By his own admissions, Ivan Cleary isn't one to get frustrated.
But that's exactly what the Head Coach said was the overriding emotion after surrendering a number of match-winning leads to the Parramatta Eels in an eventual 24-22 defeat at ANZ Stadium tonight.
Press Conference: NRL Round 8
While still pleased with the steps forward his side were taking after their impressive start to the season, there was no hiding the annoyance from Cleary about the chance that had gone begging for his side to potentially move as high as second on the Telstra Premiership ladder after a third of the season.
"That's 100 percent a game that got away," Cleary said. "It was just a frustrating game to watch.
"I don't normally get that frustrated but tonight was frustrating.
"We just didn't get any rhythm for the whole game. Any time we'd get some ascendency, we'd just give it straight back with an error or a penalty or something and it just went like that the whole game.
"And then the clock ran out.
"I just think we lost that game," he said.
"In periods of really good play — in attack or defence — we had some really good moments but we just couldn't put it together. You just invite the opposition in if you do that.
"The pattern just continued for the whole game, so that was the most disappointing thing."
See what Coach Ivan Cleary and co-captain Chris Lawrence had to say about tonight's game above.
