Albert and Vagana in firing line
Greg Prichard
August 8, 2006
NEW Zealand Test star Nigel Vagana and Newcastle's 1997 grand final hero Darren Albert are in line to be dumped from the Cronulla team as coach Stuart Raper searches for answers to a six-game losing streak.
The demotion of centre Vagana, who will leave the club at the end of the season to join South Sydney, and winger Albert would not bother hard-core Sharks fans, who have bombarded the club with emails criticising their form and the form of other players.
Raper set the scene for likely changes when he was blunt in his criticism of players after Cronulla's 12-10 loss to the Warriors in Auckland on Saturday night, which meant the Sharks dropped out of the top eight.
"We have players in the side who are noted try-scorers and they are not scoring tries," Raper said. "They are not putting themselves in position and they are not doing things to score tries." Raper said players had to "aim up a bit more".
Although he didn't name them, it was clear Raper was talking about Vagana and Albert.
Asked yesterday for his opinion on the form of Vagana and Albert, Raper replied: "I said my piece in public without naming names. I'm not going to elaborate on it. We're not scoring tries at the moment."
Whether the coach goes ahead and drops Vagana and Albert for the game against Parramatta at Toyota Park on Saturday night may depend on whether Phil Bailey and David Simmons are today confirmed as being available for comebacks.
Centre or back-rower Bailey and winger or fullback Simmons have been out injured recently, but Raper said it was "looking positive" for the return of both players. Cronulla's depth is stretched otherwise.
Raper said he had to be prepared to do whatever he thought necessary to try to revive Cronulla's finals hopes or he would be letting himself, the team and the club down.
"I have to decide whether we persist with the personnel or make changes," he said. "I have shown a lot of faith for a long time. But there is no point in making changes unless you can improve the team.
"Some of the players we look at as try-scorers either aren't in position or we're not getting the ball to them and I have to look at all of the aspects. I haven't made any decisions yet, but Bailey and Simmons coming back would obviously increase our options.
"I have to make sure the decisions I make affect the team in a positive way
I've got a responsibility to the club to win games and unfortunately the individual sometimes pays a price for that.
"As sympathetic as I am with the players that I work with, I have to be prepared to make big calls and I am prepared to do that. I don't think we're that far off getting it together, but you can't lose six straight and not look at possibly changing things."
Sharks chief executive Greg Pierce backed Raper's judgement, saying the coach could make whatever calls he thought were necessary to try to get the team winning again.
Asked about the ongoing debate about whether the combination of halfback Brett Kimmorley and five-eighth Adam Dykes worked, Raper said it was a non-issue. "I don't think they're the problem," he said. "Noddy [Kimmorley] had an outstanding game the other night. He was probably our best player. Adam played pretty well, too. That is not the issue with us."
Raper also said after the loss to the Warriors that the Sharks were "struggling a bit up front", but he said yesterday that was more an observation than a criticism and that injuries had weakened the pack and made it hard for the younger players there.
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