Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has admitted he would take “a while” if he needed to talk about the “hard calls” his group had been on the improper facet of of their 30-26 loss to Manly.
The Sharks had been blown off the park within the first half, trailing 24-0 at halftime, and whereas Fitzgibbon mentioned his facet’s defence needs to be mounted, there have been quite a lot of refereeing choices he didn’t agree with.
“I don’t usually complain about officials but I have to talk to someone during the week because I’m not sure what was going on there,” Fitzgibbon mentioned in his put up match press convention.
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“If I start raising which issues I thought were hard calls, we’ll be here for a while.”
Fitzgibbon pointed to an incident within the first half when star playmaker Nicho Hynes was positioned on report.
“I thought it might have been Nicho when he stumbled and stuck a leg out off his back. I didn’t think there was anything significant in that,” Fitzgibbon mentioned.
Hynes was concerned with one other 50/50 name later within the sport because the Sharks had been within the midst of a exceptional comeback.
The 2022 Dally M medallist threw a cut-out cross to his winger Sione Katoa, who would have scored had the contact decide not referred to as the cross ahead.
It was a choice which angered the usually mild-mannered Hynes, who was warned by referee Peter Gough for remonstrating (video under).
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Nice man Hynes CRAZY ref spray | 00:46
The Sharks nearly pulled off a exceptional comeback after trailing 30-0, scoring 26 factors within the second half to convey the margin again to 4 factors.
Fitzgibbon believes the sluggish begin and sluggish nature in defence is an “attitude” factor.
“It’s the flat energy. You are on the back foot, they are running their plays and it’s hard to defend,” Fitzgibbon mentioned.
“You turn up in the second half, come off your line a bit harder, tackle a bit harder and then you control the energy better.
“We had a new left edge and obviously the combination needs more work.”
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The loss is the second in a row for the Sharks, with that Manly outcome dropping them to sixth on the ladder. Two weeks in the past they had been sitting comfortably within the prime 4.
Despite the 2 losses and the robust draw that awaits the Sharks, their coach thinks the current criticism and doubt might galvanise his facet.
“It’s still ahead of us, we aren’t out of it,” Fitzgibbon mentioned.
“Everyone will be quick to tell us we are (out of it) so that will be a good challenge.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
