New Zealand Warriors return to Mt Smart this weekend after three consecutive losses across NRL and NRLW, having not scored more than 20 points and conceded more than 20 points in each of these losses. This started with back to back NRL losses vs Panthers and Broncos, then the wahine lost 6-30 against Roosters in their first game of the seasons.

The NRL, NRLW and NSW Cup Warriors will all be playing on Sunday at Mt Smart. Add in a Jersey Flegg Cup game on Saturday and all three men's teams will be playing against their Wests Tigers equivalents. The women will take on Parramatta Eels who won their first game and the NRL/NRLW teams especially, will be eager to bounce back from a losing phase in front of a bumper Mt Smart crowd.

Here's how the full Warriors vs Tigers/Eels match up looks...

NRL

Warriors: 4th | 10-5
Tigers: 14th | 6-10

NRLW

Warriors: 11th | 0-1
Eels: 6th | 1-0

NSW Cup

Warriors: 1st | 15-1
Magpies: 8th | 7-9-1

Jersey Flegg Cup

Warriors: 8th | 7-8-2
Tigers: 7th | 7-8-2

While the NRL and NRLW teams are in a combined slump, each loss featured foundations of mana. Much of this has been covered in our Substack newsletter and last weekend we offered an optimistic perspective for the NRL Warriors. The NRLW Warriors suffered similar defeat as the blokes given that Roosters were far more ready for NRLW footy and overpowered the wahine, yet there were many positive signs in a loss that could have been far worse.

Eels had a win in NRLW last round but they lack the overwhelming power of Roosters. NZWW are still without a few ladies who have NRLW experience in winger Lavinia Tauhalaliku as well as forwards Mya Hill-Moana and Felila Kia, which along with no NRLW trials ahead of the Roosters game, hindered what they were capable of for the season opener.

There are no changes to the women's team and folks should expect a better performance after the cobwebs were blown out. Like the men's team, the major issue for NZW will be controlling the footy as all three losses in recent weeks saw NZW give clinical teams the majority of possession. Add in significant drops in completion rates for the men and a horrible completion rate for the women for easy ways to settle into these contests.

Men vs Panthers: 45% possession | 79% completions
Men vs Broncos: 46% possession | 74% completions
Women vs Roosters: 45% possession | 63% completions

Here are a few quick notes from the women's loss vs Roosters...

Michaela Brake, Tysha Ikenasio, Patricia Maliepo and Emily Curtain combined for 14 dummy half runs. The backline for the men's team had no dummy half runs vs Panthers and two in total vs Broncos.

Skipper Apii Nicholls led NZW with three errors vs Roosters, something that probably won't happen again this season.

Maliepo showed her class in the halves with 1 try, 12 runs - 122m @ 10.1m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 17 tackles @ 77.2%, 7 kicks - 179m. Curtain was the other half and while it wasn't her best outing vs Roosters, the Curtain/Maliepo combo compliments each other and Curtain will probably be busier as she gathers confidence for NZW.

Laishon Albert-Jones is the distribution hub in the forwards. She had 13 passes vs Roosters which was the same as Maliepo and a few behind Curtain's 18 passes.

NZW had 22 dummy passes and Roosters had three. This didn't help NZW vs Roosters but along with dummy half running, it shows a clear stylistic element of their footy. If they can balance the fakes with crisp shape, they have the speed and power to earn ruck control with the footy.

Bench impact is something to watch out for. Lydia Turua-Quedley was lively out of dummy half and then added zip to the halves when Curtain came off. Maarire Puketapu, Ashlee Matapo and Matakino Gray all offer oomph as well. Wellington's Puketapu is a small forward type who is faster than most middle forwards, Auckland's 18-year-old Matapo is a big bopper who instantly looked comfy with NRLW physicality and Rotorua's Gray is a mobile workhorse who can cover edge forward.

Both edge forwards in Shakira Baker and Kaiyah Atai played 70mins (full games) vs Roosters. If they do this again it will allow the bench forwards to roll through the middle where there can always be fresh energy.

Capri Paekau played 54mins at dummy half with a try assist, 6 DHR - 52m @ 8.6m/run and 26 tackles @ 89.6%. She earned an Aotearoa Maori call up as an 18-year-old, has played for Kiwi Ferns and already had five game of NRLW experience before this season, so watch out for Paekau as the conductor from dummy half.

NZ Warriors recruited Tanah Boyd to join Te Maire Martin has experienced halves depth. Taine Tuaupiki is in tremendous form and Sam Healey offers all sorts of attacking spice. It's not all doom and gloom at Mt Smart yet #UpTheWahs https://t.co/EBfOoK32ws
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) July 6, 2025

Everything for the men's team revolved around selections and there weren't any surprises. Taine Tuaupiki is at fullback, Tanah Boyd in the halves and Te Maire Martin keeps his utility role on the bench. Many of these wrinkles were covered in the optimistic stock take deep dive, which also included a few notes about Rocco Berry's somewhat underwhelming mahi at centre.

Berry is named at centre again this week where he will line up against Adam Doueihi or Starford To'a. Berry has the ability to shut both of then down if he's in form and with Ali Leiataua named at centre in NSW Cup, this is an important outing for the Greytown geezer.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak returns on the wing and the headlines around his availability do not match his mahi this season. Tuaupiki has been the best right winger used so far in 2025 and that's partly thanks to how mediocre Watene-Zelezniak has been. This is Watene-Zelezniak's first season of 14 with no linebreak and less than 100m/game, which can be sharpened to less than 110m/game and he's well below that on 83m/game right now.

Here are some stat pockets with notable differences between NZW | Tigers (keep in mind that Tigers have played one more game than NZW)...

Penalties conceded: 16th (77) | 5th (91)
Missed tackles: 10th (482) | 2nd (583)
Offloads: 16th (109) | 1st (199)

With Boyd and Martin in the NRL team, the Under 21 halves combination of Luke Hanson and Jett Cleary will play NSW Cup. This flows down the pipeline with Maui Winitana-Patelesio and Jack Thompson both U19s who have stacked up consistent mahi in U21s, named again as the halves combo vs Tigers.

There is an abundance of exciting NZW juniors throughout the system right now, but two lads who are creeping under the radar as funky talents are Thompson and Joseph Ratcliffe. Cleary gets lots of media buzz but he's still ranked behind Hanson in the depth chart and Thompson has shown flashes to suggest he is just as good, if not better than the other two Aussie halves.

While it's tricky to project future talent, Thompson may have the most potential of all the halves at Mt Smart right now and that includes the NRL lads. Thompson was highly influential in the 2024 U17 championship and then he didn't play the U19 season earlier this year, but now he has settled as the halfback in U21s and keeps his spot in the halves when Cleary drops down to Jersey Flegg Cup.

Ratcliffe is another U19s player who has quietly settled into a fullback role for the U21s. The Outkast Mana junior from Palmerston North is still only 18-years-old and his speed/instincts combo adds value to the U21s team. Ratcliffe is the next best NZW junior at fullback behind Tuaupiki and he is now often selected at fullback ahead of Caelys Putoko who gets most of his game time at centre.

Notable U19s playing U21s: Joseph Ratcliffe, Maui Winitana-Patelesio, Jack Thompson, Paea Sikuvea, Tepatasi Laumalili, Emosi Ravosai.

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Peace and love.