Cronulla Sharks or The Year of Living Clenbuterolously
Highlight: An emotion-soaked victory over Parramatta to end a 9 game losing streak. This prompted an impressive four game winning streak appropriately ended by the Roosters.
Lowlight: The 9 game losing streak that preceded it and the current, soon to be extended, 7 game losing streak. Let us not speak of Off Field Incidents.
Most Valuable Player: Lancen Juodo, who NRL stats informs us was born in January 1901 and played one game for them this year. Assuming it was amidst their winning streak, this guy is a lucky charm.
Most Worthless Player: In perhaps the most fiercely contested battle fought by the Sharks this year, I can’t split Reni Maitua, Ben Ross, Brett “Three Strikes” Seymour or Brett Kearney.
Telling statistic: The Sharks concede 2.5 points more at home than away. Ladies and Gents, I give you home ground advantage!
Quote that best sums up their year: “From the start of the pre-season it's been horrendous”. Ricky Stuart was actually talking about Farmer Wants a Wife, but he might as well have been speaking of his Sharks.
2010 Outlook: Better than this year?
I guess it was a lineball decision but nonetheless noteworthy that the Sharks are the first team to rate a mention in the category of 'already out of contention'. Some Roosters fans may be offended by that.
ReplyDeleteThe other comment that must be made (I didn't want to make it, believe me, but it had to be made) is that to not speak of Off-Field Incidents when discussing the Sharks' year is to skip the very heart of what 2008 meant to this club. Matt Johns hogged a lot of headlines and airspace, but Tony Zappia deserved star billing in his own right. He was very unlucky to be exposed at the same time as Johns, otherwise he certainly would have had many more headlines than he did. Zappia's story had so much - the female employee with the black eye, the sex toys allegedly handed out to players, the shady fan connections. The best, though, was the secret fund he set up without telling the club's board, using money donated by a fan - who was himself subsequently charged with insurance fraud. All this would no doubt make a classic movie script, maybe someone like Danny Devito could play the lead.
In addition, fearless skipper Paul Gallen always deserves a mention whenever the Sharks are discussed. This year his chief gaffe (so far) was a racist slur directed at Saints player Mickey Paea. Gal himself would admit this is probably a bit down on the high standard he usually sets himself when it comes to grub acts (such as his 2008 testicle-grabbing). But that is reflective of the kind of year the Sharks have endured.
Of course before the season even began the tone was set for the Sharks with the forced resignation of Ricky Stuart as Kangaroos coach, following the revelation that he assaulted a World Cup referee.(I know, I know, not a real World Cup referee.) With a coach who was grumpy to begin with, and was now humiliatingly exposed worldwide as a bad sport, and a "loser", it was never likely to be a happy year for Cronulla players.
With so much going for the club, I wonder if your prognosis for 2010 might even be a tad on the optimistic side?
postscript - of course I intended to say 'the heart of what 2009 meant', not 2008 . . . damn my slack editorial staff.
ReplyDeleteAlso I did want to refer to the one positive for the Sharks, being the debut of Lancen Juodo. The only concern I suppose is that he may be getting a bit long in the tooth by the time next season rolls around.
Thanks for presenting all those gruelling details, SER8. After reading that, I feel very confident some further disaster will befall the club before the year is out. Salary cap scandal meaning they start on negative 12 next year? Star player eaten by shark while surfing in the offseason? Team forced to merge with North Sydney, thereby becoming the Cronulla Bears? Htime
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