Josh Kerr (carrying the ball) says the Dolphins will not use Tropical Cyclone Alfred as an excuse for their defeat on Friday night. (Getty Images: Jason McCawley)
Dolphins player Josh Kerr has refused to use Tropical Cyclone Alfred as an excuse following his side's defeat on Friday night.
The Redcliffe-based team will charter a flight to Toowoomba's Wellcamp Airport on Saturday morning, as the cyclone approaches the south-east Queensland coast.
- Match report: Tigers coach frustrated as Knights come from behind to win
- Match report: Souths score late to snatch victory from Dolphins
Friday's 16-14 loss to Souths was supposed to be played at Lang Park in Brisbane, but was moved to Western Sydney Stadium mid-week. Some Dolphins players elected to stay at home and prepare their homes, or be with their families as the storm approached.
Speaking to ABC Sport following the loss, Kerr said his side would not use the cyclone as an excuse, then praised the emergency workers across the region who are already dealing with damage and flooding.
"If you want to find excuses, you will," Kerr said.
"There's a lot of people in the SES, the first responders up in Queensland that are going through a hell of a lot right now. They're out there saving lives, we're here playing football.
"I get that it's probably not the greatest preparation, but we're not saving lives, we're rugby league players. We get to come out and do this great game while back home our families are going through a hell of a lot.
Tyrone Munro of the Rabbitohs celebrates with Cody Walker of the Rabbitohs after scoring a try during the round one NRL match between the Dolphins and South Sydney Rabbitohs at Western Sydney Stadium on March 07, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Getty Images: Jason McCawley)
"I get that you can make an excuse out of that, but we just don't want to be those people. There's a lot of people going through a lot of harder s*** than we are right now.
"Our job right now is, you know what, we get to get out of a cyclone, come down and play our game that we've loved growing up and watching, dreaming about playing … we get an opportunity to do that.
"So we don't want to say that that's an excuse. I just feel like there's a lot of people doing it harder."
Earlier, Wests Tigers went from receiving a standing ovation at half-time from their fans to blowing a second-half lead in a two-point loss to the Newcastle Knights.
After holding an 8-0 lead at the break, the Tigers failed to muster any meaningful attack in the second half.
The Knights had their own issues in attack but were able to create more opportunities and crossed the white line twice.
Tigers coach Benji Marshall was stern in his press conference after the defeat at home.
"It's hard to hide the disappointment because we should have won," he said.
"Take the result out of it: did we improve? Yeah, we did. But we should've won."
Look back at all the action in our live blog below and check out all the stats in our ScoreCentre.
Key Events
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Dolphins not finding any excuse in cyclone
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FULL-TIME: South Sydney 16 defeat Dolphins 14
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75 NO TRY: Dolphins survive after Souths denied try
NRL Friday scores
That is all for the live blog tonight
Two close games of footy, both decided by a couple of points, have taken place on the first Friday night of the year.
Newcastle and Souths begin the year as winners.
Wests are left wondering what went wrong in the second half.
The Dolphins will board a charter flight tomorrow, attempting to get home before Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall.
ABC Sport will be back tomorrow with Saturday rugby league.
We hope you join us then.
Goodnight.
Dolphins not finding any excuse in cyclone
Dolphins player Josh Kerr has spoken to ABC Sport following his side's two-point loss to Souths.
The match was moved to Sydney by the league, as Tropical Cyclone Alfred nears landfall in south-east Queensland.
Kerr refused to make the cyclone an excuse for the loss.
"If you want to find excuses, you will," Kerr says.
"There’s a lot of people in the SES, the first responders up in Queensland that are going through a hell of a lot right now. They’re out there saving lives, we’re here playing football.
"I get that it’s probably not the greatest preparation, but we’re not saving lives, we’re rugby league players. We get to come out and do this great game while back home our families are going through a hell of a lot.
"I get that you can make an excuse out of that, but we just don’t want to be those people. There’s a lot of people going through a lot of harder s*** than we are right now.
"Our job right now is, you know what, we get to get out of a cyclone, come down and play our game that we've loved growing up and watching, dreaming about playing … we get an opportunity to do that.
"So we don't want to say that that's an excuse. I just feel like there's a lot of people doing it harder."
Jack Wighton joins ABC Sport after defeating the Dolphins
South Sydney centre Jack Wighton has joined ABC Sport after the Rabbitohs' hard-fought win.
Clearly exhausted after the first game of the season, it is fair to say Jack may not have anticipated the speed of play tonight.
"Round one was supposed to start slower than the rest of the year, but that was flat out," he says.
"It's just the start. You don't win grand finals this time of year."
FULL-TIME: South Sydney 16 defeat Dolphins 14
— reporting with AAP
Wayne Bennett has denied his former apprentice Kristian Woolf an against-all-odds first win as an NRL head coach as South Sydney ran out 16-14 victors in their relocated clash with the Dolphins.
Fill-in halfback Jamie Humphreys gave Bennett plenty to think about in Friday night's game, which was moved 900km south to Parramatta and out of the path of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The cyclone warning forced the Dolphins to rush to Sydney on Wednesday night, leaving behind three players who opted to stay with their families, as they began their Woolf era.
But apart from Souths' error-prone start to the second half, second-gamer Humphreys and Cody Walker connected better than the Dolphins halves to help the Rabbitohs start Bennett's second coming with a bang.
Humphreys looked unfazed taking on the bulk of kicking duties in only his second NRL game.
The most memorable of those kicks was a cross-field bomb that put popular winger Tyrone Munro in for the second of his two first-half tries.
Munro did not return after half-time, with early reports indicating a collarbone issue — the same injury that restricted him to only four games in 2024.
Englishman Lewis Dodd will now have to prove himself worthy of usurping winning halfback Humphreys on return from his one-game suspension.
The Dolphins hit the front for the first time in the second half, with a Walker knock-on allowing the visitors to cross for a second try in five minutes through new second-rower Max Plath.
But after Humphreys hit the post with an attempt at penalty goal that would have equalised, a shift left put Isaiah Tass in and lifted the Rabbitohs back on top as the final 10 minutes approached.
In his first game for 553 days, luckless Campbell Graham made a crucial try-saving cover tackle on Junior Tupou in the final 10 minutes to deny the Dolphins the chance to snatch the lead.
Graham had been playing out of position on Souths' right wing following the injury to Munro.
Injury-plagued Dolphins captain Tom Gilbert was also strong in his first game for 657 days, coming up with the offload that led Isaako to score the side's first try down the right.
Dolphins recruit Kulikefu Finefeuiaki is set to miss next week's clash with Newcastle after returning a category-one head injury assessment in the second half.
Rabbitohs centre Jack Wighton went on report for a raised forearm on Dolphins recruit Daniel Saifiti and could face scrutiny from the match review committee.
75 NO TRY: Dolphins survive after Souths denied try
South Sydney has been denied a potentially match-winning try.
Dolphin winger Jamayne Isaako fielded a bomb, and then lost the ball in the tackle. It was picked up by Souths who scored, but the ref sent it to the Bunker as a no-try.
The on-field call was Rabbitoh Jack Wighton stripped the ball from Isaako.
It is hard to say that Wighton was stripping at the ball. It looked like a loose carry from Isaako. But it would have been hard for the official in the Bunker to conclusively determine that.
Souths maintain a two point lead, but the Dolphins still have life.
Souths are holding on. They are desperate for fulltime.
68' TRY: Souths retake lead as Isaiah Tass scores
South Sydney have retaken the lead, this time through left winger Isaiah Tass.
The Rabbitohs got a repeat set of six, and were able to put together a nice set play, going to the left, and Tass dived and scored in the corner.
61' MISSED PENALTY GOAL: Souths miss chance to level the scores
Jamie Humphreys had a chance to level the score at 14-all, but his penalty goal attempt hit the post.
A relief for the Dolphins, who conceded the penalty when Herbie Farnworth pushed Souths' Lachlan Hubner in the face, leading to a scuffle.
53' TRY: Dolphins take the lead, Souths errors adding up
The Dolphins are in again. Second-row forward Max Plath scores.
Souths cannot get out of their own end with poor errors.
A Cody Walker knock-on, off a pretty ordinary pass, gave the Dolphins another terrific chance.
With a set restart, the Dolphins were able to make the Rabbitohs pay for their poor play.
Jamayne Isaako kicks the conversion to give the visitors their first lead of the night.
48' TRY: Dolphins convert dominance into points
The start of the second half has been all Dolphins, and they are rewarded with winger Jamayne Isaako scoring his second try.
A terrific cut-out pass to the right from fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow created the space and led to the try.
The Dolphins had made two previous trips into Souths' defensive 20 in this half, but lost the ball.
This time, they make it count.
Isaako misses the conversion, meaning Souths hold a four point lead, despite both teams scoring two tries each.
Second half begins between Souths and Dolphins
South Sydney kick-off, and we begin the second half of this Friday night clash.
The Rabbitohs hold an eight-point lead, but the Dolphins will be expecting more from themselves in the second half.
Cheering home the Phins
C'mon Phins, bring it home in the second half.
– Flipper
Hello Flipper.
Thanks for joining me on the ABC Sport live blog.
I felt the Dolphins were a little underdone in that first half. I do expect them to be much better in the second 40 minutes.
HT: South Sydney 12 leading Dolphins 4
A good first half, without being spectacular, comes to an end.
The ball was in play for long periods in the opening 40 minutes, which will be sure to test the lungs of these players in round one.
Each side will have positives, but both will be annoyed about some defensive lapses.
This shapes to be a close one to end Friday night NRL.
25' TRY: Munro has his second for Souths
Tyrone Munro has his second try — but again, neither a Rabbitoh nor Dolphin wants to catch a kick.
This time a cross-field kick from Souths is contested by no-one.
It hits the knee of Munro, and the Souths winger chases and gets to the footy first for the score.
21' TRY: Dolphins score on a wild final-tackle play
Winger Jamayne Isaako has scored the first try for the Dolphins, and Souths will be kicking themselves.
A cross-field kick to the corner on the final tackle was allowed to bounce by Souths.
The Dolphins then pass the footy back infield, and Sean O'Sullivan then kicks. It goes into the back of the Rabbitohs player, and back into the hands of the Dolphin Tom Gilbert.
Gilbert gets and offload back to O'Sullivan who passes to Herbie Farnworth.
Farnworth then passes to winger Isaako, who dives and scores in the corner.
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett will not be pleased with that defensive effort from his team.
11' TRY: Souths score the first try through Tyrone Munro
The Rabbitohs are the first to score tonight.
The Dolphins gave away a penalty, then a set restart, to give Souths a great opportunity.
Rabbitohs' five-eight Cody Walker runs to the left. Walker double-pumps, then passes out the back to fullback Jye Gray.
Souths have the overlap and Gray passes to Tyrone Munro who scores untouched.
10' Rabbitohs and Dolphins trading sets to start contest
It has been an even start at Western Sydney Stadium.
South Sydney has had the one true scoring chance, but the Dolphins' scrambling defence was up to the task.
There has been some pushing and shovingat times, with both teams wanting to assert themselves, physically.
Jarome Luai talks to ABC Sport after Tigers loss
Dolphins and Rabbitohs take the field in Sydney
The relocated match between the Rabbitohs and Dolphins is here.
Moved from Brisbane due to the impending cyclone, there are a few Dolphins who elected to not make the trip south and stay with their families.
The Dolphins will charter a flight home tomorrow morning, ABC Sport has been told.
Fletcher Sharpe joins ABC Sport
"It definitely wasn't pretty. Plenty to work on. At times there when things weren't going our way we could've turned away but we stayed in the game and got the result." — Newcastle player Fletcher Sharpe.
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