Is that what you talk about during the week?

Yeah, kind of reverse engineer it and say, can we get our starts a little bit better? How do you do that? Well, we've spoken about it.

I think the thing for us is we never lack maybe intensity when we start.

Some games here and there, for sure, but we just put ourselves under too much pressure at the start of footy games with poor discipline or unforced errors.

Yeah, we've been putting ourselves under heaps of pressure.

I guess on the flip side, it's good to see that we have a good resilience in our team and the results mean something to us because we've fought our way back through a lot of the season with those poor starts.

Does that work for you guys? What does preparation look like?

Yeah, I think a lot of the boys agree that 5.30 time's the best time.

What's he really like behind that tough guy exterior?

He's actually a pretty funny bloke, hey.

He doesn't like too much attention, but he definitely knows how to give the boys a good laugh.

And one thing he loves probably more than anything other than taking a kickoff carry is probably just being around the team and being around the boys and always having a good time.

So it's sad he's retiring, but, you know, the way he plays, he's put his body through a lot the last couple of years.

As he was.

Yeah, you know, the fact he keeps getting up each and every day is a credit to himself.

Were you guys doing anything special for that?

How do the Dolphins players see this rivalry?

Oh, look, we see it as a massive opportunity.

We've been talking about all week how much respect we have for that group of players from the Broncos.

They are the reigning premiers.

I know their season to date probably hasn't gone to plan, but you've got to respect them.

So For us, we're really excited to go up against the reigning premiers.

They beat us earlier in the year, and rightly so.

Has that had a mention at all from Christian Wolff this week?

How do the Dolphins players see this rivalry?

Oh, look, we see it as a massive opportunity just to...

We've been talking about all week how much respect we have for that group of players from the Broncos.

They are the reigning premiers.

I know...

Their season to date probably hasn't gone to plan, but, you know, you've got to respect them.

So for us, you know, we're really excited to go up against the reigning premiers.

Has that had a mention at all from Christian Wolff this week?

It's been a weird old time.

Yeah, mate, it's this time of the year where it's crunch time and you've got to get going and we're probably lucky we had to kick up the bum a few weeks ago against the Sharks too.

We were just as embarrassing as the Cowboys and you've got a decision to make that week and you can either do something with it or move on and move forward and that's the biggest challenge we had as a group and I guess that's what the Cowboys face now is that challenge of How can you regroup and realise, well, six weeks ago, do we want to play finals or do we not want to? So it's not a hard problem, to be honest, but I think when that pressure's on you, it can feel harder than what it is.

Tommy, how do you go into the game tonight?

Yeah, look, to be honest, when you look at, obviously, their record, it's not good.

And the thing about a team like this at this time of year is they want to go upset teams like us, and there's a motivation behind.

Danger.

Yeah, 100% to go win games of footy now.

It's been a weird old time.

Yeah, mate, it's this time of the year where it's crunch time and you've got to get going.

And we're probably lucky we had to kick up the bum a few weeks ago against the Sharks too.

We were just as embarrassing as the Cowboys.

And you've got a decision to make that week and you can either do something with it or move on and move forward.

And that's the biggest challenge we had as a group.

And I guess that's what the Cowboys face now is that challenge of, How can you regroup and realise, well, you know, there's six weeks to go.

Tommy, how do you go into the game tonight?

You want to talk up the team.

Yeah, no, to be honest, today I'm so happy.

I'm off the nudie, which is, I think the boys are more happy about that.

Yeah.

As we all should be.

But I am pretty happy.

I don't score many tries.

What's the strategy around playing you off the bench as opposed to starting you, Tommy? Do you get much say in that? Is it a strategy that Christian Wolff has conjured up?

And your run metres were wild.

Yeah, well, I am sore today.

I'm relieved today too.

Physically and mentally, it was a tough week last week.

Obviously, the thrashing and embarrassment we had from the week before, but I just felt like as an individual and as a team, we're kind of backed into a corner and the only way out was to play well, to play physical, to turn up and you know earn your right to win a game of footy and that was my attitude but that was the team's attitude yesterday and i'm glad we were down by you know 10 points to start because the only way we were going to fix that was ourselves

What's the strategy around playing you off the bench as opposed to starting you, Tommy? Do you get much say in that? Is it a strategy that Christian Wolff has conjured up?

Yeah, we spoke about it earlier in the year.

What it was at the time was just taking off that, you know, the physical impact you get in probably the first 10 minutes with collisions and stuff, something I probably wasn't able to handle as well coming back from my injuries, and I agreed as well.

In your opinion, and you know how much Origin takes out of you, are we a chance of seeing anybody play?

Look, it's honestly a player-to-player kind of decision.

The expectation is that they don't need to play.

It's hard to get a grip.

We watched 80 minutes of footy last night, but we don't know what that 10 days looked like.

They were playing a decider, so it's a big week for them.

As well as physically last night, the mental load is massive.

But on the flip side, I'm told with good intel, you would actually like to use your platform on Triple M's rush hour this afternoon as well.

Who makes that decision, you or coaches?

Yeah, usually our medical staff.

We went and saw a specialist the other day and he pretty much said that there's no real good reason for you to play this weekend and it's just safer not to.

All right.

What did Ben and Rory bring to the table?

Yeah, so Ben and Rory do our defense stuff.

So Ben will look after, you know, what's happening in the ruck on both sides of the ball.

And then Rory will, you know, do our defensive movements and how we want to transition from attack to defense, defense to attack.

Who makes that decision, you or coaches?

Um, yeah, usually our medical staff.

We, we, you know, went and saw a specialist, um, the other day and, you know, he, he pretty much said that there's, there's no real good reason for you to play this weekend-

What, what do Ben and Rory bring to the table?

Yeah, so Ben and Rory do our defense stuff.

So Ben will look after, you know, what's happening in the ruck on both sides of the ball and then, um, Rory will, you know, do our defensive movements and, you know, how we wanna transition from attack to defense, defense to attack.

So that's what he looks after and, um, like I said, yeah, Feeny does the attack.

Who makes that decision, you or coaches?

Um, yeah, usually our medical staff.

W- we, you know, went and saw a specialist, um, the other day and, you know, he, he pretty much said that there's, there's no real good reason for you to play this weekend-

What, what do Ben and Rory bring to the table?

Yeah, so Ben and Rory do our defense stuff.

So Ben will look after, you know, what's happening in the ruck on both sides of the ball, and then, um, Rory will, you know, do our defensive movements and, you know, how we wanna transition from attack to defense, defense to attack.

So that's what he looks after and, um, like I said, yeah, Feeny does the attack.

Who makes that decision, you or coaches?

Yeah, usually our medical staff.

We went and saw a specialist the other day and he pretty much said that there's no real good reason for you to play this weekend and it's just safer not to.

What did Ben and Rory bring to the table?

Yeah, so Ben and Rory do our defense stuff.

So Ben will look after, you know, what's happening in the ruck on both sides of the ball.

And then Rory will, you know, do our defensive movements and, you know, how we want to transition from attack to defense, defense to attack.

So that's what he looks after.

Who makes that decision, you or coaches?

Um, yeah, usually our medical staff.

We, we, you know, went and saw a specialist, um, the other day and, you know, he, he pretty much said that there's, there's no real good reason for you to play this weekend.

What, what do Ben and Rory bring to the table?

Yeah, so Ben and Rory do our defense stuff.

So Ben will look after, you know, what's happening in the ruck on both sides of the ball, and then, um, Rory will, you know, do our defensive movements and, you know, how we wanna transition from attack to defense, defense to attack.

So that's what he looks after.

And, um, like I said, yeah, Feeny does the attack.

But when he does say something, everyone listens.

yeah to be honest it's funny how people perceive him as that and we get him behind closed doors and he's um you know he's one of us he has a good joke he's not a serious even though okay take himself pretty serious but um you can definitely um you know put some jokes on him and put him on show in front of the group and he takes it really well but um look he's yeah he's old school his approach he's very um yeah neutral um from a win to a loss you know the weeks don't change too much he's response and the way he talks to us doesn't change too much and I guess it's a joy to work with in that sense because you get transparency and honesty no matter how you're going and I think that's why boys are playing well and boys who haven't played well find a way to find form because you've got a coach who one, obviously cares and does the work but two, he's a straight shooter and tells you how it is.

I love watching him play.

Mate, he's awesome.

He's one of the most natural footy players or naturally gifted blokes I've probably ever played with in terms of his football ability.

He just plays a game and reads a game at a different level to people.

I think what he does really well is he compliments and takes a bit of pressure off Izzy at times.

You've got to remember Izzy is young and he's a halfback.

Have you put any thought into that?

Uh, I guess I always think about my game and how it can obviously get me back to playing Origin.

I don't put any more emphasis in any previous weeks, just this weekend.

I think you get picked on what you do on a consistent basis and not what you can pull out of the hat for a weekend.

Um, so my big focus is keep building on my performances from the last couple weeks and, um, keep working on my game of football.

Do you like playing up there?

Yeah.

We're really excited for it.