Williams to leave Wolves early to join Dolphins – if they pay up

George Williams is expected to leave the Warrington Wolves and return to the NRL by signing with the Redcliffe Dolphins, though it’s not quite settled regarding whether the move will happen in 2026 or 2027.

It all comes down to whether the Dolphins are happy to pay $400,000 to bring Williams in for 2026 after his Super League club slapped a player transfer fee on his early release.

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For the Dolphins and Kristian Woolf — who was the leading force behind the deal — it all comes down to whether they want to play another season with Kodi Nikorima partnering halfback Isaiya Katoa. Veteran Nikorima, who’s been playing in the halves for Redcliffe since they joined the NRL, is off-contract at the end of next year.

Sentiment in Redcliffe is his time playing firsts is all but over, The Sporting Base understands.

Woolf especially believes the Dolphins are only missing a second out-and-out halves star to really challenge.

Warrington aren’t necessarily that unhappy to let the English captain go, but have no interest in losing Williams to the NRL for free; hence the $400K fee they’ve asked the Dolphins to pony up after brief negotiations.

(They would also take a player swap, but Redcliffe isn’t interested in sending anyone the other way.)

There is still another option for the Dolphins should they want to wait until 2027, with Daly Cherry-Evans not yet formally signed with the Sydney Roosters for 2026. It’s pretty doubtful they’d go down that route, however, considering Woolf and “DCE” sat down some weeks ago and were some ways apart about working together.

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For Williams, another option to get back to Australian rugby league would be the Perth Bears; that would have been 100% locked in had Wolves coach Sam Burgess got his wish to helm the expansion team.