By Thursday, he was forced to be focused on his next job: keeping the Sharks' season alive and embracing his own 19-game audition for his coaching future.

Hannay this week joked he was the NRL's nightwatchmen, after also seeing North Queensland through the final 10 games of last season after Paul Green's exit.

The former Queensland flyer hoped he'd get the Cowboys job full-time, but was instead overlooked for Todd Payten before making the call to leave the club.

Offered a chance by Morris to join the Sharks coaching staff, the last thing Hannay expected to be doing was consoling his boss by April.

"He's disappointed and understandably," Hannay said.

"I went through a similar situation last year ... So I think I've got a fairly good grasp on how he's feeling.

"He's got a strong emotional attachment to this club and I had a strong emotional attachment to the Cowboys.

"We were able to have a really good conversation and I guess share our experiences.

"But as I said to him, he'll look back at some point in the future ... and it'll certainly help shape who he is as a coach moving forward."

While independent of the situation, Hannay admitted he felt the Morris situation had been handled messily.

The issue had been drawn out, and Morris' management claimed he was told on Monday he was in pole position to stay in the job after two straight finals series.

Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta has not fronted a media conference to explain the call, after a written statement on Tuesday confirmed Craig Fitzgibbon's 2022 arrival.

"It's probably a bit like life - break ups are generally messy," Hannay said.

"When the media are involved and the soap opera that is rugby league it's hard in situations like this to have a clean ending.

"They might look back at how it all unfolded in the future and there may be things that they would have done differently.

"But it's really hard in this industry for the things to be kept clean if you like."

What it does do for Hannay however is create a crucial six months in his coaching career.

Fitzgibbon will likely bring his own team next year with defence coach Cameron Ciraldo already approached, and Hannay wants to form part of it.

Hannay was brought down to be Cronulla's man in defence, but working in his favour is that he was charge of attack in Townsville before taking over as caretaker.

"Certainly 19 games is just about a full season," Hannay said.

"I don't look at it as a personal thing for me. All I can do and what I will do is the best for this group and preparing them every week.

"I love coaching the club and the one thing I will say is I want to remain at the club in in the future, working under Craig."

Australian Associated Press