Photo gallery: Dolphins NRL 2025 awards night

In a season that started with a cyclone and delivered unprecedented adversity, the Dolphins showed the character and resilience fans, their coach and the club’s hierarchy love.

It produced their best performance ever in the NRL and will stoke the fire to play finals footy in 2026.

More than 600 people reflected on club’s achievements during the Dolphins NRL 2025 Presentation Ball at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on September 18. 

See the photo gallery at the end of this story.

The evening was also a chance to celebrate player milestones, debuts, retirements and success, with nine awards presented. See the winners here.

Dolphins Chairman Bob Jones said the NRL team had scored more points than any other team by the end of the regular season (721) and had now beaten every club in the competition during the past three years.

He congratulated incoming Head Coach Kristian Woolf on his first season at the helm in the NRL.

“Great start, Kristian. He’s going to end up being one of the greats,” Bob said.

Dolphins NRL CEO Terry Reader said he was most pleased with the way the team beat the teams it hadn’t had success over before.

“The three teams we hadn’t beaten before, we scored 40+ points against all three of them (Bulldogs, Panthers and Storm),” he said.

The Dolphins, who entered the NRL in 2023, won nine games in their first season, 11 in 2024 and 12 in 2025.

“Twelve would have gotten you in the finals the last three years ... not this year though. When you look at the injuries we’ve had to key players and the new additions we’ll bring into 2026, the foundation we’ve built here is quite strong in three short seasons. There’s a lot to be excited about,” Reader said.

He said the club didn’t dwell on the players who weren’t available in 2025, due to injury, instead focusing on the players who stepped up and delivered.

The Dolphins broke their record for the most points in a game, 44, several times this season and finished the year as the NRL’s best attacking side.

Reader paid tribute to Jamayne Isaako who will be crowned the Dally M Top Points Scorer for 2025 on 278 – 78 points more than the player in second place. He won the same award in 2023.

Isaako scored 11 tries and kicked 117 goals in 2025.

“Jamayne has played every single game since we came into the NRL in ’23 ... he did come off with a sore ankle (this season) but I think we had run out of interchanges so technically he was never replaced ... so he has played every minute of every game we’ve played,” Reader said.

“It’s a wonderful achievement and it’s a great tribute to you and how you look after your body, mate, so well done.”

Praise for Woolf

Reader also thanked Kristian Woolf for a successful first year as an NRL Head Coach, saying he had proved he was up to the task despite unprecedented challenges.

“We could not have had a more disruptive start if we tried ... people forget about the cyclone, forget about moving games, coming back to the club and finding it under water with no power and having to go down to Newcastle and spending a week there ... and the concerns for the families and what was going on everywhere,” Reader said.

“We started 0 and 4 in that first month and it was further compounded with some serious injuries to key players. Woolfy didn’t waver, he led with calmness and clarity and what was the result? Our best ever performance in the NRL ... 12 wins, better than any other year we’ve had so far.

“I have no doubt there are a lot of teams looking over their shoulder and a bit concerned when we get our full team on the park, given what we’ve done this year. There’s a lot to be excited about, if you’re a Dolphins fan.”

Woolf said it was a “hard year to explain” but he’s proud of his team and the tenacity they showed.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a group go through so many challenges as this group’s been through this year. We started the year with a cyclone and had a lot if disruption around that, we had players who were unavailable, facilities that we couldn’t use ... it really put a halt to all the good work that we’d done through the preseason,” Woolf said.

“That was something I’d never experienced before. That put us on four losses in a row. That was obviously a very tough start to the year for all of us and something we all had to try to navigate our way through.”

He spoke about the injuries to key players, including seven with long-term injuries, and the impact it had.

“We only actually only had three players who played every game for us this year,” he said.

“To finish the year with the disappointment of not being able to make the finals ... I thought we played enough good footy, I thought we made enough improvements, we did enough really good things ... we certainly felt like we should have been playing finals footy.

“That was obviously a disappointment we had at the end of the year and one that we’ll have to live with.

“If I think about round five through to round 22, we found a way that we want to play as a team. That’s a way that we get to use all the skill and the speed that we’ve got in this team. If you look at the way we can move the ball and the speed that we’ve got on our edges, we’re as good if not better than anyone else in the competition.”

Woolf said, during that period, the team showed consistency in attack and defence, and he felt they could beat anyone in the competition.

“That gives you a real indication of the talent that we’ve got and the potential that we’ve got. It’s up to us to find that consistency (for the whole season) as well.”

Stars step up

Woolf paid tribute to Jamayne Isaako, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Francis Molo, Kurt Donoghoe, Ray Stone, Herbie Farnworth, Jake Averillo, Isaiya Katoa.

“I’m very proud of the group,” he said.

He says how the Dolphins play is important.

“We want to be a team that shows the result means something to you. That we’re going to compete our hardest every time we take the field, and we’ve got to show a real resilience in how we play when things go against us,” he said.

“One thing that’s really important is that we’ve got good character, we’ve got good men that represent the club that carry themselves well. I know this group is someone you can be really proud of.

“They’ve got a real humility about them, and I love the way they go out and back themselves on when they take the field as well.

“I know there’s a toughness in the group, I know there’s outstanding ability. I also know that with a little bit more luck and the same sort of drive and same work ethic, we’ll be celebrating a little bit more next year.”

Woolf wished departing players well including Mason Teague and Junior Tupou, Aublix Tawha, Josh Kerr, Sean O’Sullivan, Harrison Graham, Ryan Jackson, Kenny Bromwich and Mark Nicholls.

Awards night photo gallery

By Dominika Lis