Back from Cronulla exile, Flanagan happy to be talking footy once again SHANE Flanagan might have had only one training run and a video session with his team before yesterday's big win over the Warriors, but he says lack of preparation was never going to be a problem. After all, he's been watching plenty of rival NRL teams play football over the past two weeks. "Yeah, I've had a fair bit of time on my hands," the reinstated Sharks coach quipped after the sweet-tasting victory. I think I've watched every game this year, but that's nothing unusual. It's a bit faster - especially our game on Monday against Souths. That was just a rat race. It has changed a little bit and a couple of interpretations have changed. The obstruction rule has still got some grey areas in it for me. Flanagan was more than happy to slip back into coach-speak after getting his job back on Friday. He had been stood down pending a review for failing to report to the board about alleged doping practices at the club in 2011, which is now the subject of an investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority. Four other officials were sacked over the incident. Three of those - football manager Darren Mooney, trainer Mark Noakes and physiotherapist Konrad Schultz - sat together to watch the game from the stands yesterday as Flanagan returned to the coach's box to call the shots. "I'm sick of the attention, to tell you the truth," Flanagan said. I was just talking to Gal (captain Paul Gallen) about it and he was saying I'm loving it, but I'm over it. I just want to coach ... and I was glad to get here today and get the job done. It wasn't tidy in the second half but we got it done. We did enough in the first half. To say they did enough in the first half is something of an understatement. Players yesterday downplayed the emotion surrounding the return of their coach but they certainly played with an enthusiasm that the Warriors couldn't match. "It was good all the public support he had from the time that he left," Gallen said. We probably knew he was going to come back, so it was no real surprise to us. It's good to have him back and it's good his head is a bit clearer now. We're just preparing as best we can. It's a day-to-day thing, to be honest. We get to training and we do our job and go home. Probably the easiest part of our week is playing footy. Gallen certainly made his job look easy yesterday after making his customary 200-plus metres with the ball (he finished the day with 204m). Prop Andrew Fifita (161m) and bench forward Chris Heighington (164m) weren't too far behind him for effort. Backrower Anthony Tupou came up with several bustling runs and dangerous offloads. Hooker John Morris, five-eighth Todd Carney, halfback Jeff Robson and fullback Michael Gordon all sliced up the Warriors' defence. By the end of the first half, the visitors were already in trouble at 18-0. When play resumed and five minutes later replacement Sam Tagataese was finishing off a move that had started in the Sharks half, the epitaph was being written. It was going to be an impressive Sharks win and not just because the mercury was nudging 30C. It was because the club is still being investigated by ASADA and while there might be some clarity about the interview process with 31 players being targeted in the NRL, there is still uncertainty about who will be left standing by the end of it. Having lived through that uncertainty himself over the past fortnight, Flanagan said there was only one way to handle it. We'll just be going day-by-day and we'll prepare for next week.