Exploring New Zealand Warriors Trends And Updates In The Development Pipeline
New Zealand Warriors depth is being challenged at the NRL level and this has flowed down through the pipeline as players step up to cover promotions. Some tweaks to the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup teams aren't influenced by selections for the NRL team, but they are relevant updates to explore and it's important to remember that through all of these challenges, the NSW Cup team is still dominating with a 18-1-1 record this season.
The NSW Cup team has sustained their excellence without Tanah Boyd and Te Maire Martin. Luke Hanson stepped up when Martin was promoted to the NRL squad and while still being eligible for U21s this season, Hanson has played 31 games of NSW Cup for NZW. He rolled through nine consecutive wins as a starting half and a sneaky aspect of the NSW Cup team's mahi this season is that Hanson has been battling injury recently, so NZW have been winning without Boyd, Martin and Hanson.
Jett Cleary played a few games alongside his Penrith brethren before Hanson's injury. Since Hanson's injury, Cleary has been the dominant half as an U21 player and he had two wins followed by the draw vs Dragons last round. The fact that Cleary has not lost a NSW Cup game in his six appearances plays into the hype about him, however the NSW Cup Warriors have been an excellent team with a variety of players starting in the halves.
Ali Leiataua has done a bit of halves mahi in NSW Cup. Doyle has dabbled in halves mahi as well, while Caleb Laiman has started the last two games in the halves with Cleary. Laiman was offering utility cover on the bench in his first four games of the season and with injuries ravaging the wider NZW group, he has a win and a draw in the halves. This highlights how NZW success is based on their system and not any individual play-maker.
Aside from Hanson and Cleary who were playing Jersey Flegg Cup while the Boyd/Martin combo was in NSW Cup, the U21 halves haven't been promoted. NZW instead opted to roll through Leiataua, Laiman, Doyle and even Taine Tuaupiki offering his class as a leader at fullback. Given that Jack Thompson and Maui Winitana-Patelesio are both U19s playing U21s, there is no need to rush them into NSW Cup.
Thompson is the sneakiest young Aussie in the NZW system after moving from Newcastle to Auckland and he missed the SG Ball Cup season before sliding straight into the halves at the U21 level. Wellington's Winitana-Patelesio played his second season of U19s and settled as Thompson's halves partner when Cleary moved up a grade.
There has been a recent tweak with Caelys Putoko named to play in the halves with Thompson for the abandoned game vs Dragons last round and again for this weekend's game vs Bulldogs. Putoko made his NSW Cup debut at centre and split his U21 footy between fullback and centre this season before this switch to the halves.
Based on selections throughout the system, Putoko's move to the halves may have been influenced by plenty of outside backs being available and the dummy half depth being tested. Samuel Healey has moved up to NRL and Makaia Tafua isn't good enough to have a NSW Cup profile but he's already racked up 26 games of reserve grade while being U21 eligible.
This is the second season that Tafua has played more NSW Cup games than Jersey Flegg Cup, while Jacob Auloa is another U21 dummy half who has played two games of NSW Cup after five games in 2024 when he was still eligible for U19s. Auloa seems to have been injured over the past month and with Tafua playing NSW Cup, NZW have had Jeriko Filipi-Talisau as their hooker in Jersey Flegg Cup.
Winitana-Patelesio has played in the halves and at hooker so he is the best player to have on the bench, while Putoko is clearly viewed as a capable play-maker having played fullback and been named in the halves. Palmerston North's Joseph Ratcliffe was a notable promotion up the pipeline after playing in the 2024 Harold Matthews Cup championship and then SG Ball Cup this year, before settling as the fullback for Jersey Flegg Cup.
Putoko's stint at fullback was largely before Ratcliffe stepped up. NZW are flush with versatility in their system and along with Putoko covering multiple positions, the young Aussie from Northern Territory Brandon Norris has played wing and centre as well as Patrick Moimoi who returned to footy as a centre but has covered edge forward.
Motu Pasikala has also returned to action and he has been playing on the wing before being named at centre to play Bulldogs. As well as Moimoi and Pasikala finding steady selections, Nganatatafu Vake has entered the equation as a centre. He played U19 and U21s last year, then he missed the first half of this season and he has now played two games of U21s.
Putoko, Moimoi and Pasikala have played NSW Cup.. Along with Norris and Kahu Capper, they have played all played centre for the U21s this year. Capper has covered wing, centre and edge forward across U19/U21s for NZW this season and as he is the youngest of this crew, he has been in the wider squad for recent games.
At the top of the outside back depth chart is Sio Kali who is eligible for U21s but he has only played one game of Jersey Flegg Cup with six games of NSW Cup this year. Like Tafua, Kali had more appearances in NSW Cup over the last two seasons than he has for the U21s team. That reflects his freakish talents and the most notable observation is that Kali has found a groove on the wing in NSW Cup.
Kali's best position seems like centre but his best opportunity for NRL game time over the next year will be as a winger. When pondering the future of the outside backs for NZW in the NRL squad, they are far more likely to promote Kali than signing another player from outside the organisation.
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava made his NRL debut vs Dolphins and he is still eligible for U21s. It's the same yarn for Kayliss Fatialofa who continues to churn through the full 80 minutes in NSW Cup as an edge forward despite being U21 eligible. Fatilofa has played 20 games this season along with his eight games last year when he was still U19 eligible and his speed/power combo mixed in with big minutes in reserve grade make him the next up NRL forward for NZW.
Ieremia-Toeava debuted through the middle and Fatialofa could do that as well, although most of their NSW Cup mahi this year has been as edge forwards. They offer edge forward depth behind Jacob Laban and Alvin Chong Nee has had one game of NSW Cup this year as the leading edge forward in Jersey Flegg Cup.
Another undercover edge forward on the rise is Jacob's younger brother Dezman who played in the 2024 Harold Matthews Cup championship. Like Thompson, Laban missed the SG Ball Cup season and upon his return to footy he has entered the U21 team as an edge forward. Laban, Thompson and Ratcliffe are joined by Gordon Afoa in moving from the U17 championship into U21 footy this year.
Afoa has played four games of U21s while still being at school this year. He is a middle forward who started the in SG Ball Cup and has looked comfortable playing up the age grades. While it's most likely that Afoa flows through U21s, his swift rise in a position that NZW are well stocked for could point to Afoa pushing for NSW Cup selection quicker than many would assume.
One quirk in NZW selections this season has been Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea starting as a middle forward in his five games of NSW Cup. Despite spending most of this year in U21s, Tuipulotu-Vea has played 35+ minutes in his last four games of NSW Cup as a starter and while that could suggest he is ranked ahead of other young middle forwards, the consistent mahi of Christchurch's Jason Salalilo and Greytown's Toby Crosby is undeniable.
Salalilo played six games of U21s but he has played most of his year in NSW Cup with 15 games of reserve grade and 30+ minutes in 13 of those games. Crosby made his NSW Cup debut last year when he was playing U21s and he went straight on to the NSW Cup bench to start this season, playing 18 games and he has been building up his workload to play 30+ minutes in three consecutive games ahead of this round.
Crosby had 30+ minutes in three of his first 15 games and they weren't in consecutive games, so his increase in minutes is notable. For Crosby specifically, he needs experience playing rugby league at this level so his slow rise in mahi and a focus on his role as an impact forward seems deliberate. Crosby has NRL potential and while he will probably progress into a bigger NSW Cup role next season, he forecasts as a dynamic middle forward who could shine in short stints off the bench at the NRL level.
Salalilo and Tuipulotu-Vea are far more experienced in rugby league, specifically as middle forwards. They are both high pedigree juniors as well with Salalilo coming through the illustrious St Thomas of Canterbury College pipeline and Tuipulotu-Vea is from the equally as productive De La Salle College.
Rotorua's Harry Durbin continues to brew as another middle forward on the rise and after a swift rise that saw Etuate Fukofuka's play SG Ball Cup and NSW Cup in 2023, he has been gathering his rugby league experience. Fukofuka is like Crosby as he joined NZW from St Peter's College 1st 15 where he was a halfback and while his early mahi at NZW was as a dummy half, he is now operating as a small forward.
This probably required more game time for Fukofuka to build his workload experience and he played U21s consistently through 2024 then this season. Fukofuka was rewarded for his grind with a NSW Cup game off the bench in round 20 vs Bears and he was on the bench for the draw vs Dragons.
NZW have a clear pathway for positions and styles of players with the small forward offering insight into this strategy. Erin Clark and Kalani Going are small forwards at the higher levels, then Fukofuka is next on the cusp of NSW Cup. One of the sneakiest NZW juniors to impress this year is Paea Sikuvea and he is in his second year of playing U19/U21 footy, mainly as a small forward who shines thanks to his mobility and work rate.
Sikuvea has covered edge forward in the U21 team but he has settled in the middle, often playing alongside Fukofuka as NZW embrace their small forward stocks. Any number of U21 forwards could progress higher up the pipeline with Presley Seumanu-Tigafua, Emosi Ravosai and Tepatasi Laumalili doing most of the big bopper mahi for the Jersey Flegg Cup team.
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