Record tumble as Sharks annihilate ‘embarrassed’ Dolphins
The Cronulla Sharks sent a warning shot to the rest of the competition, completely dismantling a shell-shocked Dolphins side 66-0 in front of their own home crowd.
“This is a complete demolition job from Cronulla here,” said Luke Keary on Fox League.
The Sharks celebrates with team mates. Getty Images
Although the entire team chipped in for the masterclass, halfback Nicho Hynes put together a historic individual performance.
Hynes was flawless off the tee, slotting 11 from 11 conversions, crossing for two tries of his own, and setting up several others.
He also broke the record for the most points scored by a single player in a match in Cronulla Sharks history with a 30-point haul.
It was also the first time since 2016 the club had scored 60 points, and the first time in their history they had put 50 on a Queensland side in Queensland.
The onslaught began with a fairytale moment for Oregon Kaufusi, who celebrated his 150th NRL appearance in spectacular fashion by scoring the opening try of the match.
“Too strong, gets over the top, in his 150th game Kaufusi gets a try,” Steve Roach said.
While the Dolphins were missing key members of their backline, the nature of the collapse was alarming for a side that was widely considered a genuine premiership threat heading into the encounter.
On the other hand, it seemed the Sharks - who had drifted out of the title-contender conversation - reignited their charge.
“I think we had the right mindset coming into this game,” said Sharks player Braydon Trindall.
“We spoke about it with about 10-20 (minutes) to go, just keeping them to zero, and the coach (will) love it, so I can’t wait to get in and see the smile on his face.
In the post match press conference, Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf was blunt on his side’s scoreless defeat, saying it was “embarrassing” for the Dolphins.
“I can’t (put it into words), to be honest. I thought our preparation was good and we’ve been great for 11 weeks. So I’m not quite sure where that came from tonight,” said Woolf.
“All we can do is apologise. We’re all a bit embarrassed with the performance.
Kristian Woolf after the game. NRL
“My confidence hasn’t changed in the group. I’ll say it again: we’ve been terrific for 11 weeks. In that period, we lost three games, and that was by a combined four points. So, we’ve got all the resilience and all the toughness and everything that we need as a team. We just didn’t have that tonight.”
