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Sharks NRL shocker new low for coach
Steve Jancetic AAP Sun, Mar 11, 2012 - 6:21 PM
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan labelled his side's defeat to Newcastle the worst performance in his time at the NRL club - quite a statement after a losing streak of ten games.
Flanagan was livid after his players wasted a host of scoring opportunities in the 18-6 loss - at least five chances within five metres of an open tryline going begging due to botched final passes.
There was heartache after last week's controversial golden point loss to Wests Tigers, but Sunday's effort before a big home crowd was a tougher pill to swallow.
"It's the worst performance I think we've put in since I've been involved with the team," Flanagan said, with passers by left in no doubt as to his mood as he addressed his players in the dressing room.
"We had a good day here, good crowd, everything going for us, good conditions, no excuses, we got our pants pulled down.
"There's no excuses, we just didn't play well today. I can't put my finger on it just at the moment but we'll have a real good look at it, we're disappointed, we're disappointed for our fans."
The Sharks trailed 6-0 at the break when they had every right to be up by two converted tries.
Twice the Knights intercepted a last pass while Sam Tagataese inexplicably dropped the ball when all he had to do was hold the pass and fall over to score.
"We've got no problem getting up the field, it's just getting over that tryline is the problem at the moment," skipper Paul Gallen said.
"We created plenty of opportunities in that first half and we probably should have been up 18-6, and I think it just got frustrating after that."
Flanagan pointed the finger at his new-look halves pairing, with the gloss of Todd Carney's promising performance against the Tigers taking little time to lose its lustre.
"Todd and Wade (five-eighth Wade Graham) never played that well, never combined that well," Flanagan said.
"They seemed to be working against each other on each side of the field so we've got to do some work there.
"We created plenty of opportunities and off the back of those opportunities my six and seven need to capitalise on that.
"They didn't have a great game and Todd knows he didn't have a good game, he dropped two balls but it's early days and we do believe we've got a good team here."
Love ya work Toddy!
Steve Jancetic AAP Sun, Mar 11, 2012 - 6:21 PM
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan labelled his side's defeat to Newcastle the worst performance in his time at the NRL club - quite a statement after a losing streak of ten games.
Flanagan was livid after his players wasted a host of scoring opportunities in the 18-6 loss - at least five chances within five metres of an open tryline going begging due to botched final passes.
There was heartache after last week's controversial golden point loss to Wests Tigers, but Sunday's effort before a big home crowd was a tougher pill to swallow.
"It's the worst performance I think we've put in since I've been involved with the team," Flanagan said, with passers by left in no doubt as to his mood as he addressed his players in the dressing room.
"We had a good day here, good crowd, everything going for us, good conditions, no excuses, we got our pants pulled down.
"There's no excuses, we just didn't play well today. I can't put my finger on it just at the moment but we'll have a real good look at it, we're disappointed, we're disappointed for our fans."
The Sharks trailed 6-0 at the break when they had every right to be up by two converted tries.
Twice the Knights intercepted a last pass while Sam Tagataese inexplicably dropped the ball when all he had to do was hold the pass and fall over to score.
"We've got no problem getting up the field, it's just getting over that tryline is the problem at the moment," skipper Paul Gallen said.
"We created plenty of opportunities in that first half and we probably should have been up 18-6, and I think it just got frustrating after that."
Flanagan pointed the finger at his new-look halves pairing, with the gloss of Todd Carney's promising performance against the Tigers taking little time to lose its lustre.
"Todd and Wade (five-eighth Wade Graham) never played that well, never combined that well," Flanagan said.
"They seemed to be working against each other on each side of the field so we've got to do some work there.
"We created plenty of opportunities and off the back of those opportunities my six and seven need to capitalise on that.
"They didn't have a great game and Todd knows he didn't have a good game, he dropped two balls but it's early days and we do believe we've got a good team here."
Love ya work Toddy!
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