The Sharks have moved into the top four – until Sunday at least – with a stirring 36-6 win over the Titans at Shark Park.
Backing up from a potentially season-defining victory over Souths last weekend, Cronulla bypassed the potential banana skin of the Gold Coast in style, running in a rake of tries to give their differential a boost as well as adding another win to the total.
It was an emotional night, celebrating Wade Graham’s 250th game for the club, and the popular backrower grabbed a rare try to send the fans home happy.
Indeed, it was a night for unusual scorers: Toby Rudolf got his first in a year and Cam McInnes just his fifth in 44 games in black, white and blue. If you haven’t scored in ages, wait until the Titans come to town.
There was the obligatory double, too, for Ronaldo Mulitalo, who battled through a leg injury on his return to the side. They’ll need him for the run-in.
The Gold Coast had good news ahead of the game with the announcement of new contracts for Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita, but that was about as good as it got.
Kieran Foran was taken off at half time with a rib injury, Erin Clark was binned for backchat and the defence started poorly and got worse.
Jim Lenihan, the interim coach, had got his men playing decent footy in the last few weeks, but this was back to the bad old days in terms of organisation without the football.
“We’re don’t want to be looked at as a weak side,” he said.
“Tonight’s result wasn’t great but we are certainly transitioning and that’s not an easy fix. We’ll have days when the wheels come off and tonight was a bit like that.”
His counterpart, Craig Fitzgibbon, will know tougher tests will come but this close to the finals, but tonight, winning was what mattered. Winning this well is just a bonus.
“We had to earn the right to put some points on,” he said.
“You can’t control what’s going to happen with other results. I know it’s a cliche to say it’s week to week but if we slip up it’s going to have ramifications so it’s quite easy to knuckle down.
“We’re trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves but it’s obviously important to have got the two points.”
For Cronulla, winning was the important thing and the style of it not that relevant. Realistically, if they were to win, it was likely to be in style, because the Sharks have rarely done gritty and attritional.
The Titans could not have been more obliging. Despite some signs of life of late, their bets has usually involved getting into a high-scoring shootout with the opposition, and that they were never going to win that kind of game against Cronulla.
There’s plenty to be said about the nice attacking patterns that were on show, and a new-found willingness to play on the last tackle that lead to the first try for the Sharks and regularly threatened the Titans’ line.
But in truth, there’s not much point, and that says a lot about Cronulla. Yes, they were excellent, but nobody has ever doubted their ability to be excellent against teams that can’t defend – and the Titans really can’t defend.
Having picked up such a vital win last weekend, they needed to get over the line by any means necessary and did.
There were still some ropey moments: Tino’s try was exactly the sort that they have conceded too much this year, with no connection between inside and out leaving Hynes isolated against a big man, while Keano Kini should have been given a try that also highlighted a poor slide.
It’s easy to watch 80 minutes and pick holes, but the Sharks showed some vulnerabilities that have been seen elsewhere. The other stuff is great, but it won’t be a lack of attack that holds Cronulla back.
Still, two points and another confidence boost going into a tough road trip. Keep this up and they might turn a few heads in Townsville and Newcastle over the coming fortnight.
The big news for the Titans came before kick off, with the announcement that Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita had signed massive extensions to stay at the club.
When the game started, it was same old, same old. Tino remains the best player the Gold Coast have and seemed tasked with showing it: he topped their metre count and scored an excellent solo try that encapsulated everything good about his game, with speed, size, footwork, commitment and all that good stuff.
Dave was a little more suspect, with his usual combination of brilliant attack and occasional defensive lapses, but that’s pretty much what he does. It’s hard to criticise too much given the cattle around him.
The defensive left edge wasn’t the major problem for the Titans, but the right – the other side to Fifita – was all over the place.
Aaron Schoupp was at his most erratic, directly contributing to several Sharks tries through baffling defensive reads.
The one in which he completely ignored the man in front of him was so bad it nearly made Cronulla miss it, as Trindall looked to go wide before faking at the last minute when he realised Wade Graham was running into a hole that Schoupp had vacated.
Signing their two best players on long-term deals is undeniably a good thing for the Titans, but at the moment, they’re the best example of why rugby league is such a weak link sport.
Their two strongest links are exceptional – it’s just the other blokes that are the problem. We’re 12 months down the line and the edge defence is still horrible. Cronulla picked them apart with so much ease tonight.
"Apologise for my appearance as well, boys - I usually look better than this!"
Nicho Hynes has not quite made an undeniable case to be Nathan Cleary’s halves partner for NSW but he should be the first five-eighth…
The Sharks halfback backed it up with a try from a few seconds later, through some more tired Canberra defenders.
The Sharks were scoring plenty of points, but equally impressive was their defence - stopping this near certainty!
After the Raiders hooker bombed a near-certain try, Sione Katoa scored at the other end of the field in a 12-point turnaround.
There is only one way for Cronulla to shake off their reputation for being flat-track bullies. They are off to an impressive start in…
