There was plenty of talk about the ability of Nicho Hynes to stand up to the challenge of the semi finals, but the noise fell silent as the halfback took to the field.
The playmaker entered the match with a finals track record of four from four defeats since joining the Cronulla Sharks in 2022.
With the club’s horror run in recent finals series yet to be broken until the Cowboys clash, much of the blame had fallen on Hynes’ shoulders.
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Penrith great Greg Alexander had called for Hynes to be axed from the elimination final ahead of team announcements on Tuesday, while Andrew Johns suggested the star look to the talent of Daly Cherry-Evans for inspiration.
Hynes told reporters ahead of the match he had deleted social media to avoid external noise as he hunted his first finals victory with the Sharks.
“I didn’t hear any of it. I didn’t look at it,” Hynes told Nine post-match.
“All those people talking about me aren’t going to help me out on the field. All the people who can help me out are inside my four walls, my teammates, coaching staff…
“All I need to do is stick to my processes. I’m not worried, it’s just outside noise.”
Holmes recorded a perfect kicking game, nailing four from four conversions plus a penalty goal against the Cowboys.
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The Sharks quickly built momentum in the opening 40 but were halted by the Cowboys in the second half, who attempted to unleash a strong comeback campaign but fell short.
The sudden shift in the match was of little concern to the Sharks star, who declared his team was instructed to maintain and capitalise on their original game plan.
“We knew it was going to come and we just had to get back into our game plan,” he said.
“I am really grateful that we stuck to it and I think in previous years we may have let them back in, and they may have won the game.
“We let ourselves down last week in the last plays so really we had to work on it this week and build our game on effort.
“I feel like we did a really good job.”