Dolphins utility Max Plath wants to achieve “something special” with the team this year and is striving to reach the top four so the club can have a “decent crack” at the finals.
The Dolphins secured their maiden finals berth after fighting back from a 24-0 deficit mid-way through the first half, with the injection of Plath, Kurt Donoghue and Tom Gilbert helping provide the impetus towards their 40-32 win over the Broncos.
While happy to have achieved history for the club, Plath was already looking to their upcoming game against Manly and beyond, determined to make the rest of the regular season count.
“I think (the win over the Broncos was) a stepping stone in the right direction,” Plath said.
“It's good to know that we have that, but we have bigger goals than just making the finals.
“We want to do something special with the crew we have this year, so it's great to know that (we will be playing finals), but it's time to go to another gear.
“We want to keep pushing and have a crack at that top four.
“Some stuff is out of our control, but that's what we're going to try and achieve.
“I think with the quality of our squad, it would be a disservice to our fans to just aim to make the finals and bow out Week 1.
“I think we want to do something special and have a really decent crack at this because I think we have a really talented team.”
For foundation Dolphin Felise Kaufusi, who was the club’s first major signing ahead of their inaugural season, seeing the club’s progression since 2023 was special.
However, he wanted the club to fully embrace the opportunity they had ahead of them and respond by fixing the start of their games.
“It’s pretty cool, obviously first (finals), so it's pretty exciting for us as a club, but still a lot of work to do, as exciting as it is,” Kaufusi said.
“The last couple of years we've been close or thereabouts, but I think we can carry a bit of regret in some ways, with games that we should have won that we didn't throughout the years.
“I think we've turned it around this year and it's shown where we are on the ladder, and I'm happy for us as a club at the moment.
“(But starting well is) definitely something we have to look at; you can't give the really good sides a head start like that.
“We've been smashed this year in a couple of different games … (but the resilience to bounce back) has been awesome.
“The turnaround the week afterwards, we've responded really well and we don't want to be back in that again, so I think we've learnt from those games.
“I think it's something we have to look at, if we want to do something special this year, we need to fix our starts and come out firing.
“We got caught off guard I think (against the Broncos) in our first 20 minutes and you can't give any team a start like that.”
The Dolphins will be at 4 Pine Park for Friday night football and will be looking to wipe away their Round 5 memories where the Sea Eagles ran away with a 52-18 victory.
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
