Round 5: Sharks v Warriors preview
Finally, a Sunday afternoon Free-To-Air game that lives up to the hype.
After Round 1's exciting Sunday afternoon clash between the Dolphins and Roosters, we've had a pretty lean run of Sunday 4:05pm matches, if we're being honest. With respect to the Knights, Tigers, Raiders and Bulldogs, none are high-flying sides, nor could you describe any of the contests involving the four clubs over the last three Sundays as high quality.
And so it is that we arrive at Pointsbet Stadium on Sunday with a clash between two teams who are in a solid run of form.
Cronulla appear to have hit their stride after a shaky opening month, Nicho Hynes' return at half helping them put the cleaners through local rivals St George Illawarra on Sunday night at Kogarah.
The Warriors are in a rich vein of form themselves. Andrew Webster's side has stayed in every battle this season, losing only to the Roosters at Allianz Stadium in Round 2. At times, veteran halfback Shaun Johnson has turned back the clock, with his class most evident in last weekend's nail-biting win over Canterbury at Mt Smart Stadium.
Both sides had different key strengths in their Round 4 contests - the Sharks-Dragons contest was relatively scrappy in terms of handling, with both sides only completing at 75%, but Cronulla's running metres were off the charts, outpacing their opposition by some 500+ metres across the evening.
The Warriors topped the Bulldogs in those statistic areas last week themselves - albeit by a much smaller margin. Where the NZ side excelled was in completion rates, 88% with 37 from 42 completed.
Cronulla are further boosted ahead of this contest by the return of Braydon Trindall, who missed last Sunday's clash due to an ankle injury. He replaces Oregon Kaufusi on the interchange.
The news isn't as good for the travelling side. Te Maire Martin (concussion) is out, which offers Ronald Volkman a chance in the halves alongside Johnson. There is some joy further down the teamlist with Wayde Egan returning at hooker, pushing Freddy Lussick out of the 17, and Tohu Harris is named in the initial teamlist despite suffering an ugly-looking knee injury in Sunday's win over Canterbury.
A quick look back over the recent history between these sides shows Cronulla exerting dominance - they won both clashes in 2022 quite comfortably - with the Warriors only managing two wins from the last twelve clashes dating back to 2015. In fact, when it comes to Sunday's venue - Pointsbet Stadium - the New Zealand-based side has only recorded 5 wins from 19 clashes at the venue.
Last meeting: Round 14 2022 - Warriors 16 Sharks 38
Who to watch: The man who replaced Shaun Johnson hasn't done too badly for himself.
Nicho Hynes picked up the Dally M player of the year award in 2022, an outstanding addition to the Sharks side last year after his departure from Melbourne.
In last week's win over the Dragons he was pivotal as always, with three try assists and five line-break assists, as well as booting five of the side's six goals as they cruised to a decisive victory over their neighbours.
For many, the jury is still out on the 'return of the prodigal son'. Shaun Johnson returned to the Auckland-based outfit after three seasons at Cronulla, but it didn't result in any kind of acceleration up the table. Of his 25 games since returning to the Warriors, he's only seen victory on 8 occasions - three of those being this season.
While early indications are that the Warriors looks like they're on the up, he'll need to maintain that positive form to give the side a chance of finals action.
Favourite: Home ground advantage, Nicho in the side and injuries aplenty for the visitors = Cronulla strong favourites.
My tip: This will be another low scoring grind for mine, but unlike previous weeks, the Warriors won't have the petrol in the tank. Cronulla are on the up and will win this one. Sharks by 6.
