By Dan Walsh
Daniel Atkinson steps into Cronulla’s halves on Friday in a bid to halt their mid-season slide, child’s play compared to a midnight tangle with retired Sharks skipper Dale Finucane in a saggy pair of underpants.
Atkinson, who boasts three World Cup appearances for Italy, replaces Nicho Hynes at the scrumbase against the Tigers at PointsBet Stadium.
The 23-year-old utility will play his 12th NRL game alongside Brayden Trindall after Hynes went down at training on Monday. Scans confirmed a fractured tibia, syndesmosis rupture and two-month recovery.
Atkinson and Hynes were travelling roommates for away games earlier in the year, and good mates from their time together at Melbourne.
Atkinson and Finucane’s friendship has also endured. That’s despite the former’s night terror during a pre-season camp at Lennox Head when they shared a cabin.
“It’s Dale’s fault that yarn, him and his awful little triangle undies,” Atkinson laughed in an interview prior to Hynes’ devastating injury.
Daniel Atkison (right), Nicho Hynes and Tom Hazleton (centre) celebrate a try against the Roosters.Credit: NRL Photos
“We were in these little school camp cabins, getting into our little single beds and Dale’s in his undies. They’ve lost the elastic. They’re terrible to look at.
“It’s a genuinely disturbing sight. And that’s what’s in my head before I go to bed, so I blame him. I’ve been known to sleepwalk and sleep talk, but I’ve never had a night terror.
“I can remember the dream, he was reversing a truck and I’m yelling at him to stop so he doesn’t run me over.
“I’m actually standing on the bedside table though, screaming. Dale woke up screaming at me as well. He turns the light on, he’s standing there in his saggy undies, and he’s ready to flatten me.
Daniel Atkinson in action.Credit: NRL Photos
“He was strapping his bicep pads on, he was ready to run through me.”
Now on the other side of the late-night dramas, coach Craig Fitzgibbon is backing Atkinson to hold up Cronulla’s attack alongside Trindall while Hynes is sidelined.
The Sharks have lost five of their last six games to slip to fourth place on the ladder. Despite that, Fitzgibbon was talking up Atkinson’s strengths rather than dwelling on Hynes’ injury on Thursday.
“We’re really confident in what he can do,” Fitzgibbon said, pointing to his combination with Trindall in Cronulla’s most recent win, a 22-12 win over Brisbane last month.
“Atko’s a natural right-sided player so he slots straight in there with a good right-foot kick on that side of the field and he’s a terrific defender.
“They complement each other well.”
Atkinson arrived at Cronulla on a development deal after his 2022 World Cup and has played nine games this year mostly while Trindall was out after being charged for drink-driving and drug offences.
“I’ve got a really clear picture of what I need to do if I’m coming into the halves, I don’t have to be Nicho or Tricky [Trindall],” Atkinson said.
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