Apart from Fifita & Nikora who have Cronulla got as ball playing forwards? Rudolph? Hamlin Uele? They are not in the same class.
As far as game breakers/strike players go for Cronulla, who have Cronulla got-1=Nicholas Hynes, the whole attack revolves around Nicholas Hynes.
Unless Cronulla can unearth someone else that can take attention and pressure away from Hynes, Cronulla can't win anything in finals matches because you need options.
Unfortunately, Cronulla lost a game that they should have won against NQld and it cost them severely-momentum blown, I couldn't have seen that happening if say Paul Gallen was capt. and Michael Ennis & Luke Lewis were there. Graham should have been up the whole team in the last few minutes, and Taumololo should have been stopped.
In the end the context of the loss in 93 minutes and allowing NQld to score with seconds left on the clock before the full 80 was just too much to take mentally for the players, and then the two soft tries before half time, the disallowed try when Holmes took a dive.
Don't know why Nicholas Hynes did not challenge the call when he regained the ball from the dropout called a 'knock-on' v Souths.
Will Kennedy was absolutely belted by Mitchell with a swinging arm well after the ball had left his hands-definite penalty. In the context of the game these are huge decisions. The Ramien 'no try' was also contentious to say the least, camera angles are not always definitive, it would have made the score 24-18 when Mulitalo scored thereafter, different ballgame.
Cronulla needs some forwards because Fifita is not easily replaced, I actually believe he should have started this game-he would have stopped Nicholls, plus his experience counts for everything. Finucane, McInnes, Hunt, all workhorses, but do not offer too much in attack. The speed at the play the ball is too slow.
Graham is winding down, I recall when he was regularly making good off-loads and making some kicks, not much anymore.
You can't win finals games with 1 strike player. Fitzgibbon was rightfully filthy to go out in straight sets, but it will be interesting to see what he can do to remedy the problem of only having Nicholas Hynes as Cronulla's lone strike player in 2023, I doubt he can.
