Twenty minutes that flipped a final
The Warriors led 16-8 with twenty minutes left at Mt Smart Stadium this morning and were one solid defensive stretch from a home preliminary final. They lost 26-16. The Dolphins scored three tries in that closing quarter and turned a qualifying final they had trailed for most of the night into the biggest result in the club’s short history.
Herbie Farnworth started it. The centre went into the match with nine tries in seven career appearances against the Warriors, and he added to that tally by stepping and weaving through traffic to bring the visitors within two points.
What followed decided the season for both clubs. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow launched a 90-metre movement, exchanged passes with Farnworth on the way, and finished it himself to put the Dolphins ahead 20-16. Jack Bostock then stole the ball in a tackle and scored to settle it. Four tries to one on the night, all four converted by Jamayne Isaako.
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A first preliminary final for the Dolphins
The Dolphins joined the NRL in 2023 and are into a preliminary final for the first time. They will host it at Suncorp Stadium in a fortnight, one win from a grand final.
“It is big. It is massive for everyone involved at the club,” coach Kristian Woolf said. “The club has done such a good job over the last four years in every department but the blokes that deserve the credit are the players with the way they played tonight and the bravery they showed under pressure.”
Coming from behind has been their pattern all season, which is part of why an eight-point deficit with twenty minutes left never triggered panic on the Redcliffe bench.
A brutal night, and a costly one for the Warriors
Referee Adam Gee sent three players to the sin bin before half-time. Adam Pompey went for a shoulder charge on Ray Stone, then Kurt Capewell and Selwyn Cobbo followed for piling into a melee after Isaiya Katoa upended Jackson Ford in the 34th minute. Katoa, Kodi Nikorima, Connelly Lemuelu and Pompey were all placed on report. Dolphins prop Thomas Flegler lasted ten minutes before a Mitch Barnett hit ended his match with concussion.
Taine Tuaupiki scored every Warriors point, a try plus a conversion and five penalty goals, in front of a sold-out 26,131. Andrew Webster’s side now hosts Newcastle in a knockout semi-final next week, probably without Leka Halasima, who grabbed at a hamstring in the warm-up and was withdrawn, and Ford, who hurt an ankle in his first game back from a pectoral injury that cost him twelve weeks.
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