Sharks bare their teeth

That’s how interim head coach Peter Sharp described the effort of the Cronulla Sharks players to hold on to beat the Gold Coast Titans 12-10, on Sunday, during one of the most tumultuous periods in the club’s 45-year history.

Faced with a doping inquiry centering on 2011, the players saw their head coach Shane Flanagan stood down and four of his staff sacked only 48 hours before their first game of the season.

While some contemplated a players’ strike in protest, the team was held together by calming words from Flanagan, Sharp, captain Paul Gallen and some of Cronulla’s board of directors, at various meetings.

A home game against the Titans, with few supporters from the Queensland club, would normally attract under 10,000. This time, the Sharks’ faithful rallied and nearly 18,000 piled in, with both banners and voices raised.

Older Sharks such as former coach Johnny Lang, Mitch Healey, Andrew Hicks, Aaron Raper, Adam Dykes and Lance Thompson mixed with former teammates now on the Sharks’ board, including Jonathan Docking and Glenn Coleman.

The Sharks had to win. 

‘‘They [fans] got us home,’’ said new winger Beau Ryan. ‘‘Sharkies fans are brilliant.’’

Star forward Luke Lewis, playing his first game in more than six months since a thyroid cancer scare throttled his season with the Panthers, said: ‘‘The standing ovation for the warm-up was mind-boggling, let alone when we ran out and ran back.’’ 

But even in triumph, after a game played with as much emotion as skill, some despair gripped the playing group afterwards. 

Skipper Gallen struggled just to dress, his face still buried in his hands long after the captain-coach press conference, and after his teammates had moved on.

‘‘Playing the game was the easiest thing I’ve done,’’ he said. 

No training can prepare for what happened off the field, nor what might follow in the future for a group which has endured little sleep, disrupted training sessions, and swirling rumours. And so the agony that is the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation must be endured, somehow, for some unknown period of time.

‘‘The pressure on the players was tumultuous, yet they somehow did this all for Shane,’’ said Sharp, who received a few calls from Flanagan during the tense game. ‘‘It is wrong — we want Shane back.’’

Sharp quickly added: ‘‘I don’t want to be coaching them when we play Souths next [Monday night].’’

Flanagan admitted ‘‘a few tears’’ and being ‘‘a bit overwhelmed’’ watching the game on television. 

‘‘I was a bit overwhelmed ... I wanted to be with the boys.’’ 

Todd Carney inspired his side with a five-star performance, given it was only six months since he tore his Achilles tendon; Lewis played all but five minutes of the game before cramps stopped him; new fullback Michael Gordon was all class, as was Beau Ryan.

Gallen was quiet by his lofty standards but carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and still topped the running metres stats, while big Andrew Fifita, Ben Ross and new boy Chris Heighington all played their part in a game which could have gone either way.

Sharks fans also flocked to a weekend petition set up on Facebook calling on the board to reinstate Shane Flanagan as head coach.

The petition called on the board to ‘‘reinstate the innocent bystanders in wake of ASADA’s investigation regarding illegal doping.’’ 

For their part, the board says no charges have been laid, no specific allegations — and all players are ‘‘innocent until proven otherwise.’

What did you think of the game?