Veteran Cronulla caretaker coach Peter Sharp, who last weekend said his side were miles away from a win, was rejoicing over the Sharks’ 37-6 victory over the Warriors on Saturday.
Sharp, who was rapt for his side after their first win of 2014 against an error-riddled Warriors outfit, said most facets of the Sharks’ performance were better than those before it.
"I was really happy for the boys. It’s been a tough week this one. We’ve done a bit of soul searching internally and we built some pressure which we haven’t been doing and we got some rewards for that which was great," Sharp said.
"Our execution was better, our energy was better, our timing was better, our defence was better. Where that comes and goes from - I don’t know."
"Every win’s important – it’s the NRL and it’s unforgiving – but it would’ve been a dark road if we’d have lost that one today. It’s nice to build a bit of momentum and see where we go from there," Sharp said.
"Initially we just needed to win but we won well – we’ll draw confidence from that."
Stand-in Sharks captain Wade Graham echoed the pride of his coach. He said their good start and the pressure they applied to the Warriors proved the difference.
Sharp, who was rapt for his side after their first win of 2014 against an error-riddled Warriors outfit, said most facets of the Sharks’ performance were better than those before it.
"I was really happy for the boys. It’s been a tough week this one. We’ve done a bit of soul searching internally and we built some pressure which we haven’t been doing and we got some rewards for that which was great," Sharp said.
"Our execution was better, our energy was better, our timing was better, our defence was better. Where that comes and goes from - I don’t know."
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"Every win’s important – it’s the NRL and it’s unforgiving – but it would’ve been a dark road if we’d have lost that one today. It’s nice to build a bit of momentum and see where we go from there," Sharp said.
"Initially we just needed to win but we won well – we’ll draw confidence from that."
Stand-in Sharks captain Wade Graham echoed the pride of his coach. He said their good start and the pressure they applied to the Warriors proved the difference.
"We can take a lot of lessons out of today ... we started well, we completed our sets and we earned the right to play a bit of football," Graham said.
"I think they were as good as we allowed them to be. We got off to a good start early, we put pressure on them and after you put pressure on a team that’s where errors come from.
"It felt like luck was on our side with a few penalties and the bounce of the ball going our way and that stuff comes off the back of hard work. I’m really proud of the boys and hopefully we learnt the lesson that that comes from hard work.
"If you look at us last week, Newcastle did exactly the same to us. That’s the lesson you take out of this. If you start well and put the other team under pressure you’re more likely to get more ball and be able to execute plays."
