Michael Ennis thought his career was over.
A slightly mistimed tackle on Melbourne five-eighth Blake Green in Cronulla’s loss to the Storm last Saturday night had the Sharks’ hooker thinking he’d played his last game of football.
A career spanning 14 seasons, 270 first grade games and eight State of Origins appearances for NSW – over like that.
Ennis was cleared of a shoulder charge in the days following the game but, as the Sharks prepare for their blockbuster qualifying final against the Raiders in Canberra on Saturday night, the 32-year-old said he breathed a massive sigh of relief when he escaped a charge.
“At the time I wasn’t [worried]. I came off the field and I was pretty disappointed with the result and I hadn’t thought about it until Lyall (Sharks CEO Lyall Gorman) came in from the press conference and said ‘was there a tackle in the game?’
“And I said unless it was that one in the first half where the referee called me out and said ‘be careful with the late contact.’ From there I started to worry – if the media are starting to talk about it and they start to put all the videos up and all the conjecture starts over whether you’re going to get charged.
“I started to get nervous then, especially when I realised that shoulder charge grade one comes at 200 points. That potentially could have been the end of my career.”
Ennis believes there is now some confusion regarding the shoulder charge after Canberra fullback Jack Wighton was charged but found not guilty of a shoulder charge during the week.
A way around the confusion would be to have match review committee members also sit on the judiciary panel, according to Ennis.
But Ennis said he was pleased Wighton was available to line up for the Raiders.
“I felt at the time, of what I knew of the shoulder charge charge, your arm sort of had to be in that brace up against you body,” he said.
“And I knew my arm was down. So I just hoped that [the match review committee] saw it that way.
“I’m just grateful. I was pretty nervous with it being my last finals series and my last year I was worried in that regard.”
The big question for Cronulla and Canberra heading into their semi-final will be: which is more important – momentum or experience?
The Raiders are flying, unbeaten in their last 10 games and famously broke Cronulla’s 16-game unbeaten run earlier this season.
But with old heads Ennis, Paul Gallen, Luke Lewis and James Maloney, Cronulla are full of big game experience, something Canberra lack.
“For us experience is huge. We’ve got guys who’ve played grand finals, Tests, Origins right through our roster,” Ennis said.
“It’s time [the experienced players] led the way in that regard.
“I think the side we were when we won the [15] games straight was a hungry footy side.
“[We] really worked hard for one another and did the simple things really well and controlled the game on the back of that.
“I thought the last 60 minutes of the Roosters game and probably the second half against Souths we were that side again.
“But I just think we were treading water a bit waiting for the finals. You don’t have to take the foot off the pedal much in the NRL to get beaten or to have a scrappy game and I just don’t think we did things hard enough. I don’t think we competed hard enough.”
