Dolphins already facing battle to keep Cobbo signed beyond this season

The Redcliffe Dolphins are already facing a battle to keep their shiny new backline signing, Selwyn Cobbo, beyond 2026, with as many as four NRL clubs already reaching out to the marquee signing about his 2027 signature.

Cobbo is just about to make his debut with the Dolphins, when he faces South Sydney on Sunday afternoon in Round 1, and already his agent has been fielding phone calls about whether he’s available for the ’27 season and beyond — and with big money involved, too, if what The Sporting Base has been hearing about some of the offers is actually true.

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The 23-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins for 2026 in a bid to revitalise his career after he was ignominiously dumped by Michael Maguire and the Broncos some months before the club went on to win the premiership.

Cobbo inked a single year with the Dolphins to keep his options open, which looks to have paid off.

Having dropped some 10 kilograms this offseason under Kristian Woolf, Cobbo has become hot property again.

“I’ve already had calls from other clubs before he has played a single NRL game for the Dolphins,” Bartlett, who also manages Dally M superstar Jahrome Hughes, said this week. “I’ve had several clubs reach out and inquire about him, but I’ve told them we’re in no rush. I just want Selwyn to enjoy his football, and we’ll investigate contracts at a later date.”

Bartlett continued: “The preference is to stay at the Dolphins. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out, but Selwyn wants to play well and give the Dolphins every chance to sign him to a new deal.”

“We’re putting contract talks on hold at the moment so he can focus on the season ahead.”

Cobbo scored 49 tries in 83 games for the Broncos, and there’s already been a buzz around him at the Dolphins under Wayne Bennett’s successor, Woolf. Many in the game believed the Indigenous representative could have commanded $1 million a season in Sydney on potential alone, but he eventually picked Redcliffe because he was sold on Woolf’s talent.

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The trimmed-down 23-year-old has already impressed in two preseason trials and is a certainty to be named on the wing against the Rabbitohs in the Dolphins’ opening-round clash. He’s yet to prove that he deserves all the hype, of course, but considering how well we all know he can play — this Base writer has long thought Cobbo should be a $1M man — it likely won’t be long.

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And his connection with Woolf is helping a lot, too. “Selwyn is loving it at the Dolphins; he has found a home with Kristian Woolf,” Bartlett said. He seems happy, and the one thing Selwyn said to me about ‘Woolfy’ is… ‘He gets me.’

“Selwyn has aspirations to be a centre or fullback, so at the end of the day, it could come down to a positional ambition.

“He is on the wing at the Dolphins at the moment, and that’s okay. We will see what unfolds.”