andrew's_sharks
Great White
I am really getting over some of the media's cheap shots at the club. This is some of the latest cheap shots been taken at the club for no reason at all.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...la-sharks-jersey/story-e6frfgbo-1226174483159
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...void-at-all-cost/story-e6frexnr-1226171087260
Unwanted by rival clubs, Todd Carney all but forced into a Cronulla Sharks jersey
TODD Carney looks set to sign with the beleaguered Sharkies this week - given every other NRL club has withdrawn interest.
A grand finalist and Dally M winner only two seasons ago, Carney yesterday had his future confirmed at the bottom of a St George Illawarra press release regarding, of all things, the signing of young prop Atelea Vea.
Four paragraphs in, the release read: The Dragons can also confirm they have no interest in signing Todd Carney and have made no formal inquiries about his services despite reports to the contrary.
Exactly what "informal" inquiries were made, of course, remains unclear. Regardless, it now seems Carney is set to join the Sharkies by default. Offered around $200,000 for his first season, the NRL's version of Andy Capp could earn double that in his second should Cronulla captain Paul Gallen be successful in a mentoring role.
Meanwhile, besieged Wests Tigers utility Tim Moltzen also spent yesterday immersed in talk of promises, commitment and contracts bound by a higher power than even David Gallop.
"Ahh, can't really talk - I'm at a wedding," Moltzen apologised down the phone line when quizzed about his ongoing contract dramas. "Besides, there's nothing to really say. Not until everything has been sorted."
But please, no holding your breath league fans.
Because while NRL sources are saying Moltzen should know sometime this week - and perhaps as early as today - whether he is to be a Wests Tiger or St George Illawarra Dragon in 2012, we would like to remind you about that little thing called Independent Commission.
You know, the great institution to save rugby league ... if only it could save itself.
Molzten, Carney, the Commission, even those feudin' Eels - all of them swirling about in what is quickly becoming the NRL's very own version of Stilnox. Set to be sorted in around the same timeframe as the American Civil War.
As of last night, NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert was still unravelling the Moltzen mess. While Schubert is remaining silent until a decision is reached, it's understood St George Illawarra officials appear resigned to losing the 22-year-old utility - and housemate of Tigers superstar Benji Marshall - who is desperate to remain at his current club.
Even if Schubert, who has been reviewing all relevant documentation since Wednesday, confirms the Dragons are to get Moltzen, it's understood a compensation deal will be hammered out, allowing him to remain in the black and orange.
And as for Vea?
:cheers
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...la-sharks-jersey/story-e6frfgbo-1226174483159
GOD makes them and then they find each other. Not Shane Warne and Liz Hurley. The Sharks and Todd Carney.
Under normal - or sober - circumstances, a player of Carney's worth would never play for Cronulla, and never for the $200,000 he is expected to receive in his first season should he become a Shark.
Under normal - or more profitable - circumstances, a club like Cronulla that relies on every single cent from sponsorship and corporate goodwill to survive would never take a punt on the stick of dynamite that is the former Roosters five-eighth.
As it turns out, Carney and the Sharks need each other. Carney needs somewhere to play; Cronulla needs a genuine match-winner who on his day can be as good as any other player in the world.
Fresh from a round of last drinks during a holiday in Thailand, the 25-year-old appears certain to sign with the Sharks in the next few days.
While playing for the battling club will help remove him from the allure of the eastern suburbs and its notorious establishments, the Shire represents a whole new challenge for Carney, who has said to many people in the past - not least a magistrate - that he has a drinking problem.
Fusion. Sting Bar. 2230. Carmens. And a score of other watering/dribbling holes.
Sharks half Albert Kelly still has charges hanging over his head for a drunken night at Northies, in which he allegedly pushed over tables and chairs outside the hotel before pushing a bouncer in the chest.
Surely, now, the good folk at Northies are licking their lips in anticipation of the arrival of Todd Carnage.
They are the type of headlines the Sharks can ill-afford to attract again, not now with their financial future hanging by a thread. Sharks officials and major sponsors must know that.
In 2009, their major sponsor LG walked out having endured months of sorry publicity. The Greg Bird saga, the drunken antics of Brett Seymour, the sacking of chief executive Tony Zappia for allegedly hitting a female employee and the positive drug test of Reni Maitua.
At the time, LG's marketing director David Brand said those incidents "were certainly a significant element in our decision" to abandon the club.
If anyone can generate a 1000-watt headline that can be read from outer space it is Carney.
Just ask the Roosters.
Carney has shown to all - not least interested clubs - that he has no intention of getting off the drink.
His appearance in various inner-city and eastern suburbs bars after he and the Roosters parted ways virtually turned into a game of "Where's Toddy?".
Facebook photos published in The Sunday Telegraph of him living la vida loca in Thailand must surely have made Sharks chairman Damian Irvine cringe.
You can bet NRL boss David Gallop mentions it when he meets Carney before he signs off on any contract for 2012 and beyond. Irvine said yesterday no drinking ban, no restrictions would be placed on Carney if he came to the Sharks.
For now.
That could help Carney. Promises to abstain from alcohol are often his only drama. It's how much he decides to drink and what he does on it that will decide if he burns his final last-last-last chance.
Behind the scenes, the Sharks are talking up a tough game. If Carney tarnishes the good name of the club at any stage, he will be terminated.
They say that now. Canberra and the Roosters took incident after scandal after breach notice to decide to let him go.
The Sharks can't afford to give him that much rope. For all concerned, let's hope it works out and the stick of dynamite does not explode.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...void-at-all-cost/story-e6frexnr-1226171087260