Zac Lipowicz Delays NRL Move to Stay With Wakefield Trinity

Forward Zac Lipowicz will stay with Wakefield Trinity for the 2027 Super League season, putting off a move to Australia's NRL by a year. The club has confirmed a new one-year deal.

That is a change of plan. Lipowicz had agreed a two-year contract to join the Perth Bears in the NRL, the top rugby league competition in Australia. He will now link up with Perth 12 months later than first agreed. Forwards are the bigger players who battle for the ball in the tackle and up front in the scrum, and Lipowicz will stay in that role in Yorkshire for another season.

He has moved around a lot in a short time. He left Penrith Panthers at the start of 2026 to join Catalans Dragons in France, where he made 26 appearances. In August, Catalans confirmed he was leaving to join Wakefield on loan for the rest of the season. At the time, the French club said he would join an NRL club and return to Australia in 2027.

The loan spell worked out well for both sides. Lipowicz played six times for Wakefield, including all three play-off games. The play-offs are the end-of-season knockout matches that decide who wins the title. Wakefield went on to win the Grand Final, the last game of the season, and it is the first time the club has won it. Lipowicz is now a Super League champion.

Wakefield announced the deal under the headline 'Lipowicz Is Back For More!' The club's message makes clear it wanted him to stay for the next campaign.

For Lipowicz, the decision means another season in Super League before the Perth move. For Wakefield, it means keeping a key forward after a title-winning year.