Cronulla’s five State of Origin players are mentally battered, but the club doesn’t expect any to join the growing list of casualties for this weekend’s NRL matches.
Ten Origin players have already been ruled out of round-16 fixtures, but Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said none of his will skip Sunday’s clash with Manly.
NSW’s James Maloney, Wade Graham, Andrew Fifita and Jack Bird, along with Queensland’s Valentine Holmes, will all return after a recovery session with the Sharks on Friday.
Of those, Maloney is considered the most bruised.
But with the Sea Eagles just two points behind the Sharks and set to leapfrog them with a win at Southern Cross Group Stadium, Flanagan can see no reason why he’ll be without his stars.
“They’re all certainties,” Flanagan said.
“Jimmy has a bit of a cork, but they’re all in today getting some massage and treatment but they’ll all be fit to play.”
Cronulla’s players face potentially the toughest mental hurdle of all teams this weekend.
Their four Blues’ players are the most of any club in the NSW side, while Flanagan admitted back-rower Graham had “struggled” since Wednesday night’s heart-breaking 18-16 loss.
But the Sharks coach hoped that the longer four-day turnaround into Sunday afternoon would help temper that emotional barrier.
“At halftime they probably thought they were close but they didn’t get the job done and they’re probably hurting a bit at the moment,” Flanagan said.
“It’s the day after or the two days after they start to feel it and think about an opportunity lost.
“They’ll get over that and we’ll train tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go Sunday.”
Graham was particularly distraught after the loss, and admitted to the media after the match he felt responsible for the result following a missed tackle in the lead up to Queensland’s second try.
But Flanagan was confident he would overturn his mindset before Sunday.
“Talking to Wade, it’s really hurting him at the moment,” he said.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve Wade, and you see that in the way he played. He’s struggled a little bit in the past 24 hours but he’ll be okay.”
