‘HAMMER’ CAN NAIL SPOT LIKE BOYD
WAYNE Bennett hopes star signing Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow can become the Dolphins’ version of former Test and Origin gun Darius Boyd.
Bennett landed arguably the Dolphins’ biggest fish yet on Wednesday in securing Tabuai-Fidow from the Cowboys on a two-year deal.
‘Hammer’ was released from the final season of his North Queensland contract to join the Dolphins for their
NRL launch in 2023. And Bennett is tipping big things for the Cairns product, who is one of the fastest players in the NRL.
Tabuai-Fidow, 21, came into the NRL as a winger-centre before transitioning to fullback, a position he desperately wants to play full-time in first grade.
Boyd took a similar career path when he came into the top grade under Bennett at the Broncos in Brisbane’s 2006 premiership season, before going on to become an elite fullback.
Under Bennett’s tutelage for most of his career, Boyd played 337 NRL games along with 28 Origins and 23 matches for the Kangaroos – winning every Test.
And Dolphins coach Bennett hopes Tabuai-Fidow can follow in Boyd’s footsteps when he joins the Redcliffe club next month.
“He is an extremely good athlete and it looks like he looks after himself well,” he said. “We all know what he can do, we’ve seen it. It’s about getting an opportunity and he wasn’t getting that.”
Tabuai-Fidow was given first crack at North Queensland’s No.1 jersey this year before a knee injury in round 4 saw Scott Drinkwater take over the role.
Drinkwater produced the best season of his career to make the fullback jersey his own.
Bennett praised the Cowboys for not standing in the way of the 50-game Tabuai-Fidow, a Cairns product who the club developed, gaining a release.
“It is a credit to the Cowboys for not trying to hold him back,” he said.