One-one-one with the Dolphins’ Kristian Woolf

Kristian Woolf has been instrumental in creating a culture of hard work and tenacity at the Dolphins since they made their NRL debut two years ago.

He spoke with Moreton Daily about taking his squad to the top eight, the 2025 draw and who will lead the team as they hit the ground running at preseason training.

“It (preseason training) is about getting fitter and it’s a really good opportunity for our staff to work on the players with their bodies … increase their fitness, increase their strength and help them be slightly better as athletes,” Woolf says.

“We also want to make sure we’re developing how we want to play as a team, trying to allow some opportunities to develop more skills and improve as individuals.”

The Dolphins were looking to the future, when they appointed Woolf as Assistant Coach to Wayne Bennett for the club’s first two years intending to elevate him to the top job for the 2025 season.

His resume is impressive, but his reputation for fostering a culture of hard work and improvement were just as important when the club made the decision they believed would set the Dolphins up for the future.

Woolf, a former Assistant Coach at the Cowboys, Broncos and Knights, has also been Head Coach of the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup, winning a Grand Final in 2015.

He was at the helm of St Helens when they won two English Super League Grand Finals, the 2022 Minor Premiership and the 2021 Challenge Cup Final.

Notably, he’s led the Tongan revolution in international rugby league for the past 10 years, with the side playing the Kangaroos in the Pacific Championships final in November.

“It (Head Coach of the Dolphins) is a role or position I’m really comfortable with. I’ve done it at different times, at different levels … obviously most recently in England,” he explains.

“When I came back from England, I was very clear in my head as to what the role looked like in terms of the first two years … my role was to support Wayne (Bennett) and make sure it was his team … and do that to the best of my ability.

“I learnt a hell of a lot from Wayne. It was really enjoyable working under Wayne. He’s a straight-up kind of guy and that’s what I deal with best. There’s a lot of things that I’ve seen that will certainly be part of my coaching going forward as well.

“What I really like about the group and the club is … it was a big task coming together with everything being new and every person being new … I like the trajectory we’re on. My job is to make sure we continue that.”

Team behind the team

Woolf has assembled a coaching team to help him achieve his goals.

Nathan Fien, who has been an assistant coach since the club’s formation, has been joined by Rory Kostjasyn (Newcastle Knights) and Ben Woolf (St George Illawarra).

Woolf says Kostjasyn won two competitions at two clubs because he’s a hard worker.

“He’s a guy I had the pleasure of dealing with a little bit when he was still a player. He certainly carries that work ethic in the way he works towards being a coach, what he really values as a coach … it certainly aligns with what he was as a player,” Woolf says.

“He’s been great, so far, looking after our defensive side of the game in particular with how we move defensively around the ruck and on the edges.”

Ben Woolf’s focus will be “around the ruck, contact, wrestle and play the ball”.

“He’s a similar personality to Rory in that he’s got to where he’s got both in his own career and in his coaching career through being a really hard worker and through having a really good attention to detail … wanting to work hard but making sure that work ethic comes across in his players,” Woolf explains.

Nathan Fein will continue to focus on the team’s attack.

“I thought our attack was first class for the last two years. I really like the way he put it together. I liked the way we attacked as a team. That was a real strong point of ours on the back of the work he did,” Woolf says.

“I really like the way he’s improved some of our players skills-wise over the course of the two years … also how he did that in terms of his communication, his high standards … they’re all things he was really good at as a player and I think they’re reflected in us as a team.

“I like the balance of that group. I also like what they bring and what they expect of the playing group too.”

Dolphins’ DNA

The club’s ‘DNA’ has been defined during the past two years and is built on hard work, tenacity and a desire to play at a high level for each other and fans.

Woolf says it’s something that drives the existing squad and will be embraced by newcomers Daniel Saifiti, Junior Tupou, Max Feagai and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, as well as younger players joining the extended squad.

“I think they bring some real quality in their positions and they really improve us … but they’re all guys I’m very confident that are going to buy into that hard work ethic and that improvement work ethic … so we can continue to be that type of team that we figured out we were last year,” he says.

Woolf is ‘relatively happy’ with the 2025 NRL draw but says it’s not something he focuses on.

“It’s a fairly challenging start, that’s for sure. There are some big games early on, but I quite like that. We get to see where we fit quite early on in the piece and where we need to improve,” he explains.

So, what will it take to make finals this year?

“I think we can be a little bit fitter as a team. If you look at the fact that we faded a little bit the back end of the last two years … I think that comes down a bit to our fitness and maintaining our fitness, also making sure we’ve got our best players on the field,” Woolf says.

“Obviously, it’s not something we’ve been able to do the last couple of years. There’s been a positive side to that in terms of some of our young players. To get ourselves into that top eight, we need a little bit of luck in that department too.”

Welcome return

He is looking forward to seeing Tom Gilbert back at full strength and playing in the 2025 season.

“I really enjoy the fact that he’s back out on the field (training), he’s looking comfortable, he’s moving well, he’s got some confidence about him. It’s great for him first and foremost, but it’s great for us as a team,” Woolf says.

“He’s a guy that I think everyone involved with the team would say is right at the core of who we want to be and what we want to look like as a team.

“He’s extremely good because he’s got such high standards himself. Having him back around the group, you can see he’s a big part of starting to drive those standards and he’s going to continue to do that going forward.”

When asked if he could give us a clue on who will be captaining the side in 2025, Woolf declines.

“No. No clues at all. What I will say there is we’ve obviously got a leadership group who’s been a strong leadership group that I’ve been really happy with the last couple of years,” he says.

“I think they’ve set great examples in terms of what we want to be as a team but also how we want to represent the Dolphins on and off the field.

“We’re going to stick with that leadership group and that’s something that will probably be added to over the course of the next few months. We’ve got a long preseason ahead and plenty of things that will go on. I think who’s the leader of our group will emerge over that time.”