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Sport Nation
2025 Mid-season review: The Dolphins
Sam Kosack • June 17th, 2025 4:34 pm
The Dolphins have emerged as one of the most exciting teams right now, scoring 158 points in their last three games.
A poor start in the Kristian Woolf-era saw them lose their first four games, but since then, a mid-season revitalisation sees The Dolphins sitting at sixth at the halfway point.
Isaiya Katoa has announced himself as an elite half in the NRL while Herbie Farnworth is on a record try-scoring run.
Ladder: 6th
Record: 7W, 7L, 1 Bye
Record: 7W, 7L, 1 Bye
Positive: The bounce back from their slow start
The Dolphins couldn’t have had a worse start to life after Wayne Bennett. Needing to prove themselves quickly as a team that could compete under Kristian Woolf, the Dolphins lost their first four games of the season to sit tied last after the first month. But a win against the Titans began the biggest turnaround for a club this season.
Since that first month, the Dolphins have won seven of their last ten matches, including big wins against the Storm and Bulldogs, and 50-point drubbings of the Dragons and Cowboys in the past two weeks.
The Dolphins have broken their club record for most points in a match the last three weeks in a row to sit sixth with the second best for-and-against, and as they continue to gain confidence, their premiership credentials continue to strengthen.
Negative: Injuries in the forwards
The Dolphins have been badly hit with injuries all season, but their casualty ward hit its worst in the last fortnight with Max Plath and Daniel Saifiti both ruled out for the season, joining Tom Flegler and captain Tom Gilbert with season ending injuries.
Plath had been touted as a potential Origin debutant in 2025 while Flegler, Saifiti, and Gilbert all have experience in the Origin arena. New Zealand hooker Jeremy Marshall-King has also spent time on the sidelines in 2025.
It leaves the NRL’s newest club desperate for forward depth, and while their young forwards have stepped up thus far in 2025, it’s yet to be seen how the increase in playing minutes will impact them in the later parts of the season.
Best player: Isaiya Katoa
Isaiya Katoa may only be 21 years old, but he has announced himself as a top-tier half in the NRL.
Now in his third season in the top flight, Katoa is sitting fifth on the Dally M leaderboard after Round 12 when voting went behind closed doors.
Katoa’s meteoric rise in 2025 has coincided with The Dolphins’ surge up the ladder, with NRL legend Matty Johns predicting big things for the young halfback off the back of his electrifying form.
“I'll make the prediction. I think that when he retires, we'll talk about him as one of the great number sevens,” Johns said on SEN 1170 Drive.
“His trajectory, he's just going through the roof, and… I reckon he's in the top three ball players in the game right now, and the kid’s only 21.
“Whatever he's doing in preparation or anything, just keep doing it… he’s a fantastic player.”
Biggest moment: 58-4 win over the Cowboys
There may be some recency bias here, but if The Dolphins end up going on a finals run this season, their 54-point win over the Cowboys in Round 15 will be looked back upon as the spark.
The 10-try haul in Townsville, off the back of another 50-point performance against the Dragons the week before, is the moment where fans turned their heads and acknowledged The Dolphins as a genuine force in 2025.
Jack Bostock had four tries and 313 run metres, Herbie Farnworth scored in his eighth straight game, Isaiya Katoa and Kodi Nikorima combined better than ever. It could be the catalyst for something very special in Redcliffe.
Grade: B
