It was only an elimination final, but Cronulla fans partied like it was 2016 on Saturday night.
The Sharks did the rest of the NRL finals’ contenders a huge favour by defeating the star-studded Sydney Roosters 20-10.
Most neutral fans thought James Tedesco, Sam Walker, Mark Nawaqanitawase and the Bondi gang could have gone all the way from eighth place.
But the Sharks, who came into the contest having won seven of their past eight games, deserve to be talked up as genuine title contenders themselves.
Coach Craig Fitzgibbon said after the game: “We’ll do what the Sharks do, we’ll shut our mouths, we’ll go about our work, turn up next week and see how we go.”
Braydon Trindall laid on a couple of tries for Ronnie Mulitalo just before half-time, and big Toby Rudolf crashed over from close range with four minutes remaining to kickstart the wild celebrations in the Shire. The four-pointer got Rudolf off the nudie run.
The Sharks will play the loser of Canberra and Brisbane next Sunday. They will start outsiders, regardless of whether they play in the nation’s capital or a packed Suncorp Stadium. If they get through that, Melbourne await in a preliminary final.
Fitzgibbon has this team believing. The group have been together a while. Blayke Brailey gets through a mountain of work, Billy Burns and Teig Wilton fly under the radar, and even a guy like Rudolf has returned to great form.
The Roosters are gone. They will be among the premiership favourites next year, especially with the inevitable arrival of Daly Cherry-Evans. Cronulla are three games away from the promised land.
It was not that long ago we used to ridicule Cronulla for not knowing how to win a finals game. Two years ago they lost to the Roosters at the same venue when Nicho Hynes failed to slot a couple of field-goals to force extra time. Hynes made a point of reminding every journalist in the sheds how they had written off the Sharks, even if they hadn’t.
Hynes and Trindall have really started to hum as a halves combination. They bought Addin Fonua-Blake to add some starch up front.
When Cronulla looked on the ropes just after half-time, and Angus Crichton had got the Chooks back to two points after pouncing on a Walker kick, it was Fonua-Blake’s injection into the game that finally got the home team rolling forward again.
Mulitalo talked up a good game during the week, and was keen to more than hold his own against Nawaqanitawase.
Nawaqanitawase has had one hell of year, and was the first to get over the line at Sharks Stadium. He baulked, then backed himself to get on the outside of Mulitalo and Will Kennedy to score in the right corner. The healthy number of Roosters fans who made the trek to the Shire certainly enjoyed the effort.
Both teams were a little tardy at the end of their sets in the opening exchanges, but the Roosters always looked more likely.
It was not until 10 minutes before half-time Cronulla finally started to attack in some good field position.
Trindall stepped a couple of players and avoided a Rob Toia tackle before he tossed the ball into the air and Mulitalo motored into a yawning gap.
He then did well to hold up the ball before throwing a cutout for Mulitalo to dive over in the corner. Cronulla suddenly led 12-4.
The Roosters did well to contain the Sharks, and it was Trindall’s booming boot that helped the hosts out of trouble a couple of times.
Trindall missed last weekend’s clash against the Bulldogs because of an ankle injury, and caused a mini scare before kick-off when he disappeared up the tunnel with a trainer. But he was clearly fine, and in need of some running repairs.
Earlier on Saturday, the Panthers dismantled a fired-up Warriors side to book a blockbuster meeting with the Bulldogs next week.