Sharks NRL staff including Head Coach Shane Flanagan, the club’s High-Performance Manager Andrew Gray and Welfare and Education Manager Shane Smith, stressed the importance of upholding the Club’s values and culture at the Academy Induction Night for Jersey Flegg, SG Ball and Matthews Cup squad members.
In what represented the first time the Under 20’s, 18’s and 16’s Sharks had assembled in the same room at the same time for an induction evening of this kind, the pillars of honesty, belief and discipline were outlined and explained ahead of the start of pre-season training for the three junior representative squads.
Held in the Showroom at Sharks Leagues Club last night, Interim CEO Paul Eriksson also welcomed the players, their parents and carers to what is a significant event to kick start their respective 2018 campaigns.
Flanagan, Gray and Smith spoke of the importance of communication, effort and trust, of being tough and resilient in their preparation and performance, while setting high standards both personally and in respect of the team environment.
The young Sharks will look to build on recent success in the Junior Representative arena, with both the Matthews Cup and SG Ball teams winning State and National Championships in 2015, while qualifying for the competition finals in each of the last two years.
The SG Ball squad in 2017 won their way through to the Grand Final of the under-18’s competition, only to go down narrowly to the Parramatta Eels.
As for the under-20’s, the Sharks were runaway minor premiers in what was the last season of the NYC Holden Cup in 2017 and will be intent on repeating that success in the state-based Jersey Flegg competition in 2018.
The upcoming schedule was also detailed by Development Manager Vinh Tran, with the three teams to undergo testing over the next three days before commencing their pre-season training next week.
For full summer squad lists for each of the three grades CLICK HERE
