BY CURTIS WOODWARD

On Sunday night, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks will play Melbourne Storm for the right to be named National Rugby League champions. If the Sharks can get up, it will be their maiden title in a chase that started way back in 1967.

But this opportunity almost never happened. Long before the “darkest day in Australian sport” and the ASADA saga, Cronulla were knocking on the door of extinction. In 2009, the club faced one of its toughest battles just to stay afloat.

Almost $11 million in debt, major sponsor LG walked away. Things were so dire, then NRL Chief Executive David Gallop couldn’t guarantee their place in the 2010 season. The Central Coast Bears were frothing at the gate and ready to take their place.

“I cannot guarantee anything at this point,” Gallop said at the time.

“Certainly part of our broadcast deal is that we provide eight games a week and that will be something we take into account as we go forward looking at their financial position.

“Obviously they’ve got some big issues ahead of them. We need to get in and talk to them about the strategies to solve their problems.

“I’ve said for some time we don’t have a blank cheque for any club. But certainly we will do what we can to look at their financial situation to see if there is a way through it.”

Things were spiralling out of control that quickly that if you blinked – you may have missed something. The Cronulla sex scandal surfaced, Sharks boss Tony Zappia accidently struck liaison officer Jenny Hall while “shadow boxing” with Hall receiving a $20,000 settlement from the embattled club, star forward Reni Maitua failed a drug test, chairman Barry Pierce stepped down, Trent Barrett replaced Paul Gallen as captain. It went on and on.

Surely there was no way back.

$11 million in debt.

A grand final appearance in 2016 would have felt like a millennia away.

Yet on Sunday, Cronulla become the next in a long line of NRL survival stories – another cockroach to walk head first into a nuclear bomb and come out the other side bigger and stronger than ever.

With victory, the Sharks can join South Sydney, Wests Tigers and even their opponents Melbourne as redeemers of the faith.

The Rabbitohs were kicked out of the premiership in 1999 only to win a legal war with the NRL to be reinstated. In 2014, Souths were premiers. Wests Tigers were a marriage of two battling foundations clubs who would claim an unlikely title only five years into their new existence. And then there’s the Storm. Once the toast of rugby league in Australia, the club was stripped of its 2007 and 2009 premierships for cheating the salary cap. They returned in 2012 to lift the Telstra Premiership with victory over Canterbury at ANZ Stadium.

Have no doubt. Cronulla’s woes in 2009 were as real any of the other club’s aforementioned.

Who knows when their next chance will come? Perhaps this is the only one they need.

For Gallen, who has seen it all, this may his final shot.

“We all know the history of the club and what’s happened to us the past 10 or 15 years, and you don’t get too many chances at it, so this is our chance now.”

And the fans. Never forget the fans.

“I’m just really happy for them. They’ve supported us for a long time and I think we’ve only been in three grand finals ever so it’s great recognition for them to be able to support us the way they have” Gallen added.

“They’ve always turned out for us – this year in particular when we went on that big winning streak. They were always there for home and away games.”

Cronulla are the new breed of cockroach – never say die.

But in 2009, the light almost went out forever.

@woodward_curtis