Win keeps Dolphins’ finals dream alive

Photo: Courtesy of Dolphins NRL Imagery

The Dolphins’ finals hopes are still alive after a heart-stopping win over the Titans at Suncorp Stadium but now hinge on a win over the Raiders at Redcliffe next week and former Head Coach Wayne Bennett’s Rabbitohs beating the Roosters.

Will Felise Kaufusi, who was the first NRL player to sign with Bennett and the Dolphins in 2022, call in a favour from his former mentor?

“Absolutely. I’ll be doing my best to try to get one back,” Kaufusi said laughing after the Dolphins’ 36-30 win over the Titans at Suncorp Stadium.

“That’s not in our control (though) and we’ll prepare the best we can this week.”

Head Coach Kristian Woolf said hoping South Sydney win on Friday night would not be the focus ahead of the final round of the regular season.

“We’d love that result to go our way but, at the end of it all, what we’ve got to do is prepare to try to play Canberra and play really well. If we’re playing for something more, great. The performance is just as important either way,” he said.

He was pleased with how his side started against the Titans, but felt they lost their way for a 10-15-minute period before halftime, which allowed their opponents to fight their way back into the game.

The scores were locked at 18-18 at the break after the Dolphins relinquished a 18-0 lead.

“I love the way we started. I thought we probably got a little bit loose in ourselves and put pressure on ourselves before half time but some of the tries that they scored were pretty incredible tries too. You’ve got to be good to stop them,” Woolf said.

“I really like the way we came out in the second half. We got back to business and I really liked our defence in the second half. It’s good to get a win.”

He said the team recognised, at half time, the areas that needed improvement.

“We just started thinking that we had to score every time we got a half break or every time we got to fifth play... we got a little bit loose there, took the pressure off them and put it back on ourselves. Once we fixed that up in the second half, things turned back in our favour,” Woolf said.

So, what aspects of his team’s performance was Woolf most pleased with?

“I loved our start. I just thought we had a real intent about our start. We’d been a bit off two of the last three weeks,” he said.

“We showed our intent, we showed the result was important to us the way we started. I didn’t so much like the 10 or 15 minutes before half time, but I thought we came out of the blocks really well in the second half.

“It’s great to get a win like that. They were throwing the ball around everywhere, things were sticking for them ... when things are sticking for them like they were you’ve got to really turn up defensively. I was really happy with how we did that.”

It’s unclear if star centre Herbie Farnworth will be fit for the round 27 clash with the Raiders, or if the coach will risk him.

“It’s some possibility (he’ll play). He ran really well last week, he started doing a little bit of skills (training) towards the end of the week. One thing we won’t be doing is being reckless there,” Woolf said.

“If he’s 100 per cent right to play, we’ll consider playing him. If he’s not, we’ll make sure we get it right first.”

If Farnworth returns, Hamiso Tabua-Fidow will likely return to fullback and it’s unclear how Woolf will use Trai Fuller. Fuller, who filled in as fullback this round, was again outstanding.

“I’ve said all along Hammer’s our fullback. I haven’t deviated from that at all. I haven’t now either. I’m sure we can find a place for Trai somewhere,” Woolf said.

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Photo: Courtesy of Dolphins NRL Imagery