A brutally trustworthy Ben Hunt described the Dragons’ second half as “rubbish” whereas admitting speak surrounding coach Anthony Griffin’s future “won’t go away” after Sunday’s heavy loss to Cronulla.
The Dragons went into the sheds at halftime trailing 12-8 in opposition to the Sharks however fell away in spectacular vogue for a second-straight week, ultimately happening by 32 factors.
Talking to Fox League’s Darcie McDonald after Sunday’s sport, Hunt stated the second half was notably disappointing given it was in entrance of a house crowd and within the native derby.
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“A lot (went wrong), to be honest,” he stated.
“We went into halftime pretty positive, completed really high in the first half and the talk from Hook was to try and complete the same in the second half and try and take them to the deep end and finish it late.
“They just came out and ran harder and tackled harder. We just kind of went to water. It got away from us pretty quickly, it was just defensively that really let us down. They were just rolling through the middle and taking advantage with their good strike on the edges.”
The Dragons made a really optimistic begin to Sunday’s sport, finishing 91 per cent of their units within the opening half and lacking simply 11 tackles.
That, in fact, rapidly modified within the second although as St George Illawarra missed one other 25 tackles whereas getting via simply 42 per cent of their units — coughing the ball up 9 occasions.
“It seems to be the start of our second half all the time, coming out and not matching it with other teams,” Hunt added.
“They come out and go to another level and we seem to go into our shells. It’s pretty disappointing in front of our home crowd, it’s the local derby and to toss that up in the second half it’s pretty rubbish, to be honest.”
Hunt additionally answered a number of questions in Sunday’s post-game press convention, whereas coach Griffin described the 32-point defeat as “disappointing”.
“The first half we weren’t quite there… but the second half, they were just way too good,” Griffin stated.
“We weren’t good enough.”
The fixed speak round Griffin’s future would have made the consequence notably powerful to take for the Dragons coach, who will solely come beneath extra scrutiny this week.
It comes after stories earlier within the week that the membership is contemplating different choices at coach for subsequent yr, though the off-contract Griffin has been instructed he can even apply for the place.
Hunt defended his under-pressure coach, insisting that Griffin has no management over the missed tackles or errors on the sphere, whereas conceding the exterior noise will now solely develop louder.
“It’s not going to go away now,” Hunt stated, ruing the very fact the Dragons may have helped ease the strain on Griffin with a greater efficiency.
“He’s not the one out on the field, it’s us,” the halfback later added.
“We’re the ones missing the tackles on the field. Preferably, like everything, you’d like it [the talks on Griffin’s future] to stay in house but that doesn’t happen in rugby league.”
Hunt although stated he doesn’t imagine the exterior speak is impacting the taking part in group, telling reporters they haven’t mentioned it internally.
“To me, I think the people who talk about it are on the outside,” he stated.
But there will likely be loads of powerful conversations that the taking part in group will share within the wake of Sunday’s loss, with Hunt at a loss to clarify the workforce’s second-straight collapse.
“I thought it was very embarrassing,” he stated.
“I don’t think there is a guy in our side who could put their hand up and say they played well in that second half. And to dish it up in front of your home fans is not good enough.
“Honestly I don’t know [what is behind the collapses]. We’re getting into halftime in a good position and we have good chats at halftime and we come out and seem to be asleep.”
Originally revealed as ‘It won’t go away’: Ben Hunt’s brutally honest interview and sad admission after ‘embarrassing’ loss
