Patched up Sharks down Dragons - and Tariq might have played last game after horror shot

Brayden Trindall was the star and Tariq Sims was fortunate to stay on the field as the Dragons lost 24-18 to Cronulla at a sold out Shark Park.

Trindall was a late inclusion after regular five eighth Matt Moylan was injured in the captain’s run, joining debutant Kade Dykes at fullback and second-gamer Lachie Miller in an inexperienced backline, but impressed in creating one and scoring another for the Sharks.

“We trust Tricky and he was going to play tonight anyway,” said coach Craig Fitzgibbon of Trindall. “He got the opportunity to come in and set that first half up for us really well. He didn’t get too many opportunities in the second with the stop-strat nature of it, but he’s a really handy replacement.”

“He knows his role, knows his place in the team and we had confidence that he’d be able to get it done.”

Dykes, the third generation of his family to play for the Sharks after father Adam and grandfather John, was impressive from the back and proved why Cronulla recently extended his contract long term.

“It’s been mentioned enough about what it means to have a third generation player, and you’re always happy to see a young fella get a crack, make his debut and get a win. It’s important that we got that job done,” said Fitzgibbon.

“It would have been a sensory overload for the kid. I trusted the kid and what he’s capable of and I knew he wouldn’t be overawed. There’s some stuff there where he’s still developing as a player but he fulfilled his role well tonight.”

Melbourne-bound Sims might not play for the Dragons again after a high shoulder that ended Connor Tracey’s night early.

It was a clear, forceful shot to the head which was punished only with a sin bin at the time, but will surely be seen more harshly by the judiciary.

“It’s obviously something the referee thought warranted a sin bin but we’ll have to look at it,” said Dragons coach Anthony Griffin. “There’s always a chance of that (a send off), but to be honest, I’d have to have another look.”

It took a long time for Tracey to be stretchered off, as the maximum precaution was taken, though captain Wade Graham confirmed that he was up and about in the sheds post-match.

The Sharks were far from their best, but made the most of an inspired first half spell from back-up half Trindall to get out to a lead that they would never relinquish.

Their defence was able to hold off St George Illawarra despite a 62/38 possession split in the second half to deliver a seventh win in eight games. Their spot in the top four seems assured.

While Cronulla’s defence was excellent, the Dragons didn’t ask enough questions of their line. Though they scored two good tries in the second half, they were – not for the first time in 2022 – too conservative in attack and too dependant on Ben Hunt to produce moments of magic.

The Dragons are still a mathematical chance of the finals, though they would need to win all three games and either hope that the Roosters lose all three or that they overturn almost 250 points.

“It’s tough now,” said Griffin. “There’s only one game that matters and that’s next Sunday. We’ve got to dust ourselves off. Today we did a lot of things right to win that game and we’ve just got to keep coming at it.”

“Over the last three weeks, we’ve played some good football apart from 15 minutes against the Cowboys at the back end of last week.

“It’s frustrating because we’ve played three really good sides and put ourselves in a position to win every game.

“It’s hard to swallow. We gave everything, but at times, we didn’t execute. Catching kicks and, when he had chances in good ball, we were clunky at times.”

The Dragons’ goalline defence has struggled badly at times of late and looked ominously bad early on when Nicho Hynes walked through barely-there tackling to score.

St George Illawarra did strike back though Jack de Belin, who cleaned up after Ronaldo Mulitalo had spilled a kick, but were pegged back by the Sims sin bin incident.

Though the Dragons went through the ten minutes unscathed, they didn’t last long afterwards.

Trindall might have created a try before when he put Wade Graham through a hole with the softest of hands, only for the final pass to Mulitalo to be called forward. Next time, he took the uncertainty out of it by dummying and taking it to the line himself.

He then put Wilton through a hole to send the lead out further. It was a spectacular intervention from the back up half.

Blayke Brailey was then binned for a professional foul, opening the door for the Dragons, and after the break, they strode through it.

Junior Amone produced an excellent looping pass onto the chest of Tautau Moga to get one back, and on the other wing, Hunt threw the long ball to put Mat Feagai outside Lachie Miller and into the corner.

Just as things seemed to be getting tight, St George Illawarra shot themselves in the foot. Tyrell Sloan made a meal of a high kick, leaving Briton Nikora to pick up, spread to Brayley and eventually Graham for his first try since 2020.

The manner in which the Dragons, desperately needing a try, ended their set with Francis Molo taking a hit up told its own story. They ended up taking a penalty goal to move the deficit to back within a converted try,

Then, with a set on the Sharks line to send it to golden point, Moses Mbye knocked the ball out of his own hands via the backside of Sloan. If they needed a sign that their year was done, that might well be it.