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Newcastle surged past Cronulla into fifth spot on the back of a 32-6 powered by a perfect display from Kalyn Ponga but a shoulder injury to their star fullback has Knights fans on tenterhooks.
Ponga demolished the Sharks in a 65-minute display of attacking brilliance and the only way the visitors were going to stop him at McDonald Jones Stadium was to take him out.
Cronulla centre Jesse Ramien did just that when he crunched Ponga after he passed wide to set up a crucial try with a heavy hit which was cleared by the bunker but could still attract the attention of the match review committee.
He is set to have scans on Monday with the Knights suspecting he has damaged his AC joint – he is all but certain to sit out their final-round trip to Kogarah on Sunday to face the Dragons to be right for Newcastle’s playoff campaign.
“I won’t be stupid with him, that’s for sure,” coach Adam O’Brien said before adding he didn’t want to “make a heap of changes” to rest other players even though a finals berth is now locked in. “Rhythm to the team is important. Anyone that’s got bumps I won’t take a risk with.”
O’Brien added that Lachie Miller was likely to play at fullback for Ponga against the Dragons as he has not left the club yet to take up an offer with Leeds in the Super League despite getting a release from his contract for the next two seasons.
He said Jackson Hastings was improving by the day with his ankle injury but the first-choice halfback is unlikely to line up against St George Illawarra.
Newcastle have stormed up to fifth on the back of eight wins in succession and have clinched a playoff berth and a home qualifying final with Sunday’s win while the Sharks are all but certain to make the finals despite dropping to sixth due to their superior points differential to Canberra, Souths, North Queensland and the Roosters.
The sell-out crowd rose to their feet in the fifth minute to cheer Dominic Young touching down in the corner but the bunker put a halt to the celebrations when replays showed his foot was on the sideline due to a despairing Braydon Trindall cover tackle.
Cronulla drew first blood when they swung the ball to the right and fullback Connor Tracey outsprinted Bradman Best to score.
Newcastle came up with the mirror image at the other end with their No.1 in Ponga having too much speed as he swept around the back for Matt Moylan, who started in the halves with Nicho Hynes out due to a thigh strain.
Sharks forward Briton Nikora made a break and then backed up on the next play to cross for what looked like a try in the 29th minute but came up with the unusual occurrence of his own forearm getting in the way as he tried to plant the ball down and eventually lost control as Best wrestled him over the line.
Ponga sliced his way through the Cronulla defence in a sizzling kick return before a fifth defender finally brought him down to give Newcastle the momentum early in the second half.
“If we have an award for the moment that changed the game for us I think that’d be it,” O’Brien said.
His counterpart, Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon, summed it up by saying “when two teams are going pretty hard at each other, moments like that can shift the game in their favour. It brought the crowd into it, brought him into it, we paid the price there.”
Adam Clune capitalised when he launched a short-side raid on the scattered defensive line and Best burst into space to make it 12-6.
Ponga drew in defenders and spiralled the ball wide for Tyson Gamble to float a pass for Young to make it 18-6 after a sideline conversion from their red-hot skipper.
After he was flattened by Ramien in the lead-up to Best’s second try, Ponga stayed on the field but was hauled off a couple of minutes later when Greg Marzhew barged over to put the result beyond doubt.
Ponga finished with an even 200 running metres while making a couple of line breaks, creating another and forcing a line drop-out.
A maiden try to Dylan Lucas kick-started early Newcastle celebrations three minutes from full-time and even though he cramped up after getting past Tracey to score, the searing pain couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
“I felt like they punched in the face early, especially through our middle third,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t panic. I thought our backs in particular in the second half were excellent carrying the ball and our middles returned the favour by tackling well.”
O’Brien said his team looked like The Benny Hill Show due to their comedy of errors earlier in the season “but we don’t see that anymore”.
It’s not hard to see why Tyson Frizell’s teammates adore playing alongside him.
And why opposition players do not relish seeing him on the field.
Even though he is well and truly in the veteran class as he nears his 32nd birthday, Frizell keeps on keeping on. And when he hits defenders, they feel the cumulative effect of his granite-like physique and superb technique.
Young Sharks forward Jesse Colquhoun learned the hard way at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday when Frizell lined him up and belted the rookie with a fearsome display of controlled aggression.
The next time he plays Newcastle, he will need to bring a sidestep or a plan to steer well clear of Frizell.
O’Brien kept Frizell on the field for 72 minutes of their eighth straight win before giving the NSW and Australian representative an early shower.
Every team in the finals needs a player who is going to ruffle up feathers in their opposition – Frizell is Newcastle’s enforcer and in the tradition of Paul Harragon and Ben Kennedy, he can help the Knights cause an upset or two now that they’ve qualified for the playoffs.
Fitzgibbon said he felt like his team was defending their try line the whole game.
“We shot ourselves in the foot, I thought we were nervous in the first half. And then once you start racking up a lot of goal-line D and mounting up the errors and the penalties, their energy shifted and the tidalwave of possession and field position ended up getting us at the end of the game,” he said.
“I didn’t think we asserted any pressure on them. We kept releasing it. We got outplayed.”
Fitzgibbon said the absence of Hynes hurt the team but he was confident he would suit up for the rumble with the Raiders after straining his thigh at training during the week.