Cronulla have kept their top four hopes alive and put North Queensland's finals aspirations in jeopardy with a statement 32-12 win over the Cowboys on Thursday night.
The beginning of the match saw an even contest play out with both sides trading sets and tries but new Cronulla halves pairing Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall proved the difference in the end, with their kicking and game management a class above in Townsville.
As if a place in the top-eight wasn't motivation enough, the Cowboys also celebrated captain Jason Taumalolo's 250th match in front of home fans but couldn't overcome a gallant and gritty Sharks who are now three wins on the trot.
After both sides traded sets in the first 13 minutes, the Cowboys quickly capitalised on a Sharks no-try, marching the ball downfield before Scott Drinkwater scooted from dummy-half and sliced through Sharks defenders to score the opening try.
Five minutes later the Cowboys were made to pay for their first error (offside) and the Sharks hit back when Hynes and Connor Tracey combined superbly out the back to set up Ronaldo Mulitalo flying over on the left edge. Hynes' conversion locked the scores 6-6.
Ronaldo Mulitalo try 17th minute
But the scoreboard continued to reflect the see-sawing style of the first-half when Chad Townsend stamped his authority on the match, busting the Sharks wide open and delivering a superb pass to Semi Valemei who burrowed his way over to put North Queensland back in front.
Five minutes after entering the fray, Cronulla cult hero Tom Hazelton got one back for the visitors thanks to some nice lead up work from hooker Blayke Brailey and the scores were brought back to a 12-12 deadlock.
Thomas Hazelton try 30th minute
Seven minutes before the break the Sharks stole the lead when Royce Hunt carried several Cowboys defenders over the line to score his third try of the season and hand the Sharks a 18-12 lead.
The arm wrestle continued early in the second half with both teams trading sets before the Sharks extended their lead 24-12 with departing skipper Wade Graham scoring his second try in as many matches, pouncing on a perfectly weighted Hynes' grubber in-goal.
Come the 72nd minute and Hynes' put the game out of reach for North Queensland, showing off some classy footwork to stretch the visitors' lead 32-12 and put them into contention to leapfrog the Storm into fourth position on the NRL ladder.
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Match Snapshot
- Cowboys captain Jason Taumalolo celebrated his 250th NRL game.
- Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo has now scored six tries in his past six games.
- Reece Robson and Reuben Cotter got through a mountain of work in defence for the Cowboys with 84 tackles between them.
Wholesome NRL content alert
- Fullback Connor Tracey was immense in attack for the Sharks with 248 metres off 25 runs. Tracey also took home the inaugural Paul Green Medal as the player of the match.
- Due to the absence of centre Valentine Holmes (Suspension) Scott Drinkwater kicked his first conversions since Round 13 last season.
- The Sharks have now won ten of their past 11 games against the Cowboys.
- Cowboys veteran forward James Tamou announced his immediate retirement at the match on Thursday.
Play of the Game
After a scoreless 24-minutes played out in the second-stanza, halfback Nicho Hynes iced the Sharks victory with a superb solo try. The Cronulla star topped off a day out in the No. 7 jersey in the 72nd minute, showing his skill and speed when he took on the North Queensland line, dancing and weaving his way through to score Cronulla's fifth try of the night. Hynes finished the match with one try, one assist, four line breaks and 186 run metres.
Nicholas Hynes try 72nd minute
What They Said
"We didn't defend our try-line well enough and they just moved faster defensively than us. Our mindset has got to be to play through teams, we were a little bit sideways in that second half in particular. A little more unstructured football could also help us with an offload or two. We still need to play quick and we're a really good team when we do that. I know how much talent we've got, we just need to keep believing in what we're doing. " - Cowboys coach Todd Payten
"It was very high standard, started with eight minutes of live ball and I felt like we had nothing given to us, we had to earn it. We've been working hard at our goal line defence for a long time with not much reward. We don't really feel like we are where we need to be either.
We couldn't find a way to get out of our own end at all and he (Connor Tracey) found a way every set just to get us going and constantly turned up. For the situation of the game we needed that guy more than anything tonight." - Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon
NRL Press Conference: Cowboys v Sharks - Round 25, 2023
What's Next
The Cowboys return to Suncorp Stadium to clash with the Dolphins meanwhile the Sharks head to Mcdonald Jones Stadium to meet with the Knights on Sunday.