Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf has refused to criticise his players for failing to attempt a two-point field goal in the dying stages of their 16-14 loss to the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
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With 13 minutes remaining, Souths winger Isaiah Tass scored what proved to be a matchwinning try, with the Dolphins finding themselves within range on multiple occasions.
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“Do they not know a two-point field goal exists?” Andrew Voss exclaimed, with Jamayne Isaako not being given a chance to level the scores.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Woolf was asked whether he thought a two-point field goal was an opportunity left begging.
“I didn’t think about a two-point field goal,” Woolf said.
“I think we just needed to play a little bit more footy at the back-end there. There was plenty of fatigue in the game, both teams had certainly loosened up defensively.
“I thought we could have played a little bit more footy, but at the end of the day the blokes that were out there were playing what they see.”
The Dolphins battled with a tumultuous week, with three players pulling out in Mark Nicholls, Kenny Bromwich and Kodi Nikorima to remain with their families in Brisbane during Cyclone Alfred.
Their exclusion saw Sean O’Sullivan slot into the halves, while Josh Kerr joined the bench and Woolf was proud of the way his playing group handled themselves.
“I’m really proud of our blokes, the way they’ve handled the week and everything that has gone on,” he said.
“You could see it meant something to them tonight, their effort said that.
“It was a halves combination that we haven’t trained with all pre-season and I think they went out there and did the best they could.
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So there’s a lot to like and there’s a lot of improvement left in us.”
Dolphins skipper Tom Gilbert echoed his coach’s sentiment, with the 17h franchise’s squad set to fly back to Toowoomba on Saturday morning before driving to Redcliffe.
“It was obviously tough, I wouldn’t say it was too much of a distraction, there was two ways to look at it,” Gilbert said.
“We saw it as an opportunity to come here and for those people who stayed at home, our families, it was an opportunity to make them proud.
“Give them a chance to not worry about what is ahead for them, so we’re really proud of our effort tonight and we’re proud of the blokes who took the opportunity to go out there tonight.”
However, overall it was two points gone begging for the Dolphins who had the lead in the dying stages and were unable to capitalise on some big opportunities.
“It was there for the win, but we did a lot of really good things… our effort, the way we approached the game and went after the game,” Woolf said.
“I just thought we left a couple of points out there, we didn’t ice a couple of chances we did make.”
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