# Seattle Seawolves

The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The Seawolves won two MLR championships in 2018 and 2019, and lost in the 2022 final and 2024 final. They play home matches at the 4,000-seat main stadium at Starfire Sports in Tukwila, a suburb south of Seattle.

## History

The team was founded in 2017 by an investor group led by Adrian Balfour and Shane Skinner. The Seawolves won the inaugural MLR Grand Final in 2018, and defended the title in the 2019 Major League Rugby Championship. In the final on June 16, 2019, the Seattle Seawolves defeated San Diego Legion 26–23 at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego.
The Seawolves hired Kees Lensing as their head coach for the 2020 season and started with a 1–4 record. The season was cancelled in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not resume.

## Stadium

The Seattle Seawolves play at the main stadium at Starfire Sports, which has a seating capacity of 4,000, in the suburb of Tukwila. The team offered 1,800 season tickets for their inaugural season, which sold out prior to the first match. In 2024, Seawolves team president Tom Barden stated that the team was "in discussions" to move to the redeveloped Memorial Stadium on the Seattle Center campus. The stadium is planned to be rebuilt with a capacity of 6,500 to 8,000 seats.

## Broadcasting

The local broadcasts for the Seawolves were carried by Root Sports Northwest, a regional AT&T SportsNet affiliate, from 2019 to 2021. Dan Power and Kevin Swiryn were the on-air talent for the first season. As of the 2024 season, national broadcasts were shown on Fox, FS1, and FS2; regional broadcasts were available on Root Sports and Fox 13+.

## Kit history

| Home 2018–19 | Away 2018 | Away 2022–23 | Home 2023–23 |

## Kit Sponsorship

| Season | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | Other Shirt sponsor(s) |
| 2018–2019 | XBlades | None | None |
| 2020 | Paladin Sports | Krusteaz | None |
| 2021–2022 | Paladin Sports | WaFd Bank | None |
| 2023 | Paladin Sports | WaFd Bank | Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Tukwila City of Tukwila USI Envorso |
| 2024 | Kappa | WaFd Bank | Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Tukwila City of Tukwila USI Envorso |
| 2025 | Macron | WaFd Bank | Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Tukwila City of Tukwila USI Envorso |

## Players and personnel
### Current squad

The Seattle Seawolves squad for the 2025 Major League Rugby season is:
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
| Player | Position | Union |
| Dewald Kotze | Hooker | Canada |
| Jesse MacKail | Hooker | Canada |
| Kerron van Vuuren | Hooker | South Africa |
| Dewald Donald | Prop | South Africa |
| Njabulo Gumede | Prop | South Africa |
| Cameron Orr | Prop | Australia |
| Mason Pedersen | Prop | United States |
| Chance Wenglewski | Prop | United States |
| Connor Williams | Prop | Canada |
| Juan Pablo Zeiss | Prop | Argentina |
| Rhyno Herbst* | Lock | South Africa |
| Isaia Lotawa | Lock | United States |
| Taylor Krumrei | Lock | United States |
| Siaosi Mahoni | Lock | United States |
| Malembe Mpofu | Lock | South Africa |
| Charles Elton | Back row | New Zealand |
| Pago Haini | Back row | United States |
| Riekert Hattingh (c) | Back row | United States |
| OJ Noa | Back row | Samoa |
| Devin Short | Back row | United States |
| Huw Taylor | Back row | England |
| Player | Position | Union |
| Brock Gallagher | Scrum-half | Canada |
| JP Smith | Scrum-half | United States |
| Rhys Jones | Scrum-half | United States |
| Jamie Armstrong | Fly-half | Canada |
| Eddie Fouche | Fly-half | South Africa |
| Rodney Iona | Fly-half | Samoa |
| David Busby | Centre | Ireland |
| Dan Kriel | Centre | South Africa |
| Mika Kruse | Centre | United States |
| Calvin Liulamaga | Centre | United States |
| Lauina Futi | Wing | United States |
| Malachi Esdale | Wing | United States |
| Toni Pulu* | Wing | Niue |
| Jeremiah Sio | Wing | United States |
| Jade Stighling | Wing | South Africa |
| Duncan Matthews | Fullback | South Africa |
| Divan Rossouw | Fullback | Namibia |
* Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold.
* * denotes players qualified to play for the United States on dual nationality or residency grounds.
* MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.

### Head coaches

* Tony Healy (2018) did not take up post due to visa difficulties
* Phil Mack (2018)
* Anton Moolman (2019) did not take up post due to visa difficulties
* Richie Walker (2019)
* Kees Lensing (2020–April 2021)
* Pate Tuilevuka (May–June 2021)
* Allen Clarke (May 2021–)

### Captains

* Riekert Hattingh (2018–present)

## Records
### Season standings

| Season | Conference | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason |
| Season | Conference | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/− | BP | Pts | Pld | W | L | F | A | +/− | Result |
| 2018 | — | 2nd | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 232 | 188 | +44 | 5 | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 61 | 43 | +18 | Won Semifinal (San Diego Legion) 38–24 Won Major League Rugby final (Glendale Raptors) 23-19 |
| 2019 | — | 2nd | 16 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 498 | 407 | +91 | 12 | 58 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 56 | 40 | +16 | Won Semifinal (Toronto Arrows) 30–17 Won Major League Rugby final (San Diego Legion) 26-23 |
| 2020 | Western | 4th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 138 | 162 | -24 | 4 | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Cancelled |
| 2021 | Western | 5th | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 343 | 461 | -118 | 10 | 26 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Did not qualify |
| 2022 | Western | 4th | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 435 | 354 | +73 | 6 | 46 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 104 | 76 | +28 | Won West Conference Eliminator (San Diego Legion) 43–19 Won West Conference Final (Houston SaberCats) 46–27 Lost Major League Rugby final (Rugby New York) 15-30 |
| 2023 | Western | 2nd | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 509 | 348 | +161 | 11 | 59 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 69 | 36 | +33 | Won West Conference Eliminator (Houston SaberCats) 37–26 Lost West Conference Final (San Diego Legion) 32-10 |
| 2024 | Western | 2nd | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 498 | 373 | +125 | 13 | 57 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 69 | 73 | -4 | Won West Conference Eliminator (San Diego Legion) 30–28 Won West Conference Final (Dallas Jackals) 28-25 Lost Major League Rugby final (New England Free Jacks) 11-20 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 93 | 54 | 1 | 38 | 2,653 | 2,106 | +547 | 61 | 283 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 359 | 268 | +91 | 5 postseason appearances |