Coach Mark Champion wants to return to the helm of the Dolphins, and he’s confident most of the senior core of players will come back, too.

A promising group of junior players will make big leaps forward in the competition next year under the guidance of those seniors.

Brad Barnett had a standout year, playing plenty of minutes.

The Dolphins led at almost every turn on Saturday, but went down to the Sutherland Sharks in the dying stages of the game, but they lost 59-57.

The Port team came out of the blocks firing at Sutherland, and led 24-14 at the first break and 30-24 at halftime.

At three-quarter time, the Dolphins were ahead 45-44 but were over-ran in the last quarter.

Lance Guild put in a super effort in the loss, scoring 18 points for the Dolphins.

It was heartbreaking for the team, but Champion had plenty of praise after a fine season in which the Dolphins finished second in their pool behind Newcastle Hunters.

Champion gave his team 10 out of 10 for effort.

“I was really pleased with them,” he said. “You can’t knock the effort the boys put in.”

Champion awaits news from the board as to whether he’ll be in charge next season. He hoped to continue building on the Dolphins success.

Pre-season training will start in November.