2016 Gallen was again the captain of NSW for the series. After the second, and series losing, loss, highly respected rugby league pundit and former coach, Phil Gould, opined that NSW "have the wrong culture - and the wrong leaders". Despite this, Gallen retained the captaincy for the third game of the series, which was won by New South Wales 18–14. During the presentation ceremony after the match he was criticised by the Queensland media for allegedly walking away while the Queensland captain, Cameron Smith, was accepting the shield. Gallen captained Cronulla-Sutherland to the 2016 NRL Grand Final. After a closely contested game, the team went on to win the Premiership, defeating the Melbourne Storm 14–12, the Sharks' first premiership in their 49-year history. Gallen himself played a key role, setting up Ben Barba for the first try of the night to put his side ahead 8–0. 2017 In 2017, Gallen was named in The City side in the last ever City v Country representative match. On 10 September 2017 Cronulla played against North Queensland in the elimination finals game. Cronulla were expected to win comfortably against a depleted NQ side but found themselves in a tight match at 14-14. With under a minute left, Gallen got within inches of the line for the match winning try but lost the ball. In extra time, Michael Morgan kicked a field goal for North Queensland to make it 15-14 which remained the final score and Cronulla were eliminated from the finals. 2018 In 2018, Gallen became a panelist on Channel Nine's all new 100% Footy Monday night show. After round 3, Gallen became the first player in NRL History to achieve 50,000 running metres. His closest rival is Billy Slater with 39,439 running metres. Gallen made 21 appearances for Cronulla in 2018 as the club reached the preliminary final before losing to Melbourne 22–6. Gallen did not feature in the match as he suffered an injury the previous week in Cronulla's victory over Penrith. In October, Gallen signed a one-year contract extension to stay at Cronulla for the 2019 season. The deal will make him the first man to play 19 consecutive seasons with an NRL club. In November, Gallen spoke to the media in the aftermath of Valentine Holmes leaving the NRL in hopes of gaining an NFL contract. Gallen said “He's won a premiership with us, he's been our best