Ben Barba says he can get back to his Dally M-winning best at Cronulla as he prepares to prove to former club Brisbane what they are missing out on.
By his own admission, Barba had a poor first showing in Cronulla colours in the side’s 24-20 loss to Canberra at Remondis Stadium on Sunday night.
Saddled with leading the team around the park, the Sharks five-eighth came up with several crucial blunders, including a poor kick that gifted Jack Wighton a soft 20-metre tap and led directly to the Canberra No.1 racing 80 metres to score.
Barba admitted he’d have to work hard on his kicking game after several wayward efforts with the boot, including kicking out on the full and failing to find touch from a penalty.
While he threw the last pass for Sosaia Feke and Ricky Leutele’s tries, even Sharks coach Shane Flanagan conceded he had had a night to forget.
“He’ll have better games, that’s for sure,” Flanagan said.
“He got off to a bad start and he didn’t get back in there.”
If he wasn’t already under the microscope, he will have even more eyeballs on him at Remondis Stadium on Friday night when he comes up against his former club Brisbane.
After an ill-fated 2014 season with the Broncos, he was cut loose in Wayne Bennett’s reshaping of their roster before finding a home at Cronulla.
Barba’s career has been under intense scrutiny since falling from grace after winning the Dally M medal at the Bulldogs in 2012.
After being suspended by the Bulldogs for behavioural issues on the eve of the 2013 season, he has failed to recapture his best
In 2012 he lit up the competition, scoring 22 tries, making 27 linebreaks and credited with 23 try assists, according to Fox Sports figures.
By comparison, in 2013 and 2014 combined he came up with 18 tries, 21 linebreaks and 12 try assists.
He said he was “over” talking about his parting of ways with Brisbane and treating his first encounter with the Broncos the same as any other game.
“I’ve got a job here at Cronulla as their five-eight and they’re my only focus,” he said.
“I treat this game the same as if I was looking forward to playing Canberra … It’ll be good to get the game over and done with so people can stop talking about it. I’m over it and people need to move on.”
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