The experience of Wade Graham and the exuberance of Niwhai Puru steered the Sharks to a 28-16 win over the Knights in Friday night's Pre-Season Challenge clash in Gosford.
Graham's poise was crucial during a tight first half as the Sharks gradually took control while former Panther Puru had plenty of nice touches in the 12-point victory.
The Sharks opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Thomas Rodwell finished off some slick ball movement to score in the left hand corner. Niwhai Puru's conversion made it 6-0.
Former Bronco Tyson Gamble hit back for the Knights four minutes later courtesy of a nice offload from back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon.
The Knights looked to have hit the front in the 17th minute when Dylan Lucas crossed but the try was disallowed due to obstruction in the lead-up by Fitzgibbon.
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Both sides defended their line strongly for the next 15 minutes until some sleight of hand from Puru opened some space for Mawene Hiroti to score in the 32nd minute and the Sharks led 10-4.
In the shadows of half-time the Sharks extended their lead when Thomas Hazelton powered over from close range to cap a strong stint in which he ran for 56 metres from seven hit-ups.
A superb solo try to fullback Dan Atkinson early in the second half pushed the Sharks out to a 22-4 lead before the Knights grabbed a consolation try through Phoenix Crossland in the 73rd minute.
Rodwell scores with his first touch
The try started on the Knights' side of halfway and featured some slick work from Adam Clune and Ben Talty before Crossland backed up to score.
Clune then produced another quality try assist with a pinpoint crossfield kick for Luke Pietzner to catch the ball on the full and score to make the score a more respectable 22-16.
In a helter skelter finish it was Atkinson setting up a try for Joshua Finau with another neat chip kick as the Sharks banked the five-try bonus point.
Clune and Crossland combine
Match snapshot
- The Sharks forced three line dropouts in the first half as veteran Wade Graham and youngster Niwhai Puru produced some astute short kicks.
- Dylan Lucas had a strong game in the centres for the Knights with 94 run metres and four tackle breaks.
- The Sharks banked 12 points for the win and two bonus point making five line breaks and scoring five tries. The Knights also secured the line break bonus point.
- Jackson Hastings looked assured in his first hitout for the Knights, teaming up with Tyson Gamble in the halves in the opening half before Phoenix Crossland and Adam Clune took the reins in the second 40.
Puru pulling the strings
- Cronulla's first tryscorer Thomas Rodwell is the son of former Steeler and Rabbitoh Brett Rodwell, who played 202 first grade games between 1989-99. Rodwell took the final pass from Kayal Iro, the son of former Manly, Hunter Mariners and Auckland centre Kevin Iro.
- Sharks skipper Wade Graham wound back the clock playing at five-eighth where he started his career in 2008 with Penrith. The 32-year-old has played four NRL games at five-eighth in the past 10 years for Cronulla.
- Knights forward Tony Tupouniua left the field for a HIA with 11 minutes remaining.
Play of the Game
Sharks fullback Daniel Atkinson came up with a cracker in the 47th minute when he gathered a loose ball and put a neat grubber through the defensive line which he regathered to score. Atkinson showed more desperation than Knights fullback Bailey Hodgson to gather the bouncing ball and was rewarded with his side's fourth try of the night. Atkinson played centre for Italy at the World Cup and joined the Sharks a few weeks ago before making an impressive debut.
Atkinson does it all himself
What They Said
"I was a bit nervous this morning, it has been seven months since I played footy. It's an honour to play for the Knights, coming back from a badly broken leg so it was good to get a bit of confidence in the body and play for the Knights for the first time. It was an unreal feeling." - Knights halfback Jackson Hastings
"Our older guys like me were a bit sloppy in the first half, a bit loose in the ruck, but I'm so happy to see Tom Hazelton [14 runs for 128m] and Sam Stonestreet [12 runs for 112m] have blinders. To see that and have a bit of depth behind us is great going into the season. It was a bit disappointing to give away that last try but Josh Finua has worked so hard in the off0season so it was great to see him get that last try." - Sharks prop Toby Rudolf
O'Brien explains Ponga's move to five-eighth
What's Next
The Knights are back at Gosford in round of the Pre-Season Challenge to face last year's runners-up Parramatta while the Sharks face the Bulldogs at Belmore.
Both sides are expected to unleash a host of their stars who were rested in round 1 including Tyson Frizell and Bradman Best for the Knights and Nicho Hynes, Blayke Brailey and Jesse Ramien for Cronulla.