{"id":84239,"date":"2025-08-21T05:50:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84239\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T05:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:50:19","slug":"son-of-former-warrior-secured-for-three-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84239\/","title":{"rendered":"Son of former Warrior secured for three years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Promising winger Haizyn Mellars is the latest son of a former Warrior to have the chance of completing the first father-son NRL double in the One New Zealand Warriors\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

The 193cm, 100kg, 21-year-old has been signed from the South Sydney Rabbitohs on a three-year NRL contract until the end of the 2028 season.<\/p>\n

He was born in Auckland when his Wellington-born father Vince Mellars was at the Warriors in 2003-2004 while his mother Charmian is a top former basketballer who represented the Tall Blacks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n

Haizyn Mellars has come through South Sydney\u2019s pathways programme making his New South Wales debut this year, scoring seven tries in nine games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaizyn has been in our sights for a while. He\u2019s a young winger with special ability as he has shown through the grades,\u201d said One New Zealand Warriors general manager recruitment, pathways and development Andrew McFadden.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

\u201cHe comes from an impressive sporting background with his mother and father both being high achievers at elite level and he is really keen to come back to New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mellars says the lure of being back home and the Warriors\u2019 direction as a club were major factors in his decision to sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, I\u2019m excited for the opportunity to come back home,\u201d said Haizyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoining the Warriors is a blessing and is something that means a lot to me and my family.<\/p>\n

“After talking with Webby (coach Andrew Webster) and seeing the club\u2019s direction, it\u2019s where I want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to get back home and develop my game alongside the coaching staff and the boys in particular and also learn off some of those senior guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his nine New South Wales Cup games this year, Mellars has averaged 120 metres and made 40 tackles breaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaizyn has so much going for him and we\u2019re excited to bring him into the club,\u201d said One New Zealand Warriors head coach Andrew Webster,<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll add depth and he\u2019ll be able to learn from the experienced players he\u2019ll have around him in the outside backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mellars traces a strong rugby league connection through his family.<\/p>\n

After making a try-scoring debut against the Sharks as Warrior #106 in 2003, Vince Mellars went on to play for Cronulla Sutherland and the Sydney Roosters followed by a stint in rugby union when he played for Canterbury before he resumed his rugby league career in the Super League. Vince\u2019s father Peter, a front rower, toured Australia and Papua New Guinea with the Kiwis in 1982 while Peter\u2019s brother Tam played for Wellington.<\/p>\n

Until now the Warriors have never had an instance of a father and son playing for the club at NRL level.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Previously Warrior #51 Kevin Iro\u2019s son KL, now with Cronulla Sutherland, represented the Warriors at under-20 and NSW Cup level while Warrior #18 Joe Vagana\u2019s son Isaiah, who\u2019s with Wakefield in the Super League, was a regular in both grades as well while he also played in an NRL trial.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month Warrior #55 Ali Lauitiiti\u2019s daughter Ivana made her NRLW debut to give the club its first case of a father and daughter making their top-level debut for the club.<\/p>\n

Now Mellars and halfback Jett Cleary \u2013 father Ivan (Warrior #73) \u2013 are in line to provide the first instances of father-son NRL doubles for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

Profile | Haizyn Mellars<\/p>\n

Born: May 5, 2004
Birthplace: Auckland, NZ
Junior clubs: Gladstone Valleys Diehards
Position: Wing
Height: 193cm
Weight: 100kg
NRL debut: Yet to make debut
Current club: South Sydney Rabbitohs
New South Wales Cup appearances: 9 (2025)
New South Wales Cup points: 28 (7 tries)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Promising winger Haizyn Mellars is the latest son of a former Warrior to have the chance of completing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-84239","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\/84239","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=84239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}