{"id":873737,"date":"2026-08-30T10:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873737\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T10:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:32:12","slug":"nrl-2026-craig-fitzgibbon-punches-computer-in-stunning-coaches-box-blow-up-what-happened-eels-v-sharks-news-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873737\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Craig Fitzgibbon punches computer in stunning coaches\u2019 box blow up, what happened, Eels v Sharks, news, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has been captured punching a computer monitor in stunning scenes during Cronulla\u2019s upset loss to Parramatta.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The club\u2019s recent struggles have clearly taken a toll on the usually reserved Fitzgibbon, who couldn\u2019t contain his emotions when Tom Hazelton was sin binned with six minutes left, thwarting any chance of a comeback win.<\/p>\n

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Cameras panned to Fitzgibbon after referee Ashley Klein\u2019s decision to bin Hazelton for a hip drop when the Sharks were trailing 26-18 with six minutes left. <\/p>\n

The Eels would take advantage of the extra man, scoring two tries to seal the upset win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWoah! Fitzgibbon with a right hook. I\u2019ve never seen Fitzy lose it ever,\u201d Andrew Voss said on Fox League.<\/p>\n

The Sharks coach explained a lopsided penalty count against his side contributed to him losing his cool.<\/p>\n

Cronulla were awarded just the one penalty to the Eels\u2019 seven.<\/p>\n

Sharks continue to struggle before final | 05:48<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d hit the screen if you were down 7-1 on penalties as well,\u201d Fitzgibbon said in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen everyone\u2019s livelihoods are on the line and you\u2019re down 7-1\u2026 yeah, you\u2019d get frustrated but I shouldn\u2019t have done it, to be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitzgibbon\u2019s former teammate Bryan Fletcher said the blow up was very uncharacteristic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was very unlike Fitzy. He\u2019s usually very calm up there in the box,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know he\u2019s a black belt by the way so that screen\u2019s not coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Craig Fitzgibbon struck a monitor late in the Sharks\u2019 upset loss to the Eels.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

The loss ends the Sharks\u2019 top four hopes with Cronulla virtually guaranteed to finish the season fifth on the ladder.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an almighty cough up from the Sharks, who have lost three of their last four games to tumble out of the all-important top four. <\/p>\n

During the last month, Fitzgibbon has often been left frustrated by his side, who he thinks have had finals on their mind too prematurely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got out enthused and outperformed,\u201d Fitzgibbon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we\u2019re uptight\u2026 we\u2019re playing teams who have got nothing and we\u2019ve got everything on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to get it wrong, and it just creates an energy that we\u2019ve got to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be blunt, we\u2019re waiting for the semis, and we\u2019re not playing what\u2019s in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has been captured punching a computer monitor in stunning scenes during Cronulla\u2019s upset loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-873737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}