Is this the RUDEST bet in footy history? How star promised to have painful surgery on a very private part of his body if his team won the NRL grand final

The 2016 Cronulla team were inspired to win their first championship title in 50 years by a very big bet the players made mid-season.

The Sharks went on an incredible run of 16 straight victories, including their Grand Final win over Melbourne Storm, ending their championship run in style.

But it did mean Sharks star Chris Heighington had to honour a bet he made with his team-mates, a bet that only came to light eight years later thanks to a shocking admission from James Maloney on the Rugby League Journeyman podcast.

Maloney revealed that Heighington promised to get circumcised if the Sharks did the unthinkable and won the championship.

“Back in the day when we were playing, you always had to be split into two teams, like for running or touch, before the session started and you were split into two teams, and it was always a helmet team versus a front-leg team,” Maloney said.

‘Heighno is in the front category and he came up and said ‘if we win the game I’ll saw off my front leg’, so I said ‘boom, let’s get going, that’s a deal.’

“This is probably halfway through the season, as we started with a 16-win streak.”

Maloney said the bet was used to encourage the team during games that were scheduled early.

‘We talked about it behind the posts when we were down, we said ‘lads, dig deep, Heighno is going to have a circumcision here, dig deep lads.’