Recruitment Warriors 2025/2026 Recruitment & Retention

Warriors 2025/2026 Recruitment & Retention Discussion​

-	Player	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
1	Bunty Afoa	✔
2	Tom Ale	✔
3	Mitchell Barnett	✔	✔	✔
4	Rocco Berry	✔	✔
5	Tanah Boyd	✔	✔
6	Kurt Capewell	✔	✔
7	Erin Clark	✔	✔	✔
8	Wayde Egan	✔	✔	✔
9	James Fisher-Harris	✔	✔	✔	✔
10	Jackson Ford	✔	✔	✔
11	Leka Halasima	✔	✔	✔
12	Tohu Harris	✔
13	Chanel Harris-Tavita	✔	✔
14	Sam Healey	✔	✔	✔
15	Edward Kosi	✔
16	Jacob Laban	✔	✔
17	Ali Leiataua	✔	✔	✔
18	Freddy Lussick	✔	✔
19	Zyon Maiu’u	✔	✔
20	Te Maire Martin	✔
21	Luke Metcalf	✔	✔
22	Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad	✔
23	Marata Niukore	✔	✔
24	Motu Pasikala	✔	✔	✔
25	Adam Pompey	✔
26	Taine Tuaupiki	✔	✔
27	Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	✔	✔
28	Demitric Vaimauga	✔	C
29	Dylan Walker	✔
30	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak	✔	✔	✔
S1	Kalani Going	S
S2	Tanner Stowers-Smith	S
T1	Jett Cleary	T	S	S

C = Club option, M = Mutual option, P = Player option, S = Supplementary contract (Formerly, Development), T = Train & Trial contract

Confirmed Top 30 2025: 30/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2025: 2/6
Unconfirmed Top 30 2025: 30/30
Unconfirmed Supplementary 2025: 3/6 (Luke Hanson, per Zero Tackle)

Confirmed Top 30 2026: 21/30
Confirmed Supplementary 2026: 1/6

2026 Gains: Nil
2026 Losses: Nil

Off Contract: Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Tohu Harris, Edward Kosi, Te Maire Martin, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Adam Pompey, Dylan Walker, Kalani Going (S), Tanner Stowers-Smith (S), Demitric Vaimauga (C)

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[Noitall]

'He can't retire': Shaun Johnson urged to make NRL comeback | Sporting News Australia

www.sportingnews.com

Some saying SJ too good to step away yet

 

[kos]

somebody find out his body was after Sunday s game.
Prob woke up Monday with every pain known to mankind.
Train train hard play get hurt or retire at 34 and enjoy his children
Easy-enjoy the children
He no longer has anything to prove.

 

[Noitall]

somebody find out his body was after Sunday s game.
Prob woke up Monday with every pain known to mankind.
Train train hard play get hurt or retire at 34 and enjoy his children
Easy-enjoy the children
He no longer has anything to prove.

Presumably he’s playing in the next one? Two if all goes to plan?

 

[kos]

Presumably he’s playing in the next one? Two if all goes to plan?

Yes
I should have added -talking about 2025 playing

 

[peewee]

Yes
I should have added -talking about 2025 playing

SJ and Metcalf would solve all our halves problems.
CHT and TMM as backup

 

[tajhay]

'He can't retire': Shaun Johnson urged to make NRL comeback | Sporting News Australia

www.sportingnews.com

Some saying SJ too good to step away yet

He seems pretty content with his decision. I doubt we would see him in a Warriors playing jersey again.

In the ideal world he would play around 12 games in and out as required but i dont think that is going to happen. He seems very much at ease with his call. The club does not seem to have had a Plan B if infact SJ retired at the end of the season.

 

[snake77]

Fletcher says he could fly in and out. It sounds like he is thinking about any NRL side. I'm not sure how well that would work even if he were on the books as a backup.

The ideal for a player is to retire on Grand Final day. For a player retiring while playing for a side that failed to make the finals Johnson probably got the best finish he could. Win the game and set up a try with your last touch of the ball.

That last game and a bit of a rest before the Kiwis games are probably clouding things a bit. Remember he had a pretty tough year, both in terms of injury and form. He's comfortable with his decision. The club need to move on from him at some point. Let's hope they do it better than when move to the Sharks.

When he came back to the club the concern was injuries with him getting up there in age. The first few years we got a lot of games out of him. The younger half options were more of a concern injury wise than Johnson was. This year was a lot tougher for him and I can understand his decision.

 

[Noitall]

He seems pretty content with his decision. I doubt we would see him in a Warriors playing jersey again.

In the ideal world he would play around 12 games in and out as required but i dont think that is going to happen. He seems very much at ease with his call. The club does not seem to have had a Plan B if infact SJ retired at the end of the season.

Yeah I agree he seems content with his decision. Love watching him in recent times lapping it up like a kid when he runs onto the field knowing it’s coming to an end club wise and internationals. I still find the whole situation from earlier in the season where it seemed he was all set to go around again with a $700k offer on the table to that all going quiet and then him retiring towards the end of the season odd? Perhaps he decided his body is done and he’s not up to the rigours of playing week in week out, but once November comes and there’s no repercussions for approaching anyone, I’ll be interested to see if we’re looking at a halve

 

[The Warrior Waka]

If TMM leaves, And we don't find a adequate replacement. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Sj coming back. He could take a back seat to Metcalf and let him run the team. Do the kicking for us, Step up when Luke is lacking. Luke hopefully gets a full year next to Sj to learn off of him just until Nathan Cleary arrives in 2026

 

[Noitall]

If TMM leaves, And we don't find a adequate replacement. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Sj coming back. He could take a back seat to Metcalf and let him run the team. Do the kicking for us, Step up when Luke is lacking. Luke hopefully gets a full year next to Sj to learn off of him just until Nathan Cleary arrives in 2026

If we were to see Metcalf as our 7, do you think there’s a possibility that Dylan Brown rumour earlier in the season could come to fruition? Many said at the time that Brown isn’t a 7, but if Metcalf was our 7, Brown would be 6

 

[JaggedJ]

SJ is moving on and so should we.

We're not an SJ away from winning it all next year.

 

[tajhay]

If we were to see Metcalf as our 7, do you think there’s a possibility that Dylan Brown rumour earlier in the season could come to fruition? Many said at the time that Brown isn’t a 7, but if Metcalf was our 7, Brown would be 6

we have such a love affair with 5/8s when what we need is a halfback.

 

[Noitall]

we have such a love affair with 5/8s when what we need is a halfback.

We have one five eighth able to be negotiated with that we don’t look to be prioritising, he was halfback when we had our best performances of the season. We’ve got another five eighth in Metcalf that rumours are that he’s going to get his shot at 7. A true 7 would be ideal but a top shelf 6 wouldn’t be bad either

 

[CWC]

So if TMM is not re-signed, he's still here next year, therefore he'd still be the 7 and Metcalf 6, with CHT/CNK backing up, ideally with another depth halfback signing

If TMM is leaving in 2026, it'd be disastrous for Metcalf to be the 7, as he'll be hurt quite often, and we're stuck with him and CHT, apparently 2026 might be a strong year for us, unless that Hughes rumor has traction, although not sure what the source was from another forum.

Like, unless we have a huge 7 signing, why leave out TMM who can still be depth 7 if they want to go all in with Metcalf at 7.

 

[CWC]

So looks like Laban/Halasima might share the 2nd rower position with Marata moving to the middle?
So bench is Healey, Clark, Walker, Sifakula? Sifakula might be stuck behind Ford lol

 

[The Warrior Waka]

If we were to see Metcalf as our 7, do you think there’s a possibility that Dylan Brown rumour earlier in the season could come to fruition? Many said at the time that Brown isn’t a 7, but if Metcalf was our 7, Brown would be 6

I don't know how the game management would go with these 2. But will def have the fastest halves in the comp lol. For me, Depends on Egan. If he stays fit and stays on the feild & is able to take on extra responsibility guiding our team around whilst these two find a connection /balance. It could work. Or, Be an absolute train wreck!

 

[Noitall]

I don't know how the game management would go with these 2. But will def have the fastest halves in the comp lol. For me, Depends on Egan. If he stays fit and stays on the feild & is able to take on extra responsibility guiding our team around whilst these two find a connection /balance. It could work. Or, Be an absolute train wreck!

Can recall at the beginning of the season Webster said they were going to do everything last year but sped up. That didn’t come to fruition. SJ and Metcalf seem really close having spent a bit of time together at 2 clubs but seems like Metcalf sees SJ as a mentor. Which is apparently what SJ is going to be doing at the club. I could see our backline dramatically speed up if it consisted of
Tuaupiki
DWZ
Rocco/Pompey
Leiataua
RTS
D Brown
Metcalf

 

[roguei]

If TMM leaves, And we don't find a adequate replacement. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Sj coming back. He could take a back seat to Metcalf and let him run the team. Do the kicking for us, Step up when Luke is lacking. Luke hopefully gets a full year next to Sj to learn off of him just until Nathan Cleary arrives in 2026

I honestly cannot see TMM leaving to another team. Maybe an early retirement? But his roots are to deep in NZ to leave now. Can't very easily move dogs, horses and a family nor can you beat the pig hunting in NZ bush... And fuck does the guy love to hunt.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

I honestly cannot see TMM leaving to another team. Maybe an early retirement? But his roots are to deep in NZ to leave now. Can't very easily move dogs, horses and a family nor can you beat the pig hunting in NZ bush... And fuck does the guy love to hunt.

Well if the club doesn't re-sign him soon. Looks like he'll be a youtuber content creator posting hunting & fishing videos lol.

 

[Old Sid]

I just don't get the 'routine' speculation on this forum that Metcalf will be our 7 next year. For me he has shown nothing skills wise to justify that honour. He was only selected at 6 by the powers that be in 23/24. (for me he was only adequate but nothing more in this position)

TMM performed admirably at 7 when asked to do so. His primary shortcoming (lack of long kicking game) is matched by LM. His short kicking game is superior. His try assists far exceed LM's. And I don't see him riding off into the sun when (if) he makes a name for himself given the relative security of regular selection.

Hopefully TMM wants to stay and is offered a decent deal to enable that to happen. His heart seems to be firmly in NZ.