Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla (29/6/26)

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

[00:00:26] They've got a Facebook page, or you could go old school and call them on 029523 9300 And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your port slides off because we're coming home with a trophy.

[00:01:05] Welcome to SharkCast Pod, 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, our somewhat regular episode that we do start of the week when we can. And my name is Sam Shinazzi, 2015. On the other end of this line is Kieran Fraser, established... What was it? Like 2024 or 5? What, this show? Yeah.

[00:01:34] I think it's older than that because I was definitely viewing it at our old house. Yeah, okay. I think maybe 23 or 24? No, 23. There you go. Kieran has been here that long and a very popular episode, it has to be said in our stream of episodes. So we're glad to have Kieran back. And this episode is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking. Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate. I keep seeing Jason and Nicole everywhere I go, which is mainly Mr. Paisley's. And shout out to Mr. Paisley's where we get our coffee from.

[00:02:04] Now, Kieran, people who are watching can see what you're wearing. But people who are listening, which is a lot of people on the audio side of things, you're wearing the Women in League jersey and it looks prime. Talk us through your experience. I saw it online and I jumped on it straight away. I've got two young daughters and I even tried to get one for the wife. She had absolutely zero interest and said, please do not buy me a Sharks jersey. Nothing against the Sharks, although she's a little bit of a Dragons fan, but she hasn't watched football in 10 plus years. I'm not saying she's a Dragons fan.

[00:02:34] She's dead to me if she is. But she didn't want one. So the young girls absolutely love it. I've got a three and a six year old and they love the jersey. And I've got to say, I think this is one of the cooler jerseys we've done. We've done some Women in League jerseys in the past that I don't know if they hit the mark. I feel like this one, this one is amazing. And shout out to the Sharks. The color scheme looks great. And the sponsor integration as well is absolutely on point.

[00:03:00] And if you get a chance, go down to Woolwear and look at the Sharks store and you can see this jersey underneath the pink lighting and it looks incredible. It's in the shop window and it looks so good. So well done, team. Give a bit of a shout out to our friend Ash there at the store who probably did that with our mate Barnsley as well. Heavily involved, of course. Now there is a lot more blue to it than what you can see on the website sometimes for whatever reason. Sometimes it's hard to pick up. So it's a beauty. I really like it. I'm with you. It's definitely the best one they've done so far.

[00:03:29] I think it looks good. I believe sales are good, which is great for the club and their finances. But more importantly, just good to see the representation out there. Now we were talking a bit off air and we stopped because we were like, this is the show right here. This is the show. A show about nothing. And you were saying that we could get away with the Miami Vice style jersey more than other clubs. Now hold up. And can you explain to people who don't know what that means? First of all, the Miami Vice thing.

[00:03:56] So it's kind of a term that's been floating around because of the TV show, right? Miami Vice. But then there's also a lot of video games like Grand Theft Auto that's based in Miami. And a lot of it has to do with kind of like the fluoro colors and the pink and the light blues with some black in there. So the Bulldogs did this when they went to Las Vegas and then they did the training jersey. And everyone was like, that looks good. I was kind of a little bit jealous thinking that should be us.

[00:04:23] But the combinations here that they've got, it just plays in really well to that whole vibe of like summer, fresh. It's the middle of winter. It's been raining for like 10 days here in the Shire. So perfect time to do it. Right. So I think it's absolutely nailed. I think the colors are so good. And I've got to say, like the Sharks have done so well in their merchandise in the last, I want to say maybe three to four years. Yeah. Going back to like, I think it was maybe two seasons ago when we brought back one of the retros and we wore it.

[00:04:53] Even when we wore the Super League retro at Magic Round a few years ago, they were on fire at the moment. And I think we have the best merch of anybody in the competition. So well done to the Sharks. Yeah. And people who can't see, I'm wearing an older style. It was one of the first retro things we brought back, the hoodie from probably what mid 2010s maybe. But the burst merchandise range we brought out last year was incredible. I never thought I'd see the day, you know, so we're really hitting some new avenues, which is awesome.

[00:05:21] Now I was pointing out to you, Kieran, it's a bit of a controversial subject. I reckon next time, if you were to make a different jersey, which you would, I guess, for women in league, I think we lose a lot of the pink. And we have blue where the pink is. If people can use their imagination, if they're listening, where all the pink is, I'd go blue and just have blue and black. Would you go where this blue is put pink or you just strike black and blue? You could have pink if you really needed it somewhere.

[00:05:47] But I think that we're getting to a point where we've established it's women in league. I know that pink is a color that's attributed to that side of the gender. And I appreciate that your girls, for example, would love pink jerseys. I don't think every, and I'm obviously speaking as a male, which I shouldn't be doing anyway. So I'm already putting my foot in the wrong place. But I don't think pink is necessarily, now we've established women in league round, I don't think pink is necessarily a requirement. I don't have a problem with it. No problem with it.

[00:06:17] But I just think next time, imagine the black with the blue riding and you could still make it women in league. You can make it any round that you want, I guess, if you do that style. But just having a thought, you know? Yeah. And I think that would look really good. The one thing I really like is the Sharks are actually trying different things. If you look at some of the other clubs, when they bring out like these retro jerseys, they can release all these random jerseys from the 90s and 80s or whatever the year is. The Sharks have traditionally been pretty stable with what we wear.

[00:06:47] I remember there was a couple of year period there where we didn't even have an away jersey because we probably just had no money to make one. So the fact that we're experimenting with the different designs, I think is really good. And I like that we don't do the same themes every year. So it's like one year we might do an Anzac Day one. The next year it might be, you know, women in league, that type of thing. And I think that stops it from getting stale. I can't remember the last women in league jersey we released, but... Well, it was the one with the colors across the stripes.

[00:07:16] I think there's a few different colors. I think that was about 2013. So it was a pretty long time ago. That one with the white box in the middle. I'm actually Googling it right now just to see how many that we've got out there because, I mean, this one is obviously the dominant one. There was this one here in... I think that was 2017. Sorry, that's the one I was referring to. Yep. Yeah, where it's the pink and blue stripes with the...

[00:07:42] Yeah, and also there was a white, pink, and light blue one that Luke Lewis was wearing around 2013 as well. Gotcha. Yep. All right. This is the third one at least. Okay, cool. And there's that obviously... There's a real... Oh, there's another one with Shawn Johnson in a pink jersey. Shawn Johnson. So that would have been about the year 2020. There you go. There's... And the one jersey that sticks in my mind, I can't find a photo of, but I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about.

[00:08:10] The really pink one that was basically all pink with the black stripes and the white box, which we wore in 2013. So fifth one, you're saying? Turns out we got a lot of women in league jerseys. Bless. Now, speaking of such things, this Thursday night, we kick off baby NRL dub. We are the focus of the NRLW world as we should be. We're kicking off at Ocean Protect Stadium, 7.45 kickoff against the Knights who are a great team. It's going to be awesome.

[00:08:37] As most people who listen to the show would know from an episode I dropped last week, I was very lovingly and gratefully invited to the launch at Somersault Restaurant Functionary, whatever it was, last Wednesday night. It was an incredible experience, Kieran. Very honored to be there. There weren't many people there. I was flattered to be there. The whole squad was there. They've got a big squad this year, Kieran, of just athletes that are ready to go.

[00:09:06] And Tony Herman, the coach said, we're not buying these players and having them to play in our squad. We want them to play in our teams. So they're buying squad members 18 through to 25, 30. And those people, in theory, they want them ready to play should they get the call up. Now, obviously, there's some younger ones coming through as well, including his daughter, who's a really talented half. But the majority of the, I would say, fringe players, what you might call, they're ready to go. And there's a lot of competition for spots.

[00:09:35] Now, they have to stay healthy, of course, that to be the case. But I'm super excited about the year. I think they're going to be super competitive. They have been every year they've been in it. And there's a lot of talk about Brisbane and Roosters having like no salary cap and that kind of thing. And they are stacked, to be fair. And there is a level between those two teams and everyone else. But we're the next level. Like we're number three. And I really do believe in my heart of hearts that we can push them with a starring team that we have. But also, if a few people drop, there are people to come through.

[00:10:05] Now, if everyone drops, it's a different story. Like last year was two people a week going down. So, hopefully that's not the case. But a good vibe in the crew. And I'm excited, man. Ocean Protect Stadium, 7.5 kickoff. If you can be there. If you can't, it'll be on your KOs, your Foxes, your Channel 9s. But yeah, what's your thoughts there? Again, it's another representation of the Sharks and how we fight above our weight.

[00:10:27] Like you mentioned the Broncos and the Roosters and how they can give players jobs and all that type of stuff and basically move money around and not take the mickey out of the salary. I'll recap. But it's a bit different with the NRLW. So, the fact that the Sharks are super competitive every year with the team that they put out there, it's fantastic. And I would love to see them with the trophy. I'm definitely going to get down to a game this year and take the girls. It's just a little bit easier just because it's not as crowded and as busy.

[00:10:55] So, I'm really looking forward to getting down there and supporting them. Yeah, if you haven't been to a game and you're listening and watching, I can tell you just from experience, I've been to, I guess, a bunch, if not majority, at our own stadium. It's a more fun atmosphere. It's certainly more vocal, I would say, for the whole 80 minutes compared to watching an NRLW game. And that makes no sense because the crowd is probably one-third or one-fourth of what it would be normally because they usually get between, I don't know, 2,000 and 4,000 people. And that should be improving this year anyway.

[00:11:23] But the people who go are really into it and they really ride every moment. It's a lot of fun. It's very family-friendly. And the footy is really great and definitely recommend you get down there. But it's exciting. So, it's just, you know, for me personally, Kieran, I'm sure a lot of our people listening and watching feel the same way. For me, it's another connection to this club. I'm not someone who is just throwing myself into it because it's Cronulla. Cronulla. It's something that I'm invested in because it's Cronulla and something I believe in.

[00:11:51] It's a really good team run by really good people playing a really good brand of football that I love. And it's my club, the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. So, I just really love what they do and we're going to support it on this show as much as we can. And, yeah, it's exciting times. Now, having said that, you and I have not discussed the NRL game between the Roosters and the Sharks last week. We were both a bit under the weather last week and have to apologize for the lack of episodes.

[00:12:18] It was a little bit of a situation on my side where I couldn't really get those out. And you yourself were struggling. So, that's why we didn't do a Kieran episode. But we literally, I don't even think we've communicated much about the Roosters game and what a debacle that was. So, how are you feeling a week and a bit after that? So, I think at about the 18-minute mark, my youngest daughter was sitting on my lap. She projectile vomited everywhere. And I think that basically summed up that whole performance. I think I said that to you, actually. Yeah. I read that to you.

[00:12:49] Yeah. And it was one of those things where I actually really liked the first half. I thought the first half was a cracking game of football back and forth. And then I thought we were getting ahead at the start of the second half. And then we just dropped our marbles. Very frustrating. Especially because of all the niggle and all that type of stuff. The scoreline blew out in the last period of the game.

[00:13:14] I'm not too concerned about that because I did see enough when the game was on the line to kind of go, yeah, there's something here. But it wasn't our day. And, you know, I know there's a lot said about Ronnie and all that type of stuff. I love it. That's the price you pay to have Ronaldo in your team. I think he's going to come back for Mark again in the next game when they play. Those two teams, I kept getting that vibe when I was watching that game. Yeah. There's going to be a third. They'll play again this year in the finals.

[00:13:42] So I have very strong confidence on the Sharks. The only thing I didn't really like was the fact that we brought in two spine members who have been in the squad for years, right? But I did think that was a lot of change right before a bye, given what we'd been on, right? So maybe if it was one or the other, I thought it might have worked a little bit better.

[00:14:05] But I think given that the club had been on a bit of a run and to take out your nine and your seven, who were two of your highest paid players and two of your best players, I probably, yeah, I think that was a little bit disjointed. Is that a hindsight thing, though? Because wouldn't you bring in your two best players or two of your best players, surely? 110%. If they're fit and available, I'm picking those two guys. They were. Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:31] So it was one of those things I think I messaged, maybe it wasn't you, but I think I did message somebody and sort of say, oh, that's a little bit of change there that I don't like. And it's not as if that they made this decision 24 hours before kickoff. I know they had a fitness test, I think, on the Friday or something like that, but they would have known all week that this is likely what we're going to do. And those two guys have been in that role for five plus years or so, right? Having said that, Kieran, I didn't think they were the problem. I didn't think they were the problem either. No, no, no, no. I didn't think they were the problem.

[00:14:59] I thought the problem was for us, our discipline and our inability to create and shut down their offloads too. I thought those were kind of some key things. I would put it at three things, two of which you've nailed, offloads, discipline and lack of go forward. Yeah. Or out-muscled by the forwards, lose the forward battle, however you want to say it. It was a bit of a frustrating game, but I didn't walk out of that game thinking we're in trouble here, put it that way.

[00:15:26] It's more, I think, a wasted opportunity because at 14-8 down, which is in my head kind of the score for the game, I know we lost by a bit more. 14-8, it was doable. It was doable. And they clawed their way back and they hung in there and the Roosters weren't particularly amazing. They were dominating, but they weren't amazing. And for me, it's a wasted opportunity. I'm getting a vibe this year and I hope the vibe changes as soon as today, but I'm getting a vibe of wasted opportunities.

[00:15:54] And I just don't think that you can keep playing that way week in, week out, or I know you can't, and have a successful year. So they need to turn that around a little bit. We just went through the last buy that we're going to have for 12 months, right? Because next year you're going to have Perth Bears, then the year after you have PNG. So I don't know if there was, it feels like the buys were really compatible. Are you saying there's no buys next year? Well, there shouldn't be because there's an even amount of teams.

[00:16:20] They might have something around rep rounds, but we shouldn't, there shouldn't be a need for buys. I understand that theory, but you're saying there won't be weeks off for teams? Well, the only thing I could think of is they might give teams buys around Origin, but you're not going to have like a buy in round one or two. Because then you'd have to have two teams getting buys. And part of the new TV deal, which we might talk about later, is the fact that there's more games. So I would love to eliminate the buy completely.

[00:16:49] I can't stand by a week. I didn't even watch any real football this weekend because the Sharks weren't playing and I was just so disinterested. You missed some Perlers yesterday. Oh, yeah. Were they? I was talking to some people. They were terrible, but Saturday was really good. Saturday was really good. Sunday was diabolical. Anyway, you're right. It's the last buy we're going to have for a while. That was also a problem for me. Yep. Because with top fours on the line and you dish out that in the last 30 minutes with top four on the line.

[00:17:17] And whoever wins goes through, whoever doesn't, doesn't. They stay back a bit. We're now in eighth place. That's with the buy. So, you know, we're certainly not even a guarantee for the top eight at the moment. The way it's going, you've got to earn your way there. They can still finish as high as top four. I'm not saying they can't or they won't. But as I said, they need to get a bit of a move with their, I think with their attitude. And it's a hard one for me, Kieran, because I know we've come off a four-game winning streak.

[00:17:42] So, I'm not one of those people, and there's a lot of people online who are losing their proverbial over lots of things. And it's quite funny to watch, to be perfectly honest. So, I'm not disrespecting the fact that we won four in a row. Amazing effort, especially by the guys who don't normally play. But, you know, you're only as good as your last game. And in the last game, they were okay in patches. They were good in patches, but you've got to get the job done, man. This is the NRL. Like, we're not mucking around here. Every week counts.

[00:18:11] And I was annoyed, again, against the Roosters going into a bye that we couldn't get a job done. I was annoyed. To that point, if you're someone like Sifatalkai, right now, you have potentially nine games left in the Sharks jersey. Now, obviously, we make the finals. And I think there's nine rounds left. I'm not 100% sure. Also, PS, where's the season gone? Like, seriously, last year lagged. We were like, will this season ever end? This year is just gone, man. It's gone.

[00:18:39] Maybe we should save this for the last five minutes like we usually do. But I think somebody's done something with time and space. That's why people are now, like, 60 years old and they don't look like 60-year-olds versus when we were kids, people that were, like, 40. We're getting into here. And this is for our Foxtel viewers and people of an older generation, older than you and I. Original Twilight Zone series, which I've been watching. Have you ever seen the original Twilight Zone? Like, from the 50s and 60s and 70s?

[00:19:09] It's right up your alley, dude. And it is amazing. But we'll get to that later on. So, Broncos this week. And when I was making reference to people online losing their proverbial, I saw some Perlers yesterday. And I don't want to get too specific because I don't want to single people out about things. But playing a desperate Broncos team, they've probably got one last chance to put it together. Although many people say they're done. They are the premiers. They've got some really good players.

[00:19:37] It's at Suncorp where we've had recently good history there, but not necessarily against the Broncos. And it's going to be a tough game. We're going to be missing Origin players. They'll be missing Origin players too, I imagine. But it's a job we've got to get done, man. Like, the winning's got to start now. It's a game that I've been wanting to avoid. Because I was like, the Broncos are going to have a bounce back soon. They've got to win, yeah. And I don't want to be in that game.

[00:20:03] So, I was really cheering for them the last few weeks to try and get back into some form. Because you don't want to be that guy. There's that team that has to play the guys that are trying to get it back together. Because they'll dig deep and they'll find something. But just looking at the Broncos' Origin effect. They do have Carrigan back and someone, maybe the winger. Dean. Mariner, maybe. It looks like Carrigan's been picked in the Origin 3 squad. Oh, okay. So, Carrigan's in this squad.

[00:20:32] Because I've just got the squad up in front of me. As is Rhys Walsh. And I think that's the only two Broncos that I can see that have been named. Big pain hearts. Yeah, pain hearts for the Blues. Absolutely. But yeah, it's interesting to see only two Broncos in the Queensland side. It's usually pretty stacked with Broncos, it feels. So, no Rhys Walsh is a big one for the Broncos. However, they've got so many good players. They're so deep as a roster. Yeah. They can pull it together.

[00:21:00] And also, with all the noise about Mads Maguire. I don't know if you saw yesterday. It was on Triple M Radio that there was sort of talk about if he resigns. There'll be a player mutiny and mass exodus. I don't want to get into corporations because I work for one. But that talk on that network doesn't actually surprise me. So, I'm not really worried about that. But the point is, right? It's just more noise. And it's more stuff for them to buy into. It's more stuff. Did you see his press conference after the game on Saturday night? No, I haven't seen it.

[00:21:29] So, he was fine. And he was getting absolutely hammered. And he stood there, sat there stoically like he is. He's mad. He's very stoic. And he had the chin out, the face out. And he was like defending everything. And he was like, we're going to be okay. I don't think that he's the sort of guy that's going to be worried about that kind of stuff. And I personally don't believe half the things coming out of Brisbane that I read. Regardless, it's a danger game for us. And that's just how it is. And I've hinted at it before. But people saying, oh, just do a look to get this team.

[00:21:59] No, no. It's the draw. This is how the draw works. It's our turn to play Brisbane. It's not bad luck. We're just playing the Broncos this week. And it's up to us to be a better club. There's no bad luck. There's no hijinks. There's no pulling of strings. We're playing the Broncos this week. We've got to win. Can I give you a random Madge McGuire story? Yeah, as long as it's above board, yeah. What do you think I'm going to say here? Well, I've got to check. I've got to check with the degenerates I get on this show. I've got to check. So I think it was maybe not last year. Maybe the year before.

[00:22:29] Did you go down to Candy Cane Lane during the Christmas period here in the Shire? I've done it. It's bloody impressive. Yeah, yeah. And I saw Madge McGuire was at a house party on Candy Cane Lane at Christmas Eve. What, just out as one of the special people in the special houses? Well, he was just – it was one of the houses at the bottom of the street. And he was just having a beer in the driveway and talking to people at that house. And he was at a party there. And yeah, Candy Cane Lane is amazing. Cody Walker was there last year. I saw him walking around with his family.

[00:22:57] You'll see a lot of NRL players down at Candy Cane Lane. So I guess maybe he was down here for family reasons or whatever. I think it was just before he started at the Broncos. So maybe he hadn't officially moved up there yet. Or maybe he just came back for the break or something like that. And I know he did used to live in the eastern suburbs. One of my co-workers is actually an old next-door neighbor of his. Have you heard Luke Keery talk about him in origin? No. He just – and, you know, Luke Keery is now the best analyst in the game, as we all agree.

[00:23:25] He is just so complimentary about him. And he said because Maguire had never played origin, he'd never really been – if he'd been assistant coach, he'd never really taken it on in his own way. He got the main role as the coach. And he interviewed like 30 former players, went to their houses individually to understand what the jersey meant to them. Everywhere he went, he took this jersey.

[00:23:54] And then he brought the jersey back to the squad like first day of training. And he told the stories of these players with this one jersey. And he said, Keery said like grown men were crying, grown men were crying, grown men were eating, die for this guy. That was the series they won. He's won two comps in his – you know, it's not a short career, mid-career. He's the sort of madman that before we got Fitzy, I would have been like, let's get this guy for three years only. And after three years, we let him go. It's a bit of the Ricky Stewart vibes or whatever. He would have won a comp for the Sharks, I reckon.

[00:24:23] And this is a bit of a deviation. But you do wonder what he could have potentially done with this core of players that we've got right now. And how much change there would have been. I bet you a bunch wouldn't have stuck around. I completely agree. Yeah. There would have been a lot of change over in the roster. And maybe there's an argument that we should have had more change over in the roster. I think we've gone probably one year too long with this current squad.

[00:24:50] But again, that's what the player market demands now because of how these contracts work. And it's so lopsided in the players' favor. And now you've thrown expansion teams. It's really hard to buy your way out of a roster situation that you find yourself in. You've got to develop it in, which we do. I'm personally cool with roster. I just think that roster needs to maybe, as I said, take advantage of games that they're not taking advantage of. And I think it's a mental thing. I don't think it's a coaching thing. I think it's an individual player thing, collective player thing.

[00:25:20] I think it's time the boys... Like you said, Sif has got nine games left. That's it. I hear you saying we want to make it count. I need to see you with your actions. And it's not just Sif. It's Cameron McInnes. Of course. It's Roddy. It's Sione. It's Ramien. There's a lot of guys that have spent a decade at this club with you include the lower grades. It's time, man. And it's now or never.

[00:25:42] And I don't know if there was maybe a little bit of a waiting for the perfect moment because, you know, you've got a bye coming up and all that type of stuff. But it's like, okay, well, all that's out the window now. And we saw it last year. Like they put their foot to the floor for a while. After the Brisbane game. Yeah, after the Brisbane game. And again... But that's going to come up this week in team meetings, 100%. And that was the line in the sand moment that they said. I think there was maybe one bad performance after the Brisbane game from memory.

[00:26:11] No, we lost to Melbourne, but it was a good performance. Yeah, okay. And that was the line in the sand. And we looked like a completely different squad. And, you know, through someone like yourself, I've been able to find out quite a bit about how much that Brisbane game stung the Sharks club and Fitzy and how upset they were. Touching staff, absolutely. And how it was a fighting moment for them. And it will 100% be referenced this week. It will 100% be like, this is now the time where we go.

[00:26:41] And if there is nine weeks left of the season or whatever it is, we have a fairly fit squad at the moment with Braley and Nico coming back. It's now the time to put the foot to the floor. Well, because it was a similar time, right, last year. I know we had a loss to the Dragons. We pretty much went on a run. Yeah. So I think for people who have lost a bit of faith, we're probably, what, a few places below where we were last year. I imagine we were probably like fifth or sixth at this time maybe.

[00:27:08] But coming off a loss to Brisbane, et cetera, and got it together. So there's still a lot of hope there. And the squad itself, I believe in the squad. But, yeah, I need to see them really have an urgency about them. We'll get to the mail later in the week. But someone did point out, or a few people pointed out, and we spoke about it post-Roosters game, the Warriors hangover. Now, you said that was one of the most physical games you've seen in a long time.

[00:27:37] It went down to the wire. I know the Roosters had their own challenges coming off a game. I believe that's correct. Was Origin – remind me, where was Origin? Was Origin – Origin was just before it. So Fanua Blake was absolutely gassed after he played eight minutes, and Laurie Daly just messed him around. So the Roosters had a bunch of – they had like six players playing Origin. So to be fair, they played in that after we played the Warriors game. So they both teams had reasons. Yeah. But point being, a few people have mentioned, and I'll talk about it later in the week,

[00:28:05] and mentioned that the Warriors game may have, you know, done a number on us to a degree where we look at it and go, oh, we're a bit flat. The forwards aren't going forward. Jesse Colquhoun's not doing Colquhoun things. You know what I mean? Like, maybe there was something in that. Again, without revealing sources, we know that they put a lot of effort and focus into that Warriors game. Yeah. Like, that was kind of on their radar for a while where they had circled it in the calendar, and they were like, that is our statement game.

[00:28:31] So, again, with the timing of a buy after, the Roosters, it was an awkward game. But I don't want to get too down on that performance because I did see a lot in that first half when we were going punch for punch with them. And the Roosters got on top of us, don't get me wrong. Yeah. But I did see enough of us to go, you know what? We are close to being where we need to be. But there was a few things that we just didn't execute on. And sometimes you walk away from a game and you're completely disappointed with how it went.

[00:29:00] I didn't get that from that Roosters game. I saw the first sort of 60 minutes for what it was. I thought we're in a good spot here. If we can clean up a few things, we can get that done. The last 20 minutes was a shemozle. I'm happy to move on if we get the win this week. I'm happy just to move on. Also, though, do you remember a few weeks ago we sat here and we spoke and we sort of said, there's these two games coming up, the Roosters and the Warriors. What's a pass mark? And we were like, 0 and 2 is an absolute failure. 1 and 2 we can live with.

[00:29:30] 2 out of 2 we'd be stoked with. And that's the quality of teams that we are facing. Like the Warriors and the Roosters are two top 4 teams in 2026. So, yeah. It's weird because we're sitting about 8th or so at the moment, but we've had three buys and there are teams below us that haven't had, you know, two buys. I think the Cowboys, for example, I don't know if they've had their second buy yet, but they've only had a – I know they got their first one recently. So, the ladder needs to kind of play out over the next few weeks at this origin period.

[00:29:59] But you've got to keep banking the wins every week because if we somehow faltered and missed the top 8, which is a possibility, it would be an absolute disaster. It would be. I did hear someone in the past 48 hours, like a captain or a main player from one of the teams who lost, talking about they've got a buy this week and that maybe they had their eye on it. So, we're not the only club to kind of fall into that trap.

[00:30:27] I'm not saying we did, but our notion of that as a fan goes, oh, they've got their eye on the buy. It seems to be a common thing. Now, just on the discipline thing, which we didn't touch on much with Ronaldo, if you're Coach Kieran at halftime, what are you saying to Ronaldo in that moment? Considering he's not winning the battle. Give it to him. With a guy like Ronaldo, you don't want to put him back in his shell. You don't want him second-guessing himself. You want him to stay calm and you want him to not lose his head.

[00:30:56] And I don't necessarily think he did lose his head. I don't think he did. I think he did. I don't think he did. Look, there was one bad read on the last try where he came screaming in. But outside of that, those type of players you have. But it's also the energy that that does to the other players around him. And that fires up those guys. And then somehow that can lead into other errors. So, with that, with Ronnie, I don't – you're not going to tell Ronnie,

[00:31:25] all right, pull your head in and don't say anything for the next 40 minutes because that's not going to beat him. You obviously – and Ronaldo knows, like, not to do certain things. But he was – he made Mark do some errors too. Don't forget that. Like, he was – Mark won the battle. I know what I'm getting with him, so I'm not changing him. And I understand that there's going to be a game every now and then when this happens. I get it. I'm now concerned when we play the Roosters in round three, so to speak, battle three,

[00:31:55] and it's going to be in a finals game and probably an elimination finals game. If he does that and that's the same result, everyone's pointing at him. Whereas this week they didn't necessarily. Oh, he copped a lot. No, I know. But our fans are going – in the finals, they'll be going, you lost us this game. And you know what? There is a little bit of truth there because penalty count, six against, the attention on Ronaldo.

[00:32:25] All I'm saying is Coach Sam is going into halftime after losing the battle in half one and seeing where it was going. I would say could you do it at this level and no more? But he definitely took it to the – he took it above no more. I thought he really almost doubled down on it to the point where I think he was on report at the end for the push and shove. I know he knows it. I know it's a hard one to control. I'm saying it in hindsight. I love the guy. I love what he brings.

[00:32:53] But when it goes wrong and it's only once a year, it's horrendous. Yeah. And it's one of those strange sort of how do you get the best out of this sort of situations. And what you were saying there was very dad-like. It was very much like you love this guy. You don't want everyone to point the finger at him and use it as an excuse to say this is why we had an exit in the finals potentially. And I completely agree with you there.

[00:33:23] However, I look at it and I sort of say, Ronnie, he's now – it's now 2-1. Oh, he knows that. Yeah. And Fitzy said that in the press conference. And I think that's the best way to work with someone like Ronaldo and you sort of say to them, okay, it's 2-1. We can't go 3-1 because Mark's going away now. So let me put it this way. Let me put it this way. Maybe I didn't say it well enough.

[00:33:47] When I look at the penalty count and the six again, penalty count specifically, we lost that pretty badly. It wasn't all because of Ronaldo. But that negative effect carried across. Now, whether it was correlation or not, I can't tell you obviously. But our discipline that whole game led by Ronaldo was horrendous. See, I think if we've got the ball, Kieran, in that game, which we didn't, if we've got the ball, we win that game.

[00:34:18] We didn't have the ball. Yeah. And that's where it kind of goes back to the changes. And I am a staunch Nico Hines defender. But I did think his kicking game was a little bit off in that game. And I feel like sometimes Blake Braley has a great kicking game. We don't see a lot of it. I would like to see a little bit more of that out of dummy half. Tricky can be really good with his kicks. And sometimes he can put up a few stinkers in the game.

[00:34:48] What's going on here? And I think for us, given our back row of like Nekora and Britton didn't play in that game. But the back rows that we have are not these big meteries. He played what you're talking about. Oh, yeah. Okay. But they're not these like Hamole Olokowatus that are going to give you 180 meters and all that type of stuff. We've got to kick our way out of trouble. And then we've got to pin them down. And there's a few times that we did it really well against the Warriors. We pinned them down in like their 20 and we bashed them and they bashed us.

[00:35:18] And it was a really good back and forth. I think now I'm sitting here and digesting it properly for the first time and actually thinking about it. I do think there was a hangover from that Warriors physicality. And the Roosters are a physical team too. Like if the Roosters are going to beat you, they're going to try and bash you. Like they're going to send out those middles. And there's a few players in that team that I just absolutely can't stand. But if they were Sharks, I would love.

[00:35:44] So that's – you're kind of – you're knowing what you're going to get. And also in the back of your mind, you've got to buy. Then you know you've got a nine-week run where you've got to be at your absolute peak. And it's – I love Origin, but it's such a weird part of the season. You get a read. I know you've got your eye on the broadcast deal happening. It looks like – it's not confirmed, but it looks like we're kind of getting more of the same, which is fine.

[00:36:11] I was hoping for a bit of change, specifically with my corporation, Fox, getting grand finals and Origin, et cetera. But – There's some rumors. Nah, I don't think it's happening. There's some rumors of simulcasts, I think. Is there? There are some rumors. I thought they went away. I don't know. Talk to us about the broadcast deal. Well, firstly, it's great news for the Sharks. And if we do build a Paul Gallen statue, I think we should also build a Peter Volandis statue when we get our new stadium.

[00:36:39] Because Volandis has absolutely backed the Sharks to the hill, and previous administrations have not. And now the money that we're getting from this TV deal, we are self-sustainable. The Leeds Club opens up in September. Maybe October. Maybe October. But I'm not saying we're going to be the richest club in the league. But we are self-sufficient based off this television deal. It's not as if we need to now put money in. I don't know what the NRL grants are going to be, but they're going to be significantly higher than what they are currently.

[00:37:11] We have a really good and defined junior development program that we can now put some more of this money into so we can keep developing stars of the future. You have infrastructure projects going on in the Shire that is growing the population. We need to actually do some stuff around transportation, trains, roads, etc., like Western Sydney. However, if they develop Kernel, you're going to get a lot more residents in the area. If they keep doing all these apartments that they're putting in, you know, Caring Bar and Sutherland, you're going to get a lot more people in the area.

[00:37:41] There's a lot of NRL players that live in the Shire and their kids are now playing in these junior leagues. So the more money we can get from television deals, the more the population in this area grows. I'm not saying we're going to be the Panthers, but we do have one of the biggest nurseries in terms of juniors in the league. It sets us up really nicely for the future. And I've been banging on about this and I was talking to you about it and I was talking to RCB. We should partner up with the Socceroos.

[00:38:09] I believe the Sutherland Shire is one of the biggest soccer nurseries in the country. I think it's like the largest junior league in the country. There is no home of football for the FFA. The Sharks should get into bed with the FFA and the government. Well, they don't have like a school somewhere or whatever. So right now, if there's like a training camp that goes on in, say, the city or wherever it is, like they'll train out of Allianz or they'll go down to Leicester Oval, that type of thing, right? It's not a default.

[00:38:38] They don't have a home of football. Now, you could build something in the Sutherland Shire. You have a new Hotel of Quest. And I know these soccer players are going to be used to these five-star hotels and it's a bit far from the city to be commuting. Hey, Quest is pretty good. We love Quest. But a lot of this home of football stuff is going to be for the juniors and it's going to be for the younger talents between, say, 15 and 18 or 12 and 18, however they do it in soccer.

[00:39:04] If we could get a purpose-built stadium for soccer and use it 11 times a year to play rugby league out of, you're going to service the community and you're going to service the Sharks. So that's my pitch, Dino. Pick up the phone and get it done. I don't know how we got to that from the TV rights deal, but that's where my head's at. Ah, because of the money they're making. Yeah. It's interesting that I'm led to believe not much is going to change with the deal. You're not sure. So we'll TPC on that. But the fact that it's gone up by so much. I know there's more games. I get it. More teams.

[00:39:34] It's good business. Well, it beats the AFL TV rights deal. The AFL deal expires in 2032. And so now they're going to be competing with the NRL deal. But the NRL will also be able to be close to recasting their contract in that time period as well. So in terms of where the game is at, expansion, but has not been at the cost of the historical clubs, I think is an absolutely fantastic thing. And for the 20th team, I would love it to be that Christchurch team.

[00:40:04] That stadium they've got over there looks amazing. But you just worry about what that does to the Warriors. But that's not our problem. But there's a junior base over there with rugby union players and all that type of stuff. So you could potentially get a lot more players into the player pool by doing that. Or you do another Brisbane team. You're not going to do Adelaide or Tasmania or something like that. So it's, Volandis has done such a good job in setting up rugby league. Because I remember when COVID hit, Sam, and you probably would have been just as stressed as I was.

[00:40:32] Because I remember looking at my wife saying, like, I watched the press conference and they were like, I think Volandis said something like we've got money for like 190 days or something like that. 120 days, something. I don't know if that was true. I don't know if it was true. Probably not. But then it's like, just the dour financial situation of the NRL. I remember looking at my wife and saying, the Sharks might be gone here. Like, this is crazy. I think the truth behind that was he was so keen to keep the comp going. And I'm not saying that they weren't in lesser financial trouble.

[00:41:02] Like, they probably had some financial issues and concerns. I don't think they were about to fall over. But I think his point was, let's tell a bit of a story here. We're doing a bit worse than what we are. We need to keep this going. And also, everyone out there in isolation needs to have something to look forward to. Because everyone watches rugby league, right? So, I was less worried because we had a lot of the truth coming in. Because we knew we were going to go to work at Fox.

[00:41:29] But yeah, he's a very smart dude. There's no doubt about it. I haven't done too many deep dives on him. I know about some of his business things and his past. And I kind of respect the fact that he knows what he wants and he goes and does it. You know, we haven't really seen that to this degree. Like, Las Vegas, he wanted it. We were like, what? That sounds a bit. And now it's a success. TV deals. COVID. Like, he's hit it out of the park, to be fair. Honestly, like, where the game is at right now compared to where it was six years ago, even ten years ago.

[00:41:59] The fact that we brought in the Dolphins. Yeah. The Bears are coming back in Perth. PNG. We've got a PNG team coming in. And then there is going to be a 20th team as well. Like, the state of rugby league and the hype around rugby league has never been better. It reminds me of when I was a kid around 95 when you had those four new teams coming in and the really cool footy cards and all that type of stuff. It's a buzz that I think the game has taken 30 years to get back. And now if you look at all the metrics, it's a bigger game now than AFL. AFL beats some crowds.

[00:42:29] Shark Park, no argument there. Shark Park, we can fit 12 people in there. But when you look at TV ratings, when you look at social media engagements, rugby league is flying. So, the fact that the Sharks are still a part of that is such a great thing. And I do think if it wasn't for Volandis and if it wasn't for the way the game is currently being run, we've got a lot of issues as a club. We might – and we will describe, but we might not. I think that we're not – like, there's no danger with our club at all. I'm not trying to send any alarm bells out there.

[00:42:58] But I think that when you tier them 1 to 20, when the 20th team comes in, like, yeah, like we've got a league club and our finances aren't too bad. I mean, they're probably the best they've ever been in the Sharks' history. So, that's great. But, you know, I still think you need to sort of keep your eye on things and be smart about things. I think that out of all the clubs, we're one of the more susceptible ones. Not in the sense of, like, move them to Perth or they're going to fold. I don't mean that. I just mean we're definitely one of the smaller clubs. Like, there's no doubt about it.

[00:43:27] Like, when I look at the – whether you look at crowds, whether you look at membership, whether you will look at, you know, social media and that kind of thing, we're never sort of at the top. And that's not a bad thing. That's not a problem. It's who we are. Now, we've got fans all over the world. You and I know this personally. We've met them. But the bulk of our fans are in a little location down here, and that's just how it is. I think we punch above our weight in terms of regional New South Wales.

[00:43:55] I do feel like one of the coastal towns adopt the Sharks. And when we were in Queensland, there was a really good fan base. We looked at the grand final. We had a lot. But the issue is we need those people turning up every week. Oh, look. If you look at the grand final, we've got 80,000 in attendance. I get it. I'm just saying, like, as far as people who contribute week to week financially, et cetera, that's not the case. As in, like, going through turnstiles, et cetera. But we're doing fine. We're doing fine.

[00:44:23] I just think that we need to – a bit like what the Sharks need to do this year when they get back on the field, put the foot down a little bit on the throttle. Yeah. And we have the little engine that could. I mean, there's so many times when the Sharks should have gone bankrupt. Absolutely. And they pulled themselves from the brink of extinction to this. And if you look at the assets that the Sharks currently have right now, you have Westpac Old Building, which is the Riley Gym in Cronulla. You have Carrillo Golf Restaurant. That's really good. Yeah.

[00:44:53] You have the Lees Club opening. So that's three sources of additional revenue that is coming into the club, plus the television deal. Like, I feel like we're really at the point now where the Sharks can make that jump from being the battlers to, like, we've got cash. I agree. I agree. I'm just saying we want to keep that going up and not down. That's all. And historically, over 50 years, it hasn't been the case. You know, we've had money. Yay! Oh, we've got no money. You know, so –

[00:45:23] It's gone. Yeah. Yeah. So that's all I'm saying. That's my only point. Do you have the Disney application? You probably do because you've got kids. I do. Have you watched the documentary – and I know you'll be all over this anyway – Sky King? No.

[00:45:38] It's about the gentleman who was in Seattle five, six years ago, and he worked as a grounds crew member at the airport, and he had a mental health episode, and he jumped into a proper big, bad plane and took off on his own. Oh, yes. I know about this. I know about this. Yeah. But you've got to watch it. And people listening – if you're over – I'd say if you're over 16, 17, you should watch it. If you're under that, please ask your mom and dad.

[00:46:07] But brilliant documentary, man. It's – so essentially it's – yeah, this guy takes a plane, and no one else is in it. He just takes a plane, and he manages to take off. He's in the air. And obviously the flight people are like, oh, who the hell is that? What's going on? And so the documentary is the real-time audio of the guy and the people. It's proper crisp audio.

[00:46:36] There's vision, real-life vision from cameras of him in the air, et cetera, and also airport vision as well, like CCTV. And then they have – there's a few sort of reenactments, but they're not corny in any way. And the main thing is they interview his family and friends, and they have them listening to the audio. It's like it's full on. But it is the most unbelievable story. And I mean, yeah, you should – I think you'll like it, Karen. I think you'll like it.

[00:47:05] I've seen some of the audio on Instagram, and I've seen some of the clips around, like, the plane in the air. But I didn't realize that they had done an actual documentary on it. I've finally gotten around to watching the Hulk Hogan documentary. I'm on episode three of that now. You haven't finished it. I just don't have time. I was watching it last night at, like, 11.30, and I was like, I've got to get up at five. I've got to turn this off. But episode three gets pretty dark. It was getting pretty dark, and that's why I said, you know what?

[00:47:33] My brain needs to shut off right now, so I turned it off. It was a lot better. The Hulk Hogan documentary was a lot better than what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was just going to be a puff piece, but it's a story about a working-class guy who worked for what he got. A bit of luck along the way. Not the worst human in the world, but certainly a guy that made a lot of errors, particularly over a certain age. And I love the fact that it was his last interview in the sense that I'm not happy he's gone, but I love the fact that we can watch him in his last interview and what was going on in his mind.

[00:48:03] And I think it paints his family in a really good light, too, which I didn't really have in my mind. I like them a lot more now, his family, particularly the wife and the son. But yeah, if you're a wrestling fan or even just a pop culture fan, it's a good doco. Yeah, and the Nick Hogan thing, I've always had an opinion of Nick, the son of Hulk, based off the television show and all that type of stuff. But then when Hulk was saying that they had nothing to film, and so they got Nick to go and throw some water balloons, and then the police turned up.

[00:48:30] That's the side of reality TV that you don't really think about, to be honest, because you just think it's all safe. It's the worst thing they ever did, like when they say that, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, Sky Ring, if you're into it, it's kind of sad and distressing, but it's not like you'll be able to sleep at night kind of thing. But it's not particularly a happy piece. But it's just fascinating, really fascinating. I think you out of a lot of people would really like it. And that's kind of what I've been doing. Oh, the other show I just finished last night was Everyone's Doing Great, which is on Netflix.

[00:48:59] It's about two guys who they were actually in the show One Tree Hill, which I loved, and them making a show about life after that. It's almost like Entourage, but a reverse Entourage, sort of the struggling actors. Which one's from One Tree Hill? James Lafferty, so he's one of the two brothers from One Tree Hill, one of the main guys. And the other guy was in it quite a lot, probably like half the series. And they're really good friends. And so they've written, directed, produced.

[00:49:29] And the first season was just on some sort of small indie channel. And they got the Netflix deal for the season two. And I'm guessing there'll be a season three. It's really good. Good, short, sharp kind of comedy. Yeah, it's a comedy, I guess. But yeah, that's what's happening in Shark Cast TV reviews. You got anything else for us before we head out of here? No, my friend. I'm a little bit disappointed. There was a Brazilian psychic that said aliens were going to turn up on the 24th at a soccer game in Miami. And that didn't happen. So that's a bit of a shame.

[00:49:59] I want to see this Disclosure Day movie, though, because there's a lot of stuff right now. If you ever get a chance, look up Jesse Michaels on YouTube. And he's got some really good stuff around UFOs and aliens and all the weird stuff that's going on. That may be going on. Well, it is going on. It is 100% going on.

[00:50:17] And there's a theory that Steven Spielberg has been briefed on a lot of these things because there's a few things that have happened in his movies that we have since found out have happened to people that have claimed to have encounters like radiation. You're saying close encounters of the third kind, 1980, he knew about it. E.T., 1984, he knew about it. So look up Jesse Michaels and Steven Spielberg.

[00:50:40] So there's a story that E.T. was based off a true story of a family that found an extraterrestrial in 1977. Come on, man. Come on. Well, look, this is the thing, right? Was it like cute and cuddly and had a big finger? Like what was the deal? No, I haven't watched the whole thing that they talk about and they reference it. And my favorite thing to do is the crazy of the conspiracy theory. I love sending it to you because I really want to corrupt your algorithm.

[00:51:10] Oh, you've done that. Yeah. And I don't believe this one. But dinosaurs are not real. You've told me that one before. Because the word dinosaur was created in the 1800s. Right. And no culture has ever referenced dinosaurs before. Maybe they call them something else. Big animal. He's a big animal. They're actually dragons and this is the cover up of dragons. I'm like, why would you just not say the dragons? Like, come on. I don't believe that one. It's pandas. Pandas are man-made.

[00:51:38] So pandas have not been part of Chinese culture. They were not referenced in any part of Chinese culture until the 1900s. Man-made panda, then panda spread naturally. Or they're all artificial, you're saying? I guess so, yeah. They're not animals. Who knows? Maybe they're robots. Maybe they're part of a government psyop just to inspire people. I don't know. Can I just say, just to bring this back to some sort of normalcy, as someone who is,

[00:52:05] I think it's the first time I've referred to myself as this, but as a creative, right? So I write and play music, as people know, right? And I do other stuff that's creative, which people don't really know and things I'm aspiring to do. But I would say I'm someone who just likes to create things, right? Like Shark Cast, I'm creating things. When you tell me a wild story, or if I read it in the paper, for example, or if I'm looking at Western Australia online as a story about something that happened late at night, it gives

[00:52:35] me ideas as a creative person. And then I run with it. So if Steven Spielberg, I'm going to suggest, didn't have like some government person come out and go, hey man, like in 1977, a little furry thing came out to someone's backyard and said, return home, go home. But what he might've had was he might've read a story or was told a story that, hey, I heard

[00:52:57] about this family and a farm in Wisconsin and this little friendly extraterrestrial was there and he'll go, oh yeah, tell me more. Well, it was like not aggressive. It was kind of cute. And then we learned things from it. And then his mind starts to wander because he's a genius. That's how things get written is what I'm telling you. What's that saying? Like, if you want to expose a lie, you tell the truth or something like that.

[00:53:25] I can't, I don't know what I'm talking about here, but effectively there's something that certain people will tell us certain pieces of information that just seems so unbelievable that we just go, that's obviously fake. But even back to the point of like, there are so many stories of the men in black actually turning up after incidents in Brazil, in Australia, like that, that one that happened with the school kids where the school kids were watching at recess.

[00:53:53] And then like, apparently a ship came down and like the whole school saw it. This is, I think in the sixties. Have you heard about this one? No. I'm going to send you something on this one. Cause this one, like the whole, the kids talk about it. The school teachers were told they can't talk about it. The school teachers now are doing interviews talking about it now, but like basically people turned up and I think like the vice principal was basically told like, you cannot talk about this. And if you do talk about it, we'll make some accusations around you and you'll never be able to work effectively.

[00:54:23] The way you're talking about it sounds like it's true. So you're, you're in fact telling me the truth, which I think is not true. This, this one that happened, I think it was in Victoria or regional New South Wales. It was a school and yeah, something turned up. And a spaceship came down and people came down. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, honestly at this point, I mean. I reckon we'd know about it if that actually happened. You know what I'm saying? Like we would know about it. Not back then. We would know about it. Not back then. I would, I would have heard about it in the last existence of my life. I would have, as in this existence, I would have heard about it.

[00:54:52] So, all right, we really got down the wormhole here, but I talk about, I'm going to have to have like, it'll say on the podcast, it'll say shark cast. Kieran. For 50 minutes. No, no. It'll have to start with the three asterisks is by the way, before you start this at the end, we go off on a massive tangent, which is fine. Ross Coulthard, who is the X 60 minutes reporter. You would know Ross Coulthard. Yeah. Very respected journalist. Sure. Very respected. Sure.

[00:55:20] He's now gone so far down this whole wormhole. Literally. I saw him put a YouTube video out the other day where he was talking about portals and he was like, the US government are in so much trouble because this stuff is about to go completely viral because there's too many people that know about the portals. Why, why do these people who have this blessed life in the media, I know why, but why are they doing this to, to their careers and to us as human beings?

[00:55:47] So now old mate, I'm not even going to reference his name has left the corporation to do his independent podcast. Good on him. He can have his own say. He made $40 million out of the network. 40 million Kieran. You're going to make that in about five minutes. I will never see that in my life. And then he gets praised because he wants to be an independent reporter and tell the truth. Mate, you've got so much money. You can do whatever the hell you want.

[00:56:14] You're sick of getting up early in the morning and you're going to have a podcast. Kieran, all these podcasts make our podcasts look like trash because their podcasts are trash. So when I say to someone, I've got a podcast. Oh, do you now? You got a podcast? Yeah, I do. I've been doing it for 12 years talking about the sharks. It's amazing. No, no, no, no. He's going to try and be the Australian Joe Rogan, right? Which I personally think that's you. And I know how much money you collect out of SharkCast.

[00:56:42] And I think if Carl can make a quarter of what you're getting out of this, then he's made a great business decision and walking away from 40 million. Money can't buy the experiences I've had, my friend. Actually, it probably can. My point is, don't believe everything you read and hear, people, because A, Kieran has just told you a lot of waffle. And B, old mate does not have a concern in the world when it comes to a career diversion.

[00:57:11] And I'll just leave it at that because I don't even want to talk about that on SharkCast. That's a cash grab for sure. That is an absolute cash grab. No, it is. But he's also got this cash that he doesn't need a cash grab. He can do it for free. He doesn't need it. That's my point. It's not some brave decision. It's the easiest decision you ever made. 110% agree because now you're your own boss and he's definitely trying to be the Australian Joe Rogan. And if it works for him and he makes his money, happy days to him, I guess. I'm getting sick of the lunatics, to be honest. I really am.

[00:57:41] Well, I think it's only going to get worse, Sam. And I'm not going to go into politics right now. But I feel like it's going to – I feel like normality is going out the window, which is why I really want these conspiracy theories to be true. And I want an alien to turn up. Well, it's like Costanza, you know. I'll look pretty good because I'm bald. You know, bald is not so bad when they all arrive, you know, whatever it is. Well, the theory is that they're evolved humans and they're living in the bottom of the ocean.

[00:58:08] That's why they don't need – their eyes have changed and they don't need the hair and they're evolved. I don't know. Actually, here's a question for you, Sam. Yeah. Someone please write in the answer to this because I know this is a dumb thing that I'm going to say. If the centre of the earth is lava and so hot, why is the ocean so cold at the bottom? I really don't know. And I don't want to know. I don't care. You should? No. No. You know what I care about?

[00:58:36] I care about 7.45 Thursday night Ocean Protect Stadium, our women's team kicking butt. And I care about 7.35 Suncorp Stadium Saturday night, our men's team kicking butt. That's what I care about. But let's just win, man. It's time to win. I don't want to – I'm sick of losing these games. They should have won. They should have beat the Roosters. We're better than that. I was talking to Joe at the cafe yesterday. We're better than that. We're a better team. Well, in the words of Coach Taylor, show me.

[00:59:05] Go out and show me. If we don't turn it around now, it's going to be one of those years that we'll look back and say, what are we going to do? I'm not okay with one of those years. That's not who we are. Under Fitzgibbon, with this team, no matter what you think of that roster, I'm telling you, I'm not okay with it. Just on the roster, Sam, it's – I don't want to give away the exact time, but it's, you know, the 29th of June right now. I think we've got a day and a half to sign Joey Manu. It's him. He is him. Yeah.

[00:59:36] So aliens might not appear, but Joey Manu – So you're still doing conspiracy theories at the end of the episode. It's him. Joey Manu might just walk into Shark Park in a couple of days. And he's going to bring some tall winger from the Wallabies junior team as well. Well, I saw that. So there's some, yeah, some prospect that we're picking up from the rugby union system. I reckon that's more likely, yeah. Great business by the Sharks. But there's got to be a way that we can see Joey Manu rocking up at Shark Park in the next 24 hours. So, Sam, I'm going to go down after this week record.

[01:00:05] I'm going to go sit at the front of Shark Park, and I'm going to wait for Joey Manu. And I'm not leaving until he turns up. Well, you'll definitely see someone from French rugby in the next week or two turn up. And it very well could be Joey Manu, or it could be someone else. It will be Freddie Michalak, I think his name is. And he might bring his mate Joey Manu. You just never know. I mean, Rikio, our mate, wrote a story, and there were nine teams chasing Manu, and we're one of them. And we've got two connections at least.

[01:00:34] We've got Fitzgibbon, and we've got Freddie. And if it happens, we will clip up every Joey Manu reference on this podcast, and we will claim it was our idea. It was our idea. We will claim that we had inside sources on this. Everyone's been jumping on. Hindmars jumped on. The other Sharks guys jumped on. No, we started it. Mate, it's happening. It's one of our listeners. I don't have it on me, but one of our listeners has got the – what is it? The Joey Manu something hat on.

[01:01:03] What's the crazy hat you guys wear? Tinfoil hat? Tinfoil hat, yeah. Well, one of the listeners did point out the connection to the French rugby coach, which I didn't know about. So I can't remember who sent that email in, but that was a great – Oh, he writes to me every couple of weeks telling me the tinfoil hat's still alive. So he's ready. Oh, mate. If we can pull off adding Joey Manu into this squad, I don't know why you're playing him at the moment, considering all the fullback. Will's going all right. We're an hour in this podcast. We're not doing a Will Kennedy segment at this point.

[01:01:32] Oh, I don't think Will will be the victim. Well, who will it be? It might be someone going to the North Queensland Cowboys. I get that. Which isn't fair either because he's pretty good on his day too. That's what I mean, right? So I look at it and I sort of say, oh, I want to believe. Aliens and Joey Manu. Those are my two things I want to believe. And I also want to believe in dinosaurs too. Like don't tell me dinosaurs aren't real. I'm not. I'm not telling you dinosaurs aren't real. I'm not telling you other things are real.

[01:02:01] I'm going to send on all the correspondence I get, which will be mostly negative, straight to you. Okay? Well, no worries. You can – like my personal Instagram account, I'm not that big on. So like Cronulla Collector, follow me on there and I will send you all these crazy Looney Tunes accounts. Look, my answer always is when – because, you know, if we do like the flagship episode and we talk about this, then I understand we get eaten alive.

[01:02:27] But this show has always been about you and I hanging out, talking about sharks and other things. It's always been the idea behind it and we're sticking by it. And today you've certainly lived up to it. So congratulations on that. Sorry, guys. It's June 30th. I'm going absolutely mental, you. Yeah. As a businessman, I don't know what that means. But no worries. All right. We will talk to you soon, Kieran. We're looking forward to hanging out. And everyone else will have more apps for you this week. I promised you that. Last week I sort of said it and I couldn't deliver and I apologize.

[01:02:57] That was just a health thing. But we're back. We're good. Cut through episode pretty good too. So we'll talk to you all soon. And don't forget, Thursday night in our world dub. Up, up, Kieran. Talk to you soon, my friend. 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 Caringbah region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast.

[01:03:25] 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. Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies!

[01:03:46] And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.