{"id":397666,"date":"2026-01-07T14:29:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397666\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T14:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:29:19","slug":"dolphins-stars-tom-gilbert-max-plath-daniel-saifiti-and-thomas-flegler-to-awaken-sleeping-giant-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397666\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins stars Tom Gilbert, Max Plath, Daniel Saifiti and Thomas Flegler to awaken sleeping giant"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was joined in the casualty ward by Thomas Flegler, Daniel Saifiti (shoulder) and Max Plath (ACL), stripping the side of four leading forwards and what is believed to be more than $2 million in their salary cap from round 15 onwards.<\/p>\n

It cruelled Gilbert of a return to State of Origin, before he opted to take time out of the rugby league bubble to assess his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard to deal with it and process it. Sometimes you deal with what could have been, but as time went on I just dealt with what it was and what it is,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stepped away a bit from the game and thought about what are some things I could do differently, and I just implemented them.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent a lot of time at home with my young boy who was six months old at the time, and that was really special \u2013 not many dads have that opportunity \u2013 so that was a blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had time to step away from footy and try to look forward to it and find ways to fall in love with the game again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert confirmed he would take his place in the Dolphins\u2019 first trial against the Titans on February 12, and believed he would probably line up in the back row.<\/p>\n

He expected to play through the middle at some stage, having risen through the ranks as a lock, but Plath\u2019s comeback and the emergence of Kurt Donoghoe could limit that.<\/p>\n

Flegler was also plotting a round-one comeback,<\/a> having not been sighted since round five in 2024 after suffering nerve damage in his shoulder, while Saifiti was also pushing for an early-season berth.<\/p>\n

The arrival of England Super League champion Morgan Knowles forced a tight selection tussle for coach Kristian Woolf, after Francis Molo impressed as the go-to enforcer and Donoghoe proved to be a breakout star at lock.<\/p>\n

Plath \u2013 whose standout showings at lock, and ability to cover hooker had him tipped as a Maroons\u2019 bolter \u2013 said he did not expect to come straight back into the NRL given Donoghoe\u2019s performances in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Max Plath believes he will need to go through Queensland Cup before returning to the NRL.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old felt his knee was in a place where he could be fit for round one, but he said the timeline was more likely round three, and he might need to ply his trade in the Queensland Cup before a call-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong the journey you get a lot of injuries, so you get that experience of the stages you go through \u2013 feeling lonely and not being part of the team,\u201d Plath said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a really good time to reflect on your weaknesses. It\u2019s been a really reflective six months of where I\u2019m at as a footy player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d much rather be the worst player in a winning team than the best in a losing team \u2013 winning is everything for me, and if that\u2019s Kurt\u2019s position, I can figure out another way to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was joined in the casualty ward by Thomas Flegler, Daniel Saifiti (shoulder) and Max Plath (ACL), stripping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-397666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}