark and a young but talented Sifakula……..
Bring back Bunty lol

I’m pretty sure JFH is capable of more minutes if needed. Panthers have a far better middle forward rotation than we do. They are able to keep JFH and Leota fresh both in individual games but also season long because of that far better depth

 

[CWC]

RTS is a 31 year old with over 200 NRL games. If he is a clueless "newbie" at left wing wtf would you play him there?

He looked pretty clueless defending on the wing this year and in other positions he was running into touch like a newbie on his first year back to league so

Why I play him there - he sucked at centre and I want Taine at FB for cohesion and I'm not in the camp of sending him to Japan, and he's an upgrade to Monty on the wing and placeholder for our junior wingers until his contract ends so.

Do you want Ali working with him on edge D to start the year and risk both having their confidence shot? While we have a very solid experienced defensive centre sitting there

 

[CWC]

I'd prefer JFH to come in and tell Webby mate you are gonna bust all of us if you don't adopt the minutes to keep players fresh for the long season, give the 4th bench player some minutes and have everyone play 50-60min instead of 65-75min until they're worn out

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

He looked pretty clueless defending on the wing this year and in other positions he was running into touch like a newbie on his first year back to league so

Why I play him there - he sucked at centre and I want Taine at FB for cohesion and I'm not in the camp of sending him to Japan, and he's an upgrade to Monty on the wing and placeholder for our junior wingers until his contract ends so.

Do you want Ali working with him on edge D to start the year and risk both having their confidence shot? While we have a very solid experienced defensive centre sitting there

So you want to play someone who you think is clueless at defending. You should perhaps revisit the sending him to Japan camp if you think he cannot defend. I know you want to put him somewhere but really do we need him?

I have been vocal about my thoughts about RTS. I would not select him as he is just a handbrake to our young players and one dimensional as a player. He can be great at getting meters and is good defending outside the defensive line but we already have a team that can gain meters we need people who can convert the meters into points.

 

[peewee]

So you want to play someone who you think is clueless at defending. You should perhaps revisit the sending him to Japan camp if you think he cannot defend. I know you want to put him somewhere but really do we need him?

I have been vocal about my thoughts about RTS. I would not select him as he is just a handbrake to our young players and one dimensional as a player. He can be great at getting meters and is good defending outside the defensive line but we already have a team that can gain meters we need people who can convert the meters into points.

Seriously... Can anyone on here tell me WHY we need RTS.
I cannot see any reason why.
Send him to Japan and use the money on someone we actually NEED

 

[hornbybrown]

Seriously... Can anyone on here tell me WHY we need RTS.
I cannot see any reason why.
Send him to Japan and use the money on someone we actually NEED

I lean slightly towards giving him a full season on left wing.
We didn’t help him by playing him in so many positions and both sides.

But if he came to the club and asked to be let go I would say yes with little hesitation

 

[Tookey 2.0]

Make peace with Roger on the wing (or worse, centre) please fellas, he's gunna be in the team regardless what we all think.
If he gets a full preseason under his belt I think he's an upgrade on the wing over Montoya, while also being an above average replacement mid-game at fb or even centre if need be.