Cronulla rookie Jesse Ramien on making huge decision to sit out of Roosters finals clash
TWO weeks ago Cronulla’s gun rookie Jesse Ramien had to make one of the toughest decisions of his young career, but his decision earned him immense praise from those around him.
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TWO weeks ago Cronulla’s gun rookie Jesse Ramien had to make one of the toughest decisions of his young career.
The centre had been sidelined for three weeks with an ankle sprain he picked up in round 23 against North Queensland.
He managed to get through all training sessions ahead of the Sharks’ week one finals showdown against the Sydney Roosters.
But deep down he knew his ankle wasn’t at 100 per cent.
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He’d been given the all clear and had the backing of his teammates, who reassured him: “if you’re 80 or 90 per cent and you say you’re right to play then we believe in you and have full confidence in you’.”
Then, in a show of selflessness Ramien decided to put his side’s ambitions ahead of his own.
“I didn’t want to be going in half-assed so I made the decision to not play,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“It was actually very hard to make the call, I was thinking about it all week.
“Flanno [Flanagan] gave me up until the Captain's Run to decide. I got through Captain’s Run but after I pulled Luke Lewis aside and asked him what he thought.
“He just said: ‘you know mate whatever decision you make we back you. But if you do decide to sit out, don’t think you can’t make the decision. We’ll respect the hell out of you for doing it. A lot of people wouldn’t put the team first and just play’.”
Ramien says his heart-to-heart with veteran forward Lewis, who has been a mentor to the young centre during his time at the Shire club, gave him the courage to tell coach Flanagan he was going to knock back the chance to make his finals debut.
“I guess that chat gave me the steel to go have a word to Flanno and just let him know what I was really thinking, it wasn’t easy. But Flanno understood and he said to me ‘you’ve just made a massive decision and I really respect you for putting the team first’.”
Ramien got his chance to play in his first finals game against Penrith last week. He was named as the 18th man but after the late withdrawal of Josh Dugan (shoulder), Ramien was called up to replace him at right centre.
On Wednesday, Ramien retained his spot in the starting side with Dugan named on the extended bench.
Dugan trained on Tuesday morning and is firming to play in Friday night’s preliminary final against Melbourne at AAMI Park.
Ramien says Flanagan is still undecided about the final make-up of his back five with the centre or winger Edrick Lee likely to drop out of the side if Dugan is declared fit.
The Coonamble Bears junior says he’ll happily play on the right edge to make way for Dugan even though the only game he has played on the wing in Cronulla colours was in the World Club Series against Wigan in February of 2017.
“[Sosaia] Feki and Eddy [Edrick Lee] swapped wings during training this morning and Duges had a run at fullback and centre, we mixed it around a bit” Ramien said.
“If I have to play on the wing, I’ll play there no problems. I’ll play where Flanno wants me to play.”