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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[Inruin]

I think Luke Metcalf topped the Daly Ms is illegitimate evidence as I really don't think anyone believes he was the best half back in the NRL this year. Who knows why he was winning it. Certainly not based on dominating the matches he was in.
He was good this year but not elite in my view.

Possibly more to do with who the judge is for our games.

 

[~Navigator~]

I think Luke Metcalf topped the Daly Ms is illegitimate evidence as I really don't think anyone believes he was the best half back in the NRL this year.

Could it be he was the better half back for the rounds the team won???
I'm not against you i just don't see any other better options at this point n time

 

[Wrighty]

Hi Wrighty. Your point somewhat stands when talking about the Raiders this year but they have yet to win a premiership and I think the Storm are odds on favourites with Hughes coming back and there are always outliers.

Since 2011 when we were last in the grand final here are the halves combos which won the premiership.

2024 - Penrith - Cleary & Luai
2023 - Penrith - Cleary & Luai
2022 - Penrith - Cleary & Luai
2021 - Penrith - Cleary & Luai
2020 - Melbourne - Munster & Hughes
2019 - Sydney City - Keary & Cronk
2018 - Sydney City - Keary & Cronk
2017 - Melbourne - Munster & Cronk
2016 - Cronulla - Maloney & Townsend
2015 - North Queensland - Morgan & Thurston
2014 - South Sydney - Keary & Reynolds
2013 - Sydney City - Maloney & Pearce
2012 - Melbourne - Widdop & Cronk
2011 - Manly - Foran & DCE

This supports my position that you need two very good halves to win a premiership.

The only year that did not happen above is 2016 when Townsend won a premiership but Melbourne really should have won that game and Cronulla had the peptide scandal but did not have their premiership taken off then. It is the outlier.

Further supporting this is that the only 2 times we have reached the grand final were 2002 and 2011. In 2011 we have a halves combo of Maloney & Johnson and in 2002 we had arguably our greatest ever half Stacey Jones.

So perhaps once every 14 years a team may win the comp with 1 average half and 1 very good half. The other 13 times the team winning the comp had 2 very good halves. It is not the only reason they won but it is a big factor.

Hi Warriors55

Thanks for researching this. I need to be careful in pushing too far as I accept that rugby league logic is you are correct. Especially based on this conclusive evidence you have provided.

I concede you are correct based on this evidence - thanks for digging all of this.

Sometimes some of my views are not based on sporting precedents but based on my MBA and studies of competitive strategies.
According to business strategies you are supposed to form a strategy, based on your competencies or accessible competencies rather than trying to develop competencies that don't exist natively in your organisation. Top level forwards are in our system and coming through the ranks. MBA theory is to double down on what you are good at and make that a point of difference rather than try to be good at everything.
Secondly if everyone else is following an established blue print that you need elite halves to win the Grand Final then what makes us think we can do that better than everyone else when they have more access to ever giving stocks of Australian halves when our natural market of NZ youngsters rarely gives us an elite half. To get Linnane we had to take a flyer on an injured recovering teenager others had given up on. The blue chip candidates aren't going to come here. We are more like to succeed if we Zag when everyone else Zigs.

That's all that was driving my posts really:
1) Is it realistic we can get two elite halves? Not really in my view so lets just focus on forwards and try to win that way
2) Why can't there be a first for everything where a team so dominant in the forwards wins it all with two bog average halves. Michael Witt was not great and went places with him. And as we both agree Fogarty and Strange are good but no one regards them as elite and they could win it all.

However you have answered my question so I thank you and I feel more educated on the topic by reading your post. I am happy to leave this with you are right and I am wrong as my remaining points are academic based on MBA competitive strategies for businesses trying to survive in competitive market places.

 

[Noitall]

Hi Warriors55

Thanks for researching this. I need to be careful in pushing too far as I accept that rugby league logic is you are correct. Especially based on this conclusive evidence you have provided.

I concede you are correct based on this evidence - thanks for digging all of this.

Sometimes some of my views are not based on sporting precedents but based on my MBA and studies of competitive strategies.
According to business strategies you are supposed to form a strategy, based on your competencies or accessible competencies rather than trying to develop competencies that don't exist natively in your organisation. Top level forwards are in our system and coming through the ranks. MBA theory is to double down on what you are good at and make that a point of difference rather than try to be good at everything.
Secondly if everyone else is following an established blue print that you need elite halves to win the Grand Final then what makes us think we can do that better than everyone else when they have more access to ever giving stocks of Australian halves when our natural market of NZ youngsters rarely gives us an elite half. To get Linnane we had to take a flyer on an injured recovering teenager others had given up on. The blue chip candidates aren't going to come here. We are more like to succeed if we Zag when everyone else Zigs.

That's all that was driving my posts really:
1) Is it realistic we can get two elite halves? Not really in my view so lets just focus on forwards and try to win that way
2) Why can't there be a first for everything where a team so dominant in the forwards wins it all with two bog average halves. Michael Witt was not great and went places with him. And as we both agree Fogarty and Strange are good but no one regards them as elite and they could win it all.

However you have answered my question so I thank you and I feel more educated on the topic by reading your post. I am happy to leave this with you are right and I am wrong as my remaining points are academic based on MBA competitive strategies for businesses trying to survive in competitive market places.

 

[Wrighty]

Could it be he was the better half back for the rounds the team won???
I'm not against you i just don't see any other better options at this point n time

Metcalf is here for 2926 no matter what. He is a man of honour and will not request an early release if he gets a Nov 1 2027 season offer from the Dragons or someone else.
As far as 2027 goes let's bank on Jett or Linnne or Thompson for 2027.

The other thing I want to note is that we are closer to having two elite halves than most people think.
If CHT stays healthy then I really think 2025 has been a breakthrough season for him and he is the answer at stand off.

CHT has 17 try assists and 8 tries in 21 games. Those are elite numbers based on different benchmarks I have run and better stats than either Fogarty or Strange have put up this year. Chanel is ranked 7th in NRL for try assists. The only stand off beating him is Munster - the other five guys are half backs who get more touches.

Because I think CHT is the answer we only need a half back. Somebody will emerge if we let Metcalf walk.

I would rather take Metcalf's $1M and give it to Tino.

I don't mind people who have said let's make a realistic offer and he either takes it or he doesn't. That is very similar to letting to him walk.

 

[Zaggo]

Metcalf is here for 2926 no matter what

Who the f allowed a 900 year contract!

 

[skinnydippng]

Metcalf is here for 2926 no matter what. He is a man of honour and will not request an early release if he gets a Nov 1 2027 season offer from the Dragons or someone else.
As far as 2027 goes let's bank on Jett or Linnne or Thompson for 2027.

The other thing I want to note is that we are closer to having two elite halves than most people think.
If CHT stays healthy then I really think 2025 has been a breakthrough season for him and he is the answer at stand off.

CHT has 17 try assists and 8 tries in 21 games. Those are elite numbers based on different benchmarks I have run and better stats than either Fogarty or Strange have put up this year. Chanel is ranked 7th in NRL for try assists. The only stand off beating him is Munster - the other five guys are half backs who get more touches.

Because I think CHT is the answer we only need a half back. Somebody will emerge if we let Metcalf walk.

I would rather take Metcalf's $1M and give it to Tino.

I don't mind people who have said let's make a realistic offer and he either takes it or he doesn't. That is very similar to letting to him walk.

Metcalf was getting all the praise from media/comms as he was having all the electric highlight reel plays, but we can't doubt CHT's improvement, contribution, as well as passion for the jersey.. I would suggest he still has plenty of room for more improvement particularly with stepping up when on the back foot, but so many people wrote him off after a game of wonky goalkicking when he was like fourth choice after a year off

I can't try to hide my bias though, he's been my favourite since he debuted, now for a completely unbiased statement can we please re-sign him also

 

[~Navigator~]

Metcalf is here for 2926 no matter

Wow really he is a clone

 

[John Nick]

Metcalf is here for 2926 no matter what. He is a man of honour and will not request an early release if he gets a Nov 1 2027 season offer from the Dragons or someone else.
As far as 2027 goes let's bank on Jett or Linnne or Thompson for 2027.

The other thing I want to note is that we are closer to having two elite halves than most people think.
If CHT stays healthy then I really think 2025 has been a breakthrough season for him and he is the answer at stand off.

CHT has 17 try assists and 8 tries in 21 games. Those are elite numbers based on different benchmarks I have run and better stats than either Fogarty or Strange have put up this year. Chanel is ranked 7th in NRL for try assists. The only stand off beating him is Munster - the other five guys are half backs who get more touches.

Because I think CHT is the answer we only need a half back. Somebody will emerge if we let Metcalf walk.

I would rather take Metcalf's $1M and give it to Tino.

I don't mind people who have said let's make a realistic offer and he either takes it or he doesn't. That is very similar to letting to him walk.

From my point of view its nothing to do with what we offer him its about his worth on the open market.
Do we match any other offers or not
All depends on how his recovery is going and what the other offers are and I can guarantee that they will be very lucrative and plenty of them

 

[Wrighty]

Metcalf was getting all the praise from media/comms as he was having all the electric highlight reel plays, but we can't doubt CHT's improvement, contribution, as well as passion for the jersey.. I would suggest he still has plenty of room for more improvement particularly with stepping up when on the back foot, but so many people wrote him off after a game of wonky goalkicking when he was like fourth choice after a year off

I can't try to hide my bias though, he's been my favourite since he debuted, now for a completely unbiased statement can we please re-sign him also

Some people believe all 80 minutes is important. I believe there are key moments in a game and last week against the Dragons CHT did a key big hit while we were losing that changed the whole match. Good on you for being loyal to him all this time. There is more of argument to pay him $1M than Metcalf in my opinion.

 

[Noitall]

From my point of view its nothing to do with what we offer him its about his worth on the open market.
Do we match any other offers or not
All depends on how his recovery is going and what the other offers are and I can guarantee that they will be very lucrative and plenty of them

The longer he goes unsigned past 2026, the more I think he wants to see what his market value is or the the club have reservations about his injuries

 

[Warriors55]

Hi Warriors55

Thanks for researching this. I need to be careful in pushing too far as I accept that rugby league logic is you are correct. Especially based on this conclusive evidence you have provided.

I concede you are correct based on this evidence - thanks for digging all of this.

Sometimes some of my views are not based on sporting precedents but based on my MBA and studies of competitive strategies.
According to business strategies you are supposed to form a strategy, based on your competencies or accessible competencies rather than trying to develop competencies that don't exist natively in your organisation. Top level forwards are in our system and coming through the ranks. MBA theory is to double down on what you are good at and make that a point of difference rather than try to be good at everything.
Secondly if everyone else is following an established blue print that you need elite halves to win the Grand Final then what makes us think we can do that better than everyone else when they have more access to ever giving stocks of Australian halves when our natural market of NZ youngsters rarely gives us an elite half. To get Linnane we had to take a flyer on an injured recovering teenager others had given up on. The blue chip candidates aren't going to come here. We are more like to succeed if we Zag when everyone else Zigs.

That's all that was driving my posts really:
1) Is it realistic we can get two elite halves? Not really in my view so lets just focus on forwards and try to win that way
2) Why can't there be a first for everything where a team so dominant in the forwards wins it all with two bog average halves. Michael Witt was not great and went places with him. And as we both agree Fogarty and Strange are good but no one regards them as elite and they could win it all.

However you have answered my question so I thank you and I feel more educated on the topic by reading your post. I am happy to leave this with you are right and I am wrong as my remaining points are academic based on MBA competitive strategies for businesses trying to survive in competitive market places.

Thank you for your detailed reply Wrighty. I always appreciate how respectful you are to other forum posters.

There is something to what you said about playing to your strengths and that perhaps being overly strong in one area will make up for deficiencies in other areas.

Traditionally we have struggled to find two elite halves at the same time. For whatever reason we don't seem to develop them in NZ or alternatively they are poached by Australian clubs at a young age. Then we can only sign journeyman Australian halves in return (with the exception of Maloney and Metcalf).

Your point 1 above is actually very interesting. I believe that in Metcalf and Jett Cleary we do have two elite halves (one is still to develop) which is why we can't let this opportunity get away from us. With our progressive forward strength plus those two halves and one or two astute signings in the backs and we have a bona fide premiership winning team.

Very curious to see if the Raiders can do the business this year and perhaps set a different kind of blueprint for winning a premiership. They have an elite group of forwards, young skillful backs, and a good organizing half with a ball running 6 but no superstar half.

Happy to leave it here as you say and thank you for the different perspective on what is best for the club moving forward.

 

[Kaos A.D.]

Every club has their own Iron Lion.

I wish we'd hurry up and announce the Matai/Watmough signings though.

oh thats blast from the past the rumoured Matai/Watmough signings .... isnt it so good that we can just look within our own club for quality signings.... instead of praying that a rumour come true

 

[CWC]

Wow 3 pages of Metcalf debate based on a post from someone on coke across the ditch

We offer him 2-3 years market price that’s not Dylan Brown ridiculous and if he doesn’t like it we keep him for 26 and Jye Linnane debuts mid-season and will be his clone at 7 in 27. Easy

What Metcalf has shown is that Webby can turn a young fast Aussie with big game temperament into a potential dally m winner within 30 games, not the other way around

 

[sup42]

With all due respect Wrighty (and I do have a lot of respect for you) this is exactly the opposite way we should be thinking. You do not win a comp with 2 average halves no matter how great your pack is. Webby will know that.

We seem to be growing big fast elusive young forwards on trees atm.

If players like Lennox Tuiloma make it to NRL and say someone like Crosby cuts it at Prop, the Warriors will have their own elite Props home grown.

Big ifs, but still, there are guys like Dimitric proving our backrowers can play Prop too.

We certainly do therefore want to put our best salaries in our halves.

We just need to be patient with the Props and be generous with our offers to Australian half backs.

 

[sup42]

I personally think we should settle for having moderately priced halves but stack our pack.
Tino is approachable November 1 for the 2027 season. I would go all chips in on him. I think he is amazing. Whether his shoulder charge was illegal or not he led from the front last night for his team and laid a shot on our captain and 4 time premiership winner James Fisher Harris in the opening statement of the game and then 2 minutes later scored the opening try. Whatever price it takes to get him I would pay.

The Bulldogs tried this model under Des Hasler. They had the best pack in the comp and rubbish backs.

It worked, they did very well, but did not win the comp. And the other issue is it is not a sustainable model.

The clubs that dominate the NRL, win championships and finish high in the top four year after year always have the best backlines in the comp, especially their halves.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Interesting debate about the merits of superstar halves.

My take is could it be a chicken and egg scenario. All the superstar halves are only superstars in @Warriors55 list because they won the title? I would put forward the common factor in all the premiership winners is the superstar coaches - Bellamy, Cleary, Robinson, etc.

I believe a good coach makes a good half become elite by providing the structure and game plan for them to excel (obviously you need the base skills for the coach to work with!)

It’s why under Webster SJ played his best, Metcalf has carved up and CHT is currently amungst the best stat wise in the competition.

Chicken and egg. If CHT and Boyd win the title this year, in a decade we will say they were elite halves.

Some of the halves in that list I see as good solid halves and they are just seen as elite in hindsight because they won the title and had an elite coach.

So therefore I think @wrightys forward dominant strategy could work if Webster can get the most out of serviceable halves and make them elite within his limited, conservative system.

 

[Tragic]

those anointing Cleary as the savior are jumping the gun, dude hasn't done shit yet. He might. But he is getting pumped up because his brother is good. He is on nowhere near the same trajectory as Nathan. Not yet anyway.

 

[sup42]

those anointing Cleary as the savior are jumping the gun, dude hasn't done shit yet. He might. But he is getting pumped up because his brother is good. He is on nowhere near the same trajectory as Nathan. Not yet anyway.

Surely no one realistic thinks he can be his brother? The brother is possibly the best ever so....

There are two things I care about, one is that we do not waste too much of our time on someone that is very likely to piss off the Penrith as soon as Dad asks.

The other is that if the very unlikely happens and Cleary stays, that he is happy and thriving.

I don't actually give a stuff if he ends up being rubbish. I take it all at face value. I guess I am very sceptical about the Cleary signing and will not waste my emotional investment in a player that is most likely passing through.

 

[CWC]

I wouldn’t mind a deal between Ivan and Webby that Jett gets developed and piss off back to Penrith and we get Nathan