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The crisis in the Shire has reached a crescendo. The club that entered the competition in 1967 is on the brink of extinction.
What the Sharks desperately need to do is to turn the poor results around. The only person who provides any real hope of that happening is the man they call ‘Gal’, their talismanic but flawed captain.
Runners up three times, the Sharks have never won a title and at this rate they never will.
They are embroiled in a peptide scandal that has massively damaged the Sharks brand. It has been dragged out so long by ASADA that NRL Chief Operating Officer Jim Doyle has called the agencies handling of the matter “completely unacceptable”. Right now no company is prepared to sponsor them.
Although a stirring victory against the Broncos last Friday provided a glimmer of hope, they are one of three sides likely to claim the 2014 wooden spoon, having won only 3 of their 14 games this season. Recently they became the first team ever to be held scoreless in three consecutive games.
Given all this, the Todd Carney photo scandal and his consequent sacking was the last thing the loyal Sharkies fans needed.
The Shire is a great place and the locals love it. Like Penrith, Shark Park also has a real community feel. It is upsetting to think that is at risk. But peptides and poor results are sending the side into a tailspin it might not pull out of. It is difficult to see any players of note wanting to join a club without a sponsor or a coach, and with such deep woes as well.
Last week Paul Gallen effectively took the rudder at the Sharks when he claimed that interim coach Peter Sharp wasn’t putting in 100 per cent and it meant that the players weren’t either. Unsurprisingly, on Tuesday Sharp quit.
Gallen has in effect confirmed himself as the spiritual leader and general of the Sharks. Much like Brigadier Potts on the Kokoda trail, he must orchestrate a fighting withdrawal that keeps the superior opposition from overwhelming his troops, while buying precious time to sort out the club issues, attract sponsorship and recruit talent.
However, Gallen is no strategist. There is no subtext to the man. He is a warrior, plain and simple.
And he is certainly no saint.
In recent years Gallen’s superb on-field performances and improved behaviour have begun to obscure his history of thuggish behaviour, but almost from the moment he debuted in 2001 he was gaining infamy. It is only in the last three seasons that he has stopped being consistently in the top five players for conceding penalties.
Gallen’s career is littered with incidents ranging from misdemeanors to the reprehensible.
Paul Gallen IS King Leonidas
2003
Sent off for a head-high tackle on Newcastle’s Sean Rudder.
2004
Suspended for two weeks after the judiciary found him guilty of instigating a fight with Wests Tigers’ John Skandalis.
2007
In Game 3 of the State of Origin series hit Tonie Carroll high in a tackle and then proceeded to start a brawl. Commented afterwards that the fight was “good for the game”.
Head-butted Roosters’ player Shane Shackleton.
Reported for a head high tackle on Ben Creagh.
Fight with teammate Reece Williams.
2008
Suspended for trying to rip the stitches out of Anthony Laffranchi’s head wound.
Accused of grabbing testicles of Gold Coast player Josh Graham.
Slapped the head of Eels prop Josh Cordoba while he was lying unconscious on the ground.
2009
Racially abused Mickey Paea.
Issued a with a criminal infringement notice for urinating in public, near the head of a drunken friend.
This last incident took place only a few months after Todd Carney’s first sacking for allegedly urinating on someone at a bar in Canberra.
Following the Laffranchi stitches incident, Paul Sheehan commented in the Sydney Morning Herald, “Why on Earth would responsible parents allow their sons to play rugby league when players can breach the criminal law with impunity? Paul Gallen is a grub. A goon. Even by the cynical standards of rugby league.”
However, in spite of all this, Gallen has managed 18 games for NSW, whom he captains, and 31 appearances for the Kangaroos. Why? Because even in a tough game like rugby league, Gallen is exceptionally hard, determined and uncompromising.
This is evidenced by a comment he once made, “Do whatever it takes to win. That’s what I’ve always done. I’m never going to stop doing that.”
This ethos was highlighted during the first State of Origin match in 2013. Nate Myles had been indulging in a lot of rough and cynical play that was unsettling NSW and Gallen, at the first provocation, hit Myles with a flurry of solid blows. The incident caused an outcry and condemnation that led to a rule change mandating the sin bin for fighting.
However, history records that NSW triumphed that night. Gallen had done what he saw it took to win.
Now in the twilight of his career, he has finally led his beloved NSW to a series victory.
Gallen has given his playing life to the Sharks. He almost left in 2006 to join a club with premiership form but, like club legend Andrew Ettingshausen before him, ended up staying and most probably forsaking that dream.
The problem Gallen has at the Sharks is that he does not have the troops to help him turn the results around. The draw ahead includes trips to Penrith, New Zealand, Melbourne, North Queensland and a potential drubbing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters this weekend that the Sharks can ill afford. Gallen will miss the clash against the Roosters through Origin duty.
He turns 33 in August but his statistics are as good as at any time in his career. Last Friday night he was a behemoth against the Broncos, making 25 runs for 236 metres, 6 tackle breaks, 3 offloads, 1 line break and 41 tackles, while playing all 80 minutes. This herculean player has the ability to turn the tide of poor results almost by himself.
However, the Cronulla team statistics read like a football death sentence:
Second worst for line breaks.
Worst for run metres made.
Second worst for tackle breaks.
Worst for tries scored.
second worst run metres conceded.
Fourth worst for tries conceded.
The Sharks are very poor in defence and miserable in attack. With the sacking of Todd Carney they have lost over a third of their try assists and a quarter of their line break assists, and he had missed five matches through injury this season.
To make the finals the Sharks can afford to drop a maximum of two of their remaining ten games. That’s a tall order indeed for a team full of too many has-beens and never-weres that are also prone to injury.
Only two Sharks, Wade Graham and Michael Gordon, have played all 14 games this season. In the last two seasons Gallen himself has only managed to play 19 of a possible 40 matches due to rep commitments and injury. His body may continue to betray him. In reality, the best the Sharks can probably do is avoid the spoon.
But don’t count out the Sharks while Paul Gallen still draws breath. In the image of the Spartan King Leonidas and his 300 defending the Hells Gates against the massive Persian army, there is no question that Paul Gallen is a supreme warrior who will not take a backward step in the fight to save his beloved Sharkies.
And he’ll be doing it by any means necessary.