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	✔​	✔​	✔​
Freddy Lussick	✔​
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	✔​	✔​
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: 30/30
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

 

[CWC]

View: https://youtu.be/3zz5R_xC1R0?si=AnrV0ch2yMzalNZu

If Gannon plays like that here it’s gonna be fun to watch lol, bro literally did something nobody under Webby ever did

The other highlights I saw basically he has a strong leg drive with those long legs, good speed and always looking to pass after a break

 

[roguei]

View: https://youtu.be/3zz5R_xC1R0?si=AnrV0ch2yMzalNZu

If Gannon plays like that here it’s gonna be fun to watch lol, bro literally did something nobody under Webby ever did

The other highlights I saw basically he has a strong leg drive with those long legs, good speed and always looking to pass after a break

If you mean a grubber kick by a forward then ford did it against the rabbitohs, in probably our messiest try of the season.


View: https://youtu.be/l0V_wu6uwHY?si=kpYk4LFNj9ukJGbw&t=92

 

[CWC]

If you mean a grubber kick by a forward then ford did it against the rabbitohs, in probably our messiest try of the season.


View: https://youtu.be/l0V_wu6uwHY?si=kpYk4LFNj9ukJGbw&t=92

I was trying to hype him up and you just demoted him to bumbling Ford

 

[sydneywarrior92]

I was trying to hype him up and you just demoted him to bumbling Ford

nothing wrong with a British Ford. The Aussie one serves us very well.

 

[MaybeTop8]

View: https://youtu.be/3zz5R_xC1R0?si=AnrV0ch2yMzalNZu

If Gannon plays like that here it’s gonna be fun to watch lol, bro literally did something nobody under Webby ever did

The other highlights I saw basically he has a strong leg drive with those long legs, good speed and always looking to pass after a break

Saw Leeds play Wakefield in 2009 at Headingly, coached by Bluey. Great night, many pints later ended up on the test cricket ground, saw the lights on and realised it was the after match drinks. Met brent webb, james leuluai and Bluey As you were, back to the recruitment.

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Hard out. How do either of these sides afford their rosters.

By developing the majority of their players, building loyalty, having great facilities/stadiums. Players sign for less to play for good teams. But these clubs have also lost great players due to salary cap constraints - Herbie, Tino, etc.

Life’s not one big conspiracy like some on here want to believe.

 

[Ferdie]

Looking even further out
8. Demetric Vaimauga
9. Sam Healey
10. Jacob Laban
11. Leka Halasima
12. Bishop Neal
13. Paea Sikuvea

14. Braelan Marsh
15. Emosi Ravosai
16. Jason Salalilo
17. Kayliss Fatialofa

19. Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
20. Tepatasi Laumalili
21. Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea

(forwards coming up and on the fringes; Lennox Tuiloma, Dezman Laban, Gordon Afoa, Elijah Solomona, Satali Fretton, Krushil Koteka)

Definitely a bit of a squeeze coming through and I doubt we will be able to keep all of them (or does someone like Erin Clark get forced out?)
Vaimauga replaces JFH as our forwards leader (and maybe eventual captain?)
I think Bishop might struggle with work rate at prop. Easily big enough but still a highlights player at this point. A more skilled Kikau is great comparison for play style.

I think someone like Clark (and maybe 1 or 2 others) will be retained, just for the balance of experience. Assuming that you're looking at 2029 here. In that group Healey would be 27 and the next oldest would be Laban and Vaimauga at 25.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Realistically, with 5 starting forwards you can only introduce 1 future starter per year on average.

With 3 or so coming through every year 3+3+3… doesn’t equal 5

 

[Five&Last]

I think someone like Clark (and maybe 1 or 2 others) we ill be retained, just for the balance of experience. Assuming that you're looking at 2029 here. In that group Healey would be 27 and the next oldest would be Laban and Vaimauga at 25.

Sure, I can see JFH getting an extension for 2029 to see out his career.

I really do think Erin will become victim of our back row talent by then though. Undersized forwards fall off hard when they start to lose their athleticism.

Both will still top 30 members in some capacity in 2029 (almost a must for leadership)

 

[j_p]

Good video tracking the contract lengths.

View: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSU1ppdQ2/
Didn't realise eit is only signed for 26...

 

[SJ2k]

Erin was our best player overall this year, so if in his current form he gets pushed out, we're doing some fantastic work. Very hard done by to not get the Simon Mannering, I doubt he's a primadonna like AFB though.

Would be great if we could move him to prop, we really need some ball playing at 13. Obviously the plan was rotating him with Walker until Walker moved on leaving us in the lurch. Clarke at prop massively helps our depth there, even if he also fills in at 13. Do we think anyone is capable of starting at 13 next year or will it need to be him again next year? Running effectively 3 prop middles with an incredibly budget spine was understandable this year because of Walker, but we've got to get away from it next year.

Development looks great by all means. I imagine the club is throwing decent offers around at free agents with no bites so far. We'd only need to hit on one or two Herbie Farnworth's by 2027 and the window will be about as open as it'll get.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Good video tracking the contract lengths.

View: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSU1ppdQ2/
Didn't realise eit is only signed for 26...

Interesting to see what happens to CHT, Tuaupiki and TMM end of this year.

CHT particularly has had some great form yet lacks x-factor with some young guns in the hunt for a spot.

 

[Naynay]

By developing the majority of their players, building loyalty, having great facilities/stadiums. Players sign for less to play for good teams. But these clubs have also lost great players due to salary cap constraints - Herbie, Tino, etc.

Life’s not one big conspiracy like some on here want to believe.

To be fair to him its not really a conspiracy that clubs that could win a premiership will go on unders. Its just the nature of any sport really.

The idea they are cheating is a conspiracy

 

[Falcon]

I think some of our biggest challenges on roster are going to be

1. Next year, in the forwards, we currently have no forwards between 23 and 28. Can the current crop of zesty boys step up to being forward pack leaders in their own right by 2027 when the powers of Barnett, Fish, Marata, Ford and Clark start to fade and retire? If they can't, we'd have to go to market to bring in others to fill the void, which will potentially been seen as us signing over the next batch of youngsters coming through Ball/Flegg around 2027. We effectively have a COVID sized hole where 25 years old locals (i.e. Katoa) should be who would be stepping up. I appreciate not having these 25 year olds mean we can bring more zesty through now.

2. Can we start recruiting and producing outside backs of the quality of the forwards we have in the pipeline? Big fan of Kali, and really rate Lemana and a couple of others, but it seems like there's not as much X factor coming through out wide. Not sure if this is where Union is beating us at 17 year old level (i.e. Siale Pahulu) or not. We also suffer from the COVID hole here too, which is to a degree explains AKP and Haizyn Mellars signings. I can see this may be less of an issue as maybe OBs peak earlier?

3. If we can't fill these gaps or have the zesty boys step up, can we convince people like Metcalf that our premiership window is open now and not opening later when the zesty boys all hit their mid 20's and are coming into their dominant years.

Looking even further out
8. Demetric Vaimauga
9. Sam Healey
10. Jacob Laban
11. Leka Halasima
12. Bishop Neal
13. Paea Sikuvea

14. Braelan Marsh
15. Emosi Ravosai
16. Jason Salalilo
17. Kayliss Fatialofa

19. Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
20. Tepatasi Laumalili
21. Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea

(forwards coming up and on the fringes; Lennox Tuiloma, Dezman Laban, Gordon Afoa, Elijah Solomona, Satali Fretton, Krushil Koteka)

Definitely a bit of a squeeze coming through and I doubt we will be able to keep all of them (or does someone like Erin Clark get forced out?)
Vaimauga replaces JFH as our forwards leader (and maybe eventual captain?)
I think Bishop might struggle with work rate at prop. Easily big enough but still a highlights player at this point. A more skilled Kikau is great comparison for play style.

With thoughts around developing Bishop Neal’s athleticism, a recent article I read about Payne Haas was his father ( former track athlete) pushed him hard to be extra fit and said to him he was not going to have marked as the stereotypical big Polynesian that relies on size but runs out of puff’

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

To be fair to him its not really a conspiracy that clubs that could win a premiership will go on unders. Its just the nature of any sport really.

The idea they are cheating is a conspiracy

It’s not Wrighty’s post I’m referring to - it’s the idiotic one he replied to.

 

[Cces]

I seen Bishop Neal for the first time in the flesh about 5 weeks ago & I actually thought he was smaller than what I had expected. It will be interesting to see how much he fills out. Once upon a time it was common for a boy to put on a heap of muscle between 17-21 years of age but now days a 17 year old like Bishop can already have a training age of 4 years under his belt so most of his physical gains might come in strength & power rather than mass

 

[Warriorshopeful]

I seen Bishop Neal for the first time in the flesh about 5 weeks ago & I actually thought he was smaller than I had expected. It will be interesting to see how much he fills out. Once upon a time it was common for a boy to put on a heap of muscle between 17-21 years of age but now days a 17 year old like Bishop can already have a training age of 4 years under his belt so most his physical gains will come in strength & power rather than mass

There's also that Tongan teen Malakai Havealeta they got too though he's from union background. Hopefully 1 or 2 of the bigger bodied guys kicks on, would be great having someone of an NAS/Taumalolo style that can run guys over.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

View: https://youtu.be/3zz5R_xC1R0?si=AnrV0ch2yMzalNZu

If Gannon plays like that here it’s gonna be fun to watch lol, bro literally did something nobody under Webby ever did

The other highlights I saw basically he has a strong leg drive with those long legs, good speed and always looking to pass after a break

This just reminded me why I don't watch super League. Apart from Gannon , The rest of it is poo.

 

[sup42]

This just reminded me why I don't watch super League. Apart from Gannon , The rest of it is poo.

Speaking of....Leeds got knocked out in an eliminator vs Saints which ended in a thriller with a crazy try for Saints reminiscent of the 2000s Warriors sides.

Gannon should be fresh and ready to go for preseason.

 

[Uster101]

This just reminded me why I don't watch super League. Apart from Gannon , The rest of it is poo.

i don't watch the super league anymore because skyTV are crap and won't buy the rights to play it anymore. yet they have no problem buying Soccer tournaments from all over the world. I emailed them to ask why they buy English soccer because NZers don't like soccer etc and not the super league. Their reply was crap saying there are a lot of Poms in New Zealand that want to watch the English Soccer. well if they wanted to watch the English soccer they should have stayed in friggin England!