2004 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season

The 2004 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season was the 38th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2004 Telstra Premiership.

Season summary

In the off-season the Sharks signed Stuart Raper as their head coach following the previous season's dismissal of Chris Anderson.

Cronulla did not begin the 2004 season well, losing four or five matches on the trot to be sitting last on the ladder after round five. One early season lowlight was the on-field dismissal of Greg Bird for kneeing Souths' winger Shane Marteene and his subsequent 10-week ban. However, there were some on-field highlights none more so than their round 22 upset of the high-flying Sydney Roosters who were sitting on top of the ladder at the time. They also defeated the likes of the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium where on their last visit the Sharks were thrashed 74-4 (in fact, Cronulla have not lost at the venue ever since), the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval where the Sharks historically have a poor record and the Brisbane Broncos in Brisbane. Otherwise, the season was overall a disappointment; the Sharks missing the finals for the second year in succession however they did improve on their disastrous 12th finish in 2003.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Sydney Roosters	24	19	0	5	2	710	368	+342	42
2	Bulldogs	24	19	0	5	2	760	491	+269	42
3	Brisbane	24	16	1	7	2	602	533	+69	37
4	Penrith	24	15	0	9	2	672	567	+105	34
5	St George Illawarra	24	14	0	10	2	624	415	+209	32
6	Melbourne	24	13	0	11	2	684	517	+167	30
7	North Queensland	24	12	1	11	2	526	514	+12	29
8	Canberra	24	11	0	13	2	554	613	-59	26
9	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	509	534	-25	24
10	Newcastle	24	10	0	14	2	516	617	-101	24
11	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	10	0	14	2	528	645	-117	24
12	Parramatta	24	9	0	15	2	517	626	-109	22
13	Manly-Warringah	24	9	0	15	2	615	754	-139	22
14	New Zealand	24	6	0	18	2	427	693	-266	16
15	South Sydney	24	5	2	17	2	455	812	-357	16

References