Ten years ago Nic Dolly would have laughed in disbelief if you told the Australian-born hooker he would play professional rugby, let alone run out for England.
“I probably would have said, ‘Yeah, no chance’,” Dolly, who played one Test for England under Eddie Jones in late 2021, told The Roar.
“I probably didn’t even realise that it was a pathway or a job, or whatever. I think back then, I’d made some teams and I was doing fairly well with the junior rugby, but at 16 and 17 going into year 12, I didn’t make any of the school boys or the Gen Blue, so I probably would have told you, ‘nah, no chance’.”
Yet, fast-forward to 2025 and the 25-year-old Western Force recruit has the potential to make history by becoming the first player to run out in a Test for both the Wallabies and England.
While Blair Swannell and Tom Richards played for the Lions and Wallabies more than a century ago, Dolly will make history if he completes his childhood dream of playing for Australia.
Nic Dolly offers support for Marcus Smith during his debut for England at Twickenham on November 20, 2021 in London. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Given Dolly’s rapid rise in England, where he quickly flourished in the national pathways and went onto play alongside Tom Curry at Sale and, later, Leicester under Steve Borthwick before being thrown in the deep end by Jones against the Springboks at Twickenham, it’s no giant leap either to think he will challenge for a spot in the coming years.
“One of the attractions in coming back was knowing that I did become eligible for the Wallabies in late November [2024],” Dolly told The Roar.
“But I’m obviously aware there’s a lot of work to do between now and then. I’m not just going to come back and waltz in and think just because I’ve played over in England that I’m going to come back and they’re going to give me a crack.
“I know how much hard work I need to put in and how much good rugby I’ll need to play because there’s a lot of good players in my position.
“You just have to look at our two guys (Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Tom Horton at the Force), we’ve got one in the Wallabies and one in Australia A, so there’s a lot of competition here to just get to the spot, let alone to try and get into the Wallabies. But I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t come back here without the endeavour to play for the Wallabies and push for higher honours.”
Dolly knows plenty about competing.
Indeed, few get far in the English Premiership without being able to do just that, especially someone who has played at Leicester Tigers – a club whose DNA is built on set-piece play.
Nic Dolly prepares to throw the ball in at Welford Road Stadium on September 24, 2023 in Leicester. (Photo by Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)
For Dolly, who battled weekly with Tom Youngs and Argentine captain Julian Montoya during his time at the Tigers, it’s something he’s embracing since moving to the Force.
“I’d much rather be in an environment where there’s competition,” he said.
“I think all the environments in the past I’ve been in, there’s been competition, there’s been great players that have started ahead of you, and you’ve had to work to try and get ahead of them and you can’t get comfortable.
“It just pushes you as a three to get better, which is only going to push the club on, which is only going to set the club up for more success. And I think if we had depth in every position like this, bloody hell, we’d be a great squad, you know what I mean?
“We want that competition in training, you want to go out every day thinking like I’ve got to perform, I’ve got to get better, otherwise you end up just flatlining. It’s just as simple as that.
“I would rather see Tom and Brandon pushing themselves to the max because it means I can’t take a day off otherwise I’m not playing, or if you play poorly you might sit out next week, and that’s not to put pressure on yourself and put pressure on yourself to perform, but that’s just sort of expectations and that’s just making sure that you’re building the week and your preparation’s right so that come Saturday, you can play freely because you know you haven’t left a stone unturned.”
Dolly’s desire to rip in at every turn is part of the reason that first caught Jones’ eye.
Having been looked over at junior level in Australia, it took Dolly to play some rugby up in England on a family holiday for someone to see something in the hooker.
As such, instead of staying eight weeks, it “snowballed into eight years” when a scout at Sale saw him play.
A move to Borthwick’s Tigers then put him firmly on Jones’ radar and within a few games the Australian larrikin was in the Australian’s English squad.
“I got on really well with Eddie during my time there,” Dolly said. “I think he maybe saw a bit of me in him. He wasn’t and I’m certainly not the biggest hooker going around, but I just try and bring that aggressive nature, a bit of physicality as well.”
Nic Dolly helped Leicester win a premiership under Steve Borthwick. (Photo by Graham Chadwick/Getty Images)
A devastating knee injury against Newcastle in May, 2022, cruelly denied Dolly the chance of touring Australia with Jones’ then-English side.
More frustration was around the corner, as a nerve injury slowed his progress under Dan McKellar’s Tigers in 2023. Not that it knocked Dolly off track.
“I think I was in line to go to Australia with England, which would’ve been cool, but that’s rugby, mate,” he said.
“Unfortunately you don’t get a choice really with some of that stuff, which is unfortunate, but that’s part of it and you can’t dwell on it.
“I did my knee, that kept me out for about 12 months. It was just a jackal I got rolled, like a crocodile rolled and it just took me out for a good while and then I came back from that and then I had a nerve injury and was out for three to four months.
“But then I got to play the second last game of the Premiership against Sale, which was quite a nice sort of finish for me knowing that I was leaving playing against the team that first gave me the opportunity versus my last team in England.”
It’s why he looks back without a regret in the world.
“In terms of that journey, it’s pretty surreal,” Dolly said.
Nic Dolly is looking forward to challenging himself against two quality hookers at the Force. Photo: Western Force
“But at the same time, I’m someone who always wants more. I feel like I haven’t reached my full potential yet, and that’s why I’ve come back here. I want to really test myself and being at the Force and in Australian rugby is a great opportunity for me.”
As for the mullet, it’s still around.
Whether Jones’ nickname of the ‘Human Mullet’ sticks in Australia remains to be seen.
“I just don’t know how long it’s going to stay, I’m really unsure at this point,” he said. “I’ve got no idea when I want to cut it off but we’ll wait and see.”