2023 NRL Finals Week 1 - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Sydney Roosters, 7:50pm Saturday 9th September @ PointsBet Stadium

expect a roosters ambush this week

we need to step up big time and bring everything that is special about our squad to this game to exorcise those demons.

we have to the an A++ grade game to Shark Park.

Watch players like Brandon Smith rip us a new one; noting some key dummy runs he had against Souths last week - phenomenal running that totally blew rabboths away because it was next level a game out from finals; he will bring more of that - he is a big game player.
sam walker throwing flukey passes and doing sh!t that will redeem himself (media the next day will be all over it)
keary cutting us open; and doing keary sh!t left right & centre.
manu line breaking the sh!t out of us and jumping above our men to pluck a ball to score
suaalli doing something freakish when its needed
they will have the rest of their squad do the usual grind
oh then they have Tedesco - who has been doing good stuff but will prove to people that he's still got it


we need to be up for it - Sharks need to go next level, the finals level that is
I believe we can but we need to bring it.
hold the ball, kick chase pressure, no fukkin penalties. everyone plays to bring their A+++ game
don't settle back and think we got this. we gotta go out and earn it


Time to LIFT sharks

Thresher said:

First 20 could decide it I'm thinking.

I like that BHU and Rudolf are getting into good playing condition at the right time.

Really wish Kennedy hadn't been injured. Hope our attack is smooth nevertheless.

No idea how this will turn out.

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First 10-15 after halftime for mine. Looking to avoid a drop ball leading to a try.

Sparkles said:

First 10-15 after halftime for mine. Looking to avoid a drop ball leading to a try.

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yes!

Thresher said:

Les Davidson would test it by decking a Rooster in the first exchange

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Should be a prize for that

MMsharks said:

expect a roosters ambush this week

we need to step up big time and bring everything that is special about our squad to this game to exorcise those demons.

we have to the an A++ grade game to Shark Park.

Watch players like Brandon Smith rip us a new one; noting some key dummy runs he had against Souths last week - phenomenal running that totally blew rabboths away because it was next level a game out from finals; he will bring more of that - he is a big game player.
sam walker throwing flukey passes and doing sh!t that will redeem himself (media the next day will be all over it)
keary cutting us open; and doing keary sh!t left right & centre.
manu line breaking the sh!t out of us and jumping above our men to pluck a ball to score
suaalli doing something freakish when its needed
they will have the rest of their squad do the usual grind
oh then they have Tedesco - who has been doing good stuff but will prove to people that he's still got it


we need to be up for it - Sharks need to go next level, the finals level that is
I believe we can but we need to bring it.
hold the ball, kick chase pressure, no fukkin penalties. everyone plays to bring their A+++ game
don't settle back and think we got this. we gotta go out and earn it


Time to LIFT sharks

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Lucky we have one of the best defenders in the comp in Brailey on our side.

Still a hard nugget to slow down.

puma1355 said:

Not that will happen however I'd love to see Atkinson play 1

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I agree.
less disruption to place 1 player in than to move 2-3 players

egg said:

View attachment 29403

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Hookers touching balls.
Well there’s a first!

Fox

egg said:

Fox

‘Glorified club game’: NRL’s ‘backwards thinking’ called out amid ‘stupid’ stadium call

‘Glorified club game’: NRL’s ‘backwards thinking’ called out amid ‘stupid’ stadium call

www.foxsports.com.au

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Can't disagree with any of that.

Let me guess, a Fox article quoting themselves?

HaroldBishop said:

Let me guess, a Fox article quoting themselves?

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Yep. But Dan Ginnane instead of Buzz, and actually quotes Wade too. It's a pretty measured take.

Better than the nrl 360 rubbish of quoting anasta etc.

Proud Shark said:

Yep. But Dan Ginnane instead of Buzz, and actually quotes Wade too. It's a pretty measured take.

Better than the nrl 360 rubbish of quoting anasta etc.

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Andrew Webster wrote an article on this as well, it is ridiculous it isn't being played at a bigger ground.

HaroldBishop said:

Andrew Webster wrote an article on this as well, it is ridiculous it isn't being played at a bigger ground.

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Under the rules, it isn't.

It's about giving those finishing higher an equal advantage in the first round. I'm fine with it. I guarantee you we don't get 30k this week at Allianz or Commbank, and the clubs don't make any cash from it. So we literally are giving up a home-ground advantage to allow a few more Roosters fans to attend. This also comes about as they don't want to take finals away from places like Canberra and NQL.

I can kinda get the argument of us not being able to host with a reduced capacity/during construction, but outside of that I don't buy into it.

HaroldBishop said:

Andrew Webster wrote an article on this as well, it is ridiculous it isn't being played at a bigger ground.

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Sometimes it shouldn’t be about the extra profits. Sometimes it should be about being fair to what a team earns. Cronulla earned the right to host the game, it should be entirely up to them. End of.

Im delighted Cronulla have stuck to their guns and pleasantly surprised the NRL backed them up.

CrazyMatt said:

Sometimes it shouldn’t be about the extra profits. Sometimes it should be about being fair to what a team earns. Cronulla earned the right to host the game, it should be entirely up to them. End of.

Im delighted Cronulla have stuck to their guns and pleasantly surprised the NRL backed them up.

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Exactly, I don’t understand why people find this so hard to comprehend.

We earnt home ground advantage so it’s ours

End of the day what ever gives the team best chance to win should be the priority and if a fan suggests we should play elsewhere as the cost of any potential advantage then i question what sort of fan they are.

Proud Shark said:

Under the rules, it isn't.

It's about giving those finishing higher an equal advantage in the first round. I'm fine with it. I guarantee you we don't get 30k this week at Allianz or Commbank, and the clubs don't make any cash from it. So we literally are giving up a home-ground advantage to allow a few more Roosters fans to attend. This also comes about as they don't want to take finals away from places like Canberra and NQL.

I can kinda get the argument of us not being able to host with a reduced capacity/during construction, but outside of that I don't buy into it.

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Would get very close to 30k at Parra.

I don't blame us at all for choosing to play at home, we absolutely did the right thing. It should be taken out of our hands though, the NRL should change the rules.

Tiger Shark said:

Exactly, I don’t understand why people find this so hard to comprehend.

We earnt home ground advantage so it’s ours

End of the day what ever gives the team best chance to win should be the priority and if a fan suggests we should play elsewhere as the cost of any potential advantage then i question what sort of fan they are.

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Our home record is the same as away.

No blame at all on the club, the NRL should change it.

HaroldBishop said:

Would get very close to 30k at Parra.

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We won't know, but I think we'd struggle to push 25k. Public transport out there is a bitch from both Cronulla and Bondi. Will take 1.15 from Bondi junction and 1.45 from Cronulla. That will massively reduce crowds and both fan bases don't love to travel.

HaroldBishop said:

Our home record is the same as away.

No blame at all on the club, the NRL should change it.

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Ultimately in this circumstance, it's the team choosing where they are most comfortable. The record of this season doesn't really rate a mention. It would be interesting to see what our finals record is at home v away.

Proud Shark said:

We won't know, but I think we'd struggle to push 25k. Public transport out there is a bitch from both Cronulla and Bondi. Will take 1.15 from Bondi junction and 1.45 from Cronulla. That will massively reduce crowds and both fan bases don't love to travel.

Ultimately in this circumstance, it's the team choosing where they are most comfortable. The record of this season doesn't really rate a mention. It would be interesting to see what our finals record is at home v away.

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Neither is probably all that good. Would need to dig deep to find out as some of our 'home' finals have been away from Shark Park.

HaroldBishop said:

Neither is probably all that good. Would need to dig deep to find out as some of our 'home' finals have been away from Shark Park.

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Yeah, the stats really can't rate a mention. As far as I can tell we've only played 3 home finals at Shark Park for 2 wins and a loss.
Away finals we are one win for 8 losses. Finals at big Sydney stadiums are about 50/50 but I didn't really look at whether we were home or away in these as I don't think it matters.

So really as above, it goes back to what the team think will help them the best.