Cronulla players demand board reinstate head coach Shane Flanagan

SHARKS players last night had an angry showdown with board members where they called for the reinstatement of head coach Shane Flanagan.

SHARKS players last night had an angry showdown with board members where they called for the reinstatement of head coach Shane Flanagan.

In an explosive meeting, there was even the mention of strike action, although The Daily Telegraph understands the players are determined to take the field tomorrow and let their actions speak in support of Flanagan.

It is understood while the entire playing group was behind the dumped coach, the Sharks' new buys were the most vocal, demanding to know why the man who lured them to the club was no longer in charge.

Cronulla players will meet again at training this morning at 10am.

Skipper Paul Gallen told The Daily Telegraph that he could not guarantee a full strength team would run out for tomorrow night's clash at home against the Gold Coast.

Asked if all the players named in the team earlier this week would be taking the field tomorrow night, Gallen said: "Mate, we are talking tomorrow at training. We are training at 10am and we will see then."

Asked again if he could just confirm that the top team would be taking the field, Gallen added: "I can't. I can't say anything. I know you have a job to do but you have got to appreciate my position.

"I can't say anything else."

Gallen said he could not comment about the club's decision to stand down Flanagan and four other staff - however The Daily Telegraph understands it was the club's off-season buys that exchanged heated words with the board last night over Flanagan's dumping.

By not making any guarantees Gallen put under the microscope NRL boss Dave Smith's statement that no Sharks players would be stood down in the immediate future.

"Earlier this week we asked ASADA to provide us with the names of any player it currently has sufficient evidence to request the NRL issue an infraction notice under our anti-doping code," Smith said.

"The response we received back from ASADA was that its investigation continues and will for a number of weeks.

"ASADA indicated it is not currently in a position to request the NRL to issue any infraction notices. Without an infraction notice, the NRL will not stand down any player. Like players and fans, we share the frustrations they are feeling as the ASADA investigation continues."

But how quickly this all moves from here largely depends on a legal minefield.

The NRL said it won't stand down players, but does that mean the players will be playing? This is the question no one could answer.

At yesterday's hastily arranged media conference, the club's deputy chairman Keith Ward also couldn't be certain what team would take the field for the first home game of the season.

Asked that simple question yesterday, Ward failed to respond with a direct answer. "Can I say it is my expectation," he said, unconvincingly. "Look, as I tried to explain, the way this has panned out and I understand we have all been under a lot of pressure, but the way we structured this is to say this is really an issue our players are facing with their legal representatives."

Asked what his expectations were for Cronulla in 2013, Ward said: "Oh look, I haven't even considered that to be honest."

Gallen's ex-teammate Greg Bird last night said he could not guess what might or might not happen next."I might just stay away from this if you don't mind, ask me on Monday," Bird said.

Bird added if Cronulla's top side did manage to take the field, they would be galvanised by this crisis.

"It is always hard coming up against a team that is involved in a bit of a scandal," Bird said. "You don't know how they are going to turn up, but experience tells you that when something is happening off the field it really bonds a team together."

Yesterday, the Rugby League Players Association finally stepped out of the shadows when RLPA boss David Garnsey said barrister Andrew Coleman SC had been retained to provide independent legal advice to players in respect of the ASADA investigation.