Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon is expected to reduce the training load on his team ahead of this week’s do-or-die showdown against the Rabbitohs, mindful of the physical toll Saturday’s epic 93-minute loss to the Cowboys will have on his players.
The Sharks will square off against South Sydney on Saturday night and have been allocated Allianz Stadium as their home ground despite the Rabbitohs playing at the venue against the Sydney Roosters in each of the last two weeks.
Had the Roosters knocked off the Rabbitohs, the Sharks would have been left seething over the allocation of their home final.
In the lead-up to Sunday’s Roosters-Rabbitohs match – the winner of which was scheduled to take on Cronulla – Sharks officials requested their sudden death final not to be played out of Allianz Stadium if they drew the Moore Park-based Roosters.
The NRL wouldn’t have agreed and it became a moot point when the Rabbitohs prevailed over the Roosters in one of the most physical games in recent years.
While allowing the Panthers and Sharks to host finals at their traditional venues this weekend, the NRL has a “home city” policy for the rest of the series meaning the Sharks will be forced out of the Shire.
Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes.Credit:Getty
There was a huge reprieve for Fitzgibbon when Dale Finucane escaped without suspension despite being charged for a crusher tackle on Luciano Leilua during the 32-30 loss.
Finucane will pay a $3000 fine with an early guilty plea for the grade one charge. The incident wasn’t penalised during the match.
It wasn’t the only major flashpoint of the game with Cowboys matchwinner Valentine Holmes insisting he didn’t take a dive for a contentious Connor Tracey no-try, which was ruled out after Jesse Ramien was adjudged to have obstructed the State of Origin star.
“I’m trying to cover and he ran into my outside shoulder and I fell over,” Holmes said. “I really don’t like guys milking penalties, and I’m never the guy to milk penalties. I have a thing about that. He should have just stopped or gone through the line on my inside shoulder.
“I wasn’t that confident at all [about getting the decision]. I thought it was going to be a try because I probably wasn’t going to get there.
“There were a lot of calls out there and I thought the refs did a really good job. I thought it was reffed really well.”
The NRL is also likely to remind clubs about the penalties associated with throwing an opponent’s boot away after Raiders forward Corey Horsburgh escaped sanction for the cheeky practice in Canberra’s upset win over Melbourne.
Horsburgh launched Cameron Munster’s boot 30 metres away after it came off during a tackle, forcing the Melbourne talisman to fetch it, missing several plays. The Raiders weren’t penalised by referee Grant Atkins.
The NRL cracked down on players doing it when NSW coach Brad Fittler threatened to order his players to do it in 2019 after Boyd Cordner was forced to play five minutes of a State of Origin match without one shoe. It had been thrown over the sideline by Queensland rival Ben Hunt.
Players were subsequently told they could be penalised for the act, and Panthers star Stephen Crichton was fined for doing the same to Justin Olam in last year’s preliminary final.
“We’ll be talking to the clubs that are playing next week,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley said. “We haven’t seen it for quite a long time and we did see a spate of them quite a few years ago. We advised clubs back then they can be penalised for it.”
with Adrian Proszenko
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