NRL Highlights: Dolphins v Dragons
Dolphins take on the St George Illawarra Dragons in Round 14 of the 2025 NRL Premiership at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
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The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
‘The finished article': Five ways Jarome Luai has already improved the Tigers
Improved Koroisau's game Koroisau has always been a dominant dummy-half, especially last year when Lachlan Galvin was still learning his craft, and there was no one dominant playmaker. But with Luai's arrival, Koroisau has noticed teams devoting much of their attention to him, which in turn has started to open up more space through the ruck. The Dolphins only had eyes for Luai and Galvin in a recent match, and Koroisau was able to pinch easy metres before scoring a try. 'Everyone watches him when he's on the field,' Koroisau said. 'They're waiting for him to get the ball, [looking] at the shape on his outside, which frees up the middle of the ruck a bit more, and that helps my game. 'People are always watching him. He's a big talker out there, which has helped me as well.' Long kicking game There were plenty of questions about how Luai would handle running a team now he was without former halves partner and Penrith chief controller, Nathan Cleary. Panthers coach Ivan Cleary noted Luai had started to take on more responsibility last year while Nathan was out injured, and part of that transition included doing a lot of more work on his long kicking game. 'He's always had a good short game, but his long game is definitely getting better,' Cleary said this week. 'He's touching the ball more, being around both sides of the footy, and dangerous.' A marketer's dream The Tigers brand has been boosted by Luai and his natural charisma and charm in front of the camera and with sponsors. Richardson cannot recall the last time the recruit knocked back a chance to promote one of the club's community or Polynesian programs in Sydney's west. Before Christmas, at his first signing session with fans at Concord, Luai stayed back for nearly an hour and a half after training to sign every autograph and pose for every photo. Anthony Field, blue Wiggle and longtime Tigers fan, has spent his entire life in the entertainment industry. After welcoming Luai and a few of the players into the recording studio at the start of the year, he was so blown away by Luai's vocals he said he was prepared to produce an album for him. Overdue professionalism The best thing about signing premiership-winners is they know the lofty standards required to achieve success. Loading Luai has had a direct influence on the squad's youngsters, with Richardson saying: 'He sets a good example for the younger players, and has shown them what you need to do to be a professional – he's the ultimate professional.' Marshall said on Saturday: 'Jarome's impact on the club, you can't measure it. In terms of what he's brought to us in terms of standards, professionalism, competing on every play, leadership, all the things he's really good at, he's been outstanding for us. 'We won six games last year, four games the year before, and four games [in 2023]. We've won five so far [in 2025] – we're not happy with that, we think we've got more in us, but he's added a lot to us. We love having him here.'
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The finished article': Five ways Jarome Luai has already improved the Tigers
Improved Koroisau's game Koroisau has always been a dominant dummy-half, especially last year when Lachlan Galvin was still learning his craft, and there was no one dominant playmaker. But with Luai's arrival, Koroisau has noticed teams devoting much of their attention to him, which in turn has started to open up more space through the ruck. The Dolphins only had eyes for Luai and Galvin in a recent match, and Koroisau was able to pinch easy metres before scoring a try. 'Everyone watches him when he's on the field,' Koroisau said. 'They're waiting for him to get the ball, [looking] at the shape on his outside, which frees up the middle of the ruck a bit more, and that helps my game. 'People are always watching him. He's a big talker out there, which has helped me as well.' Long kicking game There were plenty of questions about how Luai would handle running a team now he was without former halves partner and Penrith chief controller, Nathan Cleary. Panthers coach Ivan Cleary noted Luai had started to take on more responsibility last year while Nathan was out injured, and part of that transition included doing a lot of more work on his long kicking game. 'He's always had a good short game, but his long game is definitely getting better,' Cleary said this week. 'He's touching the ball more, being around both sides of the footy, and dangerous.' A marketer's dream The Tigers brand has been boosted by Luai and his natural charisma and charm in front of the camera and with sponsors. Richardson cannot recall the last time the recruit knocked back a chance to promote one of the club's community or Polynesian programs in Sydney's west. Before Christmas, at his first signing session with fans at Concord, Luai stayed back for nearly an hour and a half after training to sign every autograph and pose for every photo. Anthony Field, blue Wiggle and longtime Tigers fan, has spent his entire life in the entertainment industry. After welcoming Luai and a few of the players into the recording studio at the start of the year, he was so blown away by Luai's vocals he said he was prepared to produce an album for him. Overdue professionalism The best thing about signing premiership-winners is they know the lofty standards required to achieve success. Loading Luai has had a direct influence on the squad's youngsters, with Richardson saying: 'He sets a good example for the younger players, and has shown them what you need to do to be a professional – he's the ultimate professional.' Marshall said on Saturday: 'Jarome's impact on the club, you can't measure it. In terms of what he's brought to us in terms of standards, professionalism, competing on every play, leadership, all the things he's really good at, he's been outstanding for us. 'We won six games last year, four games the year before, and four games [in 2023]. We've won five so far [in 2025] – we're not happy with that, we think we've got more in us, but he's added a lot to us. We love having him here.'
The Age
6 hours ago
- The Age
Sam Short was Australia's brightest hope on the first night of the Olympics. He flopped
'It just sucked. You dream your whole life about the Olympics and you miss out on the podium by, what, a fingernail? That's upsetting. 'I definitely wasn't myself in Paris. It was one of the lowest moments of my career, considering how hard I worked for it. It didn't pan out the way I wanted it to. 'I didn't really want to speak [to the media]. I kind of got in my head a little bit. I've definitely become mentally stronger over the last couple of months and done a lot of work with a sports psychologist.' Short will be back in the water next week at the Australian swimming trials in Adelaide, hoping to qualify for the world championships in Singapore that start on July 27. It was at last year's Olympic trials in Brisbane when it first emerged that Short wasn't at 100 per cent. He had been privately battling issues throughout the year. In January, Short tore the subscapularis muscle in his shoulder and was managing tendonitis and tennis elbow. Every stroke through the water was a painful reminder of what he was up against. He then picked up gastro before trials, losing five kilograms in the process. He made the Dolphins Olympic team, but admits there was an element of panic. Instead of resting, Short trained harder to make up for lost time — a decision that ultimately contributed to his struggles at the biggest moment of his career. 'I kind of just buried myself and ruined my immune system from that,' Short said. 'I was going into trials wounded. You always go into those things thinking you're going to be great. When you don't, it's a bit of a shock. 'If I'm doing 1000 strokes and eight kilometres a session, just to be fit enough for my races, that pain adds up through the whole week. It's really taxing … and gets very annoying, very quickly.' Short is at peace with what happened in Paris. Luck did not go his way, and he has already achieved much in a short career. Not once did he consider pulling out, despite knowing deep down his chances of success were slim — even if he finished less than a second behind 400m freestyle gold medallist Lukas Martens. 'I know other people that would do crazy stuff just for the opportunity I earned,' Short said. 'You've always got to step up.' Loading With his shoulder now feeling 'really strong', Short returned to the water. Instead of racing at Australia's national championships in April, Short found himself in Brazil, of all places, after a stint competing in the United States. His times were impressive, coming off a heavy block of altitude training. It bodes well for Monday night, when Short will race Olympic silver medallist Elijah Winnington in what will be one of the standout showdowns across six days of racing. Short's 400m freestyle time of three minutes, 43.84 seconds in April is the third-fastest in the world this year. 'I'm just so excited to race,' Short said. 'I've been training really well and I love the Adelaide pool. There's no way I won't be racing the best in the world again.' Titmus, who will be commentating for Channel Nine in Adelaide, says it's a hard race to call. 'I think there's hunger from both sides,' Titmus said. 'Although Elijah won a silver medal at the Olympics, which is outstanding, I believe he has more to give. Sam, I believe, has that hunger there that maybe Elijah doesn't. It'll be a wonderful race.'
