Tricky Trindall treats fans to taste of the future as Sharks look to build

It was a birthday outing to remember for Braydon Trindall, orchestrating three tries and saving two others as the Sharks surged into the top four with their 66-0 win over the Dolphins.

While there was a theme of celebration for the visiting Cronulla coming into the match, for the in-form five-eighth - who turned 27 on Saturday - it was more about making sure forward Oregon Kaufusi and his good friend Will Kennedy had 150 milestone matches to savour.

“It's awesome, got some milestones and we wanted to come out and do a job for those guys and honour those guys for the hard work they put into this club," Trindall said. 

“It was a really good team effort and I thought the boys really played well.

“It's so special; me and Willie have been pretty tight since we first met each other years and years ago, but to honour him and show him the respect that he deserves, it was awesome."

Trindall's combination with halfback Nicho Hynes remains a topic of discussion week-to-week, with the pair finding their balance that suits them, knowing when to step in and step up in different ways.

Against the Dolphins, both were in fine form, with Hynes also having three try assists as he went on his way to score 30 points from two tries and 11 goals, breaking Brett Kimmorley's record of 28 points he set against the Knights in 2002.

“We've been building the last couple of years and to have a performance like that is really special and I thought Nicho played really well," Trndall say of the combination.

Now sitting in the top four, Trindall agreed with his coach Craig Fitzgibbon that the team could build this result into something more and knew he could play his part in helping the Sharks on their way. 

“I think those milestones really helped, just the effort that we showed for those guys, I think we need to keep that up," Trindall said.

"We need to set that as a standard now and then keep backing it up, week on week.

"I think back in my younger days, I didn't take my preparation as serious as I should – and birthday today, obviously getting a bit older – and then you start to realise that you need to be consistent with those things for everyone and our whole team to have a consistent performance.

“I think it comes down to the halves to kind of run the team and and get the team around the park, so when you're consistent, I think you can really put a consistent performance as a team."

This week, Trindall was looking forward to trying to bring down another top-eight contender in Newcastle in their Round 20 clash.

"We've got another good high level game (against Knights)," Trindall said. 

“I think in the last 10 or 15 minutes, we spoke about, keeping (the Dolphins) to zero and how good it it'll be as a club for us to do that, and then I think we just got some motivation after motivation after we were scoring some tries, and I think we'll take it into next week with a lot of confidence against the Knights.