Nicho Hynes Resigns until 2029

Reigning Dally M Player of the Year, Nicho Hynes has today penned a deal that will see him stay with the Cronulla Sharks until the end of the 2029 season.
Hynes, who signed with the Sharks before the 2022 season, had a breakout year that culminated in the Sharks finishing second in the competition and Hynes winning the coveted Dally M Medal as the best player in the game.
Whilst a lot of the plaudits have been given since the 2020 season, it was the journey before this that shaped his character, testing the limits at times, but ultimately became the breeding ground for the resilience and the high levels of expectation that Nicho has refined to bring out the best in himself and his teammates.
Going back as far as his days on the Central Coast where he dominated the local comp, ultimately being picked up by the Manly Sea Eagles to take his development to the next level. His tenure with the Sea Eagles apexed during his Jersey Flegg season where he and Tom Trvobic tore the competition to pieces only to fall at the last hurdle against the Penrith Panthers in the 2015 Flegg Grand Final.
Next came a huge shock to the system where the Sea Eagles didn’t see a full time future for the young half and after some soul searching, he took up an opportunity with the Mackay Cutters in the QRL competition, where he took on some of the bigger feeder teams every week. Even though the team finished last in the 2 years he was there he led the league in Try Assists and Line Break Assists both years.
The move to the Sunshine Coast Falcons was the turning point for Hynes as he spent 4 weeks of the preseason at the Melbourne Storm. It didn’t take long for the astute coaches in Melbourne to see something in the rookie. Once his 4 weeks were up they extended his term and did the same again and they finally put him on a fulltime deal and that was the catalyst for the upswing that culminated shortly after with an NRL debut for the Melbourne Storm in Gosford in front of family and friends, and he didn’t disappoint.
The following season saw him play 11 NRL games culminating with a couple of successful Finals appearances, only to be rested the following week for the NRL Grand Final against the Penrith Panthers that the Storm won.
In 2021 Hynes really came of age, in part due to the early season injury load of the Storm, Hynes made 24 NRL appearances and only lost 3 times, unfortunately one of those being the Grand Final loss to Penrith.
Earlier in that 2021 season Hynes made the decision to sign with the Cronulla Sharks for the 2022 season under the guise of Craig Fitzgibbon who had agreed to coach the Sharks.
The 2022 season was where Hynes not only arrived at the NRL level, but after only 36 games, he went to work on dominating the competition.
At the end of the 2022 season Hynes was crowned the Dally M Medalist, the Proven Summons Medalist and won all the major awards at the Cronulla Sharks.
Moving forward everything is about getting that all important NRL Premiership and he has made the long term decision to find that elusive ring with the Cronulla Sharks.