Blayke Brailey, Dave Riccio Live From Sharks Las Vegas Training 25/2/25

[00:00:01] The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking is a hidden gem of the Shire, situated on the banks of the beautiful Port Hacking. It's a great place to catch up with friends, celebrate your birthday or any special occasion, and they always show the NRL live on the big screens. The RMYC Port Hacking, proud sponsors of this podcast and big supporters of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Check out their website rmycph.com.au

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[00:01:06] SharkCast Pod here at Training in Las Vegas. There's a first for everything. Show is brought to you by Dice Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate. I am OG 2015 Sam Shinazzi as I move away from the play. My voice is down a little bit lower just so I'm not disturbing our wonderful athletes. Trying to get two points this weekend against Penrith at Allegiant Stadium.

[00:01:34] If I haven't said it already, this short show is brought to you by Dice Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate. I think I've already said it. There you go. Double plug. It's a warm day in Las Vegas. I'm trying not to get sunburnt. Didn't bring my hat like a loser. And Sharks are out there doing their field session. Looking pretty good. There are three combine guys here.

[00:02:01] So three younger unknown players out there with the team. Mixing it with all the stars. They're not just with the second team. They're with the first team just getting some experience and who knows what that might lead to in the future. A very vocal team out there now getting into it. Fanoa Blake's playing the ball. Doing a bit of scrimmage session. And you can see right now and I'll show you some photos.

[00:02:30] The view in the background is unbelievable. So, just yeah, very unique experience. Will Kennedy's returning a kick. There's no one in any kind of injury bibs or anything that I can see. The only one is Mark Nooks for some reason. And they look pretty primed. Spokes at Blake Braley, which I'll run soon.

[00:02:59] And it's a unique occasion. I was talking to some reporters before about the Canberra incident I wasn't aware of. I'm sure all you guys and girls are aware of the Canberra incident. But our team looks very much on pace. They look very in touch with each other. Will Kennedy's at the ball again. Will Kennedy's very active in this session. Stone Street's out there. And you can hear, hopefully, a little bit of the audio. The boys are very vocal, mixing it up.

[00:03:29] Some good contact. And they're going to have to be against Penrith this week. A great tussle against them. It's going to be a tough one. Our fans are starting to come into Nevada more and more. We're seeing more and more. Saw some more people out this morning. Jerseys and all their gear on, which is cool. So if you're coming, you've got a lot to look forward to. If you're not coming, we'll keep covering it for you as best we can. But yeah, currently almost full team on full team.

[00:03:58] With the Combine guys out there. Big tukus out there. It's a warm day. Like they're getting a good hit out here. Unseasonably warm. I'm told for some year. I can see snow on the mountains, believe it or not. From far away. But otherwise, just a nice day. Not too windy. Indicates with some kicks happening. Having a break now as you can maybe hear. The field they're on is just a pretty generic, but nice. Otherwise nondescript.

[00:04:28] But professional. Just... We're certainly not in a stadium there, that's for sure. Speaking of stadiums, I drove past the Legion Stadium this morning. And... Man, that looks unbelievable. Out of this world. If you knew it, Blake. Walking around. He looks ready to rock. There's been a number of team huddles. Uh... In the past... Half an hour. Just connecting and reconnecting throughout the session.

[00:04:58] Working on things. Must be a soccer field run, I think. Because I can see some soccer posts move to the side that would do it. If you're coming over to... Las Vegas and you hear this, and you're... Going to be getting Ubers. Just remind yourself that they don't have a front... Licence plate. Number plate. It's kind of... Not... Forced, apparently I was told by a driver. So I'm looking for the Uber and you can't tell until it goes past you or you go look behind it.

[00:05:27] So you look like a bit of a weirdo behind the cars. So this is my Uber. But... Fun. All fun. No complaints, that's for sure. Thanks everyone for tuning in to the live stream. Last night my time, I'm not sure what it was for you guys. I'm getting a bit confused by the time zones. But um... Did a team list stream. I know the stream was a bit laggy. The internet's... Not great. Not sure what we'll do about that. But... It's great to hear back from so many people who listen. The audio podcast is out as well. When we can, we're just going to keep popping stuff up.

[00:05:56] And... That's kind of why we're here. Aside from watching our team play on Saturday. There is a Sharks... Adopted... Unofficial, but adopted by the fans... Bar. I haven't been there yet. I'll go there later on. It's called the Tilted Kilt. I believe it's on the strip or just off it. Like it's right... It's right there. And... A couple of our mates on the Facebook. Hook that up. Two for one drinks. That kind of thing if you're a Sharks fan.

[00:06:26] And we will... Be going there for sure to do some things. So... Stay tuned on that. And I know some of you know we were thinking about having a bit of a... Gathering at... Brewdog. We'll try and get that happening too. I know it's all a bit of the last minute. So I apologise about that if you're waiting on details. Um... It's just kind of how it is with so much movement around and... And organising different people and that kind of stuff. So... Gary gets here in about half an hour which is exciting.

[00:06:54] From Sharks and Sharkcast and Josh and Kieran I think it's tomorrow, Wednesday my time. And... I know a bunch of our listeners have arrived and are arriving. Can't wait to see you all. I feel like Dr. Cameron Webb here with my sound recorder out in the nature.

[00:07:25] Manala doing hit ups. Three man in. Big Tuku's lying over him. Swing to the left. Talika with the hit up. Very vocal as you can hear. Cam McInnes looks pretty good. Looks fully healed from the injury he had pre-season. Which is fantastic. And all the guys are in good spirits. They're not... They're not taking their eye off the game.

[00:07:52] I know you might see photos of them that they upload and the team uploads. It's all fun and touristy but you gotta make the best of both right? Like you gotta experience the experience but also they know what they're here to do. And I can see right now they look very serious, look very on. And it's very exciting to see one of the young combine guys. Looks like he's playing on the left wing.

[00:08:22] Our mate Dave Riccio is gonna run the story about the three combine guys. And I think all the clubs might have them. The Warriors were just over there training. They've shut up shop for now. It's nice in the shade here guys. I gotta tell you. I was in the sun for 10 minutes and I thought I was gonna shrivel up. But Tom Hazelden's out there looking pretty good. Big contact there on Talakai.

[00:08:58] Blake Braley, we are here in Las Vegas. All the way from the Shire. Did you ever think your rugby league career would take you so far? Definitely not. It's a bit of a pinch me moment when we flew in here and... Sorry, flew into LA as well. So to be able to take our game to America and show what our talents are. It's pretty special and feel pretty fortunate to be able to do this. How's the body? How are you feeling? Feeling good. I've had a few days in LA which is great. We could connect, do a bit of sightseeing. But yeah, body's feeling good.

[00:09:27] Everyone's in good spirits and you can definitely feel the excitement's building towards the game. What was the vibe when the bus went past Allegiant for the first time? Yeah, a lot of first impressions were great. It was huge. I don't think I've ever seen a stadium that big and it was enclosed too. So, you know, looking from it at the front is good but I'm sure inside will be even better. So, I think we get to see it on Friday and that'll be our first actual look. But yeah, it looks good at the moment. We're down at training.

[00:09:56] You've already had a number of training sessions but it's business time. I can tell the boys are on. How do we beat Penrith on Saturday? Yeah, it's tough. Obviously, you know, back to back to back to back to back, premiers for a reason. The best of the best. So, we know defensively they're going to be strong but it's all about us this week. We're focusing on how we play and bringing Sharks football to them. So, hopefully we do that. We've been training hard and we've been working hard towards that. So, hopefully we deliver on the day. There's a lot of fans already here. There's thousands more coming. So, we're well represented.

[00:10:26] Go out, play hard and we'll get two points. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Easy. We're here with Dave Riccio. NRL journalist. Busy man in Vegas. I don't know if there's a busier man here. Maybe Barry Manilow. But, we're at Sharks training. Dave, what are you seeing? Hey Sammy. Good to join the gang. Yeah, really impressive stuff so far. Look, for the listeners that aren't aware,

[00:10:53] I've been with the Sharks in Los Angeles from day one. And, basically followed their journey. And, look, I've got to say, and I'm not just saying it, Sam, they're a happy camp. Yeah, so I was saying just before Dave in low audio tone to not distract these guys that I'd just heard about the Canberra thing because I'd been travelling and I didn't really know about the Canberra thing. I saw a headline and I thought whatever. Then Adam Mobs was telling me about what happened

[00:11:19] and then I told our listeners that there's nothing like that happening here. No, I'm not, no. And, yes, they certainly enjoyed themselves in LA for a night. Yeah. But it was all together. They do everything together, this team. There was also taking in the sights and sounds of LA from Hollywood, Venice Beach. The boys got around and took it all in. And that's what Fitzy wanted.

[00:11:47] Fitzy wanted them to drop the shoulders for a day or two, shake off the jet lag, forget about footy, because this is a 10-day prep, Sammy, going into this big game. So you can't be full-blown intensity every single day. And in those first two days that they arrived in LA, they did drop the shoulders and they relaxed and took it all in. And we did some great stuff, including Blake Braley visiting the firefighters at LA Fire Department.

[00:12:18] And the training facilities out of the University of Southern California, they got so much out of. But now here being in Vegas, Sammy, this being Wednesday US time. Yeah. It's Tuesday, isn't it? What day is it, Sam? It's Tuesday. Far out. So I was like, yeah, of course. Yeah, it's Tuesday. So Tuesday, US time. Tuesday midday. They're getting down to business, Sam. Yeah. And they're counting down. They work backwards.

[00:12:46] They work backwards from game day, their training schedule. Yeah. And this is a serious hit out. They'll have the Wednesday US time off. Thursday is their biggest session of the week before captains run Friday US time, of which is captains run these days is everyone just walk around the field and don't get injured. They don't do much at all. They turn the legs over. And then game day Saturday here in the US, Sunday back at home.

[00:13:15] So a lot of media on Thursday as well. Yeah. Yeah. There'll be a bit. And the guys have been the guys have been really forthcoming that provided me with terrific access. And I can only thank them so much for that because I think it's important to showcase that them as a group and the stories they have to tell. Absolutely. Absolutely. You can tell they're loving it.

[00:13:40] And I think they're getting a bit of, when I say culturally, like they just, you know, the firefighter situation like that would have been a very new experience for the majority of this crew who are very young. And they saw some headlines on the news about fires, but then to be there and meet the guys that were fighting them. It's an amazing experience. A lot of, a lot of Sharks fans in Vegas already Dave, but being a bit outnumbered by Penrith fans, but we know half the Shire's on their way. What was your flight over like?

[00:14:08] I had probably half a plane full of league fans. Yeah. Yeah. Well, coming a little earlier, Sam, to LA with the Sharks, probably wasn't as many as what will start to drop into Vegas now. I will say this though, like there were, there were a couple of guys walking through LA with the Sharks shirts on that were, just couldn't believe they bumped into the players. So they were over the moon.

[00:14:34] Then one training session at the USC, a guy with a Sharks shirt popped his head over the fence. How he got into the college, I have no idea. It's a gated community. Yeah. And the boys were loving that. They were laughing their heads off at this guy just randomly popping up in the uni with a Sharks shirt on. But there's colours. But it progressively ramps up as we get closer to the game. What can we expect from Allegiant?

[00:15:02] Yeah, it's something special. Yeah. What you'll first notice is the roof. So they play under a roof. Yep. A dome. A dome. And that's something that, you know, when are these players ever going to experience that again? There's just nothing like that currently as far as stadiums in Australia are concerned. So that's something that blows you away.

[00:15:23] And then the size of it, the sheer size of it, the seating and the open air bars and, you know, food and beverage facilities. It's an open air, sorry, not open air, open space stadium that is very easily to move around, easy to move around. And that's pretty cool, mate. I heard you got done for coffee this morning. I did. So that was $8. Now, so here's a tip for anyone travelling.

[00:15:53] I like my coffee strong. Yeah. And so I was tipped into a Cortado, C-O-R-T-A-D-O. Uh-huh. Um, it basically comes out like a piccolo, but it's strong. Uh-huh. You know, your piccolos can be strong. So I, uh, I purchased one of those inside my casino, Starbucks, Starbucks inside the casino. That's your first mistake. Yeah. Well, that's right. And, uh, $8 US equates to what?

[00:16:22] $12, $13 Australian for a piccolo. So yeah, that'll be it. They're not charging that at Mr. Paisley's? No, no. Okay. So, so buyer beware. Buyer beware. You know, we've all been told, unless you want to, don't buy within the casinos, obviously. Yeah. Where possible. Yeah, yeah. It's not always possible. Yeah. Was it nice? It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. Okay. But you live and learn, Sam. You live and learn. I had my first American coffee 40,000 feet in the air.

[00:16:50] And I'd forgotten, because I hadn't been here for about five years, what their coffee tastes like. Yeah. And I went, I didn't order a Coke Zero. I ordered a coffee. Yeah, yeah. That's right. But I do, I do actually quite like it. That's right. I'm not a coffee snob. Like I like all sorts of coffee. Yeah. So it's the drip thing I can, I can do. Something funny, Sammy. Yeah. A couple of boys, Sharks boys back at home. Toby Rudolph and Sione Katoa due to injury. Poor buggers. Recovering following surgery. Surgery. Sorry, we were just watching a play unfold there.

[00:17:20] Toby Rudolph has removed himself from the player chat group because he can't handle the photos. He would have the biggest. The excitement over here. The biggest case of FOMO ever in the history of FOMO. The history of FOMO. That's right. Wow. The history of what? 10 years of FOMO? Five years? Yeah, that's right. Poor Sione. We're going to miss him for five months. Yeah, yeah. That's a big blow. Is it going to be five months? Full blown shoulder reconstruction. Let's get serious, Dave. I'm going to put you on the spot.

[00:17:47] If Stone Street plays lights out week in, week out, let's say he gets a try a week, his defence is okay. Is Sione straight back in or not? I think- And we're winning. Yeah, look, that'll be a massive call because it's hard to change a winning team. And Fitzgibbon has shown that some players that are out for an extended period do have to serve a bit of time coming back through New South Wales Cup. So, I wouldn't say it's out of the realms of possibility that Stone Street holds his spot.

[00:18:16] I will say one thing though. I think it comes down to his contract. Yeah. If he re-signs at another club- Oh, sure. Then his future is no longer at the Sharks. There's no point. So what's- Where are we at with his contract? What do you- They're in discussions. Okay. So, that's- Yeah, clearly it's been a big exercise for the Sharks to re-sign a lot of their players. So- Now you were breaking news this week with Tom Hazelden quotes left, right and centre. My inbox was going off. Yeah, right.

[00:18:46] What's the latest on Tom Hazelden? Oh, pretty confident there. I think he stays for sure. I think the quotes indicated as much- You think he stays for sure? Yeah. I think the quotes indicated as much that- Tom only wants to be one place. Wow, okay, cool. I expect they- I expect him to re-sign. Now, we saw you at Hall of Fame, which was one of the great nights. And I interviewed Miller beforehand. And I, you know, very- You know, I get very starstruck by my teenage heroes. But I know Gav a little bit. A great man. He was pure gentleman.

[00:19:16] Talking footy, talking history. And for some reason, my pea brain just went, ask him about Hazel. Ask him about Hazel. I think you would have been proud, the journalist in you. Good journalism. And I went straight to Hazel. And he started frothing and he gave me like a five-minute response about why he should stay and what if he doesn't and the salary cap. But, you know, I think Gav would be pretty upset given what he's done to get him here. Obviously Tom's worked his butt off to get the spot. But it sounds like it's going to happen. Yeah, yeah, it'll happen. Are you going to have shade there, Dave?

[00:19:45] I'm good, mate. I'm good. It'll happen. But in reverse, I can't fault Hazelton looking around and looking at his options because of the depth in this current forward pack. But also too, he's at, I think it's the most significant contract he'll sign in his entire career. Even if it is a three-year deal, I think this one is the decision-making one to take his career further.

[00:20:14] And it was the Dolphins, Warriors, Dragons, Knights that have shown the most interest. And I think in weighing everything up, I think he stays. Yeah. Now, does that move someone at some point, do you think? Like a, I'm going to say it, like a Rudolph or a BHU? Look at Fenua Blake, he's jogging past us. What's he doing? Well, this is the thing, Sam. What's he doing?

[00:20:38] The thing is with these grassed fields that we are, soccer fields at currently, they're not, they're not, facilities aren't readily available. So what Adam is doing is going to the bathrooms, which is about... I feel like your son all of a sudden. Your dad's telling his son what's going on. Well, that's very gentlemanly of him. He's run all the way over there. It's about 150-metre run. Either he needs to go or he's going to the bathroom. The bathroom. Vegas is a big place, Sam. Yeah. Vegas is a big... You walk and run everywhere.

[00:21:07] You do. Even to the bathroom. BHU, Toby, one of those might move on. Look, time will tell. Yeah. One of the most promising things I've seen in this trip has been Braden Hamlin-Ewelly's attitude. Oh, yeah. And his fitness levels and his excitement. Yep. And his desire to make this season so significant on after last year. Yeah. He had some tough days last year. Yep. Yep. And some serious discussions about where he is as a footballer.

[00:21:35] Um, but he's light years different to the man he was last season. Yeah. So, I can't answer that. It just depends on how everyone else rolls. All right. You and I are going to get out of here and continue on. Where can we... We're going to see you on the Fox channel. Yeah, yep. So, um, 360 starts Thursday night back at home. What's that for us? That's Wednesday night here. Okay. Tomorrow night here. Tomorrow night, yep. Um, yep. I'm on the second night. Okay.

[00:22:05] Uh, these nights are killing me, Sam. What day is what day? Um, so I'm on the second night. Uh, actually Sharks fans, I anticipate Craig Fitzgibbon and Nico Hines, depending on their schedule. I think, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty certain they're pen, they're penciled in. I'm sure. I'm sure. On Thursday night. Okay, cool. And you're doing lots of stuff for code and for the telly. The telly, yep. There's plenty happening. Everywhere. Everywhere. Our little friends at SEN. Yep. We'll get in trouble saying little.

[00:22:33] Um, my mate Brooksy's coming over, so look out for him. He's going to be tearing it up knowing Brooksy is, there's a lot of people coming over. Yeah, it's huge. It's huge. Uh, I'm glad I got here a bit earlier to sort of acclimatize. Didn't expect the warmth. It's warm. But yet we can see snow. Snow capped mountains in the Nevada. Dave, this is a beautiful moment. I'll never forget it. Hey, thanks for your time. Hopefully we'll catch up with you again on the trip. Uh, we're going to wrap it up here. This is SharkCast at Sharks Training. We'll talk to you all soon. Up, up.

[00:23:03] SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[00:23:32] Jason Hawes, Crips and Crips Real Estate. Shut up, man! Turn your porch lights off because we're coming out with a trophy. I'm going to go! I'm going to go! I'm going to go! Thank you.