Sean Mullany came off the bench for Gold Coast Titans in their loss vs Dolphins to make his NRL debut and become the fourth Kiwi-NRL debutant in 2025 after five rounds of footy. Titans were already looking at a hefty defeat by the time Mullany entered the game and while they lost 10-36, both Titans tries were scored with Mullany at hooker.

The Glenora junior got his opportunity as dummy half Sam Verrills was out and Chris Randell moved to the starting hooker role with Mullany being selected on the bench. Randell played most of the game at dummy half and with Verrills available again, he is named as the starting hooker this round with Randall starting as a middle forward.

This bumps Mullany back to the extended bench for the game vs Dragons but highlights how Mullany could earn game time as a small forward along with his main role at hooker. Coach Des Hasler usually deploys a small forward to go with the dummy half and Titans carry two of these players in their team most rounds, with Mullany third in the depth chart for this dummy half/small forward role.

Hopefully any future NRL games for Mullany involve more than 15 minutes and a greater opportunity to impact the game. Mullany offered crisp passing in both directions and had a couple small scoots near the try line, to go with his hearty defence. He finished with 2 runs 6m @ 3m/run and 8 tackles @ 100%, with the same number of dummy half runs as Randall had in 65 minutes.

25-year-old Mullany has been on the Kiwi-NRL radar for a few years having initially been recruited by Cowboys while making lots of junior representative teams in Aotearoa. He was part of the 2018 Junior Kiwis team that had a rare win over the Junior Kangaroos and Mullany was the starting hooker in a team that included Hayze Paerham, Morgan Harper, Mawene Hiroti, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Tom Ale, Isaiah Papali'i and Jordan Riki.

After a couple years in Townsville, Mullany returned to Auckland for a stint with NZ Warriors before the pandemic washed away the 2020 season. Mullany slid back to Queensland in 2021 to play for Mackay in Queensland Cup and he rolled through four seasons with Mackay, playing 10+ games in all four seasons.

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During that period Mullany was lingering on the fringe of the Cowboys NRL group with a few train and trial opportunities. Given that Cowboys invested in Mullany by recruiting him and shifting him to Australia, then having him in their wider pipeline for four years, it's interesting that Cowboys never gave Mullany the opportunity to step up to NRL footy.

Within six months of leaving the Cowboys system and joining Titans with a train/trial contract, Mullany made his debut for Titans. Mullany played two games for Tweed under the Titans umbrella in Queensland Cup this season before his NRL debut, churning out 50+ minutes in both games. Tweed have a bye this round so Mullany won't be playing reserve grade and he will probably have to patiently wait for his next opportunity.

While Mullany needs to gather a few more NRL games to put himself in the NZ Kiwis mixer, there is less depth at the dummy half position than most other roles for Aotearoa. Jeremey Marshall-King and Phoenix Crossland are the best hookers right now, while Brandon Smith is on the comeback from injury and Zach Dockar-Clay is building into a steady NRL utility role. Depending on who is available, Mullany may be closer to the NZ Kiwis mix than it seems.

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