The Dolphins were taken seriously as an NRL force to be reckoned with after beating the Sydney Roosters in their inaugural match and now at least eight survivors of that triumph will play the Tricolours in a grand-final qualifier.
It will be a full circle moment at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night for the Dolphins and a reminder to the naysayers who bagged their initial roster.
Inaugural coach Wayne Bennett, in his farewell speech at the 2024 presentation night, said that 28-18 win in Brisbane in 2023 was vital to the club gaining immediate credibility and momentum that led them to finishing one win from the finals the following season and universal respect across the code.
Now they are one win from a grand final against a Roosters side they share a rich history with. Rugby league Immortal Arthur Beetson, who died in 2011 after winning competitions with both clubs, wrote in his autobiography that his great wish was for the Dolphins and Roosters to play each other in the NRL.
Current backline stars Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Jamayne Isaako and Isaiya Katoa played on March 5, 2023 in that first-up win.
Starting forwards Jeremy Marshall-King and Tom Gilbert were also on hand, as were Ray Stone, Kurt Donoghoe and Connelly Lemuelu who came off the bench three years ago.
Current five-eighth Kodi Nikorima and centre Jack Bostock were not selected in that initial side but were signed to the club while utility Max Plath arrived later in 2023. All three will play in the preliminary final.
Veteran forward Felise Kaufusi, who was man of the match against the Roosters in the first match, has been playing Queensland Cup in recent weeks.
"I don't think we'll ever know how important that first win was, beating the Roosters here, because we apparently weren't going to win a game and we were going to have a poor squad," Dolphins CEO Terry Reader said.
"What people didn't realise was what we'd been doing in the background and what we were building.
"We won our first three games in 2023. That year, we did finish 13th, then we finished 10th and then 9th. But in the 10th and 9th years (of 2024 and 2025), we were one game short of playing finals.
"Now we get to literally challenge for a premiership"
There are a dozen players from the 2023 top-30 still at the Dolphins and at least 11 of them will play on Friday night
"Those guys got to come through and make their debut together and play together, and you've seen the nucleus of the team we've got now … and what we've been able to build is actually something we're very proud of, and I know they are as well," Reader said.
"The coach (Kristian Woolf) talks about the way they turn up for each other, the way they scramble and the way they do it as a team. It's really heartening to watch."
That scramble was the key to the Dolphins beating the Roosters 26-12 away in round 23 this year.
Beetson's prescient dream for the two clubs will be doubly realised.
The great man known as "Artie" won premierships at the Roosters (1974, 1975) and Dolphins (1965 in the BRL) and was ahead of his time.
Now one of his beloved sides will be in the grand final after playing against each other.
Beetson didn't get to see it in his lifetime but his contribution to both clubs has been immortalised by the Artie Legacy Medal, awarded for man of the match each time the sides clash in club football.
