Departing captain Jesse Bromwich hopes he has helped set a strong foundation at the Dolphins, despite a moment of madness in the final minutes of his 338th and last NRL game.
Bromwich was downcast after the Dolphins' 14-6 loss to the Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday, which knocked his team out of the play-off race and punched Newcastle's finals ticket.
The 35-year-old prop was sin-binned for a high tackle on Knights captain Kalyn Ponga in the 68th minute.
Newcastle led 14-0 at the time and, though centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scored while Bromwich was off the field, his absence proved costly as the Dolphins could not get any closer.
"It's a bit of an overwhelming feeling that I left the team and the club down, with that 10-minute sin-bin," said Bromwich, who announced earlier this year that the 2024 season would be his last.
"Once that goes away, I'll deal with the whole retirement thing, but it sucks going out like that."
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett, who is also leaving the club but will continue his career at South Sydney, was impressed but not surprised at Bromwich's response.
"That's the psych of the guy," Bennett said.
"He doesn't like letting the team down, and he got the sin-bin, and he's got no-one else to blame but himself and he's not blaming anybody else.
"He's accepting responsibility, that's how he feels, and that's how he should feel."
Jesse Bromwich sent to the bin
Bromwich's decorated career included three NRL premierships and three World Club Challenge titles with Melbourne, 34 Tests for New Zealand including the 2014 Four Nations trophy, and two seasons as the Dolphins' foundation captain.
Under Bromwich's leadership, the Dolphins won 11 games this season to finish 10th and were in finals contention right up until the full-time siren sounded on Sunday, falling one win short of their first post-season appearance.
That came after their nine wins and 13th position last year, and Bromwich anticipates more improvement next year under Kristian Woolf, who will step up from assistant to head coach.
"I think it's been a group effort," Bromwich said.
"Certainly from the top down, Wayne from day one let us know what he wanted, and it was our job as a leadership group to drive those standards, and I feel we've done that.
Knights v Dolphins – Round 27, 2024
"Moving forward, Woolfy's got a very good roster on his hands.
"I'm excited for the future of the club, and I think the fans should be excited.
"These young guys out there, they're going to be better next year and we've got a few guys coming in that are going to be good for the club, so I'm excited for the future of the club."
Bennett said Bromwich, brother Kenny, and fellow veteran forwards Felise Kaufusi and Mark Nicholls had helped establish high standards from their teammates in the Dolphins' first two years as an NRL club.
"I think it's part of the reason we play like we play," Bennett said.
"They've always led from the front, they've been very brave players, they're in the twilight of their careers, they're not starting their careers, but their efforts are just exceptional each week.
"I think he's grown really as a leader in the last two years as well.
"There's a lot more responsibility here than leading a team that's top of the table, or where he's come from at Melbourne where they've had that much success.
"We started at the bottom but I think he really grew into the position and I'm very proud of him.
"He's a wonderful man, he's been a great servant to rugby league, and he's influenced a lot of the young men I've got at the Dolphins on behaviour and how to conduct yourself and all that."
Bennett, who will shortly begin his second stint at Souths, did not feel like reflecting on his own contribution at the Dolphins but "I've got nothing but praise for the club and the direction it's going, and I think we've done a lot of things right".
"We're a better team than last year, and we only brought three players in from last year and one of them played about four games for us, Thomas Flegler. He was a huge buy for us," Bennett said.
"The club's headed in the right direction. There's a lot of wonderful people who work there, great playing staff, good guys, so it's heading in the right direction."
