On the same day skipper Paul Gallen, who will hand over the baton to Graham as Cronulla's on-field leader before he retires, inked a deal to remain in the Shire in 2017, Graham has hinted he wants to be a Shark for life on the eve of the biggest game of his career.

The 25-year-old will be one of a host of big names flooding a frenzied transfer market next year, but Graham shied away from a shift as the Sharks stand 80 minutes away from a historic grand final appearance.

"I can't see myself going anywhere," Graham said. "As long as everything is in order ... I'm in a really good position myself to be here for a long time. Unless something absolutely crazy happens then I can't see myself leaving.

"Once the season comes to an end there will be a break and everyone will be able to take a breath and we might ramp everything up.

"I'm always going to be a kid from the west – you can't take that away from me, being a kid from Blacktown – my family is out there and my nephews play footy [there].

"But I'm definitely a Shark now."

Graham has long been groomed as Gallen's successor and has stepped up to fill the void when Cronulla's ironman has been sidelined through representative duty or injury. The Sharks could even mull handing Graham the captaincy next year with Gallen as an active sounding board.

The similarities between Graham and Gallen, who also hails from Sydney's west but was influential in the Sharks landing Graham, are uncanny.

Both dipped their toe into the State of Origin waters in game three of a series at a similar age and have forged reputations as tireless workers in the back row.

Graham, Gallen and retiring rake Michael Ennis form part of the senior leadership group and the former says working alongside the two veterans has been an eye-opening experience.

"For me the biggest thing I've learned from them is preparation," Graham said. "Where Gal is a really serious trainer and has to do everything to the letter – and Mickey is quite anal too – there's other boys like your Jack Birds who are lucky to lift a weight in the gym, but he comes out to play footy.

"Running the 800s, running the 1.2s, lifting the weights – I understand you have to train hard and understand it's part and parcel of professional rugby league – but I love the footy part of it. Playing footy like that has made me confident to speak my mind.

"And everyone in this team has a say whether it's Valentine Holmes or Paul Gallen, from the youngest to the oldest they're comfortable to say what they want and say what's on their mind. And the boys around them respond and at least take it in."

Gallen hinted 2017 is likely to be his last in the NRL after formalising his contract extension on Wednesday which will prolong his career into a 17th season in the top grade.

"It's definitely pleasing," Gallen told the Sharks website. "There was never really doubt it was going to happen and I wasn't focused on chasing it up, I was more focused on playing games and getting wins.

"I'm really excited to have one more year. It will probably be my last year. You never say never in this game because you don't know what's going to happen but I'm certainly excited to be here for another year."

Gallen has declared himself a certain starter for the preliminary final showdown with the Cowboys at Allianz Stadium on Friday night having battled a back complaint which kept him out of the qualifying final win over the Raiders.