Cronulla left with big money decisions

The Sharks are making some big decisions for next years’ season with more than $3 million worth of decisions.

End-of-year reviews began this week, and Cronulla are in the process of making some pretty big contract decisions.

According to NRL.com, four of Cronulla’s five highest earning players are off contract at the end of next year, which opens the chance of them moving on to other teams.

Shaun Johnson, who suffered a season-ending Achilles’ injury, will see his contract negotiations pushed into early next year.

Contract offers for Johnson, Matt Moylan, Josh Dugan and Aaron Woods will be available after November 1 2021.

Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta told NRL.com that Johnson’s injury was a shame, and the timing of said injury was not ideal when talking about future contracts.

“It’s a shame SJ got injured when he did because he was certainly best on park and we certainly missed him out there.

“Not taking anything away from Connor Tracey and Chad [Townsend], they put in a great first half against the Raiders,” Mezzatesta said.

“It’s just a shame for SJ because, just at a time when we should be talking about his career beyond ’21 with the Sharks, we’ve got to wait and get him through rehab which is more important than anything.”

The 2021 season will also see the first year where Cronulla coach John Morris can operate with a full salary cap, even if his long-term future at the club isn’t guaranteed.

“We’ve got some considerations with the players off contract, there’s a quite a few people off contract next year so there’s some big calls,” Mezzatesta said.

“We will have to get onto that pretty quickly though. We always wanted to concentrate on the finals first and not have any distractions, and that’s how it went.

“It’s a shame we’re out but the players can hold their heads high. Now is the time to start really getting into the detail of those questions,” he told NRL.com.

“We’ve always said that John Morris has a contract until the end of 2021, he’s still our coach and that we would wait until the end of the year and let’s regroup.

“Just like the players that come off contract at the end of the year, our coach comes off contract at the end of the year, so all those discussions, we’ll get into the detail.

“We’ll have those deeper conversations about the future and what’s in store for everyone,” Mezzatesta said.