Life's Peachey after cancer scare
His milestone try may have set up Cronulla's gutsy 18-10 NRL victory at Parramatta but Sharks fullback David Peachey was celebrating something much more significant on Saturday night.
After notching his 100th first grade try with a spectacular full-length diving effort, Peachey revealed his stepfather Marty Gordon was successfully battling liver cancer.
Amazingly, Peachey found out about his family drama the night before he captained the Sharks in a disappointing last-round loss at Manly.
"I got a call about last Saturday night about midnight saying ... they had found a tumour on his liver, so they cut that out," Peachey said.
"I flew back to (hometown) Dubbo on Sunday straight after the game and only got back Wednesday afternoon, so I only had two training sessions.
"The good thing about it, though, was that I got back around the family. I am a professional footballer but family comes first - I had to go home and make sure he was okay."
Peachey said he received another phone call on Friday - yet again on match eve - but this time with good news.
"The good thing is that I got a phone call yesterday. My old man is out of hospital, so he's back on track which is good," he said.
"Only myself and Stuey (coach Stuart Raper) knew about that. Something that we sat down and spoke about before tonight was just to get out there and have fun."
And he did - a revitalised Peachey loomed large in attack all night and was rewarded with an effort that marked his landmark 100th try in style.
Peachey leapt in the air to catch a clever cross-field kick from incumbent Test halfback Brett Kimmorley and score in the 33rd minute, locking up the scores at 6-6.
But it was also Peachey's defence that stood out as the Eels peppered the veteran fullback with in-goal kicks.
"They put us under a lot of pressure in-goal, not many fullbacks would have got out and Peach scored a try that only the Peach could score - and it was his 100th try," Sharks coach Stuart Raper said.
"What happened to him last week was very tough, the Manly game, another personal issue.
"It was a good comeback from Peach and hopefully he can maintain his consistent form."
Parramatta trailed 12-6 at the main break but hit the ground running in the second half, with Daniel Wagon - who overcame a foot injury to play - scoring in the 50th minute thanks to a wonderful aerial tap pass from Eric Grothe off a John Morris kick.
The four-pointer was sandwiched in between controversial disallowed tries to the Eels' PJ Marsh (47th) and Henry Perenara (53rd).
Marsh was denied when video referee Mick Stone claimed the Sharks had grounded the ball in-goal while Perenara was given the red light for a double movement.
But the Sharks silenced the 12,103-strong Parramatta faithful in the 59th minute when winger Luke Covell converted his own try, set up by Kimmorley and centre Ryan McGoldrick.
Eels coach Brian Smith said of Stone's disallowed tries: "It was the difference in the game tonight, I think. We just didn't get the rub of the green on a couple of really vital plays."
Adding to Smith's headache is a bad concussion to hooker Ian Henderson and injuries to Dean Widders (calf) and Glenn Morrison (knee).
Henderson was unconscious for up to a minute on the field after he received an accidental knee from Sharks winger David Simmons from the kick-off.
The match was stopped for 10 minutes as medical staff worked away.
Sharks lock Paul Gallen was placed on report for striking in the 13th minute.
