{"id":370818,"date":"2024-02-26T18:21:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T19:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370818"},"modified":"2024-02-26T20:03:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T20:03:03","slug":"same-old-sharks-at-risk-of-losing-young-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370818","title":{"rendered":"Same-old Sharks at risk of losing young star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Fitzgibbon is a loyal coach – and despite another early finals exit, he's made few changes to the Sharks<\/a> team that looked sharp in the regular season, finishing a creditable sixth, before crumbling under September pressure.<\/p>\n

The only two significant losses are veterans who were on their last legs – back-rower Wade Graham (retired) and five-eighth Matt Moylan (Leigh Leopards) – and Fitzgibbon hasn't signed any big names to replace them.<\/p>\n

Connor Tracey (Bulldogs) is a player I would have kept – he's young, dynamic, can play anywhere in the backline and has a spark to his game.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE:<\/strong> What Gus told Luke Brooks to convince him to quit Tigers\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Gutted': Scans confirm Origin gun's worst fears<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Is that real?': American TV hosts stumped by mascot<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The only name signing the Sharks have made is former Dragons second-rower Billy Burns, and he's probably destined to fight it out for a bench spot with Tom Hazelton and Oregon Kaufusi.<\/p>\n

Young centre Kayal Iro has been a consistent performer in the lower grades in recent years and deserves more chances in the top grade – otherwise he will be headed for greener pastures in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Sharks<\/p>\n

There's a real chance that the 17 players for round one will all have been at Shark Park in 2023 – a rarity in the modern game.<\/p>\n

The team listed below has the ability to make the finals – the stumbling block in recent years has been to go any further.<\/p>\n

The Sharks haven't won a final since 2018 and the dreaded 'hoodoo' word is starting to encircle them every time the big games come around.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Fitzgibbon's task is to get this lot playing at their best after August – otherwise it shapes as another season of heartache and frustration for Sharks fans.<\/p>\n

The player he will be looking for to turn it around is the classy Nicho Hynes – but the 2022 Dally M winner faces a tougher task getting the Sharks over the line in the big games in 2024.<\/p>\n

With Moylan gone, Braydon Trindall is the only other experienced playmaker in the ranks and he doesn't quite have the quality to take the heat off Hynes – which means the star No.7 will be a heavily marked man every time he takes the field.<\/p>\n

2024 gains<\/strong>: Billy Burns (Dragons), Michael Gabrael (Bulldogs).<\/p>\n

2024 losses<\/strong>: Wade Graham (retired), Jensen Taumoepeau (unsigned), Matt Moylan (Leigh Leopards), Connor Tracey (Bulldogs).<\/p>\n

SHARKS' BEST 17\ufeff<\/h3>\n

1. Will Kennedy 2. Sione Katoa 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Siosifa Talakai 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Braydon Trindall 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Toby Rudolph 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Braden Hamlin-Uele 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Dale Finucane 14. Cameron McInnes 15. Tom Hazelton 16. Royce Hunt 17. Jack Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craig Fitzgibbon is a loyal coach – and despite another early finals exit, he's made few changes to the Sharks team that looked sharp in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370820,"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\/370818"}],"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=370818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370821,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370818\/revisions\/370821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}