Dugan hits out at Cowboys fans over young Shark's injury

Josh Dugan has fired the latest shot in Cronulla's feud with the Cowboys, slamming fans for their treatment of injured winger Sione Katoa.

The Sharks confirmed on Sunday that the rookie winger will be sidelined for up to 10 weeks, after he required surgery on a jaw that was broken in two places in Friday night's loss to North Queensland.

As Katoa was receiving treatment on the field, the home crowd booed the youngster, frustrated that game was being held up.

"I didn't like the way things were handled by the crowd," Dugan told NRL.com on Tuesday.

"They were booing him, trying to hurry him up.

"I'm all for passion and stuff like that but when a 20-year-old kid has a broken jaw and he's getting booed I think it's something that should be frowned upon."

Dugan's comments come 24 hours after Cowboys back rower Gavin Cooper sparked a war of words with the Sharks by claiming they had targeted Matt Scott's surgically repaired knee with 'dirty tactics'.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was furious that Cooper claimed the referees missed several incidents 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.

"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."

with AAP