Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention

Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment and Retention Discussion​

Player	2026​	2027​	2028​	2029​	2030​
Grant Anderson	-​	✔​	✔​	✔​
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	✔​	✔​	✔​
William Warbrick	-​	✔​	✔​	✔​
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔​	M​
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: 2/6

2027 Top 30: 22/30
2027 Supplementary: 0/6

2027 Gains: Grant Anderson (Brisbane Broncos), William Warbrick (Melbourne Storm)
2027 Losses: Mitchell Barnett (Brisbane Broncos), Marata Niukore (Newcastle Knights), Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Wakefield Trinity)

Off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2027: Rocco Berry, Tanah Boyd, Kurt Capewell, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Te Maire Martin
Will be off contract and free to sign elsewhere for 2028 from November 1st, 2026: 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

 

[WAH MAN]

We need to move on Boyd! Him and Metcalf are the halves pairing!

There are higher ceiling guys coming through I reckon. Cassius might be it

 

[rugged]

If we did have Boyd - Metcalf - Egan would that be the first all Australian 7-6-9 since Nathan Fein got confirmed an aussie in grannygate?(not to be confused with Locke having the keys to granny's gate)

 

[Cces]

Defence isn’t as important as balance…smashing the defending minor premiers with 34 points on attack and only 6 in defence means if we keep this balance going… we appear to be doing something right.

We have no idea how Boyd/Metcalf would balance.
Last year minor premiers have won only one of their last 5 games, & that win was in golden point.
Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves after back to back Friday night wins in Auckland on the back of dominant forward performances & less penalties/6-agains conceded

 

[rugged]

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves

I for one am committed to getting as far ahead of myself as possible while this winning streak continues and equally committed to calling for Webb’s head the moment we lose one.

 

[roguei]

The thing that always had me in metcalf's corner was how he handled game deciding moments vs how boyd has. It's possible that he now has that "cluch" factor but none of these two games have shown it yet. A lot of metcalf's games involved our side being the frustrated ones, and him having to wrangle the team back in. Where as it feels like everyone in the team is just so much clamer, and who ever we're playing is getting frustrated. Don't know if that's because boyd has had a good pre-season with the boys, or if everyone is just playing so much better because not one player came back unfit. So it was just straight into drills instead of fittness training for the first time. But when the team crimbled under preasure, metcalf was one of 3 main pillers that never really did.

If this keeps up till metcalf is back then i've gotta agree with others, that we just cannot move boyd. But i guess i'd be afraid he is just like Fogarty. Raiders were winning most of there games off of a great team who rarely got frustrated. Fogarty did most everything right, has an amazing kicking and passing game. And an alright running game. Set up the shape of the team correctly. But when it wasn't going right, he was not the guy who could bring his team back from that. But that is not say, another player with our 13 cannot do that for us.

 

[regenerated borg]

Well, we have a dominating forward pack right now, which would make any halves look good. Its when they meet their match and get dominated... we'll soon see how the halves handle that.. so the jurys out for me til that happens... been a good ride so far though..

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Well, we have a dominating forward pack right now, which would make any halves look good. Its when they meet their match and get dominated... we'll soon see how the halves handle that.. so the jurys out for me til that happens... been a good ride so far though..

Im going to say we have the best forward pack (including reserve depth) in the comp.

Who’s better? Roosters and Raiders were both elite packs and were blown away.

In a perfect world our pack never gets dominated.

And for the next 3+ years

 

[Beastmode]

Honestly how many of you thought you’d be arguing Boyd vs LM a month ago???

Give it until at least rd 5 to decide if his performance is from the pack going forward or his improved decision making and skill

I think any half behind our pack dominance would have looked like world beaters. It’s how we perform behind a mediocre go forward and we’ve seen Boyd go missing and choke. LM will try to make something happen.

Both together 6,7 provide a good option but the give back is defence. CNK and CHT don’t need babysitting. These two do and any good coach will target them relentlessly

 

[Dannevegas]

Looks like Niukore to knights this year, who we getting in return??

 

[Cces]

Looks like Niukore to knights this year, who we getting in return??

A free roster spot (Tia?/Verhoeven?/Arthars?) & some extra cash freed up for Ford will suffice

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Looks like Niukore to knights this year, who we getting in return??

Poorest cap to output ratio and in a highly overstocked position, blocking junior progression. Sounds like a win / win for everyone

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Everyone just instantly memory holed Boyds season last year

This. Alot of the forum wanted him moved on last year. 2 games into the 26" season. And he is suddenly the Messiah lol.
I am the first person to acknowledge and praise his performances thus far.

He has been a revelation for us. Let's not jump the gun tho. He is one bad performance away from being cast into the fires of warrior hell by our psychotic forum members
Let's give him at least half a dozen games to see if he has turned a corner before anointing him the divine one.

 

[JaggedJ]

If we did have Boyd - Metcalf - Egan would that be the first all Australian 7-6-9 since Nathan Fein got confirmed an aussie in grannygate?(not to be confused with Locke having the keys to granny's gate)

What year was that?

1. McKinnon
6. Witt
7. Rovelli
9. Gatis

That was 2007 final vs Eels. Fien was on the bench as a hooker.

 

[rugged]

Looks like Niukore to knights this year, who we getting in return??

I still don't know why we aren't interested in a transfer fee. CG said we weren't because a transfer fees doesn't effect the salary cap - at the same time the club take a home game to magic round each year for the financial benefits. Take a transfer fee and have an extra game at Mt Smart each year.

The idea that we are playing Brisbane twice in brisbane for financial reason irks - slightly less now they are 0-2, but it still irks.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

There are higher ceiling guys coming through I reckon. Cassius might be it

So what! We are not letting established nrl players go so we can make way for Tia and co.

I really dont care about thier ceiling, they need to prove it at NRL level.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

The thing that always had me in metcalf's corner was how he handled game deciding moments vs how boyd has. It's possible that he now has that "cluch" factor but none of these two games have shown it yet. A lot of metcalf's games involved our side being the frustrated ones, and him having to wrangle the team back in. Where as it feels like everyone in the team is just so much clamer, and who ever we're playing is getting frustrated. Don't know if that's because boyd has had a good pre-season with the boys, or if everyone is just playing so much better because not one player came back unfit. So it was just straight into drills instead of fittness training for the first time. But when the team crimbled under preasure, metcalf was one of 3 main pillers that never really did.

If this keeps up till metcalf is back then i've gotta agree with others, that we just cannot move boyd. But i guess i'd be afraid he is just like Fogarty. Raiders were winning most of there games off of a great team who rarely got frustrated. Fogarty did most everything right, has an amazing kicking and passing game. And an alright running game. Set up the shape of the team correctly. But when it wasn't going right, he was not the guy who could bring his team back from that. But that is not say, another player with our 13 cannot do that for us.

We can have the best of both worlds here! CHT is neither of any of the two!

 

[Defence]

Looks like Niukore to knights this year, who we getting in return??

Starford toa
Maybe we can do a two for one- Marata and cnk for ponga
I can’t really see the point of releasing the muss for this year- we’ve already paid half his salary and when u put that aside he’s still a capable first grader who can play a role in our season.
He’d make most clubs 17 I reckon.

 

[Neo]

Broncos are 0-2. If I was them, I’d be putting a sneaky call into Boyd’s manager. Duffy is only signed for 1 year so not sure they see him as the future.

Wouldn’t benefit Boyd though as they have Pezet there next year

 

[j_p]

Also re-signing Boyd, Capewell and CHT will fuck our cap space. Those are 3 veterans that could command a starting position, having a great start to their contract year. There is absolutely no way we can sign them below market value (maybe CHT). Time to send them onto their new homes and bringing in the next batch of pups.

If you could only keep 1 or 2 who would it be?

 

[MrFrankWhite]

If you could only keep 1 or 2 who would it be?

CHT