Cronulla’s 10 wins in a row is proof the Sharks can claim the NRL premiership

IN the cold, hard business that is rugby league, there are few fairytales left, but Cronulla winning their maiden premiership could actually happen, writes MATTHEW JOHNS.

IN the cold, hard professional business that is modern rugby league, there seems to be few fairytales left, but the Cronulla Sharks winning their maiden premiership is the storyline of choice as season 2016 edges slowly toward October.

Sure, goodwill and sentiment don’t win premierships, but it doesn’t allow you to win 10 games in a row either.

This Sharks side is now equal competition favourites on the back of hard work, great coaching, a playing roster perfectly suited to the changes in the game and a style that can win playing fast and open, or tight and ugly.

Here are the elements behind the Sharks’ successful season.

Andrew Fifita drives into the Cowboys as the Sharks claim another victory.

THE 80-MINUTE MEN

With the reduction in interchange, combined with the speeding up of restarts through shot clocks, endurance has become a huge factor for the middle third players, the forwards.

The ability of a forward to be able to play long minutes and not become a defensive liability is an enormous factor in 2016.

There have been winners and losers with the interchange reduction.

The big losers have been Souths. Their middle third defence has gone from being a strength to a weakness with their big forwards struggling against skill and footwork.

Cronulla have been the big winners. Look through their squad and it’s littered with tough, experienced forwards who have the ability to play 80 minutes if needed.

Paul Gallen, Wade Graham, Luke Lewis, Michael Ennis, Jayson Bukuya, Chris Heighington and, the ace in the pack, Andrew Fifita.

In the first 25 minutes against North Queensland on Monday night the Cowboys dominated possession and made the Sharks’ middle defence do a mountain of work by continually turning the ball back on the inside. It was a tactic designed to wear the Sharks’ forwards down, but it didn’t work.

This tough, experienced, fit Cronulla pack is the team’s engine room, and the reason this team can graft and grind with the best of them.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYERS

The ability to graft and grind is essential, but so is explosiveness. Explosiveness through the centre of the field is the most lethal attacking weapon in 2016.

And when the opposition middle defence starts to tire its Andrew Fifita, Ben Barba and Valentine Holmes, who lift the tempo and spark the attacking onslaught.

Fifita is a phenomenal athlete, very big, fast, great footwork, yet can play 80 minutes. Andrew Fifita is the most dangerous attacking forward in the NRL.

Valentine Holmes is just a gem of a footballer. Like all great wingers, Holmes has tremendous instincts in knowing when it’s time to venture in field to terrorise tired, vulnerable forwards. He does this several ways.

One, by over-calling the ball and running off dummy half Mick Ennis, targeting the tight defenders who are getting back to the defence line late.

Valentine Holmes’s energy is massive for Cronulla.

Secondly, he sniffs out inside balls off his playmakers, targeting the slow, the tired, the vulnerable. Holmes is an emerging superstar.

The resurrection of Barba has been key to the Sharks. After winning the Dally M Medal in 2012 Barba had fallen away due to personal problems and dealing with public expectations after that amazing season with the Dogs.

After moving to the Broncos in 2014, I interviewed Ben for Triple M, where he made the startling admission that he felt he’d never be able to get back to being the player he was in 2012. That comment was indicative of where his self-confidence had fallen to.

In 2016 Barba is enjoying a fabulous return to form, his combination with his playmakers, as well as with that magical right side of Jack Bird and Holmes, has the Sharks attack flying.

THE HALVES

The Cronulla Sharks dictate the tempo of a contest so well and for that, halves James Maloney and Chad Townsend deserve enormous credit.

While Barba, Fifita and Holmes have the ability to raise the tempo, it’s important that the team can get back on the rails. If you try to play at break neck speed all the time, you’ll bury yourself in errors.

Maloney and Townsend keep the Sharks to the script. Yes, they venture away for periods of exhilarating adlib football, but the halves return the team to the safety of the structure when it’s required.

A team with no structure has no hope, just like a team who only plays to its structure can’t threaten a defence.

The Sharks jump in and out of their attacking structure, which is not easy to do. It’s one of the keys to their current success.

Maloney is the most astute signing of 2016. He brings confidence, know-how and big game experience to the Sharks.

Townsend still doesn’t quite get the credit he deserves. He is an accomplished playmaker who did a lot of great stuff at the Warriors, which was overshadowed by the flair and big play tendencies of Shaun Johnson.

Jack Bird offers something so few players can — inspiration and confidence.

THE MAVERICK

Every side needs one. The player who has the swagger and the confidence to do things out of the ordinary.

That’s Jack Bird. It doesn’t matter who Bird is up against. He thinks he’s better. I love that.

Bird doesn’t have express speed and isn’t big, but boy he’s classy. You see that in the way he holds the football, the way he holds it in his “craw”, as we used to call it in Newcastle.

The way he cradles that ball in his right wrist frees up his body and allows him full use of his footwork, and sees him pull off miracle round-the-corner passes, like the couple he’s laid on for Holmes in recent times.

The rugby league textbook tells a player to hold the ball in two hands to keep the defence guessing, but the new generation such as Bird and Bryce Cartwright are bucking convention.

Bird’s confidence bleeds through the Cronulla team.

THE TESTING TIME

A test awaits Cronulla. Before September arrives, they will drop a game, maybe two in a row? They’ll have a little dip. People will say they’ve peaked too early.

It’s their ability to get out of it and return to their best football that will ultimately dictate whether they win the 2016 title.

Originally published as Cronulla’s 10 wins in a row is proof the Sharks can claim the NRL premiership