The Cronulla Sharks entered the 2024 season as rank outsiders when it came to the NRL premiership.
Most pundits had them as a fringe finals team, with only a few brave enough to predict anything other than making up the numbers.
To almost everyone's surprise the Sharks currently sit third on the table at the end of Round 15, with ten victories to their name.
Their ten wins is equal with the table topping Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers - both clubs are only ahead of the men in black, white and blue on for and against.
Their 354 points is equal second in the competition, only behind the high flying and attacking brilliance of the Sydney Roosters.
Simply put, the Sharks have defied all the odds to enjoy a wonderful season to date. They've even beaten top sides like the Storm, Roosters and Broncos, a fate they failed to realise last season.
So why, whilst firmly entrenched in the top four at the halfway point of the season, is the wider NRL community rushing to proclaim the Sharks as pretenders?
As a long, long suffering fan of the club, it's not so much the recent losses but more-so the manner in which the Sharks are losing games.
All four of the Sharks losses this season have come as favourites. Two as heavy, home favourites.
On paper, losses to the Panthers, Dolphins, Eels and Tigers doesn't make for horror reading, Tigers loss aside, but all four losses have one thing in common ... the Sharks absolutey imploded in each.
The Sharks could win their second ever premiership come early October and yet fans will still have nightmares about that loss to the Tigers.
On the back of two wins to open the season, the Sharks lead the winless Tigers six-nil early.
They then got steamrolled to the tune of 32-6. Conceding 32 unanswered points to a Tigers side led by a player enduring very public gastro symptoms.
Seven straight wins followed, easing any concerns about the Tigers loss.
The club's superstar Nicho Hynes was firing, the previously much maligned forwards were dominant and the Sharks back five was firing on par with any other sides in the competion.
Penrith then walked into Shark park, sans Nathan Cleary, and ran up 42 points. Sharks fans fled for the exits early after being confident all week that they could challenge the back to back to back premiers.
Harshly, but truthfully, the Sharks could still be attacking the Penrith line now and they wouldn't have bothered the score attendant.
A quick turnaround saw a 34-22 loss to the Eels.
This meant that the Sharks had lost two games in three, and conceded over 100 points.
The previously celebrated seven game win streak was soon resigned to memory as questions about the Sharks' title credentials were thrust very firmly into conversation.
An against all odds win against Brisbane calmed fears but less than a week later the Dolphins strolled into Shark Park, ran up 30 points and ensured the Sharks enter the bye week with a long list of issues facing them.
The Sharks just can't seem to get out of their own way.
A list of highlight reel wins and performances no longer seem to matter. The feeling, correctly, is that the Sharks can run downhill. In fact if they are running down hill they'll run right over most sides.
As soon as it gets tough though, or there is any adversity at all, the Sharks crumble.
Nicho Hynes, perhaps the competition's most famous confidence player, seems to be struggling with another below par Origin effort.
No one in the world should be blaming Hynes, who hadn't missed a conversion at home all season, for missing the touchline kick this past Thursday night. It happens. It's the most difficult kick in the game.
That said, Hynes has been struggling for a month now. I know he's dealing with a calf injury but the Sharks only win in the past four games has come when he was rested post Origin.
The Sharks would be better giving the former Dally M medalist two weeks off, enjoying the bye and trying to beat the Bulldogs with the Braydon Trindall and Daniel Atkinson combination that beat the Broncos.
Hynes, fully fit and with a clear mind, is undoubtedly the Sharks best player. I'd argue he's the competition's most important player when it comes to his club's fortunes.
He's lead the Sharks to back to back finals despite their roster not matching the true top sides.
But even a fully firing Hynes can't drag the side to glory if the Sharks can't stop beating themselves.
Shockingly for the Sharks, it seems as simple as complete well against Cronulla and you beat Cronulla.
The Dolphins were almost flawless on Thursday night. Three failed completions, one which came on the final tackle, meant that the Sharks couldn't land the wildly swinging momentum late on.
The Tigers completed at 85%, while the Panthers at 87%. The Eels 81% was the only outlier.
The Eels loss was also the outlier in that the Sharks didn't totally collapse and let in multiples tries in a row.
The Dolphins lead 22-0 on Thursday night. The Tigers scored 32 points in a row while the Panthers ran up 42 points to nil in their win.
Cronulla either completely switch off or can't go with sides if forced to run up hill.
In all four losses they have beaten themselves through a deadly mixture of horror discipline, awful ball handling and failing to get down and dirty when the going gets tough.
It must be hard to really believe in yourselves when every single outside voice is telling you you're not up to it.
Three home finals, two at Shark park, in two years has returned no finals victories. That must weigh on you as a player. Especially when every loss is met with calls of "pretenders".
Those calls will continue while the Sharks keep losing as heavy favourites, or totally crumbling when other teams get a roll on.
To achieve success the Sharks must first learn how to not beat themselves. If they're serious about a deep finals run then they need to get out of their own way.
Learning to defend might help too but it's a case of one step at a time in the Shire.
