New Zealand Warriors Wider Squad & Summer Training Break Down Ahead Of 2025 NRL Season
There is more clarity around the New Zealand Warriors wider NRL mix as kiwis roll into summer, although there are still murky waters in these estuaries that provide just as much intrigue. The estuaries of the NZW system will remain murky until various squads below the NRL tier are announced, if they are announced at all and that means we will probably need to wait until the first rounds of Under 19 SG Ball early next year to enjoy confirmation of who is in the NZW pipeline.
It's a while away, but pre-season trials for the NRL group have been key junctures in sorting out the NZW pipeline. Both pre-season windows of the Andrew Webster coaching era have included players ranked 35-45 in the NZW depth chart which offers clarity into the NSW Cup squad, especially as various lads have popped up out of nowhere to settle in this tier.
Kalani Going and Paul Roache are examples from the first pre-season under the two Andys (including recruitment leader Andrew McFadden). Last season started with lads like Toni Tupouniua and Quinlan Tupou getting a crack as new arrivals. All of which suggests that while there are some insights to gain from various sources about the wider NZW mixer, it's important to leave space for random surprises because that has been a sneaky trend of the two Andys era.
The two relevant things offering insight into the NZW squad are useful and in true rugby league fashion, somewhat unreliable. NRL.com has the top-30 squad and development contracts listed, although the NRL seems to have shifted to 'supplementary contracts' without updating their official roster list thingy.
Around this time every year, an Australian media outlet drops the 'train and trial' information behind a paywall. Obviously no one from outside Australia is going to sign up and pay an Aussie outlet so that makes things tricky to start with, but it is a useful gauge of Kiwi-NRL player movement below the NRL top-tier. Jah bless the interwebs for providing various avenues to slip behind these restrictions and access the train/trial information (that NRL teams could easily provide themselves to better inform fans about who is playing for that team).
Useful information that requires nuance to break down. There are small details like the train/trial yarn spelling names wrong and there are bigger details like Motu Pasikala being listed in the NRL top-30 contract group as well as the train/trial group. Why would Pasikala need a train/trial contract if he has an NRL top-30 contract? He probably isn't being paid through two different contracts and this reinforces the notion of caution when assessing how NRL information is presented.
There are also players who are part of the NZW squad without a top-30, development or train/trial contract. Luke Hanson, Patrick Moimoi and Kayliss Fatialofa have all been spotted in summer training snaps without being listed in one of the three contract brackets for example. Harry Durbin won the U21 Player of the Year for NZW this year and played 11 games of NSW Cup, but he isn't listed in any contract bracket. This applies to other lads like emerging cult hero Toby Crosby, even Sio Kali who played eight games of NSW Cup this year as an 19-year-old.
This leads us to a note about contracts...
Contracts do offer insight into how the NRL team ranks players, however they should not be used as a ranking measurement for fans. First of all, some of the information is unreliable. Contracts are important to the team and players because they sort out how a player is paid. Everyone involved in summer training needs to get paid somehow and even then, there are a bunch of NZW players who are getting paid without a top-30, development or train/trial contract.
In assessing the NZW system, it's important to note that there are players who aren't listed in any contract bracket like Hanson, Moimoi and Fatialofa who are much closer to NRL footy than the train/trial lads. The train/trial group for NZW flows between extremes with Moala Graham-Taufa hunting more NRL game time next season and Christchurch's Jason Salalilo who started this year in U19s and will be aiming for consistent U21 Jersey Flegg footy.
NRL.com lists Tanner Stowers-Smith and Kalani Going as the only 'development/supplementary' contracts for NZW. This should increase heading into next year, although it doesn't really matter to us because players have and will play NRL footy without being in this top-35 contract mix (top-30 and roughly five development contracts).
The train/trial group for NZW...
Jett Cleary: half, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Moala Graham-Taufa (Marist): outside back, NRL mix
Daeon Amituanai (Whiti Te Ra): outside back, NSW Cup
Kahu Capper (Western Suburbs - Taranaki): outside back, U19s pushing for U21s
Jacob Auloa (Pt Chevalier): hooker, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Makaia Tafua (Linwood): hooker, NSW Cup
Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea (Manurewa): middle forward, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Augustino Filipo (Mangere East): edge/centre, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Etuate Fukofuka (St Peter's College): small forward, NSW Cup
Jason Salalilo (Papanui): middle forward, U21s
Eddie Ieremia (Otara): every position, NSW Cup
Motu Pasikala (Liston College): outside back, NSW Cup
That's 12 players in the train/trial bracket, along with Stowers-Smith and Going. Give or take various details like Pasikala being top-30 and train/trial or the lads in the shadows (Hanson, Moimoi, Fatialofa etc) and NZW have roughly 45 players in this mixer. This can easily become 50 players when factoring in players at the U21 level or below who are spending time with the NRL squad for phases of summer training.
The Cleary/Hanson pocket is funky. Cleary has earned buzz and stepped up from U19s to U21s mid-season at Panthers, while Hanson has already played 18 games of NSW Cup.
Aside from Cleary, all the train/trial lads are from Aotearoa. Most of the train/trial lads were already in the NZW system as local juniors which reinforces the theme of NZW embracing their development club status. For decades there were complaints about NZW not recruiting the best rugby league talent in Aotearoa, but right now it is undeniable that NZW are investing heavily in recruiting and developing local talent from around Aotearoa.
The most interesting pocket in the local junior train/trial zone are hookers Makaia Tafua and Jacob Auloa. Both played NSW Cup this year despite Tafua being U21 and Auloa being U19. This could mean that Roache has been bumped out of the NSW Cup as NZW also signed Sam Healey from Sharks, giving NZW a dummy half unit of Wayde Egan, Freddy Lussick, Healey, Tafua and Auloa.
Daeon Amituanai and Kahu Capper return to Aotearoa.
Capper's return to Aotearoa was announced earlier in the year by NZW.
Amituanai was part of the first NZW SG Ball team early in 2020 and was part of the young crew who had to shift to Redcliffe (such a crazy period to reflect on). Then Amituanai moved to Panthers where he played U21s and NSW Cup, which overlapped with coach Webster's time as an assistant coach with Panthers.
Stowers-Smith, Tafua and Salalilo are the only players from Christchurch in this contract basket. As explored here, there are lots more lads from Christchurch and specifically St Thomas of Canterbury College in the NZW system.
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