Dragons leader Jack De Belin has slammed his side’s performance after the side suffered a record loss against the Sharks.
Before Thursday night’s round 18 fixture, no Sharks team had scored more than 50 points against a St George, Illawarra or St George Illawarra side.
That all changed with a comprehensive 52-16 win as the Dragons continue to sit on the bottom of the ladder.
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De Belin was scathing of his side’s effort post-match.
“I’m bitterly disappointed, embarrassed, it’s just not good enough,” he said on Nine’s coverage.
“Especially after last week, we had a real point to prove, come out and do a job … we did start well but we knew if we gave them too much good ball they’ve got too much strike power in attack so thatp’s suer embarrassing.”
The Dragons forward went further and put his side’s poor performances this year down to attitude.
“We just haven’t got a lot of resilience, if things (don’t) go our way we tend to drop our heads and look to blame others,” he said.
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“I don’t know, it’s frustrating considering we’re in the game and if something goes against us we drop our bundle and get the 50 burger put on us.”
St George Illawarra looked like they might be in for an upset, leading 10-6 after 20 minutes with tries to Mikaele Ravalawa and Tautau Moga. Nicho Hynes was the scorer for Cronulla.
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From there, it was all the Sharks who led 24-10 at the break.
Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan then scored a length of the field try in the 50th minute to give his side a sniff at 24-16.
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The Sharks turned up the heat though with the Dragons not looking like scoring as William Kennedy, Siosifa Talakai and Briton Nikora all crossing over while Ronaldo Mulitalo went in for a double.
Moga could also find himself in trouble after he was put on report for a high shot on Jesse Ramien right on full-time. Dale Finucane was also placed on report during the game for a dangerous tackle.
Post-game, NRL great Cameron Smith agreed with De Belin’s assessment and said the side needs to mirror the work of the Dragons forward.
“I think they can follow his efforts a lot, tonight he finished top of the tackle count for the Dragons for the second week in a row, he’s up close to 50 tackles once again,” he said on Nine’s coverage.
“Just unbelievable the effort he’s putting in and that’s what you have to go back to, you need to work hard each day you’re at training, getting your preparation right and attitude and effort is what solves this issue.”
Next Thursday, the Sharks will play the Tigers while St George Illawarra are at home against Canberra on Friday.
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