Match Report:

GF, GF Cronulla! Sharks end premiers reign

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v BYE

The late great Jack Gibson famously said that ‘waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch lamp on for Harold Holt'. Well they had better run the spotlight out on the beaches of the Sutherland Shire tonight, after the Cronulla Sharks booked their first Grand Final berth since their 1997 Super League loss - the 'home' side ending the defending premiers North Queensland's season 32-20 in front of 36,717 at Allianz Stadium.

Sharks five-eighth James Maloney was the star for the home side, scoring two tries in a 20 point haul to take his Grand Final record to three Grand Finals in the past six years for three different NRL sides. A remarkable effort from the NSW Blues five-eighth who sealed victory for Cronulla in style with a 60 metre intercept, to give Cronulla a chance to win their first premiership since they entered the competition in 1967.  

North Queensland left their worst performance of the year for the Preliminary Final, after grueling finals matches against fellow Premiership heavyweights in Melbourne and then rivals Brisbane, with the fatigue factor looking to have taken its toll as North Queensland missed over 50 tackles and made 11 errors for the match, to end their season and their chance at an historic back to back premiership. 

The Sharks were carrying the weight of 49 years of expectation but it was the defending premiers who were feeling the pressure early when Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote pick up where he left off last week, making an unforced error with his first attempted catch of the night and North Queensland were immediately under pressure.

NSW prop Andrew Fifita then steamed onto a short ball and looked to have crashed over for the Sharks first points of the night. Replays showed however, that the giant front rower propelled the ball forward in a second effort and a double movement was correctly ruled.

The night go even worse for Coote minutes later when he let a Michael Ennis grubber bounce in the in-goal, which took a wicked bounce and Sharks halfback Chad Townsend claimed a four pointer. Again the Video Ref was called into action which showed Townsend had had an air swing and again the Cowboys were off the hook.

Cronulla again threatened the line which saw Wade Graham held down by desperate Cowboys defence however they held on to the Sharks forward far too long and were duly awarded a penalty right next to the posts. Despite the multiple errors errors from North Queensland, skipper Paul Gallen took the two points on offer and Sharks goalkicker James Maloney got Cronulla out to a 2-0 lead.

The Sharks continued to build pressure despite not being able to breach the Cowboys line, the pressure however finally became too much when off back to back repeat sets, the Sharks shifted the ball wide to centre Ricky Leutele who got a great ball away to winger Sosaia Feki who made a dash to the corner and scored the first try for the night.

Cronulla continued to build pressure, forcing yet another forced dropout and off the back of that Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt then made a crucial error, kicking the ball out on the full, which delivered the Sharks with a gift penalty from right in front of the posts. James Maloney obliged, which extended the lead to six points.

Cronulla then really took control of the match prior to halftime, when Maloney split the Cowboys defence and found his halfback Chad Townsend supporting back on the inside and scored under the posts. Replays suggested that the ball appeared to float forward from Maloney, nevertheless the Sharks lead 14-0 into the break in a scoreline that truly reflected their dominance in the first stanza.

After the break, the defending premiers got off to a dream start, when Coote immediately turned around his misfortunes, when he collected a Jonathan Thurston grubber off the head of Chad Townsend to strike back early in the second half to score the Cowboys first try of the night.

The fightback from the Cowboys was short lived however, when Sharks veteran Luke Lewis, who was a handful all night for the Cowboys defence, ran a superb line to extend the Sharks lead by 12. This was then followed up by two quick tries to Maloney, including his runaway intercept try and the Sharks fans began to dream with still fifteen minutes remaining.

The Cowboys to their credit tried to the very end, with a late double to winger Kyle Feldt and a try for rookie Coen Hess narrowing the gap to 12 points late in the match. It was all the Sharks however, who advance to the big dance next week in emotional scenes from their fans and players as the fulltime siren sounded.  

Cronulla will now look to end the longest premiership drought in the NRL next week, where they will face the winner of tomorrow night's second Preliminary Final between the Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders.

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