'He's our man': Sharks throw support behind Nicho after more heartache

A failure to ice big moments late in games has cost his team dearly in the past fortnight but Sharks skipper Cameron McInnes won't be looking for a scapegoat in his star playmaker Nicho Hynes.

After missing a difficult conversion attempt to send their Round 15 clash with the Dolphins into golden point, Hynes sprayed a field goal attempt wide in extra-time on Friday night as the Sharks went down 15-14 to the Bulldogs.

Once again it was a sluggish start that had the Sharks playing catch-up before they recovered to hit the lead but ultimately couldn't put the game to bed.

In stark contrast, the Bulldogs' main man Matt Burton stepped up to nail a 35-metre field goal to give his side their eighth win of the season - one more than they had in their entire 2023 campaign.

Asked by media post-match what he had said to Hynes after the clutch play in the 83rd minute went wrong, McInnes replied, 'I just told him he he's our guy'. 

"We are all behind him. We’ll do great things with him leading us," said McInnes, who chastised himself for dropping the ball in the opening set of the match.

"Nothing has changed. He's our man."

For coach Craig Fitzgibbon, his team's habit of missing the jump and then having to claw their way back into games has become a recurring nightmare.

"We worked on our starts but we missed it, we got back in the game, rolled the sleeves up, did the hardest parts of the game really well, three tries to two, but you have to ice your moments and we didn't," Fitzgibbon said.

"That's part of the job and the responsibility for playmakers and that will sting for Nicho but he has to dust himself off pretty quick and look forward to the next moment.

"It’s going to shape him, he has to go through it, it’s part of the responsibility for him.

"He’s accepting of that far better these days - there has been times where he has been stung before and he has carried his divots a little bit but I feel like the last couple of weeks he acknowledges it.

"It’s sitting there, it’ll sting, but I feel like he’s ready to just keep going after the moments. He didn’t shy away from it, he put himself in position but he has to ice it, he just has to go through it."

Having lost four of their past five games the Sharks must now regroup for a trip to Coffs Harbour to face the unpredictable Titans in Round 18.

The Sharks sat on top of the ladder with a 10-1 record after Round 11 but losses to the Panthers, Eels, Dolphins and Bulldogs have seen them drop to third with the in-form Roosters hot on their hammer.

The Sharks sit on 24 points with the Roosters looking to move to 22 points on Sunday if they can take care of Wests Tigers, while the Dolphins can also go to 22 if they beat the Dragons.