CRONULLA captain Paul Gallen admitted he was in a state of shock last night after watching the Warriors turn the NRL finals series on its ear with their win over Melbourne.

Apart from the Warriors, who made history by becoming the first eighth-ranked team to upset the minor premiers, the big winners out of yesterday's stunning development at Olympic Park were the Sharks, who now get next weekend off after ending up as one of the two highest-ranked winners - along with Manly - in the first week of the finals.

Gallen wasn't fussed about watching the Melbourne-Warriors game. He went to Bossley Park to watch his brother, Steven, play for Wentworthville against Cabramatta in the Parramatta A-grade grand final.

Speaking with the Herald yesterday morning about Cronulla's win over Canberra the night before, Gallen mentioned he had burst an eardrum, but that it wouldn't stop him from playing next weekend. When it was suggested to him that he might get lucky with a Warriors win and have two weeks to recover, he replied: "I'm not expecting that."

Gallen obviously wasn't alone there. The Storm are the defending premiers and are the hot favourites to take the title again. They were long odds-on favourites to beat the Warriors.

Contacted minutes after the Warriors had stormed home to win, Gallen - like everyone else who knew the result - was stunned. "We all went back to my parents' house after Steven's game and I watched the last 20 minutes," he said.

"I'm in a state of shock. I'm getting phone calls from all over the place and I'm waiting for 'Sticky' [Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart] to ring me, to talk about the next couple of weeks. He texted me to expect a call soon. I've got no idea what we're doing at the moment. Sticky will tell me.

"Who would have picked the last 20 minutes of the game to turn out like that? It was amazing I was swearing at the TV when [Warriors five-eighth] Michael Witt stood up for a moment before putting the ball down for that try at the end. I don't know what he was thinking. I was so glad when he got it down ahead of the Melbourne player's boot getting to the ball."

Gallen said the result meant every team left in the finals series was entitled to think they were a genuine chance of winning the premiership.

"It just shows that no team is invincible," he said. "No one was picking Melbourne to get beaten today, but look what happened. Everyone who is left should be thinking they've got a shot at winning. People were talking about Melbourne and then the other teams, like us and Manly and Brisbane. But this proves it's wide open."

It had been a big day for the Gallen family. "Steven's team flogged them in the grand final," he said. "And now we're straight to week three of the finals. I've had three missed calls while I've been talking to you. I'm getting calls from everywhere."