Sharks star recruit Dale Finucane slipped quietly into the Shire and into PointsBet Stadium on Tuesday, meeting his teammates and making himself somewhat familiar with his new surroundings.
While training wasn’t scheduled to officially begin for Finucane until today (Thursday), the visit was an opportunity for the two-time Grand Final winning forward to chat to the coach, check out his new footballing home, and to get a little used to the Sharks colours ahead of his first official session.
Nicho Hynes was one of the first to greet his old Storm colleague as he tried on the Sharks jersey, with the pair in agreement that ‘blue’ was his colour, while Finucane met a number of the NRL playing group, included amongst them the likes of Toby Rudolf, Blayke Brailey, ex-Origin teammate Andrew Fifita and fellow former Bulldog Aiden Tolman, as he now looks forward to getting to work and to starting preparations for 2022.
The last player to report to training due to the Storm going to within one game of a Grand Final appearance, Finucane also renews an association with incoming coach Craig Fitzgibbon, one that can be traced back to time together in the representative arena.
“I’ve worked with Craig for a couple of years through Country, then NSW and there’s a handful of guys here I’ve met before,” Finucane said. “It was nice to get around and to meet a bunch of the guys.”
While committed to Melbourne and to finishing his time at the club on a high last season, Finucane also kept an eye on the Sharks in 2021, liked some of what he saw and now looks forward to playing his part at the Cronulla Club in 2022.
“Throughout the back of the year, having signed with the club, I kept an interest in how they were going and what they were looking like moving forward. I was excited by how well they were playing and I’m excited to see what we can do next year,” Finucane added.
Finucane begins the first of a four-year contract with the Sharks after a career which has seen him play 218 NRL games, 66 at the Bulldogs then 152 matches at the Storm.
He has contested four Grand Finals, two at the Bulldogs, then four at Melbourne, Finucane having claimed Premiership titles at the Storm in 2017 and 2020.
In 2018 he was the Storm’s Forward of the Year, 2019 their Player of the Year, while in 2021 he was co-captain at Melbourne alongside Jesse Bromwich.
Finucane, who has played five Origin games for NSW and four for NSW Country, will make his first community appearance at the Sharks Members Only Christmas Party on Saturday.
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