HaroldBishop
Megalodon
We've had a Sunday game pretty regularly in the last round over the years. Pretty annoying.
2023 NRL Round 26 Newcastle Knights v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, 4:05PM Sunday 27th August @ McDonald Jones Stadium
- Thread starter Proud Shark
- Start date
Yeh I'm sure the last 3 years or so we have been one of the last games on Sunday.
Sir Chadley
Jaws
While Ponga can pretty much attack anywhere, I think he mainly does it down the left side better. This is good for us as we have a more solid right side defence to deal with it in Jesse, Nicho and Nikora.
Can we play at their speed though? We always seem to get pinged for holding players down more than any other team - gifting them six agains all the time is not going to make it any easier.
So who else besides Ponga is a threat? Marzhew? Best? Gamble? Hastings? (if he plays).
Crossland, to the amazement of us all I reckon, is playing out of his skin and getting some good raps by media people.
We can win this but it's not going to turn out as easy as the Cows game. The Knights will keep coming at us.
Their fans are looking for blood too:
We come up against another team that’s kicked our arses last few years. Gallen’s comment still sting for me in our wooden spoon years.
Boys handing it to south’s was huge for them, you saw it in the boys reaction to full time. They knew they just handed a bully team a spanking.
Same goes this week, no complacency, lads will be primed to wipe the floor with another bully team and take there home semi away from them!
Also I just checked. GA ticked sold out, only single seats available and some multiple seats high in the rafters. Be sold out by EOB today fo shiz.
What a time!!
Can we play at their speed though? We always seem to get pinged for holding players down more than any other team - gifting them six agains all the time is not going to make it any easier.
So who else besides Ponga is a threat? Marzhew? Best? Gamble? Hastings? (if he plays).
Crossland, to the amazement of us all I reckon, is playing out of his skin and getting some good raps by media people.
We can win this but it's not going to turn out as easy as the Cows game. The Knights will keep coming at us.
Their fans are looking for blood too:
We come up against another team that’s kicked our arses last few years. Gallen’s comment still sting for me in our wooden spoon years.
Boys handing it to south’s was huge for them, you saw it in the boys reaction to full time. They knew they just handed a bully team a spanking.
Same goes this week, no complacency, lads will be primed to wipe the floor with another bully team and take there home semi away from them!
Also I just checked. GA ticked sold out, only single seats available and some multiple seats high in the rafters. Be sold out by EOB today fo shiz.
What a time!!
Before @BurgoShark corrects me with a graph -
Last Round:
2016 - who cares!!! (Sat)
2017 - Sun
2018 - Sun
2019 - Sun
2020 - Fri
2021 - Sat
2022 - Sun
2023 - Sun
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Must be nice to be one of the big clubs.
Gards
Jaws
Knights have beaten up on Piss teams all year and lost to the good ones, their only wins of note coming against the Storm just after Origin and Warriors early year (prior to NZ really firing)
I will say the same about the Sharks season except we haven't really lost to any bad or bottom 8 teams like the Knights but on the other hand the Knights haven't got pumped badly against Top 4 sides like we have. We know our defense was terrible and the Knights were having their own issues.
Both teams are now close on the ladder and have really started to find form and make big improvements in the last month or so.
I think both teams are fairly evenly matched. Playing up in Newcastle doesn't seem to phase our boys, they have had some good victories there over the years and it will take a good effort to get another one on Sunday
I will say the same about the Sharks season except we haven't really lost to any bad or bottom 8 teams like the Knights but on the other hand the Knights haven't got pumped badly against Top 4 sides like we have. We know our defense was terrible and the Knights were having their own issues.
Both teams are now close on the ladder and have really started to find form and make big improvements in the last month or so.
I think both teams are fairly evenly matched. Playing up in Newcastle doesn't seem to phase our boys, they have had some good victories there over the years and it will take a good effort to get another one on Sunday
MrDravid
Great White
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Also be nice to have a bye during the last 2 months of the season.
Up-Up Cronulla
Hammerhead
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I hope I'm wrong but I feel this game has reality check / expectation adjustment written all over it.
Agree. Knights fans are going to be disappointed
Johnny B Goode
Hammerhead
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So who else besides Ponga is a threat? Marzhew? Best? Gamble? Hastings? (if he plays).
I'm worried about Gamble's energy. He may not be so sklillful but he busts his arse and keeps trying for 80 minutes.
Slightly more annoying, slightly better at playing in halves Connor Tracey
MrDravid
Great White
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Hopefully the Newcastle players are as mentally weak as their fans
Blue_Eyes84
Bull Shark
I'm confident about this one. It will be a close game. However, we will get the W
Super Impose
Great White
Its hard to stay up in this comp for long periods - is it 7 in a row for them ?
They are due for a down week and a HIA …
They are due for a down week and a HIA …
Tatus
Not-So-Great White
I'd have agreed 4 weeks ago. I think we will rise to the occasion now though.
Tatus
Not-So-Great White
Longest winning streak for them in decades they said on the radio today.
Quite impressive considering they wanted ponga playing reserves when Miller killed it.
Would have though AOB was goneski but he's pulled a bloody rabbit out his hat with this team. Tyson gamble A+ signing.
MrDravid
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Not sure AOB has done much except move Ponga to fullback... you string a few games together, you start playing with confidence.
Proud Shark
Jaws
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Got me curious as to what our turn arounds were vs the perceived big clubs (Melbourne, Broncos, Roosters, Souths, Penrith), but ended up including all teams from each finals series.
2016
Sharks (7) Vs Canberra (8) Sharks Won 16-14
Brisbane (8) vs Titans (6) Broncos won 44-28
Melbourne (7) vs Cowboys (7) Melbourne won 16-10
Penrith (7) vs Dogs (9) Penrith win 28-12
2017
Sharks (7) Vs Cowboys (10) Sharks Lost 15-14
Roosters (6) Vs Brisbane (8) Roosters won 24-22
Melbourne (7) vs Parra (8) Melbourne win 18-16
Manly (7) vs Penrith (7) Penrith win 22-10
2018
Sharks (6) Vs Roosters (7) Sharks Lost 21-12
Melbourne (7) vs Souths (8) Melbourne win 29-28
Penrith (8) vs NZ (8) Penrith win 27-12
Brisbane (7) vs Saints (8) Saints win 48-18
2019
Sharks (6) Vs Manly (8) Lost 28-16
Roosters (8) vs Souths (8) Roosters win 30-6
Melbourne (8) vs Canberra (7) Canberra win 12-10
Parra (9) vs Brisbane (8) Parra win 58-0
2020
Sharks (7) vs Canberra (7) Lost 32-30
Penrith (8) vs Roosters (7) Penrith won 29-28
Melbourne (6) v Parra (7) Melbourne win 36-24
Souths (9) vs Knights (9) Souths win 46-20
2021
Melbourne (7) vs Manly (8) Melbourne win 40-12
Roosters (9) vs Titans (6) Roosters win 25-24
Penrith (6) vs Souths (7) Souths win 16-10
Parra (9) vs Knights (8) Parra win 28-20
2022
Sharks (6) vs Cowboys (7) Sharks lost 32-30
Penrith (8) vs Parra (6) Penrith win 27-8
Melbourne (9) vs Canberra (6) Canberra win 28-20
Roosters (9) vs Souths (9) Souths win 30-14
Some very interesting takeaways from looking at this. Of the 6 day turn arounds leading into a finals game: Titans lost 2016, Roosters won 2017, Storm won 2020, Titans and Penrith lost 2021, Canberra won 2022, Sharks and Parra lost. So of the 8 games since 2016 where teams have come off the back of a 6-day turnaround, only 3 have won.
The biggest takeaway for me is that in the last 7 years, we've played finals 6 times and in 5 of those matches our opponent has had a longer rest than us.
Below I looked at each team's average turnaround and average opposition turnaround since 2016.
| Team (appearances) | Average Finals Turnaround (days) | Opposition Turnaround (days) | Average Advantage (days) |
| Sharks (6) | 6.5 | 7.8 | - 1.3 |
| Penrith (6) | 7.3 | 7.3 | 0 |
| Broncos (4) | 7.75 | 7.25 | + 0.5 |
| Souths (5) | 8.2 | 7.8 | + 0.4 |
| Roosters (6) | 7.7 | 7.5 | + 0.2 |
| Storm (7) | 7.3 | 7.3 | 0 |
| Manly (3) | 7.7 | 6.7 | + 1 |
| Cowboys (3) | 8 | 6.7 | + 1.3 |
| Parra (5) | 7.8 | 7.4 | + 0.4 |
| Knights (2) | 8.5 | 9 | - 0.5 |
| Titans (2) | 6 | 8.5 | - 2.5 |
| Bulldogs (1) | 9 | 7 | + 2 |
| NZ (1) | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Saints (1) | 8 | 7 | + 1 |
We are the only side in negative with enough data to say we've probably been slightly dicked. Titans got massively screwed in their two appearances as well, however. Take what you want from the above, but keep in mind that our game v the cowboys where they had 3 extra days will skew both ours and their average.
I couldn't be bothered looking at all teams further back from 2016, but I just looked at Cronulla.
2015 - Sharks (7) v Souths (9)
2013 - Sharks (6) v Cowboys (7)
2012 - Sharks (7) v Canberra (7)
2008 - Sharks (7) v Canberra (6)
2005 - Sharks (7) v Saints (6)
2002 - Sharks (6) v Roosters (6)
2001 - Sharks (5) v Brisbane (6)
2000 - Sharks (7) v Brisbane (9)
1999 - Sharks (8) v Brisbane (9)
Add these to the above data set and over 15 appearances we average:
- 6.6 days turnaround
- 7.5 days opposition turnaround for a -0.9 day advantage. I think that's enough data to say we've been dicked. We've had an advantage in 2/15 games and had a disadvantage in 10/15 games.
Lazy mate, just lazy!