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Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan laid the blame squarely at his players – not the referees – after the Sharks’ top-four hopes took a huge dent with a 33-32 golden-point NRL loss to lowly Manly.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Cronulla Sharks 32
Manly Sea Eagles 33
The Cronulla Sharks will be out to get back to their best and reverse a poor historical record when they face the out of sorts Manly Sea Eagles. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2pm (AEST).
This match is a tale of two teams with vastly different fortunes.
While the Sharks can’t be mistaken for being perfect throughout the season, they have been putting up some of their best footy in recent weeks.
Some high quality wins as they approached full strength were good to see for the Cronulla faithful, but last week, it was back to some of their poorer play as they fell to the Brisbane Broncos.
The two-point loss wasn’t a disaster, but their attack looked all over the place. While in previous weeks it was the Matt Moylan and Valentine Holmes inspired attack getting them over the lines, it looked like a different team last week.
A production of that standard again will struggle to beat a battling club like Manly, let alone those they are going to face throughout the month of September during the finals.
Luckily for Cronulla, they are facing a club who have won just one out of their last seven matches, with the Sea Eagles struggling on the defensive end throughout that period.
This is a chance for the Sharks to regain their mojo with the ball in hand, and at home on a Sunday afternoon, anything is possible.
Things went from bad to worse for Manly last week. While they actually played better than they have for most of the game, the team seemed to clock off with 20 minutes to go, allowing the Penrith Panthers to snatch a famous victory by scoring four tries in seven minutes.
The defensive effort from Manly was embarrassing and followed the trend of some previous weeks, where they conceded 56 to the Roosters, 32 to the Dragons and 34 to the Warriors all in the last month.
There have been some minimal positive signs in attack, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be enough to challenge a team in the eight.
Manly looked like they had clocked off for the season last week. The only thing going for them here is their staggering historical record, which has seen them win 63 of 89 matches played between the two clubs.
Prediction
No matter what the historical statistics between the two clubs say, the form is apples and oranges at the moment. For that reason, it’s impossible to tip against the Sharks – and the Sharks to win convincingly – on their home ground in the Shire on a Sunday afternoon.
Sharks by 16.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 21 match from 2pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.