Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The Dolphins have Sydney Roosters’ firebrand Spencer Leniu to thank for getting them within one win of a spot in the NRL grand final.
A Herbie Farnworth-inspired Dolphins triumphed 26-16 over the Warriors on Saturday evening in a victory that booked the club the right to host a preliminary final in Brisbane.
Captain Isaiya Katoa praised his team for keeping their composure just before half-time when on-field frustrations threatened to spill over.
Katoa accidentally upended Jackson Ford – the halfback was not charged for the tackle – and Selwyn Cobbo and Kurt Capewell were binned for helping spark a melee during a tense first half.
The Dolphins were faced with a similar hostile scenario when playing against the Roosters late last year, when four players were binned and Leniu threatened to punch on with Aublix Tawha. Leniu was one of seven players later charged by the match review committee.
Katoa said the Dolphins never recovered emotionally in that match against the Roosters – and the same thing was never going to happen at a heaving Go Media Stadium.
“We took a lot of lessons out of last year, and one of the biggest ones, I can remember back to a Roosters game, there was a little bit of that [niggle] at the start, and we were never able to go back and play our footy and get our footy back on,” Katoa said after the game.
“My messaging, while that stuff was happening [on Saturday evening], was making sure we stayed nice and calm – winning a fight or push and shove on the field won’t win the result at the end of the game.
“We needed to make sure we got back to playing our footy, and keeping a nice controlled aggression.”
Pressed on the Roosters’ lessons, coach Kristian Woolf said on Sunday: “We let all the emotion and the occasion get to us that night. I was surprised he [Katoa] reflected on that game.
“It was obviously a good lesson for him as a young half, something he’s remembered and responded really well from.
“We discussed it at the time; it was a learning curve for us, but it’s not something we had discussed more recently. He’s a smart young man.”
Following Saturday’s match in Auckland, Katoa was not cited by the match review committee, nor was Max Plath, who had been placed on report for a suspected hip-drop tackle. Cobbo and Capewell each were fined $750 for their part in the melee, while Adam Pompey was fined for a shoulder charge on Ray Stone.
Woolf did not need reminding that the Dolphins were on the wrong end of the penalty count (9-4) and set restarts (5-3), “which is why I referred to our win as brave”.
“For a long part of the game the possession was 60-40 against us, we did a lot of tackling, we had to hang in and we did that really well,” Woolf said.
Prop Tom Flegler failed his head injury assessment during the win, but was in good spirits on Sunday and is expected to be available because of the long turnaround.
