The Jersey Flegg Sharks have started their season in the best possible fashion, beating the Eels 34-14 in a match played at New Era Stadium on Saturday in scoring a second consecutive victory in 2023.
Despite giving up an early try, the Sharks dominated the remainder of the first half in building a 22-4 lead at the break, before going on with the job on in the second period.
The result was a pleasing one for coach Andrew Dallalana who explained the win was achieved by his team carrying out the plan in what were trying conditions against a quality opponent.
“It was a stop start game, 32 degrees out here and Parramatta are a real strong side,” Dallalana said. “They come at you through the middle a lot, which is what we expected. But the intensity from our middles was very good today.
“We put a lot of effort into the week and for the majority of the game we executed what we wanted to do,” he added.
A try scoring double to backrower Henry O’Kane, along with four pointers scored by lock Blake Hosking and centre Ben Lavendar, helped the Sharks take control of the contest and despite facing some adversity after half time, the Cronulla side stuck to task, backed their game plan and wouldn’t be denied.
“I was really pleased with how we competed in the first half. We had really good completions and it was good to get some points, but that was on the back of hard work from our defence,” Dallalana said.
“The we had probably three, four guys playing out of position due to injury and concussions, so it just shows at training they are doing the right thing and are ready to go when something like that happens.”
Following their round one win over Souths, the Flegg Sharks are just one of three teams, alongside the Roosters and Bulldogs, who are unbeaten two games into the season.
Next up for the Sharks is a game against the Raiders in Canberra on Sunday.
JERSEY FLEGG Sharks 34 Henry O'Kane 2, Blake Hosking, Benjamin Lavender, Cody Fuz, Manaia Waitere tries, Max Riolo 4, Fuz goals. Beat Eels 14
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Pictures: Adam Wrightson
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