PAUL Gallen has called on Cronulla to consider bringing in a new coach for the remainder of the season after the Sharks skipper admitted players were not giving 100 per cent for current coach Peter Sharp.

Cronulla captured an unwanted piece of rugby league history on Saturday night when they became the first NRL team to register three consecutive defeats without scoring a point.

The experienced and widely respected Sharp was forced to take over this season after Shane Flanagan was suspended by the NRL in the wake of the 2011 supplements program.

But Sharp has said all along that he doesn’t want the top job — and Gallen conceded that attitude was rubbing off on the players.

While Gallen said he sympathised with Sharp, he added he would support any move that would help the last placed team avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.

media_camera Paul Gallen of the Sharks.

“I don’t want to sit here and bag Sharpie but Sharpie has just been thrown in the deep end,” Gallen told Triple M.

“He came out day one and said he didn’t want the job. To me players are like school kids. If you can get away with a little bit you are going to get away with it.

“If you know you can turn up Monday and the coach isn’t going to rouse on you for not having a good game, I don’t think you are going to put 100 per cent in.

“And I think that has been the problem throughout the whole year.

media_camera Sharks coach Peter Sharp.

“I don’t think players have been putting in 100 per cent because they are under the impression that Sharpie isn’t putting in 100 per cent.

“I just think we have lacked direction. We have had a lot of injuries and when you get stuck in that rut it is really, really hard to get out of it.”

Asked if it was too late for the club to appoint a new coach — perhaps a young coach from the Holden Cup competition looking for an opportunity to prove himself — Gallen said: “It has been spoken about but it hasn’t come. I know one person I have spoken to and asked about is Brett Kimmorley but he is still down in Canberra and the club have decided against it.

“I don’t think it is too late because there is still 10 games to go and I don’t want to win the wooden spoon.

“I have never won a wooden spoon. Like I said, there are 10 games to go. I want to get something out of the season. I want to win some games. I don’t know if it is an option or not.

“I am willing to do whatever it takes to win some games, I really am.”

Flanagan is set to return to the Sharks at the end of the season after agreeing to an extended deal this year but another name that has been tossed up as a possible interim coach is former Cronulla captain Trent Barrett.