NRL 2023: The Hammer shaping as our new Bunny, says Dolphins legend Chris Close

State of Origin great Chris Close says a new Dolphins star has taken him back in time to the days of a man he trusted and all fans should embrace his bankability as a crucial nerve-settler.

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow of the Dolphins celebrates with the fans

State of Origin great Chris Close believes fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow has revived the spirit of the Dolphins most celebrated cult hero — Ian “Bunny’’ Pearce.

Pearce was a former Queensland captain who led the Maroons to their last pre-Origin win over NSW in 1975 as a failsafe fullback who had an unfashionable style yet gave his side great comfort.

He was a long-serving Dolphins star and club supporters were shattered when news broke Pearce was killed in car accident at age 46 in 1993.

Close believes Tabuai-Fidow has cast a soothing Pearce-like vibe over the Dolphins in their first two wins over the Roosters and Raiders with his bankability a crucial nerve-settler.

“When I was watching The Hammer I just kept thinking of Bunny,’’ Close said.

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring a try against the Canberra Raiders. Picture: Getty Images

“I played with Bunny Pearce at Redcliffe and he was an enigma of his era. He may not have reached the heights he should have but every time you played with him you knew he was going to be safe as a bank at the back and run that ball up as hard as he could.

“And if you ever needed a big tackle he could do it. Now Bunny and Hammer may be absolutely nothing like each other in some ways but Hammer plays like Bunny.

“He is the rock of that team. We have seen it in both games. He doesn’t panic.

“Imagine if The Hammer had been unsafe in the opening game. It could have ruined everything. Yet he was great. And that first game has put an indelible footprint into the concrete of the NRL.

“In a way, after the first two wins, it doesn’t matter what happens now.’’

Close, who played with the Dolphins in 1980-81, is luxuriating in the club’s rise to the big league.

“It is a 76-year journey for them and at no stage did anyone make it easy for them. They really hung there. What a remarkable sports story.

Chris Close says fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow has revived the spirit of a Dolphins legend.

“I presented a jersey to the team before their first game and it was a great night. There were six international there from the club. I listened to Wayne Bennett and Bob Jones speak and at no stage was there any panic.’’

Close believes the recruitment of Melbourne Storm enforcer Felise Kaufusi was a masterstroke.

“Much to everybody’s chagrin they have recruited well. I feel Felise has reinvented himself from where he was at the Storm. He has become a leader and has really bent his back.

“It looked to me as if he had lost his confidence at Melbourne at little bit. That may have been because he had been there for a long time.

“He is challenging and reinventing himself at the back end of his career.

“Kaufusi has repaid the Dolphins already. Those two games were so important. If they had been well beaten by the Roosters it would have really deflated them.’’

Proof Dolphins were right to snub Redcliffe

The Dolphins copped truckloads of abuse for leaving Redcliffe out of their name but after just two games we can laud it as a smart move.

The club’s supporter base is growing … fast. Not having Redcliffe in the title will barely cost them a fan but just being the Dolphins has the potential to win them many more.

The club didn’t need to be called Redcliffe to attract Redcliffe fans. Sure, many long time supporters were a bit grizzly after the news came through but that has faded.

That fans were chanting “Redcliffe’’ on the terraces at Suncorp against the Roosters in game one was not a snub but a sign of solidarity because it meant the old fans have stuck.

If you have a spare minute on Monday go for a drive down to the Redcliffe Leagues Club and ask the drinkers how they feel about a 2-0 start to their first premiership.

Last Monday the joint was poppin’.

The same level of appreciation stretches through local schools to Redcliffe’s harness racing paceway where the Dolphins have been the talk of 5am trackwork with tales of leading Sydney trainer Robert Morris ringing Redcliffe based trainer Greg Franklin to get a Dolphins cap for his suddenly converted son.

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Euan Aitken of the Dolphins celebrate victory

The locals are rapt. Redcliffe or not, the Dolphins are their club. Their colours. Their team, from their region playing at the ground called Kayo Stadium which they knew for decades as Dolphin Oval.

They don’t need the team to be called Redcliffe any more than that a father needs to call his son by his first and last name.

And the second reason for the defence of “Dolphinization’’ is that the team’s tenaciousness is winning the floating fan from other parts of Brisbane and beyond which is easier to do if you are not tightly bound to a particular region.

I heard a female doctor and a clothes shop owner discussing the Dolphins over coffee in Hendra last week and both agreed they liked the cut of their jib even though they weren’t hardcore league fans.

That is a small but significant victory. There would be hundreds of these conversations happening around Brisbane.

Tom Gilbert of the Dolphins celebrates scoring a try during the round two

Just being the Dolphins – an easy to like brand for a team which has a red hot go – is enough. It can work.

I initially thought it was a mistake for the Dolphins to play just three games in Redcliffe – all will be 10,000 sellouts starting with Saturday night’s bare-knuckled win over the Raiders – but if the Dolphins can keep playing well it could be a sound move to take seven games to Suncorp.

It will help them throw a net over the floating fan base which are the cream of their existence. Already they have 20,000 members.

The whacky thing about the Dolphins is that their initial weakness has become a selling point.

The fact that they lacked a million dollar playmaker who you could recognise if his face whizzed past on the side of the bus was seen as a soft spot and it was.

But people are enjoying their have a crack mentality and lack of pretence.

They have a long way to go this season but their first steps are strong ones.