SharkCast: Weekly Flagship with Sam Shinazzi and Josh Bolling (11/2/25)

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[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCastPod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest team in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. My name is Sam Shinazzi, I'm an OG from 2015, supporting the team for a lot longer than that. And this show, as you can see via the ticker below for those watching, is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking, and Jason Horst at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate.

[00:01:26] And for those watching, and we love our audio listeners because let's face it, they are the hardcore slash core of our audience at the moment. But our viewers can see on the other end of the line is Mr. Josh Bollinger, an integral part of this show and has been for a long time. He's got his passport ready. It's almost stamped. And Josh is heading over to Vegas, which is exciting. But before that, we've got a lot of Sharks to talk about, including tonight.

[00:01:55] We're going to do a bunch of different things tonight. But Josh, welcome back. How are you, my friend? Good, mate. Good to be back. You know when the podcast starts ripping out two or three episodes a week that we're getting close to footy and only a couple of days left till Christmas or footy Christmas. Can't wait. Of note, since you and I have spoken, the Sharks played their first trial match, a 12-all draw classic. And they played pretty good, I thought. They respected the ball for the most part, defended really well.

[00:02:24] And for a team that only featured four or five regulars, you would say, against the Warriors team, which was probably 90% first graders, they did really well, I thought the Sharks, just especially defensively. And bombed a classic try down the right edge, of course, as well. But how do you feel, Josh, after that first game and the fact it was a draw, moving into the big game on Thursday night against the Raiders, of course?

[00:02:51] What did you make, especially of the opening, so 20, 30 minutes of the game? Yeah, I never try and read too much into trials. I know that some people can really, you know, get their knickers in a knot about trial form and who's playing well or not. I think the most important thing, always for me, is get through, get some air in the lungs and come out with no injuries. And we did that.

[00:03:11] I mean, I know there's some speculation on Sione Katoa, which I'm sure we'll get to, but blow the cobwebs out, especially for some guys who have been out for a while, like your Uleys, some guys that are coming through that we're looking forward to in the next couple of years, like your Crouches, your Hoskins, Gabriels, those kind of guys. You just want to see how they match up, especially against the almost full strength Warriors side.

[00:03:34] To hang in there and get a draw out of that is probably the most exciting part for me, that these kids are not far away. And the Riley Pollards of the world and the Puru's times two, those are what you kind of look out for, just how the kids perform. And I think that was what I took out most of the game. Yeah, unless they're sort of regular like a Will Kennedy or an Eero, unless they have absolute shockers, which none of them even were close to, there's not really a lot for them to do but get the match fitness up.

[00:04:04] I mean, if one of those guys plays 10 out of 10, then that's awesome. But if they don't, it's certainly not a talking point. Whereas as you said, the young guys coming through for them to sort of stand up, particularly we saw a utility forward, Hojepa Puru really be almost man of the match in that game and really versatile in what he did. That's a really great sign. Lachlan Crouch dominating as well. Just looking at the team list here and the last 20 minutes or last 15 minutes,

[00:04:31] we saw Riley Pollard and Taj Ford come on, who were the jersey flag halves and really just control the game. And they didn't look out of place. Now at that point, they were playing the Warriors B team. But for their first time against grown men, as Fitzy says, they did pretty good. Jaden Beryl was actually probably man of the match. He was really fantastic. So good to see the fringe guys really step up as opposed to the NRL guys dominating. Like it's meaningless. It really is.

[00:04:59] Let me get your opinion straight away on the end. I'll replay it for you. Last play of the game. Sharks have done well to stick down there. Beryl goes left to Mawini Hirati, who goes for the miracle ball, goes out. If he goes to the right, both halves are set up for a field goal. In front, probably 25 meters out. But the fact that Beryl didn't go for it, do you care a little bit? Do you care a lot? Is it meaningless to you? What are your thoughts on that?

[00:05:29] It is pretty meaningless. I guess the only meaning you would take out of it is the points for the trial championship or whatever they're calling it. Like if that's the difference between us not getting 100 grand, maybe you look back, oh, geez, like that would have been nice. But in three weeks, no one is ever going to think about this ever again, this game. And for me, that's probably what I take away from these. It's just get through. Would have been nice to see one of the boys kick a field goal. Yes, get a win. Sure.

[00:05:55] Like it always is good to win no matter what, but it just, it doesn't really affect me. I know that might be, I might be an outlier on that, but it just doesn't bother me. We could have lost 40, Neil. I wouldn't have cared. I probably would have cared if it was 40, Neil. But my only thing on the last opportunity was like, I agree with you and I agree that certainly did not lose one ounce of sleep over it, but it was a pretty good training drill to do something for the main event, whenever that is.

[00:06:25] So I feel like it's just an opportunity lost in that sense. Now they could do it at training and it's almost the same thing. It's hard to replicate game experience. That was a game. It was televised, et cetera. That's my only little thing. If I, if I had a word with Jaden Burrell, I'd be like, I'm cool, but why didn't you go right? Look like every instinct tells you to go right.

[00:06:50] I think maybe if it was trial two and it was Nico or Trindle to, to have that pressure that then I would, I agree. You put, you give them the chance to try and get one in early in the season when it's the, it's the kids and it's, it's the backup hooker. There's not so much, like, I'm not sure where that pressure is going to come for them in, in that space. Yeah. But if it was like, okay, let's, let's give Nico a win here, an early season, win the nail, a field goal to win a game. Sure.

[00:07:18] I think that's probably, it's just like Riley Pollard's what 17, 18, like he's going to have a thousand more opportunities to do that kind of stuff in, in Reggie's and lower grades. I think more my point, Josh, now that I'm thinking about it as you're talking is that it was probably more for Beryl because all the field goal guys do is get the ball, put it down and kick. Beryl's going to make the call. I don't want to see him in first grade, do that same call, I guess. Do you think he would though, if it was a first grade game? Do you think he, do you think he does that? I hope not.

[00:07:48] I hope everyone's yelling at him and the trainers out there yelling. Maybe the trainer wasn't out there for such a kind of non pressured situation. So maybe he was told, you know, maybe he was told to go left. And that was like, let's try and get the trial. Like he might've been. I mean, if the past, if the past sticks, they go close, but still after having watching those guys last year, and then in this game, the last 15 minutes, I was backing the kids in to kick that field goal. So anyway, just wanted to get your thoughts on that. That's cool. There's no real right or wrong.

[00:08:18] That's all just opinion, but I have, yeah, changed my tune a little bit since probably the game. I've been thinking about it going, well, maybe he should have gone right for those specific reasons. But anyway, I mean, that's, it would have been cool. Like you see Riley Pollard, one of our, you know, like really promising juniors kick a field goal and see the boys get around him. Like, absolutely. But then if he misses it, it's like, oh damn. It's like, you know, maybe it goes the other way. I don't know. We saw some great performances from the young forwards. I already mentioned Lachlan Crouch.

[00:08:48] Hosking was great. Even young Felix Fartilli got some time and he didn't look out of place. Very young, but man, he's got a big body. Jersey flag captain Sam McCulloch gets some time as well. So it was a good hit out. A bunch of those guys haven't been named for the next game, which we'll get to shortly. I know you weren't at the ground, Josh. It was a really good atmosphere. There was quite a good crowd. I couldn't tell you what it was, but. It was good on TV.

[00:09:17] All the stands were full. Like the three stands were full and the, the outer around the southern stand and AT stand was pretty full. So it was, it was good. People were pretty amped. They were into it. They, they kind of got more vocal as the game went along. I think we were pretty. Pleasantly happy with the performance. There was a few grumblings at full time about the, the draw. I had people asking me if it was going to golden point. And I was like, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

[00:09:46] Overall, pretty good vibe. Yeah. The ground and, and the performance was pretty good. Uh, the thing that I loved was just, they didn't look very rusty. It wasn't overly clumsy. There wasn't a stack of drop ball. So there was some good signs there for just the basic stuff. Uh, Atkinson and Nifa Piru led them around pretty good. Atkinson did the bulk of the kicking and was pretty good. Uh, his head definitely looks screwed on this year for the black, white, and blue, which is great.

[00:10:15] Uh, the, all the, the, the main backs were, were solid. I thought actually Mawini Harati really stood out as, as someone who you can rely on. Like defensively, he was cutting down everyone. Oregon Kofusi at lock that could work if need be. He's been named a prop this week, but if he needs to go back to lock that can work. Uh, Billy Burns and Talakai were great in the second row. Both props starting did well. Hamlin, well, he had a few kind of awkward moments, but overall ran for almost a hundred meters. And it was good to get him back.

[00:10:45] He's back again this week. Tall Tom, possibly a dragon. Hazleton will get to him in a little while too. Uh, he looked pretty solid as well. He scored off one of his first touches and I don't think he damaged his, uh, incoming bank account too much by that performance. It was a good performance from, from Tall Tom. We don't need to talk about the Warriors, but overall they were pretty average. I thought, uh, former sharp. Martin Arrows. Yeah. Luke Metcalf looked pretty good at half.

[00:11:13] That was kind of one of the shining lights for them. James Fisher Harris was pretty pumped up. He was attacking all of our kicks on the fifth tackle and hanging on a bit. Uh, but aside from that, I mean, I didn't really notice it live, but I watched the game back today and, uh, Jet Cleary came on for the last sort of maybe 10 minutes. And boy, oh boy, he's got a reputation to live up to with that name because, uh, it wasn't a good start. It's only one game was trial match. He's super young. I'm not putting shade on him.

[00:11:42] Uh, he's obviously talented, but, uh, an unhappy game for him to start with, I think. But anyway, I'm sure he'll get a million more opportunities, hopefully for your sake. Uh, but sharks 12 all draw against the warriors at shark park, a good fun hit out for more in depth analysis on that. We've done a couple of episodes, uh, with post game and did some stuff today earlier with Dan as well.

[00:12:05] So, uh, lots of shark cast related trial analysis for you, but Joshy, uh, it's, it's always big at shark at shark land. And it's a big off season for us, big preseason coming up. Junior grades are doing really well. Uh, lots of wins in there, uh, including, uh, Andrew for feeders team. He's coaching Tasha Gale cup level, I believe. And they had a big win as did the other women's team as well.

[00:12:32] So a lot of good, lower grade stuff. If you're looking for some local footy, check your guides, but you can go watch a bunch of the grades. Uh, already they're already into like regular season. So it's good fun happening. We've got the hall of fame next Tuesday. It's very exciting. Uh, you going to be in the country for that, Josh. Next Tuesday. I will be in the country. Yes. I won't be far off leaving. Okay. Well, going to that. Yeah. We'll be doing a show from down there.

[00:13:01] So, uh, if you're around, you're welcome to jump on, but we'll, we'll have some sort of cast of shark cast there talking to some former greats and doing a bit of fun down there. So stay tuned for that, but definitely recommend people head down. If you have the time and inclination, and if you can afford to, the sharks are opening the gates, uh, with a ticket for the hall of fame. So if you're a bit of a historian in the club, if you, if you love your eighties and nineties and two thousands, then, uh, it's the place to be.

[00:13:31] I'm looking forward to seeing who they induct into the hall of fame, along with all the other immortals that are already there. There'll be some other fun stuff happening too. And you'll hear about it through all the shark channel. So no spoilers there for anyone. That's for sure. Josh, huge news today. We're going to jump around a little bit with timelines, but that was the re-signing of Ranallo Molotaro. He has signed on for three extra years. So we've got this year plus three more.

[00:14:00] I believe that's correct. He's here until the end of 2028. He wants to be a one club man. He's already played 110 matches for us. Uh, he's come through the SG ball ranks. Been here since he was 15. And he's very appreciative of what's going on. I kind of was of the understanding. He wasn't going anywhere. The, the hesitation was because he changed management.

[00:14:27] And when he changed management, apparently it causes a lot of ripples and new manager comes in. He's got to wait some sort of time. They couldn't get it done until now it's done. I'm not sure what the whole Broncos thing was. I don't think we shopped him up there. It might've been old manager. I'm not sure, but he wasn't really going anywhere, which is the good news. He's currently believe it or not. The third highest. Tri scorer for the sharks. He could be all time.

[00:14:56] By the time he's done, he's probably got, we've got at least four, you'd think maybe six years at least to go. So he might break E.T.'s record. I'm super happy about that. He's a good fellow on the field. Good fellow off the field. Good role model. Very chirpy at training. Keeps the boys on edge. And what are your thoughts on keeping Ronaldo Molotolo? I was actually, I was pretty shocked.

[00:15:21] I was of the opinion that he would probably leave just from the years of listening to him talk in depth about his family and how much they mean to him and you know where he comes from. And I just felt like that a lot of what he was saying always was leading to loves the sharks, but for family reasons, he was going to go home.

[00:15:39] So, and I've mentioned it several times on the podcast as well, but really stoked that he's saying, I think the, the most interesting part of all the most gratifying part was hearing him speak in his media. The presser that he did with the, with the sharks was he was like in tears about it, like really emotional.

[00:16:02] And yeah, like, those are the kinds of guys you want playing for your club that this, this actually means something to them that the players, the coaching staff, all the workforce that down at the sharks and the fans and you know, the Jersey that he puts on you. And you know, some players say that, and you know, it's just a job, but like, you know, that he means it. Yeah. And I like, and fans can see through that stuff. I think most, most people can see when someone means it and when they don't. And like this, you can't fake that sort of dedication and passion. And he plays like that.

[00:16:31] We say that every, we see that every week on the field. And when he speaks about the club, he always speaks with such passion. And that's why he's such a fan favorite. And that's why other teams hate him, other fans, because he's so passionate about his mob and his, and his family that they can't stand it when he, when he gets up someone else. And I like, those are the kinds of guys I want playing for me. Maybe you could turn it down a little bit, but that's why you want someone to be aggressive and passionate. And that's my favorite quality in a sportsman or woman generally is passion.

[00:17:01] And he's got that in spades and to have another three years. I think if he plays 200 games for Cronulla, he'll probably break that record. Like if he, if he scores 15 to 20 tries for the next, you know, five, six years, he'll smash it. Because I think he needs about another 80 tries to catch ET, give or take. So I mean, he's scoring kind of 15 to 20 a year. So 15 to 20, like, and you might have a breakout 25 tried year.

[00:17:28] So I'd love for him to possibly break a record, a new era and have a ring to go with it would be nice. The thing I love about on field Josh is that he's gotten better year on year. We don't need to talk about the first game because we always do that. And it's kind of funny. We don't, we don't need to make light of that now because it's a great day for him and his family. He has improved year on year.

[00:17:51] I know sometimes, particularly last year, there was some running off the line, off the edge, causing some defensive overlaps. That's what wingers do. We've seen him improve on that in the year before when he needed to do it. So there's still some improvement to come, but overall his game has gotten better every year. If you need any reminder, look at that try he set up for Sifitalikai against Melbourne. I mean, that is not easy to do.

[00:18:20] And those little steps and little hops, the things he does, he does it in a lot of games. It's not just that one. That's maybe his most famous one, but he does that more than you think. If you're just watching from far away or you don't watch the replay, watch him in slow-mo, watch the way he attacks the ball. And he's not just doing hit ups. He's really dancing around and, and trying to create space. And, uh, that's gotten better every year. Look, I, I watched him a bit as a kid. I saw him come through.

[00:18:48] I didn't think he'd be the superstar he is. I thought that, um, he could have a career. Yeah, sure. But I didn't really see this coming. And it's, it's, it's all about attitude, man. And you hear it when he talks. I know that when I talk to him probably what, once every six weeks down at the Sharks, if we're coming off a win, he still talks about how he could have done better. If we're coming off a loss, he definitely talks about how he could have done better. Uh, for a guy who's super confident, he remembers all the little things that he does wrong.

[00:19:16] And it's not even enough that we might even pick up on or even care about, but he really carries that with him. And that's someone who takes pride in their job. So, another great signing. Uh, it does open up a slight can of worms in the future. Not exactly right now, but stone street is off contract. Uh, Katoa has a few more years. I believe it's long regarded that by fans that stone streets, the future, uh, Sione is the present.

[00:19:44] We can say now, more Tala is definitely the future. So there's a bit of a battle there about what's going to happen. Uh, I don't know if it's a done deal, so to speak that they're just going to go, it's all yours stone street. I think he's going to have to work for it. And I think the clubs are open to that. I think they're like, he could be the future, but I don't think it's as confirmed as what a lot of people want to believe.

[00:20:08] So, and as we know, Katoa doesn't put too many feet wrong when he plays like he's, he's either man of the match for our team in a prelim or he's a seven out of 10. There's not too many shockers from Katoa. He's a very consistent performer. So I'm pretty fascinated by what's going to happen there, Josh. I know you're a big Katoa guy. I know you've got a lot of time for stone street. I kind of feel the same way as fans.

[00:20:37] I don't think we're going to lose out no matter who gets the jersey, but that's the best part. I was interesting just before we jumped on, I saw the bloke in the bar have done an interview with Sione Katoa, which is coming out tomorrow and they played a snippet of it. And they were talking about how when he came into grade, he was really quiet, you know, had no confidence, um, would say sorry if he beat someone with a step or if he, if, you know, if he, if he hurt someone in a tackle.

[00:21:01] And he's, and he said that he didn't, he didn't feel like a lot of people in his life or in his football career really backed him or gave him that confidence until Fitz showed up. And he said, Fitz kind of changed his entire mentality of how to be a professional athlete and how to be who he is and be more outgoing and more confident in himself. And you, and the most important part I thought was that when he came through, people were saying like, oh, if you want to take my spot, you're going to have to earn it. And he would be like, oh, sorry, I don't want to take your spot. I'm just happy to be here.

[00:21:31] And now he's, now he's that guy where he's like, if you want my spot, you got to earn it. And he's like, that's like, that's the, that's the guy I am now who I wasn't six years ago. And that said a lot to me that he's not going to give up this shark's wing spot without a fight. Like he, he wants it. And I reckon that was not a jab at Stone Street at all, but it was definitely like a, Hey, I'm not giving this up and you're going to have to get, you're going to have to take it from me. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Yeah, for sure. And it's good to hear him talk that way because he comes across as yeah, super non-competitive.

[00:22:01] So it's good to hear him confirm that he is. I mean, obviously the way he plays, he plays a lot of aggression. You would think, you would think kind of watching him, you wouldn't necessarily see that kind of shyness, that kind of, that awkwardness, but he definitely, when you, when you talk to him, like he's sort of a cross between a guy who doesn't really want to talk to him. Talk to you and super, super friendly, kind of quirky, like he's a quirky guy. Again, a guy that's really improved.

[00:22:27] Although I think we saw what he was going to be in the NYC comp. I think he was a real star then. And then probably took him some time, but man, his, his trajectory has just been on the up for the last. Well, I think since Fitzy came, I mean, he was good under bomber. There's been some years recently where you're just like, man, this guy is kind of our number one winger. This guy's our best back. So, and I'm not, not even just talking about the fancy tries.

[00:22:55] Like, yeah, that's a massive skill that not many people can do, but just the, the, the meters right out the back. Yeah. The tackle breaks defensively has gotten a lot better. He was a real liability for a while. Defensively has gotten a lot better. I think both Jesse Ramian and Kyle Ero can kind of hold their head up high with the defensive kind of help. They give both their wingers. And I think that's seen the improvement with more Tyler as well. So it's going to be interesting to watch how that goes because Sione is not an old man.

[00:23:25] He's, he started young. Yeah. He's still got some years in him as a, as a winger. Now I know history tells us that soon enough, they'll sort of go off into the sunset to super league or whatever and be stars over there. And maybe that's where he might go, of course. But for now, I think you're right.

[00:23:45] I think he really loves his job and I'm intrigued by what happens with Stone Street because, because Stone Street for me, he's like, sometimes he's three steps forward, one step back. And in the trial match, and I've said this a few times in the trial match, it's gone. It's only a trial match, but he was three steps forward, one step back. It was kind of like that throughout the night. Now, if you're scoring hat tricks, it doesn't matter. And in the trial match, it didn't really matter.

[00:24:14] He still, I would say had a good game, but there was parts of his game where you just like, if you do that in a competition game, you're going to get roasted, man. Like he's got, obviously got a way to go. He's only young, super young. I'm all in on him and I want him to succeed for us. But I just want our audience to know that I personally don't think it's as clear cut as like a one-for-one swap. It may come to that, but at the moment, I don't think so.

[00:24:43] And nor should it be, I think. I mean, I think Sione has the right of, like, it's not like the Will Kennedy situation where it's a little bit more like, oh, you could see why, like, a lot of the fan base and maybe myself in some capacity would see a change. Like, I don't think Stone Street's had the, as good as he was last year, I don't think he was absolute blitz. I was like, oh my God, like he has to play, like no matter what. I think anything he's been able to do, Sione has done or can do.

[00:25:09] Whereas I think there's not, there's some things that I don't think Stone Street can do that Sione does, if that makes sense. And I think you've got to choose between what you want out of the pace, the jumping or the meters, the finishing, the tackle busting. You've got to, just a, that's a personal preference. What do you want out of a winger? Me personally, I prefer like the Sione Katoa type winger.

[00:25:33] I prefer that the meterage, which is the most successful teams have those meter readers that run for 150, 200 meters a game, score 15 tries a year. Then you have your Alex Johnson's who score 20, 25 tries, but they give you 110 meters. So they give you 100 meters. And in this, in the modern age, like I just, that's the kind of, that's the kind of play style I prefer. In the game, just gone trial match. I can't say it enough trial match. Sione ran 11 times for 111 meters.

[00:26:02] Stone Street had one more run, 12 runs for 83 meters. So there's a near, whatever it is, 30 meter difference with one less run. Now, I'm really honing in on that detail. And at the end of the day, that may not mean anything to anyone. But as far as what you're talking about, as far as meters go, that's a good example of what one guy does potentially better than the other. But the thing is, we have to be fair to Stone Street. If he gets in the clear, no one's going to catch him.

[00:26:33] Yes. Now, since day one, when he was 18 years old or younger, when Katoa got in the clear, we were like, woohoo, party time. He comes to try. He's always getting run down. We know this. He's kind of quick over 20, 30 meters. 30. But don't give him 50 or 60 because he's going to get run down. He can't change that. That's just how it is. We know that. So even on the weekend where he made the break and he had to do the kick because he couldn't, you know, he's just a bit slower. Whereas Stone Street's really quick.

[00:27:02] The thing also I'll say about Stone Street is that he's never let us down at the top grade. And that's pretty cool. Exactly. I think that's the best part as fans is that if either of them go down, and he has to play 10 games or something or five games, we know we're fine. If he has to play the finals or something, you trust him. I just think while we're in the window, I think you've got to go the experience.

[00:27:30] And it's, Sione's not, it's not the difference between them is inconsequential. Like either way, if round one, they pick Stone Street over a fit Sione. Fair enough. I can live with that. But for me, for now, for like this year, I think it's Sione's jersey. And I think so it should be. And I think Fitz really trusts him. And I think he likes him. And like I said, it just comes down. I still think as well with Stone Street, he still, it gets belted a lot.

[00:28:00] And like to his credit, he gets up. He's not as thick as Sione. He's a big dude, but he gets smashed every time. And he kind of like gets hit and put down. Whereas Sione will hit, spin, fight, offload, you know, make another 10 meters, give the forwards that, you know, that 10 less meters. They've got to go back. Stone Street will fill out. He's still a kid, essentially. Like he will fill out and he'll get bigger and he'll get stronger.

[00:28:25] I just, yeah, that difference for me is the crucial part of the meters and I think the strength of Sione. So I noticed on the weekend in his 11 hit ups, and I've noticed it before, he tends to do the hit up. And if you consider picture it and go along with me, if you're listening, not watching, he drops his left shoulder to the defender and then kind of does a spin around or get spun around. And it looks like a pretty impactful hit from the defender.

[00:28:54] And a lot of the times it is, as you said, like he's, he gets sort of outweighed in that, in that motion. But I've noticed, I don't know if it's a thing that he's doing every hit up, every game, but I noticed the game just gone. He sort of runs, he gets down a little bit low and he kind of tries to barge off, but it's with like the left shoulder almost on the opposing defender's other shoulder. And that's gives a motion of the bounce back and the spin around.

[00:29:21] It's kind of weird, but that affects his run meters a lot of the time. So I don't know if that's something they want to address. Maybe that's just the way he plays and happy days. I'm not sure. I think it's up to him. I think it's up to Stone Street that the kind of the keys are in his hand. He's got to really know what to do with them. And, you know, at this point I'm backing him in. He's only young. He only loves one club and that's us. So let's hope it works out for him in the club. But we're very happy about Ronaldo staying.

[00:29:49] We don't know for sure. And what we've always tried doing the show is not really talk about, you know, unnecessary rumors, but there's a pretty strong word going around that. But the Dragons have offered Tall Tom Hazleton a good contract, a long-term good contract. Above average for sure. More than what we are at the moment.

[00:30:14] So much so that Newcastle and I believe Dolphins have pulled out. And so when you hear that, you're like, oh, okay, two teams have pulled out because he's too much money. He must be asking for something. Shane Checkbook Flanagan, he, I say that with love, we'll hopefully talk to him soon enough. He said, no, I want you. This is what we're going to offer you. So what are your thoughts on that? What do you think the Sharks should do at this point?

[00:30:43] What are you thinking? But like that signing of leaving, it's like, I love him, I want him to stay, but I can't justify the money that's being offered for what he brings to us. He obviously is more valuable to another team than what he is to us. And I say that with respect of just we can't afford that kind of money because we have a top tier side. We're on the brink of the salary cap every year.

[00:31:13] And I can't justify paying Tom Hazleton 450 grand a year to play 30 minutes, 35 minutes off the bench. And I think 450 for him to, I don't, I don't see him as a starter. And if that's what it took to keep him, I lean towards letting him go. And I say that, you know, through gritted teeth. I don't want him to leave. I love big, bald Tom, but it just doesn't make sense for me, no matter what way I put it of money position.

[00:31:42] And value to the side. And with all that being said, I say with the fact we have so many young kids coming through in his position. And we have guys on the cusp, you know, your Jesse Colquhouns, your Puru's, your Welly, Toby, all the, uh, Tapua. All these guys who are in the long-term vision who are locked down and are cheaper. And dare I say, the guys that I want in that side probably over the next five years.

[00:32:10] Um, so it's a tricky one because I don't want him to go. It was the same as Jack. I didn't want Jack to leave, but it made sense. And this makes sense for him to go, you know, down to Wollongong or down to Cogger and be a starter. I don't think he's a starter. I don't think, I just don't think that's his style. I think a benchy for 300K off the bench is, is the perfect role for him.

[00:32:32] If you're starting to pay in that 450, 500, 550 for him to start and lead a pack, I have question marks over that, but I'm not a first grade coach as well. So I don't know that much. So we saw last year, he really through injury had to be a starter and he, I don't know, top of my head, maybe he'd 10, 15 games in a row. He, he, he was the starting prop and he actually grew into it. He did pretty good, but I'm with you.

[00:33:01] I think if he's starting for us, it means Fanua Blake's out. That means Kofushi's out. It possibly means a Rudolph and Hamlin-Lewilly out. I think they're above the pecking order at the moment. Now, if you gave me a choice of some of those guys I mentioned versus Tom Hazleton to stick around and to push off, I mean, you could wait up and go, and I'm, you know, just, I'm just spitballing here.

[00:33:27] Everyone knows I love this guy, but BHU, I mean, he has got a big year to prove what he's worth. Now he had a good start to the year already in the first trial and I hope to God he's our best player all year round and he signs on again. But Tom Hazleton is younger. Tom Hazleton has a different body shape, but just as damaging one. Toby Rudolph has a lot of injuries as well.

[00:33:51] He isn't young and, well, that doesn't matter as much with the prop, but, you know, you could have pros and cons on who to keep and who to let go. But, having said that, the pros of having Hamlin-Welley is we know how good he is at his best. When Toby is fit and firing, he can provide a lot of experience and a lot of, you know, effort in that pack.

[00:34:15] So, it's not so much what I would do, but there are different options if you really wanted to keep Tom Hazleton. You could. But I like what you said about the fact they've got Tapua, got Colquhoun coming back earlier than we thought. He'll be a great middle. And then we have, yeah, probably three or four guys who are probably two years away. But they're obviously in the future plans and you hang on to them and they'll be cheapies for ages.

[00:34:45] So, it doesn't make sense, particularly when you're paying for Noah Blake, your other prop, probably, what, the second most money in the team? Probably 800-ish, give or take. It's good. It's good. Whatever it is, it's good. Yeah. And I think he'd be almost, well, I'm presuming he'd be the second highest player. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. You can't then go to Tall Tom and go, okay, let's up your contract significantly and then have him not be the number two prop.

[00:35:13] If he was the number two prop, well, maybe you could. But at this point, he's not. I think of the Dragons, he could start. I think he could be a starter somewhere. I just think at the moment for us, he's not the preferred starter. I wasn't aware that he was asking for money we couldn't afford. I thought he'd get an improved contract. I thought it'd be a good reward for him, good reward for the club.

[00:35:37] You know, we signed him fairly young out of the park through Gavin Miller's advice, gave him a lifeline, and he's been great. So, it's like a double-sided loyalty thing. Sure. But it looks like, and, you know, Fitz plays his cards pretty close. So, maybe he's gone, you know what? Screw the Dragons. Let's keep him. Let's find a way. Yeah, exactly. Like, we don't know that it's, we don't know he's going to be a Dragon, but the indications are there that they're the favorites at the moment.

[00:36:06] So, the Sharks could always come back and go, you know what? And if the Sharks could match it, I've got no doubt he would stay. Like, I think he really enjoys being at the club. I think he knows from time to time he will be a starter. And I think he'd be in the 17 most weeks. But the Dragons, you know, they see this guy who scores tries at will. They see a cult figure. They see a guy who's got a pretty good motor for a big guy. It's a good purchase. But for us, maybe it's not the right time to pay Tom that kind of money.

[00:36:36] Yeah, I completely agree with everything you said. And I think also preface what I said earlier by, look, I would rather keep Tom over probably ULA and Rudolph. The difference is that they're already locked in. Like, we can't just get rid of them. And that plays against him as well. It's like, look, ULA, I think he's a better player. But it's just injuries have kind of hampered him. I think Rudolph at his best, arguable. But we haven't seen that for a while as well. And he's injured a lot.

[00:37:05] But they're locked down. We can't just get rid of them. You know, we can't just sell them off like soccer. So, we're dealt with those cards. We can't just, you know, magically find an extra 200 grand to keep him. And for what we would be paying extra to probably get the same amount that we are now. It's not like we're going to go, okay, well, now you're being upgraded. You're going to be playing 45, 50 minutes every week. It's still going to be the same output. And it's still going to be, you know, your 25 tackles and about 90 to 100 meters a game.

[00:37:36] I don't want to pay 450 grand for that. That's, you know, you want, I think you'd want a little bit more. It probably has it in him. I'm sure he has that in him to be more. He's restricted by what he's given. But that's, you know, we're getting into that territory of like, well, you know, if Adam Finnell Blake's on 800 and we're going to give him 500 to stay, there's a big gap in that performance.

[00:38:02] And when I watch Tall Tom week to week, I do see improvement. And I see little things in his game that have gotten better. And I can visualize them getting better as the years go on. But I don't know if that's a gamble that I'm going to pay right now when we've just signed one of the two best guys in the world. In that position. And we have these guys coming through.

[00:38:30] Like if our belief system and our sharks actual system of bringing these guys through is anything that we've anything close to what we think it is, then we should see a guy like Tuku really break out this year. And it doesn't mean he's going to be playing 40 minutes, but he'll get more game time and he'll get more tries and he'll get more tackle bus. We know Finnell Blake's going to light it up. There's no doubt in my mind he's going to light up. We saw Kofusi have a breakout year. He was fantastic.

[00:38:57] Colquhoun's unknown just because of the injury and how long it takes to get back into it. But we saw when he came back last year, he was pretty energetic and into it. So there's a lot of faith in him. Ueli's got a lot to prove from himself. That's his own words. Like I'm not saying he's got a lot to prove. He knows that he has the feeling he wants to prove to the world that he deserves this contract and this position.

[00:39:24] So I think he'll be great barring any kind of mishaps with injuries. Rudolph's an unknown to me. Like he's just sometimes he's really good and sometimes he's not, you know, and that's just how he kind of is. I don't know how else to put it. But he'll have to earn it this year. He won't be back on that bench when he's fit. Like unless we have injuries, he will have to earn it back. Like the thing with Toby is, and I could never, ever doubt this. And it's, I know I can say this about a lot of players, but when I think of Toby Rudolph,

[00:39:53] I think of a guy who gives you every little inch of what he's got. And if it's a good day, then you're getting a lot. If it's a bad day, you're getting that. But he doesn't hold back. Like he gives you everything and I cannot fault the guy for that. And that's why I'll always have a little bit of restrain in how I talk about him, but also in the fact that if you said to me, we can sign him, here's the situation.

[00:40:15] I'd always be open to it because guys like that, it's not every player is not like that about their game. You know, I know he says silly things. He's a bit goofy and that kind of stuff. But at his core, when you watch him, I've been critical of him on and off throughout his career, but he gives you everything he's got. That's something, man. And when it comes to footy, it's serious.

[00:40:42] Like you can be a larrikin and then when you cross that line, it's go time. And then he becomes footy head Toby, you know? And then that's good that he can switch off and be a larrikin and have a laugh and joke around the boys. But you said when he's on the field, he means business. I'll always give him credit for that, the same as you. So my point is we're not sure what sort of a U is going to have. Like maybe, because maybe the toe is healed, but he had the surfing incident and it's the shoulder or whatever it is. I can't remember what it is. It's something.

[00:41:09] But if he comes back and he's fine, well, it's up to him then to kind of, you know, prove that he's a lot better than that Penrith game, for example. You know, that was my last example of Toby playing Panthers, having an unhappy night. Come back and prove it. But with Tom, I see improvement if you want to buy that. But I don't know if he goes to a lights out. And I'm not just saying that because it looks like we're losing him. I'm not being one of those fans. It's just like, oh, well, he's not that important.

[00:41:38] He's important. I know. He really, he carried us last year for a long time. And if you think about it, Josh, that carrying helped us get to the finals. Like he carried the weight as a first grader, probably more than what they planned at that young age. And did a great job. And that's what I've said about the three boys that left of Royce and Jack and maybe Tom is that I didn't want to lose any of them. If I could have chosen to keep all of them, I would have. And I'm the same as you.

[00:42:08] I hate being that kind of person. It's like, oh, now they're going. Now I think they're crap. Like that's not what it is. And I'm just thinking all the things that it takes to keep a player and what it would cost. And it's like, I can't justify that to myself. If we lost Nico Hines or Trindle, I would have been absolutely devastated. Do you know what I mean? It's like, I'm not just saying it because they left. And I think that's probably the one position we can handle losing. I mean, look, we've lost Royce Hunt, Jack Williams.

[00:42:36] And if we lose Tom, that's three guys who are in the first grade side pretty much every single week. And we're going to cover it pretty handsomely. And that's a credit to the staff. And that if someone leaves, we'll develop another one. And I think that's how you've got to look at it. So the guy that they picked up with very little fanfare, we saw him play in our colors for the first time on the weekend. Hohepa Puru, so Nephi's brother, twin brother. He plays as a middle. He's a smaller middle.

[00:43:06] He played a bit of dummy half. And I'm not suggesting he's a replacement for Tom Hazleton. But he's a middle forward. And he's on not much money, with all respect. And from what we saw in, I don't know, 50 minutes on the weekend, it looks like he's throwing down to kind of be the next man up. Like he won't be in the starting pack. We know that. He may not even be on the bench.

[00:43:29] But he comes into the kind of Billy Burns territory, where it's like pretty good first grader, fringe first grader sometimes. Some in our experience. Has been in the camps. Puru came from Penrith. Then he went to Canberra. He knows about winning at the lower grades. But it sounds like he's coming here to kind of, you know, roll the dice and have a crack.

[00:43:51] And if we let a Hazleton go, but pick up a guy like this, who's on one quarter of the money probably, and he becomes either a regular or a guy you can rely on, they're just little ways of kind of saying, well, okay, we lost this big, tall guy for a lot of money. But we've got these other people who are going to kind of fill the gap until maybe a Lachlan crouch or one of the other young kids comes through properly.

[00:44:19] There are these kind of holes there that they can kind of fill. And I think in a way it is healthy to have that, just the small refreshes in the squad, which we're starting to see now. We have had the same team for about five or six years. We are starting to see just a slight little adjustments here and there. Fitz getting more confident in himself and what he wants and the style of play. And I think it's good to go, okay, you know, we're having a really successful year.

[00:44:44] Let's just slowly, just little gears here and there and little pieces just to freshen up the squad, get a bit of youth in there, but still maintaining that high level of being a top four side. And that's what I'm most excited about is, okay, we lose Tommy Hazleton. Sucks. It's another opportunity for someone else. You know, if that means that Colquhoun now gets a spot or if Puru approves himself and gets a couple of games this year, that's good squad retention. That's good squad development, I should say.

[00:45:12] And the refreshment that I think we lacked two to three years ago where it was like, okay, we haven't lost anyone. We haven't signed anyone. We need something. And that was like an Adam Fennel Blake. Like, and now, you know, okay, we've lost a couple of guys that have been here for a few years, like Royce and Jack were, you know, staples of this side for six years. And now it's like, now it's someone else's turn. And that's exciting to me while still being a, we're not going to rebuild. You know, that's how you avoid the rebuilds is the slight refreshments.

[00:45:41] And the thing with Hazelton is if he can go earn, and I'm just speculating, but say 100, 150 more a year at a team where they're slowly on the rise from where they were. And he's going to start or absolutely be in the 17 every week. It's a no brainer. And if it's that mob across the bridge, he can stay in his apartment and everything kind of adds up. So you can't fault him.

[00:46:08] You can't fault the club for not throwing everything at him unless you, unless he's your favorite player or whatever. I get that. But yeah, we'll see what happens. He's definitely not gone yet. As we go to print, he's not gone yet. We'll send him out with a ring. That's probably the best way to do it. If he leaves, go take a ring with you. Yeah, absolutely. We also know, Josh, that we're going to Vegas. And you and I are fortunate enough to be heading over there, which is a lot of fun. A lot of our listeners, a lot, maybe I shouldn't say a lot.

[00:46:37] Some of our listeners are heading over, which is awesome. And we're going to very much try and have a gathering. That'll be a bit of a, definitely not spur of the moment, but a bit more of a later notice kind of thing about where and when we're going to do it. We've got a few things penciled in. Might know a bit more this week, which is exciting. And hopefully some stuff to do with the club as well. So a bit of TBC there, but just be patient. And before you know it, Josh Bolling will be in your city of Vegas. City? I get always getting in trouble here.

[00:47:07] City? It is in City. It's not California. I know that. Nice. That's an old joke if you're listening to some episodes ago. But exciting times. And it's going to be great to see how the team reacts to being away. It's a massive high profile. There'll be a lot of Australian media. And it is the game of the day. Like, it's the prelim replay. And it's the one that everyone's going to be watching back home, that's for sure. How do you think a team's going to adjust to being overseas? And do you think it'll be pretty chill?

[00:47:36] Yeah, I think it is a good test to, again, be in the limelight and be under the spotlight, which we have, rightly or wrongly, been a little shaky under when the lights are brightest and all eyes are on. We have not always been great the last few seasons. So I think it's another good test and another good dress rehearsal for the end of year when all eyes are on in a massive stadium with potentially 50,000, 60,000 fans there

[00:48:05] in one of the most insane cities in the world and flying over. All the factors that play into what I'm seeing as positives of how do you deal with flying over and being jet-lagged and how are you going to perform and stay focused? These are things that I'm sure Fitz is going to use to his advantage, which I can't wait to see how they respond and when they come back is what I'm looking forward to seeing is what's the attitude like. How we go. It's not irrelevant. It's two points up for grabs.

[00:48:32] I think from a selfish point of view, I'm just thinking it's just going to be so much fun that if we get pumped, I probably won't care too much until I'm on the flight home. But it's just... The flight home is when it'll hit you, Josh. Yeah. Yeah, it's exciting. And again, it's against the best team maybe we've ever seen. It couldn't be more of a dress rehearsal. Could this be the dress rehearsal for early October? And it's going to be a very similar vibe. Yeah.

[00:49:01] I hope so, but that's what I'm looking forward to is how the team react and seeing what the attitude's like. A very personal question. You may not have thought of it yet. One of our other colleagues, that's all he's thinking about. You can guess who that is. How much black, white and blue in colour are you taking as far as apparel? You're going to have a percentage of your luggage will be that colour? Are you just thinking game day or what are you thinking?

[00:49:28] Probably going to take like two jerseys and my training shirt I'm wearing now. Maybe a jumper. Because it's hot to wear those around. I don't know what the weather's going to be like over there. I don't want to be, you know, sweating my backside off in LA. No, but I'll give you a tip, Josh. And I don't want to talk down to you because you're way smarter and more successful than I'll ever be in life. But check out the weather before you go. Anywhere. Anytime you go. Just check it out.

[00:49:55] I'll tell you right now, Vegas is probably, well, they're coming out of winter. So it's going to be approximately a top of, I'd say, 18 in the day and probably get down to maybe six or seven in the night time. Okay. Yeah. You always assume that the desert is just hot. That's probably very presumptuous of me. Anyway, people didn't tune in to hear about the weather. But okay, just interested because I know, and a lot of people, I'm not just picking on Kieran, I said his name, but a lot of people are really completely amped.

[00:50:24] And I'm excited that they're excited. And I haven't really thought about it, but I will certainly be representing the club, so to speak, the colors. Yeah. Just interested. I mean, you're probably the more fashionable kind of guy out of all of us. I don't think I'm going to take too much. I'll put it, I'm like, I think I'll put one or two options, one for game day and maybe one for when we do some pod stuff. Okay, cool. Probably fill me out. Sounds good. Now I want to get through a little bit of mail.

[00:50:52] It's going to be a little bit all over the shop as far as order. But we've gotten through most of it. I want to give it first to shout out, speaking of Vegas, to a fellow called Andrew who's been in touch, been in touch a bit in the last year. And it started when the NRA went last year to Vegas. And he wrote to us going, what do you think the chances are? And I went, ah, not very good. And then slowly it started looking a lot better. And we've kept in touch. So Andrew has been assisting us with finding some locations to hang out with people and that kind of thing.

[00:51:21] So I will get back to you, Andrew, regarding your last bit of correspondence. I just want to give Andrew a shout out. So he's a, well, I'm assuming he's an Australian living in Vegas. I could be wrong, but I know he's told me and I've completely forgotten, but he's a Sharks fan in Vegas, which is pretty damn cool. The Sharks are coming to your hometown. That's amazing. So thanks to Andrew for your help. Sean says, on Will Kennedy, I hope he nails the fullback spot. But my issue is this.

[00:51:49] When Nico and Trindle were out last year and our halves were being chopped and changed, Will Kennedy needed to step up. This shouldn't have to have been on Braley and Atkinson, but it was. And Will was barely sighted, in my opinion. He didn't demand the ball. He needed to take some creative ownership and provide a point of attack. We needed more. And from what I recall, Will didn't deliver. Perhaps he was doing what the coach wanted, but that disappointed me. We are primed for a premiership.

[00:52:19] I hope that if we're in trouble like we were last year, Will can step up and take the pressure off. I do love him. I can find a counter-argument for that in that because he didn't have his spine guys there all year, it is hard to make just something out of nothing. Look, I know there's some players like Yilla Trolls and Teddies that can do that, but he's not that kind of player. And I think it worked against him for a lot of the year to really have no consistency in who was feeding him the ball and the shapes that we ran

[00:52:44] because he had seven different combinations throughout the year to contend with. That's not an excuse on his performance at all. I agree in that we probably needed more out of him. But I do feel like he came up with big plays when we needed it at times. There were some games where he really saved the game against Newcastle with his intercept or scored the try against Parramatta. I know we lost, but the setup and the break and the backing back up, he still got that in him.

[00:53:15] The numbers probably just need to improve by five tries and seven tries. We just need a little bit more output and that's enough. He doesn't need to be Latrell Mitchell. He just needs to be a Bill Kennedy of 2022. And that will be enough, dare I say, to contend for a premiership. So definitely needs to improve and he's got blokes nipping at his ankles and I'm hoping that that will egg him on to be better. And, you know, clean slate every year.

[00:53:43] He's got my full – if he's named fullback round one, he's got my full backing and we can reassess that in a year. But I'm going to give him this last – not last shot, but this is his probably final moment before it becomes maybe an ice on time. Well, he's off contract, so it could be his final chance. I see where Sean's coming from, but I'm glad you said what you said, Josh, because you can't just flick the switch if you're not one of those players.

[00:54:13] And Will's a really talented footballer, but he's also a footballer that really relies on regularity and structure. And that's why we saw the slingshot so much and it worked till it didn't work. Like things like that. He's not the most ad-lib footballer I've ever seen. But having said that, he can do ad-lib. There's a bit of a shell, a bit of a wall-up when it comes to that kind of stuff. He's maybe just hesitant. You mentioned some good points last year, Josh, some things that really helped us.

[00:54:41] I do see where Sean is coming from, but I think maybe Will's just not that guy. It doesn't mean that he's not a good footballer. He just may not be that guy. Whereas I think – I personally think Braley is that guy, but Braley needs to show it more than he did last year. But I think that I'd be looking to Braley rather than Will Kennedy. I think Will doesn't have to be that guy when we're fully fit. We've got the guys. Yes. You know? We've got plenty of them. And like we've said a million times, you can't be strong everywhere.

[00:55:11] You can't have 17 of the best players in the world. You've got to have probably seven and the other guys do their job. And we've just decided that fullback is one of those guys that just needs to do their job. And that's fine. Not every team is different. Every team structure is different. If Will is seven out of ten every week or they're all averages at a bout, we can win the comp with him being a seven out of ten. We probably can't do it with him being a five. Well, that's the one thing I kept harping on. I know people are getting sick of it. But I was like, you're all complaining about Will Kennedy. I'm not talking about Sean.

[00:55:41] People in general are talking about Will Kennedy and how he's – we need a better fullback. And it's like, people, we're 15 minutes from a grand final. What are you talking about? Like we don't need anything. We just need to hold the ball. Like it's – the team's there. So that's my own opinion and my take on the year that was last year. I don't know what's going to happen this year. But last year, I just personally don't think if you put in a – inverted commas – better fullback, that that fullback will take you to the grand final win. Maybe he does.

[00:56:08] Maybe the tries he sets up, whoever it is, maybe he has some special touch. And that's the difference. But then you're tinkering with your team. You're tinkering with your salary cap, et cetera, et cetera. Play styles are completely different. Will Kennedy is easily the lowest paid spine member in this team. Now, what does that tell you about him? He'd be the lowest paid fullback in the NRL, I'd say, just about, if not. Maybe. He'd be very close. So you get your bang for your bucket.

[00:56:34] You get every cent that we're paying him for as opposed to a Latrell who you're paying a million for. You don't get a million every week. So that comes down to what do you prefer? And that's personal preference. Some people want the superstar fullback. Like, there also aren't 17 superstar fullbacks. And you can't be paying your halfback a mil and your front row are 800 and your hooker 700. And then also get the 800 fullback. That's not how it works. So we've seen Manly have got a million in two or three players.

[00:57:05] Like, they can't win a comp with just Turbo. Even though he's outstanding, he can't do it on his own. I'd rather have the balanced side. Sean also says, I added a comment on Facebook about our humble. Fitz is a really impressive bloke. He had every reason not to go as far as they did last year with the halves all over the shop. But he did it. And he thanks us for the pod. Thank you, Sean, for listening. Appreciate your thoughts. Just on the game, just gone. Someone called Machu Wade said, first trial, not horrible considering the team list.

[00:57:34] My issue first stems from not having the game mind. So the mindset with 15 seconds to go, 10 out in front, I'll take the field goal. They say, number one, practicing these minor games under pressure provides the skills. It's the best time to have a crack at that. And two, if short dropouts are now so prominent, why are we so terrible at defending, attacking them? This is when we should be training for them. So on your first point, we talked about that quite a bit.

[00:58:03] Completely understand your point of view. It is a great time to practice these one-point opportunities. They didn't. We're going to move on from that. Completely see your point. And as far as the short dropouts go, I mean, aside from getting your tallest player around, how else are you supposed to train for them? I mean, I understand the notion of drills and doing it over and over and over again. But really, it just comes down to whoever's the tallest, right? It's a lottery every time, really.

[00:58:33] Like anyone's hand or finger does one different thing and goes back or forward. Like that's why they introduced it. They wanted the lottery. They wanted to make it more exciting. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of that, actually. Yeah. So much to the point where I didn't even really remember the rules where, so at the end of the game, Josh, before, just to remind you and the listeners, the reason we got the ball so close to the goal line to go for the potential field goal was that Jack Cleary kicked the ball out on the full from a dropout.

[00:59:02] I went, oh, beautiful. We'll take the two points. And everyone's like, what are you talking about? That's not a thing anymore. And oh, yeah, it's not. So it's just such a whack rule. I don't know, the dropout. But it is if someone touches it or it is if they're offside. It's like, it's so ridiculous. Thanks to Lee, who was in touch. He enjoyed the Fitzgibbon interview. John was asking about Cam McInnes because he did miss last week. And he apparently missed the signing session that he did a few weeks ago at the club.

[00:59:31] But that's a minor injury name this week as a spoiler, which we'll get to real shortly. So, John, thanks for being in touch. That is awesome. What else have we got here? Lots of stuff all over. I might have to come back to some of this because I'm not very organized. I'm not very organized. Joe was in touch. I did apologize to Joe. Joe's mail went to spam for some reason, even though it's the furthest thing from spam. He was asking about Hazel of the Knights. It's like, nah, it's not the Knights anymore. Possibly the drags. Thanks to everyone who's been in touch is my main thing, I want to say.

[01:00:01] It's really nice to hear from everyone every week. It's awesome just to go to the inbox and see the support we're getting. So I appreciate that. Josh, why don't we skip forward to the match this week? We're playing on Thursday night, so pretty soon. Less than 24 hours away. It's kind of cool how it's just like, bang, bang, bang, bang, shark, shark, shark, shark. A near full strength team. Sione Gattayo is missing this week as a spoiler. He hasn't been named.

[01:00:27] We're not sure of the injury status, but we're hoping good things and hoping he'll be back for round one in Las Vegas. I wonder what the fishing's like in Las Vegas. Is there any fishing spots, Jochen, for Sione? Is there any water anywhere near there? Probably not. It's in a desert. Maybe in the hotel pools we could put a fish in there for him. Oh, Josh, you're going to get into so much trouble. You're going to get me into so much trouble. Yeah, I am. So the team named for this week, 750 kickoff down at Canberra.

[01:00:56] You can watch it on the Fox and on the KO. We got Will Kennedy, Sam Stone Street, Jesse Ramian makes his first appearance. Kyle Iro and Ronaldo Milotalo also makes his first appearance this year after signing the big contract. Harves, who you'll be pleased to see are Braden Trindle and Nico Hines. And a really strong starting pack. You would imagine this is the pack they're going to start with in regular season.

[01:01:23] Fenua Blake, Blake Braley, Oregon Kapusi, Britton Nicarate, Teague Wilton and Cam McInnes. The immediate bench is Dan Atkinson, Sifatallakai, Braden Hamlin-Welley and Tall Tom Hazelson. The extended bench is Billy Burns, Jaden Beryl, Tuke Haitapua, Chris Vaila. The Harves from the under-20s live to fight another day. Riley Pollard and Taj Ford.

[01:01:50] Michael Gabriel and Christian Dixon and Eli Clark round out as the young three quarters. And there's room for two more, Joshie. They've only named 26. I'm not suggesting they'll name 28, but they're allowed to name 28. So they might pull in a Sam McCulloch. They might pull in a Felix Vardelli. They might pull in Lachlan Crouch. Could be anyone or it might be no one. Just we'll see how Fitz plays it. But there are a lot of three quarters on that extended bench.

[01:02:18] Which aside from Sioni Katoa, it's essentially the starting team. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I'm a little just concerned about the lack of like the extras, like the extended bench. There's only about nine or ten players there. So there's going to still be a few guys that'll probably have to play out the game. I would love to just rip them all off like the 1-13 and get everyone out after the 40 minutes. But that's by the by. It's a bloody strong side.

[01:02:46] I mean, there are no holes in this team, realistically. Like I just see every position is a strong, really good player. The bench is really strong and impactful. Like every guy on our bench here would be close to starting at every other club or at least on a bench. These guys would be in every single team. You couldn't say that about most other teams. Look at the Canberra bench. Those guys wouldn't be in half the NRL sides. You know what I mean? So they're just across the board.

[01:03:15] And then even our extras, like the extended bench of Tapua, Bayella, Burns, Beryl, all these guys would probably be starting or playing at most clubs. Like it's great to finally see it named officially. It's locked in. We're going. I can't wait. Like that side, if it stays fit for most of the year and is there at the big, you know, the pointy end of the year, it's going to be hard to beat. So I can't wait to see how they combined.

[01:03:45] Mawini Harati and the two Peru brothers are not playing due to indigenous rep footy. It's an interesting point you make about the bench because say the stars play the opening 40 from the extended bench. You have Billy Burns. You have Beryl. You have everyone except for Tsukou play 40 minutes straight, but that still leaves a lot of starters playing for at least parts of the game.

[01:04:15] If not all of it, maybe Dan Atkinson continues on, maybe goes to fullback. But I see your point. I think you might see maybe Hamlin Welley gets some extra time due to fitness. There is room for two more. So maybe they're going to bring two in. I can't tell you why they haven't, but maybe there's a chance, only a chance they'll bring in two more because they're technically allowed to. So I can't see why they wouldn't. Is Isen injured? Yeah. Okay.

[01:04:45] Hand injury, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. We would have really liked to have seen him get a game. That's disappointing. But yeah. Look, at the end of the day, like the fitness is fitness. Like if a couple of the guys have to play, you know, an extra 20 minutes or whatever, like fine. It's just that thing about, okay, blow some gas out, like get some contact in, get the feel back and then get out of there and let's go to Vegas. I don't care if you play for 120 minutes, just don't get hurt. I'm not worried about that. It's just the hurt. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:05:15] Do you play round one in Vegas at Allegiant Stadium and you're burnt out because you played an extra 20 minutes in a trial match? Well, I mean, I can't be sorry for you, but I hear what you're saying. But the only worry we have here is injury if they're going to play extra moments. I mean, the coach knows what he's doing. We know the coach knows what he's doing. Oh, yeah. It's just like that thing. It's just like that thing of, oh, if we have to play, you know, Trindle an extra 20 minutes because of the selections and then he gets hurt in that extra, you know, the final 10 minutes of the trial.

[01:05:44] And that's like just me being a fearful, you know, man. I want them to play and I want them to fitness and get the combinations going. But I'm just like, I just wanted to be fit for that round one and for the season to come because it's a massive season for the club. I get the feeling if they run out for the second half, it'll be for 10 minutes and then that'll be it. I don't see him playing more than 50 for the majority of the first graders. I mean, maybe Dan Atkinson could do it.

[01:06:13] Maybe, and this is just speculation, maybe Dan is not playing from the bench in Vegas. So maybe they know that. That's best case as in like, here's our team for Vegas. Yeah. Dan's 18th man so he can play more. Like maybe there's something like that or whoever insert someone else, insert whatever name you like. Yeah. It'd be interesting to see how they do it. I mean, Fitzy said it a thousand times. He said, we wanted the game as close to Vegas as we could.

[01:06:42] And they caved them the Thursday, which is the least closest to it. I think they were preferring for the Sunday or whatever, but anyway, it is what it is, as they say in the classics. And that's the team you have. I'm looking forward to seeing Hamlin Welly go around again. And as much as I enjoyed the fringe guys in the first game, I think the second game is all about the connections for the main guys. We know the connections there. It's just them finding it again.

[01:07:10] You know, you're looking at guys like Jesse Ramion who could have proper breakout years. Like we know that he was, he was one of our best last year. There's no doubt in my mind. Like he was a probably, what would you say? Eight and a half, at least out of 10, like overall, like maybe more. Really good. His best year. Like I couldn't give a rat about rep footy. These guys do. He's knocking on the door, man. Like he really is. If he can get it together on the field. And that's just one guy I've picked out.

[01:07:37] Like Mulatalo, I've got no idea where he's eligible and what he wants to do. But if he has a great year, if he has a great year, then he could do the same. Well, he could play for New Zealand easily. I don't want to start talking about football. My point is a guy, Nico Hines could have a Dalium award winning year again. Like he's got it in him, you know, timing's right. It's going to be a big year if they can all kind of just play how they played last year. That connection they have was so vital. It was not really about individuals, man. It was just about the team.

[01:08:07] And it's going to be cool to see what happens this Thursday night. That's for sure. It's what everyone says is that we don't have any rep players, but we have everyone's a seven out of ten or like, you know, that or just about. We don't have anyone. We have no weak points per se in this side. Like there's no real holes in it. Kennedy is probably the weakest player in our team and he's a good first grader. Yeah. Like if that's your weakest point, like look at some other teams and you go, oh man, how is this guy playing? Like, do you know what I mean? Like we... Ronaldo is an international winger.

[01:08:36] You and I think Hines could be a rep footy player. I know he technically is. You and I believe that he could be at that level. Blake Braley, they're saying he's super close. And we know that if he lives up to what he did last year. Britton Nikera is an international player. We sort of think Teague could be that. Cam was that briefly. Like we've got them. It's just a matter of how people define it. But you and I don't care about that. It's like what you do for us. What Cameron Kinnis does for us. Man. Like who are you swapping in for?

[01:09:06] Like I understand there's a smart ass answer going, well, what about Yo? It's like, well, yeah, okay. Good answer. Yo is really unbelievable. But you know my point. Who are you swapping in for? You know, there's not many. We care about what they do for us. Canberra, 7.50 PM. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens down there. As far as lineups. I mean, the poster boy right now is Fanua Blake. It's all I can see anywhere I click. And you know what I was thinking about, Josh?

[01:09:32] I was thinking about Allegiant Stadium back fence Fanua Blake. That is going to be unbelievable. You and I are going to have $35 Coors beers. And that's American. He's going to be running off. And we're going to be, wherever we are, we're going to be watching that. And that's what I've been thinking about. That thought came into my mind. AFB off the back fence in Las Vegas.

[01:09:57] Mine is just like barging over and like pop a little offload to like Blake Braley, like scooting, getting a 20-meter run. And then feeding out to like a Catoa or Ronaldo on the wing of the big dive and just like screaming at the crowd and me going absolutely ballistic. Like that's the vision I have in my brain of what I want to happen. Like I'm just. I'll tell you what will be fun in all seriousness and bringing it home is Shark Park, Shark Stadium, Fanua Blake from the entrance

[01:10:27] end where all those people stand and get pretty rowdy, including yourself. I think he's going to revel in that. I'm not saying the Warriors don't have amazing fans because they do, but just that kind of crew at the back. I mean, Family Hill's kind of cool. It's lovely. But that other end where they don't mind ripping in a little bit vocally, I think they're going to have him. They'll be holding him back and they'll be like, all right, three, two, one, your ball, go, boing. Like I think that's going to be fun. Fanua Blake, Shark Stadium.

[01:10:55] So he's got a lot of expectation on him. I personally don't think he's got anything to prove. I just think we're going to be super happy with what he brings to the table. Getting closer. The first game is against Souths, I believe, at home. I think that's right. It's just so good to just see his name now on the paper. It's like, no, this isn't predictive lineups. Isn't you and me, you know, like mucking around like this is like, okay, trial fits his name. There it is. Like he's playing for us. Yeah.

[01:11:22] He actually did a post on his Instagram this afternoon once the team was announced. I think it was him with the jersey. It works done. Yeah. So he had a bit of a song on there and he seems pretty amped, which is cool, which is exciting. What else can we talk about? Josh, we're wrapping up here, but we've got trial matches. Thursday, we've got a hall of fame the Tuesday after. And then in drips and drabs, heading off to Vegas to cover the game for everyone, which will be awesome fun. If you are heading to Vegas and you're interested in, you know,

[01:11:51] just having a chat about the sharks, doesn't have to involve booze or whatever, just we're going to try and do it as friendly as we can at a few places, hopefully. I'm guessing it'll be like an afternoon thing. The scheduling is going to be kind of weird. Everyone's going to be kind of booked up, but we'll make it work somehow. So drop me a line via email or DM and we'll certainly let everyone know via those channels what we're going to be up to. But yeah, we're going to be there. We're going to be out and about and we want to mingle. And we know you guys and girls want to mingle,

[01:12:21] at least some of you do, which is awesome. So we're certainly up for talking sharks until we can't talk no more, which is kind of what we do. So I think that's about it for tonight, Joshy. It's been a good, been a good day. I did a, did a pod with, with Dan Nichols at Tuesday teamless time. Bit of fun. We've done the last few weeks. Just been good chatting sharks with everyone. It was good to be at the ground. We were kind of being hidden up in one of the boxes, but we, we did get to talk to some punters and people are pretty amped, man. They're pretty amped.

[01:12:50] So it's a big year, man. It's going to be fun. Yeah. It's going to be fun. I truly hope that everything we see comes true because it could be, it could be something special, but what, what they've shown you. And I said it to the coach, you can go listen to the interview with the coach if you haven't. And, and so many of you had, so I can't thank you enough, but the coach said something like, we just want to make people happy and we just want to make them proud. And I just kind of scoffed and went, well, you make the finals every year. Dudes are winning awards.

[01:13:20] And you're like 20 minutes from a grand final, like could be better, but you know, it could be a lot worse. So it doesn't mean we have to stand for like, well, I'm not going to say mediocrity because it's not that, but it doesn't mean we can't be better. We should expect better year on year. But the one thing this team has shown you is that they're going to be thereabouts. And I, I personally quite enjoy that aspect. And it's not like, not like a thing where, you know, some years under, under Flano,

[01:13:48] we were kind of there or thereabouts, but never really, you didn't think we were going to win it really in your heart of hearts. You know, same with some of the Ricky Stewart teams, just that those times you make the finals. Cool. We love making the finals. And a good example, I'm not putting shout at him because everyone knows I love him as a person and as a coach, but the Bomber Morris years were like, well, we made the finals. Yeah. We didn't have that extra leg for whatever reason, under Fitzgibbon and the crew that he's got, they, they go pretty deep. They're there. Yeah.

[01:14:18] And it's gotten better every year. So, well, you know what I'm saying? First year, then back up. It's, I guess it's a long way of saying, I think if there's no injuries or minimal injuries, we're in for a pretty good year. Yeah. I think we're, we're a healthy year away from like being a genuine, like this could be the special one. And I'm not saying that that's the only chance, but like, there's just something about, it could be completely wrong. We could come dead last. I don't know. But like, I just, you just feel those special years. I know they don't come around often.

[01:14:48] Like there's not even last year and the year before, I didn't really feel how I feel now, which could be setting up for disaster, but just, it's just something different in the air. I don't know, in the shire, like it just smells like victory. And, and it's good. And I've had my detox from the footy. And now it's like, I'm just a hundred miles an hour. I'm consuming everything I possibly can about footy and the sharks. And I just can't wait for, I can't wait for Thursday and I can't wait for round one. I had a lot of belief in the first year.

[01:15:18] Obviously the air was taken out at golden point time and Valentino homes. 23. I still had pretty high expectations. Didn't work out the way I wanted. But the year just gone, I kind of had the same feelings as the first year on a Fitzgibbon. I thought, Oh no, there's something happening here. Yeah. But I do, I do think just a few things like the injury suspensions, I think even as something as simple as no Jesse in the, in the prelim. Sif a bastard.

[01:15:48] Little things like that could kind of make the difference. Like that was what, I think that was it. Cause you know, the rain brought us back into it and all that sort of stuff. So I think last year was actually definitely window open. I know that, you know, we would have had to have beaten Penrith at night, then face Melbourne. But you know, that team was not far behind the other two teams. It's just that at the crucial points, particularly like against Melbourne and against Penrith, those finals games, they just kind of literally dropped the ball too much.

[01:16:18] Like that was kind of it. We lost the big moments too. We lost like those be like, we nearly kick a 40, 20, then two minutes later, now it's one, you know, there's little things that you got to hope they're learning from. And it's like, you ice those, that's the difference between winning a prelim and losing. Like clearly showed them when you nail it, then you score off that set, it's game over. Whereas if it goes the other way and you nail that, we score, you never know. And I think also as much as we're improving as a club and as a team,

[01:16:46] a lot of the other teams are getting weaker or, you know, stagnating a little bit and getting older. That's, that's encouraging as well as that Penrith aren't going to be the team they were last year or the last two years. And Melbourne are a year older and Brisbane, who knows? Like all those teams that I would fear, or like that could take it off us, taking a backward step or just like in neutral a little bit. But we've said that about Melbourne for 20 years.

[01:17:15] I think that's the thing I like about this team is you kind of know what we're going to do. And then you have to beat us at it. And it's, it's different to the Penrith thing because you know what Penrith are going to do, but that's super hard to beat with us. It's more like we can play razzle dazzle. I mean, I would say the majority tries are not from trick shots or whatever. We can do it. Absolutely. And we can score a lot of points in this team, but you kind of know how you're going to have to beat us. And I kind of like that.

[01:17:44] Even not on our day, we can still win games. And on our day, we're right in it and probably do win them. So I'm very comfortable with how they're traveling. I really am. So am I. And you see the talk around just like where other teams are at and you're like, well, like I'm so not worried about the things that other teams are worried about or other fans are. They're like, well, we don't have any go forward or like, you know, we have lack speed or whatever stuff. I'm like, man, I'm, I'm cruising. I'm just like, I want it to start now. Like I want the finals now. I know they're still going to earn it, but it's just like, I want,

[01:18:15] I want the big time, which is a good way to start with Vegas. That's big time. Like, yeah, three years and have that attitude. Absolutely. But I think this team also, and they kind of showed it last year, they know how to pace themselves as well. So they came out and won a whole bunch, went downhill for a bit, got back on. It was a bit up and down. Finals were a bit up and down,

[01:18:43] but I felt last year they paced themselves a little bit better. We never really went on a losing streak. We haven't really done that under Fitzgibbon, but also we're not winning every game by 40 points. And we don't want to do that because then you get to the finals and it's not like that. We know that. So we're in a good place. Great coach, some really great players. I know we're selling it pretty hard, but that's just how you and I feel like, yeah, I can, I can only tell you how I feel like that's, yeah. And I think most,

[01:19:11] I think most Sharks fans should feel like that. You should be confident and excited about this, what this year could be, because these years don't come around all that often. I know we've been consistent for the last, you know, five, five years or so, but yeah, like these genuine chances of like, Hey man, like get on the side, get to every game. You can scream your lungs out by merch, get become a member because you'd hate to miss out on, on the ride or jump on late and miss all the, the fun experiences that we're going to have this year. Yeah, for sure.

[01:19:41] For sure. It definitely could be one of those years and it's, it's already begun. So we're undefeated, Josh. That's the good news. We're undefeated. Good start. We're going to be back with more, more episodes for you. I don't want to use the word content. We're going to be back with more episodes for you real soon. So stick around for that. Buck yourself in for a big year. We appreciate all support. It comes from all places around the world in all sorts of different facets from, from emails to messages, to, you know,

[01:20:11] random meetings in the supermarket. It happens at all places and we really appreciate it. And we will definitely, yeah, be talking to you soon. Don't be strangers. And we will talk to you real soon. Looking forward to the Canberra game. Josh, thanks for your time. Really appreciate you, my friend. Anytime brother. We will definitely be seeing and hearing from you soon. Up, up Cronulla. Talk to you real soon. Let's go.

[01:20:38] SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips real estate. He's an expert in the Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast. If you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips real estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[01:21:08] Jason Hawes, Crips and Crips real estate. SharkCast. SharkCast. SharkCast. Back in the Shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.