Ricky Stuart says he has no regrets over the way he walked out on Cronulla despite Sharks players being left to learn their coach had quit the NRL club in the morning newspaper.

Stuart's tumultuous four-year reign at the Sharks came to an abrupt end on Monday night when he forwarded his resignation to chairman Damien Irvine.

Senior members were forced to hear the news via the media with Stuart not fronting them until 2pm on Tuesday.

By that stage the squad had already been briefed by new coach Shane Flanagan - who began his life as an NRL mentor seven weeks early when the man he'd worked under for much of his career decided he'd had enough.

"No regrets whatsoever," Stuart said when asked about the way he hadn't told his players of his plans.

"I explained to the players that I couldn't get to them all last night.

"They know me well enough. I've done nothing behind their backs over the last four years, they've done nothing behind my back.

"There was a great respect and loyalty from player to coach and coach to player within that group."

That respect didn't seem to spread to the boardroom however with Irvine admitting his displeasure at how the playing group was kept in the dark.

Stuart and Irvine's relationship is strained at best, the communication issues which undermined their time together evident to the last day.

"I thought that was addressed last night but it hadn't been," Irvine said.

"That was disappointing ... ideally that wouldn't have occurred that way.

"I'd hope with his management company and with Ricky that the senior players, at least, would be talked to last night but it didn't transpire."

But if the players were upset, they certainly weren't showing it.

"I know he always put the team first but sometimes you've got to put yourself and your family first," Gallen told reporters.

"There's been so much pressure. It's been every week in the media.

"It probably got the better of him in the end. I suppose he's just had enough."

Stuart's calamitous departure painted a bleak picture of the landscape at the club, which now consists of a chairman barely one year into his tenure, no chief executive, a coach without one top-grade game under his belt and a skipper in Trent Barrett who will decide over the weekend whether to hang up the boots.

While the former Australian and NSW coach was always going to be taking his experience and leadership from club at the end of the season, Stuart claimed his early exit stemmed from the fact his leadership was no longer what the club required.

"The writing was on the wall there Saturday night when I saw a different bunch of players than what I have over the last four years," Stuart said of the Sharks side embarrassed 48-18 by Manly.

"I bashed myself up a fair bit on Sunday after that loss because it was an embarrassing situation for all of us - it wasn't the players or the quality of football team that I know.

"They're better than what they displayed over the last two weeks.

"It was important for me to try and correct that in some fashion and I think the best way for me to correct it was that Shane takes over because they're playing for Shane now."

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