Raiders nightmare repeats as brave Sharks storm home to triumph 24-16
ANDREW Fifita said it as a joke, but you wouldn’t blame Brad Fittler if he wanted to take the big Cronulla prop up on his offer to play for the Blues this year despite pledging his allegiance to Tonga over NSW. TAKE OUR POLL
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ANDREW Fifita said it as a joke, but you wouldn’t blame Brad Fittler if he wanted to take the big Cronulla prop up on his offer.
After already choosing to play for Tonga over NSW this year, the stand-in Sharks captain was asked on Sunday night if he would reconsider in the wake of his phenomenal 80 minute effort in the 24-16 come-from- behind victory over Canberra.
“If they let me play (games) one and three,” Fifita joked.
With Tonga’s Pacific Test on the same weekend as State of Origin II in Sydney, Fifita won’t be pulling on a Blue jumper this year.
But ain’t that a shame.
Because if there is a better player in the NRL right now, you tell us who he is.
The three Dally M points Fifita collected for his man-of- the-match effort on Sunday take him to the top of the count on 16 ahead of Newcastle’s whiz kid Kalyn Ponga.
And as far as modern day performances from front-rowers go, this was up with the very best we have seen.
From the opening whistle until the final siren he ran, he tackled, he ran, and he tackled some more.
All up charging for 133m and banking an unbelievable 51 tackles.
“I was sending some messages down in the last five and 10 minutes, ‘Look, don’t carry the ball. Just tackle’,” Shane Flanagan smiled.
“He didn’t seem to get it.
“It was a huge effort.
“I don’t want him to play 80 minutes.
“That is not part of our plan.
“But it is just we are low on troops at the moment and I needed one of the front-rowers to play big minutes and he has done a great job for the team.”
And especially when you factor in Fifita missed most of the week training because of an ongoing knee injury that he has been carrying since round six that had him hobbling like an old man during warm up.
But after being handed the captaincy following the withdrawal of Paul Gallen during the week, Fifita showed again what a leader he has developed into within this Cronulla side.
No Gallen, no Wade Graham, no Luke Lewis and no Josh Dugan, they also lost Jayson Bukuya for the game who is in hospital.
But they never lost their spirit, with Fifita the stand out in what Flanagan rated the Sharks’ bravest win of the season.
“I am not the biggest talker to the boys but I try to lead by example,” Fifita said.
Flanagan added: “We have five back-rowers out at the moment and we were struggling just to get a team to come down to tell you the truth.
“For a front-rower to play 80 in the modern game is a fantastic effort.”
After trailing 16-8 at halftime, the Sharks just refused to give up.
Working in tandem with Valentine Holmes for two of the three second half tries, James Segeyaro was dynamite from dummy half while Holmes upped the pressure on Brisbane’s Darius Boyd and Corey Oates for the left wing spot in the Queensland team this year.
It was the Sharks’ fourth consecutive win, coming with the least experienced team they have fielded since round 26, 2014.
And it moves them to 12 competition points, equal with Melbourne, South Sydney, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers behind leaders St George Illawarra on 16 and the Warriors and Penrith on 14 points.
CRONULLA 24 (V Holmes 2 S Feki J Williams tries C Townsend 4 goals) bt CANBERRA 16 (B Austin N Cotric tries J Croker 4 goals) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 11,047