OFFICIAL 2025 Roster

PLAYER ROSTER FOR 2025 AND BEYOND
Red: final season of contract.

PLAYER		2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Adam Reynolds	Half	2025	Coach?
Antonio Verhoeven	Lock, Second row	2025*	2026*
Ben Hunt	Half, hooker	2025	2026
Ben Te Kura	Prop	2025	2026
Billy Walters	Hooker, half	2025	2026
Blake Mozer	Hooker	2025
Brendan Piakura	Second row	2025	2026	2027
Coby Black	Half	2025**	2026
Corey Jensen	Prop	2025
Cory Paix	Hooker, half	2025
Deine Mariner	Centre, wing	2025	2026	2027
Delouise Hoeter	Centre, wing	2025
Ezra Mam	Half	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Fletcher Baker	Prop, Second Row	2025
Israel Leota	Wing	2025
Jack Gosiewski	Second Row	2025
Jaiyden Hunt	Prop, Lock, Second Row	2025
Jesse Arthars	Centre, wing, Fullback	2025	2026
Jock Madden	Half	2025	2026
Josh Rogers	Half	2025	2026
Jordan Riki	Second row	2025	2026	2027
Kobe Hetherington	Lock	2025
Kotoni Staggs	Centre	2025
Marty Taupau	Prop	2025
Patrick Carrigan	Prop, lock	2025	2026	2027	2028
Payne Haas	Prop	2025	2026
Reece Walsh	Fullback	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Selwyn Cobbo	Wing, centre, fullback	2025
Tyson Smoothy	Hooker	2025
Va'a Semu	Prop	2025	2026	2027
Xavier Willison	Prop	2025	2026	2027

*TBC
** TBC top 30

TRAIN & TRIAL

VJ Semu	Prop
Bailey Trew	Wing
Cameron Bukowski	Hooker
Hayze Perham	Fullback, Wing
Jett Bryce	Second Row
Luke Gale	Lock
Sione Hopoate	Wing
Gehamat Shibasaki	Centre
Josh Coric	Lock
Latrell Siegwalt	Fullback, Five-Eight
Callum Eggerling	Hooker
Glen Vaihu	Wing, Centre
Matthew Koellner	Prop
Ewan Moore	Second Row
Tristan Powell	Prop
Lachlan West	Fullback
Ronald Philitoga	Wing

DEVELOPMENT (2024)

Bailey Trew: centre

Coby Black: half

Israel Leota: wing

Va'a Semu: prop

UNSIGNED in 2025

Josiah Karapani

STOCKS

Front Row
Carrigan, Haas, Hunt, Baker, Willison, Jensen, Te Kura, Semu, Marty Taupau

Second Row
Baker, Piakura, Riki, Taupau, Hunt, Gosiewski

Lock
Carrigan, Hetherington, Taupau, Hunt

Hooker
Hunt, Mozer, Paix, Walters, Smoothy

Half
Hunt, Reynolds, Mam, Walters, Paix, Madden, Rogers, Black

Fullback
Cobbo, Walsh, Arthars,

Centre
Staggs, Mariner, Arthars, Cobbo, Hoeter

Wing
Cobbo, Arthars, Leota, Hoeter


ETHNO MAP

QLD
Ben Hunt, Ben Te Kura, Billy Walters, Blake Mozer, Brendan Piakura, Coby Black, Corey Jensen, Corey Oates, Cory Paix, Delouise Hoeter, Ezra Mam, Israel Leota, Jack Gosiewski, Jaiyden Hunt, Josh Rogers, Kobe Hetherington, Patrick Carrigan, Reece Walsh, Selwyn Cobbo, Tyson Smoothy

NZ
Deine Mariner, Brendan Piakura, Jesse Arthars, Jordan Riki, Xavier Willison, Marty Taupau

NSW
Adam Reynolds, Fletcher Baker, Jock Madden, Kotoni Staggs, Payne Haas

Indigenous
Ezra Mam, Jordan Riki, Kotoni Staggs, Reece Walsh, Selwyn Cobbo

Tonga
Kotoni Staggs, Delouise Hoeter,

Samoa
Jesse Arthars, Payne Haas, Marty Taupau

Cook Islands
Brendan Piakura, Xavier Willison

 

[Broncapz]

View attachment 30568

He looks like a seasoned veteran.

 

[Harry Sack]

He looks like a seasoned veteran.

Right?

 

[Gaz]

He looks like a seasoned veteran.

He’s 23 I think so a late bloomer.

 

[ningnangnong]

View attachment 30574

Right?

I will never not like or upvote this gif.

 

[Evander]

Just read somewhere that we’ve signed Anderson from the storm, can’t see anything on here.
If that’s the case goodbye selwyn

Calm down Anderson is depth

 

[Mustafur]

Factor in some of those other players though and you would still free up something, probably enough to upgrade Mozer and maybe find something for Staggs and Cobbo if you want to and as long as they are happy to stay for similar to what they are on now.

Basically, you'd look at getting back something in the vicinity of 'X' for these contracts:
Paix +175k
Baker 175k
Taupau 80K
Jensen 50-100k if he accepts a downgrade
Walters 175k if you can move him on
Madden 130kish
Smoothy 50k maybe
Replace all these bloke with minimum wagers
Total +600k or so

Now I have no idea how accurate any of those contracts are but let's just hypothesize:
Staggs +100k (or no change)
Cobbo +100k
Mozer +200k
Anderson base wage +100-200k
Total = +500-600k

My maths could be way off but there really is a way we could keep all three of Cobbbo, Staggs and Mozer but there are so many moving parts there, including being able to move some blokes on and others like Hetherington not being upgraded or let go as well. But long winded way of saying...it is surprisingly doable.

The Unrealistic part is assuming you can just sign 5 or so players to replace that on min wagers.

We still got this season to work it out but unless Mozer stinks it up I assume he is the lock in, but one of our Star Centres has to go.

 

[Sproj]

The Unrealistic part is assuming you can just sign 5 or so players to replace that on min wagers.

We still got this season to work it out but unless Mozer stinks it up I assume he is the lock in, but one of our Star Centres has to go.

No they don’t.

Again I refer to Melbourne. They played last year’s GF and how many in the last few years? Who have they lost that they wanted to keep?

 

[Big Pete]

No they don’t.

Again I refer to Melbourne. They played last year’s GF and how many in the last few years? Who have they lost that they wanted to keep?

Notable losses since the 2020 GF

Josh Addo-Carr
Jesse Bromwich
Kenny Bromwich
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
Nicho Hynes
Felise Kaufusi
Justin Olam
Cameron Smith
Brandon Smith
Suliasi Vunivalu

Reimis Smith, Tariq Sims, Max King, Brenko Lee, Daniel Atkinson, Kelma Tuilagi etc. aren't necessarily anything to scoff at either.

Their most notable signings have been Xavier Coates, Tariq Sims and now Stefano Utoikamanu.

'But they didn't want to keep any of those players!!'

Put it down to cap management. That initial list is filled with quality players that other clubs would have bent over backwards to keep. However the Storm mapped everything out where they could let those players go and largely continue unaffected. I would argue that they weren't ready to lose the Bromwich Bros, Kaufusi and Smith all in the one hit but they adapted well and what would have been a 'rebuild' year for any other club was a top four finish.

Signings like Warbrick, Wishart, Katoa, Blore, King, Meaney etc. points to really smart recruitment.

 

[Sproj]

Notable losses since the 2020 GF

Josh Addo-Carr
Jesse Bromwich
Kenny Bromwich
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
Nicho Hynes
Felise Kaufusi
Justin Olam
Cameron Smith
Brandon Smith
Suliasi Vunivalu

Reimis Smith, Tariq Sims, Max King, Brenko Lee, Daniel Atkinson, Kelma Tuilagi etc. aren't necessarily anything to scoff at either.

Their most notable signings have been Xavier Coates, Tariq Sims and now Stefano Utoikamanu.

'But they didn't want to keep any of those players!!'

Put it down to cap management. That initial list is filled with quality players that other clubs would have bent over backwards to keep. However the Storm mapped everything out where they could let those players go and largely continue unaffected. I would argue that they weren't ready to lose the Bromwich Bros, Kaufusi and Smith all in the one hit but they adapted well and what would have been a 'rebuild' year for any other club was a top four finish.

Signings like Warbrick, Wishart, Katoa, Blore, King, Meaney etc. points to really smart recruitment.

Josh Addo-Carr (Wanted to go home and they replaced him with Coates)
Jesse Bromwich (getting on, but I'll give you this one)
Kenny Bromwich (getting on, a dime a dozen second rower who always looks better in the Storm system)
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (I'll give you this one)
Nicho Hynes (They barely used him and had Paps)
Felise Kaufusi (Getting on and was showing serious signs of slowing down)
Justin Olam (They pushed him out the door)
Cameron Smith (Retired and already had Grant and B.Smith on the books)
Brandon Smith (I really don't think they were that fussed to lose him, they had Wishart coming through)
Suliasi Vunivalu (replaced him with Warbrick)

Reimis Smith, Tariq Sims, Max King, Brenko Lee, Daniel Atkinson, Kelma Tuilagi etc. aren't necessarily anything to scoff at either - come on now.

So I'll give you Tino for sure, J.Bromwich, Addo-Carr, K.Bromwich and J.Bromwich. I'll give you B.Smith as well and Hynes.

Now factor in they have added Coates, Utoikamanu, Katoa and Blore.

Now you will say Blore and Katoa weren't wanted but it was reported both had significant interest from other clubs.

Aside from Papalii coming in for 2025, which other stars have Penrith bought in to replace all their departures?

This is Roosters style cap management and they can't even manage this kind of thing anymore it seems either.

Remember back when the Storm cheated cap and not only managed to keep everyone they wanted year in, year out and then afford to add in the likes of Crocker?

 

[Big Pete]

I addressed this in the second part of my post.

'But they didn't want to keep those players!!'

Firstly, it doesn't denote value. Secondly, we've established it was a flawed premise to begin with and they in fact lost valuable players.

Also come on now what? Tariq Sims played Origin the year he signed with Melbourne. They're the type of players who were either on solid money or were likely prospects but Melbourne didn't get carried away like other clubs would.

I don't recall Katoa being in high demand. He was under contract with the Warriors when he sought a release. It wasn't like he was an international superstar when he joined Melbourne, just a promising rookie who didn't live up to the initial hype. Melbourne went ahead and re-signed mid-way through '23 so I can't see him earning as much money as he possibly can.

I'd wager that Melbourne saved some cap space on the Olam-Blore trade. Olam re-signed with Melbourne in '22 when he was one of the best centres in the game. I'm pretty sure Blore had only just re-signed with the Tigers late in '23 and was close to getting squeezed out at the club. When he went to the Tigers there was plenty of hype surrounding him but after a couple of injuries he re-signed and was still a fringe first grader.

So I'd stick with Coates and Utoikamanu as their only notable signings currently on the roster.

That gives them one-up on Penrith heading into '25 and Penrith are due to hit the market.

Worth noting with Crocker that was in 2006 after Melbourne had lost Orford, Bell and Kearns. Nobody at the time thought there was anything suss about the signing and didn't detect anything until 2008.

Their most high profile signing around this time was Brett Finch and I don't think anyone was crying a foul about that.

 

[Broncapz]

Storm have had a representative level spine for forever. Munster/Hughs/Paps/Grant is basically NSW/QLD/NZ. They will only let someone go if they can be replaced.

 

[Big Pete]

Storm have had a representative level spine for forever. Munster/Hughs/Paps/Grant is basically NSW/QLD/NZ

Papenhuyzen and his amazing rep record of 0 games.

 

[Broncapz]

Papenhuyzen and his amazing rep record of 0 games.

Before he got absolutely smashed by injuries, he was one of the best fullbacks in the game. Easily good enough to be a selection headache. Good enough to make Turbo play centre.

Papenhuyzen "can't do any more" to play Origin

Former NSW Blues coach Craig Bellamy believes his club fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen deserves to be in the Origin team but not at the expense of incumbent No.1 James Tedesco.

www.nswrl.com.au

 

[Big Pete]

Before he got absolutely smashed by injuries, he was one of the best fullbacks in the game. Easily good enough to be a selection headache. Good enough to make Turbo play centre.

Paps is a quality player but we've been through this before and even if we factor in injuries he likely still plays third fiddle to Turbo and Teddy.

All well and good to speculate of course but in reality he has no representative experience.

 

[Morkel]

Paps is a quality player but we've been through this before and even if we factor in injuries he likely still plays third fiddle to Turbo and Teddy.

All well and good to speculate of course but in reality he has no representative experience.

For mine, whether they get the jersey or not, it doesn't matter. He is rep quality, there just so happens to be plenty of rep quality fullbacks in the game right now.

I would also like to point out that Tino was in either his rookie season or just off it. He'd signed with Melbourne because it was him or Haas at the Broncos, and the Titans did the Titans thing and blew everyone out of the water with the contract offer. Without that offer he'd probably still be in Melbourne allegedly earning half his Titans wage and no one in the media would question it.

 

[Broncapz]

For mine, whether they get the jersey or not, it doesn't matter. He is rep quality, there just so happens to be plenty of rep quality fullbacks in the game right now.

I would also like to point out that Tino was in either his rookie season or just off it. He'd signed with Melbourne because it was him or Haas at the Broncos, and the Titans did the Titans thing and blew everyone out of the water with the contract offer. Without that offer he'd probably still be in Melbourne allegedly earning half his Titans wage and no one in the media would question it.

It's a bit like saying Cooper Cronk wasn't rep quality because Thurston/Lockyer/Slater were picked.

 

[Sproj]

I addressed this in the second part of my post.

'But they didn't want to keep those players!!'

Firstly, it doesn't denote value. Secondly, we've established it was a flawed premise to begin with and they in fact lost valuable players.

Also come on now what? Tariq Sims played Origin the year he signed with Melbourne. They're the type of players who were either on solid money or were likely prospects but Melbourne didn't get carried away like other clubs would.

I don't recall Katoa being in high demand. He was under contract with the Warriors when he sought a release. It wasn't like he was an international superstar when he joined Melbourne, just a promising rookie who didn't live up to the initial hype. Melbourne went ahead and re-signed mid-way through '23 so I can't see him earning as much money as he possibly can.

I'd wager that Melbourne saved some cap space on the Olam-Blore trade. Olam re-signed with Melbourne in '22 when he was one of the best centres in the game. I'm pretty sure Blore had only just re-signed with the Tigers late in '23 and was close to getting squeezed out at the club. When he went to the Tigers there was plenty of hype surrounding him but after a couple of injuries he re-signed and was still a fringe first grader.

So I'd stick with Coates and Utoikamanu as their only notable signings currently on the roster.

That gives them one-up on Penrith heading into '25 and Penrith are due to hit the market.

Worth noting with Crocker that was in 2006 after Melbourne had lost Orford, Bell and Kearns. Nobody at the time thought there was anything suss about the signing and didn't detect anything until 2008.

Their most high profile signing around this time was Brett Finch and I don't think anyone was crying a foul about that.

We aren’t going to agree on this but every man and his dog knew Melbourne were going to have to spend big to keep that 06 side together and their superstars in Slater, Smith and Inglis were young, they were all in for big pay days. On top of that they sign Croker - it raised eyebrows.

 

[Big Pete]

We aren’t going to agree on this but every man and his dog knew Melbourne were going to have to spend big to keep that 06 side together and their superstars in Slater, Smith and Inglis were young, they were all in for big pay days. On top of that they sign Croker - it raised eyebrows.

That's incorrect.

Crocker signed with Melbourne in 2005 ahead of the 2006 season. Melbourne finished the regular home and away season sixth and had just lost Orford, Bell and Kearns. They weren't a dominant force who just so happened to add an Origin player to the mix.

For mine, whether they get the jersey or not, it doesn't matter. He is rep quality, there just so happens to be plenty of rep quality fullbacks in the game right now.

You're beginning to sound like a player agent.

My client doesn't have any representative experience but c'mon they're obviously rep quality - show me the money.

It's by the by, but it's one thing to represent your state or Australia - it's another to actually star in that environment. God bless Reyno, I think he proved in his short stint for NSW he was clearly a cut below.

It also goes back to their development pathways and their roster management. They had Billy from 2003-2018, they didn't pin all their hopes on Cameron Munster when they brought him over in 2013. While they were developing Munster they brought in Hughes, Drinkwater, Papenhuyzen and let the cards fall what may.

Interesting times ahead for Melbourne and Munster. I strongly doubt he'll see that deal out until the end of 2027. When do PNG enter the competition again?