Wayne Bennett has done it again. The veteran coach walked out of the lifts underneath Suncorp Stadium after the Dolphins’ historic victory over premiership heavyweights the Sydney Roosters with a smile beaming from ear to ear.
“Write a story about that one, ay,” an unusually excited Bennett cheekily said to this reporter as he made his way to the home team dressing rooms to address his side.
Only 90 minutes before the game the master coach was ushering friends around the corridors and corporate suites of Suncorp Stadium.
It was unusual practice for a coach so close to kick-off and only added to the suggestion that Bennett’s appointment as the inaugural coach of the Dolphins was a PR stunt aimed at increasing interest in the NRL’s 17th and newest team.
The roster he assembled was lacking any real excitement, with more attention on the players he missed out on than the ones he managed to lure.
Even rival clubs weren’t taking the Dolphins seriously, with a recent Herald poll of NRL club CEO and chairmen revealing that 96 per cent of respondents didn’t think the Dolphins would play finals football in their inaugural season.
The Dolphins celebrate a try in their win over the Roosters on Sunday.Credit: Getty
That might have been even higher if those respondents had watched the Dolphins in their trial matches when questions were sent out.
Even an interview with NRL boss Andrew Abdo before kick-off was littered with uncertainty over how well the Dolphins would perform on the field.
“But their success won’t be judged on their performance in just one season,” Abdo told the Herald when quizzed on whether or not the NRL had rushed the introduction of the Dolphins.
“It will be judged over the next couple of years. The Broncos took five years to win their first premiership. The Cowboys took 20 years.”
Jamayne Isaako scores for the Dolphins against the Roosters on Sunday.Credit: Getty
But just like Bennett did a few years ago, when he led “the worst Queensland team ever assembled” to a State of Origin series win over NSW, the master coach left his critics with egg on their face on an afternoon to remember at Suncorp Stadium.
You could forgive fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow for dropping the F-bomb, twice, in a radio interview with ABC after the game.
In front of a crowd of 32,117 in Broncos territory, the competition new boys announced themselves.
With 20,000 members and over $10m in sponsorship, the club has already delivered what it promised to do off the field. No one expected them to deliver on the field so quickly.
Dolphins fans cheer their team in their inaugural game.Credit: Getty
The nursing home that they had allegedly assembled showed there was plenty of fight still left in them, even if it was against a Roosters team without superstars Joseph Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Angus Crichton.
Former Melbourne Storm premiership winner Felise Kaufusi was a man possessed, leaving his mark on the game with brutal defence.
Jeremy Marshall-King played like the hooker Canterbury have been looking for all those years he was at the club, punching holes in the Roosters defence for fun.
You wouldn’t have blamed Roosters recruit Brandon Smith for thinking that perhaps knocking back Bennett and his millions may have been a mistake.
In the lead-up to the game there was plenty of debate about whether the NRL had let the Dolphins down by failing to provide salary cap dispensation – similar to what the AFL did with the GWS Giants and Gold Coast Suns – to ensure a competitive football team. Their trial form and roster suggested they would be anything but.
Abdo, after talking to a room full of Dolphins members and corporate partners in the club’s chairman’s suite, admitted the NRL had considered providing the Dolphins with support on top of what the rival 16 teams received.
“The Dolphins’ footprint for the long term is about developing new fans and new players,” Abdo said.
“Obviously, you want to build a competitive squad and they deserve credit for doing that. A lot of people criticised them for not having superstars and missing out on a number of big-name signings.
“They weren’t giving any favourable treatment. It was absolutely discussed and considered. But the commission decided that part of the bid process was to find a club capable of standing on their own two feet.”
Bennett once again showed why he is the master of making people believe in what many would deem lost causes.
“And they said we wouldn’t win a game,” Dolphins prop Jarrod Wallace yelled from the bench after the siren.
The Stan Original Documentary Series Dawn of the Dolphins is now streaming, only on Stan.
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