Future stars re-signed
The Cronulla Sharks have been active in securing the services of a number of young and talented players for 2013 and beyond.
Michael Lichaa, just this week named in the Junior Kangaroos team to tackle the Junior Kiwis on Saturday, was the first to commit to the Sharks for a further two years, a contract which will see him remain in Cronulla colours through until at least 2014.
Then in some further positive news, Sharks Toyota Cup halfback Penani Manulalealii, selected to go up against Lichaa and the Australians as a member of the Junior Kiwis squad, agreed to extend his time at the Sharks by signing off on a new one-year deal.
Others to join the two in the NRL Sharks summer training squad after re-signing for next year include front rower Rodney Coates and the 2012 NSW Cup pair of Tyrone Peachey and Sosaia Feki.
And joining that group and soon to be training alongside the likes of Paul Gallen, Todd Carney, Lewis, Ryan, Gordon and Heighington is Bulldogs 2012 Toyota Cup back rower Tupou Sopoaga.
thats awesome news for a club on the way up. well done flanno and irvine. absolute champions!!!!
Sharks sharks f&$kn sharks when will they stop signing people all I hear is cronulla signing this person or that f$&k me.
if only it was dragons on the up…
I think it’s the fact we are signing players that aren’t greedy, gal said he was willing to take a pay cut if it meant signing some better players. Look at other clubs spending big money on one or 2 players we haven’t splashed out on one big name we have bought a few decent players with the same chunk of money
Its not all roses yet but is Daniel Irvine about to become the next Todd Greenburg…I have to say he is doing pretty well with limited resources.
Did I get the names right?
lol i think so
its damian but near enough is good enough
I don’t think he’s even being paid. I heard on an interview on Triple M he wasn’t. I’m not 100% sure though.
He doesn’t get payed
It’s Damien Irvine, and while I haven’t seen him play I think that halfback would give Rabs and friends a heart attack.
Damien Irvine !
I spose they have to have someone to make them look good when all their big buys bum out and Carney makes a turd of himself in a pub somewhere. Still aint gonna win a title in this life time.
Dragons wont see another one
What and the tigers will after your whole team bailed and the coach got the arse? Well said retard, worry about your own looser team.
…………”worry about your own team.”
Well that’s a thought Afgandragon!
Maybe pratice what you preach.
your coach is crap your ceo is crap nobody wants to go to the dragons anymore little brother lol
YES ! YES ! YES ! YES ! loving that little brother call hahaha. DIE in our shadow St.Merge
Never happen ballbag. Remember 45 yrs and won SFA. Be another 45 and then some.
What do Cronulla and Old Mother Hubbered have in common?
Both of their cupboards are bare. lol
Cronulla getting cash from this property development is like a dole bludger winning on the punt. All money gone on beer, smokes, pokies and king prawns in the space of 3 days, then back to hanging out waiting for a handout. Signing “names” may give you some short term excitement, but you realistically have no long term chance cos you’ve wasted your money.
Heigno? He didnt even make the England team and the Tigers let him go. There are reasons. Luke Lewis is past it and was diagnosed with cancer. Todd Carney is a 6 pack away from turning into a garbage bin throwing urine sprinkler, Ben Ross and Flash Gordon are back from career threatening injuries, and Tupou would fall into that category if he had a career to begin with. Jeremy Smith was part of 5 staright minor premiership teams with melbourne and StGeorge, has captained NZ and won premierships and you let him walk? You have Gardner, Mills, Stapleton, Ryan, Jono and Matt Wright, and only 3 spots available for them. Your best player is Gallen, who realistically is either a small prop or an underskilled backrower that has lost in every team he’s been in. Get the tissues ready, and not for your usual Saturday night in. There will be tears shed in the Shire in 2013 and for years to come.
You obviously want a response to this muz so here it is
We have had that money for years, the last few years have been focused on getting better players.
Heington was one of the tigers best
Todd carney has matured way past his old days, i will link you to a story at the bottom of this comment to prove my point
Players get injured, its how NRL works
Smith wanted to leave the sharks because of family reasons, flanagan/irvine waited until they had signed a replacement (lewis)
My personal oppinion about our backs is that mills and gardner need to evolve in nsw cup to be more threatening in first grade
Gallen is NSW, Cronulla and the vice captain of the australian team, are you going to say the same about cameron smith? gallen is like a five eight playing lock for us, he sets up so many tries.
We wont need no tissues, 2013 is our year to shine up the Sharkies!!!
WHAT???? i can only follow some of what you tried to say. seriously lewis is past his best thats why he has cancer….really????
Um look at steve menzies, people were saying he needed to retire when he was at manly but look at him now, he is neally 40 and still playing great footy. Coincidence?
there are alot of players killing it in their 30′s, lewis will be one of those.
Yeah Menzies was great, but it aint hard to shine in the Pom league.
pretty sure his last game in the NRL was a good one, 40 nil in a GF. he would still carve up here.
Hey champ,they are the only NrL side that has assets like land to develop,the other clubs have council grounds leased and leagues clubs on leased property.Clubs like manly and the tigers would already be dead and buried had it not been for delmege and meriton propping them up to stay afloat?Talk abt dole bludgers
I agree with most of what you said mate.If i was apart of cronulla management i would of tried to sign some younger juniors coming through so we could be good long term instead of signing old players who are just about passed their prime for the short term.Cronulla will do good next year(Top 8) but people shouldn’t get too excited as i think their improvement will be minimal.No offence sharkies fans, Just my opinion after all.
(not havin a go) people fail to realise you need role modles for young talent. a young side full of skill will NEVER win a title. the sharks are building a culture. and have bought very well to do so. its going to take a good side to beat them next year.
Broncos for example
raiders are the #1 that come to mind. 2 years time with that squad and they are going to be dangerous!
Panthers territory your comment is even more laughable than that other idiot muz. Put it this way while the panthers are again playing to avoid the wooden spoon the sharks will be playing semi finals. And Gus Gould and Ivan Cleary couldn’t run a brothel.
@Panthers Territory
lol you have NFI , we didn’t have the talent to develop the juniors along side so what is the point it would fail having a bunch of rookies. There is nothing short term about Flannos plans about being a Melbourne or Manly , as you can see we are looking to the future by re-signing promising young talent.
@ Panthers Territory
lol much improvement ? bar 2 players we will have a completely different back line we strengthened our back line 10 folds with the new signings.
Fair enough reply Sharkies4Life. It seems however, much like your team, the “sounds good now, but forget about the future” approach that I referred to is alive and well with you too.
You said you’d link a story about Carney and tried to make a point, but by the end of the article, you’d forgotten.
Give me a holla when youse have won a premiership.
Muz, you are an out and out jibberer. Cronulla has traditionally developed their juniors to a level much higher than most other NRL teams. Next year we have spent on experienced players to help those juniors. We may not have won a premiership yet but it’s on the way brother, you better believe that.
Keep dreamin dude, loosing club, loosing culture. And since when do the gummies develop their juniors all that great. Maybe 15 years ago they did, but name me the last one.
Keith Galloway for one oops he plays for the tigers!!
Could’nt find the link ha
forget about the future??? We allways resign our future stars as the story says (along with townsend, gardner, etc). I will give you a holla when we win
Up the sharks
I dont know why you’re all in shock and think I’m a jibberer. The Sharks have never won. Theres reasons for that.
Mik – I didnt say Lewis has cancer cos he’s past it. I said 1. he’s past it and 2. he was diagnosed with cancer. I think Lewis has had a great career, I just think Cronulla has bought the tail end of it. I generally wouldnt think itd be a priority to go after someone with an illness as serious as cancer.
Catapultluch – Sharks may have produced juniors, but whats that resulted in? I just dont think this spending spree on veteran players will be effective.
Again, disagree if you like, but only a premiership proves me wrong.
had cancer, past tense. he has only just hit his stride as a back rower hits like a hammer. one of the best signings of any club in years. the form backrower. while smith going was a shame he had made those plans a while ago. he only signed with the sharks for family reasons. do some home work, smith’s last two contracts are 100% for his family.
Have to agree sharks loosing smith is big. Lewis will not be there through origin like smith was and along with cancer picked up a neck injury. Smith was huge during Gallen’s absence due to origin. Heighington is 30 and past it, he hasn’t broken the line in 2 years and look what tony Williams did to him when he did play for England, ran straight over the top of him. With Gallen, Toupou, Gibbs, Lewis, Heighington, Morris and De Gois all 30 or close to it it is next year or never. Not sure how Carneys achillies will go they can be career ending.
Love the sharks my second team and lots of good news but think they could have spent smarter.
your a little to loose with the ages some of those boys are 27-28. also T-rex also bounced slater, pritchard and graham. he is a unit and when ever he actually winds up is going to have that effect. we where never going to keep smith so lewis is a great sub younger and more skilled, though i must admitt smith done a hell of alot for us not just through origin.
All we have needed is some strong leaders. we have them now…
The real question is who do you follow you muppet.
As much as I love the Sharks – why would these young blokes re-sign with us when they’ll have no opportunity to play 1st grade under ‘the genius’ (Flanno). Seems career limiting and silly.
Boys take a look at what happened to Chad this year – terrible for the young man. ‘The genius’ signed Carney and Robbo over the top of Chad and let him rot in Cup. We all know that Chad wanted to go to St Merge but the club wouldn’t let him out of his last year.
The only young player Flanno gave a go to this year was Friz – and only because they had injuries – and surprise-surprise the boy done great. And now we’ve lost him to St Merge and resigned an old injury prone overpaid back-rower in Toups on 400k, a hack in Heighni and Lewis whose at the end of his career on 400k. And there’s no way Smith (our stand-out player this year) left on compassionate grounds – that’s a smoke-screen. He left because the club wouldn’t pay him what he was actually worth.
It always makes me nervous when the player of the year and rookie of the year leave the club for other pastures.
Seriously ‘the genius’ has no idea. Does he actually want us to believe that this team of ‘imported names’ will compete with Melbourne, Manly and the Bulldogs – come on!!
Im keen as to see a carney and townsend combination, only a matter of time…
@Bring back Gav
again you have NFI. 7 is one of the most important positions in the game we can’t just throw a kid into FG for 26 round anad expect great results. It was clear through his stint last season he really needed time to adjust his game to playing with men as he struggled massively. DCE , Reynolds and Cronk all spent 1 year in NSW cup developing.
We didn’t re-sign toops at all he had another year option in his contract.
Friz signed for an opportunity we still have Graham , Gal , Bull , Lewis , JB , Toops and Peachey as depth in the back row. He knew he could get a walk up start in the shittest pack in the comp. He also lives down in the gong so it’s much easier for him training wise.
Also Robon got extremely lucky we were coming off 2 loses and we needed and experienced half at that time Chad had just suffered a sternum injury. Flanno also rates Chad highly says he was a first grader from the time he saw him…and what does flanno say about Robson ? he is a good ‘tradesman’. He clearly rates Chad over Robson and we will see it when Chad is picked in the 7 next year.
@medical miracle
Comment about throwing in a young half doesn’t work when you look at the two Reynolds boys one with dogs and one with souths this year and Thompson with NQ until injured and of course Cherry – Evans last year. I thought with the pack the sharks had this year it would have made sense to blood Chad this year. If they are good enough they are old enough.
wish that was true buddy but i think with the 1 year extension of john morris i don’t think chad will get a go again till injury or origin as robson won’t be pushed back to hooker to accomodate townson unles degoise or morris get injured
Yeh Cronulla should definently have held onto Frizzell instead of signing Heighnington. Lewis is a top buy, I would much prefer Lewis over Smith. Smith will be 33 next year. Lewis is one of the best back rowers in the comp. Cronulla didn’t resign Toupu, he is on a massive 4 year contract that R Stuart signed him on and he can’t get anywhere near that money at any other clubs. I am pretty sure they would have offloaded him if they could have.
But I am very happy that we signed Frizzell.
good on the sarks retainning there own goo talent, looks like flanagan is doing a mena job and the shire looks bright
Dissapointed that the dogs lost Sopoaga. Good kid with unlimited potential
Good job on sharks to resign the youth. Halfbacks need time to mature and develop. Right now in the nrl there isn’t much good halfbacks. At the present time, we are developing chad, (he has had a few injuries this yr too) . Flank wants to impart knowledge of the game, Defence and attack to the youth and with this recruitment of the older players, this will help the others to a. Develop faster and b. step up when the expienceD players away.
Took the words right out of my mouth mate
i think thats why jeffs contract was put on hold, chad will be the future at the shire. and what a future. chad and carney.
yes.
To all the sharkies fans stay strong i know its frustrating reading all the negative posts but i think that we have bought well and with luck we can be a competitive club consistently not for only one year and finally hoist that trophy.
kiakaha. up the sharks
Man does it feel good to be envied for the first time in a long time I actually enjoy reading the hate from the other clubs for too long have we just been pitied by other clubs we are on the rise. UP UP Cronulla
I love the hate especially from panthers and st.merge supporters haha
You must have strong rivalry with Penrith. They came into the comp the same year as you guys and they have almost been as unsuccsessful as you guys, except they have managed to win 2 comps. But they must have won more wooden sppons than you guys. lol I actually hope Cronulla don’t ever win a comp. lol I hope that Cronulla get relocated to Adelaid and that we get our juniors back. lol
@devout saint Hey we will be long before merging… Or relocating. Remember we got the development! While a certain club in kogarah is having some problems in monetary value. So buddy pull your head, I too can play your game.
Up up cronulla, little brother!
I just saw an interview with Peter Doust tonight. Doust said that Saints are the most valuable club in the comp, even more valuable then Brisbane and he was talking in monertary terms not sentimentality. mmm See we have residual value, the 2010 comp could have helped too.
Don’t be so sensitive, it is only good old fashioned banter. This is the way it has always been with Sydney footy fans, it is part of our culture. Medical Miracle previoulsy said die in our shadow. But I am not going to get cut over a little comment like that, but I will respond. If it is funny and or true say it.
Devout Saint, you guys have got nothin except the one premiership because as a joint merger, that’s all you have won. With a choice of two fields and leagues clubs, none of which you own, you can’t compete with the Sharks when it comes to assets.
You may not count all of the premierships that Saints won, but I do and all of the other Saints fans do too. We are still called St George, we are still the Dragons, we are still red and white, we still have the famous red V and Kograh is still our spiritual home. We took Illawarra on board. We are the most proud and passionate club/supporters in the comp, so proud and passionate that it grates on oppositions fans. lol
Brett Finch rejoins storm. you heard it here first
Finch rejoins storm was a story in rlw about a month ago so your a bit late with your scoop.
I am a Panthers Supporter, but that doesn’t stop me from saying good job or saying positive things about ANY other team in the comp, even Cronulla. To me it appears they are looking at getting atleast one trophy in the cabinet (not a dig guys) and then worrying about the junior stocks. I heard a joke recently (From a sharkies fan that is not a Flanagan fan), itwas What is harder to find a Yeti or a Sharkies junior.
There still never gonna win a comp.the sharkies are useless
Sour grapes much?
Everyone keeps saying there is no focus on the juniors. The article mentions Lichaa, Penani Manulalealii, Rodney Coates and Tyrone Peachey. Sosaia Feki & Tupou Sopoaga havent played 1sts for anyone yet so they are in the development system early. Tupou is obviously to compensate for Frizell who will be a great player. Obviously Townsend and Mills will be in the mix for a spot this year with Robson nearing retirement and a centre spot up for grabs. Ross and Morris in the same boat there so a prop and hooker role also available if this year goes well….
the sharks bought a heap of has beens and everyone said they wouldnt make a dif. well correct me if im wrong but we beat every top eight team this year except the dogs.
Haha I love it, every Sharkies article always gets heaps of comments and arguements going. Other teams no there is blood in the water and the jaws theme is getting louder…