Dugan to miss Panthers clash

Sharks star Josh Dugan will not play in Friday night's Elimination Final clash after failing to overcome a shoulder injury.

It is a big loss for Cronulla who are already without key forward Wade Graham for the rest of the season due to a ruptured ACL.

Dugan was reduced to tears at a media session on Tuesday after stating the public had misconstrued bad boy perception of him, opening up on the mental health demons he had faced.

“[I] wasn’t expecting it. [It’s] pretty delicate. We’ve sort of been working with Josh but we didn’t expect that,” Flanagan said.

“We’re dealing with him. It’s a delicate situation and we need to deal with it in the right manner. Not through the media. Maybe [Tuesday] was a good thing for Josh to get it off his chest… he’s been ok.

“The whole club has [rallied around him]. With all our players we’ve got to make sure they’re ok. Sometimes we think they’re big and strong but sometimes we need to look a little bit deeper.”

Flanagan urged fans to be be respectful of Dugan.

“Josh, we’ve all said, has made his mistakes,” he said.

“He’s got to stand up to those. He’s a young man that is trying to do his best and is working hard behind the scenes and we’ll continue to work hard with him.”