Craig Fitzgibbon and Cameron McInnes were disappointed with the Sharks’ commitment to the jersey after their 32-6 thrashing to the previously winless Tigers.
The Sharks were reduced to just one player on their bench after three injuries to Toby Rudolf, Royce Hunt and Dale Finucane, but Fitzgibbon refused to use it as an excuse.
“We got into a good start, got down, high quality start to the game, both teams trading,” Fitzgibbon said.
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“We just searched, we weren’t comfortable in that space and searched for too much and then the errors and penalties started, compounded and we got out-enthused, they were great and we were not.”
Fitzgibbon provided an update on his injured stars.
“Royce hurt his calf warming up, so that was one down and obviously Dale and Toby were the others,” Fitzgibbon said.
“I’m not sure where they’re at though.
“Toby is in a boot, I think it’s his ankle but I’m not sure of the severity. I have to address that when we get back in mate.
“Hunt was during the warm up when he was getting ready to go on.”
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Rather than focus on the injuries Fitzgibbon was disappointed the Tigers showed more commitment to the tough parts of the game.
“You get what you’re given and it felt like with enthusiasm and attitude or whatever,” Fitzgibbon said.
“They just kept a real simple style on us and that’s what we’ve been doing with teams the last couple of weeks and we lost that battle and you know injury sometimes comes when the game is getting away from you, but we were at it at the start.
“I was pretty pleased with how we got into the game but you just can’t, when two teams are going head to head you can’t be the one that keeps turning the ball over like that and searching for points and searching for a feeling.
“We just had to knuckle down and we didn’t do that tonight.”
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McInnes was disappointed his side let themselves down in the effort areas that they prided themselves on in the first two rounds.
“There’s never no way back but as coach touched on we just were searching for things and not playing hard, tough, simple footy and kicking it back to them and trusting that we come out of it,” McInnes said.
“That’s what they did and that’s what happens when you don’t want to apply yourself to the game in the right area.
“It’s disappointing because in the first two weeks we showed something and this jersey deserves more than what we gave it tonight. So yeah, disappointing.”
However, Fitzgibbon is confident the Sharks can fill the holes left by his injured stars.
“Not sure yet, we’ve got some guys,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We can move guys around because we are versatile, so we’ll have to figure that out during the week.”
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