By Adrian Proszenko and Adam Pengilly
After picking the brain of Nathan Cleary about the art of standing up in big moments earlier this year, Nicho Hynes will attempt to put what he learnt into practice when he marks up on the Penrith playmaker for a spot in the grand final.
Cronulla have booked a spot in the preliminary final against the Panthers after an outstanding opening half set up a 26-18 win over North Queensland on Friday night. The pressure was on the Sharks – and particularly Hynes – to perform after the Shire outfit lost their previous seven finals matches.
While halves partner Braydon Trindall was the standout, Hynes played the ideal supporting role to enjoy his first play-off win since arriving at the club from Melbourne three years ago. The result will pit Hynes against Cleary, an intriguing match-up given the Sharks halfback sought footballing advice from his Panthers counterpart earlier this year.
“He came over to my house, he was sort of in the area,” Hynes said after the win over the Cowboys.
“He came over, I picked his brain a little bit, that was really nice. I have a great relationship with Nathan. I’m not too ashamed to say that I respect him and idolise him for what he’s done in this game.
Nicho Hynes celebrates Friday’s win over the Cowboys.Credit: Getty
“I really love the bloke, he’s a genuinely nice person. He cares about me and I care about him.
“I’m really grateful that we can have those discussions and we can try and help each other out. I don’t know if I’m helping him out with his game, but he’s helping me out.
“It’s business as usual though – I’ll try and take him and his team down, and he’s gonna be doing the same thing. Regardless of the result, we’ll shake hands and have a beer.”
While the Sharks and Panthers have an intense rivalry, Cleary had no qualms about providing tips on how to handle pressure on and off the field.
True blue: Nicho Hynes and Nathan Cleary.Credit: James Alcock
“My ego is not too big that I can’t ask for an opinion to help me,” Hynes said.
“It’s just what you gotta do in life, in this sort of game, in this sort of arena.
“You go through challenges, and you’re trying to get the help of someone who’s been on something similar. Early in his career, he went through a few challenges, so I’d be silly not to try and build a relationship with someone like that. [Laughing] Maybe I’ll message him this week to see if he has any advice.”
Hynes said there was a sense of relief after a breakthrough finals victory that has left the club just one win shy of a decider.
“I didn’t want to speak about the monkey, but it’s there. It’s there in front of us and we had to get it off our back,” he said.
“Melbourne taught us some harsh lessons last week and righted our wrongs.”
Hynes said he had no qualms about allowing Trindall to be the dominant shot-caller.
“It’s never perfect, we still got things to work on,” he said.
“I feel like we’re gelling well, we started the year really well together.
“I think we won our first five together and then obviously what happened with him [being suspended after failing roadside drug and alcohol tests] and then Acko [Daniel Atkinson] came in and did a tremendous job.
“I feel like this week was a really good week of training for us. We communicated, well, we connected well. That first half was one of the best halves we’ve put together for a while.
“We’ve got to keep building and staying connected. He’s on fire and I think the balance is at a really good point right now and he’s kicking really well.
“I can’t come back into the team and just demand to do everything because it wouldn’t suit our gameplay.
“Right now what’s suiting our game play is him taking a bit more control and we’re balancing it out.
“I’m just really, really proud of him. At the beginning of the year that [incident] could have sunk him and it could have derailed his season. He had some harsh realities back then when he had to go through and had to get, sit down and not play for a few weeks when we were on fire.
“We’d won about seven or eight in a row and he unfortunately wasn’t a part of some of those games. He’s got back in, worked hard and is playing really well now.”
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