IN THE MARKET? – CLICK BELOW FOR OPEN HOMES THIS SATURDAY
Sunshine Coast have not lost a game since July. The team that beat them then is the team waiting for them in Saturday’s Hostplus Cup Grand Final.
Redcliffe’s 28–14 victory at Kayo Stadium in Round 18 is now seven Falcons wins and more than two months in the past. In that time, Sunshine Coast have secured the minor premiership and swept through September, while Redcliffe have followed them into the decider after putting 40 points on defending premiers Burleigh.
So much has happened since their last meeting that neither side is pretending it settles anything. But it gives this Grand Final a compelling starting point.
The Falcons return to the ground where their winning run last ended, against the only team to beat them in the second half of the season. Redcliffe meet the competition’s benchmark knowing they have already beaten them here — and knowing they will have to do it without Trai Fuller.
There is little separating them on the ladder and one win apiece between them this season. How they arrived here, though, could hardly have been more different.
Two Different Roads To The Grand Final
Sunshine Coast’s great strength has been continuity.
Coach Brad Henderson has been able to field a remarkably stable group, allowing combinations to develop across a season in which the Falcons finished three competition points clear at the top of the ladder.
Redcliffe have lived with almost the opposite reality. Players have moved between the Hostplus Cup and NRL squads, combinations have changed and, even in Grand Final week, the Dolphins may not know their final make-up until after Friday night’s NRL preliminary final.
Yet halfback Joshua James says the football underneath it all remains largely unchanged.
“We tend to keep the same sort of structure no matter who comes in and who’s in whatever position,” James said.
It is a fascinating contrast for a Grand Final.
Sunshine Coast have continuity of personnel. Redcliffe have built continuity of system.
The Falcons’ Biggest Weapon
Redcliffe captain Sheldon Pitama does not need convincing about what makes Sunshine Coast dangerous.
“I think their threat is their connection on the field,” he said.
The Falcons showed it again in their preliminary final, piling on six unanswered tries to lead Central Queensland 32–0 before the Capras finally broke through late in the game. Sunshine Coast won 32–16.
Their halves combination of Josh Lynn and former Redcliffe playmaker Thomas Casey has had a season to settle, surrounded by a group Henderson has largely been able to keep together.
That stability is reflected in the way the Falcons are approaching Saturday. They are not preparing to reinvent themselves for the biggest game of the year.
Henderson’s message has been to trust what carried them here — and do it a little better.
For Redcliffe, disrupting that connection may be the contest within the contest.
Redcliffe Have Already Shown Another Gear
Only four points separated Redcliffe and Burleigh at halftime last Sunday. Eight minutes into the second half, the preliminary final had been ripped open.
LJ Nonu intercepted and raced away in the 43rd minute before Fuller scored twice in five minutes, stretching a 16–12 halftime lead to 34–12. Burleigh fought back, but Jake Averillo’s late intercept try shut the door and sent Redcliffe through 40–22.
James still did not regard it as the Dolphins’ best football.
“I don’t think we played to the best of our ability, but to still come away with a comfortable victory in the end was pretty impressive,” he said.
Coach Dave Elliott was more interested in Redcliffe’s defensive resolve than the 40 points beside their name.
That will matter on Saturday. Sunshine Coast have spent a season showing how difficult they are to pull apart, and Redcliffe are unlikely to get through a Grand Final simply by waiting for the kind of opportunities Burleigh offered.
They will have to create some of their own.
Life Without Trai Fuller
Fuller will not be there to create them.
His suspension takes one of the competition’s most dangerous attacking players out of the Grand Final after a preliminary final in which he scored twice in five minutes.
Pitama did not attempt to minimise the loss.
“I think it hurts the game of rugby league to not have a player like Trai on the field,” he said.
Redcliffe, however, have spent much of this season adjusting to personnel changes. Elliott has described preparing his Cup side for the worst-case selection scenario, particularly when NRL commitments leave players unavailable, and treating any additions as a bonus.
Even this week, the final make-up of his side could be influenced by what happens with the NRL Dolphins on Friday night.
For James and the players who have carried Redcliffe through the Cup season, the answer is familiar.
The names can change. The structure stays.
One Win Each. One Left.
Sunshine Coast won the first meeting between these sides 18–12. Redcliffe answered 28–14 at Kayo Stadium.
Elliott has warned against placing too much weight on either result, particularly because he believes the Falcons have improved since their last visit to Redcliffe.
There is history running through the matchup as well. The clubs play for the James Ackerman Cup during the season, players have moved in both directions over the years and friendships remain across the two squads.
Former Redcliffe player Harrison McIndoe is now preparing to face the club that first gave him a Queensland Cup opportunity. Casey will confront his former club from the Falcons halves, while Redcliffe’s Patrizio Siolo spent five seasons with Sunshine Coast before joining the Dolphins.
Pitama describes the rivalry as almost derby-like.
For the Redcliffe captain, Saturday carries something more personal as well.
This will be his third Grand Final.
He lost the other two.
“Hopefully we can change that,” Pitama said.
Grand Final At Dolphin Oval
Officially, Kayo Stadium is the Grand Final venue.
To Pitama, it remains Dolphin Oval.
“There’ll be one team that touches the top of the tunnel down the end there, and it’s because it’s Dolphin Oval to us,” he said.
“So it’s a home game.”
Redcliffe train there. Pitama lives minutes away. The Dolphins have already won twice there during these finals and beaten Sunshine Coast there once this season.
There is another memory attached to the ground, too. Redcliffe walked into a Grand Final there two years ago and walked away without the trophy.
James was part of that side, but he has resisted turning 2024 into some grand source of motivation. His lesson from that day is simpler: prepare properly, keep the week familiar and do not suddenly become somebody else because it is a Grand Final.
Perhaps that is fitting for this Redcliffe team.
Across the field will be the minor premiers, seven wins deep and powered by combinations forged across an entire season.
Waiting for them will be a Dolphins side that has had to become comfortable with uncertainty — who is available, who comes in, who moves where — without allowing its football to lose its shape.
Sunshine Coast have not lost since they last came to Kayo Stadium.
Redcliffe know exactly who beat them.
On Saturday, they find out whether they can do it once more — with the Hostplus Cup waiting at the end of it.
MATCH DETAILS
Hostplus Cup Grand Final
Sunshine Coast Falcons v Redcliffe Dolphins
Saturday, 26 September 2026
Kayo Stadium, Redcliffe
Kick-off: 4:10pm AEST
Published 25-September-2026
CLICK ANY LOGO TO SEE PUBLICATION
