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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[Boats n Hoes]

Rumour:
Warriors chasing Briton Nikora - ex Ngāruawāhia Panther.

Ohh......i like that rumour

 

[Worried2Death]

Ohh......i like that rumour

Exciting, far more threatening edge than Jacko Ford and even Marata

 

[Wrighty]

Rumour:
Warriors chasing Briton Nikora - ex Ngāruawāhia Panther.

Put me down as we should pass on him. I have posted my reasons before. I won't be drawn into a debate to defend my position.
4 Votes for
1 Vote Against

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

Put me down as we should pass on him. I have posted my reasons before. I won't be drawn into a debate to defend my position.
4 Votes for
1 Vote Against

5 Votes for.

 

[Worried2Death]

5 Votes for.

6-1

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Put me down as we should pass on him. I have posted my reasons before. I won't be drawn into a debate to defend my position.
4 Votes for
1 Vote Against

Im with you.

 

[Worried2Death]

6-2, the comeback's on

 

[Noitall]

6-2, the comeback's on

Would that see Niukore shift to front row permanently if they got Nikora?

 

[Worried2Death]

Would that see Niukore shift to front row permanently if they got Nikora?

For sure, Capes and Nikora edges with Halasima/Laban backups

 

[tajhay]

IF the Nikora rumour is true, has anyone done a breakdown of where the money is going towards the structure of the team in terms of salary cap management? Its EXTREMELY pack heavy.

Thought the pack did well this year, it was the backline/halves that absolutely failed the rest of the team.

 

[Wrighty]

6-2, the comeback's on

Spurred by the timely support of Mr Frank White - I will make a small post then leave it

Briton Nikora is non clutch. And does not show up when it matters.
In the game of the season vs the Panthers on Saturday night his tackle efficiency was 79%. This was the lowest of all the Sharks forwards. He ran for 68 metres. Those numbers both offence and defence sum him up.
And although y'all have seen him run great lines and score tries on the crash ball. He also for those who have seen a lot of him spills a lot of pill on some of those crash balls and spoils a certain try..
Obviously not wanted by the Sharks a top 4 team but we do want him?
I have said other comments about him in the past that weren't polite and someone rightly asked me to apologise. So I won't say those things again. But he does not execute when really needed.

 

[Worried2Death]

Spurred by the timely support of Mr Frank White - I will make a small post then leave it

Briton Nikora is non clutch. And does not show up when it matters.
In the game of the season vs the Panthers on Saturday night his tackle efficiency was 79%. This was the lowest of all the Sharks forwards. He ran for 68 metres. Those numbers both offence and defence sum him up.
And although y'all have seen him run great lines and score tries on the crash ball. He also for those who have seen a lot of him spills a lot of pill on some of those crash balls and spoils a certain try..
Obviously not wanted by the Sharks a top 4 team but we do want him?
I have said other comments about him in the past that weren't polite and someone rightly asked me to apologise. So I won't say those things again. But he does not execute when really needed.

Food for thought Wrighty, although I did see him get some dodgy ball from their halves this year too, Trindall and Hynes.

 

[Worried2Death]

IF the Nikora rumour is true, has anyone done a breakdown of where the money is going towards the structure of the team in terms of salary cap management? Its EXTREMELY pack heavy.

Thought the pack did well this year, it was the backline/halves that absolutely failed the rest of the team.

It is a bit worrying we're not prioritising the spine more ala Storm and Panthers

 

[Ferdie]

Let's not block the pathways. If we sign Nikora and it cost's us Halasima, I'll be gutted!

 

[JaggedJ]

My 2 cents for what it's worth.

1) Due to his size, Nikora is icing, not cake. Speed I like, but if you're struggling up front he's not going to be a difference maker.

2) We'll have JFH/Barnett up front so I don't see point 1 being a negative issue.

3) Has Cappy been informed we're allowed to recruit players outside of the Sharks?

4) Concerned we're spending too much $$$ and effort in the forwards.

5) As it stands right now I don't even have room for Ford/Niukore in my preferred 17. Adding another experienced forward is going to push youngsters further down which I don't like.

6) My dog ate dog food and then it's breath smelt like dog food.

 

[chrisnz]

funny because i seen the way fisher harris and Nikora were talking after the game the other day and I genuinely thought we might be in talks with him atm go back and watch the end of the game if u have time u will see what i mean.

 

[Worried2Death]

funny because i seen the way fisher harris and Nikora were talking after the game the other day and I genuinely thought we might be in talks with him atm go back and watch the end of the game if u have time u will see what i mean.

They did have a long chat, hope we see Fish in deep discussions with Hughes on Sunday too. Yeah nah bro is not an acceptable answer.

 

[chrisnz]

They did have a long chat, hope we see Fish in deep discussions with Hughes on Sunday too. Nah bro is not an acceptable answer.

it wasn't the length that piqued my interest was the fact they were covering there mouths as they spoke so nobody could make out what they were saying and it didn't seem like a hey bro good game or haven't caught up with ya in a while how's the kids kind of body language may be well off the mark why i never shared this thought until now

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

IF the Nikora rumour is true, has anyone done a breakdown of where the money is going towards the structure of the team in terms of salary cap management? Its EXTREMELY pack heavy.

Thought the pack did well this year, it was the backline/halves that absolutely failed the rest of the team.

For all we know this is planning for 2026. If say Ford was leaving and his replacement was Nikora then it would be a gain. It would also indicate that the coaches do not see our young edges coming through being ready until 2027 which is when Capewell has left. It is a worry not hearing anything about a half/back recruits as our most promising players in development seem to be forwards.

 

[Inruin]

I went back and looked at our season, Only on 4 occasions out of 24 games played did the opposition score more than 30 points on the Warriors. In the other 20 matches we defended solidly or averagely.

I think we were ok defensively and that our issues were offence. And goaf kicking. CHT makes 75% all his drop goals and conversions and we would have been in the top 8.
We finished 9th out of 17 teams for total points conceded on the NRL ladder. We would have finished higher up in my opinion had our offence been better. Why? Then we would have had repeat sets and been able to run them ragged.
We came 11th for total points scored.
I also think we would have been higher defensively due to a reason not connected to tackling or defensive reads or attitude and muscling up. I think our discipline in the ruck was poor and we gave away at least 40 piggy back penalties for lying on the ruck.

I went and counted Tigers. They gave away more than 30 points on 10 occasions compared to our 4 occasions.

I have also thought a lot about it. And two months ago you quoted Andrew Johns to me "Defence is the most important thing"

Johns last played in 2007.

The game has moved on. Particularly in the last 4 years with the six again rule. Now it is about getting a roll on and getting repeat sets after a try and scoring again. The goal is to have one part of the game where you have the pill exclusively for 7 to 8 minutes and socre 3 to 4 tries and bury them. It is all about momentum in the game now.

If the game has moved on, what are the top sides conceding on average and why is that so much better than ours? The top 4 sides were conceding at least 5 points less per game than us. All averaged under 19.3 points conceded per game. The Panthers only conceded 16.4 points per game!

And it's not just Andrew Johns who is saying this. Phil Gould, Cooper Cronk..... And the list goes on.

Leave all of that to the side, the game hasn't changed since last season. Now honestly sit there and tell me our defensive resilience and effort was anywhere near what it was last year. It's not even close.

We scored on average 21.3 points per game and we couldn't defend well enough to win. Simple as that really. Could our attack have been better? Sure. But scoring points was not the issue for us this season.