The Sharks have reignited their premiership defence, making a big statement in thumping the Roosters 44-12 at Central Coast Stadium to force their way back into the top four.
Cronulla played an error-free first half and capitalised on a 5-1 penalty count to head into the sheds leading 20-12. They then scored four unanswered second half tries.
They opened the scoring in the 15th minute after a determined run by Jack Bird saw him score out wide.
But the Roosters hit back quickly, with Daniel Tupou using his height to reign in a high-bouncing kick by Luke Keary to score.
Keary had earlier been put into a gap after good lead-up work by Michael Gordon and Latrell Mitchell.
In the 25th minute, Cronulla went out to 14-6 after fullback Valentine Holmes took an inside ball from James Maloney and capitalised on a Jake Friend slip and some lazy Roosters defence to score under the posts.
The Roosters then hit back quickly again, with Luke Keary delivering a nice short ball to put Ryan Matterson over out wide. Gordon’s conversion made it 14-12.
Two minutes before half-time, the Sharks scored their third try of the afternoon, with Wade Graham capitalising on a slip by Roosters centre Joseph Manu to put winger Sosaia Feki over.
Centre Ricky Leutele scored the first of his two second-half tries when he was on the end of a great cut-out ball from Wade Graham in the 51st minute.
That was followed six minutes later by a try to winger Gerard Beale after Andrew Fifita created an overlap by running across field and attracting multiple defenders.
In the 61st minute, veteran Luke Lewis had fairy tale moment when he intercepted a Jake Friend pass near his own line and amazingly had the pace to go 90 metres to score near the posts.
Leutele then put the icing on the cake when he scored his second try just before full-time.
The Sharks attack looked slick today, giving their for and against a nice boost. James Maloney ensured they got the maximum points, kicking 8 from 8. Several of his shots were from the sideline.
kk
Roar Pro
Glad you enjoyed the game and the trip, Renegade. Sorry about the entry problems. Defies common sense.
Craig
Guest
Left field, but if both Frizell and Cordner are out of Origin 3. Luke Lewis?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Mind blowing performance by the Sharks,after their dismal effort the prior Sunday. Mistakes few and far between,the backs clicked and found plenty of space, and the forwards gelled as a unit.Can't ask for anything more.Except perhaps hopefully consistency. Congrats go also to the crowd who attended in numbers.Looked to be a great ground for viewing and playing.puposely built for the rectangular sports. Shame a Nth Sydney/CC Bear's team was not using it for a home ground.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Hi MAX, My first game at CC stadium yesterday... loved it! Great atmosphere, sell out crowd with the pleasure of watching the premiers put on a masterclass ? I tipped the Storm to take it out at the start of the year and nothing has changed for me yet over the course of this season... the only team that I can see beating them are the reigning premiers. At their best, the Sharks are pretty much unbeatable... we haven't seen them produce their best very often this year though, except for when it's considered a big game such as yesterday. Watching them over the first 16 games you certainly got a feel they are waiting for September and will go up a few gears when the time comes. And If it does turn out to be another Sharks-Storm GF, no doubt we'd be in for another epic! P.S. Only negative yesterday was the management of the facilities and services... thousands missing out on kick-off after having to wait upto 20-25 minutes to get through the gates - for some reason they only had a couple turnstiles open at each gate. And the line-up, service and prices at the bar and food stalls were ridiculous... need to fix that if they want more regular fixtures. All in all, was a good family trip up the coast ?
Oingo Boingo
Guest
I wouldn't say any of his were that blatant, but he did get away with laying all of the tackled player on a few occasions, it's all thee things that are sending the game to the dogs .
Renegade
Roar Guru
True, it's incredible how many times people booed whenever Jake Friend through a pass from dummy half.... im sure every single one was forward ?
Oingo Boingo
Guest
I can't disagree with you on most points MAX , but when 2000 people 50 metres away boo a forward pass and the four clowns that are paid to put the game under a microscope miss it altogether , it poses plenty of questions.
kk
Roar Pro
Sure did. The Roos will be premiers.
kk
Roar Pro
Hi Oingo, Yesterday, watching live, I observed that the refereeing decisions did not carry the same gravity as when viewed under the microscope on TV. The forward pass, the ruck and the strip interpretations vary from game to game and the style of refereeing imposed by each individual ref. have a profound influence on results. I blame the Rules, as do many Roarers, and not the referees. We need disambiguation of the Rule Book and refereeing performance levels afforded the opportunity to reach he same incredibly high standard of play set by a majority of the 272 players each round. If the Roosters were to play 4-6 games per season at Gosford I am sure they would be rewarded with crowds exceeding those at Allianz. Yesterday, they missed Boyd badly. They also need to review their recruitment and retention policy.
Oingo Boingo
Guest
Beautiful ground MAX , not if your a Rooster though , I think they said they've never won the here . A poor performance by the Roosters , they had the chance to make it a contest in the second half , but went AWOL . I'm not blaming the refs , but it does appear that a forward pass is no longer a forward pass in modern rugby league, I can accept line balls or marginally forward , but a metre or two is just an abuse of responsibility on their part ,and I'm sick of people defending their incompetence.
Big Daddy
Guest
Hopefully we saw the Intrust cup premiers as well. Wyong were very good.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Hi Max, Glad you enjoyed the game, it's great to see the NRL in the Central Coast. If only the region had its own team...
kk
Roar Pro
Hi John, The absence of Boyd Cordner was evident. Without him Easts struggled to maintain equilibrium. Local hero, Jimmy Maloney was brilliant. Anything he touched turned to gold. His 8/8 was the best I have had the pleasure of witnessing in my lifetime. A record equalling crowd of 20,060 showed their continuous appreciation. At games end Jimmy, Chris, Luke and Andrew granted 'extended interviews' to eager fans. Fifita at the NW corner fence gave his jersey to a lucky fan and made motions of throwing his shorts into the deal. For a second I thought there may have been a scandal on the way "Fifita goes nude at Gosford" Jimmy was still talking and doing selfies when we decided to go. The curator and his staff are to be congratulated for presenting a playing surface which set the standard for Rugby League. Magnificent. Fast and even, with just the right cushion. I would like to thank the Roosters and Cronulla for coming to our town. A great day. PS As my head hit the pillow I knew I had seen the 2017 premiers in action. Back to Back.