After arguably their two worst games in 12 years, the bottom-placed Sharks need to work overtime if they hope to restore some credibility - and faith lost by their dwindling band of supporters. Otherwise, the growing gaps around Toyota park will widen into chasms well before the halfway mark of the NRL season, throwing added financial burdens on a leagues club and football club more reliant than most on gate takings and the flow on effects of the bar and club spending after home games. Sharks directors could be lonely figures in the newly extended main lounge bar at the clubs upcoming annual meeting and they can be excused for feeling a little suicidal before tonights weekly meeting. The small crowd of about 9000 who backed up on Saturday night, a week after watching the Sharks lamentable loss against Souths, started leaving well before the death knell and missed the final score line, Nth Qld 36, Cronulla 10. Many fans who stormed out with 30 minutes left and the scores at 26-10, tearing up their tickets along the way, won't bother turning up for Saturday's 5.30pm game against Canberra.
Who can blame them ?
The performance against Souths, where the Sharks were penalised 4-1 and lost Greg Bird (sent off) before losing 36-12, was on Saturday replaced by an equally undisciplined display of rugby league ineptitude. In a team, understrength but still boasting three internationals, the Sharks "tacklers" looked for much of the game more like French cops on the Champs Elysee. And when they held the ball their attack resembled a charge of blindfolded rebels against a well drilled army. The game was a mis-match, from the time Sharks prop Chris Beattie was ko'd trying to make a tackle and was carried off. The Sharks lack of enthusiasm was emphasised early when they failed to chase a nth Qld try scorer getting closer to the posts.
From then on the Sharks:
* Failed to control the ruck area, Cowboys dummy half runners found holes all night through a lethargic Sharks defence.
* Failed to wrap up the ball runner, dropping off opponents across the park.
* Failed to find ground with their kicks, rarely getting the Sharks down their opponents tryline.
* Attack was pedestrian and one-dimensional, too often players running one-out and getting pounded by the bigger Cowboys forwards.
* Panic passing let to numerous dropped balls and turnovers, releasing any pressure on their opponents.
New coach Stuart Raper, captain Brett Kimmorley and Sharks general manager Steve Rogers agreed the display was "deplorable" and "unacceptable" but Rogers added there was hope around the corner. "We did go into the game without six of our best players" he added. In the next few weeks the Sharks get back Jason Stevens, Chris Beattie, Nathan Merritt, Andrew Lomu and Paul Gallen, although Greg Bird - likely to be fined at tonights directors meeting - is out for another nine weeks. The few pluses for a team which made three times as many errors as the Cowboys and only had 38% possession, were the first up games from Kiwis Nigel Vagana and Jason WIlliams, as well as the tackling of Matt Hilder.
- Brad Forrest
