Sharks Review - Just what we needed

Isn’t it amazing what adding a few experienced players can do to a team? A 44-16 trouncing of the Sharks is just what the doctor ordered for the Broncos. Who knows how much we can take from it, the Sharks have been horrible this season, but it feels great to be celebrating a win again after losing 4 on the trot.

First of all, I think special mention has to be given to the 25 688 strong crowd that turned up in support. There aren’t many (any) teams in the competition who would get figures like that after the start we’ve had to the season. I’m sure the boys really appreciated it, and I’m sure it fired them up a bit. I imagine it would have lowered their spirits if say only 10 000 people showed up, but when they run out on to the field and look up seeing a massive crowd for a bottom of the table clash it would be really lifting. It’s a true testament to the support our Rugby League club has.

The game yesterday was in such stark contrast to the rest of the games we’d played this season. Everything we touched turned to gold and the luck of the bounce went our way on just about every occasion. The most telling improvement was our completion rate. We completed 23/24 sets in the first half, finishing the game on 33/39. We’ve been harping on about it all season here at Red Hill Rants HQ, so it’s a big relief that we can finally say something positive about it. Our missed tackle statistic is still cause for some concern; we managed to rack up 50 of them in a game where we didn’t have to do much defending. It’s something that urgently needs attention before this weekend’s game against the Bulldogs, who are sure to ask more questions of our defence than the Sharks.

We took the foot off the gas a little in the 2nd half, which was a little disappointing. It was a good opportunity to rectify our ‘for and against’ tally, which we couldn’t seize upon. Henjak revealed he was a little disappointed after the game too, saying we’d missed a chance to work on our ruthlessness. However a lot of that can be put down to the loss of Wallace, and the reshuffle caused by his absence. Early reports are that he’ll miss 4-6 weeks. A scan tonight will confirm, so we’ll have news on his situation tomorrow.

The game was well and truly wrapped up at half time, so we can’t read too much into the boys dropping the intensity a bit. It was still a fantastic win, and hopefully a showcase of things to come. We can’t get carried away though. One win isn’t going to resurrect our season, and it’s important that the team remembers this. We need to focus on stringing some wins together, and we have a good opportunity to do that against a struggling Bulldogs team this weekend.

One thing’s for sure though, it feels good to be off the bottom of the table!