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2016 NRL Grand Final halftime score: Cronulla Sharks lead Melbourne Storm 8-0

Ben Barba is out of the game for life. (AAP Image/David Moir)
Expert
2nd October, 2016
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The Cronulla Sharks have dominated the first half of the 2016 NRL grand final, and as such take an eight-point lead into the break over the scoreless Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium.

All the wash-up from the NRL grand final:
» LORD: Gallen leads Sharks into history books
» PRICHARD: 13 extra seconds, but the Sharks did it
» Five talking points
» Ten best tweets from the match
» Sharks player ratings
» Storm player ratings
» Match report: Sharks’ wait over
» Re-live the match with our live blog

Halftime score in the 2016 NRL Grand Final
Storm 0
Sharks 8

A Ben Barba try was the only scoring moment other than a penalty goal in the first half, as there was an old-fashioned scrum base play that saw Gallen pass inside for Barba who ran away to score.

That came after the James Maloney penalty goal which got the scoring underway.

NRL Grand Final live score

Despite the eight-point lead, there was plenty for the Sharks to work on with some of their execution in attack slightly off. Given they dominated possession and territory, the lead doesn’t really reflect the half of football they have played.

The Sharks have missed a couple of opportunities, with space created by forwards leading to dropped balls.

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The Storm defence was excellent, and it’s been hard work for the Sharks to even look like finding a way across the stripe.

They have thwarted the Sharks’ attack on numerous occasions close to the line. The second half will reveal how much it’s taken out of them.

If they have enough left in the tank, on the back of experienced players like Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, the gap may simply not be big enough yet for the black, white and blue.

James Maloney has controlled things well, but he has had it easy considering the way the Cronulla forward pack have dominated the match.

Led by Andrew Fifita, who played a majority of the first half the Sharks were able to easily gain the ascendency, and the Storm have looked unlike their normal style.

Fifita has been backed up well by the likes of Matt Prior, Wade Graham and Paul Gallen before Jason Bukuya led the charge from the bench to keep their momentum going at the back end of the first half.

The Storm’s attack was poor in the first half. While they have had some good sets that have seen them force drop outs or put the Sharks under pressure, there simply wasn’t enough of it.

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Cooper Cronk struggled to get involved in the match, and that could well be explained by the 222 tackles the Storm have had to make.

If the Storm forwards can’t turn things around, then it’s going to be very difficult for the creative players to get involved.

The one bright spot for the Storm has been the hard running of Marika Koroibete and Suliasi Vunivalu who have ran out of their own end strongly multiple times, trying to take the pressure off Melbourne.

At halftime in the 2016 NRL Grand Final it’s the Sharks game to lose but they certainly need to convert their opportunities and defend well in the second half.

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