Warriors unchanged for NSW Cup final
- Dave Worsley
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
An unchanged team has been named for the New Zealand Warriors’ bid to win the New South Wales Cup premiership for the first time in Sunday’s grand final against St George Illawarra at CommBank Stadium.
The David Tangata-Toa coached side heads into the title decider buoyed by a potent
performance in last Saturday’s preliminary final when they eliminated the Parramatta
Eels 42-14, their 22nd win in 26 matches this season.
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Captain Kalani Going, the competition’s player of the year, leads a side boasting
significant NRL experience, not least from departing 145-game first-grade veteran Bunty
Afoa.
Fellow prop Tanner Stowers-Smith, hooker Sam Healey, second rower Eddie
Ieremia-Toeava and Going have all played on the NRL stage along with halfback Tanah
Boyd, centres Ali Leiataua and Moala Graham-Taufa, winger Edward Kosi, fullback Taine
Tuaupiki and interchange front rower Tom Ale.
Completing the starting lineup are exciting young second rower Kayliss Fatialofa (20),
promising standoff Luke Hanson (21) and experienced winger Setu Tu (26), who has
scored 11 tries in 13 matches this year and 42 in his 66-game NSW Cup career for the
club.
Joining Ale on the bench are three more of the club’s most promising prospects in hooker
Makaia Tafua (21) and prop Jason Salalilo (20) – both from Christchurch – plus halfback
Jett Cleary (20).
As the minor premiers, the Warriors earned and needed their second life in the
competition after falling to a disappointing 10-24 loss to the Dragons in their first play-
off.
That took the second-ranked St George-Illawarra directly into the grand final while the
Warriors needed to account for the Eels to earn a rematch.
That they did convincingly as they ran in five tries and 26 unanswered points in the
second half to stay on course for the premiership. They completely flipped the script
from the previous week dominating all aspects of the contest.
The Dragons, will be challenging opponents and desperate to bring success to
their club.
In their three meetings this year the Warriors and Dragons have split the honours with
the Warriors winning 40-12 at Go Media Stadium in April followed by a 14-14 draw in
round 22 in Wollongong and then the Dragons prevailing at Leichhardt Oval.
Across history the Warriors have an 11-6 winning edge in 20 contests between the two
club while three matches were drawn.
Apart from Tu, the Warriors have try-scoring strike across the park with Graham-Taufa
sixth on the try-scoring chart with 16 from 22 games just ahead of Kosi with 15 from 19
and Fatialofa with 14 (while he has also distinguished himself by playing all 26 games
this season). Injured winger Sio Kali has 12 tries in 12 games.
The Warriors are well clear of their nearest opponents for most points (849) and tries
(116) while they have also conceded far fewer points (424), an average of just 16 a
game.
Among other measures they have made the most line breaks (173), post-contact metres
(13,725), tackle breaks (1005) and run metres (42,104).
This will be the fourth time the Warriors have featured in a reserve grade grand final.
They lost 12-14 to Cronulla Sutherland in 1996 and then 12-40 in the 1997 Super
League reserve grade grand final before heartbreak in the 2011 decider.
The Auckland Vulcans – a Warriors-Auckland Rugby League collaboration – were leading 28-26 when future Warrior Jonathan Wright scored with 20 seconds to play to give the Bulldogs a 30-28 victory
New Zealand Warriors v St George Illawarra Dragons
3.15pm, Sunday, September 28, 2025
CommBank Stadium, Sydney
One New Zealand Warriors,
1 Taine Tuaupiki, 2 Setu Tu, 3 Ali Leiataua, 4 Moala Graham-Taufa, 5 Edward Kosi, 6 Luke Hanson, 7 Tanah Boyd, 8 Bunty Afoa, 9 Sam Healey, 10 Tanner Stowers-Smith, 11 Kayliss Fatialofa, 12 Eddie Ieremia-Toeava, 13 Kalani Going (c)
Interchange:
14 Makaia Tafua, 15 Jason Salalilo, 16 Tom Ale, 17 Jett Cleary, Extended bench:18 Geronimo Doyle, 20 Toby Crosby
Head coach | David Tangata-Toa
