No circus: Sharks to shut gates to media
No circus: Sharks to shut gates to media
Greg Prichard
February 21, 2011
CRONULLA will lock the Toyota Stadium gates behind them when Kade Snowden returns to training with the rest of the team today.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan told the Herald last night that in the interests of trying to keep distractions to a minimum and making sure the team prepared properly for the start of the season the only sensible option was to keep the media at a distance.
''We're going to lock training down,'' he said. ''We've had a good pre-season, and with the premiership kick-off only a few weeks away, we have to get on with the job. I don't need it to become a circus.''
Snowden has been staying with his parents at the family home in Newcastle following the drama that erupted over his future on Thursday. The Sharks called a media conference to announce the representative prop had agreed to terms on a new contract, but after the media arrived, the conference was cancelled and news leaked out Snowden had been approached by prospective Newcastle owner Nathan Tinkler.
Asked if he had an update on Snowden's future, Flanagan replied: ''I don't. That will all be worked out in the next few days.''
The Tinkler Group will meet with Knights' management today, in a bid to push its ownership bid through to a meeting of club members for a vote next month. There has been speculation Snowden will also meet with Tinkler today. Flanagan said: ''I don't know anything about that. He will be at training tomorrow.''
At the least, Snowden's manager, Todd Buckingham, is expected to meet Tinkler.
Flanagan made it clear he thought Cronulla had been portrayed unfairly in the media over the Snowden issue when he said the Sharks had, in good faith, ''put their chin out there as a club and had it whacked all over the place''. He said he had spoken to Snowden at the weekend, and the Origin player was ''fine''.
Cronulla chairman Damian Irvine said he anticipated a decision from Snowden on his future within days. ''He will come and see us early in the week with his manager, and have a chat,'' Irvine said. ''He has agreed to terms, and based on that, we're still confident Kade will be here next year. Kade wasn't in the right frame of mind to front that media conference the other day. He was flustered, and we have a duty to him as a player in a situation like that.''
Irvine said Snowden hadn't rejected the offer ''on the table'' but he refused to get involved in a guessing game on what the young prop might do. ''He has done nothing wrong at this stage,'' Irvine said. ''He is rock solid and he's a good kid. He hasn't reneged on his deal, he just needs more time.''
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=...ks-to-shut-gates-to-media-20110220-1b13f.html
