Junior Sharks’ disappointment in the second round
In the end, the Eels defeated the Sharks twice in the round two SG Ball and Matthews Cup games held at PointsBet Stadium on Saturday. Both teams had their opportunities.
The Sharks fell behind 24–4 in the under-17 Matthews Cup match, but they rallied to cut the deficit to just four points before Parramatta scored two late tries to win 34–20.
The Sharks would score on their opening possession in the under-19 SG Ball match, and they would trade tries to tie the score at 10 all at halftime. But, the Eels would come out on top, winning 28–18.
There were still many positive aspects of the two performances against a highly regarded opponent, even in spite of the two disappointing outcomes.
Sharks Matthews Cup coach Brad Kelly said, “There were some positives to come out of it, even though it was disappointing to lose.”
“It was encouraging to see that even though they were behind 24–4, they didn’t give up and maintained their optimism that they could win.
They had some grit, which I appreciated.”
The Eels dominated the first quarter of the match, going up 24–4 thanks to four successful tries.
With two well-executed tries—one by fullback Oliver Lester following a deft backline move, and the other to Elijah Cooper after a perfectly timed pass from five-eighth Callum Grantham—the Sharks trailed 24–16 at halftime, but they were optimistic they could rally in the second half.
Lester grubber’s race-winning kick to Jaylan Herron gave the Sharks even more confidence, but that was the closest the Sharks would come as the Eels weathered the storm and scored twice in the closing minutes to seal the victory.
“In the second half we came out really well and were looking like we were coming over the top of them, but a couple of errors and a couple of decisions didn’t go our way and we got punished,” Kelly said.
At this age, maintaining pressure and adhering to game plans are part of the learning process. We had times when we didn’t and places where we did.”
Albert Litisoni put the Sharks on the scoreboard in the first minute of the SG Ball after center Michael Gabrael started a move. After Jasper Catton found a gap and ran thirty meters to score the Sharks’ second try, the score was tied at ten at the half.
With two fourth-quarter three-pointers in the second half—one from Nikora Williams, who made a determined charge from close range, and the other from backrower Pharrell Gray, who won the race to an Ashton Simmonds kick—the Sharks took the lead 18–10.
After that, though, the Eels rallied and dominated the last twenty minutes of the game, culminating in three converted tries that sealed a 28–18 victory.
Sharks SG Ball coach Dave Howlett stated, “Our effort was there again, we had some good patches, but we didn’t play the footy we wanted to play for long enough periods of time to get the result.”
“The boys are a work in progress, we know what we are capable of, we just need to get back to training and work hard to translate that into a 70-minute performance next week.”
After two rounds in 2024, there has been a win and a loss for the two men’s Sharks junior rep teams. Next Saturday afternoon, they take on the Canberra Raiders at PointsBet Stadium in their round three match.
