{"id":474170,"date":"2026-06-12T18:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474170\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T18:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:53:18","slug":"warriors-partner-with-hato-tipene-to-grow-young-talent-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474170\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors partner with Hato Tipene to grow young talent \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Hato Tipene students have signed with the One New Zealand Warriors pathway programme as part of a new partnership aimed at helping rangatahi into the NRL. <\/p>\n

Jah-Sean Albrett (Ng\u0101ti Porou), aged 14, is one of the tauira to secure a multi-year Junior Pathways contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s made me feel real good. School has had a really, really big push on me throughout my career,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe signing that we\u2019ve had has made me feel real privileged and just give me an opportunity to work harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jah-Sean\u2019s father, Jesse Albrett (Ng\u0101ti Porou), says this is a proud moment for the wh\u0101nau after enrolling his son at Tipene in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This is] just another milestone for him to be proud of. He\u2019s really grown as a character, and it\u2019s really put a lot of maturity on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jah-Sean was named 15s Tama Player of the Tournament at the ANZMRL Rangatahi Tama Tournament last month, representing Counties Manukau M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t come easy, you know, like it takes a lot of learnings, a lot of lessons you gotta go through, a lot of setbacks you gotta get over,\u201d Jesse says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe year before, he didn\u2019t make the M\u0101ori\u2019s team at all – [he] didn\u2019t get selected and then back kinda put a bit of fire in the belly to become a part of that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"E poho kerer\u016b ana a Jesse Ablrett (left) i tana tama, i a Jah-Sean Albrett (right). Photo \/ Te Ao M\u0101ori News. Kei te whanake ng\u0101 p\u016bkenga r\u012bki<\/p>\n

Warriors pathways manager Tony Iro says the programme is already growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got three boys that are officially contracted to our pathways teams, and then we\u2019ve got about another dozen who are currently training with our teams as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says Tipene is a strong fit for the programme as the school continues to rebuild since reopening in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cTipene was a really important one for us,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see some good synergies between us and the school in terms of moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"I tuwhera an\u014d a Hato Tipene i te tau 2025. Photo \/ Te Ao M\u0101ori News. <\/p>\n

Players split their training between the school and the Warriors\u2019 T\u0101maki Makaurau headquarters, building connection with the club\u2019s system early.<\/p>\n

He explains younger players are brought into the system from the year they turn 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sign players from the age from the year that they are turning 15 and then they join our academy teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors now run five male development levels from Under 17s through to NRL.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to [integrate] young men into our pathway teams as quickly as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Tokotoru ng\u0101 tauira o Hato Tipene kua haina kirimana whakawhanake me te kapa Tamatoa. Photo \/ Te Ao M\u0101ori News. Kua huri te tai ki te whutup\u014dro r\u012bki<\/p>\n

Tipene has a strong rugby history as one of Aotearoa\u2019s traditional M\u0101ori boarding school rugby nurseries.<\/p>\n

Kaiako Mita Graham says the game is changing at the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cE ai ki ng\u0101 k\u014drero kei te matemate haere te k\u0113mu whutup\u014dro ki t\u0101 \u0113tahi,\u201d says kaiako Mita Graham.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ng\u0101 r\u0101 o mua ko te whutup\u014dro te kai, ng\u0101 tauira, engari kia kaua an\u014d t\u0101tou e p\u014dh\u0113h\u0113 ko te r\u012bki noa iho i konei, he nui atu ng\u0101 h\u0101kinakina, koinei noa t\u0113tahi huarahi an\u014d e whai hua ai \u0101 t\u0101tou nei tauira.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ahakoa kua rongonui a Tipene m\u014d te whutup\u014dro uniana, kua huri pea te tai ki te r\u012bki. Photo \/ Te Ao M\u0101ori News. <\/p>\n

Tipene is the second school to partner formally with the Warriors, alongside Saint Thomas of Canterbury College in \u014ctautahi.<\/p>\n

But Iro says the focus isn\u2019t only on rugby league.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re in the sports industry, so we\u2019re looking for good players, but ultimately at the end of the day we\u2019re looking for good people too,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see potential for both industries in terms of how we can help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jah-Sean doesn\u2019t only have his sights set on league – he also wants to become an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna become the owner of a architect company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three Hato Tipene students have signed with the One New Zealand Warriors pathway programme as part of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[239089,111,8049,43,139,577,69,45603],"class_list":["post-474170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-hato-tipene","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-warriors","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nrl","tag-nz","tag-rugby-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474170","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=474170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}