Dolphins feeling the pinch

Things appear to be going from bad to worse for the competition newbies, as the Dolphins slide even further down the points ladder in their inaugural season. The Dolphins had the fighting spirit in their round 20 match against the top-of-the-table Panthers, even leading by two-points with 12 minutes to play at Kayo Stadium. But it wasn’t meant to be, with the Panthers crossing and converting twice to take the match win 24-14.

It was just another loss to add to the tally, with the Redcliffe side only nabbing one win in the last month against fellow Queensland side, the Titans, coming away victorious 23-21 on the Gold Coast. The Dolphins have not won back-to-back games since the opening rounds of the season.

Coach Wayne Bennett isn’t admitting defeat just yet, praising his side for their performance against the Panthers.

"I'm not sure if it felt like one that slipped away,” Bennett said of the loss. “We played a quality team and we're 18 games into our life. These guys are back-to-back premiers and three-time grand finalists in the last three years and are leading the comp. We didn't play a team of mugs.

“We’re going to make mistakes those teams aren’t going to make because we’re not at that level. We’re trying awful hard to be there and a lot of effort is going in. I could find fault with a lot of things at the end of the day but I just don’t want to. I just want to recognise the effort that we did put into that game and we stayed in it.”

As the end-of-season creeps closer, Bennett is staying positive about the Dolphins and what he hopes the side can achieve.

“There’s six more games to go until the play offs start, we’re still in the mix,” Bennett said. “We’ve just played the number one team in the comp and we’ve got teams below us now to play and a couple of them are playing pretty well, but we’re playing well too.

“We have to be good for those six games and then we’ll see what happens, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent, but I want us to keep playing on a consistent level and that’ll give us great confidence for the future. We’ll compete for the rest of the season and do our best.”

Next up for the Dolphins is their round 22 match (Sunday July 30) against the Bulldogs in Bundaberg. Given the Bulldogs aren’t having the greatest season and sitting lower than the Dolphins on the points table, it could prove to be an interesting match!