CRONULLA captain Paul Gallen has fired back at Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary following claims of diving at the weekend.

Cleary was critical of Gallen following Saturday’s game after the Tigers were robbed of a try by the NRL bunker ruling Gallen had been obstructed by Aaron Woods.

Replays showed Woods touched marker Gallen after the play-the-ball, and Gallen flopped to the ground. The bunker judged Woods had taken Gallen out of the defensive contest.

The Tigers lost to the Sharks by six points and plenty of people weren’t happy.

Round 19

Gallen took a serious crack at Cleary when interviewed by Channel Nine on Monday.

“Ivan’s got a fair bit to worry about — his team had more than 50 per cent possession, won a 7-2 penalty count, playing against a side that had 60 per cent completion rate and still didn’t get a win,” Gallen said.

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Paul Gallen of the Sharks. Source: AAP

“He should probably worry about his own backyard before he worries about me.”

Gallen vehemently denied the claims he had milked the penalty and robbed Tigers of four points.

“Unfortunately people who want to say that obviously don’t know the game,” he said.

“I’ll say it’s acting, I’ll say it’s a dive, when someone shows me evidence I’m not being grabbed by Aaron Woods. It’s a simple game, you can’t interfere with a defending player.

“It was a penalty on Saturday night and unfortunately for Tigers fans and players it will be a penalty every time it happens again.

“Woodsy for some reason grabbed my jersey. You should be asking him why he grabbed my jersey, there was no need to grab my jersey.

Ben Ikin, Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover look ahead to a painful Wests Tigers rebuild as the club prepares to lose its three biggest names.

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“There was nothing involved in the tackle that would warrant him coming out and doing that but unfortunately he did and let the Tigers down.”

Gallen also took the opportunity to hit back at league legend Bryan Fletcher who last week said the veteran forward was “selfish” for putting his hand up to represent NSW City.

Fletcher said Gallen had potentially stolen the representative jumper off a younger player.

“That’s particularly disappointing — he’s obviously got a big platform now being on TV, but being a former player he should know how hard the game is and probably not be so critical, particularly something so personal,” Gallen said.

“He can judge me on the field, judge me by performances that’s fine, but calling me selfish is having a crack at me personally.”

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MOYLAN ‘UNLIKELY’ FOR NSW No.6 JUMPER

NSW selector Peter Sterling has revealed Matt Moylan is “unlikely” to wear the No.6 jumper for this year’s Origin series.

Moylan slotted in to five-eighth for the Blues last year but with more fit halves in form for the state this time around, it appears other players will be favoured for the position.

James Tedesco is also likely to fill the fullback role which begs the question where Moylan fits into the team.

“It’s unlikely,” Sterling said on Triple M’s Dead Set Legends when asked if Moylan could play five-eighth.

“I sat down with Laurie a month ago and we put together a list of what we thought was the side, and it’s changed a lot over the last four weeks.

“And it will probably change a lot over the next four weeks.

“The one thing I have found is that you can’t get too excited too early because it can change on a daily basis.”

WHAT LOZ GETS OUT OF CITY-COUNTRY

The last City-Country game will be played this week, and opinion remains divided on the representative fixture.

With a host of players unavailable and both teams fielding generally weak line-ups, the relevance of the game has again been called into question.

And while Laurie Daley admits he hasn’t used City-Country as a genuine Origin trial for a number of years, he says he still gets some benefit out of it.

“You try to pick those young up and coming players to give them an opportunity to play with a better class of player,” Daley told NRL 360.

“And also see how they interact with a group and see how they react to the fundamental processes of a rep structure rather than a club structure and see whether they can fit in.

“Some players don’t, some players can. It’s always good to get feedback from the other coaches how they handled it ... how was there preparation, what were they like in camp, were they a good bloke?

“It’s always good to have that insight on a player.”

HAYNE’S BEST ORIGIN POSITION

Jarryd Hayne is closing in on a return to State of Origin with some good form just two weeks back from an injury lay-off.

Former teammate Nathan Hindmarsh says Hayne has to be in Laurie Daley’s NSW side, but exactly what position he’ll play is yet to be seen.

Hindmarsh wasn’t a fan of Gold Coast’s decision to play Hayne in the centres at the weekend.

“I wans’t too sure about that, I really wasn’t, because he needs to get his hands on the ball,” Hindmarsh told NRL Tonight.

“Whether that’s a fitness thing ... with a few more weeks back he’ll regain his fitness.

“If it was to be Origin I wouldn’t put him in the centres. For someone like Hayne he needs to have his hands on the ball more than what he would at centre.

“Maybe on the wing where he can roam a bit, or fullback, or even in the halves, but he has to be in the side.

“He could play anywhere, and if his fitness was right you could stick him in the backrow, but unfortunately for Hayne he’s got lungs like a little pigeon.”

JT’S CHANCES OF ANZAC TEST

Johnathan Thurston is racing the clock to recover from a calf injury and line up for Australia in Friday’s Anzac Test.

Fox Sports’ chief NRL reporter James Hooper believes the champion playmaker will get up for the international in Canberra, which is also Cameron Smith’s 50th Test.

“(Thurston) did run earlier today and he made it clear that he’s absolutely going to put the team first,” Hooper told NRL Tonight.

“With another week, and given what it means to him to represent the green and gold and play alongside his great friend Cameron Smith in a milestone match ... I think he is going to be OK and Thurston will play.”