The Warriors felt weighed down by the occasion – especially in the second half – as nerves and anxiety came into their play, something we hardly saw in 2023.
It looked like somewhere, somehow, they had got ahead of themselves, even in a small way.
It was a bizarre match.
The Warriors were almost perfect for the first 30 minutes and were threatening to blow the Sharks off the park. They banked two tries but should have been streets ahead and out of sight. The 12-6 halftime advantage never felt like it was going to be enough.
Cronulla seemed to employ a rope-a-dope strategy; as they took all the punches, helped by their incredible defence. They were also assisted by latitude in the ruck from referee Peter Gough, who allowed them to slow down the play the ball in the first half.
Too many Warriors were below their standards, with Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake among the few to emerge with credit.
They were held scoreless for the final 68 minutes and the second period was one of the worst in the Andrew Webster era.
They lost Wayde Egan in the second half to injury and missed the power of Marata Niukore.
Cronulla brought a physical edge from the start, with heavy shots on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Shaun Johnson. That wound up the crowd – full of adrenalin – but also fired up the home team. They rolled into their work, punishing charge after punishing charge, before Fonua-Blake crashed over near the posts, following deft work from Egan. If that was exciting, the crowd were almost out of their seats five minutes later, when Luke Metcalf beat four defenders to score, stepping back against the grain.
The scene was set for a party as the Sharks looked stunned. But things are never that simple in the NRL.
Cronulla performed a miracle to not concede again in the half, defying a mountain of territory and possession. They defended brilliantly – at one stage saving two certain tries in the space of 30 seconds as Jackson Ford was stopped stone dead on the goal line before Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was flung over the sideline after hauling in a Johnson chip.
The Warriors were doing everything right, but they couldn’t capitalise, as the execution wasn’t quite there.
Errors also released the pressure valve, with the unfortunate Ford coughing up three times in the first period.
That allowed the Sharks to gain a foothold and the momentum turned. Cronulla finally got some attacking ball, and Jesse Ramien forced his way over from close range, though defenders may have been impeded.
It got messy straight after the break, as the Warriors switched off on the left edge which eventually led to Ronaldo Mulitalo crossing on the other flank.
A Fonua-Blake bust got the Warriors rolling, but they couldn’t finish thanks to desperate defence. They completely lost their way in the third quarter, summed up when Fonua-Blake ended up with the ball on the fifth tackle and had to put up a miscued bomb, while the Sharks found their groove.
They were rewarded with Siosifa Talakai’s try after the Warriors were again outflanked. The sense that it was going to be one of the nights was compounded with Egan’s injury, which came when the Warriors tried to maul a Sharks’ player into the in-goal and the hooker got trapped under his teammate.
The Warriors had chances in the final 10 minutes but never looked like escaping the swarming Sharks defence, who anticipated their moves well.
Warriors 12 (Addin Fonua-Blake, Luke Metcalf tries; Shaun Johnson 2 goals)
Sharks 16 (Jesse Ramien, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Siosifa Talakai try; Braydon Trindall, Nicho Hynes goal)
HT: 12-6
