Flagship Episode w/Dan Nichols

[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 SharkCast in the Shire, turn your port slides off because we're coming out with a trophy.

[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast, part of a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. My name is Sam Shinazzi, OG2015, and this show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking, and Jason Hawes of Crips and Crips Real Estate. Pleasure to be with you once again, and on the other end of this line or video if you're watching as you can see is the great Dan Nichols from Fins Up, from Rugby League Outlaws, and from Zero Tackle. Not to mention a whole host of other things that aren't football related. Dan, how are you, man? Mate, I'm doing amazing, thank you.

[00:01:35] This is how I like to use my lunch breaks, talking about the Sharks. How you doing, mate? I feel like I never ask you how you're doing. That's very kind. I'm good, a little weary. I'm going to look forward to a bit of rest and a bit of sleep at some point in the week, but made a whirlwind trip. Melbourne, shout out to our Melbourne, some of our Melbourne listeners, our less famous Melbourne listeners came to watch me play a gig on Sunday, which was cool. Dan, I had the draw from hell. I was actually playing during the first half of the Socceroos.

[00:02:03] Now, you'd think zero people would be there. Melbourne is not like any other place in the world. They came, they watched, some watched their phones while they watched me. Unbelievable. And then we scored our first goal in between my songs. So I finished the song, hey, good one. Hey, big tune. I turned to my guitar and said, I think we scored. So yeah, anyway, a successful trip for the Socceroos and for the Skenazi duo band. But anyway, we're here to talk about the Mighty Sharks.

[00:02:33] Dan, where does that win sit for you? Not in the grand scheme of things, but that was special, right, against the Warriors? Yeah, special is the right word. It was one of those games that, so I'm happy to admit here exclusively that with a couple of minutes to go, when they had the ball 20, 25, 30 metres out, whatever it was, three minutes to go, I decided, eh, I'm going to use the bathroom. Because I thought they'd kick a field goal and win the game.

[00:02:59] Anyways, I not soon closed the door and my son yelled, Kennedy. So I'm like, ooh, okay. So I rushed outside and we had the ball back. And I had to wait till after the game to see the play. I love it. So yeah, it was special. The field goal was special. The win was special. I know New Zealand say they'll miss some players, but it was nothing compared to the cattle we had out. It was just one of those wins that you probably penciled in as, okay, I'm all right if I lose this.

[00:03:28] Makes it all the sweeter when you win. Yeah, and it could be the difference maker come finals time. It could be the difference maker come top four. Like we don't know what the future is holding for us, but we're four and are going for five. Things have definitely turned. We'll get to all that. Who stood out for you aside from Kennedy and Trindle? And to be fair, they weren't necessarily brilliant the whole game. I thought Kennedy was better than Trindle. But who stood out for you aside from those guys? Because they will get all the highlights and as they should.

[00:03:58] But who else did you like out there? Yeah, I had Jesse Ramian down for a point. So the two you mentioned were three and two. I had someone say, geez, Will Kennedy didn't play well until he won the game for us. You just take that every week. Yeah, Ramian I thought was outstanding. Ran hard, scored a rip a try. Our only try as it turns out. I thought Jesse Colvin was playing outstanding before he head-butted that guy's shoulder. And amazingly, he's playing this week. I think the guy that won't get any wraps should do is Siffy Talikai.

[00:04:27] I think that's his best performance since he's gone back into the bench rotation. I think he changed the game when he came on. And 100 and something metres in a game that didn't really have any of those big 150 metre efforts. Definitely held his own against a pretty good Warriors pack, even minus S-Stars. So Siff for me was the outlier. Legendary stuff. That's all we need from Talikai. It shows what he can do when he's got the time to do it. You know, it's all very well going. Here's 10 minutes to rip and tear, which he can do, to be fair.

[00:04:57] But when he's on that field and he's in a position that's true to him, he's one of the best. And you're right. He carried us so well. I think was it before half time? And we were kind of on the back foot. And they were really giving it to us physically. And then after a bad set from us, he stood up and was like, nah, nah. And he was just like bashing blokes and really got us back into the game before half time, which was important.

[00:05:26] You know, we don't need to talk about next year, but we will miss that physicality from him. To be fair, like the whole team played a part to get us to that point where Trindle and Kennedy could steal the show. It was a real team effort. I enjoyed some of the coaching aspects and it was just a great game. Like I heard Andrew Epps today on Andrew Voss's radio show and they were joking about the clock and that kind of thing.

[00:05:49] And he actually said, I felt really bad in hindsight because the one thing I didn't mention too much was how great Cronulla played. And I thought that was really good to hear him say that he did kind of acknowledge it during the press conference, but obviously that the story got out and the biggest story was the clock thing. But even just today, he doubled down and went, hey, the Sharks played really well. You don't concede one try, especially to that Warriors team without playing well. Like I didn't even mention Ken McInnes, who probably had his best game of arguably the season.

[00:06:20] Toby Rudolph looked really good. You know, we were missing our main guy in Fenua Blake. So they all stood up around him. I thought Colquhoun at prop was outstanding. That might be a bit of a preview towards the future and again this weekend, which is just incredible. Yeah, Billy Burns, Teague Walton has become the hit man. Like I don't think Walton gets anywhere near the level of attention he should. No, I'm guilty of that as well. When Niwai Puru came in, I was extremely worried about his defense.

[00:06:49] They put Teague Walton beside him and said, oh, he protects your halfback. And he's done just that for two weeks in a row. So it goes under the radar. But those are the kind of guys that you look at. Like a Liam Martin or a Garner for Penrith. Just turn up every week and give you that 80, 100 meters and 40 tackles as it turns out. It's just a really good team performance to be honest. It was. It was an all-around good team performance. I'm kind of guilty in the Teague Wilton category as well, although I do profess my love for him quite regularly.

[00:07:18] I won't necessarily single him out. And I probably should because he was just, as you say, really consistent. And he plays with that physicality. It's different to Talakai's kind of drag him down, knock him out kind of thing. It's more of a, it's like an eight out of 10 physicality every tackle, every hit up. Like it's with force. He's a really great club man. And, you know, all being well, I think he's here for a long time. And I think he's going to do some really special things. So it's great to have those guys there who don't necessarily steal the headlines.

[00:07:48] But yeah, as you said, a really great team effort. Just on Nephi, I mean, he's, I think to a point, exceeded a lot of expectations. I think a lot of people thought, oh, his attack would be good. His defense would be a bit sketchy. He'll plug and play, but he's really played a role, Dan. Like I love the fact he hasn't overplayed it. We're not seeing chip and chases. We're not seeing crazy cutout passes. He's playing a safe brand, which is what is needed.

[00:08:16] He's playing the role that we need him to. Like it's, it's the Trindle show. There's a definite lead half and Pooh hasn't shirk responsibilities. He's kicked plenty. He's backed up. I mean, he scored. He had, you know, handed another try. He's done everything we've asked him. But going in, I was very, very worried about his defense to the point where I was like, we're going to have to score 30 because we're going to concede 28. Okay. He's conceded one direct try, but that can happen. Halfbacks get targeted. They get run over. No hate there.

[00:08:47] Yeah. I think it's an understatement saying he's sort of over delivered to the point where if Nico Hines isn't 100% this week, I wouldn't pick him. Just say, hey, look, take the week, take the buy and come back fit and firing for the finals. Because despite the talk that we're better without Nico, where are you getting those 25 tries every year? I just can't buy into that. Okay. Yeah. Puru's got one, I think, plus a try. As a bloke, especially on what we're paying him in the role he's in, I don't know how much more he could have done.

[00:09:16] So, yeah, I think he'd be a little bit hard done by if he does go out this week. Obviously, to swap him, Nico's fit. Yeah. But yeah, I'm happy to eat crow on that because I honestly thought, oh, geez, this is going to be painful a couple of weeks. Now I'm at the point where, Nico, take it next week. The other thing about the Puru brothers, and you've heard it on our show, you've heard it through the Sharks channels probably, is the professionalism of these guys who are waiting in the wings.

[00:09:43] And I don't know why I'm surprised, but they're really switched on brothers who have been patiently waiting and they've taken their turn now and really impressed. And it's to the point where, yeah, we want to keep them and hopefully keep both of them. There's no doubt in my mind someone else is picking them up now after watching three or four game sample, which is quite a lot for a backup in the NRL who hasn't played. Then you play three or four. It's like, oh, well, look, he can actually play. Yeah.

[00:10:12] The level of professionalism, the attitude, the club first attitude, which is throughout the Sharks, whether you want to believe that or not, I'm telling you to a man and it comes back to the coach. They're playing for each other and playing for the club. They're not playing for stats. They're not playing necessarily for rep footy and that kind of stuff. Like they want to achieve all that, but it's club first, man. And I know sometimes we lose and everyone tears their hair out and everything, but at the moment on a four game win streak, like I'm pretty impressed.

[00:10:42] Yeah, absolutely. The Perus have both been great. They both came through good systems. You know, Penrith and then Hoheppa went via Canberra. And, you know, we make fun of Ricky Stewart because of the way he left Cronulla, but he's a pretty darn good coach. Yeah. I haven't been shocked in that regard. I have been shocked with how well Hoheppa's played at nine. I thought, you know, he was a little bit quiet this week, but he's not there to be a hooker. He's there just to pass the ball to Trindle, make his tackles and make him threaten. And then Beryl comes on and does the dummy half stuff.

[00:11:12] And I thought Beryl's last two weeks have been outstanding. I wasn't confident in Beryl being picked. I love the role he's playing. He can't start. That's not what he's about. The role he's playing, though, again, to the point where you say to Beryl, hey, take that extra week and get the bye. We can get through this week without you. Never thought I'd say those words, mate. Happy to cop that, too. Yeah. And the other thing I love, Dan, about the game plan last week in Swarriars was they adjusted to wet weather football or whatever you want to call it, drizzly, overcast, whatever it was.

[00:11:41] It was obviously something. And, you know, I saw a lot of people say, oh, they didn't play to the width, to the edges of the field like we normally do. And it's like, well, you couldn't. You couldn't really do three pass plays, really. And you definitely couldn't go to the edges because you'd be slipping and sliding all over the place. I thought it was an incredibly smart game plan. It was. I had some people say it wasn't a very entertaining game. I start to think, what do you want? You don't want your 40-30s.

[00:12:10] You don't want your 12-10s or your 10-8s. Like, what do you want? 14-12? Like, I thought the game, I thought Cronulla played exceptionally well. I actually thought the Warriors played really well, too. That to Mary Martin is so underrated. And when he went through and scored, I was kind of thinking, oh, oh, here we go. But the Sharks didn't fall apart. They held him there. And it was close. And it literally came down to the last kick of the game. Like, if you can't enjoy that, then come on. There's plenty of soccer on. Give that a crap, I suppose.

[00:12:39] There is a lot of soccer on. Now, let's talk about the last play of the game. Your man, Sione Katoa, with a somewhat almost costly penalty. I thought he was fine for the rest of the game. I thought he filled a role. We don't have confirmation whether he was picked specifically for that game. As in, like, that was when he was going to come back because he was facing the Warriors and it was going to be drizzly and that kind of stuff. We're not sure of the timing. But I thought he was a good replacement for Stone Street.

[00:13:08] And he did a job. However, that kind of goes out the window with that last play, which, unfortunately, we've seen from Sione before, not necessarily on the full-time bell, but definitely on the halftime bell. And it's simply not good enough because they legitimately should have gone to golden point and then who knows what happens. Yeah. Yeah, I thought he played 77 minutes of good football. And then he did knock on from the short dropout.

[00:13:37] But again, that can happen. That's a 50-50. I don't hold that against him. But yeah, that moment to run out and hit that bloke 10 meters away from where the ball was, unforgivable. For example, if I was Fitzgibbon, I'd say, oh, you're done. No, get out. It's like saying, oh, geez, he played really well until he lost the game. The reverse of Kennedy. It was a rain snap. It's a good thing they didn't look up because he was 15 meters infield. They go left. They go down the left and they probably score.

[00:14:04] So yeah, we dodged a bullet there, which is, we'll just put it in that. Could have been worse category, but it wasn't good. What do you reckon happens if we do lose the game from that moment of time? Is he out again and Stoney's back in? How do you reckon they play it? Like go to Fitzgibbon, don't go to Nichols. What would Fitzgibbon do? Look, I don't think you see Ketala again. I think that is, it happens. Stuff happens. Players are going to do stupid things. I get it.

[00:14:33] But when you're leaving the club and you're on the fringe of playing first grade and just come back, yeah, I don't think we would see Ketala again if we ended up losing that game. So he dodged a bullet in that regard. But to his credit, for the 77 minutes before, he was fine. He wasn't great. He wasn't outstanding. But he knew anything bad. He was fine. So it would be a very different combo. I don't know if Fitzgibbon knew about what the conditions were going to be a week before. Maybe he did. I know they do a lot of research.

[00:15:02] But I don't know if it played a factor, I should say. But I thought the game probably suited Ketala more than it did Stone Street if I had to get really nitpicky. Yeah. If you defensively pin down in your own area, Stone Street isn't your guy. If you need to score tries and get up in the air. And I was shocked. They kept kicking to Renato all night. Even my son, who's pretty alerted. But he isn't 30 years into his life, obviously. He kept saying, why are they kicking to Renato?

[00:15:31] Why are they kicking to Ketala on the short dropout? So I think they missed a trick there. I don't think they took advantage. But yeah, in that type of drag them down, rain, just tuck the ball and don't do anything stupid for 77 minutes. Yeah, I think you go with Ketala. This weekend, though, we're going to need to score a lot more points. So I'd be making the switch just between us. That's Nichols, not Fitzgibbon. Sure, sure, sure. Now, thank goodness Daniel Tupo is not playing what would be his 300th game.

[00:15:59] So he's not picked at all. Shame. It's a darn shame. It's a darn shame. Let's move on to some other things, Dan. And in case you haven't caught on, listeners and viewers, we're doing a flagship style show here. We're going to bounce around different subjects. Let's go to your man. What do you call it? Your agendas? What do you call it? Yeah, agendas. Agendas? Our agendas, yeah. Dan found this player and he signed him to the Sharks.

[00:16:28] And now they've re-extended his contract. Big Felix Fartili. He's here for two more years. And we've seen him progress through the grades to where he's now a cup stalwart, which is awesome. I've seen him do laps of the oval like the naughty school kid back in the day, not now, but like probably two years ago. Not that he was being naughty. He was just on a bit of a, we need to trim you down a little bit.

[00:16:56] And I saw him and I saw him as a lone figure doing laps of Ocean Protect Stadium while other teammates were doing catch and pass and whatever else. And to his credit, he worked at it, worked at it. His body's now terrific. And he's still growing. Pretty good dude from off the field from what I can tell. And a really good signing and a signing that if we didn't make it, someone else would have. Give us your thoughts on Big Felix sticking around.

[00:17:26] Love it. This guy is just, I don't like comparing players, but he looks a lot like a former prop that we've had in the system. Draw your own conclusions. But big minutes. He's a big body, but as you said, he slimmed down tremendously. Yeah. He's got a great offload and he's got good footwork for a bloke that big, which is shocking. We're going to do another top 10 prospects.

[00:17:49] But in the old one we did, there are a lot of tries where he just break the line off of Sam McCulloch, pass, beat the fullback and score. You don't see that too much from props. He's done that routinely in New South Wales Cup to the point where he started last week with McCulloch. And they look really good against a really good Warriors New South Wales Cup pack. Two years is fantastic. It gives you a chance in 12 months to go, okay, you've got three or four NRL games under your belt now. Let's talk about extending you again.

[00:18:18] Or you can say, okay, sit in New South Wales Cup for another 12 months and we'll come back to you. It's kind of the perfect deal. I know factually that there was a team ready and willing to sign him to a bigger deal than what we've been able to offer. He's turned that down, which is a real show of support both for his self-belief and the club have obviously said, oi, come see us before we sign elsewhere. Can't wrap this guy enough. He's young. He's raw. He's in his first full year of New South Wales Cup.

[00:18:45] Played a lot last year but could have still played a bit of flag and did towards the back end, I believe. Or early on. Can't remember. Might have flipped that up. But, yeah, big, strong, fast. And I dare say that with the people leaving that we're seeing, he'll be a regular on the bench next year, whether he's in the 17 or 18, 19 is yet to be seen. But, yeah, watch the back end of the season in New South Wales Cup because this guy wants a first-grade spot next year. I know that again, factually. Yeah. He's not far off.

[00:19:14] Yeah, I think that you're right. I think he'll be within that 23-man squad week to week. You know, as long as everything goes as it should in the offseason. And, you know, he might be in that kind of Tuku situation where he's pushing. He's pushing and then he gets to tap. And when I say that, I mean current Tuku. I think Tuku's an injury away from another player to stepping in and having a good time. That's another subject. But I think Felix will be kind of thereabouts.

[00:19:43] We know Fitzy doesn't like to rush them. But he also, in my opinion, isn't a guy to hold back a career either. So, if it's time, it'll be time. And it is exciting. And his legwork is really good. His footwork. He's originally from New Zealand. I didn't realize this. He was recruited by the Broncos. So, he played the winner of Manly for a while. But then came to us in 2023. So, exciting times. And it's another example.

[00:20:12] Well, it's two examples of players wanting to stick around, Dan. Like there's not too many I can think of under Craig Fitzgibbon who have wanted to leave. And it's also just good recruitment from the guys that do that. So, he's earned it. I know that your mate Terry was, you know, every third word over his mouth was Felix Fatili for a while. Like back in the day. Oh, yeah. And I did tell him, I said, just slow down, man.

[00:20:42] Just slow down. Because I'm watching him do laps now in the Chinese restaurant. Just slow down. He's nowhere near. You are near that. Exactly. I'm chowing down and he's trying to not chow down. He's nowhere near where you want him to be. But, you know, he's there now. So, it's awesome. It's a great story. Big improvement. And, you know, I do see him around the main squad. I see him train with them and he does not look out of place, which is a really good sign as well.

[00:21:08] So, that's some good recruitment there from the Sharks. What do you reckon is going to happen to some of the dudes off contract? Like, what do you reckon about a Toby Rudolph? I think it could go. It's such a horrible answer, but it could go 50-50. It could go either way. Yeah, I mean, Toby's been so good the last few weeks. It's no – it's hard to tell with Toby what's serious and what's play-acting. But, seemingly, he wants to go to PNG. And, obviously, the money's good and, you know, it's a great opportunity.

[00:21:37] And, you know, you certainly can't blame him. So, if Cronulla go in and say, hey, you want a one-year deal? I think he signs it. And I think both teams are pretty happy with that. But, you know, I know Kofusi's got an extra year, so you've got to think, well, Toby and Kofusi are pretty similar. If you keep one, one's on contract. You've got huge toots, as you mentioned. You've got Felix coming through. It's not like you're losing Talakai. So, there's going to be a bit of – and McInnes. Look, if Colquhoun's going to play prop, which he could do,

[00:22:05] I still think he's going to play Locke for the foreseeable future. But, you know, he pushes in there. And then do you look to a bloke like a McCulloch or Felix probably too big? But do you switch them to Locke? So, I mean, yeah, going to my head right now, I think Toby signs a one-year extension and then probably goes to Perth or PNG after. I'd be a little bit disappointed to lose him, to be honest, given what he's done compared to the money he's on. I still think we need a little bit of a refresh. But you can't refresh folks that are playing well.

[00:22:34] Like, I know he's injured and it looks like a long-term injury. There's no reason to re-sign him now. But if he comes in and does what he did a couple of years ago, before the finals and goes on a huge up, you've got to give him a year deal, don't you? Yeah. And I'm happy with Toby when he's not the man. When he's the man, I think we expect, well, him to be the man. And sometimes it's too much. And sometimes, to be fair, he's not the guy. He's a number two. Like, and that's not a knock.

[00:23:03] People are building for different roles. I kind of want him to be number three, is what I'm thinking. Yeah. Well, if you start calling him for no Blake. That's every week. That's lots of minutes. But I just don't know. Even if I say he's starting, but he's not number two. I just think that when we put all this pressure on him, we expect him to be AFB and he's not AFB. He's Toby Rudolph. He's certainly gotten better with age, I reckon. And I think there was a bit of a slump.

[00:23:32] I couldn't pin down the year or the time, but I think we went through a bit of a slump and I think he's out of that now. Good club man, good for the laughs, can be serious, as you know, about the game when he needs to be. But as you say, if he's in form, I don't have a problem with a one-year deal. It's not going to break the bank. And you probably can't get rid of everyone who's off contract as well. Now, I'm led to believe it's not confirmed, and I personally hope I'm wrong,

[00:23:59] but I'm led to believe Hamlin Welle is probably on the outer and he hasn't played much duty injury, unfortunately, so he hasn't had much time to turn people around. I'm not saying he's gone, but I think at this point in time, there's a good chance he may be gone. As I said, hope I'm wrong, just for the fact that he's an awesome lad. I spoke to Tuku personally, and it was off record, but he wouldn't mind me saying that he is very confident of sticking around and he wants to stick around and he's actually in a really good place. Sometimes you might talk to these guys

[00:24:28] and he hasn't seen a minute of, well, he's seen first grade this year? I don't know if he has, Tuku. I don't think he has, no. If he has, it's been limited. But he hasn't seen much in general in his career at the Sharks. Tuku was sort of expecting a bit of, you know, just a trace of negativity or something, but he was upbeat, smiles. I'm going to stick around. Is it confirmed? No, but it will be. Okay, cool. So I think you can factor Tuku in for next year, a big off season, et cetera. And I do think he'll get more minutes

[00:24:57] because we are losing some middles and he's sort of next in line. And we've seen that he can do it. He's got improvement to reach, but he's certainly at a level where I'm comfortable throwing him out and give you your best shot two or three weeks. And if it's not working well, okay, back to Reggie's. But if it is working, stick around. But with Toby Rudolph, you have all that experience. He knows how to be an NL role guy. And as I said, you can't get rid of everyone. So that's not a reason that I would keep him around. I don't mean to be negative,

[00:25:26] but I do think that the longer the season's gone, even when he's been injured, like the more likely it is Toby sticks. Yeah, you agree with that. We've got Ueli off contract, Toby off contract. You can't keep both. You pick one or neither. So for me, it's Toby. Yeah. Tuku, Ugetukes and Fartili are both big and fast. They're the modern day props. I think you got to get them into the system next year.

[00:25:56] So you're losing Talakai and Ueli. So there's your straight swap. You lose in McInnes, which means Colquhoun's going to play more football, which I think you'll see Kafusi play more. I, you know, I'm a bit here or there with Kafusi, but the way he's playing these 15 minute stints, he's better at that than the other blokes because he just, he just doesn't miss any tackles and he'll just do four or five hit ups and you don't notice him. When you don't notice Kafusi, he's had a good game. Like you just, you look at stats and you're like, oh geez, Kafusi played well.

[00:26:25] Well, that's what I want from him. So there's, there's all there. Then you got, you know, you McCullochs and you got, you know, you Tom Delos that are a couple of years off. Yeah. I certainly wouldn't be signing any of these blokes more than a year. And maybe they say, hey, go away. We got a three-year deal in England. Again, we spoke about it before. You can't begrudge blokes going and making their money and looking after their families. But we're in a good spot now where I think Hohebapuru needs to be re-signed ASAP. I love him. I think Beryl's moving on because we've got that Conceota kid and I will butcher his name

[00:26:55] until I'm well gone. Apologies. I think we're in a good spot where we don't need to rush to re-sign anyone. But if you, other than say you will, because I think he's done with all respect to him, if you would tell me any of them re-signed for a year, no pitchforks. It's a pretty good spot. Absolutely. I'm going to go Xavier Cacciotti. Something like that. It's funny because it sounds like Pinciotti and then I've been calling him Pat Acotta for so long it's messed with my brain. Cacciotti.

[00:27:24] I think it might be Cacciotti. We can get... We'll call him X. Go X. Good player, dude. Good player. Great player. Cheesy looks good in New South Wales Cup despite being flag eligible. And then you've got Camilleri ripping it up for the flag boys. So, future's bright. Well, let's get to some of those lower grades that you obsess over so much. Sharks lose 30-22 at Go Media Stadium. Bad start. Horrific start. Could never get back into it. What did you make of the

[00:27:53] Shark Jets? Yeah, they were just outplayed by Luke Metcalf. You drop a player of that quality back to New South Wales Cup... Ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's like whenever we drop Colquhoun back and that week that we dropped Ueli and Toby and we just dominated and won by 50 points. Yeah, Metcalf is way too good and if he plays New South Wales Cup they'll win it. Flat chat. I thought the comeback was really good. Michael Gabriel blew one of the easiest tries you'll ever see. I messaged the boys in the group. I was like,

[00:28:22] I'm so off Gabriel. He was best player for the next 25 minutes. Obviously he read that and apologies to the great the great MG. He was so good. I feel like and you're going to hate me saying this. I feel like these things can happen in cup football. I really do. I'm not saying he couldn't do it in first grade but I feel like the chances of it happening in first grade are less for whatever reason. Yeah, it's crazy. Like there were games where K.L. Ero in reserve grade would miss 11 tackles and you're like, is this guy for real? Then he'd score four tries

[00:28:52] in the second half and you'd be like, oh well, what do you do in this regard? Like Bronson Zeri was the same. Niffi Puru, you couldn't tackle to save his life and now he's missed what? Four across two games? Completely different setup. Yeah, when you add the quality you rise to it in most cases. If you're who you think we're going to be. Our boy Rolly Pollard continues to impress. I thought he was good in a losing team. He is so good. Like he is right up there in everyone's team of the years. You know, AJ, our good mate does a really in-depth look

[00:29:21] where he watches every game. I don't. I watch the Jets and I watch occasionally highlights. I watch when I have a bit of extra time which is almost always. Pollard is pure quality. He's about probably a year or two off but if Puru does move on and I hope he doesn't I hope he sticks around for another year you've got Pollard to go in. In two years time we're going to have a conversation here about what we're going to do to get Pollard in. You can clip that up if you like. He looks fantastic. Gabriel, as I mentioned, looked good. Liam Eysen's last month has been outstanding after a slow start. After a horror injury

[00:29:51] full disclosure Sam McCulloch's come back in and has looked a different player the last three weeks. Felix Bartilli's been good. Harrison Hassett who no one ever mentions which is criminal has been so good on that edge and I don't often like to wrap the Newtown boys because it makes me feel bad but Jackson Lavender Newtown contracted. Good play. I want him shark contracted next year. You know, if you've got 29 you need a 30th. He's right there. He is so good. Targe Ford again

[00:30:19] looking better than bad which in New South Wales Cup is a good thing. He's another one I'd want back in the shark system. Pretty much everyone we wanted to play well played well despite the loss. Is there some sort of situation do you think in the contracts for Lavender and for Ford where we get first pick or something? There's got to be something there because we kind of bring these guys through or brought I was under the understanding we brought Lavender up was he on a train and trial maybe? Possibly.

[00:30:49] There's a few they flip between the two. Yeah and then they go to Jets okay cool it's our feeder club in theory but there's got to be a little we get first bite at them surely because Taj Ford can't be a free agent that would be horrific. Well that's why we picked Talakai up excuse us he was our Newtown contractor and we're like oh getting first great of me to be here. Yeah well Taj was a shark contractor last year and I was shocked when he was announced by Newtown but yeah I think there's an unofficial if we need a player you're next man up

[00:31:19] unofficially. Liam Eison looking good you know occasional moments which you'll get after not playing in the game for a year and a half or however long it was there was a lot of talk about when Kennedy re-signed oh they don't care about Liam Eison dot dot dot dot it's like well if they didn't care they wouldn't have re-signed him if they didn't care they wouldn't have rehabbed him so well they didn't care they were throwing him in probably two months earlier than what they did and he's still very much in the future plans. He just has the benefit of youth on his side

[00:31:49] and he's had time off the field that gives you longevity in a weird ironic way but Liam Eison for all intents and purposes is not going anywhere and he's still in line to be the Sharks fullback the year after next we've talked about the Kennedy thing until everyone's fallen asleep but he had to be re-signed he was it's awesome we love it but then yeah there's just that there's that kind of two-sided conversation where it's like well there goes Liam Eison's

[00:32:19] career and then there's the other thing where you're going well Liam Eison's going to be hot on his heels I think it's in between Dan I don't think he's going to be hot on his heels I don't think his career is over I think it's going to be one man out one man in if they keep trending the way they're trending yeah absolutely I mean if Kennedy hopefully not gets a flu and needs a game off Eison just slots straight in now they could always go Haradi for a week I get it but say Kennedy you know has a two week injury Eison plays for two weeks I think so he's

[00:32:48] he's at a point where he's re-signed pretty long term I think it was a three or four year deal so it's not like okay if the Bears came in for him you'd be a little bit worried or PNG because they can give him a spot but he's probably not going to walk into any first grade team Will Kennedy again is on the money and if he falls off a cliff this time next year you just switch him with Liam Kennedy not that guy Liam Eison and you don't really lose much in terms of value because they're both on such valuable deals

[00:33:18] so yeah look I would love to see Eison play some football but Will Kennedy is playing such good footy you can't make that switch now I mean if we wrap the minor premiership up with two weeks throw Eison in for a game or two in an idea world yeah that'd be good don't worry if you're Liam Eison fan he will play plenty of first grade for Cronulla yeah and he's around the inner sanctum and the inner circle a lot he's a valued member of the club and there

[00:33:47] is no disrespect there and that's his mentor his mentor is Will Kennedy like it's been spoken about so you couldn't have let Kennedy go in this position because it's then if they did okay Liam Eison time round one next year there must have been

[00:34:24] he's played a month of really good football and he started slow so about six weeks yeah yeah and Kennedy had to get a contract it was either yes or no situation it's a lot of pressure to go no no we'll see later we'll Liam's our guy we know he's our guy from a football point of view from a physical point of view from a mental point of view you couldn't make that call it would be irresponsible to the fans and the members and the sponsors and everything else and also to Liam to just go here you go here's the keys not

[00:34:54] 100% ready for round one next year I'm not saying he couldn't be ready for that game but to throw him in and go you're the guy and then who's your backup oh Taj Ford come and be our backup Taj Ford isn't ready either you know what I offer so much flexibility it's like it's a million dollars either we're talking the cheapest fallback in the competition if it needs to happen the switch is very easy to

[00:35:24] make because I have no doubt with the one year deal would come hey no it's not a fullback suffer these kinds of injuries unfortunately I'm on the stake he's going to be a very good first grade footballer at

[00:35:54] Cronulla and I'm outside of his family his biggest fan so people forget too that he has a game under his belt like he's debuted young he was still flag eligible and played really well had a trisis and stuff so yeah I can't wrap this kid enough but unfortunately or fortunately well Kennedy is just playing lights out football and you can't swap a bloke out that's playing that well wouldn't have thought so just on our friend AJ Luke Antonio I had the pleasure of working with him at about four in

[00:36:24] the morning the other week it was the morning of they were playing that night against the Dolphins was the kids roosters versus the baby roosters versus the Dolphins AJ was pretty confident and to hear you know how much AJ likes to chat four in the morning she has his half asleep and he's telling me about the bassinth weights and everyone else good luck

[00:36:54] man and to be fair those players played well my point is he's a pest at four in the morning as well as yeah New South Wales women's premiership the Harvey Norman women's premiership is back and unfortunately our Sharks lost at Ocean Park Stadium 18-12 close game some good young players coming through but didn't get the win first up but that leads us to NRL dub which is very soon on the horizon Sharks are the first game on a Thursday

[00:37:23] night at Ocean Park Stadium so get your tickets for that one early July first Thursday in July but we do have news yesterday that Madison Ashby who is signed on ready to go yeah that's humongous like so where those who don't know Emma Vera now Marquis pregnant she's due any day now judging by what's been posted she's not playing this year obviously no Talae Holmes I believe

[00:37:53] has given birth but recently she's probably not going to play this year I think Tyler King is pregnant too with with Talae I'd say watch the space because it was some it was maybe within the last month or two so I don't know I'm not going to rule it out I haven't heard anything official that's all I'm saying let's hope because she's fantastic and we need the back rose there's a couple of players there that won't play meaning our first 5-8 and probably the hooking option on the bench

[00:38:24] so you know to bring this and so I don't watch a whole lot the sevens since it left Foxtel I used to watch all the sevens because I love it but I'm not paying extra for it she's been great in the sevens they just won everything she has a gold medal she played for Cronola and won the Tasha Gale player of the year at halfback a few years ago quite a while now that's exactly what we need she'll probably play on the bench if you

[00:38:54] do my one to 17 I think they're still at 17 I don't think they're sending the bench yet she's just plugged in terms

[00:39:24] of that and it's not like in the past we've seen ladies come across from the sevens without a rugby league background she literally played for Cronulla for a lot of years and came through as a rugby league player completely off guard mate when I I think she'll

[00:39:54] get a few people through the gates as well so that is awesome news despite the players that won't be around for the whole season or some of it due to great reasons in their lives we're looking alright depth in teams is a bit limited just because of where the game is at right now there is more and more teams so it's hard to

[00:40:24] the season it was one after another week by week it was horrible to watch and there were bad injuries but with a bit of luck and not that happening this year I think we'll be a lot more competitive in all the

[00:40:54] coming in we'll do a full preview soon like I could talk for two hours on this but I wrote for zero tackle earlier in the year and I said the Sharks will win the NRLW because I'm sick of the Broncos and the Roosters and I

[00:41:24] Sharks are on at 6.15 so do the math the Jets the Shark Jets are on before that the flag team however is Sunday at Wentworth Park so if you want to do the triple header for those three you still do it but yeah there's a bit of travel involved getting from Wentworth to Wentworth Park to Allianz but the flag team is pretty good man like I enjoyed watching

[00:41:54] your man Joe Camilleri like there's and Delo's not there why is Delo on the bench what's going on there because he's playing reps or something yeah

[00:42:24] that is a great name let's talk about Tom Delo he's really rising through the ranks at a quick rate he's not very old playing rep football as you say he is one to watch I know for a fact that coaching staff are watching him and the senior players are aware of him and he does do things with the main squad from time to time he's become a bit of a fascination to

[00:43:01] who's the only lock to ever win the premiership was

[00:43:31] okay like yesterday ball probably didn't live up to what we had planned for them the second he stepped up to jersey flag he looked like everything you said then and then some like this kid that's played every junior reps available to him since he was under eights or nines it's ridiculous he looks small he's got a Cam Mckinnis size build ahead of him obviously he's not that big

[00:44:02] but this kid he wears a headband so he's easy to spot and if he loses the headband just look for the bloke who's hitting the ball up twice every set making 30 tackles he's the kind of guy that you have to drag off the field I'm so excited to see how he goes in origin so without breaking the fourth wall where I work there's a mother of a very prominent SG ball now jersey flag player who's in training

[00:44:32] currently with Delo and reckons he's just killing everyone at everything they were talking about him before the season started he's going to be special I I was at a game recently and they did have to drag him off I think I guess we were winning and they just wanted to give him a time and

[00:45:01] yeah walking off and everyone was cheering him and I some have risen and some haven't and I got a feeling he will I I would be shocked if he doesn't become something in NRL at some point

[00:45:31] I don't like putting all the pressure on these guys but part of he definitely got something going on so Tom Dello you know wouldn't shock me if he was captain material as well at some

[00:46:01] point all should be a big game we're not quite sure what's your opinion do you think the roosters guys will back up if everything goes to

[00:46:31] plan or how you Britain based on last time although he did sustain an injury I believe you think he would play the whole

[00:47:01] game for the origin team whereas Fano Blake won't so there might be more of a chance there just from that point of view what do you make of the roosters they're a hard team to get your head around because they're obviously good and when they're great they're great they have a tendency to drop a lot of ball they can leak points they can score points on a dime they're a bit freakish rather than great at everything they do

[00:47:31] I'm not ever comfortable playing them we saw in the Perth game where we owned them and then we let them get back into it so I know we can go with them and I'm not stressed about the game but I think it's one of those games where it's just hard to predict what's going to happen yeah I mean we saw in the first time we played them we were on track to beat 40 nil and then the tides turned to the point where it looked like they were going to put 40 on us and then it was close at the end they're random the waganite to ask you can score three tries or drop eight

[00:48:01] balls there isn't any in between Sam Walker Cherry Evans same deal freaks Victor Radley Crichton I think it's going to be tough game I don't think there's ever easier game against the Roosters although last time I was at Allianz they did lose by a thousand points to the Panthers so hopefully that continues that'd be nice want to score a lot of points put it that way I think it's going to be another shootout like in Perth the weather supposed to be really really good it's a great track Sunday night not going to be a lot of deal around

[00:48:31] pretty cool windy down a core yeah you could tell me it's 30 to 20 either team and I'm not shocked I hope they have the case of the dropsies because when they do they're very much there to be taken so do the Sharks have 20 or 30 in them if Heinz and Bradley don't play to hold the ball Trunel can do you know Ero is due Ronaldo was pretty quiet last week so you got to think he'll score four tries this week so he'll be on the left against Marky Mark that's

[00:49:00] a sign me up for that battle that could be anything I feel better if Heinz and or Bradley were there obviously but 24 I'm confident we can score four tries and Trunel can kick him from anywhere or whoever kicks on the night yes halfback Toya at centre Mikey Mark on the wing Sam Walker at halfback Rhys Robson at nine

[00:49:30] Victor Radley at 13 I mean if they all get through it oh Lindsay Collins is he playing for Queensland yeah he's they've got six guys that's pretty crazy it is I don't mind that if they do play as well they will be a bit bang up we've got Fionnual Blake and Britt Nick I'm reasonably sure Fionnual Blake won't be playing more than 30 minutes in the game and with Britt he may start from the bench if you're listening to the

[00:50:00] game I apologize but Britt may start from the bench or he could play the whole game depending how they go it's going to be a fascinating one they have named you know so obviously there's

[00:50:49] a backup because they wouldn't do this if they weren't in the reckoning if they survive the first cut I think they'll play so I think Stone Street will be cut I

[00:51:20] if it's anything less than 100% I'd just be given both say hey put your feet up you got the buy it's two weeks if we were playing next week you want to get some

[00:51:50] buy and we got some games coming up that you know Brisbane under strength origin affected etc so yeah I Blake

[00:52:20] has been penciling in this game since he had the operation so I'm not I'm not surprised that he's close but when you actually see it and go oh wow it's like it is

[00:52:50] how is that possible I don't know I guess a break is cleaner than Australian or whatever I guess he's a freak he's a freak and I've heard things like he wants to get back and play for game three origin I'm sure he does but I can 100% guarantee you that is not why he would be aiming for the roosters game like he's a club man first and foremost he's a Sharks captain and he's got every intention to play for the Sharks that's all he really cares about in that sense first and foremost

[00:53:20] and then there's the blues and origin is that like an origin thing yeah it's an origin loophole you can name an extra couple this week those that are affected depending on how many

[00:54:12] I just assumed he'd be at 19 I didn't pay that attention unless it's a typo which I doubt it is and I know speaking to him he was close to getting a start at some point so maybe that time's to come I'm not sure I would have thought against his old team he might have a crack but interesting I guess the other thing that changed was Colquhoun got the okay to play and that kind of changed things as well as far as would you could get a shot as well so grateful that Jesse's playing when I was told that almost fell off your chair

[00:54:41] when I told you it's going to be drop 15 players on the day it's sweeter when you beat the best of course it is as a player you want

[00:55:29] YouTube just checked out Terry's been slamming it on the TikTok I'm too old for that did he tell you about the message I sent him no was it I said you're too old to be on this and he replied so are you and

[00:55:59] look if you want to catch me on Twitter it's at Saturday and too I haven't recovered 10% of what I lost before I got salmon off the original one but whatever here we are I love the way you

[00:56:29] let our general fan base know what's going on we've got some stuff coming up on the YouTube channel rugby league out top 10 prospects will be updated spoiler alert there's a couple of changes because Dylan Coutts left for the Dragons and I miss him you know whatever he made his choice it is a couple of new players in one or two might slide out who knows I don't want too many surprises but check out for that over the next few weeks and there might be an invite coming soon I haven't

[00:56:59] spoken to Terry about this I probably shouldn't promise but are you smarter than the fins up podcasters back this it comes around thanks for your time today Dan really appreciate it

[00:57:29] Dan Nichols from Zero Tackle from Finns Up and from Ropey League Outlaws how's your brother going I love thanks for having me on of course it's always good to talk sharks it is

[00:57:59] thank you for your time everyone else will talk to you soon with some more apps coming have a well I've just started a new diet and I don't have any room for snacking but I didn't realize there was an origin exemption which I

[00:58:29] might be exposed of what kind of chips I went I'd not cheese and onion but something in that variety sour cream and chives maybe yeah fancy stuff alright you heard it

[00:59:07] you got some haters well done they want to chop me into little pieces and put me into ocean protect stadium and do things

[00:59:37] after a wind no you're not allowed to do that I literally posted a clip of me going hey we won we're awesome and they're like I'm gonna get you man I have a genuine girl or something good happens in your life or you had a good night sleep you're allowed to enjoy it and

[01:00:07] people that don't like it yeah I love the haters bring them on yeah I'm certainly not going to today and someone is going to go what do you mean by that so I'm used to it but

[01:00:37] yeah it buy or sell in the region the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from

[01:01:07] Crips and Crips Real Estate call him on 0410 417 450 that's 0410 417 450 Jason Hawes Crips and Crips Real Estate SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire Jason Hawes from Crips and 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

[01:02:14] Tanya Ports lights off because we're coming out with a trophy