Cronulla's path to the NRL grand final has been paved with the credibility and respect they lost during the ASADA scandal, according to Sharks boss Lyall Gorman.
Gorman has also revealed plans for a Sharks centre of excellence and a refurbishment of their home ground, so they can host finals matches.
A former A-League boss and Western Sydney Wanderers CEO, Gorman arrived in the shire when the Sharks were at rock bottom.
The club had just claimed the 2014 wooden spoon, coach Shane Flanagan had served a 12-month suspension over governance issues and 17 players had taken ASADA bans.
That saga seems aeons ago with the Sharks just a win from what would be the club's finest hour, their first premiership.
"There is a lot of credibility and respect for the club now that has been rebuilt on the back of a period of time when the club wasn't going so well on or off the field," Gorman told AAP.
"We were wooden spooners in 2014, of course we came off the back of some fairly challenging times in the clubs history.
"So we went back to the basics of defining the how and why we do business.
"We are responsible to the community and when you look at our vision statement it is to be one of Australia's leading sporting lifestyle and entertainment organisations
"Integrity and trust is a big part of that but so is having fun. We want to have fun and we are trying to have fun this week."
As they shape up for Sunday's NRL decider against Melbourne at ANZ Stadium, Gorman said the Sharks rebuild is very much a work in progress.
"We have to keep raising the bar," he said.
"We are not an overnight success story. We have come a long way but there is still a long way to go in terms of growing our membership base, growing our corporate partnership base, enhancing our venue and looking to a put a centre of excellence in to enhance the facilities for our players
"And realistically our aspirations should be to play those first finals here if we can get the venue up to where it should be."
