The coach of the Cronulla Sharks rugby league team, Shane Flanagan, has been stood down and four key backroom staff have been sacked due to "management failures" during the time controversial sports consultant Stephen Dank was involved with the club.
The Sharks are at the centre of an investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and the club's deputy chairman Keith Ward says Flanagan was stood down, while football manager Darren Mooney, head trainer Mark Noakes, physiotherapist Konrad Schultz and club doctor David Givney have been sacked.
Ward says that former Northern Eagles and Manly coach Peter Sharp will take over as Sharks coach for Sunday's clash with Gold Coast while former Brisbane Broncos boss Bruno Cullen will be the interim CEO.
Ward says he expects a full-strength Cronulla team to take part in the match.
Flanagan's standing-down and the sackings come during a tumultuous few days for the Sharks.
Fourteen Cronulla players have reportedly been offered full pay by the embattled NRL club if they stood down for six months in return for waiving their right to sue the Sharks over the drugs scandal, according to a News Ltd report.
Players are believed to have been encouraged to accept a six-month ban over the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs with the alternative being a two-year ban.
It's understood Sharks players are claiming if they did take banned substances, they did so unknowingly.
