NRL journeyman Colin Best never imagined he would finish at the club where it all started, but after 250 games that’s exactly what the Cronulla centre intends to do.
A Sharks local junior who has also plied his trade for St George Illawarra, Canberra and South Sydney, 33-year-old Best is still scoring tries in his 15th season.
His 106th four-pointer on Sunday at home to Gold Coast helped Cronulla end a two-match losing streak and consolidate a top eight spot.
“Five years ago, definitely I don’t think I would have come back here,” Best said on Sunday.
“I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to come back and I definitely will finish my career here, whether it’s this year or next year.”
Best attributed his longevity to a good run with injuries.
“I’ve been lucky in a way I haven’t had too many major injuries where I’ve missed long periods of football and playing a lot of my career on the wing probably helps as well,” Best said.
Another local junior to shine on Sunday, albeit one at a very different stage of his career was five-eighth Chad Townsend. And he made the most of his first start for the season, after missing the boat at the start of the year with a cracked sternum injury.
Deputising for NSW Origin pivot Todd Carney, Townsend scored a try and kicked three goals from four attempts.
While Townsend has played little more than a dozen senior games, he had the full backing of Sharks’ coach Shane Flanagan.
“We’ve always been really confident once he gets his chance that he’s a first grader,” Flanagan said.
Gold Coast will sweat on a report on Ryan James for a hit on the Tigers’ John Morris.
“It was very difficult for Ryan to change the direction he was going, it wasn’t high, I thought it was a tough call to be honest,” Titans coach John Cartwright said.