Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart has endorsed former Parramatta junior Blake Green as the man to fill the vacant No.6 jumper for Friday night's NRL preliminary final against Melbourne.

Stuart has been forced to turn to Green after incumbent Brett Seymour went down with a season-ending knee injury at training last week.

The other option for the halves role is also unavailable with Stuart indicating there was unlikely to be any change in the club's stance regarding suspended Test pivot Greg Bird.

Green has made six appearances for the Sharks this season with all but one of them at hooker.

Stuart said he had every faith that Green could handle the playmaking role, the 22-year-old having guided the Eels to back-to-back Premier League titles in 2006-07 from the halves.

"He gets a massive opportunity," Stuart told ABC Radio.

"Blake's a very skilful young player ... he's a had a little bit of first grade.

"This is the time of year that you're happy as a coach that you play a large squad of players - they all know your plays, they all know your strategies, they all know how to play with one another.

"Blake's at every training season with us right throughout the season, he knows what we need to do."

Asked if the situation surrounding Bird - who was stood down by the club following allegations he glassed his girlfriend at his Cronulla apartment - would change in light of the Seymour injury, Stuart said: "From my point of view, no.

"We've made a decision and that's what we're going with ... I don't see it changing."

The Sharks will head into the contest with the Storm buoyed by a rare win over the premiers in Melbourne earlier this year.

But Stuart admitted the round two win would have little impact on this week's encounter.

"They're two different football teams now," Stuart said.

"We haven't got the profile or the talent that Melbourne have got, but what we've got is a team that really pulls together and plays for each other.

"We can't afford to have 12 or 13 individuals play their best game, we need 17 in every game."

The Sharks don't have any other injury concerns ahead of the Sydney Football Stadium match with skipper Paul Gallen almost fully recovered from a burst ear drum suffered in last week's win over Canberra.

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