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	-	✔	✔	✔
-	Braelan Marsh	-	?	?	?
-	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), Braelan Marsh (Redcliffe Dolphins), 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]

We did lose Paul Roache and Jesse Soric too, so that was a couple of halves that departed. Roache in nsw cup who got a game or so in first grade and Soric who was in the junior pathways. Think what you’re saying is legit, but there’s an element of replacing players and players coming up grades too

I think the reality is that we aren't producing a great number of prospects coming through in these key positions like halfback. While there will be some incidental benefits like having our players playing alongside Australian raised halves, the main purpose seems to be to load our junior teams with them in the hope they develop into a very good player and hit first grade for us. Its a position we need to bolster, and Cappy will go off shore to find recruits if we have a weakness in that area with players coming through.

 

[Noitall]

I think the reality is that we aren't producing a great number of prospects coming through in these key positions like halfback. While there will be some incidental benefits like having our players playing alongside Australian raised halves, the main purpose seems to be to load our junior teams with them in the hope they develop into a very good player and hit first grade for us. Its a position we need to bolster, and Cappy will go off shore to find recruits if we have a weakness in that area with players coming through.

Really hard too with young guys because they haven’t fully gone through their growing and a halve can grow that can make them redundant for the position, some like Francis Manuleleua

 

[John Nick]

Really hard too with young guys because they haven’t fully gone through their growing and a halve can grow that can make them redundant for the position, some like Francis Manuleleua

The Australian spine recruits have been trained by specialists in schools like Keebra Park and Palm Beach Currumbin. Eg Benji Dearden Sexton etc.
The comps are very intense and of a very high quality. Hence why they are further advanced than our juniors

 

[Noitall]

The Australian spine recruits have been trained by specialists in schools like Keebra Park and Palm Beach Currumbin. Eg Benji Dearden Sexton etc.
The comps are very intense and of a very high quality. Hence why they are further advanced than our juniors

Yeah I understand that, I think too that we have been more likely to see many of the players in NZ come through 1st 15 rugby as that’s just always been our favoured code, whereas these young guys you’re alluding to have been nurtured in rugby league strongholds as schools

 

[sup42]

I think the reality is that we aren't producing a great number of prospects coming through in these key positions like halfback. While there will be some incidental benefits like having our players playing alongside Australian raised halves, the main purpose seems to be to load our junior teams with them in the hope they develop into a very good player and hit first grade for us. Its a position we need to bolster, and Cappy will go off shore to find recruits if we have a weakness in that area with players coming through.

Too simplistic and old thinking.

McFadden has jumped ahead of this philosophy. We are recruiting too many Aussie kids for it to be about NRL as a main focus, and they are too young to be expected to live here and become the future halves at NRL level.

Even eighteen year olds are looking at realistically three years before making NRL, more like four years, then sign a three year deal, you are talking a six to seven year commitment to living out their young lives in New Zealand. If it is about NRL then that is totally unrealistic when the reality is that either way, we will be a nursery for Australian clubs to plunder, we might as well reap the benefits of having kids here that will inevitably leave - to do that we need to understand that NRL is not the singular goal.

We saw with Reece Walsh how that looks.

It is about raising standards in our development pathways by recruiting players that are advanced in the fundamentals of the sport first, and if you think about it that is what McFaddens purview is as the clubs development manager, as an ex Warriors coach he knows exactly what is missing in the New Zealand system, and any old league head will tell you it is park footy standards and coaching in our grass roots system is seeing local players significantly under tooled, under prepared, under skilled in the cognitive part of the sport.

Many of you will remember the NRL segment when SJ was mic'd up and we got to hear him directing the forwards, where to stand where to run, so on and so forth, dare i say it was an eye opener to see how much directorship a halfback is responsible for, having talkative Aussie kids barking those directions at the next Leka Halasima from the under 18 grades is going to make a big difference to our players.

 

[Blain]

Capewells been great!

He is certainly a leader and can slide to centre which has been helpful (got found out with lack of speed though), but is he really offering enough on the field right now as a 80 minute second rower? Can we afford to have him average 77m per game with an 85% tackling record, while offering little in attack? I don't think he should be a lock in for the starting second row spot for 2026, considering who is competing for the same spot in 2026. I certainly think our second rowers of Marata and Capewell have limited our attack out wide this season. We were unable to give our backs space in most games.

I'm not saying cut him, but I think a transition to the bench to allow a Laban to grow into the starting role is the smart move for 2026. I can't see Kurt here in 2027.

 

[Inruin]

Really hard too with young guys because they haven’t fully gone through their growing and a halve can grow that can make them redundant for the position, some like Francis Manuleleua

The alternative to this is that we try and pay big money for an already existing NRL half which is unlikely for us to be able to do without paying big overs.

Bringing in young Aussie talent is a smart move, not just because it helps in a position we are weak in, but it also helps with our cap not having to pay overs too as they are already here. Yes we will lose some but better to lose some of something than have nothing to start with.

Do we have any young NZ halves coming through the grades currently?

 

[Noitall]

The alternative to this is that we try and pay big money for an already existing NRL half which is unlikely for us to be able to do without paying big overs.

Bringing in young Aussie talent is a smart move, not just because it helps in a position we are weak in, but it also helps with our cap not having to pay overs too as they are already here. Yes we will lose some but better to lose some of something than have nothing to start with.

Do we have any young NZ halves coming through the grades currently?

This year really has been the shift to Aussie halves in nsw cup with last year seeing players come in and replace injuries to the likes of SJ and Metcalf and the likes of Paul Roache and Ben Farr spending time there in nsw cup. Last Kiwi halves pairing in the grade was probably Sefanaia Cowley Lupo and Xavier Harris Tito in 2023, but Tito has since gone to union and I think Cowley Lupo has since shifted positions? Not sure if he’s even still with the club? I definitely think we’re heading the correct route, but as long as we’re good enough to develop them in the position, which I think we now are but not previously. The amount of Kiwi halves in the comp have likely gone to the level they have is likely because of the systems they are in and their own personal drive

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Too simplistic and old thinking.

McFadden has jumped ahead of this philosophy. We are recruiting too many Aussie kids for it to be about NRL as a main focus, and they are too young to be expected to live here and become the future halves at NRL level.

Even eighteen year olds are looking at realistically three years before making NRL, more like four years, then sign a three year deal, you are talking a six to seven year commitment to living out their young lives in New Zealand. If it is about NRL then that is totally unrealistic when the reality is that either way, we will be a nursery for Australian clubs to plunder, we might as well reap the benefits of having kids here that will inevitably leave - to do that we need to understand that NRL is not the singular goal.

We saw with Reece Walsh how that looks.

It is about raising standards in our development pathways by recruiting players that are advanced in the fundamentals of the sport first, and if you think about it that is what McFaddens purview is as the clubs development manager, as an ex Warriors coach he knows exactly what is missing in the New Zealand system, and any old league head will tell you it is park footy standards and coaching in our grass roots system is seeing local players significantly under tooled, under prepared, under skilled in the cognitive part of the sport.

Many of you will remember the NRL segment when SJ was mic'd up and we got to hear him directing the forwards, where to stand where to run, so on and so forth, dare i say it was an eye opener to see how much directorship a halfback is responsible for, having talkative Aussie kids barking those directions at the next Leka Halasima from the under 18 grades is going to make a big difference to our players.

It’s a 2 way street where the Aussie halves can benefit from a forward pack full of physically fast developed players to use as weapons and increase their try assists, etc.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Shit gets real when you have to weigh up life without Metcalf, I think a number of people have been too cavalier about his worth to us - where else are we in for a shot at a top Australian half? show me or gtfo with the we don't need him talk.

What about doing what the Dolphins did and go for an unproven top rated kid?

Someone like Mitchell Wood? I think we have to try somthing like this. Because it will be impossible once he debut for the bulldogs.

And by all scouting reports, hes a gun.

 

[CWC]

We have Linnane who looks like another Metcalf, and Hansen apparently he's improving really fast this year? Could be a future option too living here for a while now. Jett's another but might just be hitchhiking

 

[John Nick]

We have Linnane who looks like another Metcalf, and Hansen apparently he's improving really fast this year? Could be a future option too living here for a while now. Jett's another but might just be hitchhiking

Preseason games I would like to see Linnane tried at fullback. Plenty of smaller faster types have been great this year. Like Kini Weekes Iongi. Worth a look imo
Tuapiki is useful but not much more unfortunately

 

[The Warrior Waka]

@Naynay

Where's the source of this news of Metcalf will leave ?

 

[Noitall]

@Naynay

Where's the source of this news of Metcalf will leave ?

Where’s this come from?

 

[kos]

Where’s this come from?

I ve just checked latest Syd Morning Herald and Newscorp sites - nothing at all

Will look at Nz Herald and Stuff but these are usually days weeks months behind the action

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Where’s this come from?

Naynay just posted it. But it disappeared

 

[kos]

Nothing on stuff or herald

Noitall
What about the 1 million sites you go through
Nothing there?
Sounds like bs

 

[Noitall]

Nothing on stuff or herald

Noitall
What about the 1 million sites you go through
Nothing there?
Sounds like bs

Can’t find shit. I see he’s posting on another thread, would be cool to hear what he’s heard?

 

[Hitro]

Can’t find shit. I see he’s posting on another thread, would be cool to hear what he’s heard?

negotiations must be getting close, a good rumour of him leaving might net a few extra $ for him

 

[Damo]

Rumours were on Brandon Smiths/James Grahams podcast I believe.