The Dolphins acts of bravery inspiring season turnaround; Kurt Donoghoe, Ray Stone

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.

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.

Loading

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.