Gallen remains undecided on NRL future

Cronulla captain Paul Gallen insists he’s yet to decide whether to play in another NRL season despite a vintage performance in the Sharks’ NRL win over the Wests Tigers.

With his team trailing by eight with half an hour to go on Sunday, Gallen sparked his team with a solo try from close range at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

“I saw (Tuimoala) Lolohea there and the hooker, I saw the same two in the first half. That’s when I passed back inside to Jack Williams but unfortunately we came up with an error,” Gallen said.

“So I wasn’t going to pass this time, just ran and thankfully got there.”

Not content with his individual effort, Gallen then fielded a Luke Brooks kick deep in his own territory four minutes later and put fullback Valentine Holmes through a hole for a 90m try.

The oldest player in the league finished with 167m, three tackle busts and 39 tackles.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I just think he’s quality player and he’s still playing good footy as you saw today,” Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said.

“(If) Gal doesn’t come up with that pass and Val doesn’t get into position, we’re backing off our tryline again and it goes back into that arm wrestle a bit.

“To be able to score a length-of-the-field try at any period of the game, especially when the score was where it was, was crucial for us.”

Gallen, 36, has played 310 games in the NRL across 17 seasons since his debut in 2001.

But pressed on whether he would pursue an 18th campaign, he said: “I haven’t thought about it yet. I’ll talk to Flanno. Me and Flanno will discuss it when we’re ready and we’ll sort it out.”

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