It was reported back in March that South Sydney Rabbitohs half-back Dean Hawkins was attracting attention from both NRL and Super League clubs.
Hawkins has only played a handful of games in his NRL career so far with six games prior to his recent call-up to face the Bunnies’ rivals in Sydney Roosters.
The 25-year-old didn’t shine in that game but nor did any Souths player as they fell to a crushing 48-6 loss, the second largest loss that the Roosters have ever put on the Rabbitohs.
Hawkins was called up after Souths had won just four of their last 15 NRL games, starting half Lachlan Illias being the man to be replaced.
Despite the shakeup that saw Hawkins promoted for the game against the Roosters, it’s still presumed that he isn’t the long-term answer and as such a number of NRL sides and Super League sides have shown interest in Hawkins.
His manager told Wide World of Sports: “Dean is Souths through and through but there are other NRL clubs have shown a real interest in him – as well as Super League teams.”
So which Super League sides could target the reigning New South Wales Cup player of the year? We’ve compiled three teams that could land the Aussie.
The Super League sides to target NRL starlet Dean Hawkins
Hull FC
Tony Smith’s side have made it clear this season that they had tried to bolster their pack with overseas signings such as Franklin Pele, Jayden Okunbor and Herman Ese’ese.
However, that hasn’t paid much dividends with the club blatantly suffering to get a foothold in games due to the lack of a star half-back.
Hull FC had initially bought Jake Clifford with the hope that he would be their 2024 starter but the Australian returned down under after just one season, leaving FC short at half-back.
Currently, the club have been playing either New Zealand hooker Fa’anamu Brown in the role, a case of square pegs in round holes with the talented Brown blatantly out of position despite his best efforts, or they’ve thrown in young Jack Charles.
Hull FC have shown in recent years that they’re not afraid to make big decisions such as releasing star overseas signings Josh Reynolds and Kane Evans before the end of their contracts. Could a similar decision be taken this year to facilitate the arrival of a much-needed half-back?
Warrington Wolves
They might be spoilt for choice in the position at the moment but Warrington Wolves could end up with a situation where a half-back becomes a key priority.
England captain George Williams was struggling earlier in the season with an ankle “niggle”, quota player Josh Drinkwater hasn’t hit the peaks at the club and has been left out of recent squads, whilst utility Stefan Ratchford is approaching 36.
Perhaps not this year but it could be that Warrington will be needing a half-back and with Sam Burgess’ South Sydney connection, in which he worked with the youth set-up frequently, Hawkins could find himself in Primrose and Blue in the future.
Leon Hayes has been excellent so far whilst deputising and does seem to be a long-term answer alongside Williams but Burgess will have a strong idea of the talent that Hawkins possesses, and could certainly show interest.
It’s also worth noting that Drinkwater and Ratchford are both out of contract at the end of the season, whilst Hayes is too but with an option to extend, which could make the need for a half even more urgent.
Salford Red Devils
If there are one club in Super League who have a knack for turning Australian halves who haven’t quite cracked the NRL into Super League stars then Salford is the place.
Both Jackson Hastings and Brodie Croft came over and have both gone on to become Man of Steel winners, the former having made the switch back to the NRL.
This season Salford are trying their hand at moulding another Australian into a star in Cade Cust with the former Manly player having not quite cracked it at Wigan Warriors.
Salford signed Cust to a one-year deal but should he struggle to make the transition then a play for Dean Hawkins could be on the cards.
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