The club are at the centre of a damaging ASADA investigation, have coach Shane Flanagan suspended, be without playmaker Todd Carney and be under the the control of a rookie coach, but that hasn't stopped the Sharks from staging a couple of remarkable comeback wins in recent weeks.

Gallen was in Brisbane preparing for the third State of Origin match when his Cronulla clawed their way back from 24-0 down to defeat premiers the Sydney Roosters 30-28 in one of the club's great victories.

Gallen said while he didn't play in last weekend's boilover the Roosters paid the price for seeming to disrespect their opponents.

"When you look at the Roosters match it was a pretty ordinary first half but I saw after Wade Graham's try the Roosters were sort of having a laugh in the in-goal and I think a few of the boys saw that," Gallen said.

"Once you start to disrespect footy players they get their back up a little bit.

"I think that's what happened to the Roosters. They started to throw flick passes and tried to score from anywhere on the field and I reckon that went against them. Once the momentum changes in a game it's very hard to stop it and to our boys' credit they hung in.

"We've always been scrappers. Even in the years when we've gone well we didn't often win by a lot of points, but we went away from that this year which was disappointing. We have nine games to play and that gives us the chance to finish the year off with some pride."

Diehard Cronulla supporters - including recently retired winger Beau Ryan -  hailed the victory as the greatest by a Sharks side, although many fans expressed a similar sentiment the previous week when their team recovered from a similar bombardment to blitz the Brisbane Broncos on the bell.

Ryan's official farewell will take place at Remondis Stadium on Sunday.

"I'm proud to be involved with such a great club," Ryan said. "Last week [with coach Peter Sharp leaving and Carney being sacked] was probably the hardest week imaginable . . . I think it was the greatest ever win."

However, Gallen said unlike the fightback against the Roosters, which was sparked by the team's collective pride being challenged by the sight of the opposition laughing, there was a clinical reason behind the win over Brisbane.

"I think in the Brisbane game, we got stuck in there, we played a structure and a game plan," Gallen said ahead of Sunday's home match against Newcastle.

"Even at 16-0 and when they scored at half-time we weren't playing that bad and because we were going all right in that game the fightback didn't surprise me at all."

Nor did it Cronulla's former international Anthony Tupou. However, he said while the team proved over the past fortnight pride still existed he feared it would be a mistake to again test their luck.

"We know we can't keep giving away those kinds of starts and then catching up in the second half," Tupou said. "We want to get a good start, that's our focus. Even though we've played the big names over the last two weeks I think the Knights will be the toughest game.

"For some reason it has that feel about it. Newcastle isn't a team you can't ever beat good, you have to slog it out against them. They're also at the bottom of the ladder, it's being played on a Sunday afternoon. It has all the makings of a hard game."

While Gallen doesn't know enough about new coach James Shepherd to comment on what he expected, Tupou said the rookie was highly regarded for displaying the trait that every footballer wants from their mentor.

"He's honest," Tupou said. "He's just slipped in and done it so naturally. It's been really good. He hasn't done what he thinks he has to do, he's just come in, says what he thinks and everyone respects it.

"He didn't try to be like Peter Sharp or Shane Flanagan. He came in, did his own thing and you respect that."

Tupou said after their second nightmarish season because of matters outside the players' control, it was crucial Cronulla rallied and finished 2014 strongly. He believed the past two weekends told why he signed on at the height of the ASADA drama for another two years.

"We never give in, we've been through a lot of crap," he said. "I think it shows a lot about the team's character."