Shellharbour has a booked a grand final date with Gerringong after an Isaac Morris field goal broke a belligerent 16-all deadlock in the second period of golden-point extra time in Saturday's prelim final showdown with Stingrays.
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The Rays led 12-6 at halftime on the back of a first-half double to captain-coach Tom Warner, and 16-14 with 12 minutes left, only for the second of two penalty goals to Morris in the second stanza to lock the scores at fulltime in a thrilling local derby.
Both sides had their chances in the first period of golden point, with Stingrays back-rower Zaan Weatherall held-up over the line just minutes into extra time.
The minor premiers tried on multiple occasions to get into position for a field goal snap but couldn't find the space, while Morris' first attempt from in front at the other end was charged-down by Warner in a huge defensive display with less than 16 seconds on the clock in the first extra time period.
Fatigue had its say in the end, with Emanuel Sultana's attempt at a one-pointer was shanked well wide only to be fumbled by Stingrays winger Ben Weatherall to fumble the ball metres out from his own try-line.
It handed possession back to the Sharks, with Morris stepping up to punch through the match-winner from the ensuing scrum. It was the grittiest of wins, with the Sharks hanging in the contest despite enjoying the lead for only six minutes of the 93-minute marathon.
Coach Abed Atallah said it was performance built purely on desire.
"That's just effort and wanting to win it more than anyone else," Atallah said.
"We talked about it before the game, if the ball's on the ground we've got to be the ones who scrap harder for it than anyone else. Everything was on the line, there's no next week if you lose, a local derby again, the boys should be really proud of themselves.
"We had some silly errors where we let ourselves down a bit at times, we do it to ourselves, but lucky enough our defence is good enough. They scored off a strip and they had two tries off two kicks so I'll back our boys defence any day of the week."
While the brutal extra-time grind would have made for pleasant viewing within Gerringong camp, Sharks coach Abed Atallah is adamant his side can lift again for the decider having taken the hard path.
"We're battle-hardened," he said.
"The boys have been busted for the last five or six weeks but they're not making excuses. We had blokes busted there but going back on and charging it off the kickoff, they were outstanding. I'm that proud of them."
The Sharks did well to concede just two tries in the first half, the Stingrays starting strongly and grabbing two tries through Warner, the first after Junior Vaivai plucked Jake Horton bomb out of the air before flicking to his skipper just four minutes in.
Braxton Wallace found a hit back for the Sharks when he grubbered for himself to post his side's first four-pointer. The 6-all deadlock looked certain to survive until halftime only for Warner to strip Sharks prop Brad Chapman and score under the posts four minutes before the break.
The second stanza finished one try apiece, with Eze Harper crossing out wide after Rays back-rower Tyson Wood was sin-binned for a professional foul in the 55th minute.
Morris nailed the sideline conversion, and briefly took his side's first lead, 14-12, with a penalty goal five minutes later. It proved brief, with an error on kick reception opening the door for Vaivai to grubber his way across and re-take a 16-14 lead.
Morris added another penalty goal four minutes from time to re-lock the scores and set up the dramatic extra time period of which he was ultimately the hero.
It made a for a brutal straight-sets finals exit for the Stingrays, who fell at the same stage last season. As minor premiers this time around, the defeat makes for an even bigger disappointment for Warner and his side.
"It's a tough way to go out," Warner said.
"I'm proud of the boys, they kept showing up, it's a tough game. We were down to 12 men there, but we kept showing up, we got back into the lead, we just couldn't finish the job.
"Full credit to the Sharks, they were probably down early but they kept coming, they kept showing up. That first 20 minutes we were probably a bit scratchy in our good-ball areas and couldn't find our way over the line.
"The Sharks have defended well all year and just kept repelling us. They held us out early on and came from behind. They were the better team on the day.
"Its the second year in a row we've got rolled out [before] making the GF. We'll learn from this, we'll build and hopefully get back here again next year."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
