Hyperbole is to rugby league reporting what breathing is to mankind and words such as “crisis” are thrown around all too often. Today though, the Cronulla Sharks really are a team in deep trouble, one so close to death that the hyenas are surely circling.

No betting man in their right mind would take even money about the Sharks being located in the Shire in three years time, let alone 10, and it is hard to see how a team that has imploded so ferociously while being under such heavy fire externally can survive.

Let’s be blunt. The club – long regarded as the poorest in the NRL – has no money. They are without a major sponsor – and have been all year - and have at least twice faced financial extinction in the last decade. They were last saved in 2012 by a development deal outside of Shark Park but that is one largely funded by debt.

The Sharks will become the first team in premiership history to hire a second interim coach in a season after Peter Sharp stepped down on Tuesday. He was filling in for Shane Flanagan, who was suspended following the NRL’s investigation into the supplements program at the club.

Sharp, who expressly stated at the beginning of the year that he did not want the head coaching job that was thrust upon him, quit following a record three straight matches without Cronulla scoring a single point, a public emasculation of his coaching by club skipper Paul Gallen and the unceremonious sacking of Todd Carney after photos emerged of the player urinating into his own mouth.

The former Dally M Medal winner had come off a man of the match performance against Brisbane in what was just Cronulla’s third win of the year, giving the club a sliver of hope that their first wooden spoon in over four decades could be avoided. That hope now appears nothing but wishful thinking. Cronulla have not won a game without Todd Carney all year and are 3-10 without him over the last three years. They have averaged just eight points in 2014 without him.

Whatever Carney’s issues, whatever his personal demons, whatever his dramas are, Carney was never going to solve them at a club in such a shambolic state. He showed little commitment to the Sharks, the playing group or even his own career as a professional athlete.

So where to now for the Sharks?

Few teams have found themselves under such pressure on so many fronts since the game went truly professional in the 1990s. The then-ARL had to step in to save the chaotic Gold Coast franchise in 1996 under Jeff Mueller, eventually revoking his license. The club died just a few years later though. North Sydney imploded in 1999 under financial strain and a player uprising against coach Peter Louis. The merged Northern Eagles were doomed from the start as they lurched from one disaster to the next. Canterbury endured significant image issues during the mid-2000s but their financial power and the sense to hire Todd Greenberg saw their brand reborn. Souths overcame a dreadful rebirth to become a title force under the ownership of Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes à Court.

Clubs have faced scandals. They have faced player uprisings. They have faced financial difficulties. They have faced culture issues and drugs investigations and coaches quitting and recruitment dramas. They have never faced them all at once though.

Cronulla have a coach who is suspended for the year. Their interim coach has quit. They have no money. An Asada investigation continues to hang over their head. They sit last on the premiership ladder. Their chief playmaker has been sacked. Their CEO looks worn down. The playing group is ready to rebel but against what, they seem unsure. There is little leadership. Their recruitment and retention is a shambles with the club losing nearly all its best juniors and replacing them with veterans on significant overs chasing one last payday. Even the NRL seems to be losing patience with them.

Cronulla are in one hell of a hole right now and it is one they may never climb out of.