Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan says it is unacceptable that Sharks forward Andrew Fifita became the victim of an alleged racist post from a Brisbane pub earlier this month.
But he's not concerned the NSW State of Origin forward's takedown of the venue will affect his NRL performance against Sydney Roosters on Saturday.
Fifita took aim at the Kallangur Tavern on Instagram on Thursday night, posting a screenshot of what he claimed to be a racial slur against his family.
The now-deleted post from the venue named a Blues supporter as best dressed for last week's Origin match, while it suggested a black doll on the patron's back was Andrew Fifita's daughter.
"It is crazy," Flanagan said.
"These things we need to deal with but it's not acceptable in my books."
It's understood Fifita was first alerted to the post last Thursday and had lawyers speak to the venue.
It's also believed he spoke with high-profile Indigenous NRL players about the image and caption, before he let his feelings known via Instagram, threatening a personal visit.
"This is f***ed ... I'm all for shaming me but when you involve my Family it's personal now," Fifita posted.
"I will be in Brisbane soon and I will be going past your pub to see you personally."
Flanagan conceded on Friday that perhaps Fifita's response could have been handled better, but believed the Sharks prop was well within his rights to make the response he did.
"That's a tough one," Flanagan said.
"With experience you could probably do it a bit better ... But you've got to put yourself in Andrew's position as well.
"If they were saying it about your children or my children how do you react?"
But given Fifita has known about the post for more than a week, Flanagan said his response hadn't appeared to distract him in the team's last training session ahead of Saturday's blockbuster clash.
"He trained well today," Flanagan said.
"We didn't bring that into it, it wasn't discussed too much."
Meanwhile a statement was released through the pub's Facebook last Thursday, which apologised for the post.
"Kallangur Tavern apologises for any offense (sic) a recent post has caused which was deleted promptly," it read.
"It was an error in judgement by a staff member, whom is deeply regretful and repentant for the post made.
"In no way is it the view of the patron portrayed, nor the hotel, its management nor staff."
