Morgan Harper signs with NRL team for 2025
He last played for the Parramatta Eels.
Morgan Harper, a former centre for the Canterbury Bulldogs, Manly Sea Eagles and Parramatta Eels has signed a new deal which will see him return to the NRL.
Last playing in the NRL with the Parramatta Eels, Harper has earned an NRL lifeline and has signed a full-time deal with the New Zealand Warriors for the 2025 NRL season ahead of their Round 1 match in Las Vegas against the Canberra Raiders.
In landing the new contract, he has been released by the North Sydney Bears effective immediately after he signed with the NSW Cup team during the off-season.
“Although it is disappointing to see Morgan depart our 2025 team, it is the unfortunate part of the player pathway process,” said North Sydney Bears CEO Gareth Holmes.
“Our club recruiters do an excellent job at seeking out the best talent available and this is often recognised by NRL clubs.
“Allowing movement of NSW Cup players up to the NRL is an important part of the competition structure.”
Only 26, Harper has featured in 64 matches in the NRL since his debut and will be looking to add to this at his fourth club as he returns home to New Zealand for the first time in his NRL career.
Debuting in 2019, he played for the Canterbury Bulldogs (2019-20), Manly Sea Eagles (2020-23), and Parramatta Eels (2024) before he was one of several players to depart the Eels at the end of last season as they looked to rebuild their roster under a new coach, Jason Ryles.
Outside of his matches in the NRL, Harper played for the Junior Kiwis in 2018, the NSW Residents team and had two games for the Maori All Stars in 2022 and 2023.
The 2025 NRL season is set to once again be challenging for tippers. There has been some key player movements during the offseason as clubs look to turn their fortunes around or maintain their dominance. Tipping eight winners each weekend is going to be near impossible, so each week we’ll give you some extra help with three standout games.
The Eels will be keen to start their season well under new coach Jason Ryles. Ryles spent some years on the Storm coaching staff, so he may bring some useful insight to this clash. He will certainly be well aware of the fact that the Storm have never lost a first round game under coach Craig Bellamy. The Storm fell to the Panthers in last year’s grand final and are early favourites to go one better this season. In recent years teams beaten by the Panthers in the big one have had disappointing runs in the following season. The Storm are too professional to allow that to happen and they will be fired up for a big win at home to start their season.
The new season starts in Las Vegas with this intriguing clash between the Raiders and the Warriors. On paper this should be an easy game to pick, with the Warriors looking stronger across the park. The addition of former Panther James Fisher-Harris promises to harden the side up, not only during the heavy stuff in the trenches, but throughout the whole team’s attitude.
The Raiders have hit Los Vegas running, with two players having a dust-up over a room allocation. This could be a painful season for the Green Machine, but they just might be able to spring an upset in this first clash in unfamiliar surrounds. The biggest lesson learnt during last season’s tipping was that the Warriors are not a team you can trust to win the games they should win. In this toss of a coin game, I think they should win, but will they?
