Gray and co currently find themselves bottom of the table, five points behind 11th-placed London Irish with more than half the season been and gone following a 32-12 defeat at Saracens in their last league outing.
And with the return of domestic league action coinciding with the start of the Six Nations, Gray knows he will not be able to help their survival fight in person until the end of Scotland's campaign.
But the 23-year-old, who has started nine Aviva Premiership games for the Sharks this season, is confident that Steve Diamond's troops will give it their all while he is on international duty.
"It is a tough one being away for the Six Nations," he said. "You want to be part of a Sale team that gets itself up the board and contribute everything you can to the team, but it's playing for your country in a special tournament, so it is tough.
"The first half of the season has not been ideal by any means. Nobody wants to be in the position we are in, certainly not the players or coaches.
"I certainly feel that we are building and we are progressing and doing better. We picked up a win and some valuable points over the Christmas period and against Montpellier, where a lot of young guys came in, we certainly stood up very well.
"That stands us in good stead moving forward over the next couple of months, winning games and getting off the foot of the table.
"I'll be honest, I'm a little disappointed in myself. I know that I can do better, but certainly over the past couple of weeks, I have been improving."
The Sharks have only won two games all season in the league with off-field matters hardly helping their cause. Bryan Redpath was removed as head coach as Diamond and former All Blacks coach John Mitchell, albeit temporarily, stepped in to the breach.
That has not helped reverse the slide but Gray insists there are more than enough characters in the squad to keep their head above water.
"These things happen - the season has not gone the way everyone has planned but it's a way of dealing with a tough situation and getting yourself out of it," he added.
"The belief is certainly there that we can turn is around. It's a positive environment - we had a team meeting about how positive we're going to be, we're not just going to go into our shells, but stick to what we've planned out.
"We've got our skipper Dave Seymour and other senior players around the team, such as Cuets (Mark Cueto), who embodies Sale Sharks, to help lead us. But it's everybody across the board to do their job, speak up and everyone communicating on the pitch."
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