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SYDNEY, Australia – John Morris and Jim Dymock have been appointed as interim coaches at the Cronulla Sharks after the rugby league club was put on notice that the NRL is proposing to de-register its coach Shane Flanagan.

Flanagan has until the end of January 2019 to appeal the decision. Reports that he has already been de-registered are incorrect. No final decision will be made until the coach has an opportunity to respond to the breach notice he was served with on Wednesday.

The NRL however has ruled that he cannot coach in the meantime, hence the appointment of interim coaches Morris and Dymock.

The Sharks, now facing payment of an original $400,000 fine related to the so-called peptide scandal of 2014 as the result of a breach notice simultaneously served on Monday, will potentially face an additional $400,000 fine. The club too has the opportunity to appeal the proposed fines by 31 January 2019.

The provisional ban and penalties have hit the club hard. Captain Paul Gallen however appeared unperturbed when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.  “Shane Flanagan is a personal friend of mine and my coach for a long time. What’s happening is unfortunate but rules have been broken,” he said.

“As a playing group we’re pushing forward, we’ll weigh up 2019 in the future. My job is to reassure members and fans we’re here to win games.”

“I’ve seen this all before, it is a distraction but we’re here to do a job,” said the Sharks skipper.

While Cronulla will appeal the severity of the fines it is unlikely Flanagan will survive the chop. The NRL integrity unit is believed to have discovered a large number of emails to and from the club and its coach after Flanagan was suspended in 2014. Todd Greenberg, the NRL CEO said Wednesday the terms of Flanagan’s suspension were “crystal clear.” He was to have no contact with the club. The emails unearthed allegedly indicated he had been playing a part in recruitment and retention at the club in anticipation of his return to the club in 2015.

Flanagan is admired throughout the game for his character and his capabilities as a coach. To be struck down in such a way in the prime of his career will be an extraordinarily difficult pill for he and his family, and supporters to swallow.

The Australian sporting public however, just as they did with cricket greats Stephen Smith and David Warner are pretty unforgiving. A poll conducted by The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday asking whether the penalty was too harsh, or whether it was ok as rules had been broken, had 75% of voters opting for the latter.

The Sharks CEO in an extraordinary statement at such an early stage of proceedings accepted responsibility and candidly admitted the club broke the rules. 

“As CEO of the club we have to accept responsibility as a club we broke the rules,” Barry Russell said on Wednesday.

“If you break the rules there are consequences. This is a very disappointing day for our club.”

“My thoughts go out to Shane and his family, from my point of view it’s paramount we provide him and his family with wellbeing and support,” said Russell.

“We have until January 31st to lodge an appeal, it’s a substantial amount and we will be appealing that.”

Wests Tigers which were also hit with a provisional breach notice on Wednesday over its offering of an ambassadorial role to hooker Robbie Farah when he left the club to join the Rabittohs in 2016, by contrast to the Cronulla Sharks reaction, came out swinging.

The club has been given notice of a proposed fine of a massive $750,000, and told the NRL is proposing to add $639,000 to the club’s salary cap, which is what it says is the full value of the contract to Farah. Robbie Farah is not believed to have done anything wrong. Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe however, like Flanagan, is facing de-registration. He and the club have until 31 Janaury to appeal the preliminary findings and proposed sanctions.

“The club is shocked with the decision and extremely disappointed in the process,” Wests Tigers said in a statement published on Wednesday.

“It is an arrangement that Wests Tigers had with Robbie that is unrelated to his career as a player. The club does not know if he is going to take it up and Robbie has not indicated his intention in return.”

“The reason the ambassadorship was offered in November 2015 is that then new CEO Justin Pascoe felt that the club had disrespected Robbie and this was a way to show him the respect that Justin felt he deserved as a Life Member and club legend due to the overwhelming support Robbie had at the time from Members and fans,” the Wests Tigers statement said.

“Most importantly Wests Tigers derive absolutely no advantage from this arrangement. It is not tied in any way to Robbie’s playing contract.”

“Wests Tigers are particularly concerned about the wrongful attack on the integrity of the club’s CEO. For the last three years Justin has shown nothing but respect for the NRL and the salary cap,” the statement said.

The club said it will be ‘vigorously defending’ the proposed penalties and de-registration of its CEO.