NRL360 host Braith Anasta has weighed in on the indifferent form of Nicho Hynes following strong comments from Andrew Johns on the Sharks half.
In one of the big upsets in Round 4, Hynes and the Sharks were easily handled by the Bulldogs. Reviewing the game on Channel 9, Johns said he “has no idea” how to get Hynes back to his best form.
“When the game was on the line, sort of didn’t see Nicho the last 10 to 15 minutes … I really have no idea how to rebuild it,” Johns said.
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“Compare a couple of years ago … to where he is now, I don’t know how you build back up to when he was the best player in the comp.”
Anasta brought up Johns’ criticism on Monday’s episode of NRL360, where he more or less agreed with the rugby league legend.
“He hasn’t been playing poorly. The weekend wasn’t good but he has his days he’s really good. He just hasn’t reached the form of when he won the Dally M Player of the Year,” Anasta said.
“It’s been like that for a while. A lot of it is confidence. Confidence is king.
“Billy (Slater) said to Joey (Johns), ‘what would you do to get him back to where he was and Joey said ‘I don’t know’ which is concerning from a great of our game.”
“He’s overstepping the mark!” | 01:57
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While the loss can’t be placed on Hynes given several of his teammates had off nights against the Dogs, a star playmaker on $1 million a season needs to stand up in the big moments.
According to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, Hynes failed to do that on Saturday night.
“When you watch across an entire footy park, it allows you to keep an eye on Nicho and I was waiting and waiting to somehow inject himself and turn that football game and get Cronulla on the front foot. It just didn’t happen,” the veteran scribe said.
“It’s interesting because I’ve asked Craig Fitzgibbon once or twice about this this year and he’s very, very defensive as a good coach is.”
“He needs to have Nicho’s back because they can’t win a comp without Nicho at his best,” journalist Brent Read added.
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