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Eight minutes. Three tries. A preliminary final blown apart — and the Redcliffe Dolphins are going to the grand final.
A year after Burleigh ended their season one game short of the decider, Redcliffe turned the tables with a 40–22 win at Kayo Stadium, exploding out of half-time to settle a contest that had threatened to become another Bears arm-wrestle.
Only four points separated them at the break. By the 53rd minute, the Dolphins led by 22, with LJ Nonu and a Trai Fuller double delivering the burst that changed the afternoon.
For Redcliffe, there was another layer to it. The road back to the grand final had brought them face-to-face with the team that ended the last one.
This time, they went through.
Read: One Win From the Grand Final, Redcliffe Dolphins Meet a Familiar Foe
Burleigh Come Ready for Another Fight
The Bears gave Redcliffe an early reminder that this wasn’t going to come easily.
Guy Hamilton’s 40/20 in the fifth minute put Burleigh on the attack, and Troy Leo turned the opportunity into points with a line break and try. Josh Rogers converted for 6–0.
Redcliffe took a while to find their rhythm, but when Jake Averillo broke through in the 15th minute, he didn’t need a second invitation. His try, converted by Joshua James, brought the Dolphins level and began to shift the game their way.
Averillo broke the line again five minutes later, and the pressure continued after a Burleigh ruck infringement gave Redcliffe a fresh set. Sam Elliott found his way through for the Dolphins’ second try before Jude Saldanha added another in the 24th minute.
At 16–6, Redcliffe had created some breathing room. Burleigh promptly took it away.
The Bears had a try ruled out by the video referee in the 33rd minute but were back across the line soon afterwards, Rogers scoring and converting to make it 16–12 at half-time.
It had become the sort of preliminary final Redcliffe knew very well: tight, physical and with very little room for a mistake.
Redcliffe Find Another Gear
The four-point margin lasted barely three minutes after the restart.
LJ Nonu scored first, then a dangerous-tackle penalty against Lochie Sheldon — who was also placed on report — gave Redcliffe another opportunity. Trai Fuller broke through and finished the job himself.
Burleigh had barely had time to absorb that setback when Fuller went through again. James converted all three second-half tries and, in a little over eight minutes, Redcliffe had gone from 16–12 to 34–12.
That burst also exposed the difference between the sides when Redcliffe managed to get runners into space. Despite having slightly less possession across the afternoon, the Dolphins made 1,547 metres to Burleigh’s 1,243 and broke 28 tackles to 12.
Their own defence was considerably harder to crack. Redcliffe missed only 12 tackles, less than half Burleigh’s 28, and finished with a 94.54 per cent effective tackle rate.
Those numbers mattered because this wasn’t an especially tidy Dolphins performance. They made 14 errors and conceded five penalties, giving Burleigh enough chances to stay interested.
The Bears Have One More Run
Mitch Watson pulled one back in the 55th minute, and Redcliffe later gave the Bears another opening when Domenico De Stradis made an error.
Troy Leo immediately broke the line, Fuller was penalised for a late tackle and Rogers took advantage, scoring and then converting to make it 34–22 with almost 13 minutes remaining.
For anyone who remembered what happened in this fixture a year ago, there was an uncomfortable parallel.
In the 2025 preliminary final, the Dolphins had Burleigh 16–6 down with seven minutes left and were seemingly headed for the decider. Two late Bears tries turned it into an 18–16 defeat and ended Redcliffe’s season. Burleigh then came to Kayo Stadium for the opening round of 2026 and beat them 22–12.
This time the Bears couldn’t find the same escape route. Errors from Callum Gromek and Luke Gale interrupted their chase, and with six minutes remaining Averillo went over for his second try. James’ conversion made it 40–22.
Read: Back Where It Ended: Redcliffe Dolphins Return to the Stage That Broke Their Hearts
This Time, Redcliffe Go Through
There was plenty Redcliffe could have done more cleanly, but preliminary finals have a way of stripping games down to what matters.
When Burleigh controlled the opening exchanges, the Dolphins worked their way back. When the Bears closed to four before half-time, Redcliffe came out and hit them with three tries in eight minutes. And when Burleigh made one last push, there was no repeat of the collapse that ended Redcliffe’s season 12 months ago.
Averillo and Fuller finished with two tries each, Elliott, Saldanha and Nonu had one apiece, while James converted six of Redcliffe’s seven tries.
The road back to the grand final had brought Redcliffe to the team that ended the last one. Same opponent, same point of the season, with a place in the decider waiting on the other side.
This time, the Dolphins got there.
Published 20-September-2026
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