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: 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

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

DWZ's just doing what The Master MV did - jamming in. I sometimes think at the Warriors it's a requirement when you're one of the centre-wing pairings that one of them has to have either a wing that doesn't trust his centre's defence - rightly or wrongly - or a centre that doesn't tell his wing when he's fine.

I think you will find that the Warriors want their wingers to jam in. With DWZ I do not worry about him jamming as that is likely what he has trained to do. I think his reactions have slowed down. Here is something that explains how teams defend their edge.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glT40WPi6hQ&t=2s

 

[Warriorsfan92]

For the 20th time, it’s not dallins fault. It’s the warriors defensive policy. They jam in, to force the statistically more difficult pass - the long ball. If he’s rushing in, it means an inside man has been beaten, likely the edge or 4 man.

I’m not advocating that DWZ had an outstanding season, but the “Dallin let’s so many tries in” discussion really exposes those with game understanding or not.

 

[3rdstriker]

really exposes those with game understanding or not.

I think the main one who was exposed in our team this year both defensively and offensively was "Dallin".
#BringTainebacktothewing.

 

[Inruin]

I think the main one who was exposed in our team this year both defensively and offensively was "Dallin".
#BringTainebacktothewing.

That is a tough one to argue isn't it. Our right edge defense did look stronger with TT there. Not sure if the stats back that up but I would suggest they do.

 

[Ref]

For the 20th time, it’s not dallins fault. It’s the warriors defensive policy. They jam in, to force the statistically more difficult pass - the long ball. If he’s rushing in, it means an inside man has been beaten, likely the edge or 4 man.

I’m not advocating that DWZ had an outstanding season, but the “Dallin let’s so many tries in” discussion really exposes those with game understanding or not.

And that defensive system has been working pretty well mostly.
But on the goal line and under pressure when you are pointing at who you have Dallin panics and rushes in too late and takes nobody repeatedly.
I don’t think he can be trained and I see the same guys at every level do it over and over.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Just rewatched the keeping-the-faith documentary episode on the Ando years. Webby-ball is probably on balance where we need to go but boy I miss those days with Sione passing the ball over his head across three opposition defenders to Evarn scoring right underneath the sticks. Ali, Sione and Logan holding the ball like a banana and passing it through their legs for a Meli/Fa'afili try in the corner. Those were the days.

Surely we can try to balance our rigid gameplan a little to incorporate a little bit of flair. As the dogs and us proved this year, having a structured approach is enough to get you to the finals. Need a bit more unpredictability in our attack to go to the big dance, as the Broncs proved this year. At least Gannon has some ball-playing skills, something that our other edge forwards all lack.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

For the 20th time, it’s not dallins fault. It’s the warriors defensive policy. They jam in, to force the statistically more difficult pass - the long ball. If he’s rushing in, it means an inside man has been beaten, likely the edge or 4 man.

I’m not advocating that DWZ had an outstanding season, but the “Dallin let’s so many tries in” discussion really exposes those with game understanding or not.

Most of us know that jamming is the warriors policy. RTS and Taine pull it off just fine. DWZ freezes, half jams, gets smoked and then lacks the speed to recover.

 

[Noitall]

Most of us know that jamming is the warriors policy. RTS and Taine pull it off just fine. DWZ freezes, half jams, gets smoked and then lacks the speed to recover.

Tuaupiki got found out something wicked defensively against the cowboys. He played a big part in the try that sealed the game to his credit though

 

[Chris Hodges]

Most of us know that jamming is the warriors policy. RTS and Taine pull it off just fine. DWZ freezes, half jams, gets smoked and then lacks the speed to recover

Not to mention he looked more like a stunned mullet by the end of the season. His confidence was shot as he had no idea on what to do in defence. It looked like if he had two options, he would choose the worst/high risk, low reward option.

 

[3rdstriker]

Tuaupiki got found out something wicked defensively against the cowboys. He played a big part in the try that sealed the game to his credit though

Dwz got found nearly every game he played sometimes multiple, quadruple times per game!!!

 

[Noitall]

Dwz got found nearly every game he played sometimes multiple, quadruple times per game!!!

So you would have kept Tuaupiki on the wing once DWZ’s wrist was sorted?

 

[3rdstriker]

So you would have kept Tuaupiki on the wing once DWZ’s wrist was sorted?

Yep

 

[Tokyo Warrior]

Yep

I would have as well. I thought Taine was playing well at the time.