Or am I reading too much into it?
CRONULLA skipper Paul Gallen said he had advised some Cronulla fans to look at how Wests Tigers and Newcastle fared last season before saddling the Sharks with unrealistic expectations.
Hopes are high in the shire that after 46 years of fruitless endeavour this could be the year when the Sharks finally break their premiership drought. But Gallen refused to be trapped by the hype associated with his team being bolstered by quality players including Luke Lewis, Chris Heighington, Beau Ryan and Michael Gordon.
Theres definitely added expectation, he said. Theres a lot of excitement in the area but, from my point of view, I believe theres a lot of work to do. I find whenever I speak to people Im trying to tell them to relax because you cant expect a team to do well just because it has good players.
There is much more to it. You need to gel as a team. Look at last year, on paper there werent too many better teams than the Wests Tigers and Newcastle but they didnt even make the eight. Then theres the Bulldogs, who I thought would be pushing the top eight, but they were grand finalists.
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It comes down to the cohesion in the team, how much the blokes want to play for each other, and thats something were working on at Cronulla at the moment.
And regardless of how the Sharks might fair in the upcoming trial matches, Gallen advised supporters to read little into their form regardless of whether it was red-hot or scratchy.
Im anti-trial matches, to be honest, he said. I think [form] comes down to how you train together and how you get on off the field and on the field. If youre a good-time group and everyone gets on, then its generally reflected [by performances]. If you look at a trial game, most teams play their best side for 40 minutes. Itll certainly help us but theres more to [developing cohesion] than that.
The NSW Origin skipper revealed his reputation as an iron man was not a badge of honour and he expected it was likely he would not play as many minutes this season.
People definitely read too much into it, he said. I just enjoy getting out there and competing. Whether I play for 80minutes or not its all about results for the team at the end of the day.
If Im playing only 50 or 60minutes and were winning, Im going to be happy. People do read too much into that. Flano [coach Shane Flanagan] has never said I wont be playing 80minutes, but he has options, so if I dont need to [play the entire match] I dont have to any more.
He added Flanagan would also decide how Lewis, who played in Gallens position of second row at Penrith and representative level, would be used.
When you look at Lukes career, he started on the wing and hes been predominantly an edge player, Gallen said. He also played in the halves at Penrith ... and as far as Cronulla goes we see him as an edge player.
If he needs to push into the middle to accommodate me going off the field, he can. We also have [ex-Wests Tiger] Chris Heighington there, too.
While winning a premiership and guiding NSW to a desperately desired State of Origin series win was Gallens focus, he nominated the referees as potentially the biggest issue of 2013 after the scrutiny they were placed under last season.
I think the referees were a big issue last year and it remains to be seen how they go [this season], he said. They have a new coach [in former Parramatta and New Zealand Warriors mentor Daniel Anderson] and theyll come up with some new methods and, I suppose, new calls.
It will be interesting to see how it goes because, I have to say, they impacted on results last year and it was unfortunate.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...xpectations-20130112-2cmd0.html#ixzz2HoCNSBNO
CRONULLA skipper Paul Gallen said he had advised some Cronulla fans to look at how Wests Tigers and Newcastle fared last season before saddling the Sharks with unrealistic expectations.
Hopes are high in the shire that after 46 years of fruitless endeavour this could be the year when the Sharks finally break their premiership drought. But Gallen refused to be trapped by the hype associated with his team being bolstered by quality players including Luke Lewis, Chris Heighington, Beau Ryan and Michael Gordon.
Theres definitely added expectation, he said. Theres a lot of excitement in the area but, from my point of view, I believe theres a lot of work to do. I find whenever I speak to people Im trying to tell them to relax because you cant expect a team to do well just because it has good players.
There is much more to it. You need to gel as a team. Look at last year, on paper there werent too many better teams than the Wests Tigers and Newcastle but they didnt even make the eight. Then theres the Bulldogs, who I thought would be pushing the top eight, but they were grand finalists.
Advertisement
It comes down to the cohesion in the team, how much the blokes want to play for each other, and thats something were working on at Cronulla at the moment.
And regardless of how the Sharks might fair in the upcoming trial matches, Gallen advised supporters to read little into their form regardless of whether it was red-hot or scratchy.
Im anti-trial matches, to be honest, he said. I think [form] comes down to how you train together and how you get on off the field and on the field. If youre a good-time group and everyone gets on, then its generally reflected [by performances]. If you look at a trial game, most teams play their best side for 40 minutes. Itll certainly help us but theres more to [developing cohesion] than that.
The NSW Origin skipper revealed his reputation as an iron man was not a badge of honour and he expected it was likely he would not play as many minutes this season.
People definitely read too much into it, he said. I just enjoy getting out there and competing. Whether I play for 80minutes or not its all about results for the team at the end of the day.
If Im playing only 50 or 60minutes and were winning, Im going to be happy. People do read too much into that. Flano [coach Shane Flanagan] has never said I wont be playing 80minutes, but he has options, so if I dont need to [play the entire match] I dont have to any more.
He added Flanagan would also decide how Lewis, who played in Gallens position of second row at Penrith and representative level, would be used.
When you look at Lukes career, he started on the wing and hes been predominantly an edge player, Gallen said. He also played in the halves at Penrith ... and as far as Cronulla goes we see him as an edge player.
If he needs to push into the middle to accommodate me going off the field, he can. We also have [ex-Wests Tiger] Chris Heighington there, too.
While winning a premiership and guiding NSW to a desperately desired State of Origin series win was Gallens focus, he nominated the referees as potentially the biggest issue of 2013 after the scrutiny they were placed under last season.
I think the referees were a big issue last year and it remains to be seen how they go [this season], he said. They have a new coach [in former Parramatta and New Zealand Warriors mentor Daniel Anderson] and theyll come up with some new methods and, I suppose, new calls.
It will be interesting to see how it goes because, I have to say, they impacted on results last year and it was unfortunate.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...xpectations-20130112-2cmd0.html#ixzz2HoCNSBNO
