Concerns over the Dolphins first season in the NRL continue to grow, with the club battling to make signings.

The NRL's newest team were admitted for 2023 ahead of the November 1 deadline, before signing Wayne Bennett as coach, but that is more or less where the good news stopped.

They managed to sign Felise Kaufusi as their first signing, but have since only managed a handful of players with NRL experience, being Parramatta Eels forward Ray Stone and Brisbane Broncos outside back Jamayne Isaako.

NRL Rd 6 - Knights v Broncos
GOSFORD, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 18: Jamayne Isaako of the Broncos is sent to the sin-bin during the round six NRL match between the Newcastle Knights and the Brisbane Broncos at Central Coast Stadium on June 18, 2020 in Gosford, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

They have also managed to add a pair of development players in Harrison Graham and Michael Roberts, who is the brother of James Roberts.

However, it's who the Dolphins have missed in their two and a half months of negotiating which is a major concern, with the club rumoured to be chasing all of Brandon Smith, Reed Mahoney, Apisai Koroisau, Isaiah Papali'i, Junior Paulo and Viliame Kikau among others.

Bennett has struggled to land signatures, let alone key ones, and a recruitment manager has told The Daily Telegraph that it will be "slim pickings" now for the club.

“It’s going to be slim pickings,” the recruitment manager told the publication.

“They may have missed the boat. I think they may have been caught a bit of guard because clubs pulled the trigger earlier than usual. Everyone knew they were in the market so that forced clubs to go in hard as soon as the deadline passed.”

2 COMMENTS

  1. I doubt anyone thought the Dolphins were going to be contenders in 2023 but I’m sure most of the names on the “missed” list were not on Bennett’s radar. I know Buzz and co want to associate every off contract player to the Dolphins because it becomes another ‘missed’ story in the off season but he also wrote a list of off-contract players in his column that haven’t been approached. Maybe he is looking to build a team for 2-3-50yrs instead of loading up on everyone else’s over paid discards.

  2. “Concerns continue to grow…”. Who exactly is expressing “”concern”?
    Then, some unnamed “recruitment manager” claims “they have missed the boat.”

    This all sounds like a rich vein of b/s concocted by a rugby league correspondent reduced to making up an issue during a quiet off-season.

    Wayne Bennett is too old and wily to allow himself to be railroaded by greedy player agents into paying overs, 12 months before the 2023 pre-season kicks into gear.

    He has 12 months to see which star players have come off the boil, and which currently under-rated and new players show real promise and improvement. He can identify good players who have gone as far as they can go with their current clubs, and who are amenable to enrolling under Wayne in November 2022, to enable them to take their game up a level.

    And in the meantime he has saved his money and kept open his options.

    If I were are Dolphins supporter, I would not be getting worried.

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