Dolphins fall just short to the Devils despite strong effort
A season-best performance was not enough to guide the Redcliffe Dolphins to a redemption victory over the Norths Devils, after they fell 14-10 at Kayo Stadium on Saturday night.
In a tight contest on home turf, the Dolphins showed improvement on where they have been over the past month to push the reigning premiers to the dying minutes in their Round 8 clash.
It was just three weeks ago that the two 2024 grand final teams met and while it is 2-0 in Norths’ favour this season, Redcliffe have a lot of positives to take from the loss.
The Dolphins have now notched up four straight losses but, based on tonight’s performance, coach Eric Smith is confident the tide is about to turn.
“Even though we lost, it’s probably our best performance of the year,” he said.
“We had a couple of big wins early on but that’s by far our best performance of the year in regards to how well we defended against a team who’s unbeaten.
“Every loss is disappointing but I think we’ve shown what kind of performance we can have.
“If we’d had that much commitment and effort in the past couple of weeks, we probably don’t lose those games.
“It’s good to see the improvement and that we can get up for a big game. There’s not too many teams that are having a scoreline like that against Norths at the moment.
“It gives us something to continue to build off. We are getting closer and it gives us something as a benchmark… that’s how we can play when we commit to it.”
Redcliffe opened the scoring in the 11th minute through fullback Zac Miles before Dolphins NRL affiliate LJ Nonu quickly hit back for Norths in the 25th.
Oryn Keeley then handed the away side the lead right before halftime, crossing with three minutes left on the clock to give Norths an 8-6 advantage.
It didn’t take long for the Dolphins to respond however, with winger Ethan Quai-Ward going over just seven minutes into the second stanza.
Redcliffe held onto the 10-8 lead for a good portion of the second half before a breakaway Sam Elliott gave the Devils the lead and ultimately the win.
The Dolphins showed plenty of grit as they tried to push back into the match, but it wasn’t enough.
Smith said there isn’t much the team need to work on from the effort and they can take confidence that a win will be around the corner.
“That was a good game of football,” Smith said.
“Both teams completed really high, it was tough conditions, to hold the ball was a tough thing. We completed well, both teams went after each other defensively.
“There wasn’t a whole heap missing tonight.
“We’ve got evidence. We have evidence video-wise. We have seen how close we’ve been and how many opportunities we’re creating.
“As reassuring as it is that we are improving and it is close, we want to be winning more games of football. We’re here to win.
“We have to continue to work hard. It’s not going to come just by hoping that we’re going to get a win.”
The Dolphins will move into Round 9 where they will meet the Brisbane Tigers at Totally Workwear Stadium on Saturday, May 17, from 3pm.
They will then return home the following Saturday – May 24 – to take on the Ipswich Jets from 5pm.