Walker breaks Sharks' hearts in an enthralling finals clash

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Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v Sydney Roosters

A late Sam Walker field-goal has secured one of the bravest finals victories in their history, eliminating the Cronulla Sharks by 13-12 at PointsBet Stadium.

It was a frantic start from the home side, despite a defensive stronghold in the first minute. Ronaldo Mulitalo spilled the kick and were under immediate pressure. However, they held firm with Joey Manu denied thanks to an obstruction ruling with Siua Wong taking out Braydon Trindall. Cronulla had their own early chance off a Roosters error with Cam McInnes denied by the man upstairs.

Despite an early too and frow start. Cronulla camped down the Roosters end and after a four minute extended run at the Roosters line, Nicho Hynes turned provider with a lovely cut-out pass to Sione Katoa to cross. Trindall did however miss a relatively easy shot at goal, the score remained at 4-0. More territory came for the home side and points came. Sam Walker took Trindall high and after the disaster of the first kick from him, he gave the penalty shot to Hynes who converted for 6-0.

The rest of the first half saw the Roosters have some attacking chances, but due to some sheer bad luck and attacking incompetence. They remained on a duck egg for the remainder of the first half despite some defensive resilience.

It would become a hard task in the second half with Joey Suaalii failing his HIA and not returning forcing a reshuffle. Billy Smith was hit high by Tom Hazleton and the big cult hero was placed on-report. On the ensuing set, Terrell May made his presence felt drawing multiple defenders across before finding Walker who got a rainbow pass out to Manu to cross for the tri-colours.

Worst luck would continue for the visitors with Manu leaving the field shortly after with a hamstring injury. This was compounded when Braydon Trindall sprinted away after a poor last tackle kick. Tedesco was guilty of a professional foul and sent to the sin-bin by referee Gerard Sutton on the advice of touch-judge Wyatt Raymond.

Their was all of a sudden a distinct lack of troops and lack of positional familiarity for the Roosters. This saw Sandon Smith revert to full-back where he played a handful of NSW Cup matches. Cronulla capitalised, quick hands down the left saw Hynes combine with Mulitalo down the left hand side and it looked as if the Sharks were going to run away with it. However, the tenacious and gritty Roosters hung in there, despite several try-scoring chances which would prove costly, especially a knock on by Blayke Brailey. They only conceded a further penalty goal when Nat Butcher picked up a ball batted down in an offside position. The decision to go for goal will be talked about all off-season for the Sharks faithful and coaching staff.

The Roosters hung in the contest and were rewarded when Sandon Smith put in a grubber which was played at by the Sharks. The loose ball went straight to Siua Wong who crashed over to score for the visitors. Billy Smith landed the goal, and we were into a field-goal shoot-out. Following a set after points which was perfect, Walker delivered the dagger to give the Roosters their first lead of the night. Hynes had two attempts which were charged down and the Roosters wound down the clock to secure a trip to Melbourne next weekend.