{"id":65608,"date":"2025-08-13T17:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T17:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/65608\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T17:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T17:29:08","slug":"new-zealand-playmaker-makes-call-on-playing-future-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/65608\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand playmaker makes call on playing future – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best free agents without a contract for the 2026 NRL<\/a> season, New Zealand<\/a> Warriors playmaker Te Maire Martin,<\/a> has decided on his future as he looks to earn more time on the field.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi international has been on the fringes of the club’s first-grade side this season following the retirement of Shaun Johnson<\/a>, and has continually found himself starting on the interchange bench rather than in the halves.<\/p>\n

Linked with various teams both in the NRL<\/a> and overseas, as recently as June,\u00a0Martin will remain at the New Zealand<\/a> Warriors after inking a one-year extension for next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cTe Maire has given us so many options this season with his ability to fill so many positions,\u201d said Warriors head coach Andrew Webster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time or another he has been used in most positions when we’ve lost players through injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all he brings a fantastic club-first attitude and truly epitomises our next man up mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting in the halves in the past two weeks, Martin unfortunately sustained a concussion over the weekend against the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> within the opening 20 minutes, thus ruling him out for this week.<\/p>\n

A former member of the Penrith Panthers<\/a>, North Queensland Cowboys<\/a> and Brisbane Broncos<\/a>, he will attempt to push his case for selection each week and apply pressure to Chanel Harris-Tavita<\/a> (if he re-signs) and Luke Metcalfe for the two starting halves spots.<\/p>\n

It is understood that one of the main reasons behind his decision is to stay close to his family.<\/p>\n

The extension of Martin means that the club have four vacant spots left in their Top 30 roster for the 2026 NRL<\/a> season. However, Chanel Harris-Tavita<\/a> and Tanah Boyd<\/a> do have options in their contracts, and a decision has yet to be made on their futures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re really pleased to be able to keep Te Maire with us for 2026,\u201d said New Zealand<\/a> Warriors general manager recruitment, pathways and development Andrew McFadden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s tremendous value for us on the field while also providing great assistance for our younger halves coming through our pathways.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand Full Squad and Best 17 for 2026<\/p>\n

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad<\/a>
2. Dallin\u00a0Watene-Zelezniak<\/a>
3. Ali\u00a0Leiataua<\/a>
4. Adam Pompey<\/a>
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck<\/a>
6. Te Maire Martin<\/a>
7. Luke\u00a0Metcalf<\/a>
8. James\u00a0Fisher-Harris<\/a>
9. Wayde\u00a0Egan<\/a>
10. Mitchell\u00a0Barnett<\/a>
11. Leka\u00a0Halasima<\/a>
12. Kurt\u00a0Capewell<\/a>
13. Erin Clark<\/a><\/p>\n

Interchange
14. Samuel\u00a0Healey<\/a>
15. Jackson Ford<\/a>
16. Marata\u00a0Niukore<\/a>
17. Morgan Gannon<\/a><\/p>\n

Rest of squad
18. Taine\u00a0Tuaupiki<\/a>
19. Eddie\u00a0Ieremia-Toeava<\/a>
20. Jacob\u00a0Laban<\/a>
21. Freddy\u00a0Lussick<\/a>
22. Demitric\u00a0Vaimauga<\/a>
23. Motu\u00a0Pasikala<\/a>
24. Rocco\u00a0Berry<\/a>
25. Tanner Stowers-Smith<\/a>
26. Jye Linnane<\/a>
27. No player signed.
28. No player signed.
29. No player signed.
30. No player signed.<\/p>\n

2026 development list
1. Jett Cleary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the best free agents without a contract for the 2026 NRL season, New Zealand Warriors playmaker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-65608","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\/65608","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=65608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}