Sharks terminate Sydney Airport
Jets Finals hopes

The Sydney Airport Jets chose the worst possible occasion to turn in one of their least impressive performances of the year, when they were trounced 48-6 by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the crucial VB Premier League match played at Toyota Park on Saturday evening. This win allowed the Sharks to keep their own slim finals hopes alive, while bringing Newtown's tenacious playoffs campaign to an undignified end. Newtown trailed the Sharks 10-6 midway through the first half, but that was as close as the Jets were to get all night. Cronulla led 18-6 at half-time, and added five unanswered tries in the second half as the Jets performance deteriorated.

Hard-working Newtown lock Tommy Gemmell played his heart out and clocked up more than forty tackles. He received good support from second-rower Phillip Leuluai and hooker Wade L'Estrange (thirty-one tackles), while Craig Field (twenty-seven tackles) and Andrew Le Breton made useful backline contributions. Overall it was a night best forgotten for the undisciplined Jets as their semi-finals aspirations were put to the sword.

Newtown's Jim Beam Cup team ended their season on a brighter note, when they demolished cellar-dwellers Woy Woy by 52-16 at Henson Park on Friday night. Fullback Hamilton Hughes scored three tries, with Rick Lyons and Chan Ly grabbing two tries each. While the win enabled the young Jets to showcase some of their natural attacking talents, the less said about the quality and commitment of the opposition the better.

The Parkes RLFC juniors bowed out of the finals when they went down 17-16 in their Group 11 Preliminary Final match against Dubbo CYMS. The Sydney Airport Jets have one remaining VB Premier League competition game, when they travel over to Brookvale Oval next Sunday (September 5th) to play Manly-Warringah at 12.15pm.