Kingz Container Crew is onboard with This Warriors Life to bring you extensive coverage of the Kiwis’ 2026 Rugby League World Cup campaign, including player ratings for each of New Zealand’s matches at the tournament.
To kick off the countdown to next Thursday’s opener against Australia, we’re running a fine-tooth comb over Stacey Jones’ Kiwis squad announced last night.
NEW ZEALAND KIWIS 2026 RLWC SQUAD (*denotes debutant): Erin Clark, James Fisher-Harris (c), Dane Gagai*, Jahrome Hughes, Jamayne Isaako, Keano Kini, Jacob Laban*, Moses Leota, Jeremy Marshall-King, Te Maire Martin, Casey McLean, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Briton Nikora, Kodi Nikorima, Isaiah Papali’i, Kalyn Ponga*, Scott Sorensen, Tanner Stowers-Smith*, Joseph Tapine, Leo Thompson, Naufahu Whyte, Xavier Willison. Coach: Stacey Jones.
Fullback
The international eligibility changes have delivered the Kiwis one of rugby league’s most influential, dynamic players — and they couldn’t be getting Kalyn Ponga at a better time.
The Newcastle captain is coming off a watershed month leading his club on an extraordinary run to the NRL grand final. Injuries have been a persistent bugbear for Ponga (he hasn’t played more than 20 games in his decade-long NRL career) and he missed six-week stretch early in the year. But he recovered to play a full Origin series for Queensland for just the second time and was a mainstay for the Knights down the home stretch.
Ponga’s leadership and elite ball-playing from fullback are massive coups for the Kiwis, whose squad contains two other specialists.
Incumbent No.1 Keano Kini had 13 try assists and 18 line-breaks in a stellar season for battling Gold Coast — the pint-sized game-breaker shapes as a tantalising six-man interchange option.
Versatility and loyalty has perhaps allowed Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to retain a spot after essentially being displaced at club level by fringe Kiwis contender Taine Tuaupiki. Just five of CNK’s 16 Test appearances have come at fullback and he was shuffled out of the custodian role in favour of Kini during last year’s Pacific Championships. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old could be a valuable bench option and provides solid injury cover in multiple spots.
Wing
Pointscorer extraordinaire Jamayne Isaako (nine tries in 14 Tests) and the abrasive Ronaldo Mulitalo (seven tries in nine Tests) provide the Kiwis with a more than satisfactory first-choice wing pairing — but it could be a busy tournament for the duo.
Isaako, who scored 23 tries and 310 points for the high-flying Dolphins this year, and Mulitalo, who ruptured his ACL in the first round of the 2025 Pacific Championships but returned in May to score 13 tries in 17 games for the Sharks, are the only specialist wingers picked in the New Zealand squad.
Casey McLean scored four tries on Test debut on the wing in 2024 against Papua New Guinea and pushed out to the flank for the 2025 final against Samoa, crossing for another try, and filled in superbly off the bench on Origin debut for NSW this year. Meanwhile, all of Dane Gagai’s seven Tests for Australia and 12 of his 23 Origins for Queensland were as a winger.
But given McLean and Gagai are almost certain centre starters, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad would seem to be the first drop wing option. Having not played there since the 2018 NSW Cup season, CNK scored seven tries in six games as a gap-filler for the Warriors this year — but his limitations as a winger were exposed during the finals.
In short, an injury to Isaako or Mulitalo would be a major blow. It’s unclear whether Auckland-born Newcastle grand final winger Greg Marzhew, selected for Samoa, was available for the Kiwis. Replacement cover from outside the squad would seemingly be headlined by Brisbane’s Josiah Karapani, brought in during the 2025 Pacific Championships, 2022 Kiwi Sebastian Kris and dual eligible Alofiana Khan-Pereira.
Centre
Another spot where the Kiwis appear well-served by their first-choice players but look very thin otherwise.
Still only 20, Casey McLean has emerged as one of the NRL’s elite centres at Penrith and would have been one of the first players picked in this squad. He was brilliant in the round-robin Tests against Samoa and Tonga at centre — scoring three tries — before reverting to the wing for the final.
McLean’s experience in the Origin arena and a second NRL finals campaign only enhance his big-game chops.
Dane Gagai only emerged as a shock Kiwis option, publicly at least, over the weekend — and he’s walked straight into the side and most likely the starting line-up.
A winger in the Kangaroos’ 2017 World Cup success who played against the Kiwis in 2018, Gagai will join a very select group that includes the likes of Dally Messenger, Bill Kelly and Tonie Carroll to represent both trans-Tasman nations at Test level.
Mild controversy aside, the former Origin great’s switch is a much-needed boost for the Kiwis. Matt Timoko, who was coming off a patchy season for Canberra that saw him play NSW Cup, lined up in all nine of the Kiwis’ 2023-25 Tests but was unavailable due to off-season surgery.
The 35-year-old Gagai wound back the clock to help inspire the Knights’ grand final run. He outplayed Latrell Mitchell in the elimination final and had great battles with Leka Halasima, McLean and Billy Smith in subsequent weeks.
Seb Kris, dual-eligible Jack Howarth and even Warriors duo Ali Leiataua and Adam Pompey could have come into the selection mix if not for Gagai being parachuted into the side.
Again, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is the only real centre cover. He’s played seven Tests there — including three matches at the 2022 World Cup and last year’s Pacific Championships final against Samoa — but had a dreadful time there in a two-game NRL stint earlier this season.
Second-rower Briton Nikora slotted in at centre against Ireland during the 2022 World Cup, but you wouldn’t want to have to rely on that option for a semi or final next month.
Halves
Dylan Brown’s season-ending injury robbed the Kiwis of a trump card — he was shortlisted for the Golden Boot after a stellar 2025 Pacific Championships foray.
But rejuvenated veteran Kodi Nikorima is coming off a near-career-best season for the Dolphins in time to slot neatly into the New Zealand No.6 jersey. Last starting in the halves for the Kiwis in 2018, Nikorima is the consensus pick at five-eighth after delivering 16 try assists in 22 games as the Dolphins reached the finals for the first time.
Fellow 32-year-old Jahrome Hughes was an automatic selection and looms as the Kiwis’ most important player alongside Ponga. Taking over the New Zealand No.7 jersey for the 2022 World Cup, Hughes was outstanding as the Kiwis carried off the 2023 Pacific Championships title but he’s been unavailable for the past two seasons.
Hughes is also backing up from an injury-stunted NRL campaign, playing just 18 games. A hamstring complaint sidelined him for a month before he returned for the ailing Storm’s last two regular-season matches.
After a stellar stint (finals notwithstanding) deputising at halfback for the Warriors during the second half of 2025, Te Maire Martin is the most likely first drop No.7 — despite Nikorima playing much more footy there over the course of their careers.
Martin is also a more than handy five-eighth option, while gifted playmaker Ponga has a smattering of experience in the halves (most recently an aborted stint for the Knights in 2023) and that man again Nicoll-Klokstad was New Zealand’s five-eighth — with limited success — throughout the 2024 Pacific Championships and has filled in impressively at NRL level.
Hooker
There’s been plenty of speculation and drama surrounding the Kiwis’ dummy-half options — but the eventual upshot is they will carry just one specialist hooker into tournament.
Wayde Egan qualified on residential grounds but ultimately made himself unavailable, as revealed yesterday by Stacey Jones.
Phoenix Crossland was superb for New Zealand throughout the 2024 and 2025 Pacific Championships, but his highly-publicised hip drop suspension means he would have been unavailable for the Kiwis’ three pool games. Consequently, he was left out altogether.
That leaves Jeremy Marshall-King as the Kiwis’ only NRL regular in the position. Injured during the Pacific Championships opener last year after securing the No.9 jersey, JMK had a strong season for history-making Dolphins after finally returning to action in Round 10.
Marshall-King played the full 80 minutes in only four of his 18 games this year, though, which would suggest Te Maire Martin — a bench hooker for the Warriors for much of 2025 and for the Kiwis last year after a seven-year international absence — is a big chance of nabbing the No.14 jersey.
Kodi Nikorima’s dummy-half experience goes way back to playing in the 2015 grand final as a rookie for the Broncos off the bench, while he performed the same role intermittently for the Warriors and Souths, started a Test at hooker at short notice in 2019 and was an interchange in all three matches of the Kiwis’ 2024 Pacific Championships campaign.
Erin Clark also has ample history in the position but is a bit burlier now than when he was a hooker regular for the Titans.
Prop
New Zealand’s embarrassment of riches in the front-row department has resulted in a whopping seven specialist props being chosen for the World Cup.
Dally M Captain of the Year James Fisher-Harris is the Kiwis’ captain for the third straight year and should be the first prop picked, while Roosters sensation Naufahu Whyte will surely have ousted Moses Leota — a starter throughout the 2023 and 2025 Pacific Championship campaigns — for a run-on role.
Four of Whyte’s six Tests were off the bench; he started twice (once each at prop and lock) in 2024 with Leota sitting out the tournament.
Raiders prop Joe Tapine has been a pillar of the Kiwis’ pack for nearly a decade but has been utilised almost exclusively as starting lock since 2019 and is the favourite to do so again.
Newcomer Tanner Stowers-Smith has been rewarded for an outstanding sophomore NRL season with the Warriors and could be a smoky to reprise his high-energy bench role in a first-choice prop rotation.
Brisbane tyro Xavier Willison came off the bench against Tonga and in the final against Samoa last year, while he was regularly used on the edge for the injury-stricken Broncos this season — enhancing his claims for a place in Stacey Jones’ 17.
Impressive though he was for the Kiwis in 2023-24, Leo Thompson is arguably the most fortunate selection in the squad given the glut of middle forwards and questionable depth in other areas. Injury delayed the start of his first season at the Bulldogs and he didn’t exactly live up to his marquee signing status when he eventually got on the park.
Second-row
Another area of the squad that is likely to go through to the keeper from a wider media perspective, but I think it deserves a little scrutiny.
Isaiah Papali’i and Briton Nikora have been the Kiwis’ first-choice second-row pairing since initially starting alongside one another in the 2022 World Cup semi against Australia.
They’re a great duo — Papali’i, a two-try hero in the 2025 Pacific Championships final against Samoa, was an ironman for the Panthers this year. Nikora debuted for Queensland this year following the eligibility changes.
Beyond those two, I don’t know what else Jordan Riki has to do to get picked for the Kiwis again after getting a Test debut during the 2024 Pacific Championships. The Broncos workhorse played the full 80 minutes in 18 of his 22 appearances this season and is a model of consistency.
Scott Sorensen is a fine player but at 33 is very much in the twilight of his career and was almost exclusively a bench player for Penrith this year, even when Liam Martin was out for a period.
Potential debutant Jacob Laban enjoyed a breakout season for the Warriors — earning the club’s Players’ Player award — but had a torrid finals series punctuated by errors and glaring defensive misses. Nevertheless, Laban is a tremendous talent and being involved in this campaign will be another big step in his development. Should he already have leapfrogged Riki in the pecking order, though?
Whether Sorensen, Laban or possibly middle/edge Xavier Willison grabs a bench spot for the big games during the tournament is one of the more intriguing selection areas in a team that largely picks itself.
It’s likely to remain a mystery what would have happened if Francis Manuleleua had not pledged for Samoa. Named in the Kiwis’ 40-man ‘training’ squad last month, the Knights rookie was unbelievable during the finals…and I would have had him over Sorensen and Laban if available. Ditto another Auckland-born tyro, Roosters premiership winner and Tonga squad member Salesi Foketi.
Lock
The Kiwis boast several blue-chip options for the No.13 jersey among an overstocked middle forward contingent.
Joe Tapine is a veteran of 25 Tests for the Kiwis and lined up at lock for all but two (where he was at prop) of his 16 appearances from 2019.
Meanwhile, 2025-26 Dally M Lock of the Year Erin Clark would absolutely not look out of place in the starting line-up. He debuted as an interchange in the promotion final against Papua New Guinea in 2024 and came off the bench in all three matches of the 2025 Pacific Championships, scoring a try in the final.
Naufahu Whyte made a tryscoring appearance at lock in the aforementioned 2024 clash with the Kumuls and has donned the No.13 frequently with the Roosters. Leo Thompson started there in the 2024 loss to Tonga (with Tapine at prop) and Isaiah Papali’i has regularly played at lock for the Warriors, Eels, Tigers and Panthers.