{"id":519985,"date":"2026-03-05T09:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/519985\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:19:09","slug":"max-plath-to-make-early-comeback-as-nrl-return-looms-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/519985\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Plath to make early comeback as NRL return looms – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Plath<\/a> could be set to make his NRL<\/a> return in Round 2, with the Dolphins<\/a> confirming he will return via reserve grade this weekend.<\/p>\n

Plath, who was one of the Dolphins’ most important players in 2025 across multiple forward pack positions, suffered an ACL during the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

The club has originally anticipated that he wouldn’t return before Round 1, but within the last month, that timeline shifted forward.<\/p>\n

It was reported Plath was an outside chance for Round 1, and while he wasn’t named by Kristian Woolf<\/a> to face the South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> on Sunday afternoon in the club’s season opener, it has now been revealed that he will take to the field with the Dolphins’ reserve grade outfit.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins<\/a> tackle the Burleigh Bears on Sunday afternoon in the QLD Cup<\/a> competition at their Redcliffe home ground to get the 2026 season underway, with the likes of Karl Oloapu<\/a> and Riley Price<\/a> also named.<\/p>\n

Plath will play from the bench.<\/p>\n

His return through he QLD Cup<\/a> means he could be fit to line up with the NRL<\/a> side against the Gold Coast Titans<\/a> in Round 2, or if not, the road trip to play the Cronulla Sharks<\/a> in Round 3.<\/p>\n

It’s anticpated Plath will be the club’s first-choice lock once fit, with Morgan Knowles<\/a> likely shuffling back to the bench, and Sebastian Su’a<\/a> or Brent Woolf<\/a> losing their place out of the 19-man squad who have been named to tackle the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

Get set for the footy with the FREE Zero Tackle 2026 NRL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 130+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the 2026 NRL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Plath could be set to make his NRL return in Round 2, with the Dolphins confirming he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-519985","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\/519985","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=519985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}