Round 14 vs. Cronulla Sharks Discussion

[Big Pete]

Cronulla Sharks vs. Brisbane Broncos
PointsBet Stadium, Saturday 3 June 2023
Kick Off: 7:35pm

1. William Kennedy 2. Sione Katoa 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Siosifa Talakai 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Matt Moylan 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Oregon Kaufusi 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Royce Hunt 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Dale Finucane

14. Wade Graham 15. Jack Williams 16. Thomas Hazelton 17. Braden Hamlin-Uele

18. Braydon Trindall 19. Connor Tracey 20. Jesse Colquhoun 21. Daniel Atkinson 22. Jayden Berrell

1. Reece Walsh 2. Jesse Arthars 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Selwyn Cobbo 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Kurt Capewell 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan

14. Cory Paix 15. Corey Jensen 16. Kobe Hetherington 17. Martin Taupau

18. Deine Mariner 19. Brendan Piakura 20. Keenan Palasia 21. Xavier Willison 22. Corey Oates 23. Tristan Sailor 24. Jock Madden​

 

[Big Pete]

Until we know the fallout of Game I, this is a matter of wait and see. Even at full strength, this is a game that could go either way with both teams tossing up inconsistent performances.

Brisbane fans are quietly confident heading into the game. The Broncos recent record in this fixture is fairly strong and after a morale boosting win against the Warriors there's a feeling they could get another on the road.

It's not based on anything other than 'vibe' at this stage and it'll be difficult to get a gauge until Thursday/Friday.

 

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos 20 (Kotoni Staggs, Ezra Mam, Jesse Arthars, Herbie Farnworth tries; Adam Reynolds 2/4 goals) def. Cronulla Sharks 12

10-4

There was a crucial period right before half-time that had a huge bearing on the game. Cronulla had the Broncos camped on their own in-goal when Mam saw some space out-wide for Oates. The pass didn't quite make it to Oates on the full, but the veteran winger was good enough to pick it up on the bounce. Then his kick back in-field fortuitously ricocheted off Kennedy and sat up for Mam giving the Broncos the lead heading into half-time.

They followed that up with another try to Arthars and just as the Broncos appeared to be losing the arm wrestle, they found themselves with the lead.

The first try scorer was always going to be important in the second half and despite Cronulla having a mountain of possession and field territory, couldn't crack the Broncos who desperately hung on. Brisbane blew a few opportunities of their own, but then when they set up for a shift out-wide, Walsh held the pass up for Herbie to hit the space and cross. Reynolds' conversion from out-wide gave Brisbane an important buffer heading into the dying stages.

Cronulla targeted the edges through out and while they had some success on Staggs and the outside shoulder of Farnworth, the defence from Reynolds and Mam really stood up. There were a few times where they tried to play through Nikora & Wilton only for the halves to make big tackles and force the Sharks into hail mary situations. Ordinarily they would be more effective but Ronaldo had an off night and Katoa picked up an injury either to the leg or ankle early in the first half and was lame for most of the second.

Oates was strong on return and attacked every ball that came his way. The majority of the Broncos best sets came off the back of his work and he received plenty of support from Staggs and Farnworth. Kotoni had another quality battle with Talakai and while Siosifa did get one try on him off the back of Nicho Hynes, Staggs appeared to win it on points with a try, try assist and 200m+ run metres.

During the week, Walters made the odd decision to drop Jensen who was close to the Broncos best against the Warriors for Brendan Piakura. The move was to enable the Capewell switch to lock and after a mixed game against the Warriors, Piakura stepped up and showed some real promise in the middle. He was constantly beating the defence and finding his front with some foot-work, he came up with some quality 1-1 tackles and provided plenty of support for Mam when the line was being stretched.

Speaking of Walters, Billy may have had his best game for the Broncos as well. He ran well out of dummy half, came up with some big tackles off the line in the first half, was unlucky not to have a try assist and he continues to put his hand up. Paix made a decent contribution off the bench as well, but since the Gold Coast game, Paix is having a difficult time usurping Billy.

You could just about rap everyone, it was a good team performance and an important win against a team that's very similar to the Broncos.