Cronulla Sharks

Sharks fined, forced to offload player

The Sharks will also have $350,000 cut off their cap allowance for the next two seasons as part of the punishment.

The NRL wanted to slap the club with a $750,000 fine according to The Daily Telegraph’s Buzz Rothfield, but as CEO Barry Russell reported the breaches to the NRL the club have received a reduced punishment.

The Sharks will now have to offload one of their stars weeks before the season.

Flanagan resigns as Sharks coach

Flanagan quit after he was last month deregistered by the NRL for flouting his 2014 suspension for his part in the club's peptides scandal.

With just five weeks until the club's first trial against Manly at Lottoland, Sharks assistant John Morris has been appointed interim head coach, however, it's not known whether he will permanently take over.

Flanagan said he would respond to the NRL's show-cause notice but said he was standing down so that the club could get on with his job.

Holmes uses app footage to plot Slater's demise

Holmes' sparkling form to end 2018 sees him on track to become one of the Telstra Premiership's elite No.1s, just as Slater wraps up a storied career that has helped redefine fullback play in the modern era.

The Sharks custodian has been as keen a student of Slater as any, with Cronulla's coaching staff preparing specific tutorial footage of the Melbourne maestro for Holmes to pore over.

"We have an analyser app the coaches show us that they cut up some videos for me to look at," Holmes said.

Sharks injuries update: Andrew Fifita cleared of ACL injury

But the Australia-Tonga forward will miss anywhere from a week to a month as he has severe swelling on the knee and some bone bruising.

In other news to lighten coach Shane Flanagan's mood, his other starting prop Matt Prior has escaped suspension and can play against Penrith next Sunday at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

The match review committee issued a grade one charge and $1500 fine, which reduces to $1350 if he pleads guilty early. Prior would then be free to play the Panthers.

"That's massive news for us," Flanagan told NRL.com.

Cooper Cronk-Luke Keary combination fires to help Roosters to victory over Sharks

It has always had the characteristics of a match made in heaven and the combination clicked into gear perfectly on Friday night to ruthlessly put Cronulla to the sword 28-10.

With an aerial target like Blake Ferguson and a lethal sweep runner like James Tedesco to throw into the mix, the blueprint for a premiership contender was finally rolled out by Trent Robinson’s men.

Sharks score hard-earned win over Storm

It turned out to be a very Good Friday for the Sharks. It was their first win at home for 2018 as they broke even for the season - two wins and two losses.

Even more tellingly they managed to frustrate an uncharacteristically error-prone Melbourne, who did not cross the Sharks line all night, though Ryan Hoffman was held up in the 33rd minute.

The last time the Storm were held try-less was also at the hands of the Sharks, 11-2 in round six last year at AAMI Park.

Cowboys mark JT's 300th with win over Sharks

Thurston turned in a solid performance in his milestone night, but apart from his grubber to seal the Cowboys' victory, appeared short on match fitness. On the whole, it was a scrappy affair with both sides well below their best.

Kyle Feldt began his season in ideal fashion, with a towering bomb getting enough hang time to allow a pack of Cowboys forwards to drive Matt Prior back into his own in-goal.

The Cowboys showed they were ready to play patient early, as Jake Granville rolled a grubber into the in-goal to force a repeat set. 

Top four still the goal for Sharks

After two relatively untroubled wins against the Rabbitohs and Warriors, Cronulla were completely off the boil in Saturday's 30-12 loss at home to a fired-up Raiders outfit.

Speaking after the game, Paul Gallen and Shane Flanagan had no idea why after a few good weeks the team seems to switch off for a game but were confident of quickly putting the match behind them and shoring up a top-for finish.

Sharks sign Aaron Gray

The 23-year-old made his NRL debut for South Sydney in 2015 and has played 39 appearances in the Telstra Premiership.

"I want to give a massive thanks to Souths for giving me a start and for what they’ve done for me and we certainly want to finish this season strongly, but I’m also really excited and very much looking forward to the new opportunity at the Sharks next year," Gray said.

 

Photo by: Paul Barkley:Copyright: NRL Photos. (Aaron Gray is leaving the Rabbitohs for Cronulla next season). 

New book captures Sharks' dream season

NRL Photos lead photographer Grant Trouville grew up a diehard Sharks fan and lives just a stone's throw away from Southern Cross Group Stadium, so the chance to capture Cronulla's drought-breaking premiership was a work of passion.