The Cronulla Sharks will again attempt to get over the hump in 2026.
It's really that simple. The men in black, white and blue are a finals quality team, and one in contention for the premiership, but they haven't been to the decider since 2016.
The last two seasons in particular were particularly heartbreaking, with back-to-back preliminary final departures.
The common rhetoric heading into 2025 is that they might well have only been one big-name forward away from glory, but Addin Fonua-Blake's arrival wasn't able to drag the club over the line, and instead, simply served to stretch the salary cap.
That might seem harsh, and it's certainly not a knock on Fonua-Blake's performance, but the Sharks are now in a squeeze to retain talent without a premiership to show for it.
That said, they come into 2026 relatively settled, although Fitzgibbon has plenty of youth at his disposal, and may well elect to fire some changes throughout the course of the campaign.
Here are the selection questions for Cronulla heading into 2026.
4. Hynes and Trindall: Six and seven, but in what order?
One of the more intriguing storylines throughout 2025 was that of the Cronulla halves.
More specifically, the rise of Braydon Trindall to the point he became the Sharks' dominant half. He led the kicking game, structured the attack, and was in fantastic form.
Some will argue it doesn't actually matter which number the two halves wear, and that they will continue to just play the game in front of them, attempting to fit it into their respective skill sets.
But there is also a school of thought - and a valid one - that Hynes being relieved of halfback duties could free him up to fit that skill set.
Wearing the number seven comes with responsibility, whether that's the way it's coached or not.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that Hynes' best skill is his running and passing game, rather than his kicking and management.
Changing jersey numbers, whether semantics or more, feels like it could be the way to go for Cronulla's halves heading into 2026.
Sharks’ biggest challenge – in my opinion – is to start using the decent youngsters that they have, and not to keep them frozen out of the first team unless there are long-term injuries.
That means that they do not develop and the coach feels he has to re-sign existing first-team players (usually on higher pay).
Cronulla is short of cap space for this very reason.
Their problem is essentially a coaching problem, not a training/player/effort problem.