‘Killing their season’: Sharks torn to shreds over nightmare upset
After 11 rounds, the Sharks were sitting pretty on top of the NRL ladder, but the side has come crashing back down to earth.
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The Cronulla Sharks have come right back to the pack after the season’s early pacesetters lost a fifth game in six matches in a 20-16 defeat to the Gold Coast Titans.
The result gives the Titans a second straight win after dominating the Warriors a fortnight ago before a bye and now a win over the Sharks.
It leaves the Titans on 16 points, just two wins outside the top eight, although there are still six games remaining for the weekend.
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But while it’s great news for the resurgent Titans, who were last on the ladder just three weeks ago, it has raised plenty of questions about the Sharks.
At the end of Round 11, the Sharks were on top of the ladder with a 9-1 record before a thumping loss to the Panthers which started the horror slide.
On Fox League, Steve Roach said the Sharks would be “gutted” by the result.
An unwanted trend has snuck into the Sharks’ game after another slow start saw the Titans take a 12-0 lead to the break and Cronulla was unable to bridge the gap in the second half.
Fox League’s James Graham said the Sharks “only have themselves to blame” for the loss.
“We spoke before the game about just how important the start was going to be … they’re paying the price for a very poor start,” he said at halftime.
“The Sharks had two completed sets in the first 20 minutes — minute nine and minute 19 — you are setting yourself up for a very difficult game.”
Although the Sharks made a game of it with two tries in the final 20 minutes, Cronulla couldn’t find a winning blow in the final five minutes to fall just short.
In another bitter blow, it’s the third straight loss for the Sharks by less than a try after a 30-28 defeat to the Dolphins and 15-14 result against the Bulldogs, either side of a bye.
And at the end of the weekend, the Sharks may only just be hanging on to a spot in the top four, with just four points separating the Roosters currently in fourth and the Rabbitohs in 13th.
Western Weekender reporter Lachlan Jeffrey said: “That last play pretty much summed up the Sharks night. Just clueless in attack.”
One fan posted: “Another Sharks comeback falls short. 3rd loss in a row by less than a try. These slow starts are killing their season.”
Another commented: “Sharks are cooked. Might fall into the 8, will do zero damage.”
Another declared: “SHARKS ARE PRETENDERS.”
Speaking after the game, Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes cut a dejected figure.
“We’re just missing our starts, we defended for the first 20 minutes I think,” he said. “You can’t win games of footy when you’re giving up that much ball.
“We’re not starting well and we need to look at ourselves and see where we can get better there.”
Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said he’d been working at addressing the side’s slow starts.
“I said to the boys in there — feels exactly the same as last week,” Fitzgibbon said in his press conference. “And to be fair, it’s happened throughout the course of the year quite a bit.
“I’ve been addressing it but at the end of the day sometimes it’s fundamental errors and other (times) it’s discipline, but needless to say it keeps happening.”
He added “it’s not crucial yet, but unless we address it, it will be”.
On the up side, the Sharks have a soft run home to the finals with a match against the 16th placed Tigers next Friday before the bye, while their last seven games have just two matches against current top eight sides.
But if the Sharks want to end their 0-3 record in finals matches under Fitzgibbon, they have a lot of work to do.
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