“I know what he is to the team and the boys around him, so I’m expecting nothing less of his best come this weekend. I know he’ll stand up.

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“You could look across the field, and he had this sense of belief in his eyes, and when he talked, that [made you believe] you were always in the game or a chance of winning,” he said.

“That’s what I take the most out of him, his belief, and I definitely looked up to him playing alongside him.”

Kaufusi, who will return from a two-game suspension – along with fellow prop Francis Molo – to help revive the Dolphins’ finals cause, admits feeling guilt following his dangerous tackle on Warriors forward Jacob Laban, who broke his leg and would miss the rest of the season.

“That tackle was pretty sloppy, and that’s exactly why they’re trying to get rid of it, because boys do get injured from it,” Kaufusi said.

“Obviously, I’m not happy to be spending time on the sidelines, but I do cop that.”

The club’s three-game charge to the finals comes in do-or-die circumstances – currently sitting ninth and two points adrift of the top eight – with Kaufusi’s comeback looming as a last audition for a contract extension at Redcliffe.

“We’re in talks still, so hopefully we’ll get that sorted soon. I’d say [I could play on] another year or two, depending on how the body goes,” Kaufusi said.

“These suspensions have given me a bit of longevity, so maybe three or four [years], given my extent. But I’ll take it a year at a time, and we’ll see how I go.”

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