Shane Flanagan hailed young Cronulla hooker Jayden Brailey after an encouraging debut for the Sharks in the World Club Challenge final defeat to Wigan.
Brailey, a former Australian schoolboys international and Holden Cup player of the year for 2016, was thrown in at the deep end in front of a frenzied home crowd of over 21,000 at the DW Stadium.
The retirement of Michael Ennis has left the Sharks with a lack of experience at hooker with their efforts to sign James Segeyaro unlikely to materialise due to his ongoing legal dispute with Leeds Rhinos.
It means that Brailey who split game time with utility Fa'amanu Brown, is the only recognised hooker in the squad.
Sharks coach Flanagan was pleased with what he saw from the 19-year-old local junior.
"I thought he was outstanding," Flanagan said.
"To come into an environment like this in front of a full house in a World Club Challenge and make your debut in the middle, it's a fair ask.
"He hasn't played NRL before, he's come out of the 20s system.
"He is going to be a good player and playing against Test footballers in that environment is going to be good for him."
Brailey's last game was in a Holden Cup semi-final defeat by the Sydney Roosters in Canberra with only a handful of fans watching.
It was in complete contrast to what greeted him in Wigan but he said he relished the opportunity to play on the big stage.
"It was pretty crazy, you didn't stop hearing that crowd the whole game. I've never experienced that before, not even for a home game," he said.
"It was an intense ... and I had to get used to the conditions. The boys were really good with me and I felt comfortable coming in."
Wigan's big forwards tried to target Brailey throughout and he said the experience gave him a taste of what he can expect in the NRL each week.
"Every tackle you have to put everything into it," he said.
"They have big blokes like Frank-Paul (Nuuausala), (Ben) Flower and (Sean) O'Loughlin and they're coming at you every set and tackle.
"Being smaller they went for me but I thought I handled it well and will learn from this."
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