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    Reading some of the comments on social media accusing the Warriors staff of not knowing what they're doing when we lose players like Te Paeroa Wi Neera, does my head in.
    I hadn't even heard of him until that article. How are they going to react when we lose one of our genuine prospects that ideally we want to keep - because it's going to happen.
    The following 19 young players are some of our current best prospects and on their current trajectory will all be ready for the NRL in seasons 2026, 2027 or 2028. At which time, by 2028, they'll all be aged between 20 and 24.
    Joseph Ratcliffe, Jeremiah Lemana, Caelys Putoko, Sio Kali, Connor Bowden, Jack Thompson, Jett Cleary, Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea, Makaia Tafua, Jason Salalilo, Bishop Neal, Paea Sikuvea, Lennox Tuiloma, Harry Inch, Tepatasi Laumalili, Emosi Rovosai, Kahu Capper, Luke Hanson, Braelan Marsh - and anyone else i couldn't think of.
    We already have JFH, Halasima, Laban, Linnane, Vaimauga, Gannon, AKP, Mellars, Metcalf and TSS signed until at least 2028 - so that's 10 of the 30 places taken (most of which are still young), and I don't see us having a total clean out of all of the other 19 players to make way for all of the development players, so we're going to lose some of them.
    Of the remaining guys, this is the year their contracts end and the age they'll be in 2028:
    Contracts end at end of 2026:
    Berry: Will be 27 in 2028, Boyd: 27, Capewell: 35, CHT: 29, Niukore: 32, Tuaupiki: 29, RTS: 35, TMM: 32
    Contracts end in 2027:
    Barnett: Will be 34 in 2028, Clark: 30, Egan: 31, Ford: 30, Healey: 26, Leiataua: 25, CNK: 33, Pompey: 30, DWZ: 32, EIT: 24, Fatialofa: 23
    If guys like Egan, Berry and Leiataua can get past their injury issues, I can see us retain around 7 or 8 of those players beyond 2028.
    Meaning there's going to be some star prospects who we have to let go.
     
    ~Navigator~ said:
    pmn.co.nz

    From night shifts to NSW Cup star: Makaia Tafua’s full-time rugby league gamble pays off

    The Warriors hooker has traded draining overnight water-main shifts for a relentless rugby league pursuit, with the club backing the 21-year-old as one of its strongest young prospects.
    pmn.co.nz
    Click to expand...
    Articles like that are interesting. We see how they perform on the field and pick out issues. You don't know what else is going on that could affect someones performance.

    The lower grades where guys trying to supplement their footy income with a job that is likely getting them worn out as well. Night shifts wouldn't be great preperation for being an athlete.

    Gould told a story earlier in the year about one player people said wouldn't make it coming through the ranks as he was often late to training. He asked has anyone talked to him? He sat down with the player and found out he was working his backside off and having to do a big commute across town for training. Gould got him a job closer to Penrith or maybe at the club. Think he may have had the guys new boss comment how great a worker he was. The player, Moses Leota.

    I've been at a few NSW Cup games and would often hear the friends/family cheering for Tafua. Since then I've tried to watch him a bit more. He's had less big runs since then but he's developing well. A season or two back his passing looked to be struggling, that may have been due to being tired from work now reading that.

    He's had a few seasons getting NSW Cup game time. A lot better development than we'd have in years gone by. He was named a few times in 21 before getting removed later in the week. He could be in line for a debut next season.
     
    Remember when everyone was moaning about letting the Kepu twins and Zyon go. Something tells me McFadden knows what he’s doing.
    Now he’s let Ale, Bunty and Crosby go. Crosby looks an amazing athlete. But we will have to wait and see if he turns into a first grader.
    We’ve got some great young kids coming thru. Just got to give it time. I’m so glad they didn’t waste time and money on NAS. I’d rather they invested on these young kids.
     
    tajhay

    tajhay

    💙💚❤️
    Supporter
    As we head into the offseason and the upcoming Christmas/New Year break, things will naturally slow down around here. Many of us are taking a well deserved break to recharge and spend time with loved ones (who might have felt a little neglected during the season!).

    There’s still some activity happening, including offseason games and an upcoming event that wrighty is organizing for the tragics. You’ll also notice some new 2026 threads popping up and older ones being closed or wound down. Overall, Warriors news will be pretty scarce during this downtime as everyone enjoys their break.

    For a bit of fun, we’ve created something special inspired by Spotify Wrapped—NZWarriors.com Wrapped! Each active user will get a personalised summary of their year on the forums to reminisce and wrap up 2025. Keep an eye on your alerts soon for yours. Here’s an example:
    nzwarriors.com

    tajhay's 2025 Wrapped

    nzwarriors.com nzwarriors.com
    . The number of slides presented will depend on your individual activity.for the year.

    Wishing you all a fantastic holiday season—stay safe, enjoy the break, and we’ll see you back here ready for an exciting 2026!
     
    Warriorshopeful said:
    I see the Harold Matts rookie of the year resigned for 3 years;

    View attachment 15112

    Looks like a gritty player from some of his highlights, seems to enjoy the contact.
    Click to expand...
    I was at his former primary school yesterday with a bunch of kids & mentioned his name to encourage them to make the most of their opportunities. Definitely not one of the very best kids I've taught in terms of natural ability but was highly coachable, enthusiastic & I think has benefitted greatly from trying lots of different codes (Boxing & Ice Hockey amongst others).
    I must've meet him when he was 7 years old & he'd proudly wear a Manly Sea Eagles backpack
     
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    I texted in a question to Cam George on Sport Nation this morning.
    How many spots are available in the top 30, and are EIT / Fatialofa on the top 30 (as those are 2 that there's confusion over) ?

    He confirmed we have 28 players.
    Then when asked about EIT/Fatialofa he said ahhh I think they're in the development space.

    So, probably one of them is the 28th player and one is on a development deal, i don't know?

    But definitely 28 👍

    Good interview if you have time.

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/0gIFJ8mPNtTEaxTWFw3AOu?si=DWLDbmWMTlKkXpRoWRilCw
     
    Last edited:
    Just goes to show how strong our club has become, all this talk of which new recruits or juniors will make the top side on the back of the top side making the finals with many debutants and young guns filling in along the way for key senior players now returning from injury whilst the NSW cup team sweeping all aside took the trophies and Harald Mats doin the business back to back..

    Loving the new standards the club is forging!!
     
    Five&Last said:
    But then you have guys like Tuiloma and Sikuvea coming through who Gannon will have to fend off as well, who are very clearly far better than Gannon at the same age
    Click to expand...
    Gannon made his professional debut at 17. That ship has already sailed for both Tuiloma & Sikuvea. Neither are likely to do so before they are 20 years old so I'm unsure how you can be so adamant that they're better than Gannon was at the same age.
    His talent is unknown to pretty much everyone in Australasia
     
    Tookey 2.0 said:
    With all the talk being around Niukore's role moving forward, and it sounds like most people are in agreeance that the issues are more around how much he's being paid compared to what he offers, what are peoples thoughts about keeping Niukore around but on a pay packet that reflects his current role in the team?

    Is there still a place for him now that we have a lot of boom rookies coming through?
    If we did keep him, what kind of money would you be happy for him to be on moving forward?
    Click to expand...
    a lot of our boom rookies are backrowers, not middles. Marata still has a place in the middle rotation alongside Barney and JFH. At times he was our most physically damaging middle. The issue has been when injuries has forced him to move into the back row where his old legs and limited lateral movement gets exposed. Simplify his role to bench middle and he still has so much to offer.
     
    Noitall said:
    Vaimauga is perhaps the one I’m less worried about with him being relatively inconspicuous compared to the headlines Halasima is getting, though interestingly it was Halasima to 18th man for Tonga while Vaimauga maintained his position. I think with Vaimauga and his partner having a child he realises need to provide and hopefully will be a positive individual who’s close to him. We’ve got an amazing group to set the standard in JFH, Capewell, RTS, CNK, Barnett, DWZ
    Click to expand...
    Vaimauga has just been around the set up for longer too. He's been earmarked as long term first grader since he was 17 in Redcliffe and has been training full time with the first grade team since then too.

    Halasima has had a more hard and fast rise to the top. He wasn't on many people's radar at the start of that SG ball season in 2023. He's gone from SG ball to NSW cup in one season and then playing a full season of first grade within 2 years of that. That's usually a recipe for second season syndrome. Hopefully he continues to lock in and improve. Could be one of the goats if he does.
     
    Last edited:
    Noitall said:
    I know what not to get you for Christmas
    Click to expand...
    When I was about 10 my friend came back from a trip to Australia with a big league mag- I was blown away to learn about the Winfield cup and thought the jerseys were amazing- especially the bears and broncos.
    I spent about 6 months dreaming of getting one then a kid at school told me his cousin was selling his sharks one for $20- I begged my mum to buy it and said it could be my Xmas present so it was arranged to meet him after school the next day- his mum was there too and said he had a couple other ones that were too small if I wanted them- I couldn’t believe it- scored the roosters and dragons too!
    One of the best days of my life 😂
    Although then mum made me wait the 5 weeks till Xmas 😒
     
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