{"id":800838,"date":"2026-07-15T01:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800838\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:19:17","slug":"nrl-news-2026-dolphins-the-true-brisbane-side-ceo-terry-reader-comments-reaction-brisbane-broncos-jab-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800838\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Dolphins the \u2018true Brisbane side\u2019, CEO Terry Reader comments, reaction, Brisbane Broncos jab, exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brought to you by<\/p>\n

Dolphins<\/a> chief executive Terry Reader has boldly declared his four-year-old outfit is the NRL<\/a>\u2019s true Brisbane team \u2013 not the \u201cmanufactured\u201d near 40-year-old Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reader made the claims on Wide World of Sports\u2019 QLDER, as part of a broader discussion about being made to drop the Redcliffe name when it arrived in the NRL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Dolphins CEO has claimed his club is the \u2018true\u2019 Brisbane team in the NRL.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Reader said the club probably would have done so anyway, given it made little sense for them to carry it in the national competition, in the same way it wouldn\u2019t have made sense for the Broncos to be called Red Hill.<\/p>\n

But he suggested dropping the geographical name also meant it better represented the QCup and BRL competitions, which led to a stronger supporter base outside Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re based (in Redcliffe), we\u2019re proud of it, it\u2019s our spiritual home,\u201d Reader said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funny thing is, and Broncos fans won\u2019t like hearing this, but we actually represent the BRL. We are Brisbane\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said this to many people when we started and they asked \u2018how am I going to go for Redcliffe? I hate Redcliffe. I\u2019ve grown up hating Redcliffe. I\u2019m a Norths fan\u2019, or \u2018I\u2019m a Souths fan\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said: \u2018That\u2019s great. Guess what? You still get to hate Redcliffe every week still in the QCup, but they represent you (in the NRL)\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve helped us get here. We\u2019re the first team to ascend to the national competition out of the BRL or QRL competition \u2013 no other team has done that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Broncos were a manufactured expansion side, but we are the first grassroots side to ascend to the NRL and I think a lot of people when they hear that will think \u2018actually you\u2019re right, that is our team\u2019, if they\u2019re not already a Broncos fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reader said the Dolphins have offices and full-time staff throughout central Queensland, including Rockhampton and Gladstone, running pathways and grassroots programs.<\/p>\n

But as successful as the Dolphins have been in their NRL infancy, Reader said the brakes needed to be put on further expansion in the region.<\/p>\n

He said the early success was due to the 17-year gap between the Titans<\/a>\u2032 debut and their own.<\/p>\n

\"BRISBANE,<\/p>\n

The Broncos won the most recent Battle of Brisbane in round 4.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the calibre of players (to support another club), but it\u2019s getting the depth right at the start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a balance when you\u2019re signing a squad for the first time. You\u2019ve got to sign guys at the start of their career, they\u2019re 18, and you\u2019ve got veterans, and also the guys in the middle. It\u2019s not as simple as people might think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reader said the Dolphins invested heavy in pathways and academies immediately once their licence was granted at the end of 2021.<\/p>\n

Brian Pouniu, who made his first grade debut in the centres against the Raiders in round 12, was just 15 when he signed to the club\u2019s junior academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made sure we\u2019re getting the best kids in our academy systems \u2026 and that gives the depth, and that doesn\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d Reader said.<\/p>\n

The NRL will welcome the Perth Bears next season and then the PNG Chiefs in 2028.<\/p>\n

Reader went on to say the next expansion team should be a second New Zealand club, due to the instant rivalry it would create with the Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also claimed the Battle of Brisbane \u2013 the nickname given to Dolphins-Broncos derbies \u2013 is already the biggest rivalry in any rugby code, league or union, anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brought to you by Dolphins chief executive Terry Reader has boldly declared his four-year-old outfit is the NRL\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-800838","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\/800838","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=800838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}