Young guns to be halves
BY BRAD FORREST
04 Mar, 2011 04:00 AM
CRONULLA Sharks coach Shane Flanagan looks set to name rookies Wade Graham and Albert Kelly as his halves pairing when he announces his team at the club dinner tonight to mark the opening to the 2011 NRL season.
The Sharks travel to Canberra for their opening game on Sunday week, with the Raiders set to announce former Sharks winger Blake Ferguson in their team.
The Sharks will launch their season with a powerful pack, boosted by Jeremy Smith, the former Storm and Dragon Kiwi international, a dual grand final winner and New Zealand's top forward in the past few years.
Smith, who escaped any penalty after he was penalised and put on report for an alleged tripping, will provide a great foil to fellow Test star, Paul Gallen.
Along with Origin forward Kade Snowden, Luke Douglas, former Test forward Anthony Tupou, Jon Mannah and the experienced Josh Cordoba, there is little doubt about the merits of Flanagan's pack this season.
The question mark is, and always has been: just who will line up in the backs?
Sharks insiders say Flanagan will give the exciting young but inexperienced Kelly and the talented former Penrith half/five eighth Wade Graham time to develop their combination, after Graham's pre-season was cursed by a hamstring injury.
Their combination will go a long way to proving how successful or not the Sharks are this season. Both players have bulked up in the off season.
Returning winger/centre Colin Best and the equally tall John Williams look likely to be given wing spots, while Ben Pomeroy, Matt Wright and Dean Collis will fight it out at training this week for the vacant centre spots.
Flanagan, unhappy with the side's handling in the club's two trials against Manly and Newcastle, was giving his squad another late-week hit-out before considering his first team.
