Ok, mortgage your house, sell the car, gather all the money you can and race down to the nearest bookie and put it all on Cronulla for the wooden spoon.
The Sharks were condemned to their 13th consecutive defeat tonight, losing to the Bunnies 30-8 at Toyota Park.
It was a brave crowd of 10,000 out for Monday Night Football, with conditions wet and testing for both sides.
But the match was only ever a contest for the first 10 minutes. The Sharks scored first through Luke Covell after only a few minutes and it looked like their luck might finally be ready to change.
It wasn’t to be.
What was interesting to watch, was the reactions of both teams when they scored.
When Cronulla scored their try, almost all the team celebrated like no tomorrow. They looked relieved. The pressure continues to build on them in regards to their maligned attack and inability to win games. This is a team down on it’s luck and totally ecstatic just to score points.
When the Bunnies went over for their first try, sure there was a celebration – but nothing like the display the Sharks put on after their touchdown. You see, South Sydney were confident. They weren’t arrogant, but they were seemingly always confident of scoring points and getting the win.
Cronulla’s poor run of form continues to spiral them out of control.
The Rabbitohs had an amazing completion rate tonight, made even more impressive given the wet conditions. They were guilty of showboating a little at the backend of the game, but given their lead – they can be forgiven.
The Sharks struggled to hold the ball at the best of times, and as usual – when they fell further behind, they begin to panic and their problems escalate. When behind, they start trying to score from every play and naturally this puts way too much pressure on the team.
Rookie Albert Kelly was thrown the keys to the fullback position and the kid was under the pump from the get-go. The Bunnies bombed him beautifully and would send down a physical chasing team that had the custodian walking on egg shells.
The ploy worked and Kelly coughed up or didn’t get near several bombs, some leading to Bunnies trys.
Sandow and Sutton looked more confident in this game, it seems the Sharks have played the Bunnies into form and now with the monkey off their backs, the Souths side should start to dust themselves off and get into gear.
For Cronulla though, the future remains bleak.
At times tonight they looked like a park football side. Basic errors in defence were made worse by an attack formation that was desperate and disorganised.
To make matters worse, not only was expensive signing Albert Kelly crashing and burning – their other signing Dean Collis left the field with injury in his first outing for the club.
If the Sharks lose next week, they will equal he record set by the Wests Magpies for the longest losing streak in NRL history.