Cronulla Sharks legend Wade Graham sat down with The Rush Hour with Gus, Jude & Wendell ahead of his side’s must-win match against Canberra Raiders and his final home-game.
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The Sharks failed to cement their spot in the finals after a reality check provided by the Newcastle Knights.
“They just got the better of us in the second half,” said Graham after their 32-6 loss.
“We just couldn’t go with them.
“We need to take our lessons out of that and bounce back pretty quickly.”
The Sharks and Knights were 6-all at half-time before the Novacastrians ran away with the match to cement their spot in the finals.
Though with one game remaining and two points separating the 6th-placed Sharks and 10th-placed Sydney Roosters, the upcoming match against 7th-placed Canberra Raiders is a semi-final of sorts.
“We are the last game.
“We’ll know exactly where we stand, what we need and what’s on the back end of it.
“But we’ll need to fix on the errors from last week.
“We get Nicho [Hynes] back this week.”
Mathematically the for and against is very much in the Sharks favour.
Even a loss against the Raiders could be enough to hold off the chasing pack.
Yet, the possibility of another trip to Newcastle in an elimination final might be the last thing the Shire-based side would want.
“They’re flying at the moment,” explained Graham.
“When Newcastle are going well, rugby league is going well.”