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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/shark-warning-flanagan-tells-players-to-shape-up-or-else-20110527-1f8cl.html
CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan has put his team on notice. If they don't perform well against Melbourne at AAMI Park tomorrow, he will start dropping players and give younger ones a chance in their place.
Flanagan remains upset about the manner in which his Sharks lost to Parramatta on Monday night. The Sharks were without five of their best players - NSW State of Origin representatives Paul Gallen and Kade Snowden and injured trio Jeremy Smith, Nathan Gardner and Albert Kelly - but the coach said that was no excuse for a 40-6 loss against a team that had mostly struggled to score points this season.
''That was unacceptable,'' Flanagan said. ''You can accept that you might not have the firepower to win a game but you still go out there with a certain attitude. The way we performed against the Eels wasn't up to standard, and we have to get our act together against the Storm or I'm going to have to do something about it. If it happens again, I'm going to have to make big changes.
''We have to start performing or I'll have to start getting the young kids in. We can't just leave things the same if we don't perform well against Melbourne. We would have to change things, and I've put the players on notice to perform or that's what's going to happen.''
Flanagan said the most frustrating thing was that Cronulla had shown several times this year they could compete with top sides but weren't providing any consistency. ''It happens, and then it doesn't happen,'' he said. ''We beat the Dragons in round two, and we're still the only team that have beaten them this year. We should have beaten Manly, and we defended extremely well to beat the Roosters two rounds back, but then we get a performance like the one against Parramatta, and it's not good enough.''
An away game against the Storm is regarded as one of the toughest but Flanagan said the fact Melbourne had lost home games against the Warriors and Canberra this season showed they weren't invincible on their own turf.
''You've obviously got to play really well to do it but the Warriors and Raiders proved it can be done,'' he said. ''We've got to aim at producing the same sort of committed performance over 80 minutes.''
The Sharks get Gallen and Snowden back for tomorrow's game, but Kelly, Gardner and Smith are still out. So, too, are hooker Paul Aiton and winger John Williams.
CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan has put his team on notice. If they don't perform well against Melbourne at AAMI Park tomorrow, he will start dropping players and give younger ones a chance in their place.
Flanagan remains upset about the manner in which his Sharks lost to Parramatta on Monday night. The Sharks were without five of their best players - NSW State of Origin representatives Paul Gallen and Kade Snowden and injured trio Jeremy Smith, Nathan Gardner and Albert Kelly - but the coach said that was no excuse for a 40-6 loss against a team that had mostly struggled to score points this season.
''That was unacceptable,'' Flanagan said. ''You can accept that you might not have the firepower to win a game but you still go out there with a certain attitude. The way we performed against the Eels wasn't up to standard, and we have to get our act together against the Storm or I'm going to have to do something about it. If it happens again, I'm going to have to make big changes.
''We have to start performing or I'll have to start getting the young kids in. We can't just leave things the same if we don't perform well against Melbourne. We would have to change things, and I've put the players on notice to perform or that's what's going to happen.''
Flanagan said the most frustrating thing was that Cronulla had shown several times this year they could compete with top sides but weren't providing any consistency. ''It happens, and then it doesn't happen,'' he said. ''We beat the Dragons in round two, and we're still the only team that have beaten them this year. We should have beaten Manly, and we defended extremely well to beat the Roosters two rounds back, but then we get a performance like the one against Parramatta, and it's not good enough.''
An away game against the Storm is regarded as one of the toughest but Flanagan said the fact Melbourne had lost home games against the Warriors and Canberra this season showed they weren't invincible on their own turf.
''You've obviously got to play really well to do it but the Warriors and Raiders proved it can be done,'' he said. ''We've got to aim at producing the same sort of committed performance over 80 minutes.''
The Sharks get Gallen and Snowden back for tomorrow's game, but Kelly, Gardner and Smith are still out. So, too, are hooker Paul Aiton and winger John Williams.
