Warriors to sign Sharks prop
Thewarriors are set to announce the signing of 24-year-old front rower Toby Rudolf from the Sharks from next season.
Stuff understands from sources in Australia that an announcement from the club is imminent, with the highly touted Rudolf deciding to join the Warriors, instead of signing a new contract at the Sharks.
Rudolf, who was born in Sydney, played in the Sharks’ first two games of the season before the NRL went into lockdown and was one of the club’s stand out players.
Sharks coach John Morris had been impressed with Rudolf in the opening games and was keen on keeping him longterm in the Shires, while other clubs were also after him.
But before he had made his NRL debut, the Warriors’ recruitment and retention manager Peter O’sullivan already knew about Rudolf’s potential and the Penrose based club have convinced him that the best move for his career is to come to Auckland.
If it wasn’t for the NRL season being suspended the deal to get Rudolf to the Warriors could have been completed a few weeks ago, but with games starting up again in just over two weeks, the deal can be completed.
It’s understood Rudolf has signed a threeyear deal and joins Ben Murdoch-masila as the other key front rower the Warriors have signed from next season onwards.
At 106kg and 190cm, Rudolf will give the Warriors plenty ofmobility up front, as he’s a strong and fast ball runner, who also won’t take a backwards step when it comes to putting in the big tackles.
Rudolf was with the Rabbitohs as a junior, but wasn’t able tomake a breakthrough at the club, so headed north to join Redcliffe in the Queensland Cup.
He was a star player for Redcliffe and the Sharks signed him for the 2019 season. However he tore his ACL in his last game for Redcliffe in 2018, which meant that he wasn’t able to make his debut for the Sharks until the beginning of this season.
The signing of Rudolf is another sign of the Warriors’ intent for next season. A large number of current players at the club come off contract at the end of this year’s campaign and so far none of them have been re-signed, although the league shutting down hasn’t helped.
The 2021 Warriors squad could have a different look to it to the current one and with the signings of Murdoch-masila and Rudolf, the Warriors clearly think the battle starts up front.