Brent Woolf. The young former Gold Coast junior is just about to start his final year of a three year Brisbane Broncos deal and is the son of former Titans NYC and 2018 Tweed Heads Seagulls QCup head coach Ben Woolf.* *This season in the Holden Cup with the Brisbane Broncos Brent Woolf played in nine matches before injury struck.

In those nine matches the 172cm and 80kg Brent Woolf scoring two tries with his first try coming in Round Four against the Canberra Raiders and his second against the Sydney Roosters in Round Thirteen.* Of his nine matches Brent Woolf started three at hooker and the other six from the inter change bench and in his first start in Round Four against the Raiders Brent Woolf played the entire 80 minutes.

In total across his nine NYC matches for the Broncos in 2017, Brent Woolf ran the ball on 44 occasions making 324 metres including three line breaks, had four try assists and made 199 tackles at a tackling efficiency of 88%. Brent Woolf’s 2017 NYC per game averages included being on the field for 45 minutes, taking 5 runs for 36 metres and making 22 tackles.

In Round Six against the Sydney Roosters Brent Woolf ran for 74 metres from just seven carries and in seven of his nine matches Brent Woof made in excess of twenty tackles in a match including making 32 tackles with just two missed tackles in a Round Twelve match against the New Zealand Warriors, those 32 tackles came in just 53 minutes.

Brent Woolf prior to his NYC debut in 2017 had a distinguished junior rugby league career with some of his achievements being starting at hooker for Queensland U16’s in 2014 and Queensland U18’s in 2016.* Brent Woolf was also named in the Australian U15 Order of Merit side after the 2013 ASSRL Championships where be represented Queensland U15 School Boys.* Prior to moving up to Brisbane to play for the Brisbane Broncos Brent Woolf was a standout performer for the Mudgeeraba Red Backs in the Gold Coast Junior Rugby League competition.

Brent Woolf is very good at making the right decision whether the go himself or pass, where he gets down low and drives with his legs.* He may not necessarily run that often from dummy half but when he does it is invariably the correct decision that Brent Woolf has made. When in open space he is very quick and can finish off his own breaks all be it over reasonably short distances.
Brent Woolf is efficient in his passing and there is little wasted movement as he passes in one motion off the ground rather than two distinct movements like many hookers where they first stand then pass.

Brent Woolf passes well from both sides of his body.* His passing to the left is still a little better than to the right, but over the last couple of seasons he made positive strides in that regard, thus there is no reason to expect anything other than continued progression as Brent Woolf continues to gain experience in the hooking position.

One thing that Brent Woolf does well in dummy half is not taking his eye off ball until it is in his hands.* I know that that sounds like common sense, but even in first grade the number of fumbles that occur from the dummy half is far too high and change the course of a game.

Another skill that he continued to develop over the last couple of season is kicking out of dummy half.* He is not a long kick, but is effective at finding the ground with his kicks.* Brent Woolf was an effective kicker in terms of game management, what I mean by that is that late in games when his team were up or needed a breather he kicked for touch in those instances, which showed a high level of maturity and game management skills.

Brent Woolf defends in the middle of the ruck and is an effective low tackler and is adept at wrapping the ball up.* He is also very good defending at marker in terms of harassing the opposition kickers.* He is not going to wow you with his defence because you will not see big hits, but you will see an efficient and effective defender.* He has very good endurance and projects as a hooker who will be able to play 80 minutes without interchange.

At this stage I am not sure where Brent Woolf will start in 2018 but with his father now the head coach of the Tweed Heads Seagulls side wouldn’t it be good if Brent Woolf came home to play with the club his father is coaching.* Regardless of which club he plays for in 2018, Brent Woolf will likely start in the U20 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition and if he can stay injury free it would not surprise if Brent Woolf sneaks in a few QCup games towards the end of the 2018 season.

When he was playing for Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast Brent Woolf did spend some time playing at half back but certainly over the last couple of seasons for Wynnum Manly and the Broncos Brent Woolf has played exclusively at hooker including in the Queensland U18 side.

To be honest I do not see Brent Woolf as anything but as a hooker moving forward, where some people may consider him a defence first type of player but from my perspective that is only because he is such a selective runner out of dummy half. Rarely do you see him get caught by one of the markers when he runs, he is just too smart for that to occur with any regularity.

In terms of NRL players with a similar playing style for comparison purposes, think of someone along the lines of how now Leeds English Super league player Matt Parcell formerly of the Sea Eagles and Ipswich Jets plays in terms of his running out of dummy half and also his improving passing skills.