The impressive season for the Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership Sharks has continued, with a the Cronulla girls scoring a dominant 40-6 victory over the Wests Tigers on Saturday.
The Sharks scored in the second minute when Quincy Dodd darted over from dummy half, took a 20-6 lead to the break and were never headed in recording their seventh win in as many starts this season.
It was an eight-try performance that thrilled the crowd at PointsBet Stadium but didn't quite satisfy coach Tony Herman who has an eye towards some big games ahead, first up a match against fellow competition front runners the Central Coast Roosters next week.
“They (The Tigers) gave us a bit of a flogging in the trials, they’re running fourth and are a good footy side, but I just don't think it was one of our better performances,” Herman said. “I think we fell out of shape at times and our completion rate in the second half, that wasn't where it needed to be.”
But it wasn't all doom and gloom from the Sharks coach, who thought the opening of the second period was just what was needed for his team to take back control and claim the win.
“They scored going into half time to make it 20-6 and had the momentum, we talked about the first 10-15 minutes as being really important to us. We defended really well during that time, they struggled to get off their line and I thought we did that really well,” Herman added.
After the Dodd try at the end of the Sharks first set, the Cronulla side would enjoy the better of their position and possession, tries to Tiana Penitani, Kiana Takairangi, Maddie Studdon seeing them go up by 20-0.
The Tigers gave themselves some encouragement before half time with their only points on the day, they from there it was was all the Sharks four more second half tries, two to hard-working back rower Talei Holmes and the result was confirmed.
Studdon would kick four goals from eight attempts for the Sharks who now head into a top of the table clash next weekend on the Central Coast.
So what will be needed to continued their unbeaten run as the Sharks work towards securing top spot on the ladder, Herman would keep the instructions simple.
“A higher completion rate, a bit more push around the footy and getting in our shapes and staying in our shapes,” he explained.
The Sharks and Roosters are scheduled to play at the Central Coast Stadium next Saturday, with kick off at 5.00pm.
SHARKS 40
Talei Holmes, Tiana Penitani, Kiana Takairangi, Maddie Studdon, Leianne Tufuga, Ella Barker tries, Studdon 4 goals
Beat
TIGERS 6
Photos courtesy Steve Montgomery - ourfootyteam.com.au
