The NRL trophy is staying in Brisbane – if Tom Gilbert and his Dolphins have anything to do with it.
The Broncos put in the worst title defence in 118 years, crashing out of contention and leaving the Dolphins to fly the finals flag in The River City.
While Penrith and the Warriors are the hot favourites, September first-timers the Dolphins have gone from a finals contender to a dark horse.
In a subtle dig at their cross-city rival, Gilbert said a Dolphins premiership belonged to all of Brisbane.
“We know what rugby league means to Queensland, means to Brisbane,” Gilbert said. “For us to have that chance to keep the trophy in our city, Brisbane, will be massive.
“I know the Brisbane people loved the Broncos winning last year. Now we have that chance to keep the trophy in Brisbane.
“It will be really deserving for our area (in Redcliffe) too.”
The third-placed Dolphins will kick off their finals campaign with a trip across the ditch to take on the Warriors at a packed Go Media Stadium.
While the Warriors will have the backing of an entire nation, Gilbert said the Dolphins needed to look no further for motivation than the feeling of shame that engulfed the playing group over their own finals failure.
“We dropped a lot of games in the back end of last year,” Gilbert said. “That hurt us a lot, it hurt a lot of individuals.
“There was a lot of embarrassment throughout the playing group.
The Dolphins narrowly missed the top eight last year – failing at the final hurdle after results did not go their way in the final round of the regular season.
“There was a real opportunity to play finals but we didn’t get the job done,” Gilbert said.
“With that embarrassment and the disappointment of last year, we used it to have a pretty good pre-season. A lot of boys came in fit, a lot of boys came in ready to work.
“So many boys as individuals wanted to have a big year.
“At the back end of this year when the fatigue set in, when we felt tired we had choices to make and we found the right choices. In the years gone past we hadn’t. We learned from our lessons. There’s a great belief in this group that we are travelling in the right direction as a club.
“It does make up for the disappointment of last year.”
Gilbert said watching Brisbane lift the Provan Summons Trophy left the Dolphins ruing what might have been.
“When you think you should be there, and you think you are good enough to win, that hurts,” Gilbert said.
“When you see other clubs have those opportunities, it plays on your head a little bit. Like, ‘Maybe if we had made the finals, we could have (won it)’.
“But no matter who won it last year, we were quite embarrassed as a group.”
The Cowboys will also hit the road this weekend, making the trek to Sydney for Saturday night’s do-or-die clash against Cronulla.
Skipper Tom Dearden said the entire state would get behind both Queensland teams in contention.
“As a Queenslander, you just want the finals to be filled with Queensland teams,” Dearden said.
“It’s a big state – from North Queensland all the way through to the south east and west – Queensland as a whole state lives and breathes rugby league.
“I’m happy for the Dolphins, they get their first finals series in their history.”
Todd Payten’s men have scraped into the finals after a season of inconsistent performances, culminating in a 50-point final round loss to Canberra.
Dearden said the finals were a chance to wipe the slate clean on the Cowboys’ patchy season and his side would not be making up the numbers in September.
“I’m more stoked for us that we are part of the finals,” Dearden said.
“Our club has worked hard this year and we finally get our chance.
“When finals come around it’s a new ball game, a new season starts.”