Manly Preview with Cody Kaye (Fox Sports/Manly tragic) - 11/4/25

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[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCastPod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This preview show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate. I am Sam Shnazzi OG 2015, supporting this mob for a lot longer than that. And joining me on the other line for people watching, people listening is an absolute legend.

[00:01:31] He's an icon in my life. There's only one thing wrong with him and he goes for manly, but we'll get to that. He is a acclaimed journalist. If you watch Fox Sports, if you watch anything on the Foxtel about rugby league, you've seen this guy's beautiful face since 2007, which is when we met. We met in 2007 and I want to take you back there, Cody K.

[00:01:57] We met in the world's third smallest kitchen, shared by the stats department, by the newsroom, probably a few other people. We met in the world's third level, level one-ish ground level. I can't remember. Yeah. In Pyrmont at the old Fox building. There were the days when I was getting salami wraps every day. I didn't realize how bad it was. Yeah. And you and I, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen because we both love to eat and drink basically.

[00:02:24] And when you spend that much time in a kitchen, you occasionally get to run into the same people. And so I was like, Oh, this guy's pretty cool. He's a bit loud. He's a bit brash. He's a bit young and we got along straight away and we've been friends ever since. And, and I've watched your career rise, my man. It's just like a tidal wave rising to the point where now you're in my opinion, you're the number one Fox league reporter. Oh man, thank you. That's so nice. Cody K., welcome to Shark House Pod. Man, I'm so stoked to be here.

[00:02:54] Well, I'm glad that you are. I'm glad you are. Yeah. I don't like having a mountain between us, but I feel like. Yeah. Maybe we pretend to have some today. Just a little bit. That's fine. Let's talk about your fandom. Why, Manly, when, et cetera. So I was originally a Raiders fan, like back in the, when I, yeah, I know, but it was like,

[00:03:18] like, it was like Mullins, Nagus, Sticky, Daly, all those guys. It was that, that golden year. Yeah. It was like, no, it might've been 95. And anyway, I was, I started playing footy. I was about 10 or something. And anyway, I didn't come from a rugby league family. And, but my grandmother really liked it. And we'd all been to the Easter show, mum, dad, my grandma, my brother. And Nan somehow talked them into taking us to Brookvale over on the way home.

[00:03:48] And we were playing the, we're playing the bears. And we missed the first half and they, they, so, but it was like fully sold out. Like it was Manly, we're killing it back then. Yeah. And they opened the, they opened the gates at halftime to let everybody in. So we swarmed in. And I just remember being like totally overwhelmed. Like there was all these, you know, so there were all these men on the hill. And, uh, um, there was a giant blow up bear. Like one of those, you know, those, you know, the blow up things that you see at the front of like car yards. Yeah.

[00:04:18] It was like that a couple of stairs high. Anyway, some legend stabbed it and it just like very slowly deflated. And it was gearing and Manly touched north, south that day. And I just remember the magic of Brookie Ovalon. I was from that point on, I was just all in, all in. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, I just discarded the Raiders and moved on with my life. You at times have lived over that way as well or not? Yeah. Yeah. I did. I lived in Manly for about seven years. I'm up in Avalon now. Okay.

[00:04:47] But almost always Northern beaches. Yeah. Okay. And so you've seen some pretty good years there in that time. Mm. Mm. So you've seen how many premierships approximately? Two? So this, the 90, the, I remember 90. I remember 97 really well. Obviously, I remember 97. Well, as a boy, I remember me at the back of the house, crying. and you know what it still annoys me when I see Joey pass inside an hour now but it honestly

[00:05:15] still annoys me and my cousin's an hour he often sends it to me um so 96 97 um 7 8 11 13 and like our record of winning one every decade is I thought we could win one this year or next year I think this year was maybe a little ambitious I really thought there was a good chance next year and then Daly decided um to go nuclear and blow things up and now I think we may not be winning

[00:05:44] a competition for a very long time all right we'll get into we'll get into him in a little bit now tell us about your life as a journalist was that your first job in 07 your first real job pretty much I mean I'd always wanted to be an actor and so um that was the only thing oh I forgot about the acting day yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I was yeah the bad boy from moment away

[00:06:08] now I remember the original okay they're called uh the river boys I wasn't a river boy I was too much of it my character was too much of a deadbeat to be a river boy but um okay so you wanted to be an actor yeah that was always what I wanted to do and um so I went to drama school and I did all that you know a lot of commercials and stuff and um but you know I was in my I'd always said I'd give myself till I was like 30 to sort of really make it and by the time I was in my mid

[00:06:37] I don't know early 20s you know like mates were going to uni and getting on with their careers and acting's just so fickle you know like one moment you might be really close to something big and then it just doesn't happen and then you're back right where you started and I sort of thought you know I need a backup plan so I went to journalism and um I threw one connection or another ended up channel seven briefly doing a bit of logging and then um I never really took it seriously and then eventually I realized it was the only thing paying the bills and um I was I just feel so lucky because

[00:07:08] you know I was a bit heartbroken when acting didn't happen but to find this other career that I I I find so rewarding and I love so much like I mean most people don't find one thing they love and to have found two I just I feel really really lucky like I'm always reminded of the 10 year old kid that sat out of the back of a house crying when Manly lost the grandfather to Newcastle and if that kid knew what I was going to be doing now um like that'd be a dream come true so I feel very very fortunate

[00:07:36] and how did you get into Fox just through a connection or oh yeah it was through a um um I remember I was up I was at seven and someone gave me um the chief of staff's email his name is Tony his last name anyway um I completely lied about what uh what my capabilities were and got in and they realized pretty quickly that I didn't know any of the operating systems and which I'd lied about and uh

[00:08:02] I think it was just fortuitous and and they sort of got me in and as a freelance there for 10 years and um and then got on staff so it was um it was a bit of luck I mean it was you know you probably do need a bit of luck sometimes along the way um there are plenty of people that aren't you know that are struggling to to get a foot in the door as you know I mean it's pretty competitive industry so um it's crazy like 18 years this year that I've been there I mean I was there so long ago that

[00:08:30] I never even knew I was losing hair at that point I had the you would remember it was a beautiful man it was beautiful it still is beautiful and that was the year I believe if it didn't come in it was getting a big focus was the 24-hour news channel yeah yeah yeah it had just started yeah so there was a lot of reporters like in and out of the building and a lot of work I guess and a lot of people you worked with have kicked on I believe L.Pitt was there yeah am I correct?

[00:09:00] Lara was there um Jesse Yates was there like these a lot of these women that you know Megan Barnard who was at Sky a lot of these women that worked so hard and were really and like kind of were trailblau I was actually talking to Megan about this the other day and and Lara um who really laid a great platform for all of us that followed after that and they just there was a really good crew of um young people

[00:09:26] working really hard and learning because there were so many older experienced journos for you to learn from so that was a really big thing we got a really good education I mean I've always said that you learn probably learn more in one week being in the newsroom than you really will doing a uni degree because it's you know you're in you're at the cauldron so to speak um you're at the coalface and um there's some really talented people that are still in the industry working really hard and um yeah and I learned so much from from those guys like it's amazing like Lara's killing it still so

[00:09:56] is Jesse Yates um Tara Rushton all these people that came through and what's it like for you now like I see you down at Sharks Media and you're at all the you're everywhere that you need to be you're still the little kid out the back crying and then and then you get out of your car and you I definitely um I look I'll always I feel you know it's funny I mean you would say this you've been in the industry as long as I have that you know people get a little bit um cynical after a

[00:10:22] while and they say you know you'll often hear oh I used to support such and such and I feel sorry for those people because like we're pretty lucky like there's sport there's sports about passion and um I have I always made a really fine point there were years when you know when things weren't going good at Manly and they had their issues off the field and you know they haven't always been hasn't always been roses and because you you know you get to know coaches and CEOs and and they're

[00:10:51] all humans and they're fallible and you might not always have a great opinion of of them and sometimes it probably does in some ways can diminish your love for them yeah but I remember making a really conscious decision early on that my first the first thing was that I always wanted to love watching Manly Clay and I always wanted to to cultivate that and so for me I made I still I don't I mean I used to cry in the regular season win lose or draw like just because I was so

[00:11:17] uh if yeah but I still care like it's still that 80 minutes is still the one of the biggest parts of my week my partner knows that during the 80 minutes I mean it's unless the house is burning down I will I will feel no questions that are not pertaining to rugby league uh so yes and I still same as you like it's the yeah it's the passion it's the um it's and it's so awesome like we've got a she's where we're nine weeks away from having our first baby and um I can't wait to introduce

[00:11:47] that little boy or girl to the way to the seagulls way of life and I tell you what if they do not support Manly they're out I don't care how old they are they're out yeah yeah it's it's quite fun my little fellow sharks fan uh thankfully at the moment he's he's not die hard like me because yeah I kind of know at this point in my life I want that because it's quite a serious business but he's a fan he wears the gear comes to the game sometimes watches the game sometimes

[00:12:15] has his favorites which is enough that's enough for me like that's more than enough and if he builds on that well that's his business you know yeah what's that must be so cool to share that with him oh it's unbelievable a lot of our listeners have gone through that and it's it's to take him to shark park you know it's a lot of fun and yeah it means a lot so you'll have a lot of fun when your little one comes along and just on the supporting the team thing like I've been doing the pod for 11

[00:12:42] years working in the biz for the same amount as you yeah same same amount of time in the business as you and I sort of made the same declaration like I can never let this affect the fandom and you know I've been through some dark times with the team as you remember and um and since the pod started it's all been pretty rosy to be honest as far as on the field stuff goes

[00:13:08] so it's been pretty easy but as you say you get to know people was that was that was 14 so we started 15 yeah um well we started because of it I got tired of guys like you just writing off the club it was like I've got a I gotta do something slightly more positive here obviously not guys lucky but other people that we both work with but um uh but I've never lost that I don't know if I ever

[00:13:34] do well it's all over right because yeah that's why you do it um but we are here to talk about the big clash in Perth now I'm guessing you're not heading over there I'm not heading over there no I will definitely be watching it though the battle of the beat we've got a brilliant record against you guys by the way overall you do yeah it's like yeah no yeah the last five it's your best record our worst

[00:13:59] record for sure yeah uh but as of late we've won four of the last five so under Fitzy it all changed and as Fitzy says to everyone they told me a lot of things couldn't happen in this club and one of them was beating manly beating manly at brookvale and he's changed that around which has been awesome um sounds like hubris to me what's what's your let's get your opinions on some things first

[00:14:24] because you're in the biz you're around for those playing at home yeah it's 100th map between us you've probably got those exact same stats in front of you Cronulla's 29 win rate is against manly is it's worst against any side I could go on and on there's some interesting ones manly have won just under 70 of matches against the sharks it's our best against any current team now I don't want to

[00:14:50] let I don't want to let people too far behind the curtain Cody including yourself but I actually wrote those notes I thought it might have been you I did think that true story true story um absolutely our worst record there were times where it's just like we can't do this uh if we look back to uh 22 when we were uh looking for being top four going to brookie around 23 can't be done we beat you 40 to 6

[00:15:19] uh we've had success there two times since so we've won the last three in brookvale it's unheard of unheard of how'd you get how'd you get on the 2019 final series we lost I think that was was it the great ones last game yeah um tell me what you think about Craig Fitzgibbon as a coach in all seriousness what do you think look I've got so much time for Fitz he he was um he really like he I remember but he really served his apprenticeship really well and a lot of

[00:15:46] clubs wanted him and he's a he's so loyal and I remember having a chat to Fitzie because he was under contract at the Roosters and clubs were as when he was an assistant and clubs were you know knocking on the door to make him their head coach and he said listen I've given Trent my word this is what he told me once said I've given Trent my word that I'll never leave the Roosters while I'm contracted here like I will always see out this contract and then deal with whatever comes

[00:16:14] after that and so he served he's he's a loyal guy served his apprenticeship really well he's really hard working I mean he's one of like you see how fit he is now and he's he's in the gym before the players are um I think he's an excellent coach and um I think you guys are really fortunate to have him um yeah I can't speak highly enough I think he's one of the best coaches in the game he's going to have a really long career you can just see it can't you like some coaches and some guys are made for it

[00:16:39] some aren't yeah um some are just assistants and there's nothing wrong with that you know I think it was me I'd love to be an assistant you know you get paid well and you don't have the pressure um he's an excellent head coach he's got a really clever mind for the game and he's tough like I think that's one thing that when Cronulla sides have had success it's often been based on a toughness and um that's definitely what Fitzgibbon brings to that team now yeah for sure some of our fans and

[00:17:08] listeners they get a bit frustrated when he does the presses and he sort of repeats the same things and and I always say to those people that he doesn't let much in like he's a very um personal guy both yeah when you talk to him and just in business like he just he protects the players and he protects the whole system and and that's part of his part of his charm and part of his success

[00:17:32] is he doesn't go off in press conferences he's very calm and I understand that fans want to hear more from him but uh I I'm a huge fan huge admirer I've got to know him a little bit in the last couple of years and I I I'm in like I'm I'm pretty much all in at the moment like there's nothing he's really done where I've gone what are you doing like this is ridiculous so I'm with you I think he's

[00:17:58] going to be long term I'm thinking sort of Johnny Lang but hopefully with one more you know win so uh I actually think that he's and I say this respectfully like I actually think when you look where Kunalov have finished on the ladder the last couple under Fitzy I actually think he's probably had that side over performing in terms of the roster sometimes um I think bring Adam Fenua Blake to the

[00:18:22] club is the thing that makes you guys really really start other teams start to fear you guys now because I don't think like you know like you look at Will Kennedy is he one of the best fullbacks in the game in a game right in an era right now where it is littered with superstar fullbacks he's probably not but um he just gets he gets the most out of all these guys week in week out I mean that game against

[00:18:49] South Sydney Will Kennedy looked like the best fullback running around so I think that um that's that's a coaching thing for me I think players go to Cronulla and they get better under Craig Fitzgibbon which is the ultimate sign of a good coach yeah it is um Perth this weekend our boys versus your boys you guys are three from five you've defeated the Cowboys you defeated Cambry defeated Parra all at

[00:19:17] home uh lost to the Warriors and lost last week to Melbourne at home last week was weird it was like a thrashing but then you scored like three late tries and the scoreline was kind of slightly better but you know there was like Melbourne scored three tries in five minutes in that first half we Manly were probably the better side I hate saying this but they were the better side for the bulk of that first half it was just that Melbourne blew them out of the water in a five minute period and then

[00:19:43] the second half you know they did the same but um yeah it's really weird and unfortunately that's been Manly's story over the last couple of couple years the gap between their best and their worst is just way too big let's talk two guys in particular we'll start with Tommy he's out this week uh he has missed a lot of football you've got the stats there he's a lot better when they play how do you feel as a manly

[00:20:07] diehard with Tommy T like is there a time coming where it's like ah I don't know about this like club legend amazing player how do you how do you deal with that are they dealing with it the right way it's just what can you do I think I think I look yeah it's really tough is I mean he's the best player in the club um he just can't stand appealed um I I'm not really one of those ones that think that

[00:20:36] moving him to center is the answer like you're playing one of the toughest games in the world um I don't think you there's anywhere you can hide um yeah you know yes you'll put less load through him so from a hamstring perspective putting putting him to center probably works um if they don't get Jamal Fogarty you know they probably will move well they will move and they can't get anyone else and they will put him to six and Brooksy to seven don't even start me on that

[00:21:01] but look I think with Tom if you if you to ask is he overpaid for the amount of games he plays 100 100 you just can't pay somebody that much money and have them missing so frequently um it's unfortunate it's unlucky so when his new deal comes up I think he and he did go to the club last year and say I'll take less money I mean that's the kind of you know that's your boy which family is

[00:21:28] pretty unique in that regard they're such good people but I think they need he will take less on sure um you have to be very respectful around how you do that if you're manly uh because you can't like it's unpalatable I think even you know fans of other clubs you don't ever want to see a triple avich playing in anything but Maroon and Wyatt I think it's they're just those they're manly through and through so the club can't botch the way they botched it with daily they've got to make sure that

[00:21:57] they're there and also with Jake who's getting towards the end of his career and on like 1.1 this year yeah because thanks Hasler um they've got to have really gentle conversations and and mass massage that in a way that makes everybody feel good and wanted and keep them at the club but yeah I mean look can Tommy stay at fullback forever with these injuries if they're more hamstring injuries you probably do have to look at moving him to the centers but you also can't have someone playing

[00:22:22] the centers on one point whatever he is you can't pay that much at the center so it does throw the salary cup out of whack um but he's the best he's one of the best fullbacks in the game if not the best fullback in the game when he's fit so it's a it's a it's a really tough one and let's get to dce that was uh a lot of craziness still kind of is did you see this coming as a guy in the business did you know it was coming no way and I interviewed daily at the start of the year

[00:22:51] and I asked him on camera I said could you ever you know I was joking and I said oh you know you're off contract 30 36 when he in a re-signed sort of thing and I and then I went on to ask could you see so playing against Manly and he said you know ever the politician he sort of said oh look you never say never and I thought that was him you know I did it shocked me I just didn't realize how layered what he actually was saying was and how much meaning was actually behind that because obviously

[00:23:16] when I asked him that question he had made up his mind um so he knew that he wouldn't that he if he plays on it and I think he is playing on yeah um I think his talk about he might retire is ridiculous I don't think he's got any intention of retiring whatsoever I think he's going to the roosters um yeah uh but it's such a it's such a tough one like Manly shouldn't have let it get to that point um the truth and I've spoken to both parties the truth is probably somewhere in the middle um

[00:23:43] as it often is but yeah uh daily did ask for release in 2023 they said no right he then came to see and um this is when this weird thing happened where daily basically said listen my understanding is from speaking to people at the club who know um there was basically they had said we want to keep

[00:24:05] daily they were looking at one year for about 750 and um the managed daily's management came back and they said well we think he's more he's worth about 1.1 to 1.2 and the club just said well we can't pay in that because we've got a salary cap to manage and he's at the back end of his career and there's all these other guys but we need to upgrade and keep the club if you think that you can get 1.1 go and get the offer and come back to us so that was where it was that was where it became

[00:24:36] daily's narrative was well the club said oh we're not going to make an offer until there's another one from another club um badly handled on both parts because I think yes they might be worth 1.1 but I tell you what speaking to all the old boys of that club there is a feeling that um the great clubs that win premierships together when you've been the highest paid player for as long as daily has and daily's given us great service he has but wouldn't you

[00:25:02] think at a certain point you want to you're in a chance to win a premiership he hasn't won one since his first year in 2011 that you'd maybe think now's my time to take less give the other guy feed and keep the band together yeah um that probably should happen but manly also should never have left him in a position where he felt not loved or um disrespected that he could go and talk to other clubs that should have been handled better yeah from his point of view it is a bit offensive like

[00:25:31] go out and see what you can get then come back to us it's like what that's not how you treat a legend i like your point about taking less though i mean a lot of guys and doesn't doesn't mean they're right and he's wrong but a lot of guys i reckon would take less they would definitely especially if it meant winning a premiership i mean just the prestige you would have to be a one club player your whole i've been like obviously the titans backflip daily was like he was hated

[00:25:58] even in queensland they hated him um he's basically marked never to play origin again so he was not a loved person and that was all forgiven and like if you you finish a one club player you take less you keep the young guys together maybe you win a premiership in your last year or two just imagine the standing that you have for life in that club i know it feels a bit raw now and time heals everything and you know maybe in 10 years time he'll come back to be welcome back in the club and and we won't care

[00:26:27] i mean has the got welcomed back after what he did but um it's a tough one to get your head around i think i think it's a really tough one to get ahead and i was uh so shocked and um so disappointed it was one of the like i mean obviously like my job is to is to be journal and um you know my job isn't to protect the club um yeah when the boot needs to put in you have to do it but that was a really tough week that was a really tough week because i know daily personally and um i've got really good relations with

[00:26:58] high-ranking people at that club and it was very very difficult to navigate was it weird for you watching it go down on both the networks and that was for me as a as a as a fox loyal loyalist it was kind of fun and then the other mob got their their thing happening i was like whoa this is like total popcorn heaven right here but i'm not i'm not invested you're invested it was crazy i just i just couldn't believe it was i could not believe it was happening

[00:27:25] i just couldn't i just it was like i and i still don't understand why it happened in that way it just yeah i don't know in the fullness of time if daily will maybe think should i've done that um yeah i also know there's a coolness and an aloofness to daily where he's a he's been a great captain a hell of a player hell of a player but he's not he's a bit aloof and and we've seen with

[00:27:51] daily that he he can wear that criticism and the whatever if he thinks what he's doing is right for him and his family and i don't begrudge anyone for putting their family first um ever but no no and it is a business um but when there's also like a rugby league you know that you'd like to sometimes think that the love from the the love or the passion transcends that but yeah it's definitely a tough one i was i've got to be up at 20 past three every morning to go to work and i was

[00:28:20] literally doing my teeth to go to bed and i checked my email and um i saw that there was a bombshell coming and i just couldn't believe it i remember sitting there i was so tired watching it just i just couldn't get my head around it it was yeah it was shocking sad too really how do you think it's going to affect the team this year do you think it'll affect them long term or not

[00:28:46] did you as in throughout the season yeah um i will i i was very bullish about our chances of winning a premiership in the next two years and before that happened i'm certainly not now i think it definitely has the i think that like in a squad of 30 you know you never everyone's human they all going to react and respond to things differently some players will have the shits about what he's done and you don't win a premiership without all being on the same page and pulling together you just don't

[00:29:12] so the little cracks start to appear maybe it's to me it's anthony seabolt's greatest test as a coach aside from the horror years at brisbane to see whether or not he can galvanize them and um did you see jake javoyevich's press conference like the next couple of days after jake i thought that was really telling jake has always referred to him as chez and um he referred to him as cherry evans um he said i don't really care what he does i care about manly i wouldn't do it um i think i do think he was um

[00:29:42] shitty i do and uh and yeah so look it definitely it's like it definitely has the potential to derail them i don't think that um if you know your captain doesn't want to be there yeah um of course it's going to have a destabilizing effect um yeah i do i look how much it impacts them i don't know and i i guess like someone made this comment earlier with every loss now we'll start to question

[00:30:12] it and then with every win wins paper over everything right but um yeah yeah yeah i definitely think it's a tough one it is the the weird thing for me was on i think it was on 100 footy when they said have you told everyone he said oh and i'm paraphrasing he said i've told the close people the people i'm close to but certainly not everyone that's like yeah yeah

[00:30:38] just got your national tv and uh yeah anyway there's other guys well why didn't why didn't he tell me i thought we were tight yeah yeah that that's because your point about sticking together and being on the same path the premiership is so true and people like you and i and others around but you and i in this conversation are blessed to be in and around the team sometimes and and

[00:31:04] if they're not on the same track then that can be telling at times particularly in games as cliche as that is but let's move forward three o'clock eastern sydney eastern standard time three o'clock over this way on saturday our teams are clashing now you got hopawati at fullback he's been going pretty good

[00:31:29] cody yeah yeah i think um he look he's going to be a superstar like you we could see that straight away like his his hand it's really silky touches he's not a big guy he plays above his weight um he's going to be a superstar i think with just about every fullback that comes through tom was the same i'm talking about manly fullbacks in particular here like the great ones that we've had so blessed to have brett stewart tom travojevic lehigh maybe none of those guys when they came through had the real

[00:31:58] ball playing skill um he that's one thing you'll have to really work on if he's going to be he's going to be the long-term fullback that's probably one thing that we need to see him get more involved in um but he's going to be a superstar and i think that we don't i heard somebody say we don't i think said oh we don't lose too much with lehigh there um tom it's it's i think the thing that people don't

[00:32:21] see the influence that a fullback has defensively like the great fullbacks you know like tom never shuts up at the back he totally organizes the defensive line he's got such a great rugby league iq he's directing a lot of things out in the park lehigh's not doing that um so they do lose something for sure he'll it just takes a long time to learn your trade but he's certainly an exciting player and um if i'm a like i don't know how you feel but would you like i'm sure you're sitting there

[00:32:51] pretty happy that tom travojevic isn't part of this manly team this weekend oh i am just not only because of what the stats tell us but just yeah as someone who has watched his whole career he's amazing when he's when he's fit even when he's half fit he's amazing and i don't know there's just something about him right just something electrifying about him but having watched uh hoppawati real close especially

[00:33:16] last week like he's got he's got most of the goods there as you said so uh it's not like you're bringing in i think someone substandard or anything like he's he's really good the other fellow i'm losing yeah the other fellow i'm losing sleep over is olokoatu yeah isn't that one of the i mean it's his hundredth game too um as you would well know um

[00:33:41] yeah i think this is his best i've never seen him be more destructive than what he is now which is saying something i think he's the most destructive edge back edge forward in the competition um um and he did i i know this from speaking to other clubs they hate coming up against homole olokoatu yeah they hate it is he just like when he when he targets a half that half is going to have a

[00:34:08] horrible horrible night um we've seen this year he's made some massive fast too like he made a break against was it might have been melbourne and he ran about 70 meters before they pulled him down um he's fast he's strong he's become a great leader at that club for a guy that once hated doing media interviews was so was quiet as a mouse had attitude issues early on which is why they didn't play him originally um

[00:34:32] and has grown just into a really good man and um family man and he's just a hell of a player so that that gives that gives me hope with with him out there and um that that combination between he and daily is pretty lethal i would definitely if i'm craig fitzgibbon i'm pretty worried about that the other fellow i really like i've liked him his whole career um he's very i think he's kind of

[00:34:55] misunderstood is nathan brown off the bench yeah it's crazy isn't it like brownie's got he i saw a photo of him the other day and obviously like anyone that's been to a manly game will know this but he was waiting for a kickoff and his foot was actually on the back fence he is back then brownie like you know the crazy thing is he's not a big guy and how often do you see brownie bend the a-line he doesn't really but he gets a fast play the ball he gets a very fast play the ball um he's got great

[00:35:25] second phase play out the back he's a really good ball player and a smart front row so um i for us he's been he's been such a great pickup like he and it's been an astute bye-bye man because they obviously got him on a train and trial he's not paid that well um but he's very experienced and um like talk about um impact players and manly got a few in ethan bullymore's the other one um you want your

[00:35:50] bench to i've always said with your bench you want to notice when they're on yeah um and you notice when brownie comes on you notice when ethan bullymore comes on um it's a very well-rounded side i'm the guy i'm worried about for you guys is see for talakai coming back yeah let's let's talk a bit of black white and blue uh what do you like about talakai he's just so destructive isn't he um he's a little

[00:36:14] bit like a molly in some ways um like i i still remember that if you remember do you remember that game when when he just crucified morgan harper's career he basically single-handedly ended morgan harper's career in the nrl and he scored three or four tries um yeah he's mobile he's fast uh he hits like an absolute truck um he's one of those guys that i love seeing when he's out i wish we'd got

[00:36:42] you guys last week have you uh have you ever interviewed him i have yeah i have um yeah you know he's a yeah he's i i love talking to him because yeah once you said you need a few minutes with him and once you crack him you know you've got to turn your microphone up pretty loud but he just got a lot to say about the game and he's sort of very slow and deliberate about it but i i love talking to sith of talakai and yeah he's he's been great for us he came to us on a train and trial like

[00:37:10] it's similar story you know i know it wasn't a great outing but he played origin like he's yeah yeah uh he and royce hunt came at the same time the same kind of summer and fought their way in onto the onto the bench so um let's get to one of the great manly players of the past nico hines uh he's often talked about not good enough for trent barrett but good enough for everyone else

[00:37:36] under 20s there yeah absolutely killed it then he might have been in that premiership side uh i can't remember he was definitely in the grand final he may have been uh i know that i know that his story is that he was set to play for you guys and then uh trent barrett went nah i don't think so yeah um what do you where do you stand on nico because people stand in all sorts of places with

[00:37:59] nico tell us about your thoughts on nico um i think yeah it's tough isn't it because like that season nico had was incredible the daily mc was just incredible and i think he definitely has uh copped a lot of criticism most of it unfairly like the way he was used in origin was ridiculous to put him out of the enter was ridiculous um and i think that really scarred him a

[00:38:28] lot um i think nico's got a tough past and i i don't know about you you're around the club way more than i am but when nico first came to the club you know he's very open about he was using a um uh mental skills coach and they worked a lot on because there was so much about like you know you've never really played in the halves you come from melbourne like how there's so much pressure on

[00:38:53] you and he was like no embrace it you know and he was so open and light he was light yeah and he accepted responsibility goes and has that amazing season there's a weight to nico this year in particular that i think we've many of us will have noticed he's not to us anyway i don't know i'm sure it's a different thing around his teammates but to us to the casual observer i think nico's

[00:39:16] playing pissed off um i think he's got yeah i think he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder at the moment i can understand why um but i worry that that's not a going to be a good outcome for you guys i think that yeah like i saw him score the other day i don't know it was a couple couple weeks

[00:39:36] ago he scored a try and um he just looked angry um do you know yeah yeah yeah i i worry for nico if he's in that kind of headspace how sustainable is it how much does it take out of you to be pissed off um and where does it end up where does that end up um it could it could be a

[00:40:01] i'm speculating obviously but it could be a game time thing only because at training and that kind of thing he's fine um out and about in the area he's totally fine like just the light probably a media thing to be honest it's probably like i get a different version of it he's probably he's had enough advice i can understand yeah i'll never ever forget the cowboys um week to the cap the build up the cowboys game last year when the sharks couldn't win finals games nico was this

[00:40:30] that and the other and there was a media scrum around him i don't know if you were there or not i can't remember but they were essentially just saying to him to his face you know how are you going to get out of this can you get out of this and he sort of had to defend his livelihood and and his skills yeah i was there for that i do remember this and i was sort of standing just close enough to hear it i didn't want to be a part of it but i could hear it and i was talking to fitzy

[00:40:59] about it this year on record on in an interview and i said i've i'd never been around so much doom and gloom in my life and it wasn't so much the journos were out to get him they were just saying what they thought they were going on last week against melbourne whatever i get all that but there was no chance from their storyline that they were going to win the game that he was going to have a good game and i was just standing there going this guy was your best player like a year and a

[00:41:27] half ago um and i think that that's where the the the wall comes up with the media at times like that i think he just kind of goes you know what this is ridiculous i i know what yeah if i was him i i think i'd be the exact same i think i'd be exactly i think i'd i think i'd be like you know what stuff you guys yeah um i've tried being nice with you and um i don't but like yeah i my my thing i just

[00:41:54] don't know how will it maybe maybe it will serve him really well i don't know um because he's playing well like he's you know he's playing he's playing well um yeah he's always going to be measured by that 20 21 same as time not 21 22 23 it'll be like tom 21 um you're always judged by that um and anything less than that and like i am a defender of any athlete or anyone in general who is sort of like

[00:42:21] dragged from pillar to post so much but i'm also not going to sit here and go well they can't ask him questions or they can't ask what's going on and yeah when you got seven on your back and you paid a million dollars it's gonna happen absolutely absolutely so as you said though like he's been it's been a bit heavy so whether he carries that every week for the rest of the year i'm not sure

[00:42:45] i i do see the attitude you're talking about though um and his game can improve but i think it's nowhere near as indifferent as to what some other you know journos or fans would think even fans of the club so yeah interesting get your take on that what do you recommend is that hey go ahead i think the best thing to nico is having braden trindle there i was gonna say what do you reckon about his little mate yeah oh i wish manly had signed him yeah um he's a great player man he he is a very special

[00:43:15] player like the finals last year he stood up um i think that he takes so much pressure off nico um and it's funny because they like you would think that the way they play nico would be a game manager and tricky can sort of be the x factor out the back but they both kind of play they both cut they both play a lot of eyes up footy um you can't a lot of the things braden um tricky does you can't you

[00:43:41] can't coach it um i made he's he he scares me he's such he's got such a good short kicking game as well um yeah he would take a lot of pressure off nico and that combination is only going to get better that could be one of the best house combinations in in the nrl it already is but for a very long period of time that's good to hear that cody i think a lot of our listeners would be happy to hear that i can't rub your mind off now where do you see manly going this year i know it's hard with

[00:44:09] the dce stuff uh do you think their finals bound can they do some damage what are you what are you thinking right now going into round six if you're well yeah when you've come off thank god they didn't can see the um the uh the infamous 50 mark um but yeah i i really i thought they'd really bridge that gap between their best and their worst but they just couldn't they look like they look like boys against melbourne when melbourne scored some of those tries jake looked really slow and ponderous um

[00:44:39] defensively which i've never seen jake like that um he's one of the best defenders i've ever seen in a roster that roster look at hurts losing peseca that's huge um it really hurts when he loses best middle but that roster should be playing finals 100 um if if they're not in the finals it's a fail i know internally they have expect they have top four expectations um the great question is how do you

[00:45:06] how do you recover from daily like they all need to get in whether they've done it or not i actually don't know but they need to get in the room together and work that shit out and maybe going away to perth is a really good chance to do that because they got over there pretty early um they've had a lot of time together as a group uh if like i was thinking this as well like if you were a jamal fogarty right who they are going after there's an offer there for him now for two years if you're a half you'd look around that team and go yeah yeah i can i can work with that team that's a good team they've got good

[00:45:35] edges not sure if ben jovojevic is you know what his ceiling is they probably need some improvement out of him but it's a really good roster um they definitely hurt without per second there but i think they should definitely be playing top four um or sorry final 100 but i i do think they're a top four side um but they're gonna have to prove it against like they had like what i think five of their first seven

[00:46:01] games are at home yeah um and you know to lose to melbourne the way they did at home we and we have you know like we've had some good results against melbourne and penrith over the last couple of years but they've got a like i think you you wrote that start um away from home i don't know what it is but it's a terrible record away from home over the last two seasons yeah they need to prove they can go and beat tough sides away and i think this test against you guys is a really really big game for manly and we'll

[00:46:27] sort of see you you love to see how a side responds after conceding 48 points because prior to that they just they haven't really leaked too many and they looked very very they hadn't conceded a point the first half um so this is a big test to me how do you respond from that is the playing group you know either their cracks um daily needs a big game yeah they uh you know it it's funny because you know you string a

[00:46:54] few together and life's great you lose a couple on the trot especially after 48 point loss and it things get can get away from you pretty quickly so and for you guys as well to two straight losses there's a lot to play for for both these sides i mean you guys are outside the eight you just can't afford to be chasing your tail at the back end of the season you need to be banking points now and obviously you know the old saying you can't you don't win the comp in march table but you sure as hell

[00:47:19] can lose it so yeah for sure they both both granola and manly there's so much to play for in this game like it'd be fascinating to see which stop which side turns up in perth who handles the travel better um yeah i'm gonna i'm very i'm intrigued yeah one o'clock uh one o'clock perth time kickoff too could could be a factor absolutely it could be yeah yeah i mean they i think that's that's got to be why they've been over there for i'm sure they've adjusted their training schedules and

[00:47:50] and all that stuff but yeah can our game is always scary despite the force certainly over the last few years they have now we usually ask our guests about rock and roll but we're gonna alternate that a little bit to a different uh form of entertainment one of my favorite artists uh thank you one you've already harked upon the industry of

[00:48:11] acting and it is not common knowledge to anyone but you and i that in recent times you have discovered the tv show friday night lights oh yes so we can talk a little bit about that before we let you go um i was badgering you for 17 years to watch it and you finally got around it which you which you admitted to which is awesome

[00:48:33] um i'm so stoked that you're watching it i i recently i go through this weird thing where occasionally i'll just pick out an episode of a show that i'm that i watched you know 15 years ago i'll just go oh i remember that remember mud bowl i'm going to put on that episode i've just been in a weird mood of that and so i've done that a bit with friday night lights lately and also because you reminded me of it you know but tell us about about what's going on where are you up to what are you loving

[00:49:00] i've just started season three you know there's like 22 episodes in season one like it's yeah you've really got to come in i didn't want to like it um to be honest lou we were watching something and lou fell asleep on the couch and i and i for some reason it just popped into my head she knows he was always at me to watch this i'm going to give it a go and i didn't want to like it and i got halfway through the episode and i went god damn it you didn't want to because of the commitment or the commitment because of the commitment yeah yeah and um i got a hard man cut crush on taylor

[00:49:30] kitch yeah um i gotta yeah i'm going hard i'm all in on taylor um i just love it it's fun like it's a bit kitschy and you know sometimes it does feel a bit a bit outdated but i it's so well cast and it's so um yeah it's it's i mean look at like jesse clemens taylor kitch um there's so many that came through that um that's there's more there's more coming that you may not be aware of as well i will

[00:49:58] point out i won't say who yeah yeah i one thing i i mean because obviously like once they graduate i mean i'm assuming every every season is a year at that school was that right kind of yeah yeah yeah so i wonder like they must have to replace some of those leads with well i'm not gonna tell you things i'll say this a lot of your favorites are not going anywhere but um there is there is there are

[00:50:24] some new guys that come along and it doesn't ruin anything it gets better and i don't know about get better but doesn't you don't lose anything and some of them are genuine stars that you will know particularly at this point in your life um did you know football what's that there's probably not enough football i think that's the charm though right they don't want it to be about football it's about a town you know yeah yeah true true um did you notice the first couple episodes the direction of

[00:50:53] the show in what way well just the sort of handheld cameras and that kind of thing yeah yeah yeah i live actually what's it peter berg isn't it yeah peter berg so i listened to he was actually on uh smart list the podcast with like jason bankman and will i and um sean hayes and um he was talking

[00:51:17] about the way he films and he shoots so fast um and he has all of his actors really dialed in they know what their roles are but i remember that he was talking about a scene they did it was like one of the one of the football games and they basically had the school or they had the ground hide out with all the actors for three nights they were supposed to get like a game in and all the rest of it they shot it in like three hours he basically just leaves the camera rolling um and so he works in

[00:51:45] really unique way it's fast paced it's like that's kind of where you get that it's so natural like it's so for the actors i think it must feel really natural to be yeah not having to stop and reset and do all that stuff he really backs them to give them but it's also so well cast you can only do that with a good cast and um yeah my like my guilty pleasure it lou works from home a lot and um like especially if we're going like i'm going out to dinner tonight at six and i know that i've got

[00:52:12] this kind of window from about 4 30 to 5 45 tonight where i can just sit there quietly i can get through about an episode and a half i'll turn my phone on being up and yeah i just i love it i love it yeah it's it's it's one of my favorite shows of all time and and i i often say to people to this day oh have you seen this just because of an interest they might have or they might say something

[00:52:35] i actually i when i interviewed fits uh in pre-season and so i've interviewed him sort of once a year i think this might be the second or third year and we do a long-range interview which is awesome and you know you want to mix it up a little bit and so we asked him about music we asked him about podcasts and so this year i just went oh well i'll ask him about i went i'm gonna ask him about ted lasso and so to my surprise he watched he watched ted lasso like people made him watch it

[00:53:03] and then i went oh i said have you watched front of that lights and he goes i've never heard of it and i went okay well this is what it is this is what it's about and you got to watch it and at some point i'm gonna try and get him to watch it but um just the the pure i love the pure art about it like you say it should be more football sure i love football i can never have enough of that but just the the dialogue the way they they acted out is it's not unique but it's just

[00:53:32] so well done and especially that time which was probably what 2005 or something 11 maybe earlier i'm not maybe i'm right maybe you're right i don't inform the people this is probably not great broadcasting for me to be looking this up while we're talking that's fine no we do that all the time uh the first the first oh 2000 you were right 2006 it started okay okay yeah yeah so it felt fresh then

[00:54:02] uh have you seen the movie which is you know i watched the movie just before i watched the series because i love billy bob that's interesting okay it's funny you know um like i played under coaches that yell at you and all the rest of it and in the world that we're in now it doesn't like eric taylor is obviously you know the coach in the show um i don't think you could yell at your players that that way anymore i think in this day and age you might lose them but back

[00:54:32] then most certainly that was what you sort of did to get a response out of them but it's i just yeah he's obviously like the father figure to a lot of these guys and it's tough love and it's um one of the things i'll say a lot about it it's a real look into what's you know the impact of football can have in a small texas town um like it's crazy and it's and it's kind of you know like some of the shots when they're driving around it's bleak and it's kind of like a little bit depressing

[00:54:58] and the thing that they have is football that is that thing that they have it's that's i've always said that too about um about sport um that you know especially in poorer areas and and this is any sport anywhere in the world um you might be doing it tough or whatever but the 80 minutes or the whatever is the two hours that you get to watch your team play that's all that matters and and all the other problems that don't matter and sport is the great equalizer in life doesn't

[00:55:24] matter where you come from what your heritage how much money's in the family or not that's the great equalizer and i think that that show really taps into that um and so for guys like you and i obviously it completely resonates in in that regard and and yeah and the ability to transcend and become bigger than yourself because that you're part of something bigger yeah and and we have a lot of listeners who write into me especially and they they'll say like the last two weeks it's disaster

[00:55:53] town man like it's yeah the world's falling apart and i'm not i'm not saying that lightly like that people just cannot deal with it and i think a lot of it is because of circumstance it's not because the shark's lost it's because they're going through stuff and that's their that's their thing that they're hanging on to and they let them down in the 79th minute in canberra like i get it completely get it yeah yeah so sometimes i want to like sometimes i do have to say to them it's just a game but the only when i do say that i have to like you know preface with everything like all these asterisks

[00:56:23] is going i'm gonna say this right now i'm saying it just for this moment in this instance it's just the game i have to be very careful when i say those words um but no i love like i'm not going to suggest you that the southland shire is a small town but i love the fact that i can relate i relate it to being like in a one team town you know i'm in the shire you know and that's my like texas or whatever absolutely like i bet it's and i've been to you know i've been to games down at shark park

[00:56:52] i've got friends that live down in crinola and it's very similar to to the northern beaches in that regard that like when it's game day you can't walk down without seeing just a sea of blue jerseys you can't walk you can't if i'm driving say to or from home like where the bus is run on a day manly's playing at brookvale the like at where you even get on the bus everyone is in maroon and white

[00:57:16] and it's the same thing in that and the impact that it has on a community yeah is the most it's so and you do you feel like you are a part of something yeah um and you know it's like i've yeah those suburban grounds like crinola might be dilapid that ground might be dilapidated and gee it needs some money spent on special place to go and watch footy yeah and even just the things like if you've seen the show when you know they're driving around listening to the local radio and it's all about yeah game day and

[00:57:43] that kind of stuff i've tried to sort of make our podcast similar where it's like i know for a fact people do listen to it on the way to the ground etc they save it but we're getting so much content out these days i'm trying to do stuff this is we're doing this the day before the game yeah like i i want that vibe for crinola i want you know just everything to be about the big game and about that in a minute so uh if you haven't seen front of lights people please check it out

[00:58:09] i will say this cody there's a book which is where it all started from yeah i can't remember the author's name but the book is awesome like you gotta do that at the end i think because if you've done the movie you've done the tv show the book is really well written and it just it all started with one i i don't know if he was a journo or if he was i don't know what he was some guy went to either dylan or a place like dylan and he wrote a book about it and it became this thing and everyone

[00:58:36] was like wow okay front of lights and and that's where the film came from from the book peter burke went and lived in a with a family in a football town for six months before he shot the film to get it to really that's why it feels so authentic all the storylines and yeah all that sort of stuff um just quickly as well i just started watching last night on paramount mob land oh yeah have you heard of

[00:59:00] it i've heard of it haven't seen it it's a it's an english gangster film um uh pierce brosney who i'm not normally a big fan of is brilliant he sort of is the head of a crime family and tom hardy is basically his get shit done guy and there's two episodes out and i watched them both last night it's pretty it's dark it's violent it's clever okay it's gonna be a really really good one

[00:59:24] mob land all right we'll check that out yeah yeah did you watch uh yeah i'm not up to date i mean i know there's stuff going on and i've heard stuff at work but i i yeah i've watched been watching it uh i'm not i don't love it i think i'm just watching it to sort of keep up with people and you know yeah they're there i mean you know tammy taylor was in the first season right yeah yeah yeah yeah wow i totally forgot that she was too yeah yeah um there's a lot of good tv around at the moment

[00:59:52] man it's it's it's a good time to be a tv fan you know it's sometimes you sort of think oh you may not think it but you you know something pops up on whatever network you're watching it's like another show and then you watch it and it's like oh it's okay and it's like are they making too much tv but the answer is no they're never they can never make enough tv like the bar's so high these days like i'll just have if i'm not really if i'm not fully engaged in something i'll tap out of it now because i'm like you know what there's so many other good things yes so i've done that quite

[01:00:20] a few times i'll get a few episodes in i mean yellowstone i got to the third season of yellowstone and i looked to lou my partner and i was like i think i'm done like i don't think there's been any progression from people hate me for saying this but from season one with season three i was like you could just transplant season three back in season one kind of i didn't i'm only laughing because you got to season three and you said it like i like it and i'm i'm still i'm i'm gonna keep watching it but

[01:00:46] i like that you hung on till season three that's something i would do too i'd be like just give it one more you know like yeah yeah yeah um thanks for your time katie k what a joy to have you on the show first time ever apologies it's taken so long to get you on here only 11 years yeah i know i want to i want to wish you all the best uh for saturday hopefully it's a great game no injuries and it's a

[01:01:11] it's a well contested fair battle i see i hope no injuries but i would definitely take 40 nil i would take us winning 40 nil i would i would take 50 nil why are you so obsessed with those numbers man 40 nil i just feel good when you say 40 nil you know it's transcended to other it's transcended to other clubs like i think i think yeah we had a 40 nil recently and we were like let's get the

[01:01:37] license plates made up and let's um yeah no man i um yeah i because because my love for you is bigger than the game i if if if crinola win tomorrow i'll be happy for you okay this is where i'm supposed to say well if manly win i left the door open so the door's ajar for a manly win we'll see what happens

[01:02:06] thanks for your time everyone can watch cody on fox sports on the ko however you get your your uh the zone in the zone people you want to dig deep you're on home and away what was the commercial you're on at the time as well chips or something i mean the bad one yeah it was that horrible bird's eye monster chips uh it was horrible the chips yeah yeah it was a dog that was exciting because because you

[01:02:31] because we were we were friends by that point but i don't think i don't think i knew that you're an actor for whatever reason and then someone saw an ad and when cody was on an ad i was like what and then i think the thing wasn't far away either and no that would have been around oh seven and eight yeah yeah there were quite a few bourbon and mcdonald's ads and and ads that were on when the footy was on and that was when i started yeah yeah that's right this because i was trying to

[01:03:01] be a serious journal i remember the dog food item in particular was so bad and it was on was on during games and i remember going out to do a bulldogs thing and they were all giving it to me the players were and i was like okay i think i've just found where i draw the line that's so good i think it was the maccas one during yeah it was the maccas one that was hammered yeah there's a yeah yeah there's a few maccas ones that's great though dude we're laughing because because we're having fun but like

[01:03:30] i was so proud of you man like it's it's awesome it feels like it feels like another life now it kind of was and you got a new you got a new life starting in the next month or two so congratulations on that that's going to be your best life you're gonna have a lot of fun you're not going to sleep march or anything but you'll have a lot of fun so i can't wait to meet uh cody cody jr me too we don't know what it is we've got no idea it's a lucky dude well cody works either way you'd be

[01:03:56] right that might be hard to get that across the line if it's a girl you have to get across the line if it's a boy all right uh shark cast signing off thanks to everyone for tuning in thanks for watching we'll be speaking to you all being well post game and enjoy the game wherever it is you watch spread the word with shark cast bob we appreciate you appreciate cody k hanging out with us for an hour

[01:04:21] and go manly go sharks go team your wife and until then we will say up up granola shark cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the sutherland shire jason hawes from crips and crips real estate he's an expert in the carring bar region and has his eye all across the shire lifelong sharks fan and supporter of this podcast if you're looking to

[01:04:46] buy or sell in the region the person you need to be talking to is jason hawes from crips and crips real estate call him on 0410 417 450 that's 0410 417 450 jason hawes crips and crips real estate

[01:05:05] back in the shire tell your points lights off because we're coming over