Maybe Cronulla paid unders for their $7 million man Nicho Hynes.
Hynes delivered for the Sharks when they needed him most to help seal an entertaining 22-12 win over the Sydney Roosters on Friday night.
The Roosters were shooting for eight straight wins over the Shire club.
Their cause was not helped when they lost three men to the sin bin, including Nat Butcher for a hip-drop tackle, and Brandon Smith late in the game for making high contact with his shoulder on Cam McInnes.
Victor Radley was given 10 minutes in the bin for laying over Briton Nikora too long. The Roosters’ discipline was poor all round, giving away 14 penalties compared to Cronulla’s four.
Hynes, fresh from signing a deal until the end of 2029, was intent on not disappointing the bumper crowd.
Nicho Hynes is tackled by Victor Radley.Credit: Getty Images
With the scores locked at 12-all, Hynes went to the short side, skipped on the outside of Smith, dummied past Daniel Tupou and charged downfield before sending Blayke Brailey away for a try.
It was fantastic stuff, an all-or-nothing play by the halfback.
Hynes also charged downfield 45 metres when he took the quick tap to put Cronulla on the attack earlier in the half. His short ball to send Brandon Hamlin-Uele into a gap ultimately led to Nikora’s four-pointer.
If the Sharks are going to do something special this year, it will be dependent on the form of their skipper.
Nikora also deserved praise for showing tremendous desperation to dive on a loose ball when the Roosters looked ready to hit back and potentially take the lead in the final five minutes.
The Kiwi back-rower sent a scare through the camp when he reeled out of a Butcher tackle in the 15th minute clutching his ankle.
Butcher was sent to the bin and placed on report.
“That is so dangerous,” Steve Roach said on the TV coverage of the Butcher tackle.
Ronaldo Mulitalo celebrates after scoring in the second half.Credit: Getty
Mick Ennis added: “It was very similar to the Marata Niukore one [which led to a two-match ban] here a couple of weeks ago … from the edict we’ve seen from the NRL, that was nothing else other than a 10-minute sin bin.”
Given his clean record, Butcher would only be fined if charged with grade-one dangerous contact, and only one week if it’s deemed a grade-two offence by the match review committee.
You can only imagine what Cronulla leader Dale Finucane was thinking as he watched the Butcher tackle from the top of a stairwell next door to the coach’s box. Finucane is serving a three-match ban for a hip-drop tackle.
The Roosters deserved the first-half lead as they defended repeat sets before the break.
Matt Moylan scored with Butcher in the bin, but the visitors hit back via Egan Butcher who was put into space by Luke Keary, and Smith did well to duck between a couple of Cronulla defenders and reach out to score.
But the Roosters could never get themselves into decent field position to mount serious pressure in the second half.
They tried the aerial route to Joey Manu and Joey Suaalii, but Cronulla’s outside men were up to the challenge.
Skipper James Tedesco was busy in his return from concussion, while off-contract prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was full of energy in his opening half-hour stint.
The Roosters have 11 days to regroup for the Anzac Day clash against St George Illawarra. The Sharks meet Canterbury next Saturday.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
