One-time Sharks marquee buy Shaun Johnson has returned to the Shire and secured one of the most famous, controversial wins in Warriors history courtesy of a last-minute penalty against Royce Hunt for pushing Josh Curran in a kick chase.
The Warriors had trailed by 20 points after as many minutes, and a madcap contest featuring two contentious sin-bins for hip drops was not over until after the final siren, when the Warriors led by two points but still had their hearts in their mouths.
Cronulla pin-up Nicho Hynes had the chance to send the game into golden point with a penalty attempt of his own into a howling wind at PointsBet Stadium, but couldn’t make the distance to keep the Sharks alive.
This was a contest they’ll be talking about all week, not least because of the decisions to sin-bin first Marata Niukore on the stroke of half-time, and then Dale Finucane in the 74th minute, for hip drop tackles.
The call against Niukore in particular perplexed commentators and fans alike given it was not picked up at the time referee Ben Cummins, but was instead pulled up by the Bunker.
Through five tries apiece and a thoroughly entertaining contest, Johnson lined up a 40-metre penalty goal with less than a minute remaining after Curran had been pursuing a grubbering ball with scores level.
Shaun Johnson came back to haunt his former club in the Warriors’ come-from-behind win over Cronulla.Credit:Getty
Hunt was ruled to have pushed him off the ball having made the most incidental of touches as the pair and Matt Moylan all chased the Steeden.
Up stepped Johnson to line up a shot at goal in the most difficult conditions, having a few minutes earlier failed to find touch when Finucane was sin-binned.
“That was off its head,” a flabbergasted Johnson told Fox Sports after full-time, revealing Warriors players had joked of “telling our grandkids” about a monumental comeback if it could be pulled off.
“Whenever we used to do pre-season, [former Cronulla coach] John Morris used to make me kick goals at the end of a training session. And he’d say, ‘if you get it, training is over and done for the day’. He’d make me kick them from the sideline with all the boys watching, and I went back to that moment. What a feeling.”
After Cronulla scored first in the opening minutes, it looked like the home side would run away with the win.
But the Warriors came flying out of the gates in the second-half, Johnson putting up a kick that went straight through the usually safe hands of Ronaldo Mulitalo.
A solid chase from Johnson, who forced the error and scooped up Mulitalo’s dropped ball, saw the Warriors get the first points in the second half and put themselves right back into the contest.
From there the fire was back in the belly of the New Zealanders, who backed up Johnson’s try with another from Edward Kosi with 30 minutes to play.
The home side bit back quickly, putting pressure on the wings where the Warriors were most vulnerable, and pushing the ball out to Mulitalo, who redeemed himself with his second try in the 55th minute.
But the Warriors could never be counted out, a forceful 67th minute try from Josh Curran converted by Johnson tying things up with 13 minutes remaining.
In the end, Johnson showed the Shire fans what they were missing, kicking five from five conversions and ultimately securing the points for the Warriors in the dying stages .
