A young wave has already swept through Mt Smart to refresh the New Zealand Warriors NRL team in 2025 and after five rounds of NSW Cup footy, there is a clear group of emerging talent on rising towards the NRL. Ali Leiataua, Demitric Vaimauga and Leka Halasima have played all five games so far this season with Leiataua churning out 80 minutes at centre, while Vaimauga and Halasima have thrived in bench roles where their game time varies each round.

Vaimauga played less than 20 minutes in the first three games before 29 minutes vs Tigers and then 41 minutes vs Storm. He is rolling through the middle which keeps a cap on his game time but opportunities are popping up, with the departure of Dylan Walker providing an opening at middle forward and now there is the absence of James Fisher-Harris who will miss a few games due to injury.

Halasima played less than 30 minutes in his first two games and now has three games in a row with at least 30 minutes of action. Halasima has been deployed primarily as an edge forward who can also roll through the middle and cover centre, which means there are more opportunities for him to play.

This week Halasima is named as a starting edge forward with Kurt Capewell sliding out to centre to cover the absence of Rocco Berry. Halasima will probably be rotated out with Jacob Laban having a stint at edge forward vs Broncos in the same way that Marata Niukore hovers around 60 minutes of footy with Halasima giving him a break.

All three are local juniors from Auckland, growing up within a few kilometres of each other. Leiataua is a Mangere East and Papatoetoe junior who went to King's College. Vaimauga is an Otahuhu junior who went to De La Salle College. Halasima is listed and often described as an Otahuhu junior but we will keep rolling with him being a Mangere East junior who went through Southern Cross Campus. All three played 1st 15 as well as rugby league before zoning on rugby league with NZW.

Here are their games played in the NRL by season (Leiataua | Vaimauga | Halasima)

2023: 1 | 3
2024: 6 | 4 | 4
2025: 5 | 5 | 5

Te Aroha/Randwick junior Laban is named to make his first NRL appearance of the season vs Broncos. Coming out of St Bernard's College and then Kelston Boy's High School, Laban has played four NSW Cup games this season with 80mins in all four games, after two seasons of hitting the 15 game mark of reserve grade. Laban played seven NRL games last year and has been in offering career-best mahi in NSW Cup so far in 2025...

2023: 17 games, 5 tries, 3 offloads, 74m/game 88.5% tackling
2024: 15 games, 8 tries, 2 offloads, 107m/game, 92.5% tackling
2025: 4 games, 2 tries, 4 offloads, 139m/game, 92.4% tackling

Laban has already passed his previous best for offloads and has made a notable jump up in metres per game. He has had at least two tackle breaks in all four games as well, which can be tweaked for at least four offloads in three of those games.

There are five standout emerging players who are yet to play NRL but have been regulars in a winning NSW Cup team this season…

Samuel Healey (Engadine)

The 22-year-old hooker joined NZW from Sharks and after impressive mahi in the pre-season window, Healey has started four games at hooker in NSW Cup this year. He has played 60+ minutes in three games and 58mins in the other game, with a try or linebreak in three of the four games.

Healey averaged 58m and 56m per game in his two seasons playing for Newtown, with tackling efficiency of 94%. That has jumped up to 89m/game and 96.5% tackling this season with NZW. There is also some kicking on show for Healey as he's had kick metres in three of his four games and after two seasons below 20 kick metres per game, now he's on 39.4 kick metres per game with NZW. Healey has now played 42 games or NSW Cup.

Eddie Ieremia-Toeava (Otahuhu/De La Salle College)

The 20-year-old has already rolled out 33 NSW Cup games and after covering nearly every position last season, he has started all four of his games this year as an edge forward. Ieremia-Toeava can pop up anywhere during a game though and adds value with his ability to cover injuries or sin-bins, usually sliding out to centre when there is an issue in the outside backs.

Ieremia-Toeava is averaging 119m/game and tackling at 96% efficiency which are both career highs in three seasons of NSW Cup. That's probably because he's playing more edge forward and he's also got at least two tackle breaks in three of four games, as well as an offload in each of his last three games. Given that he has had two NRL games as 18th-man, Ieremia-Toeava is probably the next in line to make his debut for NZW.

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Tanner Stowers-Smith (Halswell/St Bede's College)

The 21-year-old is the leading youngster from Christchurch at Mt Smart and has stacked up 41 games of NSW Cup experience. Stowers-Smith has played all five games of reserve grade and after coming off the bench in the first three, he has started the last two games at prop. This hasn't had a notable impact on his minutes though as Stowers-Smith has played 40+ minutes in four of his five games and had 39mins in the other game.

Stowers-Smith has scored tries in his last two games and had at least two tackle breaks in four of his five games. After one offload in his first two seasons of NSW Cup he has four this season and he is in his first season averaging over 100m (120m/game) as well as tackling over 90% for the first time with 94% efficiency.

All of which has led to Stowers-Smith getting extended bench honours for the NRL team and he is named on the extended bench for the game vs Broncos ahead Ieremia-Toeava. This is likely because the middle forward depth is being challenged for NZW and this could mean that Stowers-Smith makes his NRL debut before Ieremia-Toeava. Stowers-Smith has a similar style to James Fisher-Harris and Leo Thompson, offering plenty of gritty mahi as well as the mobility that coach Andrew Webster loves in his middle forwards.

Kayliss Fatialofa (Otara/Manurewa/De La Salle College)

The 20-year-old has played 13 games of NSW Cup and after playing all five games this season he is on track to pass his eight games from last season. Fatialofa has played 40+ minutes in all five games with three games coming off the bench and two games starting at edge forward in which he played all 80 minutes.

With three tries this season, Fatialofa has already done better than his two tries last season. His running mahi is similar with 66m/game last season improving slightly to 70m/game this season. Fatialofa has only missed three tackles this season though and his 93.5% tackling from 2024 has improved to 97.5% this year.

Fatialofa has similar versatility to Ieremia-Toeava and when the opportunity comes his way it will probably be on the bench where he can cover different roles. His best position is probably edge forward and he his agile enough to play centre, although Fatialofa may develop into a fast/powerful middle forward as well.

Toby Crosby (Greytown/Upper Hutt/St Patrick's College Silverstream)

Perhaps the best secret stash at Mt Smart, Crosby has settled into a consistent bench forward role in the NSW Cup team. The 21-year-old played 21 Jersey Flegg Cup games last year in his first season of rugby league and also stepped up to play one NSW Cup game. The departure of Zyon Maiu'u to Bulldogs opened up space in the middle forward ranks and Crosby has been the one lad who benefited the most from this change.

Crosby is averaging 59m/game and is tackling at 97.6% efficiency. The only insight available in comparison to his one game last season is that he had two missed tackles in one game last year and has two missed tackles in five games this year. Joining his Greytown and Silverstream buddy Rocco Berry at NZW, Crosby has played 18-25 minutes in four games along with 42mins vs Roosters.

The most important thing about Crosby's mahi this season is his efficiency coming off the bench. Not only does this highlight his ability in limited minutes, it is also the same role he would play if he continues to develop and cracks NRL footy.

vs Raiders: 21mins, 6 runs - 63m @ 10.5m/run, 15 tackles @ 100%
vs Sea Eagles: 20mins, 4 runs - 37m @ 9.2m/run, 18 tackles @ 100%
vs Roosters: 42mins, 7 runs - 73m @ 10.4m/run, 26 tackles @ 96.3%
vs Magpies: 24mins, 6 runs - 70m @ 11.6m/run, 16 tackles @ 94.1%
vs Jets: 18mins, 5 runs - 51m @ 10.2m/run, 8 tackles @ 88.8%

Crosby has averaged 10m/run in four of his five games this season and the other game was 9.2m/run. He is tackling with 97.6% efficiency and his only game below 94% this season was vs Jets in which Crosby didn't actually have an official missed tackle, but was listed as having on 'ineffective tackle' which dropped his percentage.

A few more deep cuts...

Daeon Amituanai (Te Aroha/Whiti Te Ra) and William Fakatoumafi (Otahuhu) have returned to NZW. Both were with NZW before the pandemic and departed during the dark age of the Redcliffe-Warriors era, with both spending time at Panthers. Amituanai joined NZW directly from Panthers after three seasons of 10+ games in NSW Cup in the Penrith system, while Fakatoumafi played one game of NSW Cup with Panthers in 2022 and then 11 games with North Sydney Bears in 2023.

Amituanai has started two games on the wing and his 134m/game so far is the highest in his four seasons of NSW Cup. Fakatoumafi has played wing and centre in his two games, offering a versatile outside back presence. He is 24-years-old and has been on an adventure before returning to Mt Smart, so Fakatoumafi offers a splash of maturity as well.

Pt Chevalier junior Sio Kali has played one game of NSW Cup and one game of Jersey Flegg Cup this season. The outside back is one of the most talented emerging talents for NZW but he has struggled to string together games. Similar vibe for Motu Pasikala (Liston College) who has played two games of Jersey Flegg Cup and is yet to feature in reserve grade.

Penrith juniors Luke Hanson and Jett Cleary are named together in the halves for this weekend's game vs Dragons. Hanson has started the last two games in the halves and the 21-year-old has already played 20 NSW Cup games. This puts Hanson a few notches above Cleary as Cleary has been steadily simmering in Jersey Flegg Cup with five games this season and he steps up to NSW Cup for the first time.

Linwood junior Makaia Tafua has played one game of NSW Cup and along with Pt Chevalier junior Jacob Auloa, they are the two emerging hookers behind Healey. They have each played five games of Jersey Flegg Cup this season and this opens up the thread of NZW developing small forwards as they are often on the field together because they thrive in the physicality of playing as small forwards as well as hooker.

Jason Salalilo is the latest youngster to be promoted to NSW Cup and the Papanui junior joins Stowers-Smith and Tafua as the notable South Island juniors. Salalilo is a middle forward who along with Pikiao junior Harry Durbin has played one game of NSW Cup this season and they are named on the bench together for the round seven game vs Dragons.

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Peace and love.