Bennett shakes things up ahead of Battle for Brisbane
Hooker Jeremy Marshall-King will make his long-awaited return to the Dolphins’ NRL side just in time for the biggest game in the club’s history.
Arguably the team’s best player before suffering a foot injury in round 17, he’s a welcome inclusion in a side who need to win the Battle for Brisbane against the Broncos tomorrow (5.30pm kick off) to keep their season alive.
Head Coach Wayne Bennett has made a few big changes ahead of the do-or-die game at Suncorp Stadium.
Fan favourite and consistent performer Trai Fuller will play fullback, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow moving to the centres – a position he played during the 2024 State of Origin series.
Halfback Isaiya Katoa will move to the bench, with Sean O’Sullivan and Jake Averillo partnering in the halves.
Captain Jesse Bromwich will miss the club’s final home game, and his last at Suncorp before retiring due to concussion protocols. Kodi Nikorima is out for the same reason.
In good news for the side, Max Plath, Ray Stone and Tevita Pangai Junior are certain to start after concern earlier in the week that they might not be fit to play due to niggling injuries.
Bennett says he needs to make changes to give his team the best chance of success against the Broncos, who also playing to remain in finals contention.
“I think he (Katoa) has been up for too long actually. He’s only young and it does impact on them. Little things in his game have just fallen away,” Bennett explains.
“The pressure’s not just in the game, when you play in the NRL ... the pressure’s training, your lifestyle everything that surrounds you. He’s in his second year and by the time he gets to his 50-60 games, he’ll be fine.
“He’s been wonderful for us, but (it’s) a big game tomorrow so we just had to make sure we had everyone playing that was confident about what they were doing.”
The Super Coach will be hoping for some Trai Fuller magic, when the courageous livewire gets going tomorrow.
“I love his energy. There’s no-one of the team that doesn’t want Trai to be playing with them. I tried to make it work off the bench, but that wasn’t going to work for us because fullback is his specialist position,” he explains.
“We played him against Penrith (off the bench) but I made a mistake there. Bottom line is he’s back, Hammer’s gone to the centres and Hammer’s pleased to do that. He realised that the team is the most important thing and as much as he loves playing fullback, it’s not a life sentence ... just a couple of weeks.
“You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We’ve been doing that, we’ve been ... pretty loyal to that. I just thought we’re at a place now, we’ve just got to give ourselves the best chance.”
“My priority is for us to play well and execute well. If we do that, we can match it with any team. We’ve shown that all season, other than last week. It was the only really off performance we’ve had.”
Focus not on the Broncos
Bennett says getting caught up in personal feelings and emotions about beating the Broncos, the club that sacked him, was not part of his process and would not serve him or his players well.
He says the Dolphins have been built on a foundation to be like the great clubs, such as Penrith and Melbourne, who find a way to be successful year after year.
“It’s not about whether we win tomorrow, it’s how we develop this club and how we have the process in place – the right men and women to make it the club that the great clubs are,” he says.
“I think we’re doing a lot of things right here. It’s just now being patient.”
He says the Dolphins have been successful and you don’t have to win grand finals to prove that.
“I think the odds are 30 per cent of winning the grand final in the competition. That’s not good odds. But there are a lot of other teams doing a lot of good things ... we’re in that category,” Bennett says.
“We’re talking about being in the finals. We’re talking about this huge game and we’re in the second year of our existence. We’ve done a lot of good things here.”