If you had asked Paul Gallen at the start of the season if he thought Cronulla could win the competition he would have said yes. Emphatically.
But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, as recently as the start of last season, the inspirational Sharks and NSW captain would have said no.
The ASADA investigation had taken a toll on Gallen and many of his teammates. It had been worrying, it had been draining. Not to the point where he didn’t want to play anymore, but to the point where he was just going through the motions.
He didn’t care anymore.
But, midway through last season, something changed – he started to enjoy his football again.
That turnaround saw Cronulla turn themselves from wooden spooners to semi-finalists in a season, only beaten by the eventual premiers two games short of the grand final.
And now Gallen is confident that if Cronulla produce their best effort in the decider against Melbourne they will create history – they will win the club’s first premiership.
“We’ve built a good enough squad, we’ve got good people here. I was confident we could be here,” he said.
“If you’d asked me [during the ASADA investigation] if we’d be here now I would have said no. I couldn’t have answered it for you. We just weren’t in a good space.
“But come probably midway through last season blokes like me and Wade [Graham] we just started having fun again, enjoying football.
“[But] if you’d asked me at the start of this year if we could be in the grand final I would have said yes.”
Gallen admits if last week’s preliminary final against North Queensland had been a regular round match he wouldn’t have played.
Gallen didn’t attend the Dally M awards on Wednesday night due to his back. He’s been driving to training and immediately going and having physio on the injury, such is the need to manage it.
The 35-year-old has been at the club since 1999, a one club man. If he can help win Cronulla their first premiership it will ensure his legacy in the shire, one deserving of a man who has given everything for his football club.
And while he has given everything for the club and its fans, Gallen was quick to pay tribute to the hordes of Sharks supporters that have stuck by the club through all the dark times.
Gallen hopes a sea of black, white and blue greets the players at ANZ Stadium come 7.15pm.
“The buzz [around the shire] has been great. It’s been pretty hectic to be honest trying to organise tickets. I’ve got a reasonably big family and obviously friends. You get a few phone calls from people you might not have heard from in a while,” he said.
“Trying to organise that for the first two or three days was pretty full on. But we’ve got that all sorted now. I’m sure there’ll be a few more requests.
“It’s been unreal, it really has. Just going down the mall and trying to get some lunch. You just want to eat sometimes but you’ve got everyone giving you a high five and wanting a photo which has been really good.
“It’s really important that we embrace that and thank them for that because they’ve been long-suffering Sharks fans as well. We’ve never won a premiership and we have to accept that.
“The fans have been unreal. Not just this year, we’ve had some tough times as we know and they’ve always turned up particularly at home.
“To win all but one of our home games this year was great for them. The support in the streets has been good and it’s one game to go now.
“They were there down in Canberra, I was watching it on TV and seeing them there was great. Last week felt like a home game and I'm sure Sunday will feel like a home game as well.
“We’ll have a lot of fans there and hopefully we can win it for them.”
