Will the Sharks reach new heights in 2024 thanks to a few significant adjustments and potential upgrades?
The Cronulla Sharks looked like they were going to do even better in 2023, but again, they fell short in the finals due to a lack of depth and a winning attitude.
The Sharks are a team that can compete and challenge, but they are unlikely to be able to win a few games in a row through the finals and win the premiership. 2024 seems to be more of the same for them.
The Sharks’ recent revelation that they had signed free-agent Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake will cause some to shift their focus from 2025 to 2025 before this team even has a legitimate chance to win a championship.
But there is a full season that the playing group won’t want to be writing off before that, with Nicho Hynes again to be the man leading from the front, although with a significant personnel change in the halves alongside him.
Here are the big questions that will define season 2024 for the Sharks.
1. Is Braydon Trindall able to offer what Matt Moylan was unable to?
With Matt Moylan leaving the Cronulla Sharks in the off-season, the team’s number six will be obvious going into the 2024 campaign.
Moylan has made a strong comeback to prominence over the last two years, but toward the close of the previous season, his play declined, and it was obvious the Sharks needed to make a change.
Even though Trindall concluded the season in first grade, the club’s coaching and recruitment staff clearly believe in him because he will start 2024 as the undisputed number six.
The issue with the Sharks is that Nicho Hynes will always be their captain. He gets the ball if that’s what he wants. With one of the best halves in the game who has nearly single-handedly propelled the black, white, and blue into the finals over the past two years, it is just the reality of the situation.
It just makes you dread to think of where Cronulla would have been riding the table for the previous two years in the absence of Hynes.
Though there are other talented players on the team, Hynes is the one who has really brought it all together. It should come as no surprise that Hynes is typically among the Sharks’ best players on the field if they prevail.
Nevertheless, he requires assistance, and it appears that Trindall—who had a great 2023 and enters the new year as the starter—could gain from a successful preseason and serve as Hynes’ first option.
