‘Not far away’: Coach’s surprise claim after another Sharks exit
Craig Fitzgibbon believes the Sharks are “not far off” being genuine premiership contenders, despite another NRL finals exit on Saturday night.
Having lost halfback Nicho Hynes in just the second minute, Cronulla were always going to be facing an uphill battle against the Roosters.
Sharks players react during the semi-final loss. Getty Images
But the heavy 46-10 loss to the Roosters was still another disappointing end.
Post-match, Fitzgibbon said anything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.
Since the club’s maiden 2016 premiership, the Sharks have missed the finals only once, but have not made it beyond the prelims.
The loss to the Roosters was the last Sharks game for several players, including Sione Katoa, Jesse Ramine, Siosifa Talakai and captain Cameron McInnes.
“When it’s your night, it’s your night. It wasn’t our night,” Fitzgibbon said.
“But I’m really grateful, thankful, we’ve been up for five years now with same group of guys and a portion of those are leaving.
“I’m forever grateful for their service. They’ve been punching above their weight for a long time now.
“Everyone thinks we need a reset, rebuild, no. We’ll just keep going. We’ve got some guys ready to go. We won’t be going anywhere.”
Fitzgibbon sidestepped questions about what the club was missing that would make it a genuine premiership contender.
“There’s only been two teams that have won the comp in the last five years,” he said.
When asked what was the difference between those two and the Sharks, he said, “we’re not that far off”.
“Now, we haven’t got there, so that’s a fair criticism, and it’s frustrating, but we haven’t got there, so we’ve got to work out how and what we do with what we’ve got to get there.”
Sharks finals results since 2016 premiership
- 2017: Lost elimination final 15-14 to Cowboys in golden point
- 2018: Lost preliminary final 22-6 to Storm
- 2019: Lost elimination final 28-16 to Sea Eagles
- 2020: Lost elimination final 32-20 to Raiders
- 2021: Missed finals (9th) on differential
- 2022: Out in straight sets after losses to Cowboys and Rabbitohs
- 2023: Lost elimination final 13-12 to Roosters
- 2024: Lost preliminary final 26-6 to Panthers
- 2025: Lost preliminary final 22-14 to Storm
- 2026: Lost semi final 46-10 to Roosters
