Francis Manuleleua is the third Kiwi-NRL debutant of 2026 after coming off the bench for Newcastle Knights in their loss vs New Zealand Warriors. The Papatoetoe junior follows on from Setu Tu and Siale Faeamani who made their debuts in the opening round of the season and like Faeamani, Manuleleua excelled in 1st 15 rugby union in Auckland.

Manuleleua juggled both codes as a youngster. He was in the Future Warriors group in 2019 while at Kings College and Manuleleua excelled in a couple of Future Warriors games, one of which was against a touring Knights team. The game against an Auckland Vulcans team earlier in 2019 offered an early insight into Manuelelua's potential with Brian Smith saying this about him...

"It was hard to single out one player among some great performers but Francis showed his class. It is extra special considering he is still only 14 years of age while big Salesi (Ataata) showed his potential on the edge for Auckland"

Those Future Warriors teams were Under 16 and after entering the 1st 15 realms earlier than most, Manuleleua grew into a captain before finishing school. Given that Manuleleua was part of the NZ Schools rugby union squad and made the World School 7s Tournament Team via Condor Sevens (alongside Sio Kali), Manuleleua would have had multiple options in both codes to choose from and he opted to move to Sydney where he entered the Penrith Panther system.

There is lots of buzz about players moving from Warriors to Panthers now, but Manuleleua was one of the first players who made that move during the Panthers dynasty. Manuleleua's only footy for Warriors seems to be those Future Warriors games and he departed Auckland at a time when Warriors had their junior pipeline ravaged by the pandemic.

This overlaps with Faeamani who played U19s and U21s for Warriors before moving to Panthers. Manuleleua played U19s/U21s for Panthers in 2023 and then U21s in 2024 when Faeamani was playing U21s for Warriors. Then Manuleleua took up a better opportunity with a clearer path to NRL at Knights and Faeamani moved to Panthers for the 2025 season.

Manuleleua played two games of U21s for Knights last year and 20 games of NSW Cup, most of which were full games at edge forward. Having mainly played in the midfield during his 1st 15 days and in the halves as a rugby league junior, Manuleleua has a wide range of skills as well as size and power that has seen him move into the forwards.

A couple years in the Panthers system and consistent reps in NSW Cup for Knights gave Manuleleua a strong platform to develop as an edge forward. He played 67 minutes in round one this season and score two tries with six tackle breaks, two offloads and 12 runs - 131m. Then he entered the wider NRL squad for the Knights game vs Sea Eagles but didn't get game time as Knights battled injury mayhem and Manuleleua held his spot for the game against Warriors.

Interestingly, Manuleleua played as a middle forward vs Warriors. He had 11 minutes in the second half and was on the field at the same time as edge forwards Dylan Lucas and Jermaine McEwen, both of whom played 80 minutes. Despite being capable of playing middle forward, Manuleleua has had very little experience in a role where players can get caught in the cycle of defensive efforts - especially in a game where Warriors were in control.

Manuleleua had 1 run - 6m and made 9 tackles @ 90%. While he did well to compete in this role, wasn't near the middle for Panthers and Manleleua has primarily played as an edge forward at Knights. 19 of his 21 NSW Cup games were as a starting edge forward and he was on the bench for the other two, with all signs suggesting that he was being brewed to add edge forward depth for Knights.

Instead he played through the middle and got a taste of hectic NRL footy. There is lots of edge/middle versatility in the NRL and like Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana (Mangere East) who debuted for Knights last year, Manuleleua can develop this versatility but it would have been lovely to see him play in a role that suited his experience.

Salesa-Leaumoana had a similar path with Knights but with a different coach. He was cooking in NSW Cup as an edge forward and got NRL game time in the middle, before starting this season as an edge forward in NSW Cup ... where he has been overtaken by Manuleleua. None of which seems like ideal development but Manuleleua will be eager to whatever the team needs and the ability to do so in the NRL reflects his pedigree as a youngster in Aotearoa.

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