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

 

[Wrighty]

This is a throwaway post. Nothing consequential in it. Feel free to skip.

In my heart I was feeling we over paid for Metcalf at $1M per year for a two year extension.
My heart felt that $750K is better for someone so injury prone who has never played 20 games in a single season.

Then I analysed it with my head. $750K was and is a 2024 evaluation.
The year is 2025 and two factors are different this year
1) The Knights fucked everyone up by paying $1.3M for Brown. That has reset the halves market. If Dylan Brown is worth $1.3M then absolutely Metcalf is worth $1M notwithstanding he is an injury magnet.
2) Perth are here. If Metcalf got to November 1 unsigned then of course Perth were going to offer overs for him. They would be dumb not to, Both Dragons and Perth were deadset going to offer $1M.

I guess the Warriors could have tried to offer him less than Perth and St George. And maybe we tried. Maybe we offered $850 or $900 and said take less pay to stay with a winning team. I guess he just had too much of a poker hand knowing two rival clubs would be after him. At least there was a good deal for us over the contract length though as he would have asked for 3-4 years with someone else.

So while my heart says $750K would have been ideal my head realises 2025 is a whole new marketplace. If Dylan Brown got $1.3M what the hell will Cleary re-sign for.

 

[chrisnz]

Panthers fans have expressed their surprise after the club reportedly granted young gun Jake Attard an immediate release from his contract. The 18-year-old was once touted as Dylan Edwards' long-term successor at fullback, and played for the Australian Schoolboys in 2024

Apparently going to the tigers any chance we become the shock destination kids a gun could transition to the wing ?

 

[WHB]

I'd take him in a heart beat. Imo he's had 2 quiet seasons (by his standards) and I wonder if a trip home could spark a bit more form.

Would be better than everything we have on centre at the moment, and if you consider Rocco's on about 500k, a little top up on that and we'd likely have him

He gets caught out defensively every now and then but that's something The Warriors have been getting used to the past few years.

He is an all out attacking center.
A center The Warriors dont have?
It will give Ali time to develop and step up.

Pompey and Rocco will manage the right defensive side.

 

[Inruin]

This is a throwaway post. Nothing consequential in it. Feel free to skip.

In my heart I was feeling we over paid for Metcalf at $1M per year for a two year extension.
My heart felt that $750K is better for someone so injury prone who has never played 20 games in a single season.

Then I analysed it with my head. $750K was and is a 2024 evaluation.
The year is 2025 and two factors are different this year
1) The Knights fucked everyone up by paying $1.3M for Brown. That has reset the halves market. If Dylan Brown is worth $1.3M then absolutely Metcalf is worth $1M notwithstanding he is an injury magnet.
2) Perth are here. If Metcalf got to November 1 unsigned then of course Perth were going to offer overs for him. They would be dumb not to, Both Dragons and Perth were deadset going to offer $1M.

I guess the Warriors could have tried to offer him less than Perth and St George. And maybe we tried. Maybe we offered $850 or $900 and said take less pay to stay with a winning team. I guess he just had too much of a poker hand knowing two rival clubs would be after him. At least there was a good deal for us over the contract length though as he would have asked for 3-4 years with someone else.

So while my heart says $750K would have been ideal my head realises 2025 is a whole new marketplace. If Dylan Brown got $1.3M what the hell will Cleary re-sign for.

This is what gets me when people say Dylan Brown has reset the halves market. He may be a bit of an outlier at $1.3m with a desperate club looking to get a very good spine player, but also he is only 25, played 142 first grade games including 10 finals games, is a test rep and is the first choice 6 for the kiwis, is durable averaging 20 games a season over 7 seasons, strong defensively and the Eels attack looks pretty good with him in it.

Conversely Metcalf is nearly 27, has played 41 games over 5 seasons (averaging 11 games over the last 3 seasons for us) with no finals experience, injury prone, defensively not that strong, and the attack has been clunky for the majority of the season.

Personally I was thinking $850k would be a realistic price for him, particularly when compared to other halves that have been signed recently for that sort of money and less., and given his dreadful history of injuries.

Dylan Brown at $1.3m is the much better bet versus Metcalf at $1m

 

[Warriorsfan92]

This is a throwaway post. Nothing consequential in it. Feel free to skip.

In my heart I was feeling we over paid for Metcalf at $1M per year for a two year extension.
My heart felt that $750K is better for someone so injury prone who has never played 20 games in a single season.

Then I analysed it with my head. $750K was and is a 2024 evaluation.
The year is 2025 and two factors are different this year
1) The Knights fucked everyone up by paying $1.3M for Brown. That has reset the halves market. If Dylan Brown is worth $1.3M then absolutely Metcalf is worth $1M notwithstanding he is an injury magnet.
2) Perth are here. If Metcalf got to November 1 unsigned then of course Perth were going to offer overs for him. They would be dumb not to, Both Dragons and Perth were deadset going to offer $1M.

I guess the Warriors could have tried to offer him less than Perth and St George. And maybe we tried. Maybe we offered $850 or $900 and said take less pay to stay with a winning team. I guess he just had too much of a poker hand knowing two rival clubs would be after him. At least there was a good deal for us over the contract length though as he would have asked for 3-4 years with someone else.

So while my heart says $750K would have been ideal my head realises 2025 is a whole new marketplace. If Dylan Brown got $1.3M what the hell will Cleary re-sign for.

I dont think he signed for a million? He didn’t get his final year upgraded, at 500k, and was apparently signed on under a million. So let’s assume it’s 950k, that’s 2.4 over 3 years which is only 800k.

It’s a good deal for all parties.

 

[Wahs_Ultras]

I dont think he signed for a million? He didn’t get his final year upgraded, at 500k, and was apparently signed on under a million. So let’s assume it’s 950k, that’s 2.4 over 3 years which is only 800k.

It’s a good deal for all parties.

as I posted last week, news corp mentioned the last 2 years of his deal is worth a total of 2 million dollars. Due to him being on 500k next year, his total annual salary evens out to 833k/season.

 

[John Nick]

I dont think he signed for a million? He didn’t get his final year upgraded, at 500k, and was apparently signed on under a million. So let’s assume it’s 950k, that’s 2.4 over 3 years which is only 800k.

It’s a good deal for all parties.

Yeah mate. You are right
Tbf the argument is pretty fair but considering Brown was underwhelming this year compared with Metcalf who up till his unfortunate injury was playing miles better than Brown you see why .

 

[cock_o]

as I posted last week, news corp mentioned the last 2 years of his deal is worth a total of 2 million dollars. Due to him being on 500k next year, his total annual salary evens out to 833k/season.

Those numbers that are reported only a guess aswell.

 

[kos]

Are these contracts
Nz $
Or
A$

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Are these contracts
Nz $
Or
A$

A
U
S
T
R
A
L
I
A
N
$

 

[Inruin]

Are these contracts
Nz $
Or
A$

The cap is in $Aus so would assume the numbers quoted are $Aus?

 

[CWC]

So in 2027 we release Boyd and TMM, then it is

FG
Metcalf
Linnane

Cup
Jett
Thompson

CHT 14 or released for Healey to take 14, and Inch groomed as FB? It’s like stealing Damien McKenzie and he’s not gonna be play reserves for 3 years

 

[Wrighty]

This is what gets me when people say Dylan Brown has reset the halves market. He may be a bit of an outlier at $1.3m with a desperate club looking to get a very good spine player, but also he is only 25, played 142 first grade games including 10 finals games, is a test rep and is the first choice 6 for the kiwis, is durable averaging 20 games a season over 7 seasons, strong defensively and the Eels attack looks pretty good with him in it.

Conversely Metcalf is nearly 27, has played 41 games over 5 seasons (averaging 11 games over the last 3 seasons for us) with no finals experience, injury prone, defensively not that strong, and the attack has been clunky for the majority of the season.

Personally I was thinking $850k would be a realistic price for him, particularly when compared to other halves that have been signed recently for that sort of money and less., and given his dreadful history of injuries.

Dylan Brown at $1.3m is the much better bet versus Metcalf at $1m

I don't mean this to be a spicy response or challenging you to a debate. In fact I enjoyed reading your response.
I disagree though as Hughes and Munster have better resumes than Brown and are reportedly on $1M each. Dylan Brown getting $300, 000 more than Munster is a price that shouldn't have happened.

Metcalf's extension is just less than one million a year, like $950,000 so I am calling it a million as we are splitting hairs saying otherwise.

I don't agree with the logic of averaging Metcalf's salary over 3 years. The offer is one million approx for a 2 year extension. Next year they were never giving him a raise since he is out for the start of the year for up to as many as 10 rounds by some reports. If his agent requested an increase for next year then I hope the Warriors responded like the kids in the famous sand pit commercial "Mate your dreaming!".

 

[Inruin]

I don't mean this to be a spicy response or challenging you to a debate. In fact I enjoyed reading your response.
I disagree though as Hughes and Munster have better resumes than Brown and are reportedly on $1M each. Dylan Brown getting $300, 000 more than Munster is a price that shouldn't have happened.

Metcalf's extension is just less than one million a year, like $950,000 so I am calling it a million as we are splitting hairs saying otherwise.

I don't agree with the logic of averaging Metcalf's salary over 3 years. The offer is one million approx for a 2 year extension. Next year they were never giving him a raise since he is out for the start of the year for up to as many as 10 rounds by some reports. If his agent requested an increase for next year then I hope the Warriors responded like the kids in the famous sand pit commercial "Mate your dreaming!".

I agree that $1.3m for Brown is too much. But like I say, he is a bit of an outlier who took advantage of the period he was negotiating in. The market always throws up anomalies. Jason Taumalolo for example - just because he got a 10 year deal doesn't mean everyone should get a 10 year deal. Even the Hughes and Munster prices, if correct, are out of sync with each other. Hughes is the most important part of that combo and should be worth more than Munster, or Munster worth less than Hughes. If Hughes is $1m then comparitively Metcalf should be well under that when you compare the two halves side by side.

I think Metcalf got a really good deal, all things considered.

 

[Wrighty]

I agree that $1.3m for Brown is too much. But like I say, he is a bit of an outlier who took advantage of the period he was negotiating in. The market always throws up anomalies. Jason Taumalolo for example - just because he got a 10 year deal doesn't mean everyone should get a 10 year deal. Even the Hughes and Munster prices, if correct, are out of sync with each other. Hughes is the most important part of that combo and should be worth more than Munster, or Munster worth less than Hughes. If Hughes is $1m then comparitively Metcalf should be well under that when you compare the two halves side by side.

I think Metcalf got a really good deal, all things considered.

Good post. I am happy with your analysis and have no comments to further share.

 

[Inruin]

Good post. I am happy with your analysis and have no comments to further share.

It was a good OG post from you to consider and contemplate.

 

[Five&Last]

Teams have started releasing their development lists. Usually 4(?) of the 6, or a certain number, have to be set by 1 Nov and are usually released in the NRL.com signings tracker if the club hasn't already released them like the Cowboys, Bunnies etc have.

Will be interesting to see who the Warriors ones will be.

Saw this on DT:

The first crop of players will report for training on November 5, and will include Jett Cleary, Motu Pasikala, Jason Salalilo and Makaia Tafua and Jack Thompson. Code converts Caelys-Paul Putoko and Harry Inch will also join the group.

 

[Noitall]

Teams have started releasing their development lists. Usually 4(?) of the 6, or a certain number, have to be set by 1 Nov and are usually released in the NRL.com signings tracker if the club hasn't already released them like the Cowboys, Bunnies etc have.

Will be interesting to see who the Warriors ones will be.

Saw this on DT:

The first crop of players will report for training on November 5, and will include Jett Cleary, Motu Pasikala, Jason Salalilo and Makaia Tafua and Jack Thompson. Code converts Caelys-Paul Putoko and Harry Inch will also join the group.

I see Mason Barber is on the cowboys development list

 

[Boston Boy]

I see Mason Barber is on the cowboys development list

He is the fullback that I would love us to go hard for and develop.

 

[Noitall]

He is the fullback that I would love us to go hard for and develop.

Think I saw Kaawyn Patterson, young dummy half from here on a development deal at bulldogs next year too. No one on there seems to know what’s happening with Zyon Maiu’u? Most think he’s gone