NRL club ‘looking to Super League’ for signings with ‘high profile’ players identified

Aaron Bower
Kristian Woolf

Kristian Woolf is the new coach at the Dolphins in 2025.

New Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf is reportedly looking at Super League for potential options to beef up his pack going into the 2026 season, according to speculation Down Under.

Woolf has taken charge at the NRL club after a successful stint in charge of St Helens between 2020 and 2022. He served as Wayne Bennett’s assistant at the club over the last two seasons before stepping up to head coach ahead of the 2025 campaign.

And with an overhaul of his pack likely at the end of next season, Woolf has turned to a talent pool he knows better than most NRL head coaches in a bid to eye up options.

Australian-based podcast The League Scene have suggested that Woolf is identifying ‘high-profile’ props in Super League as possible targets for his squad in the years ahead.

They wrote on X: “Getting some word from the UK that the Dolphins are looking to England to bulk up their forward pack. With Jesse Bromwich retiring and Kenny Bromwich and Mark Nicholls approaching the end of their careers. Kristian Woolf is looking at several high profile Super League props.”

If true, it would immediately start a discussion about players who are off-contract in Super League at the end of the 2025 season and as such, are now allowed to open talks with rival clubs about a move for 2026 and beyond.

There are a plethora of options for Woolf to look at in that regard: not least from his former club. Both Morgan Knowles and Matty Lees are off-contract at the end of next season and clearly of the calibre required to make it in the NRL. Lees, however, does have a one-year extension option in his contract.

It would represent a major surprise if the Saints did not at least trigger that given how influential he has become for the club in recent seasons.

But there are also significant options elsewhere off-contract – with overseas players including Paul Vaughan and Sauaso Sue now in the final 12 months of their contracts with Warrington and Hull KR respectively.

Reports earlier this year suggested that South Sydney were looking at a number of high-profile forwards including Wigan’s Tyler Dupree and St Helens’ George Delaney. However, both those players are under contract long-term.

But it appears Woolf is intent on shopping in the English market to bolster his squad as he seeks to put his stamp on the Dolphins.

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NRL Dolphins

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