Why Broncos should thank Dolphins for helping them reach NRL grand final

Amid the Broncos’ charge to Sunday night’s NRL grand final against Penrith has come the water cooler debates about who deserves the credit for Brisbane’s renaissance.

Is it Kevin Walters? A five-time Broncos premiership champion who took over the club as head coach following its disastrous 2020 wooden spoon season.

What about Adam Reynolds? The champion South Sydney halfback who has become Brisbane’s best No. 7 since the legendary Allan Langer and now stands on the cusp of his second NRL title.

How about Dave Donaghy? The CEO has been a strong figure in the Red Hill front office and provided unwavering support for Walters and his vision.

Who can forget Reece Walsh? The dynamic fullback has been a revelation this season in his return to Brisbane and there’s arguably no way the Broncos are in a grand final this year without him.

What about recruitment chief Simon Scanlan, tireless prop Payne Haas, Walters’ assistant coaches, chairman Karl Morris and his board members … the list goes on.

The truth is, it is probably a little bit of everything as opposed to just one reason the Broncos are back in NRL title contention.

But one factor that shouldn’t be discounted or ignored is that Brisbane’s revival has coincided with the introduction of the Dolphins in the NRL.

The Dolphins – don’t dare call them Redcliffe – secured the NRL’s 17th licence in October 2021, just a few weeks after the Broncos limped to 14th place on the ladder in Walters’ first season in charge.

The idea of a second NRL club in the Brisbane region had been floated for more than a decade, but previous NRL administrations could not get remotely close to making it a reality.

Then arrived swashbuckling ARLC chairman Peter V’landys – the NRL’s action man.

Forget about the financial impact and disruption of Covid, V’landys wanted the NRL to expand in 2023 and made it happen with the support of key figures in the game, including News Corporation – publishers of this masthead and majority shareholder of the Broncos.

The ARL Commission awarded Redcliffe’s Dolphins a licence from the 2023 NRL season and for the first time since the South Queensland Crushers folded in 1997, the Broncos had a River City rival.

After previously pushing back on the idea of a second Brisbane team, the Broncos knew the Dolphins were coming and embraced the challenge.

Their 25-year reign in a one-horse town was over as former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett was put in charge of the Dolphins. Nothing would bring Bennett more joy than to drive a dagger into the club that infamously sacked him in 2018.

The rivalry was real instantly and what that did was make the Broncos wake-up. There was an instant shift in attitudes at the club.

The arrogance that had infiltrated Red Hill – even though the Broncos hadn’t won an NRL premiership since 2006 – started to dissipate.

Everyone at the Broncos was on notice and had to lift a gear.

They say competition is good in business and this couldn’t have been truer in the case of the Broncos.

“We always had the view that another close team – we’re the only Brisbane team – and having that rivalry would be a benefit to us,” Morris said this week.

“That has been the case.”

The Broncos’ off-field team was forced to work harder for the corporate dollar in town because the Dolphins hit the ground running with a commercially savvy CEO in Terry Reader, a former Brisbane executive who knows intricate details about his biggest rival.

On the field, the Broncos knew the Dolphins – albeit undermanned in their foundation season – were coming for them with Bennett at the helm.

The intensity lifted a cog at Red Hill heading into the pre-season after Brisbane’s dreadful 2022 fade out.

The first Battle of Brisbane with the Dolphins was a cracking derby in which the Broncos won in the final minutes. You could see how much it meant to the players.

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The second clash, also won by the Broncos, at the Gabba was another close game despite the Dolphins being a rough patch of form.

So while we spend grand final week slapping various figures like Walters, Reynolds and Walsh on the back for their efforts in helping the Broncos to their first grand final since the 2015 loss to the Cowboys, don’t forget about the Dolphins.

It’s impossible to tell exactly why the Broncos are back in the big dance, but there’s no doubt the threat of the Dolphins played a role in Brisbane’s grand final charge.

Originally published as Why Broncos should thank Dolphins for helping them reach NRL grand final