Gaz and Shinazz: Live From Sharks Stadium, Woolooware! (28/8/25)

[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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[00:00:55] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast Pods. My name is Shinaz, that's Gaz, this is the Gaz and Shinaz Show. We are at Shark Stadium, the greatest place on earth, and we are coming off a bye and getting ready for the ultimate doubleheader.

[00:01:17] We are NRL dub, NRLW, just before midday on Sunday. We want to see you down here, but before then, we've got stuff to discuss, Gary. We do, lots. We are just outside the top four. There's a whole bunch of things going on. When we record right now, we're awaiting the debacle that's going to be the Bulldogs in Penrith, but that's for another show, another time. A whole bunch of things going on is my point. We don't know where we're going to finish. We could finish as high as third. We could drop.

[00:01:44] If we win these both games coming up against Newcastle against Canterbury, we're going to be in a good place to move forward. Knights this week. Gary, how's the club been after the bye? Well, first of all, how good's this sunshine out here at Shark Stadium? It's looking fantastic out there. The pitch is looking unreal. And yeah, it's been good having the bye this week. Everyone's sort of refreshed and feeling good. It feels like a while since we played footy. So I'm feeling real good, feeling refreshed, and the boys are feeling the same.

[00:02:07] So are the girls. So they've obviously haven't had a bye. They've been in New Zealand, but got a nice win over there. And yeah, everyone's come with a good attitude to the last home game. There's lots of positivity around. And yeah, obviously the sun's going to be shining. So get down here and support us in our last home game. Now can you, well, last potential regular season home game. Regular season, that's it. Can you tell us what's going on behind us just in case the people can hear and see this? Yeah. So this is part of what Emma Veren does for us in her community team. So they're running the MegaJaws disability clinic down there.

[00:02:33] So lots of dancing and footy drills going on with Emma and Jada and a few of the others down there. So yeah, it's good fun. And the people having a time of their lives, amazing, inspiring. And we thank Emma and Jada, especially for everything they do for this great club. So off the bye, thankfully, time to recover for everyone from players to coaching staff to admin and podcasters. So we're fresh, ready to go, ready to rock. Huge game in the context of so much happening for both teams.

[00:03:02] Let's start with the NRL dub because they came off a pretty good win against the Warriors. Super impressed with them over in Hamilton. And we saw the return, we already mentioned her, we saw the return of Jada Taylor off the bench. But she played quite a few minutes, I think a bit more than what was planned. And she was just straight in, injecting herself into the play and a great comeback for her. Yeah, obviously it's good to have her back after such an extended period off. And yeah, she didn't look like any signs of slowing down off the back of her injury.

[00:03:30] So yeah, it was good to have her out there and obviously a good win for the girls. They're sitting in fourth or fifth at the moment with only a few games left of the regular season. But yeah, they've obviously we've seen throughout the year how many injuries they've had and sort of the stress and everything they've had to go through to get their side on the park some weeks. But yeah, they're in a good spot and they're building from there. And the timely return of Jada Taylor is a great one for us. And coming back from, dare I say, the dead, Rhiannon Byers starting again, playing, I think the whole game and she's been named again this week.

[00:03:58] She was gone for the season. She's back. Yeah, so obviously it wasn't as bad as first thought. She didn't require the surgery that we thought she might. And yeah, it's great to have her back out on the pitch as well. So we've got a few trips back, which is nice, but obviously missing a couple still. But yeah, we're in a good spot heading into the last few games of the season. It did mean Brooke Anderson went back to her traditional lock. And then we saw Georgia Hannaway playing a lot of hooker. And she was dynamite. She was probably player of the match. So I like what Tony Herman is doing with his team. He's tinkering. It's week to week. He's not sure who's going to play, who's not.

[00:04:27] But he's got a real knack for just naming the team that needs to be named. Yeah, and he knows what he can get out of the girls and their strengths and everything like that. And obviously, you know, Georgia's got a great pass. She's quick on her feet. So, you know, we saw her burst out of dummy half there and put Emma away for that good try. But yeah, she's got some good hands and some good skills to play hooker. And obviously it allows Brooke to go back to lock, which is obviously a really, really great lock for us.

[00:04:49] Not only one of the great community NRL employees of the year, Emma Varin, but clearly player of the year for us and potentially the whole NRLW competition. She's playing unbelievable. Yeah, she's been really, really good. And obviously she's been in an unfamiliar or a familiar but unfamiliar position. She obviously played all last year in the halves, but she was back at fullback, which we know she's done a job there for New South Wales, Australia and rugby sevens and everything like that. So it's not unfamiliar to her. And she's really picked that up and ran with it. And we saw her commanding the team around the park, even though she wasn't in the halves.

[00:05:18] And she's back into that role this week. So it'd be good to see what comes of that. And obviously, yeah, pretty much unchanged side, which is a nice change for us. So 1150 this Saturday, 1150 AM, obviously down here, you can see the NRLW Sharks take on the Newcastle Knights. Always a great contest. It's a big one, yeah. They'll be up for it. Caitlin against her old team as well. Yeah, there's a lot of good rivalries there. So make sure you're here for that. Gates are, I think, around 1130.

[00:05:48] Yeah, I believe that's right. But the kickoff's 1150. Make sure you're in your spot, in your seat, wherever you're going to be for the NRLW. If you're watching this interstate overseas, which a lot of you are, you can check it out how you normally check it out. But if you can get here and get a ticket now because it will sell out. It's going to be a beautiful day. Potentially last game of the year at Shark Stadium. And we want to see you here. The game after that, and we should point out there's actually three games on, I found out. But the game after that, the middle game, if you will, is NRL. Huge game, lots of consequences.

[00:06:18] And the Knights have announced that they're parting ways with Adam O'Brien, their coach. He will coach the last two games, I believe. But he has said, hey, enough is enough. And can't blame him without wanting to put too many digs in there. But they're going to come to town with nothing to lose. And their forward pack is decent. And there's some other good players around the squad. So I'm not worried about this game.

[00:06:45] But we've seen what happens in NRL, whether it's us or anyone else, if you don't turn up and play. Yeah, we need to turn up and play. And we know they're going to turn up and play. Sunday afternoon down here, it's going to be a dry track. So lots of throwing the ball around. We know they've got strike weapons across the park. So we're going to have to be on our game. Obviously, we get a nice strike weapon back in KL. But yeah, I think we'll be all right, as you said. But we've got to come with our A game. They're definitely not going to be able to... They're not going to be here to take anything lightly. So we've got to get into it. Fascinating team named due to a whole bunch of things.

[00:07:15] We've got KL back, as you said, first time in probably three months or so. I'm making up that number, but it's been a while. He's not going to score a try again. He doesn't do anything with score tries in games. So he wants to continue that streak going. And his other center partner is Marwini Hiroti. And he has kept his spot based on a man of the match performance against the Titans here two weeks ago. And even just on paper, that's a fascinating combination. Yeah, absolutely. And obviously, you know, they've got some good centers in Bradman Best on the other side of the field.

[00:07:44] So it'll be a nice little test for those boys. And yeah, I think Marwini's played lights out last week and every time he's coming to the squad this year. So it's good to see him retain his spot. Obviously, Jesse's getting a bit closer than we all thought. So he might not miss as much time as we originally scheduled him in for. But yeah, if Marwini keeps playing the way he is, it's hard to take him out of that side. But as you said, good to welcome KL back on the other side as well. Now these mics are dynamic mics. They only pick up pretty much what we're saying. But you can hear some ambiance in the back.

[00:08:11] And you may be able to hear our number one fan, Matthew. He's down there having me some time. With these famous, hello, hi, I'm Matt. Hi, how are you doing? And you know him from outside the stadium most home games and also around the Shire. And we love Matty. So I thought I'd give him a shout out in case you can hear him there. Now, forward pack is also of a note. Tell me what's going on there. We've got Jesse Colquhoun coming in to play lock because Cam McInnes is out for quite a while. Unfortunately, we send our love and respect to Cam.

[00:08:40] We'll see him next year. Although he will be around the team, of course, throughout the final series. But Jesse Colquhoun gets his chance to stamp his authority. And we interviewed him earlier in the week. Go listen to it on your podcast feeds. He's pretty pumped. Yeah, it's obviously a little glimpse into the future for us. And we know what Jesse can do when he's on the field to have a few more minutes out there and to play in a position that hopefully one day he can make his own. I think he's going to go out there and put his best foot forward. So he's such a dynamic runner of the ball. Good defender.

[00:09:07] He plays the ball really well out the back and runs some good shape. So I think he's going to do really well out there. And I think that's going to be his spot in the future. So why not test him out now? So coaches named Sifitalakai and Hoheppa Puru on the bench as well. And both those guys could come in to sub for Jesse when he needs it. I would think it would be more Talakai, but the option to have Hoheppa do that role is there as well. And then you could play Talakai just as a battering ram. Depends how you want to play it. Depends what the score is, et cetera. The run of the team. Yep.

[00:09:38] But we also see Brayden Hamlin-Willy back after a few weeks off. He had a thing going on in his back, all healthy, ready to rock. So it's a pretty handy team we've named. It is a pretty handy team. And obviously lots of different body shapes and sizes there as well. So there's a few things he could do off the bench and obviously move Jesse into the middle, play Pep at the back there. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see what he does come game day. But yeah, as you said, it's good to have Braids back. Good to have Sifah there for a battering ram type role. And I think we'll do all right against their, they've got a big pack. They do. The pack is probably their strength, Gary. Sorry to interrupt.

[00:10:07] We also have Billy Burns playing his second week in a row, so to speak, with the suspension of Britton Nikara. Yeah. And he'll have another chance next weekend to Bulldogs to cement his spot for the finals. It's going to be fascinating what the coach does week one of the finals. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting. There's going to be a lot of healthy bodies. Yeah, well, Britt will be back from his suspension. Jesse could be back from his thumb injury. So there's a few things that could happen there. But, you know, if you're winning all these games by good margins, everyone's playing pretty well. It's going to be hard to change that side. So we'll see what happens. Yeah. Can't wait for it.

[00:10:35] Now, there is a jersey release. It's already happened because all you jersey guys and girls have already bought it. But for those who haven't, please jump onto sharks.com.au. Come down to the merch outlets at the ground on Sunday or before the game and before days before this, when you see this video, go to sharks store at the Woolaware Bay Central.

[00:11:02] And it is the Reebok mid-90s. Your favorite jersey. 1996. Yeah. Retro jersey remake. So it is my favorite jersey. And it's in store now. So get in there and grab it if you can. It looks unreal. So it was good to, you know, we've been working behind the scenes for a while. Barnsley and the team there to get Reebok back on board to get that one out. And they finally agreed to it. So it's fun. Because we had one in recent times, which was the design, but it didn't have Reebok. It had these guys who we like as well, obviously. Last year's heritage jersey. But this year it's the Reebok.

[00:11:32] It's, you can go back to the 90s, which is where we all want to go. Every one of us want to go and just stay there. And that's what you can purchase. So tell Barnti and Ash we sent you and they would appreciate your patronage. Gary, the weather here. You know me. I'm a winter guy, right? You know that. Everyone knows that. Who knows me? This is pretty divine. This is pretty good. It's pretty beautiful. It's nice. It's not too windy. There was a little bit of wind, but it's actually not too bad.

[00:12:03] And come Sunday, it's going to be very, very pleasant. Yeah, it's absolutely shining. So it's good to see the field in Great Nick. Obviously, they've got a couple more sessions on there before the weekend. But Green Offsfield is unbelievable. At keeping that thing together. So yeah, come Sunday, this place is going to be rocking. And I can't wait to be down here. So everyone else should get their tickets and get down here on Sunday. You may have read reports that this place is not the place to come to. Ah, ah. That's a lie. That's a fib. That is not true. This is the place to be, Shark Stadium.

[00:12:29] I promise you, you'll be happy and content on Sunday. And if you're not, come and find me and we'll make it a lot more content for you. Don't know what we'll do. We might go to Gary's catering or all the drinks he gets and everything else that he gets there, and we'll sort you out. But my point is, don't believe what you read sometimes. Believe us. We are the truth. It's a beautiful place to be. And it's going to be full of Sharks fans going nuts because we're going to tear it up on Sunday. I can't wait to see it. I think it's going to be some points, Gary.

[00:12:57] I think, yeah, a dry track and two teams that like to throw the ball around and score some points, I think it'll be a high-scoring affair. So hopefully we're on the right end of that, which I'm sure we will be. And yeah, it'll be a good afternoon down here in the Shire. And I reckon NREL Dub could be a little bit less points in it and a bit tighter. It's going to be a really good game that, I reckon. It'll be a classic, yeah. It's all happening. It's all happening. This is the place to be. Shark Stadium, Sunday. Hey, get here about 11.30. Kickoff's 11.50. Come find Gary. Harass him. He's got the camera. You've never seen a big camera in your life. He's at either end of the...

[00:13:28] That's a spoiler. He's at either end of the ground where they're running towards. Heckle me all you want. No heckling. Just say, hey, Shark Cast dude, you're awesome. And he'll give you a high-five and take a photo of you and he'll put it somewhere. Absolutely. Gary, it's been a pleasure talking to you, my friend. Good to be back. Lasted a week off, but good to be back and thanks for having me once again. We did have a week off, didn't we? Yeah, good. Yeah, the fans weren't happy about that, but we're back. Apologies. All right. We will see you down here on Sunday until then. This is Gaz and Shanaz. I'm Shanaz. He's Gaz. Up up. Let's go.

[00:13:58] Shark Cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast. If you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[00:14:27] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies! Turn your porch lights off because we're coming out with a trophy. Sharkies!