New Zealand Warriors won their third niggly game in a row at Magic Round and on the same day they won the Harold Matthews Cup championship for the second season in a row. Assessing junior footy is as tricky as an illegal mission for Aotearoa herbs. Many of these Under 17 lads will move away from rugby league or they will be recruited by Australian clubs like Kaawyn Patterson, Jackson Stewart and Hudsyn Frost were from the 2024 U17 champion team.

There was never a connection between the Under 20s dynasty and NRL success for NZW in previous decades either. NZW have been here before in that regard and yet it all feels different because of the grit shown by the NRL team as well as consistent top-four mahi from the NSW Cup team (who play vs North Sydney on Sunday afternoon).

NZ Warriors haven't lost a Harold Matthews Cup finals game - all in Australia

2024
30-20 vs Eels
12-10 vs Bulldogs
34-16 vs Magpies
(76-46)
2025
20-4 vs Roosters
28-8 vs Rabbitohs
30-16 vs Knights
(78-28)#UpTheWahs
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) May 3, 2025

The most impressive thing about the U17 team is their mahi in Australia during finals footy. NZW have not lost a Harold Matthews Cup finals game and all six of their finals appearances have been in Australia. Harold Matthews Cup is a New South Wales Rugby League competition and most of the teams are from NSW, with Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders also competing in the U17 competition.

Storm and Raiders have not played finals footy in the last two season so they can't win any finals games. NZW have beaten Sydney teams in five of their six Harold Matthews Cup finals games and then came the win vs Newcastle Knights in the grand final yesterday.

After clinical long game wins vs Sea Eagles, Roosters and Tigers, NZW continued their 'by any means' win streak vs Cowboys. NZW haven't played their best footy vs Broncos, Knights and Cowboys but they have balanced their mishaps with winning mana. NZW have scored 20+ points in each of these wins even though they have had their depth tested and after two wins conceding less than 20 points, their defensive grit was still on show despite conceding 26 points vs Cowboys.

The sneakiest insight about NZW right now is how they deal with adversity. Prior to the game vs Cowboys, Ali Leiataua dropped out of the team due to injury which led to a shuffle of the backline with Adam Pompey moving from wing to centre and Edward Kosi coming on to the wing.

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Once again NZW dealt with a mid-game injury as Rocco Berry left the field in the 53rd minute. The Leiataua/Berry centre combo is the best that NZW have and after Berry departed, NZW had a centre combo of Pompey and Kurt Capewell. Other pieces of the puzzle needed to be moved as Marata Niukore went from his middle forward role to right edge and Leka Halasima moved from the right edge to fill Capewell's spot on the left edge.

Cowboys scored three tries after Berry dipped out and NZW didn't score a try in the second half. They did well to target the makeshift right edge of Niukore/Capewell/Taine Tuaupiki but only scored one try down this edge from their shape in the second half. Somehow NZW hung on under pressure and rode the wave of Cowboys momentum to seal a fabulous win.

The 'by any means' theme of these three wins is important because there are lots of holes in how NZW have played. These performances have been far from perfect and a keen observer can pick apart everything NZW did wrong in different phases of each loss. Yet NZW won all three games and this informs fans that there is a estuary of gritty mana that flows through all the corridors of Mt Smart.

Samuel Healey also made his debut and spent time sharing the field with Wayde Egan, before Egan came off in the 73rd minute. Coach Andrew Webster has done this before with Egan, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Luke Metcalf and Te Maire Martin all on the field together vs Broncos.

In NSW Cup, Healey has shared the field with Freddy Lussick and Makaia Tafua. Regardless of who is playing hooker and who is playing small forward, coach Webster is always willing to go smaller and deploy two of these types of players to the extent that this is a theme running throughout the organisation.

Healey impacted the game vs Cowboys, especially when he slotted into dummy half. This should not be surprising to regular Niche Cachers because Healey has been awesome in NSW Cup. Healey has played 70+ minutes in two of his six NSW Cup games, while playing 60+ minutes in five and 58mins in the other game.

All of which is part of an enticing development spike for Healey since moving to Aotearoa...

Sam Healey in NSW Cup

2023: 12 games, 50% wins, 5 tries, 4 try assists, 9 offloads, 58m/game, 94.9% tackling, 10.4 kick metres/game
2024: 26 games, 65% wins, 8 tries, 4 try assists, 22 offloads, 56m/game, 94.2% tackling, 17.2 kick metres/game
2025: 6 games, 83% wins, 2 tries, 2 try assists, 10 offloads, 106m/game, 96.9% tackling, 31.2 kick metres/game

Erin Clark is also loving the Aotearoa development boost. Clark played less than 50mins in the first five games of the season and without James Fisher-Harris, Clark has played 60+ minutes in the last three wins. Clark has been the best player for NZW this season thanks to his speed, aggression and skill.

Clark had nine passes vs Cowboys which was the most of all forwards from both teams who didn't play dummy half. He also led NZW for runs and run metres, casually not missing a tackle either. Here's the full statlines for Clark in the last three wins...

vs Broncos: 60mins, 20 runs - 160m @ 8m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 16 passes, 29 tackles @ 100%
vs Knights: 64mins, 17 runs - 155m @ 9.1m/run, 1 try assist, 3 tackle breaks, 3 offloads, 16 passes, 45 tackles @ 90%
vs Cowboys: 69mins, 23 runs - 204m @ 8.8m/run, 1 tackle break, 9 passes, 38 tackles @ 100%

Leka Halasima played 80mins for the first time in his career.

Kurt Capewell played 67mins vs Raiders and has played 80mins (82mins vs Broncos) in the next seven games.

Chanel Harris-Tavita had 357 kick metres vs Cowboys which was a season high. Luke Metcalf had 311 kick metres and the only other game this season when they have both had 300+ kick metres was vs Roosters.

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad hasn't scored a try this season and so far this is his first season without scoring at least two tries. He has fewer linebreaks and tackle breaks this season as well, yet Nicoll-Klokstad is averaging 189m/game. This is his third season over 180m/game in a row and he averaged below 180m/game in each season with Raiders.

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at NZW and Raiders

Warriors: 54 games, 52% wins, 20 tries, 15 try assists, 23 linebreaks, 182m/game, 83.2% tackling
Raiders: 66 games, 61% wins, 23 tries, 9 try assists, 18 linebreaks, 159m/game, 85.7% tackling

This is Nicoll-Klokstad's best tackling season at NZW with 86.6%.