After his first full season away from the Melbourne Storm, Nicho Hynes has excelled at Cronulla becoming one of the best players in the league.
Hynes showed flashes of brilliance during his tenure at the Storm but was usually the odd man out in a spine stacked with superstars.
The decision for Hynes to leave seemed to be the smartest move for the development of his career, but now the question being asked is, did the Storm pick the right man?
Storm legend, Cameron Smith has backed the decision to keep Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen over the Sharks halfback, despite their injury history.
“I’ve seen some questions asked around that, given how well Nicho played this year and (how) the Sharks performed,” Smith said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“If you look back at the Storm’s season, they had a wretched run with injuries, particularly with Papenhuyzen, I think he played maybe the first ten games, did his hamstring and sat out for six weeks, he comes back for maybe two games then smashed his knee.
“Jahrome Hughes spent a few weeks on the sideline as well, it was always going to be a difficult situation wasn’t it given the quality of Nicho Hynes, but they opted for those two players.
“Unfortunately, they spent a fair bit of time on the sideline this year, but I don’t think the Storm will be looking back thinking they made the wrong decision.”
Although Hynes’ season came to end after the loss to the Rabbitohs, he is one of the favourites to take out the Dally M Medal in a week’s time.