The Sydney Roosters beat the Dolphins 36-20 in Brisbane on Friday, reaching their first grand final since winning the premiership in 2019.
They will meet the winner of Sunday's preliminary final between Penrith and Newcastle.
Prop Lindsay Collins was influential against the Dolphins, scoring a try and helping overwhelm their forwards.
The 30-year-old said the opening stint was "probably the hardest bit of footy I've ever played," before Mark Nawaqanitawase's 90-metre intercept try gave the Roosters a chance to recover.
Collins is the only player to have featured in multiple preliminary-final victories without a grand final appearance.
He was left out of the Roosters' winning grand final teams in 2018 and 2019, making way for Dylan Napa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves respectively.
His 2024 preliminary final ended after 18 seconds when Nelson Asofa-Solomona hit him high after kick-off.
"Surreal; you work so hard for it and it's not easy, has taken me a little while to get my opportunity but I get one next week," Collins said.
He credited the club's preseason trek along Kokoda's 96-kilometre path, forged by Australian soldiers in 1942, with helping the team endure.
"It's everything; the preseason, the trip to Kokoda, the whole season goes into this moment now," he said.
Collins said football pressure was minor compared with serious challenges elsewhere: "Pressure is someone dealing with cancer; there's a lot more ****ing shit going on in the world than playing a game of football."