2023 Dolphins (NRL) season

The 2023 Dolphins season is historically the inaugural season for the Dolphins club in the professional National Rugby League (NRL) football competition in Australia. With Wayne Bennett as head coach and Jesse Bromwich as the regular team captain, the Dolphins competed in the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership but did not qualify for the finals. Nevertheless, they finished in thirteenth place, ahead of four other established teams.

Dolphins goal-kicking winger Jamayne Isaako recorded both the highest number of NRL tries and points in the 2023 competition; a feat last achieved by Canberra Raiders goal-kicking centre Mal Meninga in 1990.^[6]

In Round 9, the Dolphins played their first golden point game but lost 30–31 to the Canberra Raiders at McDonalds Park, Wagga Wagga.^[7]

The NRL later conceded that match officials missed a crucial knock-on call late in Canberra's golden-point victory when the former regained possession after knocking the ball into the arm of a Dolphins player. "The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley said referee Peter Gough was obscured in his view of the knock on, but the sideline officials should have pulled the play up." Otherwise, Annesley advised that no policy changes could be considered until the current season is over.^[8][9]

In Round 13, an illegal try on the seventh tackle of a set was awarded to the St. George Illawarra Dragons in their 26–12 loss to the Dolphins at Kayo Stadium; the decision would not have been overturned even if the Dolphins had lost the game.^[10]