A frustrated Cronulla Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has slammed his side's defence after their 44 points to 12 loss at the hands of the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland on Saturday.
Shaun Johnson returned to haunt his former club for the second time this season, running on three try assists in the beatdown.
Fitzgibbon, who has been impressed in recent weeks with the way his side has earnt the right to play an attacking brand of football, had the opposite feedback following the smashing.
“We got taught a lesson,” Fitzgibbon said during his post-game press conference.
“That period (in the first half) of three quick tries was painful, it's really frustrating because we've been working hard at that stuff.
“If something might have gone our way early there maybe, but you've got to earn the right for things to go your way and half of it is luck and you've got to earn it and I don't think we were earning it.”
Honing in on the specifics, Fitzgibbon said the Sharks' edge defence simply wasn't good enough.
“Our edge defence wasn't good enough,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We were comfortable trading sets there early but it works both ways right, you hold the ball and trade sets and then you get opportunities. But it felt like the majority of the game we were defending our try line because we gave them the opportunity to do that.
“We need more pressure, better defence and to earn the right to score more points. They showed us the way there.
“The boys will be defending this week.”
The Sharks only completed 76 per cent of their sets during the game and that resulted in only 45 per cent of the football, but more concerning was the 38 missed tackles and 11 errors.
The loss drops the club to sixth on the table, with the Sharks having used all three byes. A run home that features games against the Panthers, Rabbitohs, Cowboys in Townsville and Raiders will mean the black, white and blue need to be at their best to fend off the mid-table logjam and qualify for the finals.
“Fitzgibbon, who has been impressed in recent weeks with the way his side has earnt the right to play an attacking brand of football…”
If he opened his eyes, he would see that no, they haven’t earned anything.
In round 15 they were thrashed by the Storm 54-10
In round 16 they beat the Bulldogs 48-10
In round 17 they had a bye
In round 18 they beat the Dragons 42-16
In round 19 they beat West 36-12
Beating three bottom of the table teams does not give them “the right to play attacking football”.
In round 20 they came up against another good team and lost to the Warriors 44-12.
The first team needs a clear-out of its under-performers: there are plenty stuck in the reggies who would do better than Kaufusi, Moylan, Graham and Brayley