STORY BREWING: Sharks in Crisis | Thebigtip

Featureed in SMH today reveals a telling story unfolding.  FORMER Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart has launched a scathing attack on the Sharks' handling of the Kade Snowden affair, while the club's dream of a $300 million development to ensure its long-term survival is again in jeopardy.

''If you've got monkeys running the zoo, it's always going to be a mess,'' Stuart declared yesterday, in a thinly veiled swipe at club chairman Damian Irvine.

The comments come as Snowden's father, Chris, defended his son, ridiculing suggestions the NSW forward is disloyal or mercenary. In further bad news for the Sharks, George Capsis - a Sutherland Shire councillor who was once chaplain of the Cronulla team - warned that the multimillion-dollar development that needs to be approved at tomorrow night's extraordinary meeting to provide the debt-ridden club with a revenue stream would be built upon a flood plain. Stuart's blast came after Snowden inadvertently became involved in the game's biggest contract wrangle when Cronulla trumpeted his re-signing on Thursday.
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But a late and lucrative offer to join Newcastle - allegedly from prospective Knights owner Nathan Tinkler - forced Snowden to cancel a planned media conference and reconsider his future. Snowden maintains he hadn't shaken hands or signed the deal. Stuart unloaded on the club.

''I chuckled to myself when I heard people talking about loyalty during the week when people at the club fail to honour it themselves,'' Stuart said.

Snowden began his NRL career in his home town of Newcastle but managed just 14 games between 2005 and 2007. Unwanted by other clubs, Stuart took him to the Shire and transformed him from a borderline first-grader into a State of Origin prop. Stuart described Snowden as one of the club's most popular players and sympathised with his plight.

''I know Kade Snowden better than anyone at that club and I will stand by the kid,'' Stuart said. Chris Snowden, a footballer of some repute before a neck injury forced a premature retirement, rubbished suggestions his son was disloyal.

''Way off the mark. It [upsets] me a little bit that people might have thought that,'' he said.

''He has never been in this position … that's very harsh.

''You've got your fans that are loyal to their own club, and when things don't go their own way, they get a little bit upset. He's been real worried about how people think about him - that's knocked him about more than anything.

''We really feel for him. He's worked hard to get to where he is and a lot of that has had to do with Ricky as well. He's a bit down with the way things are.''

Knights chief executive Steve Burraston issued a statement yesterday claiming the club had no knowledge of the identity of the third party behind the deal. ''If the allegations are correct, that third party operated independent to and without the knowledge or approval of the Newcastle Knights board and management,'' Burraston said.

Kade Snowden has travelled to the family home at Belmont, near Newcastle, to escape media scrutiny.

The issue could come to a head tomorrow when Tinkler meets Knights officials to discuss his privatisation proposal.

It is understood he could also meet Snowden tomorrow.

Irvine said Snowden had been given the weekend off to clear his head. ''We support Kade 100 per cent in this; we don't feel he is at fault at all,'' he said.