Five-eighth Anthony Milford looms as a pivotal figure in the Dolphins' plans to upset Penrith in the wake of the extended absence of hooker Jeremy Marshall-King.
The veteran playmaker trained with the main squad at No.6 on Wednesday and it appears likely he will start against the Panthers at Kayo Stadium on Sunday with regular five-eighth Isaiya Katoa to revert to the bench and share the hooking role.
Milford came off the bench in the 23-21 win over Gold Coast and set up two tries with a pass and a bomb.
Coach Wayne Bennett said after the match that he just had to find a way to get Milford involved after he returned from a three-week suspension.
"I thought he turned the game (against the Titans) with his speed. He ran the ball well and added a fair bit to us in attack," assistant coach Kristian Woolf said.
"What got missed is that he added a fair bit to us in defence as well. It is great to have him make that influence on the game.
"We did train him there today. It doesn’t mean Isaiya is not going to play there as well. I thought they worked well in tandem.
"We have a few options there and it is probably the most options we’ve had since round five or six."
Katoa went into dummy-half against the Titans when Milford came on to give starting hooker Harrison Graham a rest.
"That worked well for us and I thought Isaiya handled that really well," Woolf said.
Woolf said it was unknown how long Marshall-King would be out. Dolphins head of performance Jeremy Hickmans told AAP last week he had a labral tear in his shoulder but his injury wasn’t season ending.
"We’ve got to make sure we give him time to recover," Woolf said.
The Dolphins, on 20 points and two points outside the eight, will likely need 32 points to play finals football.
That leaves them very little margin for error in the final eight rounds. After Penrith they have the bye and then take on Canterbury in Bundaberg and Newcastle in Perth. Away games against the Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers follow before home clashes against North Queensland and the Warriors.
Apart from an ongoing injury to Marshall-King they are back to full strength and will be hoping for better fortune on the injury and suspension front.
"If you win more games than you lose then you tend to play finals and that’s what we need to focus on at the back end of the year," Woolf said.
