SAINTS coach Kristian Woolf has backed the club's former prop Luke Thompson to tough it out in Australia - but said the club's door would be open if he ever returned.

Reports in this morning's Australian press suggested that Thompson was homesick - and highlighted that the prop's girlfriend is currently unable to move over to be with him due to Covid-19 international border restrictions.

Although Thompson has been rested for Canterbury's game with Canberra this weekend, Woolf reckons last year's Harry Sunderland Award winner will show his mettle Down Under.

Woolf said: "The door is always open for Luke and there are no dramas there at all.

"He has been at this club since he was 11-years-old and has a really long history with the club.

"I read that story this morning like everyone else and hadn't heard anything about that. It was a complete surprise to me, like everyone else at the club.

"Luke is a very good player and I would certainly back him to get through a very tough spot in Australia and show what he is capable of over there, which he did in his early games.

"I would be very surprised if anything started to happen there in terms of Bulldogs considering letting him go or Luke considering coming back to the UK at this stage.

"While we will always have the door open, I would be very surprised if it did happen."