Cronulla Sharks playmaker Todd Carney looks fit and ready to tackle the Titans in round one

TODD Carney has demanded his inclusion for next Sunday's 6.30pm kick-off against the Titans by passing a series of fitness tests.

TWO weeks ago, Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan was telling NRL insiders that star five-eighth Todd Carney was no hope of recovering from a torn achilles tendon in time to face the Gold Coast Titans.

While his acceleration and trademark swerve were showing signs of returning, given the importance of Carney to Cronulla's title aspirations, Flanagan wasn't taking any chances.

Scroll through their roster, with recruits Luke Lewis, Michael Gordon, Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington, and you realise why Jack Gibson's famous line that "waiting for the Sharks to win a premiership is like leaving the porch light on for Harold Holt" could finally be under pressure.

It's taken three seasons, but Flanagan has assembled an all-star line-up capable of challenging for the title and a fit Carney is a must for the big end-of-season games.

Chad Townsend appeared a far more sensible alternative to start the season, giving Carney that little bit of extra time to get himself cherry ripe.

But when the Sharks embarked on a three-night camp to the Central Coast last week, it was impossible to miss the energy, intent and determination driving their No.6.

Whether Carney had heard the whispers about Flanagan wanting to keep him in cotton wool or he just had a new-season buzz, the five-eighth was powering around Wyong's Morrie Breen Oval like a V8 supercar.

Make no mistake, Carney has demanded his inclusion for next Sunday's 6.30pm kick-off against the Titans at Toyota Park by passing a series of sprint tests, heavy contact work and, most importantly, changing angles at speed.

"If you'd asked me a few weeks ago I would have erred on the side of caution, but the way Todd's trained the last two weeks it's going to be hard to leave him out," Flanagan said.

"We've done all sorts of testing on him and there's only a 3 per cent difference, at the most, in everything that we've done on his achilles. He's basically back to where he was.

"Todd's proved a point to me and, knowing Toddy, I think he probably wanted to. The specialist has said there are no problems and he doesn't want to see him again, so in terms of his recovery, it's going as good as we could possibly hope."

When Carney underwent surgery in September, doctors initially warned he may not be able to run at full speed for five months.

With his left leg in a boot and restricted to moving on crutches, Carney began the comeback trail by surrounding himself with ice packs, borrowing an ultrasound machine from the Sharks and turning to rival NRL players who have suffered the same injury.

The Sharks did their homework on the recovery time of St George Illawarra prop Dan Hunt, Brisbane's Justin Hodges and Gold Coast's Luke Bailey, liaising with rival medical staff about the best way to handle achilles rehabilitation.

The doctor who operated on Carney, John Megreine, was also the specialist who repaired Hunt's achilles tendon.

Sharks doctor Dave Giveny admitted Carney's injury was unusual for a 27-year-old NRL star, even thought he was suffering from achilles tendonitis last season.

"To put it in perspective, there were 10,000 athletes at last year's Olympics and only one achilles injury like this," Giveny said.

Despite being unable to resume his full off-season training program until mid-January, Carney is on target to be picked for the Sharks on Tuesday.