Dolphins playmaker Sean O’Sullivan has booted one of the best field goals of 2024 to down the Warriors 34-32 and put his side back in the top eight following a golden point thriller at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
O’Sullivan called for the ball on the fifth tackle and then launched a left-foot bomb from 43 metres out on the angle and it sailed over to send the home crowd into raptures.
The Dolphins led 26-12 in the second half but the Warriors stormed back into the contest and sent the game into golden point after it finished 32-32 after 80 minutes.
The Dolphins scored the opener two tries, with Felise Kaufusi the unlikely first try-scorer before Englishman Herbie Farnworth raced 90 metres to cross for the second.
The visitors struck back when Edward Kosi hauled in a kick to score in the 22nd minute but the Dolphins scored another eight points before the break.
On the stroke of halftime, Warriors veteran Walker was binned for a high shot on Mark Nicholls but immediately checked on the prop and took his mouthguard out in a great show of sportsmanship.
It proved a hectic second stanza as the Warriors piled on five tries to two, including a penalty try, but it wasn’t enough as poor goalkicking once again came back to haunt them.
Chanel Harris-Tavita went 4/6 off the tee and also missed two field goals to win the game at the death.
The Dolphins are no eighth on the ladder with four games to play in a result that marked a major blow to the finals chances of their cross-town rivals the Broncos.
Conjecture over what constitutes a high tackle in the modern game continues to bubble away following two detrimental Warriors incidents late in the first half.
Veteran winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was penalised in the 35th minute for a high shot which resulted in a Dolphins penalty goal, despite never coming in contact with the head of Ray Stone.
Minutes later Warriors lock Dylan Walker was sin-binned for a shot on Mark Nicholls, a glancing blow from his shoulder ending Nicholls’s game prematurely.
Both calls earned the ire of Panthers legend and Fox League pundit Greg Alexander, who questioned whether the punishments fit the crime.
“I’m all for protecting players and everything they’re doing with concussions, but there’s been some tackles over the last few weeks where I’ve seen no head contact [be penalised] and the player being tackled not even realising,” Alexander said.
“The Tuivasa-Sheck tackle is at an important point of the game which allows the Dolphins to go ahead by another two points.
“The contact there from Dylan Walker is questionable, but does he deserve to go to the bin for that?”
The Tuivasa-Sheck penalty in particular proved vital in the grand scheme, with the ensuing penalty goal proving the difference by game’s end.
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