NRL 2024: How Dolphins poached rookie sensation Max Plath from Brisbane Broncos

Max Plath should be a red-hot favourite for the NRL’s rookie of the year award, but it could easily have been in Broncos colours. This is how the Dolphins snuck under their Queensland rival’s guard to poach the son of a Brisbane great.

The Dolphins snuck under the guard of the Broncos to poach the son of a Brisbane great and future Maroons Origin bolter.

Max Plath will make his first NRL appearance against the club his father won four premierships with when the Dolphins face the Broncos in Saturday night’s Battle of Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.

The son of 149-game Bronco John Plath, Max has had a tremendous 2024 campaign with Brisbane’s arch rival the Dolphins.

If not for a two-game suspension early in the season, Plath would have been a contender for the Dally M rookie of the year award and he is on the radar of Queensland coach Billy Slater.

The 22-year-old has been one of the Redcliffe club’s best players this season under his father’s former coach Wayne Bennett, despite having gone into the year with only two NRL games next to his name.

But Plath could have easily been dominating for the Broncos if he wasn’t snapped up from Red Hill by Bennett and eagle-eyed former Dolphins recruitment boss Peter O’Sullivan.

Max Plath has been one of the Dolphins’ top performers in 2024. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

“Max signed a train-and-trial with the Broncos last year and was killing it in Queensland Cup,” said Plath’s manager Paul Hogan.

“Harrison Graham signed with the Dolphins and they always had an eye on Max. Wayne would ask me ‘how’s the young Plath going?’. He had his eye on him for a while.

“The Broncos didn’t have a spot for him and the Dolphins came up with a great deal.

“He played a game for Wynnum against Redcliffe in the Queensland Cup last year, scored two tries, and the next week he was playing for Redcliffe after signing with the Dolphins.

“He is an outstanding young player. He has skills, works hard and is tough.

“He’s a lovely young man that comes from a good family.”

Max is the son of former Bronco John Plath (left), pictured here alongside Darren Lockyer and Steve Renouf in 1998.

Plath missed the round 6 derby against the Broncos after being suspended for two games following a hip drop tackle on Titans winger Phil Sami.

The suspension has ruled him ineligible for the NRL’s top rookie award, just like Tigers young gun Lachlan Galvin.

Other rising stars that can’t win the award this year include Titans dynamo Keano Kini, Tigers prop Samuela Fainu and Bulldogs forward Sam Hughes, who all narrowly played too many matches last year.

Max Plath is ineligible for the Dally M Rookie of the Year award following a suspension earlier this season. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

That has left the likes of Parramatta’s Blaize Talagi, Canberra’s Ethan Strange and Melbourne duo Sua Fa’alogo and Jack Howarth as the leading contenders.

Dolphins winger Jack Bostock has had a strong year with 14 tries but Plath would have been the expansion club’s best chance of snaring the rookie gong.

A playmaker in his younger years, Plath has transformed into a tireless middle forward who has been deputising at hooker in place of the injured Jeremy Marshall-King lately.

He is averaging more than 40 tackles per game and recently said he was loving life at the Dolphins after re-signing until the end of 2027.

Max Plath has shown his value both as a middle forward and dummy half this season. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“I was only at the Broncos on a seven-week train-and-trial,” Plath said.

“I was affiliated with Wynnum and there was an opportunity to come across to the Dolphins. That was it. Sully (O’Sullivan) wanted me there.

“I’ve always wanted my point of difference to be the fittest I can be and the best at all the effort areas. I’m not the fastest, biggest or most athletic player going around.

“Dad has been a massive influence. He had a great career.

“I guess I was a Broncos fan, but I mainly followed really talented players. I was too young to watch dad. He finished playing in 1999 and I was born in 2001.

“I grew up with a footy in my hand and it was always something I was going to do.”

Originally published as NRL 2024: How Dolphins poached rookie sensation Max Plath from Brisbane Broncos