Warriors reportedly set to lure Warbrick home

Melbourne wing giant Will Warbrick has scored 38 tries in 57 NRL games.

The Warriors are reportedly on the cusp of signing Melbourne Storm’s Kiwi Test winger Will Warbrick on a multi-year deal from 2027.

News Corp reported on Monday afternoon that the 27-year-old Kawerau-born powerhouse is almost certain to head to back New Zealand at the end of the year.

The unexpected pick-up raises a few roster questions. Wing is an area of modest depth for the Warriors, but Warbrick will certainly not be heading to Auckland to play NSW Cup.

The 32-year-old Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is off-contract at the end of 2026 but is playing as well as ever. The 2025 Simon Mannering Medal winner had a blinder against Sydney Roosters on Friday night. The delay in R360 getting off the ground seemingly raised the likelihood of the club legend signing an extension.

Zero Tackle has enigmatic 30-year-old Dallin Watene-Zelezniak listed as having a mutual option contract for 2027, though the club’s official release when he extended in late-2024 makes no mention of that – only saying he had re-signed until the end of 2027.

Prolific ex-Gold Coast tryscorer Alofiana Khan-Pereira and South Sydney lower-grader Haizyn Mellars both arrived over the summer on three-year deals (until the end of 2028) and were the Warriors’ NSW Cup wingers in Round 1.

Besides Tuivasa-Sheck, none of the Warriors’ wing contingent – nor Warbrick – has significant experience not seems suited to the centres, an area of much more tenuous depth and quality.

A silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics as part of the New Zealand rugby sevens team, Warbrick also represented New Zealand in Australian rules. The Ngongotaha Chiefs rugby league junior switched codes with the Storm as a 23-year-old in 2022, honing his 13-a-side craft via an impressive Queensland Cup season with Sunshine Coast Falcons.

Warbrick was an immediate sensation at NRL level in 2023 – scoring 17 tries in 25 games – and backed that up with 15 touchdowns in 24 appearances as Melbourne reached the 2024 grand final, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous aerial wingers in the game.

The 193cm (six-foot-four), 105kg weapon also averaged 163 metres per game in the latter season and scored a try on debut for the Kiwis against the Kangaroos in Christchurch.

But he was sidelined for almost six months in 2025 due to concussion-related problems. Warbrick returned a fortnight out from the finals and scored tries in all three of the Storm’s post-season games, though he had a mixed night, scoring a try but making several key errors, in their gut-wrenching grand final loss to Brisbane.

Warbrick made a strong start to the 2026 campaign as Melbourne took Parramatta to the cleaners in Round 1, scoring a try and racking up 146 metres.