Defensive steel was on show from the junior Sharks women against the Eels on Saturday, with the Tarsha Gale team staying unbeaten after two rounds and the Lisa Fiaola side on the cusp of victory.
Having recorded a tight win over Wests Tigers last week, the under-19 Tarsha Gale Sharks crossed for five tries as they beat Parramatta 22-6 at PointsBet Stadium.
It was a performance built on determination and grit as Cronulla held firm in the early stages with the Eels peppering their goal-line.
Similarly, the under-17 Lisa Fiaola girls were made to do a mountain of work without the ball and didn't shy away from the challenge, going into half-time down 6-0 but fighting right until the end in a gallant 12-4 defeat.
Tarsha Gale coach Isaac Michael was delighted with his squad's effort to remain one of six undefeated teams after two matches.
"It was a really good performance, especially defensively," Michael said.
"Early in the game we had to defend our line repeatedly, so it was really good to see the girls kept turning up for each other and put in those efforts to turn them away. I think that set the tone for us for the rest of the game.
"We had some really good attack. We identified where we wanted to go and the halves did really well in distributing the ball and getting it to where we needed to."
Powerful second-rower Manilita Takapautolo was again a standout, scoring a double to go with her match-sealing try against the Eels.
Match: Sharks v Eels
Round 2 -
home Team
Sharks
away Team
Eels
Venue: PointsBet Stadium, Sydney
Meanwhile, Lisa Fiaola coach Robbie Taylor couldn't fault the spirit of his girls, who have only lost by a combined 10 points in their two starts.
"I'm pretty proud of how they went in defence. We probably held a few tries out which is good. They worked hard," Taylor said.
"I'm proud of how they defended, especially on our line. We did a lot of work in pre-season around our defence. We aimed up again today.
"We'll just continue doing that into next round and look for that win."
Match: Sharks v Eels
Round 2 -
home Team
Sharks
away Team
Eels
Venue: PointsBet Stadium, Sydney
Both Sharks girls teams play at home in round three, with a Lisa Fiaola match against the Central Coast Roosters and a Tarsha Gale clash with the Raiders.