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A couple of weeks ago, Dolphins CEO Terry Reader opened his mouth:
“We’re based (in Redcliffe), we’re proud of it, it’s our spiritual home,” Reader said.
“The funny thing is, and Broncos fans won’t like hearing this, but we actually represent the BRL. We are Brisbane’s team.
Given how few people would have any direct experience of the BRL, being nearly forty years in the past, and given how much of the Dolphins membership aren’t just lapsed Broncos fans, but active Broncos fans, this is an interesting claim. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding of whose hand is doing the feeding here. It is certainly a lot of psychological baggage to carry around for so long.
If nothing else, it adds more evidence as to how insecure both sides of this nascent rivalry are. It is as if they were handed a script in another language: they can act it out phonetically, make all the right noises but it doesn't quite ring true.
He also claimed the Battle of Brisbane – the nickname given to Dolphins-Broncos derbies – is already the biggest rivalry in any rugby code, league or union, anywhere in the world.
OK champ, let the TV ratings do the work. You don’t need to work this hard to justify your existence.
Fortunately, on a crisp Saturday evening at Suncorp Stadium, the Dolphins were able to walk the walk to justify the CEO’s talk.
Oh dear. Well, lots of important clubs give up 24 points in 22 minutes to one of the most embarrassing teams in the NRL the defending premiers, especially when the opposition has nothing to play for and the Dolphins’ future as a serious enterprise is at stake. Look at what happened to the Sharks this weekend.
Fortunately, you don’t earn a reputation as one of the most embarrassing teams in the NRL without good reason. There isn’t a single person in the 50,188 at Suncorp Stadium that both knew ball and thought the Broncos could hold on to a lead of any size with that much time left. Once the Dolphins stopped hitting themselves in the face, and once they got the ball back, it was game on. After starting 0-24, the Dolphins finished 40-8. In contrast to 2024, I, personally, found it hilarious.
There is plenty of time later to hand wring over how the soft and broadly incompetent the defence has proven to be. I expect that will be the topic of the next edition of the Phin Review. No one expects the Dolphins to be in the premiership conversation. The comedown from the awe-inspiring 26-24 win over the Warriors into the lethargic 13-12 loss to the Knights and a massive red flag in 66-zip against the Sharks has eradicated any of those notions. That was never the goal of this season and there is even more hand wringing to be had about how this squad is going to be turned over to build a championship contender in future years.
For now, the imperative is to enjoy what’s in front of you. With this thirteenth win, over the cross-town rivals, in a fashion that required an update to my favourite Wikipedia article, the ticket to the finals has been punched for the Dolphins for the first time in their NRL history.
For the first time since 2023, the crowd at the stadium was solidly pro-Dolphins and they were loud. I think this speaks a bit to Brisbane’s bandwagony sports culture. The Broncos are a bunch of war criminal-loving losers, the Lions might not win the flag, which is the only thing anyone around here cares about in the AFL, so the Dolphins are the next best thing in town. But it mostly speaks to the coalescing Dolphins fanbase finally getting something to hang their hats on. Admittedly, things would not have looked all that different for the Titans in 2010, so we have to remember this is a long game.
Again, that’s later. What’s now is the Dolphins have an easy run home comprising a post-Fozball Manly, the hapless Eels, the Roosters and the very same Titans that have scored 14 points in their last two games against top eight opponents. That is three very winnable games with a stretch goal of trying to pull the defence together enough to give the Roosters another run for their money. Even if the Dolphins biff two of the three key games, that’s still a 16 win season. Those aren’t going to come along every year. Just ask the Storm.
In all likelihood, that leaves Redcliffe in fifth, staring down the barrel of a finals game at home against the Cowboys. In that scenario, it is not too much to hope for 2026 to not just be the first finals appearance but also the first finals win.
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