No-show of Cronulla Sharks chairman Damian Irvine explains a lot

THERE'S a running joke that Sharks chairman Damian Irvine runs Cronulla by day, and works at reception at the Intercontinental Hotel at night.

THE running joke among most rugby league powerbrokers is how Sharks chairman Damian Irvine runs Cronulla by day, and works at reception at the Intercontinental Hotel near Circular Quay at night.

When in Sydney, ARL Commission chairman John Grant chooses to stay at the Intercontinental.

"Someone told me Damian once greeted the chairman at the door," laughed one chief executive, a remark that is unconfirmed but at least it sounds good.

Meow!

The story is no slight on the work ethic of Irvine, who has been passionate and dedicated to the Sharks cause and helped guide them through difficult financial times.

But the fact the chairman has been running the club, in the absence of a chief executive, and was flying back from Europe when coach Shane Flanagan was sensationally stood down and his coaching staff sacked explains everything about the calamitous situation in the Shire.

For weeks, since the Australian Crime Commission report first dropped, all fingers have been pointed at Cronulla and now we are learning why.

The end does not justify the means - serious questions about the way the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, the ACC and the federal government are going about their business remain - but the bloodletting late yesterday suggests dark days are ahead. Sort of.

The bizarre press conference involving deputy chairman Keith Ward said about as much as most in relation to this topic: nothing.

They may as well be talking in Jedi, such is the twisted narrative of what the public is being fed of late - although there was one kernel from Ward.

"It was negligence rather than cheating," he said of the "failings" within the club when sports scientist Stephen Dank was involved with the Sharks in 2011.

If that is the case, if "negligence" is what this is all about and not "cheating", the Sharks board must hang its head in shame.

Keith Ward

Flanagan, his coaching staff and not least the players who are about to play one of the toughest sports in the world in the most strenuous of circumstances have every right to be furious.

At some point, ASADA - and now the Cronulla board - are going to have to start hanging people or at least levelling accusations on the bedrock of some actual evidence.

Clubs are being ripped apart and once again fans are left wondering if this scandal is everything or nothing - if their football heroes are frauds or being outrageously smeared.

Last night's press conference did nothing to clearly explain why Flanagan has been benched.

Since he took over from Ricky Stuart in 2010 in arduous circumstances, it has been easy to feel that Flanagan and Flanagan alone has kept that Cronulla side together.

After his appointment four years ago, the coach needed to be resourceful to keep his side in touch with the game's leading teams with a limited budget.

In the lead-up to the 2011 pre-season, in the absence of a high-performance unit, he scoured eBay and sourced an old boxing ring for sale in Melbourne.

After Flanagan had won the auction, he arranged for a truckie mate to bring it to the Shire on a backloader.

Could you imagine Wayne Bennett sitting at his laptop, refreshing his screen as the time of the auction ticks down, to buy gym equipment for his professional football club?

"Well, I didn't think it would ever be in my job description either," Flanagan told me in an interview in July 2011.

He has gone above and beyond and structured a side that this year was a genuine chance of pressing for their first premiership.

The caveat to all this, again, as always, is that we are not entirely sure what has gone down to make ASADA investigators so suspicious.

But serious questions are being raised, and none as simple but important as this: What now for the poor old Sharkies?

It is the most familiar line in the game, uttered from the late supercoach Jack Gibson: waiting for Cronulla to win the premiership is like leaving the porch light on for Harold Holt.

After yesterday, despite all the corporate speak of reviews and investigations and interim appointments and governance, who knows?

The club might be joining him.