BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 27: Wayne Bennett poses for a photo with the revealing of the Dolphins Heritage Round jersey during a Dolphins NRL press conference at Suncorp Stadium on October 27, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
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.
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.”