Cronulla Sharks’s compelling NRL season follows club’s year of utter turmoil

IN their increasingly compelling season, Cronulla Sharks should have no regrets about their decision to take a plea on their doping bans, writes Richard Hinds

Cronulla’s season is even more surprising given where the club was not so long ago.

WHEN you think of Cronulla and sliding doors now you think of the defences the wonderfully athletic Valentine Holmes is tumbling through. Open and shut before opposition defences can lay a paw on him.

But as the Sharks’ increasingly compelling season reaches another moment of truth on Monday night, consider another sliding door. The one through which they were pushed kicking and screaming.

The decision to accept doping bans was inflicted on the Sharks, not accepted by them. In some cases it still isn’t. But as they attempt to consolidate top spot against the Cowboys, it is more obvious than ever the Sharks were saved from themselves.

Cronulla’s season is even more surprising given where the club was not so long ago.

The comparison with the AFL club that suffered its own Dank days, Essendon, is obvious. The timeserving Bombers sit on the bottom of the ladder. The only consolation for the ritual weekly beatings is that they have re-signed most of their banned players, will probably get the No. 1 draft pick and, under new coach John Worsfold, can start from a position of reasonable strength next season.

Meanwhile Cronulla have built strong foundations on scorched earth. Wherever the blame belongs for their sorry predicament, the rapid renaissance has been stunning.

Coach Shane Flanagan remains an enigmatic figure. The stern public mask has not dropped. But the mantra uttered constantly in the darkest days by his staunchest allies stands vindicated — the bloke can coach.

As we observed recently, Paul Gallen feared the doping ban would taint his reputation forever. That he would only be remembered as a “drug cheat’’. But his final Origin campaign and now the Sharks title tilt is providing opportunities to alter perceptions.

Flanagan has a similar opportunity for reputational renovation. When he turned up for a Cronulla game in contravention of his ban, it was cast as an act of bloody-minded defiance. Some will forever harbour that view. But others might now consider Flanagan’s refusal to let go of the reins the instincts of a coach whose obsession with winning over-rode his better judgment.

The Shark’s recent history means, for some, there will be nothing cute and fuzzy about their story should they win the title. Nothing to rival the sentimental tale of the universally adored Leicester City.

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan remains a public enigma.

But the more you watch the Sharks, the more there is to like. They even enjoy watching each other. The prolific Holmes is as effusive about the talents of his chief provider Jack Bird as any match day reporter.

“I just love watching him play and let him do what he’s doing,’’ said Holmes after the pair had combined for yet another try on Monday night.

Holmes and Bird are the shirt of youth. Meanwhile a club where dreams have so often been dashed, or which provided a lucrative final contract for washed up journeymen, could now write the ‘’happily ever after’’ for some respected veterans.

At times the pugnacious Michael Ennis has made been so friendless he made Eleanor Rigby look like Taylor Swift. But in the unexpected twilight, more people have gotten to know and like the player who is far more than just a menace. The intelligent and driven character who, you suspect, has been influential in the Sharks’ rise.

Luke’s Lewis’s monstrous tackle on Matt Moylan in the closing moments of the Sharks’ victory over Penrith in April was the ultimate exclamation mark. A man once destined to be a Panther for life affirming his new allegiance and exorcising a few demons in the one bellringing moment.

Some see old age. The Gummy Sharks. But the results tell you the Sharks have the kind of experience and self-belief required to win seven games by eight points or less.

That self-belief was severely tested by the Bulldogs last Monday. Sharks 14-18 down with two minutes to play. Try to Leutele, sideline conversion by Maloney ... and that porch light burns brightly.

On Monday night it’s Johnathan Thurston and the Cowboys, a team that knows how to flick the switch. But it might take something special to halt Harold’s return this season.

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