Cronulla have angrily denied accusations by North Queensland's Gavin Cooper that they used "dirty tactics" and twisted Matt Scott's knee in his NRL comeback match.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was furious that back-rower Cooper claimed the referees missed several incidents during the Cowboys' 20-14 win over Cronulla last Friday night in what was Scott's first game back from a serious knee injury.
"I just went and watched every single carry of Matt Scott and there's not one bit of evidence to support whatever he is saying," Flanagan told NRL.com.
"Just show me one. If he's going to say something like that he needs to show me one.
"You need to make sure you have evidence to back it up if you're saying something like that.
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"Our players would never do that."
Cooper made the bold call on Monday when asked how Scott had backed up from his first NRL game since round two of 2017.
"I think there was a few little dirty tactics, a couple of guys twisting his leg and stuff like that that the refs missed," he said.
"There was a couple of things I saw that the refs missed.
"(It's) pretty disappointing after what he's been through.
"Hopefully we stamp that out of the game."
After being told about Cooper's claims by reporters on Monday, Scott preferred to leave it on the field.
"No, not targeted too much," he said.
"Any time you come back from a long term injury, you expect to get it tested out a little bit.
"I'll leave that on the field, you can have a look at the video."
Scott ran 94m and made 16 tackles in the win .
Scott said his knee had pulled up well ahead of Friday night's clash with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.
"I feel really good, a few aches and pains but nothing unusual - the body pulled through really well," he said.
