This is Cronulla's chance to be remembered for something else.
Sunday's NRL grand final against Melbourne gives Cronulla the rugby league club and Cronulla the beachside suburb of Sydney a rare chance to take control of their reputation.
Unfortunately for those from the Sutherland Shire, the Cronulla name conjures negative connotations due to a history of on-field mediocrity underlined by their inability to win a premiership and, in more recent times, the stench that lingered over the ASADA ban handed out to players after the brief supplements program headed up by notorious sports scientist Stephen Dank in 2011.
Cronulla is also inextricably linked to the infamous 2005 riots – the first thing that comes to mind for most people outside the "rugby league world", which according to the last census is still Australia's eastern seaboard, northern England, Papua New Guinea and pockets of New Zealand.
The dirty little secret for Australia is the abhorrent riots based on racial bigotry could have happened in several locations across this supposedly united nation that is too often scarred by intolerance from community level through to the halls of parliament.
Fair or otherwise, it happened to happen in Cronulla and that scar will remain.
It's easy to overstate the importance of a bunch of muscle-bound professional footballers running and tackling their way around a field, but this game could be much more than that for Cronulla.
This is the Sharks' shot at controlling their narrative.
For the majority of their 50-year existence, it's been a struggle for the Sharks to survive, let alone thrive.
There have been many self-inflicted factors responsible for this: financial mismanagement, poor recruitment, lacklustre leadership and, of course, in more recent times, the ASADA debacle.
One reason that is often understated is the little brother syndrome.
From the get-go, Cronulla lived in the shadow cast by St George.
When the Sharks were founded in 1967, the Dragons had just completed their world record 11th straight premiership. Few teams on the planet have enjoyed such an undisputed reign over their peers.
Cronulla's birth ended St George's monopoly of southern Sydney and it's no coincidence their title streak ended that year and the Dragons collected only two trophies during the next 32 seasons before merging with Illawarra in 1999 and winning one more grand final since.
World sport is littered with examples of "little brother" teams who have struggled due to the geographical misfortune of being overshadowed by an older, iconic franchise. Think of the Mets in New York, the not so renowned RCD Espanyol football club in Barcelona or the Clippers in Los Angeles. Look at their records compared to the Yankees, Barcelona and the Lakers and you see how hard it can be to overcome a behemoth in your backyard.
Two grand finals in Cronulla's first decade would suggest the young club was going to be an exception to this rule, but after the 1973 and 1978 grand finals resulted in losses to Manly the club nearly went broke in the early 1980s.
The next time an old-stager refers to this period as "the good old days", remind them that crowds were well down as on-field violence got out of hand, head office was badly run and this led to the demise of Newtown and left teams such as the Sharks and Magpies close to extinction.
Wests were saved by relocating to Campbelltown, while Cronulla suffered the ignominy of having to ask players to take half pay in 1983 as they tried to stave off bankruptcy.
Not surprisingly a lot of their better players wore the colours of rival clubs the following year: Gavin Miller, Kurt and Dane Sorensen went to the Roosters, while the the club's greatest player, Steve Rogers, had seen the writing on the wall and joined St George. .
Super coach Jack Gibson helped rebuild Cronulla, but even he gave up, prompting his now legendary Harold Holt quote. Allan Fitzgibbon took over as coach as the Sharks went close to glory after winning the 1988 minor premiership, but were swamped by the more experienced Bulldogs and the jet-propelled momentum that Ellery Hanley gave Balmain.
The 1990s finals failures were painful. A loss to the Knights in 1995 after holding a sizeable lead, ending with a late Matthew Johns field goal as, embarrassingly, red and blue flags dominated the Sydney Football Stadium in what was an early taste of Newcastle's travelling fanaticism served up by the armada of Sid Foggs buses.
The following year Cronulla exited the playoffs after a 24-0 loss to Manly, remembered mainly for Sea Eagles grub John Hopoate lampooning Sharks fullback David Peachey by patting him on the head after a fumble led to a try.
Then there was the 1997 Super League grand final where the Broncos thrashed them to show what the history books never will – that they were far and away the best team in the land that year.
Cronulla were supposed to party in 1999, but their 8-0 half-time lead in the preliminary final evaporated as Anthony Mundine powered St George Illawarra into the decider.
The 2001 and 2002 preliminary final losses to the Knights and Warriors respectively followed a similar theme of the teams on both sides of the equation seemingly marching towards the inevitability of the final result.
By the time the Sharks went one game from a grand final again in 2008, the collective choke was horrendous as seasoned players who had experienced success elsewhere, such as Brett Kimmorley, collapsed in the 28-0 loss to Melbourne.
It is perhaps fitting then that the Sharks meet the Storm again on Sunday night.
Another chapter in Cronulla's colourful history will be written.
All that remains to be seen now is whether it's a continuation of the same old theme or if the dark days of yesteryear can be superseded by the kind of underdog, against-the-odds win that is usually only seen in sports movies.
Then Cronulla will have truly made a name for itself.
