PostGame Livestream - Rd 8_ 2025 Wests Tigers vs Cronulla

[00:01:00] Oh boy, hey there, welcome to SharkCast Pod. My name is Sam Shinazzi, been doing this since 2015, watching stuff like that for a lot longer. This is SharkCast Pod, brought to you by Dyson Logistics Media, I've been poor making a Jason Hawes at Crips and Crips Real Estate.

[00:01:26] We are doing a live stream, post-game, and in case you didn't hear the news, I've got to put it up for you right now. For those listening, Sharks lose in Golden Points, 20 points to 18. Strange old game, strange old weekend, and plenty to dissect. A bit of housekeeping if you'd like to join the show, and I'll remind you throughout the episode, you can leave comments, we'll flash it down.

[00:01:54] If you want to come on and have a chat, you can do that. I've left some links in a few different places, and I'll do it here in the comments as well. And if you want to have your camera on and chat, you can have it on. If you want to have your camera off and just be audio only, feel free to do whatever you like. Let's start with Family First.

[00:02:19] Family First. And this is, okay, just bear with me. I need an assistant here. Family First. This guy's seen a lot of games. Where is he? My Big Brother. This is a new low. Look, they had 41 different chances to win that game in the last 10 minutes and in Golden Point.

[00:02:50] Nico Hines from 50 out hits the post, but they blew a lot of chances. They blew a lot of chances, and I don't know why, to be honest.

[00:03:10] The game was a weird one. It looked the way he didn't win, but Sharks lose 20 points to 18. It came down to, unfortunately, a Tom Hazleton strip penalty. Adam Dewey gets the goal to win the game with about three minutes left, or even less, in the second half of Golden Point.

[00:03:32] So, it was, I'm not speechless. I've never lost words when it comes to this club, but it was just a weird game and not good with execution in a lot of ways. But then there was other things like the Ronaldo try, the Kennedy break towards the end. That stuff's kind of going really well for them. But it comes down to the basics of getting the one point.

[00:04:00] It just fell apart, and they had a few chances, and more than a few chances. Let's be honest about that. Yeah, Darby, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm with you, man. Now, I don't want to have to censor people, you know. Come on and say what you want, but you can't be swearing because it's a family-friendly show, and that's okay. We can get by. We can say the harshest of words without swearing, Darby. Hope you will, brother. Ghastly 10 raises a great point.

[00:04:30] This is why you, Shark Cast audience, are the best audience in the entire world, man. I don't even think about this. Give it to Atko to ice the game. Yeah. Oh, ghastly. I'm going to be staying up all night thinking about that. Why no Atko? Why? Look, Nico, my God, he went close. That would have been the greatest moment, you know. Didn't happen. Can't dwell on that because it just didn't happen.

[00:04:59] He still was not good enough to get it, but it was within a millimeter of post. It's a great point, Ghastly. Love your work. All right. Darby, critical of Nico Hines. For people listening, I've got to read out the comments. Just wondering if Nico played. I didn't see him. So I know where you're coming from, Darby. It's going to be a bit of a theme. I will say this.

[00:05:30] He had two tries, sis. Like when he had the ball, he looked all right. They went through patches in this game. They looked amazing and they looked terrible. Looked amazing, looked terrible. When I say amazing, they look really good. Boy, they got to work on those field goal situations because when they almost got it right, it still wasn't good enough.

[00:05:59] They were going for the try more than the field goal, which sometimes it works. All right, Lewis, you got a lot of thoughts and feelings. I want to hear them. I want to hear them. Darby, there's no apologies, brother. Everything you say is above board, especially you. You're a good fella. Don't hold back. You want to critique players. We're here to critique players. We're not here to be friends with them, as we keep saying to all you guys and girls.

[00:06:29] Just keep it above board and you'll get on. No problem at all. Boy, oh boy. Sharks lose 20 points to 18. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is a game they're going to regret. Can we not go to Leichhardt anymore, please? It's good for our fans, not good for the team. How good's Terrell May. He ran for 206 metres, 30 runs. You know what? How good's Fennell Blake.

[00:06:59] 21 runs, 184 metres. I feel for Tall Tom. Stupid moment. He'd love to have it back. He played good otherwise, but you can't be doing that. You can't be doing that. You know what's at stake. Liam says, we did our level best to keep the minute, and that's what you get, and he's 100% right.

[00:07:30] That's 100% accurate, Liam. The whole game, I just kept saying they don't... Not that I don't want to win, but they just keep doing ridiculous stuff. And it sucks because I thought there were parts of the game where they did deserve to win. I don't know if that's a homer call or not, but there were moments to be like, this is awesome. You deserve this.

[00:08:03] Shake says, this team effing sucks. I can't say that out loud for real or put it up, but I appreciate you, Shake. Steve says, ref. Ash, I can't put that up, but he says effing trash. Chris says, are any of us really surprised? I'm surprised that they didn't get it together after being so ordinary in those situations in this game alone.

[00:08:32] There was enough time to correct what you're doing and get it right. They went super close with the Atkinson thing at the end. There was a Ronaldo thing at the end, and then the field goals didn't work. Dan says, I have nothing and so much to say at the same time. That's how I feel right now. So we don't think we don't make smart right choices. We seem to be pretender. I don't know about the last bit of pretender.

[00:09:01] I don't agree with that, but I think that the smart, I think that today, forget about everything I've just said for a second. I thought they were, like, they were super close to winning it. They were getting charged down by the West Tigers for field goals. They were in the right spot to do them, and they were doing the correct thing some of the time, but then other times it just fell away, and there were errors and the penalties. Very ill-disciplined game is a big takeaway for me.

[00:09:32] Lewis says, we came out of it, but when we did, our game management was awful. We were just taking leadership to steer us around. We looked utterly directionless in key moments. Yeah, okay. It's going to be a storyline. That's for sure. I can't get over what I think Ghastly said about Atko not taking a shot. But then what does that say? If the guy that you're letting go to the Dragons takes a shot, wins the game. Oh, man. That's an even bigger pickle.

[00:10:01] Sharks lose 20-18. Terry says this, devastating, but we had our chances. Absolutely. We can't be here feeling too sorry for ourselves. I'll do a good job of it, but there were so many chances. There were so many chances. I document stuff when I watch the game, just bring it up and race things. I stopped doing it. There were just so many chances. Shake is saying the refs had nothing to do with anything.

[00:10:30] Yeah, I agree with that. I agree. Nathan says, bad loss, dumb, dumb team. They played pretty dumb in moments today. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. Matthew says, what's going on? Joke, joke, joke. Joke, ghastly. So he's doubling down here.

[00:10:59] And he says, isn't the entire reason we carry Atgo for this exact reason? I didn't think it was for clutch moments, but now it's fascinating me. It is fascinating me. This, oh, this is frustrating. Jay says, Sam, this isn't a smart team. Some bizarre decisions. Zero game management. So we're going to come back to game management, hey? Yep. Yep. Absolutely.

[00:11:32] There were times when they looked like they were happier and more confident to do the Hail Mary 70 meter tries. And they got one, I think. But that's a problem when it comes down to these sort of games. And the longer it went and the more times we had the errors in the opposition 20 in Golden Point and just before Golden Point, the worse the vibe got for us. And then they won the toss with the wind.

[00:12:02] And you're like, oh, it's over. Then we hang on to give away a strip penalty. Duh. Logan chimes in, thank you, and says, not a utility except maybe fullback and halves. Be a bit off with a forward on the bench. Well, yeah, that's a good point, Logan, except we saw Maweenie Harati, who, by the way, is human and can concede to try and get injured.

[00:12:32] Go to the centers. I guess you can put Talacar there if you want. Appreciate you, Logan. Jesse says, no game management from the 70th to 80th minute. Wow. That's going to be fascinating to watch. Back. Completely believe every word you said. I just watched the game. I want to focus on that. Now, this is a really good one. It's going to annoy some people. But again, and we'll get to him.

[00:13:03] From Nick. Will Kennedy didn't deserve to lose. Will Kennedy is very, very good again. And he wasn't perfect, but he was very, very good again. We can get back to that. Matt says, we played with no brains in the first half. Dumb giving them possession and position. Shouldn't have been that close. Yeah, absolutely, Matt. Agree with that.

[00:13:30] James says, zero game management from our halves. So it's a bit of a theme here. Now, here's one from Shake. He's going to repeat himself from times gone by. A poorly coached team. Clear as day. How do I feel about that, Shake? I disagree with that. You know I'm going to say that.

[00:13:59] But I thought whatever happened out there today, today absolutely not a well-planned game. And I don't know how much I'm putting on the coach for that in-game moments, but I'd be hoping that during the week they're doing drills on golden point and field goals, et cetera.

[00:14:29] Jesse coming in clutch. Could have kicked five goals in the last 10 minutes of normal time. And he or she is a thousand percent correct. Thousand percent correct. Probably more annoying than golden point was the lead up. Ghastly says about Ramian. Had a lot of chances to give it to Stone Street, and we aren't thinking of golden point.

[00:14:58] He did have a few chances there, and it wasn't very clean and crisp, but the delivery, again, it looked like they were running out of room on that side. Danny Lee says, disappointing game. We can't be like losing games like this and be contenders. Who do we sign for next year? Friend Steve says, no game management.

[00:15:28] Our mate Fitz is here and said, weird fifth tackle options for the whole game, not just options in golden point. Yeah. Yeah, there was a bit of that Fitz going on. Boy, oh boy. I'm just looking at the final stats here. For run meters, we got Kennedy at one 85. Molotalo, one 73. Fennell Blake, one 84. Hazel's in a hundred.

[00:15:57] But another Molotalo was so up and down today. He was winning games. He was trying to, trying to give them the game. It was, he was all over the shop, but when he's good, he's very good. And he was very involved. Can't fault him on that. Now, I'm just going to throw this one up because he's a friend of the show, but also I've got to grill you. Ash, calm the hell down.

[00:16:25] That's a ridiculous statement for the people listening. We've been trash post 2016 grand final. That is a motion talking Ash. That is not you, but I appreciate you tuning in my man. I really do. Ghastly said, I have been rolling over the best today. Tracy says, what we're all feeling. That sucked. The big one. It sure, sure did. And hop over to the answer for a sec.

[00:16:54] Hold everyone on the Insta. Hi, hi, hi. I don't even says, always disappoint me. I don't know. I don't know. I hope you're doing okay though. Taylor said, great game though. Yeah, maybe. 50% says, Sam, I think it's best. I let the dust settle on that one. It's a circus for performance by so many. Yeah. However you want to handle this. 50% is cool with me. I'm loving these descriptions.

[00:17:25] So, so you don't, people don't have to swear in there. It comes out so much more intelligent. A circus of the performance. That's amazing. John also sums up what a bunch of us think would have been happy with the draw. Absolutely. Absolutely. Shep says our forwards and outside backs deserve so much more. Then our halves are offering. Okay. So some complaints there about the halves from Shep. Thank you.

[00:17:54] Our man, Clevo's coming in clutch. He said, Amy Shark was right. Rugby league is a horrible sport. I have to agree with Amy and with Cleve. MJ Gonzalez says, what an emotional roller coaster. It's early days, at least bit of positivity. Love it. Thanks so much. Hello to everyone who's joined. Michael says some of the missed opportunities are training drills, extremely disappointing results. Um, but Kennedy was immense again. That's a really great way to describe it.

[00:18:24] Missed opportunities, the training drills, disappointing result. Kennedy was immense again. Absolutely. Shucks lose 20 points to 18. Looking at some of these stats. I don't know how pretty they're going to be. Completions were at 73%. So not really good enough. 29 of 40. We had one more line break to theirs. They had 12 more offloads. Uh, we need to concede those offloads, especially in teams like the Tigers. Uh, run meters about the same.

[00:18:53] Post contact about the same. Miss tax is about the same. They won the penalty count. 10, seven, one big one at the end. They had four set restarts to two, man. Are you ready for this one? We had 16 errors compared to their seven, 16. Come on guys. 16 errors. No, no, no, no, no. Sharkies lose 20 points to 18.

[00:19:26] Wesley coming in hot saying dumb as bricks. Let's be fair. Nathan saying, I can't explain how frustrated I am by that result. I think I'm feeling it, sir. I think I'm feeling it. Oh my gosh. J Rick says the last 12 minutes, second half. They didn't even think about a field goal. Uh, second attempt by Hines. Yeah. Yeah. You make a great point, Jerry,

[00:19:56] just for our listeners talking about the field goal. Um, styles and what they did and didn't do. And the, and what happened. And, uh, yeah, they made it hard for themselves. You're right. Like Nico going for the 50 meter one, and then hits the post that all buck goes in. It shouldn't be that hard. Alex coming in hot in the coach. Another lesson as fits. He would say, Oh, I think he's coming in hot. I'm not, shouldn't presume. Uh,

[00:20:26] a good friend, Trish. Trish. I don't know if I could put that up, but you're awesome. Trish is, Trish is very critical and very accurate. Trish. I got to leave that one. I think other people can see it. Maybe. I don't know. Hopefully they can. Cause it's that. Yeah, they can. That's hilarious. Trish. All right. Good friend, Pete. Trish, I got the giggles now.

[00:20:59] Kids look away. Here's Trish's comment. And down. Amazing. Pete, our good friend, Pete. Pete's a drummer. Drummond man. He's a good man. Longtime sharks fan. Longtime shark caster. A win would be nice, but it would paper over the cracks. Our million dollar halfback fails again. The rest of the side proves we're the dumbest team in the history of the game.

[00:21:27] More downbound train than born to run. He's doing boss references. God bless you, Pete. Where do I start here? Amazing. So. When we talk about Nico failing, we're talking about game management. Yeah. Cause he had some good try assists. He almost won it with the 50 minute, but we're talking, we're talking game management. I get it. We're not leaving out Trindle though. Don't leave him out of the conversation.

[00:21:56] Cause he's an eight 50 K player a year now. So, or thereabouts. So don't leave him out. Great to see you there, Pete. And says, we tried hard. If it was there, take our lessons and move on. That's a, impersonation of the coach coach Fitzgibbon. Uh, well, I mean, they did try hard and the effort was there. So I, I take your point, Dan,

[00:22:23] but I take your point. Uh, James says no lessons learned last year against the dogs went too close to the trial and Singapore field goal. Exactly the same thing. So there was, there was criticism of AFB in this game, in this game, uh, doing the hit up too close to the line. And then it makes it harder for the, the guy kicking the field goal. And as you remember the Bulldogs game last year, did that.

[00:22:53] And it allegedly made it hard to go. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe James. I don't know. In game moments. I mean, AFB look like he was going to almost score a try. I'll take your point. I don't, I don't know if I can be critical about that. I need to sort of sit and watch and think about that one, but it's a, it's a good point. You're a, so Darby says our first half was pretty bad.

[00:23:22] We seem to go into a show when the chips are down. This is what disappoints the most. None of the halves stood up. Then Ronnie gave us a hope. We need to be better. Yeah. Great point. Great point. I'm going to bring in a friend of the show. He's looking great. Hi, Dan Nichols from the fins up podcast. Are you all right there? Mate, I'm all good. Sorry. The Uber took longer. I want to apologize for that photo. I don't,

[00:23:52] it's the only photo I had on the thing and it's better than looking at nothing. So this is, this is, this is pregame. This is before they missed 45 opportunities to score one point. Look, that's exactly right. Hence I'm looking like a wanker, but whatever. At least my shoulders are big there. Mate, what happened today? I've just woken up from a beautiful nap. I'm just about chucking sharks on. I'm looking forward to the game. Okay.

[00:24:19] I hope you like sin men's and I hope you like teams not getting one point to us because yeah, our audience who are awesome. People are there. We love them. They are pretty disappointed as I am and a little bit miffed and a little bit confused is what happened out there, particularly in the last 10 minutes of regular time. And then in the last eight minutes of golden point, Dan,

[00:24:46] talk to us about your thoughts just overall on where it went wrong. I, that first half was, was pretty terrible. I thought we scored right on the sort of halftime break. And I'm like, here we go. We'll run them down the second half. It's still waiting. Like I know, I know Nico's going to cop a lot of grief. I thought up until first 70 minutes were pretty darn good. We're paying a million dollars to not ice games. That ultimately what Twitter is telling me. And I don't disagree.

[00:25:16] I love this guy. I'm not going to be one of these people that's calling for him to be dropped. I mean, he had a trisist or two trisists and he kicked well considering that, that weather was, was despicable out there. I had some mates there that I've never seen anything like this, but ultimately he had, he had two shots at goal from very kickable. The one that he came closest was the most difficult kick of all. I thought he, I thought he was like to have a crack mate in that. That breeze 50 meters is very doable. And if that goes three centimeters to the right, he's a hero.

[00:25:45] So no problem there. The problem I have is that three or four times we've seen, I think this year, and then going back to last year, you can't kick over anyone who runs at him. Why doesn't he stand 15 meters deeper? It is the wind's howling. You're 20 meters out. If you're too close, go back 15 meters. Blake Browley can throw the ball. I know the wind may have played a part today. I get it. I get it. But I thought Braley in terms of service was pretty much perfect today in very difficult conditions.

[00:26:14] If Nico can't kick it, why is Trindle standing on the left-hand side, 20 meters there when he's a right footed kicker? Why isn't he standing in an advantageous position or a position that doesn't make it 10 times more difficult than it needs to be? I just think, look, wraps to the Tigers. They won that football game, but Cronulla lost it five times. And I mean, at halftime, I was like, ah, Cronulla, romp them. And then I'm thinking, whoever wins the coin toss is going to win the game. They muddled up their opportunity.

[00:26:45] And it was up to the boys just to run it forward and kick, and kick the goal. But I got to get it out of the way with a minute to go. Field goal gets blocked. Six tackles, whatever. Just set it up and take the field goal again. If you miss, who cares? They get seven tackles in 15 seconds. And we go left and there's an overlap. And if Dan Atkinson does literally anything other than what he does, we win the game. And he does what he does. And I'm not blaming Atko. He was thrown in there. Everyone knows my thoughts on him on the bench.

[00:27:14] So that moment where he, excuse me, had the knock on, there was a chance to catch him past, are you saying? Yeah, 100%. Ronaldo was in untouched. Or, if he steps, he scores. Or, if Nico Hines doesn't have a series of brain fades, Talakai just does the hit up and we kick a field goal. From 20 out right in front. Again, if you miss, oh, well, they've got no time left on it. Mate, our decision making was terrible today. There were four or five times like that try that De Silva scored. Nico Hines and Blake Bradley stood looking at each other.

[00:27:44] One of you go for the ball. If you don't get it, whatever, at least the effort, zero effort. The Ronaldo's getting caught four metres short and putting his arm out when he wasn't going to score. Which is dumb. Ram in at the end when Stone Street was going to score, but overran the ball. Ram in throws it anyway. It hits him in the side of the head and it lands in row C. Any of those things go right, we're sitting here. Jeez, that's a frustrating win. Better than a frustrating loss. Absolutely.

[00:28:12] We're joined by our friend Clinton, regular shark caster. Clinton, it's got to be big for you to join my man. How are you feeling? You got me, Clinton? What's going on? Hey boys. I'm just, I haven't heard the pod so far, but I've just had my Indian korma that I spent the day making. And now I want to cry. I think I'm done boys.

[00:28:42] I think I'm done. We can't play the Tigers. We've been galvanized. There it is. The whole, as I said in our group text, the whole comp, this of it, the Bulldogs were utter tripe on Friday night. Here was our chance to put a bit of a stamp on things that we've, we've got through the worst of the travel.

[00:29:10] We're going to now stand up and show what we're made of. And we put in that absolutely crap performance in the half, first half. I don't care what the wind was like was garbage. And then just to throw all that opportunity away in the second half to win the game, just staggering. Yeah. Now just as a heads up, Clinton's on a bit of a delay there and we can work with that. That's awesome. No worries. Clinton, you can't leave the sharks fandom after, you know, all your life following them. This can't be the end. There's,

[00:29:39] there's gotta be a brighter light at the end. I know you're feeling it tough, but if you're on the end of Clinton's group text chats, this is what it's like in person. So you've done a great job letting everyone know what you like on the group text, but Clinton, they should have won that game. They should have buried it. There is Dan, just to answer your question before, there is a lot of criticism about game management, Nico Hines, to a lesser extent, Trindle as well. Yeah.

[00:30:09] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. while we have you in all seriousness, where did it go wrong? Oh, well, I think we had the opportunity to win the game on what engagement, wasn't it? I mean, you can't blame AFB for,

[00:30:38] and not give Nico the space. I mean, surely it's about the halves directing the play and deciding when to go. I just, we don't have a leader in the team. I don't think Hines is leading the team. And yet McGuinness has got the scene next to his name, but he's not a real captain. You know, I think your captain, your leader's got to come from the halves, the people who direct the team.

[00:31:08] And the only spine, I mean, Kennedy was outstanding again, just absolutely outstanding. Yeah. But we just keep being let down, whether we're behind the scoreboard, whether we're in these tight games, we keep being let down by a lack of on-field direction and leadership. And that comes down to the hooker and the two halves. I think it is a bit of a line in the sand moment,

[00:31:34] because if we're going to be with the window open, allegedly, I think the windows open, but other people may not think that, but if this is one of the years, then we can't keep wasting moments like this. And someone has to step up and, you know, Nico with a Hail Mary field goal, man, I would have walked to Leichhardt right now just to chair him back to Caring Bar, but there was a Hail Mary. It didn't happen.

[00:32:05] And there were some great players out there. How good was Sifatala kind of second half? He was like destroying people. Like there were guys leading the way, but as everyone keeps coming back to it, wasn't the two or three guys that are supposed to be doing it. The fullback was unbelievable. Again, Dan mentioned a few incidents and I definitely wasn't, fond of them. There was a lack of urgency with some spilt ball and, and high balls and that kind of thing. And, and loose balls.

[00:32:34] And I think it's like, it's just got us there on those 1% plays, which is really frustrating. And as Dan said, they didn't beat us. We beat ourselves. And that's what, that's a line Fitzy will churn out of the press conference right now. We beat ourselves. So, uh, pretty frustrating. Dan, you were with a group of people. How was the reaction amongst the group of people you were with? It was, um, shout out to my brother. Happy birthday. I've had, uh, had one,

[00:33:04] one drink, Sam. So excuse my slurring. Um, it ran a pub. It was fantastic atmosphere, but it was very, when are Cronulla going to turn it on and win this game? And we're still waiting. When Renato scored before halftime, it went from doom and gloom to here we go. Yeah. And then when Atkinson knocked the ball on after, with a couple of seconds to go, it was whoever wins a toss wins again. And then when they didn't take their opportunity, we were just waiting. It was, it was, it was either our game or it was going to be a draw.

[00:33:33] And I think a draw would have been absolutely fair. Cause neither team really deserved it. But at full time, as soon as, as soon as Tom, like, and that was a penalty. I saw some people say it wasn't, it was, it was just a dumb move. I mean, it is what it is, but, um, yeah, everyone was just like, you serious? Like no one was angry. It was like, you serious? We lost to these boats again. Yeah. I've got no answer, man. I, I want to yell, but I don't know who to yell at. Like, it's bad. It's frustrating to lose,

[00:34:02] to lose to a team that in my opinion, we're clearly better than in a lot of ways. And you guys can fly back and go, hang on. These guys have bitten us, you know, two of the last three times. Maybe they're not so bad, but I maintain we lost that game. I think a lot of people would agree with that. Shout out to Wesley, who says we need a psychologist. That's what we're here to do. Come and vent to us. There are links. If you want to jump online and have your say in the flesh, no swearing, no, please.

[00:34:32] But yeah, I, the whole time I was just like, we've got to pump these guys. What's going on? Let's pump them. Come on, get down the field, get the fuel girl. Let's get the hell out of here. And yeah, the last 10 minutes of regular time and eight minutes of golden point was super frustrating because one field goal wins the game. And our friend Cleve says, we need a field goal shot in the fourth or third, if it's a good position. Why wait till the fifth? That's the only option. Defenders know it.

[00:35:02] So yeah, wise words from a wise man. Clinton, aside from, okay, bad game management. How did we not get the single point in the last 18 minutes of play in general? What happened?

[00:35:38] Sorry about the way. It's going to come in. Boom. I think my connection is just about to die, Sam. Oh, good. Before my connection dies, I'll leave you at this. We now get to play Mitchell Moses in magic round, and then we get to play the Melbourne storm. Oh, so we'll be out. We'll be, out of the eight in two weeks time. We won't win either of those games. Now, you know what that is? That's hard hitting journalists from one of the hard hitting journalists in the world.

[00:36:08] Hey, thanks for joining us. I know it's not your favorite time of life when the sharks lose. So I appreciate you jumping on. And we'll talk to you. No doubt. And quick plug for Clinton. Three to six to GB. You can listen to him all around the world. We've got listeners all around the world and you can listen to him to GB.com. And he is straight down the middle, just like this podcast. Just like him. He's back on. And he's going to be leading with, not the election,

[00:36:38] not terrorism, not whatever else he's leading with. Had they blow a one point lead. Had they blow it. Thanks, Clinton. Talk to you soon, brother. Dan, that was Clinton. And he, he's not happy. And none of us are. And if you want to have your say, there's links in the, in the, all over the places to come on and have your say, Chris says, poor performance from the sharks. What do you think about this one? Daniel, from one day to another,

[00:37:07] Bradley has no game management along with the halves. The decision not to pass earlier. Nico instead of threat AFB was terrible. What do you have thoughts on that? Um, Oh, look, I've had, I've had my ups and downs with Bradley. I certainly can't place blame on him today. Other than not putting enough effort in for the De Silva try. I think he was the closest. Um, look, if your halves want it, your halves get it is a simple fact. I hate that crash ball, but I mean, every time Fanoa Blake touched the ball,

[00:37:35] he looked like he was going to break seven tacklers. So I hate to sit on the fence. So I, I get, I get it. You know, I don't disagree, but I think, uh, well, you can blame every single player. I don't know if you're a player out there today at one point or another, but Bradley was, Bradley was fine. But ultimately if Nico calls the ball, Nico gets the ball. Yeah. Uh, Troy says, please keep Will Kennedy. Give that man his money. I'll tell you what, Troy, wherever he signs, he's getting an upgrade because he deserves it.

[00:38:05] And now there's other teams who need fullbacks all, all week, every week, you guys and girls have been saying, no one needs a fullback. You know, he needs a fullback, the bears and the PNG team and whoever else. So it's going to be payday for Will Kennedy. In all seriousness, Dan, I mean, how many points does he get for the Dalliums from that game? Like he's close to man of the match. He's probably not man of the match, but I mean, he was our best player. Yeah. If Cronulla win, he's the man of the match.

[00:38:35] Uh, I think, I think Galvin will get it. Uh, he probably get, yeah. look, Terrell may or Galvin, a year, man. May was awesome. I actually think Galvin was on the nose a little bit, to be honest. Oh really? Maybe, maybe I just got this thing of Galvin. I rate him a lot higher than most people, Terry included. Look, I think Terrell may. Some really, some, some really ineffectual kicks, particularly in the fifth tackle. And, um, you know, I mean, good luck to the guy.

[00:39:02] He came back in this amazing high pressure situation and they won the game. So I'm not, not putting too much shade on him, but yeah, Terrell may was unbelievable. I know you're a big man. You're probably the biggest guy out there who loves may. He was unbelievable. Yeah. I'll go three. I think he gets two from someone and a one, but he made, he was undoubtedly our best player by a long, long way. Yeah. Boy, Oh boy. Sharks lose 20 points to 18. You're on shark cast pod. And we are talking all things sharks for as long as you guys let us.

[00:39:32] Dan, as Clinton broke the news, we go to magic round in about 48 hours, it seems. And by the way, what's going on there last game, then first game, you're killing us. Brutal. Like you're allowed to complain. You're allowed to complain about that. If you're the coach, if you're the administration, if you're the podcaster, if you're the fan, if you're on the forum, you're allowed to say that and not have people go, Oh, no, it's ridiculous.

[00:39:59] Forget about like the entire year we've had about travel and whatever else from tonight. Oh, who can we have open? Well, why don't we have the guys that finished last in the round playing and we'll have them open up magic round in another state. Jeez. Okay. Against a team off a boy. Like, yeah. There you go. I didn't even realize that. Amazing. Amazing. Oh my God. Why did you tell me that? That's almost as,

[00:40:27] as revealing Dan as ghastly 10 said, why didn't they give the ball to clutch at co and that blew my mind, blew my mind for the field goal. No, he's kicked a couple ending. Our friend Joe at Mr. Paisley's does a great, great job down there. He's very honest when it comes to the sharks and he has to put up with seeing them all day, every day, including me as well. It's the local hang. We didn't deserve to win that game dreadful across the field.

[00:40:55] Don't know who is in charge of film management, but some of the choices that are beyond bad. Lick our wounds and start again next week. Yeah. I don't mind the end of that, but very accurate from show. He'll be up early serving me and the sharks and everyone else. Go down to Mr. Paisley's is an awesome place. Ghastly said T was out. Definitely missed him. Let's talk about that, Dan. We're both big Billy Burns fans. He scored a try. I thought he was totally fine.

[00:41:23] I was thoroughly impressed by Talakai. Should Talakai have started? Or is, is that the right combination there? I, I thought Billy Burns was lights out today. I had him as my second best player. I just seen Fanua Blake's leaders and now I'd probably switch them. So third best. Now I look, we did. Teagues, Teagues are a different animal, especially in defense. I thought Burns did everything he could, to be honest. I, I, I didn't notice too late. I saw Talakai was running wide. I just figured he was playing in the center, but I noticed he swapped with Burns.

[00:41:53] I don't know how smart that was. I thought Burns had the game in his hands, but Talakai came on and looked $10 million. So maybe, maybe I should shut up there, but, um, Oh, look, we definitely missed T a hundred percent. He's easy. Our best left back role, but I thought Burns say was fantastic. Oh, and I'm, I'm happy to keep that because off the bench, Talakai is unbelievable. Maybe if you place the whole game, it's not as effective. So that's a fair. Yeah, I agree. Yep. A hundred percent. Uh,

[00:42:23] thanks everyone for being in touch and buzzing. So we'll jump over to the Insta. Say hello to those people. We'll jump on the show. If you want to say good day, there's no stress. If you don't want to hold everyone on the Insta, John says Canberra. Now this, how many, what ifs will be, will be this season? How many, what ifs will there be? Ooh, guys are hitting me hard, hitting me hard. It's a great point, John. Let's go through it.

[00:42:53] South wasn't close. Cowboys wasn't close. Oh, but we threw that away. Should have been a lot. Yeah. But a bit more. I don't think we've won a tight one. Like what you're suggesting and what, uh, John's thing. That's for sure. Yeah, not, not ideal. Brendan says we can't win games when you can see trash from uncontested bombs. Yeah, that was not great. Uh, just remind me, Dan,

[00:43:23] was that a bomb or was it like some sort of other, like kick? Was it a kickoff? Was it, was it something else or just a fifth tackle bomb? No, fifth tackle bomb. The, the, uh, win, win took it and made it difficult, but someone should have a go. So we thought we'll didn't go for it. And, and I don't want to be all like defensive of will, but I was okay with that because like I often say, if you're not going to get it, well, it's best to sort of, you know,

[00:43:53] second best thing is to try and get the defender, whatever. But I do have a problem with Blake and Nico looking at each other and going, Oh, you get it. No, you get it. No, you get it. Like that was not good. And the silver was there to, I think it was the silver to pick up the crumbs. Yeah. Ken Webb, who's on show quite a bit. He braved the hill and he said it was a little bit. Um, no, you know what? It was Joshy, Joshy, who was on the hill as well. Josh said it was a little, crazy up there. cam said frustrating tonight, extremely unpleasant. Oh,

[00:44:23] here we go. Sorry. Extremely unpleasant. The sharks fan like a hill to another game. What's up? They're both on the hill. Hey, a bit of Barnsley. Okay. Everyone. So many legends watching us right now. This is awesome. Uh, Dan, did you miss not being on that hill today? Cause I didn't really miss not being on that hill today. Couldn't pay me enough, mate. The only time I've ever been to like heart, I was on my literal best behavior of all time. And I caught a full can of whatever they constitute as beer in the back.

[00:44:53] So I'm in back since it was probably the one night I didn't deserve it. But, uh, look when, when you're paying $45 or $55, it was to stand on the hill. Mate, lucky their fans are rabid because I'm not paying that. Uh, Phil says, why do we play at their level? Don't know how to close out a game real poor. These are all factual words, Phil and everyone else. Uh, I don't know what the coach is going to say in the press conference and I don't know what he's going to say behind the sheds,

[00:45:22] but I'm guessing they're going to be two different things. And I'm completely sure that he was at all, at all. Okay. a bunch of what went on, particularly trying to win that game. It was just crazy. Uh, Jason says, we look like a team that finishes ninth because we lose games like this. Yep. That's fair. Uh, Tim says dumbest team in the league. You'd think after the first three sets in front of the sticks, they'd learn how to ice it.

[00:45:52] Even if you gave him five more shots, they'd find a way to blow it. Embarrassing. Again, I mean, this is, these are fair words from fair fans and it did look, Dan, they looked in that situation. Is that a fair call? Yeah. I think the only time we got close to winning the game is when Nico tried it from 50 meters out. Yeah. Do you think, uh,

[00:46:21] what do you think happens? Let's just play fantasy for a sec and we'll get back to the misery. What happens if that goes through and we win the game is everything kind of forgiven in inverted commas from the critics or is it? Well, Nico's a match winner. That's, that's the way it's played out. Yeah. Wow. It's as simple as that. You kick the field goal. Look at Matt Burton, mate. He's the ice man. He missed four field goals for, he kicked the goal to beat Cronulla last year or two years ago.

[00:46:51] And he's the ice man because he kicked the one that went through and people forget the other three or four that he missed. So yeah, he's a match winner. If he makes it. Well, him says poor game management. Hines need to take the shot where he passed it to Trindle. Yeah. That was a bit weird. That one give Trindle a seven and stop trying to have two halfbacks take control. That's Liam. I don't disagree with the whole two halfbacks thing. Do you recall that one? I can picture it very clearly, Dan, where Hines had it, then he sort of threw it and it was a bad pass. And I think he did.

[00:47:20] Did he end up having a shot Trindle? Yeah, he did. He kicked it right. It was sort of was spewed, but I'm not going to buy him Trindle. Mate, if Nico's standing another 15 meters back, he gets a shot. Maybe misses. Who knows? But those are the, those are the decisions that we just got wrong today. And I put debt today. I know Fitz won't say this, but we were done today. And they, the Tigers were stupid and they won. I'm happy to say it that we were. Absolutely. I don't know if he will or not, but another fits in our life says,

[00:47:49] people are talking about lack of game management. Surely trainer Mark Noakes should be relaying messages to them from the coach's box. Now this will be the first and only time we're going to be critical of Mark Noakes, please. The man is an absolute legend and icon. It's an interesting point though. I don't know if Noakes, he was out in the field, but I don't tend to play that style of football, you know, like the Alan Langer, Brisbane Broncos managed. I know a lot of teams do it. Dan, would you say we do it less than a lot of other teams?

[00:48:18] I have noticed full disclosure, but if he's, if he's out there saying anything, but run straight and kick the goddamn field goal, then what's he doing? Like I know. Yeah. Okay. I think he's more saying, I think it's more, was he out there or not? Was he yelling? I don't think it was about giving him the wrong instructions. It's more like, is that something we rely on? Well, yeah, if we're not doing it, we certainly should be, but I just, I mean, Nico's a million dollar half bad. Like you just got to kick the field goal. That's,

[00:48:47] that's the crux of this. Good friend, Matt says, poor game by the team. We should ourselves in the foot numerous times, poor game management, stupid errors, mean to play better and smarter. Absolutely agree. And Terry says, the better team lost. AFB had less impact, less minutes, more impact than Terrell may. And we've been away from home for a long time. Come back home at the end of the season to win.

[00:49:16] And better team lost. What are your thoughts on that? Terry, Terry, I'm not going to call you Terry again. Dan, slip of the tongue. Oh man. I wish Terry Mortimer was honest to Dan. What? Dan, did the better team lose? I don't think so. I think the Tigers were better. I think it went to goal point. Neither team was great,

[00:49:43] but I can see how people can think that. Cronulla probably should have won on the, on the balance of power, but I think the Tigers were, I think they wanted it more and they deserve it. I think maybe Terry might be coming from the fact we had way more chances. And, and you know what? I would say that we looked way more dangerous and yeah, had more chances. So maybe that does mean you're the better team. I don't know. But I think that the Tigers, that they,

[00:50:10] as much as I still will believe and tell you that we lost that game, they definitely did a lot of good things to hang in there, particularly defensively. Yes. It's not about shout, but I look, I thought Fennel Blake was pretty much perfect today. I don't know how much you can do. Look, Terrell May was almost perfect today. So yeah. Well, let's, let's look at some of our dudes from the, so we all agree. Will Kennedy was fantastic. I thought stone street was decent, like probably a little bit quieter than usual, but I thought he did some stuff to sort of get us out of the,

[00:50:40] the bad in the town. I was critical of Ramien until probably he came alive in the last 20 or 30. Did you think he was missing a bit for a while there, Dan? Ramien? Yeah, definitely. I, there were two or three opportunities where stone street was screaming for the ball. And this is a bloke who's, you know, still a rookie, but when he's screaming for the ball, you know, he should have passed. Yeah. Look, stone street was fine today, mate. I thought it was good, but I do,

[00:51:08] I do want to point out that to Rube is five foot eight stone street, six foot four. Can someone pass that onto the sharks, please? Yeah. I'm just, I just wanted to point out some positives and I thought that, yeah, as you said, for Noah Blake, I thought Oregon Kofusi, I mean, there was a penalty or two in there. We didn't need, but he ran for almost a hundred meters. I thought, I thought him, Tom and for Noah Blake, they had a pretty good prop one, two, one, two, three hit up going,

[00:51:37] particularly with the wind. I know that is silly, but so I thought the middles were, were decent. I thought, I thought captain was a little bit lackluster today, less impact. Uh, I don't know if the stats I'm looking at are correct about Tsukuhatapua. Have you got any stats in front of you, Dan, by any chance? I do one run for seven meters. I got one for nine. What's going on there? Uh,

[00:52:07] I was just about to say, I think he's done as a first grader. So this backs me up, but I feel like he did more than that. Yeah. I'm not going down that route. I just, in my, in my head, he did more than that. Yeah. Oh, I didn't make that. That's got, he's got to miss one or two. Um, I thought he did more. Do you, do you have 28 minutes there? I don't have the minutes, unfortunately, but, I know he was on for almost half an hour. Maybe it was when they had the ball. I don't know. We need to look into that stuff without reacting crazily,

[00:52:36] but, uh, Matt says this, he says, I see tricky is the ability to be game management, but personality clash big time. So personally clash with the other players. Yeah. I'm not sure Matt be saying this. He's saying, let him take control. Yeah. Fair. Uh, this is from Jay. This is big. Is everyone ready? But you get your say, Jay, the player should be made to walk home and has to carry all the bags.

[00:53:06] Well, you know what, Jay, he's big enough to do it. So I'm okay with that. I don't think it was a walk home from like that kind of performance because they kind of did everything but win. And I'm not trying to like be the homer here, but in parts they were awesome, but they were really silly. And as Dan said, dumb. Um, so it wasn't like a shameful performance. You know what I mean, Dan? Like it's one of those weird ones where it really stings. It really hurts.

[00:53:35] If he doesn't hit the post, it's the greatest win of all time. And as Joe said, it does cover up a few. I think it was Joe covers up a few things if we win, but yeah, I don't think it was like a diabolical performance. I just thought you would love to have some of those moments back. Uh, this is some positivity from ghastly. He says, uh, Colquhoun 18th man dropped two coup for him. I think you might see that. And we know Jesse's a workhorse.

[00:54:03] So he's easing his way back into it. We do have to send our love and respect to, uh, Cade Dykes. Who's having a tough time. He had a pretty serious injury. There's nothing official on it. It's, it's, it's ranging from dislocated knee to ACL. Uh, we don't have anything concrete, so I don't want to speculate on that, but he's obviously seriously hurt himself again. And, uh, it's, cause it's not to do with, it's not his, it's not his lifestyle.

[00:54:32] It's just one of those things. And we wish him all the best. We hope it's not as bad as what it kind of looks. And if it is, we hope he comes back bigger and brighter than ever. But Dan, I know you're particularly affected by this incident. Yeah. I love Cade Dykes. I was convinced he was going to be our next fullback. Obviously you can't take that off Kennedy now, but mate, he, he started the game really well. And then he went down and it was sort of under high contact. I know, I know I sent you the clip was under high contact and they're like, Oh, he's been clipped. That's penalty.

[00:55:02] He just didn't get up. And I, I went back and rewatched it a few times. He just, he just hit the ground and you knew it was me straight away. And I had a mate out there, shout out to AJ who texted me. Talk is dislocated knee. Like you, mate, I don't have anything concrete to follow that up, but it just considering he's just come back and he's looking so good. I don't, I know he's off contract. I don't, I don't want to go down that thing, but my heartbroken is the word. I don't want to be over the top here, but it ain't good.

[00:55:34] Uh, no, it's not. And what is good is people writing to us and I'm getting lots of emails at shark cast pod at gmail.com and by the website, shark cast.com. And keep them coming. We'll get to them through the week. They're a bit long and labored to do on the show now. Plus we have all these lovely people here with us. So the emails we'll get to, but completely appreciate it. Thank you so much. And I didn't mean to go down the right lane away from the K Dykes lane, but, uh,

[00:56:04] it's him. And it's going to be interesting to see what happens with his contract situation. Yeah. He's off contract. Yeah. Okay. I would, I would say give him one year, a development deal or whatever, but she's just going to be, it sucks. Terrible, terrible spot. Well, they've done it before for human for others. So I wouldn't rule that out. I hope so. And to be perfectly honest,

[00:56:32] I don't see another club unless it is one of the ones down the track, which would be even weirder. I don't see clubs knocking on the door right now. So he might be okay. He might be staying a local, but it's a, it's super unfortunate. So I do want to point out just quickly that I was sort of like, Oh, what do we do from here? And good mate, rich pointed out. Well, Connor Tracy had what three or four ACLs and is now a superstar. So positive. Yeah. He's a young dude. He's,

[00:57:01] he's got great fitness, great attitude. And I certainly don't think it's the end unless it's some sort of like awful report from the doctors that say, you can't do this anymore. There'll be no, none of that. Like he'll come back. It's just a matter of what shape he's in and where he is and that sort of thing. But time will tell. BJK says something needs to change. What I don't know. At times, the team doesn't play with the experience they possess.

[00:57:30] That's a great point from BJK. And that's why I referred to the line in the sand moment. I think people like me who, uh, I don't know. I know Dan, that there's a bit of a rep that I tend to look on the bright side and that, which, you know, believe that don't believe that, whatever. I, I just sort of see it how I see it. But I think I've seen enough right now, as far as chances. And, you know,

[00:57:58] if they'd missed every one of those field goals by an inch or they all hit the post, I'd be a lot more sympathetic. Or if they, if they had not gone for those tries down the side or all that crazy stuff. And instead just done the five hit ups and gone to the field goal every time and missed every time, I'd be a lot more sympathetic. Oh, as you sort of pointed out, when it comes down to a guy trying to kick it from 50 out, I mean, actually it's the post and it goes the other way. That's a problem,

[00:58:27] you know, because he shouldn't even have got that close. So BJK, that's an awesome point. Thank you so much for making it. Now NS says, agree with Clinton. The halves need to be brutal when controlling the team. Surprised after last year, we let this one slip. The effort was there and brilliance, but shoot mate. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:55] Great wise words from our listeners and viewers. You guys are the best. We love you. And you all call it how you see it, which is all you can do. And Dan, do you think, obviously the storyline is going to continue, whether it's the mainstream press, definitely the shark press about game management. How do we address this? What do we do? Fitz needs to come out and put a line through that real quick. Cause I guarantee you,

[00:59:24] as soon as I log into the Facebook groups, everyone's going to be calling for Atkinson to come into the halves. There you go. Literally. Yeah. But I actually don't, I actually don't have a problem with this because, and, and Ghastly pointed out too, he was actually on the field and he's done it before. And to be honest, and it's just Homer talk. I think he gets, I think he gets one to be honest, but we don't know. We don't know. It's, it's, it's all speculation, but I actually don't have a problem because he's on the field. It's different to what you're about to say though.

[00:59:54] Go ahead. What are you going to say? No, look, a hundred percent. But the fact is we're paying a bloke a million dollars to ice games. And he's not that that's called a fact. And you have to go a long way to find a bigger fan than Nico Hines and me. But that's the facts. Like you cannot argue that he didn't ice a game that he should have. And he's on a million dollars. So he's going to, he's going to cop it. What I would do if I was fits is I'd say, no, Nico is not talking to the media this week. Anything that said, we have to shut it down. We have to Galvin. Like the Tigers did. Ha, you want to talk about that? Too bad.

[01:00:24] I want to talk about this week. Yeah. We're going to magic ground. We're playing Parramatta. We're looking forward to that. So I wouldn't certainly wouldn't ignore it, but that's something they have to handle at training and training only. I, I don't know what Trindle was doing today. I think that's, he's gotten incredible highs and incredible lows. I do think if Hradi had been not injured and I hope he's, he's been fantastic. Then there's definitely a shout to say, Oh, Trindle come sit down and think about what you've done and put Trindle on at six and Atkinson on at six. I just,

[01:00:52] there's no plan with Dan Atkinson. And it doesn't look like he's there to do anything other than Hradi's injured. So go to the centers, which today worked out extremely well, but I mean, he's a bloke who last year, what one is two games and Nico missed a few and Trindle was playing bad. Why don't you go to Atkinson? Completely fair. Yeah. Daniel, Doc, Holiday says, Holiday, I apologize, says, I feel like this game is why we can't go to the next level.

[01:01:23] No game management at crucial times. Confits. He just put Nico to six and Trinkito to seven. Does that change anything there? Yeah. I don't think it solves. I completely appreciate your point. I just don't think it solves what we're talking about. It's just a number, right? We're not talking about numbers. We're talking about someone being in charge.

[01:01:50] So I think like maybe it just requires, you know, Dan, maybe it requires a lot of watching of, as we say, business tape, film, video. And then it takes a lot of training drills to really just, and I'm not suggesting they haven't done this. So don't freak out, but maybe this is, maybe they just need to go line in the sand.

[01:02:19] Our next training session is this. It's four hours of video. And then you go out there and do it for whatever, because it's obviously not our strength. And if you're going to win the comp, it's got to be something that you can do. It's got to be clinical. It's got to be routine. And I appreciate there were times where the tribe was on and they almost got there, but almost isn't good enough in this, in this instance. It's a, it says hindsight.

[01:02:49] You're not going to like one Dan simply gone to the sentence. I didn't think that Akko in the sentence today was a problem. I know it has been in the past, but you okay with that one, Dan? I can see why with the, the impact, but I mean, if you name it, you're going to go to the utility. So I have no problem with it in attack. Yeah. Talakai is a monster, but defensively he gets stood up. So I have no problem with what they, what they've done.

[01:03:19] You know, who might be sitting pretty here for a new deal, given what I've flashed up on the screen, Nick, now dikes and injured longterm. I think that Marwini might be getting another deal because at the moment, he's the next in line, correct? To play fullback. A hundred percent agree. Yep. So maybe he just gets the deal no matter what. And he's obviously versatile and he had that miss today. I would love to know Dan,

[01:03:46] if he was injured before that miss on the try. I need to know that out because it was very unlike him. Yeah. He got stood up. It happens. Happens. I'm not, you know, not yet. It happens. I, I hear, I was thinking he was perfect though. And he's clearly not pretty close. Nathan says, where do we go from here? I think we've regressed this year. It was supposed to be premiership year. Well, I think first of all, Nathan, it's this early days. It's around eight.

[01:04:15] So there's a long way to go. A lot more positive can happen, but, and I'm getting tired of hearing my own voice saying it line in the sand. It's got to be here, Nathan. We can't keep losing these ones. We just, just can't be a thing. Uh, what are your thoughts, Dan? Yeah. Oh, it's so frustrating.

[01:04:42] Cause we're so bad for 38 minutes and we scored the best try in the game in our first half. Yeah. Last year we started what? One at one and nine or one and eight. And then fell away late. I'm hoping against hope that we go to reverse this year where we sit right now on the table. I'm not worried, but the matter of the losses today was terrible. Canberra, we threw it away. You're looking back. You want to beat Penrith now, but like, I, I, I struggle with the words.

[01:05:12] I'm so frustrated that we lost today, but it's like, if we, if we beat the, like if we beat Parramatta next week, whatever, we're sitting pretty again. It's just, it's so frustrating because Penrith is so bad. The Bulldogs have shown that they're bullies. The Broncos can't get it together. And the storm just for whatever reason, Cronulla were the team who was supposed to say, yeah, you know what? We'll go to Tigers and we'll put 30 on them and we're premiership favorites. And it's just, yeah, it's not turned out that way. Maybe that's on us for talking them up in the preseason. I don't know.

[01:05:41] I could make nothing. Anyone said is, is I disagree with. I'm happy not to take any blame at this point, Dan. Yeah. Oh God, me neither, mate. Every time I go, I do have to, I do have to cop a couple of weeks ago when Eero was on fire. I said, we got the best Santa pairing in the world and Eero's turned to, to not so good since. So that's on me. I apologize. Don't forget. It's KL Eero, not Kale. K, KL. Come on. KL. You know,

[01:06:11] yeah. Window, window's still open, but they got to learn. They, I don't want to say they got to learn from this. They, they, they need to be better in situations like that. I don't think there's one player in that team today who would disagree with that statement. I don't think that they would listen to conversations like this and go, Hey, that's a bit harsh. No, they completely like bombed so many chances to win the game. And a lot of you are very frustrated, including Dan and myself. Damo says,

[01:06:41] Echo is too handy to be out in the centers. I see him more useful, giving Bradley a rest and playing more in the middle. Well, look, I don't hate it, but you know, there's a guy like Beryl who can do that as a professional hooker. If that's what you want, he's not as versatile as that co, but he can be the middle. He can be the hooker. So yeah, that co things it's getting into like a thesis territory. I reckon. Um,

[01:07:10] I was going to say before about making the most of these opportunities. When I look at the Fitzgibbon era so far and the team that we've had, which is largely the same as what it was from day one to now is obviously a few guys coming in and out, but I actually, I clearly really love the team. I am a fan of the coach. I like the way they play. Night selects a night suggest that the fans are right. They still have a way to go.

[01:07:37] And they're probably not learning how to ice the games. But my biggest issue with this, Dan is what you were saying before about this is the year when you could probably go win a comp because Penrith may not even make the eight. Melbourne are next best and they're awesome, but they can have off nights and everyone else is kind of at our level when we're at that level. So I get very frustrated, especially like in prelims, like against Penrith last year,

[01:08:07] I get so frustrated with this was a chance you may never ever get again. This is a chance as a fan. You may never ever get again. That's dramatic. I get that. But as players, you may never get to a grand final prelim again. You may never get the chance to go into a grand final and win a premiership. And this is where the whole Friday Night Lights kind of romanticism BS comes in for me. It's like you need to make the most of every moment. You're in Leichhardt. It's a full house. Go win the freaking game. You've got the wind.

[01:08:37] You've just held them out against the wind. Take the wind. Win the game. Like for me, Dan, that's where I get a little bit emotional, a little bit unsure of things because how many chances do you really get? A hundred percent, mate. You nailed it. Last year, I felt like we were quite like by a distance, the third or fourth best team in the comp. You know, you had your big two. This year going in, Melbourne aside, I'm pretty confident I could be, we could beat anyone on any given day.

[01:09:06] Didn't see what Penrith was coming. So I had them very high and I thought Brisbane were good. You know, the dogs are there or thereabouts. There's a lot of dross in this competition. You know, you look at the Titans, you look at the way the dolphins squandered today, Canberra hugely overperforming. It's been fun as a rugby league fan. This has been a great year. And I'm glad you didn't bring the Simbens up or I would have got just kicked off. Oh no, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. I'll say that for then. I think in terms of the game quality, it's been pretty good this year, but the competition is wide open.

[01:09:35] But as a team who went in as big favorites, you being frustrated, mate, is completely, absolutely. Okay. Okay. Trying to buy five, all these comments are just like, we should have won the game. What are we doing? We're throwing it away. And I don't want to labor on the one guy because I get enough beef about allegedly sticking up for him. I don't know what that definition means when you talk about praising someone, but let's just imagine that Will Kennedy keeps playing this way.

[01:10:04] I'm not saying he will, but let's say he does. And for the first time today, I mentioned it to someone else. You know what? He really does remind me of someone. And I held off that thought for a long time. And I'm not saying he's as good as that person. Cause obviously he's not, but he reminds me of that guy. Now I can finally officially say it. And that guy is one of my favorite players of all time. And you know who I'm talking about, but say he keeps playing nine out of 10 every week.

[01:10:35] Shouldn't we strap ourselves to that guy and AFB and win these fricking games? We've got so many chances. That's where the frustration for me comes in, Dan, because everyone wants this superstar fullback and all of a sudden you've got him, but we're going down to the Tigers. And I say that with respect, but they've won the wooden spoon the last three years. Completely fair. Hey, he going into this year,

[01:11:04] we needed a prop and we needed a fullback. We got them both. Like, yes, frustration is, is the word. I just, I'm struggling with words here. Cause I was so angry at the end of that game that we lost it. And I'm thinking if we, if we'd not done this, this and this, if we hadn't made the five stupidest decisions at every single opportunity, we're sitting here today saying, that's a frustrating win, but whatever we go, we play Parramatta next week. They just, they got to stop. And I don't know how you train this. I don't, I don't know if you can.

[01:11:32] They just got to stop doing dumb stuff. Every opportunity. And I don't get it. I don't know whether, I mean, football, footballers get an unfair rap a lot of the time of not making the best decisions on and off the park. But I mean, you've got guys with hundreds of games under their belt. You got a guy who's again, and I'm going to hark on this because it's fact, a million dollars throwing the ball left. And I know Atkinson, you know, probably should have done better than he did, but he's a,

[01:12:01] he's a utility playing center and you've got a million dollar halves or $2 million halves pairing, whatever it is. And they're not just taking the easy hit up in the field goal. Like it just, I don't know, maybe sit him down and fit says, Hey, you trained or come here. What should you have done? What do you think you did wrong? And open up that. And I don't know how you train it. I don't know how you get better. I would be shocked if that doesn't happen. You won't hear about it, but I'd be shocked if that doesn't happen. And let's not, as I said, I think before you joined Dan, let's not leave the number six out of it,

[01:12:29] because he's on about eight to eight 50 a year now, which is a lot of money. So it's 150 less than the other work. But if we're going to, in this game point out one half, I think both half for a little bit missing. As far as the management goes, they both did some really good stuff throughout, but when it came to the crunch, it wasn't good. Just want to remind everyone, if you want to jump on and have you say, you can do it. There's links all over the place and you just sort of click on it.

[01:12:59] And the rest is sort of be self-explanatory. If you want to jump on, no swearing, but you all can come on and have us have your say, if you want. Otherwise we're having a lot of fun getting your comments and everything else, but please don't feel like you can't join us. We're two, obviously half decent humans here talking about a team that is one that we love, but today frustrates us a lost a lot. Shake says, the NRL needs to do something about the sin bins. Neither tonight was one. Uh,

[01:13:26] it's going to be a huge storyline as soon as right now into the week. And it's a frustrating one, Dan, because you, you can see they're trying to do the right thing by the players, um, safety and everything. And I'm all for that. Everyone knows I'm anti concussion, but, uh, they got to do something about the consistency as in, maybe that's not the right word. Just they got to get it right.

[01:13:56] They got to get it right. How do they get it? Like, let's just spend a little bit of time on a long time here, Dan, but how do they get that right? Well, there's been a massive overcorrection earlier in the year. We saw Jerome law, I run out shoulder, bloke in the head and everyone in the world said, he's got to sit down here. And he didn't that go back to the NRL. And, and you know, these blokes and I'm very much like you, I'd rather be a little bit more cautious than not. And then they've come out and said, well, we're having a crackdown. And boy, have they to the point where,

[01:14:26] okay. Nicker had to go based on what we've seen this weekend. No, it's absolutely not a sin bin. The poly one was offensive on how weak it was. Then earlier in the game, you see Jack Bird slap Renato on the face. Now, not for one single second. Do I believe that should have been a penalty in any way, shape or form, but he said, Oh, it's incidental contact. 90% of the contact is incidental, but if he hits it in the head, it's a penalty except when it isn't. I,

[01:14:55] I'm not a fan of Graham Anersley. I won't go down that, that rant right now. And I hated the cringe way he would stand up and tell us, Hey, the ref's got it right. When they obviously didn't. I don't know what the answer is. I'm going to, I'm going to attack this one on outlaws where I don't have any, well, I can, I can say what I, what I want without being dragged. It was a very frustrating week of football to watch.

[01:15:19] I think there were probably four or five week letter slaps that went to the sin bin. I don't like when coaches sit and say, Oh, look, we lost by 40, but we don't know what a sin bin is. I think that's a cop out, but I think this week, I think every coach has got to get in on one email and send an email to whoever or everyone and say, Oh, this isn't good enough. What's doing? Or I don't know who, who watches South Park or we go to sarcastic ball.

[01:15:50] Not a lot of people get that, but we put, we put bras on and we put, we put funny hats on and we all hug each other at halftime. I am very, very, very anti headshots. I think, you know, anything that hits you in the head is going to be a penalty. But last night we saw a bloke fall into Tommy Turbo's buttock and get a penalty. Thank God it was overruled, but it is, it is dead set. Ridiculous.

[01:16:14] And now we're at the point where there was a penalty for us for a high tackle towards the end of the game. I don't know if it was a gold point or not. Now, was it a penalty? Something happened. And you saw Blake flash up the two, like the 10 fingers, 10 in the bin. And he did it half-heartedly just for the hope. Hey, can you simply this guy? And then you have other people saying the game's ruined because they're going to lie down. Of course they're going to lie down. If you can get a penalty for your team,

[01:16:43] whether you like it or not, you know, all of a sudden every player is Ric Flair and that's what you got to do. Like you'll do anything to win the game. And don't give me some BS about it's not in the spirit of the, it's like, shut the hell up. We're here to win a game. Do I condone it? Do I, do I, do I approve of it? No. Do I understand it completely? Completely. I completely understand when you say to your players, stay down. If you're going to get a penalty set, we're not here to make friends. We're here to win games.

[01:17:13] And that's what you're going to see until they fix this stuff up. And as you and I have said, Dan, there's a fine line because we don't want guys getting concussed. We don't want dangerous things happening, but if things do happen and they're on the lighter side, they're definitely not forceful. It's accidental. You need to bring this stuff into like, that's where you need someone to go, Hey, it's all okay. And the reason it reversed the reverse situation, Dan, the one with bird and Ronaldo,

[01:17:39] the only reason that wasn't a penalty probably wasn't a sin. And the only reason it wasn't a penalty is so they didn't look stupid. They had someone in the area going, don't give this will look ridiculous. Don't give it. That's the only reason. Otherwise they would have gone, Oh, it's he's hit him in the, in the face. It's a penalty. Of course it's a penalty. It's a high shot. It's a penalty. So it's a pickle. It's a pickle. I'm not here to podcast about head eye tackles, but it's a pickle.

[01:18:06] This one's now Dan, you're not used to getting criticism, but here's one from Jason. He said, Billy Burns lights out. You need to be checked mentally. Defense was a liability. I did note he missed three tackles, but that's not a lot in a game of rugby league, but you can reply to Jason. I can appreciate a difference of opinion. I thought, I thought, I thought Billy Burns was real good. I,

[01:18:36] my parents have had me checked and it was all good, but I, I don't think. Yeah. I don't. This. No, no. Okay. Kevin says, why can't we just ice games? We've always struggled. We don't even look like we are improving at this. I wish we could shake the choker tag we've had for a long time. It's a fair call from Kevin. And yeah, I, if this happens again this year, I would be not shocked,

[01:19:05] but I would be particularly hurt. I'd be personally hurt. I'd, I'd feel it even harder in my heart because, and you know, I don't want to get all crazy on everyone because I understand that if you're playing a game like this, which I haven't played, it's a lot different to watching it on the telly or in the grandstand or in, on the hill. I get it. You can't just make things happen necessarily,

[01:19:29] but today they clearly had the chance to win the game and it didn't happen. And I think they need to look into that. And I'm hoping that they will. Jay said a common word being used across all platforms to describe the team is dumb. So that's true. So Gus said, Tuku in a bears Jersey will look just fine to me. Uh, James says,

[01:20:00] Hazleton and Tukes turned a strength into weakness. So many bad decisions from these two run hard, tackle hard. It's not your, uh, yes, they give away penalties. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. James. Like they, I mean, I don't want to focus on the Tom thing. It was where the game was lost. It was where they officially lost the game. You just got to be better. Right. And the heat of the moment, you can't have your hand anywhere near that. I mean,

[01:20:29] it's silly to say that because you don't want him offload or whatever, but yeah. Yeah. It's a pickle. What was he thinking? Uh, Dan says, bring in Jesse or Puru. Can Dykes play seven? All jokes aside. We need something. Ducks can't even walk, dude. You might have to wait on that one. Uh, Joe from Mr. Paisley said, can we discuss Trindle's terrible short kicks? So the dropouts. Another try was conceded from them today. Yes,

[01:20:58] we can absolutely discuss them, Joe. And we can discuss them right now. I understand the need for a short dropout in the right circumstance. Uh, it seems like the team has a mentality where that is doing them now and they're going to get the ball back. That's their aim. I don't agree with that philosophy. I think that you should pick and choose when to do them. Uh, it was against the wind today.

[01:21:26] I can only think that that kick was so bad that it had something to do with the weather, Dan, because it was kind of wild, right? Like that, the kick was kind of wild. Yeah, it went backwards. I don't look, I would have been a proponent of just put, put the ball up in the air, like just kick it. It's kind of as hard as you can and it will end up where it ends up. So we saw it was going 20 meters and blowing back five or six. So I think that would have, uh, would have been the better option. But yeah, I agree with that.

[01:21:52] If you can see to try off a short kick and you go back to it again, you kind of inviting trouble. And I feel like we're definitely not the only team in the comp that does that, but yes, good share. Yeah, for sure. Uh, it's obviously become a bit of a theme, uh, just over on the Insta. Hello, everyone over there. Uh, Taylor said, what signings would you like for 2026? And also says, I feel like we're a better side with Akko and Heinz in the halves.

[01:22:22] Uh, 26, Dan, it's, it's a loaded question. It's a tough question. Have you got thoughts on 26 yet? Um, it's going to be, it's going to be tough because we've got no money. I, if look, the worst comes out about Dykes, um, I would go to a young fullback and say, we need a backup fullback. That would be my first thing. I think all the ingredients are there. I think the bench, look, we got, we got the players to come on the bench. I'll save that for another day as well, but our depth is very, very strong. I mean, Newtown,

[01:22:52] a one win off points difference off winning the thing and flag are really fine in form. There's a lot of players there that can and will play first grade. I just feel that, I mean, Iceland's going to be coming off, uh, an ACL and Dykes may or may not be back this year, potentially later. Unfortunately, I saw far longer as the player that I would be looking at and say, Oh, you want to crack? But I mean, right now you can't play fullback. So if you're going to back up, you're probably going to stay with the storm. It's going to be backup signings. Put it that way.

[01:23:21] I'm looking at if a rod is fit, give him, give him another year. I think it's more re signings. There's no star player out there that we're going to get, unless you get a situation where like a hammer and the well, he says, I want to go home and I need to change. Then we can talk. I could name five or six, you know, is my preference at this stage. I need more time to see how this year is going to pan out. I'm not convinced this year is going to be a disaster by any means. And it's boring for all you guys and girls,

[01:23:50] but I'm convinced that the squad we have is good enough to do something really special. Now today is not a great example of that. And today I hope isn't how things are going to be. I'm pretty sure they're not going to be like that, but I still sort of am a believer in the squad, but yeah, today's kind of makes me question a little, a few things there, but a shout out to my friends, the shark cage are repping at like art. I hope they help.

[01:24:19] I'm sure they held their own on that hill. Damo says we need some changes. Some incumbents needing a stint at new town. And he mentions Michael Gabriel ready to spark our back line. Yeah. I just, I don't know who you're going to drop there. I think that's the, unless for Roddy's out, maybe is, is a two questions. Is Gab, Gab,

[01:24:49] Gabriel ready. And who would you replace him with? If Roddy's fit next week, no one. If he's not, if they named Dan Atkinson over Chris Vaila or Michael Gabriel, then we can, we can have a serious discussion. Vaila can play first grade this week. I think if Gabriel did, he would be fantastic. He is more a next year. I think he's a guaranteed first grader. He's amazing, but I think if Roddy's fit or hero, obviously if he's fit, they come straight back in.

[01:25:19] I don't think Ramian has been particularly good, but you can't drop Jesse Ramian. Yeah. So Vaila for me. So talk to me about Vaila and Gab, Gabriel. Are they the same side of the field? No. So I think Gabriel has been playing on the left. So I think if you want to go light for light, but Newtown are funny in that they can switch it up. Like Stone Street played both sides. It's pretty much, it's a need basis. I mean,

[01:25:49] Haradi's played everywhere. So you don't have a particular side. If, if you want to go this week and hero is not fit and Haradi's not there and say, Hey, Gabriel, you're our, you're going to play a lot of first grade the next 10 years. Name him. What the hell? If he has a shocker, so Ronaldo, that's worked out. Okay. I, he's got this power and speed that he's just, he's destroying people in New South Wales cup with NRL games for laughs. He's one that we need to prioritize. Absolutely. But I mean,

[01:26:19] if Haradi's fit, Haradi's done everything right. And you cannot drop him at this stage. Okay. Shout out to everyone on the Insta. And Jacqueline says, Jacqueline says, how much longer do we give Nico? I'm sick of making excuses for him. So, uh, it's a big question from Jacqueline. Appreciate it. I guess the question maybe is how much longer do we give him to win these games? so I think that's the game management.

[01:26:49] Uh, I'll let you look at that one, Dan. How long do we give Nico? I'm sick of making excuses for him. We signed a five year deal with a million a season. So five years, like it, there's, there's no way out. Damn you, Dan and your, and your factual answers. He has to do it. I get the frustration. And I, if I'd been picking the team next week, based on today, you say, Nico, go sit, go sit and watch, you know, for a week and think about what you've done.

[01:27:17] But the fact is he's million to half. He's going to get picked every week until unless he's injured. Yeah. I think, I think Jacqueline, we just need him to get better. And I'm, I'm convinced he can do it and I'm convinced he can do it at the highest level, but that's not good enough for us when on days like today. And I don't think he was alone, but if he is going to be the man, then the man has to step up and do things. And yeah, it's a, it's a big question.

[01:27:47] We've got lots of questions coming in. People are writing to us, DMing and everything. So we'll get to those during the week, but appreciate everyone being in touch. And everyone jumping on, on all the platforms. It's awesome. Dan and I have a great time. I am does. Who's a very reasonable, reasonable follower of this team. I've been to sharks last two games at Leichhardt. Both been humbly experiences. Much. I hate losing. It's a great cauldron. Like atmosphere. Favors, the home team.

[01:28:17] Individuals will be blamed, but you can't have a 73% completion and expect to win. I like that. Now, Dan, just looking at some of the stats, I don't know if you heard these. You've got them in front of you. We made 16 errors. That's more, that's double what, more than double of what they did. 16 errors, Dan. It's got a little bit to do with it, doesn't it? They were dumb errors too, unfortunately. And. One, two, three, four,

[01:28:47] five. There was six, 17. Who didn't 11 players made an error or more. So it's definitely not. Blaming the one person. I'm glad you got out of there alive. Juz. Shake's got a good question here and we'd love to hear people's thoughts. Has anyone enjoyed a whole game? This year. We see Michelle of ourselves. We're kind of in bad teams anymore. Okay. Okay. So.

[01:29:17] Let me do this. Let me, let me take you through all the teams, all the games, Dan. Okay. Did you enjoy all of the Las Vegas game? I did. Cause I was with Josh bowling, sinking beers and eating hot dogs. No, no. Uh, it was a frustrating game. Cowboys 36, 12. I think we enjoyed all that. Didn't we? Yep. Yep. That was the one I was going to mention. Now. Yeah. Sharks 27 over the Robert O's 12,

[01:29:46] obviously an amazing first half, second half. Yeah. Canterbury. We lost. Raiders. We lost. That was bad. First half. And Lee 24, 18. Remember about that Dan in Perth. What happened to the first half? Were we being off on the first half? What happened? Uh, against me only, was it? Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought, I thought if you take the two intercepts away, I think we're talking about that was probably the performance of the season.

[01:30:17] Also, Newcastle. That was a pretty complete performance. I know they scored some late tries, but I'd say that was probably along with the Cowboys. Anyway, shake. I'm not, I'm not taking apart what you're saying. I'm just, it was a genuine, I was trying to think and I would say Cowboys and the Knights. Uh, but I take your point. I definitely take your point. Uh, David says Fitz is out of his depth. No idea,

[01:30:47] but we'll fix it. No doubt. Uh, that's two different things there, David. If you want to write back, I'm going to say more exclusively what you're trying to say there out of his depth, but we'll fix it. Is that tongue in cheek? I don't think he's out of his depth. I think it was just a really bad game debate by, as far as management of the, the team on the field. Uh, Fitz,

[01:31:17] Brendan Fitz says, that's a good point that I make. Well, glad someone is liking what I'm saying. What Fitz says in the press conference is not what he'll be saying in the sheds and review. Absolutely. I mean, I know that I say that a lot in the pod Fitz. This is Fitz Brendan. He's an old friend of ours. I can call him Fitz. Uh, I say it a lot because through different people and experiences,

[01:31:45] I have a bit more insight than the general punter. I'm not saying I have the most. I'm not a head swirl. I'm just a person trying to get by, but, uh, I do know for a fact that what he says in the press is very good. Uh, he doesn't want to be there. At that point, he's probably not thinking about what the fans think he's thinking onto the next game.

[01:32:10] Now you may think he has a responsibility to the fans to get everything out and say, you know, and be the crazy emotional guy, but he guy fires, uh, the public persona goes, but he'll definitely take them apart about a whole bunch of things. He won't hold back. He doesn't, I think he, there's a reputation for, uh, for Craig Fitzgibbon being a guy that tiptoes around the players and is their best mate and everything. It's not really like that. It's just,

[01:32:39] and they'll tell you that the players will tell you that, but it's just, for some reason, the public doesn't get to see it. So that's just how, uh, Jay says there's a report on 2GB that Cade's mother texting, confirming it was a dislocated kneecap. Now, Dr. Dan, is that, that's better than an ACL, right? Or can you still be an ACL with a dislocated knee? You can do a lot at once.

[01:33:09] Cause my podcast host has done everything numerous times. Um, like I, this podcast host has done a bunch too. I just don't know about it. There you go, mate. Um, look, ACL is, is the worst of the worst because the recovery is so long. It's not the worst injury per se, cause you can still walk on it. dislocated kneecap is probably as bad as this is going to sound a godsend considering the way he went down. But we saw, um, Pappenhausen dislocated kneecap and miss a long, long time. So it's definitely not good, but I'm,

[01:33:38] I'm glad they didn't mention ACL. There's maybe there's some light there. Okay. And, and as we've said, there's still probably more, uh, hands and things to be done. So we'll wait and see on that. Handman says, they don't understand everyone's hate on Heinz. They probably played seven out of 10, 75 minutes and just can't do anything under pressure. So I could see him. So I could see, I could never see him getting the field goal. Oh boy. You're blowing my mind. So he was okay,

[01:34:07] but he can't do anything under the pressure. So, so he shouldn't get the shot, I guess maybe. And maybe it should be, I was surprised Trinidad didn't get more action in, in the process. I thought he's probably a bit more clutch than Nick. But maybe Nick was feeling good after that big one. And they went close. Like let's not sugarcoat that either. They went close. It just didn't happen. Steve's coming in heavy,

[01:34:36] hot and heavy and saying either Heinz or Trindle goes the end of 26 to Perth for Pollard. Who's the same age as Galvin. Well, it just so happens. We have one of Pollard's biggest fans with us in Dan Nichols from Fins Up and rugby league outlaws and zero tackle.com. I mean, I think that Pollard is trending to a place where he could definitely be our guy, but it's early days.

[01:35:05] I don't know if I want to strap everything to his back and ride that wave yet. But look at that first bit, Dan. Heinz or Trindle goes to Perth at the end of 26. Depends which way you get me. Like last week we were talking about how good they both were. I know. I know. It's a short, it's a short time, man. I know. I know. I know.

[01:35:36] With Pollard, he's very good. He went back to flag this week and they looked 10 times a team and it's, it's no coincidence. He looked very good in the South Wales Cup, got injured and sort of had a HIA rather. Rajab came back. Who's the Jets 5'8". And he went back and both teams have looked pretty, pretty damn good since that switch has happened. So look, I'm a huge fan of Pollard. I have huge raps on him. I'm a huge fan of Pollard. I have huge raps on him and I, to the point where he's their next halfback whenever Heinz does decide to pull stumps.

[01:36:06] Perth are going to want a player. They're going to want a playmaker. They're going to target players of Nico Heinz ilk because off the field, he's, I mean, Nico's probably one of the top five in terms of marketability. It's long, a lot of water to go under the beach for. We start making those comments, but that's not beyond the realm. And I do, I do love the shout for young Pollard. I think he's one to watch this time next year. Demo says,

[01:36:35] when we swing the ball out wide, it looks like we don't have anyone that straightens up the attack. Good teams give their wing a space. Our wingers get the ball on the chalk. The last bit's definitely correct. I don't know why, but we, there's not a lot of room there on either side. I do want to jump to this one. Dan says the press conference was bad. The coach repeated a lot to like. So we knew he'd do that.

[01:37:05] And there was stuff to like. He's not incorrect, but I know it's not what we want to hear. So I completely appreciate that frustration. Uh, ghastly says, I want Trindle to get selected for origin as a backup. So he can get some time with more experienced halves like DCE. He can clear his head a bit as well. Yeah. We'll wait and see on that one. I, I don't think he's playing lights out footy at the moment.

[01:37:33] So I don't know if he's going to be making that step up just yet. Frank says tele-car probably a better center than our co anyway. No point at all for him. Yeah. I mean, I think you're right there. Uh, Dave says the way they're blowing penalties and sin bids is mind blowing. No real excuse, but it has to disrupt things. It's becoming a lottery. Yeah. I mean the six against Dan. And if I just look here, we had,

[01:38:02] was it four to one to them? Uh, I don't know. My webpage is dead, but I think it was four to one to them repeat sets, but they're such a pain in the butt because they usually, when you're defending your own line and all of a sudden, for whatever reason, sometimes right, sometimes not right. Sometimes borderline, the guy waves his hand and he gets six more tackles. It's like, what?

[01:38:32] Come on. So yeah, it's a funny, it's a funny game at the moment, Dan, I'm not sending my back. I'm not giving up on the game or anything, but I feel like we're in this weird, twilight zone at the moment where it's like, kind of not the game that we necessarily love. There are aspects of it, of course, but as far as the actual pure existence of rugby league, the six against and the sin bins, they're getting a bit frustrating.

[01:39:03] Lottery is the correct word there. I get, I get frustrated with fans that say, Oh, we're being reffed out of the game because it's safe four to one saying, Oh, what do we got to do to buy a six again? Okay. Momentum goes, you're going to get times where penalties or six again, they're going to flow in a row. I don't disagree with anything you said though. There are times where the wind will blow a little bit hard. Boom. Six again, where they're not going to penalize them because it's two guaranteed points, but six again, Oh, well, you give them the chance to, to defend.

[01:39:33] I, I've got a couple of rants coming on outlaws and on zero tackle this week. Cause I think, I think the way they're referring the game now is deplorable. I think you look at origin and everyone's talking about how good a referee client is yet this weekend. He was, he was utterly words. I won't use on this. He was awful because you nitpicking nonsense, but again, it's all you want is consistency, right? If they're going to come, if they're going to do that every single time, right on full time, when will Kennedy slapped, I think it was Galvin across the face.

[01:40:03] I was expecting the penalty. I was expecting them to win the game. Then they didn't blow it. Yeah. There were three or four things where players stay down and you thinking, Oh God, someone's got on the sin bin here, even though the tackle is textbook. Yeah. I hate blaming the rest. Cause it's such a lazy cop out, but right now I can't, I can't imagine. I can't remember a time. Well, it was so frustrating to watch football. Well, it's not so much the refs. It's the rules and the changes is what I'm sort of getting. It's not so much. I don't really, I'm not going to target or hammer a referee in particular.

[01:40:32] It's what they're made to do. Like they're actually just going by the, in the rule book. Now it says a six again will occur when this happens. So that's more my beef. Unless they start, they tell the ref, so you go and go and ref it like it's origin. I think we're going to be here having this conversation every single week. Good friend, Liam from the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking, which you can see on our banner down below. One of our great supporters says they play like they just met on game day.

[01:41:02] Fifth tackle options, the field goal attempts to broken play with ball in hand. No one seems to have any innate knowledge of what his team mate is going to do. Oh, that doesn't paint a good picture, Liam. You better pull me another one, my friend. That's fair. That's fair. And apologies. We're a little bit behind on putting up everyone's comments because there's so many and they're also amazing. Hairman says, is Iro back next week? That's K L. K L Iro. He's got to be

[01:41:33] closer. I would say BHU will probably stroll back into that team after a great game for Newtown. And I think KL is closer. Yeah. Getting, it'd be a week or two. Maybe the short turnaround doesn't help. I don't want to say that. wait till after the buy. Maybe it'll be the game after power. Wait and see. You won't have to find out too much longer. Lucian Melbourne says, Sam,

[01:42:02] that game was a disaster. Time to ask some real questions starting with our million dollar half. Well, we've been doing that and love to hear some more thoughts from you. My Melbourne friend. Hairman says, I don't like the idea of Bradley coming off as his 80 minute hooker and never looks like he needs a rest. I think that's pretty fair. Nathan says, even our wins have been bad. Let's be honest. We're not playing well. Something is going on. I don't know if all of our wins have been bad and I don't know if something is going on.

[01:42:32] I think today they played an interesting brand of rugby league, but it was one that was not required. They should have won the game. Like with 10 minutes to go and premiership winner Mick Ennis on the commentary saying, I'd be going now. Yeah, why not? And he's sort of going, well, Mick, it's 10 out, 10 minutes out. But there's a bit of give or take there on that opinion. But as the minutes start creeping up, it's like, well, maybe we should take in Mick Ennis' advice. Go for it now. And then make them get one. So,

[01:42:59] so I don't think every game has been a disaster, but yeah, tonight wasn't good. If you're watching next Friday, Lou Shreckens, power will unalive us next week. Uh, now I don't know what this is referring to, but he's saying Dan is completely indecent. And that's why we love him so much. Bless you sir. I can't remember. Let's just say, thanks.

[01:43:30] Uh, Dan says, Dan says, I must have missed Dykes being hurt. Yeah, he's hurt really badly in all seriousness. So, uh, we send him love and respect. Uh, Matt has got a quote from Pitsy, a lot to like out of that, except for the results. And then says, really? Uh, Damo says, what do we think of Ramien's service to Stoney? Well, we've already talked about that a bit Damo and apologies. I know people just jump on at different points of the show. So completely love that you do that. Uh,

[01:43:59] go back and watch this. You can listen to it in the podcast later on, but just to answer Damo, of course, with respect, uh, the service was not good most of the time and they need to do better. It's a very small window. You have catch and pass. It's a lot harder than it looks, but you need to get it right. That's what you paid to do. And, uh, Stoney was the end of some pretty bad stuff today and he did as best as he could. And Gabrielle, uh, we think is probably a next year kind of thing, but you never say never.

[01:44:30] It's close. Um, Gastly's worried that this year is like last year. Let's not forget last year. We were 15 away from a grand final. He said 23. I don't know what year it is, Dan. Yeah. I'm so sorry. You're right. All I can think about is that pen with prelim. Ah, uh, yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Gastly. We want, we want to do better. We have to do better. Uh,

[01:45:00] Lucia's coming in with some big questions. Is K-Doc's cursed? You know what? I'm going to say he's not cursed and he's just had some really shocking injuries. He's getting all his bad luck out of the way. Yeah. And we definitely will not talk about how far away he is from hanging up the boots. Cause it's none of our, it's not even in our wheelhouse because we don't know much about this one in particular. Uh, but as we've said,

[01:45:26] Connor Tracy had three or four of these and he's now playing career best football in a team coming first. So like I also said before, in case you didn't hear it, Lucia, there's no way this guy's going to throw in the towel. It'd be a case of a medical retirement, uh, but he will not give in. So I think he's going to come back. It's just really, really unfortunate. Sheldon says how the sharks gone back to being a team of dumb heart attack footy.

[01:45:55] I thought we grew up beyond that. Uh, agree. There's some lack of leadership in clutch plays. There was a bit of heart attack. I have to admit, and the back three are not helping things except they're amazing. And then some of the best footy you'll ever see, but that's when I start comparing him to a player of the past. Will Kennedy player of the past, man, that is how to tag footy stuff. Uh, Buckwit says dismal performance out, muscled in defense,

[01:46:25] allow the Tigers to offload at will definitely allowed them offload. It will not good enough out, muscle in defense. I thought it was pretty even though. They, they literally made one more meter than the sharks made one more post-coctel tech meter than them. And they made 11 more run meters. So I understand what you're saying, but you understand what I'm saying as well. Uh, I didn't think the forwards were necessarily the problem. Uh, is it time to get some new assistants with new ideas?

[01:46:55] I've seen it happen in the NBA and it works. Uh, I don't really have a strong opinion on this ghastly, except I don't think so. I don't think that's the problem. Dan, do you have an opinion on, on assistant coaches at the moment? If someone out there has some good ideas, you listen to them. I, I, I don't think it'd change a whole lot. I don't hate it at all. I going back to these press conferences though. I don't often give advice,

[01:47:24] but I'd say stop watching them because they're a copy and paste of last week. We could cop 40 and he's going to come out there and say, the boys tried hard. If that's his genuine thinking, then God help us. But I wouldn't look too much into the press conferences, boys. I know Craig Bellamy's notorious for ripping strips off. He's the friendliest guy in the world in press conferences. Yeah. And I do think to be fair, they tried really hard. Like, I don't think that like there are,

[01:47:52] there are very few times you could say a team didn't go out and try hard. I understand why the fans think they didn't, but they tried really hard, but they just lacked a lot of really good game management. That's where it fell apart. They were down by. Sorry. Go ahead. Do they need that in public though? Do they need Fitzgibbon to come out and say, our effort wasn't there today or something to wake them up? Like I know, I know. That's a different. Yeah. Yeah. That's a different question.

[01:48:22] Yeah. That's, that's a great question. That's a great question, Dan. And, and I, I hadn't thought about that, but I personally would have thought, what a spray from the coach in the sheds and then in his office on the Monday morning would sort of be more effective than a press conference. They're not going to watch. And it's not really going to be back page news. So where, what's going to happen?

[01:48:52] We'll be out in the ether a little bit. Fitz. Yeah. I don't, I just think it's, it can be really a divisive tactic. Unfortunately, I can just, it can flip and hit you in the face and all of a sudden you don't have the team and he definitely has the team. So I don't know. But the question would also be what performance would it take for him to say something? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:49:18] Cause today was super frustrating, but I stand by the fact that they, the effort was there. You know, you couldn't say this guy didn't try hard. It's more, this guy got it wrong. This guy should have done this. We can all say that, but there's a big difference between like, you didn't put in, you didn't try. Like, I think that's BS to be honest. There's very few games where you could go. like for the sharks, at least they didn't try like 42,

[01:49:48] against Penrith. They were still trying, but the game was over. You know what I mean? Like it's anyway, uh, Brad says just topped on. I hate watching that game today. I'll take a break. The team are not up to it this year. If the coach felt that points was acceptable, he's delusional. Okay. So we're into the coach. That's cool. Brad, don't go away for too long, man. Footy's awesome. Even with high shots and symbians and six again, footy's awesome. Don't go too far. All right. And don't go,

[01:50:18] go listen to other podcasts, but stick with shark cars. Like you got to come on, man. We're here for you. You're here for us. We're a team. Daniel says we had 43 ineffective tackles today. Wow. Yeah. I don't know where that's coming from and I don't know how you define ineffective. We missed 30. Yeah. And that includes. Wow. What's that?

[01:50:48] 43 in effect is they had 16. Yeah. Right. Well, um, so he's going from the NRL site. That's cool. Is there someone here? Come here, Jess. My son's here. He didn't watch the game. Everyone. This is just that. Say hello to everyone. You're live on the internet. Hi. Buddy, the shark was lost today. Did you know that? Yeah. Didn't know. Okay.

[01:51:17] Papa's going to keep podcasting. You cool with that? Do you need to whisper anything in my ear? No. Are you out of bed? Jesse's turning in everyone. He's had enough of this shark performance. I'll come see you soon. All right. Say good night, shark nation. Bye. Bye. Then I say good night, shark nation. I'll see you soon, buddy. All right. A little cameo from the chess man who loves Newcastle, but I did not like the game today. Dan,

[01:51:46] it's a pickle. Today was a pickle. What would you do, Dan, as coach of the sharks tomorrow morning recovery? They're not going to get much of a chance to turn this around, but say Tuesday, Wednesday, train. What are you doing at training? And give me a serious answer. I'd make them watch the game and I'd give them a pad and paper and say, I want three things. You could have done better. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I would be very serious on that. I would be tapping a few players on the, on the shoulder and saying, you need to lift.

[01:52:15] And I'd be announcing in front of everyone that I'll be making two changes this week. What they are can come later in the week, whether they happen or not doesn't need, but these guys need to be put on alert that they can be made. I would definitely be changing the bench up and I would be making two changes from the bench full disclosure. I'd also pull me co and Trindle into the room and say, you boys get some tape, tape yourselves to each other and do not come out of this room until you know each other inside and out,

[01:52:44] because it certainly feels like you have not played the amount of football together. I know we had earlier in the year, they haven't played that much football together. They have played that much football together. There's no more excuses, but two changes. There won't be wholesale changes. I saw some people calling for five or six. There should be two. So Tukes out, you early in and Atkinson out for Hohe Papuru or Jess Colquhoun, whatever. And I'd say to Tom Hazleton, look, you're playing pretty well. You made a, you made a dumb error. You need to be better, but ultimately do not get your head down.

[01:53:14] Cause I joke that I never want to see him in the team again. That's obviously a joke. I was looking for reaction. Yeah. Yeah. But you can't, you can't have a bloke. I don't want him to hear you lost us the game. No, he was involved in the last thing, but I think he was one of the better ones today. And I would say to everyone, add in for no, Blake, how well he played and go with him. Please. Tom Hazleton, 14 runs, 108 meters, two tackle bus,

[01:53:45] 41 tackles, one missed tackle, two penalties conceded, one very big one. So I'm with you. I, I, I acknowledge that they officially lost the game at that moment. I didn't even need to see the kick. Like I, that was it. But if anyone's just going to sit there and blame him and not blame either the whole team or individuals who didn't make the most of having a lot of time in the opposition 20,

[01:54:15] including in the first 20 minutes, I would camp down there and did nothing. Then I think that'd be pretty foolish. And I'm not here to blame individuals either, but yeah, he definitely needs to learn from it at the same time. So, uh, he's a pretty smart dude. I think he will. He'd be feeling it tall, Tom. He'd be feeling it. And, uh, shout out to our Insta friends. Sean's joined, uh, the great Fraser Glenn, who is a real estate agent has joined, uh,

[01:54:44] the shyest smokers barbecue folk have joined and they say terrible performance. No direction. Need halves to perform. I've kept quiet for 18 months. They need better execution. So shout out to the shyest smokers barbecue. Shark house pod loves, but just as a little, how you doing there? And also Dan, well, I replied to a very urgent message.

[01:55:14] I want you to talk about the fullback situation and want to give a shout out to Liam Eison as well. Who's doing it tough off the field with injury, of course, talk us through what we have, what we've got waiting in the wings in casualty and what we can do about that long term. Um, is the longterm still at those guys? Give us a bit of thoughts on for just a minute. Yeah. Look, heading, heading into the, the year,

[01:55:41] I was very much that will Kennedy had to magic ground to save his shafts career. He's done that tenfold. I think he's probably been our best player all season in the back. Liam Eison is a freakish young talent. The big word there being young. I look, I think Kennedy's at 28 or something and Eison signed longterm. I have no doubt in the world that this kid is going to emulate something special. He's been set back 12 months with a, uh, with an ACL injury was just horrible last year.

[01:56:11] He was too good for New South Wales cup. I think he started better this year. There was a decision to be made because he was the flag specialist. He was the best fullback. He was New South Wales cup's best fullback. We decided which one he wanted to play. And we were going to win that one. And unfortunately, if they couldn't get it done there, I have no doubt that Liam Eison, if he can come back from the ACL is the future of the club. I am bigger on K diets than anyone outside of his family. Humongous, humongous talent just cannot stay fit. You can't rely on him.

[01:56:39] All decisions have to be made with that injury history in mind. Liam Eison for mine is a dead on first grader. Will Kennedy's earn a two year deal? I'll be signing him tomorrow before other clubs get a sniff. I would be reminding Kennedy, look, you haven't had the greatest two years, but you've started extremely well. We believe in you. Here it is. So fullbacks are good. the third one up is Haradi who unfortunately has joined the injured, um, with the flag kids. He's been playing. Okay.

[01:57:07] There's a few jets players that are going to fill in at fullback. Um, hopefully not for too long. Hopefully Haradi's back. Cause you're, I'll be back in the team obviously, but, um, yeah, we're not, we're not struggling for fullbacks. Um, but this week we'll be struggling for fullbacks, unfortunately, because I think we've got two fit ones in the club. Uh, Brad also said they didn't try hard on the, the silver try. They stood back with him, do what he wanted. I completely appreciate that, Brad,

[01:57:32] and it was not good and completely appreciate what you're saying. I agree with what you're saying. I was quite shocked. I just don't think that doesn't equate to, they didn't try generally speaking, but if you want to pick out moments, absolutely. And that's factual just so you know where I'm coming from. Jay says, do we think Brit will cop a week? If so, no Brit, no Wilton as usual. Shack cast pod listeners.

[01:58:03] We know there are other great podcasts out there about the sharks. No disputing that, but Shack cast listeners coming through with the goods. We could be missing Brit and we could be missing Teague. Yeah. I think he's going to cop a week. I think 70 players. He's got a week this week. Yeah. I wouldn't suspect him, but he's got like 38 priors. So yeah, I think he's done for a week. Billy Burns is the only spot, you know, despite some people saying he didn't play well today. I thought he was great. Yeah. You're going to have to,

[01:58:32] you're going to have to name Talakai there, mate, unless you, unless you think Jesse Colvin is ready to play 60 minutes on an edge. So, but does, can Talakai and Burns, can they both play alternate sides? Because isn't Talakai more of a lefty? He is. I know Colquhoun played right second row last year in the trials. Cause I remember we set up that amazing trial against Newcastle, try against Newcastle up in Gosford. Um, I also know that he's young and will do what he,

[01:59:03] what he needs to, to get in. Mate, I would, I would be naming Colquhoun gun to my head, but I think it's going to be Talakai. If Nikara is copying a week though, fight it. Do you think, and you are the world's biggest Jesse Colquhoun fan. Do you think it's too soon? It's too much for him? I think it's too much. Yeah. I can't see him getting picked. I, it's, I, it'll be Talakai and, and Burns is what, what I was guessing, but I would be, I'd be naming Colquhoun on the bench.

[01:59:32] He was 18th man today after playing 60 minutes yesterday. Yes. Bench, bench is fine. I just think it's too much for him personally. I've, I'm not suggesting he wouldn't be up for it, but I think this is throwing a second row Jersey next week is, yeah, I think it's too soon too much. Yep. Yeah. Play Talakai. He won't do. Um, there's one thing I saw earlier that I just want to comment on Sam before I forget the Renato challenge. We are the worst team in the competition when it comes to challenging. I remember it was horrendous for mommy. What happened? So that was the slap,

[02:00:02] the great, the bird slap. Oh, now I, I understand challenging it because that's been a penalty all week and it wasn't frustration, et cetera. I know where you're going. That is a play. That is a play that can be reviewed. That is a waste of a challenge. And for him to convince Ken McKinnis, Ken should have said, they're going to look at it anyways, mate. For them to not to realize that. I think that's the biggest thing we take out of today. And Fitzgibbon's got to say, here's a rule book, read it.

[02:00:30] We've challenged in the past where a ball went dead and we said they touched it. That's checked every single time and got 30 seconds to change it. Stop challenging stuff that can be reviewed. Please. Definitely. And I think that the problem there is that the amount of time, like I know it's supposed to be 10 seconds. There's a, there's a, an amount of time. It's probably in the rule book, wherever that you have to challenge,

[02:00:57] but we've seen that vary from shorter to definitely longer. And I think that it's in such a kind of hurry to let the referee know that the thinking on that is out the window, which I can kind of understand, but they need to know that any kind of foul play is checkable by the ref and you don't have to put in a,

[02:01:25] although I guess that to be fair, Dan, the refer, the video ref could come in like four plays later when it's, when, when they've the opposition scored a try, you know what I mean? So maybe there's some merit there. That's why they do it. I don't know. The look, yeah, who knows? I was going to say, that's not how it should be done, but who knows these days because it was, cause it was a contested restart of play, which means it was a, it was a dropout. Yeah. One, we hold the ball. Yeah.

[02:01:55] We hold the ball for 30 seconds and we don't kick before we get the okay. That it's been checked. So yeah, we're now, we're now to made a brain snap in the heat of the moment. He got slapped in the face. I can see why he challenged it, but for Cameron McInnes or Nico, whoever was captain at the time to not say, Oh, it can be checked. That was, I won't say unforgivable, but that was as close to unforgivable as you can get. I can get over the missing field goals. I can get over the, the reaching out in the heat of the moment when you're going to score a try,

[02:02:22] but to not know the rules that that's not good enough. Okay. Um, I did just get an interesting message and I, I can't really, I can't say who it's from, but there's definitely speculation. No, it's not like a famous person. Just,

[02:02:52] I just can't, there is speculation about the Dykes injury is what I'm going to leave it out because. Please be good. Please. No, it's not good, but we, we need to wait on that. Someone, a listener has written in and it's, it's from a good source, but, uh, just, I'm only saying this out loud because the listener is probably waiting on me to say something. Um, but we, I'll stick with what I've said. We don't know what the injury is. So let's wait and see on that. I appreciate the Intel though. So sorry if that came out weird, we're going live.

[02:03:22] Come on. Give it all that a breath. Uh, okay. Shake says, can we talk about NFL now? Yes, we can. Absolutely. Absolutely. As someone who's got a stacked team ready to win their first ever title. Let's talk about NFL. JJ McCarthy. He throws the JJ. Oh, it's a touchdown. Uh, NFL draft has been on. I'm just kidding. We're going to stick to the sharks, but NFL draft has been on all weekend. It's been really fun. Shake. We can do it.

[02:03:52] NFL anytime. Now is not the time. Christ. The crisis is the sharks not kicking a field goal to win the game. Although shake, I'd like to know who you go for. So let me know. Hey man says not as bad a review of Pappenhausen's against the rabbit. Oh, though. Now, what does that mean? He took a review that took one look and they're like, are you kidding? Yeah, there are. There's a lot. There's a lot of really, really bad ones. And, uh, no,

[02:04:21] we've got another one. You're ready for this, Dan. You're ready. He's one of Kieran's mates. Here we go. Ah, I gotcha. Oh, you want to fight? You want to, you want to have a fight? You want to throw a beer in my head? What do you want to do? Shake? I'm just kidding. You won the title. Good on you, man. It's all good. It must be nice. Nice to follow a team. It has resilience and titles. It must be fun. Must be a great thing. Jumping over to the Instagram.

[02:04:51] Um, Chad says, I missed the start of the cast. Can't close out a game. Trindle has to be the go-to guy. This is two points squandered. Big time. I also said, agree with the captain's challenge. Wade Graham was the worst ever captain of doing so, but we need an intelligent captain to challenge. So Chad, just on your first point, you may have missed the cast, but the cast is here for you to watch later on. You can watch the video. We'll put the audio up. We're going to cover you, my friend.

[02:05:21] I'm going to cover you throughout the week. There'll be lots of casting from all sorts of podcasts, including our one shark cast, but everyone's got a cast and everyone's going to be talking about field goals and game management and million dollar players and sin bins. So I hope you're not planning on sleeping until magic round. And let's hope we see some magic there on your point about Trindle being the go-to guy. I think just someone has to be,

[02:05:48] just pick someone and stick with it. So if it is Nico, then keep shooting those field goals. If it is, whoever it is, like there needs to be a plan. Uh, and he also said, you know what? Let's, let's get into this. Let's talk about the captain, Dan, before we wrap up in a little while, huge fan, huge fans of player. I like him as a captain. I find him quite inspirational myself. I think on and off the field is remarkable.

[02:06:21] Is he the sort of captain that we need at the moment? Is it, can do a better job? Is he perfect? I'm not, I don't have a problem with it. Is he our best option? What are your thoughts? I think he's our best option. Um, I don't want the captaincy anywhere near Nico Hines. He deals with enough. There aren't many players there. Like you can't go to Fnual Blake for obvious reasons. You can't get, well, we waited three days. It was pretty good.

[02:06:49] Did you see people saying he was going to do Shador Dash? That killed me. But anyways, um, I think, I think Nico is the only other bloke you can go to. And I don't think he's ready, but no, I don't think he's the right captain. He's the only choice, unfortunately, but we need someone who will say to Ronaldo. No, we're not challenging that because we don't need to. We need someone who will against Canberra say, oi, get in line. One, you know how they all put the one hand up, one set, one set. I don't see that from chronology. I think it's ridiculous, but I would,

[02:07:18] I would like Cam to be more, more out there. I would like him to be not feared because you can't fear. He's, he's literally the nicest guy in the world. Ideally, I'd like a captain to be more like a Dale Finucane. Like you could hear him sitting in the stands. He's yelling, you can't hear Cam, but I don't know where you go. So I don't think there are any better options right now. Yeah. That they're a good point. Looking at the team list. I mean,

[02:07:48] I'm going to say Will Kennedy. No stone street. No. Ramian. Probably not. Roddy, you're a Ronaldo. Trindle Hines. So for new or Blake, is that a possibility? Um, in terms of playing ability. Yes. But given his past, no. And Dan opens another door. Blake Braley. Yes. Possibility. Yep. Yeah, definitely possible.

[02:08:18] Uh, I'm going to say, if you see no Britain, maybe. Well, okay. T Gwilton too young or. Potential. Future captain. A hundred percent. Yep. Okay. So is he next in line? Is he the one we're going to mold? Surely he is. Yep. A hundred percent. I put the VC on him and I'd have him in every captain's meeting. It can't be Nico. So T Gwilton is, is my man. A hundred percent. Because he was,

[02:08:46] was he captain of New South Wales under 18s or something? I believe so. And I think he was a flag captain when we won it. And I know he was very highly regarded in the jets team that won, whether he was captain or not, it might've been Sorensen now that I say it out loud, but he was in the, in there somewhere. He's like, when you, when I've interviewed him, he comes across in, I mean, he's a pretty, he comes across pretty serious dude, which is awesome. And. The others speak really highly of him.

[02:09:15] I think Fitzgibbon might've said something in a press conference once about him and how, when he speaks up, they all listen and, and, and he's pretty relatively young guy in the team, but yeah, I think he's next to go. So that'd be one to watch. I reckon the coming years. What's cams contract? Like one more year. Is that right? I think he's got, is he, he's either off contract the end of this year or next year. I didn't, did we re-sign him for another year?

[02:09:45] I don't know. I don't think so. I'm just going to check with our good mates at zero tackle and keep talking. So Nathan, Nathan says Cronulla should have drafted Shador Sanders. And if you don't know who Sanders is, you don't follow the NFL, which is completely fine. And he was a college quarterback. His dad's really famous in the sports world. And basically he's become a rock and roll star in the world of sports.

[02:10:14] And people suggest that it's not so much about the athletic ability and his willingness to win for a team, but it's just all about him and making money, et cetera, et cetera. And he was projected to go really high in the draft. And the draft goes over three days and it took until the third day. And like, I don't know, was it a hundred places and the Cleveland Browns, which is a hot mess in itself, hello to Gary Dover and Chad Townsend. They,

[02:10:42] they picked him up because they've got a really good history of picking up quarterbacks like Johnny football and like their current masseuse loving quarterback. So good luck with all that. Dan, any answer with McInnes? Yeah. The end of next year, 2026. 26. Okay. Okay. So we can start thinking captains. I'm not suggesting you let him go, but this club has done that historically with Paul Gallum.

[02:11:11] Then we got away Graham and there's guys in waiting. So that might answer that question. I'm going to answer this one, Dan, if you don't mind, this is from hand man. This is doing anything about Taj Braley. Taj is the youngest of the Braley's. He plays in the hooker position, but at this stage he's not. Yeah. He's not in the conversation about making the top league. I don't think. And hopefully that's not unfair to say that, but in all seriousness, I think, I think that is what's going on there.

[02:11:41] And Shakespeare's talking. I think he might not be playing at the moment, but he's still a young dude and we're not sure what's going to happen there. But I, I, in all honesty, I don't know how to say it other than I wouldn't consider him the first grade, particularly at our club and not through anything other than just to be honest. Like, I don't think he's quite at the level of his brothers, which is, you know, that's okay. That's just how it is. But in all seriousness, man, that's my serious answer on that.

[02:12:10] I think he does a bit of work for the club. I think he's, you know, people like him as a person and everything. It's just, he just hasn't made that next level step up. And Chad also says the captains need to know, sorry. He says the players need to know the rules inside out, even if it's the winger. Yeah, I completely agree. Like these guys, they, I know there's a thought out there that these young guys in particular, just play the PlayStation and don't watch footy. And maybe some of them are like that,

[02:12:39] but a lot of them are real, just students of the game. And they need to know, but anyone who's playing this professionally needs to know. So I don't know if that's going to get addressed this week. It's a short turnaround for the team because they played at four o'clock today and they're playing at six o'clock on Friday. Dan, before we get out of here, give me some honest thoughts on what's going to happen on Friday without knowing what the team is going to be like. You'd be silly to say we'll go up there and lose.

[02:13:07] Our magic round is not particularly good. But Parramatta are where they are for a reason. I know Mitch Moses had come back and they look good. If Cronulla are not up for this fight, then you can start having the real serious talks about where we go from there. I want to sit here and say that I think Cronulla will win. I'm going to say that, but I think it'll be one of those games that is one late. But if we win seven, six, take it. If we lose seven, six,

[02:13:37] it's the end of the world. You have to win this game because you, play in Melbourne the week after and then hit the origin period. I think origin is where Cronulla will fly this year because I can't see anyone getting picked. Going back to earlier, I think Trindle's fallen way down the pecking order. I'm going to tip a win, but I don't think that if we play like we did today, I think Parramatta are a lot better with Mitch Moses than the Tigers were today. That worries me. So I think you'll see a big improvement and a win, but.

[02:14:09] Yeah. Yeah. I hope that we get that done. I'm interested to see what team we're going to name. Just to point out, cause I think you and I in particular, Dan have muffed up this draw at least two podcasts in a row. It's Eels this week, magic round. It's manly at rookie the week after, and then it's Melbourne at home. And I think Clinton mucked it up too. So it's Eels away. Well, Eels is the home team at Suncorp. Yeah. F my life, Dan.

[02:14:39] F my life. Uh, Eels. What else can we do? Take the field goal, kick a field goal. Eels away at Suncorp, manly away at Brookvale. Then we're home to Melbourne storm on a glorious Saturday night at the glorious shark stadium. We're going to have a bit of a, a meet, a meeting of the minds of shark cast minds. And everyone's welcome. We'll be at a local brewery. You can use your imagination as well. It's going to be, but just need to confirm it.

[02:15:08] But that Saturday evening afternoon, that Saturday afternoon, we're going to meet up and everyone's welcome just to come hang out. Nothing more than just all these sharks, tragics, hanging out and talking stuff. So, uh, but just to clear up the draw thing, uh, before we get going, go set some great thoughts about the captains and he suggests that AFB will get everyone, which I quite like, uh, NRL SC Merseyside Reds said, am I unreasonably disappointed with the lack of public accountability for the players from the coach?

[02:15:39] I get, it doesn't seem like there's a plot in the media. I get, he doesn't seem to like to lose a plot in the media, but I feel this team needs it. So that's a different take from, uh, our friend there. You're not unreasonable to be disappointed in that. Other people have different takes on that, but I don't think you, I personally don't want to coach like that. I've said this a lot. I don't, we've had coaches like that and we've seen former coaches of ours recently do that in press conferences. Nothing good comes from it.

[02:16:07] Like the turnaround might be a week, but you need a happy team. And it doesn't mean that you tell lies and make everything glorious when it's not. But I think this public outcry of ripping this person apart, it's just, Hey, it's not how he does it. And B, I don't think we need that at the moment. I really don't, but that's just my opinion. Uh, but appreciate yours.

[02:16:34] NRL SC Merseyside of reds and Bundy Strom said the Bundy shark crew are heading to magic round up, up. That's awesome. So everyone heading up to, uh, to magic round, let us know, but we're going to wrap. We're going to get out of here because as you all saw 20 minutes ago, my son needs to go to bed and that's pretty, that's pretty important. I'm not even going to sugarcoat it. It's pretty important.

[02:17:08] And ghastly says, have a good one guys. Remember to give out the kick next time. Lol. There's a lot of lol going on. Completely appreciate everyone's time. None more. So than my friend, Dan Nichols from fins up podcast. He's from the rugby league outlaws podcast, vodcast. He is from non. What's it called? Zero. Zero. You know, I always say that because there's a record label that a friend of mine runs called non zero.

[02:17:38] So I apologize to zero tackle, zero tackle.com. A lot of good takes from, from Dan. So appreciate your time, Dan. It's a lot of fun doing these post game shows with you and Clinton joined and we had a whole bunch of people on here. So really appreciate it. I'm not even dumbing that down. I appreciate every single person in the correspondence of the like, the share, whatever it is. We can't do this without you. We appreciate you so much. And we'll be back with more episodes throughout the week. So stick with us shark ass pod.

[02:18:07] And this one's going to sting. So please allow for some time to sting, but at the same time, drop us a line, email us, DM us, go to the website, do all that great stuff because I really want to keep growing this community. And that includes all sharks content includes all sharks. People. There are no beefs except with Terry Mortimer. Dan, I'll see you later. Pleasure mate. See you soon. Love you, Terry. Just kidding. Up up Cronulla.

[02:18:36] Can't play the song guys. Can't play it. Everyone have a good night. Take it easy on yourselves. Appreciate the marathon. This was love doing it. Love nothing more. Can't stop talking. Won't stop talking. So I'm just going to keep talking. I'm kidding, Dan. Good night, my friend and good night. Everyone else. We'll see you real soon for some more shark cast shows up up Cronulla.