Can the Sharks survive on emotion?

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Ecstasy ... Wade Graham laps up the high of beating the Titans on Sunday. Source: Brett Costello / News Limited

It's been one of the most tumultuous 48 hours in an NRL club's history.

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From the bombshell to hit Cronulla when Shane Flanagan was stood down and four of his support staff were sacked on Friday to Sunday night's electric round one game at Sharks Stadium, Cronulla players and fans have experienced the full spectrum of emotions.

When Cronulla ran out to face Gold Coast Titans in front of 17,000 distressed fans, things could have gone either way.

Either the Sharks were going to ride to victory on a wave of pent-up frustration and the desire to give their absent coach a performance full of heart and fighting spirit, or they were going to push so hard that they hit a wall when the emotional reserves ran out, resulting in a spirit-draining loss.

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Thankfully for the die-hards from the Shire, the Sharks managed to cling on for a two-point victory in what was a breathtaking, high-octane 80 minutes of football.

It worked in week one but how long can a season be stitched together by emotion?

Clearly the answer is not long, particularly if, as we expect, Cronulla continue to take a pummeling as more of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) case against the club is built and leaked over the next four weeks.

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Sharks captain Paul Gallen has recognised this and spoke in Sunday night's post-match press conference about the need to find more sustainable motivation if they're to keep winning.

"We knew it was going to be emotional," Gallen said of Sunday night's game.

"But emotion doesn't mean much when you get tired."

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That much was clear from the relief on the players' faces when the full-time whistle blew on Sunday.

It looked as though the weight of the world had been lifted off their shoulders as they lapped the ground soaking in the adulation of their fans, and thanking them for their support.

Gallen summed it up when he said the 80 minutes of football had been the easiest thing they'd done all week.

"I couldn't wait to play. It was 80 minutes where we just got to do what we do best," Gallen said. "It was the best part of the week."

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Todd Carney is one of Cronulla's stars who has been sucked in to the drug scandal engulfing the club.

He wasn't there in 2011, the year that ASADA's investigation is focused on, but he has been swept up by the media circus surrounding it regardless.

Carney spoke to Fox Sports News on Monday and made it clear he was getting tired of the club's challenges outside of football.

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"Our job's to play football, we're paid to play football, we turn up to play for 80 minutes and the fans come to watch us play," Carney said as he arrived for the team recovery session at the Sharks' training base.

"We've just got to do that and all the other things will be dealt with."

But with club chairman Damian Irvine under fire for bringing to light allegations that Sharks players had used TV-500 - a drug most commonly used on horses - and using these stunning claims to justify the standing down of Flanagan and sacking of four support staff, how can the players focus on training?

Speculation is growing that Irvine, potentially along with the rest of his board, will be sacked.

That may well happen sometime this week, and if it does, can we really expect the players to get themselves up for another superhuman performance? Particularly as they face the in-form South Sydney away from the rabid support of their home fans.