Sharks crush Knights in final NRL pre-season trial ahead of 2019

Two new five-eighths for each side, but it was the Sharks who dominated with Shaun Johnson while Kalyn Ponga struggled to fit in for the Knights.

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It was just the first hitout the Cronulla Sharks’ new recruits had but you wouldn’t have known as they downed the Newcastle Knights 30-6 at Maitland.

The Knights’ experiment of the fullback-five-eighth switch still has a long way to go, the Sharks had an almost seamless arrival of Shaun Johnson to five-eighth.

He had a hand in the first try and directed the team around the park well for the 50 minutes he was on the field.

Sharks stalwart Paul Gallen said the team reacted well to his presence.

“I was pretty impressed with him actually. Particularly his kicking game and we listened to him well, and we listened to Chad well,” Gallen said.

Shaun Johnson had a solid game for the Sharks in their final trial. Picture: Getty

“I was impressed with his kicking game, his control. He’s only going to get better.”

Johnson was smooth, directed play and his kicking was on point. It was his pass out the back to Moylan that created space for Dugan to cross for the Sharks’ first try and he almost did it again four minutes later.

The ball regularly came Johnson’s way, but the Knights struggled to find their enigmatic five-eighth. The few times Ponga had a chance with the ball, the defence was on edge as were the6,224-strong crowd, but it wasn’t often enough for there to be the danger that fans became accustomed to in 2018.

SHARPER FOCUS

Coaches will talk down the relevance of trial scorelines, they will give allowances for scrappy play. But if you were to use form from this match to draw favourites for when they meet in round one, the Sharks have the clear advantage.

They were cleaner and connected. Their first try came down the right side, the second they capitalised on a Knights mistake down the left. Fifita went straight through the middle for the third.

Andrew Fifita played the whole first half and look strong up the middle. Picture: Getty

Johnson directed the play but Moylan chimed in well from fullback, while halfback Chad Townsend was also heavily involved. They had space to work with off the back of the work of their forwards.

They held the ball long enough to create chances. Newcastle struggled to maintain possession. Numerous knock ons gifted the Sharks ball in their end, passes bounced off chests and it was congested at key moments in the play.

MAKING THE SWITCH

Second ‘official’ match of the Kalyn Ponga-Connor Watson switch and they will be hoping it doesn’t take much longer to click.

Coach Nathan Brown said “there’s been a lot of hard work go into” the change so considering a move back is out of the question.

He was open about his halves having one of their poorer performances but said the focus is not on how Ponga settles into five-eighth but more how Watson takes to fullback.

Sione Katoa got airborn to score a cracker of a try. Picture: Getty

“The way Connor plays is probably going to dictate more what happens with ‘KP’ because that’s the reality of it,” Brown said.

“We have a lot of confidence that Connor can do a little better than he did today and a lot of confidence that KP will do a little better as well.

“The most disappointing thing was those two tries through the middle. It was an error the boys have put a lot of time into.”

BAD DAYS BEHIND

Weeks of turmoil were partly laid to the rest for the Sharks. Their fate around the salary cap drama was determined only the day before they took the field and new coach John Morris, who has officially been in the role for just one month, now has two wins to his name.

While their squad is still to have some upheaval, Morris was relieved they now know what needs to be done and that amid it all his side held the Knights to just the one try and ran in five themselves.

“(Friday) there was a lot of speculation leading up to what was announced,” Morris said.

“It’s not great but it gives us some clarity I guess. We can now know exactly what we’re looking at to put the necessary plans in place to get into round one and get the two points on offer.

David Klemmer was in action for the Knights after his big off-season move from the Bulldogs. Picture: Getty

“We’ve got our salary cap manager working all through it (the roster), Barry Russell our CEO.”

Morris praised his side’s ability to focus on the football and not the off-field noise. Club stalwart Paul Gallen said it was never an issue.

“I’ll be honest, there’s been no drama as far as the boys go. We haven’t missed a beat,” he said.

“I’m not saying we’re not paying attention to it. It just hasn’t affected us. Unfortunately and fortunately this playing group has been through a lot, especially a few of us.

“Something like this is out of our control and again not our fault. We just turn up to training every day and got on with it. We left the rest to the club.”

“The Flanno situation sort of kicked it off, that’s when we spoke as a playing group and said we can’t do nothing about it and just keep training and doing what we’ve got to do.”

Originally published as Sharks crush Knights in final NRL pre-season trial ahead of 2019