New Zealand Warriors forward Bayley Sironen signs for Super League club

Sironen said: “I am very excited to be coming to such a competitive club, I was really impressed with what Steve had to say and the way he spoke when meeting the coach and I have heard such good things from people who have represented the club in the past. I’m looking forward to hopefully bringing more success to the Dragons and can’t wait to move over and get to work.”

The forward started his career in New South Wales Cup with Wests Tigers reserve team before making his professional debut with the team in NRL in August 2017.

After 2 NRL appearances with Wests Tigers, he moved to South Sydney Rabbitohs. With limited opportunities in the Rabbitohs’ squad where he played five games in his first two NRL seasons with the club, he established himself as a frontline player for the Rabbitohs in 2020 appearing in 19 games to lift his career tally to 24.

In 2021, he joined the New Zealand Warriors and quickly became a key player of the Warriors’ squad. With 56 NRL appearances, he reached the NRL semi-finals.

A versatile player, able to play as a second row, lock or five-eighth. Bayley Sironen is set to discover the Super League with Catalans Dragons after 80 appearances in 6 NRL seasons.

Steve McNamara said: “Bayley is a young ambitious player with lots of NRL experience who will be a great addition to our squad. He is a player that players love to play alongside and coaches love to coach. He will primarily come as a 2nd row but his versatility will also give us many options.”

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The New Zealand Warriors have made two key changes to their coaching staff for next season in regards to their assistant coach and NSW Cup coach.

The club has confirmed that Slade Griffin will move into the assistant coaching role, whilst David Tangata-Toa will replace Griffin as the Warriors NSW Cup coach.

The promotion of 32-year-old Griffin sees him replace the departing Justin Morgan and will see him work under reigning Dally M Coach of the Year Andrew Webster alongside Stacey Jones and Richard Agar.

Tangata-Toa will bring a wealth of experience to the NSW Cup head coaching role after previously working with the Penrith Panthers, North Queensland Cowboys, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Mate Ma’a Tonga

“Our commitment as a club is to develop and promote coaches and players from within our system and Slade’s appointment is the perfect example of that,” said One New Zealand Warriors general manager recruitment, pathways and development Andrew McFadden in a club statement.

“He’s an outstanding young coach who has made a huge impression since arriving at the club four years ago.

“He did a terrific job with our New South Wales Cup side this year and has worked hard to earn this opportunity.

“In David we have a coach with vast experience at all levels. He’s a perfect fit to come in to take the reins with our reserve grade side.”

McFadden’s words were followed by that of coach Andrew Webster. Webster admitted he was excited to work with Slade Griffin at the first-grade level and was happy about the promotion of David Tangata-Toa.

Webster and Tangata-Toa have a close relationship with each other that began when the latter was playing at Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League while the former was an assistant coach at the club.

“Slade has made a huge impression on me with his ability to develop our local talent, transition our NRL players back to Cup and find a way to win in the process. It’s a great feeling to promote from within our structure,” said Webster.

“David joins our NRL coaching team where he’ll be our New South Wales Cup coach.

“He has had huge success at developing talent at a number of clubs and has been a part of Tonga’s climb on the world stage as an assistant coach.”