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IVAN CLEARY: Success for 'new' Sharks team is no accident

26th July, 2016
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The Sharks and Raiders line up for Round 2. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Expert
26th July, 2016
26
1445 Reads

The Sharks may have been facing a Newcastle side on ‘one of those days’ on Sunday, but their 15-week winning streak is remarkable. It shows just how a club can get a season, and a roster, perfectly right.

I’m thinking back to a couple of weeks ago, when they were missing Wade Graham, Paul Gallen, Andrew Fifita and James Maloney, against the Penrith Panthers. They didn’t have their Origin players, but gee they were impressive that day. 

When other teams in the competition have five players out for any reason, key players at that, the attack can get clunky. 

The Sharks’ side playing that day looked like they’d been playing together all year. Whatever the style that they’ve put together is, they’re currently doing it on automatic. That’s a great sign.

There are a number of reasons they’ve been so successful, but they way they’ve grown the roster is impressive. Cronulla have had a decent team for the past few seasons, but each year they’ve made targeted purchases in crucial positions. They’ve rotated their group, and improved their squad which is an important part in continually building.

Mick Ennis was a big one. Getting a better and more mature Chad Townsend back after a couple of years from the Warriors was a good buy. James Maloney’s success at every club he’s been to speaks for itself.

I coached James when he was first breaking into first grade at the Warriors. Behind a number of excellent players at the Storm in 2009, we signed him at the Warriors in 2010. He had been a great reserve grade player, and won a couple of comps. He’d been around but hadn’t got a crack.

With James playing more than just a supporting role, we made the semis both years he was at the club, and the grand final in 2011.
 
He’s exactly as he looks – a relaxed and unassuming guy off the field (if not slightly annoying), but competes exceptionally hard on it. It’s no surprise that wherever he’s gone the club’s gone well; the Roosters and the Sharks also being great examples.

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Ben Barba probably wasn’t exactly what the Sharks were looking for when they first signed him, but he’s now playing his best football. That’s a huge bonus, and means the balance of their roster is now perfect.

A good cross-section of older guys mixed with young, fast backs is an ideal mix judging by the way they’re going on the field.

Well-documented setbacks for the entire club may have hardened up the organisation. There’s no doubt it’s made the club run better, and the Sharks have everything functioning at the front and back of its house. They had a packed crowd on the weekend when they were playing the bottom-of-the-ladder Knights.

Much praise goes to the coach when a team goes well, and the Sharks’ boss certainly deserves plenty. I worked with Shane when I first got into coaching at the Roosters. He coached the undefeated under 20s of 2004, and stayed under Ricky Stuart at the Sharks until he got his chance as a head coach. 

It’s clear that not only can he coach, but he has also shown his skill in roster building over his tenure in the Shire.

This roster has been evolving for the past five years. Paul Gallen and a few other are still there, but Flanno has rotated the squad, adding couple of players each year, to tailor it get to the team he wants. 

If you look at the likes of Gerard Beale, Sosaia Feki, Ben Barba, James Maloney, Jack Bird, Valentine Holmes; none of them have been there more than a few years
and after a long and successful NRL career Mick Ennis is playing his best football right now. Paul Gallen is getting close to the end, and Luke Lewis and other guys mightn’t have lots of years left, but this side should be a premiership chance again in the coming years.

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Depending on who they can replace those kinds of guys with, the Sharks could be setting themselves up for three years at the top.

They’ve given themselves every chance.

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