The individual struggles that built a resilient team
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Toby Rudolf looks at the construction site adjoining PointsBet Stadium while he trains with the Sharks and thinks about how fortunate he is to have received a second chance.
“That could be me over there, but I am playing footy for living,” Rudolf says.
“I used to drive trucks and sell Hello Fresh door-to-door so when I am in the pre-season gruel or not up to my absolute positive Toby best at training I just think back to those days and realise how good I have got it.”
Rudolf came through the ranks at Saturday night’s semi-final opponents, South Sydney, but was unable to make the club’s NRL squad and only made his debut for Cronulla in 2020 after stints in the Queensland and NSW Cup competitions.
Rookie reflections: Toby Rudolf
His story is a similar one for many Sharks players who only made their mark at the club after being given a second or third chance.
Among them are:
· Connor Tracey had to overcome three knee reconstructions before his NRL debut with Souths in 2019 and had played just two matches when he joined the Sharks;
· Braden Hamlin-Uele spent five seasons at the Roosters and Cowboys before joining the Sharks in 2018 but played just one NRL match;
· Siosifa Talakai spent three years in the rugby league wilderness after being sacked by Souths in 2017 and was offered a train-and-trial contract with the Sharks after helping Newtown to the 2019 NSW Cup premiership.
· Royce Hunt played one NRL match for Canberra in 2017 and had been ready to walk away from the game but has been a mainstay of the Cronulla forward pack since 2020, and;
· Lachlan Miller grew up dreaming of playing in the NRL but the Olympic sevens gold medallist thought he’d missed his chance after approaches to clubs following the Tokyo Olympics received no interest until a belated call from the Sharks.
Even star recruit Nicho Hynes had to bide his time before playing a sole NRL match in 2019 with the Storm after being unwanted by Manly and spending two seasons at the Mackay Cutters before joining the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
“Nicho is the poster boy for second chances,” said Rudolf, who was man-of-the match for Redcliffe in the 2018 Queensland Cup grand final and won his second "reserve grade Clive Churchill" with Newtown in the 2019 NSW Cup premiership decider.
Superstar Showdown: Hynes
“We seem to be a resilient bunch here at the Sharks and I think it shows on the field. It is quite interesting how we have all come together in this team.
“Royce Hunt only played one game in Canberra before coming here and now he is absolutely flourishing, Braden [Hamlin] Uele played one game for the Cowboys and got his start late, and a bloke like Lachie Miller has also come along late.
“Sifa came across from Souths and he was sort of struggling, even when he first came here, but he has torn the comp apart this year.
“I’m sure Sifa looks back to the days when he was a garbage man and had to get up at 4.30am in the morning to work 12 hour days so we are certainly more grateful because of those things.
"It is a very positive training group compared to others I have been in during my career so far.”
Rudolf is one of eight Sharks players who were in the team that beat Wentworthville in the 2019 grand final then defeated Queensland Cup champions Burleigh Bears in the National Championship final.
The others are fullback Will Kennedy, wingers Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa, halfback Braydon Trindall, hooker Blayke Brailey, backrower Teig Wilton and Talakai, who played from the bench.
“A lot of us have been through our own struggles but I guess that makes you who you are and we are more grateful for having to go through that,” Tracey said. “I definitely think it helps us and I think it helps the team too.
“If you don’t have any setbacks you don’t have any reflection on it so that is important.”
Tracey ruptured his ACL playing under 20s for Cronulla Sharks in round four of the 2015 season and suffered two recurrences of the injury without playing another game.
The third was while undergoing a fitness session with the Rabbitohs physio in October 2016 after joining the club for pre-season training.
“That was hard but I was still signed so I had that attitude that I was full time coming to train, so I never really thought about quitting, but I didn’t know if I would be able to play in the NRL,” he said.
“I am always grateful to the Rabbitohs for sticking by me.”
Hunt, who has been ruled out of Saturday night’s semi-final at Allianz Stadium along with Talakai, has also had to overcome a number of challenges and show commitment to establish himself in the NRL.
Growing up in Kalgoorlie, he had to travel six hours each way to Perth for a game so usually only played twice a year in representative selection trials and was chosen for Western Australia under 16s.
A number of NRL clubs were interested in Hunt joining their SG Ball squads but his father Rob had played under the late Peter Mulholland at Moorebank Rams so he signed with Canterbury, where the former Perth Reds coach was in charge of recruitment.
After becoming too old for under 20s and without an NRL contract, Hunt was going to quit but Mulholland, who had moved to the Raiders, convinced him to play for Canberra’s feeder club, Mounties.
“I ended up playing a full year of NSW Cup there and in 2017 I went to Canberra for a month, then that turned into two months, and three months before I eventually made my NRL debut there,” Hunt said. “I stayed in Canberra for three years before coming to the Sharks.
“I think it just makes us appreciate every opportunity that we get. I know that for myself playing regular NRL at the Sharks in 2020 was massive because I had been in Canberra for three years and only played one game.
“I am pretty sure that would be the same for Toby, Nicho, Sifa and a lot of other guys here at the Sharks.”
