Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla (17/6/26)

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

[00:00:26] They've got a Facebook page, or you could go old school and call them on 0295239300. Back in the Shire, turn your port slides off because we're coming home with a trophy.

[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast, part of a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Did you know, Kieran, I got trolled on my own Facebook page the other day for being so hyper after the Warriors win by doing my intro, my shtick, and someone said, stop being a knob. What?

[00:01:28] Anyway, welcome to a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks, brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Moody Yacht Club in Port Hacking, and Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate. I am said knob, Sam Shinazzi, and this is my friend, Kieran Fraser. It's his show. Welcome to your show, Kieran. Catching up with Kieran over coffee about Cronulla. When we drink our coffee, we get it from Mr. Paisley's in North Caringbah.

[00:01:56] Kieran, my God, I haven't come down. I haven't come down. I'm still up. I'm still up. I've barely slept. I'm just perking on the Kennedy Trindle show. And to be fair, all 17 guys had a really great effort in getting us to that point, which is a very important point. But that was a good one, my friend.

[00:02:19] It was one of those games where when you were watching it, you just never felt comfortable, but you were kind of attached to the outcome. And I think I messaged you during the game and I said, this is like park footy. And I meant that in the best possible way. It was just two teams trying to beat the absolute crap out of each other. And the halfbacks were kind of second fiddle. It was just, let's see how much we can bash each other and see who comes out on top. And we'll get into it later.

[00:02:47] But some of those sets of six and especially right before halftime, the intensity was through the roof. So it was great to see them get into a dogfight and to absolutely do themselves extremely proud. Yeah, it was. And the dogfight was super important. There were stages where it looked like we couldn't score any more points and we kind of didn't. And there were stages when it looked like we might concede and we didn't. It was a really great effort.

[00:03:12] And it's kind of the effort you need to see from a team that you want to go all the way to the top at the end of the year. And that games like this really help understrength, hostile crowd, bad weather, and they still got it done. So one of the great games, really proud of them. I know you wanted to talk about it. We can get into it maybe later about where does this win sit? I mean, we can get to it now if you like, but it's hard with recent bias.

[00:03:38] I'll say that because you just want to go, that's a top three game of all proportions. And it's like, oh, there's a top three. I don't know. But I mean, you're the one putting the thing on Instagram. What did you think? Where does this rank for you? Yeah. The reason why I had this as such a wild and crazy win was we didn't have Nico, Braley, AFB, Nakora. That is four of our highest paid players. And I'm sure there's other players that I'm missing as well that didn't take the field on the weekend.

[00:04:06] So right off the bat, that's a little bit strange for us. The fact that it was so intense and so back and forth for pretty much the whole 80 minutes, the Warriors team is so physical in defense. And you could see that they had a game plan to try and bash the Sharks. And then the Sharks did it back to the Warriors. And then all of a sudden these Warriors players who are like absolute gladiators in defense were staying down for everything. And it was just extremely frustrating.

[00:04:30] And you could even see some of the Sharks players were absolutely filthy at some of the stuff because if you're going to hit players the way that they were hitting players, when you get a bit of contact back, you can't stay down like that, in my opinion. So that was in it. But then for that last five minutes where we have a drop goal that is caught, but not even like caught above his head, caught in his midsection. I've never seen anything like that in rugby league in all years I've been watching it.

[00:04:58] And then for us to not kick any field goals when we're in all the position for it. We kept going the wrong way. We were throwing off loads. We didn't even look to try and do a field goal. And then Tricky bust one out from over 40 meters. And I think that might be the first 40 meter plus field goal in the club's history. Like it was insane. Who would have thought the Little Legs had it in them? Yeah, there's a lot to dissect there, my friend. Just as a spoiler, I have done the weekly interviews already. And there's a lot of discussion about all that, including with man of the moment, Will Kennedy.

[00:05:28] And the only thing I'll spoil about it, because I want you to go listen to it, is that they do practice, Will does practice that to an extent, but not like that. So it was a fluke, but it was also a rehearsed fluke in a strange way. But I'll let you go listen to the interviews, because we talk all about that. But I want to take you back to the trial match against the Warriors last year, I think it was. If it wasn't that year, it was the year before at Mount Smart Stadium.

[00:05:56] You and I are up in a fancy box watching the game. And it was, I think, 12-all or something silly. And Jaden Beryl went left instead of going right for the field goal, which I think Riley Pollard was putting his hand up for. One of the young blokes, might have been Taj Ford. And Jaden Beryl, the veteran, went left and we all went, oh, okay, it's a trial. He'll never do that again. And I'm not putting Shad in Jaden Beryl, because he had a great game.

[00:06:23] But he went left when they were all calling it right for one of the field goal opportunities. And I was like, oh, this looks awfully familiar. And then to your point, the Warriors get on the other end. They're going for an early-ish field goal. Thankfully, Will Kennedy sees it, stops it somehow. And then the Trindle drop goal is unbelievable. I will say this. I spoke to the coach today off record about footy and everything. And also, it's his birthday. It's Happy Birthday Fitz.

[00:06:53] But when he was talking about the Will Kennedy stuff, he did tell me off record that, as in like I didn't record it, that they do practice those scenarios. And Will Kennedy kind of looping around so he can get a charge on as they play the ball is a thing they do practice. So the rest of it kind of was a bit Hail Mary-ish. But where he kind of, you can see on the replay, or I saw it live, thankfully,

[00:07:18] as in I was watching Will Kennedy, he loops around the back of the, I guess, I guess, did he come from Mark or I can't quite remember, but wherever he was, he loops around. So he gets his theme on and he's full belt. But I would have thought that when you're practicing like stopping a field goal, it's like hands in the air. It's catching maybe the ball deflection, that type of thing, not around your midsection. Like he got, he got blasted in that area from close range. That would have killed.

[00:07:47] So Will will tell you in the interview, go listen to it, it'll be online soon. Will tells you a funny story about what Fitzy actually jokes about what he should do. So in other words, it's not a knock on, you do something else. Yeah, yeah. And I won't spoil it because I want you to go listen to it. But parts of it are rehearsed and parts of it are certainly not. So it's hard work, it's effort, but it's also a bit of not luck, but a bit of environmental scenario kind of situation.

[00:08:12] And then the Trindle field goal was just astonishing to be perfectly honest, Kieran. I don't have run else felt as soon as he's foot hit it. I had a really good feeling. Like I was like, ah, like usually you do and it's like, ah, I don't even get emotionally moved. Cause I just think, oh, okay. Or whatever. But I was like, oh, like it was as soon as he touched it. I was like, as long as if that's on target, then he's got it. Yeah. And I think Mick Ennis was the first one to go off in the commentary box.

[00:08:42] And like that, we should not underplay that. We're all talking about the Kennedy stuff. We should not underplay that field goal. It was unbelievable. Normally when I see Trindle kick field goals or attempt them, we don't get a lot of height in some of those kicks. He blasted that so far past like the, the goal line. Like, I think it almost went to the in goal line. Like he, he really put something behind that kick. It was unbelievable.

[00:09:07] But then to have the short kickoff and to have Sione Katoa accidentally take out somebody else. And for them to then have a kick to win or to level the scores. Like it was madness. And also the fact that Trindle kicked a two point field goal, not just a one point field goal. Saved us. Absolutely saved us. Because, because in most ways I imagine it's easier for them to get a one point field goal to level it than to A, get a two pointer or B, get a penalty goal. And hopefully they kick the goal. Like that's all what ifs.

[00:09:37] It's easy enough for them to get a one pointer. So as soon as he kicked it, I was on the line to someone else. And I was like, that's, that's, that two points there wins you the game. Because if it's one point, it's still game on. You're still really worried. But two points, that's the difference maker. Sione Katoa returned to the first grade team, a late admission. I believe that might've been conducted earlier in the week though.

[00:10:03] They confirmed that within the inner circle and some of the fan base put off by that. Some indifferent, some pro, some against. I thought Katoa was completely fine up until that moment, but we do need to talk about that moment because we've seen Sione have these moments before and gets in been at important times. And this is not new. And for me, that's a problem.

[00:10:31] And I don't know where I stand because I, as I've said most weeks and I get asked all the time, who am I picking? And I'm leaning towards Sione, even though Sam's improved a lot and he's in good form in a lot of ways, but I'm happy enough with Sione there. Yeah. But that's a big pickle there. That's a big motzer ball hanging, you know? Yeah. And it was very unnecessary because the, the, it was so far off the ball that it just made no sense.

[00:11:00] So, so you're talking about a bad read and you're also talking about an illegal read. Yeah. That's a problem. And you've just made the call to bring him back over Stone Street. Like Stone Street did not play because of an injury. It's going to be very hard now to go, all right, one week, Sione, you're in now, Sam, you're back because you've made one error, Sione. But it was potentially a very costly error, but he, look, he has a huge body of work that has built up a level of trust within the organization.

[00:11:28] However, we have seen this year from the dropping after the Perth game and the fact that we re-signed Stone Street and Nolkatoa, that the club obviously has some level of future proofing and planning there because they've opted for Stone Street in some of these occasions. So the fact that I actually went back to Sione for this game, I thought Sione actually had a really good game. I thought some of his carries, especially the tough yardage carries were really good.

[00:11:54] Um, just kind of says to me, I don't think you can make the change back to Stone Street straight away. I think you're going to have to give Qatar another week at least in that position because whilst it could have absolutely cost you the game, I just don't think for either player that sets a good example where you make one error as costly as it is. And I'm always saying that we've got to have somebody pay for the errors that we were doing because we keep buying at the same side.

[00:12:20] But I think, look, if we're planning to go with experience and the guys that have been together and done it for a while as this last dance, I think you've got to go to Katoa. I'm with you that I don't think you can chop and change, particularly based on an error. I think if they lose the game on that, you could have a bigger reason to do it. I've got a lot of mail about the Stone Street stuff and completely appreciate it all figuratively and literally.

[00:12:44] I, all I can say is, and it's not a quote from the club, but my, my takeaway from the club is that it's not a demotion for Sam. I know that people see it as a demotion and I get that I'm not without some intelligence in my small brain, but they're not calling it a dropping. They're not calling it a demotion. So take that as you will, but they're looking long, long-term future with this guy. They believe in him. He's done a great job with Sione out.

[00:13:13] I can only imagine again, this is me talking, not the club. I can only imagine they still think that Sione is winger number two and not number three. That's the, that's the way I base it on. So whether you agree, disagree, I, it's none of my business, but that's the story there. There's not some great controversy. It's more Sione was dropped. He was supposed to come back after that, but there was injury, but he was supposed to come back, but then he got injured in cup. It was a straight dropping initially.

[00:13:43] It wasn't a straight, like you're out, like they wanted him back. He was due back and he got injured. And then Sam continued to play a role and he's done pretty good. Some ups, some downs, a lot in betweens. I think in a game against the Warriors in those conditions, unfortunately for all the people who say that Sam is great at the hit ups and maybe he is, I think they needed the Sione Katoa rugged runs. Even if he was going across the field a little bit, like you needed that. Yeah.

[00:14:13] Cause he's low to the ground. He bounces off tackles and that Warriors team, it hunts in defense and it's going to try and bash everybody as hard as they can. And Sam is a very upright runner as well. So Sam would probably run the risk of being picked up and driven backwards. So yeah, I do get it from that perspective. I'm also just looking at Sam's stats here since he jumped into NRL first grade.

[00:14:36] And the kind of longest run that he's had in the NRL is this current run that he's had right now. And so he's basically played every game right now to round 14. Yes, we've had some buyers, but before that, his longest stretch in NRL was about nine or 10 games. Now, when I look at Sam, when he played in years gone by versus this year, he's gone to a different level of physicality with his running and he's running a lot harder.

[00:15:02] So his body's probably feeling the bumps and bruises a little bit more than historically he might have, because he's usually had some sort of a break in there. So from the club's perspective of saying, look, this is the guy we're investing in long term. We don't want to burn him out and run him into the ground. I totally get it. And while you have Sione on your books still, I think you still use him and make do of it. He has it in him and he's one of my favorite Sharks players. I wish we had kept him long term. But yeah, we know what the Roosters are going to be doing. They're going to be going straight in the area, Tim.

[00:15:31] And we saw it last year and we've seen it a number of times before. But you are right. The last game that he came up against Tupu, I think he got the better of Tupu actually. Well, no, no, hang on. Second last game. He got dropped from last game. Oh, yeah, that's right. That was one in Perth, wasn't it? Yeah, there we go. So there was a bit of a complication. Okay, so yeah, because it was even, it was, all right, so the last game was bad. Then there was a really good one in the finals. Then the one before that was bad too. So using that logic, we've got a good one coming up.

[00:15:57] No, no, one before was Haradi, to be fair, in Central Coast. Yeah, there was one where Sione was up against Tupu at Shark Park. And it was a long night at the office for Sione. But then again, are you going to assure me that Sam's going to take every catch? You know what I mean? Like, it's such a freaking pickle or any with this situation. And yeah, it's getting almost into the Kennedy saga, which is now over, thankfully. At least for November 1. It's not over. It's November 1.

[00:16:25] Again, talking to a lot of the lads this morning from the Sharks, they're still pretty filthy about the Roosters' performance. Where was it? The Central? Where we played Perth. Perth. Where they let that lead go. So there's a bit of personal stuff there. They're pretty up for it. Kieran, I really love that win, man. And I love the fact that it was understrength. You've got Puru's out there having great games, both of them. Just doing their job.

[00:16:55] They're not shooting for the stars. They're doing their job. Same with Beryl. I thought overall, just a great team effort. Yeah, it was highlighted by two solo moments. I get that. But to get in that position defensively, the Warriors, like they were missing some people as well. But they have second best attack. I think they have second best defense. They're very good. They're a very good team. You know, there's stuff come out about the shot clock, all this sort of stuff. Forget the shot clock. The Warriors lost that game.

[00:17:25] That was their issue too. Yeah, it was their issue. To a very gritty Sharks team. So I do think it'll put us in a good place. The problem is you've got to win this week. So win this week. And that win is huge because then it's essentially like a six-point turnaround with the buy after that. So it's a tough one coming up because even the Roosters' kids last week, they got flogged. But actually, as individuals perform really good and they're really good performers, the kids coming through. You know whatever Roosters team we play, they're a proud bunch.

[00:17:55] They're going to be shooting for the stars. I still don't know where I peg the Roosters for this season. I still don't know what to expect. And getting them a few days after Origin, you don't know who's going to back up, who's going to play. And it's probably going to be the same for us. I would assume AFB backs up given the fact that he'll be coming back from Origin off the bench unless there is a late change where he starts. I would assume Britt doesn't play because we have Burns and Britt is starting in this one.

[00:18:20] So it's going to be a very interesting matchup to see how a guy like Sam Walker, if he backs up and how he plays. So there's a lot of moving parts here, but just quickly, Sam, I thought I'll give you this really quick because we talked about like where did the craziest sharks wins rank. I've got a top five for you right now. Okay. So I chucked this into AI and it spat this back out to me. Is there, before you say it, is there like a timeline? Is there a... I said history of the sharks.

[00:18:48] So I asked ChatGPT this because again, my memory is not the best. So I've asked AI to go in and fill the blanks and put as much context as possible. The craziest win in a shark's history actually comes against the Roosters when we defeated them 30 to 28 on the 5th of July, 2014. Yeah. So it's the sharks greatest ever comeback. That's fair. Down by 24 points after 31 minutes. Down 24-6 at halftime. The Roosters were the defending premiers.

[00:19:18] It was in the middle of the supplement scandal and then they scored 24 unanswered points to win it 30 to 28. Was the match winner the Robson solo effort from 10 out? Was it that or was it something else? I think it was. But then it goes down to the bell and they almost score on the trial line and we push them out. I can sort of remember it, but when I think of the Roosters games in this period, I get back to the Nathan Gardner try. Now that was not this game, but that's where my memory always goes back to.

[00:19:47] All your information from AI is correct. I think Robson gets the match winner. Just like a solo kind of effort with 10 blokes, you know, around him. And then in the last play, the Roosters go to their left, our right. New Brown's in there. There's a bunch. Oh, you know who makes the tackle? Who was the handsome gentleman, tall, rangy, winger, center? Nah. Might have played 10 NRL games. He was with us for a few years.

[00:20:16] He dated my friend, Rachel from work. He's now playing Queensland car. Oh, Jacob. Someone help me out here. Jacob Gagan. I think he made the try saving tackle. He was around it and it's a lot of fun. So yeah, go on. Go on. The number two is the week before where the Sharks won 24 points. I agree. 22 over the Broncos. Again, they were down 22-0.

[00:20:43] Ray Hadley was calling for nine back then occasionally. And we hadn't scored a point for like 400 games or something. We literally could not score a point. And then I remember we scored in the second half or whenever it was. It was like, I think it might've been Gagan as well. And I remember the way that Hadley called it was so kind of feeling sorry for us. He kept calling us the Sharkies. Oh, good on you, Sharkies. And it wasn't like anything negative. He was trying to be positive. But I remember the way he was calling.

[00:21:12] I was like, man, we really have, our star has really fallen here. Like someone celebrating a try, we're down by 30 or whatever. But that was, it was two amazing wins in a very, obviously our worst year. Our worst year. And it was two amazing wins. What's number three? Number three is the grand final. I don't think we need to talk about that. That's pretty self-explanatory. It was a good win. Well, hang on, hang on, hang on. What's the title of this segment? What are we saying? Craziest wins. The three, the five. Craziest wins. Well, you could make an argument, you know,

[00:21:41] Fafita gets the ball down with eight minutes to go. That final set. No. The context of it. But I don't agree with it. So I'm with you. I haven't got it wrong. Number four, it's got the Warriors game on the weekend. So it's ranked that win number four. And then number five, they've put the 32 to 20 win over the Cowboys in the prelim qualifier. Now, I don't really agree. What? Yeah.

[00:22:10] I was smoking a little substance there. Why wouldn't the Warriors with 11 men be on there? Well, it's got an honourable mention of the 2012 versus the Storm where we won 12-10 without Paul Gallen. Okay. And Melbourne had won nine games straight at that point. 2008 versus the Storm with Brett Kamali field goal. It was the only time the Storm lost in Melbourne. And then the 68 to 6 win over Manly where Nigel Vangana was at 5-8. And everybody had a party in the retro jerseys.

[00:22:40] But that's a different sort of crazy. Crazy is a big turn. I don't think you've lost me there. I think we need to – no more use of AI, especially on graphics and that kind of thing. The old two balls in one hand. So when I think about all that and when they mention it at 3 or whatever, I'm like, no. But it's a very, very good win. It's a famous win. That's all that really matters, I mean. Yeah. But I think they got it right with the first two in recent history. I mean, you know, you and I don't go all the way back.

[00:23:08] But I think in recent memory, those two and the fact that we had two weeks in a row in what was a pathetic year in many ways was good for the soul. Anyway, we're in 2026, Kieran. What did you like about the game aside from Kennedy and Trindle? Who else stole it for you? Jesse Colquhoun in the front row. I thought that he just looked like a very good front rower. He was very physical. He was getting around the field with a presence. He was in the middle of everything.

[00:23:35] And it felt like he stepped up to the responsibility of not having a Fennel Blake there. And I thought he and Toby worked really well together. I thought it was very aggressive, that combination. Toby, I know, has picked up a bit of an injury. However, he was looking in terms of with the ball. He was at his aggressive running self, like we've seen before. But the other one off the bench, I thought, was Sifatalakai.

[00:24:00] When that set where the Sharks made 23 metres coming out of our half, and then we've kicked the ball and the Warriors get it back on like the 55. Right? So they're 45. And then they charge back as hard as they can. The Sharks went whack. And Sifat took it so personal and belted a couple of these Warriors players. I think it was one of the young kids under Boo that Sifat just absolutely laid out. All legally, of course. But it just reminds you of what a great player that he is and what he brings to the team.

[00:24:28] Because if you're one of those Sharks players and you're watching him do that to other players, you're fired up. And it was at the point where we ended up forcing an error from a kick from the Warriors. And there was like 40 seconds to go. And then we're still running the ball back like it's the first minute, like going ridiculously hard. And normally in that type of period of the game, it's just for half time you're going to take the tackle boys and just get in the sheds.

[00:24:51] But it just set a level of intensity to cap that first half where I think that it gave the team a lot of belief. Because yes, the Warriors bashed us. But guess what? We'll bash them back. And we don't care. So I thought those three guys in their physicality was absolutely tremendous. Yeah, it was certainly noticeable before half time that little resurgence with a few minutes to go. Because we were sort of on our knees. And that's the beauty of playing more minutes for Sifat because Colquhoun went off with concussion symptoms.

[00:25:20] So the more minutes he plays, the better he is. Like we know that. And if I'm a Perth coach, I'm just playing him every minute of every game. I'm playing him 13 every week. To be honest, if I'm a Sharks coach, I'm playing it too. But anyway, the other thing Jesse Colquhoun did was he was razzing the kicker. Yes, I saw that. Who was the kicker? Was it Pompey? Did you see the kicker? Pompey? I'll make a bet up. It was Pompey. And I noticed it straight away in the background. And it was him and Hazleton on the bench.

[00:25:48] And I don't know where the bench was, but they were right behind the kicker. I don't know if the bench was that far across. And Jesse Colquhoun was doing the wolf whistles. Tommy was sort of laughing a bit. And it's captured. If you go watch it, if you go watch that kick, the footage, you can see Colquhoun in particular having a good time. At that point, I thought he was probably concussed, but he wasn't. He was just doing his bit for the team, man. And I mentioned to a few of the guys today, and they were like, yeah, you do what you got to do.

[00:26:14] And I'm not suggesting it put off the kicker, but it was very good to see that they cared so much. And you can see after the game, the thing I noticed was Sam Stonestreet in his gear, and he was celebrating like it was a grand final. And morale there is very high. And it's a really happy club. And I need to re-emphasize that because there's so much negativity out there, particularly in social media land.

[00:26:38] And there's so many kind of people trying to drive a little knife in to wound the club, whether it's agitators from outside, whether it's agitators from inside. When I say inside, I mean people who follow the team. This is a really happy team. There was a bunch of baloney last night on a bunch of shows about Nico Hines, where 11 and 12 without him. And it's like, well, that's factually correct.

[00:27:06] But also, we haven't looked at what teams we beat. We don't know what the situation was. And also, you're talking about a Dallium winner and a guy who's been really good this year. And it's just crap like that. But they're not trying to destabilize the club, but the outside noise then multiplies. And that sort of tends to just multiply. And it's just ridiculous. And if you're one of those people that... I'm not saying you can't believe it.

[00:27:34] I'm happy if you believe that and that's your own thought, then go believe it. But don't get influenced by a number you see on a graphic, no matter where it's from, I should point out. And then roll with it. Like, have your own ideas. And if that's your ideas, then beautiful. Go with it. And we can talk about it. But to roll out a number like that and, you know, hand on my heart, my company, I think, might have brought it out. But that's not the problem.

[00:28:00] Problem is when dweebs on the internet go, look at this. Must be true. It really annoys me because the levels and efforts these people go through to get to this point in their life. And then just for some dude on the internet to go, send, it's like, give me a break, dude. Honestly, like, if you'd actually watched our attack in the last two weeks, you would not question the value that Nico Hines brings to this football team.

[00:28:29] Because our attack has looked disjointed. We scored 10 points on the weekend. And four of those came from a penalty goal and a field goal as well, right? Our attack has not looked good without Nico out there. And I did notice there was a podcast that tried to do a bit of shark rage baiting. And they put up a thing that was a picture of Nico and then sort of said sharks relocation, question mark. And then a thing about, are the sharks better off with Nico? And I actually went back and just watched those segments.

[00:28:58] Those two segments would have been under about 90 seconds each. Like, they were just such small little things that they just brushed to the side. You can say where it's from because I'm perfectly aware of what you're talking about. And I'm happy for you to say where it's from. And if you have been listening to our show, which you have, you'll know exactly what kind of a moron it was. And it was the chap. It wasn't even Paul Kent. It was the chap that hosts Paul Kent's show who's flying off to the World Cup. And he says, this is George, man. And he made up a question from a listener.

[00:29:27] And he said, the sharks should relocate to Adelaide. And then he had something about Nico Hines. And it's just like, what are you doing here, bro? You must have more in your life than to worry about this crap. It's because the sharks fans have a vocal presence online. You can say what you want about us as a fan base in terms of attending games. But if you go on any rugby league forum, the sharks forums are the most active. If you go on things like NRL Twitter, the sharks fans are some of the most active. The sharks have a very big online presence.

[00:29:55] And we create engagement for them. So my advice is don't watch the stuff. Don't click on it. Because even if you do click on it just to see like I did, it was so quick and irrelevant and nonsensical that you could tell it was rage baiting. And it's my new favorite thing actually on Instagram. You can find these accounts of people that go into stores and just act completely aloof and just really just try and rage bait people. It's some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen. But I'm getting off topic here.

[00:30:21] The one thing I just wanted to circle back to though quickly before I forget, Sam, is you mentioned Stone Street and you mentioned how happy the team was. I want to encourage everyone to go back and watch that video of them singing the songs in the shed of Up Up for an Hour. You will notice players like the Puru Brothers who have not really had a chance this year and Beryl as well. How proud and passionate that they are singing that song. You will notice guys like Katoa hugging Jesse Ramian. You will notice Sipha and how happy he is. Ken McInnes.

[00:30:49] These are players that have been tapped on the shoulder or have made decisions to leave this club. The fact that they're all so bought in and so happy to get that sort of win shows you how much it means to them. And you're only going to have that enhanced once you get Nico back and you get Fennell Blake back and you get the whole team back together. So I think the vibes down there in the Shire are building. Is that four wins in a row now, Sam? Yeah.

[00:31:16] Yeah, four wins in a row with a real chance to make it five and to go into a bye. For a team that was a lot of people had a lot of question marks on a few weeks ago, it feels like they're starting to find their feet. And to the point I brought up last week, we are doing this without our highest paid players in key spine positions. If you took Mitch Brown and Nathan Cleary out of Parramatta, if you took two players out of any spine. Mitch Moses, not Mitch Brown. Mitch Brown, Mitch Moses. Same thing with the Knights. You can name any club.

[00:31:46] Mitch Brown, Mitch Moses. Yeah, I know. I haven't slept much lately. But my point is, if you take out a hooker and a seven that are two of your highest paid players out of any team, those teams are going to struggle and they're going to struggle to score points. We struggled to score points without Nico. I'm happy to be proven wrong on that, but Nico has a place in this team and the way this roster is constructed.

[00:32:10] And he is the easiest topic of conversation for anyone to generate clicks on because everybody has an opinion on him. So Nico could go, I watched his vlog the other day and he was having thick shakes. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these agencies start talking about Nico and his dietary requirements and if he's lactose intolerant and can he handle milk and why does he have a thick shake? And just having a go at him for that, like it's ridiculous the amount of criticism is going to help. And I actually said something on one of the forums yesterday because somebody tried to have that conversation.

[00:32:39] I just said, do you actually watch the Sharks games? Because our attack without Nico has been rudderless. Tricky won us the game on the weekend. However, a lot of the talk about how great Tricky was, I think has been masked by that unbelievable field goal that he did, which is absolutely amazing. But for a lot of that game, our attack was clueless to the point we had two or three opportunities to kick a field goal and we didn't organize it.

[00:33:02] So there's a lot of things that don't happen and I'm not blaming that all on Tricky, but I'm saying if you had Nico out there, he's going, we're going for the field goal. Yeah. And to be fair, when they had, do you remember there was, was there an injury? What happened when there was the two huddles, the two teams had the huddles with 10 minutes to go or whatever? Was it someone was injured? I guess. Yeah. And you can see Trindle at this point, he'd already buggered up a shot and he was pointing at the post and he was saying what to do.

[00:33:31] And that's when Beryl went left for the next set. So to be fair, in that case, Trindle had organized, they didn't go for it. But you're right. He wasn't an amazing game from Trindle. They were pretty clunky, some pretty bad inside balls, et cetera. Got the job done. Great job. Amazing. Amazing. Now it is too easy just to go, and we're telling, this is what Kieran and I are telling you. It's too easy just to go, oh, no Nico, no worries, four in a row. We barely scored a point against the Dragons in the first half of the local derby. Yes.

[00:34:00] Against the Warriors who are the second best defensive team, we scored 10 points. One try. Penalty goals. So he is missed. And I personally have been thinking about it because there's all these people saying, well, we don't need these guys. Let's just have Nephi on $200,000 and then we can spend heaps more and do whatever. It's like, okay, I understand that theory. We're four in a row. I get it.

[00:34:28] But I don't know if I want Trindle running the show 24-7, 365. I don't know if that's in the best interest of Trindle. I'm not saying he necessarily couldn't do it, but I don't think you're going to see the best of Trindle if he's just on the whole time. And if you look at Nico's stats this year in terms of try assist, line break assist, I don't play super coach, but I've heard that he's one of the highest scoring super coach players this year from his attack perspective. He's having a very strong season with the ball.

[00:34:56] The issue becomes when people talk about the Sharks, they don't know what to talk about because they don't watch all of our games. So what's the easiest topic to talk about? How does Trindle and Nico work? Because we don't know, is Trindle the seven? Is Nico the six? Is Nico the seven? It's the same thing every time. And it's frustrating because I get we can be a frustrating team to watch. We can often get out to a lead and then with 20 minutes to go, just pull up the handbrake and just coast to the finish line.

[00:35:25] I get that we have made two prelims in a row, but now that is being used against the Sharks. The narrative before was they can't win a finals game. Now the narrative is, well, you know, they've made two prelims in a row. Like they're not going to get over the hump. There's only two teams that can make the grand final. Yes, we need to be better and we need to do more to get there. But we are very close if we can actually get the right momentum and the right players playing at the right times. And when I see Nico at his best, I think we have a real shot.

[00:35:53] Now, a few weeks ago, I was kind of thinking that this team had hit its ceiling and we've had some injuries and it's forced other players to step up. And that experience is going to be good for everybody come September. So if they can bank a few more wins here in the middle part of the season, try and finish as high as they can in the top eight. Get yourself a home semifinal and we can start talking about all the noise about should we play at Shark Park or not. Because I haven't heard that story before and I think it'd be great to talk about.

[00:36:16] I want to finish first and I want to play amazing finals games. And that'll mean not playing at Ocean Protect Stadium week one. But there's a percentage of me, a small percentage of me that hopes we finish, I guess, fifth or sixth. And we play an out-of-town team. And then the NRL ums and ahs and they go, yeah, okay, you can do it.

[00:36:41] Just so jerks like that jerk on that other show has to put up with it. I really, there's a part of me and I'll sacrifice the premiership for just to make that guy uneasy for like one more second. Because screw that guy and screw people like those people. It's really starting to, it doesn't affect my life. I can assure you that. Like it does not affect my life.

[00:37:03] It doesn't cause me stress or strain, but it gives me great gratitude to see them frothing at the mouth about something that doesn't even matter to them. It's just, it's amazing, dude. Like what's the, what's the word, Kieran? What's the quote? The rent, the headspace. What is it? We're in their, in their headspace. What is it? Rent free. Living rent free. Rent free. So. We don't need to pay rent. We own our home ground. It's beautiful. All right. So we do have a tough run ahead though. So we're not talking prelims just yet.

[00:37:33] We've got Chooks next, then the buy, then a whole bunch of games, which are going to be difficult. So we do need to be, we need, we need to be better in attack. That's for sure. Cause, cause I'm assuming defense like that. You won't be able to defend that way every week until the grand final. So you've got to improve on that attack. And we'll know the team at four o'clock. So don't need to speculate too much on that, Kieran. But what are you expecting out of this Roosters game as such? Like, like, are you going in with confidence?

[00:38:03] You think we've got it? What do you think? Well, last week I sort of mentioned that I would be happy with one and two in this little stretch that we've got before the buy. My expectations have changed after last week's performance. I mean, yeah, a loss is never good. And obviously I want to win and expect us to win. However, I don't know. I, I, I won't know close to kickoff. Like I want to see how everyone pulls up from origin and all that type of stuff, because

[00:38:33] all things being equal, I think we can really do a number against the Roosters. And I think we proved that in the first half earlier this year. That really haunts me that it got away from us, but we seem to have traded these sort of performances with the Roosters over the last couple of years where they'll get one over us and then we'll get one over them. And then maybe we get another one that they get another one. It's been kind of a bit of a, you know, punches chance between us between the last few years. So I want to see how their players come out of origin and how our players come out of origin.

[00:39:03] But it's another week closer to getting back Nico, to getting back Braley, to getting back Fanoil Blake and getting back Nakora. And if I was to guess of our highest paid players, I would say that that four would certainly be in our top six or seven. So we've got to get everybody back. That's the biggest thing, but keep stacking the wins between now and then. All right. Sounds good, my friend. Now for people who are listening, you hear a little bit of audio mumble there potentially, depending on how we edit this.

[00:39:30] And for people watching, we have had some tech problems, which we won't have for on a regular basis. But Kieran's a little bit wishy-washy there as far as appearance and sound, but it's coming through. We're good. Just in case we put this up as a whole video, that's been the situation. If we go with audio, then don't worry about it. It'll be sweet. Anything else to tell me, Kieran, before you go? Anything crazy? Anything funny? Anything that's going to make the grabs this week?

[00:39:58] And keep it sensible, please. Well, reasonably sensible. Well, did you see there's some Brazilian prophet or something like that that's came out and sort of said that an alien's going to land on the 24th of June during the Brazil soccer game in Miami? So, I mean, that's a pretty big call. Like during the game? Yeah, during the game. I mean, like that's very specific. If you get that right, that's bragging rights. At the ground on the field or just elsewhere?

[00:40:25] They said at the ground on the field that a UFO is going to land there. So, like how you have that information, I don't know because, you know, if I knew about that, I'd be putting some sort of wager on the outcome or the game or something. Well, then again, is it going to get paid after that happens? You'll be betting on goals and injury time, surely. Imagine the injury time on that one. We'll have to stop the game for a little bit. It's just madness. But all this stuff that's happening, so that's eight days away. But until then, I'm going to keep enjoying watching the Socceroos.

[00:40:54] I think that's been a tremendous time. And actually, the other one thing we should probably touch on is your mate, Ben. He's no longer my mate because he has once again abandoned the common man, jumped on a private jet to New Zealand, gone in the sheds with the Sharks, partied it up with them, and now he's off back to America, I believe, for some World Cup games. So, this guy. Yeah, he's off to the World Cup. I forgot about his trip to New Zealand. I'm sure I knew about it. His itinerary is kind of hard to follow sometimes.

[00:41:22] But we didn't really message that night, and then I saw on Instagram he was in the sheds. And I wrote, were you at that game? He was like, yeah. And I was like, oh, that's a good game to go to. Yeah, he's pretty much about to leave the country. So, no more Harlem in the flesh until I think he's back in August for a bit of a trip, which will be fun. But, yeah, you guys need to work on your relationship a little bit. We can't have too much friction between the Sharks. Well, I'm going at everybody these days.

[00:41:50] So, you know, I might start going at Josh again, maybe a bit of Gary. The Bulldogs aren't looking too crash hot, are they? So, you know, there's plenty of targets out there. So, anybody can get it. We can have a Royal Rumble, the Shark Cast, at the Christmas party. There are plenty of targets, that's for sure. We all sort of put ourselves out there a little bit. But I saw a picture of Joshy on the ground praying during the final minutes of the Sharks game. I think someone took a photo of him at his local establishment. He looked like he was doing it tough.

[00:42:21] I have not had the privilege of sitting next to Josh for a while at the football, but he definitely rides the emotions like we all do and gets a little bit stressed. And I think he's – which is his local? Is it the Guaymea Hotel? I'd need to confirm it because it might be – it's in that location, but it might be – there's a few pubs there. Do you know where I want to go? I want to hit up the Snug Bar. What's a Snug Bar? The Snug Bar is the Irish pub around there, and everybody tells me how great it is, and it's not the place that I've made it to yet.

[00:42:48] So, I'll look to report back to you guys on that one. So, you know who loves Snug Bar? It's our friend Matt Bungard from the Boom Rookies, and he doesn't live anywhere near Guaymea, but he's always talking about Snug Bar. Why would somebody come from – I don't even know where he lives, but I think it's like in a south Sydney, like around that sort of area, like mascot-y sort of way, I think. That's a long way to come, to go to an Irish pub. Like, there's a lot more that are closer. Yeah, he loves it. He swears by it. He's got some friends down here.

[00:43:16] So, but yeah, but he was the one who was talking about it. And then I happened to be in the establishment next door to that pub in the last few months, and I thought, oh, that's the place that Bungard's always talking about. I'll go check it out. I walked in, and I lasted about – well, I lasted about 10 seconds because there was like a UFC fight on, and people were just going bonkers. And I was like, the levels here and every capacity here are doing my head in. I might just go back to my quiet spot and have a bit more to eat.

[00:43:46] But I'm sure it's a nice place, and in all honesty, as a local in the area, it's great to see places like this pop up and have success. Like, you know, back in the day there was a choice of one or two. Now the choices are pretty good. So it's certainly a great place to be. Good time to be a Sharks fan, that's for sure. We saw Felix re-sign for a couple of years, big Felix Fattili. There's a lot of good guys coming through.

[00:44:14] They'll get their shot next year, the year after. Jersey Flag had a good win. I think Cup might have lost – oh, they lost to the Warriors. Yeah, I watched that. But there were some good performances there. We're a good club. I know we don't sometimes say it ourselves. We don't see it, but there's a lot happening down in that club. I just left that club half an hour ago, and I walked away with actually feeling really good about things. So hopefully I can carry that onto the field on Sunday evening, Kieran.

[00:44:43] The late game, how good's that? That's my most hated game of the whole round. I think the Sunday night game is worse than Monday night. Kieran might disappear finally. The UFOs are finally taking him. I'll say goodbye. Shark House Pod, we're sorry about the tech. It's one of those things. It's on his side, not mine, which is great. Up, up, Cronulla. And we will – oh, he's back. Did you hear my wind up just there? I did. I did. And the UFOs can take me at this point.

[00:45:12] I'm getting quite sick of it. So get rid of me. Up, up, Cronulla. Kieran's been taken by the UFOs. Shark Cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Karimbao region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate.

[00:45:42] Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies! Back in the Shire.

[00:46:12] Turn your porch lights off because we're coming over the truck.