HUNGRY SHARKS CHALK UP 11 WINS IN A ROW
A DOMINANT first-half effort kept the Northern Sharks’ unbeaten streak alive as they beat Palmerston Raiders 38-6 in round 11 of the NRL NT A-Grade competition.
The Raiders had plenty to play for – they were looking to further their finals hopes, while also celebrating 25 years at the club for one of their veterans, Brad Hansen.
But it was always going to be tough against the reigning premiers
As they have done so often this season, the Sharks dominated from the outset, creating overlaps in attack to put the Raiders on the back foot.
It wasn’t long until they scored their first try through Lachie Wright, and they soon added more through David Munro and Simika Salaa.
Palmerston’s early woes went from bad to worse when Cooper Segeyaro cleanly gathered a chip to run in the fourth try to set a lofty target. Raiders had their digs with attempts to get the ball out to their strike runners Tevita Kanalagi and Will Beers.
Hansen brought plenty of aggression with hard runs and harder tackles to lift his side.
But every time they looked on for a score, the Sharks were quick to pounce and turn the tables.
That was best displayed when the ball was spilled in a promising Palmerston attack, and bounced perfectly for Samuel Pearson, who ran 90m to score under the posts.
The landslide of Sharks scores slowed in the second half as they were forced to do more defending.
However, after 20 minutes of back and forth between the sides it was Wright who again found his way over.
Raiders kept plugging away and finally managed some points for their efforts when a Hansen pass was picked up by Beers, who ran in a try under the posts. However, it was the Sharks who had the last say when 17year-old debutant Brandon Norris raced down the left wing to plant down a try on the buzzer.
Sharks coach PD Downes said the culture within his squad was at a high after going 11 rounds without a loss.
“Everyone’s feeling the vibe and everyone is taking part and getting involved with what we’re doing,” Downes said.
“There’s a culture and camaraderie within this team that has really clicked. They’ve just connected and have a really good understanding with each other.
“We just take it week by week and just focus on what we need to do, rather than looking at anything else.
“David Munro impressed coming back from injury, and I was pleased with Norris.
“We weren’t sure how we were going to utilise him, so he got the opportunity to show what he was made of and bagged a try.”
On the other side of the fence it wasn’t the result Hansen wanted but it meant a lot to still be able to represent the club he had spent so long at.
“It means a lot, I’ve been playing here since I was five years old and a lot has changed,” Hansen said.
“In my first couple of years of AGrade we were barely able to make a side and got pumped and then winning the premiership in 2011 and 2013. We’ve come a long way as a club and it’s great.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we’re sitting in the top three and we have potential, just a bit short on numbers
“No excuses, Sharks are the better team at the moment. We just need to look forward to take it off them come finals and focus on building that brotherhood and tightness among our group.”