Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was down and out as the club reeled from drugs scandal
EXCLUSIVE: Shane Flanagan wanted to quit the club as he struggled with the fallout from Cronulla’s drug scandal. ”He was heartbroken,” says his wife Cathie.
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A HEARTBROKEN Shane Flanagan wanted to quit the club as he struggled to deal with the fallout from Cronulla’s drug scandal.
Long before he ended Cronulla’s premiership drought, Flanagan’s own coaching career was on tenterhooks as he faced an uncertain future in the game. Stood down and with no clear timeline on when he would return, a grand final victory was not even a pipe dream.
Wife Cathie — his rock during this turbulent period — escaped with Flanagan for a coastal getaway the day his ban was handed down. It was here she saw something new in her husband. He wanted out of the game he had devoted his life to.
“He was literally heartbroken,” Cathie said in the dressing rooms after Sunday’s win.
“All the years we’ve been together I had never seen him like that. He did say that he wanted to quit and give up. He said he knew he did not do the wrong thing but felt everyone was against him and he wanted to give up.
“I didn’t think he would but I know he said it and I had never seen him that down before. I thought if we could get through that first week and the shock of it all, I was hoping he would get through it.”
Even those closest to him questioned if Flanagan could regain the hunger to return as coach. Cathie said it took weeks before he would closely resemble the man she knew.
“He was going OK then there was the report he was seen watching at the game and that stirred up and upset him again,” Cathie said. “A lot of people who were close to him told him to be true to himself and that he knew what went on and he had a lot more to offer.
“He gradually listened. He came around. He took it on board and said right, ‘I’m going to get through the 10 months’ and as time went on he got quite good with it. He put his energy onto other things and otherwise just started preparing for the next year.
“Closer to the end they kept dragging it on when he could come back. He was on tenterhooks.
“It’s in his blood. I thought in the back of mind he would never be able to give it up.”
The duo shared an emotional embrace on the ANZ Stadium surface minutes after the final siren had blown. Again the emotion got the better of Shane, but this time it was pure joy as he was surrounded by daughters Bianca and Jade and son Kyle, who featured in the club’s under-20s team this year, with the drama of recent seasons now a distant memory.
“When we were down we had a hug and I saw a few tears,” said Cathie, who was fighting laryngitis.
“He said ‘I can’t believe it and I’ve got to get my shit together’.
“And I was like ‘yeah you better’.
“The girls were crying. They were saying in the last five minutes,’ mum we’ve got this, we’ve got this’. “Kyle was emotional. They’ve been great. We stick together. We’re pretty close.
“(Shane) feels like he has made it. He wanted to prove some people wrong with all the drama we’ve been put through.
“His mum passed away just before his suspension got lifted and he wanted to do it for her. This is amazing.”
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