Knee injury a minor hurdle for Gallen

Cronulla's Paul Gallen says the knee injury which will keep him out for four to six weeks won't affect his decision on whether he will play on in 2017.

Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen is facing six weeks on the NRL sidelines with a knee injury. (AAP)

This is not the beginning of the end of Paul Gallen, insists the NSW and Cronulla skipper.

Having spent a large chunk of the last two seasons sidelined by injury, Gallen is facing another 4-6 week stint out with knee ligament damage suffered in Saturday night's 20-14 round one loss to premiers North Queensland.

While Sharks coach Shane Flanagan breathed a sigh of relief that his 34-year-old skipper did not have a season-ending problem, it's yet another blow for Gallen who managed to play just 27 of the Sharks' 50 games over 2014-15.

His history of injury last year led his club to ask him to stand down from representative football so he could spend more time on the park for the Sharks in the twilight years of his career.

Off-contract at the end of this year, Gallen is contemplating whether to seek a one-year extension that would take his career into a 17th season.

He said on Monday the latest setback would not affect his decision, which he is expected to make before Origin I, and said it wasn't a sign his time in the game was drawing to a close.

"I'm not talking about (the end of my career)," Gallen said.

"It's an injury. (Bulldogs hooker) Michael Lichaa is 21 and he did the same thing on the weekend.

"It's a contact sport and it's the game we play and that's the way it is."

In Gallen's absence, Michael Ennis and Wage Graham will serve as co-captains while Joseph Paulo and Jesse Sene-Lefao shapes as possible replacements in the Sharks 17.

Flanagan said the task of replacing Gallen had been made easier by the fact they had planned to reduce his minutes this year.

Gallen has in the past been the bedrock of the side because he often played 80 minutes.

However with his workload to be eased this year, Flanagan said the hit to Cronulla's structure wasn't going to be as great.

"If you watched closely (against the Cowboys) we've changed his game this year," Flanagan said.

"He played that middle third and then had a spell 10 minutes before halftime.

"That's the model we're probably going to go with this year, that Gal probably won't play 80 minutes.

"We weren't relying on him to stick it out for 80. We want him to be real consistent and powerful for that 30, have a spell and come back."