Added motivation for Dolphins over Warriors

Playing finals footy might be the Dolphins NRL side’s goal, but they will have added motivation and strike power when they take on the Warriors in New Zealand on Friday night (6pm kick off).

Here’s what Head Coach Kristian Woolf said before they boarded their flight this morning.

“It’s something that we haven’t achieved ... to go over to New Zealand and win. That’s enough motivation in itself,” he said.

“We’re not talking about finals or anything like that. This week is a really important game.”

The Dolphins are eighth on the ladder going into the round 22 clash with the fourth-placed Warriors.

The Dolphins’ top 30 squad has been decimated by injury with 10 players out, and an injury cloud over Kenny Bromwich, at one point this season.

Woolf is pleased to welcome back co-captain Felise Kaufusi, five-eighth Kodi Nikorima and Mark Nicholls on the bench this week.

Jake Averillo will move back to the wing and young flyer Tevita Naufahu will be on the extended bench.

The Warriors have their own injury concerns, with captain James Fisher-Harris, hooker Wayde Egan and five eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita ruled out, but Woolf is not taking too much notice.

“It’s a bit like us. I don’t think it really matters who’s on the field and who’s not on the field. It’s about how you go and perform as a team. We’ve had that sort of disruption, just about all year, and we’ve played some of our best footy without some of our bigger names,” he explains.

“They’re very capable of that as well, so I’m not too concerned about who plays and who doesn’t.”

Woolf says having Nikorima back in his side, is a welcome boost and shuffles “everyone back in their right positions”.

“We played our best footy with him at (number) six. Him and Isaiya ... they combine really well, they enjoy playing together, they’ve got a really good combination on the field ... so he’s a big add-on for us. It really strengthens our team and that means we can put Jake (Averillo) back in the outside backs where we think he’s best as well,” he says.

“Kodi’s playing. We’ve got to get through captain’s run, but we wouldn’t have him on the plane, if we weren’t really confident.

“He’s worked really hard but, to be fair to Kodi, he was really confident within days after the injury that he was going to be back for this game. He made that really clear and he’s worked towards that.

“There’s no hesitation, you’re always looking to see if there’s any hesitation ... when he was running last week, when he’s having to really stretch out or when he’s kicking. There’s been no hesitation for a number of weeks.

“It’s great to get those couple of guys back at this time of the year. You never want injuries, and the players don’t want injuries either, but it means that they’re mentally fresh and the rest of their body’s fresh. They’re ready to attack the back end of the season.

“I think that’s really good for them, but really good for the whole group too.”

Woolf says, while the prospect of playing finals is exciting, they’re not there yet.

“We’ve put ourselves in the position, where it’s at least in our hands. If we win enough games at the back end of the year ... we play a lot of teams that are around us on the table ... it’s in our hands,” he says.

“It’s really important that we just look at one week at a time and there’s no bigger game than this weekend.

“This time of the year is the best time to be playing footy. There’s a little bit more excitement around it, the end’s a little bit closer, the level goes up a bit. You want to be playing and you want to be in the frame.

“The blokes have worked really hard for that.”