Flagship/Catching Up With Kieran Over Coffee About Cronulla (21/8/26)

[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

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[00:00:53] Yeah, we're coming home with a trophy baby. Friday morning record with Kieran Fraser catching up with Kieran over coffee on a Friday. Here's the coffee if you're watching the video. Hello, Mr. Paisley's, John, Joe. Nice packaging my friends. If you're listening, hello and welcome on the podcast. Many, many people listen on the streams on the podcast, Kieran. This is a catching up with Kieran show, but also a bit of a flagship show.

[00:01:20] Combine the two for as long as we can and talk all things Cronulla Sharks. And a little bit of TV because Kieran tells me he doesn't know who Felicity is. You don't know who Felicity is? The character? Never heard of Felicity. I don't even think I've seen a television show with a character called Felicity in it. This is outrageous. The WB, probably mid to late 90s. What's the WB? Oh, this is interesting. This is going to a dark alley.

[00:01:48] The WB is a network in America and they produce really good TV content at the time, probably less so now. People didn't tune in to hear about Kerry Russell. Do you know who Kerry Russell is? The actress? Curly hair, chopping it off. Currently in other such dramas like the Americans and... Never heard of the Americans either, Sam. Have you heard of Dawson's Creek? I have heard of Dawson's Creek. I don't think I've ever watched an episode of Dawson's Creek.

[00:02:16] Welcome to SharkCastPod. My name's Sam Shanazzi. OG 2015. Podcasting for 12 seasons. Watching the WB for a lot longer. And Kieran, we're going to talk all things Cronulla Sharks. Get through some mail as well. So buckle on in. We'll do this as succinctly but as thoroughly as we can if that makes any sense. Kieran, this show is brought to you by Mr Paisley's Coffee which we just displayed before.

[00:02:41] But of course also the Royal Muddy Yacht Club in Port Hacking, Dyson Logistics and Jason Hawes at Crypt and Crypt Real Estate. Appreciate everyone being in touch. A lot of support throughout the weeks, Kieran, for our shows. Lots of shows and we appreciate it. Sharky's not going so good at the moment. My friend, how are you handling the couple of losses? Last week I said when in doubt zoom out and now I'm pretty zoomed out.

[00:03:05] The air was sucked out of the stadium the other day on that Trindle injury and it didn't quite look the same. We were scoring better than a point a minute and then it just all kind of vanished and evaporated. And an extremely frustrating day at the football and we can't get Tricky back soon enough. That's my opinion, my friend. Well, he's going to be out for a little while. Maybe finals we're thinking. So we'll talk about that throughout the show.

[00:03:30] Your quote when in doubt zoom out, it was actually trending on our little network in all seriousness. My favorite thing that somebody's ever referenced that I've said on this show is we should send whoever wanted Haradi in the centers to jail. And I don't remember saying that but it's one of my favorite quotes. So I stand by that. And again, last weekend did nothing to change my opinion on that topic. Well, let's just jump in Mars getting a lot of bad press this week. I'm going to say he's not alone. You know, I know that the Dragons miss tackle was not great.

[00:04:01] Last week, he wasn't great. I don't think he's been our worst to be completely honest over the last two games. I'm not here to tell you who I think is the worst. I think they've all been mostly as a group underperforming and lack of energy and all that sort of stuff. Maybe attitude as well. But would you be debuting Michael Gabriel this week? Let's just jump on in. Would you have him on the Gold Coast debuting? At this point, I would like to see what we think he has to offer.

[00:04:29] And the reason why I say that is because we're playing the Titans with all due respect. They are a team that can pull things out of the hat and be a very difficult team to play. So it's not going to be an easy game. There is no easy games in the NRL. However, we've made roster decisions for next year. And I know that next year is a long way away. But we've made roster decisions with someone like Michael Gabriel in mind. And we've made roster decisions that include letting Jesse Ramian go and Mourinho Horotti leave the club as well to the Titans.

[00:04:59] So if we think he's going to be good enough to play round one in March next year or have the potential to be fighting out for one of those spots, then I think that this is the time to do it. Because what happens, Sam, is something happens between now and the end of the season and touch what it doesn't or something happens in the finals. And we do have to put Gabriel in. So in my mind, I'd rather throw him into the waters and get that view on it at this point versus maybe doing that in the first week of September should something else happen.

[00:05:28] And you can say, well, Horotti is the safer option, et cetera. I get it. We're going to put the best team out that's possible. Totally understand that. However, I do feel like we're at a point where we need to see what we can potentially also have because we are going to be going down that route very soon. And I get the next year is next year. We've got to win every game that's in front of us. However, it's not as if Horotti is blowing teams off the park with his form at the moment. So I think it's a perfect opportunity against the team that's below us in the ladder.

[00:05:57] Because again, look at the games that follow. Parramatta, which is always going to be a weird one. And then you've also got the storm and who knows what storm we're going to get in round 27 or whatever it is. So I think now's the time to do it, get a look at him. And you can always go back to Horotti the week after. Yeah, that's all very fair. I did talk to some people very much in the know within the club about Michael Gabriel last week on game day, actually. And they insisted he was very close.

[00:06:27] And that to me said there was some sort of reason why he wasn't selected. I don't think it was anything particularly negative. It could have been health related. I'm not sure. Didn't quite get that far in the convo. The words were he's close. So that's positive for people who want to see a bit of change. I'm hoping that the Horotti experience keeps improving because absolutely like he, along with another bunch of guys, haven't been that great.

[00:06:58] So see how that plays out this week. But appreciate your thoughts on that. I have no issue either way. I think that if push came to shove, I'd probably be debuting him if he's ready. Like I probably would have done it a while ago. But there's other factors. There's all these factors behind it. It's like, why doesn't he pick a half on the bench, which we'll get into. But it's not a simple matter of just going, I'm not picking this person. There's a whole, there's a million reasons that go on the whiteboard as to why.

[00:07:25] And I'm not putting blind faith in anyone. But also I'm putting a trust there where they probably have that 1% more knowledge. Obviously, 1% being a minimization of what I'm saying of what's going on compared to you and I. But that's our opinions. No stress there. Could you generalize what happened in the last two weeks, Kieran, for the team? If you were to speculate, if you were to opinionize?

[00:07:53] Well, we might talk about this a little bit later, but I've been watching the Chad Townsend 2016 retrospect. Oh, yeah. The whole season that was. And you sort of talk, they talk to some of the flat spots that they ran into as a team and being up for so long and all those different things that are kind of going on over there during that season.

[00:08:14] And I don't know if it's one of those blips because there is a bit of an air of us waiting for September, which is not ideal because we've now dropped into fifth versus being in the top four when we were looking to try and get a home semifinal. So it's a very complicated thing. And I think, I don't believe we would have had the result that we had on the weekend if Trindle did not get injured scoring that try. Yeah. Because they did look really good in that first sort of eight minutes.

[00:08:42] I know that's a very small sample size, but you could tell that they were up for it. And then once we put Puru out into the middle and then we put Braley out in the edge in defense, it was very disjointed. And Fitz talked about this a little bit in the press conference that sort of said, we've had 24 hours to game plan for these sort of things before. We obviously had a plan, but it's the first time we've had to execute on that plan on the run. And that's very different.

[00:09:09] And losing a half that is so dominant is very tricky. Pardon the pun. But we also saw it. I thought Braley went into his shell a little bit more and Braley was defending out at six and Puru was in the middle. Puru was pretty gassed at certain points and had a bad miss for one of the tries. So it was an extremely frustrating game.

[00:09:30] However, you know, you always want to take the two points, but I kind of think that if they did get away with the win there, they might not have taken away some of the lessons that they are going through this week. Because sometimes that they've pulled these wins out of nowhere. And a lot of the time people say, well, you need to do those wins to get into the top four, et cetera, which is absolutely true. But I do think that there will be a definite definitive plan and a definite definitive response this week.

[00:09:58] And hopefully they take their lessons from it. Because if they were to somehow go zero and three over this three-week period, there will be riots in the streets of the Shire, my friend. Unfortunate choice of words. What do we make of the fact that there's no half on the bench this week? All right. So let's just have a look at our reserve grade team. So we've got Taj Ford at six and we've got Riley. Not a shark. Not a shark. He's a jet. Well, there you go. And we've got Riley.

[00:10:28] Could become one. Who knows? Could become one in an hour. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, there's, there's funny ways that they can do those sort of things. But we've got Riley Pollard there as well at seven. So it's not as if you've got an out and out player that is screaming to be picked in that role. It kind of does expose how thin our halves depth is for this season. So for mine, I don't hate it because we know what's going to happen, right?

[00:10:54] If there is an injury to the halves, we will see Cam probably go into the nine role and Braley will move into the halves role. So again, it's, it's worked for us in Melbourne. It's worked for us a couple other occasions. I think it's the dragons maybe in one of those games. So I'm not against it, but at the same time, I do understand that if we had a player that was well Taj Ford's actually a player that could play fullback five, eight halfback. He gives you a bit of that versatility.

[00:11:21] You could have that sort of player in that role, but I do understand why we haven't done that, especially given he's a Jets contracted player for people that want someone like a Riley Pollard to step into that role. I think he was on the extended bench last week, but got dropped before kickoff. I have seen his name on the extended bench in recent weeks. So I, he hasn't been in on the game day squad, but I think he's been in the chop 24 hours beforehand squad at some point in recent times, I believe. So I could be wrong on that.

[00:11:50] But again, I'm not a fan of putting a halfback on the bench because it's going to be a pretty unique use case to use it. You could make an argument for the player that they just re-signed Riley Jones, who can fill in a number of those roles like one, three, six, seven, nine. But again, I'd rather go with a master of the trade than somebody that does a bit of everything.

[00:12:13] You don't have a problem with them not having a halfback on a six man bench as opposed to a lot of other people watching, listening there. They were blowing up last week because there wasn't one there and then he hasn't picked one this week. You're totally cool with it. Well, I just don't think, well, we know what the plan will be. If the plan goes down, if one of the halves go down, Riley will move into that role. McInnes will go into nine. You've got Puru, however, that can go into 13 or nine.

[00:12:41] We saw him kind of in that hybrid six role last week. Wasn't a fan of him out in that position. However, again, you look at the bench, ULA, Talakai, Rudolph, Kofusi, Burns. So, I mean, let's be honest. If we did have a half on the bench, Sifatalakay wouldn't have got on the field last week potentially. Or Hoheppa wouldn't have got on the field more likely because he's the one who came on. So, I'm saying Riley Pollard, and I'd probably fight back a little bit against you saying he's not –

[00:13:11] you didn't say he's not ready, but he's not pushing his way through. Like, he's going to be our guy next year. And I think that, you know, if you threw him in this weekend, he wouldn't let you down. And I'm not saying he should. I don't think he's ready in the whole pictures kind of thing. I think next year he will. But if you just had him on the bench as interchange number six – sorry, reserve number six, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. And then in the 60th minute, someone goes down and he has to go on, and you haven't used the fourth guy. That would be his role only.

[00:13:39] And I appreciate that it's taking up a spot, but you could drop one of those middles, surely. Well, I mean, let's just have a look at our – Sorry, drop one of the middles from the extent – like, from the whole six-man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get what you're saying, right? But, I mean, Sifatalakay will be number 14. We're going to have Burns at 15. So, there's two guys that are going to get on the field. We're going to have Kofusi on the bench as well. So, that's three guys that's going to get on. Yeah. And then the last spot – did I say Rudolph? No, you didn't say Rudolph.

[00:14:09] So, my point to that is the four is pretty set for pretty much who we're going to use. I do take the point, well, you don't really need a Hazleton as well if you're going to have those four guys there, because Hazleton would be fifth. So, it's pretty unfair to drop Tommy, but that's the reality of how deep our bench is at the moment. Then we go to the sixth spot, right? So, for the sixth spot, you have an outside back in Stone Street. We have seen Ronaldo's had a bit of ice on there on his leg recently. Roddy's been a little bit all over the place.

[00:14:37] So, we do need coverage for that there. So, right now, we're already at six. You also do have the Puru player who can play those multiple positions. So, now you're at seven. Like, there's a lot of guys to try and figure on the bench. That's where it does get dicey for people listening and watching and writing all about not having a half on the bench, because, as you said, they had to cover, and Fitzgibbon covered it in his press conference after the game, I think. They had to cover an outside back for a couple of guys, and that was Stone Street.

[00:15:08] So, therefore, they were like, well, there's nothing wrong with our halves. We're not going to carry a half. Now, this week, they've put all their support behind Nephi, and we'll talk about him throughout the show, I would imagine. But I guess they're assuming there's nothing going to happen to the halves. Nephi's going to be fine, so why carry another half? Well, and the plan is, if something does happen, Braley and Kinnis will then move into that position.

[00:15:33] So, in their minds, it is covered, and I think you do need to have the flexibility of having Sifatelakai, Toby Rudolph, Billy Burns, Kofusi, Hazleton as your five bench guys that you're going with. The sixth spot, you could put a Stone Street there or a Puru there to cover you for multiple angles. I think we're going to see probably Puru and ULA drop off that extended bench.

[00:15:58] So, I think Hazleton will be the extra man on the bench with Stone Street. I think that gives you a lot of coverage because, again, you don't want to see it, but you can put Sifatelakai in the centers. You can move things around a little bit, and we know the plan is if something goes down, we're going to operate on a one-half model, and it's up to Nico to execute and to not go down short sides on the fifth tackle.

[00:16:20] So, I thought that you and I in the grandstand were a little bit critical of him compared to when I got home and watched the replay. I thought that, yeah, there was those times where he made the wrong option. But, gee, I thought he got us into some great positions, and his outside men really let him down, I thought. I actually thought Braley let him down. And Blake Braley, if anyone's ever listened to this podcast before, is somebody that we've spoke about for a number of years,

[00:16:49] and we show a lot of love to, when we are looking our best, it's when Blake is going out of that dummy half roll and really leading things. And I thought Nico did get us in good positions, and there was some execution that there was a number of times where Herodhi would go inside when the winger looked unmarked, and there was times where Britt got on the outside, but then he would come back inside, or he wouldn't throw a pass. So I think Ronaldo got the ball down. I think we could have taken the two at halftime, and then we got a penalty right in front with two minutes to go. We could have leveled the score.

[00:17:19] There was a lot of things there that we could have executed on that I can't point at Nico. But I do think that there was a level of being a little bit frantic that with a week to prepare, I feel he will be much better for it because he's going to be all week planning how he would like to execute it versus trying to do it on the fly. Everything we've said about Nico's game over this year has been how great his running game has been. Now with him being the out-and-out genuine half in the team,

[00:17:48] he's going to have to do a lot more than just running and focus on his game. So it's a really tough one, but I really think it comes down to Braley, and Braley has to really be dominant out of nine. So even just getting out of that little spot, doing a little jiggle and passing and engaging the line. Not just the – also with the kicking. So we saw Nico get caught on the fifth tackle, and then Will put up that kick, and it turned into a try because of a Canberra error. But our kicking becomes very predictable. Pedestrian.

[00:18:16] Yeah, and look, Puru's got some kicking on him. I think his short-kicking game is better than his long-kicking game. However, it's just going to be more pressure on Nico. And a lot of the time – we even saw it on the weekend where we got a penalty, and we took the tap instead of kicking it out because it was a little bit windy down there, and Nico was in the middle of the field and probably thought, oh, I don't know if I'm going to get this over the sideline. So we took the quick tap. 20-metre run, I think, for Burns or whoever it was. So it wasn't the end of the world. But I think it's – we're going to need Blake and his kicking game as well to really step up for this week.

[00:18:46] All right, Nephi, Peru. And we are jumping all around here because it is a flagship slash coffee show. So now Nephi, Peru, very confidently selected by the coach. Players during the week talking him up. Watching a lot of his film from first grade only this year. Pretty consistent player. Great at backing up. Not bad with his hands. Kicking game is okay. Shorter, better than longer, but longer can still boot the ball.

[00:19:14] Defensively held his own except for like one blemish, which everyone has those in these games. Sometimes I've come under a bit of fire from various sources about defense in lower grades. And I watch all the lower grades and I can confirm that his defense in lower grades is not rock solid necessarily, especially on his own line. However, once he steps up into the big league so far, he's really risen to the occasion.

[00:19:41] And my point on one of the shows this week was when you leave the park and you enter the stadium, you lift. You're with better players. You're with better coaches, better surroundings, and you lift. And we saw that with Nephi in his three games or four games this year. Are you completely cool with him coming in and doing a job? I think he can do a job. He's been in the lower grades for a number of years. He's been one of the better players in New South Wales Cup.

[00:20:10] The Perth Bears have gone out and purchased him for a reason because they believe that he is somebody that could take one of these jerseys. I did find it a little bit ironic that as I was walking to the car on Sunday, the Jets were posting highlights of him setting up tries. I was like, gee, that would be nice to have on the first grade team. So, look, I think with the ball, he's really good. And I'm okay with having an attacking half. That might not be a great defensive stalwart. I mean, we sat through the Jeff Robson years for many years and, you know,

[00:20:40] great defender but maybe not the world's best attacker, right? So, again, I kind of prefer us to try and score the points. If you look at the back line that we've got and the back rowers that we have, they're back rowers that will run really good lines. We've got creative outside backs. We've got good finishing. So, again, I would rather go with an attacking flair there because if we strip it back, there isn't a lot of depth too. So, there is really no other option for Puru at six.

[00:21:07] I mean, who else could you possibly go unless you went a Blake Braley or Ken McInnes, which is the backup plan. But that's not, I don't think, ideal for us to be running three weeks before we get to the finals. I think Puru gives us the closest thing that we can have to Trindle and will be the thing that will allow us to play the Sharks style of football so we can get ready for September. Let's game play for a second. And you're out down at Cronulla.

[00:21:36] You've been to Mr. Paisley's. You've driven down to Cronulla from Caring Bar. You're walking along the beach. You're meeting your mate Sam at the park for talk about footy and wrestling and Seinfeld because that's all that really matters in this world. And you've got your dog with you. I say to you, it's a cute little thing. And you go, yeah. Yeah. Look at him running around.

[00:22:03] And then a suit comes up to you and says, hey, buddy. You've got a leash, a lead for that dog? And you go, get the hell out of here. And I go, get the hell out of here. You've got no authority. Would you moon him from 50 meters away as he walked away or would you just let him be? First of all, Toby has a huge ass. So that's a very scary moon to be copying the size of that moon. But personally for me, I'm not a huge fan of removing my pants in public.

[00:22:33] Like even when I'm not one of those guys that goes to the urinals and drops their pants. You see like how kids do that. I don't know if I've seen a grown adult do that. Maybe Toby has a medical condition like we saw in Seinfeld in the car park episode that he had to relieve himself and it was just an unfortunate timing. But I will say, I think the funniest, and again, I'm going to call this a funny story. I'm not upset about it. I think the funniest part of this story is whenever I've seen this on like Facebook or Instagram, there's like this little circle that they put in the pictures.

[00:23:01] And it's just like a really disappointed Craig Fitzgibbon. And it's just like, I have to deal with this. Like it's him in the coach's box, but they just put Fitzy in there for some reason. Because he must be really sick and tired of dealing with stuff like this. But look, on a scale of all things serious, I don't think it's the end of the world. But just keep your pants up, mate. Oh, I'm completely on his side. I'm going to start a GoFundMe if you need one. Are you a mooner? No, I'm not a mooner. I'm not saying... When's the last time you mooned someone?

[00:23:30] Oh, in my youth. Yeah, in the middle of the time. I will confess. I have been known to moon my children and I had to stop because my children started mooning their grandparents. Oh, yeah. I think I've done that. Yeah, I've done that. Yeah. You were in the old towel or whatever. The condition you referred to in the car park is uromacytitis poisoning? Well, it's a very serious condition. And maybe he had some goldfish too that he needed to get into a tank.

[00:23:59] I'm not a huge fan. We apologize to anyone listening who does this for a living or their partner does it or whatever. I'm not a huge fan of the local council rangers and that's why I'm on his side no matter what. But the funny thing was a few of the major news publications and networks broke the story, right? And my phone blew up initially and I was like, oh, this is interesting.

[00:24:26] And I jumped onto a newspaper website, which I have a subscription to through other means. And you would have thought this was the PM being shifted from his job or you would have thought this was a terrorist act or something with the front on camera.

[00:24:47] And I was like, oh, this is a terrorist act.

[00:25:17] I was messaging this person about this act and they were like, yeah, like that's a low act by the council person. It's a low act by the by the person above them who may have officiated the I'm not going to use the terminology, but the you're in trouble business by all by all accounts. And I think that was it thrown out or there was no record it kept. Like it was just a waste of everyone's time. And the guy loves his dog. He loves dogs. He's a good guy.

[00:25:46] He's a good guy. Like anyway, I just thought it was funny. We don't need to spend time on that. I thought it was hilarious. And again, if you look at all the things that are going on in the world of sports and things like that to try and make this into an issue, I think it's pretty lastable. So on the newspaper publication I was on, it was like all that stuff you don't want to read about people doing things they shouldn't be doing. And then it was that. And I was like, yeah, that's a bit weird. But like if it was anybody else, you'd be kind of shocked. But because it's Toby, you just kind of laugh often.

[00:26:16] You just go, that's okay. But I will say like he is a really big dog guy. He's always got his dogs with him. And he looks up. The dogs are training. The dogs are training all the time. Yeah. Yeah. He's one of a kind. And take that for what you will. Potentially sticking around for another year, waiting to get confirmation on that. Now, another bit of information from the Sharks that happened this week.

[00:26:44] I'm not sure if you saw it in progress or not. I can't remember. But I think you might have. But the Andrew Fafita celebration mural is ready. And it is looking amazing and a great piece of art by the person who did it. And well done to our friends at Telstra and the Sharks for making it happen. So it's a big, pretty big piece of art. It's on the side of the Andrew Eddinghausen stand.

[00:27:14] But hear me out. It's lower ground. It's kind of near the canteen, one of the toilet kind of blocks. And I think the idea is a lot of the players walk that way from their gym and offices and that kind of thing. And they walk through to the sheds, the player hub. It's right in their line of walking. So if you're a fan of the ground and you don't stand in that area, you're probably going to have to go look for it.

[00:27:43] You won't be able to see it. You'll see it once you see it. Yeah. But for example, if you're sitting in a seat, you're not going to see it. Like you've got to go find it. But it looks incredible. Andrew was there filming a little piece yesterday. Gal was, or maybe the day before, Gal was there as well separately. We need more of it. We need more of it. We need more moments. And the more of that they can do at Back Round, the better. You can tell how much it means to him as well. That guy does so much for this club. And he's a coach of the girls.

[00:28:12] And in one of the lower grades, he donates his time to the club. You'll see him there on game day, you know, around the team, around the players, helping getting things. Like he's the guy out in the field picking up footballs when players are kicking them. He's the guy when someone injures himself. Like you saw it with Jesse Raymond the other day. It was Fafita that was walking him up the sheds, making sure he was okay. I think it's a travesty that he's not in the Sharks Hall of Fame.

[00:28:38] I think we need to have him, Wade Graham, Luke Lewis in the Hall of Fame as quickly as we can. And they will be there. Like, don't get me wrong. And I understand that we went back in the past and we're going to work our way up and all that type of stuff. But I just feel very strongly around a core group of those players. And that mural is, it's amazing. When I first saw it, I had no idea about it. It was being completed still at the game last week. So it was half finished when I saw it. And I remember showing your photos and this is unreal. Like, I didn't know this was happening.

[00:29:08] And you mentioned that it'd been in the works for a little bit. The one thing I find a little bit strange though, Sam, is it must be a licensing thing. But, like, we don't have the shark on the photo. But if you look at the other murals that we've done, even where, like, the Hall of Fame banners, they have the shark's logo at the time on the jersey. But they don't have the sponsors. And I get that. I just don't understand why we can't have the shark's logo. Maybe it's because it's a Telstra licensed thing because Telstra has paid for it.

[00:29:36] So you're saying when I look at that, there's no logo at all? There's no shark's emblem on it. No, there's none. So if you actually look at his jersey, it's just blue at the top. And, like, they've got the branding on the ball and everything like that. But they just don't have the shark's logo, which I found a little bit strange. There'd be a reason for it. Yeah. So, look, it's not the end of the world. No. It's a tremendous bit of artwork. And I thought it's funny too because you can see they've actually put a lot of detail in, like, the Melbourne Storm players' faces and things like that.

[00:30:05] But then, like, Michael Ennis is blurred out in the background. So, like, they obviously have to make a call for where to stop some of that stuff. But it looks phenomenal. And if you come into Shark Park, you'll be able to see it. It's 10 out of 10. I reckon we should get him to go and stand in front of it and take photos with fans because I think that'd be just such a cool photo to do with him, do, like, a meet and greet with the theater. I think that'd be pretty cool. Good way to – and I'm not suggesting people need to do this for that to happen, but it'd be a good way to raise money for charity, like five bucks a photo.

[00:30:36] He's going to be here for an hour. So, yeah. You can – you've got, like, 30 seconds with him. They'll fill up that time. I'll raise a bunch of money for charity. So good. Yeah. But anyway, you'll see that when you go to the ground. And, yeah, like we said, it's sort of that space almost behind the grandstand. It's on the side of it. But if you walk past that bit behind it, you'll see it near the – If you head to the sheds. If you head to the sheds, you'll see it. It's right where the canteen is. Yeah. Yes. That's some great stuff.

[00:31:03] Hopefully there's more of that coming throughout the facility. All right, Kieran, where are you at with – what's that? There's so many walls that they could paint on. So, like – There are. You could have even put that up where, like, the new leagues clubs go. So, I know there's a bit of blank space there. Maybe that would be – I would love that. I would have – no, I would have loved that. I do know that this was more of a Telstra initiative. And, of course, the sharks are like, yeah, let's do it. They've done it for a few clubs, I think.

[00:31:31] I think that the sharks should personally be inspired by it and keep going with it because they do know a bunch of great artists locally and around the country who would do a great job. So, anyway, we're very thankful for that at the very least. Where are you at with wanting a home final versus not? We're in fifth place. Fifth and sixth get a spot. Obviously, we want to finish fourth. There's still a realistic chance we can win the three, Dolphins lose the Roosters or someone else.

[00:32:00] I'm not ruling out top four. We could definitely do it. We've got to get one game at a time. We've lost two, so we can't keep losing. But say we did finish fifth or sixth, do you have any preference where you want to play or you don't really care, just get it done? I want to finish top four. I understand that. For me, if we finish fifth or sixth, it's kind of Groundhog Day, and I think it's a waste of a lot of opportunities for us.

[00:32:27] And referencing that podcast I mentioned earlier, they were talking about how hard it is to get up for four finals games and how badly you need that week off and what that actually does to the mental side of things and everything like that. But in terms of heading on the road, I think we'd be heading to the SFS and playing the Roosters, given the way that the ladder looks like it's shaking out. And that's a game that I want. It's a game I think the Sharks can win. I understand Penrith have got a bit of the yips at the moment, but I still want to avoid Penrith as much as I can.

[00:32:57] And I can't see the Dolphins leapfrogging into the top two or something like that because the Warriors are going to be strong there too. So if I was to pick where I would like to play Round 1, I would prefer to play the Roosters at the SFS than host a home final, probably at the SFS, against a Souths or whoever it might be at the bottom of the eight. For me, I feel like we've won games in the finals the last couple of years. We've made the last two prelims. We don't need to go on that whole narrative around can the Sharks win a finals game.

[00:33:26] We've proven that we can. I want to be in the top four and I want to go for it. Okay. That's a good way to avoid where you want to play if you're fifth or sixth. Now, you mentioned the Chad Townsend podcast, the 2016 celebration anniversary, 10-year anniversary. It's a really good listen and watch. He's had James Maloney and Luke Lewis so far. I think they're dropping every Tuesday. We love it. We support it. It's awesome. We do something very different.

[00:33:55] Benny Harlem and I, we go through the games and we didn't play in those games. So you need to go check out Chad's stuff. It's really, it's unique. Like you will not get a better version of what happened, obviously. And it's quite thorough, which I love. And just the love they have for each other is so beautiful. It's not like, like I know there's a few tiny stories like, you know, Maloney and Flanagan maybe. And I don't know. I'm sure there are a few little moments. Rushed over that one pretty quickly. Yeah.

[00:34:25] But the love they all genuinely have for each other. And the, you know, the love they talk about catching up soon. And they're all looking forward to that. And it's really. Like a photo in the dark. Yeah. Yeah. It's, but there's so many great stories out of it. Like I don't know if I'd heard the Kurt Capewell tattoo bum story. Like maybe I had, and I won't say it too much for people who want to go watch it and listen to it.

[00:34:51] But Chad sort of reveals the moment when they all got tattoos or some of them got tattoos. And he talks about Kurt getting his and the regret in the moment that he had about a part of it. And it's just so funny. It's just like, it's like the chaos that ensued. I remember, and I've spoken about a million times, the blessed opportunity I had after the game. I was in an inner circle part of the club with very important people and Capewell like was behind the bar, like serving everyone.

[00:35:20] It was, it was just hilarious. It was amazing. It was like their world and we were living in it. And the fact that it went on for so long, like so many weeks of celebrating and yeah, no one died. And it's just, it's a wonderful. Yeah, it's all right. It's a wonderful walk down memory lane. So if you haven't checked it out, please do. I have told Chad that he deserves some sort of award for his content because I don't

[00:35:48] think anyone else really gives you the, the insight into the life of say a professional athlete and then a retired professional athlete or someone in the media. Like a lot of, you get a lot of insight and a lot of personal stuff, but the way he really just takes a camera everywhere and the way that he makes moments out of his content. And I know people might look at that and go, oh, it's sinister. It's for different reasons, man. He's really worked hard for what he's doing off the field.

[00:36:17] And you know, his studio is immaculately set up. I appreciate he's got more money than I have to set up my studio. I get all that, but also, you know, he's earned it, but he's really cemented his place in the local media. At first it was like, oh, there's Chad, there's Chad, there's Chad. And it was a little, I had a weird feeling about it, but that didn't last very long because he's good at what he does. And now when he pops up, it's just like, oh, cool. What do you got to say? Like it's, so I really respect, I've always respected him, but I really admire him for

[00:36:46] what he's doing off the field. Like it's just building his own little empire from scratch. Like he used to write to me and say, hey, Sam, how do I record a podcast? What do I need? Like, you know, he went from that to this empire he's built and it's super impressive, man. I think it's a credit to him that he's been able to turn his love for the game into a full-time career. And I'll often go to kids' sport on Saturdays and then I'll come home and I'll flick on the TV.

[00:37:15] And my TV is probably like most people's. It's kind of always on 502. And you see him on there doing a podcast with Denny Kemp every Saturday morning on Fox Sports. So like he's got himself in a really good spot. And it's just good to see sharks in the media. Like if Wade Graham's on a show or if Paul Gallen's on a show, like I will watch those shows because I know that they'll have an opinion that represents us.

[00:37:39] And the stories that they're sharing through this series around the 2016 premiership are absolutely outstanding. They're things that you would never get to hear otherwise. And the fact that they are trying to be as detailed as possible and go through every single player and every single squad that was in the grand final, I think it's tremendous. And if you are on the fence about checking it out because you might not have enjoyed chat

[00:38:04] as a player or you might not have liked some of these other content, put it to the side. Even if you don't like Maloney as well, like put it to the side and watch this because as a Sharks fan, the stories are incredible. And it's just, it's so nice to relive those memories because we all remember as fans where we were when some of these things were going on. And you're not getting these stories anywhere else. And if you are, they're minimized and they're not as detailed. So, Kieran, I'm going to do a little experiment with you now.

[00:38:32] I'm going to throw up a little audio thing and for everyone else, just sort of play along. Yeah. Hi, Sam. It's Ian here from the Northern Beaches, one of the only three bloody Sharks supporters up in this neck of the woods. Mate, seriously, just after the Canberra game, those guys I thought all put in a lot of effort and a lot of intent. But the moment Trindle went down, you've got to realize that you're paying another guy in the team over a million dollars who's been playing really well when Trindle's next to him.

[00:39:02] But you cannot have a guy playing in the halves being paid a million dollars who couldn't take control of that game and at least get us over the line by four or six points with all of the opportunities, possessions and completed sets that we had. They were just devoid of any creativity or any ideas how to score a try. So, anyway, very, very frustrating. Not bagging Nico's efforts this year, but seriously, mate, how can you have a guy getting paid that

[00:39:30] sort of coin who just looked like a rabbit in the headlights the moment Trindle went out? Now, that was Ian from the Northern Beaches and this is going to start off our mailbag section. So, Danny Bison wasn't sure as I played it to Benny Harlem yesterday and he couldn't hear it, but he was in wacky America. He's not a columnist though, is he? Well, I've got to believe he's flying economy right now. Listen to the Shark Cast, as Luke Lewis calls us, on his way to... I can guarantee you he's not flying economy. I can guarantee you that. Premium? He'll be going business, my friend. Is he?

[00:40:00] I don't know that for a fact, but I just know how long that flight is and... I don't know if he's... We'll find out. We'll find out. Anyway, that was Ian from Northern Beaches. What a legend. He wrote to us on sharkcast.com.au. Sounded like he was in the car. Maybe he was going home from a game. I'm not sure. But thanks to Ian for leaving that message. You can do that too on sharkcast.com.au. It's very easy to do. More to the point, what do you reckon about what he said about Nico? He wasn't Nico bashing. He was saying that he probably should have got the job done for us last week.

[00:40:29] And he's getting paid a lot of money to be, I guess, the number one half. I don't disagree with anything that he said in terms of being able to create opportunities and get the job done. Absolutely completely agree with Ian there. I think he makes a really good point. Where I will push back on that though is I feel like Ronaldo got the ball down on the line. I feel like that would have given us an opportunity for Nico to kick for the win. So I do feel like that.

[00:40:55] I do feel like there was a number of opportunities where Horati, Nikora could have taken different options and we could have scored more points. So I'm not going to put the blame on him for that. I will say though that yes, you absolutely should be able to get the job done and no argument there. Completely agree. But it's a very different role to what he's been playing. And then when you are the sole focus of the attack, that's where I push back and say, I feel like Blake Braley, who is our captain and one of our highest paid players,

[00:41:23] he's got to be doing as much as he can out of dummy half because he's the real spark and he's the guy that controls where Nico gets the ball and all that type of stuff. So I do see his point. I completely agree with it. However, I will say I would just like to see a little bit of help for Nico to create those opportunities because if it's just one by creating, you're going to be very limited in what you do and the defense is just going to shut him down. And we saw a little bit of that, I thought, on the weekend. But again, the people outside him, I just feel let him down a little bit. And Ronaldo got the ball down, Sam.

[00:41:53] He can't change my mind on that. I think he did too, but there are different angles and different people's opinions I respect. And I think it – well, let me say this. We've got to get the groundskeeper. That line's not straight. Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know. I think that's a bit of a shot at our beautiful groundskeepers. I'll say this. If it gets sent up a try, it's given a try. How about that? I think that's a fair statement. Yeah. And the frustrating thing was it got sent up for obstruction. It didn't get sent up for ground.

[00:42:23] And the obstruction got cleared instantaneously. So that is a really frustrating thing for us, the Sharks. Plus, you and I were standing up and we were looking not far away from it, more or less. Yeah, there's an asterisk that's that. And we saw it. We saw it. We hugged and we saw it. Yeah. Look, I thought he got it down, but it doesn't change anything now. It doesn't. You'll still read about it in the Monday morning paper. Haven't heard that one for a while.

[00:42:48] Now, Peter said, Dear Sam and SharkCast, I am done, Sharky Pete. So Sharky Pete's out for the moment, but hopefully he's back this weekend. Appreciate you, Sharky Pete. He's just Pete now. Actually, he also headlined the title of the email was rubbish. Stephen has been in touch. A lot of these are unread, I have to say, as well. So apologies for that, both in the lateness and also in the fact that I don't know what I'm going to read out.

[00:43:15] I want to touch again on my point about AFB on the bench. This is from Stephen. AFB on the bench. It's where we've seen him play his best football this year throughout the season. Our first 20 minutes have been slow. So why not have AFB coming on at the 20-minute mark to improve our best quarter of the game even more? I think he's saying that we were slow in opening 20 years. And then have him play the entire second half. Sorry, go. Yeah, there has been a thing where we have been flat in the first 20.

[00:43:45] And then there has been a momentum shift when Talakai burns, Fanua Blake comes onto the field. I mean, that is definitely a thing that we have seen over the last few weeks. How you use Fanua Blake is really, it's a puzzle that I think Craig Fitzgibbon is still working out. But he's in a different role than when he was at the Warriors. And he's a different style of front rower to some of the other big name front rowers. Like, I've heard him be described as not a confrontational front rower.

[00:44:14] Now, what that means is he's not a guy that's going to go out there and try and bash people and start fights. What he's going to do is he's going to have the biggest engine. He's going to be the hardest bloke to tackle. He's going to hurt people. But he's just a different sort of cat. It's not like that typical enforcer. So I can see the value in both roles. However, we're paying him a ridiculous amount of money that he deserves. Let me be very clear on that. Like, every day of the week, I'm doing that deal and that contract. And I think he's a starting player and he's got to be out there.

[00:44:42] I think we're going to get that lift off the bench through the Talakais, the Billy Burnses, Toby Rudolphs, and potentially, you know, Hazleton as well. So just on that point, we do have the best attack and possibly close to the best defense in the second and third quarters of the game. So 20 to 40 and 41 to 60, we do shine. So I take Stephen's point. He also says, so he says the same minutes but better performance.

[00:45:07] The job of the starting front rowers is to match the opposition forward pack until AFB Talakai and Burns come on to open the game up. Now he says, onto Canberra. I think that we're a good side and have been for the last couple of years. Are we just an above average side that goes good for periods? The frustration for me lies in our inability to play to our potential. We do what we do, but we've dropped two games we should have won.

[00:45:36] Good teams don't do that. Good teams find a way to win no matter what. No matter what happens during the game. So pretty strong words, but absolutely, we both agree with that. From here, it's hard to see the season going anywhere, especially with Trindle out for two to four. The amount of opportunities we had to win that game was unbelievable, and it's just not good enough. My final thing is Britton Nikara bombing a try and continually making critical errors. How he played Origin dumbfounded me.

[00:46:06] He shouldn't be playing first grade for us, or he should at least be dropped to the bench. So a few things there to get through. You and I believe the season is still alive, Kieran. I love what he's written about good teams don't do that. And I'm not going to define what we are like right now in this podcast. That's probably an off-season thing where I think and crunch numbers and that kind of thing. But from the naked eye, he's 100% right. Like, just get the damn job done. Go win the game.

[00:46:35] So are we down by two to the Dragons, and then we don't get it done? And we don't get it done anyway. We're close to Canberra at home. And after the St. George shocking loss, we don't get it done. So his point stands. Where do you stand on Britton Nikara? Some harsh words there. A lot of it is factual and that he bombed a try and made some critical errors. The Origin thing doesn't surprise me, but because of how they look at Origin in Queensland

[00:47:04] and the way they kind of look at a player from a career point of view. But where do you stand with Britton Nikara? Just blankly, where do you stand with him? And he's been one of my favourite Shark players for a number of seasons. The last sort of 24 months has been very up and down, and I think that's kind of coincided with Billy Burns and how he's coming on. And I think the better Burns plays, the worse it can make Nikara look because they are competing for that spot.

[00:47:33] Although I will say I actually really prefer Billy Burns in the middle. I think he's really good in the middle of the field in that 13 role. Sometimes he plays at prop. But in terms of Britt, it's going to be very interesting. So he's off contract at the end of next season, and I think he will probably be around that 30 years of age mark. We have to make roster decisions, and we've seen that with a guy like Jesse Ramian getting moved on at a similar point. Sione Katoa, Sifatala guy. So it's going to be very interesting to see what we do.

[00:48:03] I think if you look at his contract value that he's on right now and the value that, say, Billy Burns is on, I think there's an opportunity there to move Burns into the starting side and potentially move Nikora on purely from a salary cap standpoint. Yeah. Because, again, some of the performances in the last sort of two years have not been the Britt that we know and love. So I'm not going to write him off yet. I've seen too much good work from Britt over the years, and he's been a tremendous player for us, and I feel he can still produce for us.

[00:48:33] We did see Norwich in game three, 48 tackles, and they weren't just flops. Like, they were really good, hard hits. So when Britt's firing, he's a tremendous asset for us, but he definitely needs to lift. And I feel like that bomb try that everyone's referencing, it just played into the panic that we saw in the game. And I do think a lot of that panic goes back to the erratic play of our halves and our dummy half. So, again, if we can just cool the jets a little bit, play Sharks football, get those things done, a lot of those things don't happen.

[00:49:02] Again, like, the try for the Raiders that they scored off through the middle with Hojepa just falling off the tackle right in front of the try line and then punching the goalpost because it was so frustrated. Like, that is such a weak try to concede, and that's not a Britt fault, and it's not a Niko fault. It's just a clean combination of everything that was going to happen. It wasn't even a Hojepa fault because there were two or three other guys he went through as well. Yeah, and Hojepa was in a role that he had to play 60 minutes or so straight.

[00:49:30] He was gassed, and he was in the middle, and he wasn't prepared for that role. So, I'm not making excuses. He shouldn't have missed the tackle. He should have done the passes. But I'm just saying there's a lot of those things that go into a game like that that they just all add up. Yeah, I think to Stephen's point, though, he's talking about a bunch of games, a bunch of months, a bunch of years. I think for me, Britt, to keep him for another contract at a certain level of money, it couldn't be the money he's on now.

[00:49:59] It would have to be less, right? So, that would be a problem. Yeah, you'd suggest that your next offer to Britt would be less than what he's on currently right now. It would have to be. I'm not talking, like, dramatically, but there's no way I could give him – just because of the age and where he's at, right? And he's not dominating. Yeah, I agree with you. However, what I need is I need week in, week out, eight out of ten. I can't be getting six and a halves from you if you're on this sort of money. Sorry.

[00:50:26] Well, it's funny because I don't think he ranks in the top 10 or 15 highly paid back rowers, but he's definitely not on a bargain deal. It came out there was a list. So, now they do, like, the NRL top paid players, and then they rank it by positions. Britt wasn't on the list, and I don't know what Britt's being paid, and I don't know. No, I don't want to speculate, but it's not chump change. Yeah, it wouldn't be chump. It's a very good chunk of money.

[00:50:54] And the salary cap is going up. There are two new teams that are going to be competing for players. We've already heard him linked with Papua New Guinea. I think at his age and the style that he plays as that battering ram, I would potentially not want to be getting in the Britt and the core of business in 2028, 2029. Just given the kilometers on the tires, the fact that he's been a battering ram for a number of years, and the form is starting to dip a little bit,

[00:51:22] I would rather spend that money and try and rejuvenate the squad in other ways. But it would be a very strange situation to see Britt play for another team, and I don't know how it will feel. And I guess we'll get used to that when we see Ramian and Katoa at the Cowboys next year. I think the good news for Britt is he's going to get a payday if that's what he wants. There'll be clubs who do offer him that money. So he's in a safe spot. I can't see him taking less money. No, I wouldn't expect him to.

[00:51:46] But if he wants to stay a shark and continue to play good football, average football, good football, average football, well, then we've got to talk. Now, Ash was in touch, and he watched the game not at the ground. He watched it on telly. And he said he agrees with the referee, which is very rare for Ash. And he said it wasn't a Ronaldo try. He watched the replay 10 times. It was short of the line. I don't know if people need to go to Specsavers or not.

[00:52:14] So there's a bit of a promotion to Specsavers if they want to jump on board. Anyway, he says, hope we are well. So that's from Ash. So we can just move on from that. That's Ash's opinion. Really appreciate that. Daniel's in touch. Daniel, okay. Oh, this is amazing news. This is breaking news from Daniel. You'll love this. After a disappointing couple of weeks of football, and Daniel, boy, Daniel feels a loss. We know this from the post-game shows.

[00:52:42] I wanted to share something that will make you smile. Be keeping this one close to the chest. He says, as I know, so he's confided to me over the years a few things. My wife Charlotte and I have been up against it. But after three years, a lot of money. We're talking written Nicaro money almost. Not to that degree. But I won't say what it is. And seven rounds of IVF. This deserves a bongo roll. Hang on a sec. Hang on a sec. He's getting a bongo roll. Come on, Chenaz. Get it together.

[00:53:12] Ruining the moment. After three years, a bunch of money, and seven rounds of IVF, we are 33 weeks pregnant with a due date of October 2nd. Whoa. Not a bad date. It means I won't make the grand final and might be watching it from a delivery room.

[00:53:43] Enclosed a photo you will love. Sometimes I have to remember a couple of game losses is nothing in the bigger world. Thanks for the pod as always. Dan. And let me look at this photo. Oh, it looks like a onesie of a shark that he's got ready for his future kid. So, Daniel, on behalf of SharkCast Universe, congratulations. That's incredible. And thanks for sharing it.

[00:54:12] Very personal news. But we appreciate it. And my friend, the losses will not feel as bad now, that's for sure, when you have a little person in your world. So, basically, if you feel losses, go procreate is our tip. Although, if you talk to Kieran and I, we won't say it, but sometimes the advice is... That's an in joke. Now, let's move on before we get into trouble. Moz says, I'm hoping Haradi has a blinder this week as he needs to give his future fan base something to look forward to. I also heard a rumor.

[00:54:43] Dino will open the top level of the Pete Burnstand if there is a final held at Ocean Protect Stadium. Either temporary, stairway, or special access via the club. Hang on. Okay, I didn't hear a rumor, but if you say it on the pod, it becomes a rumor. Oh, Moz has played me there. I mean, I don't think that's going to happen given what I'm seeing from that part of the world.

[00:55:12] But why are you so specific about that, Moz the Wonder? Maybe he had a seat up there. Maybe he just wants to go back up there. It's so high. It's high, man. Yeah, I've never sat up there. And I don't think anyone would do any time soon. I was talking about it with our roommate, Shane, who sits in front of us. Great Shane, legendary Shane. And we both have sat up there, I think, at different times in our lives briefly. It's high, dude.

[00:55:42] It's a different look. Honestly. And shout out to Shane. Shane gave me a really nice gift the other week at the football, so I really appreciate that from Shane. But I can't imagine sitting up there, one, because of how high it is. Like, it is sky high. But two, that roof I'm not trusting at the moment. So I think there's a little bit of work that needs to be done. Oh, yeah. No, no, no one's going to be up there. But from a spectacle point of view, it's not the worst, and you get used to it real quick. It's not scary.

[00:56:09] It's just, like, I've sat that high, I think, at the Sydney Football Stadium once. I think maybe for the infamous 01 Dogs final, I was pretty high up at the SFS last-minute kind of tickets. And I remember being – but then I got used to it real quick. And at the Sharks, in the Sharks location, I've sat there for games, and it's totally fine. Like, you don't freak out or anything. But the guys are quite little. They'll run around. They're like –

[00:56:34] I sat in the top row of the MCG, and that was high, and that was scary. And, like, when you're carrying your drinks up there, you start going, oh, how's this going to go? But the Shark Park one, you will not find me up there. I reckon we will because it used to be corporates, and they look after you pretty good. In that case, I will be sitting with Ben, and I will be taken care of. Now, Sean just made deadline.

[00:56:58] Sean has just made deadline, and he says, okay, I've been a Shark House follower for quite some time. Enjoy the things that you do. I love the new NRLW series. That's awesome. Enjoy hearing the inside of the players. My favorite episode so far was Quincy Dodd. I enjoy hearing about Jada's background and appreciation of the fan group because she comes from New South Wales country, and I can relate to that. And as a side promo, the Rhiannon Byers episode is out now for you all to go enjoy. Thank you for that.

[00:57:27] Now, I think Sean's one of these weird people that books cruises around grand final time because he says he's got some reason here why he has done that or he's doing that. So we don't need to touch on that, but you know how we feel about that. Top four is where we need to be if we want to win the grand final. Now, he's worried about momentum and scoreboard pressure getting to us in the last two weeks, which we've sort of discussed. They're freaking out. I like the team we have at the moment, and they can beat anyone on their day.

[00:57:55] I see things differently to most because I'm not from the Shire. I'm from Central West Riverina area of New South Wales. I chose the club because of the colors and the animal associated with it. Sharks are interesting animals that must move forward at all times or they will die. I want all of the fans and the team to adopt this mentality from now until the end of the season. Keep moving forward. When the troops are down, the scoreboard's against us. Keep moving forward. No more backwards or sideways steps.

[00:58:24] He sounds like us up in the Andrew Haringhouse and stand. Go forward. Go forward. Go forward. If AFB, Colquhoun, Rudolph, and the rest of the forwards lay the platform, then we can start to make our run. But he also doesn't want to dwell on the past two games. They're done and they cannot be overturned. My son and I both love the Sharks and Nico Hines, and hopefully one day we can get to the Shark Park when time allows,

[00:58:50] and hopefully even get to see Nico in the flesh and meet him. So that's from Sean. And he also wrote, he also wrote Quincy Dodd mentioned on the NRLW episodes that they don't play double headers anymore. And do you know why? I think they are awesome and like to see more of them for people like me who travel to get there. So nothing official on that, Kieran and Sean.

[00:59:19] Thanks so much for that. Really appreciate you. But I'm led to believe it's something to do with the Sheds, and it's a bit difficult. Like it's not impossible. I think they can bring in, what's the word? The manimals. That kind of thing. And it's not exactly flattering for our athletes. They can do it, I think. But they've chosen this year or requested this year not to do the double headers. Jada has dropped it, I think, in every episode we've done. And it's not possible.

[00:59:45] So I don't know if they're going to look to do that next year or not. But from the four players we've had plus Jada each week, they definitely prefer double headers, Kieran, as a heads up. It's a lot better atmosphere. I would like to see it. I think it's probably a move by the club to, again, put more pressure on the NRL to sort of say, hey, we can't host double headers. We need some funding. We need some help. So I think there is a long-term reason behind us doing it this way.

[01:00:15] But, yeah, we'd love to see the girls before the NRL games. It's always a great day, especially if you can get three grades in one day. That's always a great day at the football. Now it is. Watch out for pineapples on his cruise trip, by the way. Yeah, definitely. It is. The three grades is great. But I've noticed sometimes when you do the three grades, the crowds are still pretty small. And that's due to circumstance. It's due to environment. It's due to lifestyle. But it doesn't guarantee you a full house.

[01:00:41] However, we have seen NRLW crowds obviously be bigger on double headers. And I'm all for that if that's the way they go. So that might be all the mail we have for now. I'm getting pretty confused with all of our mail. But I'll work it out. That's for sure. But I appreciate everyone being in touch. Thanks to Blair, who, very positive fan of ours, Blair. And he sent me a video of Paul Gowan. I actually saw this being filmed. I didn't know what the hell was going on.

[01:01:09] So I went to record the NRLW podcast, Kieran, during the week. And I walked sort of, when I say past, I walked across a spot. And Gallum was on the field filming with a couple of the crew. And he was wearing what looked like a Western Wanderers slash Perth Bears jersey. And I couldn't quite see it. But it turned out it was. He was doing some sort of cross promo for the Bears. But then especially the Sharks. He took it off, clicks his fingers. And he's a shark. So that's from Blair. Send him that video. Thanks so much.

[01:01:39] And we get a lot of social media feedback, which is awesome. So thanks to everyone. Really appreciate it. Now, Kieran, before we let you go, because you've got to go, what the heck's going to happen on Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock? It's going to be. Is AJ Brimson playing? Because I know there's some news that broke during the week around him and his future. And some people have even tossed up Cronulla as a potential landing. Hey. Another fullback. Or maybe in the center. Another fullback. Yeah, Jesse's leaving. It's a quick back line.

[01:02:09] Let me just throw the back line at you. It is Kinney, De Groot, Jojo, AJ, and Sammy. It's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, they're a decent side. And Hane is really, I think, building something quite good there. They're not the finished version of what they're going to be. But they're still a team that's not going to roll over. So they'll be up for this, especially given Hane's connection with the Sharks. And there's a few Sharks. 50 to 10. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:02:35] So I think this will be tight for probably the first half. And then I expect us to come in the second half and really go home with it. But again, as you pointed out to me on the weekend, the Sharks have not won a game that they've been losing at halftime. So they need to make sure that they're winning at halftime so we don't hit that snag again. Just the one game for all of our statisticians listening because I get a lot of stats. I don't get hammered. I get corrected.

[01:03:04] 93% of stats are made up anyway. That's not true. Now, I think it was the Dragons game that we won after being behind at halftime. But yes, we're not very good at that point of the game at least. However, I'm with you. I think that given there's no Trindle, I think that it might be a tighter affair as far as the points go. But they need to work it out. And you know what? We say it the last month and we mean it this time. Go win by half a point.

[01:03:34] It doesn't matter. You just need to win. That's all you need to do. Half a point will get you across the line. Half point field goal. It's a really strange position that we find ourselves in because these games are meaningful games but they're also not meaningful games. And the risk of injury is tremendous. We've just seen that with Trendle. We've seen that with Justin Ramien. So, the injuries are starting to pile up for us. But I believe that we have the depth to get through this period. And finals will be here in three weeks. We will be there in the finals.

[01:04:03] It's just where we end up in the finals is going to be the major point for us. And it's got to be top four. I like it. I like it. I like that attitude. Let's go get top four. It's still very doable. We just need to win out, you would think. Even then, it's not necessarily a guarantee you need to do that. But at this point, you would imagine doing that and the Dolphins drop a game might be enough. Newcastle are coming up behind us. It's not a done deal. It's going to be a long three weeks, unfortunately. But we do appreciate you jumping on, Kieran, very much.

[01:04:33] And what I want you to do is go research Kerry Russell's career. Not so much Felicity, but although you could do Felicity. Kerry is K-E-R-I. K-E-R-I. And you'll know her straight away as soon as you see her. Maybe the Bon Jovi video. Oh, boy. Is it always? Yes, I know that video clip. I know that one. See, you know that, but you don't know Felicity. This is unbelievable. I've seen this one besides that video clip.

[01:05:03] Oh. You don't remember when she cut her hair off and it was the whole thing? She cut that hair off in season two. I'm just looking at her Wikipedia. She was in Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker. Can't remember her in that. She was in Honey, I Blew Up The Kids. Never saw that. She was in Mission Impossible 3. I've never seen a Mission Impossible movie. Dawn of the Apes. Never seen it. I haven't seen any of the work besides the Bon Jovi video clip. I just thought... It was a good video clip.

[01:05:32] I just thought maybe you might have seen that or The Americans. There's another one she's in. But anyway, life will go on, I'm sure. I've got you as a... Emergency contact? Oh, that's a good idea. I think you might be a Ben rather than a Noel guy. I'm a Ben guy. I love Noel, but Ben... Ben was... I actually used to declare Ben was the one guy I would maybe... Could... Could... Could maybe. Anyway, that's another story. Emergency contact. All right. Ben being Scott Speedman.

[01:06:01] Do you know Scott Speedman, the actor? No, but I'm just watching this hole that you're digging get deeper into. What? That's not a hole. It's getting louder. All right. No, no. Google Scott Speedman right now and tell me he's not an attractive man. Go. I can't. I've got a jump, Sam, but... Google it. Google it right now. We're live. Go. Google it right now. We're live. Scott Speedman. Scott Speedman. It's just a yes or no. Is he an attractive man or not? It's loading. The Wi-Fi got me.

[01:06:33] I mean, he's not my cup of tea. That's a no. Hey, thanks for joining us on SharkCastPod. We appreciate it. And thanks to you, Kieran. I know you're a busy guy. We're going to get out of here. Up, up, Cronulla. You know what to do. Subscribe, like, follow our sponsors, and love, Kieran. Bye. SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest realist estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the shire.

[01:07:01] Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Shotokies! Shotokies!

[01:07:25] Back in the shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.