The Sharks began 2014 with a pre-season trial against the Manly Sea Eagles and in a positive sign for the year ahead, managed a solid six tries to three victory over the 2013 Grand Finalists.
Without a long list of their more senior players, with Paul Gallen, Andrew Fifita, Luke Lewis, Michael Gordon and Beau Ryan on the sidelines, a Sharks team featuring a sprinkling of experience and youth, acquitted themselves admirably against a quality opposition line up.
Ricky Leutele crossed for two tries in his first game back in almost a year, Eric Grothe dived over for a try of his own with just his second touch of the football, while youngster Valentine Holmes made plenty of people sit up and take notice with an impressive display at fullback.
All in all there were plenty of positives in the performance, with the Sharks to now move on to the Auckland Nines before returning home for their final trial outing against the Wests Tigers on February 22.
Grant Trouville from NRL photos was on hand to catch some of the action, with a photo gallery now available.
