Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf admits he needs to get to the bottom of why his team is so flat at times and dominant at others after a 36-26 loss to the Roosters in Magic Round.
A week after surrendering a 28-10 lead over the Raiders, the Dolphins fought hard in patches but ultimately conceded too many tries to a ruthless Roosters outfit.
Despite beating the Storm and Panthers this season, the Dolphins are now 3-6 and in danger of losing touch with the top eight.
Woolf conceded his side looked flat to start both halves, which they need to address to turn their season around.
“You’re probably right; we got beaten a little bit physically at the start, so I’m not quite sure,” Woolf said.
“We certainly felt like we had a good energy in the warm-up and the talk and the sheds and that kind of thing.
“But while we came out a little bit flat, I’d love to get to the bottom of that.”
The Dolphins are in the midst of an injury crisis with their middle forwards, but Woolf refused to use that as an excuse and took aim at his side’s defense.
“We’ve obviously got some good players out in the middle; there’s no doubt there,” Woolf said.
“But no, I don’t think that was a reason for tonight. I don’t think we played as well as we can with the team that we’ve got.
“What I was disappointed with the most is I don’t think we defended at our standards.”
Woolf expects some cavalry to return next week but had some bad news on Max Plath.
“Kaufusi should be a good chance for next week; he was pretty close this week,” Woolf said.
“He was just not quite confident enough in his running to play.
“Kurt Donoghoe is very similar. Kurt was realistically less than seven days, even though it’s two games. It’s been less than seven days since he hurt himself at captain’s run last week, so I’m very confident that he’ll be right next week, but he’s got a little bit to get through, obviously.
“Max Plath will be out for a couple of weeks. He’s ended up having a minor surgery. So he’ll be out for three or four weeks.”
Dolphins skipper Tom Gilbert conceded his side needs to be tougher for longer periods to match it with the top teams consistently.
“There’s a bit to like, but I think it’s one of those weeks where we probably need to nail down a few of the finer details that we didn’t get right and they did,” Gilbert said.
“I thought in the little moments and the first couple of exchanges of both halves, they just did the little things really well, and that’s what a tough team does.
“That’s what a team with a tough mindset does. And the Roosters came in with a tough mindset.
“In patches we showed that we do have a tough mindset and some tough players there, but we didn’t want to do that consistently enough tonight, so it’s definitely something we have to address.
“And it’s not something that, as a captain or as a teammate, we want to see again this season, if I’m being honest.”
The Dolphins are in danger of falling too far out of the finals race over the Origin period, and Woolf conceded his side needs to learn from their mistakes.
“Well, look, obviously we would like to have played better the last couple of weeks, certainly from the second half last week,” Woolf said.
“Yeah, we do need to get rolling again. We were rolling really well there for three weeks, and for whatever reason, things have changed.
“So, as I said before, that’s what we need to figure out: why they’ve changed and what we’ve changed to allow that to happen.”
