Bulldogs 15 Sharks 14: The wash-up
Craig Fitzgibbon said Nicho Hynes’ butchered golden point field goal attempt will be the making of Cronulla’s star man as Bulldogs super boot Matt Burton nailed a miraculous one-pointer to pile further pain on the Sharks.
Having missed two mammoth two-point field goal attempts in regulation time, Burton’s match winner from 36 metres ricocheted off the inside of the right post to condemn the Sharks - early season pacesetters - to their fourth loss in five matches with a 15-14 victory at Accor Stadium on Friday night.
It was another bitter ending for Cronulla’s star man Hynes, who in the past month has lost his NSW State of Origin jersey, missed an after-the-siren sideline conversion attempt to send a match against the Dolphins to extra time and then fluffed a relatively simple field goal against the Bulldogs to win the game.
Hynes badly hooked his effort from 17 metres out and right in front only a couple of minutes into golden point, then watched Burton go down the other end and launch his attempt over the crossbar from more than double the distance – with the help of the post.
It sparked delirious scenes from his teammates and Bulldogs fans as they maintained their unbeaten run at home this season, taking another huge step to breaking their finals drought.
As Hynes left the field to heckles from Bulldogs fans, Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton raced up the tunnel to offer words of encouragement to his Blues teammate. He then returned to the field for post-game media duties and to celebrate with teammates.
Coach Fitzgibbon was belligerent about Hynes, who also made a stunning try-saving tackle on Viliame Kikau, claiming he would turn his form around in the finals run-in.
“It’s going to shape him,” Fitzgibbon said. “He’s got to go through it. It’s part of the responsibility for him. He’s accepting of that far better. He’s been stung before and carried his divots a little bit. The last couple of weeks, he’s acknowledged it.
“It will sting. Of course, it’s going to sting. I feel like he’s ready to keep going after the moments. He didn’t shy away from it. He put himself in position, but he’s got to ice it. He’s just got to go through it.”
The Sharks will host the Titans next week in Coffs Harbour after missing an opportunity to return to a share of top spot with the Storm, albeit temporarily. Melbourne hosts the Raiders on Saturday night.
Hynes’ halves partner, Braydon Trindall, shanked an audacious field goal attempt to win the game in regulation time, but after being gifted field position early in golden point, Hynes couldn’t seal the match under pressure from Reed Mahoney.
Matt Burton celebrates his match-winning field goal.Credit: Getty Images
“I just said, ‘he’s our guy. He’s our man’,” Sharks captain Cameron McInnes said of his message to Hynes. “We’re all behind him and we’ll do great things with him leading us. Nothing’s changed.”
Said Crichton: “The next few weeks is probably going to be big for him. He’s probably going to be the only guy that can bring himself out of that, and the team he’s got as well. Those top calibre players can do it. There’s no doubt he will come back bigger and better.”
The Sharks were left to rue another slow start as early tries to Viliame Kikau and Mahoney, who also scuffled with Hynes on the stroke of half-time, opened up a 12-point Canterbury lead inside the first 14 minutes.
But having fought their way back into the game and taken the lead through Trindall’s try off a miraculous Ronaldo Mulitalo kick, prop Toby Rudolf hauled down Bulldogs utility Bailey Hayward to set up Burton’s simple penalty goal five minutes from time, levelling the scores.
Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes.Credit: Getty Images
Burton missed two two-point field goal attempts in the dying minutes of the match, with both kicks just arcing to the right side of the posts. The second, as the full-time siren blared, was a booming 46-metre attempt, which he was convinced was going to be the match-winner.
It was a case of third time lucky as the Bulldogs climbed to fifth on the ladder.
“It’s a bit of a goldfish memory,” Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo said. “He’s just so brave. It’s not easy to miss a couple and keep going after it. He puts in the hours at training and then we back him.
“[The game] was hanging in the balance and could have gone either way. We’ve lost a couple of those this year and it was nice to get one our way.”
Said Fitzgibbon: “If we play like that tonight and ice our moments, we’ll win plenty of games. I thought there was a lot more to be pleased about tonight. Before the bye, not so much.”