Sharks one win away from CDRL premiership

JASON Chilman still can’t believe his side is one win away from a CDRL premiership.

The coach of MossmanPort Douglas said he was still struggling to process Sunday night’s result in which the Sharks produced a comefrom-behind win to beat Brothers.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” Chilman said yesterday.

“To come from the clouds like that and win it was amazing. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys. They showed a lot of character.”

Brothers flew out of the blocks to lead 16-0 early in the major semi-final, but the Sharks showed plenty of resilienceance. They reduced the deficit to 16-10 before halftime, but Brothers fired back again to lead 28-10 just after the break.

“I said to the boys at halftime that we need to be patient,” Chilman said.

“We had to bleed Brothers of the ball and control our sets.

“I also knew they had an injury early in the game to one of their right-side defenders, so we wanted to attack that side a fair bit.” And that they did. From 28-10 down, the Sharks found gaps in the Brothers defence and scored three tries in about seven minutes to trail by two points.

When Nelson Gibuma crossed for his hat-trick to give Mossman the lead, there was no stopping the visitors.

They went on to win 35-28 after Robbie Amber kicked a field goal to seal the deal.

“I knew there was plenty of time on the clock to win it if we stayed focused,” Chilman said.

“It shows what (team manager) Brian Murgha and I have been able to do this season and have the boys play for each other and show some pride in their performance.

“This year we’ve gelled really well as a team.”

The Sharks will have a light week on the training track this week and will travel down together this Sunday to watch the preliminary final between Brothers and Tully.

Chilman said he wasn’t sure who would win, but hoped both sides played a tough brand of footy.