2005 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season

This article details the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks rugby league football club's 2005 season.

2005 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season
NRL Rank7th
2005 recordWins: 12; Draws: 0; Losses: 13
Points scoredFor: 572 (103 tries, 80 goals); Against: 592 (102 tries, 92 goals)
Team information
CoachStuart Raper
Captain
StadiumToyota Park
Avg. Attend.16,281
Top scorers
TriesDavid Simmons (16)
GoalsLuke Covell (75)
PointsLuke Covell (186)
< 2004 2006 >

Season summary

The Sharks started season 2005 brightly; at one stage they were joint ladder leaders after round 11. Early season highlights included wins over the 2003 premiers Penrith in the opening round, Parramatta in round three at Parramatta Stadium, 2004 premiers the Bulldogs at home in round four, North Queensland in round five, the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne in round eight, the New Zealand Warriors in Perth in round nine, the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium in round ten and again over the Penrith Panthers at Penrith in round eleven. However, the season would fall apart with losses to Parramatta at home (the Sharks trailed 22-0 at halftime before rallying in the second half to go down 34-26), North Queensland in Townsville, the eventual premiers Wests Tigers at Campbelltown in round 14 before winning against the Sydney Roosters at home in round fifteen. Three more wins followed; a thrilling 30-26 golden point win over the struggling but resurgent Newcastle Knights at home with Vince Mellars scoring the winning try, a 40-16 hammering of the Melbourne Storm at home in what was now-Dragons premiership player Beau Scott's debut match and a massive 68-6 annihilation of Manly in round 24. Late season losses to Souths, St. George Illawarra, the Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters and the Newcastle Knights in Newcastle all proved costly. The Sharks finished seventh, equal with Manly but higher courtesy of the round 24 result, making the finals for the first time since 2002 but eliminated by the Dragons 28-22 in front of a massive Wollongong crowd in the first round.

The Sharks' round two loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles was marred by the sickening injury suffered by Keith Galloway as a result of a high elbow shot from Manly winger John Hopoate. Galloway missed a huge part of the 2005 season partly as a result from the injury and due to limited opportunities at Cronulla he signed with the Wests Tigers for the 2006 season onwards. For his part, Hopoate was sacked by the Sea Eagles after receiving a mammoth 17-week ban by the NRL Judiciary.

Ladder
Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 Parramatta 2416082704456+24836
2 St George Illawarra 2416082655510+14536
3 Brisbane 2415092597484+11334
4 Wests Tigers 24140102676575+10132
5 North Queensland 24140102639563+7632
6 Melbourne 24130112640462+17830
7 Cronulla-Sutherland 24120122550564-1428
8 Manly-Warringah 24120122554632-7828
9 Sydney Roosters 24110132488487+126
10 Penrith 24110132554554=026
11 New Zealand 24100142515528-1324
12 Bulldogs 2491142472670-19823
13 South Sydney 2491142482700-21823
14 Canberra 2490152465606-14122
15 Newcastle 2480162467667-20020

Awards
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References
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