Wayne Bennett’s Redcliffe Dolphins have scored a major victory in the 2022-23 player market, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow set to be released by the North Queensland Cowboys ahead of the next NRL campaign to join the league’s 17th club.
Tabuai-Fidow has agreed terms with the Dolphins and is waiting for the Cowboys green light.
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The Sporting Base is expecting North Queensland bosses to tick that off throughout this week in time for the Redcliffe team to unveil their hammer blow signing by Friday. The Cowboys were originally hesitant to release ‘The Hammer’ to keep depth but understand he wants to be starting in the NRL going forward.
The 21-year-old star, who debuted with the Cowboys in 2020, was relegated to playing off the bench during the tail-end of the squad’s charge to the preliminary finals. The emergence of Scott Drinkwater as the number one has kept him in the 14 jumper.
He has scored 21 tries in 50 appearances for the Queensland team.
Bennett plans to use Tabuai-Fidow as his Dolphins fullback in the club’s first season in the NRL, with hopes he can become a key strike weapon for the expansion club as they look to shake the comp.
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Earlier this year, ‘The Hammer’ debuted for the Indigenous All Stars in the preseason.
He will partner with a combination of Jamayne Isaako, Robert Jennings, and Edrick Lee in the Redcliffe backs. Two of those three are expected to play on the wing for the Dolphins early on in their inaugural NRL campaign.
Bennett is also hunting big centre signings, Triple M has reported. “Centres is where they are working on now,” rugby league reporter Ben Dobbin said. “They’ve got a premiership-winning forward pack, they’ve got a really good fullback, they got some great outside backs.”
The club is also still chasing off-contract Cameron Munster.
The Sporting Base still sees the Dolphins as the league leaders for Munster’s signature, but several rivals are lurking and it would be no surprise if the Storm wantaway ended up landing in Sydney from 2023 onward.
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