Match 2026 Round 20 - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Newcastle Knights - 6:00pm, Friday 17 July @ Ocean Protect Stadium

Match threads
Super Impose said:
Yeah look - 48 tackles is a big tick.
Put himself into contact .
The errors and penalty were a touch disappointing but we saw errors from the likes of Hynes , Lucas , Best etc - so it was difficult conditions .
A pass mark in my opinion ..
Click to expand...
Fitzy was very happy with his games in the presser and mcinnes was nodding in agreement. Impressing the people that matter
 
I listed and Fitz pretty much said what we are saying in here - made a lot of tackles, exceptional work off the ball, made some errors and penalty he’d be disappointed in
 
A gutsy opponent, We would've fluffed that game last 2 years. Great effort, was always gonna be a close one. Up up, fingers crossed Toby, Colcq and Sifa are available next week. If so I would rest Nikora again notwithstanding gd defense, Rep footy a drainer.
 
MMsharks said:
KL in the first try got done by Kalyn Ponga out the back
hope he learns from that one

the second try
Sione - NO WAY did he have to come in on Best - Hiroti had him covered

poor decision making = hopefully a lessons learned!
Click to expand...
KL manhandled Pongs not long before
Pongs definitely got his back there though

Can’t know the answer but I wonder if Sione stays out of it was Ramien not Hiroti

They certainly have some ****ing weapons out wide who would win a lot of one on ones that close to line - Marzhew, Best, Ponga - and the other two are no slouches either.

We have the second best completion rate and were sub standard in this one, which let them get a try or two more than they should have. But then those errors were probably somewhat forced by the fact they are a very good side
 
bort said:
KL manhandled Pongs not long before
Pongs definitely got his back there though

Can’t know the answer but I wonder if Sione stays out of it was Ramien not Hiroti

They certainly have some ****ing weapons out wide who would win a lot of one on ones that close to line - Marzhew, Best, Ponga - and the other two are no slouches either.

We have the second best completion rate and were sub standard in this one, which let them get a try or two more than they should have. But then those errors were probably somewhat forced by the fact they are a very good side
Click to expand...
Dont forget the slippery conditions as well
 
MMsharks said:
KL in the first try got done by Kalyn Ponga out the back
hope he learns from that one

the second try
Sione - NO WAY did he have to come in on Best - Hiroti had him covered

poor decision making = hopefully a lessons learned!
Click to expand...
I was sitting in the second row from the front, right on the try line when he scored that. His split second acceleration to get past KL, followed by the change of direction, was phenomenal. The slippery conditions certainly contributed to KL missing the tackle, but it was still an outstanding piece of play by Ponga.
 
I think those conditions were tougher than they looked - anyone at the ground confirm?

Slippery and wet, not easy to play in for either side

Gritty win with a few players out (Knights too)

Might have lost that game a few seasons ago

Knights are a solid team now it seems so we did pretty well to hang in there and hang on

Not our problem Knights scored more trys but couldn't convert, the winner is the team with most points not the most trys. If they want easier kicks score closer to the posts

We lost plenty of games due to goal kicking in the past, especially when Johnson was having trouble converting even when we were scoring more trys - that's Rugby League

Might have looked a bit ugly and not the best performances across the board but every player gave 100% and they needed to. Sometimes that is enough playing a night game at Shark Park
 
Gards said:
I think those conditions were tougher than they looked - anyone at the ground confirm?

Slippery and wet, not easy to play in for either side

Gritty win with a few players out (Knights too)

Might have lost that game a few seasons ago

Knights are a solid team now it seems so we did pretty well to hang in there and hang on

Not our problem Knights scored more trys but couldn't convert, the winner is the team with most points not the most trys. If they want easier kicks score closer to the posts

We lost plenty of games due to goal kicking in the past, especially when Johnson was having trouble converting even when we were scoring more trys - that's Rugby League

Might have looked a bit ugly and not the best performances across the board but every player gave 100% and they needed to. Sometimes that is enough playing a night game at Shark Park
Click to expand...
It only actually rained for about 20 minutes in the second half, but the conditions were already damp and greasy. Photo included for perspective only.
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20260717_075615847.jpg
    PXL_20260717_075615847.jpg
    103.5 KB · Views: 12
Up-Up Cronulla said:
I was sitting in the second row from the front, right on the try line when he scored that. His split second acceleration to get past KL, followed by the change of direction, was phenomenal. The slippery conditions certainly contributed to KL missing the tackle, but it was still an outstanding piece of play by Ponga.
Click to expand...
he did slip yes

Ponga was knights best and our best too! with missing the goal kicks
 
sharkstragic said:
Watching the replay just now and my god we were so bad under the high ball, was it really windy on the night?
Click to expand...
Interesting tactic the Raiders used under the high ball on the weekend. Their wingers would stand up and catch the ball running back toward the tryline, making it harder for the attacking player to jump over them. It did backfire once when the winger jumped back from the field of play to catch a ball in goal.
 
HaroldBishop said:
Interesting tactic the Raiders used under the high ball on the weekend. Their wingers would stand up and catch the ball running back toward the tryline, making it harder for the attacking player to jump over them. It did backfire once when the winger jumped back from the field of play to catch a ball in goal.
Click to expand...
Honestly, any way defending teams can nullify bombs is all good for me (I understand we also score tries off bombs). But keeping the roosters for example out with good defence only for them to lob it up to Tupou to just pluck it out of the sky and score gets on my tits.

Maybe I just wish we had a cheat code like that though
 
Don't know about Sydney but the wind in Brissy on the weekend was ridiculous. One local game I watched the clearing kicks were actually travelling backwards. Horrible day for catching bombs,

Also looked like the wind was a factor in the Jets game. Couple of kicks went way off the mark. Stoney had a couple of linebreaks that should have been easy tries but his long passes back inside went awry.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: egg
evertonshark said:
Honestly, any way defending teams can nullify bombs is all good for me (I understand we also score tries off bombs). But keeping the roosters for example out with good defence only for them to lob it up to Tupou to just pluck it out of the sky and score gets on my tits.

Maybe I just wish we had a cheat code like that though
Click to expand...

Funny , i feel exactly the same .
Roosters score majority with bombs or cut out pass to wingers or sleazy grabbers through the line.
Scoring in other ways seems rare for them
 
egg said:
Funny , i feel exactly the same .
Roosters score majority with bombs or cut out pass to wingers or sleazy grabbers through the line.
Scoring in other ways seems rare for them
Click to expand...
An NRL second lowest of 17% tries scored in the middle third of the field

Rabbitohs 16%

League average is 25%
Sharks 25%

At the other end, Titans 42%
 
  • Heart
Reactions: egg
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top