The Nathan Lyon of the NRL: Meet the union prodigy who has gone ...

The Dolphins are something of a permanent fairytale in the NRL at the moment, but they might be about to get even more loveable with the addition of one of the most unlikely debutants in recent years: Valynce Te Whare.

Wayne Bennett is set to make the call on the Kiwi-born centre ahead of Redcliffe’s first appearance at Magic Round, with the former gardener, rugby union prodigy and lower grade legend Te Whare on course to be handed an NRL debut at the showpiece event, where the new boys will take on the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday evening.

There have been no shortcuts for Te Whare: he was mowing the lawns at Redcliffe’s Moreton Daily Stadium last year while earning his stripes for the Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, having been signed to the club well ahead of its NRL launch in 2023.

It’s a move reminiscent of Nathan Lyon, who was curating the Adelaide Oval and playing grade cricket in South Australia before bursting onto the national scene and eventually becoming Australia’s best spinner since Shane Warne.

Indeed, Te Whare began his rugby league life in the Brisbane A Grade competition at the age of 20, having never plyaed the game in his youth. He was poached from New Zealand rugby union, where he was a standout junior with Waikato and King Country, before making the move over the Tasman.

Where ‘Garry’ made off-breaks his trademark, ‘Val Meninga’ has done it with tackle breaks. The 108kg outside back has proven one of the hardest men to stop in the lower grades, averaging four per game en route to 16 tries in just 20 career appearances in the Q Cup.

It’s the sort of form that has seen the youngster become a cult hero among those who follow State Cup footy – winning Centre of the Year last year – and plenty of Dolphins tragics have been calling for his inclusion in the top grade.

He made our very own list of rookies to watch before the season on the back of strong form in the Trials, a list that also included breakout stars Paul Alamoti, Alofiana Khan-Pereira and fellow Dolphin Isaiya Katoa.

Bennett has so far been cautious with a player who has just two years of rugby league under his belt, and he will almost certainly be the least experienced man to take to the Suncorp Stadium field across all eight fixtures of Magic Round.

But if the supercoach believes in him, perhaps we all should. After all, almost everything that the Dolphins have touched has turned to gold so far in 2023.