Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks hooker Michael Lichaa defied the pain barrier to lead his team to glory in the Sydney Shield Grand Final against Ryde-Eastwood Hawks last Sunday after revealing he had multiple injections for a groin injury.
Lichaa, who played in the NRL for Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, has been a revelation for the Sharks this season after steering them into the decider.
He left the field with an arm injury after helping engineer a 32-12 win over the Belrose Eagles in the Preliminary Final but then had to dig even deeper the following week.
The Sharks captain revealed following a stunning fightback which saw the Sharks trail the Hawks 26-0 before storming home to win the match 32-30 he had been battling an osteo pubis injury.
“I won’t be walking for the next month,” Lichaa said.
“(Being) 26-0 down, I think all the boys were a bit nervous playing on a field like this and we had four or five different players on the field this week from last week due to injuries and suspensions.
“We started pretty bad but I think we put it together at the end and showed we’re a pretty good team. We only found out we were in this come a week before the season started, we thought we were playing A-Grade.
“To come out and win this with a local footy team … the boys spend more time at the pub than at training so they’re going all right.”
