BRISBANE BRONCOS 16 CRONULLA SHARKS 28
TOM SMITH, Suncorp Stadium, Saturday

SIONE KATOA collected a hat-trick before the Sharks held off the Broncos to condemn Brisbane to their eighth consecutive defeat.

Deine Mariner shaved the margin to just six points with six minutes remaining, after Katoa found the right-hand corner three times. 

But Braydon Trindall raced 65 metres following a Kotoni Staggs error to extend the reigning premiers’ long wait for a win. 

Origin (Reece Walsh, Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan), injury (Aublix Tawha, Jack Gosiewki) and discipline (Josiah Karapani) wreaked havoc with Michael Maguire’s team sheet, while Craig Fitzgibbon also lost Addin Fonua-Blake, Blayke Brailey and Briton Nikora to interstate duty. 

In their absence, Katoa took just nine minutes to open the scoring, courtesy of a clever Billy Burns steal. 

Then after Nicho Hynes booted a penalty goal from an offside infringement, the halfback assisted Katoa by foot for try number two. 

But Cory Paix darted over from dummy-half to keep the Broncos in touch at the break. 

Katoa completed his hat trick 15 minutes into the second half, finishing a searing Trindall cut-out. 

And on the end of a Katoa bust, Will Kennedy stretched Cronulla’s lead to 16. 

Hayze Perham pounced on a Thomas Duffy kick and Perham put Mariner into the right corner to set up a grandstand finish. 

But Trindall soon ran away with the match-sealing score.

BRONCOS: 1 Hayze Perham, 2 Grant Anderson, 3 Kotoni Staggs, 4 Gehamat Shibasaki, 5 Deine Mariner, 6 Thomas Duffy, 7 Ben Hunt, 8 Va’a Semu, 9 Cory Paix, 10 Preston Riki, 11 Brendan Piakura, 12 Jordan Riki, 13 Xavier Willison. Subs: 14 Blake Mozer, 15 Ben Talty, 16 Jaiyden Hunt (not used), 17 Jesse Arthars (not used), 19 Luke Gale, 20 Joshua Coric

Tries: Paix (33), Perham (67), Mariner (74); Goals: Duffy 2/3

SHARKS: 1 Will Kennedy, 2 Sione Katoa, 3 Jesse Ramien, 4 KL Iro, 5 Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6 Braydon Trindall, 7 Nicho Hynes, 8 Thomas Hazelton, 14 Hohepa Puru, 10 Jesse Colquhoun, 11 Billy Burns, 12 Teig Wilton, 13 Cameron McInnes. Subs: 9 Jayden Berrell, 15 Oregon Kaufusi, 16 Siosifa Talakai, 17 Tuku Hau Tapuha, 18 Mawene Hiroti (not used), 19 Harrison Hassett (not used) 

Tries: Katoa (9, 23, 56), Kennedy (62), Trindall (77); Goals: Hynes 4/7

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 6-10; 6-16, 6-22, 12-22, 16-22, 16-28

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Broncos: Xavier Willison; Sharks: Sione Katoa 

Penalty count: 10-5; Half-time: 6-10; Referee: Gerard Sutton; Attendance: 38,998