{"id":685680,"date":"2026-05-21T18:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/685680\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:33:13","slug":"every-bit-first-grade-teen-praised-after-nrl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/685680\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Every bit first grade’: Teen praised after NRL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kristian Woolf has heralded his stand-in centre Brian Pouniu after he stepped up in an emotional debut to help the Dolphins overcome Canberra at GIO Stadium.<\/p>\n

With Herbie Farnworth a late scratching because of hamstring tightness, Woolf parachuted the 18-year-old into the Dolphins’ starting lineup for his first taste of NRL action.<\/p>\n

It was a significant feat for the youngster, who had to overcome adversity to reach the competition.<\/p>\n

Pouniu’s older brother Joseph, an emerging prop who was primed to join Gold Coast’s top 30 squad in 2024, suffered a horror spinal injury when he crashed headfirst into a goalpost in 2023.<\/p>\n

But on Thursday, the teenager dazzled while reaching his quadriplegic brother’s dream, chalking up 59 metres as the Dolphins held strong to beat the Raiders 30-22.<\/p>\n

“Brian Pouniu, in his debut, is an 18-year-old man, and he didn’t quite get his defensive read right early in the game, but he certainly fixed that up,” Woolf said.<\/p>\n

\"Schneider\"<\/p>\n

Bradley Schneider powering over for the Dolphins in their win over the Raiders. (Lukas Coch\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“I thought he looked every bit of a first grader tonight. So, I’m really proud of him, and the other guys who came in were outstanding.<\/p>\n

“He had the whole family there, so he looked really proud, and he should be really proud too.<\/p>\n

“He’s got a bit of a journey there, and it’s great seeing him get the opportunity, but he’s done so well with it as well.”<\/p>\n

The visitors were severely depleted, missing the star power of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Selwyn Cobbo, Thomas Flegler and Max Plath because of State of Origin duties, while five-eighth Kodi Nikorima (hamstring) was also out.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the Dolphins laced solid defence with blistering attack to claim their fourth consecutive victory, a club first.<\/p>\n

\"Katoa\"<\/p>\n

Isaiya Katoa reckons the Dolphins drew on last season’s campaign for inspiration. (AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Playmaker Isaiya Katoa says the Dolphins drew on last season’s campaign for inspiration after injuries cruelled their chances of making the top eight.<\/p>\n

“A lot of those guys that played tonight had to step up,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Brian had his NRL debut, and one thing I just asked the boys coming in was to just come in and be yourself. We don’t need anyone coming in trying to be Herbie Farnworth.<\/p>\n

“We understand what we can do as a team, and when we’re connected as a group on and off the field. It definitely shows.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristian Woolf has heralded his stand-in centre Brian Pouniu after he stepped up in an emotional debut to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,259118,28081,779,761,762,158,85,54179,44448],"class_list":["post-685680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-pouniu","tag-herbie-farnworth","tag-kristian-woolf","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports","tag-the-dolphins","tag-the-raiders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685680","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=685680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}