Free-flowing Sharks attack lighting up Telstra Tracker

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Thu 21 Apr 2022, 08:34 AM

They didn't quite get over the line against the Melbourne Storm last week, but Craig Fitzgibbon's Cronulla Sharks continued to dominate the Telstra Tracker data courtesy of their free-flowing attack.

One of the marked improvers through the opening rounds of the season, Cronulla were valiant in their efforts against the high-flying Storm last week — going down 34-18 in the end but undoubtedly showing their credentials as a top four side.

Nicho Hynes, Dale Finucane and Cameron McInnes might have attracted the headlines as off-season recruits, but the Sharks' outside backs have certainly played their part in their turnaround this year; Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa sit first and second respectively for linebreaks while Siosifa Talakai currently has the equal most try assists and second most tackle breaks through the first six weeks.

Mulitalo gets some air to score

Highlighting the Sharks' tempo in attack, Mulitalo ranked top of the sprint distance charts in Round 6 with a dominant 276 metres run at a speed greater than 25 km/h — significantly clear of Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma (225 metres) and Broncos flyer Kotoni Staggs (244 metres), the latter of whom also finished inside the top three players of the round for metres run at a speed greater than 20 km/h.

The Sydney Roosters continued their winning ways with a gritty result over the Warriors, but Trent Robinson's men were certainly made to work for the two points.

Luke Keary, Sam Walker and Victor Radley all covered more than nine kilometres each — ranking them as the third, fourth and fifth highest players for total distance.

Ahead of them was returning Panthers half Nathan Cleary, who looked back to his best in his side's win over the Broncos. In addition to his three try assists and six goals, Cleary finished the round second in total distance covered (9,774 metres) and fourth for relative distance with 103.7 metres per minute — while also finishing inside the top 10 players for maximum velocity with a top speed of 32.6 km/h.

The surprise leader in that category from the round, however, was Titans skipper Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, whose 33.7 km/h top speed narrowly topped the charts from Panthers centre Izack Tago (33.6 km/h) and Raiders winger Nick Cotric (33.1 km/h).