Cronulla veteran Aaron Woods has turned the heat on his club surrounding the future of John Morris, urging the club to make a decision on the coach's future.
Morris remains off-contract beyond the 2021 NRL season despite coaching the Sharks to back-to-back finals appearances since his appointment in 2019.
Cronulla are hopeful they can lure legendary coach Craig Bellamy up from Melbourne at the end of the season, but remain a miniscule chance of signing the Storm mastermind.
Failing that, rumours have swirled that Shane Flanagan, who preceded Morris as coach of the Sharks, could return to the club after serving his ban from the NRL for his involvement in the club's supplements scandal.
Just watched the @Cronulla_Sharks presser & dead set John Morris is a champion bloke & I’m sure all the players love him as a person, BUT If he is a first grade coach then I should become prime minister of Australia. Not tough to be a NRL coach sorry. Bring flanno back
— OURTIME (@OURTIME81852966) March 27, 2021
However, Woods wants to know what's going on beyond this season, telling Nine News that the longer the uncertainty drags on, the more it could hurt the club.
"It's important, we need to know what's going on... It's the hardest thing for him, all the boys are going really well and everyone's playing for each other," he said.
"I went through it at the Tigers, you don't know your coach is going to be, and players don't want to come and sign and if they don't know who the coach is going to be.
"If you don't know who your coach is going to be, are players going to come or re-sign?... They just want to know who's going to be here."
Morris sought a contract extension late last season, but was rejected by the Cronulla board.
Currently sitting with an even record of two wins and two losses, the Sharks will be looking to earn a further two points this weekend when they face the third-placed Roosters on Saturday.
Basking in the sun 🌞@Cronulla_Sharks lead 36-6 with just over 20 minutes to play!#NRLSharksCowboys pic.twitter.com/qqB6Dn6qn9
— NRL (@NRL) April 3, 2021