NRL Round 1: Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs St George-Illawarra Dragons Sunday 14 March @ Netstrata Jubilee Stadium

[gando2230]

The first 30 minutes was very pleasing but for the rest of the game we looked like we were working on ways to lose it. We were lucky we were playing the dragqueens.

First round would have been some nerves, wet soggy conditions, local derby on a Sunday night.
The boys would have been waiting all weekend watching the other games.
Stoked with the win.

 

[Wiz]

First round would have been some nerves, wet soggy conditions, local derby on a Sunday night.
The boys would have been waiting all weekend watching the other games.
Stoked with the win.

Happy we got the W. Always the main thing but I just feel like we look/play like an average team that will get slaughtered against top tier teams - I know it’s only just one game but to be honest it felt like we were watching last years Sharks again.

 

[Gards]

Great to start off with a win. Not sure what some of you blokes are complaining about, it’s Round 1, we won and we did it without some key personnel. Ok, the Dragons aren’t a great side but I reckon they had a good dig tonight and made us work hard.

Some very pleasing efforts tonight and even though he wasn’t outstanding Moylan ran well and tried hard, always looked to get involved. He can build on that.

Except for the error that led to Clune’s try I thought Kennedy was very good and deserved his two tries. Tolman made a good debut as well.
Chad lost focus a bit early in the second half but apart from that I thought he played well. 6 from 6 is a good start too.

Raiders will be 100 times harder next week but hopefully we have Hunt and Talakai back.

yea the commentators will only tend to mention SJ as a big out (which he is) but it's easy for them to forget that Hunt and Talakai are absolute beats and weren't available

Raiders next? oh ffs not really looking forward to that but if the tigers can put some trys on them we can do more and surely we can defend better than the tigers but I just despise that raiders team and cannot handle going down to them . ease me into the season NRL please.... warm me up before you have me run the mile to heartbreak city . at least it gets it out of the way but I would like to build some early season momentum with back to back wins not 1 & 1 and midpack. oh well guess we will just have to turn up and beat those pricks

First round would have been some nerves, wet soggy conditions, local derby on a Sunday night.
The boys would have been waiting all weekend watching the other games.
Stoked with the win.

nerves would have settled down in the first half after 15 mins or so especially with us in front on the scoreboard. same with any local derby factor / non factor though the drags fans started to fire up after the all in and then some trys later game. second half looked far less wet, at least rain wise.

I think it's just who we are as a team mate

though we did lack intent with the likes of Rudolf and Uele off

 

[MMsharks]

good to get the two points
most have summed it up on here - we did enough to win; if we display that against stronger teams = we lose. lots to work on. early days.


jack williams, shaking my head at his poor defensive reads; just does U9s stuff in defence. two bad reads or non attempts lead to the dragons getting back into

one thing in RL "one who hesitates and doesn't call for the ball allows opens up opportunity for opposition" = leads to dragons try

lucky captain's challenge

lots of positives though
will kennedy did stuff....wow looked sharp and is adding to his game; chad turned up but dropped off his game and leadership at times - more to it and chad lovers shouldn't brag just yet!
we definitely know how to lose a game thats for sure

 

[egg]

Great to start off with a win. Not sure what some of you blokes are complaining about, it’s Round 1, we won and we did it without some key personnel. Ok, the Dragons aren’t a great side but I reckon they had a good dig tonight and made us work hard.

Some very pleasing efforts tonight and even though he wasn’t outstanding Moylan ran well and tried hard, always looked to get involved. He can build on that.

Except for the error that led to Clune’s try I thought Kennedy was very good and deserved his two tries. Tolman made a good debut as well.
Chad lost focus a bit early in the second half but apart from that I thought he played well. 6 from 6 is a good start too.

Raiders will be 100 times harder next week but hopefully we have Hunt and Talakai back.

On a positive note playing Raiders next week .
Our attack was fast and crisp in opponents 20m. But had trouble running out if our own 20m
Very few stupid mistakes whist being adventurous in wet conditions .
That was pleasing ,
Raiders looked very rusty in attack .
Our home ground next Sunday and probably wet track. So who knows if we turn up 10% better

 

[Gards]

thank goodness it's not in canberra though couldn't tell you last time we beat them at our home ground

 

[MMsharks]

On a positive note playing Raiders next week .
Our attack was fast and crisp in opponents 20m. But had trouble running out if our own 20m

this is just us!
most frustrating thing to watch is our team trying to get out of our 20m; the top quality teams, like panthers and storm, seem to find a way.

 

[bort]

this is just us!
most frustrating thing to watch is our team trying to get out of our 20m; the top quality teams, like panthers and storm, seem to find a way.

Katoa and Ronnie often don’t run as well without a windup. Can be dominated, either get forced back or controlled in tackle, either way slows down so next man up has it tougher too. If we need to use our backs here should try use the centres who are a lot stronger.

 

[Paul C]

Jack Williams went pretty well, brought more punch and speed than Fifita would have

Would put in Andrew over Billy M next week in a heart beat though

our second halves in games are strange, unless we are behind chasing points we seem to come out trying to conserve energy for the 41-60 min period instead of pressing our advantage and sealing the win, dunno what the coach is telling them but we shouldn't stray so far from what works so well in the first 40 and it can't all be down to bench / interchange it's like there is an attitude or intensity adjustment. maybe we don't relise how much energy they actually expelled in that first 40? but they look fitter than usual, especially for an opening round. chad copping a bad knock didn't help us

second half was chaos but was good to get back on top and keep pushing from there eventually. drags prob should have only put 1 or 2 trys on us though really they offered nothing outside of some fortunate kicks

yes, thought Williams was good on a track that suited him. He is built close to the ground and ripped. Very hard to hold on a wet day. Will be good for his confidence. Was pleasantly surprised with Woods today. Very strong effort when.last year he went through the motions a lot.

 

[sharkboy18]

That was a very important win for us tonight I think, great to get the local derby off to a good start & the 2 points 1st round. I thought overall we were pretty strong, I was impressed with that effort apart rom the time we let them get 2 quick especially soft tries in, literally even a 3rd try but that was a bit of luck & we always have to take luck in this game though. As Johnny said in the press conference I thought we were pretty impressive in general with our ball control in the wet weather. Probably could still improve under the high ball though. Dont really want to go in personal players performances tonight though. Just happy we got the local derby win in a strong performance.

 

[MMsharks]

Katoa and Ronnie often don’t run as well without a windup. Can be dominated, either get forced back or controlled in tackle, either way slows down so next man up has it tougher too. If we need to use our backs here should try use the centres who are a lot stronger.

yes, ronnie and sione have been good. i do recall their returns are strong with a long wind up,
agreed with the centres being utilised more, its a must. more games to come this season though


i just find that teams seem to get us pinned; after they get into good field position for a kick.

 

[Sharkbyte]

What today's bench showed us is how much better we will look when Hunt, Talakai n propably Fifs r back to eliminate low impact of Mags, Tracey n JW

 

[HaroldBishop]

Yeah I’ll take it

Some good things, some things to work on.

Want Talakai and Hunt bad

This was just a trial, right? Heard from a reliable source our first game is next week. :glasses-cool:

 

[egg]

Hats off to coach .
All that speed , endurance and ball work they did in the off season paid off .
That first 30 minutes of the game was as good as any 30 minutes played in the last couple of years
Wet and windy yet no mistakes , no silly penalties , great defence and fantastic ball work .
Best 30 minutes from Chad too in a LONG time .
If Morris gets the bench sorted I'll be VERY happy as after the 30 minutes we started to unravel with the bench on the field and the same players starting the 2nd half ( which you have to ) .
Raiders a great test for the bench next week.

 

[snowman]

havent gone through the thread yet to read the game posts but the summary from mine came down to exactly the ultimate cliche - game of 2 halves

first half was nearly perfect, defence was great, we were communicating and applying pressure at will

second half we **** the bed for 20 minutes and should have been behind

i am surprised they didnt rub the ramsey try out for the high shot on bird but the knock on from a tackle seemed harsh, that gets awarded and we probably lose

i think our concentration is going to need to improve, our discipline didnt seem too bad, and i feel the ref ****ing robbed us a lot of restarts but the dragons got theirs for **** all

all in all, nice to win a round 1 game, feels weird

 

[Tiger Shark]

havent gone through the thread yet to read the game posts but the summary from mine came down to exactly the ultimate cliche - game of 2 halves

first half was nearly perfect, defence was great, we were communicating and applying pressure at will

second half we **** the bed for 20 minutes and should have been behind

i am surprised they didnt rub the ramsey try out for the high shot on bird but the knock on from a tackle seemed harsh, that gets awarded and we probably lose

i think our concentration is going to need to improve, our discipline didnt seem too bad, and i feel the ref ****ing robbed us a lot of restarts but the dragons got theirs for **** all

all in all, nice to win a round 1 game, feels weird

I'm reading alot of stuff about the ref having money on the Sharks and the Dragons got dudded but defn this, there was so many instances we should have got one. And they made an extra 100+ tackles than us.

 

[BurgoShark]

Yeah - Bomber commented on it in the presser.

Sharks got 0 set restarts for holding down etc. They got one for a bloke being offside.

Either the Dragons are the most disciplined team in the history of the league or the refereeing was poor.

 

[snowman]

Yeah - Bomber commented on it in the presser.

Sharks got 0 set restarts for holding down etc. They got one for a bloke being offside.

Either the Dragons are the most disciplined team in the history of the league or the refereeing was poor.

that goes to the knights, no penalties given and 1 restart for offside

 

[CHOGM]

Happy we got the W. Always the main thing but I just feel like we look/play like an average team that will get slaughtered against top tier teams - I know it’s only just one game but to be honest it felt like we were watching last years Sharks again.

We won’t get slaughtered by top teams. I think we got flogged only twice last year. Our problem is we don’t seem to want to play 80 minutes in “easier” games like yesterday. Against better sides we typically put in for 80 minutes. We’ll have a point to prove next weekend. I reckon it’ll be a tight one.

 

[egg]

Yeah - Bomber commented on it in the presser.

Sharks got 0 set restarts for holding down etc. They got one for a bloke being offside.

Either the Dragons are the most disciplined team in the history of the league or the refereeing was poor.

Dragons hands on ball slowing down the play the ball .
Ref should have sorted that out early in the game , we would have then found another gear .
You could see the frustration from our tackled players