Sharks faith repayed for Gallen

Paul Gallen says he isn’t suprised at Cronulla’s recent run of form which has seen them notch five straight wins.

The Sharks skipper was speaking after the 24-18 victory over Parramatta in a thrilling game at Toyota Stadium on Saturday.

The Eels had fought their way back to level the match at 18-18 at half time, but the home side’s resolve saw them secure victory.

Gallen was delighted but not suprised by the result.

“It’s great for the team, and for the whole club,” Gallen said.

“But it’s not really an outstanding thing to our whole playing group.

“We knew from pre-season that we had a good squad, but we believed in ourselves.

“We knew we’d be in this situation and now it’s up to us to handle it.”

The recruitment of experienced players including Jeremy Smith and Todd Carney is helping the rest of the team, according to Gallen.

“I don’t care who was coaching us in the last couple of years, I don’t think we could’ve done any better,” he added.

“The players we’ve got this year, probably 1-22, 23 are genuine first graders, that’s a massive difference.

“We probably trained a bit harder this pre-season and we believed in ourselves from day one.”