2026 Mid-Season Check In With Emerging Aussies For New Zealand Warriors
New Zealand Warriors piled up Australian halves throughout their development system and while that is still at the centre of their Aussie intrigue, it's grown out to include others like Jye Linnane and Riley Price in other positions. Price played his first game of NSW Cup for NZW last weekend and churned through exceptional mahi with 69mins, 19 runs - 197m @ 10.3m/run, 1 linebreak, 3 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 26 tackles.
Price has only played a few NRL games and bounced around a few organisations before joining NZW. 80 odd games of reserve grade experience and his inability to command a regular NRL opportunity combine to paint Price as someone who doesn't have much NRL potential.
Before his mid-season switch, Price started in all 11 of his Queensland Cup games for Redclife and had eight wins. He played 60+ minutes in 10 of those games and flashed a bit of extra juice with five linebreaks and 29 tackle breaks, which flowed into his dominant performance for NZW.
Price came off the bench in his first game and is now named to start at prop with Cooper Page-Wilson out of action. Page-Wilson has a similar profile to Price having dabbled in NRL preseason footy before joining NZW in his mid-20s after 50+ games of Queensland Cup. Page-Wilson is bigger than Price and moved to Mt Smart just after the NSW Cup season started, offering a dash of maturity to a young forward pack.
These two additions to the middle forward depth aren't as loud as the theme of recruiting fabulous young halves from Australia, but the similarities between Page-Wilson and Price show that the two Andys had a need and Andrew McFadden got busy in recruitment. Price seems closer to NRL footy but both have opportunities to flourish in a development system that has elevated other Aussie recruits and prepared local juniors to play big minutes in NRL.
Samuel Healey is another who joined NZW at the reserve grade level and has grown into a regular NRL role, coming off the bench to give Wayde Egan a break. Egan hasn't played 80 minutes this season and Healey has already doubled his seven games from last season. This points to more NZW themes of Aussies being patient for opportunities at Mt Smart and with Makaia Tafua looking comfy at the NRL level, it's another example of competitive depth never seen at Mt Smart before.
That frames the Jett Cleary situation. Despite their impending departures, NZW have selected the two Lukes in the halves for NSW Cup ahead of Cleary. For NZW fans stuck in a past full of anxiety and suffering, this triggers fears that Cleary will also he heading out the door because he isn't getting his way. Nothing about Cleary's mana suggests that he will conduct himself how Metcalf did for a few weeks though and Cleary has actually thrived in gathering experience doing other jobs.
Cleary came off the bench during the NSW Cup/State Championship run last season and then he didn't play the full 80 minutes in the first three games this season despite starting at halfback. He went on to start the first 11 games at halfback, including a loss vs Panthers with Metcalf playing five-eighth. Then Cleary switched to five-eighth for two games alongside Metcalf and returned to halfback for a game without Metcalf, then he came off the bench last weekend vs Magpies.
All of which is evident in Cleary's basic halves duties. He went from doing most of the kicking with 150+ kick metres in all but one of his first 11 games, to less than 100 kick metres with Metcalf in the team. His receipts went from hovering around 50 without Metcalf, to 40 with Metcalf and then 13 receipts vs Magpies where his 41 minutes were the lowest of his season.
Cleary is basically so good at footy that he can impact games in other ways though. Against Magpies, Cleary rotated through middle forward as he was subbed on for small forward Jacob Auloa and then starting prop Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea came on for Cleary in the second half. Cleary had 7 runs - 73m @ 10.4m/run with 26 tackles @ 87% in his 41 minutes and his eight passes were second only to Auloa's 11 passes for forwards aside from hooker Makaia Tafua.
NZW have this role in the middle forwards throughout their pipeline. The NRL team has Erin Clark and Demitric Vaimauga, while Tafua and Auloa have shared game time as small forwards in NSW Cup along with Cleary and Amasio Tiatia. Tyson Hansen is being brewed in this role and the U21 team has had Maui Winitana-Patelesio operate as a small forward. Even Harry Inch has dabbled in middle forward duties at the U21 level.
That Cleary is capable of playing this role shows a team-first approach as well as highlighting how talented he is. There was a game vs Jets a few weeks ago in NSW Cup where Cleary was initially named to start at hooker and while there was a late shuffle to the team, Cleary had a 30m dummy half run early as part of his 14 runs - 147m @ 10.5m/run.
Guess who leads the NSW Cup for tackle breaks this season? Cleary and the two blokes ranked just behind him offer an enticing comparison for NZW folks. Cleary has 51 tackle breaks this season, then Patrick Moimoi has 50 and Toby Crosby has 49. Cleary averages 3.4 per game which is slightly lower than Moimoi (3.8) and Crosby (3.5) but this shows how dynamic Cleary's running ability is.
He is also tied with Haizyn Mellars for the most linebreaks this season and is second for try assists behind Hanson. Cleary has gone from 14.2 tackles per game last season to 22.1 this season and maintained his 88% efficiency despite the increased workload. Add in how the Cleary whanau trust NZW as an organisation for Jett's development and all of this seems like an experience that will benefit Jett as he builds towards NRL footy. His quickest path to NRL footy may also be as a bench utility so these reps could be very useful.
Cleary is one of the best runners for NZW in NSW Cup, let alone everything else he offers. He's not the best runner though as Jye Linnane is at that level and the abundance of halves in the system is evident in how Linnane came to Mt Smart as a half, but he has started all seven of his NSW Cup games at centre.
Linnane has seven tries and 32 tackle breaks, averaging 4.5 tackle breaks per game this season. Still only 20-years-old, Linnane hasn't played U21 footy for NZW and he is in a groove with 127m/game with 91% tackling. Given his history of hefty knee injuries, Linnane probably won't be rushed into the NRL and consistent game time at centre seems like the best path forward.
Rocco Berry has been in and out of the NSW Cup this season as part of his endless journey through the injury estuaries. Berry is likely to be the next centre in line for NRL footy if he is healthy with Linnane behind him, but Linnane has overtaken Caelys Putoko, Motu Pasikala and Sio Kali since entering the NSW Cup team.
These players form a group of outside backs who have all flashed their ability for NZW and have plenty of potential, although that's also present in all position silos. Brandon Norris scored five tries for the U21 team weekend vs Tigers and it was roughly a year after he capped off a crazy comeback win against the same team.
Norris is from Darwin and spent time in Brisbane before joining NZW. He scored 15 tries for the U21s in 17 games last year and has blown out to 21 tries in 14 games this year. While he has covered centre and a bit of fullback, Norris has settled on the wing where his speed, balance and instincts command attention.
Norris is 21-years-old at the moment and hasn't played NSW Cup this year. This means that Harry Tauafiafi-Iuoti is ranked ahead of him in the wing depth, while they are behind Mellars and Daeon Amituanai, plus NZW recently added Luke Laulilii as a winger but he's not part of the longterm plans.
Two other young Aussies in Jack Thompson and Braelan Marsh have played NSW Cup this season, while mainly playing U21s. Both are 19-years-old. Thompson has similar halves potential to Cleary and along with Inch, these guys will fill the void left by Metcalf and Hanson. NZW haven't been thirsty for any other halves because they know the talent they have rising through the Mt Smart system.
Marsh is a dummy half who has similar attacking ability to Egan and Healey. The dummy halves from Aotearoa also have slick attacking skills as we have already seen with Tafua, but along with Auloa and Tiatia, these hookers are so physical that they cover small forward. Tiatia made his NSW Cup debut earlier this season at 17yrs as an example of how these players are ready for contact vs men.
Norris, Thompson and Marsh are part of a group playing together most weeks in U21s. Norris is one of the few players in U21s who hasn't played NSW Cup this year and along with the Cleary situation, it's tricky to suss out what the plans between these two teams. Norris is someone who could be playing NSW Cup but hasn't hit that mark yet and this could lead to similar angst around Cleary, although their are signs of wise player management throughout the system that should lead folks to trusting the staff in how they are building these teams.
That's especially interesting to ponder because the all these Aussies are doing well and are showing improvement. They also seem to be chuffed as Warriors and the way they are playing reflects how they are taken care of by NZW. Of course, some may return to Australia having not gone as far as they would have liked with NZW but NZW don't make these investments lightly and the way the young Aussies conduct themselves suggests that they loving their time at Mt Smart.
NSW Cup
Jett Cleary: 21yrs | 15 games
Cooper Page-Wilson: 25yrs | 15 games
Jye Linnane: 20yrs | 7 games
Jack Thompson: 19yrs | 5 games
Braelan Marsh: 19yrs | 3 games
Riley Price: 25yrs | 1 game
Jersey Flegg Cup
Brandon Norris: 21yrs | 14 games
Jack Thompson: 11 games
Braelan Marsh: 7 games
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