South Perth Lions 44 – Rockingham Sharks 6
By PETER ROWE
South Perth kept the pressure on leaders Willagee with a resounding Fuel to Go & Play Premiership win over the Rockingham Sharks, who lost halfback Sean Scott in the warm-up to add to the loss of fellow half Crockett Henry earlier in the day.
Cameron Webb moved from the wing and Jonah Lui was added into the halves, and despite early solid defence, the experience of the Lions proved too much.
Debutant Finley Ako Buka found the whitewash on the left edge after six minutes as the home side took control.
“He had a great debut, really good in the air,” coach John Crawford said.
Kade McDonald kicked the extras and after the Sharks failed to put points on the board during a short period camped near the try line, Eddie Proudler put McDonald in under the posts for their second of the day.
The score then blew out in the final 18 minutes of the half as veteran Daniel Green took a pass from Mathius Tumuli-Ah-Kuoi to score, McDonald sidestepped sloppy defence to add another and centre Sisa Waqa grabbed his first of the season.
Sharks centre Daniel Muir saw a late effort denied after a clever kick chase on the siren as the Lions went to the sheds with a comfortable 30-0 lead.
South Perth kept Rockingham pinned in their own half for the first ten minutes of the second half before Chris Siddons was stopped inches short of the try line – a set that then set up the home side’s next break-out that eventually saw McDonald grab his hat-trick.
Rockingham again came back and were rewarded on 58 minutes when centre Jayden Cronin scored on his first grade debut with Lui kicking the extras.
The Lions were not done yet. Giant prop Tumuli-Ah-Kuoi charged up the middle to set up Waqa, who passed to fullback Travis Haney backing up, to score.
Cronin thought he had scored his second try for a much improved Sharks with seven minutes on the clock, but the pass from Byron Tautaiolefua was called forward.
A late try from Luke-David Wells-Talamaivao, twisting and charging over under the posts, sealed the points as the Lions gave themselves some distance on the ladder from third-placed Fremantle.
For Crawford the win was a positive. But he knows his side can improve.
“We switched off a bit in the second half and all credit to Rockingham, they are a young side but they were physical and wanted to compete.
“We’ve had a couple of weeks off so our timing wasn’t great, but we will work on that.”
Proudler was MVP, after a stellar performance, closely followed by McDonald with prop Tumuli-Ah-Kuoi also having a solid day.
It wasn’t a winning performance for Sharks coach Reece Potter but he saw a big improvement in how his young side handled the game.
“I was very happy with the way they showed up. It didn’t feel like a big loss,” Potter said. “We can take a lot out of that, especially as we lost both of our halves before the game.
“The second half was very good and if we can maintain that through the rest of the season then we will be OK.”