Dolphins comfortable heading into debut NRL season as underdogs

Seven-time premiership-winning coach Wayne Bennett embarks on one of toughest assignments of his distinguished career when the Dolphins dive into the NRL next year as the sixth expansion team since its formation in 1998.

It’s been 34 years since Bennett, then an up-and-coming coach was pinched from the Canberra Raiders by the late Paul “Porky” Morgan, to steer the Brisbane Broncos into the premiership.

Filled with Queensland and Australian stars the Broncos won six premierships under Bennett, their coach for the club’s first 24 years until splitting to guide St George Illawarra to a much-craved title in 2010.

The Dolphins may have missed out on signing several marquee players in their first year, but they made sure they secured the foundation coach they wanted to set the culture at the club which already has a rich rugby league history going back 75 years.

That history will be on show at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon on March 5 when the Dolphins play their very first game – a historic day that the club has dedicated to the memory of Arthur Beetson, a Redcliffe, Queensland and Australian legend and rugby league immortal whose dream was always for the northern Brisbane region to be represented in the NSW competition.

The Dolphins have done their best under difficult circumstances to cobble together a squad of players who will proudly represent the club and its fans but to be realistic, a top-eight finish would be an incredible result.

Most bookmakers have them as early favourites to take out the Wooden Spoon gong in 2023.

But club insiders are tipping the Dolphins to spring a few upsets with Bennett a master of the ambush.

Here is a look at how the bookies rate the Dolphin’s chances in 2023.

• To win the premiership: $61.
• To win the minor premiership: $251.
• To be in the 2023 grand final: $26.
• To finish top 4: $26.
• To finish top 8: $6.50
• To win the Wooden Spoon: $3.50 favourites.

NRL expansion teams have enjoyed a mixed history, depending on the circumstances at the time they entered the competition.

Melbourne, who were able to draw from a rich player pool following the collapse of the Western Reds and Adelaide Rams the previous year, were the first expansion team in 1998 under Chris Anderson.

They came very close to winning the competition, losing their semi-final to eventual winners Brisbane.

The mighty St George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers merged in 1999 to form St George Illawarra (6th) while in 2000 the Wests and Balmain united to form the Wests Tigers (10th) and Manly Sea Eagles and the North Sydney Bears formed the Northern Eagles, a failed merge which lasted two seasons between 2000-2002.

The fully self-funded Dolphins are the first new club since the Gold Coast charged into the competition in 2007 winning 10 of their 24 games and finishing 12th.

The club’s founding Chief Executive, Terry Reader, is no stranger to rugby league.

He spent 15 years as a key player in a top-level NRL organisation as Marketing and Commercial Operations general manager for the Brisbane Broncos, then one the most successful and powerful sporting brands in the country.

Reader’s first hot topic as CEO was explaining why the name “Redcliffe” was not part of the Dolphins NRL identity.

“The Redcliffe Dolphins will always exist and they will play in the Queensland Cup and they’re the most successful team in the Queensland Cup era,” Reader said in an interview with Sports Sunday.

“But the Dolphins national brand differentiates itself from Redcliffe.

“The game has a massive opportunity to have a broader appeal, especially in Queensland, we only had one team in Brisbane, now we have two.

Bettingsite.com.au sat down with Reader recently to talk about the club and how it is progressing on and off the field.

Q: How are the Dolphins placed ahead of their historic NRL debut against the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, March 5?

Reader: You know, you’re only as good as the people around you whether that’s the coaching side of things, or in our administration team. The people that we have recruited are exceptional at what they do and they know what they’re doing. That’s been a real hallmark of what we’re about. We’ve already achieved some, good goals and we are continuing put things in place to make sure this club is highly successful in the future.

Q: How difficult has it been setting up the club and securing sponsorship?

Reader: We’ve done a lot of work in the 12 months since we were granted our licence. I think what a lot of people don’t realize unlike other expansion teams and other leagues and codes, the Dolphins were given no funding and no internal support. So it’s all been on the Dolphins group, we knew that when we signed up and came in. It’s a lot to do in 12 months; it’s the playing squad, obviously, but also building a staff off the field. Every element had to be done. We’ve gone from one staff member to 50 full time inside 12 months, put together websites, marketing plans, digital plans, and a payroll system, everything has been done inside that 12 months. It’s been a big exercise that people actually don’t read about, they just want to know the players we sign. We’ve already written over 10 million in sponsorship, with our major sponsor being Adventure Kings, for 2023, which puts us second in the NRL and that’s before we’ve kicked the ball or anyone’s seen a player in our jersey.

Q: The Dolphins have been linked to several star players but as yet, the club and Wayne do not have a marquee player on the roster.

Reader: Many of the players we’ve been linked to we haven’t even spoken to. We’ve been really, really particular about the people we want to play for the club. Some managers have used the Dolphins to increase their price at another club or in the marketplace, that happens. Everyone has been so infatuated with Cameron Munster that they have overlooked players we have signed. We’ve got seven State of Origin players in our current squad and 14 Internationals overall. It’s a pretty cool squad. We are confident in the squad we have put together. We’ve got five roster spots to fill and with the NRL just announcing an increase in the salary cap, we know the biggest moving period is in January. There’ll be a lot of player movement before any team runs on that field in 2023.

Q: Like you say it’s been a hectic 12 months and you have worked hard behind the scenes. So what can Dolphins fans expect in 2023 on the field?

Reader: The goal is to have a team our fans can be proud to support and be proud of the way we play and I have no doubt that’s what they will get from a Wayne Bennett-coached team. Everyone here is excited and enthusiastic and the morale around the place is high as any club I’ve been involved and I think that will rub off on everyone when we arrive on the field.

Q: You are being widely tipped to get the wooden spoon, so realistically, where do you think you can finish in your debut year?

Reader: There are a lot of experts tipping where we will finish next year and we know we are favourites for the wooden spoon.. Wayne (Bennett) was asked the same question recently and his reply was ‘I’m the coach, and I can’t even answer that yet’. We had 10 players involved in the World Cup and the first time we’ll see our squad together will not be until January 4 — a month away from our first trial game in Gladstone and eight weeks away from the opening game against the Roosters. Like Wayne, said we want to have a look at the squad and see how they come together before I start making any predictions but one thing I can tell you is we will be competitive and we may even surprise a few people as well.

More sports news