The Dolphins made a late switch at hooker for Round 14, moving Jeremy Marshall-King into the starting role as they prepared to chase a fifth straight win against the Cowboys. Max Plath was set to begin the game on the bench, while Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow stayed at fullback and Isaiya Katoa kept the halfback job.
That is why cowboys vs dolphins is drawing attention now: the Dolphins started the season 2-5 and have not lost since, a run that has pushed them inside the top eight and turned them into the hottest team in the NRL at the moment. North Queensland also bring plenty of form, with Scott Drinkwater named at fullback and Jake Clifford at halfback, and the Cowboys sitting on the third most wins in the competition.
The matchup carries a strange edge because the ladder does not match the win column. The Cowboys are outside the top eight despite having two more wins than the Dolphins, a gap created by a scheduling quirk that has left one side better placed on points than on pure results. It gives Round 14 a sharper feel than a standard Queensland blockbuster and makes the stakes plain for both teams.
Form has also tilted the conversation toward the Dolphins. They have won their past two clashes against the Cowboys by a combined 73 points, a margin that suggests the recent history between the sides has been one-way even before this latest meeting. With Marshall-King promoted and Plath moving to the bench, the Dolphins are leaning into continuity rather than caution, and that choice underlines how far they have come since that 2-5 start.
What comes next is simple: the only unanswered part that matters is whether the Dolphins can turn the streak into five and deepen the pressure on a Cowboys side with more wins but less to show for them on the ladder. If they do, the gap between current form and ladder position will look even more awkward.
