Sharks Shaun Johnson backs Paul Gallen for NRL comeback

Cronulla Sharks five-eighth Shaun Johnson has backed former teammate Paul Gallen to make a successful return to rugby league should the Warriors take up his offer.

Gallen, 39, retired from the NRL last year after playing 348 first-grade games for the Sharks.

With the temporarily relocated Warriors suffering a front-row crisis after Leeson Ah Mau joined Bunty Afoa and Jackson Frei on the sidelines, Gallen offered up his services last night.

"The sacrifices they've made, I would consider it," Gallen told radio 2GB's Wide World of Sports radio

"Look, I only retired last year. I was doing plenty of contact work in training with the (Cronulla) Sharkies up until two months ago."

Even in retirement, Gallen was still a key figure at the Sharks and had regularly been doing contact work with the club before the coronavirus shutdown occurred.

When asked if Gallen could handle a return, Johnson who spent eight season with the Warriors before switching over to Cronulla, said he was "confident" the former NSW captain still had it in him.

"I'm confident, it's Paul Gallen, you can't just switch that off over six weeks," Johnson told NRL.com

"He'd be fine. If it eventuated and It was to happen, I've got no doubt in the world he would be fine.

"I know that whether the Warriors want him or not, I think they should be given every opportunity at an even playing field. Obviously, they've already relocated, they've got men down, anyway they can be assisted in that area, I think they need to be.

"I don't know how serious all that chat is, I heard it this morning, but if it is to be true, I think we all know Gal, he's is an intense trainer, he's a hard worker.

"He will have no problem lacing the boots up again. From what I've seen, the Warriors boys are doing it pretty tough with some injuries at the moment, I think that would be quite cool for the game to see something like that happen.

- with AAP