Perth Bears assistant Ben Gardiner, on his recent media duties, has fired shots at the Cronulla Sharks.
On Saturday night, the Sharks lost 36-12 to the Rabbitohs, who missed several players due to injury, including Latrell Mitchell and Jamie Humphreys.
The Sharks have the seventh-worst defence so far this season, conceding 27 points a game.
The Sharks' form has taken a hit, with just one win in their last four matches.
They sit below the top eight as the competition enters Magic Round.
Gardiner spoke on the Sharks' inability to find consistency this season and on what they have lacked in their first nine games.
"It's almost like they prepare to grind when they talk about grinding for the week, and then the games where they don't talk about it, they can't actually go back to it when they need (it)," Gardiner expressed on SEN's Front Office with Vossy.
"I thought on the weekend, they looked lacklustre, they actually looked tired, which was unusual.
"I went back and had a look at their last few weeks to see (if they) have been travelling and all of that sort of stuff.
"They went to North Queensland a few weeks ago, and that was a hot game, and you sort of go, ‘Does that impact how they're performing?'
"But then I looked last week, and they had that big high scoring game (against Wests Tigers). It's completely up and down."
The Bears' assistant also shared criticism of Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes, explaining what the halves combination isn't getting right during the game.
"Talking about engaging the line, I just didn't think their halves engaged the line one little bit," Gardiner stated.
Nicho Hynes is 16th in the NRL in lines engaged with 32 times, averaging 3.55 per game, and Trindall is 28th in the league with 25 times, averaging 2.77 times per game.
“When they are doing that and when they've got speed going to the line, I think they're at their best, but they just didn't have any of that on the weekend," the Bears assistant continued
"It's sort of like, half of this and half of that, and they need to really invest in it."
In terms of what he said, I think his analysis is correct (although that is not all that is wrong with the Sharks this year. However, I can’t see why Mr. Gardiner would want to comment on the Sharks. It is not as if his team is playing this season.
Maybe the comments are just for internal consumption. If Mal is on the outer, he may want to impress _someone_ in order to keep his current job.