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Just two years after being on the brink of collapse, Cronulla are on the verge of becoming Sydney’s NRL super club after being granted approval for a $300 million redevelopment of the club’s land.
Cronulla chairman Damien Irvine said speculation over the Sharks’ future was a thing of the past after the NSW government gave the green light to the proposal – which will include retail and residential developments adjacent to the Sharks Leagues club – and which will prop up the club over the long-term.
No longer will they have to rely on ever-decreasing leagues club grants powered by poker machine revenue – a scenario which has left many of their Sydney rivals scratching their heads as they contemplate their survival.
“It’s massive,” Irvine told AAP.
“Just getting that security for a club that has never had genuine financial security or validity.
“There’s always been questions asked every time we have a bad few years – ‘will it survive, won’t it survive’.
“Once and for all it totally removes that from the equation.
“It gives us a great revenue stream outside of those traditional models which other Sydney clubs are battling with and we have battled with.
“The whole character of the club has changed from this decision today.”
The immediate benefit will be an injection of funds to pay off a $10 million bank loan – the same loan which almost destroyed the club two years ago when it was unable to service the repayments.
When sponsors also started deserting them on the back of bad publicity over a series of off-field incidents, the future looked bleak.
Irvine said the approval of the development application was the last step in a three-year plan he helped set up when he took over the club midway through 2009 – a remarkable accomplishment given some of the dark days the Sharks had to endure in the process.
“It’s something that going through it you don’t know, but you look back at some of the situations we were in and the work we had to do, (it was) real dark,” Irvine said.
“In hindsight you can appreciate how close were were to maybe not having a club.”
The first sod on the development – which will include refurbishments for Toyota Stadium – will not be turned for at least 10-12 months.
But while this is by far the biggest sign of change for the club – Irvine said it was the culmination of smaller developments on and off the field.
On the field they are once again a premiership force, an off-season recruitment drive netted Todd Carney, Isaac de Gois, Andrew Fifita, Bryce Gibbs and the unheralded Jeff Robson proving effective.
The notion the club struggled to attract top-line talent was further dispelled when they signed Australian Test backrower Luke Lewis for 2013 while also luring former NSW Origin player Michael Gordon.
“The positive changes have been going for two years,” Irvine said.
“It means players can come in with confidence with where we’re at.”
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