Sharks vow to play for dumped staff Cronulla captain Paul Gallen says the Sharks will play for "the five people that are no longer here" in confirming a full-strength squad would take on Gold Coast in Sunday's NRL opening round encounter. While a cloud still hangs over the Sharks players, with as many as 14 players believed to be weighing up whether to admit to taking banned substances and accepting a six-month ban, Gallen said all would take on the Titans at Sharks Stadium. Gallen briefly spoke to the media after Saturday morning's training session, which was run by new interim coach Peter Sharp following Friday's stunning decision to stand down coach Shane Flanagan. Flanagan was removed while while football manager Darren Mooney, trainer Mark Noakes, physiotherapist Konrad Schultz and doctor David Givney were all sacked for what the Sharks board described as "serious management failures" during sports scientist Stephen Dank's three-month term at the club in 2011. The players on Friday night confronted the board demanding Flanagan's reinstatement, but the threat of a boycott of the Titans clash at Shark Park was dismissed. "Not a lot was discussed," an ashen-faced Gallen said of Friday night's players meeting. We were told what happened to the five staff members who aren't with us at the moment and as a team we're sticking together. We're playing tomorrow and we're just going to get out there and do our best for the five people that are no longer here and ourselves. What's going on I'm sure you can all understand, is more than hard on everyone - we're sticking together, we're here tomorrow to play a game of footy, we're going to get out there tomorrow to do our best. We're looking forward to 80 minutes of concentrating on what we do best. Asked if he was still allowed to be contact with Flanagan, Gallen said: Shane's a friend of mine, I can speak to whoever I want to. The entire squad took part in Saturday's session minus Jayson Bukuya and Chad Townsend, who it seems have both been omitted from the extended squad named on Tuesday.