Cronulla win over Warriors settles the top eight

The top eight is done. Cronulla ended the hopes of those dwelling on the fringes of finals contention when they put the Warriors to the sword

Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf celebrates a try against the team he turned his back on

The top eight is done. Cronulla ended the hopes of those dwelling on the fringes of finals contention when they put the valiant Warriors to the sword at Jubilee Stadium on Sunday night.

Mathematically, Manly, the Wests Tigers and the Gold Coast could have forced the Sharks out of the top eight before Sunday night. They can put their calculators away. All hope is gone.

The Sharks will be there when the finals get under way, although on this form they will be little more than nuisance value. With seven minutes remaining against the Warriors, another inconsistent performance had given their rivals some hope.

Shaun Johnson, playing against his former club, had been the architect of Cronulla’s opening two tries but they frittered away a convincing lead as the Warriors showed the sort of grit and resolve that has been the hallmark of their season.

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The Warriors had the ascendancy but they couldn’t hold it as Cronulla raced in two late tries to lock up a place in the finals. Based on what we have seen in recent weeks, it won’t matter.

They can’t beat the NRL’s elite, although they will be given the chance to prove the pundits wrong over the next fortnight as they face games against the Sydney Roosters and Canberra.

“We can do something solid this year if we continue to turn up with that sort of character and defensive resilience,” Sharks coach John Morris said.

“The opposition is only going to get harder and harder from this point on. We get tested this week against the Roosters but we need to be if we want to be the team I know we can be. We have to aim up against the big sides. Defensively we need to go up a few gears.

“I think we have the players and the experience. I know we have the players. I know they believe in each other and they won’t take a backward step.

“They genuinely don’t fear other opposition with respect to the sides above us.”

“I banned the boys talking about finals a few weeks ago,” Morris said.

“I could sense we took our foot off a bit. We tightened the screws a little bit on our mentality and didn’t worry about what was around the corner. We have earned the right to have a crack now.”

As for the NRL, an opportunity was lost. A Warriors win would have kept alive the Cinderella story of the season. Instead, they wilted and the NRL was left jilted.

The only interest now is the order of the top eight, and in particular the top four. Penrith and Melbourne look certain to finish first and second, leaving the Roosters, Parramatta and Canberra to battle for the remaining two places in the top four.

The Roosters look ominous. Don’t they always at this time of year? The Eels have lost some of their mojo and have two weeks to find it.

The Raiders are lurking with intent. The Sharks have some work to do to bridge the gap. At times, when Johnson is attacking with abandon and their forward pack bend their backs, they look like a side capable of doing some damage.

The problem is those moments are of the fleeting variety. They can score points, but they can also conceded them, as we saw against the Warriors on Sunday night.

The Warriors are coming to the end of a taxing season but they still had enough energy to give Cronulla a fright. With a touch of luck, they may have to away with it. In the end, they ran out of gas and their season ran out of hope.

Johnson, having missed games in recent weeks through injury, was back to his menacing best as he added to his league-leading try assist tally for the season.

It took only four minutes for Johnson to put his first mark on the match. First, he defused a bomb on his own tryline when Warriors players were closing in. Moments later, he laid on his 21st try of the season for flying winger Sione Katoa.

Johnson’s well weighted kick meant Katoa only had to fall on the ball to score. He wasn’t finished there. He came to the Sharks rescue when the Warriors threatened to score, jolting the ball from the grasp of Chanel Tevita-Harris as he seemed certain to score.

The Warriors wrestled back control of the match through Jack Murchie and Adam Pompey, before Tevita-Harris’ penalty had them in front.

With six minutes remaining, Toby Rudolf charged onto the ball and crashed over. It was salt into the Warriors’ wounds.

Rudolf had agreed to join the club from next season but changed his mind and signed a new deal with the Sharks. Having turned his back on the Warriors, he stomped on their remote finals hopes.

There was still time for Ronaldo Mulitalo to add a further four-pointer, the Sharks celebrating with glee as their finals hopes were confirmed.

For the moment, they can savour a finals appearance. They have two weeks to sort out how they can get past week one.