Back with our ongoing series of NRL team reviews, today we look at the surprising Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. But before we get to the success that was 2015 we must go back one more year to set the scene.
It is fair to say that 2014 was an absolute cluster-something for the Sharks. The decision by the NRL to suspend coach Shane Flanagan for the entire season as a result of the ongoing investigation into the use of peptides derailed the season before it even began.
The team went on to win only five games and used 37 total players in first grade after a host of players accepted trifling suspensions of their own at the end of the season.
So it came as no surprise that very few people, including me, had the team escaping the bottom four in 2015 let alone making the top eight and coming close to a coveted top-four spot.
The consensus low expectations were confirmed early in the season as the team began with a lacklustre four-game losing streak and looked set for a long year of rebuilding.
As such the turnaround this year has been nothing short of amazing with rookies and recruits among the main contributors. One of the biggest knocks was a lack of talent in the halves, with the team desperately shy of points in 2014.
The emergence of Jack Bird as a running threat at five-eighth, along with a truly majestic season from recruit of the year Michael Ennis, changed that dramatically. Ennis in particular was superb as a playmaker, recording an astonishing 16 try assists and 12 line-break assists, numbers that many halves would be content with.
However, the season ended in disappointment as the team were overwhelmed in the most one-sided rout since the Battle of Hardhome. But the ignominious exit shouldn’t overshadow the tremendous success that this season was for the Sharks. From last to the second week of the finals is a remarkable achievement.
Highlight of the season: Finals Week 1
After the letdown of falling short of the top four by the thinnest of margins after a poor performance against the Sea Eagles in Round 26, the Sharks entered their Week 1 match with the defending premiers as distinct ambush candidates.
It was not hard to imagine that the return of Greg Inglis and the notorious finals experience would overawe the relatively young Sharks team. Instead they obliterated a shambolic Souths outfit in what was a cathartic victory for long suffering Sharks fans.
Lowlight of the season: Finals Week 2
The second week of the finals went less well. Indeed roles were reversed as a Cowboys team that had fallen just short in Brisbane in Week 1 took out their frustration on an utterly drained Sharks team.
The struggles of captain, talisman and bellwether Paul Gallen as he battled injuries and the referees epitomised the struggles of the team at large
Best player: Tie Michael Ennis and Wade Graham
It was simply too hard to separate these two players, both of whom made my NRL Team of the Year earlier this month. Michael Ennis and Wade Graham were both outstanding in 2015.
For Ennis it was taking on a much more significant role as a playmaker in the absence of strong halves. Consider this – in 2014 at the Bulldogs Ennis had seven try assists, five line-break assists and kicked the ball an average of three times a game. In 2015 he had 16 try assists, 12 line-break assists and kicked the ball five times a game. He also ran the ball more often in 2015.
Ennis was undoubtedly the recruit of the season across the league, and the team’s continued success will depend on how well he can replicate his performance in 2016.
Graham also took on a more prominent role as a playmaker and option kicker, particularly in the second half of the season as the team became more comfortable, allowing him to function as the de facto half outside nominal half Jeff Robson on the left edge.
However, despite kicking more often and passing effectively, Graham also improved running the ball, taking nearly three extra carries per game while lifting his average from a respectable 111 metres per game to a tick under 130 metres.
2016 will also be a big year as even the NSW selectors can’t possibly overlook him for State of Origin again if he starts out in the sort of form we have seen from him this season.
Roster management
While it is right and proper to admire Jeff Robson for his toughness and resilience, the reality is that he is not a first grade standard halfback. Similarly, Jack Bird is an outstanding player who thrives running the ball and creating second-phase play from off loads, but he also is not an NRL quality half at this point. James Maloney and Chad Townsend are, though.
Signing Maloney in particular is a coup for the Sharks as it will provide the sort of creative passing and kicking game to win games when their trademark grit and grind aren’t enough.
On the other side of the ledger the team is losing Blake Ayshford to the Warriors in one of the more inexplicable signings of the offseason, and Michael Gordon to the Eels. The loss of Gordon will leave an experience vacuum at the back but should provide an opportunity to the colossally talented Valentine Holmes to get more involved.
Prognosis
With an excellent, if ageing, forward pack, a pair of NRL quality halves, and some genuine game-breaking talent across the line-up the Sharks are poised for another strong year in 2016.
The team is not without question marks though. The Fifita brothers aside the team is short on genuine size with Flanagan regularly utilising undersized players like Chris Heighington and Matt Prior in the front row in 2015. Meanwhile, Paul Gallen has missed nearly 40 per cent of the Sharks’ games over the last three seasons and the odds would be against Ennis delivering another season like this year at age 32.
They also likely face a more challenging Origin period in 2016 with Wade Graham and Valentine Holmes both a good bet to play for their state along with Gallen and Andrew Fifita.
Overall then it seems reasonable for the Sharks to perform around the same or a little better in 2016 with the acquisitions of Maloney and Townsend being offset by an inevitable decline from Ennis and an ageing forward pack.
Predicted finish: Middle of the eight
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