Well, what a time to have a black-out. Don't know when it came back on precisely but now that it's here, I thought I'd take the opportunity to go through the game since I know how easy it is to cherry-pick moments and sweat all the other stuff that ends up being important.
Broncos Line-Up
3. Greg Eden
5. Lachlan Maranta
6. Anthony Milford
7. Darren Nicholls
8. James Gavet
9. Andrew McCullough (c)
11. Alex Glenn
14. Aaron Whitchurch
15. Tom Opacic
1. Kodi Nikorima
4. Joe Boyce
12. Joe Ofahengaue
16. Matt Parcell
18. Ajuma Adams
Right off the bat, got to give Valentine Holmes credit where it's due. Smart play off the kick of, using his speed to challenge McCullough and winning before summing up the situation to put Ayshford over on the left hand corner. Don't know if the Broncos could have done a whole lot there outside of Nicholls and Whitchurch shutting down Heighington who gave Holmes the opportunity with an offload. 6-0 Sharks.
Brisbane had a right of reply and were looking good through Eden. Greg flashing across, finding Whitchurch before scooping up the loose ball from Maranta to have the Sharks at sixes and sevens. Unfortunately the cut-out pass from Macca had a bit too much on it and caused Nicholls to pause a bit before handing it onto Gavet who just tried too hard to create something out of nothing and threw a dumb offload back to Nicholls who was well covered.
Next try from the Sharks was pretty soft but they shouldn't have had the ball to begin with. Graham threw a pass basically straight at Eden who had both hands on it before spilling it. Sharks with the extra tackles put Ayshford onto Milford and Tony wasn't good enough to make the tackle. Some worrying signs there in defence it must be said. 13-0 Sharks.
The next set from the Broncos was odd. Have no idea what was happening, but it was like Joe Ofahengaue decided he was Wally Lewis and convinced everyone else he wasn't. He took a nice offload from Boyce only to follow it up with a miss-timed hard pass to Milford that killed whatever chance there was on the right side. Then he tips the ball onto McCullough when he should have been looking to use his frame to draw the defence before offloading it before coming up with a bad knock on from dummy half.
Poor play and they punished him for it too as Graham found the Broncos short behind the line and sent Sauiluma over with a nice grubber. Was wondering why the back was so slow chasing for the ball, turns out it was a forward in Joe Boyce. A fair effort from the young fella to get back there but why didn't anybody else have the presence of mind? Guess it comes down to a lack of miscommunication and inexperience with this format. 17-0 Sharks.
Another short kick-off from the Sharks sees Nikorima link up with Eden down the left hand touchline to get the Broncos near the Sharks half. Unfortunately, Boyce's play the ball is sloppy and Parcell makes a meal of it. Few tackles later, Sharks spread the ball down their right hand fringe to Sauiluma who beats Milford, Opacic, Boyce, Parcell and Glenn as he swoops all the way back inside to the right and plays it through the hands, allowing Bird to score in the corner. 21-0 Sharks.
Siren goes off before Glenn can play the ball, taking us into HT.
Cronulla get first use of the footy in the second half where Todd Murphy plugs the ball down field, straight to Eden who gets the Broncos going on the front foot. Then off a nice dummy-half run from Parcell, Milford skips across field and picks up Glenn to get it down into Sharks territory. On the last, Nikorima fakes left before going right, puts a pin-point kick over to Maranta but Lachy steps out over the sideline with no one near him. Hate to pick on players but at this level, knowing how to position your body as a winger is crucial. Unfortunately, this play was a reminder of how poor Maranta is at that regard and even in this format he seems low on confidence, which is absolutely crucial.
Don't know how it happened but the Sharks make it to the Broncos 40m line in one tackle. Given who was actually in the tackle, it appears they just ran at Milford. Couple of plays later, the Sharks go through the hands and Beale puts Sauiluma away with a suspect pass to extend the lead. 27-0 Sharks
Brisbane returning the ball off the kick-off manage to make it inside the Sharks half where they receive a penalty when Wade Graham is caught off-side off a charge down. Unfortunately, Parcell spills it after taking the quick tap to completely squander the opportunity.
Then a messy period of play. Holmes spills it in the tackle deep inside his own half to give Brisbane another opportunity. However, Joe Ofahengaue cuts back on the inside, holds the ball in one hand and loses it when he's brought down on first tackle.
From there, Sharks spread it to prop Houma who makes a big break down field. They go right and Holmes draws in the winger to put Bird down the corner. Sharks 31-0
On the Broncos return set, there didn't seem to be a lot happening until Kodi Nikorima took it to the line, he picked up Adams who found McCullough in support who was brought down inside the Sharks half. On the last, Nikorima draws the defence before spreading it to Milford down the right. Tony passes onto hulking prop Gavet who sums up the situation by throwing a loose offload to Whitchurch who has nobody infront of him down the left hand touchline to finally put the Broncos on the board for a consolation try. 31-4 Sharks.
Then just to add insult to injury, Nicholls kicks the ball out on the full on the last. Sharks with one last opportunity but McCullough forces a knock on, Opacic puts in a wishful grubber that gives Cronulla one last shot but they're content to die with the ball, putting the game to bed.
Summary: Brisbane were completely out-classed here. Got to give Cronulla credit where it's due, the likes of Graham, Holmes and Sauiluma played very well and gave them the early ascedency. Obviously it wasn't a good afternoon for Brisbane, I thought Milford had a shocker and was the worst of the bunch but there was plenty of blame to go around. I think the Broncos Player of the Match is obvious, it has to be Kodi Nikorima who seemed to be the only likely one of the bunch and was just about the only player creating opportunities. Eden's play in the first half was promising but it was only one play and he wasn't good enough to take an intercept that proved costly for the Broncos.