Sharks ignoring off-field woes: Covell - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Sharks ignoring off-field woes: Covell

By Ed Jackson 17/06/2009 06:28:37 PM Comments (0)

Cronulla winger Luke Covell says an on-field turnaround has helped the club's players ignore the Sharks off-field woes.

Covell admitted the various issues at boardroom-level and those surrounding the club's finances had affected the playing group when the team was struggling at the bottom of the NRL ladder.

But after picking up three straight wins, he says off-field matters aren't even up for discussion amongst the players.

"It has been tough at times, especially when we were losing some games," he told AAP.

"Now that we've had a couple of wins in a row, we haven't even spoken about it. In saying that the coaching staff have been good in sheltering us from that stuff too.

"Everyone's sort of gotten to the stage now where we're a bit over it, we just want it to get to that stage where whatever happens and we can move on.

"If any of the boys sort of see anything in the paper now everyone's just brushing it and reading something else. We're just trying to move on and get on with it."

Covell has also backed embattled former skipper Paul Gallen after the NSW representative was forced to give away the Sharks captaincy earlier this month.

Gallen stepped down from the role after admitting his guilt and apologising for racially abusing St George Illawarra forward Mickey Paea during a match, an incident that cost the lock $10,000.

But Covell says Gallen is still an important part of the leadership group at the club.

""Without doubt, he's been our most consistent player all year and I'm sure if he hadn't been on the field the scorelines would have blown out a lot more than what they had," he said of Gallen, who'll miss Monday's match against Brisbane due to Origin commitments.

"He's probably the toughest player I've ever played with and the boys have a lot of respect for who he is and what he does on the field workwise and he'll be severely missed this week."

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