Final 25 Minutes
- Raiders kick off and Sharks bring it out of their end with 5 forward rucks. Toby plays it about 40 out and Townsend sends it high from about 43m out. Raiders take it cleanly and are tackled about 15 out in front of their posts. Then Rapana throws a nothing pass to Whitehead, runs in to him, and it is Sharks ball 20 out.
- Sharks go to the right from the scrum through Chad, Moylan and then Kennedy, who is tackled a few metres out. We get two passes back to the middle again through Chad and Brailey, before Brailey finds Uele underneath.
- Ref calls time off for Wighton.
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I don't have a problem with the ref stopping the game for a player who is visibly dazed. As a side note though - in the Q Cup if play is stopped for a player in the defensive line, and he stays on the field - it is six more. That might be a rule worth considering in the NRL. Not that it would have made much difference for the Sharks here on tackle 1.
Back to the action...
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- A minute or so later Chad comes to the left side and brings Williams underneath back to the middle. They take 2 more plays to the middle, then on the 5th Brailey finds Chad on the left, he dummies to kick and tries the Harbour Bridge pass to Mulitalo. Unfortunately for the Sharks, Dugan jumps up to take the pass and robs his winger of a try. Nice quick play the ball from Rudolf and a good pass from Chad which could have (should have) led to points. Can't blame Dugan too much on the play though.
- Raiders bring it off their line, Townsend isn't involved in defence, they kick, and the Sharks play it on tackle one 25 out.
- They get close to half way wit outside backs doing the dirty work, and Brailey kicks.
- Chad leads the chase by a mile, but pulls up and waits for the line to catch up. Nikora and Katoa make the tackle (Tracey had played the ball so wasn't in the chase line).
- Raiders bring it out. Raiders player walks off the mark and makes Toby "not square". Takes Toby out of play and they go 20m up the middle before Nikora and Townsend shut it down. Geez walking off the mark gives me the ****s. Raiders kick to a corner and bat it back. Moylan cleans up for tackle 1 about 15m out from their own line.
- On 3rd tackle they shift right to Chad, who dummies and pokes his head through but the cover defence gets him. They hold on to him forever but no set restart is awarded
- Last tackle Townsend kicks from 45 out and it is fielded 10m out in front of the posts by CNK. He's tackled about 28m out. A bit of a weak end to the set. Chad's kicking was really good for the second half, and this wasn't a poor kick, but the chase wasn't strong (players were there but not in a line) so it made it a poor result.
- Keeping them down their own end works again though, the Raiders spill it on tackle 3, and lose a challenge
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Sharks still in the arm wrestle. Townsend heavily involved in attack, kicking, and kick chase
Thumbs up to Bomber here for a very smart late interchange, as Magoulias comes on to the field. Typing out the breakdown of the last 17 minutes I felt he had an impact in every set
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- Townsend turns it under for Billy on tackle 2 and he makes good yards with great leg drive. Next tackle Townsend swings to the left, takes the ball to the line, dummy to Rudolf, and Rudolf is hit on suspicion. Sharks take the 2
- Townsend catches the kick off on the full and uses Katoa. Sharks then make great metres off a good run from Billy and then an offload from Toby. Raiders hold on to the ball in the ptb and Graham earns a penalty. Townsend rushes in to grab the ball and quickly kicks to touch
- They set up a really nice shift on play 3, first through Magoulias and then Townsend before Kennedy goes wide. Unfortunately Kennedy throws a pass to his winger that he shouldn't have, and poor Katoa gets bundled in to touch. Raiders bring it out and kick the ball in to touch just outside the Sharks 20m line. Sharks bring it out through outside backs.
- On the 2nd tackle Chad gets the ball on the right and finds Nikora running a great line. He pokes his head through but loses the ball trying to offload to Tracey. Good play by Townsend.
- Raiders keep it in the middle and lose it on the 3rd. Sharks play it on zero-tackle on their own 20.
- Sharks bring it out, another Rudolf offload leads to an opportunity down the left edge, but a sloppy Graham pass followed by a poor decision from Dugan leads to them being taken in to touch
- Never mind though... the Raiders drop it on tackle 1 again (good tackle Magoulias). A push and shove contest ensues. Townsend gives Hodgson a cuddle, and the ref decides the Sharks will get a penalty
- Next set Townsend comes to the middle, to bring Rudolf under on play 2, and then starts a shift on the next play finding Moylan out he back. Tracey gets tackled, and who could ever have guessed what happens next? That's right - dummy half to Townsend, then Brailey, then an inside ball to a forward. Sharks are back in the middle.
-Next play Brailey runs and engages the markers, then props and passes a long pass to Townsend who is on the left. He kicks to the corner, Dugan scores after a long replay, Chad misses the kick, and we go back for a kickoff with just under 6 minutes to play.
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Good passage here of involvement by Townsend, and a well placed kick at the end for points (with a little bit of luck).
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- Coming out of their end the Sharks run through the middle, until the 4th tackle when yet another good run and fast ptb from Magaloulias sets up a shift to the right for Townsend. He throws a long cut out pass to Tracey, who slips as he catches it and is held. Chad then lets go a bomb from 45 out. It lands mid field near the 30m line, the Raiders don't contest it and Billy busts out the soccer skills for a second kick. Young just beats Wade on the chase and is tackled a couple of metres out from his own line. Another positive end to the set for the Sharks
- Raiders ruck it out, kick on the last and Ronnie gets tackled about 5 short of half way. A couple of tackles later the Sharks shift right again via Billy, Chad, Moylan and then a straight running Tracey. He is tackled one on one and gets a quick ptb. They then immediately shift the other way. Chad first, then Moylan who has swung back around to the left. Moylan is tackled.
- This looks a hell of a lot like that middle, middle shift shift, short kick set we've seen already... .and yep... Chad kicks it at the goal post pad. Raiders cover up nicely though and are tackled inches out.
- Chad chases and makes the tackle on his own kick, makes the next tackle from marker, and then a third in a row for good measure after a couple of guys fall off Kris. He stays on the ground and is out of the next play, but runs back in to position on the blind side ready for the following play the ball.
- Raiders pass to the open and kick from their own 40. Ronaldo takes it and almost runs out, but Dugan helps keep him stay in.
- Again they shift right via Chad after a couple of plays. This time he finds Nikora short, barks some orders, and then Brailey comes straight back to him. He finds Magoulias running under, and Billy switches the play to Tracey on the blind
- 5th tackle Chad dummies to kick and then shifts left to Moylan. The dummy kick plus a good outside decoy run Uele, plus and the winger having dropped back...makes it a 5 on 2 for the Sharks.
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This is Chad's last involvement in the game (other than the kick at goal), but I want to break down this play anyway.
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- Moylan has the ball after setup from Chad and Uele. He's 23m out just to the left of the post, with Graham, Dugan and Katoa lined outside him, and Kennedy out the back. The Raiders had just Williams and Scott in defence, with Young on his bike after moving in to cover Uele. CNK and the right winger (Simonsson) are dropped back.
- Williams comes out of the line to try to rush Moylan. He could draw and pass to Graham and make it a 3 on 1 (with Raiders pushing hard from inside) but he goes out the back to Kennedy. The winger jams in hard though and collects Dugan. Everyone else slides and sends Kennedy in to touch as he flicks to Ronaldo and there is a scramble near touch. In hindsight, the play he is probably short to Graham, who can then either use Kennedy inside or Dugan outside as a support runner. In the end though, the Raiders did a great job of scrambling - and the Sharks were very lucky to get the penalty, because even though Simonsson definitely collected Dugan, he was in front of Kennedy at the time and was never a chance to get the ball. Or... you might say the Sharks were unlucky, since the touch judge had actually told the ref that the ball had gone in to touch off the Raiders. Who knows what happens there with a fresh set of six.
- Again, you know the rest... Chad misses the kick, Moylan tries to kick a 60m field goal and it is all over.
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For all of the complaining we see about Chad, this was a performance I'd liken to a lot of games from SJ's last season where he was given plenty of 3-2-1 votes, or one of the Maloney "get it wrong, get it wrong, get it right, what a player" games. His first 20-25 wasn't strong, but from the 25th minute on he built pressure nicely, and when the game was on the line he was the guy driving the bus. The Sharks didn't look like breaking the line except on plays he was involved in, and after that grubber in the first half his kicking game was faultless. There is no way I would give him points in the 3-2-1, because his first 25 cost the team and because the game was played mostly through the middle third - but I can say for certain that he was among the Sharks best players from minute 25 on, and without him on the field the score almost certainly shows 0 to the Sharks at full time.
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Feel free to suggest which player(s) you'd like to follow along with next week.
