Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has blasted his side after one of their worst performances of the season bundled them out of finals on Saturday night.
Cronulla won 11 of 12 games heading into finals to clinch second place on the ladder but they went out in straight sets with losses to the Cowboys and Rabbitohs.
It’s the first time Fitzgibbon’s men have suffered consecutive losses this season and they hadn’t conceded 30 points in back-to-back games since Round 10 last year.
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The 38-12 defeat to the Rabbitohs was the most points Cronulla have allowed in 2022, and it also marked their worst completion rate of the season at 64 per cent.
It was just the third time this season they have missed more than 40 tackles, with the other times happening last week’s 32-30 loss to the Cowboys and in Round 1.
“Bitterly disappointed with our performance, not good enough this time of year and we got a lesson in fundamentals of footy,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We didn’t respond to anything in the right fashion tonight, we had a couple little squirts of energy but nothing of note.
“I’m disappointed that we finish off the season in that fashion.
“We’ve been shuffling the decks a lot over the last eight weeks, guys in, guys out, different combinations and no consistency at training with guys in and out.
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“But it’s no excuse. You know who you are and you know how you want to play and defend. For semi-finals, that defence is just not good enough.”
Cronulla captain Wade Graham was at a loss to explain his side’s defensive collapse at the most important time of the season.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it, if you look at our season we defended well all year and the game is quite brutal and can humble you,” Graham said.
“As Fitzy said we just missed the mark as a team and at this level at this time of year, you only need to miss the mark by a little bit and you pay for it and we paid for it two weeks in a row.
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“Two scorelines in the final over 30, you’re not going to win a regular season game let alone a semi-final when it’s all on the line.
“Ultimately we didn’t perform and got bundled out.”
Fitzgibbon became the first rookie coach to finish in the top two since Trent Robinson in 2013.
But the Sharks enjoyed a generous draw and finished with just four wins from 11 games against the top-eight teams this season.
“I won’t be finishing this year feeling happy, I just want to get onto next year and improve it,” Fitzgibbon said.
“While I’m really disappointed about tonight, I have had a thoroughly rewarding season on the whole, it just doesn’t feel like it at the moment.”
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