THE Shellharbour City Sharks have sent a message to the rest of Group 7 competition, dismantling the Jamberoo Superoos 34-6 at Ron Costello Oval on Sunday.
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The Sharks, who have now beaten two premiership contenders in consecutive weeks following last round’s win against Gerringong, scored 28 first half points to set up the win.
The Sharks, in skipper Hans Schuseter’s 250th game, opened scoring within first three minutes, on the back of a Jamberoo penalty.
Matt Carroll broke the line, only to be stopped by a ball and all tackle by Superoos fullback Mark Asquith.
Next play, the ball was spread wide and Sharks’ Jake Goody scored to the right of the sticks.
Carroll converted for 6-nil.
Superoos hit back nearly straight away - set up by combination of Jono Dallas, Jake Clarke and Ben Barnard, with the latter being brought down by Sharks fullback Jason Gray.
Next play, the ball ended in the hands of five-eighth Josh Kent, who kicked into the corner, only for Dean Whatling to pounce and score.
Whatling converted his own try 6-nil after five minutes.
The try-fest continued when the hosts got their second three minutes later.
Carroll again broke the line but this time had too much pace for Asquith to score in the right-hand corner.
Carroll missed his own conversion, leaving the score at 10-6.
The Sharks were then denied a third try five minutes later, when Carroll’s cut-out pass to Ian Catania was called forward.
But three minutes later, they get their third anyway – Abe Attalah threw a basketball pass to winger Michael McKinley, who was unmarked and scored right on the touchline.
Carroll missed his second kick of the afternoon, to make it 14-6.
Jamberoo hooker Cameron Bradender, in his run-on debut for the Roos, was then taken from the field for concussion, causing a re-shuffle in the Roos side.
The onslaught from the home team continued when Catania and winger Jamie Manukonga combined out wide – where the latter somehow manoeuvred his way across the line.
Carroll seemed to have left his kicking boots at home, as he missed another conversion – leaving the score at 18-6.
Sharks made it five tries within the opening 25 minutes – when Carroll hit replacement fullback Brendan Kelly, as Gray left the field injured, to score on the left edge.
Carroll nailed the conversion to make it 24-6.
Carroll continued a sensational first half four minutes later – hitting Catania with a bullet-like cut-out pass, who scored despite pressure from two defenders.
Carroll failed to covert, as the hosts led 28-6 towards the end of first half.
In just their second attacking raid of the first half, the Superoos nearly scored in carbon-copy version of the first try but the ball went dead before Whatling could get his hands on it.
Just before half-time, a strong backline move by the Roos opened up the Sharks defence, but Mark Asquith couldn’t find Barnard with the pass – to leave it at 28-6 at the break.
Following the break, Jamberoo seemed to have addressed their main issue – an 8-1 penalty count against them – starting the half with a lot more directness in their play.
Despite that, they couldn’t find first points – thanks to the Sharks strong cover defence which took winger Barnard into touch with the try-line beckoning.
Corey Grigg illustrated Jamberoo’s urgency soon after, as he made a try-saving tackle on Ryan McCracken.
In contrast to the first half, the second half was a war of attrition and sloppy, with a number of ball-handling errors from both sides – highlighted by Dane Sablowski dropping a Carroll grubber with no defenders between him and the try-line.
The second half deadlock was broken by Schuster, who scooted out of dummy-half, to score next to the posts.
Carroll nailed the kick and the hosts led 34-6 with 11 minutes to go.
In the final 10, Mark Asquith broke the line and with only his opposite number Kelly to beat, chipped but was taken out after the ball left his foot – giving the Roos their fourth penalty of the day, compared to 13 for the Sharks at the time (final count 13-6).
As the final siren sounded, the Roos looked destined to score a late consolation try but Abe Atallah had other ideas, as the match ended 34-6.
In the win, the Sharks were best served by Matt Carroll, Jake Goody, Hans Schuster and Ryan McCracken, while Luke Asquith, Jake Clarke, Aaron and Corey Grigg and Dean Whatling did what they could for the visitors.