Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has apologised for his epic rant following Cronulla’s golden-point loss to North Queensland in the first week of the finals.

The mentor produced what looked like a laundry list of the calls he believed went against his side and proceeded to explain every one.

Flanagan’s spray at the referees resulted in a $30,000 fine, and , along with Manly coach Trent Barrett who was fined $20,000 for the same offence, prompted NRL boss Todd Greenberg to issue a statement calling for everybody involved in the game to “grow-up” and stop blaming the adjudicators.

Just over a week later, it seems Flanagan has cooled down and issued an apology in an open letter to members following a season review with all players and coaches.

“We all know what happened after the loss to the Cowboys,” he wrote. “In the post-match press conference, I was asked about the performance of the match officials.

“I owe you an apology. I owe the game an apology. I’m sorry for the way I reacted.

“I’m writing this note to you because I reckon if you support this great club, you’d know the type of person I am.

“If I believe in something, I very rarely keep that belief secret. My answers in that press conference were born out of honesty and the disappointment of a shattered dressing room.”

Flanagan said he would learn from his errors and focus all his energy into helping the Sharks to a second premiership in 2018.

“What I need to do is learn from my mistake to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “That’s intersting that line actually, 'learn, so it doesn’t happen again'.

“That sentiment will be critical for our club in 2018. We need to be smarter and more disciplined than ever before.

“We need to respond. That means me, my staff, our players, our board, our administration and hopefully you.”