Warrington Wolves snap up two young Australian props for 2027 Super League season
Warrington Wolves have signed props Toby Crosby and Mitchell Prest for the start of the 2027 Super League season, bringing two 23-year-old forwards from the Australian reserve-grade system to the Hallé of English rugby league.
Both players arrive from the pathways of NRL clubs — Australia's top-flight competition and its feeder teams. Crosby played reserve grade (the tier below first-team NRL) for the New Zealand Warriors before moving to the Penrith Panthers, while Prest came through the Canberra Raiders system and made 15 appearances for the Mackay Cutlers in Queensland's state competition this season (BBC Sport).
A prop, for those new to rugby league, is one of the two starting front-row forwards — the heaviest hitters in the pack, responsible for taking the ball into contact and laying the platform for the more creative players behind them. Signing two at once suggests Warrington are targeting size and grunt up front.
The draw for Crosby was not just the move itself but the man in the dugout. He said the opportunity to work under head coach Sam Burgess was a major factor in his decision to sign. Burgess, the former South Sydney and England forward who built a reputation as one of the toughest players of his generation, took charge at Warrington and has been reshaping the squad with a physical, no-nonsense identity that mirrors the way he played.
Crosby's endorsement of that coaching pull matters because it signals that Burgess's name still carries weight in the southern hemisphere — the heartland of both rugby codes. Young Australian forwards do not cross the world for just any coach. They cross it for someone they believe will make them better players.
Prest's route is slightly different. His 15 appearances for the Mackay Cutlers this season mean he arrives with recent, regular game time under his belt — match sharpness that can take weeks to build from scratch. That matters in a sport where the collision intensity is relentless and a player who has been sitting on the sidelines often needs a run of games before hitting top form.
For Warrington fans, these signings are a statement of intent about depth rather than marquee sparkle. Neither Crosby nor Prest is a household name, but both are at an age where front-rowers often hit their stride — the early-to-mid twenties being when the physicality of the position meets the conditioning and game awareness needed to sustain it.
The 2027 Super League season is still months away, which gives both players a genuine pre-season to adapt to the British game's rhythms: the tighter, more grind-oriented style of the Super League compared to the wider, more expansive patterns often seen in the NRL.
Whether they make the jump from reserve grade to a starting Super League side is the question Burgess and the Warrington staff will be answering over the winter. The ingredients — youth, size, motivation — are there. Now comes the hard part.
