The Dolphins slow build through their first two NRL seasons of existence almost resulted in finals footy during 2024, but it wasn't to be.
Now, ready to begin life under Kristian Woolf as Wayne Bennett moves onto the South Sydney Rabbitohs, it's time for this club to crack the top eight.
They will be hopeful of doing just that in 2025, but with a handful of their experienced campaigners from season one off-contract at the end of 2025 and unlikely to be re-signed, it could free up the cash they need to make another raid on the transfer market from November 1.
There is little doubt that at some point in the near future, the Dolphins are going to be a team to challenge. They have shown signs of it throughout their first two seasons, but depth has often been a sore point for the NRL's newest club.
That is something they must look to fix in the coming 12 months.
We will run the rule over all 17 clubs on Zero Tackle as the 2026 recruitment period gets underway to determine who their top targets are. Today, the Dolphins…
Current 2026 The Dolphins squad
Jake Averillo, Jack Bostock, Herbie Farnworth, Max Feagai, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, Thomas Flegler, Trai Fuller, Tom Gilbert, Jamayne Isaako, Isaiya Katoa, Oryn Keeley, Jeremy Marshall-King, Kodi Nikorima, Max Plath, Daniel Saifiti, Ray Stone, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Junior Tupou
Off-contract at end of 2025
Kenneath Bromwich, Harrison Graham, Robert Jennings, Felise Kaufusi, Josh Kerr, Connelly Lemuelu, Mark Nicholls, Sean O'Sullivan, Mason Teague
Current best 17 for 2026
1. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
2. Jack Bostock
3. Jake Averillo
4. Herbie Farnworth
5. Jamayne Isaako
6. Kodi Nikorima
7. Isaiya Katoa
8. Thomas Flegler
9. Jeremy Marshall-King
10. Daniel Saifiti
11. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki
12. Tom Gilbert
13. Max Plath
Interchange
14. Oryn Keeley
15. Trai Fuller
16. Max Feagai
17. Ray Stone
Not in 17: Junior Tupou
On paper at least, the Dolphins look to have a relatively strong best 17, but there are certainly areas they will look to improve, and more importantly, add depth to a squad which has been challenged as soon as injuries have struck in recent seasons.
The potential impending and more importantly immediate signing of Ben Hunt could throw any idea of having money available out the window, but as it stands on November 1, that hasn't happened, and seems unlikely to do so anytime soon.
It's in the forwards the Dolphins will likely be most keen to add depth, but right across the side they could do with more suitable first-grade players.
Kodi Nikorima is maybe the biggest question mark anywhere in the starting 13. The utility did a strong job at five-eighth in 2024, but if the Dolphins want to become a premiership team, it's hard to see them doing that with him in the role.
The Dolphins wanting a probable new option in the halves to pair Isaiya Katoa without wanting to break the bank could lend them going all in for Jonah Pezet.
While the young Storm star is more thought of as a halfback, he has excelled in the five-eighth role for the Victorian club when replacing Cameron Munster in recent seasons.
The youngster, one way or another, will want a starting spot somewhere in the NRL. That goes without saying.
It's not going to happen at the Storm, and that is going to see a major scramble for his services in this free agency window.
The Dolphins should be going in hard for his services with the knowledge it will provide them plenty of flexibility moving forward given Pezet's ability to play six and seven.
This one could raise some eyebrows, but we aren't suggesting Starling's signing as a replacement for Jeremy Marshall-King.
Far from it. Marshall-King, when he arrived at the Dolphins was a stop-gap measure at dummy half, as he had been at the Canterbury Bulldogs when he first moved away from a role in the halves.
But ever since, he has become an excellent option at nine, and a walk-up starter at the Dolphins, as he would be at a number of NRL clubs.
Instead, Starling would play a similar role as he has been in the nation's capital - combining with someone, likely coming off the bench and creating plenty of explosive play out of the nine.
It would also potentially improve Marshall-King's output if he was playing less minutes and had a suitable number nine coming off the bench to break up the game and season.
This one just makes sense for the Dolphins, and would be another that doesn't break the bank.
If the Dolphins are looking to add options in the forwards, they couldn't go wrong by taking a look at Parramatta's Bryce Cartwright.
After years of bouncing around clubs and being plagued by an inability to live up to his enormous potential, Cartwright has finally reached it in the west of Sydney.
Once one of the game's most prodigiously talented youngsters, Cartwright has become the type of reliable player he always could have been while also bringing plenty of flare.
There is unlikely to be a starting spot at the Dolphins for him given Tom Gilbert will be shuffled to the edge thanks to the breakout form of Max Plath, but he could still play an important role as part of the rotation in Redcliffe if the club go down this path.
Elliott has fast become a versatile weapon in the forward pack at NRL level.
Once troubled by off-field issues, the former Bulldog and Raider first reached his potential in the nation's capital playing hooker, then lock.
Also able to play on the edge, he is the type of player who is valuable to have given his versatility, and a spot on the Dolphins' bench would be a guarantee every week if he were to make the move north.
Whether that's enough to convince him to abandon the Knights, who reportedly asked him to find a new club owing to salary cap pressures in the Hunter, remains to be seen.
There is more than a sneaky suspicion here though that there will be more than a few clubs in pursuit of Elliott.
One name who hasn't been given nearly enough credit for his workmanlike attitude and performances at the Broncos is Corey Jensen.
To be fair, it's easy to see how Jensen has become lost there in a forward pack that features Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan, as well as the likes of Jordan Riki and Brendan Piakura.
But Jensen is the type of player every team needs if they are going to be successful.
No nonsense, hard working and rarely putting up numbers in the errors or missed tackles column.
Given Queensland's injuries, he can't have been all that far away from an Origin jumper this year. That's not to say he is on that level, but he certainly does a job and the Dolphins could do far worse than make some inquiries here.