PostGame Livestream: Rd 6, 2025 - Cronulla vs Manly

[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 029523 9300

[00:00:53] Hey there, welcome to SharkCastPod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world. We are live. We are live. We are live and the Sharks win. Sharks win the Steve Rogers Cup 24 points to 18.

[00:01:21] A very weird game, very strange game. What's going on? And boy, oh boy, they really do it the hard way sometimes the Sharkies, but very happy to get that win. Obviously, it relieves a lot of stress as far as the table goes and everything else, but just a hard fought win. And if someone in the comments is to make sure they can hear me. All right, everything's going good. I'd really appreciate that.

[00:01:49] But the Sharks win 24 points to 18 over in Perth. And it was a tough one. I thought that obviously there was some standout performances, which we'll get into. And that was probably, I would say, man of the match without doubt is Will Kennedy, which a lot of people will be happy to see. Thank you, Steve, for that. Appreciate that. Sharks win 24 points to 18.

[00:02:10] Now, there's a comment on the, probably the YouTube, the Facebook, and I've left a stream yard link. If you want to jump on, you can use your camera. You can not use your camera. It's up to you guys. If you want to jump on and have your say, I'd love to talk to you. No pressure. If you don't want to, you can leave a comment as Chris has done saying unconvincing, but we'll take it. Nonetheless, two points to the West against one of our bogey teams. Yes. Another Fitzgibbon win against Manly. So that is awesome to see. Thank you, Chris. Hope you're good.

[00:02:41] Now Darby's got something very topical. Tell me you don't agree. Kickstart my heart. It's the now theme song. It felt like that, man. Two Trindle intercepts. My heart was racing. And even at the end, you thought, oh, not again, not again, like last week, but they held tight. I thought they thoroughly deserved their win. I made that mistake of jumping online. I'll get some of the comments on some of the platforms and there was a lot of negativity. I mean, it was a tight first half. I get it. I'm here to talk about positive stuff, negative stuff, whatever you want.

[00:03:09] But I thought they deserved the win. Defense was pretty good. And I thought the attack in parts was really good. In parts, it was still a bit clunky. They look really, I hate to use the word, they look tired. And I'm glad they got that one. Come back home, freshen up for Newcastle next week. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the game today. Shucks win 24-18.

[00:03:33] I spoke about Will Kennedy. He was just absolutely fantastic. And I'm happy to talk about that as much as you want. And also, if you saw some negativity in his game, I'd love to hear about it. But Will Kennedy, close to a career-best game and coming off a couple of disappointing games as well. So I think he's done his LEM count no harm today. Shucks win 24-18 in Perth.

[00:03:59] This is from J-Rick. He says, Trindle was dirty himself. Yeah, look, Trindle had a good game. And I thought Nico had a good game too. The halves were a lot better. But you can't be throwing two intercept passes in the one game. That's all I'm suggesting. I'm sure he'll learn from it. I've got no stress about that. But I'm glad it didn't cost us the game, put it that way, because that would have been really disappointing for him and for the team. Trindle, his kicking game was sublime. And as I said, I thought both halves for most of the game did well.

[00:04:28] There was a time towards the end of the game I thought the halves really needed to step up here and go on with it. And I think to a degree they did. There's still a lot more improvement there to come. I know it wasn't a perfect game from the whole team, but very happy with that win. The first half was such a grind, as you would have seen, obviously. I mean, looking at some of the stats here, we had 78% possession, so less than them. We completed 32 of 41. 5-1 breaks to 3.

[00:04:54] We had 11 offloads to 3, so we kept their offloads, Olukoatu especially, to 3 offloads. That's awesome. His tackles were about the same 30 each, so a lot to like there, a lot to improve on. But again, we beat a pretty good team over across the other side of the country and very happy with that. All right, here's one from Nullaboy. He says, our starting props aren't offering anything. Fanua Blake finished with about 90 metres.

[00:05:22] He went off towards the end with tiredness, as Lara Pitt said, but it was obviously something to do with the groin or around that area. Pray to God he's okay for next week. Kifusi finished with about 50 metres. So Nullaboy, I mean, I thought we started the game well. Could they be doing better? Absolutely. Aren't offering anything. I'll say this. I'll say this, Nullaboy. The bench was really great. Toby, Sifa, Tall Tom. They were really great and they changed the game. So you might be onto something there, my friend.

[00:05:50] I hope it's not that way week in, week out. Darby talks about the ACCO experiment. And I think I'm with you. I think I'm with you. I think that another big body there would be more beneficial. Hope you're well, Darby. Haven't seen you for a while. Chris says, Sharks attack looks so much better when Trindle and Nico combine. Far better than when they're on the individual sides. Yeah. I mean, when they're both running side by side. Absolutely. It's a great point, Chris.

[00:06:20] This is interesting from Nathan. He says, great. We won. It feels like a loss. Let's not sugarcoat it. It was a terrible performance. It's, oh man, I didn't think it was a terrible performance at all. I thought there's a lot to work on. And, you know, at times there were some weird moments and not good moments, but I didn't think it was terrible. I, I thought they hung in there with Manly. Don't forget, they held them off their line in the first half for probably four or five repeat sets.

[00:06:47] Like tackles in the opposition 20 was crazy for a while against us. So there are some positives there. I respect your opinion, Nathan. I just disagree. I don't think, I don't think it was a terrible performance at all. I think it got too close at times and that's not good. And they need to learn from that. I hate to use that word. Learn. Don't freak out. Hey, I disagree, Nathan. I didn't think it was terrible. I didn't think it was terrible, but completely, completely appreciate your opinion and dropping a line.

[00:07:14] Danny Lee, not the footballer, but the listener says game. We need to win. Need to go the wire humidity does a bit for that game. Yeah. So 25 degrees over there, but the players and some of the people I spoke to at the game said it was a lot. It felt a lot warmer than that. So I think that might've played a part. Matt says good win. Besides heat zapping both teams, our team needs to do 1% and attention. Yeah.

[00:07:44] Shout out to Renee, Matt. I know she's a bit unwell. So give my love to Renee. Hope you're good. Sharks win 24, 18. Hey, Donnie Rogers is watching. Donnie Rogers must be proud, man. They did it for you, Donnie. Hello to everyone watching, including the legendary Barry Russell. We're going to talk to Barry in the coming month or so. Daniel says great defensive effort to try self intercepts makes it look more flattering for Manly. Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it. I agree with that. Jasper Ello says Nico was much better this week. I don't know where the intercepts came from.

[00:08:13] Well, don't forget that was Trindle, not him. Our good friend Aaron is watching. Hello, Aaron down in the easy. I should know where you live. Stemwell down in Stemwell. Puck. Hello, Aaron. Hello to everyone watching. Of course, Jay says good win. Bench was strong. Absolutely. Rudolph rang with some urgency. Always more to work on, but happy to move on with the win. Andrew said defense was good. Two tries from intercepts. Josh Bolling has joined. Drew's there. Hello, everyone. Hello, hello, hello.

[00:08:42] Sharks win 24, 18. Will Kennedy. Can someone talk about Will Kennedy? Nathan has. There you go. Look at this. Look at this for a hot take. Amazing game. Far and above our best player this season. I think if you tally all up the performances, I would agree with that. He wasn't great the last two games, but a whole bunch of them weren't. But I was really happy for him. The no try to Will Kennedy was heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. I'm so glad that he got that other try, which was pretty good.

[00:09:11] But the length of the field try where Stoney was thought to have shepherded, escorted the player, whatever the term is, that just sucked. It plainly sucked because that was such a highlight reel. And anyway, we got the win, most importantly. And Will keeps playing really good, which is going to be fascinating moving forward because he's off contract. I know a whole bunch of you don't want to re-sign him. Some of you do. Good for people with podcasts because we can talk about it until the sun comes up the next day.

[00:09:41] Vinny says, victory was achieved on the back of our great first half defense. The bench were tremendous. Yeah, absolutely, Vinny. I completely agree with all of that. Great first half defense. I mean, Manly were missing a couple of outside backs. Let's not sugarcoat that. But they had a pretty good team. Like, that was a pretty good Manly team. And you saw in the first half, it was neck and neck. It was so tight. But yeah, I thought the bench also were awesome. Matty says, at CoExperiment, not overly happy.

[00:10:11] We have Talakai, another big bopper. Maybe Hoheppa's going to get there. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. And also Matt says to keep Will. This is a vote for Will. Lynn says, hey, from Optus Stadium with Nathan Hunt. So there's two great Sharks fans right there. Hello, hello, hello. Sing the song for us. That's awesome. I really enjoyed that. It was a frustrating game. Frustrating game because Manly got back into it through a couple of intercepts.

[00:10:38] The try that they scored down our left edge from the kick from Garrick to the winger, that could have been stopped. So I wasn't overly bummed by our defense. It was more just, there are moments that you need to, like that try that I'm talking about. It had shades of Canberra last week because it went through five or six or seven sets of hands, went to the ground, and the Sharks just couldn't contain it. Thankfully, in the end, it didn't matter. Steve says, we need to re-sign Will for one or two years. Clubs will be chasing him after that game.

[00:11:08] That's interesting. BJK says, the ref's always looking for a reason not to give a try. Defenders now making the obstruction rule. Yeah. I mean, look, a letter of the law. It was probably right. I need to have a better look at it. But it was so disappointing. And it's so disappointing the way they do it now because, you know, you're up and you're cheering and hollering and you're dancing on the ceiling like Lionel Richie. And then they show the ref. As soon as they show the ref, you know, you know, it's no try. So that's a bit of a buzzkill. Nallaboy says, end of the day, it was close because of no upfront grunt to begin with.

[00:11:38] Goal kicking and poor options in the 20. Yeah. I mean, that's fair enough. I see your point of view about the starting props. I did get a message from Andrew, who's possibly listening or watching. And he said at halftime, it would be a shame if Nico got the blame because of the missed conversions from the sideline. And I said to him, that's not fair. Like, okay, we'd like our goal kicker to get the sideline goals. But thankfully, it didn't come to that either. Phil says, we still can't put teams to the sword, which is a good point.

[00:12:05] You thought maybe they would get a bigger lead in that second half the way they were going. And they didn't. And even came down the last minute, which is terrifying. Shake says, like to make it hard on ourselves. Yeah, for sure. Danny says, they had lucky tries. J Rick says, nice work around the ruck from Braley. We're leading a lot more of it. Yeah, Blake Braley was really good today. He even had a little kick from dummy half. And I thought he was super solid. Really happy with his game. Shake wasn't happy overall. He said, ordinary game by both teams. I think it's a bit harsh.

[00:12:34] But I respect your opinion, dude. Or dudette. Sharks win 24-18. So good to win. How good is winning? Andrew says, hopefully AFB is only a cork. Man, we are on AFB watch as of this moment. I can assure you we're on AFB watch as of this. That's how important he is. I know that today wasn't his best game. He even had an error, I believe, from memory. But he's the heart and soul of that pack. Do not forget that.

[00:13:01] So hopefully he's right for Newcastle next week. He's got a week and a day to recover. So see how that goes. Chris says, nice to see a game without a sin bin. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty even contest. I want to give a shout out to my namesake, Samuel Stone Street. Two great tries. 165 meters. And I thought continued growth from him. And it's just going to get better week in, week out. And there's going to be errors.

[00:13:29] And there's going to be some mishaps along the way. But I thought today, just when I was thinking the Marwini thing, maybe Marwini coming into the wing. No, I thought Stone Street was pretty good today. While I'm giving shout outs, Marwini Hirati. Man, that guy is so rock solid these days. Really happy for him. Hopefully he sticks around in the club. I think Matt Russell said it was his 27th or 28th game. And he was great today, I thought. Defensively in attack, he was great. Steve says AFB has ice on the groin. That's never good.

[00:13:59] Zaya Restless says, how about the first stone seat try Dan? There might be our friend Dan Nichols, who's probably also dancing on the ceiling like Arnold Richie. Jay Rick says, early on DC had two or three scoots up the short side. Yeah, I noticed that too. He's a short side daily Jerry Evans. And the Sharks need to be better at that. And Shakespeare says AFB's out were in huge trouble. Tom's only prop that really put his hand up. I thought Toby Rudolph was pretty good today. I thought Sifer was great as a middle.

[00:14:27] I'm not suggesting that they're going to lose without AFB, but I'm suggesting he is the heartbeat of that pack. Liam says, that was harder than it needed to be. Never a truer statement, my friend. Hope you're well. Mark says, what about the head high contacts without send offs? I mean, nothing stood out to me too bad on a live watch, but I take your point. Sharks win 24-18. How good is winning? Tony said, up, up, baby. Willie K was huge. Halves were good.

[00:14:55] Stone Street's best game of the year. Yeah, absolutely, Tony. And I thought as a team, they played really well. I thought the return of T. Wilton was pretty good. I thought all round, they look pretty solid. I'm not suggesting if you play out that, you're going to win the comp. They need to improve, but I thought there were a lot of positive signs. The attack got better the longer the game went, which is a good sign. Love to hear who you thought was the best out there. Shake says, love seeing Nico take the line on a lot more. And he did.

[00:15:26] It looked like he had a bit of a point to prove today. He ran for 60 meters and busted four tackles. Trindle had two try assists. He was the more creative half, but they both had pretty good games. And as one of the listeners pointed out before, when they're side by side, it's really hard to defend. So a lot of things you can do there in attack. And I think they're only sort of starting out in a lot of ways together in their career. And it can only get better. You would imagine. You would hope.

[00:15:53] Darby said, Ronnie's runs that gets out of trouble are pretty bloody good. He shot out once, which could have been very costly, but man, he runs hard. Yeah. I thought Ronnie was good today. I really did. He was about a hundred meters. And also I want to give a shout out to our friend, Dan, who I misread his message before. That was from our friend, Dan. Dan was, hello, Dan. He is Stone Street's biggest fan. There's no getting around that. And good luck to him. He had a great game today.

[00:16:22] So wonderful stuff. Different Dan says, not the greatest win, but we'll take it. We'll deserve that game. He's been great. Nico needs some time with kicking coach. Yeah, he should be getting goals, but also it's from the sideline and I'm not too worried about those situations because I've seen him get them from the sideline. Yeah. I would have loved one more, one or two more would have made it a bit easier on the score line, but I can't, I'm not one to fault a goal kicker for a win loss. Really? I think that's harsh, but yes. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:16:51] I mean, you can always do more improvement with your kicking. I reckon Dan, he'll be out there practicing as well, following his career. Like I have, I think that he'll be out there tomorrow kicking the ball from the sideline. So, uh, sharks win 24, 18. Let's look at some of these performances. Jesse Ramian, 155 meters, Haradi 125. So the only forward at the moment that cracked a hundred meters, I hate to tell you is a tall Tom Hazleton. Fenua Blake went close. Wilton went close.

[00:17:20] Rudolph went close, but officially Hazleton is the only one that cracked a hundred meters. We had stone street, Ramian, Haradi all over the hundred. So whether you think that matters or not, I'm not sure, but yeah, Nellar boy was critical of our starting props. And it is a continued conversation we'll have like, what role does the prop have in this team? Are they supposed to be meter readers? I'd, you'd think they would be right. Shake says when stone street gets his defensive positioning, right. He's going to be a hell of a player.

[00:17:49] He's a bit jumpy when the ball goes to his edge. Yeah, for sure. Like I saw that today too, but the good thing is the way they play cover defense. Someone was always there to help out. And also he gets back into line or into the tackle pretty quick, or at least today he did, I should say. So I thought today, even though he did run out a little bit, I thought there was some, I'm not going to say intelligence to it, but there was some reason why he did it. And then maybe he knew the cover was there and he did try and stop the play early, but you're right there.

[00:18:19] So Tracy says, can you give a shout out to Renee? Tracy. Absolutely. I already have. I'll give another one though. Cause we love Renee. Renee's in hospital. It's a birthday tomorrow. She's a massive Sharky fan. She's a massive supporter of what we do on this pod. So, uh, Tracy definitely will send our love to Renee. Hopefully if she's not watching, she can get, she can be shown this later. Another point. It'll be up on the YouTube. It'll be up on the audio podcast, but Renee, you know how I feel. Damn it. Get well. Happy birthday.

[00:18:49] Amos says, why do you need to cut out pass when the game is done? That's a good point. My eyesight's not too good. Almas. Sorry. Uh, Almas, you're right. Like it's the second one, especially was not really needed. The first one. Okay. You could say he's going for the attacking play. If it hits Britain, they might score, but I would much rather they play slightly safer than what they did. You can't shut up shop. Cause you see what happens last week and almost today. But yeah, the second one is scary times.

[00:19:18] I'm sure the coaching staff will be onto Trindle about that. Uh, Andrew says if AFB is out next week and it's only an if you can see Toby starting with Colquhoun being added to the bench. That'd be cool. See Jesse out there. I think he'll be there sooner rather than later. I'm not sure when Adrian has this to say, will Kennedy is the best interesting situation. Isn't it?

[00:19:42] Because there's a part of shark land shark nation that are not on board, you know, and that's fine. Like you're allowed to think someone else can be better. You're allowed to think that he's not your guy. I'm a pretty big fan and you guys and girls know that games like today, you just sort of sit back and go, wow, like this is awesome. And he actually played above what he usually does. Like today was, I would dare say, and Shakers actually just said it a 10 out of 10.

[00:20:09] I was reluctant to use those words, but Shakers said 10 out of 10. Now he's not like that every week, but his first, what, three games, two or three games were really, really great. And today was just super sonic, amazing. And when he has those games, it's like, well, we don't need anyone else. And I understand the argument that he doesn't have those games every week, but he's a very solid, reliable fullback, but days like today is when you win the premiership with a full back like that. He was our most dangerous guy. He was the most dangerous guy on the field.

[00:20:37] So I don't know how you get him to play like that every week. It's hard to play like that every week, obviously. And I'm not suggesting many players can play like that, but it was just really great to see from his perspective, from the team's perspective. We need him firing to be going good in this competition. And it's going to be a fascinating watch because he's off contract. Someone tomorrow can sign him for next year. I'm not suggesting they're not having talks with him. They probably are having talks with him already, the Sharks, but no deal has been signed yet. So we'll watch this space.

[00:21:07] You might see one signed tonight. Super League style, like in the mid nineties, when they signed their lives away to Super League, you might see Will Kennedy and Perth signing a contract tonight. I'm just having fun. You probably won't, but it was that good a game. Yeah, just sensational. Jay Rick says, give Hojepa a shot at lock. Starting lock on the bench. I need more information. I'm happy with Cam McInnes at the moment, personally. Respect your opinion.

[00:21:37] Olmos says, Fitzy needs to put Nico at six as the ball runner. There was a bit of that today. Yeah. Maybe you want more? Jay Rick's replied saying, Hojepa for the bench. Yeah. He's got a lot of skill. And Shaq says, I still don't understand. Atkinson on the bench, we know the forward. We were quite gassed the second half. Yeah, I agree. And it's not a shot at Atko because he gives you everything he's got, but he's like half the size of another footballer out there.

[00:22:05] You know, he's a smaller size utility. So if you come into the games injury free with your back seven, I'm with you. I would go for four forwards on the bench and you can still tinker with it. But Fitzy's the coach. He knows what's going on. And that's what he's doing for some reason. I dare say he's going to keep doing it, especially if they keep winning. Sharky's win. 24-18. I can't wait till the end of the audio podcast, which we're going to release later.

[00:22:34] And we're going to play the song, which is awesome. I got a message from our friend Dave. He said that Sifir shifted the game when he came on. Hazer was quality. Braley close to 50 tackles, which leaves him a bit empty in attack, which sucks. It should be pointed out. It was pointed out in the pregame that Britton, Nikara and AFB, they flew over yesterday. I don't have the reason why, but they flew over yesterday. Preparation wasn't fantastic.

[00:23:01] And Dave also says the first half defense was terrific stuff. Sharks win 24-18. Sifir Talakai was so good today when he came off the bench. I love that guy so much. And he really, you know, I think if there's a second row situation, injury, suspension, rep, whatever, I think that Sifir just goes straight back in there. He's that good, but I love him as a middle as well. Steve says, would I re-sign Will Kennedy? And if so, for how long? What a terrific question, Steve.

[00:23:31] Thanks for putting that to me live on air in front of the millions and millions watching. Yeah, I'm re-signing Will Kennedy for two years and hopefully accepts a two-year deal. I'm not throwing the bank at him. He gets what he gets, plus maybe a little bonus. That gives you enough time for Liam Isen to recuperate. Cade Dykes is back playing for the Jets at fullback. It gives you a couple options there. But we know that Will Kennedy can play like he played today.

[00:24:01] So I have no issue re-signing him. It goes back to that argument, is there anyone better on the market? If you can tell me someone better, then let me know and we'll discuss that. Because I'm open to things. I want my team to win a comp. And at the moment, I like the way he's playing. Like he's really, and I don't think it's anything as, you know, inverted commas sinister as him being off contract and playing for his life. I think that's not a great take. I think that we've seen this from Will throughout his career.

[00:24:31] This is close to his best and today might be his best. And that's a really good sign. He's still not particularly old. Like he's got some time left in his career. And I think a two-year deal would suffice for both sides. And it gives you, yeah, a bit of time for Liam Isen to recuperate as well. So I would be signing him. He's my long, long, long-winded answer, Steve. I'd love to know what you guys and girls would do. Olma says AFB's got a big ice bag wrapped on his right thigh.

[00:25:01] Is that an injury? I'm assuming it is. I would have to think it is. Buckwit says a win is a win. Still need more spark and attack. Defense was okay. I thought defense was really good. And I think you're right. We need more in attack. There were times when it was just a bit one out and a bit even side to side, I guess. But they did enough. They did enough to get there. One disallowed try at least as well. So two intercept tries in defense. The game probably shouldn't have been as close as what it was. Adrian says the bench was amazing.

[00:25:29] Sifat, Toby, and Hazleton all offered great meters. Defense and spark. They'll had breaks and move the team forward. Yeah, it's a great point. So maybe we need Adrian and maybe Nullaboy, who if you're still listening, maybe we need AFB and to a more bigger extent, Kifusi to really at least hold their own in that first 20 or do better. And then these guys come on and get on with the job. I don't know. But the bench definitely got things going. And I guess that's what they're there to do, to be fair.

[00:25:59] John says great defense today, especially 295 meter intercepts and one messy try. To the Kennedy doubters, surely not today. Great game. Look, I think if anyone's saying that Will didn't have a good game today, then they need to be very honest about the fact that they're biased against him because it was, as someone else said, and I'm going to say it, it was a 10 out of 10 performance. Did you see even when he was cramped up and I think he was even borderline injured, excuse me, speaking of injuries, hello, borderline injured.

[00:26:29] He still caught that bomb on the side of the field. So there's no doubting. He was just fantastic. We need Siffer to get more minutes, says Shake. I agree with that. Jarek says not enough backline spreads that result in tries as previous years seem to run out of room. Used to be so slick. Yeah, it's a good point. It looked like the dimensions of the field freaked them out or something, especially in that first half. They just ran out of room. You're right. And I don't know why. I mean, it's the same size field on a circular shaped field.

[00:26:58] So that was interesting. It kind of had like Vegas vibes as far as the dimensions, not obviously the shape, but just they were just, it looked like they were on a tight field. And a couple of times they did go out. Scott says, I didn't agree with the Kennedy. No try. Real shame. They took it off him. It's hard because he did so much work after the incident, so to speak. Like the incident happened when he took the ball and then he beat a whole bunch of guys. He dummied, he ignored Stone Street and congratulations by the way to Stone Street for being there backing him up.

[00:27:27] We need more of that in our team anyway. We saw, I think, Fanua Blake line break and no one was there helping him out. So Stone Street did really well and in good position. And Will Kennedy just did the dummy. And it would have been one of the great all-time tries in shark history. And unfortunately it doesn't really count, but the effort's still there. That's for sure. Our friend Ash says, they played well in the heat. A little more accuracy now. Goal kicking. It doesn't go down to the wire like it did. Yeah, that's fair enough. Good points, Ash. Hope you're well.

[00:27:56] Hope your collection's going great. And they were tough kicks. I'm not going to be too hard on the guy. I mean, I know that he's there to kick them, but you know, you're not going to get them sometimes. John says, we'll take it. I'm old enough to remember we can never beat Manly. John, yes. Let's not sugarcoat that. We beat Manly again. Fitzgibbon loves playing Manly and beating them. Hello to the Rogers family. Donnie may be watching still. And to Matt and to the whole Rogers clan.

[00:28:25] Like that was for you guys and girls. A shout out to a good friend, Dyson Logistics Kane. And a good friend, Mark Horne, who may or may not tune into this at some point if they haven't had too many celebratory drinks. Ashes take the two points and run as far as Manly is concerned. Jacqueline says, how good is beating Manly in capital letters? Take the W and re-sign Will Kennedy. Jacqueline, I'm feeling you. I'm feeling you.

[00:28:53] MJ Gonzalez says, would you put in Peru for Atkinson or prefer four big forwards? At this point, if there was no injuries to any of the back line, no sort of injury clouds or whatever, I would have Hojepa there. Or to be fair, Tukwu. Tukwu's had a really good season in his limited time. And I really like what Tukwu does. Hojepa's a lot more creative and probably has a bigger, well definitely has a bigger motor. Tukwu is very, very good as well at what he does.

[00:29:23] So yes, my answer to MJ Gonzalez is yes, in some way. And that's, I love Dan Atkinson. He's a very good footballer who's won us games on his own. And I'm sort of siding with the fans on this one. I think that maybe we can make a change there. I don't think it's a critical thing. Like, I don't think that if they keep him, that the Sharks are going to go on a losing streak or whatever. I don't think he's the reason we're losing games, having Dan Atkinson on the bench. I just think that we could probably have someone a little bit more effective in that position.

[00:29:52] Shake says that our support plays non-existent. Offloads hit the ground. That was a shame. Not a lot of second phase footy. Yeah, there was a bit today, but not enough, I guess. At times it looked like they were shutting up shop like they did against Canberra. And thankfully they got some points in the second half and it didn't really come to that. But I know they can play better. That's the promising thing. I think we're all just having a sigh of relief as well that we won a game. It didn't go to three straight losses. Dave wrote in before asking if Fitz, he had lost three in a row.

[00:30:21] He has with the Sharks at least one time. I can tell you at least once, definitely. Shout out to the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and to our friend, John Docking. He's a former Sharks player and club legend. And he also played for New South Wales. A great fullbacks, being great fullbacks. Docko, he's a great supporter of this show. He's down at the Royal Motor Yacht Club right now having a good time. I dare say having a drink. Hopefully on the house from Liam and celebrating the black, white and blue.

[00:30:51] Sharks win 24-18 in Perth. Perth. That's a long way to go. Shout out to our friend, Chad, who's hopefully still watching. Hope you're good, man. Always a shark to us. That's for sure. Sharks win 24-18. Let's get into some of these stats while I got you guys and girls. Five line breaks to three. 11 off loads to three. So they really did contain Oluquatu really well.

[00:31:16] And you can see it was one of the things that they were obviously coached to do and had done all their film work because they really kept Oluquatu to a not dangerous player today. He had some injuries with the arm, I think, but did well. Sharks missed 30 tackles. They can improve on that. They won the penalty count 7-4. They each team made 11 errors. We kicked for about 100 more meters. Talk about the dropouts. Always a fascinating subject. We're still going for the short dropout.

[00:31:45] Don't know if I really want to do that from time to time. We won our first challenge, but then the second challenge was ridiculous when we lost that one. Almost as Kennedy always puts his best efforts forward. Plays from the heart. If Ricky gets the fifth tackle kicking in the corner, it will help the back line to have more time. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. That's the thing about Will Kennedy. You cannot doubt his effort. And sometimes the effort doesn't result in a 10 out of 10 game. But today, it was perfect. He was amazing. He was just fantastic. Fantastic.

[00:32:13] And it's exactly what he needed, exactly what the team needed. Jordan says a short stint from Tuku would have been more effective than what Atkinson did. Yes, I agree with that, Jordan. And I think a lot of people do. There's got to be a reason why the coach is playing Atkinson. That's what I keep coming back to. And it doesn't mean we can't disagree with the coach because, of course, we can. But I'm wondering what that reason is. Is it to cover more people than any other player who's up to be on the bench can cover? Maybe that's as simple as that. I'm not sure.

[00:32:43] Maybe when we get to a presser, we can ask him that. And hopefully, he doesn't bite our heads off. I'm just kidding. He's a good dude. Happy for the coaching staff. Happy for the team. Happy for the club. Sharks win 24 points to 18. John says, Docko is the reason I became a Sharks fan. So, John is a big John Docking fan. We'll give him a shout out. We'll let him know that you pass on that message to him for sure. John to John. Docko, one of the greats.

[00:33:12] And a great fellow too. I'm privileged to call him a mate. That's for sure. Sharks win 24 points to 18. Let's look at these halves. Braden Trindle. I don't have him with any runs, but I've got him with two tri assists, one line break assist. Definitely one tri cause, potentially another one. He kicked really well. Kicked 12 times for 350 meters. And Nico Hines ran the ball seven times for 60 meters.

[00:33:40] He had five kicks for 200 meters. Both played really well, especially side by side. Almost as a bit of self-belief would help. I'm not convinced yet. Fitzy's strategy with a six and seven. The experiment might cost him his job at the end. People think the Sharks are a B-grade team due to Fitzy. Yeah, I think it depends who you talk to there, my friend, because plenty of people swear by him. We saw in the press this week a number of people, not so much sticking up for him, but they were asked about him.

[00:34:10] And all the answers were resounding. He's a great coach and he will be a better coach and the team is better for him being there. And I agree at the moment. Like, I've got nothing to say that we're coming off a two-loss streak. Other teams in the NRL would kill for a two-loss streak and that's it. And then you win. And I just think there's improvement to come and particularly from the halves. And he said all along that they need time. So it seems like he's going to be playing the patient game.

[00:34:38] And as you say, it could decide whether he, I don't know, sticks around longer or whatever. But I think he's going pretty good. No, I'm a huge fan of his. So I'm not going to say anything until he gives me reasons. And I will. Like, I'll be critical if I need to. But I think Fitz is doing an okay job personally. Shake says four tries is for Tricky. And I know where you're going there. Definitely three. Definitely three. Maybe four. Yeah, I'm sure he'll learn from that.

[00:35:07] The two intercept passes, that's hard to do. It's hard to throw two interceptions in one game and have them be so damaging. And I have no doubt that he will just improve on that. You don't want him to not throw them anymore. Like, you can't shut up shop. But he'll get better. His timing will get better. It's fine. If he does it week in, week out, we've got a problem. At the moment, it's not a problem. I know you're just having a gag. Appreciate that. Doc says very solid defensive display. Just about what the scoreline said.

[00:35:36] One try for lucky kick and two intercepts. Yeah, I agree with that. I do think that the try from the kick, they should have shut it down. So I was pretty unhappy with that one. I was pretty unhappy with that, Doc. I thought it had shades of the Canberra last try last week. So got to be better. When that ball goes to ground, they all sort of tend to just watch it go to ground and be picked up. There's not a lot of pressure there. I don't want someone rushing out of the line, but I also just don't want them to sit back. And it just looked like that try could have been stopped at any point, and it wasn't.

[00:36:06] So that was disappointing to me. But I thought overall, absolutely a solid defense, especially in the first half, where we kept them out of scoring when they were inside our 20 for probably four or five sets in a row. So that was pretty good. Jacqueline says, what is Dale Finucane's formal role at the club? I saw vision on Fox in the sheds. I believe we lack leadership, so his presence is great.

[00:36:29] So Jacqueline, I don't know the official title of Dale Finucane, but he is, I think, part of the coaching staff where he is there a few days a week and he's there on game day. Obviously, that's a positive because he was such a great leader throughout his career and also at the Sharks, especially as well for us. So he's still on the books in some capacity. I love it. And you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's not going to be motivated by Dale Finucane.

[00:36:58] But yeah, not sure of the official title that he has. Griffo said, agreed, it was Canberra 2.0 that try. Yeah, it was a bit worrying, a bit worrying that try. But again, if we're conceding tries from a play that has seven or eight, nine passes, you kind of take that over just poor decisions, two-pass tries or whatever. I think there's some sort of merit there where they've held them out, held them out, held them out, and then a try like that is how they concede.

[00:37:27] You can sort of live with it. But also, some of them shouldn't be happening. Canberra one shouldn't have happened. That one shouldn't have happened. I'm not sure if I'm being too harsh there or not. We have Scott saying, I think Ramien's tap-on pass coming out of our end needs to stop. Too many turnovers. There was that noticeable one, Scott. I'm with you. And A, I don't think it was necessary. I know something was on if it sticks. But I'm with you. I don't think it needs to, especially in your own quarter or your own half. It's so risky. And we did turn the ball over.

[00:37:56] And we had to defend again. So yeah, I'm with you on that one. Just clicking on a few things over here. Here, first half stats. So tackle and opposition 20 in the first half. Manly had 17 tackles there. And we didn't concede. So I was looking for that one. That was good. That was really good. Sharks win 24-18 in Perth. We're back on the winning trail. We go to Newcastle next week, I believe. Which is exciting.

[00:38:27] Winnable game. The next five games are a lot more doable. And I hope we win a bunch of them. I think it ends with Melbourne at home, which is the next home game at Shark Park, so to speak. One game at a time. We win today 24-18. Got a bit too close. We move on to Newcastle. This is SharkastPod. You can get in touch with us any time of the day or night via our website. Let me put up a little banner for you. Look at this.

[00:38:58] Sharkast.com.au. Go check it out. And there's a whole bunch of things on there, like previous episodes, videos, bit of information, etc. And you can leave a voicemail on there. And then we receive that and we can put it on the show. You can message us, which is similar to an email. You can review us. We've got a great review during the week that said we need to swear more and be more controversial and all this sort of stuff. I think it was Morty or Monty. Haha. Well done. You got me.

[00:39:27] Or you can write to us, sharkastpod at gmail.com. We're also on all of the socials. You can DM us and we'll find what you've got to say. We do plenty of episodes throughout the week leading up to game day. And we'd love to hear your thoughts as we do today. Sharks win 24-18 in Perth. Love to hear your thoughts. Love to hear what's going on for you guys in Sharkland. And I'm just stoked we won. You know, when you get to three games in a row, it's like the world is literally ending. It's not.

[00:39:57] We're back. But they need to improve. That's for sure. Sharks win 24-18. Let's hope AFB's injury isn't too bad. The Sharks said to Lara Pitt, as you would have heard if you were watching and not at the game, he was tired and had to come off the field. And that was clearly not true because he's icing up parts of his body that he shouldn't be. And with a bit of a limp, but he just looked like he was dragging our leg. So stay tuned on AFB watch.

[00:40:24] I'm not suggesting it's anything bad, but it's certainly, I think, a bit more than tiredness. I thought in the first half, more than the second half, the Sharks were looking a little bit tired as a team. And they've had a lot of travel. And I wouldn't let it talk about it because people say it's not an excuse. And maybe it's not. But I'm sure I'm glad they're coming back home. And then they've only got like, what, a two and a half hour drive from Newcastle because they really have been getting the flyer points up. And I don't know. At some point, it's got to take its toll. Today it didn't. Today I won.

[00:40:54] I thought overall, generally good performance. Most of you sort of think it was an okay performance. Couple of you a bit nags at the start, which is fine. Sharks win 24 points to 18. Shout out to our man, Brooksy, a fellow winner. And you'll be hearing from Brooksy who will be on the Derby week episode, whenever that is coming up. I think it's probably not for another five or six weeks, but. And a shout out to everyone watching and really appreciate your support throughout the week. And we do lots of episodes.

[00:41:24] We had a great preview episode with Cody K from Fox Sports. Great insight to his life as a journo and, and his life as a manly fan. Shout out to Cody K who's probably a little bit annoyed today, but he was great to talk to and he's a really good mate of mine. So great to have him finally on the show. Sharks win 24 18. Brooksy does say if the Perth franchise doesn't go ahead, should the Sharkies move to Perth? They play well there. I don't really care for that kind of talk, Brooksy.

[00:41:53] I mean, I think the Dragon should move to Perth. How's that for a comeback? Not very good. We are the people's team. We go where the people are, whether it's Woolaware, whether it's Las Vegas, whether it's Townsville, whether it's Perth, whether it's Newcastle, the Sharkies are coming for you. Just looking at some of the stats over here for Manly. So Ola Kuatu didn't have one offload, not one offload. That is really good defense from Cronulla and really good coaching as well. It went down to the wire.

[00:42:21] Brooksy does say in all seriousness, Trindle was awesome. Yeah, he was. He was. I think those two intercepts are going to crease a few fans. I understand that. And I was a bit creased at the time when he threw them. But he's just coming along real well. Like he, he, he looks to get better each week and that's all you can ask for. Looking at some of his information from today. Yeah. One line break assist, two try assists.

[00:42:48] He made eight tackles and kicked seven times for almost 170 meters. Uh, one force dropout. And yes, two intercept passes. But I think Nico also needs a shout out today as well. I thought Nico was pretty solid. I thought he was trying really hard. I thought he was trying to get the hands in the ball a lot more than he has in the past few weeks. And whenever he's got the ball in his hand, he looks a lot better, a lot more confident and a lot more dangerous.

[00:43:14] And I think some of those runs are a little bit, a bit predictable, but I also think it's just that him get, for him to get into the groove, get a tackle, get a hit. I'm glad that he's involved because the more the spine is involved and we spoke about it during the week, our spine's pretty good, but they have to be really good to win a comp. And so Will Kennedy was 10 out of 10. Nico was probably a seven and a half. Trindle was probably an eight.

[00:43:41] Braley was probably close to an eight. And so if your spine's doing that week in, week out, it's, it's good times. So Sharky's win 24, 18, I'm like a broken record because we haven't won for two weeks. Color spot said after years and years of losing the Manly, I'll take any win over them that we can. It's a great point color spot. And we've said it before, but when Fitzgibbon of the Craig variety came to the sharks, he

[00:44:09] said he was told a bunch of things like the sharks never do this. The sharks never do that. They always do this. They always do this. And a lot of it was negative. And one of them was we never beat Manly and we can't win in Brookvale. And it was kind of fair. Like it was mostly true that our worst record is against them. We know all this stuff, but with Craig Fitzgibbon there, I think we've won. Is it now five out of the last six in total? It's probably, I don't know, six of eight or something. Whole bunch won at Brookie.

[00:44:38] Finally, we're getting the upper hand against Manly. And it's a good feeling. A lot of history between the clubs playing for the Steve Rogers cup. Shout out to Donnie, Matt and the Rogers family. So yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you, Caller Spot. Absolutely. Moving on to next week. Alma says Nickerup needs to shut down Ponga and stop Newcastle playing any second phase or their offloads. Then we've got the game. I think he meets in the back. Yeah. I mean, we're looking forward to Newcastle. Absolutely. And he's their go-to guy. We know that.

[00:45:07] Shut down Ponga. You pretty much shut them down. We'll have a lot of analysis looking at that game. I'm going to be up there having some fun. It's going to be a great weekend next weekend and looking forward to playing the Knights. Coming off a win is going to be a lot, a lot better feeling. Brooksy says, I heard that Amy Shark is changing her name to Amy Sharon. And I've just been made aware of that story today. And I'm not at the bottom of it yet.

[00:45:34] I've only sort of seen the headlines, but something about bad pay for artists for the NRL, AFL's a lot better, yada, yada, yada. So I'll look into that, Brooksy, because I don't mind a bit of Amy Shark. So hopefully there's not too much damage there. It sounds like there is. That's a great one-liner from Brooksy. Brooksy is the funniest person I know. In case you missed it, I heard Amy Shark change her name to Amy Sharon. If we look at the NRL ladder right now, we're moving to seventh place.

[00:46:04] Obviously there's a lot of games to come this weekend or at least three or four, but Sharks move above the Dragons, Brooksy, into seventh place. So we're in the top eight again, which is great. Looking to keep going higher next week. Sharky's win in Perth. Love to hear your thoughts on the event at Perth. There was a lot of mixed reaction to us taking the game to Perth. So if you want to get to us during the week, give us a review of the experience. We have a lot of Perth listeners as well. I'll shout out to Stats Davis, who's the king of the Perth listeners, but there are a lot of Perth listeners as well.

[00:46:33] So if you want to get in touch, drop us a line, let us know how it was. They had a captain's run, they had a signing session, and of course the game day today. There's a game on right now. I have no idea what's happening, nor do I really care right now. But if I look at my live scores, there you go. Robidows are winning 4-2. Live scores are around the ground, Brooksy. But yeah, love to hear from our Perth listeners and anyone who traveled to Perth, of course. A lot of listeners who traveled to Perth as well. And good luck to you for doing that. So love to hear your experience there. The stadium looks amazing.

[00:47:03] I'm not a huge fan of playing in oval-shaped stadiums, but it looked amazing as a stadium. So love to hear your thoughts. SharkCastPod.gmail.com. Jump on the website, SharkCast.com.au, and you can leave us a message or you can DM us on a whole bunch of things. Sharks win 24-18. I'm pretty stoked. As Bruce Springsteen would say, it's Saturday night. Tougher than the rest. The Sharks are tougher than the rest. They're tougher than Manly, and that's all that matters. We will speak to you throughout the week. That's a promise. That's a guarantee.

[00:47:33] SharkCastPod. Don't change the dial. Don't go anywhere because SharkCastPod will have you covered. We will also cover this with better analysis when we've done the rewatch and done all everything else. You're going to be hearing from us. As I keep saying, we're going to be in your grill, and hopefully that's okay because we like being in your grill. Great to get the win. I thought it was thoroughly deserved. I really did. I know there's a lot to improve on. I know some of the listeners are a bit negative about the performance, but I thought they thoroughly deserved that.

[00:48:01] Not for the fact that it was their greatest performance in the rugby league ever, but because they just put in. I thought the effort was really good. All over the park, the bench helped them. Manly, I just didn't think were as creative. I didn't think they were as good. They certainly were tough, but Sharks win 24-18. Thoroughly deserved it. In my opinion only. Love to hear your opinion. SharkCastPod. Thank you so much to everyone for tuning in. We're going to be doing this as much as we can.

[00:48:31] This will be an audio podcast. If you missed it, if you missed the start of it, I should say, this is going to be an audio podcast. We'll put it out later tonight. This will be on YouTube. This will be all over the place. So go back and watch it if you missed any of it. Shout out to our friends at Dyson Logistics. Our friend, Mark Horne, hanging out with Dyson Logistics. The Royal Motor Yacht Club going off right now, including Jonathan Docking being there. And of course, our friend, Jason Hawes with Crips and Crips Real Estate. Hopefully we've got some more friends coming along as well. So stay tuned for that. This is SharkCastPod.

[00:49:01] I'm Sam Shinauze, OG 2015. I spoke to the other OG. Some of you will be interested to know. I spoke to the other OG. He called me up during the game. Mr. Adam Newman called me up during the game. He said, we're in the grind, Samuel. This is from our friend, Brooksie. I leave him with the last laugh. See you in the derby. You will, brother. You'll see me there. I love a derby. Up, up, Cronulla. We are the greatest team in the world. Brooksie's team is not. Appreciate you all sticking around.

[00:49:30] I know there's a lot of stretching lines and stretching conversations, but this is the live stream. What else are we going to do? Next time, I want some people to call in and tell me your thoughts and feelings and emotions. Up, up, Cronulla. We rule. We're going to rule again. Let's go. SharkCast 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.

[00:49:58] A lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips and Crips Real Estate.

[00:50:19] Boys in the black, white and blue. Sharks, sharks forever.