The Bull Sharks are back in action after the bye, and they’ll need every ounce of resilience against a fired-up Easts at their fortress in Brisbane.
The Premier Men fell just short of an upset in Round 3, going down by two points to the now ladder-leading Tigers. This time, they’ll be bolstered by the return of Reds prop George Blake and potentially some Super Rugby firepower—but will need a disciplined, physical effort to combat Easts’ renowned scrum and maul. After a horror run of injuries in their last outing, the Bull Sharks are desperate to reset and bank a statement win.
The Premier Women are also preparing for a tougher contest than the scoreboard suggested in the Challenge Series. It is the 2024 grand final rematch and Coach Lawrence Faifua says this Tigers outfit has the capacity to again make it to the big game. Defensive pressure and smart exploitation of mismatches is the key to keeping them under control.
In Colts 1, Rico Gear’s side is targeting a clean three-game block to build momentum toward finals. Despite some shaky set piece moments last round, the group is getting healthy and starting to click out wide.
Bull Sharks v Easts at Easts.
Premier Men
Last time we met
Rd 3, 2025 at The Canal
Bull Sharks lost 22-20
We did a pretty good job that day. We certainly had an opportunity to win that game and unfortunately conceded a late penalty. But I thought we played pretty well against the side that is now leading the ladder.
The opposition
They've been very consistent. They are a very good set piece side, with a big scrum and a big maul. Their whole strategy is about getting you into a corner where they can use their maul. It is a very physical game, they play a lot of territory and put a lot of pressure on the referee.
The challenge
It is important to try and play as much of the game as possible in the right areas of the field. But it is also about staying hyper disciplined. Every scrum they will scrum for penalties so you have to stand up in the scrum in particular. That that's going to be a big focus for us. And then when they get the opportunity to maul you have got to hang tight. It is a physical battle, there is nothing subtle about it.
The focus
We’ll look to move them around a bit and use our strengths and then you've got to try and play your game. You can’t just become obsessed with what they bring.
Shuffling the magnets
The loss to West before the bye was described as a “calamity of epic proportions” when the Bull Sharks were down by 5 men at the 20-minute mark. Jordan Lenac had back spasms in the warm-up, at 3mins Heremaia Murray suffered a knee injury that will cost him several weeks on the sidelines, at 8 mins and then 11minutes Dave Scollen and Hamish Roberts suffered head knocks, and finally Dane Mason limped off with a hip injury in the 20th min.
Hamish Roberts won’t be available this week, Dave Scollen and Jordan Lenac are expected to be fit, and Dane Mason is still 50-50.
I think we'll be able to put a pretty good team on the park. We will have George Blake back from the Reds this week, which is good. A front rower is exactly what we need. We are still waiting to hear on some of the other Super Rugby guys and whether they will potentially be in the Wallabies squad.
The final word
The guys have learned a lot over the last few weeks. We have just come through a mid-season review, which I think they found valuable. So, we used the bye week wisely I think to refresh and also do a bit of team reflection and look forward to the seven games we have got left.
With Mick Heenan
Colts 1
Last time we met
Bull Sharks lost 28-21
They beat us by one try. It was a pretty even game, to be fair, and we had our chances to win that game which we didn’t really take.
The opposition
They are a pretty good side. We beat them in the playoff game last year and they are a similar group, same coaches and a lot of the same players. Their game style is the same and they know it very well. They will challenge is with their kicks, they put pressure on, and they are very accurate with where they put it.
The challenge
They are pretty good up front and have a strong lineout and are very well drilled. That has been our strength this year, except for last week which was pretty average against Wests. We were getting penalised at the scrum and losing three quarters of our lineout ball, which was very unusual. We didn’t have big personnel changes or anything, but a lot of the calls were off. I was a bit bewildered by our set piece not functioning, and as I said to the boys, I was disappointed and satisfied at the same time. We hadn’t beat Wests in a while, they beat us in round one, so to win, even if it was ugly, was pretty satisfying.
Shuffling the magnets
We should have a pretty full-strength squad. Fergus Gillan played the last game on limited minutes, but he is good to start. Big front rower Jonah Rangiwai missed last week, which I think really hurt us, we are hoping he will be cleared.
Look out for
Unforced errors in the backline had been an issue for us, but we have worked hard on it and have been pretty good the past couple of games and are starting to score some tried out wide. We definitely wanted to play with that intention at the start of the year, we've just been really poor at it. So, it has been good to see it come right in the last two games and actually get a few tries out of it and we want to continue to continue to play that way.
The final word
We have talked about the three-game block that starts on Saturday as being really important to us. We have to lock in, make sure we are focussed coming into training and not just drifting in. If we can put those games to bed, then we give ourselves a really good run into the business end of the season. So that's pretty much the message for the group.
With Rico Gear
Premier Women
Last time we met
Bull Sharks won 48-12
We beat them comfortably in the Challenge Series and also in last year’s Grand Final, but that means nothing now. We are back to square one. They have got Carys Dallinger and Piper Flynn back from the Reds and they are dangerous attacking players that will cause problems if we don’t contain them.
The challenge
Our challenge is to attack their strengths. They are very attacking side but we have identified that those same players can lapse in defence and we want to expose that. So we have to try and find the space to get the ball into dangerous areas that will test their lateral defence.
The focus
We will be on the lookout for mismatches, and when we spot them, we need to set up to grab that opportunity. That is something we will be focusing on.
Shuffling the magnets
We get Ava Wereta back which is awesome, but we expect to be without Lucy Thorpe who is recovering from a concussion.
The final word
If we can get our shape right and make sure we are defensively sound, I think we will come away with the chocolates. But we have to be ready to run out there and bang on defence because that is what will win the game. Easts will think we are small and will try to overpower us, so we must aim up.
With Lawrence Faifua