Status: Hall Of Fame
Posts: 7483 Sharks Sacked the Rest
July 10, 2013, 09:16:57 Reecw-Edwards and Bashford has also been sacked by the Sharks - so the race must be on to find assistant coaches for the team. The question now is - who of the players will be get rid of or will depart because of player insecurity, factions and other negative elements.
The situation is so fluid that we can bargain on the following situation to apply:-
* Backs
Aside from JP Pietersen - who will not play for the Springboks or in the CC competition over the next two years - Van der Linde and Bosman has already announced their departure.
Other players may want to get away from the faction ridden team as well. Those could include some real surprises - but it will obviously depend on whose contracts are ending and which players are not wanted by Smit and Venter. The latter could be a problem since the backline performance of the Sharks this year was atrocious.
It may also depend on which team wins the play-off games between the Kings and the Lions. Whomsoever wins will hunt heavily for Sharks players and they will find a willing market since like in any place of employment - insecurity is a vital factor in players own determination of their future. There may be some surprising lossess of players and we need to watch the situation to see what Smit and venter will do and whether they would be able to put together a succession plan for players. What is evident is that most SA players will not be easily persuaded that they will have a good future with the Sharks and they will have to pay a heavy price to attract top players to the franchise
The player they should sent farming is Francois Steyn - who is part and parcel of the faction problem - but that would not happen. So the future of some other players would be bleak especially if they are not in the Steyn faction.
Forwards
One of the players already departing is Marais. It is reported that Pieter-Steph Du Toit wants to leave and the Du Plessis brothers would likely also leave. Daniel is another probable leaver. The latter was already benched last Saturday - likely because of his comments last week about the Plumtree issue.
It must be borne in mind that in the event of the Lions winning the play-offs - Van der Merwe will depart as well. In the event of any of the Kings or Lions losing - especially the Kings - it is possible that a combined Kings-Lions team will be fielded in next years Super 15 and the drawing of players from the Sharks will be enhanced. That could have serious detrimental impact on the low-confidence Sharks and other departures can be expected.
The Sharks have a lot of re-building to do and I as a Shark supporter is not really confident that it would succeed. I think they are in for a hard time in the CC this year - as well as next years Super 15. It would be a miracle if they can reach number 10 on the Super 15 log next year.
