Tomorrow morning we’ll see Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Uysk dispute the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world within the warmth of Saudi Arabia, and if the pair spent 12 rounds taking lumps off one another, it may not equal this.
The Sharks and Roosters lit up Magic Spherical with an actual slobberknocker, tearing lumps off one another’s defences in an attack-first thriller that Cronulla finally gained 38-30 due to a remaining spherical knockout blow from Tom Hazleton.
This was among the finest video games of the season and it might be very shocking if these two weren’t combining once more on the pointy finish of the yr.
Although the scoreline signifies that assaults dominate defence, the run of play was removed from that: the eleven tries took some scoring and ran the gamut from manic, improvised crew efforts – Junior Pauga’s on the stroke of half time – to powerhouse particular person efforts – Siosifa Talakai’s second half rating – and all the pieces in between.
Magic Spherical? You betcha. From the primary minute, when Will Kennedy gathered a kick that eluded Dom Younger, it was clear that this was going to be a belter.
Younger struck again instantly after a silky Joseph Suaalii offload, earlier than the centre was binned for skilled foul, during which time Sione Katoa added one other.
It was that form of recreation, a we-score-you-score affair that, someway, by no means lacked in defence.
By the point it was settled late, the Sharks might righteously declare to have laid to mattress their tag as flat observe bullies.
This crew have now overwhelmed Melbourne and Easts in consecutive weeks and sit high of the desk with only one defeat all yr.
Craig Fitzgibbon’s males have improved massively year-on-year and may now rely themselves among the many highest having defeated the most effective that each Craig Bellamy and Trent Robison might muster in back-to-back video games.
Subsequent week he goes for the hat trick with the Panthers set to go to the Shire on Saturday afternoon. Win that and so they could be the brand new favourites.
Nicho and Sam, Tom and Terrell
This was a story of two halfbacks and 4 front-rowers.
The 7s, Hynes and Walker, had been their facet’s greatest gamers however went about their enterprise in massively other ways, taking part in to their strengths as footballers.
Nicho was all angles, drawing defenders and creating gaps along with his run risk.
The primary half transfer with which he draw Walker – admittedly not the world’s biggest defender – after which slipped Teig Wilton by way of the opening that his reverse quantity had vacated was a bit of artwork.
Paired with a comparatively inexperienced 5 eighth, Hynes was somewhat extra kick and management than he’s when Braydon Trindall can be within the facet, besides, it was his working and directness that stood out.
He goes, Cronulla transfer round him and the house seems.
Walker is sort of the other. It’s not that he doesn’t run, however the place Hynes works in straight traces, the Roosters 7 is extra rococo.
It’s jinks, swirling footwork that makes him laborious to pin down and straightforward, when you’re a Rooster, to run off.
The improvisation and irrepressible confidence brings gamers into the sport and attracts males round him. Typically tonight the ultimate house was exploited elsewhere, however the wellspring started with Walker.
The little males had been nice, however the huge males greater than matched them.
That was Terrell Might and Spencer Leniu for Easts and Hazleton and Tuku Hau Tapuha for the Sharks, all of whom mightn’t be thought-about the senior members of their respective packs however who had been the distinction right here.
Might and Leniu are up and down forwards who typically deal in impactful metres, however each made huge impacts with their palms tonight, establishing a attempt apiece by way of deft passing that defied their measurement.
The Sharks pair specialised in straight, laborious positive aspects that gained the ground and challenged the road.
The knock on Cronulla beforehand had been that their agile attacking fashion, which requires a cell pack, restricted their punch by way of the center.
Now, with Hazleton promoted to start out and Hau Tapuha coming off the bench, they at all times have a real huge man on the park to win the ground and permit the strikes to be set in movement.
It’s the clear space of improve from 2023 to 2024, and can solely enhance additional when Addin Fonua-Blake turns up subsequent yr.
For now, although, it might assist the Sharks compete in opposition to the perfect within the comp within the right here and now.
