He has been given the keys to Cronulla. But how do the Sharks get the best out of their $1 million-a-year man?
As uncomfortable as it is, there’s a belief that Nicho Hynes blinks when the bright lights come on in big games.
Just this week, the NRL announced he was one of four finalists for the Ken Stephen Medal, for players whose legacy is not confined just to the field, but stretches to the community when the cameras are turned off. It was accompanied by a photo of Hynes with a young boy in a wheelchair, smiling in his Sharks jersey.
Tellingly, as Ryan Papenhuyzen fielded the ball and play continued, five Sharks defenders ran downfield past Hynes to form a haphazard defensive line. Their halfback stood in disbelief on the same patch of grass for almost four seconds.“He took himself out of the game after that,” league legend Scott Sattler says. “It had nothing to do with fitness, nothing to do with injury, nothing to do with skill set, it had everything to do with what’s going on between the ears.
“I’ve heard it, but I won’t be picking based on what anyone else says,” Fitzgibbon says. “It’s happened to a lot of high-profile players – or I should say price-tag players – in the past, and halves in particular. With that comes responsibility and scrutiny.“I think it’s confirmation bias. You see a couple of things that he hasn’t done, then it’s out there, it’s spoken about, but to prove yourself right, you constantly go to the things that he’s not doing well, and it just becomes like momentum.
Perhaps his most telling error was early in the second half. With the Sharks trailing 14-10 and deep on the attack, Hynes ran the ball on the last tackle and was brought down in the corner. A pass to winger Ronaldo Mulitalo might have presented an opportunity. A kick could have forced a repeat set. Like so many teams these days, the Sharks were content to turn the ball over in the corner deep in Storm territory.
Sattler says we should remember Hynes is only three games back from a serious injury, and acknowledged he was great in the thumping final-round win over Manly, but warned he can’t see the 28-year-old thriving as a long-term halfback.
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