James Tedesco made his long-awaited return from a knee injury as the Wests Tigers defeated Cronulla 22-8 on Saturday night in their trial match at Campbelltown Stadium.
Tedesco started on the bench but played close to 40 minutes and showed he'd lost none of his speed or agility as he troubled the Sharks with every touch.
He capped a strong all-round display with a try in the 53rd minute, courtesy of a skilful chip and re-gather.
The Tigers trailed 8-0 at halftime but Tim Simona put them back in the contest, picking off a looping Michael Ennis cut-out pass and racing 90 metres to score under the posts.
Tedesco's four-pointer was followed by another try 10 minutes later, as Sharks winger Siosaia Feki spilled a cross-field kick and Dene Halatau dived on the scraps to score.
Rookie winger Delouise Hoeter completed the scoring right on fulltime, touching down after a perfectly weighted cross-kick from Josh Drinkwater.
Sharks fullback Michael Gordon was the star of the opening stanza, scoring a double, with his first try coming off a smart delayed pass by Ben Barba who continued his strong pre-season with another good performance.
The Tigers were plagued by errors in the first half and struggled for cohesion at times, letting a number of good chances slip through their fingers.
Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen was one of his team's best and showed all of his typical thirst for work.
Star Sharks prop Andrew Fifita played almost 40 minutes, while coach Shane Flanagan gave recruit Ennis an early mark after a solid 60-minute hitout.
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