Johnson injury scare mars Sharks big win over Bulldogs

Cronulla Sharks have moved into the top eight after a 20-point win over Canterbury but it has come at the cost of their key playmaker with Shaun Johnson suffering a hamstring injury that could keep him out of much of his side’s march towards the finals.

The Sharks will be sweating on the results of scans this week but the New Zealand international’s history of hamstring injuries puts him in doubt for much of the remaining six games of his tenure with Cronulla, who remain firmly in the hunt for September.

After last week’s defeat to Canberra, the Sharks rediscovered their attacking tooth in the 44-24 win over Canterbury with winger Sione Katoa playing a starring role their big win. The 23-year-old scored two tries, set up another and should have crossed for a few more if his teammates were more astute and the bunker perhaps more generous. His combination with Johnson proved lethal before the half was forced off with injury after setting up Katoa for two first-half tries.

The first came after a cut-out pass splitting the Bulldogs’ defensive line allowed Katoa to cross with ease to open the scoring early in the match. Cronulla kept finding space on the flanks and after 15 minutes Ronaldo Mulitalo seized on another overlap on the opposite flank. The Bulldogs struggled to threaten but three repeat sets in good territory wore down the Sharks’ defence so much they simply couldn’t contain the brute force of Luke Thompson, who barged his way over to make it 12-6 midway through the first half.

However, Thompson’s ascendancy was cut short after a late shot on Blayke Brailey deemed to cause whiplash saw him sin-binned and the Sharks extend their lead to eight. With the numerical advantage, the Sharks’ strength out wide was further highlighted and gave Katoa another chance to shine. He scored his second with an incredible forward somersault just after the half-hour.

Minutes later, he turned provider for Will Kennedy to continue the onslaught before Siosifa Talakai crossed to make it 30-6 by the break.

The 20-point win over Canterbury moved Cronulla into the top eight.Credit:Getty

The Dogs struck back immediately after the restart with Nick Meaney grounding Lachlan Lewis’ high ball to give them faint hopes of a comeback.

The odds of that happening slimmed further when another high kick from Lewis lead to Dylan Napa crashing over for another try to reduce the deficit to 12 points.

But the Sharks laboured their way back into a comfortable lead, having been on the ropes for the first 15 minutes of the match, when Toby Rudolf burrowed his way over to score next to the uprights to extend the margin to 36-16.

Despite the comfort of the scoreboard, they remained frail in defence while the Bulldogs refused to surrender.

Thompson broke through Cronulla’s line shortly after to set up Jake Averillo through the middle but all hopes of a Canterbury comeback were eventually extinguished with a late Connor Tracey try.

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Dominic Bossi is a football reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.

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