Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment and Retention Discussion​

Player	2026​	2027​	2028​	2029​	2030​
Mitchell Barnett	✔​	✔​
Rocco Berry	✔​
Tanah Boyd	✔​
Kurt Capewell	✔​
Erin Clark	✔​	✔​
Wayde Egan	✔​	✔​
Kayliss Fatialofa	✔​	✔​
James Fisher-Harris	✔​	✔​	✔​
Jackson Ford	✔​	✔​
Morgan Gannon	✔​	✔​	✔​
Leka Halasima	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​
Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔​
Sam Healey	✔​	✔​
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava	✔​	✔​
Alofiana Khan-Pereira	✔​	✔​	✔​
Jacob Laban	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​
Ali Leiataua	✔​	✔​
Jye Linnane	✔​	✔​	✔​
Te Maire Martin	✔​
Haizyn Mellars	✔​	✔​	✔​
Luke Metcalf	✔​	✔​	✔​
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔​	✔​
Marata Niukore	✔​
Adam Pompey	✔​	✔​
Tanner Stowers-Smith	✔​	✔​	✔​
Taine Tuaupiki	✔​
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔​
Demitric Vaimauga	✔​	✔​	✔​
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔​	✔​
Connor Bowden	U​	U​	✔​
Jett Cleary	S​	U​
Sio Kali	U​
Braelan Marsh	U​	U​	U​
Motu Pasikala	U​	U​

✔ = Signed to Top 30, C = Club option, M = Mutual Option, P = Player option, S = Signed to supplementary list, U = Unclear

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

2027 Top 30: 21/30
2027 Supplementary: 0/6

2027 Gains: Nil
2027 Losses: Nil

Off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2027: Rocco Berry, Tanah Boyd, Kurt Capewell, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Freddy Lussick, Te Maire Martin, Marata Niukore, Taine Tuaupiki, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Will be off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2028 from November 1st, 2026: Mitchell Barnett, Erin Clark, Jett Cleary, Wayde Egan, Kayliss Fatialofa, Jackson Ford, Sam Healey, Eddie Ieremia-Toeava, Ali Leiataua, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Motu Pasikala, Adam Pompey, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak

 

[Noitall]

I don't think Leka is the one that will be accomodating others in this second row logjam. I think its more likely Second Row: Leka & Bishop / Prop: Laban & EIT / Centre: Fatialofa / Lock: EIT

Length of the contract seems like there could be high hopes for Gannon at lock if he’s indeed the Walker replacement they said he was?

 

[Five&Last]

Length of the contract seems like there could be high hopes for Gannon at lock if he’s indeed the Walker replacement they said he was?

Maybe, I was just talking about guys in the second row logjam

But I don't think Gannon is as talented as those guys, so if one of them has to play 13 to fit everyone in, I think its someone like Gannon who misses out altogether

 

[Milking!]

2026 is the year Ali Leiuatua finally comes of age. I expect a break out campaign.

Totally agree. If he can shake the injury bug, he’s the strike centre we need!
A side of Leka, Ali, RTS is a matchup nightmare for other teams

 

[Horriors2013]

I'm going to go completely against the grain here and say Leka is actually better when he's initiating contact. Think about how many linebreaks he's created with late footwork into contact and bumping away. He's going to get those looks at second row, not at centre.

I wasn't at all impressed with his game at centre against the Panthers. I thought he struggled to process everything with all the additional space.

Fatialofa is the one who would take advantage of the space at center more than Leka. He's faster, better ball skills and higher IQ (better decisions) than Leka.

I don't think Leka is the one that will be accomodating others in this second row logjam. I think its more likely Second Row: Leka & Bishop / Prop: Laban & EIT / Centre: Fatialofa / Lock: EIT

As long as we pay Laban, Fatialofa and EIT well, hopefully they'll stick around instead of chasing a second row spot elsewhere.

Leka and Neale = god combo. Never seen a second row combo like. Beats even Blocker and Siro.

 

[Ref]

The only place I have in the squad for Niukore is 7th ranked prop.
Barney, JFH, Ford, Demi, Laban and TSS are all better.
I wouldn’t even resign him on the cheap.
Waste of a top 30 spot even now.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Interesting you say we did well with Hurrell and Kata at centre .
We want to be a top 4 team year after year.

you misunderstand me. I meant that those two had periods where they played well at center, even if overall the team consistently missed finals. There was a period, especially during the Cappy era, where "pass it to Konnie" was basically our go-to attacking strategy. But I think my pt stands more generally: I don't really think even when we did make finals consistently (under both Ando and Cleary) we ever had good passing centers. Just good ball-running ones.