'It's our home this week': Nicholls marks his turf ahead of derby

The sight of Kotoni Staggs screaming ‘this is our home’ as he iced a dramatic Broncos win in the inaugural Battle of Brisbane last year was enough to make any Phin fume.

Exploding out of the blocks with wins over the Roosters, Raiders and Knights in their debut NRL season, the Dolphins headed to Suncorp Stadium in Round 4 hell bent on making a statement against ‘big brother’.

Leading 12-8 with a tick over 10 minutes to play, Wayne Bennett’s upstarts stood on the verge of a monumental triumph, before tries to Kurt Capewell and Staggs got the Broncos home in front of 51,047 passionate fans.

After collecting an Anthony Milford on his own tryline, Stagg raced 100 metres to seal the result for the Broncos, who weren’t about to give up bragging rights having called Suncorp home since 1988.

With both sides fighting to keep their season alive when they meet for the fourth time this Saturday, Dolphins prop Mark Nicholls had a clear message for his crosstown rivals when reminded of Staggs’ boast.

“We’ll be in the home sheds on the weekend so it’s our home on Saturday,” Nicholls said.

“It’s do-or-die, we now know we have to win two games to play finals, and if we do manage to win those two games it's a good warm-up for us.

"Once September rolls around you need to put your best foot forward or you go home, so eight or nine months you've done before it is over.

"It comes early for us but it makes the story better if we can get the win.

“We just need to get back to basics and run harder and tackle harder than the Broncos.

“In the end it doesn’t matter who you put out there, if you get 17 guys who turn up who just want to run hard and tackle hard then good things will happen.”

Just who those 17 players wearing a Dolphins jersey on Saturday remains a mystery, with Jeremy Marshall-King, Tevita Pangai jnr and Trai Fuller all in the mix to move from the reserves list into the game day squad

Sidelined since Round 17 due to a foot injury, Marshall-King has been a frustrated spectator as the Dolphins have lost five of their past seven to plummet to 10th spot.

The crafty hooker would be a massive inclusion for the season-defining clash while Pangai’s muscle and Fuller’s magic could also come in very handy.

“We are already without Kodi [Nikorima] and Jesse [Bromwich] and we’ll have to wait until Friday to see what side we put out there,” Nicholls said.

“It’s not ideal but it makes the story better if we win.

“Trai Fuller runs harder than anyone I’ve seen given his size, so if he can bring that on Saturday night I’ll be happy.

“Pretty sure he has been our players’ player in most games he has played for us.”
The man making the final calls on who takes the field will be Bennett, who has been at the centre of criticism this week that he has taken some of his focus off the Dolphins since agreeing to terms with Souths in May.

Having spent three years under Bennett at the Rabbitohs and the past two seasons at the Dolphins, Nicholls was quick to dismiss that theory.

“That just external noise,” he said. “From day dot Woolfy [Kristian Woolf] signed to be the head coach, so if anyone is playing bad that’s a bit silly because Woolfy is coaching next year so you’re not going to have a spot in the team if he realises that you’re not committed to training or playing this year.

“Wayne hates losing as much as anyone but he has been the same from what I’ve seen. I’m sure he’s excited for this weekend even though he won’t show it on the outside.

"Wayne is good at simplifying his footy and I think he likes being the underdog as much as anyone and I'm sure he'll have a speech to get us fired up and ready to go."