By Tyson Otto

Copyright news

Nicho Hynes inspired his Cronulla side to an emphatic 32-12 win at GIO Stadium as the Raiders were bounced out of the NRL finals in straight sets.

The sad sight of dejected Canberra players was compounded by the club’s cruel 95-minute epic against the Broncos as their fairy tale season ended with consecutive defeats on home soil.

Coach Ricky Stuart was a mixture of cold rage and determined stoicism after the game, but there were plenty of moments in the 32-12 defeat that will have left him privately seething.

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Canberra’s much-maligned right edge defence was bombarded again on Saturday night — and again cracked under pressure.

The most telling moment came when Sharks forward Billy Burns barged his way over the try line in the 52nd minute on sheer will alone.

Burns received the ball outside the 10m line in the centre of the field with the Sharks’ attacking structure completely broken down.

It meant his only real option was to run the ball solo with the Raiders’ defence well set on its right side.

Despite this, Hosking was able to conjure a try from nothing when a simple left foot step and fend was all he needed to break a hole between Fogarty and second-rower Hosking.

The try put the Raiders ahead 16-12 and the visitors were never troubled from that point on.

It was a play highlighted by Fox League analysts after the game.

“I just feel that it was gone by their right-hand defence. They were lacking in confidence,” Roosters premiership second-rower Bryan Fletcher said.

“The Sharks could smell blood in the water, they kept going at it. What typifies it, pretty much sums it up for me, they (Canberra) got back to 12-all, it’s in a semi-final, you’re at home, and Billy Burns scores a try (where) nothing is on. There is no decoy, it’s just hard running, and you’re in a semi-final and you let this happen.

“This pretty much sums it up, and Ricky will be furious. The players will be furious.”

Manly premiership five-eighth Kieran Foran added: “There’s been a disconnect on their right-side defence for some time now, and it really is between Fogarty and (Matt) Timoko there. They just tend to want to map everything, go into slide straight away.

“I don’t think they varied it up enough in terms of their jam defence and sliding defence. They always showed their hand early and the Sharks clearly did their homework and targeted that area.”

Former Bulldogs captain Mick Ennis said Stuart needed to make a positional change to be a “circuit breaker” to stop the Sharks from ripping the Raiders’ right edge to shreds.

It was a particularly tough night for Fogarty, who played his final game for the Green machine before he joins Manly for the 2025 season.

Fogarty also blew a number of opportunities to land the knockout punch against the Broncos in their qualifying final.

Stuart, meanwhile, was surprisingly reserved during his press conference when he would typically be praising his players for their effort.

Fox League’s Cooper Cronk said post-game that he believed the toll of the Brisbane clash affected Canberra against the Sharks.

When Stuart was asked if his team had run out gas, he mumbled, “I don’t know”, while barely answering other questions.

The Sharks now face the Melbourne Storm in their Friday night preliminary final at AAMI Park.

— with foxsports.com.au