{"id":10527,"date":"2025-07-21T09:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10527\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T09:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:29:15","slug":"mark-spudd-carroll-how-kristian-woolf-overcame-wayne-bennett-curse-to-make-dolphins-nrl-final-contenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10527\/","title":{"rendered":"MARK \u2018SPUDD\u2019 CARROLL: How Kristian Woolf overcame Wayne Bennett curse to make Dolphins NRL final contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canberra\u2019s Ricky Stuart will probably claim this year\u2019s Dally M coach of the year but the Dolphins\u2019 Kristian Woolf has done something no coach has achieved in nearly 40 years \u2013 succeed after the legendary Wayne Bennett.<\/p>\n

After four straight losses to start the season, Woolf – in first year as head coach – and the Dolphins have won nine from 18 games and looked headed for finals footy.<\/p>\n

There has been a long-held theory in rugby league that following Bennett was like batting after Bradman.<\/p>\n

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Many have tried, all have collapsed \u2013 except for Woolf, who took over at Redcliffe from Bennett after last season.<\/p>\n

And to taste success this season, Woolf has had to overcome a horror injury toll that includes Felise Kaufusi, Mark Nicholls, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, Kodi Nikorima, Thomas Flegler, Tom Gilbert, Max Plath, Daniel Saifiti and Jack Bostock,<\/p>\n

That would have to be $3.5m to $4m worth of the club\u2019s salary cap sitting on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Yet through it all, Woolf has somehow cobbled together a team chock full of speed and excitement.<\/p>\n

And can\u2019t the \u2018Phins\u2019 entertain!<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t recall a side in recent years that has the same ability to score a long range try.<\/p>\n

This mob sizzles with speed and doesn\u2019t play within the same predictable structures of the other NRL clubs.<\/p>\n

\"HamisoHamiso Tabuai-Fidow has been at the forefront of the Dolphins strong run. Credit: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Put bluntly, they are a pleasure to watch.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have scored 533 points in 18 games \u2013 that\u2019s an average of nearly 30 points a game.<\/p>\n

Woolf has firmly and finally laid to rest the suggestion that the man who follows Bennett can\u2019t attain success.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t Bennett love some of Woolf\u2019s success at South Sydney this season?<\/p>\n

Woolf did his time as an NRL assistant and coached in Super League before finally taking over as head coach of an NRL side.<\/p>\n

It appears his timing has been immaculate.<\/p>\n

He is now mature and calm amid the rigours and chaos of NRL coaching.<\/p>\n

Stuart has been simply amazing this season too.<\/p>\n

His highly-flying Raiders are surging towards the NRL minor premiership \u2013 an achievement few thought possible heading into round one.<\/p>\n

Many had Canberra hovering around the finals this year but I don\u2019t think anyone really had the Raiders leading the competition after 20 rounds.<\/p>\n

You cannot help but love Ricky\u2019s passion.<\/p>\n

He feels every tackle and takes every bomb when taking up his usual coaching position on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think rugby league has ever had a more emotional coach than Ricky.<\/p>\n

Some in the game don\u2019t believe Canberra can stand up in the big games later this season but I disagree.<\/p>\n

The Raiders are young, precocious and have a nothing-to-lose attitude.<\/p>\n

Woolf and Stuart are vastly different characters and personalities but both have tipped this NRL competition on its head.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t want to be playing either of them come the semi-finals in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canberra\u2019s Ricky Stuart will probably claim this year\u2019s Dally M coach of the year but the Dolphins\u2019 Kristian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,1721,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-10527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-opinion","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}