Cronulla enjoyed their best season in four years in 2012, but as he watched it unfold, coach Shane Flanagan realised they needed help.
Workhorse skipper Paul Gallen and five eighth Todd Carney carried the Sharks into their first finals appearance since 2008, but their battered bodies were feeling the pinch.
A hurting Gallen was left to be Josh Papalii’s personal punching bag in the finals loss to Canberra – the same game in which the Achilles tendon injury Carney had been nursing finally gave way.
It highlighted the Sharks’ needs.
“Definitely, not just with Todd but there was a few players like that at different stages,” Flanagan said of the over-reliance on Carney.
“I’ve thought over the last couple of years we’ve relied too much on Gal (Gallen).
The Sharks went about their recruiting for 2013 with that in mind.
“We’ve got some quality players, so that if we’re going to win some big games we just don’t have to rely on Todd Carney,” said Flanagan.
“We’ve got more talent across the park.”
And when Flanagan talks talent about his recruits, he’s not mincing words.
Luke Lewis, the former Penrith skipper, is a current Australian Test forward.
His ex-Penrith teammate Michael Gordon is a former NSW Origin winger desperate to prove himself as a fullback.
Chris Heighington is a current England international, while his former Wests Tigers teammate Beau Ryan is one of the most underrated finishers in the game.
Not only will the talented foursome help the Sharks win games throughout the season, they will also give Flanagan the opportunity to lessen the mid-season load on Gallen and Carney to ensure they charge, rather than limp, into the finals.
Carney has only just returned to the training paddock following surgery to fix his torn Achilles, while Gallen’s pre-season has been disrupted by arm and leg injuries.
“That’s the biggest thing I learned last year, we were busted at the end of the year,” Flanagan said.
“We’re never going to take any game for granted or say we’ll rest some players during this period … but just with the depth of this squad hopefully I’ll be able to manage (the workload) a bit better.”
Flanagan also forecasts the Sharks playing a more expansive game on the back of the impressive recruitment drive, which comes a year after the club netted the likes of Carney, Andrew Fifita, Bryce Gibbs and Isaac De Gois.
Lewis gives the Sharks a ball-playing backrower they haven’t had since Greg Bird left, while Gordon’s speed will improve what was one of the NRL’s weakest backlines.
Flanagan said the new players wouldn’t lead to the same big changes in playing style the club undertook when Carney came on board, but rather a tweaking of what was already there.
“We need to mould around those new players and the skills and abilities they’ve got – we don’t want to put a muzzle on that,” Flanagan said.
“We need to make sure those skills, what we bought them for, we put into our team.
“We’ve got a little bit more quality of player in our squad, we might be able to test our boundaries a little bit more.”
It has been suggested Flanagan’s biggest headache could be finding enough minutes for his deep forward pack, particularly in the back-row.
Lewis and Heighington join a rotation that already includes Gallen, Wade Graham, Anthony Tupou and the ever-improving Jayson Bukuya.
“It’s a good position to be in as a coach,” Flanagan said.
“I don’t lie awake at night worrying about where I’m going to play good players.”