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	✔​	✔​
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​
Kayliss Fatialofa	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: 28/30
2026 Supplementary: 2/6

2027 Top 30: 20/30
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

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Or to raise his arms in celebration as he's diving for the line.
And Drop. The. Fucking. Ball.
Happened at least once. I think it was Mr Fa'afili...

The flying fish - Glen Fisiiahi

 

[mrblonde]

The flying fish - Glen Fisiiahi

So Henry's not in his own, then. Lucky boy.

 

[mrblonde]

Any one got tape of The Trump dropping the ball while being certain to score for the Wahs?

'Cos THAT is the The Smoking Gun that will see him kicked outa his BIG. FAT. ASS. from Da White House by this time next week...

 

[John Nick]

Any one got tape of The Trump dropping the ball while being certain to score for the Wahs?

'Cos THAT is the The Smoking Gun that will see him kicked outa his BIG. FAT. ASS. from Da White House by this time next week...

Haven't they got the bye next week

 

[Ferdie]

Reading some of the comments on social media accusing the Warriors staff of not knowing what they're doing when we lose players like Te Paeroa Wi Neera, does my head in.
I hadn't even heard of him until that article. How are they going to react when we lose one of our genuine prospects that ideally we want to keep - because it's going to happen.
The following 19 young players are some of our current best prospects and on their current trajectory will all be ready for the NRL in seasons 2026, 2027 or 2028. At which time, by 2028, they'll all be aged between 20 and 24.
Joseph Ratcliffe, Jeremiah Lemana, Caelys Putoko, Sio Kali, Connor Bowden, Jack Thompson, Jett Cleary, Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea, Makaia Tafua, Jason Salalilo, Bishop Neal, Paea Sikuvea, Lennox Tuiloma, Harry Inch, Tepatasi Laumalili, Emosi Rovosai, Kahu Capper, Luke Hanson, Braelan Marsh - and anyone else i couldn't think of.
We already have JFH, Halasima, Laban, Linnane, Vaimauga, Gannon, AKP, Mellars, Metcalf and TSS signed until at least 2028 - so that's 10 of the 30 places taken (most of which are still young), and I don't see us having a total clean out of all of the other 19 players to make way for all of the development players, so we're going to lose some of them.
Of the remaining guys, this is the year their contracts end and the age they'll be in 2028:
Contracts end at end of 2026:
Berry: Will be 27 in 2028, Boyd: 27, Capewell: 35, CHT: 29, Niukore: 32, Tuaupiki: 29, RTS: 35, TMM: 32
Contracts end in 2027:
Barnett: Will be 34 in 2028, Clark: 30, Egan: 31, Ford: 30, Healey: 26, Leiataua: 25, CNK: 33, Pompey: 30, DWZ: 32, EIT: 24, Fatialofa: 23
If guys like Egan, Berry and Leiataua can get past their injury issues, I can see us retain around 7 or 8 of those players beyond 2028.
Meaning there's going to be some star prospects who we have to let go.

 

[Five&Last]

Reading some of the comments on social media accusing the Warriors staff of not knowing what they're doing when we lose players like Te Paeroa Wi Neera, does my head in.
I hadn't even heard of him until that article. How are they going to react when we lose one of our genuine prospects that ideally we want to keep - because it's going to happen.
The following 19 young players are some of our current best prospects and on their current trajectory will all be ready for the NRL in seasons 2026, 2027 or 2028. At which time, by 2028, they'll all be aged between 20 and 24.
Joseph Ratcliffe, Jeremiah Lemana, Caelys Putoko, Sio Kali, Connor Bowden, Jack Thompson, Jett Cleary, Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea, Makaia Tafua, Jason Salalilo, Bishop Neal, Paea Sikuvea, Lennox Tuiloma, Harry Inch, Tepatasi Laumalili, Emosi Rovosai, Kahu Capper, Luke Hanson, Braelan Marsh - and anyone else i couldn't think of.
We already have JFH, Halasima, Laban, Linnane, Vaimauga, Gannon, AKP, Mellars, Metcalf and TSS signed until at least 2028 - so that's 10 of the 30 places taken (most of which are still young), and I don't see us having a total clean out of all of the other 19 players to make way for all of the development players, so we're going to lose some of them.
Of the remaining guys, this is the year their contracts end and the age they'll be in 2028:
Contracts end at end of 2026:
Berry: Will be 27 in 2028, Boyd: 27, Capewell: 35, CHT: 29, Niukore: 32, Tuaupiki: 29, RTS: 35, TMM: 32
Contracts end in 2027:
Barnett: Will be 34 in 2028, Clark: 30, Egan: 31, Ford: 30, Healey: 26, Leiataua: 25, CNK: 33, Pompey: 30, DWZ: 32, EIT: 24, Fatialofa: 23
If guys like Egan, Berry and Leiataua can get past their injury issues, I can see us retain around 7 or 8 of those players beyond 2028.
Meaning there's going to be some star prospects who we have to let go.

It's because they get fed misinformation. Channel 9 were implying Te Paeroa Wi Neera is a future star for us. A quick bit of research will tell you that he was in and out of the SG ball line up over two years. And it would also tell you that they got his age wrong when they said he was 17 but he's actually 19. You can write and publish anything these days. He's no more or less important than Compton Purcell in the same team that the Panthers poached, there was less outrage because it was a quiet mid-season transfer. But it did get reported later in the season when he signed an extension with Panthers.

Apart from maybe the Aus boys like Cleary, Thompson and Norris. I'm pretty confident we're not going to get poached on the ones we want to keep. It has to be a pretty unique set of circumstances for us to get poached by an another NRL team on an NZ kid that we actually don't want to lose. Lucian Mikaele comes to mind straight away. They have to really come with an offer that blows us out of the park.

The problem is, and always has been, that these young fringe guys go to a different club, outside their comfort zone, and improve out of sight which is a hard thing to predict.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

So Henry's not in his own, then. Lucky boy.

View: https://youtu.be/kNHjIDy0aBI?si=pUxUXDS8n_vn2hyZ