The only shame about this game was that there weren’t more fans to experience it first hand.
The 12,447 lucky enough to secure a ticket witnessed something special: 10 tries, five lead changes and a thrilling contest that went into extra time and well beyond.
It was a contest you didn’t want to end and at times it felt like it wouldn’t. The scores were locked at half-time. So too at full-time. On it went and still they couldn’t be separated. They remained deadlocked at the first period of extra time and still at the second.
Only then, as is protocol in finals football, did the match go into golden point.
A hero was required. Instead, at least for the boisterous home crowd, a villain stepped up.
Valentine Holmes, in his first game back at Shark Park in opposition colours, booted a two-point field goal in the 93rd minute.
Something spectacular was required to break the deadlock and here it was. A kick for the ages.
The Cronulla faithful cheered themselves hoarse. The only time they were silenced was when Holmes’ kick sailed through the uprights. The Cowboys, most pundits’ wooden spoon prediction, are now just one win away from the decider. The Sharks live to fight another day.
Valentine Holmes (right) and Scott Drinkwater celebrate Holmes’ match-winning field goal on Saturday night.Credit:Getty
There were so many stars on a starry night. For much of the evening, Nicho Hynes’ shone the brightest. A few hours earlier, the Storm showed how much they miss Ryan Papenhuyzen and Christian Welch. They are missing Hynes just as much. The Sharks halfback, a Dally M player-of-the-year contender, produced three tries assists, four line break-assists and kicked five conversions from as many attempts.
The Storm, a side stacked with so many stars, can’t possibly keep them all. But in losing Hynes and Dale Finucane, they have gifted the Sharks the buys of the year, as responsible as Fitzgibbon in transforming the culture of the club. On this occasion, however, it wasn’t enough.
The Sharks seemed to have it in the bag. They finished regulation time with just 12 men after the late sin-binning of Connor Tracey when their advantage was whittled down to just a converted try. But the ensuing penalty goal, and a try from Jason Taumalolo with just 17 seconds to play, sent the game into extra time.
Both sides played 13 minutes of conservative football until Holmes struck.
The merits of staging the game at PointsBet Stadium, rather than the shiny new $828 million facility in the city, will long be debated. However, there is no argument that the experience of footy in the Shire is a unique one. The first punters to arrive did so two hours before the gates were even opened, such was their anticipation to get in. They created an atmosphere that could not have been replicated elsewhere.
They were greeted by a burst of rain, the obligatory southerly and then a contest as skilful as it was willing. The Cowboys held the early ascendancy, due mainly to their incredible speed of their defensive line. It was a pace they somehow managed to maintain.
When Toby Rudolf steamed onto the Steeden, crashing past four would-be defenders and planted the ball down, it was as good a try as you could hope to see from a forward in the finals. And yet, over the course of a pulsating first half, there were at least two four-pointers of its equal.
Tom Dearden, having only recently recovered from that injury, scooted from dummy-half, feigned to pass and sprinted 60 metres to score. Johnathan Thurston, himself a former Cowboys half who knows about such things, oozed in commentary: “He just shows and goes.”
The best pass of the night came from the most unexpected source. It was thrown in the lead-up to a Peta Hiku try, a significant blow that came just two minutes after Dearden’s. Jason Taumalolo threw a pinpoint 25-metre spiral to his centre, who did the rest. It felt like every Cowboy, regardless of the number on their back, was trying to emulate Thurston.
“I pull that out every blue moon,” Taumalolo grinned during a half-time interview.
The hosts were not to be outdone. Matt Moylan and Hynes were dangerous when they combined. When they attacked down a short side, Will Kennedy, in his return from a long injury lay-off, crossed for a cracker. It was a magical moment, one of many.
Each of them threatened to be a decisive one, only for it to be bettered by something even more spectacular. In the end, Holmes, after a stint in the NFL, haunted his old club. It was a magic strike on a magic night.
It’s a shame it had to end.
