{"id":105036,"date":"2021-07-25T05:47:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T05:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=105036"},"modified":"2021-07-25T07:59:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T07:59:14","slug":"storm-lose-battle-for-in-demand-skipper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=105036","title":{"rendered":"Storm lose battle for in-demand skipper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cronulla have continued their recruitment raid on the Melbourne Storm<\/a> roster, signing hard-nosed forward Dale Finucane on a four-year deal.<\/p>\n

The NSW Origin forward told his Storm teammates today he'd be leaving the club at the end of this year following seven highly successful seasons in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

It's a massive signature for the Sharks<\/a>, who were eager to lock down a tough and experienced middle forward to bolster their pack. In Finucane they've got exactly that – the 29-year-old having played over 200 NRL games, pulled on the NSW Origin<\/a> jersey five times, and appearing in six grand finals in stints with Canterbury and the Storm including two premierships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Finucane was in high demand<\/a>, with St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers also keen to lure him away from Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The deal is reportedly worth over $2 million and comes on the back of Cronulla signing another Storm player, utility Nicho Hynes, as incoming coach Craig Fitzgibbon looks to lift the Sharks after a number of average seasons.<\/p>\n

NSW Blues assistant coach Fitzgibbon has worked closely with Finucane in Origin camps<\/a> over the past few years and knows intimately what the tireless forward can bring to his new side from 2021.<\/p>\n

"Knowing Dale will be leaving at the end of the year makes this a sad day for us but one we expected," Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"True to how Dale is, he has been totally professional and open with us during these contract discussions.<\/p>\n

"He has brought some outstanding traits to Storm, highlighted by his professionalism and leadership, and just being a good bloke who has time for everyone."<\/p>\n

The Sharks will also welcome Dragons hooker Cameron McInnes to the club next year, while highly-rated forward Toby Rudolf re-resigned recently, as did fullback Will Kennedy, five-eighth Matt Moylan and Braydon Trindall.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cronulla have continued their recruitment raid on the Melbourne Storm roster, signing hard-nosed forward Dale Finucane on a four-year deal. The NSW Origin forward told […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105038,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105036\/revisions\/105038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}