Sunday homecoming for Sharks Women

The inclusion of two of their experienced stars, coupled with the fact they are on home soil and playing at PointsBet Stadium for the first time in 2023, has the Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership Sharks keen to turn around their fortunes when they host the Bulldogs in a round four match up on Sunday.

The senior Sharks will be on show in the HNWP, with the under-19 Tarsha Gale Sharks to play the curtain raiser, with an exciting day of women’s rugby league assured.

Despite a narrow loss to the Central Coast Roosters last weekend, the Sharks remain positive heading into this week’s Bulldogs clash, with coach Ruan Sims looking forward to her team getting home to PointsBet, while urging Cronulla fans to throw their support behind the girls on Sunday.

“It’s the first time this season the group is going to be able to play on PointsBet Stadium. It’s an iconic field and the girls are really pumped for it,” Sims began. “It will be even better if we can get a really good crowd to support the Harvey Norman Women’s competition, which is a great lead up to the NRLW later in the year.

“It’s fantastic for the locals in the area who get to come down and see the upcoming crop (in the Tarsha Gale) and also the girls vying for NRLW spots later in the year. To see some great new talent as well as some old faces,” Sims added.

In the HNWP the Sharks hit a hurdle over the past few weeks, losses to the North Sydney Bears then Roosters coming on the back of a round one win over 2022 premiers the Wests Tigers in what was a Grand Final rematch.

As Sims explained, rather than reinvent the wheel so to speak, their improvement lies in taking their chances when presented.

“This week we just need to start polishing off our opportunities,” Sims began. “We created a lot of really good opportunities last week, especially in that first half and we weren’t able to convert that into points. We need to make sure we’re making the right decisions when it comes to those last pass options.  

“We’ve had a great couple of sessions (this week), Glenn Azar came down and spoke to the group as well. He’s a fantastic mindset coach which helped sharpen the girls up. They are definitely ready to roll.”

Also helping the Sharks cause will be the return of fullback and captain Tiana Penitani, along with hard working lock Brooke Anderson.

A NSW and Australian representative, Penitani is a significant addition to the Sharks backline, with Anderson, fresh off an appearance in the All Stars match where she was a member of the Māori team, certain to be a boost in the middle of the field.

Both players have missed the opening three rounds, with their inclusion on Sunday certainly welcomed by Sims for this match against a quality opponent in the Bulldogs.

“They add not just experience but great leadership incredible skill and really good communication and they will be definite assets to the team this Sunday,” Sims offered.

While the Sharks go into the contest with one win from three games so far this season, their opponents enjoyed a fast start to their year with two wins, before coming backdown to earth following a 26-4 loss to the Newcastle Knights in round three.

The HNWP match is scheduled to get underway at 11.45am on Sunday.

In the earlier match, the Tarsha Sharks will also be aiming to bounce back after a last up loss, with the under-19 Cronulla girls so far having a bye in round one, a draw against Norths and then the defeat to the Roosters Indigenous Academy team. to show for their efforts so far this year.

A team perhaps lacking a little in size but certainly not in heart or skill, the Tarsha Sharks play a Dragons team which comes into the game following a drawn result against the Panthers in their most recent outing.

The Tarsha Gale Cup game kicks off at 10am.

Entry to PointsBet on Sunday is $5, children under 16 free.

For the two team lists - CLICK HERE