NRL 2025: Dolphins prop Tom Flegler may not play until 2026 due to rare shoulder injury

The Dolphins are confident Maroons enforcer Tom Flegler will get back on the field eventually - but they face the very real prospect that he may miss the entirety of the 2025 season.

Prop Thomas Flegler may miss all of the 2025 season. Picture: NRL Images

Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf has revealed Maroons enforcer Tom Flegler is potentially facing another season on the sidelines as he fights to save his NRL career.

Flegler, 25, hasn’t played since round 5 of the 2024 premiership after sustaining a rare nerve injury in his shoulder.

The ex-Broncos forward has undergone two operations in a desperate bid to bring the nerve back to life and get on the field.

At this stage, Flegler is playing a waiting game following the latest operation in September and it could be months before he receives an updated prognosis.

However Woolf has confirmed Flegler’s best case scenario is a return to the NRL in the second half of the 2025 season.

There is also a chance Flegler may have to sit out most of, if not all, the 2025 premiership.

Tom Flegler was a marquee signing for the Dolphins. (Image/Josh Woning)

Flegler’s issue, and fellow Queensland forward Tom Gilbert’s season-ending knee injury, was a dagger blow in the Dolphins’ bid to play finals last season.

Gilbert is on track to return in round 1 next year, but Flegler is a long way from pulling on a Dolphins jersey again.

There is also a chance he could be forced to retire from the NRL, but that is viewed as an absolute worst case scenario and the Dolphins believe that won’t be the result.

Woolf said Flegler was in limbo as he awaited an update on the shoulder’s progress.

“He had surgery at the end of last season and it’s a waiting game to see how the shoulder responds,” he said.

“We’ll get checkpoints along the way to figure out what happens next and how long until he’s looking to play.

“That could be somewhere between mid-season (2025) and the start of 2026.

“All indications are the surgery went really well and everyone is really positive that he’ll be looking to get back on the field somewhere in that time frame.”

Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf is confident Flegler will return eventually.

Flegler and fellow Broncos star Herbie Farnworth were the Dolphins’ two big recruits for the 2024 season and beyond.

Farnworth missed the early part of the season with a shoulder problem but found form in the back end of the year, playing 20 games as the Dolphins went within a whisker of finishing in the top eight.

However Flegler only managed four appearances before being sidelined and hasn’t been sighted on the field since.

With veteran prop Jesse Bromwich retiring, and the likes of Mark Nicholls, Kenny Bromwich, Josh Kerr and Felise Kaufusi nearing the end, the Dolphins desperately need the youthful and intimidating Flegler on deck.

The signing of Newcastle prop Daniel Saifiti has alleviated some pressure on the Redcliffe club’s front row rotation, but Flegler would make the Dolphins an entirely different proposition.

Young gun Max Plath performed admirably at lock this year in the absence of Flegler and Gilbert but is expecting to play a different role in 2025.

“We will see how we go. I am sure we (Gilbert and I) will compete as hard as we can for it. I think it is healthy for both of us to keep pushing each other,” Plath said.

“Tommy Gilbert’s best position is probably lock so I am happy to play wherever is best for the team.

“I am lucky that I can play in a couple of positions. I am happy to play anywhere so long as we have a stronger team.

“If I need to do some reps in the back-row I don’t mind. Whatever works. I grew up playing in the halves so playing as a lock in the ball-playing area comes a bit easier to me.

“I have done a lot of reps there but now it is about getting more reps at hooker and developing my game to the next level and being a real quality hooker.

“Hopefully then I can open myself up to more positions and being in the 17 all the time.”