Teams Cronulla Sharks 2020

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That is some good business. You have two of the best wingers in the comp there. And both were excellent for you again today. SJ really stood up too against a spirited Warriors side.
 
Yeah, well that ended as most of us expected. When you start off by dropping the ball twice in the opposition half and gift them a try in the first five minutes you set the scene for defeat. I am not sure what to make of Katoa, one minute he is brilliant the next he cannot even hold onto the football.

I have to say the Chooks looked a good side and I reckon they will make the Grand Final possibly against the Panthers with the Storm also in the mix. I have a thing against teams being allowed to go out and buy a marquee player like SBW five weeks out from finals.

As for the Sharks, we are in the eight which is better than expected by many of us at the start of the year but unfortunately I have the feeling that we will just be making up the numbers. Still, we live the belief that we may pull off an upset.

Shaun Johnson has a suspected ruptured archilles so if that diagnosis is correct he is gone until early 2021. Johnson is jinxed, he takes a season to show his best then when he does he gets injured.
 

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That was pretty cruel for you guys, I just watched it. It's going to be very difficult from now on, but of course I can't support you against Wigan Reserves!
 
Oh for a contest...

All told this has been a pretty uninteresting round. Not one close game and at least six of the eight games, including the Knights v Dragons game that I was watching, were all over at half time. I guess that is what you get when seven of the eight games are top eight v bottom eight. I have just switched to the Sydney v Geelong AFL game in the hope it will be a contest.

Next week is shaping up a bit better with 16 v 14, 9 v 7, 6 v 3, 8 v 5, 12 v 11. We might get a couple of decent contests out out that lot.
 
Was hoping we’d give the Raiders a good shake and show were a chance to win our first final, but the loss of SJ makes them nearly impossible

Oh well, bring on 2021, if we can offload Moylan, even Chad and keep our current side on the park I’d be very optimistic and we’re back on level pegging salary cap wise. Probably should look for a centre or winger
 
Both Coaches have decided to rest a few players and we have a couple out injured. There are ten first choice players missing from this week's game. The result has no bearing on the table but it would be nice to get a win before we play the Raiders again in the finals. We have Shaun Johnson, Katoa and Dugan missing but the Raiders have Williams, Croker, Nicoll-Klokstad, Rapallia, Bateman and Rapana as outs with Wighton listed as a reserve.
 
raptalia said:
Both Coaches have decided to rest a few players and we have a couple out injured. There are ten first choice players missing from this week's game. The result has no bearing on the table but it would be nice to get a win before we play the Raiders again in the finals. We have Shaun Johnson, Katoa and Dugan missing but the Raiders have Williams, Croker, Nicoll-Klokstad, Rapallia, Bateman and Rapana as outs with Wighton listed as a reserve.
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Yeah I reckon this is a poor look for the Raiders. Win this week and they could still finish fourth, but they'd rather be fifth and get a home EF (against us) than face Penrith away. Strategically though they may be right - we will struggle against them anyway, and are no chance when they're at full strength with our outs. If I were a Raiders fan, I think I'd still rather win this week though.
 
Capital Power said:
Yeah I reckon this is a poor look for the Raiders. Win this week and they could still finish fourth, but they'd rather be fifth and get a home EF (against us) than face Penrith away. Strategically though they may be right - we will struggle against them anyway, and are no chance when they're at full strength with our outs. If I were a Raiders fan, I think I'd still rather win this week though.
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Surely they’d prefer to play Penrith then rather than in a prelim? Then again I’d rather play Penrith than Melbourne/Roosters.
 
Capital Power said:
Yeah I reckon this is a poor look for the Raiders. Win this week and they could still finish fourth, but they'd rather be fifth and get a home EF (against us) than face Penrith away. Strategically though they may be right - we will struggle against them anyway, and are no chance when they're at full strength with our outs. If I were a Raiders fan, I think I'd still rather win this week though.
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Aussie_boy said:
Surely they’d prefer to play Penrith then rather than in a prelim? Then again I’d rather play Penrith than Melbourne/Roosters.
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There's literally no benefit to them coming 5th over 4th, if you come 4th and lose first week it just means you host presumably the Eels (unless we somehow win) in Canberra instead of it being at Bankwest like it would be if they come 5th and beat us.
 

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Capital Power said:
I guess it's because the most likely outcome is they finish fifth regardless.
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The Raiders are 18 points up and only 2 points behind the Eels. The Raiders might be pissed off if they loose to us and the Tigers then beat the Eels in Benji's last game for them. I know playing us in Canberra first week is tempting but it is always better to have the double chance if you can get it. Like the AFL very few teams go top from outside of the top four.

That said we are probably never going to know for sure because if we do manage to beat the Raiders the Eels will know they are safe in fourth spot and will probably take it easy against Wests as they will not want to get hurt.

It would be more interesting if the games were scheduled the other way around and West Tigers played the Eels in the first game and won. That would mean the Raiders were playing a shot in the top four. I guess if that were the case Stuart would have picked his strongest side.
 
Wow, didn't see the Bunnies 50 point thrashing of the Chooks coming. Didn't see much of SBW either.

The Bunnies were awesome and probably dominated the opposition more than I have seen any side do this year and in the end it was a training run.

Doubtless the Chooks will regroup but they will need to and as Cooper Cronk and Mick Ennis both said last night no team has ever gone top when it has had 50 points or more scored against it in a minor round game.
 
Once again our defensive game let us down. After conceding 4 tries in the first 30 minutes we were always going to be playing catch up. It was a nothing game and we were under strength but the Raiders also rested 4-5 good players. I have a feeling that we are going to be pushing it uphill next week.

But we live in hope- go the Sharks.
 
Well that is it for COVID 20. Same story as the rest of the year we were in it for the first half then we let in four tries in twenty minutes. Our defensive game is a shambles and is the area that Morris has to address in the off season.

There was a bit of controversy over the Wighton try but it didn't make much difference to the final result.
 
Thought it was a really spirited effort, actually.

The commentators/media glossed over it but losing Brailey in the first 30 mims was a game killer.
Having his replacement Sorensen go down 10 mins later effectively ended the game as we were 2 rotations short and our starting hooker down by half time.

Lookong forward to next year, and i think BHU at 8, Rudolf at 10 and Talakai at lock has to be our starting lineup next year
 
Sharks didn't have much luck with injuries, or the bounce of the ball (Katoa's knock-on!), but I don't think they can complain about the result. The controversial try seems to be correct according to the letter of the law, but it did seem to be a turning point. Of course I was delighted to see George Williams play so well, but the Raiders will have to up their game further to proceed. As I understand it, they would have to beat the Storm, Roosters and Penrith to lift the trophy? That's a massive ask. I will be very surprised if they get past the Roosters. meanwhile, as you guys say, the Sharks need to patch up their defence, which was worryingly soft at times. On the upside, I thought Townsend really stood up in SJ's absence.
 
On the Captain's Challenge, I can see the temptation is there to claim it when you think you've been unlucky, but Katoa's was a poor challenge. As was the one for the Williams knock-on shortly afterwards. The smart teams will use their challenges wisely in the Finals.
 
TheGrizz said:
Thought it was a really spirited effort, actually.

The commentators/media glossed over it but losing Brailey in the first 30 mims was a game killer.
Having his replacement Sorensen go down 10 mins later effectively ended the game as we were 2 rotations short and our starting hooker down by half time.

Lookong forward to next year, and i think BHU at 8, Rudolf at 10 and Talakai at lock has to be our starting lineup next year
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Yeah, the players are there it is simply a matter of getting them to gel. Mick Ennis made an interesting comment pre game as he said when you went through the door at Cronulla it was always about physical and mental toughness. He went on to say that is lacking atm. I reckon the challenge for Morris is to get that toughness back. Good teams build their game on rock solid defence and let the tries take care of themselves.

I reckon Moylan's time with us should be over he is too injury prone and hot or cold when he does get onto the park. Not sure about his contract status but we could use the salary cap space to improve the list. I also think Andrew Fifita's time is up and again we could free some salary cap up by saying thanks and good bye.

Given the start we had to the year I was not expecting to make the eight but we made it and unearthed some talent along the way so the season was not a dead loss. Hopefully there are no more unwanted shocks between now and the start of 2021.
 
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