Brisbane centre Kotoni Staggs staked his claims for an Origin recall after helping the Broncos retain their place at the top of the NRL ladder with a gritty 20-12 defeat of the Sharks.
Staggs, who debuted for NSW in the opening game of last year's series but lost his place after suffering a shoulder injury, ran 185 metres with the ball and scored a try, produced a try assist, a line break and nine tackle breaks.
The Broncos had Reece Walsh, Pat Carrigan, Payne Haas and Tom Flegler backing up from last Wednesday night's Origin series opener at Adelaide Oval, while Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes played 12 minutes for the Blues.
Yet the visitors finished stronger and despite having just five second half tackles inside the Cronulla 20-metre zone they never looked like surrendering their 14-6 halftime lead.
The Broncos save another one
In comparison, the Sharks had 41 tackles down Cronulla's end of the field but only scored two tries.
The win gives Brisbane outright lead of the NRL premiership but they could be joined on 20 points by the Panthers and Storm before the end of Round 14 on Sunday.
However, the Broncos are yet to have any of their three byes, while Penrith and Melbourne have had two each.
Staggs opened the scoring for the Broncos in just the sixth minute after Jordan Riki picked up a kick and raced 70 metres before being tackled near the Sharks line.
Staggs ran out of dummy half and forced his way over the tryline from close range.
Riki breaks free and Staggs finishes it
The Sharks hit back midway through the first half with a long range try of their own after Nicho Hynes ran at speed towards the defensive line from a scrum win near halfway and put Siosifa Talakai racing through a gap to score.
Talakai all the way from half way
The Sharks appeared to gain control after Talakai's 22nd minute try but a length of the field try by Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam swung momentum back in favour of the visitors five minutes before halftime.
Brisbane winger Jesse Arthars extended the Broncos' lead to 14-6 just before halftime after regathering a chip kick into Cronulla's in-goal by Staggs.
Cute chip falls for Arthars
Arthars was denied a second try just after halftime and it took until the 68th minute before England World Cup centre Herbie Farnworth made the next impact on the scoreboard after finishing a backline movement to score out wide.
Sharks fullback Will Kennedy regathered his own grubber kick to score just four minutes before fulltime but it was too little, too late for the home team, who are now two points behind the Broncos on the NRL ladder.
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Match snapshot
- The Broncos had 46 per cent of possession and missed just 28 tackles compared to 51 by the Sharks.
- The Sharks have not defeated the Broncos at PointsBet Stadium since 2016.
- The Broncos have won nine of their past 11 games against the Sharks.
- Origins forwards Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas ran 150 metres and 143 metres respectively after backing up from the series opener. Jordan Riki ran 146 metres with the ball.
- Each of the Cronulla backs rans more than 100 metres, headed by fullback Will Kennedy (212m), wingers Ronaldo Mulitalo (193m) and centre Jesse Ramien (191m).
- Prop Braden Uele (116m) had the most run metres of the Sharks forwards.
- Brisbane winger Corey Oates ran 227 metres from 13 runs with the ball after being recalled to replace Selwyn Cobbo, who was rested due to a hip injury.
- The win gave the Broncos back-to-back triumphs for the first time since Round 8.
- Sharks fullback William Kennedy has scored 11 tries in his past 10 games.
Play of the game
Ezra Mam started and finished a 90-metre Broncos try just before halftime when he spread the ball near his own line with a long pass to send Corey Oates racing down the touchline and backed up to collect a kick from his winger and score.
What a try! Mam to Oates to Mam!
What they said
"I thought we missed the mark on some fundamentals, basics and last plays. We got kicked to death and didn't do much about our kicking game. I thought we had a lot of commitment but we were a little bit clunky, maybe out of the bye. We got into the contest physically with them which is what you need to do but I thought they won that battle in the transition," - Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
Sharks: Round 14
"It is a tough place to win and I thought our boys were really good tonight. It was a really strong performance right across the board. We are a different team in 2023, the Sharks have been a good team for a couple of years now so it was a good to play against a good quality opposition like that and I particularly liked our defence. They score more tries and points that anyone in the competition so I thought we did a great job to limit them to just 10 points," - Broncos coach Kevin Walters.
Broncos: Round 14
What's next
The Sharks travel to Melbourne to take on the Storm in a top-of-the-table clash next Sunday, while the Broncos host the Knights at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters will be hoping to have Queensland winger Selwyn Cobbo back after he missed the trip to Cronulla due to a hip injury that forced him from the field in Origin I.
Sharks hooker Blayke Brailey will be sweating on the match review committee's verdict of a hip drop tackle on Reece Walsh that landed him on report just before halftime.