New Zealand Warriors Mt Smart Losses, Broncos Preview & Junior Deep Cuts
The last game New Zealand Warriors won at Mt Smart was in round seven against Brisbane Broncos and after losing to Penrith Panthers at home, they are back on the road for a return game against Broncos. There doesn't seem to be a notable home advantage for NZW at Mt Smart because their two biggest crowds of the season were losses, as Raiders and Panthers shook the soul out of Mt Smart. Add in a 5-2 record in away games and perhaps NZW are more comfortable on tour.
NZW have only lost four games this season with the first three losses each followed by at least two wins. Slide back to the last win at Mt Smart vs Broncos and that came after a big loss vs Storm, sparking up a five game winning streak before Raiders arrived in Auckland. Two wins in Sydney followed that and the combination of hearty bounce backs with a fabulous record in Australia should offer optimism for Saturday's encounter in Brisbane.
The struggle of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's mahi this season takes another break as he is injured again. Watene-Zelezniak's mana means that he will always be selected in the top-17 but he was either out of form or battling injuries in his six games after returning from injury and now Edward Kosi takes his place.
Watene-Zelezniak had less than 90 run metres in four games before last round. This is the first season of his career averaging less than 110m/game and he is well below that mark. Here are the metres per game for players who have spent most of their game time on the wing this season...
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck: 176
Edward Kosi: 132
Taine Tuaupiki: 123
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak: 83
This is especially notable because Watene-Zelezniak averaged 153m/game and 149m/game in the first two seasons of the two Andys era. While the baseline for replacing Watene-Zelezniak should be much higher, Taine Tuaupiki did an admirable job earlier in the season and Kosi's won all three of his games this year so he should be able to do better than the veteran.
Rocco Berry returns at centre and he has only played consecutive games in one phase of the season, plus he's only played 80mins in two of his four games. Add in that Berry hasn't played NSW Cup since round three and it's tricky to gauge what to expect from the Greytown geezer.
Wellington’s Jacob Laban is rewarded for his fantastic efforts by keeping a starting edge forward spot with the return of Kurt Capewell. This pushes Leka Halasima to the bench and with Marata Niukore starting in the middle, this feels like the best forward rotation available without Mitchell Barnett.
Halasima may still return to a starting role at some point but he adds immense impact coming off the bench, while Laban has earned his opportunity as a starting edge forward. Laban hasn't played 80mins this season but he came close with 71mins vs Panthers and Halasima has played 80mins in five of his 14 games, so this could be viewed as a demotion for the Mangere East junior but it still seems like he is best deployed against opposition who have been battling repeat efforts.
The 20-18 win vs Broncos in round seven sums up this match up nicely. NZW had a notable possesion advantage (54% - 46%) thanks to a superior completion rate (84% - 69%) and conceded fewer penalties (4 - 10), yet Broncos weren't far off winning that game. Over the season, NZW are notably better in these stat zones and Bronco's firepower is on show in a significant linebreak advantage. Here are stats with the biggest differences...
Set Completion
Warriors: 83% - 1st
Broncos: 78% - 12th
Penalties Conceded
Warriors: 69 - 16th
Broncos: 85 - 3rd
Errors
Warriors: 135 - 16th
Broncos: 151 - 9th
Linebreaks
Warriors: 51 - 17th
Broncos: 84 - 1st
Post Contact Metres
Warriors: 7,954 - 6th
Broncos: 7,324 - 14th
Decoys
Warriors: 690 - 8th
Broncos: 596 - 15th
Offloads
Warriors: 97 - 16th
Broncos: 138 - 8th
The winning recipe against Broncos is doing what NZW do best in grinding down their opposition, patiently flowing through the set for set grind and dismantling them as fatigue builds. None of that was on display vs Panthers and while NZW rolled through that recipe vs Sharks, Broncos also blew Sharks away in the second half.
NZW had a win over Panthers in NSW Cup to maintain their perch at the top of the ladder where they hold a 14-1 record. Tokoroa's Caelys Putoko flashed his ability on debut at centre and drops back to Jersey Flegg Cup for the trip to Sydney vs Sea Eagles where he is named at fullback.
Anything could happen for outside back selections for both teams. Sio Kali returns on the wing for reserve grade and the other wing spot in NSW Cup is left open. Avalon rugby union junior Gary Tuilekutu also made his NSW Cup debut vs Panthers on the wing but he didn't get the same buzz as Putoko, now he is listed as 18th-man in the squad named on Tuesday.
Tuilekutu could get another crack on the wing or Daeon Amituanai could be a late inclusion, while Morgan Harper's ability to plug holes at centre or wing could see him move to wing and Putoko come in as centre. Putoko is named at fullback because Joseph Ratcliffe isn't named in the U21s team with Patrick Moimoi staying at centre and Nganatatafu Vake getting his first game of the year.
Vake played U19s, U21s and NSW Cup last year but hasn't appeared in any footy in 2025. This puts the freaky depth of NZW in the spotlight as Putoko and Brandon Norris were the U21 centres for a few weeks, then Moimoi returned and Putoko got a promotion, now Putoko is named at fullback with Norris on the wing and a centre combo of Moimoi/Vake.
Such depth was probably a key factor in Compton Purcell moving to Panthers. After playing the SG Ball Cup season and one game of Jersey Flegg Cup, Purcell popped up on the wing for Panthers against NZW where he joined another former NZW junior Siale Faeamani. Purcell was unlikely to get many games for NZW U21s this season and it's a great move for him as he appears to have an opportunity for more U21s footy at Panthers.
Purcell isn't the first 2025 SG Ball Cup player to depart NZW either. Meihana Pauling moved to Titans after the U19 season and has been playing in their U20s NRLQ team, which is a lovely move for him because he was unlikely to get a crack in the NZW U21s team this year. Pauling and Purcell aren't even the most notable departures since the end of last season as Jackson Stewart and Kaawyn Patterson are already getting U21 games with Roosters and Bulldogs respectively after they playing for the U17 championship team in 2024.
The abundance of NZW junior talent is also on display in Auckland's Fox Memorial Premiership. Kahu Capper and Maui Winitana-Patelesio both played for Mt Albert last weekend, while the Pt Chevalier always has lots of NZW juniors thanks to their connection with NZW.
Here are the U19/U21 NZW juniors who lined up for Pt Chevalier last weekend: Malakai Cama, Taipari Wikitera, Hiraka Waitai-Haenga, Callum Jones, James Marriott, Noah Jensen, Etuate Fukofuka, Jackson Kite, Augustino Filipo, Kalani Peyroux-Donaldson, Mitchell Bebbington, Jamayne Feast, Mikaele Ilaiu.
That's almost a whole team of NZW juniors who are U21s (many are U19s) and didn't play Jersey Flegg Cup. It's tricky to gauge any general rules about what level is more important or 'better' and instead it looks like NZW manage what is best for the individual between playing against men in Fox Memorial or U21s in Jersey Flegg Cup.
Swing back around to the NSW Cup forward pack and Mangere East junior Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea is named to start at prop for his second game of the season. Tuipulotu-Vea has been a consistent presence in the U21s team and while he is named as a starting prop, he still sits behind Jason Salalilo and Toby Crosby in the middle forward depth chart.
This leads to one last deep cut as Paea Sikuvea has settled into the U21s team after finishing the U19 season. Another Mangere East junior, Sikuvea has done the U19/U19 double two years in a row and seems to have a similar style as Kayliss Fatifalofa. Sikuvea was a middle forward for most of the SG Ball Cup and has mainly done that role in Jersey Flegg Cup as well, but he played edge forward last round vs Panthers.
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