Stan has released the trailer for the three-part Stan original documentary Series Dawn of the Dolphins, with the first episode premiering on Monday, March 6.
Coinciding with 2023 NRL season launch, Dawn of the Dolphins will document the formative months of the first new club to join the National Rugby League (NRL) in 16 years.
The documentary will feature unprecedented access to the tale of the Queensland-based side as they prepare to transition from successful community club to elite professional force in the world’s leading rugby league competition.
The fly-on-the-wall camera crew track the year-long preparations, from securing the successful bid to the 2023 kickoff, in a story anchored by the business of becoming ‘NRL-ready’ – including rare glimpses of the pressures and expectations facing the club.
Cailah Scobie, chief content officer at Stan, said: “Dawn of the Dolphins is a uniquely compelling look at the sacrifice and determination required to launch a top tier sporting club. Having access to the inner sanctum of the greatest NRL coach of all time in Wayne Bennett is a distinct privilege, and we look forward to sharing the fascinating story of this proud club.”
Navigating the club through their first tentative steps is supercoach Wayne Bennett, a giant of the sport, being the most successful NRL coach in history with seven premiership wins. Bennett is a notably private person who returns home to Brisbane to oversee recruitment and help lay the building blocks for long-term success.
Joining Bennett is CEO Terry Reader, an experienced sports administrator who deals with the challenges of creating a club from scratch. And the support cast grows week by week, including Peter O’Sullivan, the country’s most revered talent spotter, and the man negotiating the club’s first major signings.
Terry Reader, CEO of the Redcliffe Dolphins, said: “It has been a pleasure to partner with Stan and launch the Dolphins to a national audience and really help tell the story of the origin of our club, and the journey to be ready within a time frame of 15 months to play in the NRL.
“Giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look into our dressing room, meetings and training sessions, will showcase the hard work that many passionate people put in behind the scenes to launch an NRL club. We can’t wait to get our season underway, and for viewers to welcome us into their homes and hopefully create new fans and members of the Dolphins.”
This three-episode series is an exclusive backstage pass to a real-life portrayal of a start-up sports organisation, of livelihoods that will hang off the numbers on the scoreboard, of a talent-rich region hungry for its own flagship NRL club, and the building of a business from the ground up.
Dawn of the Dolphins is a Stan original documentary series produced by Onion TV, in association with Screen Queensland.
Dawn of the Dolphins premieres weekly from March 6, only on Stan.