The Dolphins were the NRL's best attacking team in 2025, and enter 2026 looking to play finals for the first time.
Now three years into their journey as the NRL's 17th side, the Dolphins have narrowly missed the top eight in each of the last two campaigns, but certainly have all the tools to go a step further than they have to date.
But the Dolphins face numerous big selection calls heading into 2026.
An enormous injury ward over the last 12 months will do that. Youngsters have broken out and others need to make their returns.
Add all that to a couple of key off-season recruits, including Selwyn Cobbo from the Broncos and English forward Morgan Knowles from St Helens, and it's not difficult to understand where the headaches are about to be.
Here are the key Dolphins' selection questions heading into 2026.
Does Kodi Nikorima hang on at five-eighth?
Kodi Nikorima is entering the final year of his current deal at the Dolphins, but is coming off what is likely a career-best season.
He was, after all, the five-eighth in the team who scored more points than any other.
Most of the credit went the way - and rightly so - of Isaiya Katoa, but it would be a difficult argument to suggest Nikorima did much wrong.
Yet, he is no guarantee to start 2026.
The issue for the Dolphins is that Jake Averillo didn't exactly have a poor season, but the emergence of Fuller, signing of Cobbo, and the return of Bostock is likely to leave him without a spot in the back five.
Averillo is one of the game's genuine backline utilities, and there could well be an argument to be made for him starting the year at six. Watch this space.
I had never realised the depth they have got !
Several other coaches would kill for Woolf’s dilemma.