The days of calling Cronulla a one-man team are gone according to forward Jayson Bukuya, who says his side can win without Paul Gallen and Todd Carney.
Cronulla forward Jayson Bukuya says the Sharks have outgrown the perception that they cannot win without Paul Gallen ahead of Monday's NRL showdown with Canterbury at ANZ Stadium.
In previous years the Sharks might have folded with the news they would be taking the field without their inspirational captain, let alone if they were missing a player of Todd Carney's calibre as well.
But Bukuya believes that following wins like last Sunday's upset of previously undefeated Melbourne, minus Gallen, any suggestion they're a one-man team is now a myth.
"They're obviously going to be a big loss to the team but I think the team has grown enough to manage without them," Bukuya told AAP.
"Winning (against Melbourne) 100 per cent gives the team confidence in ourselves and each other that we can get the job done without players like Gal and Todd.
"We know they're going to have duties like Origin, so it's good to know when they do leave us we're more than capable of getting the job done."
Bukuya is no stranger to changing perceptions himself.
The 23-year-old has carried the momentum of his breakout season last year into 2012, once again earning a starting spot in Shane Flanagan's hotly contested backrow - something he doesn't take lightly.
Bukuya considered retiring when his body continually failed to back up his considerable talent - two shoulder reconstructions, a broken leg and a syndesmosis injury ruined the best part of three seasons for the young star.
That is what pushed the talented back-rower, who debuted in 2008, nearly to the brink of ending his career.
"Getting my chance again last year (meant a lot), because it had been more than two years since I'd played first grade," Bukuya said.
"You wonder whether it will actually come again. But it did.
"I was just happy to be in the team and just getting myself onto the field to play every week.
"I'm lucky because I've got good support. That's what it came down to.
"The people behind me getting me through tough times and situations and lifting my spirits.
"I just wanted to do it for them."
Now the Fiji international approaches each match with a different mindset.
"I've seen what it's like to be on the other side of things, so I think you've got to enjoy it while you've got it," he said.
And just as some might have written off Bukuya as he recovered from another unfortunate injury, so too did the pundits rubbish Cronulla's top eight claims once they lost starting props Kade Snowden (Newcastle) and Luke Douglas (Gold Coast) in the off-season.
"Yeah, I know that a few people were thinking those things (that the Sharks couldn't replace Douglas and Snowden) ... but it doesn't really matter now does it?" Bukuya said.
"It didn't bother me when people were saying those things because I was always confident that this pack was going to succeed."
