Cronulla have 16 unsigned players. Their CEO says big-name exits are ‘inevitable’
Seven Sharks stars with more than 1000 NRL games between them are off contract as the NRL’s most settled roster starts to evolve.
Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta concedes it is “inevitable” that the most settled roster in the NRL undergoes significant turnover at the end of 2026, with more than half the Sharks top 30 squad unsigned beyond this season.
Cronulla’s 16 off-contract players are the most of any club on the eve of round one and aside from splashing $1 million for front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake last season, have maintained the same core of key players throughout Craig Fitzgibbon’s coaching tenure.
Back-to-back preliminary finals has been the Sharks deserved payoff. But internally, Cronulla are resigned to losing several key figures from their rise as one of the game’s most consistent sides.
Former NSW Origin utility Siosifa Talakai, props Toby Rudolf and Braden Hamlin-Uele, injured skipper Cameron McInnes, fullback Will Kennedy and outside backs Jesse Ramien and Sione Katoa headline the best Sharks still uncontracted for next season, with another nine NRL squad members also unsigned.
