Wade Graham was the star of the show today for the Cronulla Sharks, as he scored a hat-trick in an impressive 16-42 victory over Canberra Raiders in the Australian capital on Saturday night.
It was Cronulla’s fifth straight win in Canberra, who suffered injury problems with Joseph Leilua having to leave the field and English captain Josh Hodgson being little more than a passenger for most of the second half.
The Sharks scored seven tries in total, with five of them coming in the second half after the scores had been close at 10-12 at the interval.
The Raiders scored three tries, including two to fullback Jack Wighton and one to wingman Jordan Rapana, with Aidan Sezer kicking two goals.
As well as Graham’s hat-trick, the Sharks’ tries came from Ricky Leutele, Jayden Brailey, Matt Prior and Paul Gallen, with James Maloney adding five conversions and two penalty goals.
Raiders: Jack Wighton, Nick Cotric, Elliott Whitehead, Joseph Leilua, Jordan Rapana, Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer, Junior Paulo, Josh Hodgson, Shannon Boyd,. Josh Papalii, Iosia Soliola, Luke Bateman; Subs: Adam Clydesdale,. Dunamis Lui, Jeff Lima, Scott Sorensen
Sharks: Jack Bird, Sosaia Feki, Kurt Capewell, Ricky Leutele, Edrick Lee, James Maloney,Chad Townsend, Andrew Fifita, Jayden Brailey, Matt Prior, Luke Lewis, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen; Subs: Jayson Bukuya, Chris Heighington, Joseph Paulo, Jeremy Latimore