Wayne Bennett Photo: Photosport
Wayne Bennett's Dolphins have ventured north and made the Townsville waters their own with a gritty and hard-fought 32-22 victory over North Queensland in their inaugural clash.
In Good Friday's earlier match, South Sydney dominated Canterbury to win their traditional fixture 50-16 at Stadium Australia.
Without playmakers Sean O'Sullivan and Anthony Milford, former Cowboy Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scored the match-sealing try for the Dolphins after his side thwarted a spirited second-half comeback in front of a sold-out crowd.
Tabuai-Fidow's 78th-minute try capped a gallant effort by Bennett's side, whose second-half errors allowed the Cowboys to cut back a 26-12 half-time lead to 26-22 through tries to Coen Hess and Valentine Holmes.
But Tabuai-Fidow held his nerve to ice the match just shy of the siren off a right-side play to finish the evening with two tries.
Jamayne Isaako crossed for a first-half hat-trick as part of a 20-point haul that also consisted of three conversions and a penalty goal.
Tabuai-Fidow and Isaako now have 16 of the 25 tries scored by the Dolphins this year through six rounds.
Their efforts were built off a bullocking forward pack that made easy yardage in an opening half where the Dolphins never looked phased by a raucous crowd.
They piled on five tries to two in 40 minutes of action that included two sin-bins, 36 points and a couple of former Cowboys getting one back on their old club.
The Dolphins punished the Cowboys five times from their six first-half errors, the first through Isaako after the hosts could not gather a loose ball close to their line.
From the resulting set, Isaako crossed on the right edge for the opener. He was in again eight minutes later after Reuben Cotter's error in midfield, with the winger soaring high in the air in the process of grounding the ball.
The Cowboys responded after an exemplary cut-out pass by Scott Drinkwater put Kyle Feldt in for his first try of the season, but when Tom Dearden gave away a seven-tackle set the Dolphins were back on the attack.
Tabuai-Fidow then beat four tacklers through the middle to for his first try of the night.
At 14-6 and reeling, the situation grew worse for the Cowboys when Hess was binned for a late shot on Isaiya Katoa, and they were punished again with Isaako crossing for his third.
Tom Gilbert joined in on the action seven minutes from half-time before Feldt had his second when Kodi Nikorima was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Riley Price.
Jeremy Marshall-King was a stand-out at dummy half for the Dolphins while Herman Ese'ese was dominant in the midfield.
Bunnies hammer Bulldogs
Latrell Mitchell silenced his critics by leading South Sydney to a thrashing of a depleted Canterbury side that is set to be without Josh Addo-Carr for the foreseeable future.
In a week when his work rate as a fullback had been heavily scrutinised, Mitchell responded with a 26-point haul that included three tries in his 150th NRL match.
The only downside for the 25-year-old fullback would be the sight of close friend Addo-Carr limping off 10 minutes into the match.
The 35,211-strong crowd let out a collective wince when Addo-Carr went down with a syndesmosis injury that is likely to diminish his chances of a State of Origin recall for NSW.
Addo-Carr joins a growing injury list at Belmore, with coach Cameron Ciraldo without the services of Tevita Pangai Jr, Luke Thompson, Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Viliame Kikau.
Down on troops, the Bulldogs sprung an early surprise with a breakaway try from Jake Averillo giving them an early lead.
Addo-Carr's injury forced them into a reshuffle and the Rabbitohs were happy to target the hole vacated by the winger on the Bulldogs' left edge.
Captain Cameron Murray got the Rabbitohs back level with a close-range try before Mitchell added a penalty goal from right in front of the sticks.
And the fullback was only warming up.
Mitchell finished two slick backline moves that isolated centre Paul Alamoti, who had been deployed in Addo-Carr's wing spot, and even snuck in an attempt at a two-point field goal.
His shot was good but unfortunately for the milestone man, referee Gerard Sutton had already blown his whistle to break up a fracas.
Back rower Jacob Host crashed over on the stroke of half-time to put the Rabbitohs 26-6 up and Canterbury did a good job to keep their opponents at bay at the start of the second half.
Matt Burton registered a try scoring double for the Bulldogs but when Jacob Preston was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle on Rabbitohs winger Izaac Thompson, the floodgates opened.
- ABC/AAP