The Sharks are lurking beneath the surface for a surge up the ladder after benefitting from a couple of fortunate calls to put away the Roosters 31-18 on Friday night.
They have leapfrogged the Roosters into seventh spot and with a marshmallow soft run to the finals, they are even a chance of an unlikely shot at a top-four berth if the Warriors stumble.
Cronulla have a bye plus five teams ranked 11th or lower on their remaining schedule before finishing with Canterbury and if they maintain the form that they displayed in polishing off the Roosters, they could end up reeling in the fourth-placed Warriors, who are two games ahead of them.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson raised eyebrows when he recalled Chad Townsend from NSW Cup ahead of Sandon Smith and the move backfired with the former Shark making a couple of crucial blunders but he was not the only player in the team who put in a substandard display.
In the later game, the Panthers gave Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo a post-Origin rest but were still never in any danger of losing to the Rabbitohs, running out winners 30-10 at CommBank Stadium.
1. Hynes in good nick, Blayke brilliant
Cronulla are at their most potent when Nicho Hynes is running the ball and after finding his feet last week in the win over the Dolphins, the former Dally M Medal winner was again threatening the line with ball in hand.
Hynes scored a crucial try in the 27th minute and looked assured in sharing the playmaking duties with halves partner Braydon Trindall.
But again it was hooker Blayke Brailey who ignited the Sharks in attack as he continued his career-best season with another incisive performance.
Full of confidence, he regularly scooped the ball up with one hands as he darted from the base of the ruck, setting up the opening try to Will Kennedy as well as Hynes’ touchdown.
Oregon Kaufusi is tackled. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
He made 105 metres from his dummy-half runs alone and at this rate, he could challenge Reece Robson for back-up hooker duties behind Harry Grant when the Kangaroos squad is announced at season’s end for the Ashes tour of the UK.
Brailey is 26 and a veteran now of 155 NRL appearances but he still has the youthful looks of someone who still gets their ID checked at licensed premises.
But he is battle hardened, the NRL’s top tackler for 2025 with more than 800 and has played the past 121 matches on the trot.
Cronulla need a point of difference rather than just relying on their halves if they are going to do any damage in the finals and Brailey’s rise is just what Dr Craig Fitzgibbon ordered.
“He has been our player of the year the last two years, we feel like he is consistent. But it’s a nice he’s getting some acknowledgement,” Fitzgibbon said.
“The most important thing about it is what he is doing for our halves. The spine are starting to organise and get that better.”
2. Reverse Ewing effect for Roosters
US sports guru Bill Simmons came up with a hypothesis a long time ago he dubbed the Ewing Theory which was based around teams sometimes playing better when their most influential player is out.
It came about after the New York Knicks made an improbable run to the NBA Finals when their star centre Patrick Ewing was injured. Everyone else stepped up and the team played better.
The Roosters appear to be suffering the reverse of this – their on-field general Sam Walker is now back from his ACL and thumb injuries but the team is not firing.
Whereas the rest of the side seemed to be playing out of their skins when he was sidelined to keep them in the premiership race, they were clunky in his comeback match as they just scraped past the Dragons and they were well below their best against the Sharks.
Walker is trying, perhaps too hard, to quickly get back to where he was at this time last year when he was instrumental in propelling the Roosters to the playoffs before injury struck.
They coughed the pill up 17 times at Shark Park, pushing passes and throwing others forward in an uncharacteristically frantic performance.
“We got beaten physically,” Robinson said. “We lacked the physical presence and then lacked the cohesion to go and nail the points needed.
“I thought our skill was poor tonight and I thought our catch was poor. We’re a pretty flowing team when it comes to our movement, but it was really stop-start and the skill level cost us lot in a lot of areas.”
Victor Radley suffered a shoulder injury and is in doubt for next Thursday’s stoush with the Storm.
This loss sends them out of the top eight with an 8-9 record and with a schedule that includes Melbourne twice, Manly, Canterbury and the Dolphins to finish the season, their playoff streak dating back to 2016 is under serious threat.
3. Addin monsters Chooks
The imposing figure of Addin Fonua-Blake lined up for his 200th NRL appearance on Friday night and he was too much for the Roosters to handle.
Cronulla’s marquee prop carved his way to 164 metres up the middle of the field with exactly half of them post contact.
The Roosters defenders had trouble stopping his momentum and even when they slowed him down, he would still carry them with him as he set the home side up for attacking raids.
After Kennedy opened the scoring, Daniel Tupou hit back for the visitors when he flew high in the left corner but Teig Wilton responded to open up a 14-6 lead.
Hynes’ try made it a 14-point gap and Cronulla appeared certain to go in again but they fumbled the ball in the red zone and James Tedesco created and finished off a Roosters response to make it 20-12 at the break.
When Angus Crichton opened the scoring in the second half, what could have been a 20-point Sharks lead was now just two.
But the combined effect of a Siosifa Talakai knock-on being dubiously overruled on a captain’s challenge and a Cameron McInnes fumble being cleared led to Billy Burns touching down for a 26-12 advantage.
Debutant centre Chris Vea’ila crossed for a momento in his maiden NRL game after Jesse Ramien was ruled out and Trindall added a field goal to bank the vital two competition points.
4. Panthers triumphant but To’o hobbled
Dylan Edwards was everywhere, Blaize Talagi continued his improvement in the No.6 jersey and Casey McLean cashed in as Penrith overpowered South Sydney.
But the premiers have one concern arising from an otherwise straightforward victory with NSW winger Brian To’o limping off in the second half with a hamstring problem.
To’o had been bothered by the injury throughout the Origin series and has battled on but he could need a stint on the sideline to allow his dodgy hammy to fully heal.
Even with Cleary and Yeo watching on from the sidelines, Penrith rarely looked troubled by a heavily depleted Souths side.
Paul Alamoti started the procession in the 12th minute when he chipped for himself and Edwards backed up a Tom Jenkins break to make it 12-0 a short time later.
Talagi produced a skilful offload as McLean made it 18-0 at the break and even though Liam Le Blanc got the Bunnies on the board in the 43rd minute, there was never any doubt who would win this one.
Edwards again bobbed up for his second and McLean also bagged a double before Alex Johnston notched a consolation try in the dying stages.
5. Souths on slide towards spoon
Wayne Bennett said pre-game that he’s not worried about wooden spoon talk but he should be.
Finishing last is a very real prospect for Souths after their 20-point drubbing at the hands of Penrith.
If the Titans beat the Tigers by eight or more on Sunday, the Rabbitohs will be last heading into the final seven rounds.
And with Latrell Mitchell possibly out for the rest of the season with a thigh problem on top of their already crowded casualty ward featuring Cody Walker and Cameron Murray, the prognosis is gloomy.
Souths were committed but outclassed at CommBank Stadium – a patched-up side with back-rowers Euan Aitken and Tallis Duncan deputising in the centres, Jack Wighton overplaying his hand back at five-eighth and Johnston shifted to fullback.
English half Lewis Dodd was again largely left on the bench, getting 27 minutes in just his fourth appearance for the year and first since Round 9.
The Kick: Robinson pulls wrong rein
Chad Townsend will cop plenty of stick from faceless snipers online for a few errors after being recalled to the NRL for the first time since Round 5.
It was an unhappy homecoming for the premiership-winning Shark and “The Chad” is something of a lightning rod for keyboard warriors venting in the social media sewers.
But disgruntled Roosters fans should be aiming their wrath at Trent Robinson for his dud decision to recall the veteran ahead of Sandon Smith to replace injured rookie Hugo Savala.
Smith has held the Roosters together for large stretches of the season when Walker was injured and even if his form has dipped slightly recently, he is surely a better option than a player who looked well off the NRL pace in the early rounds.
Robinson is a three-time champion as a Roosters coach because he almost always makes the right call but this time around he’s laid an egg.
