Sharks need to get lean, mean and hungry

THE departure of Sean Everitt from the Shark Tank on Monday, less than 24 hours after Cardiff had put 35 points past the Sharks, was a shock only in its timing, but predictable in that the coach had a target on his back ever since his team lost (unluckily) to the Bulls in the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship.

A lively debate in the boardroom ended with Everitt earning a stay of execution, with the proviso that only consistently good results would keep him in his job.

This, of course, is unfair because one man at the Sharks cannot alone be responsible for the team winning or losing, but it is also understandable that the coach is the one person who can be easily removed in perceived times of turmoil because he is just that … one man.

It is far tougher to sack the squad and/or the backroom staff, and in British football a change in manager is so often seen as the quick-fix solution.

One definite result from Monday's blood in the water is that the players and the assistant coaches know that they have to pull their socks up and keep them up because the American owners have emphatically indicated that there are consequences for non-performance.

It is just a pity that a thoroughly good man and coach in Everitt had to be the scapegoat for the topsy-turvy results that are the result of circumstances mostly beyond his control.

Let's go back to Everitt's debut season in rugby's top flight, in 2020. Just before lockdown curtailed rugby

in South Africa, the Sharks had comfortably beaten the Stormers and after seven rounds they were top of Super Rugby.

They had also beaten the Bulls and had won three matches in New

Zealand and Australia to rave reviews for their exhilarating, counter-attacking rugby.

The vision for the Sharks at that time was that Everitt, in tandem with a dynamic, emerging chief executive in Ed Coetzee, would build a firm team culture largely based on the magnificent, unbeaten Sharks Under19 that Everitt had coached in 2018.

A winning team was already in place and included Evan Roos, Dylan Richardson, Phepsi Buthelezi, Boeta Chamberlain, Sanele Nohamba, Jaden Hendrikse, Thaakir Abrahams, Fez Mbatha, JJ van der Mescht, Lappies Labuschagne, Mpilo Gumede and Murray Koster … all of whom were blooded at senior level.

I wonder how the Sharks would have grown under Everitt had it not been for lockdown, which also, of course, had the seismic development of New York-based MVM Holdings buying a controlling interest in the Sharks.

The landscape at the Sharks has been shifting ever since and I am not saying that the addition of the Americans is a bad thing, but I am saying that things have changed and they have not yet settled down.

I know the owner Marco Masotti personally – we played many a cricket game together at school in Amanzimtoti – and he is a good and principled man. He, too, is passionate about establishing the right culture at the Sharks because without it there will never be sustained success.

This elusive but invaluable commodity called team culture is about having the right people with the right motives in the right place for the right amount of time for the correct values to be established.

Think about the wonderful Natal Sharks team of the '90s … Now that is what team culture is all about. A brotherhood of mates who put their bodies on the line for each other and their father-figure coach, and the pay cheque was a bonus.

I think Marco will be the first to admit that a few mistakes have been made, inevitably, but a lot of foundations have also been put in place.

There are a lot of people working very hard at the Sharks to give the players everything they need to be successful, but the Cardiff horror show proved that the correct culture has not yet taken hold.

That team contained too many players not up to URC standard and reminded me of the poor quality team that looked so lost in the (devalued) Currie Cup and another coach, Etienne Fynn, also took the fall for that failed campaign.

My opinion is that the Sharks' recruitment policy needs to be addressed. The squad is lopsided at the top with too many Springboks (why sign Boks when they hardly ever play for you?) and at the bottom, there are too many average players.

In general, my impression is that there are a lot of balls being juggled in the air at the Shark Tank, a lot of folk doing their best to make things happen.

But sometimes less is more … I watched Cardiff train before they played the Sharks and I had a sinking feeling that they were going to win the game. They trained with a higher intensity than the Sharks and their coaching staff was a small, tight unit. A head coach, two assistants, a doctor, and a physio … That was it.

My opinion is that the Sharks need to trim down their operation and get lean, mean and hungry. Too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say ...