There was a lot for Craig Fitzgibbon to be proud of in his first year at Cronulla, but his call to pick a former Melbourne part-timer at No.7 proved his biggest masterstroke.
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After we chatted with him, we knew’: How Hynes became a huge deal at Sharks amid family pain
There was a lot for Craig Fitzgibbon to be proud of in his first year as coach of Cronulla: a second-place finish on the ladder, finals football and a club going places, were high among them.
But the first-year top-grade coach was particularly proud of the rise of star recruit Nicho Hynes.
The ink had barely dried on Fitzgibbon’s deal at Cronulla when he made the call to release Kiwi international halfback Shaun Johnson in favour of a Melbourne part-timer who appeared more suited to the No.1 jersey.
Fitzgibbon often wondered if he had done the right thing. It turned out to be a masterstroke.
Hynes was one of the feel-good stories of 2022, the No.7 starring as the Sharks reached week two of the finals. He was rewarded for a stellar campaign with his first Dally M Medal.
Fitzgibbon hates talking about himself, so what was meant to be an interview about the coach quickly switched to Hynes and how the 26-year-old spearheaded the Sharks’ revolution.
“To look at Nicho: he’s a player, he’s a really high-level decision-maker, he works his backside off, and he’s just a good guy,” Fitzgibbon says.
“We did a fair bit of analysis on him before we got him. I looked at stuff like whether he preferred playing on the left or the right but, funnily enough, when we analysed that, he was evenly weighted when it came to line breaks and try assists, it was almost 50-50 on both sides of the field.
“Then we watched old footage of him in Mackay, just to look at his kicking.
“But once you chat with someone – a conversation with someone can often be the most important part of the recruitment process – after we chatted with him, we knew what he was about, we knew he had come from the Melbourne Storm where he was well coached; the alarm bells rang that he was our guy.
“Nicho hasn’t done anything other than walk in and work as hard as possible to prove us right.”
But there has been a cloud over Hynes. His mother, Julie, was found guilty at Gosford District Court on February 9 of supplying heroin. The trial included details of a family friend dying of an accidental overdose at his mother’s home. She is due to face a sentencing hearing on May 8.
Nicho Hynes is close to his mother. He paid an emotional tribute to her after winning the Dally M Medal in September.
Fitzgibbon says Hynes’ performance in the All Stars clash, days after his mother was found guilty, was proof of his mental strength.
“I spoke to him a lot that week – we had a lot of discussions because of what was going on [with his mother],” Fitzgibbon says.
“I said, ‘If I feel you’re not right, I will pull you out of [All Stars] camp’. But he said his mum wanted him to play, and he convinced me he should play. He loves a challenge, he loved last year’s experience, and he wanted to go and do it.”
Hynes, a self-professed footy nerd who wants to coach one day, told the Herald last month he was prepared to set the bar even higher in 2023, after winning the game’s top individual gong.
“I need to continue to work hard,” he said. “I’m so confident in myself now, and the knowledge I have this year, I feel like I’m a completely different player and human.
“But you can’t stop. I’m not resting on my laurels because I’ve won a Dally M. I want to play Origin. I’ve been 18th man for four Origin games in a row. I want to play just one game. I want to win a comp. There are so many more goals I want to tick off. I’m striving for the best.”
‘A lot of the time when players leave Melbourne, their football can go backwards, but it was the opposite in this case.’
Darren Lockyer on Nicho Hynes
Not many players have made a successful switch from fullback to the halves in the NRL. Queensland legend Darren Lockyer is arguably the best example, having switched to five-eighth at Brisbane midway through his career, and has kept an eye on Hynes.
“A lot of the time when players leave Melbourne, their football can go backwards, but it was the opposite in this case,” Lockyer says
“When you switch from fullback to the halves, you go from being someone in the space to being the person looking to create the space.
“Nicho has a really good attitude, good game awareness, and playing in the No.7 or No.6, he’s really suited to that.”
Among the few personal things Fitzgibbon was prepared to discuss was his friendship with Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
“He’s got his job at the Roosters, I’m at the Sharks, but I was still able to bounce things off him through the year, and he was helpful,” Fitzgibbon says.
Fitzgibbon hopes second-year syndrome does not apply to coaches
“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out,” he says. “I don’t know if we will win more games this year, but I feel like we’re in a better position to play better footy.”
The 45-year-old is also grateful to live a relatively normal life, including school drop-offs and surfing.
Hynes and Fitzgibbon appear to be like-minded characters. It’s hard to see either succumbing to second-year syndrome
