Cronulla's alarming form slump has continued at the worst possible time, with the Sharks thrashed 38-18 by Parramatta to close out Round 26 and surrender their hopes of a top-four finish.
The Sharks were completely outplayed from kick-off, with the result leaving them fifth on the NRL ladder and unable to finish any higher heading into the final round of the regular season.
Despite Parramatta being reduced to 12 men for ten minutes in the opening half after Junior Paulo was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle, the Sharks failed to capitalise, with the Eels keeping Cronulla scoreless during the period.
Cronulla were handed the same punishment late in the contest when Tom Hazelton was sin-binned for a hip-drop, but unlike the Eels, the Sharks were unable to withstand the pressure with a player down.
Young Eels hooker Tallyn Da Silva twice broke through the middle of Cronulla's defence during the final stages to help Parramatta race out to 38 points.
The two tries also saw Da Silva create history, becoming the hooker with the most tries in a regular NRL season.
Fitzgibbon's frustration was clear from the coaches' box, with the Sharks coach caught punching the monitor in front of him moments after Hazelton was sent to the sin bin.
The Sharks were heavily on the wrong side of the penalty count throughout the contest, conceding seven penalties to Parramatta's one.
They also finished with 12 errors compared to the Eels' nine, conceded 19 ineffective tackles to Parramatta's nine and had three players placed on report compared to just one Eels player.
Speaking after the match, Fitzgibbon admitted the penalty imbalance had boiled over.
“You'd hit the screen if you were down 7-1 on penalties as well,” Fitzgibbon said in his post-match press conference.
“When everyone's livelihoods are on the line, and you're down 7-1… yeah, you'd get frustrated, but I shouldn't have done it, to be fair.”
However, Fitzgibbon was also brutally honest about his side's performance, admitting the Sharks were simply outplayed by an Eels side with nothing to lose.
“We got outenthused and outperformed,” Fitzgibbon said.
“I just think we're uptight… we're playing teams who have got nothing and we've got everything on the line.
“We don't want to get it wrong, and it just creates an energy that we've got to address.
“Let's be blunt, we're waiting for the semis, and we're not playing what's in front of us.”
That admission leaves Fitzgibbon with a major decision to make ahead of the Sharks' final regular-season game against the Melbourne Storm at Shark Park.
The loss on Sunday afternoon also made it their third loss in four games, each of those defeats being to sides at the bottom end of the ladder in the Eels, Raiders and Dragons.
With their top-four hopes officially gone, Cronulla could choose to rest key players and prepare for their finals campaign, or name their strongest possible side in an attempt to rediscover some momentum and rhythm before the playoffs begin.
