The Sharks came into the sheds at halftime down 10-6, having coughed up the ball a whopping 10 times, but in the second half, they scored 30 unanswered points in 18 minutes to stroll to a big 42-16 win over North Queensland in Townsville tonight.
The Sharks opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Fifita linked with Gallen, then the veteran got a crafty basketball pass to Townsend, who reeled it in with one hand and slammed it down under the posts. Johnson converted.
The Sharks ball control and discipline plummeted over the next 20 minutes and this allowed the clunky Cowboys attack to level the scores after half an hour.
After Asiata had a great run, the next play saw the Cowboys go left to Morgan at first receiver and he quickly turned it back inside to McLean who stormed over through a yawning gap. Kahu converted.
2 minutes before the break Martin grubbered into the Sharks in-goal. Feki slid across to regather but fumbled it instead. Martin followed his kick through and planted the ball to give the Cowboys the lead. Kahu failed to convert.
The second half saw a completely different Sharks team take to the field. After just 2 minutes of the second half, Johnson ran to the line and grubbered late. Martin was letting it roll dead, but Nikora followed through, caught the ball and scored just before going dead. Johnson added the extras.
5 minutes later and the Sharks were in again when Brailey split the marker defenders before passing to Townsend who scored under the posts. Johnson again converted.
Two minutes later and some second phase play saw the Sharks march downfield. On the last Johnson switched play from the right side and grubbered to the left side, finding Josh Morris flying through who scored. Johnson converted.
They weren't done yet though. Just 4 minutes later Dugan steamed onto a flat, short ball close to the line and smashed his way over to score a powerful try. Johnson again converted.
Three minutes later, just on the hour mark, Morris on the last chanced his arm and burrowed over from dummy half on the left side to score. Johnson was again spot on with his conversion.
On the 68th minute the Cowboys finally added to their score when Morgan dished a tidy short ball to Cooper who strolled through a big gap to score under the dot. Kahu converted.
Right on fulltime, the Sharks scored once more thanks to some feeble defence. Prior received a pass 10m from the Cowboys line flat-footed. He threw a dummy and then shimmied through the line before firing a pass to Blayke Brailey backing up and he scored under the sticks. Johnson converted to give the Sharks a big win.