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.

 

[Noitall]

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.

I think they’d be silly to rule it out if he was to play a big season. Seems like a quieter hard man to me and to hear he’s finding his feet in preseason and having a voice could be that he’s just starting to feel comfortable? Could be too that it’s contract year but you could use that too by only extending him a year or two? His days on that salary he’s on are gone in my view, but never say never? As others have said that he could benefit from a simplified role in the front row. His first stint against panthers was 58 minutes and the last game he played for the Cook Islands he played 70 straight so his motor isn’t bad either

 

[BrisbaneWarrior]

Wondering if at this point all of Capewell, Berry, Boyd, CHT, TMM, Niukore, Tuaupiki and RTS won’t be extended past 2026? Are they wanting to see something in 2026 to confirm any one of them is who they want? Are some fielding offers elsewhere?

If they kick on then realising those playing buys a Newy FB and a possible centre

 

[BrisbaneWarrior]

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

If he can sort out any issues he’s had before Metcalf comes back and takes a few rounds to settle into it again, we could be the form team late in the season. Depending how we go in the first half of the season, and top 4 is within striking range by late July, we could be on a really good run

 

[Noitall]

If they kick on then realising those playing buys a Newy FB and a possible centre

I was looking at the Warriors team on their site this morning and for whatever reason Vaimauga, Gannon and EIT aren’t listed yet but Jye Linnane’s name straight to top 30 gives me the impression they rate him highly if he can stay healthy? He was brought over early so has had the whole back end of last season to settle in. I’m not sure what that would mean for CHT? If our halves combo we’re looking at is Metcalf and Linnane, having good backups is going to be vital. Interesting we’re carrying 5 next season with those 3 plus Boyd and TMM, but with TMM you’ve got a great utility too. TMM and CHT could become one stays and one goes? TMM still got plenty to offer and could be happy to play backup more than CHT if that’s what we’re looking at?