Psycho Doggie
Kennel Immortal
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- Mar 25, 2014
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There's blood in the water – and it's coming from the Sharks
The Sharks look to be in serious trouble ahead of the 2020 season.
Like most teams, on paper, their roster looks OK. But paper is weak.
Once you start scratching the surface at Shark Park, things look grim. Let’s start with Josh Morris. He doesn’t want to be there. End of story. The ultimate professional, he says he will give his all if he has to stay. He must be believed because his CV says he will deliver. He’s done if for a decade and a half. But there’s delivering and there’s delivering.
For an NRL team to succeed, every single person has to be on the same page – all driving towards week-to-week success, which parlays into finals success. The depth of the hunger must be immense.
Morris isn’t on that page. He’s upset the club brought Jesse Ramien back, a year after he walked out for personal and monetary reasons for a better life in Newcastle.
Ramien and young gun Bronson Xerri will most likely play in the centres this year, forcing Morris into a Mr Fix It role in the back line.
Speaking of Xerri, he obviously also wants out of the club that gave him a shot at the big time. He has repeatedly knocked back contract extensions. His current deal runs until the end of the 2021 season and the Sharks have tabled a five-year, $2.5 million deal to take him until the end of 2026.
Xerri will go to the open market instead. His future lies elsewhere and no language from his camp says otherwise.
And there are more issues at the club, including:
Now we move to the forwards.
Paul Gallen is gone. The spiritual leader, the motivator, the guy you turn up for week after week. Also gone is the consistent Matt Prior.
That leaves a lot on the shoulders of Andrew Fifita in the front row and, as we know with Fifita, he can just as easily lose you a game as win you one.
Wade Graham will unquestionably be a good leader, and he’ll need to be.
Jayden Brailey had hit his straps at hooker, but he bailed and will be replaced by brother Blayke. Not a bad outcome, but Blayke is well behind Jayden in his development as an NRL player.
Add all of this together and the Sharks are one disaster away from being in wooden spoon territory. I wouldn’t back them to make the eight.
The problems with the playing roster are mirrored off the field.
Firstly, Shark Park is a construction zone. On one side, the apartments are going up and on the other side, the clubhouse is coming down. The licensed club will be out of action for two seasons, as will the field as a home ground. They can train there, but have to play home matches at Kogarah's Jubilee Oval, the home of arch-rivals the Dragons.
And it’s also extremely tough to work amid a construction zone every day. Environment is crucial in the modern-day NRL where the one-percenters count.
Jack Gibson famously said winning started in the front office. Well, the Sharks’ front office has been a mess.
With a massive rebuild of the clubhouse on the agenda, salary cap problems left, right and centre, apartments still going up and negotiations to buy a local golf club at a critical stage, chief executive Richard Munro was out the door on January 8.
He had been in the job six whole months.
He replaced former player Barry Russell, who lasted 14 months. Before him, Lyall Gorman lasted a couple of years and before him it was Steve Noyce.
Talk about a revolving door.
Without a strong CEO, who is delivering the messages throughout the club, who is setting the direction?
The board, under chairman Dino Mezzatesta, will say it is them. That may well be the case, but clubs also need a solid CEO who works hand-in-hand with the board and all facets of the club, including and, most importantly, the playing group.
Everyone loves it when there’s no boss around.
One great asset for the Sharks is young coach John Morris. He appears as though he has the goods. He just needs the stability around him so he can deliver.
Pesto
The Sharks look to be in serious trouble ahead of the 2020 season.
Like most teams, on paper, their roster looks OK. But paper is weak.
Once you start scratching the surface at Shark Park, things look grim. Let’s start with Josh Morris. He doesn’t want to be there. End of story. The ultimate professional, he says he will give his all if he has to stay. He must be believed because his CV says he will deliver. He’s done if for a decade and a half. But there’s delivering and there’s delivering.
For an NRL team to succeed, every single person has to be on the same page – all driving towards week-to-week success, which parlays into finals success. The depth of the hunger must be immense.
Morris isn’t on that page. He’s upset the club brought Jesse Ramien back, a year after he walked out for personal and monetary reasons for a better life in Newcastle.
Ramien and young gun Bronson Xerri will most likely play in the centres this year, forcing Morris into a Mr Fix It role in the back line.
Speaking of Xerri, he obviously also wants out of the club that gave him a shot at the big time. He has repeatedly knocked back contract extensions. His current deal runs until the end of the 2021 season and the Sharks have tabled a five-year, $2.5 million deal to take him until the end of 2026.
Xerri will go to the open market instead. His future lies elsewhere and no language from his camp says otherwise.
And there are more issues at the club, including:
- the Josh Dugan imbroglio, where the $900,000-a-season player says he is too injured to play or train, but club doctors say otherwise;
- the Matt Moylan mystery – he's a State of Origin player, yet hasn’t fired a shot at the Sharks;
- the Shaun Johnson gamble, which failed in 2019; he must deliver this season.
Now we move to the forwards.
Paul Gallen is gone. The spiritual leader, the motivator, the guy you turn up for week after week. Also gone is the consistent Matt Prior.
That leaves a lot on the shoulders of Andrew Fifita in the front row and, as we know with Fifita, he can just as easily lose you a game as win you one.
Wade Graham will unquestionably be a good leader, and he’ll need to be.
Jayden Brailey had hit his straps at hooker, but he bailed and will be replaced by brother Blayke. Not a bad outcome, but Blayke is well behind Jayden in his development as an NRL player.
Add all of this together and the Sharks are one disaster away from being in wooden spoon territory. I wouldn’t back them to make the eight.
The problems with the playing roster are mirrored off the field.
Firstly, Shark Park is a construction zone. On one side, the apartments are going up and on the other side, the clubhouse is coming down. The licensed club will be out of action for two seasons, as will the field as a home ground. They can train there, but have to play home matches at Kogarah's Jubilee Oval, the home of arch-rivals the Dragons.
And it’s also extremely tough to work amid a construction zone every day. Environment is crucial in the modern-day NRL where the one-percenters count.
Jack Gibson famously said winning started in the front office. Well, the Sharks’ front office has been a mess.
With a massive rebuild of the clubhouse on the agenda, salary cap problems left, right and centre, apartments still going up and negotiations to buy a local golf club at a critical stage, chief executive Richard Munro was out the door on January 8.
He had been in the job six whole months.
He replaced former player Barry Russell, who lasted 14 months. Before him, Lyall Gorman lasted a couple of years and before him it was Steve Noyce.
Talk about a revolving door.
Without a strong CEO, who is delivering the messages throughout the club, who is setting the direction?
The board, under chairman Dino Mezzatesta, will say it is them. That may well be the case, but clubs also need a solid CEO who works hand-in-hand with the board and all facets of the club, including and, most importantly, the playing group.
Everyone loves it when there’s no boss around.
One great asset for the Sharks is young coach John Morris. He appears as though he has the goods. He just needs the stability around him so he can deliver.
Pesto
.
