Catching Up With Keiran Over Coffee About Cronulla (21/10/24)

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[00:01:53] Hello there. Welcome to SharkCastPod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world,

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[00:02:11] And we are here with our good friend Kieran Fraser who's been missing for a few weeks due to just life stuff.

[00:02:16] But he's back and it's a Monday.

[00:02:19] I've got a coffee, not sure about him, but we're going to catch up about the Sharks

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[00:02:41] Kieran, welcome back. It's been a few weeks my man.

[00:02:44] How have you been travelling? You're a travelling dude.

[00:02:47] Yeah, so I shaved my beard off.

[00:02:49] What do they call it? I buried the lead.

[00:02:51] You shaved your beard off.

[00:02:52] I did and then I left the country out of pure embarrassment.

[00:02:55] I couldn't be seen for a while so I had to leave for a little bit.

[00:02:58] Went over to New Zealand a couple of times in the last few weeks

[00:03:01] and now I'm back for a little bit.

[00:03:03] So, looking forward to jumping into the whole Sharks season

[00:03:07] and where do we go from here?

[00:03:08] Yeah, where do we go from here in the words of Tom York.

[00:03:10] Let's talk about the Panthers game.

[00:03:13] I watched it back about a week ago,

[00:03:17] a week and a half ago for the first time completely.

[00:03:21] So, I was at the game, worked on it a bit for work

[00:03:23] then left it, came back with a bit of, you know, time and patience

[00:03:27] and I got pretty annoyed watching the replay

[00:03:29] because it's a game we could have won, a game we should have won.

[00:03:32] That's my thoughts on it.

[00:03:33] What are your thoughts on what went down at Homebush?

[00:03:37] So, I was watching it from a bar in Wellington, New Zealand.

[00:03:41] So, right before the Sharks played, I sort of had a couple of things on, right?

[00:03:46] So, I was over there for work and took some customers to the Bleddersley Cup,

[00:03:50] Australia versus New Zealand.

[00:03:51] And I had three teams that day.

[00:03:53] I had the Swannies in the, in the AFL grand final,

[00:03:55] the Australians versus the Kiwis and then the Sharkies versus the Panthers.

[00:04:00] Now, I don't care about the first two, happy to sacrifice those.

[00:04:03] But again, you get to the third one, you say, I can't go 0 for 3 here.

[00:04:06] Surely, this is a sign that the Sharks are going to gap.

[00:04:10] And I think I looked at the odds.

[00:04:11] I think I put on like $10 on it for all three to win.

[00:04:15] It was like 10,000 a one.

[00:04:16] Like, it was just not, it was not happening.

[00:04:18] So, that bet died very quickly.

[00:04:20] Can I just ask you, how was it a sign if two out of three had gone wrong?

[00:04:25] I'm one of those people that thinks that if you, the more you lose,

[00:04:29] the closer you are to winning.

[00:04:31] So, and again, I know these are different sports.

[00:04:33] I know all these things, but I just thought the probability of me going 0 from 3,

[00:04:38] even though all three, I think the Swannies were favorites,

[00:04:40] but the other two were pretty rank outsiders.

[00:04:42] I didn't, you know, I just didn't see it going 0 from 3.

[00:04:45] But again, I should have been smart and put some money on that

[00:04:48] because that's the way it turned out.

[00:04:50] But hey, watching it in a crowded pub without sound was quite different.

[00:04:57] Also too, it was kind of late at night over there.

[00:05:00] So I think it kicked off around 10.30ish or something.

[00:05:03] Yeah. So it was a little bit late.

[00:05:05] And so people over there, obviously there was a lot of Australians

[00:05:08] that were still watching it.

[00:05:10] But a lot of the Kiwis were kind of at that point, you know,

[00:05:13] bit north of the wall after a few drinks.

[00:05:16] So it was a little bit of a weird of a vibe to watch it.

[00:05:19] I never really felt comfortable while I was watching it.

[00:05:22] Never really felt like the Sharks were in a position to kind of take that step up

[00:05:27] and kind of, you know, put the foot on the Panthers that we needed them to.

[00:05:32] I thought the Panthers didn't look as great as they could have.

[00:05:36] And I thought that was probably our window of opportunity to try and pull their pants down,

[00:05:39] so to speak.

[00:05:41] But they're just such a level above us at the moment that it's a little bit depressing.

[00:05:45] It's extremely frustrating.

[00:05:46] But again, the club's working towards closing that gap.

[00:05:50] The Panthers are going to come back a little bit next year.

[00:05:53] And yeah, there's a little bit of hope there, but it's never good to go out like that

[00:05:57] in a game where you weren't really in.

[00:05:59] I think it's less depressing now because we are getting closer to them.

[00:06:04] Now, I know they had an off night, so no one can say that's Panthers at their best.

[00:06:08] It certainly wasn't us at our best either.

[00:06:10] So I think the gap is closing.

[00:06:13] So I'm sort of putting a little spin on that there just on what you said.

[00:06:16] But overall, it was a disappointing way to go out.

[00:06:19] The whole storyline that, oh, go do your best.

[00:06:22] We're not really in it.

[00:06:23] No one gives a chance.

[00:06:24] I go along with that in that it's factual.

[00:06:27] But turn up, play as tough as they did.

[00:06:30] They were definitely in it.

[00:06:32] And they should have won it.

[00:06:33] And that's where I kind of, I'm going to have a bit of a bittersweet summer.

[00:06:37] I'm certainly looking forward to next year, but it's sitting with me a little bit more

[00:06:42] than I thought it would having watched the game back so closely.

[00:06:45] Yeah, I think there was just a couple of little moments of quality difference, right?

[00:06:50] And you look at the start with Toby and he was extremely fired up, comes out, has the error,

[00:06:55] gives away that trip penalty.

[00:06:56] Just like silly little things like that, that just kind of suck out that momentum.

[00:07:01] And if you look back at even the start versus the storm a couple of weeks before that, it was a similar thing, right?

[00:07:07] Nobody gave us a chance.

[00:07:08] Us against the world, it's the one chance where we can go and stick it up everybody.

[00:07:11] And then the kind of pin pops the balloon and it just doesn't go away.

[00:07:15] And the other bit of quality difference I thought was, you know, Trindle came so close to nailing that 40-20.

[00:07:21] And then what does Nathan do?

[00:07:22] Nathan goes, this is how you do it.

[00:07:23] And then he just goes and executes it flawlessly and then goes off and sets up that try as well.

[00:07:28] So, yeah, the gap is still there, but it's going to be interesting to see next year once we get Phanua Blake,

[00:07:35] who I think is going to make such a big difference to this team.

[00:07:38] There's a few roster movement changes that we'll probably get into a little bit later.

[00:07:42] But, you know, there's potential for a little bit of a refresh there in how we change our bench.

[00:07:47] So, not too many changes, which isn't a bad thing, but there's probably not a lot of reinforcements outside of Phanua Blake coming, right?

[00:07:53] So, again, you've got to keep improving.

[00:07:55] But the one thing I will say though, Sam, is I don't know if you agree with me, but I think that in 2024, that was the best I think the Sharks have looked under 50.

[00:08:04] If you look at the three years, I think that was the best team that we had.

[00:08:08] I think that team beats the 22 team.

[00:08:10] 22 is a weird one because there was a lot of excitement, a lot of hope, and they shot out of the gates real quick.

[00:08:17] Now, they did the same thing this year, but this year there was a different quality about it.

[00:08:23] It wasn't reliant on the one player.

[00:08:25] It was a real team effort, and they went a step further against good opposition.

[00:08:31] And the other difference is this year we beat a lot of really good opposition when we weren't supposed to throughout the year.

[00:08:37] We had the one loss to Penrith during the season and then the two losses in the finals.

[00:08:42] But, you know, backs against the wall against the Cowboys.

[00:08:45] Everyone's writing us off.

[00:08:46] These guys can't play footy.

[00:08:48] This guy sucks.

[00:08:49] Like, overcame Matt that week.

[00:08:51] So I think you're right that there's a lot more just cohesion and listening to the coach and all that kind of stuff.

[00:08:58] They just need to, yeah, take that next level.

[00:09:03] I don't concede that the wet weather made us drop all that ball.

[00:09:06] No.

[00:09:06] That's a real problem for me still.

[00:09:09] And I think aside from, you know, standing guys down, there's not a lot a coaching staff can do about it.

[00:09:15] Because you can watch them at training and they can hold the ball.

[00:09:18] You can tell them to go to bed with the ball at night, carry the ball around to the Golden Bay restaurant, don't drop that ball.

[00:09:23] Like, you can do all that stupid stuff.

[00:09:25] But they're footballers.

[00:09:26] They're supposed to hold a ball.

[00:09:27] For me, it's not up to a coach to get them to catch a ball.

[00:09:31] They know how to catch a ball since they're age five.

[00:09:33] You're probably not going to win the comp if you're completing it 70% in games like that, of that magnitude.

[00:09:40] And I think if you look at the way the club is building towards, I think Fitzy is coming in on his own as a coach.

[00:09:48] I think there was changes that were made this year that were subtle.

[00:09:51] But there were really big changes from the Fitz of the past.

[00:09:54] Like, moving Siffer out of the centers and bringing in Eero permanently, that was something that we historically would not have seen from Fitz, right?

[00:10:02] So again, he made a tough call on that because Siffer was our best player in that first monthly competition.

[00:10:06] And I think Siffer had a great year.

[00:10:08] We've got to work out how to use him as much as possible.

[00:10:11] But again, you look at the lower grades too.

[00:10:13] You've got the Reggie's doing really well in the grand final and the state cups and all that type of stuff.

[00:10:18] And you've got the 20s going down in the grand final.

[00:10:20] So again, as a club, as a whole, it's extremely healthy.

[00:10:23] It's going in the right direction.

[00:10:24] But there will need to be one or two tweaks, which I would love to pick Fitzy's brain on to work out where he thinks that those tweaks are going to come from.

[00:10:32] But to me, when I look at the squad, I look at the club and I look at how healthy we are, the expectations going into this year, a lot of people did not have us in the eight.

[00:10:40] A lot of people had us scoring out of the eight.

[00:10:42] They spent all year in the top four.

[00:10:44] And again, you look at the lower grades, the lower grades were up the top two, right?

[00:10:47] And compare our budget versus the Brisbane Broncos.

[00:10:49] Compare our budget versus, you know, the Bulldogs even, right?

[00:10:52] So there is a huge quality gap between the top two teams in the competition.

[00:10:57] But where we sit right now is probably where we deserve.

[00:10:59] It's in that next string below with the Roosters.

[00:11:01] And again, the Roosters are losing a ton of players next year, right?

[00:11:05] The Storm's not really losing anyone.

[00:11:06] They're getting Stefano from the Tigers.

[00:11:08] So I think the Storm will be better.

[00:11:09] But there is a window there that if they can find those one or two missing pieces,

[00:11:14] hopefully we can develop some of these guys from within.

[00:11:16] We can maybe make that step up.

[00:11:18] The other thing I'll say about the Penrith game is that we did have, obviously,

[00:11:21] a much shorter turnaround than the opposition.

[00:11:24] We were more banged up in the opposition.

[00:11:27] We missed Jesse Ramian.

[00:11:29] Siffer was injured.

[00:11:30] Katoa played injured, etc.

[00:11:32] So I do need to factor those things in when you're playing a team like Penrith

[00:11:37] and they've had two weeks off, if not more, and we've had the six or seven days,

[00:11:42] then that's a major thing.

[00:11:44] So I do need to sort of...

[00:11:45] You gotta be healthy.

[00:11:46] Yeah, I do need to throw that out.

[00:11:48] For my expectations on that game, it's more just when you're in the battle,

[00:11:53] I'm sitting up in the stand going, well, we can do this.

[00:11:56] I'm watching you guys defend your butts off, getting out of your zones,

[00:12:01] kicking pretty good.

[00:12:02] Like you're doing a great job aside from the handling.

[00:12:05] Yeah.

[00:12:05] So that's what's pretty annoying for me.

[00:12:07] And I keep coming back to the fact that it's their biggest game in, well, since 2018.

[00:12:12] And that's how they respect the ball.

[00:12:16] Now, I know they're not doing it on purpose.

[00:12:18] I don't mean to harp, but no one else can tell me, including the coach,

[00:12:22] that we lost the game anywhere else but with that drop ball.

[00:12:25] And I think exactly what you just said then is such a key point that I think a lot of us

[00:12:30] as Sharks fans need to kind of get our heads around.

[00:12:33] We don't have a lot of these representative players, right?

[00:12:37] So we don't have four or five state of origin guys that are playing in these high stakes,

[00:12:41] high consequences games, right?

[00:12:43] With all this pressure, all this media attention, right?

[00:12:46] If you look at our records in the finals,

[00:12:47] I think Jesse was the only one of our players that had played in our Sharks team

[00:12:51] in the finals back in like 2018.

[00:12:53] And then outside of that, you had Nico and probably Cam McInnes had probably,

[00:12:57] you know, won games at their other clubs in the finals, right?

[00:12:59] So the bulk of that team had not played high consequences rugby league, right?

[00:13:04] And you could see it with Katoa on some certain instances,

[00:13:08] just the pain and the agony and how upset he was at the end of the game, right?

[00:13:13] Because again, this is over.

[00:13:14] And now they've played in big games before, but like there's a big difference

[00:13:17] between a grand final qualifier and the first weekend of the finals.

[00:13:21] Even when it's sudden death elimination,

[00:13:23] like they kind of got a little bit of that self-belief back against the Cowboys.

[00:13:26] So I think that arc there of what did we learn?

[00:13:30] I think now Nico has played in a lot of high state games at this point now, right?

[00:13:35] And not everything has gone his way in there.

[00:13:37] And I'm not going to talk about that right now, but Nico will be better off for that,

[00:13:41] for going to a grand final qualifier, for going through that pain of losing,

[00:13:45] going through all this criticism and how he fights back and addresses this, right?

[00:13:49] Trindle as well. Trindle's, you know, really been a first grade half for two years.

[00:13:54] He's played like a hundred NRL games or whatever he's played.

[00:13:57] The majority have been off the bench, right? Some playing in like a 13.

[00:14:01] Like he hasn't been in this position before.

[00:14:04] So I think those things kind of trickle down into ball control and pressure and, you know,

[00:14:09] not wanting to make a mistake.

[00:14:11] And I think we kind of saw that with Toby and how he started because, you know,

[00:14:15] Toby had a great game versus Manly right before the finals, didn't have the best game versus the Storm,

[00:14:20] bounced back against the Cowboys, right?

[00:14:22] So, you know, he was obviously trying his all.

[00:14:26] And I think this is the thing, like these guys are dying to win these games.

[00:14:30] Like they're putting everything on the line, right?

[00:14:32] So I think as they get through this and they go through the ups and the downs of the final series,

[00:14:38] getting to week three was so important for them because now they know what it's like to play in a grand final qualifier.

[00:14:42] Now, how do we get back there and how do we go one step further or two steps further?

[00:14:46] It's a great point. It's an excellent point.

[00:14:48] I will say that I was extremely pleased they were not overawed.

[00:14:52] We're in the crowd and there was an anticipation that, you know,

[00:14:55] 30,000 people are going to see a little bit of a demolition there.

[00:14:58] We didn't, not even close to it.

[00:15:00] I know the school blew out, but not even close to a demolition.

[00:15:02] And that's a huge thing that I will take over summer with my bitterness and disappointment

[00:15:07] is that they were not overawed.

[00:15:09] And that's huge going into next year because as you said, very eloquently,

[00:15:13] they had all that experience now.

[00:15:15] All the players had that experience, I should say.

[00:15:17] It's only a positive.

[00:15:19] There's no negatives in what happened against Penrith as far as the experience goes.

[00:15:23] And I think that's a massive thing that we're not really talking about enough for different reasons,

[00:15:29] but they were not overawed.

[00:15:30] And also on your boy Katoa, he was our best player out there.

[00:15:35] He was just heart and soul.

[00:15:37] I know there was a glitch here or there with his performance,

[00:15:39] but to play in that kind of pain and not go off the field and also not let us down because of that pain.

[00:15:44] I thought that was unbelievable.

[00:15:46] And you can even see it now when he's playing with Tonga, right?

[00:15:49] Like how much, you know, like how badly he wants it and wants to be involved in these moments.

[00:15:54] And again, it's different playing a test match for Tonga versus Australia than it is playing, you know,

[00:15:59] week three of the finals.

[00:16:00] But these are the experiences that we need our players to go through, like high stakes,

[00:16:06] high pressure environments so that when they get to these games, they're not overawed by it.

[00:16:10] And they're not, you know, second guessing themselves.

[00:16:14] So look, if I was to find a positive, you know, it's hard because again, I think we should have set our season up better.

[00:16:20] I did see James Graham actually talking about how the Sharks should have been minor premiers when he was doing our season review.

[00:16:26] And I kind of agreed with it actually, because again, we did have an opportunity there.

[00:16:29] We lost some games we shouldn't have lost, but I still do believe in Fitz and I still do believe in this club.

[00:16:35] And I think we're heading in the right direction.

[00:16:37] It's just, we need to find that extra spark for Newell Blake.

[00:16:42] He's going to be absolutely huge.

[00:16:43] He's going to change the game for Braley, who again has had two back-to-back career years.

[00:16:48] Going to open things up for Tricky.

[00:16:49] He's going to open up hopefully for Nico.

[00:16:52] Let's get this guy here soon enough.

[00:16:53] When does he move to the Shire?

[00:16:54] He's playing for Tonga at the moment, but let's keep an eye out.

[00:16:57] Someone, whenever you spot Newell Blake in the Shire, drop us a note and we'll go buy him a coffee.

[00:17:01] For Newell Blake, watch, we'll be on.

[00:17:02] Let's start it now.

[00:17:03] The clock's ticking now.

[00:17:05] He's not, yeah, he's not due for a little bit,

[00:17:06] due to rep issues.

[00:17:08] But that's good for us too, right?

[00:17:09] Because we, a lot of our guys pulled out of the end of season tours, right?

[00:17:13] So again, we're going to have a pretty fresh squad.

[00:17:15] Yeah.

[00:17:16] I saw an article written by someone or other.

[00:17:19] I'm not being flippant.

[00:17:20] I don't know who it was.

[00:17:21] Might've been a Ricky or it might've been a staff writer.

[00:17:24] I'm not sure, but there was an article saying out of all the teams,

[00:17:27] we've got the best off season because of the lack of players due to,

[00:17:31] but, but having said that they're blokes with injuries.

[00:17:33] So they've got to heal up from their injuries, but they're not getting banged up is the point.

[00:17:36] Is the point.

[00:17:37] Yeah.

[00:17:37] And again, that'll probably feed into the soft buy narrative and all that type of stuff.

[00:17:41] That is all going to come our way over the next few months.

[00:17:43] So it doesn't matter what the draw is.

[00:17:45] You know, the Sharks finished fourth.

[00:17:46] They beat every other team in the top eight bar Penrith.

[00:17:50] What do you want?

[00:17:51] I've got a spoiler for you, Kieran.

[00:17:52] Barring any world club challenges being reversed.

[00:17:55] The first game is going to be pretty hard.

[00:17:57] So there's no soft draw there.

[00:18:00] Well, then the second game is going to be against the other traveling teams too, right?

[00:18:03] Who are pretty handy.

[00:18:04] A lot of the players are in, were in Bali, I should say,

[00:18:08] mostly based around Britton Nicarra's wedding and a lot of happy scenes there.

[00:18:13] There was one dramatic story out of it with our mate Jesse Ramian and his newborn baby delivered prematurely.

[00:18:22] And, and there's, I'm sure everyone's heard about that.

[00:18:24] So we wish Jesse and his family all the best with the new young baby's health.

[00:18:29] But yeah, setting our best there.

[00:18:31] And there is a GoFundMe out there.

[00:18:33] If you can assist with a dollar or two, if you can't just share it around,

[00:18:37] it's the best thing you can do.

[00:18:38] So the club and the family appreciate everyone that's been so generous and sensitive about that.

[00:18:45] So we wish Jesse all the best.

[00:18:47] Now, I did want to ask you some things, Kieran, how would you rate the season?

[00:18:51] And let's get some words out and also let's give it a rating out of 10.

[00:18:57] Yeah, that's a tough one for me, mate.

[00:19:00] I just said, I think it's probably one of the better seasons.

[00:19:03] I think we've looked at, looked like under fits,

[00:19:05] but it's still wasn't quite enough for what we want.

[00:19:09] Now, is that a reflection on the cattle that we've got?

[00:19:12] Is that a reflection on the reality of where we sit versus Penrith and Melbourne currently right now

[00:19:18] and how they run their organizations and how they coach and develop players?

[00:19:21] I'm not 100% sure.

[00:19:23] I think there was, you know, a handful of some poor performances in there that really kind of left a bit of a weird taste in some people's mouths.

[00:19:32] You know, I go back to the Leichhardt game, for example, which was just like a Bermuda Triangle type situation.

[00:19:40] You know, overall, I think I would give it a 7.5.

[00:19:43] I think the expectation from me going into this season was we were a top four team.

[00:19:49] We did stay in the top four all year.

[00:19:50] We finished top four.

[00:19:52] We won a finals game, which again is a big tick.

[00:19:56] You know, the narrative next year is going to be one from eight and all this type of stuff.

[00:19:59] So again, please don't buy into that.

[00:20:02] But I think there was a window here this year.

[00:20:07] I think we will be better next year.

[00:20:09] But again, I did see improvement, but I don't think I saw enough improvement probably from other members of our spine outside of Trindle

[00:20:19] to make me feel like we could go toe to toe with the Penriths and things like that.

[00:20:26] And again, I go back to the coaching and say, well, Nico missed half the year.

[00:20:30] Trindle missed a lot of football this year to actually finish in the top four like that was actually super impressive.

[00:20:37] Hamelin Ueli, you know, how many games did Braden play this year?

[00:20:40] I know you sent me through some stats before.

[00:20:42] I think he had 12 appearances there.

[00:20:44] I don't know how many of those were off the bench, but again, we didn't have him for a lot of the year.

[00:20:48] So yeah, I think a solid 7.5.

[00:20:51] I think there is a lot to work on.

[00:20:53] But again, I keep going back to say to myself, be realistic in your expectations, because given our roster, we don't have a star-studded squad.

[00:21:02] We're getting the most out of what we have.

[00:21:04] How can we get more?

[00:21:06] So yeah, I think a 7.5.

[00:21:07] What about you, mate?

[00:21:08] I would give the season a very strong eight.

[00:21:12] I wanted to go 8.5, but you've reminded me of some of the losses and that sort of fought with also the fact of the injuries and suspensions and being stood down.

[00:21:22] And so it's still hovering around the eight, even just a little bit above the eight for me.

[00:21:27] I should say, Kieran, that we're going to do an episode on the podcast with a bunch of the hosts going through player ratings and similar things you and I are going to do now.

[00:21:37] So I'm going to hold back on a lot of my opinions.

[00:21:39] I just want to get your opinions while we've got you.

[00:21:42] But yeah, I give it an eight.

[00:21:43] I give it an eight.

[00:21:44] One to eight and a half, but I think you brought me down a little bit.

[00:21:48] What do you rate the coach and tell me about the coach?

[00:21:50] You've already done a great job talking about the coach, but give me any words you want to give me about the coach.

[00:21:54] No, no hurry, no rush.

[00:21:55] And give me a rating as well.

[00:21:57] I again, when I look at the quality of coaches, I look at the whole situation that's going on in Brisbane and you know the whole kerfuffle around Maguire now and all this type of stuff.

[00:22:05] And you've got to get Ezra Mann and all this, all these other noises and issues.

[00:22:10] Right.

[00:22:11] And I know we had the discretion with Trindle earlier in the year with some ill discipline, but I think as a whole, this club carries itself in a really strong manner.

[00:22:20] And I think that fits, he's setting a really unique standard across the whole squad and the team and the club.

[00:22:26] And you see that with the lower grades and you even see that with, you know, when the Jets are playing in the final and that you've got half the NRL squads up on the hill cheering those guys on.

[00:22:34] Right.

[00:22:34] So, you know, a guy like Braden Hamlin-Ueli played over 100 first grade games.

[00:22:38] He's one of our better played players.

[00:22:40] He's busting his backside for the Jets.

[00:22:43] So, you know, I think for what he's done and getting, you know, the most out of players, I think it's really good.

[00:22:49] I think there was some interesting decisions, which we might touch on a little bit later in terms of retention.

[00:22:55] So, obviously, with letting go of Royce Hunt and Jack Williams, two guys who predominantly feature in our 17 every single week.

[00:23:04] Obviously, their salary caps and all that type of thing.

[00:23:07] But to bite the bullet and to buy somebody like a Fanua Blake, who from the outside probably wouldn't have struck me as a fitzy type of signing.

[00:23:15] I think the fact that he's able to look at all the strengths and qualities and the weaknesses that we had, I thought that was tremendous.

[00:23:23] I am a huge fan of Fitz.

[00:23:24] I don't have too many criticisms of him.

[00:23:27] I give him a solid, you know, 8 out of 10, 9 out of 10.

[00:23:31] I think he's one of the best coaches in the NRL.

[00:23:33] And, you know, would I trade him for a Craig Bellamy?

[00:23:36] Absolutely.

[00:23:36] Right.

[00:23:37] But I think when you look at the roster that Fitz has and how many state of origin players we have and all the noise around Nico and, you know, how many Queenslanders do we have and all that type of stuff.

[00:23:47] Right.

[00:23:48] For us to be where we're at consistently and the expectation is, unless we're playing Melbourne or Penrith, the expectation is the Sharks win that game every single week they play.

[00:23:56] Right.

[00:23:56] So, yeah, I think he's doing a good job.

[00:23:59] It's one of those ones where you do look at the other coaches and go, well, who would you trade him for?

[00:24:04] Or, and as you said, there's not many.

[00:24:07] There's obviously a couple that come to mind.

[00:24:08] But the reality is, now, I won't necessarily say he's the third or fourth best coach in the NRL, even though all the stats and where he finishes says he probably is.

[00:24:19] So maybe he is.

[00:24:20] I'm just not going to say that right now.

[00:24:21] But there's only a handful that you would swap him for.

[00:24:26] So that says a lot to me.

[00:24:28] I think, without trying to come across as a know-it-all or a wanker, I think unless you really deep dive on this guy during the year.

[00:24:39] So not necessarily for the casual fans, but if you're, I mean, a lot of our listeners are hardcore fans.

[00:24:43] So no disrespect to them.

[00:24:44] Absolutely.

[00:24:45] I'm talking about you guys and girls.

[00:24:47] You know what I'm talking about.

[00:24:48] The more casual fan, who we love and adore.

[00:24:51] If you don't do a deep dive on what this guy does, what he goes through, his processes, and just get the occasional quote or whatever, I don't think you're going to really get him.

[00:25:00] But I think if you go along for the ride, it doesn't mean blindly go along, but just if you do a deep dive on what this guy does week in, week out, I think you will come around to him.

[00:25:11] There are some things that you could criticize like any coach, but there's so many positives here for me that I'm super happy that he's our long-term coach.

[00:25:19] Like nothing this year diminished that at all.

[00:25:22] All I saw was improvement in what he was doing.

[00:25:24] So that's where you want to be, trending with a coach going up.

[00:25:27] And I think the next, well, probably the next four to five months are probably going to be career-defining for Fitz.

[00:25:34] Because when you look at the players, and again, we'll probably get into this later, but the players that we've got coming off contract, the McInneses, Kennedys, Nicoras, Hazeltons, Trindles, Wilton, Stone Street, you know, Ronnie as well, right?

[00:25:48] So there is so much talent.

[00:25:51] There are so many of our first choice 17 that are coming off contract that decisions are going to have to be made from a long-term perspective.

[00:25:59] And also, too, from a group perspective.

[00:26:01] This group now has been together.

[00:26:02] Next year will be the fourth season of pretty much that same core squad.

[00:26:06] You know, you trade out Fanua, you bring in AFP.

[00:26:09] So you bring in Fidel Blake, you trade out Fanuken, right?

[00:26:11] You know, losing Royce Hunt, Jack Williams.

[00:26:13] But when you're looking at that squad of, you know, 30 players, majority of them have been here now for that full four years.

[00:26:19] So it's going to be so many big decisions that he's going to have to nail over the next few weeks.

[00:26:24] And you know he's doing nothing else but thinking about this 24-7 at this moment.

[00:26:28] So it's a big job for him, mate.

[00:26:31] It is.

[00:26:31] Let's do player ratings and we'll jump back to movements.

[00:26:34] So I want to get some brief thoughts from you.

[00:26:38] Don't shorten them, but just some brief thoughts.

[00:26:41] A rating out of 10.

[00:26:43] Alphabetically, and we'll start with the Superman, Dan Atkinson.

[00:26:48] I think value from money and performance versus expectation.

[00:26:52] I'm going to go super generous on this one.

[00:26:54] I'm going to give him a 10.

[00:26:55] I think all the plugs that he pulled in, he played wing for us.

[00:26:59] He was in the centers.

[00:27:00] He played 5'8", halfback.

[00:27:02] I don't know if he played any fullback this year, but, you know, we know he trains there.

[00:27:06] I think he could not have done anything more this year.

[00:27:09] So you're not saying he's necessarily our best player, but you're giving him a 10.

[00:27:13] Gotcha.

[00:27:13] Okay.

[00:27:14] I think, yeah.

[00:27:14] So this is not me ranking, like, you know, who is our best player 1 to 10.

[00:27:18] But it's basically just saying, like, all right, value for money, bang for buck performance-wise, 10 out of 10.

[00:27:24] Thank you for clarifying.

[00:27:26] Hard to judge, given it's only three games, but tell me about Jaden Barrow.

[00:27:29] If you can't give a score, just say there's no score, but...

[00:27:33] It was a pass-off for his performances.

[00:27:35] Didn't exceed expectations.

[00:27:36] Played a little bit of lock for us, which was nice to see.

[00:27:39] Would have liked to have seen a little bit more of him and Braley interchanging there.

[00:27:43] But, again, Braley's stats were just Ironman material, right?

[00:27:46] So I think he led the league in minutes, too, for a number nine.

[00:27:50] So just ridiculous.

[00:27:52] On that note, Blake Braley.

[00:27:54] I give Blake...

[00:27:57] Yeah, it's funny, because he was our player of the year.

[00:27:58] I probably give Blake an 8.5.

[00:28:01] I think he still has those games where you kind of look back and say,

[00:28:05] oh, it would have been nice to see a little bit more from him.

[00:28:07] But when he is on, the whole club looks different when he's running from dummy half.

[00:28:11] And, you know, that stat about if he runs three times, the Sharks win, you know, 100% of those games.

[00:28:16] So, again, the first five minutes, please, can he just run three times moving forward?

[00:28:20] But, yeah, I think an 8.5 for him.

[00:28:21] There's still room for improvement.

[00:28:23] But, geez, compare him to two, three years ago, he's come on leaps and bounds.

[00:28:28] Newfound cult favorite, Billy Burns.

[00:28:31] Billy Burns did a job.

[00:28:33] Again, value for money, expectations.

[00:28:35] It'll be interesting to see what he does for next season.

[00:28:38] But I think, you know, he gets a pass mark.

[00:28:40] He gets a six.

[00:28:41] And he played seven minutes.

[00:28:42] Jesse Colvin.

[00:28:43] Yeah, poor Jesse.

[00:28:45] Love, love Jesse.

[00:28:46] Can't give him a rating on this year.

[00:28:47] But, geez, hope he comes back.

[00:28:48] Similar vein, Dale Fennucin, three games.

[00:28:51] Yeah, can't really rate Dale.

[00:28:53] Braden Hamlin-Willy, 12 games.

[00:28:55] Yeah, this hurts me to say.

[00:28:57] I'm giving Braden a three.

[00:29:00] He's my guy.

[00:29:01] He's the guy that I've constantly said that we need him fit and firing if we're to do anything.

[00:29:05] I think getting Fennell Blake's going to help him heaps.

[00:29:08] But it wasn't a great year for him on the field.

[00:29:11] I heard it was a pretty good year for him off the field.

[00:29:13] So hopefully he can put it all together next year.

[00:29:15] But we need him, mate.

[00:29:17] Tukio Haip-Tapua played 10 games.

[00:29:19] I'll give him a seven.

[00:29:20] I think he really exceeded expectations.

[00:29:23] Sometimes when you see a guy that size, you think they're going to be too big and not fit for the NRL,

[00:29:27] especially when you have a guy like Hazleton in the team.

[00:29:29] But a seven from him.

[00:29:31] And I'm really interested to see what he will do this preseason.

[00:29:34] And we heard the reports this year about what a great preseason he had.

[00:29:37] So fingers crossed he can do it again.

[00:29:39] A whopping 25 games for tall Tom Hazleton.

[00:29:42] I give Tommy for this year, I give him an 8.5.

[00:29:46] Because he did have a little bit of a patch where he kind of hit the wall there in the middle,

[00:29:52] work against Penrith and things like that.

[00:29:53] But again, he probably did not go into the season thinking he was going to play the minutes that he played.

[00:29:58] He was playing big minutes in some of those games.

[00:30:00] 25 games in the front row as a huge target too.

[00:30:03] So he's got hit zones all over his body that players are going to smash him.

[00:30:07] Yeah, 8.5 for Tommy.

[00:30:09] Signed on for one more year, baby.

[00:30:11] Marwini Haradi, the one game.

[00:30:13] I give him a five.

[00:30:13] I can't really rate him on the one.

[00:30:15] But, mate, he is a little engine that could.

[00:30:17] He has squeezed the most out of his career and full respect to him.

[00:30:20] And it's great to have a guy like that in reserve grade with experience.

[00:30:23] Royce Hunt, now departed Royce Hunt.

[00:30:26] Yeah, Royce, he was an interesting one.

[00:30:28] He had some games where he came on against the Broncos, completely changed it, won the game for us.

[00:30:33] And then there were other games where he might have only got like 17 minutes.

[00:30:37] So it was really kind of an up and down year.

[00:30:40] I think it was probably one of his better years in first grade.

[00:30:42] It probably was his best year.

[00:30:43] And he's gone off and rewarded himself with a nice contract that can look after his young family.

[00:30:47] So full respect to him.

[00:30:48] Very happy for him.

[00:30:49] I think I give him a seven.

[00:30:50] I think he had a decent year.

[00:30:51] The Harp Thorob, the poster boy, the king of Karingbah, Nico Hines.

[00:30:55] Oh, geez.

[00:30:56] A tale of two seasons.

[00:30:57] I do think the criticism on Nico was absolutely insane.

[00:31:02] I think it is an extremely easy and lazy take to go at Nico for some of those performances

[00:31:08] when you look at the stats from other players and people around him.

[00:31:11] You know, even in origin, he loses his winger, centre, Suley, and then has to defend in the centre.

[00:31:17] And on a short, like so many things have happened to this poor kid where you just look at it

[00:31:22] and just go, that is unbelievable.

[00:31:25] You wouldn't believe that if that was a movie.

[00:31:27] Like leave the poor guy alone.

[00:31:28] So the star of the year was really good.

[00:31:30] He was leading the Dali Ames.

[00:31:32] He earned that origin jersey, right?

[00:31:33] Again, I think a lot of people forget that.

[00:31:35] A lot of people just don't give him enough credit for that.

[00:31:38] And I think a lot of people just buy into some of the media stuff.

[00:31:41] I think the off-season is going to be the best thing that's ever happened to Nico.

[00:31:44] And I think, you know, he's been able to get away to Bali.

[00:31:46] So he was at one of his good friends' weddings.

[00:31:47] Recently as well, as well as Nikora.

[00:31:49] So hopefully he comes back refreshed.

[00:31:51] He's got a girlfriend now too.

[00:31:53] So sorry, ladies in the Shire.

[00:31:55] And guys too, I guess.

[00:31:56] But yeah, I give Nico probably a 6.5 for the season.

[00:32:02] I don't think it was – I just think there was a few chances there to kind of nail some of the noise.

[00:32:09] And I think we missed some of those opportunities.

[00:32:11] So I think we've got to go back next year.

[00:32:14] And I think the one thing about Nico is I don't think anyone's going to work harder in the off-season than Nico.

[00:32:18] And I think he's going to really put in the work and come back for a much better plan next year.

[00:32:22] So I'm excited for him.

[00:32:23] And I think Fennel Blake's going to help him a lot.

[00:32:25] I've got a good feeling about this next score.

[00:32:27] And it's for Cale Iroh.

[00:32:29] Wow.

[00:32:31] So I've taken a bit of an interesting year since we signed him from the Knights because I thought he had a bit of an interesting journey.

[00:32:36] He was off in a Warriors 20s and then the Knights signed him and then we signed him.

[00:32:40] And then there was all these rumors that the Knights were trying to get him back.

[00:32:43] Parra was trying to get him back.

[00:32:44] And he was winning all these awards in New South Wales Cup.

[00:32:46] And I was like, I want to do a bit of a deep dive on this player.

[00:32:50] And, you know, he looked like a seasoned first grader.

[00:32:53] There was a few errors in his game and a bit of ill discipline.

[00:32:56] But I liked the Knicks, to be honest with you.

[00:32:59] But maybe that's just a reflection of my personality.

[00:33:02] I give Iroh an eight for the season.

[00:33:05] He didn't look like a guy who was, you know, in 20 games into his first grade career.

[00:33:09] He looked like a legit, you know, 100-gamer.

[00:33:11] So, you know, the future is very bright for him, an eight.

[00:33:15] And also, huge praise for him in that final.

[00:33:18] He could barely walk and he played really well, defended really well.

[00:33:22] So that's another great effort.

[00:33:23] And locked him up on a new contract too, which, again, always a concern when you bring in talented youngsters

[00:33:29] and you expose them to the NRL world when you don't have them on a contract.

[00:33:32] So it was a great job to keep him.

[00:33:34] This youngster played against the Cowboys, just the one game, Lee and Eisen.

[00:33:38] I think.

[00:33:39] I can't really give him a reign for the season.

[00:33:40] But I think moving forward, he's going to be the most interesting player for me this offseason.

[00:33:46] If he can step up this offseason and put pressure on Will, then I'm very interested to see what we could do.

[00:33:53] Because that try he set up for Stone Street in the New South Wales West-Queens Day Cup final was unbelievable.

[00:34:00] And again, when you look at these teams and their fullbacks, these teams have fullbacks that are fast.

[00:34:05] These fullbacks are like pinball machines.

[00:34:07] These fullbacks are in and out.

[00:34:09] And Will, we'll get to Will later, is kind of now at that point where we've got to make a decision on what we do with Will and our spine too.

[00:34:17] So big year for Eisen.

[00:34:19] Your favourite player, the Tongan fisherman, Sione Katoa.

[00:34:22] I do love my Katoa.

[00:34:23] I give Sione a solid eight for the season.

[00:34:26] I thought he doesn't let you down.

[00:34:29] He had a couple of defensive issues in games.

[00:34:34] But I think as a whole, if you look at his performance in this season, I don't think there was an issue there.

[00:34:38] Again, he was part of the best defensive edge in the NRL and shutting a lot of those things down.

[00:34:43] Still a few errors.

[00:34:44] Occasionally, he'll drop a bomb out of nowhere and you'll think, how the heck did that happen?

[00:34:48] Because he's usually so safe on it.

[00:34:50] But one of my favourite sharks, solid eight.

[00:34:52] One of the surprises of the year, Argon Cafusi.

[00:34:54] Wow.

[00:34:55] He did win me over this year.

[00:34:57] And we go to a lot of games at Shark Park and we watch them live.

[00:35:01] And just watching his wrestle and his contact, he was a really impressive performer for me.

[00:35:07] I am so interested to see the new rotation.

[00:35:10] I think he will be the starter next year, next to Fanua Blake, just because of the two styles.

[00:35:15] And that allows you to just go with that power game off the bench.

[00:35:18] But yeah, I give him an 8.5 for the season.

[00:35:20] I thought he did a really, really good job.

[00:35:22] You mentioned him already, William Kennedy.

[00:35:25] His defence was actually a lot better than in years gone by.

[00:35:29] But I think perhaps the attack suffered a little bit.

[00:35:33] I look at the moving pieces that we have with salary caps and things like that.

[00:35:38] And I think through no fault of his own, he's probably under a lot of pressure.

[00:35:43] But again, he's always very solid.

[00:35:45] I give him a 7.5.

[00:35:47] It would be interesting to see how many teams he would be the starting fullback for.

[00:35:51] And I think he's underappreciated and underrated.

[00:35:55] But there are so many good fullbacks at the moment.

[00:35:57] And yeah, it's a tough one.

[00:36:00] I think, yeah, 7.5 for him.

[00:36:02] You're right.

[00:36:02] There is pressure on him.

[00:36:03] Yeah.

[00:36:04] And the talk of Nico the fullback is, in my mind, a little bit just.

[00:36:08] Because Nico can't play a fullback these days.

[00:36:10] I don't think he's got the leg speed or anything like that for that.

[00:36:13] But also, too, I don't think Nico would be a better fullback than Will Kennedy.

[00:36:16] Right?

[00:36:17] So Will is a specialist fullback.

[00:36:20] Again, I've got no idea about contracts and values and things like that.

[00:36:23] But Will does not take the PIWS.

[00:36:26] He gives his 100%, works his butt off.

[00:36:29] Yeah, solid player.

[00:36:30] Captain Cam McInnes.

[00:36:31] Another one that's going to be really interesting to see what we do.

[00:36:34] I give Cam probably an 8.

[00:36:36] I think as a leader, I'd give him a 10.

[00:36:40] But when I look at all the things that we went through, right,

[00:36:43] with the Trindle stuff, with all the Nico noise,

[00:36:45] all the noise in the final,

[00:36:47] Cam not once let anybody down.

[00:36:49] And the size of this guy cannot be understated

[00:36:52] when he goes and does what he does.

[00:36:53] I think there was one game where he made a ridiculous man tackle.

[00:36:56] I can't remember which one it was.

[00:36:59] But yeah, mate, he's a tremendous player, a tremendous leader.

[00:37:03] Again, I look at the other teams in the 13 roles

[00:37:06] and how do we want to play football.

[00:37:08] I think that's probably another question that I've got.

[00:37:11] But yeah, I give him a solid 8.

[00:37:12] He's a tremendous leader.

[00:37:15] I thought Ronnie had a bit of a rocks and diamonds year at times.

[00:37:19] When Ronnie was good, he was unreal.

[00:37:21] And then there were other times where, you know,

[00:37:23] tries being scored and things like that.

[00:37:25] Ronnie's another one of my favorite Sharks players.

[00:37:27] I love the story of Ronnie and how he came back from that.

[00:37:30] Debu where we signed him up on the day

[00:37:32] and all that type of stuff at Brisbane.

[00:37:34] And to come back from that and become one of, you know,

[00:37:36] our leading lights and try scorers and all these things, right?

[00:37:41] So I probably, I gave Sione an 8.

[00:37:44] I think I'd probably give Ronnie a 7.5.

[00:37:46] Maybe that's because I expect a little bit from Ronnie

[00:37:49] and I don't know if I got everything that I wanted.

[00:37:51] But yeah, one of my favorite Sharks.

[00:37:53] The newly married Britton Nicker.

[00:37:55] Jeez, this is one of my all-time favorites as well.

[00:37:59] I do love my Britton.

[00:38:00] And if he doesn't re-sign, I will be absolutely brokenhearted.

[00:38:05] But again, I don't think that's going to be an issue.

[00:38:06] I think that Fitz loves him and the club loves him and he loves it here.

[00:38:09] So hopefully we keep him.

[00:38:11] I give him a 9.

[00:38:12] Consistently one of our best players every single week.

[00:38:15] He does a lot of defensive work,

[00:38:17] packing next to Nick Owen, things like that.

[00:38:19] He's tough as nails.

[00:38:20] Never complains.

[00:38:21] Never whinges.

[00:38:22] Never dogs it.

[00:38:24] What a player.

[00:38:25] Jesse Ramian.

[00:38:25] I thought that was Jesse's best year.

[00:38:27] And I feel like Jesse does not get the respect he deserves.

[00:38:34] And I think it was such a shame that he got injured at such a crucial time for the year

[00:38:38] because, you know, Sifra is the best probably drop-in center that you could have.

[00:38:43] The best backup center in the NRL.

[00:38:46] But that changes so much to our dynamic.

[00:38:48] And also it's not fair to what Jesse has done.

[00:38:50] And I even thought, you know, Jesse in the Cowboys game,

[00:38:52] playing on one leg did a really admirable job.

[00:38:56] And I know Val, you know, talked to him a couple of times

[00:38:59] because of his mobility and things like that.

[00:39:01] But Val's one of the best centers in the game, right?

[00:39:04] And Jesse was on one foot.

[00:39:05] And Jesse's tough carries and his aggression

[00:39:08] and really stepped up to become a leader.

[00:39:10] So, yeah, I give Jesse a nine for his season.

[00:39:13] I would love for Jesse to get some rep football under his belt

[00:39:16] because, again, when I talk about big games and experience,

[00:39:19] I think Jesse could be a guy that would really benefit from that.

[00:39:21] I also think if he plays,

[00:39:23] it possibly shifts our end result in that game to a win.

[00:39:27] And I'm not saying that in hindsight because of that.

[00:39:30] I'm just saying I genuinely believe the season that he had,

[00:39:34] as you stated, that physical presence he brings,

[00:39:38] which you need against Penrith.

[00:39:40] And Sif is more physical.

[00:39:43] He's a physical presence.

[00:39:44] He's a different physical, right?

[00:39:45] I think Jesse is just in your grill the entire time.

[00:39:49] Sif is more like, run at me, I'll run at you.

[00:39:53] Jesse's got the mobility, the speed.

[00:39:55] In your face.

[00:39:56] Yeah.

[00:39:57] It's a massive shame he was there.

[00:39:58] And he brings so much confidence to everybody around Jesse.

[00:40:01] Like, you see it.

[00:40:01] When all the other players are around Jesse,

[00:40:03] they feel stronger.

[00:40:04] They feel bigger.

[00:40:05] And, again, you've got Sif coming off the bench.

[00:40:07] And Ivan Cleary even talked about it when they were attacking Sif as a center

[00:40:11] and how Fitzy took Sif off the field once Penrith started going at Sif.

[00:40:16] So, again, completely different players.

[00:40:18] But, yeah, two great guys.

[00:40:19] Yeah.

[00:40:20] Our mate, Ricky, always says that Jesse is the one that gets the most amount of time

[00:40:27] leading up to a game to recover.

[00:40:28] So, that's why he wasn't ruled out until, you know, quite close to the game

[00:40:33] because they just believe in him so much.

[00:40:35] So, yeah, great year for Jesse.

[00:40:38] Toby Rudolph, 21 games.

[00:40:40] Oh, that's a tough one for me, mate.

[00:40:44] Again, I am a staunch believer in Toby and what he can deliver for us.

[00:40:49] I don't know if I saw it consistently enough.

[00:40:51] But then I also think to myself, where does he sit in terms of front rowers

[00:40:57] in the game, right?

[00:40:58] I wouldn't say he's that class A representative front rower.

[00:41:03] So, again, do I need to lower my expectations for him?

[00:41:06] Because there was a time where I did think he could be a front rower

[00:41:09] and he still could be a front rower for sure.

[00:41:12] I just think consistency is the biggest thing.

[00:41:14] And I can't fault players for errors with effort and give away penalties

[00:41:19] because they're trying so hard.

[00:41:21] But, again, I think he needs maybe that Fanucan around him

[00:41:24] that hopefully Fanu or Blake can bring in.

[00:41:27] As well as, you know, we've got Cam and all that type of stuff in the middle.

[00:41:29] But I just think we need a proper dominant go-forward-forward

[00:41:33] to show him the way and to fire him up and to get him moving.

[00:41:37] I'd probably give him a five.

[00:41:39] But, again, that's probably because I do have high expectations for him.

[00:41:43] But when he was firing me, he had some real class 10 out of 10 performances for us.

[00:41:49] It's just some of the other things at key times and issues,

[00:41:51] yeah, they probably stick in my head a little bit too much.

[00:41:54] Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens when he doesn't have to be the guy.

[00:41:58] Like, at the moment, we kind of look to him to be the guy.

[00:42:01] And maybe that's not his role in life.

[00:42:04] And also, too, he didn't have his partner in crime,

[00:42:07] basically for the last two years, Hamlin Ueli, right?

[00:42:10] So now Toby has to be the enforcer, has to be the metering though, right?

[00:42:14] Whereas before, when you've got Hamlin Ueli, you're sharing that load, right?

[00:42:17] Because Confucius is going to be that defensive forward

[00:42:19] that's going to work, wrestle, do all the tough stuff, right?

[00:42:22] So, yeah, maybe I mean a little harsh on Toby.

[00:42:25] But I do think the world of him, so it's a tough balancing act.

[00:42:29] All right, the young Sam Stone Street, five games.

[00:42:32] One of my favourite under-20s players that I've ever watched.

[00:42:36] Been lucky enough to become friends with one of his high school mates.

[00:42:41] And the stories I've heard about how hard this kid's worked

[00:42:43] and how much he loves the Sharks and how it's his dream to play for it,

[00:42:47] he's always going to pop up his ratings for me.

[00:42:50] Hopefully we get him signed up and locked away ASAP.

[00:42:53] I think he's got a huge future for us.

[00:42:55] I love his speed, love his size.

[00:42:58] I think in terms of expectations and all that type of stuff,

[00:43:01] he exceeded it for this year.

[00:43:03] I was surprised when Fitzy went with him.

[00:43:05] I did think we might get Haradi time just because Fitzy historically plays it safe.

[00:43:09] But I give Sam from expectations, value for money and potential

[00:43:13] what he showed this season.

[00:43:14] You know, the debut game was a little bit shaky.

[00:43:17] Sean Johnson went at him really hard in that game

[00:43:20] and Dalin Watanee-Zalizziak scored a couple of tries.

[00:43:23] I give him an 8.5 through this year.

[00:43:27] Pretty good.

[00:43:28] Sip Atalakai?

[00:43:29] I give Sip a 9.

[00:43:31] For us to change him and change his role, change his positions,

[00:43:35] I've even heard some stuff around us talking to him about his body shape.

[00:43:38] Like when we moved in from the middle, he was like that block.

[00:43:41] Then they tried to move him in the center.

[00:43:42] They tried to lean him up.

[00:43:43] Then they've said, you know what?

[00:43:44] We're just going to put Yerou here.

[00:43:45] So we're going to move you back in the middle.

[00:43:47] Sip doesn't complain about anything.

[00:43:48] He just goes out.

[00:43:50] He's a leader.

[00:43:51] The complete – one of the best players in the 17 every single week.

[00:43:55] I give Sip a solid 9 for the year.

[00:43:57] Yeah, I have to say out of all the guys that I'm blessed to talk to

[00:44:00] week in, week out or most weeks down at Sharks Media,

[00:44:04] he's the one that gives me the most confidence,

[00:44:06] which is kind of strange because he's the quietest guy you'll ever meet

[00:44:10] in the history of the world.

[00:44:11] Like he just – such a – you guys have heard the interview.

[00:44:14] He said, you know, I think that this is how we're going to play.

[00:44:17] Like that's just his style, right?

[00:44:19] Yeah.

[00:44:19] So normally if you speak to someone like that,

[00:44:21] you don't walk away with this amazing confidence.

[00:44:23] But when he talks, obviously he backs it up.

[00:44:26] And I just love everything about his attitude.

[00:44:28] As you said, he doesn't complain.

[00:44:31] He's not about him.

[00:44:32] He's very much team first.

[00:44:35] He's very much coached.

[00:44:35] And I think he's got a pretty switched on brain as far as the football goes

[00:44:40] where he knows what he's doing.

[00:44:42] He knows he's on a pretty good track from a contract point of view.

[00:44:47] He could probably go earn more money at a crappier club.

[00:44:52] He's at the moment very much team first.

[00:44:54] And I have a huge respect for Sip Talakoy.

[00:44:56] Well, he also helped us get Fennell Blake, who's his cousin.

[00:44:59] So he was instrumental in that signing.

[00:45:01] And also too, I don't know where this story came from,

[00:45:05] but there was that word out there that he went to Fitz and said,

[00:45:07] for the better of the team, if you need me to go to the bench,

[00:45:09] I'm happy to do it, right?

[00:45:10] So when you hear stuff like that, you just got to respect it and say,

[00:45:13] look, I'm glad this guy's in our 17 because great player.

[00:45:16] Big year in all manners of the word for Braden Trindle.

[00:45:19] Yeah.

[00:45:19] Yeah, well, I think I messaged you one time when I ran into him

[00:45:23] and put in all his troubles were going on

[00:45:25] and he was buying a television in his room for his bedroom

[00:45:27] and he couldn't make a decision in JB Hi-Fi

[00:45:29] and he was going back and forth.

[00:45:31] The positive of that was that he really wanted to just sit in his room,

[00:45:34] watch TV and play games.

[00:45:35] That's a positive.

[00:45:36] Exactly.

[00:45:37] He's not going out.

[00:45:37] He's not doing anything that's going to get him in trouble.

[00:45:39] But I do remember just seeing him at the time.

[00:45:41] And you see Sharks players all around in the Shire and stuff like that.

[00:45:45] It's always kind of a cool thing.

[00:45:46] But he just didn't look confident.

[00:45:48] He looked really down.

[00:45:49] He looked kind of embarrassed to be in public.

[00:45:51] And to see where he was at that point,

[00:45:53] obviously a really low time for him to where he finished the year.

[00:45:56] I do think Joey went off calling him a $900,000 player

[00:45:59] with a little bit insanity.

[00:46:02] But hey, look, he does lose points because of that issue.

[00:46:07] But before that issue arose, he was man of the match against,

[00:46:12] I can't remember who that game was, killed it.

[00:46:14] I think he scored two tries with one of our best players,

[00:46:17] really on a great tour trajectory.

[00:46:18] I do laugh at the rumors saying that the dragons are interested in him.

[00:46:22] I think that him and Shane Flanagan in a dressing room would just be

[00:46:25] absolute comedy to watch those two personalities together.

[00:46:28] I'll give him a solid eight for the year.

[00:46:31] But yeah, he does get Dr. Point for that mischief.

[00:46:34] Yeah, the rumor is they want Atkinson and Trindle.

[00:46:37] And my response to that is, well, yeah, why wouldn't they?

[00:46:39] Of course they want them.

[00:46:41] But you don't need to...

[00:46:42] But this is funnable.

[00:46:43] Yeah, but you don't need to read into it and go,

[00:46:45] oh my God, they're both going to the dragons,

[00:46:46] let alone one of them's going.

[00:46:48] I've got a very strong feeling that Trindle, for one,

[00:46:51] is not going anywhere.

[00:46:51] But we'll see how that plays out.

[00:46:53] Me too.

[00:46:53] Jack Williams, the now-departed Jack Williams.

[00:46:56] Yeah, I was talking to some para fans,

[00:46:58] and I think they got themselves a really good signing there.

[00:47:02] Jack has had his ups and his downs.

[00:47:04] He was one of the most frustrating players for me for a period there

[00:47:08] where anything would go wrong, it always seemed to be around him.

[00:47:14] He's really worked his backside off,

[00:47:16] and I think he's handling really improved.

[00:47:19] But there were some key errors at certain times,

[00:47:22] like against the Warriors, where he comes on with three to go,

[00:47:25] goes to play the ball.

[00:47:26] And I think just because these errors would happen

[00:47:28] at the worst possible times, that it kind of magnified it.

[00:47:32] And I remember one week you went through it with me

[00:47:34] and you went through his errors versus other players' errors,

[00:47:36] and it actually wasn't bad at all.

[00:47:38] But I just think with those contexts of those errors,

[00:47:40] but in terms of a bench forward, in terms of impact,

[00:47:44] I think he's right up there in the league,

[00:47:46] and I think he's one of the better bench players in the comp.

[00:47:48] I think Parramatta got a good signing.

[00:47:50] If I was the Sharks and we could have worked out a way to keep him,

[00:47:52] I would have tried to have kept him.

[00:47:54] I'd give him an eight, because again,

[00:47:56] when you look at role, expectation, value for money,

[00:47:58] I think he delivered on all three of those things.

[00:48:00] Last but definitely not least,

[00:48:02] the young back rower in Teague Wilson.

[00:48:05] Yeah, this is a tough one,

[00:48:07] because there are some weeks where Teague

[00:48:10] absolutely looks like a man amongst children, right?

[00:48:13] But then there are other weeks where he's a little bit quiet,

[00:48:15] and then you have to remind yourself that he's so young into his NRL journey.

[00:48:19] How many NRL games do you know if he's played, Sam?

[00:48:21] I don't know if it's a question without context,

[00:48:23] but it would be under 100.

[00:48:25] It's probably like 80 or something, maybe 60.

[00:48:27] Yeah, I'd say in that 80-ish ballpark,

[00:48:29] because he came in around 2020 or so,

[00:48:31] I think from memory, right?

[00:48:33] So again, a leader in the juniors,

[00:48:36] you know, captain of New South Wales,

[00:48:38] I'd give him probably a solid 7.5.

[00:48:40] I think we kind of need him to go to that next level

[00:48:44] if we are to be a premiership winning threat.

[00:48:47] I think Nakora has his jersey absolutely locked down,

[00:48:50] and so does Teague, don't get me wrong.

[00:48:52] But I think we need more from Teague.

[00:48:56] So again, 7.5.

[00:48:58] He's definitely got it in him,

[00:49:00] but I think we need a little bit more from him.

[00:49:03] Ratings from Kieran Fraser,

[00:49:04] who watches every minute of every game,

[00:49:06] over and over and over.

[00:49:08] We have gone a bit longer than I thought we might, Kieran,

[00:49:11] so we won't hit the player movements too much in this episode,

[00:49:14] but just briefly,

[00:49:15] which is hard to do with this lot and this subject,

[00:49:18] but just briefly,

[00:49:19] let's start with the two main guys leaving,

[00:49:22] Hunt and Williams.

[00:49:23] Do you think that some of the negativity in their game,

[00:49:27] I don't know if this is a stupid question or not,

[00:49:29] was responsible for them not being re-signed?

[00:49:32] So Jack Williams,

[00:49:33] some key errors in key moments.

[00:49:35] Royce Hunt,

[00:49:35] you could say the same thing.

[00:49:36] Plus,

[00:49:37] not the biggest motor,

[00:49:38] probably chasing some money,

[00:49:40] et cetera.

[00:49:41] Are they the reasons they were let go,

[00:49:42] or is it just they couldn't make it work?

[00:49:44] I think it's a refresh.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:47] I really do,

[00:49:48] and I think that,

[00:49:49] you know,

[00:49:49] you need to create roster spots,

[00:49:51] and you need to have that hunger.

[00:49:52] And this is why,

[00:49:53] you know,

[00:49:54] when we talk about it,

[00:49:55] we'll probably touch on it.

[00:49:55] But,

[00:49:56] you know,

[00:49:56] we've got a whole bunch of first graders coming off contract.

[00:49:58] I think they need to feel that pain.

[00:50:00] I think we need to tell some of these guys that,

[00:50:03] look,

[00:50:03] you know what?

[00:50:04] That journey,

[00:50:05] if we can't get it done this year,

[00:50:07] and again,

[00:50:07] these decisions are going to be made a long time before then,

[00:50:10] you know,

[00:50:10] this could be a last ride type situation,

[00:50:12] right?

[00:50:13] So I think with Royce and Jack,

[00:50:15] I think that these guys have been two guys that have been a part of the team,

[00:50:18] part of the culture for a really long time.

[00:50:20] And we unfortunately have not been able to take that next level,

[00:50:24] that jump.

[00:50:24] And so now we've got to create cap room,

[00:50:26] and we've got to create environments to develop within.

[00:50:29] So we've got to create spots for the Colhouns.

[00:50:31] We've got to get him fit.

[00:50:32] We've got to create spots,

[00:50:33] you know,

[00:50:33] to bring in these guys,

[00:50:34] right?

[00:50:35] So we've got to juggle the salary cap.

[00:50:37] So I think it's interesting.

[00:50:40] It's going to be weird to see,

[00:50:41] especially both those guys play.

[00:50:43] It's always different when a player comes to your club from another club.

[00:50:46] Like if Kifusi went to say the Dragons,

[00:50:48] it's not so weird because you saw him play for Parramatta,

[00:50:51] do you know what I mean?

[00:50:52] But when a guy's played like a hundred games for just the Sharks,

[00:50:54] and then you're seeing with another jersey on,

[00:50:56] it's quite weird.

[00:50:57] But I think we've got the most out of their prime years.

[00:51:02] And I think that's going to be a decision for Fitz moving forward.

[00:51:05] So I think maybe,

[00:51:08] this is just me speculating here,

[00:51:09] but you know,

[00:51:10] when Jack,

[00:51:11] they put on Jack because they trust him against the Warriors to,

[00:51:14] you know,

[00:51:15] be that great defender in the middle,

[00:51:16] do your job,

[00:51:17] blah,

[00:51:17] blah,

[00:51:17] blah.

[00:51:17] And then comes on,

[00:51:18] drops the ball.

[00:51:19] And then it's like,

[00:51:20] all right,

[00:51:20] well,

[00:51:21] hang on a minute.

[00:51:22] We've just lost the game here.

[00:51:24] And how do we get to that next level?

[00:51:26] Right?

[00:51:26] How do we stop things like this happening?

[00:51:27] And I'm not saying that that was the reason why we didn't resign him or

[00:51:30] anything like that,

[00:51:31] but I'm just sort of saying that when Fitz is probably sitting there and he's

[00:51:33] making decisions and he's sort of saying,

[00:51:35] well,

[00:51:35] how many chances can I give players?

[00:51:38] There has to be a tipping point where you've got to say,

[00:51:40] all right,

[00:51:41] well now I've got to make a change and I've got to go in the market.

[00:51:43] I've got to buy something or do things that way.

[00:51:46] Cause I mean,

[00:51:46] the decision on Royce was made,

[00:51:48] you know,

[00:51:49] long before the last game against Penrith,

[00:51:51] but he pops the offload in,

[00:51:53] I think it was his second stint and he's hooked and,

[00:51:57] and it's do or die in that game.

[00:51:59] Every moment is crucial.

[00:52:00] Everything you do is crucial.

[00:52:02] And I think that we're slowly starting to see Fitzgibbon get a little bit more

[00:52:06] ruthless in those decisions.

[00:52:08] And I think,

[00:52:09] I think this is what I'm hinting at.

[00:52:10] And I,

[00:52:11] it's,

[00:52:11] it's my opinion,

[00:52:12] your opinion.

[00:52:13] It's nothing to do with the coach.

[00:52:14] We're speculating,

[00:52:15] but I think that when it comes down to it and he's got his pros and his cons

[00:52:19] list,

[00:52:20] because they love Jack Williams.

[00:52:21] They love him as a person,

[00:52:23] as a player,

[00:52:23] they love him with the refresh.

[00:52:25] It's all,

[00:52:26] there's new guys coming in,

[00:52:28] young guys coming up.

[00:52:28] Maybe we'll pick up a fringe guy over the summer and Jack's not on chump

[00:52:34] change.

[00:52:34] I think that that does come into it.

[00:52:36] Unfortunately,

[00:52:37] I think that,

[00:52:38] well,

[00:52:38] not even unfortunately,

[00:52:38] I just think it comes into it.

[00:52:39] Your,

[00:52:40] your performance.

[00:52:40] And you know,

[00:52:42] Royce is one of the most popular members of that squad.

[00:52:44] If you look at any of the stuff they do when they go to coffee shops,

[00:52:47] all that type of stuff,

[00:52:48] it's,

[00:52:48] it's Royce being that big personality.

[00:52:49] They're playing cards,

[00:52:51] laughing,

[00:52:51] you know,

[00:52:52] he's the joke of the,

[00:52:53] he's the joker,

[00:52:54] right?

[00:52:55] And now to experience that pain of now,

[00:52:57] our friend is leaving.

[00:52:59] You know,

[00:52:59] like we've got to,

[00:53:00] we've got to step up.

[00:53:01] We've got to do our jobs too,

[00:53:02] right?

[00:53:02] We've got to win,

[00:53:03] right?

[00:53:03] So now you,

[00:53:03] you know,

[00:53:03] if you're a Ronnie,

[00:53:04] right?

[00:53:05] That can go two ways.

[00:53:06] So if you're Ronnie and now you're off contract,

[00:53:08] you can sort of be like,

[00:53:09] wow,

[00:53:09] this is a business.

[00:53:10] I've got to go out and get my most money,

[00:53:11] blah,

[00:53:11] blah,

[00:53:11] blah.

[00:53:12] Or you can look at it and say,

[00:53:13] you know what?

[00:53:13] I love it here.

[00:53:14] I love my friends here.

[00:53:15] It sucks seeing my friend get moved on who had 12 months left on his contract.

[00:53:19] If this club wants me and I want to be here,

[00:53:22] I'm going to do everything I can to either one,

[00:53:24] go out a winner,

[00:53:25] because again,

[00:53:26] I'm going to be moving on because I want to chase money and that's totally fine.

[00:53:29] Or two,

[00:53:29] to stay around here for as long as possible,

[00:53:31] because we've got this stone street kid here who's,

[00:53:33] you know,

[00:53:33] absolutely on fire.

[00:53:34] He's probably on 50% less money than I am.

[00:53:39] So I think,

[00:53:39] I think you've got to create some of those sort of competitive tensions in a

[00:53:43] roster and start moving on players because I was desperate to keep this

[00:53:48] squad together after 22.

[00:53:50] And now even if you look at some of the signings that we've done,

[00:53:52] you know,

[00:53:52] like even the Hamilueli one,

[00:53:54] which is,

[00:53:54] you know,

[00:53:54] copped a lot of criticism online.

[00:53:56] I know I just gave him a three out of 10.

[00:53:57] I'm a huge believer of him.

[00:53:59] He's off contract.

[00:54:00] Like at the end of November 1st next year,

[00:54:03] he can talk to other clubs.

[00:54:04] So again,

[00:54:04] they could move him on in,

[00:54:06] you know,

[00:54:07] six months time.

[00:54:07] Like we just did with Royce.

[00:54:08] Like we don't have a lot of these cumbersome contracts anymore.

[00:54:12] I think,

[00:54:12] you know,

[00:54:13] in terms of long-term signed players,

[00:54:15] it's Nico and Fennel.

[00:54:16] Like that's it.

[00:54:17] So when people are saying,

[00:54:19] oh,

[00:54:19] the Sharks got so many players off contract,

[00:54:20] go and have a look at who we've got off in 26 and 27.

[00:54:23] We don't have a lot.

[00:54:24] Like it's a handful of guys and it's a lot of fringe guys who we probably

[00:54:27] haven't even heard of just yet.

[00:54:28] So competitive tensions.

[00:54:30] Sam,

[00:54:31] just some quick thoughts and we'll get into it.

[00:54:33] Another time.

[00:54:35] I'll just pick out some guys.

[00:54:36] Are you keeping Ronaldo?

[00:54:38] I think that's going to depend on what we can get done with other players.

[00:54:43] Right?

[00:54:43] So my first cab off the rank has got to be Nekora.

[00:54:46] That's non-negotiable for me and tricky.

[00:54:48] Those two guys.

[00:54:49] And then when I get to Ronaldo,

[00:54:51] if the jump between what he's on right now and then what the next contract looks like

[00:54:55] isn't too,

[00:54:55] too large,

[00:54:56] I would.

[00:54:58] But after the same competitive tension and things like that,

[00:55:02] if I had to create room,

[00:55:04] there's two players that I probably would look to make really harsh calls on.

[00:55:09] And these are not two players that I don't think are any good.

[00:55:12] These are two players that I really rate really highly.

[00:55:14] But again,

[00:55:14] I'm trying to create salary cap room and I'm trying to bring in high level talent

[00:55:19] that plays rep football consistently from other clubs.

[00:55:22] So Ronnie could be a sacrificial man for me.

[00:55:25] And so would Cam McInnes.

[00:55:27] Interesting.

[00:55:28] The Cam McInnes one is coming up in,

[00:55:30] in shark circles a little bit,

[00:55:32] which I really do raise my eyebrows at,

[00:55:35] but I'm not without understanding why.

[00:55:39] Just because I'm trying to find money,

[00:55:41] I'm trying to find ways to change how we're currently doing things.

[00:55:47] So again,

[00:55:48] if we look to move on from Cam,

[00:55:51] which again,

[00:55:52] I've got no problem with keeping him.

[00:55:53] I think he's a great player.

[00:55:54] I think he's,

[00:55:54] I just said he's one of our best leaders.

[00:55:55] You know,

[00:55:56] all that type of stuff is extremely invaluable.

[00:55:58] But now as we're bringing in a Fanua Blake,

[00:55:59] what is that going to do to our style of football?

[00:56:03] How are we going to,

[00:56:03] how are we going to change things up?

[00:56:05] Right?

[00:56:05] So how are we going to create money to backfill,

[00:56:08] these players and try and acquire some rep players and bring them into our

[00:56:12] squad?

[00:56:12] And I just think between those two guys,

[00:56:14] we can't lose a tricky because there's nobody out there in the NRL

[00:56:17] house market to replace him with.

[00:56:19] And I don't think Atkinson,

[00:56:22] you know,

[00:56:22] who knows what he's going to get paid,

[00:56:24] what he's going to get offered and all that type of stuff.

[00:56:25] We don't know.

[00:56:26] I think that's probably one.

[00:56:27] And then I look at Ronnie and I go,

[00:56:29] we do have stone street and Katoa,

[00:56:31] you know,

[00:56:31] Katoa's on contract only for another 12 months though.

[00:56:33] Right?

[00:56:34] So that's not really the showstopper there,

[00:56:36] but with Ronnie,

[00:56:37] he could get paid a lot of money from a random club and he deserves it.

[00:56:41] One of our best players,

[00:56:42] but I don't think we can afford to get into a bidding war to keep him and

[00:56:46] potentially lose a stone street.

[00:56:47] Right?

[00:56:48] So from a cap management standpoint,

[00:56:50] that could be something to look at.

[00:56:51] And then the cam one is just a tough one,

[00:56:53] but I look at Ken's age.

[00:56:55] I look at his style of football.

[00:56:56] He plays,

[00:56:57] how hard he goes.

[00:56:58] And I look at,

[00:56:59] you know,

[00:56:59] what's his body going to look like in two years time.

[00:57:02] And I think,

[00:57:03] well,

[00:57:03] maybe that's a chance to free up some money to go and find us something,

[00:57:08] but I don't know who I would replace him with.

[00:57:10] Yeah.

[00:57:11] You need to find someone to replace him with.

[00:57:13] There's some good guys coming through the lower grades,

[00:57:16] but they're,

[00:57:16] they're probably a year or two off.

[00:57:19] Exactly.

[00:57:19] Right.

[00:57:19] But again,

[00:57:20] if you look at how we're building it and what we're trying to do,

[00:57:23] right?

[00:57:24] We've got monsters.

[00:57:25] We've got the vanilla blakes,

[00:57:26] the two coos,

[00:57:27] the Hazeltons who,

[00:57:28] again,

[00:57:28] who's off contract.

[00:57:29] We've got to work out what we do there.

[00:57:30] Toby,

[00:57:31] Hamlin,

[00:57:31] you early.

[00:57:32] Right.

[00:57:32] So that does give you the ability to play a smaller lock like cam,

[00:57:36] but the way that we use cam,

[00:57:37] it's,

[00:57:38] you know,

[00:57:38] he just tackles his heart out.

[00:57:40] Right.

[00:57:40] So,

[00:57:41] all right,

[00:57:41] well,

[00:57:41] do we look to find more of that ball playing,

[00:57:43] which can can certainly do.

[00:57:44] And we saw cam play in the house for us this year with that style with Braley playing at nine.

[00:57:50] So it's really interesting to me.

[00:57:52] But again,

[00:57:52] the one thing that always strikes me about cam is when cam did an interview,

[00:57:56] I think it was with,

[00:57:57] it was with you or was it with someone on Fox sports where he sort of was talking about his contract and all that type of stuff.

[00:58:01] And he said,

[00:58:02] if I don't feel like I can give 110% every single week for the duration of that deal,

[00:58:08] I won't sign it.

[00:58:09] And I'll,

[00:58:09] I'll go to super league.

[00:58:10] He's the real deal,

[00:58:11] man.

[00:58:12] He's,

[00:58:12] he's as legit as a person gets.

[00:58:14] So again,

[00:58:14] if he says to you,

[00:58:15] I'll give you three years,

[00:58:16] you go,

[00:58:17] all right,

[00:58:17] he's going to give me three years.

[00:58:18] But again,

[00:58:18] I just don't know the value I would associate with it.

[00:58:20] And all of us,

[00:58:21] because again,

[00:58:21] I don't have everyone's salary in front of me,

[00:58:23] but just in terms of making money,

[00:58:25] we got him on a good price.

[00:58:26] That's,

[00:58:26] that's the point.

[00:58:27] Right.

[00:58:27] So I think we got him on a really good deal,

[00:58:29] but because it was a four year deal game night security,

[00:58:31] he took maybe a little bit less to get,

[00:58:34] you know,

[00:58:34] four years.

[00:58:36] So it does create room,

[00:58:37] but it doesn't create like a crazy amount of room.

[00:58:40] But the one thing I would love to know,

[00:58:41] if we could find this out somehow,

[00:58:43] it's,

[00:58:43] um,

[00:58:43] does the Finucane money come off the contract for next year?

[00:58:46] Uh,

[00:58:47] I haven't found that out.

[00:58:47] We've had a few listeners,

[00:58:48] uh,

[00:58:48] write to us,

[00:58:49] but we'll,

[00:58:49] we'll chase that one up,

[00:58:50] but I'm not sure.

[00:58:51] Yeah.

[00:58:51] Because again,

[00:58:52] I'm just thinking of like,

[00:58:53] you know,

[00:58:54] balancing out.

[00:58:54] Cause again,

[00:58:54] we've lost Finucane,

[00:58:56] Royce Hunt,

[00:58:57] Jack Williams,

[00:58:58] and we're bringing in Finucane.

[00:58:58] I think because it's medically retired.

[00:59:00] I think it does,

[00:59:02] but I don't know for a fact.

[00:59:03] Yeah,

[00:59:03] I do too,

[00:59:04] but it'd be just interesting to work that out.

[00:59:06] But if let's say,

[00:59:07] let's say for some reason,

[00:59:07] it doesn't come off with the cap for next year,

[00:59:09] then that also gives you more money to then look at 26 and say,

[00:59:14] all right,

[00:59:15] how do we move things around?

[00:59:16] Because now we're actually getting the,

[00:59:17] the nuke and stuff,

[00:59:18] even though his contract was on a scale and it slided down the last final year

[00:59:21] and things like that.

[00:59:22] But,

[00:59:22] um,

[00:59:23] something for us to think about as well,

[00:59:24] because again,

[00:59:24] that could give us a little bit more room in the cap for 26.

[00:59:27] Before we go,

[00:59:28] because,

[00:59:29] uh,

[00:59:29] we are running out of time this morning.

[00:59:31] Uh,

[00:59:31] what do you think about Will Kennedy?

[00:59:33] Is he going to be resigned?

[00:59:35] So again,

[00:59:35] when I look at money and,

[00:59:37] uh,

[00:59:38] imagine if you could move on and again,

[00:59:40] this is terrible,

[00:59:41] but Ronnie,

[00:59:42] uh,

[00:59:42] Buchanis and Kennedy and bring in Pappenhausen.

[00:59:45] Now that is a million to one.

[00:59:47] It's not happening.

[00:59:48] Right.

[00:59:48] But I'm just saying like,

[00:59:50] how do we work out a way for us to acquire high level talent that has played in big

[00:59:56] games,

[00:59:57] and,

[00:59:57] you know,

[00:59:58] Pappenhausen could play for Australia tomorrow.

[01:00:00] Right.

[01:00:00] If he got picked in the Australian team,

[01:00:01] no one would bat an eyelid.

[01:00:02] Right.

[01:00:02] So I'm just saying like,

[01:00:04] how do you work out ways to get these sort of level players to the club?

[01:00:09] Because if you look at our salary cap,

[01:00:11] I think we've got a lot of players that are around that seven to eight out of 10,

[01:00:15] but a lot of clubs will have like a couple of players around the four to five out of 10.

[01:00:20] Right.

[01:00:20] But then they'll have the superstars.

[01:00:21] So it's,

[01:00:22] it's working at how they want to balance it,

[01:00:24] how they want to do things.

[01:00:25] I think with Kennedy,

[01:00:26] mate,

[01:00:27] I'll see how we go.

[01:00:28] But I wouldn't be signing Kennedy in November or December.

[01:00:32] Put it that way.

[01:00:33] I'd be saying to Kennedy,

[01:00:34] like,

[01:00:34] let's,

[01:00:35] let's see how we go here.

[01:00:36] And I'd be saying to Eisen,

[01:00:37] who I believe Eisen's off contract too.

[01:00:39] Well,

[01:00:39] maybe he's got a three.

[01:00:40] I'm not sure.

[01:00:42] I'm saying to those two,

[01:00:43] let's have a shoot out here.

[01:00:45] Because we need to change our style of football.

[01:00:46] Just on the Pappenhausen thing,

[01:00:48] I just think it's potentially unrealistic.

[01:00:52] Of course,

[01:00:52] these things happen,

[01:00:53] but potentially unrealistic to grab a 10 out of 10 player out of nowhere.

[01:00:59] Like,

[01:00:59] okay,

[01:00:59] we've got Fanoa Blake.

[01:01:01] Yes.

[01:01:01] So that happened.

[01:01:02] So it can happen.

[01:01:03] But I just think when you're talking about these freak of natures,

[01:01:07] like,

[01:01:07] we'll,

[01:01:07] we'll get a Tedesco.

[01:01:09] We'll get a Cleary.

[01:01:10] We'll get a,

[01:01:10] I think that the teams they're at are pretty strong on keeping them.

[01:01:15] So it's,

[01:01:15] it's very hard to get those guys,

[01:01:17] which,

[01:01:18] which,

[01:01:18] which I guess leads me to saying here,

[01:01:20] and are we not looking towards the kids for the future?

[01:01:24] Yeah.

[01:01:24] And like,

[01:01:25] let's say we go into the open market with a plan.

[01:01:27] And again,

[01:01:28] the club,

[01:01:29] if they do put themselves in a position like this,

[01:01:31] it's obviously talk to the managers and the agents and all that type of stuff

[01:01:34] to work out their realistic chance of acquiring certain players or not.

[01:01:37] Right.

[01:01:39] So if you do leave yourself vulnerable and say you lose Ronnie and say you lose

[01:01:43] Ken McInnes,

[01:01:44] and then you lose Kennedy and you don't sign yourself.

[01:01:47] A new fullback with,

[01:01:49] you know,

[01:01:49] your $800,000 of cap room.

[01:01:51] You've just created 900,

[01:01:53] whatever it is.

[01:01:54] Right.

[01:01:54] Then you're in a real hole.

[01:01:56] Right.

[01:01:56] And then it's like,

[01:01:57] okay,

[01:01:57] well,

[01:01:57] how do we feel that?

[01:01:58] Are we now chasing our tail?

[01:01:59] And also too,

[01:02:00] if you look at our constructive,

[01:02:01] our roster,

[01:02:02] we've just signed a world-class 30 year old front row.

[01:02:05] So our window is really the next two to three years.

[01:02:10] So you don't want to be recasting that net and having to create a fullback out of

[01:02:16] nothing,

[01:02:16] or not be able to land one.

[01:02:20] And then you're having,

[01:02:20] you know,

[01:02:21] Eisen fully in here and,

[01:02:22] you know,

[01:02:23] Haradi over there and,

[01:02:24] you know,

[01:02:24] form and all that type of stuff.

[01:02:26] Right.

[01:02:26] So the perfect scenario for us is Eisen kills it.

[01:02:30] Half the value of Kennedy.

[01:02:32] He creates cap room,

[01:02:33] keep players.

[01:02:34] That's what that's the other big question though,

[01:02:36] is that we went one game too short,

[01:02:38] one half of football too short to make the grand final.

[01:02:41] Are we going to blow that up?

[01:02:43] I say blow it up being dramatic,

[01:02:45] but are we going to just change two or three of our back line?

[01:02:49] I don't know.

[01:02:49] Exactly.

[01:02:49] I don't know even why,

[01:02:50] but,

[01:02:51] or are we going to try and make it all work somehow?

[01:02:53] Probably they won't all work,

[01:02:55] but if we lose one player as opposed to three or four and say,

[01:02:58] this is the window,

[01:02:59] go,

[01:02:59] go get it.

[01:03:00] And this has happened,

[01:03:01] I think twice now where we've had a bunch of our players come off contract

[01:03:05] at the same time.

[01:03:06] And all the media says that will not be able to keep all of them.

[01:03:09] And then they all come out and then they all stay.

[01:03:12] So my preference is to keep the squad as similar as possible.

[01:03:16] So if we resign all those guys that are off contract and we don't sign

[01:03:20] anybody else,

[01:03:21] I'm happy with that.

[01:03:22] I can live with that because again,

[01:03:23] I understand the plan of what we're doing.

[01:03:26] I just think that we need a circuit breaker of like that uncertainty with

[01:03:33] certain players that now understand that this is not a comfortable place to

[01:03:37] be.

[01:03:37] We've got to do everything we can.

[01:03:39] This is our window,

[01:03:39] that sort of thing.

[01:03:40] And that pressure of like bringing an outsider,

[01:03:42] like a Finoa Blake,

[01:03:43] right?

[01:03:44] So it's such an interesting time,

[01:03:46] but I keep going back to this thought in my head.

[01:03:49] I go,

[01:03:49] Henrith is going to come back to the pack.

[01:03:51] Yes,

[01:03:52] they,

[01:03:52] I know we say it every year,

[01:03:53] but they surely have to now after losing Luai,

[01:03:55] Fisher Harris,

[01:03:56] et cetera.

[01:03:57] The Roosters have lost a ton of players and they've got injuries.

[01:04:01] They've got suspensions.

[01:04:02] They've got court cases.

[01:04:03] Like they're going to go back a little bit too,

[01:04:05] right?

[01:04:05] The Broncos I thought would improve dramatically,

[01:04:07] but you know,

[01:04:09] Ezra and man has just decided just to see what it can get up to before Maguire

[01:04:12] gets there.

[01:04:13] And now they're in a little bit of chaos.

[01:04:14] I don't know about the Cowboys.

[01:04:16] I think the dragons will be better,

[01:04:17] but there's,

[01:04:18] I think the gap between us and those top two teams,

[01:04:22] once you add enough Finoa Blake to us,

[01:04:24] I think it does shorten.

[01:04:25] And then it's going to come down to fitness,

[01:04:28] confidence.

[01:04:29] I don't,

[01:04:29] I don't think we get worse.

[01:04:32] So we either stay the same or we get better.

[01:04:34] There is no reason for us to say we're going to get worse unless you want to

[01:04:37] throw the,

[01:04:37] Oh,

[01:04:38] the halves,

[01:04:38] I don't know what they're doing,

[01:04:39] whatever.

[01:04:39] But it's like,

[01:04:39] we've got all someone to work that out.

[01:04:41] Exactly.

[01:04:42] And also to just on that quickly,

[01:04:43] Trindle's been playing the seven role for us for a very long time.

[01:04:47] And,

[01:04:47] you know,

[01:04:48] we've talked about it on this podcast a number of times about how they haven't

[01:04:51] always looked a great combination.

[01:04:54] And then they have certain games and we look at each other and go that they looked great

[01:04:57] that man in that game.

[01:04:59] Right.

[01:04:59] So I think that those guys are only like 30 games into their combination.

[01:05:02] So that's,

[01:05:04] don't read into that too much.

[01:05:05] People like wearing a who wears seven or Trindle's going to be named at seven and

[01:05:08] they're going to name Niko at six.

[01:05:09] Like it,

[01:05:10] it does not matter.

[01:05:10] I will say this.

[01:05:12] And,

[01:05:12] and the channel nine team in particular were very vocal about it.

[01:05:16] And they're in my opinion,

[01:05:17] right.

[01:05:18] They need to fix the kicking game.

[01:05:20] If Trindle's going to be the one kicking,

[01:05:22] he needs to do it from the correct,

[01:05:24] the preferable side of the field.

[01:05:27] Yes.

[01:05:28] Cause he's just squished there in a corner and doing his best.

[01:05:31] Yeah.

[01:05:32] And,

[01:05:32] and I think that'll get,

[01:05:33] we'll go down to Braley and to Trindle and to Niko to making sure they're in the right

[01:05:37] position,

[01:05:38] but also too,

[01:05:40] we were really good with that go forward this year.

[01:05:42] We got to be better next year when you bring in the final Blake.

[01:05:45] So I'm just thinking next year's break,

[01:05:48] Burley's year.

[01:05:48] It's going to be the breakout year.

[01:05:50] I keep looking at all Reese Robson and all of the credit.

[01:05:52] Hang on.

[01:05:53] Hang on.

[01:05:53] Those two guys have been going at it since 16.

[01:05:55] Have in the last two years been his breakout year?

[01:05:57] Yeah,

[01:05:58] but I don't think,

[01:05:59] I think we need Braley to,

[01:06:01] to take Robson,

[01:06:03] New South Wales,

[01:06:04] Jersey,

[01:06:04] to be honest with you,

[01:06:05] mate.

[01:06:05] And you know,

[01:06:06] there's Apicorosau and all that other type of stuff that's out there too.

[01:06:09] So that's not,

[01:06:10] you know,

[01:06:10] a given,

[01:06:11] but I think what we need is we need Blake Braley to be in high pressure games

[01:06:17] with expectations,

[01:06:18] stress and all that type of stuff.

[01:06:20] And I would think if you put him in an origin game,

[01:06:22] he's going to give you 40 tackles in it,

[01:06:24] 50 tackles,

[01:06:25] all that type of stuff,

[01:06:26] the game will start to break up a little bit.

[01:06:28] And if he could run and have a good performance in an origin game,

[01:06:31] I think his confidence and he would then believe in himself the way the

[01:06:36] coaching staff believes in him.

[01:06:37] And I think,

[01:06:38] yes,

[01:06:38] he's had two great years,

[01:06:40] but I still think that there is more to Blake Braley than we've seen.

[01:06:44] There is.

[01:06:44] You're right.

[01:06:44] There is.

[01:06:45] We could talk about sharks all day and night.

[01:06:47] We usually do via text,

[01:06:48] but we're going to end this episode right here.

[01:06:50] Appreciate your time.

[01:06:51] You're looking pretty sharp,

[01:06:52] Kieran,

[01:06:52] with the beard.

[01:06:53] I undersold it,

[01:06:54] but you're looking pretty good with the stubble.

[01:06:55] It's good.

[01:06:55] Is it coming back or what's the spoiler?

[01:06:58] The beard,

[01:06:59] it is coming right back.

[01:07:00] It was one of the silliest decisions I've ever made to shave it off after a

[01:07:04] very long time.

[01:07:05] Well,

[01:07:05] I'm glad I've got you with a week or so.

[01:07:07] My dad used to do it all.

[01:07:09] Like my dad would do it every six months or a year.

[01:07:11] And I'd be like,

[01:07:12] what the hell?

[01:07:13] Who are you?

[01:07:13] And,

[01:07:14] and even to this day when I see him without one or old photos,

[01:07:18] I just go,

[01:07:19] but that's just amazing.

[01:07:20] My kids are the same.

[01:07:21] My wife's the same.

[01:07:22] You look good,

[01:07:22] man.

[01:07:23] So you do you.

[01:07:24] It's all about you,

[01:07:25] my man.

[01:07:26] Hey,

[01:07:26] thanks for your time.

[01:07:26] Appreciate it.

[01:07:27] We're going to get out of here and we'll be back with you.

[01:07:29] With more Kieran and coffee and Cronulla in the near future.

[01:07:33] We're going to keep it up over summer.

[01:07:35] Maybe not every week necessarily,

[01:07:36] but maybe we will see what's happening.

[01:07:38] Appreciate your time,

[01:07:39] Kieran.

[01:07:39] Everyone,

[01:07:40] thanks for listening.

[01:07:40] Appreciate you.

[01:07:41] Go listen to the Al Wilson interview I did last week.

[01:07:44] If you haven't,

[01:07:45] it's a great history lesson in the Sharks about a really great dude called

[01:07:49] Alan Wilson.

[01:07:50] I know a lot of you know who he is,

[01:07:52] but our young listeners probably don't.

[01:07:53] So go listen to that.

[01:07:54] And Kieran,

[01:07:55] we'll talk to you soon.

[01:07:56] Have a good day,

[01:07:57] my man.

[01:07:57] Shut up guys.

[01:07:58] Shut up guys.

[01:07:59] Back in the Shire.

[01:08:14] Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.