Lacklustre Sharks slump to second straight loss as Dolphins make a big splash

Craig Fitzgibbon rued his side’s lack of attacking spark after a lacklustre display saw the Sharks slip to a hefty defeat on their home patch after conceding 18 points in the last six minutes against the Dolphins.

The visitors overran their tiring opponents in the closing stages, running in tries via Jake Averillo, Selwyn Cobbo and Connelly Lemuelu as the final score blew out to 38-10.

For long periods Cronulla appeared scared to use the ball and were too often one-dimensional in attack, reverting to a formula of feeding the forwards, turning the ball back on the inside and kicking to the opposition 10.

Though they had more tackle breaks than the Dolphins, their spine lacked cohesion and they struggled to break down their opponents.

The absence of Cameron McInnes, out until at least May with an ACL, is being keenly felt, with the Sharks sorely lacking a link man, but coach Fitzgibbon refused to use the loss of his skipper as an excuse.

“You create your own energy,” Fitzgibbon said. “At the moment, we’re fighting hard but not making sense with each other and not playing enough together.

“The back-rowers got caught on a couple of tries, but it would be hard to ask much more of our forwards and the way they traded sets.

“At the back end of a game like that where we concede cheap [tries] and easy ones, they hurt. Maybe we need to hurt a bit until we do something about it.”

The Dolphins took full advantage of Cronulla’s laboured approach, with their halves pairing of Isaiya Katoa and Kodi Nikorima providing their backs with a succession of one-on-one match-ups and attacking opportunities.

Averillo, Jamayne Isaako and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow pounced with first-half tries to keep the Sharks at arm’s length as they went to the interval 16-4 in front.

With a large crowd inside Ocean Protect Stadium urging them on, it took 25 minutes for halfback Nicho Hynes to throw Cronulla’s first expansive play – a cut-out pass to winger Sam Stonestreet, who crossed in the corner.

Cronulla playmaker Braydon Trindall, playing his 100th NRL match, did his best to inspire a late surge from the home side but was too often unable to find his edge players and, as a consequence, the Sharks could not build momentum.

Trindall’s try early in the first half, converted by Nicho Hynes, kept the home fans hopeful of an unlikely comeback, but two penalty goals from Isaako extended the Dolphins’ lead to 20-10 with 10 minutes remaining.

Averillo then iced the game, racing away to score after an error by KL Iro and sending Sharks fans streaming for the exits.

Despite a quiet outing, Cobbo went over late in the piece, schooling Cronulla on connectivity and the value of pushing the ball wide. Lemuelu strolled over in the final minute to put an exclamation mark on the result.

“[The win] should give us some real belief and gives us an idea of different ways we can win games nowadays,” Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf said. “That’s really important. It’s a great win for us. A couple of years ago we couldn’t win in Sydney.

“This was our first chance down here this year at a very, very tough place to come and win, and we’ve come up with a great performance.”

The defeat ended the Sharks’ run of eight consecutive wins at Shark Park. It was their second loss in two weeks following last weekend’s defeat to Penrith, and raises significant questions over Fitzgibbon’s side, which enjoyed a 50-10 victory over the Titans in round one.

Blayke Brailey’s league-leading streak of 133 consecutive games could be under threat after he was placed on report for tripping.

with AAP