North Queensland Cowboys vs Cronulla Sharks: NRL live scores, blog

No I am pointing out the irony that the last two games of NRL I have watched have not only been between the same teams but have been decided by the ref making/failing to make a strip penalty at the end of the game in exactly the same situation whereby the penalty would have resulted in the trailing team tieing the scores and possibly/in fact winning the games. I am pointing out that the irony of the ref in this situation failing to penalise JT300 because clearly he is JT300 when his actions were far more obvious (ie ripping at the ball for the entire tackle with his hands) than Matt Prior's (whereby he ball was dislodged by somehow bumping into his shoulder in a somewhat accidental manner).

Sounds a little like sour grapes. A few calls both ways had question marks over them. Sharks got away with some dropped balls that would be knock-ons in any other game. Cowboys got penalised for incorrect play the ball, two tackles later Gallen got away with doing the exact same thing. The better team won.

Scrappy first game. The Sharks honestly had no right to be as close as they were. Great defence but rusty in attack. Valentine Holmes had an absolute shocker at the back. He was out of position all night and scared of the high ball. It's time to move him back to the wing. Plenty of errors and penalties has the ghosts of last season back to haunt us again. The Sharks need to tighten this up. Should have been levelled up with a strip late by JT that was missed but sometimes these things go that way. Cowboys were not really clicking in attack, but were certainly the better team on the night. They created more opportunities and looked more likely to win all game. The go forward was impressive, as was their broken play. Someone needs to teach Granville how to pass backwards and JT how to kick :) Happy 300 Not the best first game and plenty of room for improvement.

Well JT's 300th was decided when the ref refused to give a penalty for JT stripping the ball which would have had the Sharks levelling the scores with a penalty. How totally unpredictable from the greatest of all time who never does any wrong. Honestly the NRL is an embarrassment at times. It was in fact remarkably similar to a play by Matt Prior in a game last year, was it the semi final against North Queensland in fact? where NQ got a penalty to level the scores. I remember the entire crowd was chanting a rude word at the time and Flanno got fined for something after. He was pretty well behaved tonight though. I can hear the instructions to the refs before the game, 'Whatever you do don't decide the game with a dodgy penalty in front of the sticks for stripping which sends us to extra time.' I winder if Todd the idiot even noticed.

Very humid conditions and rain over the last couple of weeks had the players struggling. Lot of mistakes but a good first up performance by the Cowboys old boys. The Cowboys didn't put the Sharks away but were far more dominate and never really going to lose in my opinion. Thurston was rusty with the boot and the score was closer than it should have been.. Moylan is seriously over rated and Valentin Holmes has always been shaky catching the ball. Prior is one of the better back rowers when he plays football.

Usual dour round 1 contest but I think it went pretty much as expected; - Cowboys win - Sharks attack would highlight it is obviously still a work in progress across the opening rounds - Cowboys pack to show they have surpassed the sharks pack as best in the comp - Sharks defence and resilience to still be top notch Couple things I didn’t expect; - Thurston to return so seamlessly in all areas except goal kicking, if anything was expecting it to be the other way around haha - Sharks to still show such clear signs of the ill-discipline that plagued them in 2017... it’s only round 1 but that was very much a 2017 type performance - Moylan to be an exact replica of Maloney in the attacking structure from last year except with better defence... was expecting a change in attacking style A solid round 1 hit-out but don’t think either coach would be happy considering the capability of both sides.

Good game for a first up. JT and Scott had a good return and will only improve from here. Cowboys were pretty good considering they still have Morgan and Coote to return. Sharks also played well but the new combinations will take time to gel especially Moylan in defense. I think both teams will be at the top of the pile come the finals.

Terrible from both teams. Dragons will smack the Sharks next week on that form.l

Scrappy game but two points is two points . Great to see Matty Scott and JT get through OK. Onwards and upwards.

I've seen better commentary.

pretty sure there was a shoulder charge in back play there