Tigers v Sharks - a perspective
- Thread starter Tiger_heart
- Start date
Who are they?
I’ve been saying to a sharkies mate for years that the Sharks will be the next Penrith dynasty style club. I wonder if they will go all the way this year?
TheEnz
Well-known member
My bad...they started playing 6 years ago when they won NSW cup with Newtown Jets, still impressive, that 8 have come through and are all solid first graders with 6 years of experience playing together at the highest levels.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ei...special-grand-final-bond-20250918-p5mw85.html
Cheers, I recall that as well. A few like Wilton, Brailey, Mulitolo and Trindle would be have been in lower grades again.
Turns out in 2018 Jets made the NSWCup GF with 5 current NRL 17 players.
They also made the 2018 Jersey Flegg cup with another 2.
Also worth noting they were premiers last year in the NSW Cup.
jirskyr
Well-known member
I wouldn't go over the top, in:
2013 their head coach was suspended for supplements
2016 their Chairman was done for cocaine
2018 Sharks were done for systematic salary cap breaches dating back 4 years and by some miracle were not fingered or excluded for their 2016 premiership
2018 their CEO accidentally outed their coach for breaching his suspension, whilst attempting to self-report salary cap breaches, leading to a lengthy ban
You won't see bigger systematic FUs in the Head Office than that. Sharks are responsible for some of the all-time top-tier governance failures.
What Cronulla do have is a passionate and highly involved/athletic local population who love their tackle footy and keep producing quality juniors.
crazycat
Well-known member
Cmon...
Yea, the Sharks probably will loose to Melbourne. Maybe it's close, maybe it's a wipeout.
But their 2 games from raising the trophy and if they watch the grand final from the benches, it's from a point of possible.
Were celebrating 13th!
The Sharks have Craig Fitzgibbon who gets his hands dirty and trains people hard. We have John Morris who was their coaching reject.
The Sharks are able to train in a gutsy player style and manage injuries well. We can't and haven't.
crazycat
Well-known member
When you read the above...
You realise how little the board really matters.
Get the right coach in place, get the right people supporting the coach. Sign the cheques and that's it.
Bus 2 Terrigal
Well-known member
Cronulla’s won one premiership in 58 years,
we’ve done similar in 26 years.
We’ve also never felt the need to leave the porch light on for a wayward, scuba diving PM.
Tiger_heart
Well-known member
- 2005: Did not make the finals
- 2006: Finals appearance
- 2007: Finals appearance
- 2008: Finals appearance
- 2009: Finals appearance
- 2010: Finals appearance
- 2011: Finals appearance
- 2012: Finals appearance
- 2013: Finals appearance
- 2014: Did not make the finals
- 2015: Finals appearance
- 2016: Premiership winner
- 2017: Finals appearance
- 2018: Finals appearance
- 2019: Finals appearance
- 2020: Did not make the finals
- 2021: Finals appearance
- 2022: Finals appearance
- 2023: Finals appearance
- 2024: Finals appearance
- 2025: Finals appereance
Since 2005, we've made it only 3 times.
Just sayin...
Bus 2 Terrigal
Well-known member
I’m not disputing we’re the shittiest club ever known to man (although University back in the 1920s & 1930s gave off Wests Tigers vibes) ... but I reiterate - we have won as many premierships as the mob from the Shire, and we’ve done it in half the time.
Just sayin ... 🤷♂️
Your list isn’t accurate. Sharks didn’t play finals in 2006, 07, 09, 10 and 11. Yeah they’ve been better then us in recent times but please be accurate when trying to make points instead of lying.
Sorry mate, i can't see any way we are comparable to Sharks
If we're talking pure value id say we're inverted. They're 1-17 is probably worth what our 1-17 are being paid and our 1-17 worth what theirs are being paid. Unfortunately that leaves them a good team with plenty of cap space for quality depth and ours an ordinary team with Charlie Murray for depth.
Tiger_heart
Well-known member
No problems, always good to have a different perspective.
My intention was to compare the clubs in terms of overall success (since we became the WT) which appears to be a combination of multiple factors, inclusive of some good club management, player retention and development - all things a good club should do, but easier said than done, for some.
Tiger_heart
Well-known member
Sure - if winning a premiership is the yardstick, that's fine. Overall, though, they just seem to have done things a little better than us ;-)
Charlie Murray didn’t cause us to miss the top 8 ?
We love to sugarcoat it, but our highest paid players aside from Terrell May and now Taylan May are well below the standard of their equivalents at other NRL clubs.
Whether or not these players can step up and change that in 2026 remains to be seen, but I highly doubt it.
I didn't say he did. I pretty much said the same as you. We've paid overs or near enough across the board for our best 17 which means not only is our best 17 not that good but we also can't afford any depth of any quality to supplement it.
Compared to Sharks roster, sure they have a couple top priced players but for the most part they have very good players across their side and I'd wager mostly earning slight unders. So not only does it give them a strong team but cap space to also have strong depth.
Now unlike others I'm not to critical of many of the signing decisions since Richo has been here. I believe some had to be made to overturn the culture at the place, even if I don't think many of those players have performed as I'd hoped.
The next step now is to develop some younger players and sign some good quality tradesmen type around them on fair wages. Whether we can make the next step very much remains to be seen.
crazycat
Well-known member
I don't get this idea. So your saying our "best 17" is not that good.... Ok Agreed.
Then "we can't afford any depth".
Lets stop there. If our "best 17" needs work, why not fix it?
Why worry about "depth"? Seriously. Particularly if our 1-13 isn't that good, and I think were a lot better in 2025 then other years. But if we have problems with 1-13 can we stop talking DEPTH!
Because every time we talk depth we end up getting some Fringe grader on 300-400k. When we do this, we can't compete with the Chooks/Manly/whoever to get the gun players and a good 1-13!
When we bring 'top-shelf" talent in, like Api K... Players learn.
Luai too has imparted an attitude and improved the culture....
Good coaches can improve your "tradesman" type players. It's easier to get average to play a little better then to get that Elite level (i.e. JAC/Latrell/GI) to go Super elite...
Plus a lot more "tradesman" out there then GI's, Farnworths and Latrell's.
Yes I understand we were virtually forced to sign Jerome Luai on a bigger contract than his ability warranted due to us desperately needing a high profile player who would drive standards and attract other players.
So there is no doubt signing him has served a purpose, BUT his contract value does cause us a salary cap dilemma as he is a high effort, high energy support act type of player, not someone who can control a game or win a game with his individual brilliance.
This is not a problem if we can have either Adam Doueihi or Latu Fainu as our dominant game controller, but we still need one or two players who can virtually win us games single handedly with their individual brilliance,
Taylan May will hopefully continue to rise and be one of these players and based on contract values Jahream Bula needs to be the other one.
Many on this forum believe I unfairly criticise Jahream, but as I constantly say, there is no argument he is a very good player with plenty of elite qualities such as his speed, but plenty of others agree with me in saying the jury is still well and truly out on whether or not he has the complete package to become a genuine elite player who is regularly the difference maker on whether we win or lose games.
2026 is the year for him to prove it, but we are in a tricky situation with his contract as I’m sure he will be looking to extend on a big money, long term deal ASAP.
That is great in theory, but not so great if we give him a big money, long term deal and he does not prove to be a genuine elite player.
Even his biggest supporters must admit he has not yet proven to be a genuine elite 1 million dollar plus per season player, so if we agree to pay that money before the 2026 season we would be taking a risk, paying him a long term elite contract value on potential.
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I'm not saying we need to worry about depth or we should sign depth. I was giving my assessment of our entire roster and the state it is in.
