{"id":828057,"date":"2026-07-28T01:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828057\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T01:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:11:11","slug":"nrl-news-2026-warriors-urged-to-consider-luke-metcalf-recall-andrew-webster-top-four-spot-on-the-line-halves-news-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828057\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Warriors urged to consider Luke Metcalf recall, Andrew Webster, top four spot on the line, halves, news, updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warriors coach Andrew Webster faces a \u201cbig call\u201d in weighing up whether to consider recalling talented playmaker Luke Metcalf amid the side\u2019s downturn in form.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Warriors were knocked down from second to third on the ladder following an 18-6 upset loss to the Bulldogs<\/a> coupled with a Sydney Roosters win this past weekend. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They escaped with a somewhat fortunate win over the Dragons in Round 20 and have won just two of their last four.<\/p>\n

In response, there have been calls for Webster to look at bringing Metcalf into the fold.<\/p>\n

Chanel Harris-Tavita and Te Maire Martin have mostly done a great job in the halves but they have failed to inspire much in attack in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Metcalf has played in just two NRL games this season having been named in the first grade squad solely as injury cover.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s on the move next season, signing a rich multi-year deal with the St George-Illawarra from 2027 after the Warriors allowed him to leave despite being contracted until 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ex-Dragons coach Shane Flanagan believes that Metcalf\u2019s impending departure shouldn\u2019t cloud Webster\u2019s judgement over the next few important weeks with the Warriors just needing four more wins from their final six to lock in a top eight spot.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m sure the coach (Andrew Webster) would be so desperate to win this year so the fact that Metcalf is going to the Dragons next year, won\u2019t play any part so if Luke Metcalf is going to help his situation, he\u2019ll put him in,\u201d Flanagan said.<\/p>\n

Former NRL star James Graham agreed with Flanagan.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, Graham said such a drastic move to the team\u2019s spine may upset the apple cart<\/a> at the Warriors.<\/p>\n

He still is mindful of that, but at a crucial juncture of the season, it might be time for Webster to pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big call for Webster. He\u2019s looking at this situation and wondering if the injection of Metcalf would give the team a bit of a boost,\u201d Graham said on Triple M.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve sort of been limping around the past couple of weeks. They got away with a win against the Dragons and then the Bulldogs defence really nullified them so maybe now is the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a masterstroke or it could completely derail them.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warriors coach Andrew Webster faces a \u201cbig call\u201d in weighing up whether to consider recalling talented playmaker Luke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-828057","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\/828057","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=828057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}