What happens if the Sharks get it right?

Midway through Round 11 of the NRL competition, one team has missed more tackles, conceded more penalties and made more errors in possession than any other side in the competition. A recipe for disaster, right? So why are the Cronulla Sharks sitting comfortably in the top four with eight wins out of 11? And what happens if they get it right?

Firstly, statistics provide some of the reasoning. Cronulla sit in the top four for run metres, line breaks and line break assists. So with the limited amount of ball they are getting due to handling errors and penalties, they are doing enough with their possession to win games.

It is no secret that many teams are playing a more expansive game in 2017 and the Sharks are among that group. While Jayden Brailey and Valentine Holmes are great young players, the Sharks’ spine is much changed from their premiership year and is going to take time to gel.

Secondly, while the team misses a lot of tackles, they have conceded the least amount of points for any team in the comp. You can’t put a stat on it, but Cronulla’s scramble defence is surely the best in the NRL. We all know how the last minute of last year’s grand final played out. Without that scramble defence, the porch lights would still be on.

Scramble defence largely comes down to commitment. Shane Flanagan’s press conferences this year have been littered with words like “commitment” and “playing for each other”. And they are. The premiership hangover was alive and well in the World Club Challenge but since then the drive has returned. The Sharks are now trying to create history by going back to back and the players clearly believe they can do it.

Finally, James Maloney has given away more penalties this year than anyone in the NRL and he clearly needs to work on that part of his game. However, his goal kicking and field goal percentage has won games for Cronulla that they easily could have lost. Even in Thursday night’s game against North Queensland, the difference came from conversions. With the Sharks, four points become six.

Many thought the Sharks would go backwards without Mick Ennis and Ben Barba and perhaps disappear out of the eight altogether. Into the team came Brailey and, after missing the first month of the season due to a hamstring injury, Holmes took on the No.1 role. Brailey is only in his first NRL season and will need a rest at some point, hence the purchase of James Segeyaro, who will return from injury at just about the right time, is ideal.

This spine is taking time to gel. If the Sharks do hang on to the ball and increase their completion rates, the penalties will drop and possession will even up. We saw it in the second half against the Cowboys. If the Sharks are getting it right for 80 minutes by the end of the season, there’s no question they can go all the way again.