Shaun Johnson has overcome a minor scare to lead the Cronulla Sharks to their first victory of the season, with a 26-16 win over North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night.
Johnson was one of six Sharks players including Aaron Woods, Matt Moylan, and Toby Rudolf - who has reportedly signed with the NZ Warriors from next season - who failed their initial temperature test, which are required as part of the NRL's coronavirus precautions before the match at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
But after a successful second check the players were permitted to play, with NZ international Johnson finishing the match with three try assists.
A faulty thermometer was apparently to blame for a series of readings, while Sharks captain Wade Graham claimed Cowboys staff deliberately turned up the heater in the changing sheds.
"It might've been a stitch-up by the Cowboys staff pumping up that heater," he claimed.
If that wasn't bizarre enough, the NRL believes headphones players use to listen to music before the game could have been the problem.
"They were dropping like flies," Sharks coach John Morris said. "It was like trying to get into a nightclub and you don't have your ID. I thought I was going to have to pull the boots on."
The Sharks held a narrow 12-6 lead at the break with Jesse Ramien and Ronaldo Mulitalo both scoring, while Kyle Feldt scored the Cowboys' lone first-half try.
The Cowboys were first to strike in the second half when Justin O'Neill scored, but the Sharks were quick to respond with Mulitalo and Ramien both scoring again.
Feldt scored his second, but it wasn't enough to catch the Sharks with Kiwis international Briton Nikora scoring the Sharks' fifth and final try.
The Cowboys' performance was overshadowed with mistakes completing just 24 of 41 sets while making 18 errors to the Sharks' nine.
They also headed into the match without Jason Taumalolo due to a knee injury and also lost Mitchell Dunn (concussion) and John Asiata (knee) in the first half to leave them two short on the interchange bench.
Cowboys coach Paul Green said he was unsure whether Asiata would be fit for next week's clash with the Warriors on the Central Coast, while Taumalolo's chances of returning from bone bruising on the knee will be assessed after training on Monday.
