Perceptions are often seen as reality in the NRL but the choker’s tag which has been hung around the collar of Sharks star Nicho Hynes is unwarranted.
Yes, he’s had a few moments in big games where he hasn’t delivered at crucial moments but that is the case with pretty much every halfback, even the all-time greats.
Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon is certainly sick of hearing talk that Hynes and his team in general have a history of coming up short in the clutch but in typical fashion, he’s not whining about it but reminding his players that they are the only ones who can quash the narrative.
Win a Ziggy BBQ for Grand Final day, thanks to Barbeques Galore! Enter Here.
Hynes gets lambasted for being part of two losses at Origin level. On the first occasion in game one last year, he was brought on out of position at centre with 11 minutes left and missed a tackle which led to Queensland’s go-ahead try in their 26-18 win.
Hynes is versatile when it comes to the spine positions but centre is a different beast and when one goes off mid game, smart coaches shift their most mobile second-rower out wide.
After dropping Hynes, Blues coach Brad Fittler clearly didn’t learn because he put Damien Cook in the same spot with even worse results for nearly the entire match when Trbojevic was again forced off.
Hynes got a chance to start in his preferred position in the series opener this year and was not at his best but despite a valiant fightback, the Blues were never going to win from the moment Joseph Suaalii was sent off in the seventh minute.
But again Hynes was dropped with Mitchell Moses, a more experienced operator at rep level, getting a chance after overcoming injury and making the most of it with a couple of five-star showings in the No.7 jersey.
And because he had a field goal charged down in a tight loss and missed a sideline conversion after the siren for Cronulla, then Hynes is all of a sudden not great for the Sharks but a choker like the Great White Shark, Greg Norman.
All halves have near-misses on their resume, particularly at rep level.
Nicho Hynes. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
The only halfback with Immortal status, Andrew Johns, was part of the team that lost in the biggest upset in Origin history in his first series in sky-blue.
Nathan Cleary still cops heat over supposedly not being a big game player because he didn’t automatically dominate the Origin arena King Wally style.
Fitzgibbon pointed out on Friday that his late-blooming 28-year-old hasn’t had that many big games as the chief playmaker so it’s tough to be too critical.
After a tepid return from ankle surgery a couple of weeks ago, Hynes was back to his brilliant best in the 40-20 shellacking of the Sea Eagles last Sunday.
“He’s won us plenty of games as well and they seem to be forgotten so we’ll find out, I know he’s ready,” Fitzgibbon said.
“He was a whole lot sharper last week than his first game back and combined really well with Tricky (Braydon Trindall). What Nicho’s done really well is come back in and work for the team and I think our team’s flourished with his return a little bit.
“If he gets up and he gets running and confident, and our team’s playing well, we’ll see the best version of him. To go into a game pinning your hopes on one player, if that’s the narrative, that’s the narrative.
“But we’ve got to 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.
“We’re a team, we’re not one player.”
Cronulla have a poor record under Fitzgibbon in the finals, going straight out the back door after over-achieving their way into second spot with losses to the Cowboys in extra time and Souths two years ago before they were eliminated first up by the Roosters last season.
“The last two years we’ve probably almost limped into the finals, players in, players out,” he said. “This year we’ve got a bit of energy about us and we feel like we’ve surged through the back end of the year with energy.
“I think 2022 feels like it’s so long ago now. We’re a vastly different team. I feel like we’ve developed a lot more from that point on. You remember experiences and lessons that you get. They were painful at the time, but we’ve moved on. We’ve left all that stuff behind us now.
Cronulla’s 25-18 win over the Storm at AAMI Park in Round 10 was remarkable enough on its own but the coach employed an unusual strategy that night without his two main playmakers Hynes and Trindall.
Rookie half Dan Atkinson took on almost all the first receiver duties with Cameron McInnes and Blayke Brailey helping out but effectively playing as dual dummy-halves in attack and extra middle forwards in defence.
Atkinson came of age at NRL level that night and has proved to be a revelation this season although he is now back to a bench role with Hynes healthy again.
“We have 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 said.
“Every game is different. It was a long time ago now.
“It is a different formula this week. We’ve got a strategy that we work on, but it doesn’t change too much each week, to be perfectly honest. It’s about what we play, what we see, and we’ll get our looks if we’re playing well and we’re combining well. Who knows what we’ll come up with.”
Paul Suttorhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/09/14/dont-believe-the-hype-on-hynes-sharks-star-not-a-choker-as-fitzgibbon-bites-back-at-nasty-narrative/Don’t believe the hype on Hynes: Sharks star not a choker as Fitzgibbon bites back at nasty narrative
إرسال تعليق