Sharks fans will always love and remember Michael Ennis for his passion and commitment during that memorable title-winning season of 2016.
For many he was the final piece in the puzzle for the Sharks, his experience, guile and competitive nature a huge reason the Cronulla club was able to reach that holy grail and achieve premiership success after 50 years of trying.
Well that Ennis passion was still evident when recounting the 2016 season to his Fox Sports colleagues Dan Ginnane and Steve Roach.
Ennis explained where much of his drive came from, which was from his family who had ridden the highs and lows of a career which spanned 14 seasons and included 274 NRL games and eight Origin appearances.
However, for all he had achieved, Ennis had yet to raise a trophy in triumph, with 2016 his final opportunity.
“They’d seen me play 100’s of games, but I’d never won anything. All I wanted was for the kids to see me as a winner,” Ennis said.
But it was his oldest son Jack, on the eve of the Preliminary Final the week prior to the premiership-decider who provided extra motivation to help him get to the Grand Final.
Greeting his father with his kit bag on the way to the car, a 10-year-old Jack Ennis said; “don’t let tonight be the last night dad.”
“It was probably one of the most special moments of my life,” Ennis emotionally recounted.
Ennis went on to recall the big day, from getting off the bus and hearing the roar of the Sharks fans, to some of the big moments in the game. The first half when a dominant Sharks side built up an 8-0 lead, about the words exchanged when the Storm hit the front late in the second, before remembering the Andrew Fifita try, which fittingly came off a flat Ennis pass out of dummy half.
Then the final siren and even a push in the back from Storm winger Suliasi Vunivalu couldn’t take away that overwhelming feeling of victory.
“I looked at the clock – three zeros – and I thought ‘oh my god’,” Ennis expressed.
It’s just over nine minutes no Sharks fan should miss. Remember, re-live 2016 and that special day at ANZ Stadium with Michael Ennis, courtesy of Fox League Live on Foxtel.
Fox League Live airs on Foxtel, Monday to Friday from 3.00pm.
