Cronulla have taken a major step towards eradicating their flaky reputation for not aiming up in big games by outlasting Melbourne at Shark Park.
The Sharks peeled off a near-perfect first half to convert a 25-12 advantage into a 31-26 upset which will be a massive confidence boost for Craig Fitzgibbon’s side who have now won five of their past six starts.
It was a horrible day for Origin hopefuls with NSW skipper Jake Trbojevic suffering a heavy concussion in Manly’s 24-6 triumph over the Cowboys at QCB Stadium which effectively means he is no chance of retaining his spot which was already in severe doubt.
The veteran forward was knocked senseless after he tried to put a big hit on Murray Taulagi and the category-one concussion means even if he were to be selected by the Blues, he would not be able to train until a few days before Origin I in Brisbane on May 28.
Dolphins captain Tom Gilbert continued his luckless run with injuries when he suffered a suspected torn pectoral in his team’s 16-12 loss to the Warriors and the Maroons forward could not only be out of Origin but his status for the rest of the season is in jeopardy depending on the result of scans to determine the extent of the damage.
1. Origin duo out of calculations
Jake Trbojevic has probably saved Laurie Daley a selection headache and having to drop last year’s series-winning skipper in the most unfortunate of circumstances.
Trbojevic was knocked out even before he hit the ground after a tackle went wrong on Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi with the Manly forward’s head colliding with his opponent’s forearm as he made a hit-up.
Brothers Tom and Ben quickly rushed in to help Jake but there was little they could do as the groggy middle forward received treatment before he was at least able to walk off the ground.
The category-one concussion means he would not be able to train until a few days before Origin I if he had been selected for NSW.
Returning coach Laurie Daley is set to announce his squad on Sunday night and with Trbojevic out of action, Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo is likely to be the new skipper with the likes of Terrell May, Stefano Utoikamanu and Mitch Barnett in the mix to join certain selections Payne Haas and Spencer Leniu in the Blues’ prop rotation.
Jake Trbojevic comes from the field. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Dolphins captain Tom Gilbert’s State of Origin campaign is also in tatters and he may be out for the rest of the season after the Maroons forward suffered a pectoral injury in Saturday’s loss to the Warriors.
Gilbert left the field in the 30th minute of the 16-12 defeat, clutching at his chest after falling off a tackle which led to a try to opposing forward Marata Niukore.
The 24-year-old missed the entire 2024 season with an ACL tear after sitting out most of the previous year with a shoulder injury.
Gilbert, who would have been a certain selection in Billy Slater’s Origin I squad but now faces scans to determine the extent of the damage, had ice on his pec and his left arm in a sling.
“He’s disappointed, but he’s a tough man,” Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf said.
“He has handled disappointment before and he will do it again. He’s not going to be playing in the next couple of weeks with a pec injury, I wouldn’t have thought.
“I don’t know the exact severity of it. We will find that out with a scan, but if it was a minor one he would have played on.”
2. Sharks erase flaky reputation (for now)
Up against a full-strength Storm side after the return of Harry Grant from a hamstring injury, Cronulla showed they can indeed mix it with the best with one of the best first-half displays from any team this year.
Even though they conceded the first try to Grant Anderson, the home side crossed the stripe four times and added a field goal for good measure to take a 25-12 lead into the break, the most points Melbourne have conceded in an opening half for a decade.
Addin Fonua-Blake rumbled through the Melbourne big boppers and helped himself to a try while halves duo Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall, who also touched down, orchestrated a slick Sharks attacking machine which had the visitors at sixes and sevens.
Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo scored Cronulla’s opener and also unveiled his blistering speed to stand up Nick Meaney from a scrum win and present a four-pointer to centre KL Iro on a platter.
The Storm threatened to surge ahead after Xavier Coates and Meaney plunged over within the first six minutes of the second half but the Sharks regrouped with Dan Atkinson bagging his second try on the wing after Sam Stonestreet limped off early.
Coates flew into the night sky to claim his third to cut the gap to just five with 12 minutes left but the Sharks were not to be outdone even though they nearly gave it away twice with nonsense plays by Siosifa Talakai and Mulitalo in the final 60 seconds.
3. Storm machine a touch out of whack
There’s not a whole lot for Craig Bellamy to be worried about – Saturday night’s loss was only their third of the season and they did rack up a 64-0 win last weekend at home against the Wests Tigers.
But the usually clinical Storm outfit has thrown up a few uncharacteristically careless performances – an upset loss to the Dragons at Kogarah, conceding 42 points to the Dolphins and a certain win thrown away at Magic Round against Canberra.
They were nowhere near terrible against a red-hot Sharks side and stayed in the contest right until the end but they are not necessarily the benchmark team that they should be right now with Penrith falling off a cliff.
Canterbury and now the Warriors have surged ahead of them on the ladder and if the Raiders knock over the Titans on Sunday, the Storm will be in a share of fourth with the Sharks.
They are about to endure a tough stretch during Origin with Grant, Cameron Munster, Coates and possibly Utoikamanu having to carry a representative burden.
Coates underlined his reputation as the most talented and possibly the best winger in the NRL with his three-try effort – his third was a magnificent piece of athleticism.
He soared above Atkinson, effectively hurdling him as he marked the high ball to add another spectacular moment to his career highlights reel.
4. Manly shoot down Cowboys
Manly and North Queensland went into Saturday’s stoush with a reputation of being two of the hardest teams to predict in the NRL and that has not changed.
The Cowboys, with everything in their favour on home turf, struggled to get going and have now won just four of 10 outings to drop to seventh with the equally inconsistent Sea Eagles flying above them to sixth with a 5-5 record to register their grittiest victory of 2025.
Manly forward Haumole Olakau’atu did his NSW Origin chances no harm with a blockbusting run to set up Jason Saab for the opening try before Cowboys winger Robert Derby slid over in the corner for a 6-6 deadlock at half-time.
Saab showcased his aerial skills to grab a second early in the second stanza before the visitors sealed the result when Lehi Hopoate finished off an attacking raid with 10 minutes remaining.
Ben Trbojevic juggled his way for a late try to keep Manly’s unbeaten run in Townsville alive which stretches back to 2016.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten took a gamble by dropping Jake Clifford and switching young gun Jaxon Purdue into the halves alongside Tom Dearden and he said he wouldn’t be changing his line-up again even though the new duo got off to a losing start.
“They’ll both be better for the run,” Payten said,
“I didn’t think it was going to be 10 out of 10 first week in, but I’m absolutely certain that this kid is the future of our club in the halves.”
5. Warriors make it five in a row
The more this season rolls on the more it looks like the Warriors are ready to duplicate their amazing 2023 run to the preliminary finals.
They came from nowhere two seasons ago whereas this time around expectations were relatively high that they could bounce back from last year’s dismal 13th-placed finish.
Andrew Webster’s side has now won five on the trot to have an 8-2 record and a firm grip on second spot on the ladder behind Canterbury.
With a favourable run during Origin with only Mitch Barnett likely to figure in rep proceedings they are perfectly placed to secure a home final and go deep in the playoffs.
They started strongly on Saturday to race in the first two tries after a scoring stalemate of close to half an hour.
When Jacob Laban slammed the ball down in the 69th minute they were all but home and hosed at 16-0 up and despite Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth sprinting over out in the closing stages, the Warriors deserved to win even though the home side was unlucky on occasions.
The Dolphins had three near-misses disallowed, including one to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, by the Bunker when Mark Nicholls was ruled to have knocked the ball forward although the trajectory was very similar to the controversial Roger Tuivasa-Sheck call which also went against the home side.
They even won a scrum against the feed but referee Peter Gough again drew the ire of the crowd by ordering a reset.
James Fisher-Harris was sin-binned late in the proceedings for a high shot and could cop a week or two when the match review committee announce their findings on Sunday.
The Kick: Bunker should step in after clangers
Nobody wants to see the Bunker get more involved in the run of play.
And referees make errors just like every other human on the field.
But when the whistleblower drops an absolute clanger like Gough at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Bunker officials should be having a not so quiet word in his ear.
Tuivasa-Sheck clearly knocked the ball on when he fumbled a high ball and it seemed a fait accompli that the Dolphins would get a scrum feed.
But Gough somehow ruled RTS had not propelled it forward and the magnitude of his error was magnified a few players later when the Warriors surged downfield to score their second try.
There’s a difference between the Bunker meddling with the run of play and stepping in when the on-field official has made a major blue.
They should be encouraged to talk up at moments like these – in what turned out to be a four-point result, this blunder was highly significant.
“I’m not allowed to talk about referee decisions, everyone has seen what happened,” was Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf’s diplomatic and financially safe assessment of the incident.
with AAP
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