Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan admits his State of Origin stars are distracted by the tight series heading into Saturday's NRL blockbuster with Sydney Roosters.
The Sharks had five players involved in last week's representative clash, the equal-most of all clubs alongside Melbourne.
And after he played all five of his stars in last week's loss to Manly, Flanagan now concedes resting players after Game III is on the cards to give the Sharks the best hope of a title defence.
Flanagan has had to sit down with his NSW and Queensland players at training this week, as they prepare to play their third game in 10 days in Gosford on Saturday.
But he admits it is a challenge to return their focus to the NRL arena, given they will leave to go into camp for the Origin series on Monday.
"It's a really difficult one at the moment because they are still thinking about Origin," Flanagan said.
"I understand young men and there is a big game a couple of Wednesdays away and they are thinking about that.
"It's a challenge. We can have as many meetings as we like and think you're preparing well but you just don't know what's going on inside their minds.
"But they've got a really important club game on the weekend."
Flanagan's fears were prompted by the team's lacklustre 35-18 loss to Manly last Sunday, which sent them out of the top four.
A loss on Saturday could conceivably see them drop to seventh on the ladder, one win out of the top four with games against Brisbane, North Queensland and the Roosters on the run home.
The Sharks were one of the few front-running clubs to not have at least one player sidelined from Origin last weekend after nine stars failed to back up across the league.
Only Wade Graham played with any real vigour in the loss, while Valentine Holmes, James Maloney, Andrew Fifita and Jack Bird each appeared off their game.
Flanagan conceded he might need to take a different approach against the Gold Coast in round 19, with more of a focus on the players' mental freshness and not just the absence of physical injuries.
"The way we performed on the back of that second Origin wasn't good," Flanagan said.
"Maybe I need to think about resting a couple of those players or changing the way we start or whether they start off the bench and just mix it up a bit."
"I'll definitely be taking a different approach to what we did last week."
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