The Dolphins enter the 2026 NRL season with the goal of finals football after narrowly missing in 2024 and 2025. With a number of players returning from long-term injuries, which ultimately affected their 2025 NRL season, the club will and probably should be thinking finals is the minimum achievement from 2026.
Season Preview
The Dolphins head into 2026 with a fuller squad to choose from than they had at times in 2025.
Last season saw the club have an injury toll like no other club, especially in the forwards where they lost an entire starting forward except hooker. Which coincidentally is the position where they have already suffered an injury pre-season, with Jeremy Marshall-King out for 3-4 months with a knee injury from a fall at home. Signs aren’t for more luck with injuries with that in mind.
With all those Origin-quality forwards returning, and keeping the majority of the players who stepped up in 2025, expectations are that the side can make the finals for the first time since their inception in 2023.
The Dolphins were untouchable at times in 2025, blowing teams off the park and scoring good wins against some top sides, but were also frustratingly off the pace some games. They also suffered another late season drop in form, so hopefully having a fitter squad will help them push all the way to September and beyond.
Best Signing
The Dolphins’ new signings all fall into a category of nice to have, but one could argue that are players the club were not desperate for either.
Selwyn Cobbo
Signed for one year from the Broncos and caught the eye of former Broncos teammate Herbie Farnworth who remarked he has never looked better. Cobbo may look better, but the move is a strange one. He is unlikely to, nor should he, displace either Farnworth or Averillo in the centres, and would be third in line to play fullback at best, so he should start on the wing, or at least until Jack Bostock is fit and gives Kristian Woolf a selection headache. At his best Cobbo is a game breaker, but the short-term nature of the move throws massive doubt about the value of the investment.
Morgan Knowles
A very handy Super League acquisition with over 200 games for St Helens and 11 Tests for England, and he will be among a big group fighting over the back row and interchange spots. Will surely make the bench for round 1.
Brad Schneider
A good depth signing, technically replacing the outgoing Sean O’Sullivan. He will be the heir to Kodi Nikorima in time, but it would be unfair on Nikorima not to start the season given his very underrated contribution to the development of star halfback Isaiya Katoa and the Dolphins as a club.
Key Player
Isaiya Katoa
Took his game to a new level in 2025, getting the Dolphins winning and scoring points like no other team at times in 2025, and enhancing his reputation to the point of getting close to State of Origin selection. With a fit and firing forward pack ahead of him in 2026, he could get more space and time to work his magic. One hopes the disappointment of Samoa’s Pacific Championship campaign at the end of the season won’t affect him.
Player to Watch
Tom Flegler
Signed for the 2024 from the Broncos, injuries have limited the burly prop to just four games for the Dolphins in two seasons. The Dolphins haven’t been great against big, powerful sides (look at their woeful record against Newcastle of one win and five losses), so having Flegler and a few other big units back in their team will help them win more of the games they lost, and on occasion thoroughly outplayed in, over the past few seasons. Flegler was highly rated, and his arrival was much anticipated by Dolphins fans in 2024, so many will hope they will get their reward for their patience just a couple of years later in 2026.
Ray Stone
Cult hero Ray Stone may not like the attention, or scoring tries, but he is always a player to watch even with limited minutes being offered from the bench. His crunching tackling, and no-nonsense workmanship harks back to a different era, one that many recall and enjoy. He stepped up in 2025, and will hopefully get more opportunities to shine in 2026. With the injury to starting hooker Marshall-King, he should keep a bench spot as back-up hooker.
Draw Analysis
The Dolphins have the hardest pre-Origin fixtures if using 2025 ladder position, with their total of 7.4 lower than next hardest Penrith, Souths, and Cronulla of 8.1. But on the flip side they get seven games at either Suncorp or Kayo Stadium by round 11. Although they do also have trips to Auckland and Darwin in that time.
State of Origin period kicks off in Canberra for the Dolphins, followed by a week’s rest. The following six games involves trips to Townsville, Newcastle, and Sydney to play the Wests Tigers.
Their post-Origin run of games sees three home games and four away, and all four of those away games are in Sydney, three of which are against sides where their away record isn’t great – Roosters, Manly, and St George Illawarra. It also includes a potentially important Battle of Brisbane.
Big Questions
- Can the Dolphins make the Finals? And if not is Kristian Woolf in danger?
- How will they balance the returning injured players with the crew who got the job done in their absence last season?
- How do they avoid the late season fade this season?
Predicted Finish
Top 4
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Related Items
- 🔁 2025 Season Review: https://rugbyleaguezone.com/dolphins-2026-nrl-fixtures-squad-list-and-player-signings/
- 📅 2026 Draw & Fixtures: https://rugbyleaguezone.com/2026-nrl-draw-fixtures-origin-schedule/
