Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan could not care less about his side being written off. In fact, he expected it.
The Sharks head into their season opener with Brisbane on Thursday night with three conspicuous holes in their side, with the loss of the retired Michael Ennis, the released Ben Barba and the injured Valentine Holmes.
![Challenge: Sharks coach Shane Flanagan.](/web/20170302133659im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/n/8/o/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gun8mh.png/1488260471153.jpg)
Those losses have seen many write off the Sharks' chances of being the first team since Brisbane in 1992-93 to win back-to-back premierships, with Cronulla the longest-priced defending premiers with bookmakers in recent memory.
Twenty-year-old junior Jayden Brailey will make his NRL debut replacing Ennis at hooker, with Gerard Beale to shift to fullback to cover the loss of Barba and new signing Edrick Lee to play on the wing for the round-one clash with the Broncos.
But Flanagan is unfazed by the talk about his side from critics.
"Obviously, on the back of [losing] Ben Barba and Michael Ennis retiring, all you people have got some ammunition. They were massive parts of our success last year, but I think we've got two good replacements there and Val will come back in eventually as well," he said.
"[But] I can understand that. It's our job now to go out and prove everyone wrong, like we did last year. [Only] a couple of people said we'd win the comp. We've just got to believe in ourselves and trust in what we do day to day. A bit of luck along the way with no injuries and we'll give it a shake."
Flanagan is expecting a tough test from Brisbane after the Broncos demolished Cronulla in a trial earlier this month.
A win in the opening round would be the perfect tonic after a hectic pre-season for the Sharks that saw them travel to New Zealand and then the UK for the Auckland Nines and World Club Challenge, as well as losing players to the NRL All-Stars match.
"It'd just be nice from where we've been in the off-season and obviously coming off the grand final last year to start in good shape. The drums will only beat louder, if we don't get off to a good start, that we have fallen from that position we were in last year," Flanagan said.
"Every week is such a competition. You can't drop your guard for one minute, otherwise you'll get beaten. I think it's a good position to be in for us. We haven't been [defending premiers] before. Maybe teams do prepare a little bit better. Maybe in the previous years they thought that they'd just get the two points and now they know they're going to have to come here and work for them."
Cronulla were thrashed 30-12 by Brisbane in Redcliffe in a trial before their World Club Challenge loss to Wigan.
Sharks captain Paul Gallen said the Broncos would take confidence from that result, but, like Flanagan, he was not concerned about being written off so early.
"The boys played them in a trial game a few weeks ago and, to be fair, they bashed us ... right through the middle, and won that game quite comfortably," he said.
"They're going to come down here with a bit of confidence knowing that they beat us only a few weeks ago.
"In the four walls here [being written off] doesn't worry us one bit. Last year I don't think anyone gave us a chance to win the competition really, and we managed to do that. Last year's done, we've just got to get out there and do what we do well on the field, play well and win games and it'll shut people up.
"If we don't and we start losing we're going to hear more noise, but the good thing is only we can control that."
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