When the Dolphins last took the field, Kurt Donoghoe went up to feel his face after his teammates were gesturing at him in complete shock.
“I had no idea what was going on,” the utility says, “I went to touch my face and there was a hole in my face.”
Donoghoe suffered a severely broken nose in the early exchanges of his side’s commanding win against the ladder-leading Bulldogs before last week’s bye, yet miraculously returned to the field.
Kurt Donoghoe suffered a severely broken nose in the Dolphins’ win against the Bulldogs.Credit: Getty Images
From there, he made his case for the hooker jumper a compelling one in Jeremy Marshall-King’s absence – scoring a try while running for 94 metres and making 39 tackles.
His brief stint on the sidelines was far from a rest, as he revealed the doctor attempted to put his nose back in place twice before being satisfied the Fiji international could take the field again.
Donoghoe remembers little of incident. All he recalls is the feeling that he needed to be out there to help keep the Dolphins’ season afloat, having already been cruelled of stars Daniel Saifiti, Max Plath, Tom Gilbert and Marshall-King through injury.
“I went into a tackle and remember coming out of it and looking at a few of my teammates in shock,” Donoghoe said.
“I was in a fair bit of pain, but the doctor looked after me pretty good – he had two cracks at it. When he was touching it, it was pretty painful.
“We knew we had to put everything into that game. I did it early in the game and didn’t want to let the boys down.
“It was important we got that win for our season. There were other boys out there busted as well.”
After a horror start to coach Kristian Woolf’s first year with full command of the Dolphins – losing their opening four games – there are signs of life in this squad.
Since that losing run, they have won five of their past eight games – conquering both reigning grand finalists in the Panthers and Storm – to sit just two points outside the top eight, and it has taken some moments of courage from Donoghoe’s teammates to achieve that.
Marquee centre Herbie Farnworth nearly missed the 44-8 triumph of Canterbury-Bankstown, only leaving hospital the morning of the game following a leg infection, while Woolf confirmed Ray Stone had been playing with injuries in both of his shoulders for “the last couple of weeks”.
Plath (foot) and Marshall-King (leg) are in line to make their comebacks this week against the Dragons – two men who have both filled the No.9 jumper Donoghoe has starred in.
But the 23-year-old, who thrived in the halves for Fiji and at fullback during the preseason, was unflappable when asked of where he best fit.
“I am happy to go wherever. He [Marshall-King] is another string to our bow, the more quality players we get on that field the better,” Donoghoe said.
“The last two years I have been in and out of the team, so be able to stick to one spot and for [Woolf] to have belief in me gives me heaps of confidence.
“I am playing my best footy and I have been able to be consistent.”
