Cronulla have broken their finals drought under coach Craig Fitzgibbon – with a few nervous moments and contentious penalty along the way – before outlasting a gallant North Queensland 26-18 at Allianz Stadium.
After yet another week of endless spotlight, speculation and a small mountain of pressure being piled on, Cronulla’s chief playmaker delivered when he was needed most.
It was just Braydon Trindall taking charge, not Nicho Hynes to deliver the Sharks first post-season win in six attempts since Fitzgibbon and Hynes arrived in the Shire three seasons ago.
For their next trick, repeating it against all-conquering Penrith in a preliminary final looms as the tallest of orders.
But with Trindall scoring two first-half tries and having a hand in two more, Cronulla’s 24-0 half-time lead proved just enough as the Cowboys threatened to rewrite history with the greatest comeback in a final.
A penalty goal from the NRL’s newest rule change gifted the Sharks much-needed breathing room, and a 14-point lead, when Scott Drinkwater’s crack at drilling his restart into touch sailed out on the full and was ruled uncontestable.
Despite two second-half tries to 2016 grand final hero Valentine Holmes, Cronulla’s overall dominance made them deserving winners. The sight of Holmes going down like he was shot in the final two minutes was a sorry way to end his Cowboys career and will have the Dragons nervous, too, as his new employer.
As for Cronulla and the blistering focus on million-dollar No.7 Hynes, his stocky No.6 Trindall shouldered his weight and then some with the best game of his career. Trindall took the bulk of Cronulla’s kicking duties – Hynes did not put boot to ball until the 20th minute – with three of the Sharks first-half tries coming from his punts.
Sharks five-eighth Braydon Trindall scores his second try on Friday night.Credit: NRL Photos
The first required the bunker’s involvement too, with Trindall awarded a penalty try after Reuben Cotter tackled him without the ball chasing his own grubber. Trindall’s breakthrough eased a nervy opening 10 minutes that included no less than four schoolboy errors from the Sharks, including Hynes being swamped at dummy-half because he had no ball-runners to turn to, and another play where there was no dummy-half at all.
But like Sydney buses, the tries came one after the other once Trindall made the breakthrough.
Cameron McInnes finished off a Ronaldo Mulitalo bat-back that included another clutch pass from Trindall as well, and only a desperate Jake Clifford touch denied Cronulla once more when the Sharks pivot had sent Ronaldo Mulitalo streaking down the left wing.
By the 31st minute Trindall only needed a cape to complete his Superman act – such was his tryscoring dive in the corner from a Jesse Ramien flick pass.
A simple overlap had Mulitalo on the board and the match seemingly in the bag before half-time.
But with points aplenty in them, North Queensland refused to go away. And Cronulla, with the nerves of five straight finals losses in the past three years, began to make errors and fall off tackles.
Drinkwater, Holmes and Jason Taumalolo all threatened to drag the Cowboys home as the action went from end-to-end at a rapid rate.
Fittingly, it was Trindall forcing a second drop-out that led to Ashley Klein’s penalty call right in front of the posts against Drinkwater. With that, everyone took a breath and Cronulla’s chief playmaker guided them safely home.
