NRL coach’s fears of a pre-finals crackdown

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon is worried about a pre-finals crackdown on high shots after Kayal Iro was controversially sent to the sin bin for a tackle that didn’t look too bad and opened the door for the Warriors to score two quick tries as the retiring Shaun Johnson lifted his side to a famous win. The Sharks led 22-4 at half-time but fell behind in the second half after the visitors raced in two tries in three minutes while Iro was in the sin bin for a high shot on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak who stayed down but didn’t come off for an HIA. The Warriors winger scored three second-half tries including one in the final minute, but a lot of the focus was on what happened midway through the half when referee Chris Butler sent Iro from the field for what he said was a string of repeated acts of foul play. The hosts did concede four penalties in 13 minutes for either high or late tackles, with Iro paying the price for a shot that ordinarily wouldn’t have warranted a stint in the sin bin. Fitzgibbon was quick to stress that it wasn’t the reason they lost, but there’s a concern heading into the finals when it comes to consistency around high contact. “I’d like to tell you what I really think about it (but I won’t),” he said. “We’ve got to protect the players because we don’t want to see high shots. I get it, we want it out of the game.

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