NRL hunting season: The off-contract Warriors as market opens

By Will Toogood

November 1 means NRL hunting season has arrived, with 160 players officially hitting the open market today, who are now free to negotiate with rival clubs for 2025 and beyond. The Warriors therefore have some big personnel decisions to make.

The Warriors announced today that Dally M winger of the year Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has signed a new one-year contract, keeping him at Mt Smart until the end of the 2025 NRL season.

The deal sees him extend his stay in Auckland to a fifth season after originally signing in 2021 through to the end of next season.

It comes on the back of a career-best 12th NRL campaign where he scored 24 tries, beating the club’s 20-year-old record of 23 for most touchdowns in a season.

With Watene-Zelezniak wrapped up, the Warriors have further decisions to make regarding some big names at the club.

“What he did this year, he obviously got rewarded for that with the Dally M winger of the year and we want to keep him long term and keep building with the squad that we’ve got,” Warriors general manager recruitment, development and pathways Andrew McFadden told Newstalk ZB’s Nathan Limm.

Who is off contract for the Warriors?
Shaun Johnson, Luke Metcalf, Tohu Harris, Jazz Tevaga, Rocco Berry, Freddy Lussick and Jackson Ford all have one year left on their current deals. So who are the priorities and who can the club afford to wait for 2024 on?

Shaun Johnson is in career-best form at 33 and the halfback was only denied this year’s Dally M Medal by one vote.

Daly Cherry-Evans from Manly has proved halves can maintain a high level of play into their mid 30s and Johnson would be worth a 12-month extension. The question is, will he look for longer than that?

McFadden said: “With our current situation with our halves, obviously Shaun’s going around again. Who knows what’ll happen in 12 months’ time, but we’ll just play that one by ear.”

Luke Metcalf has electric pace for a half and the 23-year-old has the potential for a big future. He was dreadfully unlucky with injuries this year so the club have a decision to make whether they back him to recover and continue the form he showed in the absence of Te Maire Martin, or look elsewhere. It was a real coup to lure him away from Cronulla so the Warriors could look to extend him and roll the dice somewhat.

As far as an extension goes, McFadden said: “Luke’s probably in a similar situation. We’ve got Chanel Harris-Tevita, we’ve got Te Maire Martin, we’ve got Shaun, so we don’t know how that’s all going to pan out next season.

“We’ve already had open dialogue with Luke but nothing’s been formalised as yet.”

McFadden said he believes Metcalf wants to stay with the Warriors.

Warriors skipper Tohu Harris is showing no signs of slowing down. Putting in regular 80-minute shifts while consistently at the top of metre and tackle stats, the 31-year-old was a big part of the Warriors’ success and they ought to be lining up an extension for the captain. The only caveat is that this will likely be Harris’ last NRL contract, so there could be a play in which the Warriors see how his numbers stack up in 2024 before offering him a new deal.

“Tohu’s obviously in the twilight years of his career, he’s got another year to go. We’ve had discussions understanding that so we’ll deal with that pretty soon... both parties are pretty motivated to get something done,” said McFadden.

With the decision made to let second rower Josh Curran take his talents back to Sydney and sign with the Bulldogs, it became clear that there were other options favoured at Mt Smart.

Therefore, re-signing Rocco Berry is the natural next step as the 22-year-old showed some excellent form toward the latter stages of the season and his age means there is still plenty of time to fine-tune his skills. The club have showed patience with his development so it would be a strange decision to let him go now.

Similarly, it seems the Warriors were happy with their second-row stocks so Jackson Ford should get himself an extension. At 25, he has lots of footy ahead of him.

Freddy Lussick is one who other clubs may be circling around. He put in some solid shifts as a back-up to Dally M hooker Wayde Egan and isn’t on huge money, so may be tempted by a big offer. The Warriors can probably afford to see how things progress in 2024, though.

Tevaga presents a tricky situation. He was also beset by a number of injuries and managed just 11 games in 2023. Therefore, he may be one to wait and see how he plays in 2024 before a decision is made, although that runs the risk of other clubs coming in to secure his services.

Are the Warriors going to target anyone to sign?
McFadden told Newstalk ZB that the club are always on the lookout for talent to strengthen their roster and may be looking to add to their forward stocks.

“We’re having a look, we’re always looking at trying to build a quality roster. If we can add to the team we’ve got at the moment, we will. We’ve got a spot, we’ve got a little bit of money.

“We might be looking for an experienced forward.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission