Raiders sink Sharks in extra time to spoil Gallen tribute game

The Sharks suffered a massive blow just minutes before kick-off after star playmaker Shaun Johnson suffered a right quad injury in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Flanagan.

With fullback Matt Moylan already sidelined by a hamstring problem there were concerns about where Cronulla’s attacking potency would come from but Flanagan calmly stepped up and played a key role in arguably the Sharks' best half of football this season.

The 20-year-old was instrumental in the opening try of the match when he held up a pass for Kurt Capewell and the bench utility, who was deputising at right centre while Josh Morris underwent a HIA, put unmarked winger Ronaldo Mutalino over in the 17th minute.

Jayden Brailey then started and finished a movement involving halfback Chad Townsend and strike centre Bronson Xerri, who danced through the defence near the tryline before sending the Sharks hooker racing away to score six minutes later.

With the opportunity to lock up a finals berth as well as farewell Gallen from PointsBet Stadium in style, the Sharks were as determined in defence as they were enterprising in attack and Canberra’s only real first-half scoring opportunity resulted in a disallowed try to Corey Horsburgh.

Morris was also denied a try in the 33rd minute after the Bunker ruled that the ball had glanced the touchline as he dived on a Flanagan kick into the Raiders in-goal.

However, the Sharks took a 12-0 lead to halftime after Townsend and Flanagan combined with Morris to lay on Mulitalo’s second try.

With Flanagan unable to convert any of Cronulla’s three first-half tries there was always a danger that the Raiders would take advantage and they reduced the deficit to just six points when hooker Josh Hodgson put fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstand over in the 50th minute.

Moving to fullback after Josh Dugan failed a HIA, Morris produced two great try-saving tackles within minutes of each other, stopping a runaway Jack Wighton and then chasing down Raiders centre Jarrod Croker after he fielded a kick in-goal and split the defence to run 80 metres.

However, Morris’s heroics did not get the reward he deserved as Canberra centre Nick Cotric scored on the next tackle after Jordan Rapana and Klokstad combined to take advantage of the overlap and Croker’s conversion levelled the scores at 12-12 in the 60th minute.

A 67th minute Aidan Sezer field goal put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match but Townsend replied two minutes later to again lock up the scores and set up a dramatic finish.

Townsend appeared to have sealed the win for the Sharks with his second field goal three minutes from fulltime but the Raiders regained possession after Briton Nikora fumbled a short kick-off by Jordan Rapana and Sezer levelled up to force the game into extra time.