Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has all but ruled out a Ben Barba return after French rugby club Toulon told him he's not wanted for next season.
"I'd say it'd be long odds," Flanagan said on Thursday, adding the NRL club had "moved on" by anointing Valentine Holmes as their long-term fullback.
Facing a 12-week NRL ban for a second strike on cocaine use, 2016 premiership-winning fullback Barba in February secured a deal with Toulon until the end of 2019.
But he has barely featured for them this season and Toulon's owner Mourad Boudjellal has made it clear he doesn't fit in new coach Fabien Galthie's plans.
While he is likely to explore a return to Australia, it comes at a bad time with the NRL - and Cronulla - hit hard by cocaine scandal in recent days.
Flanagan appeared to shut the door on re-signing Barba, who would still need to sit out a 12-week ban period.
"Benny made two bad decisions. He was a fantastic player for us. He made an outstanding contribution to win the grand final last year but he's made a decision," Flanagan said.
"We were going to keep him here this year but he decided to go to France and as a club we've probably moved on. I haven't spoke to anyone about it but we've probably moved on.
"Val (Holmes) is doing an outstanding job, we think he's going to be our fullback for the next 10 years."
It is understood that Barba would still need to front the NRL integrity unit to explain his previous actions and set a clear path for his rehabilitation before getting an NRL contract clearance
The Sharks have also been linked with off-contract St George Illawarra fullback Josh Dugan.
External recruitment is not something we'll go and talk about," Flanagan said. "I don't know what Josh is doing so I can't speculate.
"He's a quality player, an Australian centre, if you go back in time you'll see we've always said we're after quality players."
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