Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has revealed why he opted towards shifting Dally M winner Nicho Hynes to fullback for Saturday’s must-win recreation towards the Rabbitohs in Perth.
Hynes put his hand as much as transfer to fullback to exchange the injured Will Kennedy, who may miss the remainder of the season with a hamstring damage he suffered in final week’s loss to Penrith.
Hynes has loads of expertise within the position, having performed there a good bit with Melbourne, however has solely worn the No.1 jersey as soon as at Cronulla that resulted in a 30-10 loss to Canberra final season.
Fitzgibbon would have been tempted to make the transfer to attempt to spark Cronulla’s assault after a few lean outings, however he thought it greatest to maintain the backbone as settled as attainable with Hynes to once more companion Braydon Trindall.
That means Connor Tracey will play fullback simply as he did final week as soon as Kennedy got here off, with Hynes in command of steering the staff across the park.
“Nicho doing that, that was his way of saying that he’ll do whatever is required for the team,” Fitzgibbon mentioned of his halfback’s provide.
“In recent weeks with the number of combination changes we’ve had and players changing positions through injuries and whatever, we’ve had to shuffle the decks a lot, so for this week, stability is the most important thing.
“I want to keep Tricky (Trindall) and Nicho working on their combination.
“Connor has been training and playing as a fullback for the majority of the season, so he’s the best prepared and he played last week at fullback, so he’s the best prepared to be our fullback this week.
“Leaving Nicho and Tricky to run the team gives us a bit more stability.”
The Sharks are coming off a spirited 28-0 loss to the Panthers the place they have been compelled to defend their line for a lot of the night time, however brave defeats will rely for nothing with their place within the high eight hanging by a thread.
They may drop out with a loss to the Rabbitohs and if different outcomes go towards them this weekend, which makes Saturday’s recreation in Perth so vital.
It gained’t be straightforward given the Bunnies knocked them out of the finals final 12 months after which smashed them within the Shire in spherical 1, however the Sharks have the artillery to bother a staff that hasn’t been going too properly in current weeks.
“I think every win is important at this stage of the year,” Fitzgibbon mentioned.
“It’s a really hotly contested ladder at the moment and it’s been a tight competition for the majority of the year.
“The result is important with only four games after that remaining, so we want to draw on our performance last week and take parts out of that, but we need to bring the best version of ourselves and perform strongly and improve on last week.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
