Paul Gallen

A lot has happened in recent times that has seen Paul Gallen question his future and others speculate on it but the dust has settled and the Cronulla Sharks captain has re-signed with the club.

The one-year deal will see Gallen remain a one-club man, before he takes up a three-year ambassadorial role with the Sharks.

His playing days will come to an end at the completion of next year and for the man himself, it was quite simple.

“I started my career here, I wanted to finish it here,” Gallen said.

Well aware of everything he has done for the club over the years, re-signing Gallen was a proud moment for the club and for CEO Lyall Gorman.

“Obviously a great day for our club, an exciting day to announce the one-year extension of Paul’s contract,” Gorman said.

In modern day football, one-club players are rare to find and Gorman is pleased that Gallen can have the opportunity to do that at the Sharks.

“I think it’s fair to say that in the modern era of football, one-club players and Paul, as you probably do know, he’s played in Origin and achieved everything. The only thing eluding him is a premiership,” said Gorman.

In a rare move, Gorman and the Sharks opted to put forward a post-career deal for Gallen, his ambassadorial role from the 2017 season.

“It will allow him to engage in our community work, within the evolution of the young people in our community and also to work with our corporate partners,” said Gorman.

“I think it’s fair to say that Paul is an icon of the game, certainly not just our club. He’s behind ET [Andrew Ettinghausen] only in terms of games played for our club.

“It’s a great day for us.”

Gallen is not getting any younger but he admits that if his body holds up beyond 2016, he may consider going around again in 2017.

“As long as my body holds up, there’s no reason I can’t keep going,” said Gallen.

“I’ve had a little bit of bad luck but hopefully things like that don’t happen again.”

By ricky

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