Sharks doing best Panthers impersonation in all grades
There is just a little bit of Penrith about Cronulla.
And in the years to come, Craig Fitzgibbon hopes there is a lot more of the Panthers about the Sharks.
On Saturday night, Cronulla will face the three-time defending premiers Penrith in their first preliminary final since 2018.
Come Sunday, the Sharks’ NRLW side will play in their semi-final.
And at the same time, Cronulla’s under-21s and NSW Cup feeder-club side Newtown will each play in their grand finals.
It’s the kind of record finals weekend Penrith have often had, including when they famously won everything from NRL to under-19s during the 2022 season.
“We’d need a fair few more results to be able to consider ourselves anything like that, though, and the nursery they have,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We’ve been stable in nature like they have.
“Obviously their academy, set-up and facilities, we’re still a long way off in a number of areas.
“We had a talk about it (this week) as a staff. What an awesome achievement for the club and everyone that works here. Things are moving in the right direction.”
“But I’d like to be asked that question in a few years (about the comparison with Penrith) and have their results behind us, that’d be nice.”
Cronulla’s pathways similarities with Penrith extend beyond their lower-grade results.
Just as Penrith’s success was built on the likes of Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Dylan Edwards, James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota playing under-20s together in 2015, Cronulla’s team have similar roots.
Eight members of their Saturday night side won the NSW Cup grand final together in 2019 for Newtown, with five also in the team who finished first in Holden Cup in 2017.
It also shows in that halfback Nicho Hynes will become the 12th member of their squad to sit between 100 and 150 career games.
“They all come through together. That is what attracted me to come here and play for this club,” Hynes said.
“We’re all getting to the 100-game club now, we’ve all grown and matured and become a family and a good group of players.
“I think that is a blessing at the moment. We want to continue to grow and hopefully we can play 200 games together and build a real strong club.
“It’s not only us, we have all four grades in the finals this weekend, that is a huge effort for the club.
“Hopefully we can develop, the Flegg into Newtown, Newtown into us and keep going the way we’re going.
“And build a real strong powerful club like the others like Melbourne and Penrith.”
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