Warriors coach Stephen Kearney took one final swipe at the Denver Test before turning his attention to an NRL campaign reaching a critical juncture.
The Auckland outfit slipped outside the top four for the first time this season with Friday's 18-15 loss to the Sharks, continuing a poor run of results at Mt Smart Stadium.
Serious-looking injuries to forwards Bunty Afoa and Tohu Harris added salt in the wound for Kearney's men, who face a tough run of games in July.
Not helping the coach's mood was the impact of the controversial Test in Colorado last weekend in which Issac Luke, Peta Hiku and Ken Maumalo all represented New Zealand against England.
Kearney rested in-form winger Maumalo but chose to field Hiku in place of the injured winger David Fusitu'a.
He also felt obliged to field veteran hooker Luke, who found the energy for an 80-minute shift and looked like he had scored the winning try in the dying minutes before it was disallowed for offside.
"It's not ideal to go through what they've gone through," Kearney said of the Kiwis players, who arrived back in Auckland on Wednesday.
"But we've got a stadium of people that we're trying to look after too. We want to do the right thing by the footy team and by them."
Kearney said he'd counted five other coaches publicly calling for the end of long-haul mid-season Tests and said it was clear what stress it had placed on the players involved.
Despite falling narrowly short in a frenetic finish, the Warriors were largely outplayed by Cronulla.
Kearney was pleased his side stayed in the contest against quality opposition but says they'll need more next week away to Penrith.
They'll welcome the return of suspended forward Adam Blair but will be without Afoa, who is expected to be sidelined for six weeks with a dislocated elbow.
Harris was on crutches after fulltime but told AAP he was unsure about the severity of his knee injury.
He went down in innocuous circumstances in the closing minutes, feeling the left knee give way when walking back into position.
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