CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan said the effect Paul Gallen has on his younger players is immeasurable, as the Sharks put the icing on a positive week for the club by downing the Sydney Roosters on Sunday afternoon.
After announcing Southern Radiology as the club's major sponsor on Friday, the Sharks ran out 10-4 winners to down the premiership heavyweights for the second time this season.
Cronulla welcomed back their skipper Gallen from a hip injury as well as Chris Heighington from suspension in front of more than 14,000 fans at Remondis Stadium on a gorgeous afternoon in the Shire.
Ben Barba was a late withdrawal with a rib problem that saw Michael Gordon shift to fullback and Sosaia Feki move onto the wing.
Gallen played all but six minutes of the match after missing eight weeks with a hip problem.
The 33-year-old was at his physical best and led the way for Cronulla, making the most tackles and gaining the most metres.
Flanagan said it was good to have his captain back.
"He's our leader. The confidence he gives to the players around him. He doesn't talk when he doesn't have to," he said.
"He's a great leader at the club. The confidence he gives to those young blokes like Valentine Holmes, Sosaia Feki and Jack Bird, it's not measurable.
"He could have played 80 minutes but I gave him a spell which he wasn't happy about.
"But in the end I probably think it was the right decision because he had some petrol in his legs the last 10 minutes when we needed him."
Flanagan, who moved past Ricky Stuart into fourth on the list of most games coached for the Sharks, said he was happy with most aspects of his team's performance.
"I don't know if we were scrappy but we probably needed to be a bit more clinical offensively on their try line," he said.
"We took a few wrong options and turned the ball over pressing their try line.
"They made a lot of errors but we forced them into errors. I thought we were pretty good, to tell you the truth.
Luke Lewis's match-winning try was the 100th of his NRL career.
Cronulla have their second bye of the season before travelling north to face the Knights in Newcastle.
Cronulla Sharks 10 (Luke Lewis try, Michael Gordon 3 goals) beat Sydney Roosters 4 (James Maloney try) at Remondis Stadium. Crowd:14,235.
Leader man of the match: Michael Gordon. Sharks’ next three: bye, Knights (away), Cowboys (away).
