A grand final selection dilemma looms for Shane Flanagan if the Sharks can progress past North Queensland on Friday night, with the expected availability of Sam Tagataese leaving the Cronulla coach with the prospect of having to drop another forward to squeeze the explosive front-rower into his team.
Tagataese, 29, has missed the Sharks' last five matches after undergoing shoulder surgery and while the off-contract enforcer is keen to play in the preliminary final at Allianz Stadium he said on Sunday that the club's coaching and medical staff were likely to hold him back.
"I haven't fully done any contact yet. It's getting close to the game so I assume I won't be in the frame for the Friday night clash," Tagataese said. "I'm still building and trying to get some more strength and it's pretty much trying to prove to the conditioning [staff] and the coaches that I'm ready to go.
"Mentally, I believe I can be playing this week but there is certain criteria that I need to meet before I can actually prove to these guys and they can feel confident that I'm ready to play. It's a difficult one for me. I feel confident. But for the coaching staff and the trainers they believe this week will probably be too soon. I played the majority of the year and to miss out on these couple of games is really hard but I'm still happy for the boys."
Tagataese's absence at the tail of the season coincided with Cronulla losing three of their last four games before the finals and his experience and toughness would make him difficult to leave out if declared fit.
But with captain Paul Gallen to return from back spasms against the Cowboys, Flanagan would likely have to choose between Tagataese or the emerging Kurt Capewell for the fourth spot on the Sharks' bench.
Capewell, 23, has played only three NRL games but featured for all 73 minutes after stand-in captain Wade Graham was withdrawn with concussion in the qualifying final against Canberra. The other contender would be Jesse Sene-Lefao but in a perhaps instructive development he played for feeder team Newtown against Illawarra on Sunday.
"I was actually pushing for this week just to try and get a game under my belt but obviously I haven't met the criteria yet. But I"ll wait another week and hopefully the boys do it again and I can put myself in the frame," Tagataese said.
"That is going to be a tough one for Flanno [to decide] if I'm needed. To drop a bloke that has been playing well during the finals...I'm glad I'm not the coach."
