{"id":560983,"date":"2026-03-24T11:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560983\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:22:10","slug":"six-dolphins-to-give-broncos-clash-added-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560983\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Dolphins to give Broncos clash added heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dolphins’ derby clash with Brisbane will bring genuine emotion after six former Broncos were named to suit up.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

Six Dolphins have previously made their NRL debuts for Brisbane – Jamayne Isaako, Selwyn Cobbo, Herbie Farnworth, Kodi Nikorima, Thomas Flegler and Frank Molo. A seventh, hooker Max Plath, was in the Broncos system before being signed by the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Flegler has not played for the Dolphins in a Battle of Brisbane showdown. In 2024 he suffered a shoulder nerve injury against Wests Tigers the week before.<\/p>\n

The firebrand prop did not return to action until this year.<\/p>\n

Selwyn Cobbo of the Dolphins takes on the Titans’ defence.\u00a0Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Flegler missed last week’s win over Cronulla with a rib injury. He is yet to undertake contact training this week and will have to pass a fitness test on Thursday to play.<\/p>\n

Dolphins five-eighth Nikorima was elevated by former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett to the halves alongside Anthony Milford in 2017 and had two great seasons.<\/p>\n

He then became a utility style of player and his career stalled before Bennett recruited him to the Dolphins in 2023, where he also played a variety of positions. In 2024 he made the No.6 position his own and has been there ever since.<\/p>\n

Bennett asked him what position he saw himself as ideally. Nikorima answered, “five-eighth”. Bennett replied that he thought the answer would have been “halfback” but went with Nikorima’s assessment. It proved a masterstroke.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty nice hey, proving one of the greats wrong,” Nikorima grinned.<\/p>\n

“I give a lot of credit to Wayne. He put some faith in myself and gave me my opportunity to be in that No.6 role.<\/p>\n

“I guess for myself, it’s just making sure I keep turning up every day wanting to do my best and give my best to the team.”<\/p>\n

The clash with the Broncos is one Nikorima circles on the calendar every year.<\/p>\n

“Obviously you want to do well against your old teams and they’re one of mine, so it’s definitely one I look at when the draw comes out,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t say there’s hatred; obviously I’ve got some good mates over there. It’s more the media trying to put that on the game.”<\/p>\n

The 2026 season is a huge one personally for Nikorima who is off contract.<\/p>\n

“We’re in talks at the moment. I want to stay here at the Dolphins,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s also nice knowing there is interest elsewhere. I’ve got to do what’s best for my family. I also understand it’s a business as well.<\/p>\n

“Number one option would be to stay here, but I’ll cross that path when it comes.”<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have only won once against the Broncos in six derby attempts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dolphins’ derby clash with Brisbane will bring genuine emotion after six former Broncos were named to suit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-560983","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\/560983","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=560983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}