Every now and again, a player walks into a club that a future can be built around.
As a new club at the start of 2023, the Dolphins had a rare opportunity to model a roster completely from scratch. To be built different from all of your opposition in what is one of the most competitive sporting competitions in the world.
If you rewind to the start of 2023 and even throughout 2022 as the Dolphins shaped their roster, it was clear that the majority had all but written off the club for the formative years of their existence, despite having super coach Wayne Bennett at the helm for the first two of them.
The roster read a little bit like an improperly constructed jigsaw puzzle. Punts on veteran, players who had never quite got to their potential, and any number of misses in the free agency market left the Dolphins widely predicted to finish last.
That didn't happen. As history will show, they missed the finals, but before injuries tested their depth, they were a top-eight side.
In Season 2, despite more injuries - including that of Tom Gilbert who, after missing the second half of last season has missed all of this one with an ACL injury and follow-up blood clot delaying surgery - the Dolphins are in the mix to play finals footy with just a month to go.
Make no mistake, the Dolphins are going to need to be very good to make the finals given their run home, and the current state of the NRL ladder. That will have to start with this week's difficult clash against the red-hot Canterbury Bulldogs who are taking a home game on the road to Bundaberg.
Win that and they may well be in the mix to play their first finals game as a club despite the number of players who have spent substantial time on the sidelines throughout this season.
To get into that position - where they currently sit in eighth spot, ahead of the St George Illawarra Dragons on for and against, behind the North Queensland Cowboys by two points, and ahead of the Brisbane Broncos by another two - it has taken several players to step up to a level which was simply unpredictable and unprecedented if you had of taken stock during the pre-season.
One of those players - and maybe the most crucial of the lot - is Max Plath.
When the Dolphins put together their squad, both last season and then into this season, what became clear was the importance of Tom Gilbert.
His injury as one of the key pack leaders amongst several veterans (ex-Storm trio Kenneath Bromwich, Jesse Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi, former Rabbitoh Mark Nicholls and the now departed Jarrod Wallace) was always going to make a difference for the Redcliffe-based club.
Incredibly though, he hasn't played a game, the Dolphins sit in the top eight, and there is no guarantee now that he walks back into the number 13 jersey he was set to wear this season.
If you had dreamed up a situation like that during the pre-season, you would have likely been convinced it was former Penrith Panthers' junior Mason Teague who had taken over the role, and to first grade like a duck to water.
But it has been Plath who has worn that number 13 jersey for much of the season, before shifting roles to replace another injured star in Jeremy Marshall-King, who suffered a foot injury against the St George Illawarra Dragons several weeks ago.
The fact Plath has been able to replace the Dolphins' two most important forwards in the same season is a testament to his ability, his versatility, and his attitude.
But more importantly, it's a testament to the fact the Dolphins must build their long-term plans around players like Plath.
Born in Brisbane, he could well wind up being the player the Broncos let get away over the next decade if the Dolphins can do just that.
His stats in what is a rookie first-grade season are all but off the charts. Tackling at 95 per cent, almost 90 metres per game (a stat which has significantly reduced in recent weeks given his move to dummy half), 4 tries, 2 tackle busts, 6 offloads, almost half a kilometre of post-contact metres.
He has done everything for the Dolphins this year, and whether playing at hooker or lock, reliability has never been an issue for one of Wayne Bennett's most important players throughout the course of the campaign.
He has future origin player and Dolphins' captain written all over him, and realistically, must be the player the next coach Kristian Woolf works to lock down and make the focal point of the club.
Plath will likely shift back to lock in the coming weeks once Marshall-King - who himself has been critical for the Dolphins - makes his return from injury.
There is little doubt in the meantime though that Plath is going to be one of the critical players for the Redcliffe-based outfit if they are to qualify for the finals amid their difficult run to the finish line.
The significance of being ahead of the Broncos - and Gold Coast Titans for that matter - in the battle for the south east corner of Queensland can't be understated either for the Dolphins.
That is unlikely to change given the ladder, and given the Broncos' injury worries on their own run to the end of the regular season, but making the finals before Bennett's departure would be an added boost for the Dolphins ahead of future seasons.
This team have been built differently this year. Plath can be one of the guys who ensure that continues into the future.
Already on contract until the end of the 2027 season, the Dolphins have the opportunity to make the 22-year-old their key man long-term.
Based on what we have seen this year, they couldn't do much better.
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