Ricky Stuart and his Cronulla Sharks.

Apart from a round 4 victory over the Eels, the early stages of 2010 have been a struggle for the Cronulla Sharks and it appears that coach Ricky Stuart is making matters worse by living in fear of losing his job, rather than trying to take pressure off his players and ensure they maintain their confidence.

How many more times can Ricky Stuart mention that players in his squad are not of '1st grade calibre' before they start to believe it? Is it just me or does this seem slightly counter-productive as a motivational tool? Recent press conferences have Ricky using statements like, ‘they are just kids who are not up to first grade standard, but we've had to put them in before they are ready'. I'm paraphrasing of course, but this has been the message that Coach Stuart seems intent on imparting to the media.

This message will be received by the players and will do three things to a football team...
1. Destroy their confidence
2. Destroy their confidence
and finally
3. Destroy their confidence

The Brains Trust of Sharks football.

It's hard enough for young players to come into first grade through a losing culture, but to then have a coach talk about them this way, under the guise of protecting them, must be completely disheartening. An example can be found in a Sydney Morning Herald article after the side's round 5 loss to Manly, in response to a question about Albert Kelly, Stuart says, ''He's a very young boy, probably not up to first-grade standard at the moment, but nor are a lot of the [other] options I have to play there".

He goes on to say, ''I think fullback is his position at the moment, and he's my best option". Not the most inspirational speech of all time. "Albert, there is nobody else to play fullback so you have to do it". Is this how he announced to an up-and-coming footballer that he was about to start in 1st grade? Is this what Ricky said during Albert's jersey presentation ceremony?

Not content with savaging his young fullback, he moves on to Nathan Stapleton and talks about the option of playing him at fullback, "''I could play Stapo there, but I don't get that instinctive ability in attack. Sure, I might have Stapo there and he'd be able to catch bombs, but we need some instinctive ability in attack" Apparently, Stapleton should now be aware that he has limited attacking ability and young Kelly would have no doubt that he can't catch a bomb.

"Is there anyone else who can play fullback?"

It is one thing to be honest in front of the media and perhaps understandable if a coach refuses to sugar-coat any of his remarks but these comments are effectively shattering the confidence he claims to be trying to build. It's actually quite remarkable. Ricky Stuart, as a man who has coached for club, state and country, should know better about how to man-manage and how to instil confidence in his young players. Instead he sells them out by basically saying that the losses are not his fault, the performances of the players are not his responsibility and that he is forced to put these players in first grade because there is nobody better!!!

Wouldn't a more fruitful option here be to convince young footballers that playing first grade is a reward for years of hard work and sacrifice, that because they are good enough - the get picked, and maybe even suggest to them that you have complete faith in them to do the job you ask? Call me crazy, but isn't Ricky Stuart doing the complete opposite of this by saying what he is saying?

To make matters worse, this is a view shared by the club at board level. After their round 4 win over the Eels, the Sharks were heard to pronounce that they have now joined other clubs with a 1 and 3 win-loss record, even though these other clubs have better playing rosters. As if to admit that Cronulla do not have the 'cattle' to compete, so other clubs should be embarrassed by a Sharks victory?

Winning breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning. The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks will have neither if this same attitude continues as part of their culture. Their playing roster is no worse than some other NRL teams; they have two of the best young props in NSW and other players with representative and semi final experience in a number of positions. The problem is that nobody believes in them. Is Ricky Stuart aware that his players look up to him and rely on him for inspiration and motivation? Or is he just trying to get a few more years out of his contract before moving to England? Either way, Sharks players and fans deserve better from the man in charge of their football team.