Round 4, 2011: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v New Zealand Warriors @ Owen Delany Park Taupo, NZ, Sunday April 3 @ 12pm (Syd)

[Sharky Pete]

2 points versus $150,000

TWO POINTS VERSUS $150,000

CASH-STRAPPED Cronulla officials have defended the decision to play yesterday's match against the Warriors in New Zealand.

Chairman Damian Irvine yesterday revealed that the club was guaranteed $150,000 minimum profit by taking the game to Taupo. The Sharks claim they would have needed a crowd of 14,000 at Shark Park just to break even - let alone make a profit.

So, how much is two competition points worth?

Would Shane Flanagan's boys have won if it was played on home turf? Will it cost the premiership battlers the chance to squeeze into the top eight? These are the issues all clubs need to address before they head away from home as a money-making exercise.

It is common knowledge the Sharks are as close to being broke as you could possibly be and any initiative that is going to guarantee funding is a must.

The money is now in the bank but the competition points have been lost.

In September we'll know how costly that will really be. The Sharks looked like they were going to return home with the cash and the two points when they led 12-8 at halftime.

But too many errors in the second half allowed the home side to take full advantage and afterwards Flanagan refused to blame the venue switch.

"The bottom line is they would have won on any football field because we lost control in the second half due to our own errors," Flanagan said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/another-origin-heist/story-e6frexni-1226032975688

 

[BurgoShark]

Kelly - 30 takles. Maybe needs to be hidden better in defense?

It was an obvious tactic by the Warriors. If I was Cleary I'd probably fancy my chances with Tupou-Kelly-Pomeroy over Gallen-Graham-Best.

... but having said that, one try was a mistake from Best, one read was a bad read from Gallen and one came from a break made straight up the middle through Aiton. The only lapse by the Kelly side was when Berrigan stood up Pomeroy and they bombed the try (if Inu holds the ball he scores for sure).

 

[snowman]

way to say if we miss the finals by 2 points, this will be it...

im sure we will lose other games than this

 

[kJm]

gee I just love all the negative comments here...changes....same old sharks...WE LOST A GAME..Is this how everyone is going to act after every loss

 

[stevie013]

gee I just love all the negative comments here...changes....same old sharks...WE LOST A GAME..Is this how everyone is going to act after every loss

pretty much

i will say that it was great to see that the leagues club was packed yesterday for the game!

 

[Bundy Shark]

Dont forget, while we played horrible, there were a couple of crucial calls which went against us aswell, the break down the touchline shows the KIWI's player clearly in touch and the ball the ref called off smith

We got some good calls as well, eg, Wade kicked the ball into the back of a Warriors player, should have been their ball as it went into touch but either ref or touchie rulled the Warriors player made a play at the ball with replays clearly show he didnt.

 

[Jasonstevenswedgie]

if the stats are correct our half-back ran for more metres than all but 2 of our forwards. when we won our forwards were doing the work through the middle, it looked like we only wanted to play the left edge yesterday. I blame the game plan no adjustments made for the fact that mannering was playing centre. For me i would drop aiton and bring another forward to the bench. Graham and Kelly need to grow a set and tell gallen to do his job and let them do theirs. Same goes for the rest of the forward pack

 

[Bundy Shark]

Lets not kid ourselves, we will lose games this yr & I'm predicting we will lose some games from plain stupid stuff, what I hope we do is learn from these games & circumstances.
This is the making of a better than average team, while the wins & losses are determined from the playing group & coaching staff its up to us supporters to control what we control, support them through the great wins & support them just as much w/ the not so great losses. I dont want us to be seen or compared w/ Dragons supporters who stick the knife in their own players back when they lose then all scramble on the bandwagon when they go well.

Sharkies supporters are better than this.

 

[DeathMoth]

Pffft. If the sharks can decimate the world club champions then we have every right to be filthy if they can't turn up and decimate that pack of homos from across the Tasman

 

[Bundy Shark]

no team will be up for every game this yr.

 

[Boundos]

Pffft. If the sharks can decimate the world club champions then we have every right to be filthy if they can't turn up and decimate that pack of homos from across the Tasman

Mine and your definition of decimate obviously differ quite a bit. I think your a fair way from the macquarie dictionary's meaning of it as well

 

[Lumpy]

at this stage I will take the $150k over 2 points. We should have been able to get the money and the points but that is the way it goes. If we miss the 8 it won't be because of this game.

 

[ben]

Due to fortunate circumstances the ball was in our court. $150g for an away game where, for the first time in along time, we had some sort of form - against a team that ditched its most experienced players for some debutants!! We should of won - it was a gimmee - they played like crap and we let em get away with it. We should of had the coin and the 2 points. The blame for it being in nz against a nz team was no excuse, it was preparation, game plan, mistakes, gal being a hog whatever but if we had the same pre match prep and did the same things against the same opposition at home we would of still lost. We are going to travel away from home alot and to blame the geography on the team performance is a cop out.

 

[Sixgill]

There are a lot of 'what ifs' and 'hypotheticals' and 'gross assumptions' made when people state the move to NZ cost us the two points. I've seen us play worse than that at home and I'm sure I will again.

We played poor, they played better. I think it was Gallen who said today 'the fields are all the same size'

 

[The Shire]

at this stage I will take the $150k over 2 points. We should have been able to get the money and the points but that is the way it goes. If we miss the 8 it won't be because of this game.

yeah well said. agree with all of that.:good:

 

[Gards]

This post contains unsourced content

Had to watch this (with no sound) from a pub in Melbourne but very dissapointing result.

Gallen kicking it in the second half said it all to me and I knew from there we were in trouble and mentally Gallen at least was struggling. It was hard to see that sort of regression in the Sharks play after 2 great weeks.

It's such a bad play for alot of reasons:

It was the fourth tackle - if your going to have a brain explosion at least get through your entire set first!

Gallen is not a half and rarely good things come from his boot. He doesn't really have the pace to chase even a well placed kick.

He should have taken the tackle if nothing was on or given it to Wade or Albert. Surely this doesn't build their confidence either.

Does Gallen ever put his hand up to admit these errors or is he above reproach? Fantastic player but he needs his role definded and challenged to stick to it.

The tries against us were so soft and players just looked slow and tired defending.
Some nice moves down the flankes this game though and Gards was exciting as usual.

Hope they pick themselves up for Manly, surely they have learnt from this game.

Interesting regarding Irvine, I read in the Herald last night that he admitted it was a mistake to take the game to NZ, I'll see if I can find an online source.

 

[Sharks Twitter RSS]

Cronulla_Sharks: Haven't seen what Shane Flanagan and Paul Gallen had to say in the Warriors post match press conference? Watch it

Cronulla_Sharks: Haven't seen what Shane Flanagan and Paul Gallen had to say in the Warriors post match press conference? Watch it... http://fb.me/yM3G3NOb

More...

 

[stormshark]

Looked like we were on holiday over there!

 

[DeathMoth]

Does Gallen ever put his hand up to admit these errors or is he above reproach?

In the press conference one of the first things Gallen did was admit to his errors

 

[snowman]

admitting to his errors is fine...
did he admit to being a hog, and getting in the way of the backline?
did he fess up to telling wade to attack the other side as mannering had his number every time?