Round 15: Sharks vs Sea Eagles

[Tamwelg]

	vs
Sharks		Sea Eagles

Sat 21 Jun, 7:30PM Remondis Stadium

Nathan Gardner Sosaia Feki Blake Ayshford Jonathan Wright Michael Gordon Todd Carney Jeff Robson Siosaia Vave Michael Lichaa Bryce Gibbs Luke Lewis Wade Graham Paul Gallen   Fa'amanu Brown Chris Heighington Anthony Tupou Sam Tagataese Tinirau Arona   Peter Sharp

Fullback Wing Centre Centre Wing Five-eighth Halfback Prop Hooker Prop Second Row Second Row Lock   Interchange Interchange Interchange Interchange Interchange Interchange Coach

Brett Stewart Jorge Taufua Jamie Lyon Steve Matai Peta Hiku Kieran Foran Daly Cherry-Evans Josh Starling Matt Ballin Brenton Lawrence Anthony Watmough Justin Horo Jamie Buhrer   Jesse Sene-Lefao Dunamis Lui Tom Symonds Jason King James Hasson Jack Littlejohn Geoff Toovey

[TITAN PETE]

Manly trample sorry Sharks
By Dan Walsh
NRL.com
9:20pm Sat 21st June, 2014


Daly Cherry-Evans has exacted a modicum of revenge for Queensland's Origin defeat, leading a side in maroon to victory over a sky-blue clad foe in Manly's 26-0 defeat of the Sharks, consigning the home side to a record third consecutive game without troubling the scorers.


Two tries in the space of as many minutes to reserve forward Tom Symonds, whose touchdowns came with his first two touches of the ball, lit up a dominant second-half showing from Cherry-Evans, who put both four pointers on a platter for the popular rust-haired back-rower in the 54th and 56th minutes, while Jamie Lyon's personal tally of 10 points from a try and 3 goals pushed him past club legend Matthew Ridge's 1095 points in the maroon and white to sit third on the Sea Eagle's all-time point scoring ledger.

For the Sharks, who entered the match on a four game losing streak, the defeat all but switches off the life support for their flailing finals hopes, and their failure to post a single point in 269 minutes of football makes them the first side to be held to nil three matches in a row for the first time in the game's 106-year history.

It took just four minutes for the Sea Eagles to crack open the Sharks eggshell-thin right side defence, with Stewart sliding through the grasp of Cronulla centre Blake Ayshford before finding Justin Horo on the inside for the big man's second try of the year.

The Sharks held their own over the opening quarter of play, consistently working their way into Manly territory, but Manly were not to be denied when they came knocking again down Cronulla's right edge, with Ayshford badly exposed by opposite number Matai in the 19th minute, who crashed through the former Tiger's toothless attempt at a tackle to push the Sea Eagles' lead to 12.

Just for something different Manly went right for the same result, with Daly Cherry-Evans getting in on the act, spinning his way through the defence before feeding his skipper for a try in the 31st minute, though with Lyon's attempt at conversion being waved away the margin remained at 16-0.

Cronulla played every bit like a side that hadn't scored a point in over a month, unable to take a trick despite working their way into prime attacking real estate on more than the odd occasion only to make four errors in Manly's 20 metre zone across the opening 40 minutes.

And a contentious no-try ruling against winger Sosaia Feki in the final sixty seconds of the half, with video referee Matt Cecchin ruling the Kiwi had failed to regather in planting the ball inches inside the touch-in-goal line, consigned Cronulla to a fifth half of football without troubling the scorers.

A 46th minute high shot on runaway Sharks fullback Nathan Gardner landed Manly's Kieran Foran on report, and Cronulla prop-cum-hooker Tinirau Arona burrowed over from dummy-half from the ensuing set, only to again be denied by the video referees, who could not find sufficient evidence to overturn Gavin Morris's original no-try ruling.

Cherry-Evans resumed regular proceedings 10 minutes later, laying on Symonds' first with a simple ball at the line, before Lyon chipped sublimely for a flying Stewart just 80 seconds later. Stewart then linked with Symonds to give the former Rooster his second try of the year.

The Sharks continued to press late in the match still searching for those elusive points, but were repeatedly denied through a combination of stout Manly defence and a comedy of errors in attack as plenty of the 13,383 fans chose to make an early exit rather than watch their side try to crack the try line in vain.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 26 (T Symonds 2, J Horo, S Matai, J Lyon tries; J Lyon 3 goals) defeated Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 0 at Remondis Stadium. Crowd: 13,383.

- - - Updated - - -

First team in History to be held to Zero ​in 3 consecutive games , not a record to be proud of..

[DIEHARD]

Wow Sharks are going to be in big trouble.

[TITAN PETE]

Vengeful Cherry-Evans drags Manly to top
By Dan Walsh, Staff Writer
NRL.com
6:11am Sun 22nd June, 2014

Geoff Toovey had planned to give halfback Daly Cherry-Evans a well-earned rest in the wake of Wednesday's brutal Origin encounter, only for the Maroons star to convince his coach to throw him back into the fray just 72 hours after Queensland's heartbreaking defeat.

Cherry-Evans, who was clearly hampered throughout the 6-4 loss with a knee injury that had been the subject of an enormous amount of pre-game speculation, looked far more comfortable in the Sea Eagles' 26-0 rout of the Sharks on Saturday.

The returning halfback laid on three of Manly's five tries, including two in as many minutes for reserve forward Tom Symonds, while also running and kicking freely before being rested late in the second half with the result in the bag.

Toovey revealed after the match that Cherry-Evans only had a 10 minute run with the side on Friday, but had managed to convince his coach he was right to suit up for his second stint in three days.

"He was really keen to play," said Toovey of Cherry-Evans after the game.

"I think he wanted to move on from the State of Origin and I think he did that tonight.

"It's too early for to me assess him [physically]... but I'm more worried about him mentally, and that's why he did play – he said he was ready to play and he wanted to play tonight."

Manly's win, their 10th over the Sharks in their last 11 encounters, pushes the Sea Eagles ahead of the Panthers on for and against at the top of the NRL ladder.

Given the side's effort when last coming off a bye in Round 12 - a 36-10 thumping at the hands of the Broncos - Toovey admitted that the side's second week off in the space of a month had the potential to disrupt their preparation heading into the clash with Sharks.

But he said he was proud of the way they responded in holding Cronulla scoreless on their home turf.

"If you look at the records of teams coming off a bye, they don't perform too well, so we were aware of that and we've struggled with that in the past as well," said Toovey

"It's a tough game and you need a rest from time to time, but it is difficult when you get out of that routine with the bye and to come here particularly and try and have a win at Cronulla... it's a great effort for us defensively to keep them to a nil score line which I'm very pleased about.

"We're not reading too much into it today, but it is a good win here at Remondis. [They're] a very tough, very physical side Cronulla and I thought our boys played well."

Toovey did not believe five-eighth Kieran Foran had much to worry about despite being placed on report for an ugly high tackle on Sharks fullback Nathan Gardner in the 46th minute, while also indicating veteran Glenn Stewart's recovery from ankle surgery is on track and that the lock forward is expecting to return to the playing paddock over the next 3-4 weeks.

[TITAN PETE]

We're a rabble: Gallen
By Dan Walsh, Staff Writer
NRL.com
6:22am Sun 22nd June, 2014



Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen has labelled his side a 'rabble' in the wake securing an unwanted piece of rugby league history, with the Sharks 26-0 defeat at the hands of Manly making them the first team to be held scoreless for three consecutive matches in 106 years.


The last points Cronulla scored was in the 52nd minute of their Round 10 loss to the Tigers. Since then they've been held scoreless by the Rabbitohs, Dragons and Sea Eagles, stretching their point-scoring drought to an unprecedented 268 minutes - or almost four and half hours of football.


Looking every bit like an outfit that hasn't scored a point in over a month, the Sharks repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with costly errors when on the attack in Manly's 20 metre zone, while also failing to get the rub of the refereeing green with two tries to winger Sosaia Feki disallowed by questionable decisions.


Speaking after the match Gallen admitted the Sharks, who lost halfback Jeff Robson (hamstring) on the eve of the clash, were sorely lacking in execution against the Sea Eagles. It was an observation clearly shared by many of 13,383 fans who chose to make an early exit from Remondis Stadium rather than watch their side strive in vain for an elusive try in the final minutes.


"I can't imagine what the fans think, because it feels like a rabble out there and I can't imagine what it looks like," said Gallen, who topped the game's tackle count with 43 despite backing up just 72 hours after NSW's Origin triumph on Wednesday.


"We try hard. We get in an arm wrestle with teams, we don't get dominated in the middle or anything, it's just the finer details of the game when we get up their end. We try to push the pass... and we just don't build pressure."


With the Sharks now staring down the barrel of five losses on the trot and 11 defeats from 13 matches this season, coach Peter Sharp was left lamenting his side's inability to make the most of its attacking chances.


"We're just massively down on confidence, and massively down on cohesion in our play," said Sharp.


"Everything that can go wrong is going wrong at the moment. We couldn't get the bounce of the ball again, we had three tries disallowed. But we've made a bit of a rod for our own back, haven't we?"


The Sharks have had a wretched run with injury this season. Gallen, fellow NSW representative Luke Lewis and five eighth Todd Carney returned against the Sea Eagles, only for other key members to go down injured, as Robson and blockbusting prop Andrew Fifita (wrist) did leading into the fixture.


"Without making too many excuses...we're not going to get results until we get people on the park, training together and working together," said Sharp.


"We're trying hard, for me we just need to get personnel on the training park which is not happening on a regular basis at the moment.


"That's the first point for me; to get people back on the park training together."


Sharp was hopeful Robson would be available for the Sharks next clash against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Friday week, while also indicating Carney, who hobbled through the last few minutes with a leg injury, was not in any serious doubt.

[TITAN PETE]

Sharks now turn to avoiding spoon
By Dan Walsh, Staff Writer
NRL.com
6:30am Sun 22nd June, 2014



Paul Gallen made history in leading the Blues to their first series win in eight long years last Wednesday night, and the Cronulla skipper has now turned his sights to avoiding a far less desirable entry into the record books.

Cronulla's two wins in 2014 stands on par with the same number of victories as NSW, that other outfit Gallen dons the sky blue for.

The fact the Blues' triumphs came in just two attempts, rather than the 13 the Sharks have had so far this year, is why Gallen is staring down the barrel of the club's first wooden spoon since 1969, and is determined to avoid capping the finest achievement of his career to date with the humiliation of finishing stone-cold, motherless last in the same season.

"I told all the boys that everyone has to have pride in their individual performances for the rest of the year," says Gallen.

"One thing we don't want to do is win this wooden spoon.

"That will be an embarrassment for myself and the club. I don't care how young the blokes are playing this year, I'm not looking at next year I'm playing for now and I don't win a wooden spoon.

"Hopefully we can all take a lot of pride in our performance and get away from that."

Gallen experienced the mother-all comedowns on Saturday night, returning from claiming man-of-the-match honours in the Blues historic 6-4 win over Queensland to be on the receiving end of a 26-0 drubbing at the hands of the Sea Eagles.

In the process the Sharks became the first side to be held scoreless for three consecutive games in rugby league's 106-year history. Their last points came through a 52nd minute try to Michael Gordon in Cronulla's loss to the Tigers way back in Round 10, and have since gone four hours of football against the Rabbitohs, Dragons and now Manly, failing to trouble the scorers.

The loss leaves the Sharks finals hopes all but dead in the water, a particularly hefty fall given their impressive showing in last year's finals series in which they pushed Manly all the way in a brutal semi-final before succumbing 24-18 to the eventual runners-up.

Cronulla's fall from grace in 2014 mirrors the last time they came closest to claiming the most undesirable piece of cutlery in the game, when they followed up their 2008 season - in which they were eliminated one game short of the decider by Melbourne - with a year that redefined the term annus horribilis.

The Sharks won just five games under Ricky Stuart back in 2009, and only managed to avoid finishing last because they had a superior points differential to the equally woeful Roosters.

That season, the club found itself lurching between off-field incidents and on-field turmoil, with the infamous Sharks group-sex scandal, Reni Maitua's ban for taking a steroid-like substance, Brett Seymour's sacking for repeated off-field indiscretions and CEO Tony Zappia's alleged physical assault of a female employee all rolled into a year thoroughly worth forgetting.

Veteran forward Anthony Tupou, one of just three players, alongside Gallen and outside back Nathan Stapleton, remaining from that fateful season, says the club is in far better shape in 2014 than it was when it came too close for comfort to the wooden spoon.

"I'd definitely rather be in this team here than the one back in 2009," Tupou told NRL.com.

"Everyone's got positive talk still, which is a mile away from 2009 and that's the best thing and why we can still turn it around.

"That was a bad year, but it was different circumstances. Boys were getting sacked, boys were up to no good, but this year it's been mostly bad luck with the injuries.

"Beau Ryan's had to retire, it's been bad luck and you can't really compare the two years, they're different circumstances."

With Gallen, fellow NSW representative Luke Lewis and attacking lynchpin Todd Carney all returning on Saturday night, the club's casualty ward is finally starting to empty out. Though Tupou admits that whatever 17 ends up on the pitch, they need to have more to show for their efforts than 268 pointless – some would argue in more way than one – minutes of football.

"We spoke about the guys coming back in soon and hopefully getting that full roster back," says Tupou, who believes a strong defence is the key to a better offence.

"But we have to pick it up anyway. We know we're going to get that roster back soon enough but we're not happy just having those guys back, we've got to aim up regardless and lift anyway.

"I think if we're defending better, you get in a good groove and you get on a roll.

"Then stuff like the final passes and the tries just comes; your attack comes off the back of your defence.

"If we're defending well and not letting in tries I just know that our attack will be on."