Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow is tipping the first-time finalists can make an instant splash and go all the way in their maiden campaign.
After going agonisingly close to a top-eight finish in their opening seasons, the club have finally achieved a finals berth in season four – but not only that, a top three standing, despite also suffering a club record 66-0 loss along the way.
Coach Kristian Woolf has lauded the increased resilience of his team this season, while Tabuai-Fidow said confidence was high within the group, with players having fun and excited to be playing finals.
“It's pretty surreal (to be playing finals), especially for a club like us,” Tabuai-Fidow said.
“It's our fourth year in the comp and we've just missed out (in past years) and I think this year, we've got a good group of boys … 100 percent (the team can make an impact), you look across the park and what type of players we do have and the calibre that we have as well, it's pretty scary.
“I think teams do see that, but it doesn't get talked about that much, but if we just stick to ourselves, we know what type of players we have and what we can do within this competition.
“The goal is to get to that grand final and win it and I'm confident that each week we take and each week we improve, we can win it.
“(But) the coaching staff around us, they do keep us grounded.
“We're a pretty happy bunch too and next week's a whole new competition.”
Confidence and believe might be high, but after having to once again come from behind to secure a close win over the Titans in their last round, Tabuai-Fidow conceded there was still work to do.
“We'll go back to the drawing board and we'll start all over again and go again,” the Queensland and Samoa representative said.
“I think it's more fine-tuning and what we can do within ourselves, within the team.
“It’s not so much changing anything, we know what type of footy we want to play and we know we could go a long way with the footy we do play.
“It's just fine-tuning some things and just having that week as a stepping stone to a new competition.
“We have all got to step up and I think that's the main thing, just stepping up and fine-tuning and working on what we can improve on.”
NRL Finals footy is here!
For their opening finals challenge, the Dolphins have draw a difficult one - travelling 'across the ditch' to take on the Warriors juggernaut in front of their home fans at Go Media Stadium.
The two sides have already met twice this season for one win apiece, with only two points the difference each time.
Match: Warriors v Dolphins
Finals Week 1 -
home Team
Warriors
2nd Position
away Team
Dolphins
3rd Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
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