I disagree.
I won’t be debating this any further.

The problem with claiming that “game management” is the issue is that no matter how well the game is “managed”, on numerous occasions over the 80 minutes a team’s defence will be tested – it has to be.
In the case of Cronulla’s left edge it is failing every test – every time.
It is letting in an avalanche of points – it has been since late last season.
That is the problem.
Had it not done so Cronulla would have secured their place in the finals this year.
Defence is the cornerstone of success in league.
It is non negotiable.
That is the key problem right there in my view and it’s also the view of Fitzgibbon, Hynes, McInnes, Finucane (who have all spoken about the subject), Slater, Gould, Gallen, Fittler and others.

Yep, defence is the issue.
It is extraordinary that anyone could think otherwise.

Like defence? LOL.

I would actually – when younger I played in a team that beat a team what a fella called Wally Lewis in it – perhaps you’ve heard of him – probably not.
An “off day”?
Leaking 30 points in a half against a team not even in the eight!
The week before being flogging by the Warriors 44-12.
Another off day.
Gee, they’re having a lot of “off days”.
I wonder why.
Could be it that letting in 74 points in two games shows their defence is rubbish.
I reckon I am on to something.
Even their coach agrees with me – take a look at his press conferences.
Then there are the likes of Slater and Gallen and Gould and … I could go on but surely even you get the point I am making.
They all agree with me that defence is the issue.
But hey, you keep rabbiting on about “game management”.
But here’s a tip – don’t ever go for a job as an NRL analyst – the interview won’t go well.

I would actually – in my younger days I actually played in a team that beat a team containing a young Wally Lewis – perhaps you’ve heard of him – probably not.
If you think that the only problem with Cronulla is “game management” then I can’t help you.
Perhaps you should listen to Fitzgibbon – he doesn’t think so – he thinks it’s defence.
He’s right – but then anyone other than an idiot would realise that.
Funny how so many others agree with him – the likes of Slater and Gould and Gallen etc etc etc – in fact anyone who knows anything about football.
But hey, what would they know – it’s “game management” right?
Here’s a clue why they think that – floggings at the hands of Melbourne, the Warriors, the Dolphins (!), Souths last year and now letting Manly score 30 points in a half of football.
Plenty of other shocking defensive displays too – here’s another one being up 20-0 against the Warriors at home and being run down.
But it’s “game management” – that’s the problem!
Here’s a tip – best you don’t go for a job as a game analyst – the interview process may be ‘challenging’ to say the least.

But hey, let me start you off – left side defence a shambles.
No forward ran for over 100m against Manly.
A soft forward pack in general.
Poor defence in general.
An inabililty to beat top eight teams – that is anyone decent – for the past five years.
There you go.
That should keep you going for a while.

If you need that questioned answered then you clearly don’t know anything about football.

I posted about how bad the Sharks were after the Storm debacle and a fellow Sharks fan claimed I was too pessimistic.
Oh yeah?
Wondering if he’s changed his view yet?

I wish you were right but sadly you are not. Game management is the least of their myriad of problems.

Fatty – just on the 95 series.
Extraordinary.

And one more thing.
Fitzgibbon’s decision to let Johnson go and keep Moylan was another ripper.
Johnson’s defence isn’t great but it’s heaps better than Moylan’s.
Clever again.

As I have written before here there is something deeply wrong with Cronulla and it’s not just their defence though that’s a huge part of it.
This side went from a top defensive side before the finals last year to a team that can’t handle it when good, hard teams turn the blowtorch on them.
They lack grit and toughness and application.
They are exemplified by the muglair on the wing, Mulitalo, who finds new and inventive ways to butcher tries so often because he is chasing a starring role in highlight reels.
The pack, even at full strength which it wasn’t yesterday (Hunt, Finucane and Hamlyn-Uele all out) is soft and often as bad as the worst in the comp.
The recruitment by Fitzgibbon is questionable – he lost two big men in Fifita and Tolman and replaced them with one – Kaufusi – he’s paying the price now.
I pointed out they needed a big man in a previous post.
That didn’t happen but they did shell out big money for a player in Finucane who is well past his best and spends plenty of time off the field due to suspension and injury.
Clever.
Another factor is Fitzgibbon refusing to change the team no matter how bad the losses – he’s got Tracey, Trindall, Stonestreet etc playing lights out for Newtown but they rarely get a call-up.
Clever.
All that does is make them want to leave the club perhaps in search of regular first grade footy while non performers in the first grade get a lifetime selection pass it seems.
It’s impossible to get dropped it seems.
Clever.
I think his reluctance to drop attack magnet Moylan is due to how well he combines with Nicho in attack – he sure does.
But – there’s no point in them scoring a couple of tries in a breathtaking attacking movement while Moylan lets in four.
Poor Teig Wilton having to stand next to him in the line.
Well, he’s going to have to make changes now surely – injuries to Wilton and Ramien for a start.
Then there’s the defensive liability that is Talakai when fast centres exploit his poor movement.
It’s a mess.
Defence wins matches – it’s been true since league began – and Cronulla’s defence is pathetic.
It won’t change – if floggings at the hands of the Cows and Souths in the finals and the Storm, Warriors and Dolphins in Magic Round – Magic Round! – against a tough but less than stellar attacking side – hasn’t fixed it then it won’t be fixed.
Can’t be.
Fitzgibbon said after the Dolphins debacle that the players “had missed the jump” and lacked enthusiasm.
How a team can lack enthusiasm in Magic Round I have no idea.
But it was more of the same from him after yesterday’s disaster while he also promised a week of defence at training.
Oh yeah?
It will fix nothing – not if it hasn’t been fixed by now.
The warning light has been flashing red since last year’s finals embarrassment but it’s clear the coaches and players are colour blind.
I wrote here after their last humiliation at the hands of the Storm that there is no hope of a short term fix with this team.
I argued that the club’s re-signing of these no hopers to long term deals meant that we are stuck with them – the players who can’t or won’t tackle, dig deep, or fight out tough games like the Cronulla side of 2016 for instance.
And we’re stuck with the coach for half a decade more too.
With little room in the cap to bring in new blood due to all that assiduous re-signing.
Yikes.
A poster took exception to my pessimism, wrote that I was being extreme – oh yeah?
Wonder how he’s feeling now.
Pretty bad I expect if the latest disaster has somehow pierced his sunny view of the mess at Cronulla.
But maybe in his world it’s all good.
It sure isn’t but I look forward to his arguments that it is.

PS. This is not Nicho’s fault.
Try playing behind a pack getting badly beaten and a defence leaking points.
He is one bit of light in a very gloomy picture.
So are Kennedy and Nikora with honourable mentions to Brailey and a couple of others.
But the rest – get rid of them – ASAP.

I will never lose interest in Origin – it’s a magnificent beast.
And I will never tire of Qld beating NSW.
A clean sweep is rare and a thing of beauty.

Top analysis.
But no mention of the lack of effort sometimes from NSW – like when Collins outjumped Tedesco in game one – the Blues were walking, the Maroons running.
Origin is made up of Origin ‘moments’ – that’s the part NSW doesn’t get – of part if anyway.

The pattern continues.
Cronulla look great in putting an ordinary side to the sword after yet again failing against a good team – and failing badly.
Their next block of matches all look like potential wins so it will be some time before it is clear whether their fragility against top eight sides continues.
I am betting it will – unfortunately.

I’ll take him over Fitzgibbon any day.
Built a tough, gritty side and took them from the bottom to the top in just a few years.
Made a habit of making the finals too.
His sides were based on toughness and defence – something Cronulla under both Morris and Fitzgibbon seem to have no idea about.
His player recruitment was superb and targeted.
He knew what he needed and got them.
Tactically he was spot on – in the grand final his side made Smith make over 70 tackles and Ennis and Graham so put Cronk off his game that he says the match is in his “top five worst games”.
The backrower running off Cronk was largely ineffectual.
Dragons have finally got a good coach.
When Cronulla was in dire straights financially he was forced to do a host of jobs – even drove a mate’s truck to Melbourne to pick up gym equipment and worked on the change rooms himself.
I wish him great success.

I hope that applies to one of your so-called “guru”/s as well who posted this: “They’ve now officially hit rock bottom, the rock that Flanagan lives under.”
Time to clean house perhaps.

Spot on – hypocrisy abounds here.

PS.
I see Fitzgibbon has selected the same team – as someone wise said: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

I have no expectation of that happening at all.
Those sides you referenced were pretty low on talent but they had a dig.
On the basis of their talent – and let’s face it those sides were modest with a capital M – apart from Gal there was not a rep player to be seen.
This is the softest Cronulla pack I have seen and I have seen them all from 1973 onwards.
That pack and the 2016 era mob were the toughest.
This lot is pathetic.
To have a modest attacking side like the Dolphins tear you a new one is a disgrace.
So is leaking 69 points in two finals matches with one at home – 69!
I am tired of being embarrassed by them.
If they have a dig and lose then fair enough but they did not want to be there – that is perfectly clear – it was all too hard.
They are the softest pack in the NRL bar none.
Last night on Nine Wado admitted they’d gone missing.
Gal made the point that they lost it in the middle and Nicho could not be expected to pull them out of that.
How does a team go to Melbourne after the Storm have been thumped and not expect trench warfare?
They must have “missed the jump” or some pathetic Fitzgibbon excuse.
But have no fear, the pattern will resume this weekend – they’ll put plenty of points on the Dogs and look very pretty in doing so and some supporters will get excited and think they’ve “turned the corner” and then next time they play a side with guts and commitment and hardness they’ll fold like a napkin.
Guarantee it.
I’d love to be wrong.
All the best.

My criticisms aren’t in the least about him not winning a title.
I would not have expected him to last year or this year or anytime soon – not with Penrith being Penrith.
It’s the defence and attitude – it’s appalling.
I have been following this team and club since 1975 – I have seen all types of Cronulla sides – this one, on its day against the right team is spectacular to watch.
But the defence against tough sides that serve it up to them is awful.
Simple.
It’s embarrassing.
The pack is as soft as a pillow.
I couldn’t care less if you disagree.
That’s just the way it is – if you don’t believe me watch yesterday’s game or the game against the Dolphins or the second half of the Warriors game or the …

Actually goods news: “Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon has been given a massive vote of confidence by the Sharks board after inking a three-year contract extension. The deal means Fitzgibbon will be the head coach until the end of 2027, guaranteeing his tenure for five more seasons.”
Only four more years after this one – phew, that’s a relief.

You should join Fitzgibbon’s coaching staff – you’d fit right in.

I have written many times on here that there is something deeply wrong with Cronulla.
Their run to the finals last year to come extent camouflaged their failings when it came to beating the better sides but the Cows and especially Souths exposed their defensive failings.
To let in 69 points in two finals matches – including one at home – was a disgrace.
I expected the coach to flog them over summer.
By the looks of it he let them lounge around on a beach.
The same defensive deficiencies are apparent this – but only worse.
They are great flat track bullies and look wonderful when tearing apart a lesser side but they cannot handle it when a good side, a tough side, sticks it to them.
The Raiders have done that to them for some years – this year Stuart said: “We know how to handle Cronulla.”
Sadly he was spot on.
Plenty of other teams are doing the same now – with ease.
I watch all of Fitzgibbon’s press conferences – it’s the usual crap – “we’ve got to work harder” etc.
And the journos are too soft – I am one and I’d be asking some much tougher questions that this lot who seem to not to want to offend him.
Crap.
One recent flashing warning sign was the shocking loss to the Dolphins.
Apparently they didn’t have the “right attitude” said Fitz, that they “missed the jump”.
More crap.
How can they not get up for Magic Round?
The pack is a shambles.
Finucane is a dud buy – big time.
I love Wade – at his peak he was wonderful – a hard hitting backrower with a dangerous short kicking game.
Now, he’s a shadow of what he was.
There is no punch, aggression or line speed – or ferocity.
The softest pack in the NRL – by far.
Moylan is being targeted by everyone – and it takes no great coaching to aim runners between him and Wilton – it’s a gap as wide as the heads.
Mulitalo is a muglair – loves to put on a show – sadly that show includes bombing tries, failing to defuse kicks and missing tackles.
Drop him now for Stonestreet or Iro.
Plenty of others need to be dropped too.
Will it happen? Nah. That’s not the Fitzgibbon way – he’ll just continue to mouth platitudes.
Who to bring in?
Anyone from Newtown.
The time to send a message is long, long overdue.
But here’s the really bad news for Cronulla fans – Fitzgibbon and the club have been very busy on the retention front.
They have retained and extended this bunch of losers for years to come so there is no chance of major roster changes.
We’re stuck with these losers – period – happy days.
As for Nicho he’s magnificent.
Terrible yesterday sure but who wasn’t?
And not many halves can play off the back of a pack that wasn’t just beaten but clearly didn’t want to be there.
He should be filthy at his loser teammates who cost him a chance at a Blues jersey.
He won’t be of course because he’s too good a bloke so I will be on his behalf.
For Cronulla fans all we can do is wait for the contract-extended Fitzgibbon and the team he built to depart.
Roll on 2029 – or whenever that blessed year is.