Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes was blissfully unaware of the calls for him to be dropped from the Sharks’ starting side, having unplugged his social media accounts due to the inevitable September pile-on he has become used to.
The Sharks are looking to avoid an eighth straight finals defeat when they face the Cowboys on Friday – and chief playmaker Hynes knows a win is the only way to silence his critics. Chief among them is TV and radio pundit Greg Alexander, who called for Hynes’ axing for Friday’s final.
Hynes admitted he had to improve on his display against Melbourne but was grateful he had not been exposed to the running commentary about his big-game performances.
The 28-year-old also came under fire for his Origin I outing for NSW and was unable to land the winning field-goal in an elimination final against the Roosters last season.
“Is that what he said?” Hynes said on Tuesday when asked about Alexander’s views. “I haven’t seen any of [the commentary] because I’m off social media at the moment. It’s not a worry of mine.
Nicho Hynes knows he needs to be better.Credit: James Brickwood/SMH
“I have been off [social media] for a few weeks now. I knew, coming back from injuries and going into the finals, no-one is going to help me out on there.
“The only people who are going to help me are the people here [at Cronulla], and the players. I don’t want to go on there and search for someone to talk negative about me or positive. It’s just pointless.
“I was deleting it 24 hours before a game, so I didn’t sit there the night before a game worrying about what was going on. This year I have stayed off it the most I ever had, and deleted it in monthly periods.
“All I try and do is wake up every day happy and try and make a positive impact on people’s lives and play some good footy. And some people want to bring you down for it. That is a ‘them’ problem.”
In the spotlight: Top Shark Nicho HynesCredit: James Brickwood/SMH
It is easy to forget Hynes has played only three games since returning from a foot injury, and he did set up the Sharks’ first try with an excellent cut-out pass on Saturday.
He maintained halfback was his best position despite having excelled at fullback when filling in for the injured Ryan Papenhuyzen during his final season at the Storm before the big-money move to the Shire.
Sharks fullback Will Kennedy is off contract next year, which will only fuel the debate about Hynes’ future position over the summer.
“He [coach Craig Fitzgibbon] signed me as a halfback, and I want to play halfback,” Hynes said.
“I want to play any position the club wants me to play. Right now, I am wearing No.7, and that is where they think I am best suited. I don’t see myself changing position any time soon.
“I’ve been wanting a moment like [Friday] forever. I want to win finals games, I want to play in grand finals, we want to compete for grand finals. This whole club is just hungry as for it. We are ready to go again.”
Trindall said the talk about Hynes being axed was “just outside noise”, while Atkinson added: “We back Nicho 100 per cent – he’ll get the job done.”
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