Newcastle had victory snatched from them in controversial circumstances at Shark Park when Kalyn Ponga’s match-winning field goal was disallowed due to blockers getting in the way of Cronulla’s defenders.
Ponga was furious and challenged the call with the Bunker but to no avail.
And only a minute later, Cronulla suffered the same fate when a Dan Atkinson one-pointer was also scratched off by referee Gerard Sutton for the same reason.
Atkinson later made no mistake in extra time to land the winning one-pointer with no blockers in the vicinity so the Sharks could hang onto fourth spot and all but end Newcastle’s faint playoff hopes 19-18.
The NRL brought in the rule this season to stop teams making it nigh on impossible or defenders to charge down field goals but the question has to be asked whether the players from either side were genuinely impeded by the decoy runners to the side of the ruck.
It appears now that even if a rushing defender has to divert course, then that constitutes a blocking penalty rather than colliding with a decoy runner so it would not surprise to see players deliberately running into opponents whenever they need to defend a field goal attempt.
Earlier on Sunday, the Dragons roared back into eighth spot following their 32-16 thumping of the Titans at WIN Stadium after the Dolphins were belted by the Bulldogs 24 hours earlier.
1. Atkinson an uncut gem
The Sharks have unearthed one of the uncut gems of the season in Dan Atkinson.
After the solitary game at Melbourne in 2021 and a lone appearance for the Sharks last year, he has played 14 times this season filling in various roles.
With star half Nicho Hynes and regular five-eighth Braydon Trindall missing plenty of time due to injuries and suspension, Atkinson has not only stepped up to play his part but take over as chief playmaker.
He was instrumental in their flogging of the Titans last weekend and was again pulling the strings for the Cronulla attack on Sunday against Newcastle.
Atkinson scored the opening try and set up the second one with a skilful grubber for Briton Nikora.
Cameron McInnes was technically the second playmaker in the halves with Atkinson again even though Blayke Brailey wore the No.7 jersey but Atkinson was the focal point of pretty much all their attack and took on the role like a veteran.
He showed great poise to nail the sideline conversion with five on the clock to level the scores and even after his first field goal attempt was denied in controversial fashion, he drilled the one that counted in extra time with his one point securing two of the most valuable two competition points for his side.
Hynes and Trindall are due back as early as next weekend but Atkinson would be very hard done by to lose his place in the side.
2. Knights shoot themselves in the foot
The Knights had a huge wind at their back in the first half on Sunday but did not use it to their advantage with early downfield kicks to turn the Cronulla pack around.
They actually played better in the second stanza running into the breeze and should have been able to close out the match with an 18-12 lead heading into the closing stages but their defence out wide was hesitant, allowing Ronaldo Mulitalo to equalise.
After the blocker shockers in regulation time, the Knights again should have snapped up the win in the opening period of extra time but Ponga’s pass was a fraction too late and Will Kennedy was able to knock it down.
It is typical of a team that has never quite got it together all year and one that has lost the hard edge that previously made Newcastle a club that no one looked forward to facing whether they were winning or not.
They have a soft run home in the final three rounds with the Rabbitohs, Titans and Dolphins on the horizon but even if they win all three it’s highly unlikely they can sneak into the post-season after their missed golden-point opportunity.
3. Phoenix crosses the line
Veteran referee Gerard Sutton did what could have and should have been done several times this year when he binned Phoenix Crossland on the stroke of half-time at Shark Park on Sunday.
Crossland was deliberately slowing down the play-the-ball to ensure the siren sounded before the Sharks could launch one last play.
Players do it most weeks and refs rarely penalise them let alone double their time off at half-time.
“I totally agree,” said Immortal halfback Andrew Johns on Nine commentary when Sutton blew his whistle before the Newcastle came out in him as he backtracked on whether Crossland deserved a 10-minute sanction as well.
Then one-eyed Sharks legend Paul Gallen added that he couldn’t “100% agree with it” unless the refs dish out the same punishment every week.
And hopefully this is a precursor to the refs showing they won’t tolerate this kind of gamesmanship.
Briton Nikora is tackled. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
4. Dragons deserve surprise finals berth
They haven’t been as consistent over the course of the season as you would normally expect from a finals team.
But the Dragons have the strongest claim to a playoff berth or the hot-and-cold cohort who have hovered around the fringe of the finals equation all year.
The Dolphins are drowning, the Broncos are busted, the Green Machine have run out of puff and the Knights struggle to put points on the board.
St George Illawarra have a hard edge from a side that is more experienced than most.
Ben Hunt has limitations as a half but he gets results and he put his team on his back to dominate the first half so they held a 20-point margin by half-time.
Even when Jack de Belin was binned for a tackle that was not deserving of that punishment and the Titans closed the gap to ten, they never looked like reeling in the home side.
The Dragons will be a tough out for whoever they come up against in week one of the finals if they can eke out another couple of wins from the final three rounds.
Next Sunday’s derby with the Sharks in Wollongong will be more intense than usual and they’ve got Parramatta and the Raiders to finish.
And after leaping ahead of the Dolphins into eighth, destiny is in their hands and that’s all you can ever ask as a finals wannabe at this time of year.
5. Twin towers spell double trouble for opponents and statisticians
St George Illawarra fans have seen the future and it’s the welcome sight of Ryan and Toby Couchman.
The 20-year-old identical twins have been brought on slowly by Shane Flanagan this year but they stood tall at WIN Stadium on Sunday against the tackle-shy Titans.
They kept the statisticians working overtime trying to work out who did what as they created line breaks and finished them off in jerseys 14 and 15.
Toby showed speed to go with his size to score late in the first half before Ryan turned provider with a clever offload to gift Luciano Leilua a four-pointer just before half-time.
They got half a game each with Toby clocking up a hundred metres and Ryan getting credited with 74 but you would understand if the stats takers got messed up along the way trying to keep track of who’s who.
With a bit more muscle on their frames, they will be more than a handful for opponents for years to come.
They are off contract at the end of next year so priority No.1 over the coming months before the November 1 free agency deadline is for the Dragons to lock these two away until the end of the decade.
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Thu, 22 Aug 2024, 19:50
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The Kick: Titans need a clean-out
Des Hasler needs to trim plenty of deadwood from his roster.
Now the Titans won’t give him carte Blanche to overhaul the roster because they are worried about him leaving them with a bunch of back-ended contracts like he did at the Bulldogs when the likes of Greg Eastwood were on huge coin well past their prime and got to become the highest-paid reserve-grader because no one else would take on his deal.
Gold Coast have had a relatively stable roster in recent years but they need to face up to the fact that many of their current squad are not consistently up to NRL standard.
Keano Kini and Alofiana Khan-Pereira have plenty of potential out wide, Jayden Campbell is worth persevering with and Beau Fermor has been immense this season but there’s not much else on this roster that you would consider expendable.
There’s a perennially soft underbelly at the club and even when Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is back next year, much, more is needed for this team to be more than also-fans yet again.