The New Zealand Warriors will chase a seventh straight win on Sunday night when they meet competition leaders Penrith in a top of the table clash, but they will do it without two of their most experienced forwards after coach Andrew Webster chose to rest his State of Origin pair.
Prop Mitch Barnett, who played for New South Wales, and second-rower Kurt Capewell, who lined up for Queensland, have both been left out of the side to face the Panthers at CommBank Stadium in Sydney. The Warriors sit second on the ladder with 20 points, two behind Penrith on 22, in what shapes as the biggest match of their season so far and the final game of round 13.
Webster was open about the fact that neither player wanted to sit out. “They’re both willing, let’s be clear about that, and they weren’t too happy about it, but we just think it’s best for them,” he told reporters.
The coach said the decision came down to protecting two men who have had stop start campaigns. “The thing for us is they haven’t played a lot of football this year and haven’t got a lot of momentum, so it would be stupid to jeopardise their lack of football off the back of Origin,” Webster said.
History is also weighing on the call. Barnett suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2025, just four days after he backed up from the opening Origin match. This year he has been hampered by a broken thumb and a bout of concussion. Capewell has only recently returned from five weeks out with a calf strain, so the Warriors are wary of asking either man to front up days after a bruising interstate fixture.
The good news for the Warriors is that the rest of the pack stays settled. Webster has named an unchanged starting forward group from the side that beat St George Illawarra 30-12, with James Fisher-Harris and Jackson Ford in the front row and Wayde Egan at hooker. Fisher-Harris carries an added storyline into this one, returning to face the Penrith club where he won four premierships before coming home to the Warriors.
In the backline, Adam Pompey comes back into the centres after a strong outing for the club’s New South Wales Cup team, where he made 143 metres from 17 runs and kicked four goals from four attempts in a 24-20 win. He replaces Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, whose season ended with a knee injury against the Dragons. On the bench, Marata Niukore comes in for Eddie Ieremia-Toeava, who is following the NRL concussion protocols. Playmaker Luke Metcalf has been named on the extended bench wearing number 22 as halfback cover, with Te Maire Martin and Chanel Harris-Tavita again steering the side in the halves, according to the club.
Penrith arrive as the team to beat, sitting top of the table and carrying the weight of a club that has dominated the competition in recent seasons. Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has named his four New South Wales representatives on an extended bench and is expected to monitor their recovery before deciding how much to use them, according to the match preview. That leaves both coaches juggling the same problem, how to balance Origin workloads against a fixture that could shape the run to the finals.
For the Warriors, the timing could hardly be better. A six-game winning streak has lifted them into genuine title contention and given their large fan base on both sides of the Tasman plenty to cheer. The run includes that comfortable win over the Dragons, a result that showed the depth Webster has been building all season. Beating the benchmark side of the past few years, even with two front-line forwards in the stands, would send a clear message that this Warriors team belongs at the top.
The Origin period is traditionally the hardest stretch of the year for clubs that supply players to the representative arena, and the Warriors are no different. Losing Barnett and Capewell for even one week tests the squad in exactly the way a contender needs to be tested, and Webster will be watching closely to see which forwards put their hands up. A strong showing from the men who step in would give the coach real selection headaches in a good way as the season heads towards the finals.
There is risk in the approach. Resting two Origin players against the competition leaders is a gamble that only pays off if the men who step up can match Penrith’s intensity for the full 80 minutes. Webster is betting that a fresher Barnett and Capewell down the stretch will matter more than two extra bodies this weekend, a long game view from a coach whose side has earned the right to think about September.
The clash is the last to be played in round 13 and gets under way on Sunday night across the Tasman. For the Warriors faithful it is a chance to see how far this team has come, and whether a season that has already exceeded most expectations can build towards something bigger.
What do you make of Webster’s call to rest his Origin stars for a top of the table showdown? Do you back the Warriors to topple Penrith, or is leaving out Barnett and Capewell a gamble too far? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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