SLOW STARTS FINALLY HURT
Three times this year the Raiders have given up a 12-point lead or greater earlier in the game, only to fight back to win. However, all three matches, against the Roosters, Warriors and Knights, were at home. In front of a hostile crowd, they had no more get-out-of-jail-free cards to spare. It’s a chronic problem for the Raiders which they must address quickly. It was always going to hurt them eventually. All week the Green Machine spoke about getting off to a fast start away from home. It didn’t happen - and their edge defence was brutally exposed.
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CARNEY CARVES UP
Sharks playmaker Todd Carney surely delivered the knockout punch in his battle for the NSW No.6 jersey with Roosters star James Maloney. Against his former side Carney was simply superb, orchestrating all three of Cronulla’s first-half tries. He threw the last pass for one four-pointer, then set up Isaac De Gois’s try with a beautiful inside flick pass to put centre Ben Pomeroy away. There’s a struck match between Maloney and Carney in terms of form this year, but as the Blues incumbent, Carney has done more than enough.
FERGO COPS IT
His bitter walkout from Cronulla means he will always cop a fearsome spray from the Sharks faithful whenever he returns home. And the verbal barrage directed at Ferguson from the stands was relentless for the whole game. It began early when Sharks winger Sosaia Feki rushed in to put a shot on him, much to the delight of the crowd. The hostile environment was the ideal stage for NSW Origin hopeful Ferguson to prove he’s up to big-game pressure. But his opposite number Jonathan Wright rushed up on him in defence and shut down the space he’s used to score five tries the last two games. His dropped ball with Canberra right on the attack midway through the second half received arguably the biggest cheer of the afternoon.
EDGY IN DEFENCE
The Raiders' back five had scored the same amount of tries (25) as the entire Sharks side this year before Sunday. All the pre-game talk was of the Raiders' greater strike power out wide, but it was Cronulla who had the most success out on the edges. Using beautifully-timed decoys, the Sharks punched holes down both flanks. Even without representative stars Luke Lewis and Paul Gallen, the Sharks' forwards dominated the Raiders' pack. As a result, Canberra’s outside backs didn’t enjoy the opportunities they had against Melbourne and Newcastle.
