NRL 2026: Cronulla Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon questions refereeing in press conference, video, replay

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has repeatedly refused to blame the officials for his team's crucial loss to the Raiders on Saturday but couldn't help but question a number of rulings.

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Fitzgibbon said in his post-match press conference that he was proud of his team's effort to stay in the match after losing star half Braydon Trindall in the fifth minute to a shoulder injury, but cut a frustrated figure when asked about a crucial call to deny his team a try late.

The moment of the match occurred in the 72nd minute when Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo was denied a try by the smallest of margins.

Mulitalo reached out to put the ball down and it looked very close to the tryline, but referee Gerard Sutton, who was right there, sent it up to the Bunker as a no-try.

Replays showed it was extremely close, but the Bunker went with the on-field decision and ruled no try.

If the try was awarded, it would've locked scores up at 24-all with a kick to come.

Fitzgibbon was asked about the decision.

"I'm not a sook with calls because I just reckon you win some and lose some over the course of the year," he said.

"They were so offside. You review the knock-on, but you've got to review everything. They were so offside, but that didn't cost us today either."

Fitzgibbon admitted the Raiders deserved the win, but he couldn't hide his frustration after the match.

"Canberra don't deserve to win via a s*** call, that was just the way it was. But also there was some calls there today, the flops that we don't get...but I'm not blaming the referee either," he said.

"I don't usually talk about the calls, but (it was) just when we copped them.

"All their points come off the repeated six agains and that was on us though too. Canberra were fantastic and outplayed us today."

The big news to come out of the match was the injury to Trindall, who dislocated his shoulder when scoring the game's opening try.

The Sharks struggled to adjust on the run after losing such an important player.

While he wears the No. 6 jersey, Trindall plays more of a organising halfback role for the Sharks to free up Nicho Hynes to play off the back of.

Trindall will go for scans to determine how much damage the dislocation caused.

The usual recovery time is 3-6 weeks if no surgery is required.

"We lost a couple of halves, like in the captain's run where we've been able to have 24 hours to talk about it, but not during the battle and we didn't quite get it right today," Fitzgibbon said.

"It's not ideal, obviously, he's pretty important to us. It went out and went back in straight away. No-one has any idea (about the injury) at this stage. I'm hoping Tricky is all right."

Sharks hooker Blayke Brailey said losing Trindall was a big blow.

"He's such an influential player for our side and on the edges," he said.

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Bench player Hohepa Puru filled in for Trindall but had limited experience in the halves.

"He was hanging on for dear life," Fox League's Luke Keary said.

Despite the setback, Fitzgibbon praised Hynes, saying he was the reason the Sharks were threatening the Raiders after his halfback said the loss "hurt" in a post-match interview.

"I thought he stepped up. Everything we created came off him, so it wasn't through a lack of like stepping up and creating opportunities," Fitzgibbon said.

"I thought he actually did create plenty and the other guys didn't capitalise on that, so he's probably feeling it for not steering the team to a win."

The Raiders had their own injury issues with forward Morgan Smithies leaving the field early for a HIA.

He failed his assessment and will miss the Raiders clash with the Broncos next week.

Raiders coach sympathised with Fitzgibbon, who he coached when the Roosters won the 2002 premiership.

"I feel sorry for Fitzy. If there was a bloke that we're going to lose to tonight and there was a bloke coaching in the opposition team, it wouldn't hurt me as much for Craig. I'd like to see Craig do well. He's a very good coach and better bloke, and he'll get them up again," Stuart said.

"We were not just playing for the sake of playing. I put an immense amount of pressure on that footy team this week. The whole week. I assure you that they were under pressure coming into this game to play well."

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