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

 

[Mr Drag]

The later the release the better really. So they have to dig as deep into the defence as they can before hitting either the other half, the fullback adding an extra number to get the overlap or the front running second rower or across the second rowers face into the centres hands. Or drop the centre back to link outside Charnze to hit an open Dallin or Roger.

You know DWZ will come in and leave a huge gap out wide because he does it every game!

 

[WAH MAN]

You know DWZ will come in and leave a huge gap out wide because he does it every game!

Yep. I was just doing my offensive speculation.

I'll do my defensive one a bit better at smoko

 

[Playdaball]

The NRL (Peter Vlandys) is stepping in to prevent Lomax from defecting to rugby union. Could it become more of a possibility that he comes here now?

True, but BARNETT is next year and Lomax would be this year .

 

[RTS’s Calves]

Can see him wanting to rep his heritage. I think he's always wanted to but didn't want to give up the SOO bag ($$).

I can't see him ever wanting to live in NZ. Ever.

So I think you're right in that one of the two things will happen

On a recent YouTube video I’m pretty sure he said his sister just moved back to NZ and was loving being back at home. He spoke quite well of her living in NZ again

 

[WAH MAN]

You know DWZ will come in and leave a huge gap out wide because he does it every game!

Dallin has his massive share of mistimed and misjudged defensive misses. But asking him to tackle two on one, three on one, four on one is also on disorganized and degraded defensive lines. As in, lose the tackle when we are defending and they get the ball away even while our defenders are still on the ground or trying to get to their spots by which time they attack has often stacked the side to which they are going and playing the numbers successfully. Dallin has the right to walk under the posts during conversion time to chew out the defence inside him all the way to the last tackle.

There. I've fixed four percent of his defensive liabilities.

Edit - now back to my quinoa, tofu and kale smoko.

 

[Wrighty]

Auckland is a great city and our biggest metropolis in the country. It also has the warmest climate by far out of any of the other cities in NZ. Australians should be happy to live there. I don't identify with the negative comparisons against Australian cities but do understand Australian players would want to be home and close to Whanau.

 

[Boston Boy]

Auckland is way better than Melbourne

Same guy who took a 3 week ban instead of paying a fine if I recall correctly. They should call him Money Matterson. I wouldn't touch him. He was a good player but character is.......

 

[CWC]

So did we recruit an attacking coach? The jungle ball is back

 

[CWC]

So CHT is still off contract? He is 26? He could have another close to a decade of footy left, he’s actually becoming a premier 6 under Webby, they need to extend him asap, local boy no compassionate issues either

Interesting Webby was quick to rhetorical deny his own statement saying 6 and 7 are interchangeable and he’s not suggesting anything. Boyd stepped up from the last panthers game again and if he continues like this Luke could be playing 6, but CHT is growing rapidly so maybe off the 6-men bench until injuries or other teams work us out? FB and CNK to centre?

TMM’s probably gone next year we have so many halves

 

[Tookey 2.0]

So CHT is still off contract? He is 26? He could have another close to a decade of footy left, he’s actually becoming a premier 6 under Webby, they need to extend him asap, local boy no compassionate issues either

Interesting Webby was quick to rhetorical deny his own statement saying 6 and 7 are interchangeable and he’s not suggesting anything. Boyd stepped up from the last panthers game again and if he continues like this Luke could be playing 6, but CHT is growing rapidly so maybe off the 6-men bench until injuries or other teams work us out? FB and CNK to centre?

TMM’s probably gone next year we have so many halves

Yeah i mentioned something similar in the game day thread.
We've been screaming out for quality halves at the Wahs for years and while we have a plethora of young exciging halves coming through, if CHT has another similar year I cant imagine that we would be getting rid of a half thats had 40+ try assists and tries in 2 years, where we finished 5th and hopefully in the 8 this year?

CHT is starting to find his way towards the top of the 'first picked list for me.
To win the comp you need some out and out stars like Metcalf, but you also need a fair few middle men - the ones who don't cost the earth, are consistenr and provide a platform for the bigger stars to shine. CHT and Ford are perfect examples of this kinda guy

 

[CWC]

Yeah i mentioned something similar in the game day thread.
We've been screaming out for quality halves at the Wahs for years and while we have a plethora of young exciging halves coming through, if CHT has another similar year I cant imagine that we would be getting rid of a half thats had 40+ try assists and tries in 2 years, where we finished 5th and hopefully in the 8 this year?

CHT is starting to find his way towards the top of the 'first picked list for me.
To win the comp you need some out and out stars like Metcalf, but you also need a fair few middle men - the ones who don't cost the earth, are consistenr and provide a platform for the bigger stars to shine. CHT and Ford are perfect examples of this kinda guy

Ya he’s in the top 25% of starting halves for try assists and 12th overall in line with Cleary and Reynolds, and most halves these days hit their prime around 30 so we better lock him up with a long term deal the floor is already borderline elite

The main thing I hope he improves on is kicking and ability to play 7 and own the team, mainly due to injuries pre or mid games, funny enough Boyd’s been pretty healthy, maybe he ends up being a Pompey replica lol

 

[CWC]

 

[Noitall]

View attachment 16106
View attachment 16107

Mark Nicholls must have kicked one before he retired?

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Yeah i mentioned something similar in the game day thread.
We've been screaming out for quality halves at the Wahs for years and while we have a plethora of young exciging halves coming through, if CHT has another similar year I cant imagine that we would be getting rid of a half thats had 40+ try assists and tries in 2 years, where we finished 5th and hopefully in the 8 this year?

CHT is starting to find his way towards the top of the 'first picked list for me.
To win the comp you need some out and out stars like Metcalf, but you also need a fair few middle men - the ones who don't cost the earth, are consistenr and provide a platform for the bigger stars to shine. CHT and Ford are perfect examples of this kinda guy

Just watched the replay. He had a great game everywhere

 

[skinnydippng]

Just watched the replay. He had a great game everywhere

he's such a good team/hype man - see the tanah try, he was first to get to him and they had a cute lil handshake thing
noticed he tends to really get around his teammates its nice

 

[Neo]

Just watched the replay. He had a great game everywhere

I think he is the definition of a role player. Will always do his job well and make his tackles. Just needs those around him to be the star

 

[Playdaball]

Interesting that as the Warriors get better , players coming off contract end of this year will see their value rise for Perth , PNG and established NRL clubs.
The old saying comes to mind , “ we can’t keep them all”
… TMM, Boyd, Capewell, Berry, CHT, Nikoure come to mind plus others who may ask for a contract release .

 

[Neo]

Surely Timoko wants to be playing first grade.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Surely Timoko wants to be playing first grade.

Ricky must be unhappy with how hes come back?

 

[JaggedJ]

Timiko has been injured most of the off season. Ricky said he needed to play 80 minutes in NSW Cup to get some miles into the legs before coming back.