Watch: The colossal hits that set the tone for a new NRL force

It was the hit that did more than rattle Brandon Smith’s rib cage and left him writhing on the ground in pain; it signalled a fledgling NRL juggernaut was getting ready to emerge.

When the Dolphins headed into their first game in 2023, fans and pundits across the rugby league landscape were left questioning whether they would ever register a win, given their unsuccessful attempts to lure marquee talent.

Inaugural prop Mark Nicholls recalled training in a gym under the Redcliffe stadium grandstand and being left without a video room, adding to their underdog status.

But that was the position coach Wayne Bennett wanted to be in. And when Felise Kaufusi charged out of the defensive line and laid on one of the hits of the season as Smith went to pass, setting up a shock 28-18 triumph over the Sydney Roosters, the competition was on notice.

“All of a sudden, the crowd was in the game, and when someone in your team can put on a play like that, it turns momentum. It’s inspiring, and on the back of that, we went into the sheds at half-time pretty confident of where we were going,” Nicholls told this masthead.

“The club had been criticised for their jerseys, criticised for their recruitment, the squad was too old, there were no star players. But Wayne loves that; to be put in the underdog position by the outsiders is where Wayne does his best work.

“From that point on, I sort of knew there was a special thing here. We told the fans what we were about, and the league.”

Nicholls would score shortly after that crunching Kaufusi blow – one that followed another devastating hit on Nat Butcher – to level the score at 12-all.

Kaufusi – already an established State of Origin star and premiership-winner from his time at the Melbourne Storm – would replicate his defensive heroics a week later, laying on a similarly ferocious shot on Hudson Young. The Dolphins would emerge victorious against the Canberra Raiders, to truly cement their early reputation as a team that would not take a backwards step.

That, according to Nicholls and Kaufusi, was the DNA Bennett had called on them to embed.

“He wanted winners around. I was lucky the Bromwich brothers [Jesse and Kenny] came here to create a winning culture, and guys who knew the standard they had to be to win games,” Kaufusi said.

“You can talk as much as you want, but if you don’t show it on the training paddock or out on the field, I don’t think people will follow.”

Nicholls added: “[Bennett] talked about not wanting to let the fans down or give up in games – if we were going to lose, we were going to be fighting to the last minute. That sort of attitude the group’s continued.”

It is in somewhat ironic circumstances that the Dolphins’ maiden preliminary final will take place against the Roosters on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.