SHARKS 12 V BULLDOGS 16
Thumbs up: Trent Barrett has made a positional adjustment from the Dogs of previous seasons by shifting captain Josh Jackson to the middle of the field in the lock-forward role with Adam Elliot taking over the Dogs left-edge. Jackson, with his high workrate and smart footy brain, looked at home in his job, while Elliott was a handful, scoring a try loaded with determination. Cronulla’s Blayke Brailey has a brilliant running game, of which NRL fans are yet to see the best of. But last night, he indicated it’s an area of his game we could see more of with a string of lethal darts that skittled the Dogs defence.
Thumbs down: The Sharks defence. Yes it was only a trial, but leading 12-0 and seemingly in control of the game, the Sharks leaked tries in the 48th, 61st and 65th minute for the Dogs to post 16-straight points. Defence has been a glaring issue for the Sharks over the past two seasons and while held strong in patches, the flood of second-half points will be highlighted as a must-fix by coach John Morris. It didn’t look serious, so fingers crossed scans prove little concern, but the sight of high-profile Bulldogs recruit Nick Cotric on the sideline with his ankle wrapped in ice, is far from ideal. Cotric left the field after a strong 60-minute club debut. He provided - as he was recruited to do - serious potency for Canterbury coming out of the back field with several strong carries.
Casualty Ward:
SHARKS: Josh Dugan (ankle - round 1), Nene McDonald (calf - scans required)
BULLDOGS: Nick Cotric (foot - round 1)
Verdict: A solid hitout for both sides with the Sharks proving they’re far from a lost cause without Shaun Johnson. They were also without Siosifa Talakai (foot), Royce Hunt (leg), Aidan Tolman (hamstring) and Tony Rudolf (hamstring). For the Dogs, their new-era under coach Trent Barrett is off to a positive start. There was plenty to like about the influence of fresh recruits Flanagan, Corey Allen and Jack Hetherington and it was a good effort considering they were without Jake Averillo (elbow), Jeremy Marshall-King (foot), Dylan Napa (knee), Raymond Faitala-Mariner (ankle), Luke Thompson (suspended) and Jayden Okunbor (knee).
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David Riccio
We're for Sydney
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