The Dolphins have confirmed the appointment of two new assistant coaches to work under Kristian Woolf ahead of the 2025 NRL season.
Set to enter pre-season training for the upcoming season in November, the club have signed Rory Kostjasyn and Ben Woolf to join the club's coaching staff.
For the past eight years, Kostjaysn has worked at the Newcastle Knights in many different roles, such as the club's development coach, pathways coach, and head coach of their NSW Cup reserve-grade side.
"This is the role I want to do. I want to be an NRL assistant (and) I don't really have immediate aspirations to be a head coach," Kostjaysn said.
"I like doing all the footy stuff. Head coaches have got to do a lot of other stuff other than footy.
"I love giving players the opportunity to enjoy their careers."
Retiring in 2016, the hooker featured in 128 NRL matches for the Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys where he won the World Club Challenge twice with different teams and was a member of the Cowboys' maiden premiership in 2015.
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The brother of coach Kristian Woolf, Ben Woolf, also joined The Dolphins after a stint as the assistant coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons under multiple coaches including Shane Flanagan.
Previously, he worked as the Gold Coast Titans U20s coach and coach of the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the QLD Cup competition.
“We have coached against each other before in Cup and he had my son in the team at the time, so that was a tough one,” Woolf told NRL.com in 2023.
“They touched us up, so hopefully we can get square this time around.
“[This game] will probably be more exciting for the family I guess, and Mum getting to choose who she goes for.
“[Kristian and I] do talk, we talk footy all the time, so we run ideas off each other – probably not so much at the moment – but we always have previously, so he's always been good for me.”
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