MICHAEL Lichaa is a kid who belongs.
An NRL newbie who, against Canterbury last night, proved himself not only ready for the Big Dance, but for a Doggies pack that for 30 years has prided itself on being bigger, stronger, tougher than the other guy.
Despite bearing all the signatures of a Gen Y footballer - white boots, tattoo sleeve, $63 haircut -- Lichaa used his debut of roughly 35 minutes to show, even in a side dusted by 38 points, he is willing to play hard, hang in and compete.
No, this wasn’t a night where the Shire wonder boy would receive the quick play-the-balls that usually fuel his dangerous running game. In fact, for the first 20 minutes he was flat touching the ball at all.
“By the break I think they said we had 30% possession,’’ Lichaa told The Daily Telegraph afterwards. “So I just tried to focus on my defence. To get in and make some tackles.”
And in the worst Sharks showing Jaws 4, it was a rare highlight.
Michael Lichaa tackles James Graham.
Michael Lichaa tackles James Graham. Source: FoxSports
While there were no freakish displays of skills from the prodigy who has represented NSW U/18s for the past three years, Lichaa still did enough to impress the club he’s tipped to join in 2015, and start for in 2016 when Michael Ennis retires.
A gritty effort that started within seconds of him entering the fray, too.
Replacing John Morris after 20 minutes, 92kg Lichaa introduced himself to the NRL - and Canterbury - by upending prop Aiden Tolman.
Despite entering the collision conceding 11 kilos, the young gun drove, lifted and dumped his heavier rival in one of those tackles that make old men with flat noses teary.
Michael Lichaa in action.
Michael Lichaa in action. Source: FoxSports
Yet when asked about said tackle, the rake shrugged: “Ah, you know, it just wasn’t our night”.
Indeed, fronting the press afterwards, Sharks coach Peter Sharp suggested Lichaa “will eventually look back on this night fondly . . . in about 10 years”. And who knows what sort of career he will have carved by then?
Certainly the rookie has heart to go with the hype, proved minutes after the Tolman hit when, defending his tryline, he jammed a shoulder into the T-Rex, Tony Williams -- forcing the Canterbury forward to lose the ball.
And, sure, there is plenty to improve on. Like when, four minutes from the break, the young rake failed to continue trailing a Bulldogs sweep play to the death. As a result, caught just short when Canterbury halfback Trent Hodkinson turned the ball inside for a sprinting Chase Stanley to score his second try.
CRONULLA SHARKS PRESSER 2:39
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Cronulla Sharks interim coach Peter Sharp talks to the press following his teams heavy loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs.
But importantly, the promise was there.
A willingness to get stuck in from this Sutherland Shire product who made his Holden Cup debut in 2011, at 17.
An apprentice carpenter who, in the two years since, has enjoyed a meteoric rise playing a game he freely admits is modelled on South Sydney and New Zealand star Issac Luke.
Indeed, according to Fox Sports Statistics, in his 15 U/20s games last year, Lichaa averaged a staggering 116 metres per game.
Elsewhere, he also produced 10 line-break assists, five line breaks and 40 tackle breaks.
