Peter Sterling and Brad Fittler question whether Sharks can win the NRL premiership without Wade Graham
PETER Sterling has questioned whether Cronulla can win the premiership without Wade Graham.
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PETER Sterling has questioned whether Cronulla can win the premiership without Wade Graham, saying: “He’s the one player they couldn’t afford to lose”.
Playing for their season against Penrith at Allianz Stadium this Friday night, the Sharks will be without star backrower Graham — who is gone for the year after rupturing the ACL in his right knee.
The 27-year-old was assisted from the field after just 13 minutes of Saturday night’s Qualifying Final against the Roosters.
Graham had already set up the Sharks first try and his loss leaves the Shire side without a key attacking weapon for the Panthers clash.
Speaking on The Sunday Footy Show, both Sterling and NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler questioned whether Cronulla could now win a premiership without the forward boasting four Origins and six Test matches for Australia.
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“Wade Graham, he’s huge (for Cronulla),” Sterling said.
“He’s a point of difference for them on that left side. They can run the football and he can kick late — instead of kicking straight away they can do some exploring on the back of Wade Graham, and his combination down there with players is dangerous.
“So he’s loss is big.
“And we keep saying that to be successful in these games you have to have a healthy roster or as healthy as you can be. Wade Graham is one player they couldn’t afford to lose.”
Fittler agreed.
“Without him (Graham), the Sharks don’t score too many points,” the Blues great said. “And I don’t think their defence is as good as it was in 2016. So I’m nervous for them.
“I don’t know if they can score enough points against Penrith.”
Entering the Roosters clash with his right knee heavily strapped, Graham went down after attempting to grab a Cooper Cronk grubber kick on his own tryline.
The Sharks No. 12 fumbled the kick before colliding awkwardly with Roosters backrower Isaac Liu as Cronk raced through to score the try.
Graham will undergo surgery next week and is no guarantee to be available for the Sharks at the start of 2019.
The busted ACL caps off a horror year for the Sharks favourite who, apart from straining the medial in his right knee six weeks ago, has also had issues with his hamstring, groin, cheekbone injuries, even concussion.
While Graham blew his knee, Cronulla also blew three try-scoring opportunities in the Roosters loss.
On one occasion, backrower Luke Lewis even got over the tryline before having the ball dislodged in a desperation tackle by Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell.
So as for the Sharks now having enough points in them to beat Penrith?
“If you have a look back at the game there were three missed opportunities, so they did enough, they just didn’t nail it,” Sterling said.
“Latrell Mitchell … unbelievable effort to stop Luke Lewis. And those things change the game.
“Because on the back of points, sides get a spring in their step. They’re always really good for the next five or 10 minutes.
“So if Cronulla nail one of those, who knows what the result would have been.”
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