Andrew Abdo insists the Dolphins can defy history and be an immediate success after green-lighting the Redcliffe-based bid to join the NRL as its 17th team in 2023.
NRL CEO Abdo confirmed on Wednesday that the Dolphins had won the battle for the expansion license, beating out the Brisbane Firehawks and Brisbane Jets.
They are expected to quickly hire Wayne Bennett as their inaugural coach, before being free to pursue players on the open market from November 1.
They become the NRL's first expansion side since Gold Coast in 2007 and the 34th club in the history of the game.
Notably, they will be known solely as the Dolphins and not the Brisbane or Redcliffe Dolphins, with home games to played primarily at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium - the Broncos' home ground - but also as far north as the Sunshine Coast and at their training base at Redcliffe in north-east Brisbane.
The new team will not be given concessions in the manner in which the AFL set up GWS and Gold Coast, with the NRL instead insistent they will have the structures in place for early success.
"We are very different to other sports. We think about expansion differently," Abdo said.
"This is not an exercise in us providing significant assistance from the centre, financial or through concessions or otherwise.
"Expansion needed to happen when we believe we can have a team that can compete from year one, from 2023.
"It was very important for us to see there was a clear plan for this team to be successful straight away on the field and off the field."
History shows that new teams have found it difficult early, with the average wait for a premiership at 20 years.
Melbourne are the big exception to that rule, reaching the finals in their first season and winning a premiership the next.
Part of the Redcliffe bid team's proposal included names of potential heads of football, coaches and recruitment managers, adamant they could build a strong squad.
Bennett himself has experience in setting up a new side after doing so at Brisbane in 1988, but this is a far different operation given 20 of his 24 players that year came direct from the Brisbane Rugby League.
"We have looked at the depth of players, the state cup and over time a team developing their own talent and the natural market place movement," Abdo said.
"They have demonstrated to us how they would go about building a team.
"Who they would contract first up from a non-playing perspective to help them go about contracting.
"It's a very detailed plan on how that will get built and what parameters that will operate in."
The move to 17 teams means the NRL will revert back to a 26-round competition, with every team continuing to play 24 games while having two byes.
It also means the total number of regular-season games increases from 192 to 204, as the NRL continues to negotiate its next free-to-air broadcast deal.