Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla (28/4/26)

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[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome, welcome, welcome to SharkCast, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This is Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla a little bit later in the day today, so not much coffee flying around. But if it was, it'd be straight from Mr. Paisley's in North Caring Bar. And this show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the legends of the Royal Mojo Club in Port Hacking, and Jason Hawes at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate.

[00:01:29] All we do is surround ourselves with legends, and here comes one now, Mr. Kieran Fraser. How are you, my friend? What's going on? It's a little bit later in the week, but a bit of a public holiday. It's in the afternoon. Like, I'm all discombobulated, but really looking forward to seeing what the team lists look like when they come out later on today, mate, because hoping for something after that weekend. Correct.

[00:01:56] So as a spoiler, we're doing this a couple of hours before the team lists and a couple of hours after I've been down doing media stuff. So whenever you listen to this, just keep that in mind. We won't speculate too much about team changes if there are any, etc. So Sharks lose to the North Queensland Cowboys. I think the score was like a million to nine hundred and fifty five thousand or something. And wasn't a pleasant game for anyone. I don't even think for the Cowboys to be fair.

[00:02:25] Just the way people are talking about it, you know, a week later, everyone's just like, oh, that game was a bit on the nose. So not a lot of defense, unfortunately, but hey, we can score points. We didn't give up. I like all that stuff. But yeah, there's something going on with the defense. Kieran, our coach came out and said in the press conference after the game, it was more attitudinal than anything else. Do you believe this to be true from where you are sitting?

[00:02:51] It was funny because I got a text message from a Roosters fan during that game and he said, your team looks so egotistical out there. Oh, he was talking about how our team was defending at the time. And, you know, this is, you know, somebody that I respect their opinion on the game and basically how they called it out. They sort of said about just not working for each other, not doing things in the middle and just really were quite harsh on us. And that was, to be fair, before the floodgates opened.

[00:03:18] And it's been a few times this year that the floodgates have opened. And again, it's just such a momentum thing at the moment with the way the game is refereed and also with how the fan bases are feeling. And every loss feels like it's the worst loss ever. But personally, I will say that that loss was very high up there on my annoyance charts. Put it that way. Oh, disappointing. Definitely. And fans have every right to sort of feel however they want to feel. I will say this.

[00:03:46] We've conceded 20 points or more in the past six weeks and we're getting up to top five in club history. If you believe in those kind of streaks, some people might just laugh at that. It's just a number. I get it. But conceding 20 points or more in a game isn't great. Do it six weeks in a row. Not fantastic. Tell me more about this thing that your friend said though, because what does it look like to be full of ego when you're defending? Does that mean you don't want to put in the dirty work to the hard yards? What does that mean?

[00:04:16] Well, I haven't quizzed him too much on it. But at the time when I was watching the game and then just watching how quickly we were disintegrating in certain aspects of our defense, I was trying to put my finger on and sort of say, well, where is the issue? And you know, we, you and I have spoke about this off camera as well. It's really hard to kind of pinpoint it, but you know, talking with a few other people around the place, there's some suggestions that we are such a structured defense and we don't move players once they get into certain spots,

[00:04:45] which leaves our middle very vulnerable. And if you look at a lot of those tries that the Cowboys scored, they just kicked down our front door. And we've said for years when we get games where things don't go so well for us, it's because teams go straight through our middle and it's not ideal. And our middle should be one of our strengths with the roster that we've got and the fact that we have 700 props under contract in a 30 man squad. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's the heat. I don't know if it's the travel, but you know, coming off a buy as well,

[00:05:12] I would have expected to see a little bit more energy, especially considering how disappointing we were before the buy and how that all transpired as well. Now you talk about the middle, but when I'm watching this, I see the edges and I understand it starts from the middle. I get that. I get how it all works, but man, both edges, really not on their game. And it came early in the Cowboys game and it didn't stop throughout. And it was both sides. It wasn't like one individual.

[00:05:40] There was sort of four that come to mind at least, if not six through on either side. And that's what I was most concerned with. Well, we've kind of painted ourselves in a box here as a club because we've sort of said for a while that Siffer shouldn't really be defending out wide. And we saw some of those reasons where he had a really young and speedy Chester. Was it Mark Applechester, was he? Or Purdue? He was up on Purdue. Yeah, they're one of the same. Yeah.

[00:06:08] And, but basically, you know, a lot of speed getting in around looked great when we had the ball, but when we didn't have the ball did not, you know, work so right. And then the Haradi side of things as well, not his best game on the wing, but it also wasn't his Coggera level worst game ever. But again, I think if you're moving all of these pieces around, right? And Katoa goes back to the Jets and, you know, you might have some more news on this, but apparently he's picked up a knock as well. So maybe Haradi is going to stay there.

[00:06:34] But then you look at it and you go, well, how often have Haradi and Siffer defended next to each other? And automatically that kind of got exposed and wasn't looking great. So this is why we've been hesitant to make some changes in the past. But I feel like if you've made that call on Katoa and you've dropped Katoa the week before, there's certainly some guys that were defending out wide for us that you would be dropping as well. And so I know I was complaining about the middle, but I've also got some problems with how that was all constructed on the edges as well.

[00:07:03] So there's a lot of work to do this week because the edges of the Tigers are really good this year. Why is no one talking except for some people, us, about KL's defensive deficiencies? I can't even say it. I'm so shocked. He's been the best center defending last year in the world and this year way, way, way off his game. He's had some good games in defense, but boy, he's had some bad ones.

[00:07:31] He was as big a problem as anyone out there without wanting to be that guy for one-on-ones at the very least. And I understand it's not just, I understand they work as a team, but he was not himself. Yeah, it was funny because earlier in the game as momentum was kind of going away and we were looking all right, he did a really great play in defense and really shot out of the line and rocked somebody. And I was like, oh, that's got KL's back in that defensive mindset.

[00:07:58] And then there were some players that followed that where it was kind of like it was a different person that was defending there. Right. So I don't know if that's a communication thing, but there has been some movement with our back rowers. But again, I wouldn't expect it's the same three callback rowers that are rotating between those sort of spots with injuries. You know, one week, uh, Nekora was out and was Wilton and Burns. The next time Burns and Wilton are playing. So I don't know if that's got something to do with the communication aspect of it.

[00:08:24] You also lost a great communicator in Ronaldo out wide as well, who would be talking with those guys and keeping KL in with him. Um, and then usually it's Ronaldo that cops all of the criticism around his defense. Right. So there's a lot going on there, Sam. And I just, I'm really interested to see how we plan on attacking that problem with the lack of communication that we seem to have had in the middle and on the edges.

[00:08:52] And the fact that we did make a call with Katoa, who got dropped for a stinker of a game in Perth, are we going to see that again? And then you see that, does that compound? Do you know where I'm getting at? Because that press conference from Fitz was kind of as direct as he gets. And a lot of people were calling that they, you know, wanted to see more anger and all that type of stuff. But if you read between the lines, that's a very disappointed person who was not happy.

[00:09:17] Yeah. He should be, he should be. And, uh, he's copped a lot of flack as well this week and, you know, rightly wrong, wherever you stand on that kind of thing. And it gets back to the, I guess the question, and there's a beautiful question that someone was asked, which we'll save for the flagship, but essentially it's like, is it attitude or is it structural? And you don't have to answer that right now. We'll dip into that during the week, but something for people to think about. And I'd love to hear their thoughts. They had to get in touch with us for the main show during the week.

[00:09:43] But, uh, yeah, the, the thing with KL and Sifa though, they had great games in offense. Their attack was great, you know, hat tricks and line breaks and tries. So we matched them in a lot of departments, uh, but just defensively all over the park, to be fair, that there weren't, there weren't too many great channels of that field where they were locking it up.

[00:10:07] So I can't explain it off the by two weeks to prepare. Yeah. There's a little bit of change in the side. I get that. I thought one thing that was really telling from the coach in that press conference was he said the combat and I'm, I'm paraphrasing the compass, the combinations maybe didn't work as well as he thought they would, or they should, whatever he said. And I feel like that was a direct communication to both sides of center and wing.

[00:10:35] Maybe he means something else, but I felt that's what I thought of when he said that. Well, yeah. I mean, that's where my mind instantly goes, but now that you've said it, I kind of go back to Trindle and Nico. Now I thought Nico had a really good game. Yeah. I thought Trindle was pretty quiet and I thought Trindle was very quiet a little bit this season because when he's on, he's absolutely spectacular and we look great. But when he hasn't been there and I feel like the noise always goes to Nico.

[00:11:03] And I just think that that combination didn't really work as well as it could because I don't know why I'm criticizing our attack. We scored 34 points. That should have been enough. Absolutely. It's not the issue that we lost it. But again, I'm just thinking here, maybe it's the communication from our halves and our centers in defense. I'm not quite sure because there's a lot of moving parts that we've got there. But again, it's going to come back to how do we get ourselves out of this? And I am a person that likes to see some sort of change.

[00:11:30] And I was excited to see how Sifo could go against Purdue and Sifo got two tries early and looked really strong. And I was thinking, okay, this works. But the combination with Haradi was kind of what dissolved that because as soon as there was a little bit of adversity, those, that combination kind of went to custard and we just were leaking points. Like there was no tomorrow. Like tries off a scrum, I think was one of my memories, right? That's acceptable. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:02] With Haradi, I think, you know, we know that wing is not his strength. We know he's much better center, even fullback. Wing is not his strength. Now I understand why they threw him in. It was injuries. It was dropping guys. I get all that. It'd be interesting to see what happens moving forward with that should he be required. But, you know, some things keep in mind that we're pretty confident Michael Gabriel would have played in the centers if he was not injured.

[00:12:31] So Ronaldo's back in three or four weeks. There's a bit of hope there. Plus Jesse Ramion will be back as well sooner rather than later. So there is hope there as far as that side of things go. But even just generally speaking, I'm not going to blame the whole 46 points on four guys. It was a team effort. And, you know, speaking to some of the guys today at media, they, some, some blame, not blame, sorry.

[00:12:57] Some use the reason of the new style of football as, you know, really hard to defend against. Someone else didn't. And you'll hear that in the interviews out later on. So it's a bit of a mixed bag there. I'm a bit confused about what they think. And they're allowed to have individual thoughts. They don't have to think as one team, obviously. But obviously it's a factor. Like this new style of league is just silly and ridiculous. And it's a factor. And a couple of teams are going to prosper and a couple of teams won't. And we're definitely not.

[00:13:26] But even that aside, you got to be better. And, you know, I heard stuff about the referee and this kind of thing. It's like, I get all that. But I know you want to talk about penalties, which we will. I get that too. But at its core, the defense is not doing their job. That's, that's as plain as I can put it. Yeah. And it leads back into penalties and to fatigue.

[00:13:49] And if you're constantly getting pinged and you're constantly on the back foot, you are never going to be able to hold out that volume of attacking football that is being prioritized over the fence at the moment. And it's not just us struggling with it. You're seeing it with Melbourne. You're seeing it with the Bulldogs. And the real thing for me is, and we do want to touch on the penalties part. We were a team that was at the top of the penalties last year in terms of penalties given away and penalties awarded for.

[00:14:18] So this team has been at a high stake. We had the fewest penalties conceded last year is what you're saying. Yes. And now if you look at this year, we are the most penalized team in the competition. I think it's something, what was it? 25 that were negative in the negative. It sounds like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the next worst team is nine in the negative. Sorry. So when I'm talking negatives, I'm talking about, well, if you get two penalties, you go up by two. If you then lost three penalties, your score would be minus one.

[00:14:47] So we're minus 25 and the next worst team is minus nine. So however way you want to cut that, that's 2.5 times worse, you know, like then the next closest team. Now the flip side of that is the team that is the most positive on this chart is the Warriors. And they, I think theirs is plus like 30 or something like that. So it's like a 55 penalty, like swing there. And did we, did we work out last year they were the most penalized team?

[00:15:16] So last year, the score in terms of penalties given away was the Sharks were number one. We gave away the least and the Warriors were number two. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Yeah. So now the Warriors are sitting there and everyone's saying, well, they've, they're playing, you know, good football. That could be a good season for them. And they were defending like we were defending because of the way the penalty counts would suggest based off last year. And now we're all the way at the bottom, but they're still at the top. So I don't know if that's to do with our interpretations of the rules.

[00:15:44] I know we had the referee down on the week last week to do some training stuff. Yeah. I guess it snowballs. But when I watch this team like we do, I don't think of ill discipline. Oh yeah. We can give away a penalty. Absolutely. And we can give us give away a silly penalty, but I don't see us giving away like the same thing over and over again. And I think you or someone else pointed out in our past week that it's not one player.

[00:16:13] Every player is like giving away like two penalties or something. So it's not like one guy. I think there is. I think Blake might be the most penalized, but it's not like one area of the field, one person giving away the penalties. It's like across the board and it all adds up. Yeah. So that would suggest it's not like the one problem. Well, but to me, what that suggests is we are constantly on the back foot when it comes to momentum and we happen to do things around the plateable and all type of stuff to get our line set.

[00:16:40] And again, we're getting pulled apart because we keep conceding these penalties, six, six against, and we're not able to get into an arm wrestle and a dogfight. And the issue for us is we are a team that tends to drop their lollies. And when I say that, I mean, we will get to a certain point in the game. And often it's at the 60 minute mark when we're probably up by 20 or 30, where we just start giving away silly penalties and stop playing football and shut off.

[00:17:06] But also when things go against us, we're not really that team that fights and gets it back. And we spoke the other week where we're more confident chasing points or holding a lead. And I say, well, I guess chasing, but we saw on the weekend, like even that and the week before, we're not good chases at the moment either. So I think we need a lot of resiliency to get ourselves through this period because we've not won a penalty count since August, right? But we've won games since August. So what was looking for us in those games?

[00:17:34] That's the thing because against the Warriors the other week, and I think you and I were there together, didn't we lose the penalty count like 10-1, but we won the game by 20 or whatever? Absolutely. Right. So again, in that game, what was different there and the Warriors have looked so good and going back on that penalty metric, the Warriors are the most plus team and we're the worst scoring team. And the Warriors still got a 10-1 penalty count against us. So I don't know what's going on. I don't know who's annoyed people at the NRL, but I am blaming Josh.

[00:18:04] Yeah. I mean, Jardy and his ex NRL as well. Maybe there's a bit of a few ghosts there or something. Maybe some bad blood when he left or something. Maybe I don't know. He's such a sweet guy. How could anyone not like Jardy? Now, what horrified me most was the 20 to 40 minute mark in that game. The second quarter, if you will. And just, I think we considered four straight in that period. And that's where the game was lost. And I give the team a lot of credit for hanging in there.

[00:18:34] They got back within two points, I think, was it at one point? So they hung with them. They just couldn't hang with them defensively. But something happened in that 20 to 40 minute mark. And, you know, someone pointed out to me that they don't think it's a fitness thing because, like, they're all professional athletes. Some of them are at the peak of their powers. Like, it's not, like, we're not mucking around down at training. Like, I see them doing fitness and they have a gym and, like, they're fit people. You know what I mean? So, I don't know, man.

[00:19:04] It's a problem. The only thing I can think of, Sam, is there has been a staleness around the Sharks for a while. And that is not necessarily a bad thing when you're winning, right? It's a lot of the same, same, right? So we've been defending in a certain way. We've been attacking in a certain way. We've essentially rolled out the same 20 players for, you know, I don't know the stats, but you could throw a number out there. Like, if I said to you, we've used the same 20 players.

[00:19:33] It's five years for Fitzy now, 50-year, and you'd throw in a few for Bomber for a bunch of these guys. Yeah. So, like, even just going back to the last three seasons, there's probably only a quarter of 24, 25 players that we've actually used, right? Yeah, for sure. And if I was to say, of the 60 games in the last three years, 53 has been the same 17, right? That wouldn't seem like an outrageous stat based off what we've seen. Now, it might be wildly different. It might not. But have teams worked this out?

[00:20:00] Have teams worked out the buttons to push on the Sharks? Because it's been the same sort of knocks on us for a long time. And we got a sugar hit with Fenua Blake coming last year. But he's really been the only sort of fresh outsider and the only attempt to kind of change the style of what we're doing, right? So I don't necessarily think that it's a lost cause yet. I still think they can put it together and work out a way to get it going. I think we've got enough great pieces there.

[00:20:26] But right now, there just seems to be a bit of a, we're going against the Sharks. We know they'll be tough, but we know if we can do these certain things, we'll get them. And they won't come back. Yeah, but I think that is more on us than the opposition. Because you can say, yeah, okay, they play a particular brand of attack and defense. I get it. Yeah, for sure. But if we play to the best of our abilities with those attack and defense, we're a top four team. We know this. We might even be higher than that. We might be the third best team.

[00:20:58] Maybe the second without Melbourne there, if at our peak and our power. So I put it more on Cronulla than the Tigers coming to town going, well, we know they're going to do this play and that play. We know if we hang with them. We know at halftime, if they're losing, they don't like coming back then. Like there's a lot of, you know, records there, stats there. We know all these things about the Sharks. But it's up to the Sharks just to go baloney to that. Let's get in the second half and play well. Let's hold our defense in the second quarter of the game.

[00:21:29] Unlike last week against the Cowboys, we considered four. Like there's easy enough ways to stop it, even with the PVL ball. So I'm with you. I don't think it's like end of world stuff, but there are some patterns creeping in, which I'm not happy about. I think the concern for me is if we are at a point where you're saying it's on us to change that because teams might have worked us out in that sense. Where is he going to come from?

[00:21:57] Because I look at the one to 17 that we've got. That's pretty much locked in. There's a few moving pieces, but for the most parts, our hook is going to stay the same. Our spine is going to stay the same. Will Kennedy was probably our best on the weekend. He's the person you move, but it's just not going to happen. Is there a circuit breaker in moving Trindle? But then who are you going to put in at six? And are they at that level of what we need? Because we're trying to go for a top four spot as crazy as that sounds right now.

[00:22:23] So I guess my concern is who is it going to be at the Sharks is going to change that. We did see a little bit when Ken McInnes came off the bench and did a really good tackle, forced an error. So the hope in my world, and I have a saying in my job that hope is not a strategy. And if people say that they get in a lot of trouble with myself when we do our things. But the big one is you get Ken back in there. You get Ronaldo back in there. You get your swagger back and you get on the front foot because Ronaldo,

[00:22:53] when he comes back into this team, he's going to be expecting to beat his opposition player in every single metric of the game. Right? So I think we need that confidence and that sort of boost because right now, the same people that we're putting out there every week, I just don't see that spark coming from them. No, I completely agree. So I think that, sure, still chasing top four. It's not out of the realms yet. We're four points off the lead. Like all okay there as long as we start winning. Right?

[00:23:21] I don't see, you know, for example, you mentioned Trindle. If you replace him with Pollard next week, I don't see that as a thing. Like Pollard needs a year. He's going great in lower grades. He needs a year at least, at least I have to say. And also the upside of Trindle is he's amazing when he's on. So you persist with these guys this year only. You do rely on Cam to bring back the leadership, a bit of starch in the middle. The more weeks that go on, the longer he's going to play. I spoke to him today as a spoiler.

[00:23:51] You'll hear it later on in one of the episodes. He's going great. He's pumped. We spoke a little bit about contract stuff. It's not even really phasing him. He is obviously thinking about it, doing things, but he's all in. And if you've ever had one minute of time with Cam McInnes, or even if you haven't, if you've seen him on TV the way he plays, you know he's all in. Ronaldo is going to be the same as you said. That's where the enthusiasm comes from. However, yeah, we need the other guys to step up. And we've seen Kenny do it week in, week in, out.

[00:24:20] I don't care what anyone says at the moment. And I'm basing this on performance only. I'm not talking about bias to liking him or not listening to other people's complaints about him. I'm telling you, week in, week out, he's one of our best players. Now, if that's a problem for you, I appreciate that. But we need Nico, who was great last weekend, to be like that every week. We need Trindle to be great every week. And then we can have a run at top four and do some magical things.

[00:24:48] But if it's just going to be one guy at a time each game, and they're not 10 out of 10, then you're not going to necessarily reach the heights you want to reach. Now, how you get to that point, attitude-wise, I don't know. Like, it's a game of footy. Like, I have to believe they're up for it. I have a very privileged position where I get to see some part of their circle. And I'm telling you, they like each other. There's no hate there. They're fit.

[00:25:18] They're happy. They want to play. There's no kind of controversies that I'm aware of, at least within what I see. And there's just no excuses is my point. So I'm trying to paint a rosy picture. But also, my point is, there's no excuses. There's no, oh, but this guy doesn't like that guy. Oh, but this guy's injured and we don't know about it. Like, everything's okay. So it's on them to step up.

[00:25:43] I think of, though, mate, if we're trying to work out a realm of an excuse, and I don't like finding excuses because, to your point, get out there and fix it. And that's what we're supporting them and they're getting paid to do. But there's two things that I want to ask you. Do you think the amount of players that we have off contract is filtering into their performances and into the day-to-day preparations that we're seeing week to week? Now, they're all professionals and I'm not saying anything like that.

[00:26:13] But I'm just thinking, like, the worry, the stress. Like, the Will Kennedy situation was a great example. Last year, he blocked out all that noise, played unbelievable. But not everybody's like that, right? Yeah. So there's that part. And then also, we've spoken about the last dance a little bit and how it's this group's last call, but this group has not been able to get it done. They haven't actually been able to get to the grand final. So do you think now that we're starting to concede these penalties, things are starting to go against us, players are signing with other clubs?

[00:26:42] Do you think that could be playing into players' minds as well, where they're kind of like, this year is getting away from us in that sense? Great questions. I think my answer to most of it is no. So as far as preparation day-to-day, I don't think it's a thing because, I mean, they're not jet-setting the PNG at the moment. They're not doing all that kind of stuff. They're entitled to do whatever they want on their off days. Absolutely.

[00:27:11] I don't think the day-to-day prep's a problem. As far as playing performances, I mean, I can't actually answer it honestly because I don't know what they're thinking. But I would think, and anyone knows who's been in any kind of position of any employment, if you're under a lot of strain, a lot of stress, and you carry that with you, and like Will Kennedy could shut it off if you can't shut it off.

[00:27:38] So for example, in some of my line of work, if I couldn't shut that off, I'd be making a lot of errors and I'd be getting in a lot of trouble. Now, I don't really see it on the field necessarily. You could maybe point to a Jesse Raymond and go, well, he was on against the Titans, but he was off-off, then he was on, then he got injured. But there's no real proof, right?

[00:28:04] And he's probably one of the more vocal kind of people about the contract situation, you know? So I'd like to think it's not a thing. But yeah, there's no proof there. And what was your other question? Oh, the last dance. Do you think the mental demons have not been able to get it done and the knock of not winning the big games, and now you're seeing these other teams kind of surge when we were expected to do that? Like, mentally, do you think that's playing on them? Not at the moment.

[00:28:33] I think if we start sliding a bit, and I know people probably think we already are, but the fact is we haven't even lost three games in a row this year. I know there's only been like seven or eight games, but like we've lost two, we've won. We've lost two, you know, like, it's not in dire straits just yet. It's probably more the way we're losing than the fact we're losing.

[00:28:51] I think, come origin time, if we're kind of, you know, bottom six or whatever, and we can't make a run during origin, then I think the pressure starts applying. But no, I don't, knowing the way these guys think, they're ultra competitive. Nothing's ever really done. It's not like a hopeless situation. Like, you'd say obviously the Dragons is hopeless.

[00:29:18] You would say Melbourne is sort of like, see, I think the question's more for a team like Melbourne who are just like six in a row and in uncharted waters. And you go, oh, well, can they come back from that? Whereas with Cronulla, it's two losses, two bad ones. Don't get me wrong, two bad ones. But it can be flipped easily enough, and that may hide a few things on and off if they go one win, one loss, one win, et cetera.

[00:29:47] But yeah, I don't think Last Dance territory is a problem yet. I do think though, because they get asked about it, they get asked about it every week. I do think it is in their headspace, not their headspace, what's the right terminology? It's hanging around the building down at Cronulla, the gym. I think that the question is hanging around the gym. So like over the, I'm trying to get sort of creative, but like it's not in their heads, but it's around them that the fact that, you know, you guys are expected to make a grand final. I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:15] Because I mean, you raised Melbourne, right? And that's one thing that people are saying about Melbourne. You know, they lost two grand finals against Penrith. So they've been up for a really long time and now they're losing these games. And so like mentally, where does that put them in? My Sharks hat puts on, well, we've lost two grand finals and not that it's got anything to do with Melbourne, but like that's the team that has been our bogey sides and we lost one to Penrith too.

[00:30:38] But yeah, it's, I just look at it and I go, there's something going on there that is seemingly a distraction from a task at hand because some of the errors and some of the reads and defense are so uncharacteristic for the Sharks. And even if you want to go down and say that all those penalties were deserved, if we are that bad that we are 2.5 times worse than the second worst team in the competition, then there's got to be something at play that we've got to work out.

[00:31:07] I mean, coach said it was an attitude thing and some people believe that, some don't. Like the narrative as the week goes on is that people don't necessarily believe that. Now, maybe they are rocking up thinking we've won 12 of the last 14 against the Cowboys. You know, in my time at the club, whoever it is, we've won the last six. Like maybe there is that. I don't know.

[00:31:33] I can't speak for those guys, but maybe they're on the field and they're thinking we're up 12.6 against the Roosters. What was it? They're up 22.6 having a great time. They took the foot off. It's a harsh lesson. Yeah. It's not unheard of, but obviously we don't want to be that team and we are that team at the moment. And I think that's a criticism against the team and against the coach by many that they don't really do foot on the throat very well.

[00:32:02] And how you get to that level, how you learn that. Like we've done it sometimes. Like there's been some huge wins, but we don't do it all the time. And the example against the Roosters was, you've got them right here. Like don't muck it up. And they kind of did. In a similar fashion that I felt like the Cowboys game was happening as well, right? With just these bad penalties, these six against.

[00:32:26] And even in that Roosters game when we were doing well and winning, I was finding the game really hard to watch just because of all the penalties and all that type of stuff, right? So I don't know if there is something there around the way the game has changed in the last sort of two months since we kicked off in Vegas, but it doesn't feel like everything is as connected as it once was. And that the team is moving in the same direction in terms of that foot to the throat.

[00:32:52] Because even in those games where we do get out to a bit of a score, we get to like 40 points and then the last 20 minutes becomes 30 minutes of game time because of kicks out, knock-ons, penalties, all that type of stuff. So yeah, I can't work it out, mate. It's doing my head in if you can't tell. Well, the great news is the formed team of the comp are coming to town, the West Tigers. Once our bogey team, now we're their bogey team, but they'll have a lot to say about that.

[00:33:19] They beat us last time out actually at Leichhardt in that Golden Point game. But good recent record against the Tigers, but that's all out the window this week because they are in scintillating form. I've crunched some numbers, looked at some websites, looked at some tape. And I'm telling you, when I say real deal, I'm not suggesting comp winning real deal, but completely real deal as far as the NRL team goes.

[00:33:44] They've adapted well to the new stuff, defensively going a lot better than people give them credit for. You've seen what they can do with the attack, weapons all over the park. It's a problem coming to town. I'm not saying we can't win it. We definitely can win it. But I'm telling you, every kind of metric you look at as far as on paper, they either match us or they kind of beat us. And that's based on this year only. So a lot of improvement needed from the Sharks.

[00:34:13] The good news is they kind of know what's coming. They just don't know in what, you know, in what format. Because you saw, I think, early in the Tigers game, was it first set and a bizarre little kick in the end and they scored out left. And just they're very unpredictable, to put it mildly. Now, that unpredictability, Kieran, can go pear-shaped in a heartbeat. So things have to stick. It has been sticking for them.

[00:34:38] But more importantly, for the West Tigers' point of view, their defense is sticking way better than a lot. Like I think they're second or third best team in defense in most of the categories. And if you want to compare that to our team, we are halfway down or maybe three quarters way down. Like we're sliding a little bit. So it's a tough one for the Sharks because they need to defend really well.

[00:35:02] But they're also going to need to score, you would think, 24 points maybe at least to win the game. And, I mean, that's something that should get you the win, right? And the fact we scored 34 on the weekend, we suggest that we should get the win, right? So for me, the biggest concern is limit the amount of penalties that we can see. Try and control that momentum and try and maintain our try line and, you know, defend our hearts out.

[00:35:30] Because I think if we get into a fistfight with the Tigers, I think we can win that. I think if we try and play like the Cowboys game or even the Roosters game where we're just trying to score as many points and our defense isn't on, then, you know, it's not going to work out too well for us. But in saying that, they are without Appy this week. And they also have the whole Jerome Luai noise, which is going to be, you know, all up until Thursday when he has to make a call on his playing future, right?

[00:35:56] So there's every chance that this is, you know, based on the dollars being thrown around. If I'm Luai, I'm taking that deal. I'm going to the Chiefs, right? So there's every chance that that news will break on Thursday when the deadline is. And it's going to be all about Jerome Luai at Shark Park. So if you haven't got a ticket, get your tickets now because it will sell out based off the hype around that alone, right?

[00:36:18] And I think people will know the teams once we release this, but I think Buller is under a pretty big medical question mark. So even if he plays, he's a bit tender, terrific player. But again, I don't want to be relying on Appy missing on Luai being in the headlines or Buller maybe playing. I just want us to go out and play well.

[00:36:39] I think if we play hard defense-based footy, you know, the Tigers, they've met that a few. I think they've lost to Souths and I haven't got my notes in front of me. They've lost Broncos, right? And they've been tight games. And if you get into a wrestle with them and stay with them, I don't mind that. And then we know we've got points in us.

[00:37:10] But as you say, if the points start flowing and you get into a shootout, you don't want to get a shootout with these guys. They're kind of probably better at the shootout than what the Cowboys are. The Cowboys are pretty good at it. So a lot to cover this week, which we will on all the shows. But just if people are thinking that they're a one-trick pony or they're a fluke, if they are a fluke, then the Sharks will stop them this week. And then that'll be the bubble of birth.

[00:37:35] But from everything I've read, seen, and watched in the past 48 hours, and all I can see, my eyes, all I can see is like red and, what are they? Orange and black. They're pretty good, man. They're pretty good. And I told, I think, people last week, maybe it was the post-game show, I said to everyone over the age of a certain age, get yourself mentally prepared.

[00:38:00] Because all you're going to see is the Benji Marshall 2005 Shark Park highlights. That's all you're going to see. And then they'll flip to the 2026. But I'm telling you, if that gives you PTSD like it does me, because like many people were there, prepare yourself. I'm not prepared for it. I think that – and we're doing the over-under at work. It's at about 27, depending on what channel you watch and how much you watch it.

[00:38:27] I can already hear Matt Nabel talking about the Benji flick and seeing all that type of stuff. With Daniel Fitzhenry, I think it was, making the break. And Dean Halatau scored two tries that day. They play it all January on Fox Sports. I see it all the time, that game. That game I remember so vividly. If it wasn't us, I'm sure we'd be up clapping as well. You know what I mean? But it was one of those things though, Sam, that we were in a bit of a rough spot as a club in 05.

[00:38:57] Was it 05 that game? Yeah. And the Tigers came out of nowhere and became this legendary team. And we would show glimpses in 05 that we could maybe do something. But then we watched them go and do what we should have done coming from the ashes. And, you know, we had a great 2002. And then 2003 was terrible. 04, a little bit of hope. You bring in Vangana. And then you watch these guys that have been terrible for five years, only been around for five years. And then they just destroyed it.

[00:39:22] So that game ended, I think it was actually that season two with the Dragons game at Coggera, where I was just like, can we just not be so terrible for once? And the Dragons just gave it to us at Coggera. A lot of PTSD. So I really appreciate you bringing that up today, Sam. Well, I'm just warning you because it's a very obvious statement. But you're going to see it everywhere. Channel 9. You're going to see it on Fox. You're going to see it on all your K. Like, wherever you watch, maybe even wherever you listen, you're going to hear it. And you know what?

[00:39:51] We're just making a bit of lighthearted commentary on that because Benji's in charge and he's coming back to Shark Park, you know. The naval thing will be something like, what, you think he's afraid of sharks or something? Not this bloke, you know. Mate, you know, we could go back and draw the line with Benji, right, that he was going to come and, you know, be there. Was it because Todd Carney was out? And then he went to the Dragons instead of us. But we had like Bo Ryan at the time. We had Gibbs. We had all the Tigers players.

[00:40:20] It was down to us and the Dragons. And he selected the Dragons. And if he didn't do that, we don't end up with Maloney. We don't end up with 2016, right? Maybe he's our coach. You never know. Sliding doors. Benji ball. Yeah. Instead of football. He would go to football. So my son, who doesn't watch a lot of rugby league, he will play with me outside. We'll kick the footy around. He loves Will Kennedy.

[00:40:50] He loves all those sort of guys. He runs at me and does the Benji. I think I've said this. He runs at me and does the Benji step. But I don't think he knows who Benji Marshall is. I'm like, who taught you that? And he's like, oh, I saw it somewhere or whatever. I'm like, and then that gives me, I'm like, can you please stop doing that to me? All I can see is 05 Ocean Protect. So anyway, Benji's coming to town. Kieran's right. If you don't have a ticket, get one because one of their fans is going to snap it up.

[00:41:16] Like they're going to be there with a lot of gusto and they're in loud voice. And yeah, there's a bit of trepidation there for me if we don't sort of score, you know, first or second of that match. I think the Sharkies will need to sort of stamp their authority both on and off the ground. So you get down there. It's going to be awesome. Sunday Arvo. We love Sunday Arvo footy. And it's going to be an important game for the Sharks. Like they need to start turning around.

[00:41:43] And what better statement, Kieran, than beating the informed team? That'd be a good statement. It'd be confusing, but a good one. Well, it would be very typical of the Sharks to do that. And I really hope that we do turn around. I hope that we see some really good football. And I want to see something where I walk out proud because there's been a few times in the last few weeks where I've watched the Sharks. And, you know, if they lose a hard-fought game or whatever it is, you can kind of cop it a lot of the times. Yeah, yeah, I see it.

[00:42:11] This kind of was not ideal, but whatever the case is, the last few weeks have been very disappointing as a fan, right? So, yeah. And then this Tigers team is really good. So, normally we walk down to Shark Park, especially against the Tigers, and you're expecting a fun day at the football. This one could be anything. And that kind of excites me, to be honest with you. Well, we had our biggest win against them two years ago, 24. We put 50 on them at Shark Park. So, we're used to beating them. They got the Leicard game. That's why it was so shocking.

[00:42:41] We should have won that game last year. And so, yeah, it's going to be a tough one. I definitely can see a way for us to win, but, you know, it's not going to be based on anything like the last two games of football for the Sharks. Like, it can't represent that. Otherwise, we're going to lose kind of like, you know, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4 style where the West Tigers come down. They beat us 36, 32. It's going to be like something like that.

[00:43:10] And you don't want that. And they did that to us for years as well, right? Like, there was a huge period there where no matter what we did, we couldn't beat the Tigers, right? So, really, just I want to see something. I want to see – I don't want to be that JC guy from the Dragons, but, like, I want to start banging the desk saying I want to see a statement. That's what I would like to see. I want to see a statement from our forwards. I want to see a statement from our halves. I want to see the Sharks go out there and really put in a good performance at home.

[00:43:38] And let's get this season back on track. And who have we got after the Tigers? Souths, maybe? It just gets better and better. These in-form teams. There's no real easy games. Remind me, which one's JC? There's a lot of St. George podcasts now. Which one's JC? It's the one that got banned by the club and he's always screaming and ranting about Flanagan and all that type of stuff. Oh, okay. He was calling Shane Flanagan an undercover Sharks agent, which I thought was quite funny.

[00:44:08] But it's surprising because you'll see – like, I saw he put photos with Benji Marshall the other day and all these other players. And I'm thinking, these guys, this is – There is a controversy around the Save Our Saints campaign. And apparently, yeah, those guys are another mob. They're at Leichhardt in their West Tigers jerseys. And it's like, don't you do a Dragons podcast? What's going on here?

[00:44:32] But they've popped up all the – and a lot of young people doing, which is great, like doing video podcasts and very emotional dragons. I thought this was the year to bounce back and not a great year to start podcasting for the drags, I'll tell you. This is what – you do it next year when the – you know, he comes drinking and he comes the new coach. Sure. Well, I mean, just relating that back to the Sharks, right? They – the Dragons have gone out and they've got Keon.

[00:45:00] They've gone out and they've got Drinkwater, right? And we have a tremendous amount of players that are off contract at the moment. And there are rumors and murmurs of different things that are happening in the player market. Maybe we need to have that sort of announcement where we – and I'm not saying that we've signed anybody. But like if we are going to go out in the market and say we've identified we want another front row because we want to move on from Toby, go out and get it done. Like go out and make a statement and put him on notice because I'm not blaming Toby.

[00:45:29] That was just an example. If it's a center and you're moving on Raymond, whatever the player is, at least the Dragons fans now have something that they can look into next year and go, you know what? We're going to be really good. And I think the frustration a lot of the Sharks fans have had this year is there's not a new face that's really been brought into the roster, right? So it's kind of – round seven feels like round 31 because of all the rounds that we had last year with the same squad, right? So the Dragons fans have got some little hope there.

[00:45:56] And I think if we could get something like that, that might help us get some energy in the joint because it's a bit flat. But still, we're doing so much better than the Dragons. Well, look, I mean, if you want to go and look at futures, and I'm not saying the Dragons have a better future than me, but I'm just saying you could make an argument where you're saying, well, you're bringing in Keon, who's a representative front rower. You're bringing in drink water, however you think of drink water. They have a lot of younger players that if they can get their development right is a good future.

[00:46:24] And if you look at the Sharks, like we are fairly locked in and we do have some young players that are coming through that we have some really big hopes for. So I don't think it's as cut and dry as what it might look at the moment because right now, like they're diabolical and the rest of their season is going to be diabolical. But I can see some hope in the future for them as long as they don't beat us this year in the Derby games. But why aren't we playing them until the end of the season? For the last 10 years, we've been playing the Dragons at the start of the season. If the teams go away.

[00:46:55] Is there one coming up like round 12 or 13 or something or 14? Yeah, I think it's the Bulldogs after South and then maybe it could be in that realm. I'm not sure. But I think it's the first ones at Cogger, I think, and then the next ones at Shark Park. Or maybe I'm wrong. Either way. Either way. This isn't Dragoncast, though. Kieran, thanks for your time, buddy. We'll see you down at the sports stadium known as Ocean Protect Stadium.

[00:47:25] Can't wait for it. It's going to be fun no matter what until full time. Then hopefully it's even more fun when we sing the song. Appreciate your time, my friend. Everyone, thanks for tuning in, watching, subscribing, et cetera. You know what to do. Get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you. We've already got a bunch of letters for the flagship, but we can't have enough. So get in touch. Good, bad, indifferent. We'd love to hear from you. And we will talk to you soon, Kieran. Thanks for your time again. Really, really appreciate it.

[00:47:53] SharkCast 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 Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[00:48:22] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies! In the Shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming out with a...