{"id":415389,"date":"2026-01-15T20:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415389\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T20:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:44:10","slug":"the-mole-exclusive-new-zealand-warriors-squad-analysis-best-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415389\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mole exclusive; New Zealand Warriors squad analysis, best 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is among the most accomplished fullbacks in the NRL<\/a> – but is it time for a changing of the guard at the Warriors<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Boom youngster Taine Tuaupiki is putting the heat on CNK for the No.1 jumper and that shapes as Andrew Webster’s biggest decision coming into the new season.<\/p>\n

The move is clearly on the table – Tuaupiki won the fullback spot for three games late last season, forcing Nicoll-Klokstad into the centres.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Real Zerafa’ flicks a switch during fiery Tszyu weigh in<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Aussie nightmare as withdrawal, savage draw wreak havoc<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Adelaide captain hits back at Cavallo over ‘internal homophobia’<\/a><\/p>\n

The kid went OK – but the Warriors lost two of those games so Webster has a lot to weigh up when it comes to one of the most important positions on the field.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The Warriors have retained the nucleus of last year’s squad but have added a player who could prove a sensation.<\/p>\n

Former Titans flyer Alofiana Khan-Pereira has question marks over his defence but as they say in the movie Moneyball, he ‘gets on base’ – that is he scores tries and scores them from anywhere on the field.<\/p>\n

One of the fastest players in the league, he should revel in the classy Warriors backline and get plenty of chances to shine.<\/p>\n

Luke Metcalf’s return from knee surgery will be closely watched – the Kiwi outfit looked like they could have won the comp until he went down midway through last season.<\/p>\n

The forwards will be much the same as year, with Leeds recruit Morgan Gannon expected to start on the bench and Mitch Barnett expected back from injury.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Warriors best 17<\/p>\n

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Ali Leiataua 4. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 5. Alofiana Khan-Pereira 6. Chanel Harris-Tavita 7. Luke Metcalf 8. James Fisher-Harris 9. Wayde Egan 10. Mitchell Barnett 11. Leka Halasima 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Erin Clark 14. Demitric Vaimauga 15. Jackson Ford1 6. Marata Niukore 17. Morgan Gannon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is among the most accomplished fullbacks in the NRL – but is it time for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-415389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}