9-2 Cronulla.
Sharks weren't at their best this evening. Lots of cheap errors, soft defence...at times they looked directionless but in the end they just had too much talent for the Sea Eagles. Wasn't much in it either, just a good dummy half run from Beale and a couple of good short-kicks from Maloney swung the game for them.
Manly did well to fight back and on any other night would have been ahead. Lyon didn't bring his kicking boots with him, preventing the Sea Eagles from ever playing from in-front. If they can settle on a starting 13 and develop some combinations they could really trouble some teams in the back-end of the season. A couple of changes they made tonight - Walker to centre, Buhrer to the backrow and Lyon to five-eighth looked promising. With Matai, Taufua, Koroisau and Taupau they could jag some upsets along the way.
Interesting couple of weeks coming up for Cronulla. At the start of the year, the Origin period looked like it would be kind to them. Now they're looking at Bird, Maloney, Fifita, Ennis and Gallen in the Origin side. It isn't the worst rep toll by any means, but it negates the advantage they looked to be developing.