Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf has labelled his side “brave” after mounting a late comeback against the Sharks despite being decimated by injuries.

The NRL newcomers have been cruelled by a wave of injuries to crucial players, with seven regular first graders currently sidelined and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow rested after Origin.

Tom Flegler is yet to feature this year due to an ongoing shoulder problem, while Tom Gilbert, Max Plath, Daniel Saifiti and Jack Bostock have suffered season-ending blows.

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Throw in the mix a knee injury to Felise Kaufusi, a hamstring strain for Kodi Nikorima and a fresh head knock suffered by Mark Nicholls on Friday night and it’s fair to say it’s been a tough run.

Regardless, Woolf’s side sit just outside the top eight after their latest loss and he isn’t making any excuses as they battle for a spot in the finals.

“They are a brave group, I love the way they turn up for each other and keep fighting for each other,” Woolf said.

“It’s what you want your footy team to look like, and we aren’t interested in making a deal of it either in terms of who is out.

“We have enough good players out on the field to do something with it, and we will keep fighting with what we’ve got.

“I thought we were very brave for a lot of reasons, we have a lot of blokes out. We lost Mark (Nicholls) and that changes a lot of things.

“For different reasons, a lot of them our own, we were on the back foot for a lot of the game too but we were brave. We hung in, disappointed with the loss but very proud of the effort.”

Trai Fuller is another player who has spent a long period in the casualty ward after suffering an ACL injury in last year’s Queensland Cup grand final.

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The 28-year-old returned in reserve grade on May 31, playing four games before missing the last month of football.

Fuller was named to fill in for Tabuai-Fidow at fullback before the final changes were made to the Dolphins side, and Woolf revealed the livewire No.1 had been battling with a fresh niggle.

“Trai is very early back from his knee reconstruction, he has played four games of 80 minutes and he hasn’t played for three weeks,” Woolf said.

“He had another niggle on the same knee. If he had been playing the last few weeks he is an obvious choice there, but we just didn’t think it was quite right to throw him in just yet.”