At some point this season, the Cronulla Sharks management are going to have to make a serious reassessment of the direction they want to take the club in.
Failing to secure ongoing and upcoming talent for future seasons will cripple a club that deserves as much recognition as the foundation clubs in the league.
Monday night football saw a dreadful performance from both the Gold Coast Titans and the Sharks.
Perhaps it couldn’t be helped, with several key Sharks injured: Todd Carney, Luke Lewis, Jeff Robson, and now the captain, Paul Gallen.
Compounding their injury woes was the appalling quality of the refereeing exhibited by Jared Maxwell.
How Gold Coast pivot Albert Kelly was allowed to score from a blatantly off-side intercept in one moment, and disallowed a try in another, while the video referee looked on in ignorance, beggars belief.
As is often said when mocking Manly coach Geoff Toovey: “There’s got to be an investigation into this!”
Speculating about short-term issues is not the biggest concern for Cronulla. What truly astounds the majority of most fans is the reticence shown by coaching and managerial staff in promoting and retaining junior and reserve-grade talent.
While he-who-shall-not-be-named is all but confirmed to leave for the Canterbury Bulldogs, media pundits are also speculating that the very same club may also snatch away promising rake Michael Lichaa.
It has been reported that a six-figure salary has been negotiated for a kid yet to make his NRL debut. This is infuriating for anyone who follows the Sharks, as one of their biggest flaws is the hooking department.
John Morris is ageing, while Isaac De Gois has failed to capture the form of previous seasons,offering little in attack – it was a lazy pass from De Gois which saw Kelly run away to be awarded that dubious try.
With star playmaker Carney injured, along with winger Beau Ryan, interim coach Peter Sharp had a chance to make a difference to the dour, predictable, grinding style of football that has become synonymous with the Sharks in recent years.
By being creative, Sharp could have moved Morris into the halves, allowing local hero Wade Graham to stay in the depleted forward pack.
Doing so would have allowed Lichaa to stake his claim on the No. 9 jersey, or in the very least, a bench utility role. Lichaa proved in the NSW Cup how dangerous he can be, netting himself three tries in his side’s victory on Saturday.
There were other options available too. Penani Manumalealii, along with Valentine Holmes and Nu Brown, are all exciting players who have shown their worth in the past 12 months.
They deserve an opportunity to prove themselves over incumbents who can only be bluntly described as past their use-by date.
The likes of Matt Prior and Daniel Holdsworth, hyped up by a recruitment team likely to be sweating bullets, failed spectacularly in the fiasco at Remondis Stadium on Monday night.
Prior showed why his services were no longer required at the Dragons, dropping the Steeden as if it were a hot potato on a number of occasions.
Holdsworth’s last play, in which he kicked the ball straight down the throat of the Titans squad, was frustratingly uncreative.
The fans deserve more, particularly the members helping keep the club afloat.
It didn’t escape a single Sharks fan last night that the 17 ran out with a kit that was all but bare. No front-of-jersey sponsor, no sleeve sponsor, and no back sponsor.
Members are rightly questioning what the Sharks Unity ticket are actually delivering, though Unity is an entirely different level of frustration in itself.
In the meantime, until our management and coaching staff make some changes – both in terms of player selection and retention – fans and on-field representatives of the Cronulla Sharks have very little to look forward to, in a season many have already dismissed after stumbling at the first hurdle.
Baz Zinga
Guest
That was the worst game of football I have seen in a long time. Both teams were clueless in attack, and there was little leadership shown by senior players from either team. Maybe it was poor coaching. And if Fifita is worth $700K, he should have stood up and dominated the game, especially after Gallen left the field - but he was average, at best. Referee Maxwell actually made a couple of very good calls early in the game, particularly when he called 'no-try' after he was the only person to spot a dropped ball over the line. But his 2nd half was terrible. Can anyone tell me why the 2nd ref was on the field? I can't recall him making any calls, and Maxwell did all the talking. It looked like he was there for 'work experience' only.
Sir Jamie Lyon
Guest
Maxwell has been ruining games for years. The refs are the reason fans are quickly leaving. The Nrl is a farce and a joke nowadays. All the other codes are laughing at us while the Nrl sits on its hands.
fishes
Guest
I am as butthurt as anyone that Fifita is leaving but seriously the only thing worse would have been paying 700,000 for a prop. Thats a massive loss in value and that's not how you build successful teams. Young guys go, Peachey should have been retained but that happens with many young players, for example we poached Wade Graham from the Panthers. The best thing that can happen or the Sharks is for the ASADA investigation to finish for better or worse this year (sooner rather later), so the club can deal with the damage and move on.
sportfreak
Guest
I do worry about their financial situation though. No jersey sponsors and a big fiancial loss in 2013. Do they make money when they get a crowd of 9000 at home?
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Sorry to be picky and there is a point to this, "local hero" Wade Graham is a Penrith junior that the previous management at Penrith, stupidly let go. In fact, he is an example of what you are saying, a talented junior let go by management with no idea (Penrith's in this case). Matt, you are too kind to the Cronulla management team and I don't mean the new management team, they can't be held responsible for the past recruitment policy. On Monday, there was not a single Cronulla junior on the field. Not one. By junior I mean somebody who has come through Sg Ball, Harold Matthews or U20's. I was surprised to learn that even Paul Gallen is a Parramatta junior. Now, juniors aren't the answer to everything, but no juniors??!! How expensive is it to build a team this way? How will the fans relate to a team with nobody from the Shire in it? I think it is not helpful to keep hammering the Sharks. They have new management, they are trying to fix things. Recruitment and retention is obviously one of them. It is easy to keep sticking the slipper in, but now they need to be given time to change things.
give it to him
Guest
Fair enough....doubt they were prepared to spend the next 2 years in reserves waiting for perceived better players to retire..don't want to sound like the angel of doom but I'm still waiting for Mick Gordon to show us what he had when at Penrith.
Milsy
Guest
did anyone notice how similar the 2 jersey colours were on Monday Night Football? an omen maybe, Gold Coast Sharks has a ring to it. :-)
Renegade
Guest
Townsend is still only young mate... as a halfback he would complement Carney really well just like Robson is at the moment. Disagree about Bukuya, he is one of the hardest running and hitting forwards going around. Peachey is going to be a star and like the other two are players that the Sharks developed!! Bukuya is 24 and Peachey is 20 or 21.... how much longer do you think the rest of the backrow will be around for? What's the solution when Gallen, Tupou, Lewis, Heighington all retire around the same time? Nah, I backed the the Titans to win that game and thought they would put on a score.... for a round 1 game, the attitude in defence was brilliant. Throw both the halves - Carney and Robson back in along with an all-star backrow in Gallen, Lewis, Tupou and Heighington. There's nothing to worry about on the field this year.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
No quarms with Townsend getting let go. But lichaa and Peachey losses are terrible. And Morris is a nice guy but they've been hanging in to him for 3yrs too long
give it to him
Guest
Sharks backrow Gallen Heighington Lewis... Graham A.Tupou Sopoaga T. on bench, where do you fit in Bukuya(doesn't have Heighos workload)Peachy a target for an online offence due to size,and Townsends been here for 3 years and done nothing..superstar of the future ?Hes not a first grader,Tuimavave will be there once he recovers from his nose..Like Fifita the club shouldn't be paying overs. I agree with your assessments of Robson and Morris and the continued sad state in the centres.Love to see Guru given a shot on one wing and Valentine Holmes on the other..but gee,unlike you that game did nothing for my confidence ..Titans were rubbish but still waltzed thru us pretty easy in the 2nd 1/2 and didn't really look like losing
josh
Guest
"By being creative, Sharp could have moved Morris into the halves, allowing local hero Wade Graham to stay in the depleted forward pack. Doing so would have allowed Lichaa to stake his claim on the No. 9 jersey, or in the very least, a bench utility role. Lichaa proved in the NSW Cup how dangerous he can be, netting himself three tries in his side’s victory on Saturday." You don't honestly think Peter Sharp is picking the team do you?
Renegade
Roar Guru
It was the worst game of the week however this article is a bit of an overeaction by labelling the result of a round 1 game as a "fiasco". Half the sides salary cap was on the bench mate!! The likes of Holdsworth and Prior as you mentioned in the article.... won't be playing in a full strength side. It was a second string side out there that were committed and showed great attitude in defence. You can tell a lot about a side based on their defensive attitude.... the 17 that ran out had every excuse to turn it in but stayed committed. On the field - there is no reason to worry, at full strength this side will be very hard to beat. Off the field - i agree. The recruitment and retention is woeful at Cronulla. There is a cronulla junior at just about every single club at the moment. How they let Bukuya, Peachey and Townsend go last year is disgraceful... these guys are superstars of the future yet the club resigned Robson, Morris, Heighington (off season) and recruited Prior and Holdsworth. These players have already peaked and may provide success within the next two years with the current squad but they are not long term solutions..... Bukuya, Peachey and Townsend should all be playing first grade at Cronulla this year. If Lichaa is somehow able to slip away as well... there needs to be serious questions asked!!
give it to him
Guest
Agree with most of this,both sides were victims of poor decisions,and poor coaching.
sportfreak
Guest
If the sharkies dusted $1.5 million last year- is there a risk this year that they'll lose a lot more this year? Didn't they just receive a $10 mil bail out from the development plus a $3.5 million loan refinance?
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
I agree the match was a very poor standard.