NRL 2022, round 3: Anthony Griffin concedes Dragons have a penalty problem
Dragons coach Anthony Griffin says his side is fighting a losing battle against referees after Jaydn Su’A copped a second sin-binning for the season.
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St George Illawarra’s Jaydn Su’A is facing a one to two game ban after being charged by the match review committee.
Su’A was hit with a grade two careless high tackle charge which carries a one game ban with an early guilty plea. The Dragons backrower was sin-binned for the tackle on Cronulla’s Dale Finucane.
Su’A has been sin-binned twice already to start the season.
Cronulla’s Jesse Ramien has been find for his grade one careless high tackle charge on Jack Gosiewski.
WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Dragons Anthony Griffin conceded his side is fighting a losing battle against referees and needs to improve its discipline rather than whinge after being thrashed 36-12 by Cronulla in a one-sided local derby at WIN Stadium on Thursday night.
The Sharks scored 10 points while Dragons second-rower Su’A was in the sin bin for hitting Finucane.
The Red V never recovered from being 10-0 down, slumping to their biggest defeat to Cronulla in Wollongong since 1985.
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“If they’re the rules, they’re the rules,” Griffin said.
“To me it didn’t seem overly high, but we gave away three penalties in the first 30 minutes for high tackles and invited people down to our own end.
“We’ve got to be better than that, be smarter than that.
“I will work on that problem with Jaydn with his technique rather than try to dissect the referee.
“He’s just got to be lower in his target. If you hit someone above the shoulder, it’s going to be a penalty.
“We can’t be a victim and complain about it. We’ve just got to get better at it.”
The Dragons were beaten to the punch in every aspect of the game as the Nicho Hynes-led Sharks played an up-tempo and in-your-face game.
Some of the ball movement in the wet was breathtaking, while the Cronulla defence showed a resilience missing in recent seasons.
Griffin said: “That’s the toughest game we’ve had for the year.
“We weren’t there tonight. We were poor but Cronulla were outstanding.”
Saints skipper Ben Hunt added: “We didn’t play the conditions as well as they did.
“We were too ill-disciplined.”
Cronulla finished the game with an injury concern over utility back Connor Tracey (groin) but get powerhouse winger Ronaldo Mulitalo back for next week’s meeting with the Knights.
HYNES MASTERCLASS HAS IMMORTAL SINGING HIS PRAISES
Cronulla knew they had something special when they signed Nicho Hynes from the Melbourne Storm.
But no one could have predicted him having such an immediate and dramatic impact.
Five days after landing an after-the-siren conversion to seal the Sharks’ first win of the season, Hynes bettered that effort with a standout performance in his side’s thumping 36-12 win over St George Illawarra at a wet and wild WIN Stadium on Thursday night.
The No. 7 with the movie star looks was all class as he guided the visitors around the park with intelligent wet-weather kicking combined with a sublime passing game.
Hynes came up with a try, a try assist, a line-break assist and six goals to suffocate the Dragons out of the contest.
Directionless in attack for much of the past few years, Hynes is the playmaker the Sharks have so desperately needed.
Calm, composed and classy, he is pulling all the right levers and making players around him look good.
All this after just six games as an NRL halfback.
Is it too early to declare him the buy of the year?
His rapid evolution has stunned the greatest No. 7 of them all, Andrew Johns.
“I didn’t see this in Nicho Hynes. Tonight has been a masterclass,” Joey said. “He’s playing them off a break. He’s a top-line player, a truly elite halfback.”
The sides went set for set early before the sin-binning of Jaydn Su’A for striking Dale Finucane in the head with his shoulder changed the course of the first half.
It left the Sharks with a numerical advantage they were quick to cash in on.
A minute after being denied a try after sliding into touch centimetres from the line, winger Sione Katoa crossed out wide following a lovely flick pass from Jesse Ramien.
Hynes ignored the abuse coming from the other side of the fence to nail the sideline conversion for a 6-0 lead.
Cronulla winger Matt Ikuvalu climbed up off the deck minutes after being injured to grab his side’s second try and an invaluable 10-0 advantage in the greasy conditions.
Hynes then laid on an inch-perfect cross field kick for Siosifa Talakai to score close to the posts and added a penalty on the stroke of halftime for an 18-0 lead.
The Dragons threatened a comeback with an early second half try but were quickly swamped by this relentless and uncompromising Cronulla side.
“I’m happy with the way we’re building with the connections and cohesion we’re forming,” Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said.
“He (Hynes) is just a good footy player. I’m really happy with him and Matt (Moylan) and Will (Kennedy) and Blayke (Brailey) as a spine.
“They just work hard, train hard and play hard. I don’t think they’re at where they’re capable of being at, but they’re building nicely.”
WHAT A DRAG
The Dragons never really gave themselves a chance against a Sharks side low on errors and high on commitment.
Again, lack of discipline was major contributor to their undoing.
Penrith put 14 points on the Red V while Su’A cooled his heels in the bin last week.
This week it was 10 points conceded while the same player was given 10 minutes for his shot on Finucane.
The Dragons never recovered.
“We can’t be a victim. We’ve got to be smarter and better than that,” Dragons coach Anthony Griffin said. “We weren’t there tonight. We were poor but Cronulla were outstanding.”
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