"We were down smelling the manure," Cronulla chairman Damian Keogh said of the emotionally draining episode that cost the Sharks almost $5million in legal fees, fines and potential sponsorships.

But, somehow, two years on from a wooden spoon, the one-time rabble of a club is riding high with a record 14straight wins shouting "up, up Cronulla" loud enough to bring back Harold Holt. A miracle, perhaps?

"If we win the comp, I might look back at it as that," Flanagan said.

But for now this remains one big redemption story. From the club, trying to win its first premiership in 49 years, to the coach, who maintains he "still did nothing wrong" as he continues to seek retribution for being rubbed out of the game for a year by the NRL for his part in the supplements scandal.

"I don't agree with the stance they took," Flanagan says. "There wasn't enough communication. It was all just pointing the finger. There were reasons for it. I understand it, I accept it, but I don't agree with it."

But there are some who believe Flanagan is fortunate to still be holding the clipboard. At the height of the drama, there was enormous external pressure on the newly appointed Cronulla board to distance itself from the under-siege coach, but instead they took the radical approach of extending his contract just when it appeared his coaching days were numbered.

"We were heavily criticised when we re-signed him," Keogh says. "There were a lot of people who felt we shouldn't have done that. We'd spent some time with him and felt he had some unfinished business. There was an element of risk in that, but it was a decision made which was a bit of a line in the sand moment, saying 'hey, we are going to back him and we think there's a redemption opportunity here'," he said.

From the outside looking in, it seemed just a matter of time before the doors would close on Cronulla. Whispers of a relocation to Perth or the Central Coast grew louder, but internally, it was never an option.

"The way the club was portrayed wasn't correct," Flanagan says.

"It was a good club with good people with good intentions. We were hoodwinked by a bloke [the so-called sports scientist Stephen Dank] who came in here for a couple of weeks and caused nearly irreparable damage. We just survived that period. It was pretty close there for a while.

"I was brought up on trusting other people. Unfortunately that doesn't work in some aspects of business. Some people are in the game for the wrong reason and that's where we got caught out."

For Flanagan, it was a particularly tough time, given his mother's suffering. "My mum passed away that year. It really affected her. I reckon it sent her to an early grave. The whole thing affected a lot of people and wrecked a lot of friendships as well."

Those still at the club have always backed Flanagan. But those who have left have since turned their backs on him and the club by seeking damages for what they endured under Flanagan's watch in 2011. "That annoys me on a number of levels, but that's their prerogative," Flanagan says. To put it politely, Cronulla was a basket case five years ago. They had no chief executive, were $13million in debt, had the worst facilities in the NRL and a football team no one wanted to join.

"Our football operations were running on an oily rag," Flanagan says. "They would only spend on what was 100 per cent necessary rather than being proactive. The facilities were awful, staff-wise we were awful, we had part-time staff in professional rugby league competing against sides spending millions and millions of dollars. The board at the time tried to penny pinch their way through it and got into trouble. It was a real turning point when the current board got on."

Together through the good and bad times: Paul Gallen and Flanagan, pictured in 2015. Photo: Getty Images

PAUL GALLEN

The skipper was once resigned to finishing his career without a premiership. Those closest to Gallen will tell you the toll of the ASADA saga almost crippled his desire to play the sport. For so long he has been the face of the club. But it's a face that now bares the scars and wounds of an endless bashing throughout a maligned career that might just get the fairytale ending no one saw coming. "He's been the glue that has held us together," Flanagan says of the off-contract veteran.

"The old man always tells me don't ever abandon the horse who took you to the top of the mountain. Gal is the horse that has got us to the top of the mountain. When I first came here, Gal got a big offer to go to Manly and they went on to play in the grand final the next year, but Gal stuck solid with the club. He's had an opportunity to go to the Roosters at one stage as well. He's stuck solid with us and we need to stick solid with him.

"Some people perceive Gal as greedy on the football field. But he's a victim of all the years where he had to do everything for us. He was the superstar. In years gone by Gal had to score tries, carry the ball, make his tackles and be the best player on the field. It probably looked as though it was Paul Gallen, Paul Gallen, Paul Gallen. But it was what was needed for this team to win games. He understands that he doesn't need to be that for us any more," Flanagan says.

The impact of the ASADA saga changed Gallen. But it was the way in which he dealt with the drama and criticism that concerned the Cronulla club the most.

"He had almost created a protective mechanism around him to deal with a lot of this stuff," Keogh says.

"And these self-preservation things meant that while he was good at a whole lot of things, there were other things where you would say he was not really putting the club first the whole time.

"As he's felt more comfortable around the culture and the support the club has been able to give him individually ... he's been less defensive and self focused and given back to the club. That goes to the heart of the culture you want to create. I've been really proud of how he's come along the last two seasons."

Committed to the cause: Michael Ennis. Photo: Getty Images

THE UNWANTED

The coach and captain may be the stars of this redemption, but there's no shortage of supporting actors.

"You have got a lot of people within that group who are chasing a form of redemption or have gone through some pretty deep lows in their careers and in their existence," Keogh says. There's Luke Lewis and Michael Ennis – who the coach described as potentially the best signing in Cronulla's history – discarded from clubs they captained.

James Maloney, shown the door by the Roosters in favour of the now out-of-favour Jackson Hastings, despite leading the club to a premiership in 2013. There's assistant coach Steve Price, punted from the Dragons after a less-than-impressive stint in the big smoke.

And perhaps the man with the most to prove, Ben Barba, who last year looked on the brink of falling into insignificance, such was his struggles trying to live up to the hype of what he produced at Canterbury in 2012.

"Benny will own up to it, he wasn't playing well last year," Flanagan says. "When you sack a high-profile player like Todd Carney, all your recruitment plans go out the window and we had to react. We signed Benny as a half replacement for Todd, but we've since found out that it doesn't suit him there. It was interesting to hear from blokes like Michael Ennis and people who know Benny pretty well, that Benny really relies on the confidence of his teammates and his coach. He thrives off that.

"We were always hopeful he could rediscover some of that form and I think he has found it and probably a little bit more. He was always busting his ass trying to find it, but once he got his body right and his mind right, his footy came back."

The Sharks, finally, have all the necessary ingredients to do what has so long proved impossible for those who have donned the sky blue jersey.

"I don't want to have a good season and peter out at the end," Flanagan said. "I want to win the competition." A miracle, perhaps?