3 minute read

Cronulla NRL coach Shane Flanagan admits all young players, not just Todd Carney, give him sleepless nights.

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has revealed how a series of heart-to-hearts with Todd Carney during last year's final series convinced him to ignore the doomsayers and throw the troubled star an NRL lifeline.

Former Test captain Laurie Daley was among the skeptics advising the struggling Sharks against signing Carney late last year after the 2010 Dally M Medallist was sacked by the Sydney Roosters.

"Cronulla are fighting for their survival now so if something was to go horribly wrong, where does that leave them?" Daley said at the time.

But six months on and things are going awfully right, with Carney having turned his life around to have the Sharks flying high in third place after six straight wins.

Carney is also a hot favourite to be NSW five-eighth for the State of Origin series opener against Queensland on May 23.

Flanagan said while most other clubs didn't want a bar of Carney, he had no qualms about pinning his faith in the 25-year-old after "getting to know the kid" during a series of meetings last September.

"It was the tail-end of last year when Todd was still suspended," Flanagan told AAP on Thursday.

"The comp was still running, it was in the finals series and I met him quite a few times, did quite a bit of research and spoke to a few people.

"Obviously taking people on face value was how I accepted them, rather than listening to what others said.

"I got to know the kid pretty well and he knows it's his last chance here and he's been great for the place.

"I don't know what he was like at the other clubs, but he's been a bit of a leader here, he's a talker and he's in a good space at the moment and he's playing good football."

Flanagan was candid and philosophical when asked whether, despite Carney's new-found maturity, he still has sleepless nights awaiting the dreaded phone call to hear the NRL's one-time wild child was in strife again.

"I have those over a lot of players in our squad," he said.

"You have them with your own children. You have them all the time.

"No one's exclusively not going to get into those situations. The best behaved kid could get in a situation where it's not his fault (while) out late at night.

"Being out late at night creates these problems, unfortunately, and young people are going to do it. Todd is exactly the same as everyone else."

Should Carney play all three Origin games for the Blues this year, the Sharks will be without their attacking trump for key games against Canterbury, Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Flanagan certainly wouldn't complain if he missed Origin selection, but said it would be selfish to hope Carney wasn't picked.

"The kid's going to come back a better player," Flanagan said.

"Rep players are what I want in this club. I look at Manly's playing roster from last year - they had 11 Origin and Australian players in their run-on 13. We've got two.

"I want to get it up to around that six mark and, if Todd becomes one of those players, then we're chipping away at it."