North Beach Sea Eagles were on the look out to end a form slump but eventually fell to an in-form Rockingham Sharks on Saturday evening, going down 42-16 at Blueforce Park.
Last years Grand Finalists had been aiming to turn the form book on its head after successive losses to Fremantle and South Perth, while Rockingham would come into the clash fresh after the bye.
With just four minutes on the board, and with a deadly short step off the right foot, Sean Scott opened the scoring for the visitors with Tyler Hunt making short work of the following conversion.
And minutes later the Sharks would snare another two tries in a three-minute double salvo – the first, a Hayden Wood intercept after a wayward Jeremy Wallace pass inside their own defensive half, the second coming through a delightful Hunt linebreak, who offloaded with ease to Andrew Jeffrey before Quentin Fui scampered over the line for the try.
Again, Hunt successfully converted to give the Sharks a 18-0 lead within 15 minutes.
As the rain began to fall at Blueforce Park, both sides settled into their defensive rhythms, despite the completion rate falling and a number of penalties seeing a see-saw of possession.
With just minutes left in the first half, Jeremy Wallace snatched one back after some fancy footwork by Bo Stein unlocked the Rockingham defense and the subsequent offload saw Wallace fleet foot over the line between the sticks to send North Beach into the sheds trailing the Sharks by 12 points.
The home side looked to bookend their last-minute try when both sides emerged for the second half, but it would be the Sharks who would continue to pressure the Beach defence.
And with just over a minute on the clock, Scott performed a cheeky goosestep to unleash Matthew Rangiuia who powered over the line and again Hunt continued his fine converting form to put the Sharks up 24-6.
The Sharks though wouldn’t need more than a return set of six to continue to pile on the misery for the home sides, with Logan Barclay at the end of a quick set of play crossed over and the resulting kick would see the sharks up by a dominating 24 points within five minutes of the restart.
To their credit, North Beach would rally and continue to defend staunchly for the next quarter of an hour, but it would be the resilient and quick footed Tyler Hunt who would dance across the line before dusting himself off to take the kick.
Hunt would have a double shortly after, with the half back collecting off a floating Daniel Goodwin pass with just ten minutes left on the clock.
North Beach would give their home fans something to cheer about though with an improved final ten minutes, but it would be too little too late.
Lingard would find Chazz Palmer who powered over the line with just under three minutes on the clock and the former would find himself o the scoresheet in the dying moments of the game after an Alex Harmer grubber found its way into the forward’s hands who spun his man to score the final try of the game.
The subsequent conversion brought the game to an end with the Rockingham Sharks snaring their second win of the season, while the Sea Eagles continue to search for their first victory of the season, 42-16.
In the other match of the round, Joondalup Giants themselves snared their second win of the season upsetting the undefeated Fremantle Roosters 38-12 at Admiral Park and earmarking themselves as a real premiership threat.
The result sets up a mouthwatering clash next weekend at The Kwinana Local stadium where the Sharks will play host to the Giants between the only two undefeated teams in the competition.
George Burnett Park will play host to the other fixture, with South Perth Lions welcoming the North Beach Sea Eagles with both sides looking to break their duck in the 2020 WA Smarter than Smoking Premiership.
TABLE
| Pos | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | PD | Points |
| 1 | Joondalup Giants | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 26 | 56 | 4 |
| 2 | Rockingham Sharks | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 22 | 32 | 4 |
| 3 | Fremantle Roosters | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 68 | -12 | 4 |
| 4 | South Perth Lions | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 30 | -6 | 0 |
| 5 | North Beach Sea Eagles | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 42 | 108 | -66 | 0 |
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