Inside the Sharks' season-saving meeting after devastating Broncos loss

Crumbling to the Broncos last June after leading 28-12 in the second-half, the Sharks have since won five of their past six matches ahead of a blockbuster clash with the Bulldogs at Accor Stadium on Saturday.

The days following the 16-point collapse to the Broncos, Mulitalo says, were the lowest of his career and of which triggered Fitzgibbon into a behind closed-doors truth session at Shark Park with the entire playing squad.

“That was such a disappointing performance for us against the Broncos, we should’ve won that game,” Mulitalo said.

“To come out and disappoint the club and Fitzy (Fitzgibbon), it’s like you’re disappointing your Dad.

“It honestly feels like that.

“I don’t think he talked to any of us that whole week. He knew what it took to get a reaction out of us.

“It’s like the disappointment of a father. ”It’s probably the most disappointed I’ve been in myself, my teammates, and each other in a long time.

“That hurt a lot and as you know the meeting happened and our honesty session came out and we had a really good look at ourselves.”

Mulitalo said Fitzgibbon was direct and straight to the point in regards to the players accountability for the loss that on the scoreboard and statistically, was below the Sharks lofty standards.

The Sharks conceded seven penalties to four and missed 47 tackles against the Broncos.

“It needed to be said,” the outstanding Sharks winger said.

“There was a lot of stuff in that room that needed to be corrected among ourselves and it was attitude and effort based

“Those are the things you don’t need coaching for. It should be in you.

“I also think we lost our sense of gratefulness towards the life we live.

“We live a pretty good life. We come in and train with our best mates, play in front of thousands of fans, get paid good salaries and we lost a little bit of our reality.

“It was a good centring point for our team. We’ve dropped one game (Dragons) since then.

“It showed that your attitude towards your life reflects your footy.”

Up against the third-placed Dogs, Mulitalo said that after taking care of sides positioned below them on the NRL ladder over the past month, Saturday night would provide a clear indication on where Cronulla rank as a premiership contender.

“Usually we’ve got to this point of the year and the boys are battered and bruised and probably ready for a rest, but I think we’re firing on all cylinders at the moment,” Mulitalo said.

“We’re really excited.

“We’re getting guys coming back from injuries, the boys are feeling a lot fresher.

“We had a bye for the first time at the back end of the year, instead of three at the start.

“The bye (two weeks ago) really helped us out. The boys came back with a strong attitude after the bye.

“The first 10-minutes of the Knights game last week was disappointing, but it was probably a refresher of how we need to play. “It took us 20-minutes to get back into it, but when we did, you could see where our mentality was at.

“The boys are keen to go and we’re really excited for this contest.

“I can’t remember myself being more focused, more locked into the back-end of the year.”