Singled out by opposition captain Ben Hunt for his role in the dismantling the Dragons, hooker Jeremy Marshall-King showed just what the Dolphins were missing at the back of last season while he was sidelined with injury.
With his quick thinking around the ruck, Marshall-King finished the game with a try, a line break, a line break assist and a try assist, with Hunt saying the Kiwi international gave his side “a bath”.
“Right from the jump, it just felt like we were on the back foot, to be honest … they just ran harder than us,” Hunt said in the wake of the heavy loss.
“They won the play of the ball; they were too quick in the ruck and Jeremy Marshall-King gave us a bit of a bath, to be honest.”
When told of the praise from Hunt, a fine exponent of dummy half play at Origin and Test level, Marshall-King said his focus going into the game was just to back himself.
Jeremy Marshall-King Try
“When I play my best, I'm backing myself and doing the little things right with all the effort areas," he said.
“I wasn't happy with my efforts last week and needed to change and step up my game.”
That Marshall-King was able to do just that and have such an influence on the match was telling, despite needing to be off the field while he completed a HIA after copping one of the biggest ‘falcons’ in recent memory mid-way through the first half.
After passing all his concussion protocols, Marshall-King was free to return to again wreak havoc, with the former Bulldog looking to spend every moment he can on the field after a shoulder injury derailed his 2023 campaign.
“I was just unlucky, I got hit in the head and just got me a little bit,” Marshall-King said.
“It sucked that I had to go do a test, but I passed and came back and I was good.
“It wasn't really painful; it probably looked harder than what it was, but it was fine.
“(So far this season I am), feeling good, I got injured halfway through last season and it wasn't just me that got injured, there was a few of us and it sort of hurt us a bit.
“The boys really dug deep last year, but we were missing a lot of people and I just want to get through this season injury-free and just really take it this year.”
Having secured two points after posting their first win of the season, the Dolphins have the bye this weekend and will head to the Gold Coast in Round 4 to face the Titans.