Sharks wary of depleted hosts
THE Cowboys have got an injury list longer than a wet week but Cronulla’s speedster Valentine Holmes says they still have the arsenal to ambush them in tonight’s blockbuster in Townsville.
The Townsville- born fullback admitted the Sharks are battling for confidence after two lethargic losses to Canberra and Brisbane.
But Holmes said they won’t take the depleted Cowboys lightly, adamant their “spine” remains lethal even without Johnathan Thurston.
“Morgo ( Michael Morgan) has been a massive part of the team since JT and the older boys have gone, especially since Gavin Cooper has been out,” Holmes said.
“He, Jake Granville and ( Lachlan) Coote have been the rocks of the team so they’re the top three we will be targeting and worried about.
“Two losses in a row at this time of the season isn’t too good and we just want to get our confidence back finals.
“There’s been a few other teams who have had bad losses too. We’re not the only one and hopefully we can just turn it around now.”
Holmes has been impressed by the Cowboys’ resilience despite being forced to blood a seventh debutant for the season in teenage centre Enari Tuala tonight.
“They’ve been pretty unlucky this year with the amount of injuries they’ve had, but we’ve had a few little injuries in our team as well,” Holmes said.
“They played really well last week considering they had a few players out.”
Holmes said the milestones of teammates James Maloney ( 200 games) and Ricky Leutele ( 100) was added motivation to end their mini slump.
The Sharks failed to lift for skipper Paul Gallen’s 300th last week in Brisbane, crashing to a 32- 10 loss.
“We’ve got a couple of boys making their milestones, we’ve got that in the back of our minds as well as getting the win,” Holmes said.
Kick- off for tonight’s game is 7.30pm. for the