{"id":552461,"date":"2026-07-31T05:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552461\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T05:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:10:12","slug":"manly-sea-eagles-win-seven-team-race-for-warriors-young-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552461\/","title":{"rendered":"Manly Sea Eagles win seven-team race for Warriors young gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> have won the race for one of the New Zealand<\/a> Warriors’ most highly rated young edge forwards, with Kayliss Fatialofa<\/a> set to join the club on a three-year deal from the start of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

Despite not yet having made his NRL<\/a> debut, the 21-year-old second-rower attracted significant interest from across the competition, with up to 6 teams this time around, including the Warriors, trying to retain this talented player’s signature.<\/p>\n

Zero Tackle can reveal Fatialofa has chosen Manly, with new Sea Eagles coach Kieran Foran<\/a> playing a pivotal role in securing the highly touted Kiwi prospect.<\/p>\n

The Auckland-born forward is understood to have been drawn to Foran’s vision for the club and the opportunity to work under the former New Zealand<\/a> international, whose strong connection to home proved a compelling factor in the decision.<\/p>\n

A few texts from Manly enforcer Haumole Olakau’atu<\/a> also helped convince Fatialofa to make the move, with the NSW representative speaking highly of the club’s culture on the Northern Beaches and the support Foran would provide as a coach.<\/p>\n

\"KaylissKayliss Fatialofa. (Photo: Warriors Media)<\/p>\n

The signing comes after an eventful 18 months for the young forward.<\/p>\n

Fatialofa was on the verge of joining the Penrith Panthers<\/a> last season, with a two-year deal all but finalised before a conversation with Warriors coach Andrew Webster<\/a> convinced him to remain in Auckland.<\/p>\n

He instead signed a two-year extension with the Warriors, although the contract included a clause allowing him to negotiate with rival clubs if he had not made his NRL<\/a> debut by Round 15 of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

That clause was activated after Fatialofa was named on the interchange bench but did not take the field, opening the door for rival clubs to pursue the promising back-rower.<\/p>\n

Manly quickly emerged as one of the leading contenders before ultimately winning the race for his signature after missing out last year.<\/p>\n

Although still awaiting his NRL<\/a> debut, Fatialofa has continued to impress in the NSW Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old has made 14 appearances this season after being part of the Warriors’ 2025 NSW Cup<\/a> premiership-winning squad.<\/p>\n

He has scored five tries, produced five line breaks and maintained a tackle efficiency above 90 per cent this season, further cementing his reputation as one of the game’s most exciting young edge forwards.<\/p>\n

The Sea Eagles believe Fatialofa has the potential to develop into a long-term NRL<\/a> player and will add another layer of youth and athleticism to their forward pack when he arrives ahead of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Manly Sea Eagles have won the race for one of the New Zealand Warriors’ most highly rated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-552461","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\/552461","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=552461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}