Cronulla coach John Morris is convinced mighty Melbourne and the Sydney Roosters have set the benchmark for their NRL challengers with Thursday night’s epic golden-point thriller.
Dubbed “the greatest game of all”, the Storm’s incredible 25-24 triumph, after trailing by 10 points with eight minutes remaining, confirmed the two most dominant forces of the decade remain just that in 2020.
“It was just amazing, an Origin-like intensity,” Morris said ahead of the Sharks’ clash with Gold Coast on Saturday.
“It was a ferocious intensity and now with the six-again rule and more ball in play we are seeing fatigue and attrition coming into the game and it’s a wonderful product.
“It was there for everyone to see. If you want to be a top-four team, that’s what you’ve got to do and that’s the way you’ve got to play.”
Despite sitting in 11th spot, Morris maintains the Sharks can rise to be a top-four force.
“We haven’t played the Roosters this year yet, but we played Melbourne and I was really happy with how we played Melbourne,” he said.
“We were very physical and I took a lot out of that game. We only lost it with a penalty goal at the back end so we went toe-to-toe with a really quality team.
“So you at least want to know that you can stand up to those types of teams because you know you’re going to have to be at your best and they showed last night how good they are.”
Cronulla’s 40-22 mauling of Manly last week earned the Sharks their first back-to-back wins of the year.
“But that’s dead and buried now and we’ve now got to move on to our next opponents and that’s the Titans, and they’re coming off a good win themselves and actually turned the corner against Brisbane,” Morris said.
“I certainly hope there’s no complacency in our camp. We’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”
The Titans’ hopes of posting successive wins of their own have been dealt a double blow with skipper Kevin Proctor and winger Phil Sami both ruled out with injury.
Titans officials feared the worst when the pair went down in separate training incidents on Wednesday.
Scans have since revealed both will be missing long-term, although neither player requires surgery.
Proctor suffered a ruptured bicep and will miss at least the next two matches, while Sami faces up to six weeks on the sideline after dislocating his shoulder.
While coach Justin Holbrook will not finalise his 17 until Saturday, Beau Fermor will make his NRL debut at Cbus Super Stadium.
Corey Thompson is expected to switch wings with Ash Taylor moving to fullback.