Farnworth: ‘That’s who we are as Dolphins’

The Dolphins may be facing a significant test of their depth with two more key players added to the casualty ward, but flying Englishman Herbie Farnworth says there is trust in the young guns filling the gaps, and he’s hoping supporters in town for another game of football will get behind his side on Thursday night.

With The British & Irish Lions playing the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night and tens of thousands of their countrymen and women in town for the clash, the Dolphins game against the Cowboys gives them the chance to see one of their own in full flight.

“Any Pommies in town, in Brisbane, come down to the Dolphins’ game … see a fellow Pommie, myself, and hopefully help us get the two points there,” Farnworth says.

It will be a tough round 20 game for the home side with Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Mark Nicholls sidelined.

Finefueuiaki fractured his thumb early in Friday night’s 24-12 loss to the Sharks in Sydney, but battled on to finish the game.

He was due to have surgery this afternoon and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

Nicholls left the field after suffering a head clash in the first half against the Sharks. He will miss the Cowboys' match under mandatory concussion protocol, but will be available for the game following the bye in New Zealand on August 1.

With 10 key players now out with injury, Farnworth said he had not been in a team that has experienced anything like it.

In his view though, it gives younger players in the squad an opportunity to impress.

“It would be a very tough game for us either way, even if we were full-strength. All our focus is on getting those two points,” he says.

“That’s part of footy. Players go down … it’s just next one up."

See the photo gallery from training at the end of this story

Farnworth says the squad believes they can overcome the adversity that’s been thrown at them this season.

“We’ve got a lot of trust in the boys that are coming in. They’ve had a great preseason, a lot of them have been playing very well in QCup. We trust them to come in and do a job for us,” he says.

He and other more experienced NRL players have also had to step up to fill the leadership void left by Captain Tom Gilbert, Felise Kaufusi, Mark Nicholls, and Kenny Bromwich who has been battling a neck injury.

“All of our leadership group has gone, I think. It’s a good chance for us younger boys to step up … young Izzy (Katoa) taking a leadership role on the field,” Farnworth says.

“I like to think we’re leading by actions. That’s who we are as Dolphins … that’s what we’ll do on Thursday night.”

Crucial period

Farnworth says the team knows how important the next month is in their hunt for a maiden finals berth.

“Every game coming up, we pretty much have to win… I think we can only drop a couple of games if we want to be serious about finals. That’s what we are as a team, that was our goal at the start of the year. I think we can definitely make it,” he says.

Following his side’s loss to the Sharks last Friday night, Head Coach Kristian Woolf praised their courage.

“They’re a brave group. I love the way they turn up for each other and keep fighting for each other. That’s what you want your footy team to look like. We’re not interested in making a (big) deal of it either, in terms of who’s out,” he said

“We’ve got enough good players out on the field to do something with it. We’ll keep fighting with what we’ve got.”

The Dolphins play the Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night (7.50pm kick off).

Training photo gallery

By Dominika Lis