Dolphins outside back Jake Averillo scored his first career hat-trick in his last game for the Redcliffe club in a thumping 68-14 win over the Panthers in the 2026 NRL State Championship Final.
The talented five-eighth was a deserved winner of Player of the Match with his three tries, three line breaks and two try assists.
Putting the dominance of the victory to one side, Averillo said it meant a lot to the club as it was the Dolphins' maiden State Championship after the 2018 loss to the Bulldogs.
“It was also great last week to get the Queensland Cup and we spoke about going for two,” he said.
“There’s still a couple of the boys in our team like Trai (Fuller) and Shelly (captain Sheldon Pitama) who were in that game and they showed up today.”
Averillo was one of the most experienced at Accor Stadium in either side with his 135 games across four years with the Bulldogs and three with the Dolphins. He has signed a four-year deal with Wests Tigers for 2027.
Jake Averillo Try
“It’s just a good way to end my time at the club to be honest. I have a lot of good memories here,” Averillo said.
“I know why I’m leaving – for family and they will always come first – so that makes things a bit easier going back to Sydney to be closer to my family.”
Averillo had only managed 10 NRL games this year due to injury and found it hard to win back a spot in the centres with Jack Bostock and Herbie Farnworth in great form.
“It’s been a tough year with a pretty bad hand injury and in and out of NRL after that. But it’s definitely earned my respect of all the fringe players,” Averillo said.
Jake Averillo 2nd Try
The match was virtually over at half-time with Dolphins enjoying a commanding 40-4 lead off the back of 63 per cent possession.
After seven tries in the opening half, the Dolphins crossed for another five in the second.
On top of that the Dolphins threw a little more in the form of a 40-20 and 10 conversions from halfback Joshua James, alongside 11 offloads and 10 line breaks.
“I felt I was a little off with the boot last week,” James told NRL.com despite kicking four from five in the 28-18 win over the Sunshine Coast Falcons to win the Queensland Cup.
“But I practised a lot during the week and felt like I was striking them better today.
“We spoke all week that we felt last week’s win was a seven or eight out of 10 and we wanted to be at nines or 10s this week and I think most of the boys were.
“As for Jake, he was unbelievable. He’s probably only played seven games for us but he’s been the best player for us in every single one of them.
“His three tries by him today and setting up a couple more, he’s pretty handy to have in your team.
“The fact he had another two stars in Trai and Brad (Schneider) outside of him also helped.”
Kyle Coghill Try
Fuller, Averillo and Schneider were among eight players in the Dolphins with NRL experience – the other five being Tevita Naufahu, Brian Pouniu, Sebastian Su’a, Brent Woolf and Felise Kaufusi.
After a 36-6 win over the Newtown Jets to secure the 2026 NSW Cup, the Panthers were a shadow of that form.
They did put on three tries in the second half but were overcome by the speed and aggression in Dolphins line-up.
That was the Panthers’ second loss since the State Championship started in 2014. But they also have two wins in 2017 and 2022.