Breathe, Laurie. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Open those eyes, too, if you want. Your battered Blues – at least a third of them – are intact. So don't go scrambling for those shadow players just yet.
Now that's out of the way, the Sharks belted the Roosters. James Maloney was excellent. Mitchell Pearce not so. Andrew Fifita much better than last week. Wade Graham as good as ever. Jack Bird, too. And Blake Ferguson? Well, he was OK. But none were injured.
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Sharks smash Roosters
Cronulla lead from start to finish, keeping the Roosters scoreless in the second-half and sending a serious statement to the rest of the league.
So just worry about those dodgy Dragons Josh Dugan and Tyson Frizell and skipper Boyd Cordner. Maybe James Tedesco, too.
Because the only number NSW State of Origin coach Daley wanted to see at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday was zero; the number of injuries he had to stress about from the top-four shootout. And he got it.
But it was about the only time a zero was really seen all afternoon. The scoreboard just kept ticking. And ticking. And ticking. Mostly in the Sharks' favour. And don't dare mention the penalty count.
Think their title defence is dead in the water after last week's meltdown against Manly? Think again.
"It's amazing what happens when you hold the football," quipped Sharks coach Shane Flanagan as the NRL's great grinders razzled and dazzled in front of a sellout at Gosford, blowing away the Roosters 44-12 and leaping them on the table, too.
"We've been guilty the last couple of weeks of poor completion rates, poor starts and it showed on the scoreboard tonight when we complete and get a start we're hard to handle. It was back to what we know we can do."
For good measure, their back five all scored tries. None more dangerous perhaps than Queensland rookie Valentine Holmes, which Daley wouldn't have liked seeing. But he would have loved what he saw from Central Coast local Maloney, who is still teasing the club he helped win a premiership and later turfed him.
And if Daley wanted to think left field just in case Cordner can't make the Suncorp Stadium decider, what about Luke Lewis? An 80-metre intercept last week, try 90 metres this week. Is there a back-rower more deserving than rugby league's ironman of a State of Origin recall?
"I know Boydy's struggling a bit at the moment, but I'm fairly confident he'll be all right," Sharks back-rower Wade Graham said. "He's showed in the past he's got a great track record of healing and that's because he's so professional in his rehab and recovery. There wouldn't be a minute unspent since he first got his injury trying to get it right."
The Sharks' reputation as sleepy starters was stopped – at least temporarily – and in part due to a shortened warm-up as they beat the tricolours for the sixth time in a row. And showed maybe, just maybe, they can do what hasn't been done since the Broncos of 1992-93 in winning back-to-back titles.
"Before today I think we were 16th in errors and conceding possession, 16th in penalties and 16th in completion," Graham said. "But we've managed to keep the best defensive record, which is quite crazy when you think about it. It just doesn't add up.
"If we get there in good shape at the back end we're as good a chance as anybody else. That's the opportunity in front of us. I'm excited thinking about the possibilities. If we get there I don't see why we can't do something special. It's exciting to have an opportunity to do something no-one else has done in the modern game."Â
Riding a 5-1 penalty count and mountain of ball in the first half, the premiers blasted to a 20-12 lead at the break as the two respective No.6s in Maloney and Luke Keary stole the show. But there was only going to be one winner after the break.
"There was a chance in the second half and we weren't there," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said. "They were better than us by a long way – and if you want to play against really good teams and premiership winners you've got to hold on.
"When that possession shifted we just kept leaking tries. It was an avalanche in that middle period of the second half and we couldn't get it back."
Cronulla Sharks 44 (Ricky Leutele 2, Jack Bird, Valentine Holmes, Sosaia Feki, Gerard Beale, Luke Lewis tries; James Maloney 8 goals) defeated Sydney Roosters 12 (Daniel Tupou, Ryan Matterson tries; Michael Gordon 2 goals) at Central Coast Stadium. Referees: Gerard Sutton, Chris James. Crowd: 20,060.
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