BY JOHN DAVIDSON
THE SMALL mining town of Mount Isa in country Queensland is almost as far off the beaten track as it gets. Nestled far from the beautiful, surf-struck east coast of Australia, it lies near the border with the Northern Territory and is known for its lead, silver, copper and zinc mines.
An arid, remote place, ‘The Isa’ has been in decline for many years. With a population of just 20,000, it is a working -class town of miners, cowboys and rodeos. It is a hard community that breeds tough individuals.
Sport is king in a community, an avenue to escape the bleak conditions, where the first library was only built less than 50 years ago.
To that end, Mount Isa has produced many great athletes over the years despite it small size – Greg Norman, Pat Rafter, Simon Black, Charlie Cameron – and many in rugby league such as Gene Miles, Carl Webb, Nathan Fien, Jamie Goddard, and of course, one Kristian Woolf.
While Woolf never went on to reach the heights as a player that Miles, Webb, Fien and Goddard did, playing for state and country and in the NRL, with the most him reaching the Queensland Cup’s Souths Magpies in the mid-90s, he has certainly made his name as a coach.
Over two decades the physical education teacher has gone from schoolboy level, to Under-20s NRL coach and then first-grade assistant, Townsville Blackhawks head coach, Tongan national team boss and now in charge of St Helens. It has been a long and arduous journey for the humble, stoutly built 45-year-old, but one that has well and truly taken off in the past 12 months.
Wherever Woolf has gone in his coaching career, he has usually tasted success. Starting with local club Townsville Brothers in 2002, and with the Ignatius Park College schoolboy team, he has made an impact.
Woolf admitted to me a year ago that he originally never planned to go into coaching: “I never had any desire to be a coach whatsoever. I actually started coaching a junior side when I was living in Townsville and teaching, and stayed with that junior side until I became the XIII coach for the school – I just sort of fell into it I suppose.
“I ended up with my first senior role with Townsville Brothers and then from there I ended up at North Queensland Cowboys in a junior development and elite development role, and just progressed from there.”
The Catholic high school Ignatius in Townsville is known for its rugby league program and its famous alumni like Michael Morgan, Kayln Ponga, Valentine Holmes and Coen Hess. Woolf, who taught there from 1999 to 2005, had an influence at Ignatius Park College not just on the field, but off it.
“I had the pleasure of working with Kristian from 2002 to 2006 and also have him teach and coach my sons in that time,” teacher Debbie Price explains.
“Kristian was also the Pastoral coordinator for Treacy house in which my sons belonged to. He was a dedicated and caring teacher with the students’ education and well being foremost on his mind.
“As a coach he bought the best out in his team. We didn’t always have the strongest or biggest players but Kristian was able to bring something bigger out of the boys – heart.
“He taught the boys that the crest on the chest was bigger than they were. He taught them to played for each other, the coaches and the school. I have the upmost respect for the man.”
Woolf led the school to the Queensland State Schoolboys Championship in 2004. Soon after he joined the North Queensland Cowboys, becoming the NRL club’s junior development manager. But his impact at Ignatius Park College continued after his departure.
Christian Quabba took over the rugby league program at the school after Woolf left and says he laid the foundations for the successful system that is now in place.
“Under Kristian’s watch the school made the decision to run a program that saw them compete with the very best Rugby League Schools in Australia,” Quabba says.
“Kristian’s dedication, knowledge and expertise saw him set up a program that developed not only quality Rugby League players but most importantly quality young men.
“His legacy still lives on at the school with the Rugby League program still in full force and nationally acclaimed for producing current NRL players such as Michael Morgan, Valentine Holmes, Kyle Feldt, Coen Hess, Corey Jensen, Aiden Guerra, Kalyn Ponga, Gehamat Shibasaki and Adam Cook just to name a few.
“Without Kristian’s hard work in laying the foundations and setting the standard, none of this would be possible.”
With a foot in the door in the Cowboys, in 2009 Woolf was appointed head coach of the Under-20s. In north Queensland he would help bring through future stars such as Morgan, Jason Taumalolo and Kyle Feldt. The three would later go on to help the Cowboys win their maiden NRL premiership in 2015.
Under Woolf the Under-20s made the finals in 2010 and then the grand final in 2011. That season they lost the grand final in golden point to the New Zealand Warriors.
However, the man nicknamed ‘Woolfy’ was on the rise. In 2012 he joined the Brisbane Broncos as an assistant to Anthony Griffin. It was a difficult time at Red Hill, with the team in transition, and the Broncs finished eighth that year, 12th the next and then eighth again.
Mid-way through the 2014 season and Griffin was tapped on the shoulder, with Wayne Bennett to return in 2015.
That meant an exit from Brisbane from Woolf, who headed north to join new Q Cup side Townsville Blackhawks. At the same time, after assisting the Tongan national team at the 2013 World Cup thanks to Griffin’s recommendation, Woolf was named head coach of the Pacific nation.
He would go on to do great, history-making things with the Mate Ma’a.
In Townsville the Blackhawks were a new club, filled with former NRL players and backed by a sizeable budget. They were considered a big scalp in the Queensland comp for their rivals.
And in their maiden season Woolf guided them to a minor premiership and a grand final, but they lost the decider 32-20 to Ispwich.
He got the Blackhawks into the finals four seasons in a row, with third, sixth and third place finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, but another grand final appearance eluded him.
Quabba was part of Woolf’s coaching staff at the Blackhawks and says: “During this time Kristian’s work ethic, knowledge and preparation is what stood out and held him at the elite level.
“Kristian would leave no stone unturned in his preparation and gave his players absolutely every tool necessary for success. His work ethic and desire to be the best in all areas made working with him an absolute privilege.”
It was in September 2018 that Woolf headed south to rejoin the NRL, becoming Nathan Brown’s assistant at the Newcastle Knights. Of course, before that he had started to become a household name because of his phenomenal work with Tonga at the World Cup.
Perhaps the 45-year-old’s greatest feat was convincing Taumalolo, Michael Jennings, Manu Ma’u, Andrew Fifita and others to knock back New Zealand and Australia, and the riches on offer, and commit to Tonga. It was seminal moment in the history of rugby league and one that has changed the international game forever.
As Woolf explains, in George Clarke’s excellent piece on the arrival of Tonga as a footy superpower that you can read here, the seeds of the country’s success at the last World Cup and in beating the Kangaroos for the first time in 2019 were actually planted at the 2013 tournament.
“The World Cup in 2013 was a real insight into what we needed to do to help Tongan rugby league realise its potential,” Woolf told Fox Sports.
“You need to provide a camp which is just as professional as an Australia or New Zealand camp, but also have the aspect of Tongan culture. It’s about making sure you have the right staff and resources, right down to things like bump pads, water bottles and things you take for granted at a club level.”
A Caucasian country boy might seem like an unlikely coach to take charge of a rag-tag bunch of Polynesian bruisers and mold them into a brutal team able to match the established might of England, the Kiwis and the Aussies, but Woolf did just that.
The Queenslander fully bought into Tongan culture, wore a traditional grass skirt and embraced his new surroundings.
The rewards were great – beating the Kiwis in the 2017 World Cup and almost knocking off the Poms in an epic semi-final. Greater tests would follow, with a power struggle in the island nation turning ugly and almost splitting the team up and forcing them into exile.
But Woolf kept his cool, kept his players united and they shocked the world a year ago. First they overpowered Great Britain in Hamilton, then they backed it up a week later with seismic event, defeating the world champion Kangaroos at Eden Park for the first time.
The sporting world was stunned.
My own first major interaction with Woolf came during that GB tour. The coach spoke calmly and eloquently before and after the Hamilton Test, then it was revealed mid-week that he would be heading to St Helens in 2020 to replace Justin Holbrook.
Myself and Daily Star journalist Julie Stott were invited to the Tongan hotel in Auckland to interview the new Saints boss. Woolf was friendly and polite, chatting about his background, his connection with Nathan Brown at the Knights and his excitement to take on Super League.
Little did we know at that point that Tonga were on the verge of even more history, downing Mal Meninga’s men a few days later, and that Woolf’s reputation was only getting bigger.
At that meeting in downtown Auckland Woolf told me about joining St Helens and the challeges of replicating 2019’s success: “What we have to do is not just think what the team did this year is good enough because if I look at the competition they’re going to be stronger.
“Gareth Widdop’s going to add a lot to Warrington, Burgess and Hastings will offer a lot to Wigan. I think Leeds will be a lot stronger, James Maloney offers a lot to Catalans.
“As a whole the competition will be a lot tighter and games will be a lot harder to win. What that means is we don’t have to reinvent ourselves, but we have to find ways to be better. There’s a couple of little areas that have been identified, that I won’t share with you.
“But we have to find ways to continue to motivate the group. Motivation comes through learning, if the group feel like we think they can be better and we’ve identified areas where we can teach them to be better, than they’re going to be motivated by that and be better.
“It’s not about changing things sometimes, it’s about following on with what’s been done well and adding my own spin to things as well.”
Unlike many of his contemporaries, like Craig Bellamy or Ricky Stuart, Woolf is not a ranter or a raver, at least in public. With the media he is courteous but quite guarded, never controversial or seeking to undermine an opponent.
In fact he often completely shuns interviews or media attention that is not strictly part of his job requirement. He declined to be on my podcast in February and talk about his background.
A request to interview him this week for this story was knocked back by St Helens.
One journalist in Queensland told me Woolf can at times be “a bit divisive”.
“He’s not the best communicator but very passionate and smart – an old-school footy bloke, no nonsense. Some of the more new-age players don’t take him well though. Overall, a good coach.
“He has a ‘it’s not about me’ vibe so doen’t want the fuss. Which is probably a good thing.”
Woolf likes to be left alone to do his work quietly and contently, not seeking the limelight or fame. What we do know about him is that he is a lover of the sweet science and was an amateur boxer in his youth.
His younger brother Ben is also a rugby league coach, with Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup, while his sister Katie is a radio broadcaster in Darwin.
Woolf’s teams have always mirrored him – tough, hard-working, physical, resilient and big on defence. The coach is known to have focused on wrestling and boxing drills to help harden the Saints squad when he arrived on Merseyside.
“All teams coached by Kristian Woolf are molded in the key attributes that make him up as a man,” Quabba believes.
“Tough, uncompromising and with a strong work ethic and desire to do the little things right are key elements of Kristian’s coaching philosophy.
“His teams all display a real toughness about them and willingness to roll up the sleeves, work hard and get in the trenches for each other. A real defensive mentality where the opposition are given nothing cheap and are forced to scrap for absolutely every inch are key foundations.”
Others describe him as an excellent man-motivator and player mentor. Woolf came to St Helens on the recommendation of former Saints coach Brown and with huge boots to fill in grand final-winning coach Holbrook.
The pressure was on from the beginning.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, with a World Club Challenge loss to the Roosters and then a shaky start until the season stopped in mid-March. But St Helens came out of the lockdown in August a side reborn, physical and firing as they blew opponents away.
They were pipped to the League Leader’s Shield by a whisker by Wigan, but strolled into the grand final and now have the rare chance to claim back-to-back premierships.
“What Woolfy’s done speaks for itself, with what he’s done with Tonga and what he’s done with us,” St Helens CEO Mike Rush says.
“He’s navigated the club through a very difficult time and got us to the last dance.
Justin did a great job but Kristian is a completely different character.
“Kristian’s come over with his family, he’s embraced the town, he’s embraced the culture. He’s thrown himself into the club. Woolfy is a tremendous bloke off the field.”
The father of two has learned off the likes of Brown, Griffin and Neil Henry during his coaching journey, and now stands at the summit of another major achievement. He has made history with Tonga, can he do the same with St Helens?
Win or loss on Friday night, don’t expect much noise or commotion from Kristian Woolf. The mild-mannered Queenslander prefers to let his players and his teams do his talking on the field.
Quietly going about his business, Woolf is a coach to keep an eye on. If he lifts the Super League trophy tomorrow, it surely won’t be too long until NRL clubs come calling.
