Sharks captain Nicho Hynes has admitted the Dolphins “played with an energy” his side couldn’t match after a 36-16 Magic Round loss to the NRL’s newest club on Saturday night.
Hynes said he was “shattered” after the loss, stating he couldn’t “put a finger on why that happened.”
The Dolphins were all over the Sharks early on, opening up a 30-0 lead in the first half before Cronulla-Sutherland saved face with two late tries before the break.
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“They played with an energy we couldn’t and didn’t match,” Hynes said.
“I spoke in the preseason about not wanting to be beat on effort and that’s what happened tonight. We got beat on effort and attitude. It’s not good enough.
“I’m always shattered when we lose. I hate losing. I don’t know why we went like that.
“We’ve had a good few weeks, we prepared and trained pretty good I felt. I just can’t put a finger on why that happened.
“I take losses really personal and there were a lot of things I should have done better and could have addressed more in the preparation.”
The Sharks had been one of the more in-form teams in the competition and were second on the ladder entering Magic Round.
Dolphins leave Sharks shell shocked! | 02:28
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However, they were humbled by the Dolphins with Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon stating his side met “a more committed opponent” but believes it will be a “good lesson” going forward.
“They caught us on the jump and once the momentum started going, it was too late to address that,” Fitzgibbon said.
“Tonight meant more to them than it did for us … It wasn’t surprising, we prepared for them coming out strong but we didn’t do anything about it.
“I think about half time we had about 30% of the ball but we did nothing with it which means we were defending for 70% and we did nothing there either.
“You could look at our defensive errors but that was an attitude thing. I thought we missed the mark there. It’s disappointing.”
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