Brisbane may be underdogs for their NRL season opener against the Sharks on Thursday night, but Sam Thaiday says Cronulla are about to find out how tough life can be at the top.
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The lights in the Shire remain out for good in the wake of their maiden premiership title in 2016. The duck was broken with a 14-12 grand final victory over Melbourne on the back of a strong season that saw them finish third on the ladder.
With Michael Ennis and Paul Gallen leading the charge, the Sharks and their fans rode a wave of form, emotion and momentum to a triumph decades in the making. Now, Thaiday says, they must try to find a way to keep that train rolling when they have a target on their chest.
No team has gone back-to-back since Brisbane in 1992-93 and already odds makers have decided that will be a bridge too far for the 2017 version of the Sharks. They have been installed as a $15 chance, with eight teams – including Brisbane – preferred before season start.
Confidence is still likely to be high among the Cronulla faithful but the brutal reality is that no team has been able to break through for a second title in more than 20 years, with some slipping away sharply.
Thaiday said the North Queensland Cowboys, who bested Brisbane in the famous grand final in 2015, started showing symptoms of premiership fatigue last year and the Sharks might well be in for a dose.
"I think the Cowboys found that out last year as well, going from winning the premiership then everyone wants to beat you. Everyone lifts their game when they play you. We're certainly not going to go down to Shark Park and play a half-game of footy," Thaiday said.
"We want to go down and hopefully knock the premiers off their perch and really start our season off well.
"I think this year is going to be a very tough year for them. But they've still got a very strong squad so they'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the year."
When asked if teams tended to lift an extra notch against a defending NRL champion, Thaiday replied: "Definitely. It does make you want to play a little bit harder and get one up on them."
If there are questions over how the Sharks will fare this season as they try to maintain the rage, there are plenty of queries about Brisbane as well, who must first find a way to deal with the absence of retired forward leader Corey Parker.
Already, Peter Sterling has suggested the club could miss the finals, while there has been a report that the players are not entirely on board with coach Wayne Bennett, who in turn could go into combat with local media for coverage of his marriage break-up.
Thaiday said he wasn't interested in Sterling's thoughts on their season, saying he would neither use them as motivation nor offer a reply. He did endorse new signing Korbin Sims, who now looks set for a key role in a Parker-less pack.
"I don't think Korbin has really shown everyone his full potential and hopefully we can pull that out of him. This is the club he wanted to play for when he was a kid, he was part of a junior system," Thaiday said.
"He's looking forward to the chance to play some good footy. He's a great buy for us."
Former Cowboy Tautau Moga could start for Brisbane in the centres, where he trained at length at Red Hill on Monday. That move would likely see Jordan Kahu move to the other wing outside of James Roberts.
