''He's a legend of the club": Why Tevaga is parting ways with Warriors

There'll be one very notable absentee from the One NZ Warriors locker room next season in the form of stalwart Jazz Tevaga.

On Thursday, the club confirmed Tevaga - after nine seasons and 133 games - will be leaving the Warriors.

The South Aucklander has spent his entire NRL career at Mt Smart, working his way through the development ranks before making his first-grade debut in 2016. Two years later, he was recognised at the Dally M awards, named the competitions' Interchange Player of the Year.

With 2024 the final year on his contract, Tevaga entered the season aiming to showcase his value and have his deal extended.

But according to former Warriors skipper Monty Betham, the club was only prepared to offer Tevaga the minimum salary rate, resulting in the pair coming to an impasse and a mutual decision they'd reached the end of their road together.

"The club was still interested but it was going to be an amount which was pretty much minimal, in terms of the least you can get for playing first grade," Betham told SENZ's Scotty & Izzy.

"He wanted to play well and he wanted to prove his point, because I don't think he ever thought that he was going to leave.

"It's a little bit sad, coming through this club since he was a kid. But it's a business and people move on, and not always under the circumstances. It's never a fairytale ending for the majority of people that come through professional sport."

At just 5ft 10in, Tevaga is at the smaller end of the scale of NRL forwards. And while he's never backed down from a challenge, the punishment has taken a toll on his body. Injuries have been a constant, most recently spending two months on the sideline with a hamstring tear earlier this year.

And while Betham describes Tevaga as the embodiment of the Warriors' values, he says the rising talent in Andrew Webster's forward ranks have ultimately caught up with him.

"He's only a little guy but he plays well above his weight," noted Betham. "He competes, he wants to win. He epitomises what it means to be a Warrior.

"But he's going to be 29 at the back end of this year. There's a few injuries there, potentially ones that show a little bit of age.

"You've got Tom Ale, you've got Demitric Sifakula, you’ve got Leka Halasima… and I guess it's their time. But it does hurt, seeing him play and enjoying him over a number of years.

"He's a legend of the club for sure."

*Listen to the full interview below: *