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good news for Cronulla sharks: he is back

good news for Cronulla sharks: he is back

Storm brews for Cronulla with Sharks still to prove worth against NRL’s best

Cronulla face their biggest test of the season in the first of a tough run of games that will help inform opinion on the team’s chances

 


Cronulla sit atop the NRL ladder after nine rounds, but the critics say the Sharks haven’t been tested. They say their best player isn’t good enough for Origin. They say they can’t win a finals match, can’t beat the best teams in the competition.

Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon says he hears the “narrative” about his players: that their true character will only emerge during this month’s stretch of imposing matches, including games against the Roosters, Panthers, Broncos and, on Saturday night, Melbourne Storm.

But Fitzgibbon says he and the team are eager to find out just how good they are. “We’re excited for that, that’s part of what we need to do.”

State of Origin 2023: Nicho Hynes backs Blayke Brailey for future NSW Blues  No.9 jersey

The last time the Sharks played at AAMI Park, in June last year, they went home with their tail between their fins after a 54-10 defeat. And Storm coach Craig Bellamy has just committed to the club for another year.

Saturday’s task, according to Fitzgibbon, would be hard no matter the reputation of his team. Despite their position on the ladder, the Sharks are considered as underdogs. “Melbourne in Melbourne: I don’t know why we would be viewed any different,” he said. “Not many teams come here and get a free hit.”

It’s becoming an even more imposing place under the current iteration of the Storm. Average crowds at AAMI are close to 21,000, up 4,000 on last season. A win on Saturday would make it 15 in a row at the venue, equalling their most ever, set at Olympic Park in 2007. (The Storm lost to the Panthers at Marvel last year during the women’s football World Cup.)

“They’re always tough: the flight there, you’re away from home, it could be windy, it could be wet, you don’t know what you’re going to expect there,” Sharks hooker Blayke Brailey said. “It’s always a hostile environment and you know that they defend their home really well.”

But defence has became a hallmark of the Sharks under Fitzgibbon. This season they have conceded 110 points in eight matches – barely more than a converted try each half on average – the fewest in the competition.

“It’s no fluke, the best defensive sides win the competition,” Brailey said. “So we know we need to be that top four, top three sides in the competition in defence and I know Fitzy [Fitzgibbon] drives it massive here.”

In attack, the Sharks’ success this season is largely down to halfback – and former Storm player – Nicho Hynes. The 27-year-old appears back in the kind of form that won him the Dally M medal in 2022.

“He’s been pretty consistent this year and fine tuned his own game,” Fitzgibbon says. “It’s his third year as a halfback now and he’s starting to develop, we don’t think he’s near his potential yet.”

After being dropped by the Blues after a single Origin appearance last year, Hynes has rediscovered his confidence and is leading Dally M voting alongside Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards.

But like Hynes, the Sharks still need to prove themselves against the best. They have lost three straight finals matches in the past two years, and this season’s draw has meant their only match against a side currently in the top eight was their victory against the Bulldogs in round two.

“There’s obviously a separation there with your Melbournes and Penriths and Roosters and, in the last couple of weeks, Brisbane, they’re probably the teams everyone’s sitting back and going ‘OK, they look like they’re shaping for something’,” Fitzgibbon said. “There’s still a long way to go.”

Another year of Melbourne coaching speculation was ended on Friday when Bellamy confirmed he would coach the Storm again in 2025.

He said five-eighth Cameron Munster and the other senior players had told him they wanted him to stay. “They came in and encouraged me to go on, that was obviously a really big part of making the decision.”

The Storm will be missing key contributors Ryan Papenhuyzen and Jahrome Hughes due to injuries, and have named Victorian prodigy and Samoan international Sua Fa’alogo in the starting side.

The Storm’s new No 1 impressed against the Kangaroos in Samoa’s Test match in October, and has scored three tries in two NRL appearances including a dazzling four-pointer off a scrum against the Titans last week.

With Papenhuyzen set to miss more than a month of football, Fa’alogo has the chance to establish himself in first grade. Storm captain Harry Grant says the 21-year-old is not just a ball-running threat.

“He does the little things a lot too,” he said. “Yeah, you can get those big moments in the highlights but at the end of the day, we’re a selfless team here at Storm, so if he’s continuing to do those little things well for the team then that’s that’s a tick.”

Bellamy said he is expecting Hynes to target the young fullback with his kicks. “We’ve got all the confidence in the world in Sua, especially under the high ball, he was brought up in Victoria playing AFL so he’ll be good.”

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