While no one should get too carried away – given the club’s ups and downs over the years – what is happening this season feels special. Very special.
Their NRL success has been both spectacular and unexpected, off the back of the struggles in 2024 and the departures of key players such as Shaun Johnson, Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake. It wasn’t meant to be like this – certainly not so quickly.
Perhaps most importantly, there is a base for future glory. This year should be the first chapter of an exciting series of campaigns, rather than a flame than burns out. If you are still sceptical, look at the emerging talent in first grade.
It was best illustrated in the 40-10 smashing of Cronulla in early June, one of the best performances of the season.
Against the regular top four contenders, the Warriors were top notch, powered by a crop of young guns, including Leka Halasima (19), Demitric Vaimauga (21) and Jacob Laban (21). Second rower Halasima has only 20 NRL games behind him, while middle forwards Vaimauga (23 matches) and Jacob Laban (16 games) are also raw.
Then there is 21-year-old Canterbury product Tanner Stowers-Smith, 22-year-old hooker Sam Healey, while Ali Leiataua (22) has already accumulated eight games this season.
Apart from Healey – who was picked up from the Sharks – the others have come through the Warriors pathways.
Halasima has been a revelation, already a contender for NRL rookie of the year, while Vaimauga and Laban are not far behind. Leiataua is the homegrown centre Warriors fans have been waiting for, while Stowers-Smith looks a tough competitor.
Their progress made me a recall a conversation with Warriors’ recruitment and development boss Andrew McFadden ahead of the 2023 season. A former head coach, McFadden had returned after four years at Canberra and was charged with restoring the pathways, after three years of Covid induced chaos.
“If we can get this right anything is possible,” McFadden told me as we sat in his office in February that year. “There is so much talent out there.”
McFadden added that the only way for
the Warriors to achieve long term success was through local juniors, to develop their own heroes.
“That’s what we want to be, what we need to be,” he said.
It had been a focus since late 2019, when Autex took ownership of the club but then the Covid pandemic happened, making it almost impossible to maintain development sides, as the Warriors were forced to operate out of Australia for three seasons.
That’s a distant memory now and the investment in age group teams and academies has increased considerably since 2023, widening the base across New Zealand.
There are more and more kids in the Warriors system and it’s hard to see the tap being turned off anytime soon. Halasima, Vaimauaga and Laban are generational type players – with scary potential – while halves Chanel Harris-Tavita and Luke Metcalf (both 26) have time on their side, though Metcalf’s recent ACL injury was a massive blow.
This team, still on a learning curve, has plenty of room for improvement, despite their deeds already in 2025. Who knows how good they could become, as players grow together? That’s why it’s a revolution; after years of pursuing marquee targets – with mixed results – the club has unearthed gems in its own back yard.
It’s a crucial factor, as history shows. Every great Warriors era, whether 2001-2003, 2008, 2011, 2018 or 2023, always had a strong core of local players. It’s been the key to ongoing success and looks like becoming a reality with this group.
Michael Burgess – Sports Writer