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Fulltime - Sharks 42 Warriors 16
Sharks 42 (Josh Morris 2, Bronson Xerri, Josh Dugan, Briton Nikora, Braden Hamlin-Uele & Ronaldo Mulitalo tries; Shaun Johnson seven goals) Warriors 16 (Patrick Herbert, Isaiah Papali'i & David Fusitu'a tries; Issac Luke & Patrick Herbert goals)
The Warriors have made a habit of recognising retiring opponents this season and they've paid tribute to Paul Gallen. Great stat - apparently the Warriors are the only team he has not scored against over his career.
80th minute - RTS threatens again, but he's tackled and the siren sounds. That's surely the end of the Warriors' playoff hopes.
79th minute - Dugan steps, but slips over in front of the posts. Johnson kicks, but RTS gathers.
77th minute - Luke strips the ball in a tackle, but Nikorima tries to push a pass to Harris-Tavita and it goes loose.
76th minute - From a scrum, RTS tries to break out of his own half. Green can't gather an untidy pass and Sharks have the ball 40m out.
75th minute - Nikorima kicks towards the corner for Fusitu'a, but Capewell tidies up.
74th minute - Nikora loses the ball in midfield, gifting the ball to the Warriors in their own half.
73rd minute - Luke fumbles the ball in a tackle on the line, which tells story of the game.
71st minute - Warriors storm the Sharks line and Green puts Ayshford into a half gap.
70th minute - On the last tackle, RTS tries to inspire a try, but eventually Luke's grubber is deflected and controlled by the Sharks.
69th minute - Warriors look tired and that has probably been the biggest difference between the last two seasons. They were fit last year, but seem off the pace this time.
Lisone storms up the middle.
68th minute - Johnson darts right, Nikora spins out of a tackle and Mulitalo is brought down.
The ball goes left, but the last pass from Graham goes to touch.
66th minute - TRY to Morris. Luke passes from dummy half without really looking, it evades Harris-Tavita and Nikorima, and Morris is there for the bounce and a clear run to the line.
Johnson converts, his seventh of the day without missing.
65th minute - Townsend kicks high towards the posts, but RTS is there to claim the ball.
63rd minute - RTS is noticeably in the thick of things and calling the shots right now, not hanging back.
60th minute - TRY to Fusitu'a. Burr offloads twice about 12m out from the line, RTS dances right and tosses it wide.
Fusitu'a catches about 10m out and dives over in the corner. Herbert converts from the sideline.
59th minute - Cronulla have called veterans Fifita and Gallen to the bench. Victory is safe for them now.
Johnson kicks too long and Warriors have seven tackles. They draw a penalty to make more ground.
57th minute - TRY to Sharks, either Dugan or Mulitalo.
Xerri cuts right across the field and kicks to the goal area. The ball evades Maumalo and Mulitalo claims the try, just ahead of Dugan.
Johnson lines up a conversion from near touch and is down the middle.
55th minute - Nikorima puts a grubber through and Harris-Tavita chases, but can't catch up with the ball.
54th minute - Johnson runs on the last, but RTS tidies up Mulitalo's grubber.
53rd minute - Green takes the ball to the line and is tackled a couple of metres out. Papali'i crosses from dummy half and it's reviewed.
The bunker finds he lost possession of the ball and the try is disallowed.
52nd minute - Brailey crosses the tryline, but the refs go upstairs and he was held up in the tackle.
Fifita spills the ball and when Harris-Tavita tries to break out, Fifita conceds a penalty for overplaying the tackle.
51st minute - Cronulla draw a tackle penalty and are now back deep inside Warriors half.
49th minute - TRY to Hamlin-Uele. Sharks swarm onto attack and Hamlin-Uele simply opens up the defence from about 13m out.
Johnson converts.
48th minute - Green finds the touchline on the last tackle, but the Warriors seem tired already and ready to crack.
46th minute - Townsend kicks high and Fusitua's jumps to field the ball cleanly.
45th minute - Harris-Tavita runs left and passes flat to Maumalo, who is dragged into touch. That's a terrible result on the first tackle.
44th minute - Green kicks to the posts, straight into the chest of Gallen, who puts the ball down and is not impressed with himself.
43rd minute - Warriors earn a penalty in the tackle and are now laying seige on the goal-line.
42nd minute - Green grubbers to the goal and Capwell is forced back behind the line for a Sharks dropout.
41st minute - Warriors kick off and Johnson kicks long at the end of the set, tidied up by RTS.
Warriors have incredibly completed all 11 sets in the first half, but trail by 14 points.
Halftime - Warriors 10 Sharks 24
40th minute - RTS shows the ball and goes right. Harris-Tavita tries to break the line, Green kicks towards Fusitu'a, but the ball goes through his hands and over the sidelin.
The halftime siren sounds.
39th minute - Hamlin-Uele tries an offload to Graham, who is unable to gather.
36th minute - TRY to Nikora. Fifita challenges the defenders and Johnson is again on hand to put his Kiwis teammate across.
Johnson is killing his old team here - he kicks his fourth conversion and reaches 1000 premiership points.
AGAINST the Warriors.
35th minute - Hamlin-Uele is on for the Sharks and looks a handful. Townsend grubbers in-goal, and RTS can't reach the field of play and concedes a dropout.
34th minute - Tevaga tries to offload, but Lisone has to kick the ball 20m backwards and they lose big ground.
33rd minute - Johnson probes again, Fifita barrels towards the line, but loses the ball in a tackle from Blair and Paasi.
30th minute - Harris-Tavita kicks long to Dugan. Johnson chips towards touch, but the ball bounces wickedly for RTS and takes a deflection.
Sharks ball 10m out.
29th minute - Nikorima is in the game for Luke at dummy half.
28th minute - TRY to Papali'i. Tevaga loses the ball backward in front of the posts, but it's tidied up by Luke and Green, who's still in the game, and Papali'i cuts back across the grain to score.
Luke converts from in front.
27th minute - Harris-Tavita finds RTS inside, but he's pulled down, before he can take the half-gap.
Green's grubber is collected by Dugan, then dropped. Green is down with a knee injury - he's flexing, Nikorima's warming up.
26th minute - Graham tries to offloard on the goal-line, but it went forward.
25th minute - Warriors are penalised in the tackle, so they'll be back inside their own half.
Johnson probes, Xerri looks for way through and the Warrios are penalised five metres out for slowing down the ball.
22nd minute - TRY to Dugan. The Warriors continue to fall off tackles - Dugan overpowered five defenders to cross the line, after taking the final pass 10 metres out.
Johnson converts and this could get ugly quickly.
20th minute - Dugan takes the long kick and makes a long run, before he's tackled by Herbert inside the Warriors half.
Johnson puts a kick to the line and the ball just bounces away from Mulitalo, before Maumalo bats it dead.
19th minute - Gallen offloads on halfway. Johnson kicks high, but Fusitu'a takes if under pressure.
17th minute - TRY to Morris. Johnson throws long to the right, Mulitalo makes good ground and Morris is there to take the final pass to score.
Weak tackling from the Warriors - Harris-Tavita missed a bad one on Mulitalo.
Johnson converts.
15th minute - Warriors let Dugan's dropout run over halfway, but bring it back strongly. Harris-Tavita grubbers to the line, but it runs dead.
Feki has gone to the sideline with a leg injury, replaced by Capewell.
13th minute - Hiku offloads and Tevaga makes ground down the middle. Luke darts from dummy half, Green grubbers to the goal-line and forces a dropout.
12th minute - Harris-Tavita kicks, Mulitalo catches, but Dugan almost spills the ball.
Ninth minute - TRY to Herbert. Hiku makes a break and offloads to Burr.
When RTS goes to ground, Green puts a high kick across to Fusitu'a's wing and Herbert is there to take an inside pass to score.
Herbert takes the conversion kick from near touch, but leaves it right.
Eighth minute - Sharks attack down the left, but Feki is forced into touch at the end of the movement, just five metres out.
Sixth minute - Warriors are offside at the play-the-ball, surrendering a penalty and field position to the Sharks.
Fifth minute - Johnson kicks and Fusitu'a takes the first hit-up, Maumalo the second... just like old times. Harris-Tavita kicks towards the corner at the end of the set.
Fourth minute - Luke's kickoff is bobbled by Mulitalo, but controlled.
Second minute - TRY to Xerri. Woods uploads to Gallen, who charges towards the line.
When he's tackled, Dugan makes a pass off the groun to Xerri, who found way too much space to score. Not a good start for the Warriors.
Johnson converts from just to the left of the uprights.
First minute - Cronulla kick off and the Warriors have first use of the ball, with RTS weaving his way up field.
Harris-Tavita's high kick is taken by Mulitalo.
*****
Pre-kickoff
A couple of late changes in the Warriors line-up, with Lachlan Burr replacing Agnatius Paasi in the front row and Blake Ayshford stepping in for Bunty Afoa off the bench.
Of course, the other big addition for the Warriors this week is Patrick Herbert, whose return to centre is timely, given Gerard Beale's season-ending knee injury last week.
Cronulla appear to have no changes.
Warriors: 1-Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 2-David Fusitu'a, 3-Peta Hiku, 4-Patrick Herbert, 5-Ken Maumalo, 6-Chanel Harris-Tavita, 7-Blake Green, 14-Lachlan Burr, 9-Issac Luke, 10-Leeson Ah Mau, 11-Adam Blair, 12-Isaiah Papali'i, 13-Jazz Tevaga
Interchange: 8-Agnatius Paasi, 15-Sam Lisone, 17-Kodi Nikorima, 22-Blake Ayshford
Sharks: 1-Josh Dugan, 2-Sosaia Feki, 3-Bronson Xerri, 4-Josh Morris, 5-Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6-Shaun Johnson, 7-Chad Townsend, 8-Aaron Woods, 9-Jayden Brailey, 10-Matt Prior, 11-Briton Nikora, 12-Wade Graham, 13-Paul Gallen
Interchange: 14-Kurt Capewell, 15-Jack Williams, 16-Andrew Fifita, 17-Braden Hamlin-Uele
*****
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the NZ Warriors v Cronulla Sharks NRL clash in Sydney - an encounter that may finally end the Auckland-based side's playoff hopes.
A loss tonight would see the Warriors slip four points outside the top eight, with two games to play. That would leave way too many other results needing to go their way to retain any realistic post-season aspirations.
Even now, they probably still need to win all three remaining games, so this is really last-chance saloon stuff.
On the positive side, they're fielding perhaps their full-strength line-up, with the exception of Tohu Harris, who has suffered a season-ending foot injury.
Last year's leading tryscorer, David Fusitu'a, returns after several weeks' injury absence, along with veteran hooker Isaac Luke, who has been suspended.
Chanel Harris-Tavita takes the No.6 jersey, keeping mid-season recruit Kodi Nikorima on the bench in a utility role, while Jazz Tevaga reverts to his rightful place at lock, after filling in at dummy half.
Across the park, they face former Warriors star Shaun Johnson, who would love nothing better than to end his old club's playoff chances, after a tumultuous off-season exit from Mt Smart Stadium.
The Sharks are also teetering on the precipice, currently sitting in eighth and needing the win almost as much as the Warriors.
When these teams met in Wellington two months ago, veteran half Blake Green slotted a late field goal to give the Warriors a 19-18 victory.
But there's been some tense finger-pointing at Warriors headquarters this week, with chief executive Cameron George threatening to fire non-performing players and coach Stephen Kearney suggesting his boss should butt out...
Pre-game: Kearney scolds Warriors boss over player threats
Coach Stephen Kearney has told Warriors boss Cameron George to leave comments on football to him, after the NRL club's chief executive threatened to sack players who didn't perform.
Only a faint mathematical chance to make the finals, the Warriors stayed in Sydney this week to prepare for Saturday's clash with Cronulla.
But George created headlines back home, when he said the effort of certain players would come under the microscope of a review at the season's end.
He insisted players had to be held accountable and warned there was no place for those who were not performing, regardless of whether they were signed long-term.
George also said that was no fault of Kearney's, who had the full support of the board.
- Fusitu'a returns for Warriors against Sharks
- Warriors boss puts players on notice
- Nikorima heeds warning from Warriors boss
But the coach was unaware the comments would be made and believed such views should only be expressed by him.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to be toing-and-froing, and playing that out in the media," Kearney said. "My personal opinion is that's my job to do that.
"He is the CEO of the footy club. When we're talking about the footy team and the effort of individuals, that's my responsibility to make individuals aware of that."
Kearney has since spoken to George about the comments and relayed that message.
The coach also claimed the Warriors effort had been good in recent months, with the exception of their last two losses to Canberra and the Sydney Roosters.
A gutsy win over Manly came between those defeats, while they also beat Newcastle and Cronulla, and drew with Brisbane in a three-week block last month.
"If you look at last weekend [the 42-6 loss to the Roosters], there might've been some occasions during the period of that game where it could have been the case," Kearney said.
"In the last nine weeks, we have had two occasions where we haven't taken our best performance to the footy ground against Canberra and the Roosters.
"Prior to that, we had made some really consistent progress."
The Warriors' absence from the finals would mark the seventh time they'd missed in the last eight years, with their 2018 return the sole appearance.
They have not signed any new NRL players for next season, with 27 of their current squad already signed on for next season.
"You can't just move players [mid-contract] - every party must agree," George told Radio Sport in an interview on Tuesday.
"But players signed here long term have got to put in and if they don't, we have that discussion with them.
"There are certainly some questions around the effort of certain players and
performances throughout the year. That will come under the microscope.
"If we feel people are not putting in, there is certainly no place in this environment for them, either on the field or off the field."
AAP
