Shane Flanagan’s rugby league exile is continuing, with the suspended Cronulla coach yet to be cleared to return to work by the NRL.

It remains to be seen if Flanagan, who was banned for 12 months over governance failures in regard to the Sharks’ 2011 supplements program, will be on deck when Cronulla begin pre-season training in the first week of November.

Flanagan was hoping to return to the Sharks last month after serving a reduced nine-month ban, which began on December 17 last year.

However NRL boss Dave Smith ruled the 48-year-old Flanagan needed to undertake further work and counselling in order to have his suspension lifted and resume his head coach duties.

That decision was made almost a month ago, after Flanagan had fronted a panel at Rugby League Central in a bid to have his return to rugby league approved.

However there has been no indication of Flanagan’s fate since.

“It remains an ongoing process,” an NRL spokesman told AAP on Tuesday.

Even if Flanagan is cleared to begin work again on schedule for the start of the pre-season, the Sharks still face a disrupted beginning to their 2015 premiership campaign.

Sharks skipper Paul Gallen, Nathan Gardner, Wade Graham and Anthony Tupou are all banned from returning to training until November 21, after accepting back-dated ASADA bans due to the 2011 supplements program.