Interview with Tuku Hau Tapuha, Raiders Preview, ET/Gal Mural

[00:00:00] SharkCast, SharkCast, SharkCast and SharkCast, SharkCast, SharkCast and SharkCast and SharkCast, SharkCast.

[00:00:15] And the more you pay me back in the shower, tell you what's live, so I come back and I am with a shark feed.

[00:00:30] Hey there, welcome to SharkCars.

[00:00:33] Part of podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world,

[00:00:36] the mighty chronological several on sharks.

[00:00:39] This show is brought to you by Dyson logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking

[00:00:44] and Jason Hors at Crips and Crips Real Estate.

[00:00:47] My name is Sam Shunazian OG from 2015.

[00:00:50] It's our 10th year of podcasting.

[00:00:52] Really appreciate everyone who's been along since day one as well as people who are coming

[00:00:57] in as recently as last week.

[00:00:59] We see all the stats on people joining and we appreciate it and we appreciate your support,

[00:01:04] keep spreading the word.

[00:01:06] We want to go as big and wide as we can with this podcast because we love doing it so much.

[00:01:13] Big week in Sharkland as usual.

[00:01:16] We have also in SharkCarsland released our Monday morning episode with Kirin when we

[00:01:22] catch up over coffee and talk about the weekend that was more of a lighthearted look

[00:01:26] at the game and then whatever else is going on.

[00:01:30] We had our more serious intense flagship episode during the week with Josh taking his turn

[00:01:37] this week to do the episode.

[00:01:39] Really appreciate his time and his analysis on all things sharks.

[00:01:43] If you haven't listened to those episodes, please go back and have a listen after this.

[00:01:47] But today we have a short, sharp episode for you, a preview of the Raiders game on Sunday.

[00:01:53] We're going to be a big one and we also have an exclusive interview with one of the younger

[00:01:59] newer sharks playing the second game this weekend.

[00:02:02] It's going to be an important role as well.

[00:02:04] Big Tuku how to pour.

[00:02:05] We're going to roll that interview pretty much straight away, a bit of background on what

[00:02:11] went down at the shark today which you would have seen in the media by now and that was

[00:02:15] the unveiling of the ET Galen mural down at Shark Park.

[00:02:22] If you're going down there, you'll see it in person.

[00:02:24] It looks unbelievable.

[00:02:25] It looks incredible.

[00:02:26] It's so exciting and I hope that you all take selfies and then flood our social media with

[00:02:32] them tag shark cast pod because we want to see them.

[00:02:35] There was an unveiling.

[00:02:36] It was really cool, really great to be down there and of course Paul Galen and Andrew Housen

[00:02:41] were there to talk.

[00:02:42] Dino as a tester was there.

[00:02:44] He had things to say as well.

[00:02:47] Steve Mace was there and Cam McInnis Club Captain was around.

[00:02:52] I'm trying to think who else was there.

[00:02:55] A lot of people involved in behind the scenes and we also had some great shark cast listeners

[00:03:00] there.

[00:03:01] We had Ash the historian, we had former statistician Mark Gillard.

[00:03:06] It was really fun to be there, really special and you'll see that on all your shark social

[00:03:11] channels so definitely take the time to listen to that.

[00:03:14] Hopefully their audio is okay because the placement of the press conference is where you imagine

[00:03:21] it to be but boy oh boy, all the way was really busy and there were lots of cars at one

[00:03:25] point in their assignments.

[00:03:26] So hopefully they're already picked up I'm sure it did and it was pretty funny everyone

[00:03:32] was having a laugh, it was all good spirits and things are pretty emotional especially when

[00:03:35] Andrew spoke, Gal spoke really well of course and Dino but I think ET kind of stole the show

[00:03:42] and you'll see why and just such a great part of our history not just 2016 but of course

[00:03:50] ET and everyone that played before the win.

[00:03:54] It's a really nice touch that the sharks have done is a sponsor involved to help pay for

[00:04:00] it and I haven't been sure about my thoughts on this on the show and I won't be sure about

[00:04:05] it, it got to keep going, got to keep adding history to the club and documenting it where

[00:04:11] you can.

[00:04:12] If you see more space do things like that please because that is what is going to get

[00:04:18] fans amped, that is what's going to get fans coming back more of an atmosphere just

[00:04:24] that touch is exciting.

[00:04:26] Great stuff by the club and you will see it if you don't get down to the camera game

[00:04:31] you'll see it hopefully be there for the next hundred years not much more to say on

[00:04:35] that did have a quick chat with Chairman Steve Mason he's doubled down on coming on the

[00:04:43] show we couldn't do it today but we're going to chat to him in the next month or so

[00:04:48] I don't know how long it will stretch out he's a busy guy I'm a less busy guy but still

[00:04:52] busy so he's keen and we're going to do it and it was great to have a chat with him today.

[00:04:57] He mentioned the AGM which was last night, I know some of our listeners went well so

[00:05:03] there are reports on social media about what went down and some facts and figures so

[00:05:07] let you go find all that out but let's throw right now to Tuku Hotsapua and I have to admit

[00:05:15] he's one of the biggest humans I've been around as you'll hear can hold a conversation

[00:05:21] good fellow and I hope he really kicks on I was super impressed being in his company

[00:05:25] you'll also hear some cameos from some of our biggest players just joining in on the

[00:05:30] conversation which gave everyone a bit of a laugh and I explained it I think last week

[00:05:37] on one of the episodes and I sort of do it in the interview today and it's like whenever

[00:05:41] you've got a microphone in front of someone other players are attracted to it and you'll

[00:05:46] hear it it's fine it's all fine it's all ingest it's all lighthearted there is a bit

[00:05:50] of an issue though I'm calling him by the wrong nickname and I concede that and it was because

[00:05:55] I was so nervous and when I say nervous I don't get really nervous in these situations

[00:05:59] I was nervous by the size of this guy he is absolutely huge anyway we had a good time

[00:06:05] I really appreciate his time and thanks to the sharks for allowing me into their domain

[00:06:10] to do this kind of thing for our listeners coming up right now tux it's tux

[00:06:16] right shark house part here with big tux getting ready to play I believe second game for

[00:06:24] the sharks is that correct dude you're a giant give me your stats how tall are you 196 centimeters

[00:06:31] or roughly 6465 117 kilos and yeah yeah and big small boot you're already a crowd favorite

[00:06:42] what's it like playing here at shark park given the you debuted against the dogs right I should

[00:06:49] know this what was like running out of the field everyone getting into it an amazing 10 minutes

[00:06:54] yeah I was on real way like it was everything that I kind of pitched it to be in a shark park

[00:07:01] I was just so fortunate that it was our first home game which made it like you know 10 times

[00:07:06] even better like instantly when I come on the come on the field like just felt the atmosphere

[00:07:11] like like straight away and then obviously I clicked straight straight back into you know my role

[00:07:19] and whatnot but yeah like that was my fourth in our old game and fourth in our game first for sharks

[00:07:27] and like yeah just felt the atmosphere straight away most of my games previously were in the

[00:07:34] COVID season so obviously the crowds were capped off there so yeah felt like felt that everything

[00:07:42] and yeah just so good enough it was definitely memorable does it lift you even further like physically

[00:07:49] mentally like do you does it spur you on that like cliche the crowd to get your home like is it a

[00:07:53] bit of a lift emotionally when you run out yeah I guess like having the crowd and

[00:08:01] the supporters it's definitely a reason why we throughout the whole week we talk about

[00:08:09] our reasons for the game and as a squad obviously everybody has their individual and

[00:08:14] internal reasons but I think like and every you can ask any other players like we all

[00:08:21] we all love paying out points that purely because of the fans and the support that

[00:08:28] that that we get you know running out on onto the field and just you know like

[00:08:35] everyone just rallying behind us is definitely a big big factor for for all of us

[00:08:41] getting out on the pitch tell me about your your experiences of Craig Fitzgibbon did you work

[00:08:47] with him at the roosters yep um 50 was there my my debut year at the roosters obviously

[00:08:54] like obviously this one felt a lot more sweeter as in the fact that the reasons behind my

[00:09:04] playing playing in our older young age was we were pretty injury ravaged um that's when you

[00:09:09] won years right I think there's definitely felt like I earned it a lot more like we've got so much

[00:09:17] depth in our middle obviously we had a couple injuries but um this one definitely felt a lot sweeter

[00:09:23] what's that playing with guys like Nico Heinz all these superstars like what's it like

[00:09:26] with your teammates is it sink in sometimes but this is who you're playing with no yes it's pretty

[00:09:31] surreal um like when you you know like when you get back in the defensive line and you look across

[00:09:38] and you know you got Cammy Kinnis standing right there next person over you got Tig Wilton there

[00:09:44] you got no bread in bread in a couple um as though like there's just so much talent across the whole

[00:09:50] pitch you know and it's um I kind of got to pinch myself sometimes when I look across the field and see

[00:09:55] that I'm playing with these boys um but yeah it's definitely like um it's a huge blessing that I can

[00:10:02] play with like you know boys with you know Nico he's got kangaroo experience yeah

[00:10:07] yeah maca origin experience you know like yeah nah it's definitely a blessing

[00:10:12] oh how you feeling this week we've got a few out and we're going to look to you to hold the middle

[00:10:17] what's the plan like same as same as um my my day my um quite debut it's just just get on just

[00:10:25] nail my roll nail nail nail in my row um nailing my roll and just um you know uh just

[00:10:34] you good yeah um yeah just just nothing to nothing to um you know complicated I think

[00:10:41] do you think you get more minutes this week yeah yeah definitely preparing to play a lot a lot

[00:10:45] longer um pretty injury ravaged at the moment so um yeah I'm going to expect to get more minutes

[00:10:52] and um and yeah just I try to explain the list as we do the interviews that all the other guys come

[00:11:00] along and they're like hey interview guy you know we got he's got an audience got a big audience

[00:11:06] why don't we ask these guys what they think about tux how's tux going to go in the

[00:11:09] talks his name is tux what I said tux what do I think about him yeah how's he going he's a

[00:11:14] nerd burger no he's really good I can't get over the size of it yeah he's a big boy you know what

[00:11:19] he's gonna get him bigger because he's still a little baby boy and he's going to grow into a man soon

[00:11:23] we're gonna need him this week all right like rally speaking of handsome calling another man handsome

[00:11:30] tell me about this guy uh he's earned it right yeah definitely he's had a good off season

[00:11:34] he's had a good pre-season so yeah it's great to see him have a have a crack at some more game time

[00:11:39] and I know I feel a lot safer when he's out there next to me all right ready to tiendle any thoughts

[00:11:43] on a media today so you have to pay us yeah brain tiendle no hair tiendle I'm not going there

[00:11:51] now big tux it's just a matter of time for the big lad and um yeah he's naughty sport and

[00:11:56] he can't wait to see him rip in on a weekend all right what's your pain in school

[00:12:00] what are you put I we're you know let a bet on that so I'm allowed a bet on it but

[00:12:04] have you seen an NRL try yet? No no 10 10 95 last week oh two weeks ago yeah

[00:12:11] all right uh what I think a few time man and um good luck and rip in good you nice to meet you

[00:12:19] okay back after the interview with Tuku Hatsupura commonly referred to as tux not tux tux

[00:12:28] again thanks to him for his time great stuff hope he absolutely rips in on sunday we've got a preview

[00:12:34] of the game short shot preview of the game playing the Raiders it's going to be tough I'm not going to

[00:12:42] muck around here and tell you that everything super rosy and super duper it's going to be tough

[00:12:48] because of the players we are missing now do want to point out straight away off the top

[00:12:55] that on sunday at the game the sharks are doing their regular 50 50 charity raffle but this week

[00:13:02] the money is going towards former player Nathan Stapleton he played over 60 games with us between

[00:13:09] oh nine and 14 not a great era for the club but he certainly gave us a lot of great highlights

[00:13:14] and he played a lot of lower grades too for us it was fun watching him sort of grow up in public

[00:13:18] and and he was a really great player and uh unfortunately as most you know in recent times

[00:13:25] I had an accident playing rugby union a couple years ago and he's been left at quadriplegic

[00:13:32] so all the support he can get is appreciated and you can support him by giving whatever you can

[00:13:39] as little or as much as you can on sunday in the 50 50 raffle so I thought I'd give that a shout out

[00:13:45] just to get you prepared if you want to take some coins or some notes I don't know if they do

[00:13:50] cards to be perfectly honest I might have been funny I don't know what the situation is but

[00:13:55] just letting you know up front that's what's going down the team named for sundays will

[00:14:00] Kennedy Cioni Katowice just he Remy and Kayle Ero comes in at center playing his second game

[00:14:06] first game at center for the sharks Raleigh and Moolatihler on the wing your halves are

[00:14:10] Trindal and Hines you're starting props at the moment and I've got no reason to doubt it won't be

[00:14:15] but you're starting props tall Tom Hazelton Blake Braille or Gafoosey into the second row for

[00:14:20] the first time in a few years Ciford Talakai T. Walton and Captain Cam McKinnis at Locke

[00:14:26] the immediate interchange Dan Ackinson big Jack Williams Billy Burns and our new friend Tukyu

[00:14:33] Hurtapua Tukks extended bench of Jaden Barrel Blake Hosking Sam Stone Street in New Upper Rue

[00:14:40] and Max Bradbury and yeah as you heard in the interview I was around the team for a while more than

[00:14:48] what you heard and they're in pretty good spirits so I expect them to come out ripping and tearing

[00:14:55] and writing the wrong of last Saturday night that's for sure so the problem is we've got a lot

[00:15:01] of injuries in the middle that's the problem now I expect Hazelton to play bigger minutes so

[00:15:08] we need these guys to absolutely get the job done so the guys around them can do their thing

[00:15:14] the guys around them need to do their thing no matter what anyway like spec Jack Williams have a

[00:15:18] massive game he's going to be one of our leaders in the middle so definitely not an impossible task

[00:15:24] just a harder task given the injuries so head to head we've played 81 games with the Raiders they've

[00:15:31] won 41 we've won 40s Tom Faster even that up last year you remember in the last round of the

[00:15:38] regular season I believe it was at Shark Park we ended a nine game streak against us against

[00:15:44] losing to Canberra we haven't won back to back games against them at home at Shark Park since 2008

[00:15:51] I think you remember the last time we beat them in 2008 they have unsurprisingly scored the first try

[00:15:58] in seven of the past eight games against us so we need to start well and we know what they're

[00:16:03] going to bring we know what they're bringing to the sharks and that is a real consistent style

[00:16:08] the three games they've played they've played a very consistent basic game football they have

[00:16:14] the fewest errors in the game and they complete their sets they kick their chase and they wait for

[00:16:20] you to do something wrong and they pounce their attack is not amazing their hearts are not amazing

[00:16:26] they're forwards with exception are probably tapini and to a lesser extent papalihihi are not

[00:16:31] amazing so as a team they've been playing really well individually I'm not really uh shaky my boots

[00:16:38] although the Timoko versus Iroh battle will be fascinating Ricky Stewart used to coach us as most

[00:16:45] of you know so he'll make this personal like he usually does with those kind of things he will be

[00:16:50] saying things like the sharks walked into like art expecting to win and they've got their pants

[00:16:56] pulled down Canberra at kickoff will probably be favorite and expected to win let's not have that

[00:17:02] happen to us that's what he'll be saying to his players so Ricky does those mind game things with

[00:17:07] these guys wherever I'm about to get them no one's out to get your bro we just want to win the game

[00:17:12] so as discussed on the choose the night episode we've lost five of our past six regular season games

[00:17:18] by 26 points or more so when we lose we've been losing pretty bad we need to make sure it's a close

[00:17:24] game to win it uh if we don't run over that that's a different story but we need to be in it

[00:17:29] we've won through the past four a shark park you remember the last loss there it was a one point loss

[00:17:34] don't want to go into that too much at the moment I will say this though we've considered 13 points

[00:17:38] or less in the past four home games and that's a pretty good defensive record so I think the

[00:17:44] coach will be focusing on that this week we know in the first two games this year we can see it all

[00:17:48] of our points in the first 20 minutes but last week all of the points came after 20 minutes so I

[00:17:54] can't really help you there with a form line except to say I don't know don't let them score because

[00:18:01] that one is really confusing is that yeah would like to start well against Canberra at home get into

[00:18:06] the groove bring it home in the second half so they suffered their first loss last week the warriors

[00:18:13] 18 points to 10 over there they probably should have won to be fair they've only seemed to not

[00:18:18] concede a point after half time in the 20 minutes after half time so I'll be striking then try

[00:18:22] and be the first ones to do it and as I said before the average of fewest errors we need to really

[00:18:28] hold that ball milestones for Canberra Jordan Rapana will be playing his 200th game for the club

[00:18:34] he also has the second most tries against the sharks is only one try behind Jason Kruecker

[00:18:40] our boy Ronnie Maltalo is in great form and he scored in each of his past seven games at Shark Park

[00:18:46] he's actually scored 28 from 26 games at the venue one more try and he goes past the

[00:18:52] society fecki into outright fifth in the sharks trying scoring this a Ronaldo Maltalo is really

[00:18:57] starting to create some history at a young age see only Kataro is in great form at Horimis Good for

[00:19:03] in his past five including one in each of his past three I do think Cory Horsbrook is a strong

[00:19:08] chance of playing this week I don't know why he wouldn't be he's been out suspended for something

[00:19:12] that happened last year he has a pretty good history against the sharks he scored two of his career

[00:19:17] five tries against us and maybe he'll be able to bait Royce Hunt from the sideline or vice versa

[00:19:24] but Cory Horsbrook doesn't mind playing a shark so look for him to be off the bench I would think

[00:19:30] young Cal Erro has been named as we discussed the second game in the NREL he played on the wing

[00:19:37] in around 24 in 2022 against the dogs at Shark Park he made 160 meters he busted eight tackles

[00:19:44] he had an unhappy first half he had a really strong second half let's not forget he's played six

[00:19:49] games to the Cook Islands including three at center and in some big tournaments at that Tallah

[00:19:54] Klai plays his first game at second row since early in 2022 in these three games at center this

[00:20:01] year he's average 140 meters and five tackle bus with two triceps so we need him to be as involved

[00:20:07] just one step over and Dan Atkinson has a chance to get some more minutes under his belt in the

[00:20:13] NREL he's only had nine minutes on the field in two games one was for the sharks in their loss to

[00:20:20] the storm last year and in 2021 he played for Melbourne against Kroneloff for a few minutes as well

[00:20:28] so that's the low down there if you can get down to the ground I always recommend it as you

[00:20:33] heard from Tuku Haitapua took the crowd really spurs on these players so that's straight from his

[00:20:40] mouth and he's so young he's not even using clichés he's just straight from the heart talking so

[00:20:45] if you can get down there and support the team do that if you can't of course you have your own

[00:20:49] life to live and we have reasons why we can't get to the ground and you can watch it on Fox Sports

[00:20:55] KO it'll be on the radio probably as well otherwise you can tune into Shark As Pod for some reviews

[00:21:01] and some analysis and we'll be all over it so thank you so much for sticking with us throughout

[00:21:06] the years if you're a new listener as I said at the start of the show thank you for coming around

[00:21:10] and hope you enjoy the journey with us stick with us if you want to wear the merch

[00:21:15] robilymerch.com cheap plug for us not much else to say except I'm really looking forward to

[00:21:21] this game and I really want the sharks just to win it'd be terrific for the young guys to

[00:21:27] really really get in there and experience a tough team like camera come away with the win at home

[00:21:33] then we have the week off get the heel a little bit I did see some of the players down there walking

[00:21:38] around some of them on crutches it's not a pretty sight so it might be a while before

[00:21:43] back to full strength but there's enough talent there including in our spine which hasn't

[00:21:47] been touched to get the job done so let's see where we go this has been Shark As Pod hope you've

[00:21:52] enjoyed this episode I know I have up up chronola

[00:22:13] tell you what's my job for the camera out of the chart feed