{"id":402807,"date":"2026-04-29T06:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/402807\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:25:08","slug":"warriors-star-harris-tavita-meets-with-rival-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/402807\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors star Harris-Tavita meets with rival club"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/north-queensland-cowboys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">North Queensland Cowboys<\/a> are looking to secure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/chanel-harris-tavita\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chanel Harris-Tavita<\/a> amid fears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/jake-clifford\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jake Clifford<\/a> won&#8217;t re-sign with the club.<\/p>\n<p>The Cowboys are exploring their playmaking options beyond this year, with the Courier Mail reporting coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/todd-payten-coaches\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Payten<\/a> has met with Harris-Tavita.<\/p>\n<p>It was revealed that Clifford has hesitated to sign on for a tabled two-year extension, forcing the club to look for a succession plan.<\/p>\n<p>It prompted the Cowboys to hold talks with the Warriors&#8217; star to strike a deal, as he is a free agent next year.<\/p>\n<p>There is yet to be an offer formally tabled to Harris-Tavita&#8217;s camp, although it will apply some pressure on Clifford to form a decision on his future so the Cowboys can plan for their 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p>North Queensland football boss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/micheal-luck\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Micheal Luck<\/a> told the Courier Mail that they are still interested in keeping Clifford in Townsville beyond 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been impressed with Jake&#8217;s form over the opening eight weeks of the season,\u201d Luck said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe worked hard to lock down his spot in the side in pre-season and he has certainly made the most of his opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been in discussions with his management for some time and we are hopeful of getting a deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris-Tavita is among the top crop of free agents in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> and has proven to be an elite half on his day.<\/p>\n<p>He has represented <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/samoa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Samoa<\/a> on 10 occasions and reached the 100-game milestone on Anzac Day last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>After a short stint away in 2023, he returned to the Warriors the year after and has been showcasing his classy skill set since.<\/p>\n<p>With the impressive form of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/tanah-boyd\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tanah Boyd<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/luke-metcalf\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luke Metcalf<\/a> being one of the first-picked halves at the club, there is pressure on the Warriors to juggle Harris-Tavita among their ranks.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/jett-cleary\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jett Cleary<\/a> also developing into a rising star, Harris-Tavita may very well pick up a starting role at a different club next season.<\/p>\n<p>Harris-Tavita will line up at five-eighth for the Warriors this weekend when they travel to CommBank Stadium to face the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/parramatta-eels\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Parramatta Eels<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The North Queensland Cowboys are looking to secure Chanel Harris-Tavita amid fears Jake Clifford won&#8217;t re-sign with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-402807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}