“Haha. Don’t Forget About Us!” Says 2nd Brisbane NRL Team Who Chose To Not Identify As A Brisbane Team

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

As the mighty Brisbane Broncos continue their post-Premiership victory lap, both the mens and womens sides have etched themselves into Queensland sporting history.

And as was the case for the entire last week, the streets of Brisbane City were once again filled with drunk and merry Broncos last night – after the club celebrated their double-premiership triumph at the club’s presentation night.

With a vast number of the side being selected for international honours in the days since the high-octane grand final, the River City is turning a blind eye to the debauchery taking place in pokie rooms and rooftop bars this week, because the city has never been prouder of their ratbag Broncos.

In fact, the only Brisbane residents who can’t bring themselves to celebrate this glorious fortnight of both Lions and Broncos triumph is the other NRL team that is allegedly based in the Queensland capital.

Launching in 2021, ‘The Dolphins’ are the newest expansion club – with ties to the famous and historic Queensland Cup side known as the ‘Redcliffe Dolphins’ – who are based in a sleepy seaside pensinula in Brisbane’s northern suburbs.

However, upon joining the NRL, the year after the Brisbane Broncos took home the wooden spoon in the miserable pandemic season, the Dolphins decided against aligning themselves with any particular region – instead opting to base their club’s entire identity around a silhouette of an animated marine mammal.

This vagueness is now recognised as yet another example of classic rugby league overthinking – with many locals asking what was wrong with at least calling themselves ‘The North Brisbane Dolphins’ – or even ‘The Moreton Bay Dolphins’.

While the club obviously inherited the 10,000 people that live in the Redcliffe Pensisula and recognise the mascot, their decision to not officially announce themselves as a Brisbane team saw them miss a crucial opportunity to win over Brisbane’s previously unaligned NRL fans or even the disheartened Broncos fans who just witnessed their club lose 58-0 to Parramatta in the last match of the 2020 season.

Four years later, and the Brisbane Broncos, a club with far less history than the Redcliffe Dolphins, has returned to their former glory with one of the most exciting finals series in modern NRL history.

With a stable of handsome young characters and a fairytale narrative, last weekend’s triumph has rejuvenated the city after 19 years of misery and frustration. In turn, snatching an entirely new generation of possible fans from ‘the Dolphins’.

“Haha. Don’t forget about us!”” said a Dolphins spokesperson today.

“We are happy for the Broncos. For sure”

“But yeah we probably should have specified that there’s more than one team in Brisbane. A lot of people assume we just come from a town called ‘The'”