Inside Dolphins
Built a contender before a pathway.
Four seasons old, third on rating in late August, and a maiden finals series in sight, which the Herald has already filed under historic. The Dolphins entered in 2023 carrying Redcliffe's decades of Queensland league history and none of its record, gave the first two seasons to Wayne Bennett, and handed Kristian Woolf a side already competitive, well before any home-grown pipeline could exist. The machinery is younger than the team. The licence obliges $2 million a year on pathways, there is no women's licence yet, and the high-performance centre remains a drawing, its $8 million federal pledge having lapsed with the May 2025 election. Isaiya Katoa is steering the finals push, Fox Sports says the Roosters are readying big money for Herbie Farnworth, and success is about to make everything more expensive.
- Dolphins NRL Ltd holds the licence. Who holds its shares is not publicly stated; Redcliffe Leagues Club is a separate company.
- No accounts published. The licence requires $2 million a year on participation and pathways, per the NRL's 2021 announcement.
Checked 21 August 2026 · Evidence low
At a glance
- Home crowd, 2026: 21,561 across 13 home matches, down 259 on 2025
- Members, 2026: 28,594, published by National Rugby League
- Following: 657,957 across 4 platforms
- Brand value, 2024: $49M, 9th of 17 clubs
- Who owns the club: Dolphins NRL Ltd; its shareholders are not publicly stated
- Accounts we can see: No operator accounts located
- Training base: Dolphins precinct, Redcliffe · tenure not public; new centre unfunded
- Head coach: Kristian Woolf, head coach since 2025; term not published
Ownership & Financials
- Dolphins NRL Limited, an Australian public company with an ABN active since 29 November 2021 and registered at Redcliffe, is the company that holds the NRL licence; the club's own pages say the licence was won by the Redcliffe Dolphins group and name no shareholder.
- Redcliffe Leagues Club Limited is a separate company on the register; its accounts are not the NRL operator's and its relationship to Dolphins NRL Limited is not stated on any page checked.
- When the NRL granted the licence on 13 October 2021 it made spending $2 million a year on participation and pathways, men's and women's, a condition of the licence.
Following & Sponsorship
- Principal Partner: Budget Direct
- Premier Partner: Betr
Leadership
- Terry Reader, Chief Executive Officer
- Shirley Moro, Chief Financial Officer
- Damien McDowell, Chief Commercial Officer
- Bob Jones, chair
Football Department
- Kristian Woolf, National Rugby League Head Coach
Facilities
- Dolphins precinct, Kayo Stadium, Redcliffe: The NRL team operates from the Redcliffe precinct around Kayo Stadium (Dolphin Stadium), which the stadium operator describes as built with Commonwealth, Queensland, council and Redcliffe Leagues Club support and as home to the Redcliffe Dolphins and the leagues club. The NRL club's own tenure or access terms there are not published.
- Proposed Dolphins high-performance centre: In April 2025 the federal opposition pledged $8 million towards a Dolphins high-performance centre if it won that year's election. It did not form government, and no funding, site, design or approval for the centre has been published since.
Pathways
- The Dolphins' men's ladder runs from a catchment stretching to Central Queensland through an under-17 academy and the club's own NRLQ under-21 side, with the Redcliffe Dolphins and Central Capras as affiliate Hostplus Cup clubs feeding the NRL team. The club holds no NRLW licence and fields no women's team of its own; the women's ladder is the Queensland system's.
- The Dolphins field an under-21 side in the NRLQ Series, the four-club Queensland competition run by the NRL and QRL; they were unbeaten premiers in the first series in 2025 and lost the 2026 grand final to the Cowboys on 16 August 2026.
- The club's pathways run through affiliate-club agreements with the Redcliffe Dolphins and the Central Capras, both Hostplus Cup clubs.
- The club holds no NRLW licence and fields no women's team of its own; the NRL said at the licence grant that an NRLW side was a possibility, not an assurance.
Results
- All-time win rate: 51.0% (All first-grade games), 7th of 17
- Last 10 seasons: 51.0% (2017–2026), 7th of 17
- Last 3 seasons: 55.4% (2024–2026), 6th of 17
- Team Rating: 81.4 (2026 season), 2nd of 17
- Premierships: 0 (Since 2023), 16th= of 17
- Finals seasons: 1 (Since 2023), 17th of 17
Sources
Dolphins: squad and cap · Every club, inside · Tell us we’re wrong