The man who will be long remembered for helping deliver the Cronulla Club their first NRL premiership trophy, Andrew Fifita has announced that Saturday night will be his last Sharks game at PointsBet Stadium.
A career which has so far included 246 NRL matches, international appearances for Australia and Tonga, 10 games for the NSW Origin team and six as a member of the Indigenous All Stars, Fifita’s last home game at PointsBet will be an occasion to be celebrated.
The Sharks play the Bulldogs on Saturday, kicking off at 5.30pm, with all tickets having been sold.
Fifita’s Sharks career began in 2012 when he made his debut in round one at Leichhardt Oval against his former club the Wests Tigers.
In the 10 years to follow, Fifita has racked up 207 Sharks NRL games, included amongst those the golden moment in 2016 when he scored the match winning try in his team’s Grand Final triumph over the Melbourne Storm.
"I announced to the boys (earlier today) this was going to be my last year at the Sharks," Fifita said at a media conference today. "It was the right time to tell the boys, going into my last home game of the season. I thought they deserved to know more than anyone else.
I’ve left on good terms, (but) especially with the good young ones coming through, its time to depart."
Fifita's decision and subsequent announcement came after sitting down and having conversations with 2016 teammates and close friends Paul Gallen and Wade Graham.
"I sat with Gal on the weekend and asked him about it and he said, no matter what, your still going to go down as a legend and for me to hear to that from our club legend, was quite emotional for me," he said.
"We also talked about who scored the best try for the Cronulla Sharks and I can say I did," Fifita laughed.
Members and fans who have a ticket to Saturday’s sold-out game against the Bulldogs are encouraged to stay around following the fulltime siren to farewell Fifita as he does a final lap of PointsBet Stadium.
Also see above Fifita's press conference from earlier today.
