Warriors unravel in thriller despite Dolphins' Katoa setback

After clawing back to a late lead, a wretched day for the Warriors' starting centres came home to roost for the visitors in a nerve-shredding defeat.

The Warriors have suffered a third two-point loss in four matches, courtesy of a wild 26-24 result in favour of the Dolphins at a slippery Suncorp Stadium in front of more than 40,000.

The visitors led by eight after 20 minutes, trailed by eight with 20 minutes to go and gamely battled back to hit the front late through Sam Healey.

But with less than four minutes left to defend their hard-earned advantage, the Warriors surrendered it again excruciatingly easy as Selwyn Cobbo scrambled over for the leveller.

Jamayne Isaako nailed the match-winning conversion from out wide with two minutes left.

The Dolphins will be celebrating a gutsy result that sees them draw level with the Warriors in equal-second after losing No.7 linchpin Isaiya Katoa to injury midway through the first half.

In a seesawing, dramatic and highly entertaining encounter where most of the key statistical areas finished relatively even, the Dolphins were easily the more dangerous attacking unit — making eight line-breaks to five (it was 6-1 at one stage) and 48 tackle-breaks to 30.

The fanbase venting is certain to zero on diabolical displays from Adam Pompey and Ali Leiataua, again exposing the Warriors’ age-old lack of genuine quality and depth in the centres in jarring and costly fashion.

Both sides scored tries from bombs early, with a Dallin Watene-Zelezniak drop leading to Selwyn Cobbo’s opener and Jacob Laban screaming through to take Chanel Harris-Tavita’s pinpoint kick.

In a frantic subsequent period, Te Maire Martin and Tanner Stowers-Smith produced stunning corner try-savers on Cobbo and Kodi Nikorima, respectively, while the Dolphins lost Katoa to a dislocated wrist — the game not even 15 minutes old.

The home side’s personnel blow was compounded by another CHT-Laban aerial partnership, with Martin accepting the second-rower’s brilliant repeat effort to send DWZ in for his 75th try for the club in his 100th appearance. Adam Pompey drilled the sideline conversion for 12-4.

The Dolphins recalibrated, however, and had the best of the remainder of the first half…aided by the eye-watering incompetence of the Warriors’ centres.

Ali Leiataua’s defensive rush of blood allowed Nikorima to send dangerman Herbie Farnworth cruising through in the 23rd minute.

The Warriors still looked set to head into halftime with a lead, until twin handling howlers from Adam Pompey — the latter having the ball stripped one-on-one by Nikorima in the first hit-up of a seven-tackle 20-metre restart — gave the Dolphins a late chance.

A right-side shift caught the Warriors short, with Harris-Tatvita’s valiant attempt not enough to deny Jamayne Isaako, who produced a sensational finish, from scoring his eighth try in as many games between the clubs.

Isaako celebrated passing 1,500 points in the NRL with the four-pointer by curling the conversion through from touch for a 16-12 advantage.

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The Dolphins got right on top during the first 15 minutes of the second half, dominating the ruck and finding holes in the Warriors’ defence with alarming regularity. Nikorima and Farnworth were proving nearly impossible to handle as the visitors’ right edge repeatedly buckled.

The Warriors did remarkably well — or were at least fortunate — to limit the damage to merely another Isaako try after Jack Bostock beat Pompey all ends up.

The momentum eventually swung, though, and a slick scrum play with Chanel Harris-Tavita and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava (who switched to left centre following DWZ’s hamstring injury exit, with Pompey going to the right wing) combining to put Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad over.

After an ultra-tense period where the Warriors had most of the running, Healey plunged over from dummy-half in the 75th minute to grab the lead. Pompey’s fourth conversion of the afternoon made it 24-20.

But the Warriors’ failure to clean up the short kick-off — with the new right edge of Leiataua and Pompey targetted — fed into an almost inevitable conclusion.

Cobbo, who earlier made three errors carrying the ball out of the Dolphins’ end, picked up a loose pass and somehow turned a one-on-four into a score-levelling try…with Leiataua’s and Pompey’s laconic tendencies again exposed.

Isaako’s conversion never looked like missing.

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Positives can be found in the performance of second-row tyro Laban, who was utterly enormous, while Mitch Barnett, Taine Tuapiki and Te Maire Martin put in huge efforts.

The Warriors head into their last bye licking physical and psychological wounds, with Watene-Zelezniak seemingly set to join Alofiana Khan-Pereira, James Fisher-Harris, Leka Halasima and Jackson Ford in the casualty ward, alongside season-ending setbacks to Tanah Boyd and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

Rumoured mid-season pick-up Luke Laulilii, the 20-year-old winger from Wests Tigers, may need to come straight into the side — though he probably wouldn’t given the Warriors face the Tigers at Campbelltown in Round 19.

The likes of makeshift NSW Cup centre Jye Linnane could come into calculations with Pompey on report for another knee-lift, if he hasn’t played himself out of the team on form.

Meanwhile, the Warriors are now 1-3 in games decided by less than eight points in 2026 — after going 8-4 in 2025.

It’s an intriguing little juncture Andrew Webster and the Warriors find themselves in despite clinging to their top-two status, as they eye off nine-game stretch into the playoffs.