True Brit: How hole-hearted Nikora is running a fine line to lift Sharks
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As is often the case for NRL coaches looking to add a harder edge to their team, they will ask some of the club’s under-20s players to line up in a scrimmage session. It’s about as intense as training gets, without ripping the Band-Aid off for a no-holds-barred game.
Shane Flanagan wanted his Sharks side to get a little more physical in the days when Cronulla were the toughest team this side of the equator. He summoned the under-age side against them and said, “Do your best”. James Maloney was standing opposite a young New Zealand kid, who a few were tipping to eventually make it.
Whoosh.
The kid went straight past Maloney. Next to him, one of the club’s senior players, Wade Graham, turned around and wondered what had just happened.
“He got us a couple of times then when he was younger,” Graham laughs. “I remember seeing him and taking notice of him. Brit’s always been a great line runner, it’s just a great skill of his.”
Briton Nikora would never dare remind Maloney what happened. He’s the type of guy who makes a church mouse look like a rock star. But having established himself as an NRL regular, the Kiwi international has become one of the most deadly hole runners in the competition.
All the great halves have back-rowers with a rare instinct to run into gaps at the exact time they need to. If Andrew Johns was Batman, then Ben Kennedy Robin. Cliff Lyons had Steve Menzies. Jonathan Thurston was always more comfortable going to the line with Gavin Cooper ready to skittle defenders.
What if reigning Dally M Medal winner Nicho Hynes didn’t have Nikora running off his hip?
Cooper Cronk even said Nikora, 25, had turned into the best line runner in the competition. It’s high praise in an era revolving around attacking “shapes”, where 110-kilogram forwards who run like the wind play a real-life version of Tetris.
The common perception is, as halfback, Hynes calls the shots, telling the Sharks’ right edge of Nikora, Jesse Ramien and Sione Katoa where and when he wants them to run. NRL teams have never been more united and fractured, driven by a common bond, but equally schooled in small groups according to where they play on the field. The right side speaks as a pod after every training session.
According to Ramien, this is where Nikora finds his voice, demanding one of the NRL’s most influential players – Hynes – give him the ball when he wants it, not when the halfback thinks he should get it.
“It goes both ways,” Ramien says. “There’s no point Brit just playing to Nicho’s strength, Nicho needs to play to Brit’s strength as well, same as mine and Sione’s.
“But Brit gives me comfort and belief. I’ve got ultimate trust in him, and we’ve probably built that over the time we’ve been playing together. There’s probably no other back-rower I’d love to line up alongside.”
This year, no forward has scored more tries than Nikora (eight). He’s almost taking over from David Fifita in 2022. As the Sharks try to arrest a slide against title favourites Penrith on Saturday night, Nikora has emerged as potentially their best attacking weapon.
Like many players who surpass the 100-game mark, Nikora appears to be in the sweet spot of his career. He has played every game this year and been off the field for just 24 minutes. On top of his durability, changes between the ears have been a big benefit for coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
Take the record-breaking win against the Dragons last month, when opposition half Jayden Sullivan was so concerned about Nikora, the Sharks ran a play which had Hynes circling behind him to receive a ball from Matt Moylan to score untouched. Red V jerseys were bees to the Nikora honeypot, and Cronulla knew it.
“It’s the plays where I get to suck people in for the boys [that I enjoy the most],” Nikora said. “We were practising that at training – and it came off. He went through untouched. So it’s good going straight through to score a try, but it’s just as good running a hard lead and getting the halfback sucked in.”
Nikora says this in the dressing room at PointsBet Stadium, his voice trailing off as he tries to deflect any praise. But there are stats to prove it. According to NRL.com, no Cronulla player has run more decoys (96) this year than Nikora, who is starting to command so much attention the Sharks use him as a diversion. He’s scored tries running lines from outside in, but has also fooled defenders by changing his angle – while the ball is mid-flight from Hynes – to get to the outside of his rival. It’s a skill only for special players.
“But it’s a team-first action the way he supports,” Fitzgibbon said earlier this year. “He hits those lines with everything he’s got. It’s a real team-first mentality. He chases kicks, he works hard from marker and he’s a valuable team member. The boys love him.”
Not that Nikora is unaware of what’s going to happen one day on a decoy run.
“I’m waiting for the day I get folded,” he jokes.
Those at the club know how crucial Nikora is to them finding their mojo again. For a guy who liked to model his line running on Luke Lewis, Kevin Proctor and Ben Te’o, he could end up better than all of them by the end of his career.
“The way Brit runs those holes, if you’re not checking in properly, he’s going to go over,” Ramien says. “He’s making a name for himself scoring tries because of the holes and lines he’s running. But they’re marking up on him more and it’s creating a bit more space for us.”
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