Cronulla Sharks odds

The near-misses of the nineties and the noughties, the supplements scandal that ruined their 2014 campaign, the long-awaited premiership breakthrough in 2016 – what a wave the Cronulla Sharks have ridden in recent years.

Now the boys from the Shire are mired in controversy once again as a salary cap scandal and the potential suspension of coach Shane Flanagan threaten to derail their campaign from the off.

Let’s see how the bookies rate Cronulla’s chances in the 2019 NRL Premiership betting.

About the Cronulla Sharks

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Updated Cronulla Sharks futures odds

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Best Cronulla Sharks bets for NRL 2019

There are dozens of NRL futures markets for Cronulla, but where are they likely to return some real value?

Click on the tabs below to get more analysis on these markets:

• Sharks 2019 premiership betting
  The Sharks have recruited well, but the loss of Valentine Holmes to the NFL and their coach to a ban might be too much to overcome. In any case, they were only ever outside chances for the flag even without all the controversy.
  
• Top 8 betting
  The Sharkies clinched fourth place in a tight top eight last season, but they are far from a certainty to replicate that effort. Finals are most definitely within reach, however, so there is value in backing them to finish eighth or better.
  
• Dally M Medal betting
  With Holmes out, the newly arrived Shaun Johnson is the one to look at in Dally M betting. The former NZ Warrior is searching for bigger and better things in the Shire and rates a mention as an outside chance.
  

2019 Cronulla Sharks draw

Sharks players to watch in 2019

Shaun Johnson
Born: 9/9/1990
Games: 162
Tries: 63
Position: Halfback

This man had options aplenty after making it clear he would not stay on at the Warriors after 2018. If Johnson can strike up a rapport with last year’s big recruit, Matt Moylan, the Sharks might have one of the most creative halves partnerships in the NRL.

Josh Morris
Born: 23/8/1986
Games: 260
Tries: 121
Position: Centre

Morris broke Bulldogs hearts when he made the switch from Belmore to Shark Park at the end of the 2018 campaign. The veteran NSW centre will add steel, experience and plenty of know-how to Cronulla’s talented back half.

Sione Katoa
Born: 21/8/1997
Games: 9
Tries: 3
Position: Winger

This young man was poised for a breakout season in 2018 until he suffered a broken jaw in Townsville midway through the year. Blessed with raw speed and a light turn of foot, Katoa is very hard to stop when he gets a chance to run at the opposition.

Cronulla Sharks records and stats

• Player records
  Most games: 328 – Andrew Ettingshausen
  Most career points: 1253 – Steve Rogers
  Most career tries: 165 – Andrew Ettingshausen
  Most club champion awards: Five – Paul Gallen
  
• Team records
  Most consecutive wins: 15 (2016)
  Most consecutive losses: 13 (2009-10)
  Biggest winning margin: 62-0 (vs. Knights, 2016)
  Biggest losing margin: 4-74 (vs. Eels, 2003)
  Largest NRL attendance: 83,625 (vs. Storm, 2016 NRL Grand Final)
  
• Sharks NRL history
  The Cronulla-Caringbah club formed in 1963 and played in Sydney inter-district competitions. Four years later, the rebranded Cronulla Sutherland District Rugby League Football Club joined the NSWRFL alongside the Penrith Panthers – now fierce rivals.

  Although the Sharks made waves when they beat Eastern Suburbs in their first-grade debut, they finished the 1967 season with only three wins to their name. Steady improvement over the following years saw them crack the finals in 1973 and make it all the way to the decider, where they lost to Manly-Warringah in one of the toughest, dirtiest contests ever witnessed. The two teams met on the same stage five years later with similar results.

  Cronulla fell on hard times in the early 1980s. The club went into administration in ’83 and received a bailout from the league – a luxury afforded to neither Western Suburbs nor Newtown, the latter of which soon folded. Hope sprang from the emergence of local lad Andrew Ettingshausen, who would go on to become one of Cronulla, NSW and Australia’s most celebrated players.

  Despite their on-field promise, the Sharks were drowning again by 1990 and went into receivership three years later. Again, financial hardship heralded a new wave of success. John Lang took the coaching reins in 1994 and steered the club to the semi-finals or better six times in eight seasons. During this time Cronulla joined the breakaway Super League and reached the grand final of the competition’s only season in 1997, where they lost to the Brisbane Broncos.

  For all that effort, premiership success continued to elude the Sharks. Their chances grew dimmer after former Melbourne Storm coach Chris Anderson succeeded Lang in 2002 and set about dismantling the playing group, much to the chagrin of the supporters. Stuart Raper came and went, Ricky Stuart came and went, and still no flag for the Shire. Other difficulties arose, including a supplements scandal that marred the 2013 and 2014 campaigns.

  Cronulla would have to wait until 2016 – a year in which the AFL’s Western Bulldogs and the EPL’s Leicester City also broke long-running droughts. They entered the NRL Grand Final as rank underdogs against the Storm, but a star turn from Clive Churchill Medal winner Luke Lewis inspired the Sharks to a 14-12 win that was 50 years in the making.
  

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