Hard-nosed Sharks dominate Tigers to shut down finals party
Cronulla marched into Leichhardt with a scowl on their face and a mean attitude, proving fairytales, emotion and late inclusions by retiring legends are no match for hard-nosed footy.
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Sometimes the bad guys win.
The Cronulla Sharks aren’t exactly twirling their moustaches and tying damsels in distress to the railroad tracks, but no team is more comfortable wearing the black hat.
The Sharks marched into Leichhardt with a scowl on their face and a mean attitude, proving fairytales, emotion and late inclusions by retiring legends are no match for hard-nosed footy and a willingness to push the envelope.
They’re the sort of team who want the world to be against them, and a good thing too because this was the sort of day where the world shrank down to 100 metres of turf.
The streets around the ground were choked with punters, transformed into human rivers of black, white and gold.
A heaving, thunderous crowd howled for tries, goals, penalties, blood, pain or anything that would help the cause — but Cronulla physically dominated the Tigers, controlling the ruck and taking the chances when they came.
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Dreams can’t beat muscle. Good intentions don’t do the job against cold, hard steel.
It was, in short, a very Paul Gallen-type game, right down the field-goal the veteran kicked in the final minute.
The one-pointer, Gallen’s first in a 19-year career, was a bag of salt poured into an open wound, a sour cherry on a day which began with so much hope for the Tigers.
Once word zipped around the ground veteran hooker Robbie Farah would play after Corey Thompson went down in the warm up, it really did seem like destiny would carry the Tigers home.
In the cold light of full-time, Farah’s inclusion indirectly hurt the Tigers cause, not because of anything Farah did or didn’t do, but because of the loss of Thompson.
Paul Momirovksi shifted to fullback, an unfamiliar position for the outside back, and the cunning Sharks exploited him positionally several times.
By the end, Benji Marshall was at fullback in a desperate effort to spark something. A lack of points has been the Tigers achilles heel all year and it was again on Sunday.
There was no lack of effort, but there’s no good using a hammer when the job needs something sharper.
The Tigers fought hard, they did their best and left it all out there, but in the end passion and emotion only go so far.
Farah played the final 25 minutes and didn’t stand out — but just playing was a victory all of its own. The match was just about gone when he did enter the fray.
A pall settled over the ground in the final 20, as thoughts of miracles vanished and reality set in again. The Tigers have once again finished ninth, the sixth time they’ve landed just short of the finals and the fourth time they’ve lost a final round game which would have delivered a playoff berth.
But it shouldn’t all be doom and gloom. This is a team with plenty of tomorrows, and Michael Maguire is building something their fans can be proud of.
But the Sharks were just a little bit tougher, a shade smarter, a hair more dangerous. They have gears the Tigers can’t match, even if they can’t seem to find them all the time.
Gallen’s farewell tour will continue at least another week when they face Manly at Lottoland, and given the Sea Eagles are falling apart with every step it may well continue for another week after that, because what would be more fitting than Gallen and his Sharks crashing another party?