In the second blunder this week for the club, coach Shane Flanagan has been unable to name the fullback for the Cronulla Sharks.
The incident follows on from Peter Beattie’s earlier gaffe, where the new commissioner failed to identify the club mascot despite Phil Gould leading him like a corrupt prosecutor.
When quizzed on whether the team from the Sutherland Shire was the “Cronulla Hawks, the Cronulla Seagulls or the Cronulla Sharks”, the former Premier replied, “I wouldn’t have a bloody clue”.
The indolent answer from Beattie angered rusted-on fans and immediately spiked his suitability as a rugby league administrator.
Flanagan was posed an equally self-answerable question this week after addressing his stark oversupply of fullbacks with another fullback who isn’t a fullback.
After earmarking Valentine Holmes for the role and then switching for Josh Dugan before ordering Matt Moylan to fumble kicks, the 2016 premiership coach was canvassed on who actually wears the number one jersey.
(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)
Clearly stumped by the multiple choice question he initially had three months to answer, Flanagan tugged his collar before uneasily replying with, “It’s a fullback of some kind”.
He then attempted to laugh off the vague answer before apologising for being “too busy thinking about the Commonwealth Games”.
Flanagan’s snafu is reminiscent of rugby league’s other bureaucratic bungles, such as the ‘Benji Barba’ incident and the time the back shed was left unattended to Stephen Dank.
While it is unclear if the Sharks coach suffers from a hoarding disorder or Alzheimer’s, his inability to select from a pool of thousands has been met with outrage from the game’s most important stakeholders, those being Supercoach entrants and gamblers.
Fans are indignant too, voicing their displeasure online at another “out of touch” official who either has no feel for the game or has smoked a lot of pot in his formative years.
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In response to concerns the club’s indistinguishable brand and surfeit of interchangeable personnel could also lead to accusations he is forming some kind of socialist organisation under the guise of a football team, thus framing himself as post-modern revolutionary and drawing unneeded attention to the club when he should be settling on a fullback, Flanagan replied, “Yeah, probs”.
But like most matters faced by rugby league administrators, his decision on the matter will be dictated by cash.
As a result, Flanagan plans to “do what’s best for the team” and grant Holmes the gig because he wants fullback money, or Dugan because he is already receiving it.
But if the excess cannot be resolved, the NRL has promised to engage their standard Cronulla Resolution Strategy, which is to either ignore it or move it somewhere else.
Nostradufus
Guest
The answer here is quite simple.Valentine must choose between worst nrl fullback money or best nrl winger money; You will find the money is about the same..., As for flanno, well he has much bigger problem to sort in the halves. He didn't want pay Maloney his real worth, but forgot that no one of Maloneys capabilities was available to replace him. Maloney was being shafted big time by Flanno simply refusing to upgrade him to his real market value. Didn't Flanno realise that each unnecessary penalty Maloney gave away in 2017 was a dog whistle,.. What more could he do to get Flanno's attention, not to say Maloney was sabotaging the Sharks, intentionally, rather that he had lost respect and played recklessly in defence. Silly old flanno, didn't he realise that if a 5/8 as good as Maloney was available He woud cost what Maloney was asking anyway?.... To make matters worse make matters worse he thought he could cover the 5/8 situation by buying
Jeff Cook
Guest
Sublime
Rob
Guest
The question actually has a twist to it because the selected fullback Valentine Holmes played winger wore No 1 and the selected Centre Josh Dugan who played fullback wore No.4 or 3 the usual centre position numbers. If Shane made a hash of that what would the Chairperson Peter made of it.
Beavis
Guest
Dane/Dave/Des Your stuff is always great - a lot errors occur in sport esp RL or are lost in translation eg today the Sydney Herald had a front page headline inside "league is a brutal and primal game that fascinates extremely smart people" - You turn to the article in excited anticipation only to find the smart people are Laurie Daley and Gus Gould - no mention of Blocker Roach or Brad Fittler. The article was about Beattie the politician who is ill fitted to RL Chairman (according to the author) - is there a misleading advertising regulatory body for newspapers?
Dodgy dragons
Guest
Having 6 fullbacks to choose from works really well for NSW...., maybe Flanno is following that master plan.
JVGO
Guest
Hopefully the NRL remembers to include the Cronulla Hawks in next years comp and we don't end up with 15 teams. Anyway it's possible that the real Cronulla Seagulls team will show up next week. After that performance I am actually embarrassed to call myself a lifelong Dolphins fan. Gavin Ettinghausen must be turning in his grave. Still the premiership in 2014 is something I will never forget. What a wonderful morning at the SCG that was. Up Up Forever.
kk
Guest
Noticed you have moved from wing to centre. Do centres get paid more than wingers? Grant inflicted the biggest administrative get even in Rugby League history when he steered Prince Bozo (Ping Pong Clown with teeth) to chair the ARLC. The laughter will be expensive. When Badger awarded the match sealer on Thursday night the TV cameras caught the early exit of a forlorn Flanagan dragging his body on legs shaped in parenthesis from battles past. Sharkcount has reported that there are now five thousand cruising on our eastern seaboard. Shane may be well advised to have a word with them to get some stamina and bite back. Failing that, Shane could try politics. That is pantomime compared to Rugby League.
Paul
Roar Guru
or maybe ET if Peachey's busy
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Peachey, I do declare.