RD 23: Sharks vs Eels

[Queenslander]

CRONULLA SHARKS v PARRAMATTA EELS
Saturday 12th August at Toyota park, 7:30pm

Referee: Tony Archer

Team Notes:

Sharks

Speedy winger Darren Albert; who has been out of form of late, has been drooped to Premier League, while New Zealand international Nigel Vagana has been dropped to the interchange bench.

The duo have been replaced by the returning David Simmons (knee) and Phil Bailey (cheek) who were both out of action for large portions of the Sharks? six game losing streak

Having wielded the axe, Raper is confident heading into this weekend?s must win game with the Eels, saying ?I am very confident. I will always have confidence in my team, but they have incredible confidence in each other and can get the one win we need this weekend?.

Eels

Wade McKinnon is a shock starter on the Parramatta bench this week, taking the place of Brett Delaney in the Eels outfit that will take on Cronulla.

With Luke O'Dwyer able to slot into the pack and Mark Riddell able to play a second row role when needed, plus the fact that Nathan Hindmarsh, Glenn Morrison and Daniel Wagon can all go 80 minutes, coach Jason Taylor has decided he can go into the match with a spare back.

Luke Burt has managed to hold his position as starting fullback with consecutive standout performances.

SHARKS:

Brett Kearney,
David Simmons,
Ben Pomeroy,
Phil Bailey,
Luke Covell,
Adam Dykes,
Brett Kimmorley (capt),
James Stosic,
Kevin Kingston,
Richard Villasanti,
Reece Williams,
Lance Thompson,
Cameron Ciraldo.

Interchange:

Luke Douglas,
Nigel Vagana,
Paul Gallen,
Beau Scott.

EELS:

Luke Burt,
Jarryd Hayne,
Luke O'Dwyer,
Ben Smith,
Eric Grothe,
John Morris,
Jeremy Smith,
Nathan Cayless (capt),
Mark Riddell,
Chad Robinson,
Nathan Hindmarsh,
Daniel Wagon,
Glenn Morrison.

Interchange:

PJ Marsh,
Dean Widders,
Wade McKinnon,
Josh Cordoba.

***Please use this thread for game day spoilers***

[Chaos]

Biggest game of the round...I believe the loser will miss the semi finals

[Titanium_BD1103]

Agreed... and I think Cronulla have done the right thing by sweeping a broom through the side and making changes... they need some sort of spark, hopefully they will get it now with some fresh new faces...

It will be interesting to see how Cameron Ciraldo goes, former Bulldog and was a good player for us, apparently has been going great guns for Sharks PL even though they were aweful last week... so hope he has a good game...

[Dakink]

Cant beleive Im saying this but I hope PArra win...

[Hindyscrack]

Massive danger game for the Eels... Now in the Eight and if they slip they could drop out... Sharks trying to break a losing streak at home in the night, going to be tough

Go Parra!

[Poida]

eels to win by 25+

[Eel 33]

Parra will lose one game before the finals, but i think it will be next week against the Chooks. Parra by 1-12. BTW Dakink, like you were ever going to back against us in this one!!!

[Poida]

i will cause i dont much care about cronulla and hope they miss the finals

[Chaos]

I don't know that the Sharks should start Gallon on the bench.
He is the perfect weapon to put the fear into the Eels soft forwards (e.g. Cayless, Wagon)

[Eel 33]

But obviously Gallen is one of the slack forwards at the Sharks, which is why he's been dropped to the bench. A different attitude from the Sharks is expected in the light of the sackings that Raper has made.

[Grimmace]

Eels' surge continues as Sharks flounder
Saturday, August 12, 2006 - 11:21 PM

Parramatta's tidal wave of form is verging on a full blown tsunami after the Eels stormed to their eighth straight win with a 34-14 victory over Cronulla, the club's best winning run since its last grand final appearance in 2001.

Down 12-8 at halftime, the Eels scored four unanswered tries after the break to consign the Sharks to their seventh consecutive loss and put another nail in the coffin that is Cronulla's dwindling finals dream.

Just months after being considered a genuine challenger for the wooden spoon, Parramatta could finish the weekend in fourth spot if both Brisbane and St George Illawarra lose on Sunday - a distinct possibility given they are playing competition frontrunners Melbourne and the Bulldogs respectively.

Eels coach Jason Taylor, who now possesses a 9-3 record after taking over from Brian Smith mid-season, described the win as the best of his short career after his side regrouped to romp home in the second half.

"For me it was our most pleasing win that we've had in the last couple of months because we were up against it," Taylor said.

"The opposition were playing for their season and sometimes teams come out and you know that they're desperate ... I thought they were at their best in the first half.

"We got back to what we do well and that was the most pleasing thing, that we grinded our way out of it in the second half."

Their resurgence started only three minutes after the restart with rookie winger Jarryd Hayne crossing for his 14th try in just his 12th game before Wade McKinnon and Luke Burt, who finished with a personal haul of 18 points from two tries and five goals, iced the game for the visitors.

McKinnon made Brett Kimmorley pay for a spilt pass on halfway and some questionable judgement from stand-in fullback Nigel Vagana, the Kiwi international showing McKinnon the line as he burst through the gap with the Eels speedster gleefully accepting the invitation.

Burt then secured his double within the space of four minutes, the first coming after Brett Kearney had lost the ball cold in his own in-goal with Kimmorley describing the incident indicative of just how the two sides are travelling.

"When you've got a lot of confidence you score some 50-50 tries and they sort of went three in a row that were pretty quick I suppose," Kimmorley said.

"At the start of the year we were getting the bounce of the ball and we weren't even trying much. We were playing really well and when you get on that roll of winning everything happens.

"You can say the bounce doesn't go you way but maybe you're not there to get the bounce either."

Cronulla now needs to win all three of its remaining matches to be any chance of making the top eight.

Source: AAP

[Eel 33]

Another one bites the dust. :yell: Bring on the chooks!!!