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Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow was the difference in the end. The star fullback scored the game winner with seven minutes on the clock, outleaping opposite number Keano Kini to pluck a Isaiya Katoa bomb out of the air and scoring under the posts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a big game and his class was the difference in the end,\u201d Fox League\u2019s Nathan Hindmarsh said post-game.<\/p>\n
While the result didn\u2019t go their way, Gold Coast coach Josh Hannay would\u2019ve been extremely pleased with his side\u2019s turnaround and their stout defensive resolve the majority of the contest. <\/p>\n
Thrashed 50-10 by Cronulla last weekend where they conceded 34 in the first half, the Titans kept the Dolphins to 0 until the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n
It was at that moment the Dolphins took over.<\/p>\n
The home side scored off a Titans drop out when a ball fortuitously landed in Kulikefu Finefeuaki\u2019s hands, with the back rower running 15 metres to score. <\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 08: Kulikefu Finefeuiaki of the Dolphins is congratulated by team mate Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow of the Dolphins after scoring a try during the round one NRL match between Dolphins and South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium, on March 08, 2026, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Dolphins seemingly had all the ball for the next 15 minutes but were unable to breakthrough until Jake Averillo scored in the corner to trim the margin to two.<\/p>\n
Five minutes later, Tabuai-Fidow stepped up to the plate at a key stage, giving the Dolphins a lead they wouldn\u2019t relinquish.<\/p>\n
In some bad news for the Dolphins, luckless prop Tom Flegler is under another injury cloud after leaving the game in the first half and failing to return.<\/p>\n
Flegler picked up a rib injury and was seen on the Dolphins bench in the second half.<\/p>\n
Gilbert was only in his second regular season game back after he was sidelined for almost two years with a serious shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a shame if his second game back from injury after a long layoff ends in injury,\u201d Dan Ginnane said in commentary.<\/p>\n
Dolphins and Titans High Flyer Player Rankings presented by Red Bull.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
BIG HITS – by Travis Meyn <\/p>\n
Titanic Rising<\/p>\n
Hannay promised we\u2019d see a different Titans this year and he couldn\u2019t have had a worse start to life as head coach when Gold Coast slumped to a 40-point defeat to Cronulla last week.<\/p>\n
All the pre-season optimism generated by the Titans was seemingly gone after 40 minutes at Shark Park. The critics were quick to pile on.<\/p>\n
The Titans simply didn\u2019t turn up and were stunned by the intensity of a quality team in the Sharks.<\/p>\n
Hannay needed to conjure a response and it was a different story in round 2. The Titans turned up ready for a scrap.<\/p>\n
They held the Dolphins scoreless in the first half, taking an 8-0 lead into the break after Jojo Fifita capitalised on a Redcliffe mistake in the 34th minute.<\/p>\n
It was far from a clinical performance from the Titans but the improved effort has bought Hannay some breathing space.<\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 15: Cooper Bai of the Titans celebrates with team mates after scoring a try during the round two NRL match between Dolphins and Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium, on March 15, 2026, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Dolphins clipped<\/p>\n
The Dolphins were the NRL\u2019s entertainers of 2025 \u2013 and for 40 minutes it looked like they\u2019d forgotten how to play.<\/p>\n
The free flowing football that made the Dolphins an NRL sensation last year has somehow disappeared.<\/p>\n
They managed to score 30 points against the Rabbitohs last week but it was far from a slick performance.<\/p>\n
The effort against the Titans was downright hard to watch at times. At halftime the Dolphins\u2019 completion rate was a shocking 57 per cent.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins lacked fluency without hooker Jeremy Marshall-King (knee) and his replacement Kurt Donoghoe (calf).<\/p>\n
Max Plath did his best at dummy-half in his return from a knee reconstruction but is more comfortable at lock. Bench hooker Brad Schneider has struggled playing nine.<\/p>\n
Woolf needs to find a way to get the Dolphins humming again and he needs to do it quickly.<\/p>\n
The second half was improved but there\u2019s work to do.<\/p>\n
Phins Swimming Slowly<\/p>\n
The Dolphins opened last season with four straight losses, a start that ultimately proved too much to overcome in their quest to play finals for the first time.<\/p>\n
They ended the regular season as the NRL\u2019s most potent attacking team \u2013 scoring a competition high 721 points \u2013 but their leaky defence proved costly.<\/p>\n
Coach Kristian Woolf spent the pre-season addressing Redcliffe\u2019s work off the ball and last week\u2019s season-opening 40-30 loss to South Sydney was another poor start.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t much better for much of the night.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins will get another solid test when they travel to Shark Park on Saturday to face a Cronulla team hurting after a heavy loss to Penrith.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW THE ACTION IN OUR LIVE BLOG BELOW. CAN\u2019T SEE IT? CLICK HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dolphins have escaped from jail, coming from 14 points down to notch up their first win of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,217347,81870,268439,4433,93659,77964,162,28057,18739,763,2485,4612,28081,79820,779,4455,130147,4602,5093,15903,761,762,673,158,677,263595,4606,701,29378,4454,174145,3495,8088,85,263594,52510,4453,15899,152140],"class_list":["post-541924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-back-row-spot","tag-bathurst","tag-blockbuster-derby","tag-chris-randall","tag-concussion-concerns","tag-cooper-bai","tag-dolphins","tag-dolphins-team","tag-felise-kaufusi","tag-fox-league","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-titans","tag-herbie-farnworth","tag-ipswich-jets","tag-kristian-woolf","tag-kurtis-morrin","tag-lachlan-ilias","tag-luke-sommerton","tag-match-centre","tag-max-plath","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-pack-headache","tag-phillip-sami","tag-queensland","tag-rookie-coach","tag-schneider","tag-sebastian-su","tag-shoulder-injury","tag-sin-bin","tag-sports","tag-sternum-injury","tag-thomas-flegler","tag-titans-team","tag-tom-gilbert","tag-zane-harrison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541924","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=541924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}