Rd 14, 2026 Craig Fitzgibbon Presser Plus Some Final Derby/Sharks Thoughts On Game Day Eve

[00:00:01] The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking is a hidden gem of the Shire, situated on the banks of the beautiful Port Hacking. It's a great place to catch up with friends, celebrate your birthday or any special occasion, and they always show the NRL live on the big screens. The RMYC Port Hacking, proud sponsors of this podcast and big supporters of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Check out their website rmycph.com.au

[00:00:26] They've got a Facebook page, or you could go old school and call them on 029523 9300 And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your port slides off because we're coming over the trophy.

[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast Pod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This short, sharp press conference based episode is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate. My name is Sam Shinazioji, 2015, and it's Darby Eve, so we are pretty excited, a little bit nervous, but very excited for one of the biggest days of our calendar year.

[00:01:33] The weather's looking pretty good from what I can tell. Tickets are selling well. If you want to come down to Ocean Protect Stadium, I'd grab a ticket now. I wouldn't risk rocking up late. And no other reason better than to get down there and show the haters out there that we love our home ground, and we know it's a problematic one at times. We get that. It's not perfect. There is work to be done.

[00:02:01] But no one likes being pushed around either, right? And we've been pushed around the last few days, mainly by a couple of blokes who should know better, just driveling their drivel. So get down to the stadium if you can. If you can't, enjoy it on your KO, on your Foxtel, on your Channel 9, etc. Maybe the radio's your jam. And it's going to be a very important clash. The Sharks have a tough next couple of months. Local derby is never easy. We hope that tomorrow it is. One game at a time, and you'll hear that in the press conference.

[00:02:31] Good press conference. Goes for about 10 minutes. Covers a bunch of things, from the Will Kennedy resigning to injuries, updates. A player culled from the squad this week, which I'll let the press conference speak for itself, from Fitzy. A bunch of things covered there, so please have a listen. Encourage you to go watch it on sharks.com.au as well. Early start down at the stadium today and culminated in captain's run with a couple of old boys hanging around as well.

[00:03:00] So the team is in good spirits. They know what a big task to have tomorrow. They know they're carrying the weight of the Shire on their shoulders. And I think they're ready for it. Hohe Papuru was a great interview during the week for me. Go back and have a listen if you haven't heard it yet, a couple of episodes back. And he addresses the derby in a way that I haven't heard players speak for quite some time. So really impressed with him and the team's attitude moving forward. We're missing Niko. We're missing Blake Braley.

[00:03:29] That's just two of the guys. We're missing half our spine. But we've got Jaden Beryl starting. We've got I imagine Hohe Papuru on the bench. And we have Nephi Papuru again backing up for his second game. So not going to be an easy one against the Drags. But it's ours there to win at our home ground for our good people. Our friend Tim at the Shark Cage has organised a bit of a get together at the Hairy Man Brewery from 1 o'clock.

[00:03:56] Come down, have a sherbet, have a Coca-Cola, have whatever you like at the Hairy Man. It's a pretty good establishment. We're not paid to say that, but I'm happy just to say it right now. It's the closest brewery to the ground. And it's also half decent too. That's the reason we're going there. I encourage everyone to come down from about 1 o'clock. And then head over to the stadium whenever you like. You can have half a drink. You can have three drinks. Have no drinks. It's not about drinking.

[00:04:24] It's about hanging out, talking black, white and blue. Getting pumped up for the Derby. So there should be a bunch of Sharks fans there. From 1 o'clock, if not before, talking black, white and blue. Then the stadium awaits the presence of all of our beautiful fans. And be loud. Be proud. If you see trouble, report it. Don't start at whatever you do. Be a loud, passionate fan. I'm super excited, as most of you could imagine, about the Will Kennedy re-signing.

[00:04:53] One year, it's smart business, but also I kind of wish they'd gone for two for different reasons. Mainly to show faith and loyalty to the guy who's been in really good form for three or four years now. That's the way they've gone. The players accepted it. It means Liam Eison has a bit of breathing room to get ready for his career at the Sharks. You would think moving forward from the year after next. Still a lot more dominoes to fall with the player signings.

[00:05:21] And so stay tuned for all that kind of thing. I'd love to know your thoughts on who is next for you to target. Get in touch with us. We're a bit slow on the mail this week. We'll get to it next week, I promise. SharkhousePod at gmail.com. DM us on most of the social medias. Give us a follow. Give us a like. I have to say in the last three days, two days, there's been a bunch going on online, which I've been sort of roped into. And the response has been really incredible. So I really appreciate everyone's kind words. We've picked up a lot of new followers.

[00:05:50] It seems like out of something that we didn't start, we're kind of finishing it in a better place. So there's always a positive there. And I appreciate everyone's kind words about some of the videos we did and just some of the things we, I guess, stuck up for the club. We weren't the only ones, I should point out. But, you know, definitely have to triple down and say it doesn't mean the club's perfect. It doesn't mean the people running the club are perfect. But this was not about that.

[00:06:16] And I had to reply to a bunch of people, way too many than I wanted to, about the point isn't about letting us know about what's happening with the stadium. The point wasn't about what upgrades we're getting. The point wasn't about the cleanliness of toilets. The point was someone started talking smack about our club. Someone was saying that next year we weren't going to be there. And it was incorrect. And they knew it was incorrect. And for me, that's wrong.

[00:06:41] The only thing they had in their back sleeve pocket was that the Sharks had met with venues in New South Wales. A bunch of us already knew that. It wasn't a secret. It also wasn't something the club was, you know, they weren't responsible for telling the fans about every meeting they have. Dino has come out and explained his side of it on SEN. You can go listen to a pretty good Dino interview on that. I'm not here to talk up Dino.

[00:07:05] I'm here just to back up our club and say there was never any fact about next year us playing anywhere for the majority of our games than at home. We might play one somewhere else. I've got no idea about that stuff yet. But we're not leaving Ocean Protect Stadium in the foreseeable future. And they're doing what they can to make sure it's a forever thing for the Sharks. But there was just no merit behind what they were saying. And it really peeved me off. So I appreciate everyone's support on that.

[00:07:35] I really don't like doing that stuff. I like talking about hit ups and line breaks and missed tackles. But sometimes you get dragged into these political things and sometimes you just got to stick up for what's right. Yeah, and I appreciate everyone's support on that. Enough about that stuff. Let's move on to the Derby. Can't wait. Let's go get those dragons. Let's show them who's the boss. Got to win. No other reasons. No other excuses. Just got to win. Can't wait for it. If you see me out and about, give me a hello. Give me a high five. If you can't stand my guts and hate my voice, just ignore me and move on.

[00:08:05] All right. Let's get to Craig Fitzgibbon. This is not about me. None of this is about me. I have to triple down on that as well. This is about the Cronulla Sharks. This is about SharkCast. SharkCast Universe. I'm just the voice behind it. Up up Cronulla. Let's go. Can we just start with an update on Blake? I think he had surgery on Monday. Have you spoken to him? How's he going? Yeah, he's been coming in. No, he's going really well. And it's been strange here.

[00:08:34] He's got minimal pain. Yeah, they put a plate in there and it looks pretty clean and tidy. So it was a successful surgery. And we'll see how it looks in a few weeks. Were they able to give an updated timeline after the surgery? No, it's all around function and stability of the plate. And yeah, how much or how quickly you can get going really more than anything else. But yeah, for the first couple of weeks, probably avoiding sweating and probably the wound is the most important part of the moment.

[00:09:02] The vision of him was tough to watch, I guess, you know, after the match and everything. Does he seem, you know, okay within himself? Oh yeah, no, obviously he's disappointed. It was at this stage of the season, he just made his origin debut. And yeah, he was obviously disappointed, but he's a pretty upbeat guy. And he washed it pretty quick. And finding out the severity was a good thing for him. It was quite a clean fracture and it's not a long period of time that he'll be missing. So he's okay. Difficult to replace. David gets the nod this week.

[00:09:32] What's your message been to him about what you've got to say? Oh, the boys, we love Bez. He's such a good guy and such a good club man. He's been, you know, obviously, playing 139 games straight. So he's only had a handful of opportunities, Bez. So yeah, a player like him comes into the team and adds a spirit and it lifts the energy of the players. So, but he's just those sort of guys that he'll get out there and rip and tear. He doesn't muck around Bez, so he'll be competing on every play. And we love him for that reason anyway.

[00:10:00] You mentioned the long streak that Blake played. Is that almost the most difficult part about this? Is that just because of, you know, how long he played for, so many of his guys haven't played without him for such a long time. Is that difficult to replace in that sense? Oh, it's difficult to replace based on the quality of Blake. I could say, yeah, but changes the interchange around a little bit. But we've, you know, with Jayden being here for such a long period of time, like he's had plenty of reps. The guys are familiar with him and comfortable with him. You know, so he's quite, you know, he's quite comfortable in that role and he gets plenty of training time anyway.

[00:10:30] So, yeah, they know what to do when Bez is working there. Obviously he has the leadership role as well. Is that something you expect him to sink his teeth into over the next few weeks, Blake? Like being kind of that presence off the field? Ah, yeah, I think so. I think you get an interesting look for him. Again, he's only missed one game in 139 of them. So, um, he was a little bit uncomfortable. He missed Magic Round, obviously had a concussion there. So, he was a little bit uncomfortable and didn't know what to do with himself in and around the shed.

[00:11:00] So, um, but no, he'll, he'll still add value and be in all the meetings and, um, and offer a good point of view. Um, but it's, um, it probably, if anything, he might, the positives for him is looking at the game in a different light. Um, it's a difficult two months you've got coming up. I think the Dragons are the only team, the Dragons of Brisbane are the only teams out there that you don't play. And obviously, Brisbane are the premiers. Have you kind of identified this as a tricky period for the group with Blake being out and just how much time you've spent on the road against tough teams?

[00:11:28] No, we haven't looked anything further than, um, tomorrow, basically. Um, I think, I think it's almost irrelevant with the latter positions at the moment. Like, it can be one win from going into the top four and one going straight out of the eight. So, it's, um, it's, it's all so close and congested that every game's a battle at the moment. And, um, watching the Dragons' performance last week, um, yeah, they certainly got up and running. So, we, we haven't taken our eyes off anything other than tomorrow.

[00:11:55] It's a tricky time. Yeah, you mentioned it's a tricky time to get them given, you know, that kind of weight off their back, so to speak. And, um, are you expecting, I guess, a vastly improved by that side tomorrow? Yeah, I don't think anyone, yeah, whether they were winning or not, they're still competitive and working hard for each other. So, uh, it's a Monty Porter Cup, it's a derby, there's plenty to play for it. The latter position's almost irrelevant whenever we play each other anyway. So, that's an exciting challenge for us. And yeah, the fact that they, um, performed so strongly last week adds a bit extra.

[00:12:23] So, yeah, we'll have to be, we'll have to be strong ourselves. Do you notice a lift around the group or a different energy during derby week? Um, yeah, I think it's, I think it's great for the game. Like, the players are, players are always excited when you're playing at your own ground and it doesn't matter your opponent. But, um, yeah, when it's a derby, it's got a little bit of something about it and players get excited, crowd, um, long-term, you know, history there. So, I think, um, any of those derbies and rovers are great for our game and you want to be a part of them and they're super exciting, yeah.

[00:12:52] If it's, uh, Adam Fnall-Blake's in your origin team, Britain of course, we probably don't care about Queensland. Yeah, I'd like to see them get another opportunity and, um, yeah, both of the boys, um, both of the boys would love that, that opportunity. But, um, you know, we're so focused on what we've got to do tomorrow at the moment. So, there's certainly not any talk in and around here about, um, state of origin at the moment. We're purely focused on the Sharks and players know, both of them know they've got to perform well for the Sharks at the moment.

[00:13:21] So, that's, um, that's their priority. But yeah, I'd love to see them get another opportunity. Do you think they, um, come back from that first experience, better players for the experience? Oh, definitely. I don't think there's, yeah, any, any opportunity in and around that environment, um, understanding, you know, your own relationship with pressure and everyone else's and how they prepare and deal with that. And the magnitude of origin seems to grow every year.

[00:13:44] So, to have the players, uh, exposed to that, I think it suits them and, and definitely, um, it definitely helps their development, yeah. Adam spoke, uh, once he was picked for Game 1 and he said he was almost just relieved to find out because there had been a lot of chatter out here before Game 1. Did you notice a weight off his shoulders or just, like, him being different once, you know, coming back from the group again? Oh, he knew, you know, without, um, committing to it. He's, he's so consistent anyway, Adam.

[00:14:12] Like, he's almost the same every day. He walks in, big smile and trains well and he's been playing consistent footy. So, um, yeah, I guess it was just the joy and excitement of being finally named and, you know, imagine being a player of his stature, watching Origin for years, and then all of a sudden you get the opportunity to play. It's probably, it would have, it was a special moment for him. Do you think, have you noticed benefits of the group by having representing players? Have those players picked in your side?

[00:14:37] Oh, you'd always, yeah, you'd always like to have them, for sure. I think they, uh, I saw what a, uh, Blake got an opportunity to travel with the Kangaroos last year and come back and took plenty of lessons out of that. So, as I said before, I think any time a player gets involved in that arena, it's, um, it's a benefit to them and then they come back, um, with more knowledge and strength about, you know, what's important. Fitz has a former Blue, Payne Haas, and AFB up front. It's pretty formidable.

[00:15:02] Yeah, I wouldn't, um, it wouldn't, it would be a strong combination, let's say, and there's plenty of, plenty of, um, there's plenty of other players vying for positions there, and I'm not a selector, but, yeah, the, the thought of that pair playing together would be, um, impressive in my eyes. Fitz, you said how important tribalism in Raglan, Shark Park's kind of question in recent days. How important is this place for you guys to call around?

[00:15:31] Yeah, look, I, I wasn't aware of it and been made aware of it, um, some, some traction and, um, um, noise around it, but, you know, why, I don't see how we're not entitled to have a home ground or, or be here and, um, there's plenty of other small suburban grounds that are getting by and, I'm sure, I need some work, but that's, um, it's our home ground, we love it, we want it, we want it, we want to keep it and we're entitled to it. How's Nico? Nico's going good.

[00:16:00] Yeah, he's back training and, um, running, so, um, not sure time frame just yet. It's, uh, he's just got to progress through the levels of work to make sure he's safe and, um, you know, those calf injuries can sometimes reoccur, so we want to make sure we get it right. Um, you spoke earlier about the, the time on the sidelines for Blake and, you know, him managing that. How does Nico manage? Um, yeah, both from Nico, I don't think Nico missed a game last year actually, so I think he'd break his leg the year before, um, missed a little bit of time then. He's, they're both, um, yeah, they both love being around.

[00:16:30] They're, they're always in and around the offices doing extra work and video and it's, um, it's frustrating for them to contribute so much and not be able to get out there and play with the lads. But, uh, again, they're still, still supporting the players and, um, yeah, hopefully we'll get him back soon. And, um, Sione in the extended reserves this week, how does he...? Yeah, Sione won't get up. Sione, uh, yeah, needs a little bit more work, Sione, but, um, he, uh, he's trained really well this week actually.

[00:16:54] He's really certainly turned a corner, um, looking a lot stronger, a lot more confident on his ankle and, um, he's training well but we just felt like he needs a bit more work first, yeah. Um, just a note on, I guess, Ronnie. How has he been playing since he's been back? Such a spark there on the edge for you guys. Are you surprised that he's been able to come back so strongly from that injury quickly? Yeah, I thought, um, uh, what, three weeks ago, the magic round.

[00:17:20] He's, like, obviously from, um, up that way and had a lot of family there, a lot of pressure, and just comes back in, you know, it's a really quick turnaround for an ACL and he was, he worked so hard on that, um, to get that right. But to come back and perform at the level he has so quickly, um, it's been impressive to watch and he's certainly our energiser and, um, and the players love it when he's in the side. He's the sort of player that you want in your team, so, um, he's, um, he's a special player, that's for sure.

[00:17:48] Because you don't have the same type of personalities, but when you have people like Nico and Blake on the sidelines, is he someone that you can kind of lead on for that energy and morale? Yeah, Ronnie's, um, Ronnie's up and about every game, so, yeah, Ronnie's not sure if he's looking around too worried about who's in his own team. He just wants to get out there and compete himself, so, um, but he, uh, yeah, he certainly does. He's a big voice, a big presence, and he, um, he definitely has the energy, say, without those guys.

[00:18:15] But, you know, to be fair to the other players, so everyone knows, um, you know, missing, missing spying members, a couple of them, you need to step up, and the players have been really good in that regard and sort of leading each other, if you will. And, um, Bruce Knight, if it's important, with Cog in the Wheel, he's been terrific. Yeah, I'd say, yeah, I think he might be playing the best footy we've, we've seen from Will, and, um, yeah, we're under no doubt that we wanted to keep him.

[00:18:42] We just had to work through that process, and, um, super, super reliable, um, so coachable. The players love him, and he's been here for such a long time, so I was, um, yeah, really happy for Will that we finally figured that out, and, um, we keep him, yeah. SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Karimbao region, and has his eye all across the Shire.

[00:19:08] Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. SharkCast! SharkCast!

[00:19:46] Back in the Shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.