History made, finals secured and a rare derby win against the Broncos, but Isaiya Katoa and the Dolphins weren’t celebrating too hard on Saturday night – instead keeping focused on their next results.
The Dolphins fought back against a spirited Brisbane side who had them trailing 24-0 after only 23 minutes – before a length-of-the-field effort from Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow sparked the remarkable comeback, with the fullback starring in the 40-32 Indigenous Round win.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow is special
For co-captain Katoa however, despite securing their maiden finals berth, the performance overall left much to be desired, especially with the team having designs on securing a top four finish and to be a genuine title challenger.
“A rollercoaster is probably the best way to describe that game,” Katoa told NRL.com.
“I thought we started pretty poorly, myself included, I thought just some really, really poor misses, one-on-one tackles, so that's something I need to work on.
“But very, very proud of the fact that we could come back from 24 points to 0 at one stage.
“It could have been easy for us to kind of go into our shell and let that just keep ticking on, but the way we finally fought that back and just found a way to win …
“I thought after they scored that fourth try, I thought we finally settled down and got back into our groove.
“We made it harder for ourselves, but really proud of the way that the boys hung in there and obviously got the win.”
Next up the Dolphins travel to 4 Pines park to face a Sea Eagles side desperate to correct their recent run of form and force their own way in to the finals.
The last time the sides met – Manly handed the Dolphins an embarrassing 52-18 defeat at Kayo Stadium in Round 5.
All Tries – Dolphins v Sea Eagles
While much has changed since that result, improving their defence in all of their remaining games was a key focus for Katoa.
“If we’re being serious about going deep in this competition, most teams that win competitions are normally the best defensive side, so we know that we need to be better there,” Katoa said.
“We can't just try and outscore teams – we were lucky to get away with it (against the Broncos) – but we're thinking going forward we need to be better defensively.
“I think whilst we are grateful and proud of the fact that we are in the finals series now, I think what's keeping us grounded is the fact that we know we can be better, we know that we've got so much more improvement in us.
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“Although we won, we're probably a little bit disappointed with how we played, and more so disappointed with how we defended.
“An aspiration for us now that we've made the top eight is go and try and make the top four now.
“We know that most teams that win competitions win it from the top four and when you give yourselves every opportunity to win games like that, the best thing about it is when you're defending really well, so we know that we're going to be better there.
“We know the sky is the limit for us, and we just got to keep striving to be better and hopefully make the top four as well.”
Match: Sea Eagles v Dolphins
Round 24 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
10th Position
away Team
Dolphins
5th Position
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
