Any great sentiment towards Melbourne may be gone but the significance of beating his old club isn't lost on Cronulla captain Dale Finucane ahead of the latest instalment of one of the NRL's fiercest rivalries.
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Storm-Sharks encounters have featured extra needle ever since Cronulla upset mighty Melbourne to secure their maiden - and still only - premiership in 2016.
Seven years on and Finucane expects the same added feeling to bubble to the surface on Sunday when an all-important place in the top four goes on the line at AAMI Park.
Cronulla entered round 14 in fourth spot, only above fifth-placed Melbourne on points differential at the halfway point of the season - and just two points behind table-topping Penrith and two ahead of the Sydney Roosters in 10th.
Finucane knows wins are precious and defeats costly in the tightest competition in years.
He also knows the Storm - who capitulated last week against North Queensland after Cronulla blew a chance to go top of the ladder with a home loss to Brisbane - will be smarting.
"I know from obviously playing a long time at Melbourne that they don't like to lose back-to-back games," said the veteran back-rower.
"Obviously us are in the same boat so it should be a good contest.
"It's funny, I don't even know where we sit on the ladder at the moment but I know a couple of weeks ago we could have dropped to as far as ninth place from second.
"So it just goes to show how closely contested those top nine spots are in the competition."
Finucane won two premierships during his seven-season stint in Melbourne but insists he no longer feels any extra intensity facing his former teammates, saying the rivalry is big enough between the two teams.
"It's not something I've really focused on or given too much thought about to be honest," he said.
"This is the second year since moving on from the club now and I've played the club twice since.
"The first game (against them) you think about playing your old club but this is my third club that I've been at now and looking at when I played the Bulldogs it's not even in my mindset at all."
The match offers one last chance for players to state their case for State of Origin II selection but for former Blues hard man Finucane he seems more keen on teammate Nicho Hynes ending all halfback debate than dreaming of any surprise recall.
"To miss out on the NSW side's starting role initially was a surprise," Finucane said of Hynes being on the bench for game one in Adelaide.
"But now that (Nathan) Cleary's out - and from my point of view being a teammate of his and personally knowing him quite well - from his leadership perspective, he would certainly fit the mould."
Australian Associated Press
