CRONULLA fans would be excused for spending a lot of time in the foetal position these days. The most passionate among them must be emotional wrecks by now, having dealt with the heartbreak of so many narrow losses this season. The 29-28 loss to Wests Tigers at Toyota Park was just the latest instalment.

The Sharks had their chance to win in the shadow of the posts. Winger Luke Covell could have put them in front 30-28, but he missed a conversion attempt from out wide. After that it was field-goal lottery time and the Tigers drew the winning ticket, even if it was tattered around the edges when you consider how wobbly a shot it was from hooker Robbie Farah that went over. But hey, that's all they have to do.

Cronulla are great in defence, but they don't score a lot of points. That's a recipe for close games if ever there was one, and the Sharks cook it up a treat almost every week. But they don't win nearly enough of the tight ones and that's why, despite their good points differential for a team outside the top eight, they won't be required for the finals.

If the Sharks are going to win more games next season they must develop more edge in attack, because defending well isn't enough on its own.

Cronulla were in a great position at half-time, although their 18-4 lead was misleading. It had been much more competitive than that, but, no matter how you get to a 14-point lead, you should play a lot smarter than the Sharks did from in front.

Instead, they made several big mistakes, lost control of the play-the-ball area and the Tigers scored 24 unanswered points to lead 28-18.

Farah starred, as he always does when he is allowed some latitude out of dummy half. He's too clever not to make time and space count. The Tigers were achieving quick play-the-balls and speeding out of dummy half and it wasn't until Cronulla had gone from 14 points up to 10 points down that the Sharks were finally able to put the brakes on the Tigers' play-the-balls again.

Then the game swung back Cronulla's way, providing compelling evidence that, while it hurts any team, if you can stop the Tigers from getting a roll-on out of dummy half, it hurts them more than most. But, when it got down to getting into position to win the game with a field goal, the Tigers did it better.

Talking about close finishes, the Warriors blew a glorious opportunity to grab a top-four spot with just two rounds left when they couldn't protect a 10-point lead in the second half against Canberra and the Raiders went on to win 26-24. The Warriors have a shocking record at Canberra Stadium, so they should have been more aware of the need to maintain intensity until the end.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary tried to play down the loss, saying he didn't think it would do much to stop the momentum his team had built with a string of recent wins, but if he wasn't angry about the damage the loss did to his team's chances of a home game in the first week of finals, then nothing can upset him.

North Queensland kept their top-four hopes on the boil with a 24-14 win over St George Illawarra at Dairy Farmers Stadium. The big plus for the Cowboys was the return from injury of the NRL's oldest player, Jason Smith. The wily 35-year-old will take some pressure off the team's chief playmaker, Johnathan Thurston, in the big games. That's why the Cowboys bought Smith, after all.