SHARKS COACH PUNTED

Flanagan deregistered for ignoring NRL contact ban

CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan has been sensationally deregistered by the NRL for breaking strict rules by communicating with the club while suspended in 2014.

The Sharks have been fined $800,000 – half of which was suspended at the time over their supplements saga.

Flanagan and the club have until the end of January to respond to a breach notice, which is when the NRL will make its final determination. Until then Flanagan cannot have any official involvement with the club.

To avoid punishment it appears the Sharks will have to successfully counter evidence found by the NRL integrity unit that more than 50 emails were sent by Flanagan concerning player retention and recruitment.

His first correspondence was sent just weeks after his suspension and continued all the way to September 2014.

The club is believed to have initiated most of the discussions, resulting in the extra $400,000 fine.

No other Cronulla officials have been punished because then-CEO Steve Noyce and then-football manager Darren Mooney are no longer NRL officials. At the time, NRL integrity unit investigators met with club representatives and Flanagan’s manager to ensure the coach had no contact with the club.

Flanagan’s communications emerged when the integrity unit investigated the club into self-reported salary cap breaches in 2015.

“We’ve done a number of interviews with a number of people that are either at the club now or who have left the club,” Greenberg said.

“And obviously we’ve had access to the servers at the club so we’ve trawled through a number of emails. The evidence in front of me to make this decision was very strong.”

Towards the end of his suspension in September, Flanagan sent another email to the NRL unequivocally stating he had no involvement in retention during his ban. Asked to describe Flanagan’s behaviour during his suspension period, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg replied: “Disrespectful.”

Greenberg met with Sharks chairman Dino Mezzatesta and chief executive Barry Russell to inform them of the decision on yesterday morning.

Flanagan was invited to the meeting but declined to attend.

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