Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett didn’t have a bad word to say about his team following their 30-26 loss to the Storm. In fact, he believes had the game gone for five minutes longer they probably would’ve won.
And he’s not wrong for thinking that.
The Dolphins were hit with some adversity three minutes into the clash when tryscoring machine Jack Bostock was ruled out of the game following a head knock.
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It caused a reshuffle of the backline with Herbie Farnworth caught out at times while filling in on the wing.
But despite this, the Dolphins fought hard and pushed the table-topping Storm right down to the final second.
While Bennett didn’t crack a smile in his post-game press conference, it was clear that he was proud of his players’ efforts.
“That’s one of the things I really enjoy about being with these guys. They just don’t know when to give up, they don’t give up, they just stay at it,” he said.
“At the end of the night we didn’t get beaten we just ran out of time… another five minutes and we’d probably win it. But their effort was outstanding.”
Skipper Jesse Bromwich, who returned from a rib injury, echoed what his coach said by lauding his teammates’ attitude.
“It’s a bit of a bitter sweet feeling,” Bromwich conceded.
“The boys went out there and put in a heap of effort.
“Once Jack went down we had to shift our line a bit, it did make things tougher but the effort was still there.
“To be there at the end of the game still with a chance and have a crack at drawing it up, I think we should take some confidence out of that.
“We’re obviously disappointed we lost but the boys never give up. Plenty effort, it’s hard to fault that.”
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Joining Bromwich as a fresh face in the 17 this week was Tevita Pangai Junior, who played his first NRL game of the season after the Dolphins signed him a fortnight ago.
Pangai Junior had a mixed night which included being put on report for a late tackle and being penalised for being off side.
He did, however come up with a couple of offloads and tried to have an impact on the game.
Bennett was pressed on Pangai Junior’s return but kept it short.
“I was really pleased with him. He was very good, I was happy with him (being) his first game,” he said.
But he preferred to talk about the team as a whole — especially after an admirable fortnight against the first-placed Storm and third-placed Sharks.
“There was nobody I was disappointed in tonight, I thought they all made a contribution,” he said.
“We’ve played the top two teams in the last two weeks and we won one and just got beaten in the other so we’ve just got to hold ourselves together now and make sure we win the games we can and keep ourselves in contention for late in the season.”
Source Agencies
