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I decided back in the late 1990's to follow the Queensland Cup as I needed a team to cover it all same in England. I chose Redcliffe Dolphins as the team ahead of Wests Panthers as I was working not far from Redcliffe in 1998 in the 9 months I was up north. Purtell Park is located one street away from where my late Great Aunty was living. I'm also a tribal league fan and whenever I went to Brisbane I noticed there wasn't the tribalism except for 3 weeks a year and this is the second biggest Rugby League city in the world and the second biggest Rugby League state/county/region in the world with only one side. It was all wrong and I've spent the best part of two decades campaigning for Redcliffe to be in the NRL after what the Crushers had done to themselves and mismanaged badly by the QRL & ARL.
I really believe we need more than 2 sides in Greater Brisbane and I really want the Dolphins to be massively successful.
Right now their fan base is mostly made up of:
1) Casual TV fans who have said lets choose this team
2) Those like me who support another NRL team
3) Rusted on Redcliffe QCup fans where participation is greater for them than win at all costs results
To retain and grow 1 & 2 it's all about winning at all costs to keep the base interested before the new generation of fans emerge that only know of Dolphins NRL existence. The club is quite rightly and correctly trying to have both slices of the cake with Redcliffe Dolphins history and Dolphins NRL future.
I'm a paid up member of Redcliffe Leagues and Dolphins NRL, I spend more money at Redcliffe Leagues than I do at Canterbury Leagues (probably not as much as their affiliate club Lakemba Club) and I also donated money to help the family of a pathways player go on a trip to New Zealand last year to represent one of the Dolphins pathways side that player now has a contract with the Dolphins so I'm happy for him. Redcliffe Leagues Club is the best Leagues Club today with Raiders Belconnen a distant second. What Redcliffe Leagues Club does in honouring the Dolphins from Sandgate League to NRL is absolutely amazing.
I credit Dolphins inclusion into the NRL as getting my passion back for Rugby League as the restrictions we had in Sydney with Covid saw me move away from football and finally worked out a life was there to be lived.
The last 3 weeks for the Dolphins has been very exceptional. A lot of players are really growing into important players in the team like Josh Kerr and Kurt Donoghoe this aside from the obvious big name players.
I really hope they can continue this and the first four weeks is a distant memory.
The good thing right now is that Dolphins are four points off second spot the ladder is congested from 2nd down where a good run of form and not letting in soft tries at the end (well done Herbie for roasting Bostock on that) could see the Dolphins into the Top 4 in now.
Only one team has bolted away.
