Cronulla Sharks head coach Craig Fitzgibbon has claimed his team are not flat track bullies after re-signing through to the end of 2029.
Despite not being off-contract until the end of 2027, Fitzgibbon this week put pen to paper on a two-year extension that will ensure he remains head coach of the black, white and blue until at least the end of 2029.
It comes after back-to-back preliminary finals, but also at a curious time for the Sharks who are approaching what could be the end of their premiership window without a breakthrough, and in a week which followed a horror loss to the Dolphins.
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The Sharks, during Fitzgibbon's tenure, have regularly been unable to breakthrough against other top teams, including the Penrith Panthers, and have lost when it's mattered in September, but speaking on SEN Radio, Fitzgibbon pondered where the term "flat track bullies" had come from when it came to his playing group.
“I don't understand what data there is around that,” he said.
“We have to be beating someone if we get to the prelims.
“The team we haven't beat which is Penrith, that's a fair criticism, and we haven't got past the prelim, that's absolutely fair (criticism).
“We're all in the business of winning premierships and the business of getting the big one, and we haven't been able to do that.
“But to say we haven't beaten top teams…well, we have to get there (to the preliminary finals).
“So, it's actually not fact.”
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The Sharks would have been keen to lock up Fitzgibbon given the finals appearances and the state of the coaching market, but he also suggested with so many players off-contract, Sharks powerbrokers wanted stability.
“Well, we've been sort of in discussions for some time now,” he said.
“They felt like it was important to get something down.
“Obviously...with a number of players off contract, it makes sense to have some stability there and make decisions in a bit more of a strategic sense.
“So, I was grateful for the opportunity from the club and the board to extend, and yeah, it just felt right.”
As it stands, the Sharks have all of Jayden Berrell, Tuku Hau Tapuha, Blake Hosking, Sione Katoa, William Kennedy, Cameron McInnes, Hohepa Puru, Niwhai Puru, Jesse Ramien, Toby Rudolf, Sam Stonestreet and Braden Uele off-contract at the end of the year, while the club just made their first Top 30 signing in over 12 months, with English Super League player Owen Trout to join for 2027 and 2028 from the Leigh Leopards.
I think Craig Fitzgibbon is trying to exceed Brad Arthur’s record for number of years as the head coach without winning anything !
If Craig does not understand “flat track bullies”, let me explain it for him. It means running up big scores against teams that are lower on the ladder, but struggling against, or losing to, teams in the Eight.
He has coached the Sharks to 67 wins and 41 losses. Now that 62% win ratio is certainly not shabby, but I’d guess the vast majority of the wins were against teams out the Eight.