Dolphins 30 (Jack Bostock 2, Herbie Farnworth, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Josh Kerr tries; Jamayne Isaako 5/5 goals) def. Gold Coast Titans 14
2-1
Phins Up!
It was another hard fought win for the Dolphins who found themselves down 10-0 early in the contest, but ultimately ran out to a comfortable 30-14 victory.
The Dolphins were left shell-shock early when the Titans raced in two early tries. The first coming off a ricochet from a Brian Kelly kick. The Titans were making easy in-roads through the middle and it just left the Dolphins vulnerable on their own line. While there was an element of good luck, the Titans made it so by simply out-playing the Dolphins early.
The second was on the back of Averillo jamming in on Haas which forced Bostock to come in and allowed Brimson to simply draw and pass for Sami. It was a well executed play from the Gold Coast, but by the same token it was poor communication from the defence. Bostock was caught in no man's land and somebody had to cut down Brimson's time and space.
The Dolphins were able to graft their way back into the contest through some slick hands for Bostock. Once the territory and field positon began to even up, the Dolphins started to show their composure and the Titans were guilty of making soft choices and mistakes.
This was made crystal clear following the sin-binning of Max Plath after an ugly hip drop tackle. Just quietly, I'd be interested to see how the MRC/Judiciary see this as I believe the point of the hip has to trap the leg. From the vision, it appeared Plath's hip was on the ground, but then the side of his rib came into contact with Sami's ankle.
Regardless it was an ugly tackle and Plath appeared remorseful the moment it happened. Fortunately for the Dolphins, this seemed to galvanise them and they handled the 10 minute period far better than the Titans. The Gold Coast made mistake after mistake and the Dolphins nearly scored with one less player. Once the sides were even, it didn't take long for the Dolphins to score, with Bostock stepping the incoming to defence to jot down in the corner. Isaako with the sideline conversion gave the Dolphins an unlikely lead heading into half-time.
The Gold Coast created the opening change of the half with a nice inside/outside play for Campbell, but they couldn't capitilise and slowly but surely the Dolphins were able to take control of the contest. It eventually came in the 57th minute, with Bromwich initiating a nice spread to put Farnworth into space. Herbie was able to link up with Isaako who drew in the fullback before handing it back to Herbie to score his maiden premiership try.
Then moments later it was the other recruit Thomas Flegler getting the big bumper bars up, fending off two before the Hammer came screaming onto a pass. Then to put the cherry on top Kerr scored underneath the uprights and the Phins were well and truly home.
The only thing that dampened the result was a late try to Phillip Sami. It was the exact same set play as before, except Bostock jammed in on Brimson and the rest of the team failed to account for Sami. I doubt it dampened any of the celebrations, but that will be something I'm sure the coaches will take notice of through out the week.
With that win, the Dolphins go on top of the table and it's the first back to back win since the start of the 2023 season. It should put them in good stead for the Tigers game and I'm sure the Dolphins will want to avenage their heart-breaking loss from last season.
I thought the forwards proved the difference. Bromwich and Kaufusi had a big presence, Flegler continued to impress and the bench proved too strong for the Gold Coast. Especially when the Dolphins were down to 12, the Dolphins were steely in defence and made the Gold Coast offence look second rate. The backs also ran the ball back nicely and in Isaako, Bostock and Farnworth helped the Dolphins maintain their momentum through till the second half.
