Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla (27/7/26) - OUR 850th EPISODE!

[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 029523 9300. And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your port slides off because we're coming out with a trophy.

[00:00:55] Hey there, good morning. Welcome to SharkCast Pire Day Podcast, where we never lose in Brookvale, brought to you by Dyson Logistics. The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking, Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate. And we get our coffee freshly brewed on a Monday from Mr Paisely's Cafe's. Mmm, mmm. Even sweeter on a victory Monday. And we're here with Kieran on his show, catching up with Kieran over coffee about Cronulla. Kieran, I don't know if you know this. No one else knows this. It's episode 850. Yay!

[00:01:23] Is that a thing? 850? Is that a milestone? It's getting up there and with the amount of content you pump out, you're probably on track to hit a thousand by the end of this year. I mean, we've still got six months left. We're at us. How many do you do a week? About four? Yeah, it depends. On a good week, it's a bit more. On a bad week, it's probably about that. But anyway, we're just having fun. It's 850. So I'm glad it's on your episode, Kieran, because everyone loves your episode. Podcast ratings. Kieran's always hanging around near the top.

[00:01:54] And you should be just like the Sharkies. Top four, baby, equal third. Four and against getting a nice... Is it hit or not a hit? What are we getting with four and against? A good shot. Boost. Boost? I don't know. Yeah. You can tell I've only just hit the coffees, but it's Monday and we're happy, man, because we went to Brookie and Fitzy just never loses in Brookvale. It's a stat. It's a fact. It's history now. Five from five. Kieran, we've won 10 games there in our history. He's won half of them.

[00:02:23] That's amazing. I can't get over it. It's crazy. And I still go back to 2016 and that really wet night and I was going to go down to Brookie and I can't remember if they got up, but I think they lost that day at Brookie in 2016. Did they? Mm-hmm. Yeah. They definitely lost to them early, yeah. Yeah. And I just remember thinking like, these guys, like I'm so sick of this because for years they couldn't beat us at Shark Park, but then they went on a run where they were just pulling out wins everywhere.

[00:02:48] And that famous one with the kick at the end and like, it was a nightmare. So to go on a bit of a run now against Manly and it is funny. We'll talk about the media narratives I'm sure throughout this episode, but going into that game, it was all about Manly must win. This is a huge game for Manly, Foz ball, et cetera, et cetera. And the Sharks absolutely dominated them. And going up in sixes, like Nico is doing at the moment, you just look up and next thing you know, like halftime did not feel like a

[00:03:18] 30 to six point game. Did it, right? It's just nailing the opportunities that they had. Manly were really up for that and they started really well. It's old boys day. We had a bit of a plan to combat that with Fanilla Blake coming off the bench with Talapai. I just thought it was a great performance by the club. And I think it's going to be very underrated because the narrative, if we had lost that game, would have been the Sharks going to fall out of the four, et cetera, et cetera. So let's see how the media treats us this week. Cause I think there's a lot of people that are starting to take notice of us now.

[00:03:48] There is. And I've warned people yesterday. The only asterisk on that is going to be, well, can they go one step further? What's it going to take? So just buckle yourself in for that kind of crap. But the other problem is this week, and I don't really mind that the spotlight won't be on us, but Adam Dewey and the Tigers are going to get a lot of press. It's still a long way to go. We don't need to get to that right now, but that's got a lot of mileage. So there'll be some Sharks stuff for sure, but it's not going to be what they deserve to be honest, but that's okay. We like it under the radar. Fitzy, if you haven't seen it,

[00:04:17] Kieran, 11 minute press conference. It's fascinating. They keep hammering him about, you know, real deal halves, et cetera. And, and towards the end, he sort of just, he doesn't snap, but he says, we haven't, he literally says, we haven't changed over four years. We've been doing this, you know, some degrees better, some degrees less. He said, but we haven't changed.

[00:04:41] He said, it's your interpretation of us, whether we're the real deal or not changes throughout the year. It was amazing. Go watch him. He's wonderful. I'm on, I'm on board Fitzgibbon train.

[00:04:53] We don't lose many games under him. It's ridiculous, dude. Like people don't understand. I'm getting very emotional. How well this club is going on and off the field. They don't get it. Right. And I'm not waving the flag. I haven't got Dino behind me, winding me up to say this stuff. The club is going really well, man. Football wise, I would say mostly business wise. Obviously there's a few things that you can improve on.

[00:05:21] There's a club waiting to be open, but guess what? It's going to be open in a matter of moments, you know? So everything's going swimmingly, but what we're focusing on is the football and three grades yesterday. Absolutely pumped manly from the kids through to the, the Reggie's through to the NRL squad pump them. And it's not like manly or a bad team or going that bad. I don't know. They've had some losses, but they've got a good coach with a good squad.

[00:05:49] And we got a man. We, we just absolutely a near perfect performance again, probably better than the dolphins game. Cause manly threw more at us than the dolphins. As you said, open 15 was a tussle, man. It was back and forth. As fitzy calls it. It was live ball. And, and it was the battle of the fittest and the made the best survive. And they did. And we actually flourished. It was a really good workout for quite a while. And then obviously the floodgates opened.

[00:06:20] Yeah. And it was such an impressive win considering all those circumstances that were going into manly and it being old boys day, they were on a slide, like not do or die, but pretty close for manly. They're at risk of missing the finals and they really needed to address that. But there's a couple of things that stood out for me. One, how well kaleiro shut down. And how frustrated we were able to get guys like, like Cola, for example, who is just absolutely electric.

[00:06:49] And he was just dropping balls and looking up at our defense. And that, that was just so impactful and really helped us a lot. I thought the foreign against boost that this gave us to, cause now we are within range of the warriors. I think there's like a 30 point gap there right now, which you do another performance like that on the weekend. You can close that gap. Some of the other teams in the top four are like the roosters. I thought looked a little bit vulnerable the other day. The warriors have their ups and downs, but I just wanted to touch on something that you said at the start under Craig Fitzgibbon.

[00:07:18] So I chucked this into a chat GPT while you were just talking then. And I asked it, can you rank the teams with the most wins since Craig Fitzgibbon took over at the Cronulla Sharks? So Penrith have 84 wins since Fitz he's been at the club. Do you know who the number two side is? It's now the Cronulla Sharks. Yeah. We've won 67 games. So we've jumped ahead of Melbourne at 66 and Brisbane at 63.

[00:07:43] So that gives you an idea. The next best team is actually surprisingly the warriors at 61, then the roosters at 60. Resources, roster. We didn't have origin players until this year. So to go back and to look at that, like the Sharks have been incredibly consistent. We've won 62% of our games since Fitz he's been here. That is a hell of a run that a lot of clubs would die to have.

[00:08:07] For comparison, our arch rivals, the Dragons, they've won 27 games in that period. 27 games. And the team that's the worst of all is the West Tigers with 26. So you can go through this and I know a lot of people have gone on about comparisons with us and the Cowboys because they got Todd Payton around the same time. They're at 58. So this narrative around the Sharks and under Fitzy, we have been remarkably consistent.

[00:08:33] I was talking to some people this morning about this and it's like they were saying, oh, the Sharks are peaking too early. I'm like, they're not peaking too early. Like this is what the Sharks do. Like if anything, the Sharks are tuning themselves up for the late run. They've gone to the last two prelims. They started the start of this year and the middle part of the middle season terribly. And I was on this podcast saying like, it feels like this is a wasted opportunity for this last chance saloon that we're in. And they've completely turned it around, Sam.

[00:09:01] It felt like the prelim was slipping away, definitely. And the last team that we had that peaked too early won a comp. So I'm not worried about peaking too early. Yeah, good point. I'm not worried about when we have to lose a game, if we have to lose a game. It's week by week and you can get into all the superstitions you want. You can get into all the historical facts you want. How you win a comp. You play like this is how you win a comp.

[00:09:26] And the thing that will irk me if people start complaining about us peaking too early or whatever is that everyone's complaint was we're not putting teams to the sword. We're letting them back in. Yes. Well, that's not happening anymore. I mean, yesterday, Joey Walsh scored a solo try and my phone blew up. And I was like, uh-uh. And some of the people I responded to, some of it didn't. But I was like, no, this is not a thing. You're allowed to miss a tackle. You're allowed to concede a try.

[00:09:55] Like, it's okay. It doesn't mean you're not premiership ready. What we're seeing is premiership ready. You've got to keep doing it. Like, we are a way out. Fitzy said that. You've said that. We're not at the finals. That is not a problem. But that is something to keep an eye on. Because then the people who are saying we're peaking too early may get it correct. But I don't think that's the thing with us. Because as you say, we're pretty much, if we're not going across with my hand, then we're going steadily up, obviously.

[00:10:25] There's never really a down period. Like, you might lose a game. But there's never a slump, you know, under this guy. I don't know what he does. There's never a slump. There's been some bad performances. And I think those bad performances get amplified because they are such outliers. And there has been a couple of times where I've walked out of Shark Park. And I might have said it to you or I've said it to somebody else. And I was like, that's the worst I've felt after a loss. And I go back to, like, the Warriors game at home, for example.

[00:10:54] However, the Roosters game on the Central Coast, like, there has been some really unexplained things. Which, again, if you look at building and developing a team and a roster, you learn a lot through those periods. And you learn how you deal with adversity. You learn how Sam Shinazzi deals with going through that sort of an issue, right? So these players with that connected vibe that Fitz goes on about knows what they can expect from certain people.

[00:11:21] And there was little moments that you can catch during the game. Like, when Nico Hines scores that try, Sifatalkai is flying through untouched, right? And you just see Sifat laughing at Nico. Like, why did you make that so hard? But you see in other teams, there are players throwing their hands in the air. There's players blowing up. There is all sorts of things that go on. So when I was talking to some other people about this and people talking about are they peaking too early, which I just refuse to believe, I kind of feel like this has been such a stable squad,

[00:11:51] which I have criticized the level of stability within this roster and the lack of new players coming in. However, the trade-off, which I was getting upset about because I was like, there's no point having this trade-off if you're not going to be there in September because we were playing so bad early in the season. The trade-off is these guys know each other and they know what to expect. And they've played in big games now together. Fanua Blake's played at the Origin Arena and had some success now. Now, Braley's done it. Nick Ora hit 49 tackles and led the game for Queensland in defense.

[00:12:20] So now these players are coming back to the club with confidence and a bit of an aura, as well as being together for so long. Like, Nico and Tricky have played so well together this season. And everyone's trying to work out, like, is Trindle the six? Is Nico the seven? Who cares? Like, that game from Nico yesterday was one of the best performances I've ever seen. I think the only way we could improve Nico is if we moved into lock.

[00:12:42] But the way the coach – you need to watch the press conference is because the way he talks about everything. Go watch press conference. It's 11 minutes long. And he gets grilled about the two of those guys again. And he just keeps saying as long as they're together, it doesn't matter who stars and who doesn't. And it's not to say Trindle didn't star yesterday. It's just that his mate was 10 out of 10.

[00:13:07] So the problem with freedom of speech and social media is you can say stuff and it doesn't really come back to bite you. But, yeah, let's move him to lock. My God. Blake Braley, Fenua Blake, Britton, Nico are three of our best players since they've come back from origin. The whole origin thing is true. I always wanted to believe it wasn't true, but it is true. And I know Britton's copped a little bit from people. He dropped the ball yesterday. But he's going pretty good.

[00:13:37] The other thing that the press conference will tell you, I don't want to spoil too much of it for you, is that a massive rap on Teague Wilton from the coach. And the coach basically lecturing people about Teague Wilton. So worth your time to go watch it. And it just shows you that every, like there's no, we don't have a weak link. Like teams have weak links, right? And I would say defensively, which yesterday was outstanding, defensively our weak link is either side. I'm not talking about necessarily each winger.

[00:14:06] Just either side is where they score points against us. That's where it is. But I wouldn't say it's a problem. And yesterday it was dominating some of those great outside backs from Manly. The other thing I loved was we attacked their weaknesses. They had that young fellow with the funny haircut next to Saab, center and winger. Both good at their jobs, but they're a weak link when they're together. They just went for it. And it was 30-6. On that edge, you had Wilton score. You had Eros score.

[00:14:35] You had Ronaldo score two, right? And that was the Trindle edge. So, but just on your point about Teague, if you want to have a laugh, go and watch the pregame stuff. And you can see Teague walking around. I think it was on the field. And he just looked like he was about to kill somebody. Like, he looked so angry. He looked so intense. Like, he was just standing there, like staring off into the abyss. And I was like, Teague's going to kill somebody.

[00:15:02] I can't tell you how much, and I say it most weeks, he is all business. That's why I call him all business. And it doesn't matter whether he's coming back from lunch, entering the stadium on a Tuesday, or whether he's entering the playing field on a Sunday. He's all business. He can crack a funny. He can crack a smile. But he's there to work, man. Like, he's not – like, he loves hanging out with his mates. He loves doing stuff for his family. He's a great man. But he's there to work. He's there to, like, dominate.

[00:15:32] And I think we're seeing peak Teague Wilton. And the thing that sums up for me from the coach was he said every single player in our squad, and he said every sort of person in our business understands what Teague Wilton brings to us. It's you guys who have never heard of him and don't talk about him. Well, I mean, put it into perspective. The Bulldogs went on a run last year, and they were playing some suboptimal teams

[00:15:59] and had a bit of a soft draw, and then they made a run, right? Jacob Preston was fantastic in that run. Jacob Preston made the Australian squad, and he's being talked about for State of Origin. Teague doesn't get that. And I don't think I would swap Teague Wilton for Jacob Preston. Personally, I just don't see it. I would have Teague on my team every day of the week. And that's not a shot at Jacob Preston because I do think he's a really good player. But I'm just making that comparison because now the Sharks have made that jump, and Teague doesn't get a lot of the love that he deserves.

[00:16:29] And, I mean, I don't know how old Teague is, but he's been around for a number of years now. I'm going to say 25, 26. So I just Googled it. He's 26. He'll turn 27 on the 25th of September. He made his debut in 2020, and he's played 121 games. I was so worried that the Raiders were going to steal him last time he was off contract just because of being a South Coast guy and all that type of stuff.

[00:16:56] And there was some talk about his uncle trying to maybe get him over to the Tigers because the Tigers have desperately needed edgeback rows, although I love the two that they've got. They're probably the only good place the Tigers have got at the moment. But with Wilton, he seems to have this real connection with the Sharks, and I can't imagine him in another jersey. Like, we're going to have to see Katoa and Jesse Ramion in, but I just can't see him leaving. He's as loyal as they come. He's as old school as they come.

[00:17:24] He is a guy that's not of his time. Like, he's a guy of yesteryear and a person of yesteryear. And, you know, I've been a day one guy, and I'm not putting that out there because I don't like when to say, oh, I'm day one, you know, I'm better than you. I'm not saying that, but I've always been on board the Teague train, and we're getting what we've always thought. He's had some injuries along the way.

[00:17:51] But having said that, honestly, every individual yesterday was just out of their skin. I loved – I don't know if you can do it every week, but I loved AFB and Talakai coming at the same time, the two cousins. Like, you would absolutely run a million kilometers away if you saw them coming, man. Like, could you imagine you're down by all those points or whatever the score was? Maybe you're down by 12, whatever it was. And those guys are coming on. It's like, oh, my God.

[00:18:20] Like, that is some coaching by Craig Fitzgibbon. Yeah. Because Fennell Blake has a reputation of being a little bit of a prickly character. Although whenever I've had interactions with him, I found him to be one of the nicest, genuine people I've ever met. Like, to be honest, he's such a joy to have a quick chat with. But there were reports when he was at the Warriors, like when they lost a game and he stormed – or they won a game, but he wasn't happy with his performance. He didn't sing the song. And there's been some whispers about his time there and when he was at Manly and all sorts of stuff.

[00:18:49] So to have him to go, no, that's fine. I understand the game plan and I understand why we're doing this is really good coaching because you can't do it every week, to your point. But it was old boys' day at Manly. So you knew Manly were going to start fast and be – Fatty was on the run out. Like everyone was there and then Fatty was there at the end. Like, come on. So you know Manly's going to be hyped, right? So that coaching of saying, okay, let's fight a bit of fire with fire. We'll put Jesse out there with Kifusi, I believe it was,

[00:19:19] that started as well, and let them absorb it because they're two really strong defenders. Let them absorb that. Yeah, and with Cam McInnes. And then we'll throw on Fanua Blake, we'll throw on Talakai and we'll just steamroll them. Because the one knock on Manly is their middles, right? Because their middles aren't seen as the same quality as their outside back. So a lot of the time when Manly has the ball, they send it out wide to try and beat teams around on the edges. The Sharks just completely nullified that with our great defense on the edges and then said, guess what?

[00:19:49] We're going to go straight through your front door. And that's when you saw – the score really ballooned quickly. And because going up in those sticks is crazy. They blew a few tries. Yeah, there was a couple of tries that were blown too. But the position where we're scoring these tries, like it's – yes, we did hammer one of their edges, but we were scoring them on both sides. We're scoring them in the middle. And Nico's kicking these goals everywhere on the field. And I can't remember what point of the game it was

[00:20:18] because there was two times where the Fox Sports commentators said something that I thought was interesting. One when we were at nine missed tackles and potentially about to break the Panthers. I was about 65 in, I reckon. Yeah. So that was – and that kind of put a little bit of a jinx on us. So thanks for that, Fox Sports. But the other one was when they were talking about Nico Hines. And at that point, every time Nico had touched the ball, it had resulted in a line break, a try assist, a try – a line break assist.

[00:20:45] So they were just like, this is absolutely insanity. And I personally don't subscribe to this, but I know a lot of Sharks fans think that some of the commentators like Greg Alexander do not like the Sharks. Go back and listen to what they were saying about Nico's performance because I will say he has been a critical person of Nico in the past, rightly or wrongly. But that performance from Nico was insane. He saw an opportunity with a young kid up against him, Joey Walsh, and Nico gave him an absolute bath.

[00:21:14] Like Nico looked like Andrew Johns out there with this young kid who has all the future ahead of him and all the talent in the world and is going to be a great player. But that kid got taken to school yesterday. And the one thing I've always thought about Nico was I've always thought that Nico will be the best version of himself as a seven in that last year of his contract. The reason I say that is because he will have had the years of experience. And he's a manufactured halfback,

[00:21:41] and there have been plenty of successful manufactured halfbacks like Jerome Hughes who got it, Cooper Cronk, who got it quicker than Nico. And that's crazy to say considering Nico's won a Dallium and done all the things that he's done, played for his country in that role. But sometimes you just don't see a traditional half's performance from Nico. And sometimes you feel like in the big moments he could go missing. Now he's going and hunting these big moments. And if it is Freddie Michalak who's came with the magic wand,

[00:22:08] then that's an incredible piece of coaching from him because Nico has not looked the same in the last three weeks. He's gone to a different level. And there's a lot of haters out there that want to move him to lock. They'll be sitting there scrambling, trying to work out their agenda. And we know what the agenda is going to be. As we go into September, whose team is this? Is it Nico's? Is it Trindle's? Can they win big games? And they'll try and pit them against each other. What about Blake Braley?

[00:22:37] Yeah, that's why I want people to buckle in. I don't want you to share their stuff. I don't want you to even read it. Don't even go there. It's crap. And you know it's crap. Just because it's Cronella related doesn't mean you have to watch or listen to it. Don't buy into it. It's just going to breed negativity for you and for your family and for your friends and ultimately for the club. And the coach kind of hit it last night. He said, you know, we're comfortable where we're at. We don't need to be media darlings. That's me paraphrasing.

[00:23:03] We need to give Darryl Halligan some love because Freddie Michalak's been getting all the love for the goal kicking, but it's actually been Darryl Halligan. So Freddie Michalak, amazing transformation to the team in the last month in the attack. Attack. Darryl Halligan is the goal kicking coach. I'm sure Freddie gets involved from time to time, but Darryl Halligan does the meat and potatoes of that with Nico.

[00:23:31] And they've been amping it up is what I've heard. Is Shervington still around too? Or is it just a preseason thing? I don't know that and I haven't seen him around. I got a feeling it might have been a preseason. This is how you run kind of thing. And maybe he pops in and out. I'm not sure. Not sure on that one. I did notice there was a few players that looked a bit quicker yesterday. Like Ronaldo, when he got into a bit of space, had a bit more speed than I was anticipating. So potentially there's been a little bit of improvement from that angle as well.

[00:24:02] Craig, I think, spoke about this. Look at me calling him Craig like we're best friends. Fitzy, that's probably worse, calling him Fitzy. But Fitzgibbon spoke about this, I think. Do you know when I correspond with him, I call him Craig. But when I see him, I call him Fitzy. Sometimes I call him Craig still. He's just one person I never see around. Like I see every one of the Sharks players around. But I've never run into a Fitzy event. He's just doing the X and O's, man. That's all he does. He's in the office all the time. X and O's and Jiu-Jitsu, yep.

[00:24:31] But he did speak when, I think when we signed Michalak, and he was sort of talking about his coaching journey and assembling the right pieces around him for what he thought he needed. And I think when he was talking about Freddie, he was kind of like, now I finally feel like I've got the right balance and I'm going to keep adding to it. So that's potentially why we're seeing a lot more of these specialists that are coming in and helping the Sharks. So, look, it's great to see. It's a really positive time in the Sharks' end at the moment and going into a really important game against South Sydney

[00:25:01] who you just never know what you're going to get from South. But this is the Sharks' fin in all of us where we sit there and we go, I'm a bit nervous. What are we going to produce? So hopefully those days are finished and the last chance Saloon rolls on. It's going to roll on. It's just a matter of how it rolls on too. Like we're going to the finals. We're most likely going to be top four. It's about where you finish. Now, top four is not a guarantee. If you lose a few, you can easily slip up. So with the buys and everything,

[00:25:28] we have a couple of teams who are going to be two competition points behind us. But without delving into the ladder too much, when I looked at it last night, there is a safety barrier right now because of that win last night. That win is unbelievably important. So even when you throw in the buys, we're doing okay. A bit of an early mail from RCB in Canberra on some history and that kind of thing, which we'll get to throughout the week and the weeks.

[00:25:51] But he said that Ronaldo Miletalo is two tries away from catching up to David Pici as the second most tries. Does that sound right to you? It sounds right to me. Yeah. And four more tries. What? I don't know. Something else. Dan Sione is still in the mix for 100. Nico is about 30 points away from Cavell for third of all time. Oh, wow.

[00:26:23] So there's a bunch going on. We'll get to all that. Thank you, RCB. One of those is a bit confusing to me only. I'm sure it's not a you thing. It's a me thing. I think it's Ian. Kieran, just a sensational win, dude. We had a lot of Sharks fans in the house yesterday, which is important. Some of them rang up. Some of them messaged us. Some of them tagged us in photos. It was awesome. Great vibe yesterday. And I think that's what showed to me that people are starting to believe. I'm not suggesting yesterday they only started believing.

[00:26:51] But the fact that we've got such a big traveling party now going to these games, there's something in the water. There's a vibe going on. And, you know, it's up to the team to just keep rolling on. And I'm not particularly fussed at how they do it. I just want the wins. But I tell you what, games like yesterday make it a lot easier. And, you know, I think there's a thought that, oh, we want a bit of a more of a closer game

[00:27:19] so we can get our defensive structure going. But it's like, well, we only missed like nine tackles for 65 minutes. Out of structure thing is fine. Newcastle game was tough. The opening 20 minutes of this game was tough. If you don't believe me, go back and watch it. It was tough. So it's not like they're just having a walk in the park for 80 minutes. So I think we're going okay in that department. Health-wise, Toby Rudolph, Braden, ULA both played big minutes in the Inter-Wiles Cup. That is so big.

[00:27:47] The coach spoke about both of them. Both, not one. He spoke about both of them being first graders. So they're there. Yeah, absolutely. Now, I do think Toby will get more of a push than Braden. But Braden is there if needed. And all the lower grades are going well. Liam Eysen is unbelievable. He's back to pre-knee form. And, you know, God, find me some wood. I'm in a wooden shack. I'm touching wood.

[00:28:15] Lots of wood you can hear me touch because we don't want anything to happen to our number one. But my point is there are guys fighting to get on. Hoheba had a head knock. He played like 30 seconds. He didn't even get much of a go yesterday. Like there's a lot of depth at the moment. And we don't want to use it. We don't want to use it. But my point stands. The team's in a really good spot right now. Yeah. So to the Puru point, we won that game with 16 players. Yeah. Effectively.

[00:28:43] So like that's another string in the bowl of that performance. But we're now 9-2 from our last 11 games. So the next five we've got is South at home, the Dragons away, the Raiders at home, the Titans away, and the Eels away. Now realistically. And the Storm, yeah. Yeah. And then we finish with the Storm at home, right? So before we get to that Storm game, realistically. Let's go slowly. Let's go game by game.

[00:29:12] So next week we've got South. At home. So it's a realistic chance of winning. They're missing a bunch of guys. Yep. And there's no excuses for Cronulla. 110%. So I'm… Dragons away? Dragons away. At Cogra. Always in the local derby at Cogra will create a little bit of, you know, how's this going to be, et cetera. We will go to that game. I will look forward to going to a 10-day game. They're going to get the wooden spoon. There's no reason to lose to the team getting the wooden spoon. Right? Realistic win.

[00:29:42] Canberra at home. Canberra at home. Very much improved teams. Season on the line probably for Canberra at that point. Depending. Two games before they get to us is Panthers this week. And then the Knights at home. Now the Knights have lost Dylan Lucas and Dylan Brown. So potentially they could be really fighting for a spot. If I look here, they're sitting currently on 22 points. 26 is where the Cowboys are at on eighth spot.

[00:30:10] So potentially that could be a game for Canberra that is a must. So let's call that a tough one. But again, you should be winning at home. We're favorites. We'll call it a tough one, yeah. The Titans away. Okay. So this is super tricky because… Danger game. They're scoring points on a dime, man. You know, they call a shot and they score. They're a bit like us. They can score so easily. We know Hanna is a good coach. They've got a good squad. They're playing for… Now hear me out.

[00:30:39] They're playing for nothing. They're playing for fun, right? They're not playing for a point anywhere. They're not going to get the wooden spoon you wouldn't think. They're in that position where nothing really kind of matters except next year. Contracts, obviously things matter. But when you've got a Titans team that's not playing for much, that can be super dangerous. So I think this one is big time. I expect us to win. But let's not chalk that up as a W because that's going to be a real tussle.

[00:31:09] I completely agree with you. I completely agree with you. And nothing to lose. Playing for contracts. Always a tricky situation. After that game, we then go and play Parramatta at Parramatta. Okay, so Parramatta are good at home. On their day, they can go with their best. But it's a game we should be winning. We're a better team. We've got a lot more to play for. And I expect us to win that one. But that could be a bit of an arm wrestle potentially. Potentially.

[00:31:37] So just looking at those five games, and I'm just going to run you through the Warriors and the Roosters because these are the two teams above us and who they've got, okay? I know one of who each have got, which is fantastic. Yeah. Well, the Roosters come up against the Cowboys who sit in eighth. Then the next week, the Roosters will – and that's a way for the Roosters up in North Queensland. Then they come back home to Sydney. They play the Bulldogs at home. The Bulldogs are currently sitting in ninth. They're desperate to get in the eighth.

[00:32:07] Then the Roosters play the Panthers at Penrith or Parramatta, wherever Penrith are playing these days. Then they play the Tigers and Dolphins. Oh, so they don't play the Warriors? They don't play each other? That might be the last game of the season, but that's not in what I'm looking at now. That's okay. For the next five. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Warriors then play the Titans on the Gold Coast. They play Penrith at home. They play Brisbane in Brisbane.

[00:32:34] They play South in Sydney. Then they finish with the Knights at home. So that's not easy. So the Warriors have got a pretty difficult run there too, as well as both those sides have to play Penrith. If you look at the points and where everybody's sitting, we've had the same amount of buys as those teams. Yeah. We're only two points behind the Roosters. With better for and against. With better for and against. So we're equal with the Warriors on 30 points. The Warriors' points differential is 190. Ours is 161. Yeah.

[00:33:03] So pretty close there. And all it's going to take is, let's say Penrith beats the Roosters and we win that week against one of our opposition that we just talked about. We would automatically jump. The Roosters would drop into fourth spot and we would go up to third. And then again, if the Warriors lose a game, we can get the Warriors too. But really, if we get lights out, then we'll probably finish second if we get lights out.

[00:33:29] But there is a world, and look, and I know there's people listening to this going, stop talking, guys. Sure. But there is a world where we finish the next six games with six wins off the back of being nine and two at this current point. Now, people will say, you need to have a loss. You need to have a loss and all that type of thing. We're broaching that, but we're not quite there. But we are. It was mentioned a few times on the show last night. Well, that... And it made me... It made my grey...

[00:33:55] It made my beard go grey in 2016, and it's going to hopefully make it go back to my natural colour this season. Because it's an intriguing subject. I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile subject, but it is one that actually has no answer to it. If we prove it, if you go 2016 and go, look, they lost and they won the comp, okay. That's one example. Well, when we go back to 2016, that run was in the middle of the season. It was a real big bulk of that was during that period.

[00:34:25] And then there was kind of like a five-week period or so before the finals, if my memory is correct, maybe a month, something like that, right? Whereas with this one, we've had two losses in our last 10 games. So we're nine and two in our last whatever I said before. So it's not as if it's been a bank of wins there. If we go and win another six games in a row, you'll be on like a 10-game winning streak or something like that. Which I would argue is kind of timing it pretty well in terms of you want that first week of the finals.

[00:34:54] And we have a chance to get a home semi. You want that home semi. You want that week off. And then you're in the ballpark. Because potentially, if you could flip the roosters on the penless side of the top four, you're going to have those guys killing each other. And the Warriors, if they have to come to Australia, it's much more difficult. I did say last week, I'm happy, or maybe the week before, I'm happy to bite down on the mouth guard and go to New Zealand. Headline news. Headline news from Kieran's statement about going to New Zealand. It doesn't scare me, honestly. That's good.

[00:35:22] Because I just think the pressure on the Warriors, I think the Sharks, us against the world mentality that we used last year, I think will bring that back. And I think we could go and be the villains there. I don't like playing Penrith. I want to avoid them desperately in the top four. And the Roosters, I keep saying, I feel like we're going to play them again. I think we can beat them, but I don't think it'll be easy. So if we finish second, though, you'll be happy because we'll play at a, inverted commas, home ground. We'll all go there, have a good time, win, get the week off. So you're happy to finish second, obviously.

[00:35:52] That would be my preference. But the funny part was, okay, let's say we've come up against the Roosters. How can the MRL take that game off us, considering we've spent the last two years in the finals against the Roosters at Shark Park? Every time, every time, this came up quite a lot in the show last night as well. Where are we going to play? It's like, well, we need to get some official clarification in the month ahead. We won't get it this week, but. If they said to us. Because also, we're not guaranteed a top four spot for starters. Yeah, okay. We're playing fantasy booking.

[00:36:22] But. I'm telling you right now, Dino Mesutesta will not. He'll move heaven and earth. Yes. To try at least. And make sure we're not playing the Roosters at Allianz. Should we be the home team. On that point. So you can put, you can take that one to the bank. Whether they allow it, I'm not sure. But we saw Peter Vlani's hanging out in the greatest suburb in the world. He's all on board, baby. He's black, white, and blue. So, but on that point, Tim. Okay.

[00:36:51] Let's say they say to us, all right, enough is enough. Sorry. I know I'm over talking you. My point was, if it was to be at a big stadium. Yes. And we were the home team. Dino would do everything to not have us play the Roosters at Allianz. If we're the home team away. Go to your point about local though. Sorry. No. So, so, so if they, if they close that off and say, you can't play at Shark Park. And we are saying, we're not going to go to Allianz and play. The Roosters. If they said, okay.

[00:37:21] And again, I wouldn't know why they would, but they don't seem to have the same opinion. But if they said Cogra, would you take Cogra over Parramatta? No, I wouldn't. I personally wouldn't. Sorry. I'm going to disappoint all of our local fans. I would choose Parramatta for ambience, for dressing rooms, for fan preference. I don't care that we have to drive 20 minutes more, man. And that's all it probably is. Like, give me a goddamn break. I'm sick of going to that cesspool of the venue.

[00:37:51] Cogra sucks. The dragon sucks. Why would we go play at our enemy's territory? They're probably going to make some money off it. Screw them. I love Valentine homes, but screw them. I love Dan Atkinson. Screw them. It's not the mecca that people think it is. It's an absolute shithole. There's my swear word. Why are we going there? Why are we going there to play our... I knew I was going to say that. Why are we going there to play one of our biggest games of the year, if not biggest game of the year? I'm just putting it out. No.

[00:38:20] My preference is Shark Park 100. Oh, so all the local fans, now I'm going to be the most hated podcast in the world. All the local fans don't have to travel very far. Give me a break. Get Kieran to buy you an Uber. The Sharks will organize some transport. Get off your asses and go somewhere else and watch it. We're not going to Cogra. No, man. That is a joke. It's an absolute joke if we go there. Well, what about Wynn Stadium? I'm sorry. I'm just trying to really get you there. You are ripping me up.

[00:38:49] That makes no sense at all. It's Parramatta. It's probably not Homebush unless it's possibly the Warriors where you will get like 20,000 people of their fans. But why would you do that? Because you don't want to entertain that because you don't want to make them favorites. I just think we're going to Parramatta if that's the case and that's just where I stand. That's where I stand. Homebush doesn't give me that vibe of like round one of the finals because you're going to have a lot of empty seats there. And it's not going to be ideal.

[00:39:21] Look, I mean, I'm going to go to this game. If it's in Sydney, no matter where it's at, I'll be there at this game. So, look, the venue to me is kind of negligible. However, I probably would prefer to go to Cogra than go to Parramatta. But that's just selfish reasons for the commute. Just for the commute. The commute. How are you getting there? Are you getting an Uber or are you driving? I'm getting an Uber. So what does it matter to you? Well, it's probably about $70, $80 cheaper each way. You and I split it. Well, there you go.

[00:39:51] Throw in bowling, money bags bowling, and you'll be right. Don't worry. I just think Cogra is not the answer in all seriousness. I think Shark Park should be. Not because of the dragons. It's just not a great venue, man. I don't think it's any better than Shark Park. And honestly, the only reason you're saying it is because it's in your head and in theory, obviously, and in reality. It is closer. I get that. I understand that. I can get there in 10 minutes. I get it. But that's not a reason, brother. That's not a reason.

[00:40:20] The only reason I'm saying it, for me, if we can't play at Shark Park, I think we should play at the SFS. Sure. But I don't want to play the Roosters at the SFS. No, I agree. I agree. I think we play the Warriors or Penrith or whoever else, and it's at L.A. We get that. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, 100% with that. It would just be that circumstance of the Roosters. And look, we seem to like playing in a swamp. Cogra is no better.

[00:40:46] And the Roosters are a bunch of high-flying, latte-sipping pretty boys. So they don't like going to those sort of venues. So that's the reason why I would go there. Play it at North Sydney Oval for all I care. Just play it at Shark Park preference. That's my number one choice. Oh, look, Dino will try. They can't take office this year. Like, you can't say, all right. No, they can. They can. But that's ridiculous because, again, we've already said they probably will. They've already said they probably will. But you've said yes for the last two years to the same team. It doesn't matter.

[00:41:15] They've already kind of said this year's a bit different. Well, get the checkbook out, Uncle Pete. I'll tell you what, that hotel that Pete owns will be booked heavily, and they're not cheap prices in those rooms. And so the NRL will make money if they have it at Ocean Protect Stadium. What a great idea that is for the hotel. And I did hear some stories about how that came to be, and it was a late addition to the whole proposal. Well, I heard that when they went to Council for Approvals, and again, people can fact check this if they like and tell me that I'm wrong.

[00:41:44] But what I did hear was when it went to Council for Approval, basically the feedback was we don't have a lot of hotels and accommodation in the Sutherland Shire. There's some incentives if you add in a hotel to this. So I think the club got some extra money out of it or funding or something like that to build that because they were seen as kind of like a community sort of asset because we don't have a lot. Like you've got the big hotels, I think there's like two hotels in Cronulla. That's it. And when you compare it to places like Manly or Bondi and things like that, there's not a lot of sort of accommodation.

[00:42:13] So the hotel is actually a really smart thing. I would be really interested to know like what is their vacancy rates on like a Tuesday in July? Like I just don't know. I mean, people are obviously always there. It would be cheaper than a game day, for example. It would be. I'm pretty sure one of the biggest reasons to have our friends Quest there was the Leagues Club at some point,

[00:42:40] whether it's in the long weekend of October or whether it's a year away, I'm not sure as in like this part of what I'm going to say, is the function rooms, the wedding venues, et cetera. That was the idea. You have it at the Leagues Club. That's a great idea. And everyone stays at the hotel. That was why the hotel became a thing because there's all these ideas for business functions, for wedding functions, et cetera. Yeah. And then, well, you need somewhere to stay. We've got the Quest just here. That was a big reason.

[00:43:09] That's a really good point I didn't think of because when you think about weddings, and I know that they were really planning on to make that a wedding venue in the early parts of the development. Yeah, everyone needs a place to stay. And if you were having a wedding in Cronulla, for example, and you had a bunch of relatives flying in, like there's not a lot of places for them to stay. So, yeah, it's actually a very smart idea, which again, in my opinion, further cements us in this area that we are in the Shire

[00:43:36] because the NRL has such a vested interest in this. Yeah, we're not going anywhere. It's such a vested interest in the amount of teams that we've got and expanding versus contraction. But if you told us this 10 years ago, like he wouldn't have believed what the game is at and the money that's flowing through. So the fact that there's talk of a $20 million salary cap coming up in this next TV right still is just, it's hard to comprehend, but the players deserve it. So more power to all.

[00:44:03] So I'm not going to suggest that our Leagues Club will match the Pampers kind of Leagues Club of strength and money and even space, et cetera, because they have a really big, obviously, if you haven't been there, it's an amazing kind of complex. But that's the idea where we have, say, for example, the Storm Game, which I believe is almost sold out, the Storm Game in round 27.

[00:44:33] Now, that hotel, you'll be hard to get a room that night because there's a lot of people traveling for that game. It's a big event. Old boys. I would imagine a bunch of the old boys will be staying there, et cetera. But that's the idea. And then even if you take the footy away, say Josh is getting married, which is an out of the question, and Josh has – No, he's doing okay, Josh.

[00:45:01] Say he has his function down at Cronulla Leagues and it's in the outdoor thing with the pizza and with the cocktails and there's 100 of his friends and family there. Well, then 30 of them are going to need a place to stay at least, if not more. I will go – we'll just stay at the Quest. It becomes like a weekend thing or an overnight thing. And that's what Panthers is like because they've got concerts and wrestling and all sorts of things happening at Panthers. If you want to make a night of it, you just stay in the hotel there and it's a really good hotel.

[00:45:31] So that's – I'm not saying they're based on Panthers, but that's the same kind of idea. That's where we're going to be at. I'm just wondering. I know we used to host bodybuilding shows at the Leagues Club. There was some boxing events at the Leagues Club. There was wrestling. Yeah. So I don't know what the plans look like for the new Leagues Club, but I would hope that those sort of – There is a – Like what Panthers has? There is a – I don't know what the term is, but a hall, a forum. There's a place where there'll be a space, I believe. Yeah, good.

[00:46:00] But my favourite part of watching them on the news with PVL walking through it was when Dino was explaining like that area where we can overlook the field. And then he goes, and he gets some really nice sandwiches too when games aren't on. And just the fact that he said sandwiches, I'm like – Nothing's better than a sandwich, my friend. He could have said anything, but it was just sandwiches. And that really made me laugh because it's a very Leagues Club thing that you just think of some old punters sitting there having a sandwich and a coffee after playing the pokies.

[00:46:29] The late, great musician Warren Zevon said, enjoy every sandwich. And I've tried to make that part of my life. And if I can do that, sandwich is underrated. You're not thinking sandwich the way I'm thinking. You're thinking a cheese sandwich or something, which is fine. But I'm thinking a bit more. I'm thinking like when you go to like an RSL and they've got like – No, that's not a sandwich. Those ones that are like in the plastic and it's just – In the wrapping, yeah. That's not a sandwich. Yeah, it's not –

[00:46:58] I wouldn't – I'm not talking grandma's sandwich. With all our respect to our grandma's past and present, I'm not talking grandma's sandwich. I'm talking like gourmet. Look, does a sub count as a sandwich? Sure. Okay. Well, I mean that's a little bit different because I will eat – Any kind of bread counts as a sandwich. So a burger is a sandwich? It could be. I wouldn't personally call that, but it could be. I mean that's a stretch. That's a stretch. Well, I mean it's bread. It's a stretch though. I've taken that too far.

[00:47:28] But it doesn't have to be – No. It doesn't have to be your classic two bits of bread cut in half with a bit on there. There could be a lot more to a sandwich than that, my friend. I genuinely don't think I would have ordered more than five sandwiches outside of breakfast time. It was, you know, veggie bite on toast or like a ham and cheese toasty or something like that. I don't think I would have ordered more than five. There was a spot in North Sydney that used to do good steak sandwiches. That counts.

[00:47:58] And I reckon I probably had about five of it. Well, actually, no, then they opened up one at the Treehouse too. So I have them about 10 sandwiches I've probably ordered in my entire life because if you look at a menu, you see pizzas, you see snitties, steaks. Yeah, but what if you see – you're at Mr. Paisley's and they brought in the club sandwich about a year ago. It's pretty good. That's a sandwich, a club sandwich. See if I'm at Mr. Paisley's. They've got so many good options for food. Right. Unbelievable. What a place. What a place. If you want to see some Sharks players, head down to Mr. Paisley's. I'm sure there'll be a handful there right now. Yep.

[00:48:28] They're out and about. That's for sure. And they go there because it's the best in the business. South Sydney coming in town, Kieran. They're going to be missing Fafita. They're going to be missing Latrell. They're going to be missing Cam Murray. There's someone else they're missing as well. I can't think of it. But we'll get to those teams during the week. They've got Wayne Bennett. They've got a handy team. They're always pretty competitive. Yeah. Yeah. And I think there'll be more of a test than what Manly were, actually.

[00:48:57] I think that they'll probably go longer and harder. So, yeah. It's going to be a good one. I think it's 2 o'clock Sunday down at Ocean Protect. I think it might be Members Day as well. So, everyone's welcome if you're a member. And they throw a bit of a celebration for the members. But certainly, if you want to get your ticket. That was what I was going to say, Kieran, before about you talking about crowds and finals. And I'll mention the Melbourne game. But definitely a warning for everyone.

[00:49:22] If you're not a member, like a season ticket holder, and you want to go to a game and you think you're locked in, I'd buy a ticket now. Because nothing says, here come the Sharks and here come the Sharks fans, like finals. And whether you like it, whether you don't like it, whether it annoys you, whether it doesn't annoy you, whether you have feelings, you now have feelings. Because like every club in sport, when a team's going well, they get bigger crowds. And I'll leave it at that.

[00:49:52] But I love it too. No, it's all good for business. I love it. And I'm not judging anyone who comes to one game or 12 games. I don't care. Like you're on board. That's awesome. You're one of us. That's completely not judgment. My point is, I'd hate for someone who goes to every game and rocks up and gets a ticket on the day to rock up and travel. And they go, it's actually sold out. And it's going to happen. And Benny and I have been doing our 2016 series, which you were supposed to be a part of, but you dogged it earlier in the year.

[00:50:21] But now it's the Ben Harlem show. And let me just say, Ben Harlem absolutely stars in the 2016 recap. He's all over it. He does it. Like I do my research. He does his research. And we meet. And it's like, I'm like, it will be like five minutes covering this game. And it's like an hour and 10 minutes we're talking about what was available at Southern Cross Group Stadium, as it was known, on the hill. And we go to the very specific details.

[00:50:48] If you haven't seen it, it's the year that was, 2016 recap. We're up to round 10. We're a bit behind. We'll have to get a move on. But we have a lot of fun. My point is, the crowd's getting bigger every week. We're up to round 10. We just beat the Broncos. And the crowd's starting to come, my friend. And so that's what this year is happening. That's the same vibe. Whether you admit that or not, there is a vibe now. And we're only as good as your last win. Fitzy's already said we're going to calm the farm one game at a time. But we know our fans are already looking ahead.

[00:51:17] And I'm telling you right now, we've got a limited capacity. You don't want to be disappointed with not getting a ticket. So if you think you can go to a game, grab a ticket now. I'm happy to take complaints. I'm happy to try and help if there's spares or whatever. But I'm warning you all now, and I'm not the only one, the games are going to sell out. Yeah. And one of the happiest moments of my life was when the Sharks won the grand final. Won?

[00:51:45] Well, you know, getting married, having kids, that's definitely our favorite. No, no, no. That's above that. Well, I think I told Tafita the other day that it was actually the best moment of my life, but I can't really tell my family that. But the Sharks are my first ever love, right? And I will never forget being in the beer garden out the front of Homebush and just looking around. Ah, the sea. The sea. And I have never seen that many Sharks fans in my life. Yeah.

[00:52:15] And I have never felt that feeling. There's two times where I've felt that feeling. And it was not when the siren rang. Like, that was more of a relief. When we beat the Cowboys the week before, and there was like 35,000 Sharks fans, and like at halftime, everyone was chanting up, up Cronulla. And that place was rocking. Like, that was like being at a professional wrestling event or an Oasis concert. Like, it was a vibe. People stood up the whole game. Yeah.

[00:52:42] Honestly, like they were chanting up, up Cronulla in the toilets during the first half. Like, you remember, like, is it the Captain Cook Hotel that's around the corner from it? They were playing up, up Cronulla, like after every third song. And being the Sharks fans that we are, everyone's going, oh, don't play the song before the game. But like the whole pub was just singing up, up Cronulla. So we had the Shark Cast Pre was there, I believe. Or was it Captain Cook? Or was it the Clock? No, not the Clock. Cricket's Arms. Cricket's Arms. That was the one. Sorry. I went through all the pubs.

[00:53:11] I went to the Cricket's Arms for a little bit, and I remember the stench of the floor. And I was like, I've got to get out of this place. Stench of Newman. I remember afterwards, I've told this story a million times. I won't keep you long. Afterwards, we were going to meet back at the Cricketers. And I got there, and they were like, oh, bro, we're full. And I'm like, oh, okay. And then I got a message from, you know, someone from Dyson Logistics or someone.

[00:53:37] And they were like, hey, we're going to the Golden Barley, which is our hometown as music people and inner westies. I was like, oh, okay, cool. And I was on a high. So I just jumped in a cab and went straight there. And Newman was watching me going, he's met me going, what are you doing? We're all having the post-game party in here. And I said, brother, I can't get into my own party. I'm going to the Golden Barley. And so we went to the Golden Barley, and it was like Kane from Dyson Logistics was Craig Morbeers, one of the biggest Sharks fans in the world.

[00:54:05] And there was a group of like maybe 10 of us. And it was really quiet that night. The Golden Barley was like maybe 11 o'clock. And we just sat there and we were like, holy shit, we're going to the grand final. I swore twice. Anyway, go on. I was just saying like just that sea of Sharks fans at Homebush that next week when before the game started. And that's when that nerve started to kick in. It was like, well, someone's going to lose today. And at that point, it never entered my brain because I was on such a high from actually making a grand final and all that stuff.

[00:54:34] So I guess the message that I'm trying to get out there is if you missed out in 2016 attending some of these games, like do your best to try and get to some of these ones as the vibes pick up. And I'm not saying we're going to make a grand final or anything like that. But if this team does what we think they can do over the next five, six weeks and we have a chance to go deep in the finals, there is no feeling like it. I know as Sharks fans, we're always hesitant and say, I don't want to get my hopes up because I've been let down so many times before.

[00:55:03] And I've been there when we got beaten by the Storm by 40 points. I've been there when the Warriors knocked us out in 2002. Like I've been there at these games where they haven't gone our way. But when they do go our way, there's nothing like it. Bit dramatic on the Storm game, mate. It was only 20 points, 28 points. Oh, that was terrible, mate. That was like 40. It was the whole week though because we lost like Blake Green. You lost like Brett Seymour.

[00:55:29] You had the Greg Bird incident a few weeks before it and then they were saying, well, maybe we'll get back to play. So on your point, your point is Ben Harlem and I are doing the 2016 recap and we're like, we're at this game. Oh, we couldn't make this game because it was mum's birthday. But we remember where we were. So like we remember stuff about that year, right? You want to be part of that this year when they go on to win the big dance. There you go. There's a big dance reference. Last dance reference.

[00:55:58] You want to go. I was at the Souths game on the Sunday afternoon where they won by however much and this happened. And then I got a hot dog and then I saw Kieran. And, you know, like you want to do that if you can, if you can afford it, if you have the time, if you have the luxury, you want to get there. The point is don't miss out on a ticket. You don't want to be missing out on a ticket. Well, I remember the last year when we played Souths and it was a Sunday game and it was just a great vibe because Souths have a lot of supporters and they'll turn up to this game too. So it won't just be 100% Sharks fans. No.

[00:56:28] But just on your Ben series, what food was he talking about on the Hill? Because I remember, I can't remember what season it was, but there was like a Little Caesars pizza place. Yeah. We talk about Little Caesars, brother. Yeah. It was unreal. Like bring it back. And I remember, I think during COVID, I think that's what shut those guys down. So they're no longer here. But I just remember, and I remember asking somebody about this and they, and it might have been you that told me this, but apparently they were cooking the pizzas in the shop. And then delivering them to the ground at like 20, 30 at a time.

[00:56:57] And they're just selling it. That, that, that happened at some point. I can't confirm if that was a weekly thing or it was a one-off and the oven was broken. Like it happened once at least. What we can confirm though is at the end of the game, they would give away the leftovers, so to speak. So they had a bunch pre-cooked or whatever they cooked, you know, they cooked 50 in the last 20 minutes and thought they'd sell them. And they just hand them out because why not? Generous souls. But the people on Beer Hill in particular caught onto this scam.

[00:57:25] And so Ben Harlem, for example, you know, innocent Ben Harlem, you know, the, the, you know, he, he prides himself on the way he looks and the way he carries himself. And he would, he and his mates would wait until full time and then have the pizzas at full time celebrating 2016. The free seat, little Caesars pretty much sent him out of business. And he admits that as well. But that was a thing because I remember even one time, I don't know what I was doing over there, but I remember getting a free little Caesars pizza at one point.

[00:57:54] I remember that year I got under the ET stand, they were giving out like chicken tenders and chips. And I remember there was one of my friends I saw and he was absolutely six sheets to the wind. You could barely walk. And he was just covered in mustard eating free chicken tenders. And I was just like, what a great day. Great day out. I'm sure that fellow remembers that. There was talk of, well, we couldn't work it out when the Toasty van was first there.

[00:58:22] Was that 2016 or was that a bit later? I think the Toasty man might have been a little bit later, but his stint wasn't as memorable as say the hot dog guy that's there now who does the spicy, spicy bratwurst. He's been there now for years. Yeah. Yeah. So we equated, well, the only reason we put the Toasty man in there was because when Lyle Gorman came in, he brought in the whole food truck idea and the whole, it's a festival kind of vibe, the Western Wanderers thing, which is a positive thing.

[00:58:52] And we thought maybe he is attached to that, the Toasty guy. But I know Andrew Voss will be able to tell me because that's his favorite eating establishment was the Toasty man. Well, I remember when Gorman came on board, he reached out to a few people that were online presence at the Cronulla Sharks fan group, right? And he added me to like a private Facebook group. And then he invited me to go to a Wanderers game, like on a bus with all these Sharks people and all that type of stuff. But I wasn't living in the area at the time, so I didn't end up going.

[00:59:21] But that was a very different time where the club was, again, being this little engine that could try to like anything we can do to improve. And here we are 10, 11 years later, and we're still doing that. You know, we're talking to different governments. We're talking to the NRL. We're getting the links, but finally finished. Like to be the team that's won the second most amount of games in the last five years for the resources that we have and the money that we have versus the Broncos, the Storms, Souths.

[00:59:50] Like this is a club that you can be so proud of. And I've got a lot of mates that are Tigers fans. I lived in the area for a long time. My family were Tigers fans. And what they've gone through for the last decade plus is just absolutely unheard of. And you think back as Sharks fans, like we've had a couple of rough periods. But if we went through a period like what the Tigers are going through, we would be bankrupt because we don't have the ability to prop ourselves back up.

[01:00:16] So the fact that the people that put all their time and energy into this club to make it what it is, we deserve a effing stadium. We deserve some nice things because nobody has done more with less than this club. Dan Ganane says it at the end of the grand final. And we put the stinger on a little bit throughout a few episodes. And I usually save it for special occasions. But he says, you know, they went broke in the 80s. They had a broke in the 90s. They lost grand final in the 70s. They had drug scandal.

[01:00:45] Like he goes through it all. And he says something like, has any team ever in the history of club football ever gone through such turmoil and then done this? And he said no. And it's an amazing. I think he'd pre-written it. It was an amazing thing at the end of the grand final. But it's so true. And we wouldn't be around. And, you know, I talk about 2009 to 2011 being like, you know, unbearable. And I talk about 2014 being unbearable. And it was. We were all there. It was unbearable.

[01:01:15] Yeah. But at the same time, at least it was sort of jam-packed and we got it over and done with. This other mob that you'd spoken about, like that's – I mean, Kiri said on Fox yesterday, he said, they're probably losing their two starting halves. That could set you back five or six years. It's like, whoa. Well, and even like that period that you referenced. I remember 2009. Like that was so bad. And so it was 10 and 11.

[01:01:42] But there was a huge loss streak in there that we didn't win a game until Tim Smith turned up. Fun fact, Tim Smith actually was with one of my ex-girlfriends. And I didn't know that until we were at the game. She took me to that game. It was like a birthday present. She was like, oh. And I was like, what? But so anyway, I digress. So what about this? We had Alex call in yesterday. I think it was his first time. But he said he's a regular on the Team List Tuesday episodes. He corresponds a lot. Alex, great young guy. He was at the game. You can go watch it, Kiri.

[01:02:10] I might try and clip it up, put it on the socials. He was at the game. And my whole thing about post-game show since day one, since 2015, is I want people to call in after the show. So from anywhere, like everyone's welcome. But I love the fact that someone was at the game and they call in. That's kind of the idea. And Alex called in from his car. He had a great jersey on. And because he was a little bit younger than, say, for example, you and I, I was sort of asking very politely, oh, when did you start? And I think he sort of was 0-3-0-4.

[01:02:39] But his first game was the Tim Smith game. His first game in the flesh was the Tim Smith game. We mentioned it last night on the show. Yeah. And that broke a huge loss streak. And so if you're a young Charks fan and you get to see that in person, that sticks with you. It was a wet, rainy night. There was like probably 3,000, 4,000 people there. Night or afternoon? Night or afternoon? Maybe it was like a 5.30 game or something like that. Because I remember the field goal at the end, I thought was at night. Okay. I've killed a lot of brain cells between now and then anyway.

[01:03:06] If I was taking a guess, I thought it was either 2 or 4 o'clock. But I could be horribly wrong. It could be one of those 5 o'clock. Yeah, I could be wrong on that one too. It doesn't matter. We don't need emails about it. We'll look it up. Don't worry about it. But the point is, so we went through that bad period. But then there was some hope. Like 2012, I think that's the year we started signing Wade Graham and Fathita. Made the finals 2012, 2013. Yeah. In 2013, we started out Bo Ryan. And then obviously Kane's kind of crashing down in 2014. In 2015, you get Ben Barber. He's Steve Maloney the next year with Ennis. That was short.

[01:03:36] We've been able to recycle and rebuild and retool, even in the 90s when there was some bad years there. Like 95 rolls around. We're deep in the finals against Manly. Grand final, 97. Minor Prepper is 99. Yeah, there's always something. It feels like there should be a movie about this club. And there are some stories that haven't even made it out there in the public that I'm sure one day might not. But my point is... I think I told you. Did I tell you one story that I can't tell anyone? Did I tell you that one? Yes. Oh, geez.

[01:04:05] But again, compare us to other NRL clubs. There is stuff that has gone on for years and years. We should not be here. The NRL has tried to remove us in the 80s. When all that stuff around expansion was happening, the club had the foresight to join Super League. Think what you want about Super League, right or wrong. Love Super League. We would not be here today if we did not take that. Look at what happened to the Bears. Look at what happened to Manly, Tigers, etc. Greg Harvey wouldn't let us win a grand final in the 70s. It's documented.

[01:04:35] It's insane. And the fact that this club with no resources, it's actually a credit to the area. Because players want to live in this area. You know, Oz, you reminded me about that before, about the resources. And I always kind of like skim over that in my head when we talk about it. But as someone who admittedly is blessed to be around the inner circle in a little way, but in a bigger way than a bunch of our listeners. And I'm blessed to do that and pass it on to you guys and girls.

[01:05:06] It's starting to dawn on me. The resources is not where it kind of needs to be. Now, don't get me wrong. They're professional. Yes. The staff are professional. We have gear. We have gym gear. We have everything we need. Let me say that. We have everything we need. So no alarm bells. But when you see the West Tigers center of excellence, when you see the Dragons, when you see all these clubs, I go, I can confirm we don't have, for example, that space or it doesn't look that way.

[01:05:36] Again, I'm not talking down what we have. But it is very, excuse the term, workmanlike. It is very meat and potatoes. But the fact you've got a hell of a coach, great staff around them, from sports science to physios to assistant coaches to the head coach, it's the people that make it. It's the people that make it. Now, I'm not saying that we don't want that center of excellence. I'm not saying that it won't be helpful.

[01:06:05] Of course it'll be helpful. On our Shark Cast text list, which we haven't included you on because I'm scared you're going to abuse everyone and no one will ever talk to me again. But, for example, Clinton is really adamant that it can influence players coming here or not, depending on the environment of what the club has. And people like Josh fight back and go, no, no, it's about the people who are there and what we can do with it. And I lean towards that.

[01:06:35] But Clinton's not wrong saying that, like, you know, if someone's used to this kind of wealth of excellence, the Broncos, say Paddy Carrigan comes down to the Sharks, he's in for a surprise at the very least. That doesn't mean he's not going to sign with us. He probably will. But it's a different environment, my man. And the fact that they keep – and Riccio says it a lot – the fact they just keep rising above, it says a lot about the heart and soul of the Sharks, man. It really does. I'm pumped up, Kieran.

[01:07:05] He's talked about this in the past and he said a 20 kilo weight is a 20 kilo weight. And Chad Townsend talked about this too on his podcast. And Chad sort of said it's part of the identity of the Sharks. Like, we don't have the nicest things. We don't care. Like, we'll outwork and we'll outperform everybody else. Now, that gives us an identity. That is why we don't go through those other periods. And I'm not saying it's never going to happen where we're going to have bad years, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:07:30] But when you look at the fact that some of our players go do ice baths at local gyms and local facilities and they get, like, free sessions to post it on their Instagram because we don't have ice baths at the Shark Park, right? Now, I know they can put ice in the bins and that's old school. They can do it. But when you go and see, like, the West Tigers Centre of Excellence and they've got a sauna, they've got ice baths, like, recovery is there. With a lot of our recovery, the guys are having to do a lot of this stuff themselves. But they buy into it.

[01:07:57] And so you look at – let's use the Brisbane example. If Payne Haas was to come on the open market and then tour our facilities compared to what he's got at Brisbane, it's going to play into his decision-making, right? Not saying he would say no, but then you look at someone like a Fanuel Blake. Fanuel Blake has a history of growing up in some tough environments and sort of saying, I'll make this work. And that's the type of player that you get in that DNA. I'm not saying Payne Haas wouldn't make it work,

[01:08:26] but you get guys that aren't fazed by this stuff that are like, you know what? I want to buy into this and, like, I don't care if it's a bit dingy and that. Like, I'm in. And that's why when you get those players to your club, you don't – I'm sure we've had players that have turned up at the Sharks and were like, this is terrible. Like, I've got to get out of here. But I don't think that's happened in the last sort of decade or so because of the environment that, again, will give Flano a lot of credit for this. That hard-working environment where, you know, he's told this story many times.

[01:08:53] He's building a boxing ring for us and picking it up for us from Wollongong or something like that. So the scrappiness of it is so key to our identity, and that's what's going to get us across the line this year, I think. Ooh, yeah. Things are going good. Now, I know people are listening and watching going, you guys need to calm the farm. Well, I've already had a coffee from Mr. Paisley. Kieran's probably had a coffee as well. We're enjoying the winning streak. He and I just love talking nonstop about whether it's the X-Files or whether it's Shane Flanagan, which sometimes can be related to the two,

[01:09:23] or whether it's Fitzgibbon. And we just love talking black, white, and blue. So go easy on us. We're not saying that it's a done deal. We're just loving where we're at, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think we should actually embrace it. We should enjoy it. You should enjoy it as people without me telling you how to live your life because we do get a lot out of this team when they win. Let's just make the most of it. I was so happy to watch a stress-free game yesterday. Stress-free. Loved it. I'm not someone, unlike your good self, I'm not someone who is weighed down by stress when I watch the Sharks,

[01:09:52] even when they're losing, it's just where I'm at in my life. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt. I'm not saying it doesn't feel bad things, but I don't, for example, react the way you do where you're like, this is it. I'm going to jump off this stand now. And I'm like, nah, nah, just wait. No, I'm not. They might score. They might score. So I am saying, though, enjoy it while you've got it because you don't know what's ahead. We're hoping it's good times. I'm sure it is good times. I'm just saying enjoy this moment. Let's not be, let's not find too much negativity here because there's actually not a lot around.

[01:10:21] We have to have expectations. We have to have expectations of a top four finish. We have to have expectations of trying to get a home final wherever that game will be played and going for a week off. And all that is within sight. And I will be the first person to sit on here and blow up if I see as bottle games, which in, I am a lifelong Sharks fan. I know that we have that in us. But see, I was going to say when 2016 came and October 2nd came

[01:10:51] and it was 9.50 p.m. or whatever the time was and the clouds just drifted away, man. Lutelli made the tackle. The clouds drifted away and it was sunshine at ANZ Stadium at 10 o'clock at night. We don't talk about that anymore. You can talk about it. Our thousands of listeners can talk about it. But I'm going to say it's not a thing. There's no bad luck. You make your own luck because 2016 proved that is possible.

[01:11:18] So now when you say we've been here before, brother, that's true. But I don't care about that. I was there in 2016 and we did the impossible. So now nothing is impossible. What makes me feel good about this team, and it has been the knock on this team, it's the fact that we've been connected for a very long time and been together for a very long time. And this same group of players, injury permitting, have gone down to Melbourne for a pre-limb before. They've gone to play Penrith in a pre-limb before. You take a lot out of those games.

[01:11:48] And the experience that Braley and Fennel Blake and the core are getting at Origin Level 2, I've been saying for a couple of years, we need big games for our players to play in. And this is starting to now get to the point where we can come up against some of these teams. They haven't played in these big games. And you saw it last year with Canberra. Canberra were minor premiers. They went out in straight sets because they hadn't had that experience there. You saw it with the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have not won a finals game under Serraldo, I believe. I'm just going to say that anyway. But they haven't been in those big games.

[01:12:18] And we saw it the first few years of Fitzy where we were still, like Nico Hines was in his first season as a halfback, wins Daly M. And the expectation is he wins the comp up against Penrith, who is one of the greatest teams that we've ever seen, especially in that year. So now we've been through a lot of this stuff. And I look at this and I sort of say, we know what we've got. The players know each other. I feel like there's a real opportunity for us to go deep here. And three months ago, you can go back and pull up the episodes here.

[01:12:46] I was not saying these things because I wasn't seeing this effort and the commitment. The fact that we are defending so well and these games, like yesterday, we're actually kicking out and not doing the things that we've done in the past where we'll just make the last 20 minutes, absolutely a nightmare to watch with drop balls and kicks out and et cetera. We're actually putting points on the board and we're defending well. This is the best I've seen the Sharks look in a very long time. So another question for another time, but keep it in your memory bank.

[01:13:15] Is this the best we've looked under Fitzgibbon? So let's save that for another time. Yeah. Now we've got to get going. Appreciate your time, Kieran. I was going to say something on the back of all that, but it's disappeared from my big brain, which has lots of space in there as well, unfortunately. So we'll talk to you again soon. We'll see you down at Ocean Protect on Sunday, two o'clock kickoff. Stay tuned for any other news about that on the Shark Cast, as Luke Lewis calls us.

[01:13:44] We're on the socials at Shark Cast pod. We're on everywhere else. The, the listening devices, the watching devices. So make sure you subscribe. It's free. Just hit subscribe or follow whatever the particular word is. Try to make us laugh in a comment. Yeah. We love all that. And we appreciate it. Yeah. The best comment. If someone can make Sam laugh with the best comment, Sam's going to get the Adam Fenua Blake haircut. If I got the Adam Fenua Blake haircut, that would make someone laugh.

[01:14:14] It would make me laugh. It would make me laugh. And I will pay for your Uber to Parramatta. Oh yeah. I got to say, I, I, at one of the media calls this week, I saw him with it. And of course I did a double take. It's so good. I forgot to tell you about it. I actually took a photo from a distance. I was going to say it to you. I just forgot, got caught up or whatever. And I forgot all about it. And then when I saw him on telly, I was like, oh yeah, he's got the. The jeans.

[01:14:43] And then he put up on his story saying, lucky I'm not 12 years old and give us something about what people think about me. So obviously he's copped an absolute hammering, but I actually think it looks good. The majority of stuff I saw was actually pretty positive. Yeah. He looks so intimidating with that. Imagine saying something bad about Fnual Blake and then thinking you're going to get away with it as well. Wow, mate. I think it looks outstanding. I think it's the best haircut ever soon. And also, interviews with going around the sheds. If you haven't seen that,

[01:15:11] jump on the Instagram page where he's going up to all the ballies. It's hilarious. It's one of the great sharp interviews of all time. They're on a winner there. That's for sure. All right, Kieran, we'll talk to you another time. Appreciate you, my friend. Everyone else, Shark Us Pod will be around this week. So stay tuned. And it's been a ball as usual, Kieran. So busy with the shark news and thoughts that we're not even going to get to. I mentioned the X-Files and Shane Flanagan. That's about it. We'll talk to you another time, my man. And let's go out with a bit of a,

[01:15:41] let's go out with a bit of a song. We'll see you later. Up, up Cronulla. We rule the world. Don't you forget about it. We are the greatest team in the history of the world. Sharkies! Sharkies! Back in the shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.

[01:16:13] 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 Karembar 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. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[01:16:42] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. the video is on the podcast. So if you want to like to check this video, It's just a few minutes to show you an audio. I'm going to leave a video.