Gallen in race against time as Woods waits on rare start

The Sharks won't fly Paul Gallen to Melbourne unless he can pass a fitness test during Cronulla's captain's run on Thursday as coach Shane Flanagan considers handing Aaron Woods his first run-on start for the club.

Gallen's troublesome shoulder, which prevented him from finishing the Sharks' nerve-jangling finals win over the Panthers, showed slight signs of improvement on Monday as Cronulla fear for the loss of their second co-captain in as many weeks.

Tight call: Paul Gallen suffered a shoulder injury in the nail-biting win over Penrith.

Tight call: Paul Gallen suffered a shoulder injury in the nail-biting win over Penrith.

Gallen has already received cortisone injections in a bid to stifle the pain, which prevented him from even moving his shoulder over the weekend.

But the Sharks won't take any risks with his fitness and want to see the NRL's oldest warhorse complete training 24 hours out from the game, rather than leave a fitness test until the warm-up at AAMI Park on Friday night.

"He needs to be able to pass and run, lift his body weight and there's certain things he'll have to do on Thursday," Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said.

"He's getting better slowly. He couldn't move his shoulder [on Sunday], but he's a lot better [on Monday]. He's had three cortisone injections in it and he's got some reasonable strength down low, but nothing up top. We'll just have to see how it is.

We need to try to make sure Gal's right because without Wade [Graham] and him that's two big blows

"Wednesday we'll know more about how he's recovered and we'll give him right up until Thursday to see if he's on the plane. We need to try to make sure Gal's right because without Wade [Graham] and him that's two big blows."

Flanagan could use mid-season pick-up Woods in his starting side if 37-year-old Gallen is ruled out, paving the way for NSW State of Origin prop Matt Prior to revert to lock.

It would provide the Sharks with three genuine front-rowers including Andrew Fifita for the fiery early exchanges against premiers Melbourne, who have waged some ferocious battles with their 2016 grand final conquerors in recent years.

Woods has climbed off the bench in all 10 of his appearances for the Sharks this year having been squeezed out of the Bulldogs before the June 30 deadline due to salary cap pressure.

Should Gallen fail to be fit for the grand final qualifier, it could also open the door for Joseph Paulo to shed the unwanted tag of the NRL's most capped player yet to feature in a finals match.

The former Penrith and Parramatta utility, who is enjoying his last season in the NRL, has played in 166 matches without ever taking the field in the play-offs.

He injured his knee in Melbourne in the final regular season match of 2016 – missing Cronulla's march to the title – and has not been in the top 17 for their two play-offs matches this year.

Josh Dugan (shoulder) will also be named in Flanagan's 21-man squad on Tuesday after skipping the clash against the Panthers with injury.

Of all the sub-plots heading into the clash between the two modern day rivals, one of the most fascinating is the guidance Storm coach Craig Bellamy provided Flanagan while Gallen was deciding whether to extend his career beyond 2018.

Flanagan worked under Bellamy during the Melbourne master's time as NSW State of Origin coach and was grappling with how to handle Gallen's future earlier this year.

Cronulla's premiership-winning skipper eventually decided to play on for one more year.

"I just wanted to talk to Craig about how he'd been dealing with [the retiring] Billy [Slater] and Ryan Hoffman and how those conversations went and if he could give me any tips on how those conversations came about," Flanagan said.

"We just spoke for half an hour or an hour about those. They were all different and I just explained to him where Gal was.

"Gal kept saying to me he'd do what I tell him to do. I wasn't comfortable with that. I didn't want to say, 'play on' and his heart's not in it, or say 'it's over' and it's not over. I wasn't comfortable about making that decision for him. I think he had to make it in the end which he did.

"I know he struggled with it for a while, but when he made it it was a massive relief for him."

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