As I left work on Monday afternoon there were two things that I was sure of. The first was that I would get wet on my way home, and the second was that the Cronulla Sharks would beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Remondis Stadium.
Many of you will probably laugh and wonder how I possibly could have known that the Sharks would get the two points.
I knew that the Sharks would win on Monday because of a four letter word – rain.
I would love to see a stat on this, but the Cronulla Sharks have an absolutely uncanny ability to win in the rain at home. So much so, that from now on when I do my tips for the week I will be checking the weather well in advance (particularly if the Sharks are playing at home).
The odds were certainly stacked up against the boys in the black and blue. With the announcement late Monday afternoon that Paul Gallen would be out, added to the fact that the Sharks were missing both Fifita boys, it looked unlikely that they would be able to beat the reigning premiers.
But the rain continued.
Rain of this kind has not been seen in Sydney for some time. It was torrential. Remondis Stadium was reduced to a giant swimming pool – I was waiting for Jeff Robson to bring his rubber duckie out.
The thing about torrential rain is that it absolutely evens up any rugby league contest and we certainly saw that on Monday.
The Sharks were extremely committed in defence, patient in attack and made very few errors despite the swirling rain. Their local heroes, both old and new, stepped up with Luke Lewis leading the front and Jack Bird weaving his magic from behind.
Now that I have outed the Sharks to the world and the rest of you know their secret to winning, I want to know what comes next. A long-suffering die-hard Sharkies friend of mine quipped the other day in response to the Glenn Stewart ‘gamesmanship’ issue that the Sharks should have a sprinkler malfunction on Monday night and they would be sure to bear the Bunnies. Mother nature certainly delivered in spades.
It brings me so much joy to see the Sharks win. They play with so much courage in the face of adversity and it brings such tremendous happiness to their long-suffering fans.
Massive kudos to all 3000 fans that attended Remondis Stadium. They did it for you (whether you were wearing a poncho or a wetsuit).
This is @mary__kaye from @ladieswholeague.
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