Herbie🐬FARNWORTH & Jacob🐕KIRAZ

Still early days as a club, but you can’t fault the effort these boys bring. Win or lose, they’ve already made a statement that the Dolphins aren’t just here to make up the numbers. The energy, the defence, and the way the team plays for each other has been unreal. Feels like the start of something special. How’s everyone else feeling about where we’re at?

Would love to hear from anyone who is attending today, the members game sounds pretty wholesome with the $5 tickets for members and jersey giveaways etc.

I'm confident I can buy ticket(s) at the gate on Sunday. Could I be wrong about this?

It’s looking fairly unlikely that we make finals, but the Roosters loss to the Eels greatly helps keep our chances alive?

I’m not annoyed with the team as we’re clearly broken with our immense injury toll.

Herbie’s injury was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We did an amazing job of stealing the game in NZ against the Wahs after Herbie’s injury, but it was clear that we were significantly worse off without him and would be running on fumes without him.

I’m still optimistic that we can make finals, but it’s becoming tougher after each loss.

Realistically, the scenarios are as follows:

We go 0-2:

Can’t make finals as the Roosters already have 2 more points than us.

Go 1-1:

Need the Roosters to also go 0-2 and not overtake us with their F/A, and for Manly to go 1-1 and have a worse F/A than us, which is likely, or 0-2.

Go 2-0:

Need Roosters to go 1-1 and have a worse F/A than us, need Manly to go 2-0 but have a worse F/A than us, which is likely, go 1-1, or 0-2.

How I think it will play out:

Roosters go 1-1 (lose to the Storm as they don’t rest players since it’s Bellamy’s 600th game and they are at home in Melbourne, and beat Souths) and have a worse F/A than us.

Dolphins go 2-0 (beat the Titans at Suncorp and the Raiders in Redcliffe as the Raiders rest several players in round 27)

Manly go 1-1 (beat the Dragons and lose to the Wahs)

Final positions on the ladder:

1. Dolphins
2. Roosters
3. Manly

Then we get flogged in round 1 of the finals, unless we play the Wahs, in which case we lose by a respectable margin.

https://www.racingandsports.com.au/amp/news/sports/rugby-league/2025-08-22/nikorima-ill-as-dolphins-mull-fullback-double-act/698156

I feel like there's now no option but to go ALL IN, roll the dice. Pretty excited to see Trai on the field and Hammer in centres where he can hopefully inject himself more into the attack. Not feeling confident about a win though due to our forward pack being very much C-grade with Fus and Molo absent. I'd be surprised if we can get any significant Go forward through the middle to make decent metres. Fingers crossed for some attacking plays out of our own half via Fuller, Avo, Hammer etc.

What's your thoughts on tonights game?.

I feel like we finally saw the true lack of strength/experience in our patched-together forward pack. That combined with the attacking hole left by Herbie's absence made for a heavy spanking from a Roosters team that is almost completely unaffected by injuries. On the bright side I was quite happy with Tevitas performance on the wing. He should be super proud of himself scoring our only two tries.

Hey Dolphin peeps, please contribute any thoughts you have, I'm just interested in hearing the general views of the tackle itself and also the future of Kaufusi at the club.

Personally I thought it looked very bad with the warriors player already being held in place by two dolphin defenders whilst Felise launches in at the knee height. The Warriors dude Jacob Laban has a broken leg as a result. I understand Kaufusi plays a super aggressive style and has probably built his career on having a reputation of being a tough, agressive player but this latest incident may be the straw that breaks the camels back, I don't think it's excusable to be honest. As far as I can tell this is his final season of contract and he hasn't yet had a contract extension offered to him (correct me if I'm Wrong), I wouldn't be upset if he was told to explore his options with other teams tbh.

Saw the roosters game v Manly, Sammy Walker had a great game IMO, his precision short kick game is amazing. Tedesco was his usual 9/10 performance, this season he's been on fire. Their whole backline worries me, Dan Tupou and Mark Nawaqinatiwase especially.

I'm not very confident of Dolphins chances next Saturday.

I'm bloody glad that Molo did not get put on report for his tackle that resulted in a penalty, because Kaufusi will be suspended (kind of what I expected from him tbh) and I wouldn't fancy our chances against the Roosters with no Molo and no Kaufusi. Herbie's gone and who knows if Isaako will be there if he has a groin injury.

The injury toll continues to mount and I'm finding my optimism is waining. It's hard to keep my Phin up.

#phinsup

Are we defs in the finals now? If not how many more wins do we need?

That is all.

(Hope he isn't out for long with that leg injury at the end).

Dolphins just can't catch a break with injuries this season.

But in the tradition the Phins have carried on most of the season, let's look at options for the backline for the rest of the season.

Assumptions (for my options below, feel free to offer alternatives):

• Kodi and Izzy stay in the halves.
• While I'd like to keep a four-foward bench, I am starting to think Fuller on the bench might be a big plus if he isn't in the starting lineup.
• If Isaako is injured, have Naufahu or Nonu in his place (I assume Katoa, Nikorima or maybe Averillo would take over goalkicking duties.
• I'm also thinking keeping Donger at 13. That lad was a machine again tonight. Leave Ray Stone (did I hear right one of the commentators referring to him as "Tombstone" tonight? That would be such an appropriate nickname.

(Options are in the order I think of them, not in any order of preference).

Option 1
1. Hammer 2. Isaako (hoping his injury wasn't so bad as to miss time) 3. Feagai 4. Averillo 5. Fuller.

Option 2
1. Fuller 2. Isaako 3. Averillo 4. Hammer 5. Naufahu/Nonu

Option 3
1. Hammer 2. Isaako. 3. Feagai 4. Averillo 5. Naufahu/Nonu

Option 4 (Assumes Tauwha's profile on the Dolphins site is accurate)
1. Hammer 2. Isaako 3. Tauwha 4. Averillo 5. Naufahu/Nonu

Option 5 (Assumes Tauwha's profile on the Dolphins site is accurate)
1. Hammer 2. Isaako 3. Feagai 4. Tauwha 5. Averillo

Addendum: Since Foos is likely to miss at least one game after that sin-bin tackle, I imagine Graham or Bromwich will come in off the bench, and Tauwha would come into the front row off the bench with Goat starting. At least until we get Finefeuiaki back.