Round 1 2015: Cronulla Sharks v Canberra Raiders Sunday 8 March 6:30pm @ Remondis Stadium

This team do not deserve member support or even fans

I copped a speeding fine on the way home because I could not wait to get as far as away from Remondis ASAP but you think these useless loser wankers on 6 figure salaries will front my bill, ofcourse not

They are tight arse bludgers being lead around by the ****tesh coach in Sharks history, LOL DCE wouldn't have changed anything at this loser club, still would have been no premierships or maybe no wins either

Pathetic drop kicks pretending to be professional sports people, LOLOLOLOOLOO HAHHAHAHAHAH! Hahahah go **** your selves Sharks, ****ing pretenders

Not totally sure why I'm posting in the middle of this bizarre orgy of keystrokes, but if anyone rational is reading then I think we owe it to each other to share some thoughts...

We still looked like the 2014 sharks. Very strange errors and ill discipline.... But I'm confident that after a few actual games and we'll work out those kinks. There's discipline and then there's regular season discipline... And after the horror year that was, I think it'll take a few games to exorcise those demons and get back on track.

I'm confident gagan will replace brown. Injury stood in the way for this game.

Bird may get a run in the centres, but I think Beale will get a few more shots at it yet. He's a proven first grader and should see him get more involved.

Still need to work out the leadership roles. There was an odd scene Ingoal, after a try, where Ennis was giving it to the boys and Gallen was standing off facing the opposite direction.

We have two deficiencies in the squad - props and kick options.

I really like arona and I think he'll do well. Dafita will only improve, he's already come a long way and is looking good.... But neither of them are weathered, veteran props. It showed to it, we were steamrolled in the middle.

On kicking, Ennis was the only real beacon of hope for us. Barba still doesn't look like a 5/8, but did look promising in his support play... Like a fullback does. Kicking though... Leave it to Ennis.

Feki was awesome. Toups looked great, apart from his meltdown. Gordon looked dangerous most every touch... Just wish he'd chose to touch it more often, like when the ball is kicked to him. Leutele was strong in defence and safe in attack, if not threatening. Gall did what he should do - bashed it up the middle... And we looked the better for it. Still not totally sold on wades edge play, but he did look half a chance with each touch... I hope we figure that out, there's promise in it. Ennis was almost Ennis... A few games in and I know we'll see it start to gel , and he'll get back to his annoying,y effective yapping, nipping ways. Robbo wasn't bad, he looked comfortable... But again, something's got to be worked out with our kicking, it's still not there.

All in all, there were definite signs of a 2014 hangover, but also promise. I think we'll see the real sharks come round 3-4. And when they hit it, they'll do just fine.

Hate to break it to you Sparkles, but tonight is the best we have to offer, team will only get worse

Other than Feki and Ennis, they are losers afterall

FFS man-up Gards. :No:

I said all of that years ago and doesn't matter how we dress it up , it was POOOR

Sutty said:

FFS man-up Gards. :No:

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oh im sorry, did reality make your vagina bleed???

Just got back from the game, here are my thoughts.
I haven't read through the previous 20 pages, so apologies if I'm already repeating other's observations.

From the very outset we were extremely poor tonight. It seems we have many problems to iron out. We lacked cohesion, we lacked enthusiasm and we lacked any sort of game plan at all.

True to say Ben Barba was terrible tonight. Failed to find touch, put that meaningless bomb up for Wighton to catch and run 80 metres from the tap and really didn't threaten at all. True he was playing behind a beaten pack but he just couldn't get going.

I've always been a fan of Flash but he was also poor tonight. But Flanno just won't drop him I'm sure. The communication between him and Brown was comical. Mitch was Mitch throughout the game but if Val Holmes is on that right wing, he easily scores in the corner in that late movement where eventually Flash put his foot on the sideline at dummy half. Ridiculous mistake.

Which brings me to Flanno. Mr Safety First. His game plan, if he had one, was to grind away. We were all incensed at the exclusion of Val and Bird. They HAVE to be in the 17 next week. But I know they won't be. I'd have Val for Brown or even Flash and Bird in for Arona.

I can't really write any more. I'm too depressed.

On a happier note, it was nice to finally meet HB at half time.

Pretty poor turnout tonight. Just over 11,000 is pathetic for a round 1 game. I know we were playing Canberra who don't usually draw, but season openers are meant to be big occasions, anything under 14,000 is disappointing let alone 11,000.

Chad said:

Just got back from the game, here are my thoughts.
I haven't read through the previous 20 pages, so apologies if I'm already repeating other's observations.

From the very outset we were extremely poor tonight. It seems we have many problems to iron out. We lacked cohesion, we lacked enthusiasm and we lacked any sort of game plan at all.

True to say Ben Barba was terrible tonight. Failed to find touch, put that meaningless bomb up for Wighton to catch and run 80 metres from the tap and really didn't threaten at all. True he was playing behind a beaten pack but he just couldn't get going.

I've always been a fan of Flash but he was also poor tonight. But Flanno just won't drop him I'm sure. The communication between him and Brown was comical. Mitch was Mitch throughout the game but if Val Holmes is on that right wing, he easily scores in the corner in that late movement where eventually Flash put his foot on the sideline at dummy half. Ridiculous mistake.

Which brings me to Flanno. Mr Safety First. His game plan, if he had one, was to grind away. We were all incensed at the exclusion of Val and Bird. They HAVE to be in the 17 next week. But I know they won't be. I'd have Val for Brown or even Flash and Bird in for Arona.

I can't really write any more. I'm too depressed.

On a happier note, it was nice to finally meet HB at half time.

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Gordon would never be dropped, but I totally agree that Bird and Holmes need to be in. With Lewis and Tagataese coming in next game I believe we will be much better than what we were tonight. Bukuya, I wasn't really convinced same with Arona.

Todd Carney is a big loss. Sorry, but I just don't rate Ben Barba, and he's not a 5/8.

LOL yeah Gordon has trouble taking bombs at the best of times, wtf was Mitch Brown doing running towards him when they both ended up letting it bounce. FFS.

Gordon played alright. Our pack actually was rolling up the field, Gallen/Fifita both made a heap of metres. We were just letting Canberra do the same thing though. Just got to stop trying to milk penalties with ball-in-hand now, these wanker refs have the rules in their hands now so they will blow that whistle as much as possible, we just have to concentrate on playing the ball quicker (without f'ing making errors).

Feki played real well. Love him.

Steve Kneen said:

Todd Carney is a big loss. Sorry, but I just don't rate Ben Barba, and he's not a 5/8.

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Well, he had 2 try assists and should have had a third. Just don't let him kick obviously.

What I find funny is our kicking game was as bad as ever and we are paying someone as a kicking coach to teach them ahah

Next meeting can someone please ask flanno why do sharks move forward every play the ball about a metre or 2 then retreat while the other team runs towards them. It's like we can only tackle on the back foot

snowman said:

No individual cost us the game, the game plan did. Our edges got no ball. I reckon Wade had half the touches he would normally have because we played to much up the guts.
Wade and Ricky had 18 runs combined, Bukuya and Beale 14. We tried to out muscle the raiders and it didnt work.

Our backs were stagnent, Michael Gordon doesnt support the forwards, or Ennis. Wightons first try was a brilliant fullbacks try.
Our forwards had a rank game. No real momentum was gained, and that hurts when you have a project 5/8 and a woeful halfback.

Overall there were some, not many, encouraging signs.

Holmes needs to come in. Bird on the Bench and Prior dropped. Did he get hurt?

I wont comment on Mitch Brown. I would probably go all HITMAN if i did

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The game plan was horrible. With that front row rotation we had no hope dominating up the middle.

Wighton didnt score because Barba put up a bad kick. Witghton scored because our middle defense was slow to react and disorganised. When it that part of the field was good and we held onto the ball, the whole team looked good. Try scoring opportunities came and we were on top.
When the middle forwards mailed it in and refused to compete at each collision we looked ****e.

I though they looked somewhat more slick with the ball than in recent seasons, mostly because of Barba's hands and the two centres actually threatening. I thought Leutele had one of his best NRL games.

Cut out the multitude of errors and get some concentration and intent in defense and there's a handy football team.

Sutty said:

LOL yeah Gordon has trouble taking bombs at the best of times, wtf was Mitch Brown doing running towards him when they both ended up letting it bounce. FFS.

Gordon played alright. Our pack actually was rolling up the field, Gallen/Fifita both made a heap of metres. We were just letting Canberra do the same thing though. Just got to stop trying to milk penalties with ball-in-hand now, these wanker refs have the rules in their hands now so they will blow that whistle as much as possible, we just have to concentrate on playing the ball quicker (without f'ing making errors).

Feki played real well. Love him.

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Yeah it got to the point when some fans were screaming for Fifita to just play the ball instead of worming around. Brown needs to go, just horrible and slow just so damn slow.

Sutty said:

Well, he had 2 try assists and should have had a third. Just don't let him kick obviously.

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He may have had 2 try assists, but for mine he's not a 5/8 and any coach worth two bob will direct their big forwards and their attack at him all day.

CrazyMatt said:

Pretty poor turnout tonight. Just over 11,000 is pathetic for a round 1 game. I know we were playing Canberra who don't usually draw, but season openers are meant to be big occasions, anything under 14,000 is disappointing let alone 11,000.

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The smart fans stayed at home

Steve Kneen said:

Todd Carney is a big loss. Sorry, but I just don't rate Ben Barba, and he's not a 5/8.

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What are you sorry for, Barba has a short passing game but other than that is ****house

I don't think barba was all bad, whilst his kicking was atrocious I thought in our limited set plays he looked quick and dangerous with a good ball to put Feki in.

Robbo was our best kicker tonight which is a shock, he had 3 or 4 decent bombs that fell just short of the line. However our chasers didn't once look to contest them, like in defence they just wait for the ball to drop. Have we not had a kicking game so long that we don't know what to do with a high ball?

Val in for Brown needs to happen and has already been said.
Happy for bird to come in as a backrower as I think Ricky and Beale did enough to keep their spots. However won't complain if he gets a centre gig either.

Any report on bukuya after going down?

Was rubbish. Snowy was not impressed tonight...