This 2026 NRL finals fullback can’t get a contract. Would you sign him for your club?

He was a starting fullback in an elimination final this year, and one of the feel-good stories of the NRL season. But Matt Dufty is now officially unemployed.

The former Dragons No.1 was thrown a lifeline by South Sydney after returning from the Super League after Christmas for family reasons. Earning just $1200 a week on a full-time training wage, plus $3000 in match payments, Dufty played 15 games – keeping regular fullback Jye Gray out of the starting side – and helped the Rabbitohs qualify for the play-offs, where they lost to eventual grand finalists Newcastle in week one.

Souths remain hopeful they can find room in their cap to keep Dufty, but the 30-year-old is open to finding a new home in the NRL, and preferably in Sydney, to support his family.

The issue for Dufty is most of the Sydney clubs are well stocked for fullbacks. Penrith have Dylan Edwards and Jaxen Edgar, Parramatta Isaiah Iongi and Joash Papali’i, Wests Tigers Jahream Bula, Sunia Turuva and Jake Averillo, Canterbury Connor Tracey, Jacob Kiraz and Connor Votano, Manly Tom Trbojevic, Tolu Koula and even Lehi Hopoate, St George Illawarra Scott Drinkwater and Clint Gutherson, Cronulla Will Kennedy and Liam Ison, the Sydney Roosters James Tedesco, Cody Ramsey and Rex Bassingthwaighte, while Souths have Gray and Latrell Mitchell.

For Dufty to return to Souths, the club needs an outside back to leave early.

Dufty told this masthead on Thursday his return to the NRL after several seasons in the Super League had reignited his desire to play against the best locally.

“I’ve still got a lot left in me, and this year made me realise that – returning to the NRL reinvigorated my love of the game,” he said.

“I’d like to think I can keep playing another few years. The game probably suits me a bit more now. There used to be a lot of wrestle and the bigger bodies, but with the rule changes, the ruck speed, it suits me, and teams are happy to opt for that smaller fullback who can try and break open a game.

“Consistency was a big thing for me before I went to England. This year when I came back, that was one area I was happiest with.”

Without a regular income, Dufty said, “I’m starting to stress a bit”. “I also got married in the off-season, the expenses this year have been ridiculous,” he said.

Dufty has started to train on his own. He has spoken with Souths coach Wayne Bennett, and assistant Ben Hornby – one of Dufty’s most trusted mentors – and while he would love to return to the Rabbits, also knows he might have to play elsewhere.

He has settled his family in the Sutherland Shire – and while open to a return to England, that is an option Dufty would prefer to put off for a few years.