Former Kiwi veteran Kenny Bromwich has announced his retirement on the same day Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf admitted the side threw away a golden chance to play finals.

Sydney Roosters' 36-6 win over South Sydney on Friday night ended the Dolphins' hopes of featuring in their maiden finals series ahead of their final round clash with Canberra in Redcliffe on Sunday.

It was another late season heartbreaker, this time out of their own hands, after last year's final-round loss to Newcastle when a win would have secured a finals berth.

A 0-4 start to the season left the Dolphins needing to become just the seventh team in NRL history to make the finals after such a poor start.

They had a mid-season revival, getting as high as sixth after round 15, before late-season losses to the Roosters, Brisbane and Manly cruelled their chances.

"Five or six weeks ago, we had an opportunity to put things in our own hands," Woolf said.

"We didn't quite get that done for different reasons and that's what we've got to live with.

"We've got so much to play for tomorrow still.

"It's our opportunity to have our best result in terms of where we sit on the ladder, in terms how many wins we've got."

The Dolphins will finish ninth and with 12 wins in a season for the first time if they defeat the Raiders.

Season-ending injuries to key forwards Tom Gilbert, Daniel Saifiti and Max Plath took their toll towards the back-end. Throw in the fact that winger Jack Bostock also suffered an ACL rupture to end his year and prop Tom Flegler missed the entire season with a shoulder nerve issue and it became a bridge too far.

When England international centre Herbie Farnworth tore his hamstring in the round 22 clash with the Warriors to miss the rest of the season it was the final nail in the coffin.

Bromwich, 33, had a great career at Melbourne and will be 18th or 19th man on Sunday, the same day fellow forward Mark Nicholls plays his final match.

"He has been an exceptional player. He's played 260 NRL games, 44 for the Dolphins, 15 Tests for New Zealand, played in four grand finals and won two," Woolf said of Bromwich.

"Both him and Mark ... are a very big part of why the club's in a good position and a very part of the culture that we've got around the group and particularly that humility that the group's got."