Unlike their previous two seasons, Cronulla will go into their NRL final versus Melbourne in good shape, according to coach Craig Fitzgibbon, with star playmaker Nicho Hynes leading the way.
At AAMI Park on Saturday afternoon, the Sharks take on the minor premiers in an attempt to end their current run of six straight finals losses, three of which came under Fitzgibbon.
The coach is confident that Cronulla can upset the Storm because they have won five of their last six games and have only lost once on penalty kicks.
“We’ve probably almost limped into the finals the last two years, players in, players out,” Fitzgibbon remarked on Friday, one day before their penultimate practise.
“We feel like we’ve pushed through the back end this year and we have a little bit of energy about us of the year with energy.
Hynes returned from a serious ankle injury for the last two rounds and Fitzgibbon felt he was hitting his straps.
While the halfback’s ability to deliver in big games – finals and the State of Origin arena – has been questioned, Fitzgibbon said he had faith.
Regarding the 28-year-old, he stated, “He hasn’t had that many (big games) so he might not have yet, but that’s not to say he can’t in the future.”
“I know he’s ready because he’s won us a lot of games too, even though they seem to be forgotten. We’ll find out.”
“Compared to his first game back, he was much sharper last week and worked really well with Tricky (Braydon Trindall).”
“What Nicho has done very well is return to the squad and work for us, and I believe our team has grown a little bit since his comeback.
We’ll see the best version of him if he gets up, starts jogging, and gains confidence while our team performs well.
However, we must play like a team, we need a team performance, we’re playing against the Melbourne Storm down here and if we don’t have that it won’t matter how well Nicho plays.”
In a top-of-the-table clash in round 10, the Sharks downed the Storm 25-18 at AAMI Park, their first win in Melbourne since 2018.
Hynes was a last-minute scratch from that match, and the visitors stuck to a straightforward game plan of gaining ground in the middle, starting hooker Blayke Brailey at halfback.
Fitzgibbon stated that even though they would approach the game differently, they were confident in their ability to change their strategy if needed because rain was predicted.
“Obviously, we’ve got two halves as opposed to one, and we played with an extra middle forward that night, but we’ve got the ability to do that in-game if that’s what’s needed,” he remarked.
