Inside Cronulla captain Paul Gallen’s first, last and only NRL field goal

Given Paul Gallen has never missed a shot at goal in his long career it’s only natural the Sharks warhorse tried his hand at field goals.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 08: Paul Gallen of the Sharks kicks a drop goal during the round 25 NRL match between the Wests Tigers and the Cronulla Sharks at Leichhardt Oval on September 08, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

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Cronulla have had dramas with their goalkicking all season, so it’s a wonder coach John Morris didn’t simply hand the tee to Paul Gallen.

Men lie, women lie but numbers don’t – Gallen has never missed at shot at goal, landing two for the Sharks this season, and one each for City and New South Wales, both in his farewell matches.

So it was only natural Gallen, with no more worlds to conquer from the tee, took to field goals, snapping the first of his 348 game career in the dying stages of Cronulla’s 25-8 win over the Tigers.

“I do kick field goals a bit at training,” Gallen said.

“The boys know it too, they were all saying to me ‘you can’t strike them at training, but you nailed that one’.

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Look at that form. Picture by Brett Costello.

“I said “Chaddy (Chad Townsend) can I kick a field goal” and he said “bloody oath!”.

“The message went to Jayden and Chaddy was yelling ‘hit Gal, hit Gal’.

“Jayden couldn’t find me, he almost started laughing as he turned around and saw me. “Thankfully we got it.”

With Gallen wisely opting to save his kicking legs for his late heroics, star five-eighth Shaun Johnson handled the goalkicking duties and landed four from five after his first shot hit the posts.

Given Johnson’s struggles with a quad injury the Kiwi international was supposed to be kicking but demanded the tee once the match began.

The field goal is the first of Gallen’s career. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

“I haven’t kicked in a couple of weeks and I wasn’t meant to kick today. I didn’t even practice – I chipped over two from in front yesterday at captain’s run,” Johnson said.

“Once I got out there my competitiveness got the better of me, whether they go over or miss I’d still want to be the one who put my hand up for the result.

“As a kicker, it’s a challenge that you love.

“Chad was meant to kick but Chad did a lot of work heading into that first goal kick. I came over and said ‘are you sweet?’ and he was still trying to get his breath back.

“He was gassed. I said ‘bro, chuck it here, I’ll take it’, he said ‘are you sure’ and I said ‘yup, give it here’.

“Then I missed it, and I was like ‘ah……Chad probably should have taken that’.”

For all the talk about Cronulla’s goalkicking, Johnson has hit 43 from 56 off the tee this season, good enough for 76.79 per cent success rate, the second best of his career.