Pick Your Team Cronulla Sharks v NZ Warriors - [Round 15, 2026]

[Shauns_Johnson]

1 TT
2 DWZ
3 Ali
4 Pompey
5 CNK
6 CHT
7 Metcalf
8 JFH
9 Egan
10 Barnett
11 Laban
12 Capewah
13 Clark
14 TMM
15 TSS
16 Vaimauga
17 Fatialofa
18 EIT
19 Mad mad mad mad butcher
20 AKP

I just think that with RTS out we lose way too many metres in yardage sets without CNK either, so he comes in for me for AKP.

Assuming Eddie is fit again and Leka’s hammie doesn’t hold up - otherwise Leka in for Fats (imo Laban still starts after last week’s breakout game).

Metcalf has to play. Long kicking game is just not long enough with CHT and TMM. Healey out means TMM to 14 anyway (I would’ve had him there regardless)

 

[CWC]

Im currently on board the TMM train.
Given how well we performed against Penny who were at home.

I think it has to be remembered that TMM would have only had 2 full training sessions where he would have been training exclusively as a half as hes obviously been a bit of a mister fix it...surely once the the boys around him have had a few games and trianing to gel we'll get better cohesion, and better performances?

Although...im going to play devils advocate...if Healey is out for the next few games and potentially missing Egan for Origin i think the next few rounds we probably look better with option A...

Option A
7 - LM
9 - Egan/TMM
14 - TMM/Tafua

Option B
7 - TMM
9 - Tafua
14 - Makeshift Option

Is Metcalf happy to play 14 aka baby reece walsh for the short term?

CHT can play hooker as well

 

[CWC]

1 TT
2 DWZ
3 Ali
4 Pompey
5 CNK
6 CHT
7 Metcalf
8 JFH
9 Egan
10 Barnett
11 Laban
12 Capewah
13 Clark
14 TMM
15 TSS
16 Vaimauga
17 Fatialofa
18 EIT
19 Mad mad mad mad butcher
20 AKP

I just think that with RTS out we lose way too many metres in yardage sets without CNK either, so he comes in for me for AKP.

Assuming Eddie is fit again and Leka’s hammie doesn’t hold up - otherwise Leka in for Fats (imo Laban still starts after last week’s breakout game).

Metcalf has to play. Long kicking game is just not long enough with CHT and TMM. Healey out means TMM to 14 anyway (I would’ve had him there regardless)

Poor Pompey ran 177m

 

[ToiletDuck]

I'm all for Metcalf being an option this season but his long kicking game isn't really a strength of his. Certainly nowhere near enough to justify the shortcomings of his game on the weekend. If I was a Sharks supporter I would prefer to come up against Metcalf ahead of TMM in their current states.

 

[xWarrior]

I'm all for Metcalf being an option this season but his long kicking game isn't really a strength of his. Certainly nowhere near enough to justify the shortcomings of his game on the weekend. If I was a Sharks supporter I would prefer to come up against Metcalf ahead of TMM in their current states.

What kicking game does CHT have ?

 

[3rdstriker]

NSW cup stats have Metcalf making 7 tackles, 6 missed, 1 ineffective for a 50% tackle efficiency. That will have to improve significantly if he wants to play first grade or we will end up with the results earlier this year against the Sharks and Tigers. A longer kicking game isn't going to make up for it.

Wow that's revealing, at least Tim Murray knows how to put a couple of decent hits on!!

 

[3rdstriker]

Yea but at least he has a long kicking game and his speed will make us a threat.

Ya cant afford to bring anymore turnstiles back into the team underdone, as this season our entire team has prided themselves on DEFENSE.
A long kicking game is good, hopefully he gets more confidence out there and can get his D back up in cup.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

1 TT
2 DWZ
3 Ali
4 Pompey
5 CNK. 《---

 

[The Warrior Waka]

What kicking game does CHT have ?

The pass to the ass kick

View attachment Screen_Recording_20260602_190253_Chrome.mp4

 

[ToiletDuck]

What kicking game does CHT have ?

He doesn’t have an amazing kicking game but it’s serviceable. He is also putting up majority of our bombs at present and seems to land them reasonably.

Also the discussion is around TMM vs Metcalf, there’s no way Webster is dropping CHT.

 

[Neo]

He doesn’t have an amazing kicking game but it’s serviceable. He is also putting up majority of our bombs at present and seems to land them reasonably.

Also the discussion is around TMM vs Metcalf, there’s no way Webster is dropping CHT.

I would have said the CHT kicking game is pretty comparable to Metcalfs in any case

 

[Dannevegas]

Taine Tauapiki
Alofiana Khan-pereira
Jye Linnane
Ali Leiataua
Dallin Watene-zelezniak
Channel Harris-Tavita
Te Maire Martin
James Fisher-Harris
Wade Egan
Jackson Ford
Kayliss Fatialofa
Jacob Laban
Erin Clark

Makaia Tafua
Demetric Vaimauga
Tanner Stowers-smith
Eddie Eiremia-Toeava
Luke Hanson
Adam Pompey

Luke Metcalf eventually needs to be the 7 Imo, but need to see some solid performances in cup

 

[Dannevegas]

I would have said the CHT kicking game is pretty comparable to Metcalfs in any case

Not even close, Last year I thought Metcalfs general kicking was better than Boyds

 

[CWC]

I have dementia like memory so can anyone show evidence that Metcalf actually punts the ball consistently from our 30-40m line to the opposite 10m? I know he does well from opposition’s 40m to 10m (30m kicks) but so does everyone else

CHT and TMM were probably kicking 40-45m from our half so we’re fine if the pack gets to near halfway, it was hilarious watching Alomanti bamboozled like the hammer a couple of years ago. It’s getting further so I prefer giving those 2 more time to work out that final extra 5m than taking another punt with Mets against the sharks again

 

[CWC]

Looking at Linnane stats I’m like


Stats look too good for Cup and if he can defend it’s just a matter of time

 

[Worried2Death]

View attachment 17758
View attachment 17759
View attachment 17760

Looking at Linnane stats I’m like
View attachment 17761

Stats look too good for Cup and if he can defend it’s just a matter of time

I'm getting off this berry go round, I got me a ticket on the Linnane Plane

 

[sydneywarrior92]

AFB, Brailey, maybe Hynes

Hynes is out for at least 2-3 weeks according to the man himself.

 

[WAH MAN]

What kicking game does CHT have ?

Just have to look at the stats for kick metres. But not all of his kicks are long attempts. A bunch them are from about ten to thirty metres out from opposing try lines. Other times he puts in kicks about fourty metres max.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Long kicking game doesn’t mean shit if you miss more tackles than you are willing to make! I think it’s not worth it until he has more respectable stats.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Some of you have omitted Healey from the TL. Is there an injury that I missed? Egan-Healey double punch is a source of strength for us. My only issue is that Healey is not getting enough minutes: he should be given 30-40 minutes versus the 20 or under he's been playing. With longer minutes, he's shown what he can do against a tired ruck. I honestly think he could have turned that game for us when the ruck for both sides got loose in the final 10.

As for this endless debate about mets vs tmm, I'm of the view that we just need to accept that no matter who we pick, we're going to be at a kick return deficit vis-a-vis what we had with Tanwah. So the choice for 7 has to be more holistic. Mets has a longer boot relative to TMM, but that does not compensate for the other deficiencies in his game particularly on defense. One thing about TMM's game that is often overlooked is his defense. With CHT-TMM we probably have the two best defensive halves in the comp. TMM also has a good running game that was causing the riff all sorts of problems, especially in the 2nd half. So all things considered, I think TMM is the better holistic choice. We also need to remember that this is TMM's 3rd NRL game this year (4th if you include the cup stint at lock). So he's barely had more reps than Mets, and will get better with time as well.

But going back to kick return issue. I just think we need to accept that they will be lower than before. We need to just back our pack more than ever to compensate by improving our set distance enough to compensate for the lost kick return meters. Whether that means shifting our bench rotation to add another middle to the bench rotation and have our backrowers play 80, I'm not sure. But that seems to be a more realistic approach than trying to fiddle with our halves to get a few incremental kicking meters at the expense of compromising other aspects of our game.