Cronulla’s Braden Hamlin-Uele wants more weird and wacky try celebrations after the Sharks went viral

With no crowds at NRL games in Sydney, the Cronulla Sharks went to new levels to entertain themselves and went viral in the process.

Braden Hamlin-Uele has urged players to keep celebrating tries in weird and wacky ways after he sent social media into a storm with his version of The Rock’s people’s elbow in Cronulla’s 20-12 win over the Warriors.

The stunning knockdown of teammate Jack Williams has been viewed nearly 60,000 times on Fox League’s Twitter account and looked more realistic than most of the stuff we see in the WWE.

The initiative is the brainchild of Sportsbet, which is offering $5000 for every try celebration as part of their Try July campaign to raise money for the Men of League Foundation to support Mose Masoe.

Celebrating tries used to be common practice in the NRL, but some people find it arrogant, while coaches don’t want opponents to use it as motivation after Bryan Fletcher’s hand grenade sparked the greatest dynasty in State of Origin history.

“The NFL does it, so why can’t we do it?” Hamlin-Uele said.

“It brings a bit of enjoyment to the fans and it’s not done out of malice. It’s just enjoying the wins and the little things on the field. You can’t find those too often in the game, so I say enjoy them while you can.

“I understand it’s a bit hard to celebrate when you’re coming from behind and chasing points, but if you can celebrate a try, it goes to a massive cause for one of our ex-comrades.

“Whether you played with him or against him, it’s just good to support him, especially because he’s doing it tough. It’s the least we can do.”

Braden Hamlin-Uele wins try celebration so far 😂😂😂

🏈 #NRLSharksWarriors

📝 BLOG https://t.co/cQMaQHZQNX

📺 WATCH https://t.co/7EzVErtMxR

📲 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/W6Qyz5sedXpic.twitter.com/GWBaaxC5qW

— Fox League (@FOXNRL) July 11, 2021

The people’s elbow was dubbed the most electrifying move in all of sports entertainment back in The Rock’s day, but it’ll now be the most talked about move in the NRL after people sat in disbelief thinking that Hamlin-Uele had actually decked his teammate.

The pair sold it so well that some have suggested they follow Daniel Vidot and make the move from the NRL to the WWE. If Sunday is anything to go by, then Mr. McMahon could be on the phone soon.

“Apparently it looked real. Everyone was asking if I actually punched him,” Hamlin-Uele laughed.

“If we want to follow in Vidot’s footsteps then we’ll have to hit up a few higher powers and see what happens. I don’t follow it too much now because it’s a bit too unrealistic. I liked it when there was a bit of blood and everyone was getting on people’s bad sides and no one was safe. It’s too PG for me now.”

The Sharks prop grew up idolising The Undertaker, Goldberg and Rey Mysterio and even had the ground announcer use The Rock’s theme music to celebrate his tries last season.

In good news for fans of both sports, Hamlin-Uele confirmed he and Williams had something up their sleeve should the latter get a try of his own in the next couple of weeks.

He joked that Williams would perform a moonsault – essentially a backflip – off the crossbar, but either way, we want to smell what the props are cooking.

“We had to play it off. I wasn’t meant to hit the deck that hard,” said Williams, who played the role of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to perfection.

“You’ll have to see if I can get a try.”