WATCH: Sheer guts as Adam Reynolds tries to tackle Rooster - with a torn bicep!
The Broncos skipper tried to stop Joseph Sua'ali'i with one good arm and did a decent job of diffusing the play with the pass…
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan is adamant his team haven’t lost focus despite the reigning NRL premiers’ disappointing display in their season-opening 26-18 loss to Brisbane on Thursday night.
The Sharks started strongly, but found themselves trailing 20-6 early in the second half and aside from a late scoring flourish were punished for a night of ill-discipline in attack and defence.
In stark contrast to last year’s all-conquering outfit, Flanagan’s men completed just two-thirds of their 32 sets, missed almost twice as many tackles, and were on the wrong side of a 10-5 penalty count.
“We were our own worst enemies,” Flanagan said.
“Penalties and errors conceding possession, you just can’t win football games. It’s disappointing for the standards we set ourselves.”
Flanagan denied his team’s start to 2017 was a concern, despite their round-one loss coming on the back of a 22-6 defeat to Wigan in the World Club Championship.
“Let’s not get too carried away with England. That was the first game for some of the blokes like (Paul Gallen) and a lot of the other players hadn’t played at all,” he said.
“It was more like a trial for us in England – it was a pretty intense trial and I was happy with it. But I’m not getting too carried away. It wasn’t for two competition points.”
“We definitely haven’t lost focus. There are some disappointed players in there. We thought we’d had a good preparation coming into today. It’s early days.”
Flanagan did praise the effort of debutant Jayden Brailey, who was solid in the opening hour before being substituted for Fa’amanu Brown.
“He could’ve gone the 80 minutes which is great for a young kid and he’s only going to get better. I thought he had some nice touches early on. He’s handling the contact,” Flanagan said.
“I thought he did a really good job for his debut.”
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