The Cronulla Sharks have shaken up the race to the finals series with a 24-16 win over the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
Heading into tonight’s match sitting in the ninth spot, the Sharks will now swap places with the Raiders due to points differential and claim eighth position on the ladder with one round remaining.
But Cronulla’s win tonight was far from easy and could’ve been a much different story had Broncos forward Tom Flegler not given up a costly sin bin and penalty.
Leading the Sharks by six points midway through the first half, Flegler was sin-binned for a high shot on Jack Williams.
Williams copped a swinging arm across his face and immediately fell to the ground, which resulted in marching orders from referee Adam Gee at the time.
That moment resulted in back-to-back tries to Cronulla who flipped the momentum by turning a six-point deficit into an eight-point lead at half-time.
And after taking an eight-point lead at the main break, the Sharks then stretched their lead in the second half to 14 points and from there they played with a comfortable cushion despite a late fightback from Brisbane
All the Sharks need is to defeat minor premiers the Melbourne Storm next week, while the Raiders will need to take down the fourth-placed Roosters and hope Cronulla lose to claim the final spot in the top eight.
“We’ve still got a task ahead of us, we can’t look too deep into the finals,” Matt Moylan said after the game.
“We’re building as a team and we’re getting some consistency in our performances.
“It’s a credit to the sid with the injuries we’ve had. The young boys have stepped up.
“Hopefully we can build on that going into next week. It’s a big ask against Melbourne.
“If we want to play finals and go deep into the finals series, it’s a good way to test ourselves.”