Tears flow as Dolphins make fairytale debut

1 year ago 75

The NRL's newest squad has travel into the league successful a blaze of glory, downing the Sydney Roosters successful a comeback triumph that stunned the rugby league world.

Not galore expected Wayne Bennett's Dolphins broadside to enactment up overmuch of a combat against 1 of the NRL's premiership fancies, but they did truthful and more, stunning the Roosters with a 28-18 triumph astatine Suncorp Stadium.

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scored the Dolphins' archetypal NRL effort successful the 15th infinitesimal and the four-pointer was followed by tries to Mark Nicholls (35'), Connelly Lemuelu (46') and a treble to Jamayne Isaako (50', 56') that sealed the celebrated result.

League icon Paul Vautin was 1 of galore stunned by the Dolphins' unthinkable victory.

"This is arsenic large a triumph arsenic you person ever seen successful the last, what? For a long, long, 15, 20 years. Last decade. It's incredible," the erstwhile Queensland manager said connected Nine's coverage.

"It's a squad that's been enactment unneurotic with band-aids, rubber bands. All bully players, they person travel from a batch of antithetic places. And to bushed the mightiness of the Roosters is incredible. Congratulations to the Dolphins."

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There wherever unthinkable scenes wrong Suncorp Stadium passim the contest, but peculiarly successful cardinal moments specified arsenic erstwhile the newcomers took their archetypal pb of the lucifer done Lemuelu's try.

"The crowd's up! Everyone's up!" Vautin said.

'The Hammer' scores Dolphins' archetypal NRL try

"They're loving it. If they triumph this game, determination volition beryllium 100,000 present adjacent week."

Teenage Dolphins prima Isaiya Katoa said helium struggled to perceive his teammates retired connected the tract owed to the raucous ambiance arsenic the crippled coiled down towards the last minutes.

"It's unreal. It's 1 of the champion feelings ever," helium told Nine's Brad Fittler aft the match.

"I could hardly perceive immoderate chat from Sean (O'Sullivan), from Jeremy (Marshall-King), it was that loud, but it was awesome to get the win."

Fittler noted Dolphins staffers were seen successful tears astatine the last whistle, flooded with emotion owed to the monolithic boilover.

"It was precise emotional," Katoa said.

"It was the archetypal crippled for the nine successful the NRL and that's an awesome juncture to person it present astatine Suncorp. And for our club, there's been truthful overmuch hard enactment that's gone connected down the scenes, I'm conscionable truthful arrogant of our efforts today.

"We came into this crippled precise assured and believing that we could bash it and we've gotten retired with the result."

Bennett's men volition purpose to marque it 2 from 2 erstwhile they big the Canberra Raiders successful Redcliffe adjacent weekend, portion the Roosters volition big the Warriors.

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