Todd Carney and Beau Ryan celebrate a Sharks try. Source: Getty Images
FROM the captain, from the players ... from the newly restored coach, it was all the same. It's out of our control, all we can do is play, just take it day by day.
In truth, Cronulla had their line-in-the-sand moment on Saturday, Shane Flanagan's first day back in the job, when the coach gathered the players at their final session before today's 28-4 walloping of New Zealand.
A day earlier Flanagan was restored to the job for reasons that were unclear. Which was appropriate enough, as the reasons he was stood down were also unclear.
What circumstances have changed to drive the change in thinking among the Cronulla board, save for the massive backlash from fans, is negligible, and so reveals a board desperately out of its depth.
Regardless, Flanagan called his players together Saturday and reminded them of what they could control, and what they couldn't control, and of the difference in between, and what that difference could mean to their season.
A Shane Flanagan fan in the crowd. Picture: Phil Hillyard
"We're just preparing the best we can," skipper Paul Gallen said.
"We get to training, we do our job and go home. It's a day to day thing."
Today was a little easier than most weekends.
The Warriors are a team trying to find their identity. Three losses this year are on the back of eight losses to close last year, and while skipper Simon Mannering declared this a new squad, with no ownership of last year's streak, the Warriors are struggling in attack.
At one point today it looked like they were trying to see if basketball's bounce pass might ever catch on.
Paul Gallen with fans as he leaves the field. Picture: Phil Hillyard
The Sharks planned to send their big men through the middle, picking the little men among them, always confident that if they began to establish dominance then eventually the Warriors would fold.
The plan didn't need to be so clever; the Warriors killed themselves.
Poor ball possession saw them finish the first half with just 29 per cent of the ball. They had 16 missed tackles against Cronulla's two.
And so after giving what they had to give for as long as they had to give it, keeping Cronulla to just a 6-0 lead for 34 minutes, the Warriors finally wilted.
Two tries to Michael Gordon and Beau Ryan saw Cronulla go to the break 18-0 ahead, and then another try five minutes on the other side of halfway saw them kick away to 24-0.
Beau Ryan goes in to score for the Sharks. Picture: Phil Hillyard
The Warriors were paddling. Melting in the heat.
Brilliant plays like the 40/20 Shaun Johnson nailed in the first half, only to be followed up by a knock-on from the scrum, were the story of their afternoon.
Against Cronulla's first-half discipline it was too much, and if the Sharks had played their second half like they did the first the scoreline might have been anything.
Besides, the Sharks were busy writing their own story.
"Someone told me we have got the most experienced NRL squad in the competition," Flanagan said.
Chris Heighington on the attack. Picture: Phil Hillyard
"And that's showing by having poor preparation and we're still able to win footy games, and that's because of the quality of player."
And the qualities of those players can be seen most days, usually around lunch time.
When Chris Heighington joined the Sharks for this season he had no idea of the storm about to break, but the Sharks could not have bought themselves a better club man.
Just two wins into his new club Heighington is struck by the velocity of the team song, the spirit after a win, but more than that he has developed an ability to read the mood of his teammates.
"If you see someone down you just see if they're all right, offer them to lunch," he said.
Shane Flanagan in his combeack match as coach. Picture: Phil Hillyard
"We go to lunch and they don't have to think about it. They go home and think about it a lot more."
A little less with each win like today, though.
The Sharks know what is going on elsewhere, and know better than anybody what might come.
Meantime, they keep putting W's in the win column.
CRONULLA 28 (M Gordon J Morris J Robson B Ryan S Tagataese tries M Gordon 4 goals) bt WARRIORS 4 (K Hurrell try) at Sharks Stadium. Referee: Adam Devcich, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 12,183.
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