Souths coach Michael Maguire insisted he does not instruct his team to "dive" after second-rower Glenn Stewart admitted to doing it in last Monday night's loss to deny North Queensland a try.
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Stewart fell after he collided with Cowboys forward Ethan Lowe just as Michael Morgan crossed for a try on the half-time siren. His admission that he dived to draw the obstruction ruling was widely criticised.
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson was at the vanguard, saying the NRL must clamp down on it because the fact rugby league players don't dive separated it from other sports.
Maguire defended his team when the issue was raised ahead of Monday's match against Cronulla.
"We don't do that," said Maguire on the Souths website. "I mean, a 40-year-old player [Stewart is 31] managed to try and get back and make a tackle and got caught out there but we got lucky.
"It's not something we talk about, it's just a moment in the game there that I guess we look back on and have a laugh at the old boy.
"It's never been a part of what we do and it never will be. I guess at that moment of time when [Stewart] was trying to get back, one of the young pups were running through there, he tried his best and didn't quite make it. We spoke about it and there's nothing in that."
Maguire said the heavy loss to the Cowboys at ANZ Stadium exposed a number of areas the defending premiers needed to rectify against the Sharks.
"We've been playing some good footy at times and some footy that we need to improve," Maguire said. "There's times in games where we probably haven't been at our best, so for us it's about every moment in our game."
