If there’s a correlation between happiness and form, it’s little wonder Warriors recruit Erin Clark has been touted as an NRL buy-of-the-year contender.
The 27-year-old lock is in career-best touch in his return to the team he played one top-grade game for as a teenager back in 2017, and has arguably been the standout individual in the Warriors' surprise 5-2 start to 2025.
Clark could barely contain his overall contentment following the club's convincing 26-12 Anzac Day win over Newcastle in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
“I'm happy here, bro,” he told NRL.com.
“I'm valued here and I'm learning heaps under this coaching staff and the players, so I'm enjoying it. And to string a couple of wins up after that Melbourne game (a 42-14 loss in Round 6 that doubled as his 100th NRL game), pretty happy with that.”
Clark played 94 NRL games for Titans after being handed a lifeline in 2020, during which time he converted from a specialist hooker to a nuggetty middle forward and broke through for a Kiwis Test debut during the 2024 Pacific Championships.
But he's taken his game to another level after returning home, averaging 152 metres and 30 tackles per game, as well as making 16 tackle busts to date.
Roundly applauded as the Warriors’ best in their only two losses – to Canberra in Las Vegas and the Storm in Melbourne – Clark has been integral to each of their wins, but he deflects the widespread praise.
I just want to be the teammate that the boys look to – when everything's going well and when it's not going well.
Erin Clark
“If they're happy with that at the end of the day and [I’ve got their] respect, I don't care what everyone else has to say.
“As long as I'm doing my job out there, whatever comes with that, comes with that.”
Bought as seemingly a like-for-like replacement for released fan favourite Jazz Tevaga, Clark’s importance to the Warriors’ fortunes has ballooned in the wake of a pair of unexpected departures in the middle-forward department.
Modern great and incumbent captain Tohu Harris was medically retired in late-January, before industrious utility Dylan Walker received a release to Parramatta on compassionate grounds three weeks into the campaign. James Fisher-Harris’ recent pec injury has also seen Clark’s minutes increase to 60-plus in the Warriors’ wins over the Broncos and Knights.
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Warriors with the 1% efforts!
Clark is relishing the extra responsibility forced by the unplanned roster movement and injuries, however.
“The good thing about that, ‘Webby’s’ just telling me to be myself … don't try and be this person or be that person, just bring what you bring to the team and feel happy with that.
“I'm still learning, bro – that's the cool thing. [I’m] getting that balance. When to pass, when to run, getting momentum, when to just carry. And I'm slowly getting that – it'll take a while – but I'm still trying to learn as much as I can.”
Clark initially seemed destined to go down as the briefest of Warriors one-game wonders, getting six minutes off the bench on debut against the Storm in early-2017.
He subsequently left for Canberra mid-season but had returned to Auckland contract-less by the end of the year, then eventually took a train-and-trial chance on the Gold Coast in late-2019.
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The Making of the Warriors
Despite growing into a key part of the Titans’ pack and playing his way into Kiwis contention, the lure of home – and an opportunity to atone for the one he didn’t grasp first time round at the Warriors – was too great.
“It’s massive. [It’s an example for] my kids, not to give up, and I just wanted to see them look up to me in that sense," he added.
“If I didn't give it another go, I wouldn't be happy … so I'm just happy I knuckled down and gave it a crack.
“The culture [at the Warriors has] changed, everything that the club's got in place – it's probably the best I've been under in my short career. So credit to the club, not just the players and the staff but the whole organisation.
“It just makes footy easy.”
The gritty Warriors continue to defy expectations, winning five of their last six leading into Magic Round, in spite of a heavily occupied casualty ward.
“It just shows the depth we’ve got at the club – next man up. It's thrown around a lot, but we’ve got that here,” Clark said.
“That's credit to Webby and [recruitment manager] Andrew McFadden, with the depth they’ve got at the club. If one person goes down, someone's ready to go and live up to our standards and our type of footy."
