General Warriors Preseason 2026

[Warriorsfan92]

Bishop is years away. Talent is one thing, but attitude is another. See how he goes against men who are of similar size first. He’ll play 1st grade, no doubt but it won’t be in the next 18 months

 

[sup42]

That "Sonny Bill" out the back of the hand offload has definitely reinforced for me that he's destined to be an edge forward rather than a middle.

Funny you should mention Sonny Bill.

I was thinking the club should contact him and show him the tape, ask his advice/what he would have found helpful at 17 with the talent he has.

I would play to Sonny's ego - use the analogy of the IP man meets the kid Bruce Lee...I would say things like 'we really don't want to mess this up, we know what we have on our hands, we can't think of anyone else in our code that would get this kid'.....

"Obviously we would remunerate you for your time and intellectual property Mr Williams" yadda yadda.

The thing Williams has that sets him apart, is his balance. Name a skill in football required of a forward and he has it well developed, there are no weaknesses, he pretty much has the full deck of cards - Size, speed, power, agility, skill, intelligence, aggression, endurance, competitiveness.

Bishop Neal arguably is more blessed than Sonny was as a teen in a handful of skills, I think Bishop has better hands than a young Sonny, and I think he is certainly more powerful.

But the skill Neal has that rivals Sonny, which gets me wildly excited is his vision and selfless humility with the ball. When Neal makes one of the breaks down the side line he is looking inside, outside, inside while his coach yells "just go...just go....just go" and that is because it is Rugby Union, forwards aren't meant to create second phase ball movement in school rugby.

Anyway, hook him up with Williams if he is the kind of kid that can cope with saying no thanks every time Sonny invites him to the local mosque.

We paid Andrew Johns to do the same with SJ.

Go early, start a friendship, inspire the young fellah with the best New Zealand forward of a generation.

 

[sup42]

Bishop is years away. Talent is one thing, but attitude is another. See how he goes against men who are of similar size first. He’ll play 1st grade, no doubt but it won’t be in the next 18 months

He might be years away.

Certainly is a year away, but if he builds his endurance for the NRL he could easily be in there in twenty twenty seven.

He may prove to be one that is able to rag doll men like Leka can, especially if his build starts transforming over this season and his fitness increases.

I could see him playing that short end spot off our bench early season twenty seven.

He has the gifted hands to counter the rushing wall of defenders in the mens game, a burst of acceleration, there is no knowing what will happen in the real arena.

We will know when he hits NSW cup what he can handle eh. If he is throwing dudes aside in that grade he is an NRL option.

 

[WAH MAN]

Big difference between this guy and Sam Lousi, is that he has some good speed for a big guy, and good attacking nouse (putting guys in great position and an awesome offload). Sam's downfall was lack of speed and to break the line and cause doubt in the oppositions D, you need to threaten the line with speed and or power which Neal has tons of. Sam was slowish, this gut can take half a gap and has an offload. In my opinion he is much much more suited to succeed at a high level in League than Lousi. I am glad Lousi has done well in Union, but I believe this guy has all the tools to be a break out star Ala Leka (potentially better in the long term), the only concern would be fitness and defense.

It takes a Payne Haas motor to move a body that large, that fast.

I think his success will come from being too hard to defend one on one. If he masters offloading, passing and timing, he could destroy teams.

Once he gets a shot in NSW cup against first grade level men, we will see his readiness.

 

[ndp26]

He might be years away.

Certainly is a year away, but if he builds his endurance for the NRL he could easily be in there in twenty twenty seven.

He may prove to be one that is able to rag doll men like Leka can, especially if his build starts transforming over this season and his fitness increases.

I could see him playing that short end spot off our bench early season twenty seven.

He has the gifted hands to counter the rushing wall of defenders in the mens game, a burst of acceleration, there is no knowing what will happen in the real arena.

We will know when he hits NSW cup what he can handle eh. If he is throwing dudes aside in that grade he is an NRL option.

Agree. Although he is technically eligible in May (turning 18), the odds of him playing NRL in 2026 are very, very low (IMO) - even if there is an injury crisis, the Club has a much better handle on player development than the Toyota Cup years.

He is a talent - that there is no doubt, but I think that people forget he hasn't played SG Ball yet, let alone NSW Cup.

There is a big jump in quality of both competition and players when moving from H.Matts to SG Ball (players across the board are technically better, so the bigger/stronger players don't stand out quite as much as in 17s), plus even Leka didn't jump straight from SG Ball to NRL. In 2023, Leka played SG Ball and then the rest of the year in NSW Cup. Then, in 2024, he predominantly played Cup. His first "full" year with the NRL side wasn't until this year, where he'd (I assume) had a couple of NRL pre-seasons under his belt.

Neal is SG Ball this year, but is doing part of the NRL pre-season - so if Neal follows the same trajectory as Halasima, you'd think that he plays some Cup next year following the end of the SG Ball season with a view to him playing a full season of Cup in 2027 (after a full NRL pre-season). Perhaps even an NRL debut in 2027.

It will be exciting to see how he goes in the SG Ball comp, which will certainly tell us how he is tracking on those intangibles that others have mentioned. He will be in a squad containing winners of the past two Matts seasons, so hopefully he does step up, continues his development and plays a key role in (hopefully) another championship winning Warriors side!

 

[Theking267]

Agree. Although he is technically eligible in May (turning 18), the odds of him playing NRL in 2026 are very, very low (IMO) - even if there is an injury crisis, the Club has a much better handle on player development than the Toyota Cup years.

He is a talent - that there is no doubt, but I think that people forget he hasn't played SG Ball yet, let alone NSW Cup.

There is a big jump in quality of both competition and players when moving from H.Matts to SG Ball (players across the board are technically better, so the bigger/stronger players don't stand out quite as much as in 17s), plus even Leka didn't jump straight from SG Ball to NRL. In 2023, Leka played SG Ball and then the rest of the year in NSW Cup. Then, in 2024, he predominantly played Cup. His first "full" year with the NRL side wasn't until this year, where he'd (I assume) had a couple of NRL pre-seasons under his belt.

Neal is SG Ball this year, but is doing part of the NRL pre-season - so if Neal follows the same trajectory as Halasima, you'd think that he plays some Cup next year following the end of the SG Ball season with a view to him playing a full season of Cup in 2027 (after a full NRL pre-season). Perhaps even an NRL debut in 2027.

It will be exciting to see how he goes in the SG Ball comp, which will certainly tell us how he is tracking on those intangibles that others have mentioned. He will be in a squad containing winners of the past two Matts seasons, so hopefully he does step up, continues his development and plays a key role in (hopefully) another championship winning Warriors side!

It’s going to be a huge challenge for Neal this year to play in 3 different grades. If he is able to do it than he probably debuts in 27 probably off the bench and then probably a full time role on the bench starting in 28.