Returning Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan says changing the club’s culture after their turbulent past is hard work and needs to be addressed on a daily basis.

Flanagan only resumed coaching the NRL club last week after being stood down in December during the NRL’s anti-doping investigation.

Captain Paul Gallen, Anthony Tupou, Wade Graham and Nathan Gardner are all under doping bans until November 21.

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Flanagan wanted to look forward rather than back on Thursday, as he welcomed 2012 Dally M winner Ben Barba to the club and talked about the big internal expectations within the Sharks.

He also declared Cronulla had more positions to fill and hoped to make more signings in the next couple of weeks.

He confirmed Kyle Stanley and Gerard Beale, both of whom played for St George Illawarra this year, were “in the mix” as potential recruits.

Sharks skipper Paul Gallen. Photo: Getty

While he didn’t field questions on his time out of the game, Flanagan did touch on the change of culture he’s committed to overseeing after a disastrous 2014, when the off-field distractions of the doping investigation were compounded with dreadful on-field form that resulted in the wooden spoon.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, we’ve got a lot to do,” Flanagan said.

“But the club and the board and all the staff are working really hard and all the playing group understand now what we need to do.

“We need to keep working on it. It’s a daily thing that we need to focus on – our cultural change.”

The addition of Barba, who Flanagan said would play at five-eighth with Michael Gordon entrenched at fullback, has further fuelled his optimism about next season.

“It might not be from the general public, but we’ve got high expectations within this group,” Flanagan said.

“Ben probably adds to that and our expectations will go up a little bit.

“We haven’t had a problem attracting players here, we’ve just got to make sure we keep them and move forward with a new change of culture and attitude and win football games.”

With Michael Ennis coming from Canterbury and Jayson Bukuya returning from the Warriors, Flanagan was looking forward to seeing Barba perform behind a pack that also includes Gallen, Tupou, Luke Lewis, Chris Heighington and Andrew Fifita.

“I see the Sharks forward pack a lot like what was at the Bulldogs,” Barba said.

“Big, versatile, able to offload, so looking forward to working with them guys.”

Barba said he would be happy to talk to Gallen, who like himself has had his share of off-field issues.

He was looking forward to again playing alongside former Bulldogs teammate Ennis.

“He didn’t tell me to come, he didn’t put any pressure on me, he explained what sort of people were at this club and that I’d fit in really well,” Barba said.

– AAP