There was plenty of talk about the ability of Nicho Hynes to stand up to the challenge of the semi finals, but the noise quickly 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.
“We tried to block it all, but it was impossible,” coach Craig Fitzgibbon said of the criticism in his post-match press conference.
‘Phones were going off everywhere you went.
“How we dealt with it? We just walked in and didn’t shy away from anything at all this week.
“I haven’t seen too many people be able to deal with that and play like that. That’s why we believe in him.
“I feel he’s a developing player that’s got some elite skills.
“The most pleasing thing was the way that he and ‘Tricky’ (Braydon Trindall) played together.”
Cronulla skipper Cameron McInnes reiterated the praise for the 2022 Dally M Winner.
“I’m hugely proud of him for the way that he’s handled it,” he said.
“None of us will ever probably go through what he has to.
“The way that he put himself in the team and didn’t care what anyone else was saying (was great) and he just wanted to do the job for us.
“On the flip side, we have to do our job for him. We didn’t do that last week but I felt we did it tonight.
“We were led by Tricky and Nicho, but I feel like everyone around them did their job as well which is the most important thing.”
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.”