NRLW Rd 3, 2026 Preview and Cassie Staples Interview

[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 RNYC Port Hacking, proud sponsors of this podcast and big supporters of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Check out their website rmycph.com.au

[00:00:26] They've got a Facebook page or you could go old school and call them on 0295239300 Hey there, welcome to SharkCast Podcast, dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. My name is Sam Shinazzi, I am an OG from 2015 NRL dub this week.

[00:00:52] We have Sharks in ninth place at Bulldogs in 11th place at Accor Stadium. It's part of a double header of the NRL game there that night. But Sharks at Bulldogs 5, 15pm kickoff if you're keen to go out there. It's going to be on associated Fox Sports channels and KO as well as Channel 9, I would imagine, affiliated channels. So you can watch it, you can head out there if you've got the time and the means.

[00:01:21] And I do expect the Sharks to turn around and win their first game of the year. They lost to Newcastle in a pretty disappointing game. Round one and round two, a very good showing against the Brisbane Broncos, but not enough to get the win, unfortunately. But still a lot of improvements shown in that game. On this episode, you're going to hear from winger Cassie Staples. Had a really good chat with her.

[00:01:46] It's our second interview with her over the years and she was great with her time and gracious with her answers. And I think you're going to really enjoy hearing the perspective of an NRL W player. Without spoiling too much, we talk a lot about the off-season and what that entails given the length of it. And a lot of subjects covered in our time with Cassie. So appreciate her and hopefully you get a lot out of the interview as well. As far as the NRL W team named, we have Jada Taylor at fullback.

[00:02:14] Cassie Staples, as mentioned, and Georgia Ravix are on the wings. Captain Tiana Penatani-Gray plays the second game of the year with Anessa Biddle. Halves are Georgia Hannaway and Shante Kiriratu. Ellie Johnston, Quincy Dodd, Kaitlyn Johnston Green, the big forward pack. Front row, back row is Manalita Takapatolo. Chyna Palata returns and Tegan Dimmick locks the scrum. And Tegan's looking really good this year. Playing really well in her comeback year at the Sharks.

[00:02:44] Excitement machine on the bench, Madison Higgins-Ashby. Anne-Marie Kiriratu, Neshwada George, and Jada Ketafua is your... Immediate interchange bench. And until we find out the cutoff of reserves, you have Jacinta Carter, Lelana Assam, Kofi Brookfield, and Courtney Tyrell playing the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs didn't have a great year last year and this year so far.

[00:03:14] Haven't lived up to too many expectations, unfortunately. But they've got a lot of talent out there. Andy Robinson at the back is a really great fullback. We know what Taylor Preston can do in the halves, given her time at the Sharks. And it's a younger but decent squad they've named. So we'll see who runs out for the Bulldogs. But they'll be desperate to win. And we know what that's like in any sport. If a team is desperate to win, then you never know what you're going to get.

[00:03:41] So at the moment we are heavy favorites to win the game. And that's how I would expect things to proceed. But you've got to get the job done on the field. Do all the boring and dirty work to get the good exciting tries. And get the two points most importantly. If you haven't checked out the NRLW website for Cronulla specifically, please go check it out. It's a campaign called This Is How We Play.

[00:04:09] And they're really trying to do their best to promote the women's game. And the stories behind the players, which obviously at Shark House we are very keen to pursue as well. So you'll hear a bit from Cassie and I'm confident moving forward. You'll hear more from these great players that give up so much of their time and lives in a way, to be fair, that the NRL players don't have to experience. So we need to get that equality going.

[00:04:37] And we need to get everyone up to speed on how great this competition can be. Sharks are 0-2. But as I said before, the second game was a lot better than the first. And they are slow starters historically. So I still expect them to be in the finals. I still expect them to be competing with the Broncos and Roosters, who they did last week. They went neck and neck with the Broncos and just lost. I still expect them to be there.

[00:05:03] So I want to scrap that first game from memory against the Knights and move on. Sharks, Bulldogs, 8-course stadium at Homebush. 5.15pm. Up now is winger Cassie Staples. We have room to exploit for Taylor. And now Staples on the outside of Harts. What about the turn of speed? Oh, Cassie Staples tries in back-to-back games for Cronulla. Cassie, welcome back to NRL Dub Shark Cast.

[00:05:33] Let me ask, how are you going? How's the body? How's the mind? Yeah, good. I think fourth season, I think now. I'm feeling pretty good. Probably the most, I think, I wouldn't say comfortable. I'm never comfortable in my position. But I'm feeling, I guess, most at ease. Now I think I've got four years under my belt. So yeah, feeling quite good. Feeling confident. Great team. Great people. Yeah. It's a very happy family here. On your game, first two games, you've looked really comfortable out there. You're not the veteran stage.

[00:06:02] You're somewhere in between the ages. But you look super comfortable out there in your position. The carries are good. The catches are good. And that, I guess, goes with what you're saying about the confidence that you carry. Yeah, definitely. And certainly, I think that only really comes with time under your belt and time in the game. So, and I'm lucky and fortunate enough to be in the position where I've got a bit of time under my belt now in the game rugby league and obviously here at home at Cronulla Sharks. So, you know, preparation breeds confidence and that can only really come over time.

[00:06:31] So yeah, just grateful I've had the opportunity to do that and can sit here and just, you know, as I hopefully always enjoy your footy, but be really confident and comfortable where you are in your career. Yeah. I've gotten a lot of joy in the last two games, even though we've lost. I see us coming out of that. But you and your wing partner and to a lesser extent Jada, of course, at the back, just that stability in the back three. Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, I can shout out to Georgia and Jada, I think, and the rest of the back line.

[00:07:00] We've got Tiana and Nessa there, but a really consistent back line that we've had for a little while there. So we're lucky and fortunate enough to be in a position where we've maintained, you know, those important members of our team. And that gives us stability across the back line. And the ability to kind of understand our footy and know where we want to be and where each other are on the field at all times is really important. And again, only really comes with time. So yeah, props to those girls and obviously the connection we have. Yeah. Give us a bit of insight to Tony Herman. I love coming here and just chatting to him off the mic.

[00:07:29] He's a friendly guy, but just so knowledgeable as well and very personable. I've seen him also have to sort of have serious chats with the players. He doesn't get a lot of time with you players compared to say the NRL team, given the situation. But it's interesting to watch him just sort of like go from jovial to Cassie, let's go have a chat. And it's like, oh, that chat's going to be interesting. I'm just using your name as an example. Yeah. But tell us about Tony, because I find him a fascinating fellow. Yeah. Tony is an incredible person.

[00:07:58] I think he's obviously a really successful man away from footy. And then obviously he's extremely knowledgeable in the game and he's been around footy for a very long time. And he's come across, you know, both the women's part, women's pathways and the men's pathways in his career. And he's got a whole world of knowledge and experience to bring to the game. And I think he leads the team, you know, incredibly well. He really steers our ship and he's someone we can go to for, you know, advice off the field, on the field. But in terms of footy, he's, he's information, his knowledge is second to none.

[00:08:25] He, he knows his stuff backwards and our game plan doesn't, stays the same. Our game plans, you know, our cycle is exactly the same footy. It's just us getting better and better each year. And he, he really does lead that. He's in, he's honestly awesome to play underneath. And my games, I think, you know, due to him over the course of the four years, has really been able to go another level each year. And he's been able to teach me, you know, skills and parts of my game that constantly need to be improved. And that's not just me, it's the rest of the team. So Tony's, yeah, an incredible coach.

[00:08:53] And I'm really grateful to be coached by him. Give us a bit of insight into you in the off seasons. We know it's a short NRLW season. How do you stay fit? How do you stay motivated? Like, what's the plan? Do you have a couple of months where you just have cheat meals and that kind of thing? Or is it just all about NRLW year round? I don't know if that's a silly question or not, but... No, definitely not. It's a valid question. I mean, for me personally, and I think a lot of girls would agree with this, is that nine months is a long time to have off.

[00:09:21] And if you're really kind of letting go or slacking off there, there's not enough time to catch up to where you would pick off or where you would leave off by the time NRLW kicks around. So it's really important to keep your body and your mind in shape. And when I say I have an off season, yeah, I mean, I have a couple of weeks where I'm kind of like, I kind of do what type of training I'd like to do. I will take, you know, ease back on the training, not being as intense.

[00:09:44] But for me really, like my training really starts in December and I'm prepping my body and my mind, you know, a couple of months after we finished. It's just too long to have off and the risk of injury is obviously really high with that as well. So for me, I personally prepare to be as prepared as I can be. And that starts in December. And yeah, shout out to Luke from Peel Bread Fitness. We had access to his gym over the off season, a whole bunch of us girls did. And through Nolan, our head of high performance here.

[00:10:13] And, you know, we kind of got together pretty much almost every day for sessions. And I would say roughly from around December, January last year up until preseason kicked off. And we were lucky to have that opportunity. And it really accelerates the preparation for the preseason too. And give us some insight into you and studying the game. Like, do you watch every other NRLW game? Do you watch just your opponent? Like, how does that work for you week to week? Because obviously you're living a busy life anyway, but you also need to sort of, I guess, catch up on what's going on. Yeah, definitely.

[00:10:43] I think you're always keeping an eye on the game, what's happening around you. Not particularly leading up to the way when you play, more so after you play. Because, you know, it gets distracting if you're kind of covering all games. But the week leading into a game, the coverage obviously across the other team is pretty detailed. And that comes from obviously the coaches and the analysis team and giving us that insight and advice, you know, to be best prepared. And then the rest of the time, you know, after we play, you know, I'm always watching other footy. Whether it's the other girls playing or whether it's NRL in general.

[00:11:12] Because there's always something to learn and something to take away from all those games. And knowledge is power. What other sports do you like to watch? I know you've played a few in your lifetime. What do you like to watch when you're not watching rugby league? I like watching rugby sevens, rugby union. Every time the Olympics or, you know, winter Olympics comes around, I'm pretty much just a bit of a sport fanatic. I like any kind of sport really. But I love the swimming. I'm a bit of a fan of the swimmers. It's an impressive sport.

[00:11:38] But yeah, anything that kind of anyone's wearing an Australian flag or an Australian, you know, flag on their chest, I enjoy watching and enjoy supporting the game. Yeah. On to this season, before I let you go. Disappointing first game. The second game I thought was worlds apart. Almost got the championship team. Where do you think we still need to improve going into this dogs game? Yeah, look, we're really early on in the season. And I would say I definitely agree with you between worlds apart from our first game and our second game.

[00:12:07] Still a lot to improve in our game in general, staying in our cycle and maintaining the way we play for the full 70 minutes of the game. And that comes with experience and time in the game as well. So I'm really confident leading to the rest of the season that we can find that cycle and stay in a bit longer due to the performance we put on against the Broncos. And they're one of the best teams in the comp. And I know when we play our best footy, we can beat those teams. We can be the top of the table. So I'm confident that, you know, it's early on the season. Definitely not writing us off.

[00:12:36] I've got absolutely every belief and bit of praise for the girls that I can hope for. And I know we'll come through stronger for the rest of the season. So really excited. Yeah, I can't express to our listeners how tight a unit your team is. I was lucky enough to be at the launch at Somersault, blown away just by the crew. And you were all just so friendly, but you're also just tight in your own little world.

[00:12:59] And then, you know, up on stage and when you walked all up on stage, I was like, this is a big squad of people who could probably all play NRLW. It's not like maybe there's a couple of younger ones who might need some time. But there was like 25 women up there who could legitimately play. So the depth this year seems the strongest yet. Yeah, definitely. And that's a really good observation. I think, and Tony and the coaching staff lead this space really well is that they recruit good people and really great athletes.

[00:13:27] I think every position, you know, on the field that we've got is up for grabs. We've got people pushing in different positions and we've got pathways coming through and they get stronger and stronger every year. So there's genuine push in all our positions, but it keeps us on our toes, ones that do have positions. But the jersey is never anyone's like it's always up for grabs. And it really depends on how you train and how you perform. And that's really built from the ground up. And luckily enough, people like Tony and, you know, you've got Isaac and Daz who really lead those spaces and ensure that those pathways remain strong.

[00:13:56] And, you know, through the Harvey's pathways, just so those girls can step into our jerseys when it, you know, when, when the times are right or when development players come up and through the ranks as they usually do. But yeah, the shark system is incredibly strong. So I'm really confident, you know, this year and for the next decade of sharks footy, you're going to see good footy from us. On that note, thanks for your time and good luck on Saturday. Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:14:50] 417-450 Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate