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Message: [QUOTE="Super Freak, post: 2949733, member: 8536"] [SIZE=6][B][ATTACH=full]3213[/ATTACH] [/B] [B][/B] [B]Sharks deny Bird is flying back to Shire[/B][/SIZE] June 15, 2018 CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan has shot down speculation Jack Bird could return to the Sharks, imploring the fallen NSW Origin star to focus on succeeding at his new club the Broncos. The gravity of Bird’s career freefall will be rammed home on Saturday night when the Broncos travel to Sydney to face the Sharks in a vital Round 15 clash at Southern Cross Group Stadium. By rights, Bird should be Brisbane’s $800,000 attacking dynamo attempting to engineer the demise of a Cronulla club with whom he won a maiden premiership ring just two years ago. Instead, Bird will be a shattered spectactor, left to digest a nightmare maiden season at Red Hill as Brisbane’s big-money import prepares to undergo a second, potentially season-ending operation on Monday. The season of discontent has fuelled speculation Bird wants out of the Broncos, with the NSW south-coast product said to have been challenged by his move to Queensland. But Flanagan says the Sharks are looking ahead and the Cronulla coach hopes Bird can eventually recapture his fitness and match-winning mojo at the Broncos. “The bottom line is Jack has a contract with the Broncos and that’s pretty much it for me. I don’t see how anything else can unfold,” Flanagan said ahead of tonight’s showdown. “Jack still has a lot of mates here at the Sharks and they do talk from time to time. “I actually speak with Jack by text message now and then, just to make sure he’s OK more than anything else. “I haven’t sensed that Jack is depressed or anything like that. In his chats with the boys, he sounds quite jovial. “Jack is on good money at the Broncos and we couldn’t afford him anyway. “He is struggling because he is injured and not playing. It’s not a problem with the Broncos as a club. “When players aren’t playing and they are injured and living away from home, it does make it hard. But I wish Jack the best at the Broncos.” Broncos coach Wayne Bennett confirmed Bird requires sternum surgery and admits there are no guarantees he will return this season. “It has been a poor year by his standards,” he said. “None of it in his control. “We probably won’t see much of Jack now, we’re talking six weeks (in recovery), but we’re not going to rush it ... we just have to get by without him.” Flanagan is wary of an eighth-placed Broncos side desperate to bounce back from last week’s 32-16 loss to the Storm. “We have to be very careful. (Anthony) Milford and (Kodi) Nikorima (Broncos halves) can score points,” he said. “The Broncos are a bit like us, they have put some good wins together but then by their standards haven’t put big blocks of wins together. “They have some quality players across the park. James Roberts and Corey Oates are dangerous so we have to be on our game.” Source: [URL='https://outline.com/JKtZkZ']Courier Mail[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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