AFTER a week in which we were offered tales of bravery surrounding Ben Ross, the next seven days will be dominated by a series of events that were anything but that. Ross picked on the little guy, and was knocked down by Brett White in true pick-on-someone-your-own-size fashion.
An unsavoury moment to dominate what was a gripping contest.
After losing teeth and suffering concussion following a head clash with Manly's Josh Perry last Saturday night, many wondered how Ross managed to take the field yesterday. If he manages to take the field next week, it will be even more of a miracle after he collected Melbourne half Cooper Cronk with a forearm that was as late as it was crude.
Melbourne prop White shoved Ross to the ground, then when Ross rose, knocked him down with a right-hand double. Both players were sent off, and it was game on.
It was probably a shame that the incident, which came as Melbourne centre Israel Folau scored a try to level the scores before Sharks halfback Brett Kimmorley kicked the winning field goal - striking the ball as flush as White's right fist connected with Ross - will take the gloss off a few significant events.
Firstly, it was Melbourne's first loss at Olympic Park since round 24 of 2006, when they went down to the Warriors. The Sharks, who struggled to win in the close matches last year, have clearly turned a corner this season when the going gets tough.
But the win came at a price. Not only is Ross facing a long suspension, but there are fears second-rower Reece Williams will miss the rest of the season.
Williams, one of the Sharks' best last year, was helped off the field with six minutes to go with suspected damage to his anterior cruciate ligament.
"I just feel so sorry for him," Sharks coach Ricky Stuart said. "He won all our off-season awards and he had a great preparation. Now the poor bugger's out."
Remarkably, this was a complete reverse of the last occasion the two sides met. That was round 21 of 2007, when Cronk kicked the field goal to clinch the game for Melbourne by the same scoreline, ending the Sharks' hopes of a finals spot in the process.
Yesterday's result showed how far the Sharks have come. They led 14-0 after a half-hour last year, the same scoreline they led by after just 12 minutes yesterday.
While they again got the wobbles, they prevailed, and have now beaten both grand finalists in successive weeks - on their opponents' turf.
On top of that, it came after a torrid week - not only did they have Ross's recovery to deal with, but Greg Bird, Ben Pomeroy and Williams all missed training during the week after catching a bug during a local hospital visit.
Still, Stuart maintained his side was not given the respect it deserved, given it was so close to a finals berth last year and had begun this year so powerfully.
"It happened last year when we had close games - the other team was off," Stuart said. "I don't think our blokes got enough respect in regards to competing with some of the better teams last year. Manly said it last week, Melbourne will say it today, that they were off. We pressure a lot of teams to be off."
As it turned out, Melbourne were a little more generous in their praise. "We turned up against a very committed team today," skipper Cam Smith said. "They were too good for us today."
Especially in the first, and crucial, moments. "Back to the graveyard," the Melbourne banner read, and Olympic Park certainly felt like one after Cronulla scored three tries inside the first 11 minutes. A crowd of 10,720 isn't able to generate significant acoustics, however, a 14-0 deficit had them shell-shocked. Melbourne hit back, and the score was, amazingly, 14-12 after just 21 minutes. Melbourne and Cronulla were ranked one and three respectively in defence last season, but they clearly left their defensive muscle in the dressing rooms in the first quarter.
The next three quarters were more of what we expected. Actually, more than what we expected - big hits and few points.
Cronk found a hit on Kimmorley which sent him back to 1999, when he was a Melbourne player, and Bryan Norrie returned serve with a thunderous hit on former Shark Russell Aitken, who by now had black eye, blood and bandage as accessories for his game gear, looking like an extra from a zombie movie. Graveyard indeed.
And then Ross became the focal point of a nasty moment for the second straight week.
Speaking of which, the week ended as it started - with a toothless grin. After the match, Melbourne players scoured the ground for Jeremy Smith's teeth, after the forward was hit in the second half. They failed to find them.
CRONULLA 17 (P Gallen B Kearney D Simmons tries L Covell 2 goals B Kimmorley field goal) bt MELBOURNE 16 (R Aitken I Folau B White tries C Smith 2 goals) at Olympic Park. Referee: T Archer. Crowd: 10,720.
