NRL Rookie of the Year Jack Bostock has been spotted training in the Dolphins’ centres, as coach Kristian Woolf throws down the gauntlet in a sign no position is safe.
The 21-year-old’s aerial prowess captured attention in his breakout 2024 campaign, scoring 14 tries from 23 appearances on the wing.
However, the recruitment of former Wests Tigers phenom Junior Tupou and Dragons flyer Max Feagai has given the Dolphins more options out wide, with Jamayne Isaako a certain starter on one flank.
Jack Bostock has spent time training in the Dolphins’ centres.Credit: Dolphins NRL
A Bostock shift would apply pressure on Jake Averillo to keep his place. However, the former Bulldog also spent the latter stages of 2024 at five-eighth, with Kodi Nikorima moving to a bench utility role.
Averillo donned the Dolphins’ colours 23 times in his maiden season with the club, but while he shone with the ball he has missed 115 tackles in his past two campaigns.
Two-time Dally M Centre of the Year Herbie Farnworth will be one certain name on the team sheet, and he hinted whoever proved they had the best attributes in defence would claim the other spot.
The Dolphins conceded the 10th-most points in the campaign, and missed a maiden finals berth in their round 27 defeat to Newcastle.
“We’re building a couple of combos now, but you’ve got a lot of competition for spots and great players, so I’m not too sure where the boys will be playing,” Farnworth said.
“[Bostock] fits the mould – he’s a really good athlete, he’s tall, he’s got the skills – so I’m sure he’d fill in at centre fine.
“[Defence] is where you win or lose games, the stats show it, so if you can keep teams below 18 points you’re going to finish in the top four. That’s our aim for the year.”
Tupou averaged 121 running metres a game in his past two seasons, while making 21 linebreaks. His hulking frame – nudging 100 kilograms – inspired 116 tackle busts in his past 30 games.
Junior Tupou in action at Dolphins training.Credit: Dolphins NRL
“He’s a big boy, he was on the wrestle mats yesterday throwing some boys around, so I’m pretty excited to see him this year,” Farnworth said.
“I’m sure he’s going to have a great year.”
The lack of certainty around the make-up of the side has created a competitive mentality under Woolf’s tutelage, with fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow declaring the demands on the players had risen since master coach Wayne Bennett’s departure.
While the Dolphins played a simple style under Bennett – prioritising ball possession and grit – it was also physically demanding and wore the group down with the finals in sight.
In their maiden two seasons, they finished round 13 in top-four contention, before winning just six of 24 games across the backend of the respective campaigns.
Woolf has set about rectifying that, instilling a brutal fitness regimen in Redcliffe to ensure they do not fade away again.
“The standards have gone up a level, and we all needed it coming off last year when we fell off,” Tabuai-Fidow said.
“With all the boys, their standards have gone through the roof and the mental state has, too.
“It’s good seeing how fit the boys are and how hard they’re working, and it only makes me get up to their standards and be a better player.”
