Sharks Gunning for 11 Straight
April 14, 2008
Several hundred people gathered this afternoon at Toyota Park to welcome home the triumphant Sharks, following their 10th straight April Premiership. They have also planned a ticker tape parade through the streets of The Shire on Sunday.
Captain Paul Gallen told the crowd it had been a difficult week and the victory was only just beginning to sink in.
"I think we can match the Dragons 11 straight premierships now, and were determined to do just that. Its an amazing feat capturing so many April Premierships in a row, and one that we here at the Sharks are very, very proud of. Weve copped a lot of criticism in the press and from other clubs supporters about our lack of success, so this goes a long way to proving that we are the real deal.
When asked about the actual premiership decider in October, Gallen was quick to add:
Thats of no concern to us, well go on a bit of a holiday over the next few weeks and laze about for a while and see what happens, were not usually there in October so theres little point in concerning ourselves with that.
Young star Greg Bird, who chased our crew around for the entire interview just to get his head on camera, had more than a few things to say.
Yeah mate yeah mate yeah, it was awesome, just awesome. Sticky done us good at training, put on a few switches and stuff. Strewth, get off me Paul, I said switches, not stitches.
The ticker tape parade will have a different feel to it this time around as the last few years nobody actually turned up. CEO Greg Pierce knew the time had come for a change:
"We all know Cronulla supporters dont travel outside their own small universe down here in the Shire so this year the parade will just cruise all the streets of the Shire so our fans can do what they do best, watch us from home.
Long time Cronulla supporter and banjo tuner, Juan Farkall cant wait:
Yeah dude, Im totally stoked, nobody can touch us this early in the season and this year we proved to the world we are the force of April. Ive got three buckets of cut up newspaper for the team and one bucket of rocks just in case some of those coloured folk come by.
Coach Ricky Stuart seemed too concerned about the colour of the grass to comment.
Well it was green this year and it was green last year, the administrators have dont nothing to fix the problem.
Will be a very interesting day this Sunday and I expect that most Bangladesh nationals will steer well clear of the celebrations.
