Benny’s plan for Woolf at his door
WAYNE Bennett’s remarkable 50-year coaching career is coming to an end under plans for Kristian Woolf to succeed the master mentor at the Dolphins in 2025.
News Corp can reveal Woolf is Bennett’s “Chosen One”, with the Dolphins in the advanced stages of negotiating a multimillion-dollar deal for the Tonga national coach to join the NRL’S new 17th franchise next season.
With the Dolphins’ historic first pre-season just three months away, Bennett is putting together his coaching dream team, set to include:
• Woolf signing a four or five-year deal as his chief assistant, ending months of speculation over Bennett’s right-hand man for the Dolphins’ foundation year;
• St Helens coach Woolf has been told in secret talks he will serve two years as an assistant with a view to succeeding Bennett in 2025;
•That scenario would see Bennett retire as a head coach at the end of 2024 aged 74. He would move into a consultancy role with the Dolphins; and
• Dean Young, a current assistant to Cowboys coach Todd Payten, has been sounded out by the Dolphins to join Bennett’s team next season and become Woolf’s chief deputy in 2025.
The Dolphins machinations are evidence Bennett, the code’s greatest coach, is plotting his retirement after a career spanning five decades.
The 72-year-old signed a three-year deal to become the Dolphins’ foundation coach, but it is understood he would serve for only two campaigns before passing the baton to Woolf, who has won Challenge Cup and Super League titles at St Helens.
Contacted by News Corp on Wednesday night, Woolf – offcontract at St Helens at season’s end – declined to elaborate but confirmed the Dolphins’ interest.
Woolf has yet to ink a deal, but the Dolphins are confident they have got their man.
Just last month, Woolf was approached to replace Nathan Brown at the Warriors, only to knock back the offer, fuelling the belief the 46-year-old from Mount Isa is ready to return to his home state to work alongside Bennett at the Dolphins.
Bennett is the Immortal of NRL coaching. He delivered all six premierships to the Broncos, won a seventh at the Dragons in 2010 and, in 2011, was voted the greatest coach in history.