Sharks v Titans Preview: Rd 18, 2024 w/ Sam Shinazzi and Gary Dover

[00:00:00] SharkCast! Sharks! SharkCast! SharkCast! Fafina got the ball back in the shower. 10-1 slides off because we're covering over the trophy. Hey there, welcome to SharkCast.podcast podcast. Dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world.

[00:00:37] My name is Sam Shinazzi and I am a podcaster, digital creator. I hate this intro, Gary. I don't know what the hell I am. Welcome to SharkCast.pod brought to you by Ties and Logistics,

[00:00:48] the Royal Muddy Yacht Club in Podhacking and Jason Horse of Crypts and Crypts Real Estate. We've had some tech issues, so I'm thrown with my intros. Hey Gary Dover, welcome to SharkCast.pod, a podcast you frequent quite a bit. You are a employee of the Cronulla Sharks.

[00:01:04] You're currently on the road in Cops Harbour as part of Sharks Taking Over Cops Harbour. We are less than 24 hours away from Game Day, depending on when you are watching or listening to this, more likely than watching. But exciting time, sharks play Titans in Cops Harbour.

[00:01:26] Gary, how is the city of Cops Harbour? I'm just pretending it's a city. How are you going? It's a city. I'm going very well and don't worry about the intro. It was perfect. All you need to say when you introduce yourself is you're a great man.

[00:01:38] She knows him and thanks for having me on the show. Thanks for being here. But yeah, it coughs our home away from home. Obviously we've been up here. It's our fourth year up here now. So it definitely feels like home when we get up here.

[00:01:50] Everyone sort of gets around us and the team. And yeah, the team love coming up here and we love coming up here as well. Excellent. We can reveal that the team has been finalised more or less.

[00:02:01] Some players have been shed, sent back to the city and there's some team changes. Notably, Toby Rudolph is going to be not playing in our real this week and big Tuku comes in and also a young fellow called Tom Rodwell

[00:02:21] is going to be 18th man for the first time as well. That's as close as he's got to NRL so far, which is exciting for him and his family and friends. So a little bit of a change there.

[00:02:30] Everything else seems as per and we'll find out the actual run out obviously an hour before the game. How was training and how's training been and all that kind of thing? What how's the vibe? What's going on? Yeah, so I got up here on Thursday.

[00:02:43] The boys had their big session on Wednesday. They fly up the whole squad for that sort of session. It's a big opposed one. And yeah, after that they make the cuts to the team and if you apply home, but the boys have been training really well

[00:02:55] and the Suns come out both times they've taken to the field, which has been really good because a bit went up here at the moment. And today's captain's run was another good one. It was an open session.

[00:03:04] So a lot of the community came out and got around the boys while they were doing their final preparation. And yeah, as you mentioned, young Tom Rodwell 18th man, which will be a little bit surprising to some people, but he's worked really hard to get there.

[00:03:16] And yeah, hopefully we don't need him tomorrow. But if he is needed, I'm sure we can do a good job. I kind of thought something was up, Gazz. You and I saw one of the sessions this week at Shark Park. The only session probably on Monday.

[00:03:26] And he was heavily involved and I said to you, look at Rodwell, he's doing more than he normally would. So the coach had an inkling he might be used as backup, which is what he is at the moment. How are our halves going? How's Nicko and Trindle?

[00:03:42] How are they feeling up there? Like going all right, training well? Yeah, they're training really well and getting... When they immerse themselves in the community and everyone's happy to see them and it's a really good vibe up here. You can see the smile on everyone's face.

[00:03:54] Everyone's feeling good. We obviously love coming up here and the support that we get. So yeah, it's definitely... They're both looking calm and relaxed and comfortable and ready to fire tomorrow, hopefully. It really is a game that we should...

[00:04:06] And I dare say need to win for lots of different reasons. We need to start winning more games than we have been. But it's also a team we should be beating. They're not high on the ladder. I mean, they have some talent in there.

[00:04:17] We know that if we're going to be contenders, like we want to be, then we need to beat these teams. And I feel like we might need to score some points, Gary, tomorrow. I'm not suggesting we'll need to score 40 or anything. I mean, it could be a shootout,

[00:04:29] but hopefully our defence is better than that. But I think that the Titans, even on a bad day, they tend to score two, three, four tries. Yeah, well, that's exactly right. Like you saw the score that they put on the Warriors that absolutely flogged them.

[00:04:41] That was their biggest score in club history, it was 66-6. So, you know, they're clearly capable of scoring points and we can't take anything for granted against them. And obviously, you know, they might have just been trying to take

[00:04:53] in a bit of time to adjust to the way coached Dez Hazlis systems and everything that he's got in place. But obviously they've got Brimson to return at 5-8, who's another really strong playmaker. So, you know, they're rejuvenated and ready to go off the back of a buy.

[00:05:05] They've got that record winning to a buy. So it'd be feeling pretty fresh. So we've got to be ready for the best version of them and they've got to be ready for us as well. Now, I haven't seen the actual Gold Coast Titans team yet, Gary,

[00:05:17] but someone did mention to me that Brimson actually may be scratching, which is weird because he was making his big comeback. But TK actually sent me a text before. So we haven't checked the Titans team yet, but we'll find that out soon enough

[00:05:33] when we have time to look at that. But either way, I mean, they have some really great attacking weapons. Kieran Foran's in great form, the veteran Kieran Foran. Yeah. And we know that Big Day for Feta is going to be running hard against Nico and Jesse

[00:05:48] and who else is on that side? Is it Britain, I think? Exactly. So I imagine the boys will be practising wrapping up their offloads at training. For sure. For sure. There's a lot of that going on this week and in the last couple of sessions.

[00:06:01] So, you know, they're hunting for back-to-back wins for the first time this year. So they're going to be wanting to get it done and we've got to be ready and hungry and ready to go. So it's going to be a good contest,

[00:06:12] but we've got to get that start sorted because our slow starts have been sort of the killer for us over the last few weeks. Has there been much chat amongst the group at all, whether it's at training or at breakfast or whatever, about the starts? Not really.

[00:06:26] I mean, they know it needs to be addressed. It's not brought up in that fashion, but they know that that's something that is really not concerning, but we need to fix and we need to fix it now. And I dare say that'll be addressed

[00:06:40] in the next 24 hours anyway. Absolutely. Yeah. They've got plenty of team meetings before the game and they know exactly what style they want to play and their game plan for the Titans. So they'll be ready to go when they hop on that bus

[00:06:52] and head to COF's International Stadium tomorrow. Is Craig Fitzgibbon in his element, given he's such an organised individual, he loves protocol, he just loves keeping to a script. And I'm not talking about the football, I'm talking about everything else.

[00:07:06] Is he in his element given that he can now map up, he could have mapped out the entire week at this time we're doing this, at this time doing that. I know that happens most weeks, but because you're actually just there and you've got nowhere else to be,

[00:07:19] as in like location wise. It's very structured. Oh, that's good to hear. But no, it's good. Like everyone knows where they need to be and what they need to do. And the boys have been putting in a lot of extra effort to get things right.

[00:07:31] So it'll be interesting to see if that translate onto the field. So good record Gary against the Titans. We've won nine in a row. Can you believe that? That's one of our best streaks in our history against an opposition, which is fantastic.

[00:07:44] And currently we only have a better record against the Cowboys. So we do own the Titans, which is great. Doesn't mean it's going to be an easy walk. I mean, Fitzie in his presser and if you've seen his presser or not from this morning, I think it was,

[00:07:58] but a couple of journals were grilling him about things and he kept coming back to it. We can't rely on the fact we have a good record. We can't rely on the fact we've got a record of the venue. It's a brand new start tomorrow,

[00:08:08] which makes sense of course. Like you can't rely on what you did in the past. I mean, absolutely. They get hung up on that a bit up here. Like the media is obviously not big football media, but when they see our record that we've got,

[00:08:21] never had a loss up here. They immediately jump at that and say, oh, you guys have a great record. So you're looking forward to tomorrow and Fitzie was quick to shut that down and just say we can't rely on that.

[00:08:30] It'd be naive to think that that's how it's going to go. So we've got to be ready and ready for a side that can put 66 points on a Warriors team. Have you looked at things online, Gary, where they have recent form ladders and tables and things like that?

[00:08:45] Have you seen those flying around at all? No, I don't really look at that too much. So I saw one and then I did a bit of math. If you base it on the past five games, we're actually second last on the form ladder

[00:09:00] and we're ahead of the Raiders by one differential point. Nice. Sorry to bring you down, bro. It's not good viewing. No, it's not. So I think it's both a reality check and also it's circumstantial a little bit. And I love the fact that Craig came out

[00:09:14] and said this morning, he said, our performance last week, generally against the Bulldogs was pretty good. Three tries to two, strong second half, absolutely addressed the start. But our performance, it was not that bad. Defensively, it was really good. So I think that those sort of ladders,

[00:09:36] I mean they gave me a bit of a giggle and a little bit of an alarm bell. I'm not really gonna base my thoughts and life on a ladder of the past five weeks, but it is also factual to be fair. If you look at it that way.

[00:09:47] Yeah, that's exactly right. And if you wanna look at it that way, you can, but then when you look at the whole ladder as is up to date, season now, we're still sitting third. We still put ourselves in a good spot from the start of the year

[00:09:57] and we know what we're capable of against sides that people gave us no chance or little chance against. So I mean, the boys don't worry about any of that stuff and it's just one of those funny things, isn't it? I look at it and just go, oh, gosh.

[00:10:10] Don't tell the boys. I just thought it was topical. I will, I'm going straight in there to tell them now. Sam told me, but no, we've gotta address those starts and we've gotta get these wins because, well, it's one win out of the last five,

[00:10:21] so a few things need to change. Absolutely, and it starts tomorrow night against the Titans. Do they have any presence there, the Titans? Do they sort of rock up and do anything or they're just the away team and they come and play?

[00:10:34] Yeah, no, they rock up as the away team. I know they bring their mascot down but I think that's as far as it goes. They rang up to see if they could do captains around there this morning. You said no? Fitsy said all good on the backfield.

[00:10:46] Yeah, right. And they went down there and they had to be out there before we got there. So they're just coming in for another football game and an away venue and yeah, this is our home and it definitely feels like that.

[00:10:56] Was Darren Mooney down there in an overcoat and sunglasses watching the Titans game? Not that I saw, but I wouldn't put it past him. I reckon he was. Yes, we have a great record over the Titans. They, as you said, had their biggest win

[00:11:10] and highest score against the Warriors and I worked on that game for Fox and they were really impressive. It was a great effort. I don't know what happened to the Warriors that day but it was a bit weird that they just didn't turn up

[00:11:20] but Jayden Campbell who's not playing as far as we're aware, he was in unbelievable form. So I'm sort of thankful he's not playing against the Sharks. Overall, they don't have a good record. They're four and 10, they're coming 15th. It's time to sort of smoke these guys

[00:11:37] and get on with our season. It's a good game to sort of reset it. Reset it, come home, get the Tigers, have the week off, keep moving forward. It's one game at a time but it's also a good time just to start the season again.

[00:11:48] We hope that was last week. It didn't happen as far as the win went. Time to readdress. What else is happening in clubland? Is there other boys in good spirits? Are they ready to rock? Is there an intensity there that you like?

[00:12:02] Yeah, I think there is a bit more of an intense feeling. A captain's run this morning and in the team huddle after the session they said, like we need to go back, calm down and get our heads right because tomorrow it's on

[00:12:16] and there's definitely a feeling of they want to get it right and they want to put on a good show for the fans and for themselves and they know what they're capable of and what they can do when they're on. So hopefully come six o'clock,

[00:12:26] kick off tomorrow night, they're ready to go because we know what they can do. We've seen them do it to start the year and it's set us up and put us in this position that we're in at the moment.

[00:12:34] So we just need to reset a few different bits and pieces that have maybe been going a little bit skewed over the last few weeks. And once we get that right, we can beat anyone on our day. So I'm pretty confident that this week

[00:12:46] will be a good turning point in the season. Now you legitimately don't know the final team lineup but opinion based only, Gary the fan. Do you think there'll be any switches as far as starting lineup goes, specifically props I'm thinking? I don't think so. I don't think so.

[00:13:06] Judging by what's been happening over the last few weeks and what I've been seeing, I don't think there'll be any late changes. Not even, I don't think Tegel come in for Sif or anything like that. Like I think they're just gonna keep Sif his impact out there.

[00:13:18] And Tommy was starting the year really well with Oregon and we've seen the job that he can do. He's hard to handle and he can hold himself against any of the props out there in the competition. So I don't think, you know,

[00:13:32] there's mass changes that need to be made ahead of kickoff or anything like that. So I think we'll roll that one to 17 as he is with the late change that obviously tows out. We watched Dan Atkinson train on the wing and we were both inundated with questions

[00:13:46] about is it really happening? And we were like, yeah, it's happening. He's playing. And this is why, you know, Herodian Stone Street unavailable. So he's gonna play there. And he looked pretty good. The thing that impressed me most, Gary, in training only of course was his returns.

[00:14:02] Quick and sharp and strong returns. He's not the hugest human, but you know what's interesting? I think he's a tiny bit tall than Sione Katoa. Yeah, well there you go. He's just as quick. So he's got a good turn of foot on him.

[00:14:15] And you know, obviously he's played fullback in five eight. So, you know, it's not too dissimilar to dropping back at fullback, dropping back on the wing. He's good under the high ball. He's quick. Marking Camparero, who's a pretty quick bloke. So he's gonna be on his game.

[00:14:30] Obviously him and Brian Kelly against Jesse and Dan Ackerson will be a really good matchup and one that I'm looking forward to. But I don't think he's out of place on the wing and he's looked really good in training throughout the whole week.

[00:14:41] And today at Capitas Run as well. Yeah, if there's anyone who's gonna fill in, it's him. He sort of become almost like the Conor Tracy in modern time. There's a million guys you can relate to. A million guys in the history of League.

[00:14:54] For our listeners, for younger listeners, think of a Conor Tracy. He can fill that role. I dare say, and I'm not dissing Conor because we love Conor, but he actually fills in more roles because we've seen Acko play a bunch of positions

[00:15:09] in first grade, in lower grades even more and in training and trials as well. We've seen him play lock with seen him play hooker. So he can do a job for us. And I think that that will get him across the line in a lot of ways.

[00:15:23] That experience of just being so versatile and adapting to game day and whatever it takes he's gonna do. And I think that's why they've carried Tommy Rodwell on the 18th man spot as well. Because if someone goes down in the harv's, Acko is going straight in there

[00:15:37] and you're putting a guy in his position that he knows exactly how to play in. Or if a forward goes down, he can play at lock. He can play anywhere across the sort of pack except front row maybe. But he's more than capable to fill in

[00:15:49] in all those positions. Yeah, it's gonna be good to see him out there again. He's obviously missed the last few weeks but he's looking ready to go. So should be good. Yeah, and we know what we're gonna get. Like he's gonna go for 80 minutes

[00:16:00] no matter what the situation is. Absolutely. I'm not suggesting he's gonna spill one ball if he does. You know, he's gonna get the next one. Like he's just a go-getter and a guy that I think he oozes confidence, Gary. But you would never really know it.

[00:16:12] But you think about that field goal against Melbourne. And I just remember how calm he was before and how calm he was afterwards. He won us the game that day in a whole lot of matters. Yeah, absolutely. It's his preparation, right?

[00:16:24] Like he's one of those guys who just ticks every box and makes sure that he's ready to go no matter what the situation is. So if he's faced with that, he knows exactly the situation that he needs to put himself in or how to ice that moment.

[00:16:36] So yeah, he's very prepared and he's more than capable to do a job. And that's what's got him to where he is now. I mean, he was training trial with us for the year before last. He's the guy, training has always got ball in hand.

[00:16:52] He does the extras. He's not goofing around. He's just, he's there to play for you. He loves it. Like loves the area, loves the boys, loves the team, loves the culture. So he's made it a real sort of home for himself.

[00:17:03] And you know, I've heard stories of Melbourne trying to reach out to get him back. And he just basically said, no, I'm here, this is me. So thanks but no thanks. Yeah, really good story. So, Ziaakko goes against the Titans.

[00:17:14] He does have a hard task up against Khan Pereira, who's just electric. He's such a great player to watch. And the Titans are not going to be an easy team to roll over. I do think we'll win. I'm hoping it won't be too close,

[00:17:27] but they have talent there when they turn up and when they play. They're not the most consistent team. We haven't been either to be fair. No, I just mean all you though. And you never know who does Hazlour what you're gonna get. He's just such a strange dude.

[00:17:40] You just never know with these guys what's gonna happen. But I'm pretty confident we're gonna get the win. And it'll depend on that start as well. Like I don't want to give away 18 points. Yeah, for sure. That's like, yeah, you can't afford to.

[00:17:52] In fact, I'd love to just score first. Let's just get over it and done with. Let's score first and go on with it. That would be a lot of fun. Our boy, Ronaldo, requires one try to become the fourth highest tri-scorer for the Shaqs,

[00:18:04] which is unbelievable after such a short career. So he's level with Matt Rogers. He loves playing the Titans. He got five and four against them. He scored the most players for us at Coffs Harbour. So he's got a great track record going into this game.

[00:18:17] And he's in pretty good form. I thought his game last week was was really good. And we saw again at training, he was pretty passionate as well. So absolutely. He's a passionate dude, all Ronnie. And for, yeah, 24 years old to be in the position

[00:18:30] he is on that tri-scoring ladder and about to overtake a guy like Matt Rogers. Like it's pretty impressive what he's done in his short career. And, you know, he's having a good year, even though he's been a bit quiet over the last few games,

[00:18:40] maybe, you know, he's still got seven tri-sists or something like that for the year. And he's still scoring plenty. And, you know, he's making meters from the back and he's one of those key parts of our back five that if he's really making those first lots of meters,

[00:18:54] we're really rolling as a team. So we need him tomorrow night to be on the front foot. And I'm sure he will be passionate bloke. How's the coach going? Yeah, good. He seems relaxed. He seems in good spirits. So he's been enjoying the community aspect of it all

[00:19:08] and chatting to everyone out here at Cap and Thrun and in the hotel and wherever he gets stopped is, you know, really soaking it in. So it's been good. It's like a good vibe. And you really feel that home away from home feeling.

[00:19:20] So yeah, it's a nice place to go. We enjoyed it up here. I definitely enjoyed it up here. He made a great point that people come far and wide for these NRL games. And I know a lot of our, for example, Southlandshire-based people are heading to Coffs

[00:19:33] and already have. And that's an amazing effort. There's other amazing efforts as well, people coming from all sorts of parts of regional New South Wales and Queensland to go there. And he said the last couple of years, we've met people who have traveled 15 hours

[00:19:48] just to watch the trading sessions, stay overnight in a caravan or whatever. And then they watch the game and go home. So I think he feels that responsibility to put on a bit of a show. Yeah, absolutely. You can sort of tell that for sure.

[00:19:59] But it doesn't overwhelm him or anything like that. You know what he's like. You've spoken to him plenty of times and he's that very structured and organised person, but he loves the off-the-cuff conversations with all those that have travelled from far and wide.

[00:20:12] So yeah, it's been really nice. Now on your hat, you've got the 80s, I'm gonna say logo. I don't know what we're calling it, but I'm calling it the 80s logo. And there's a new bit of merchandise, which I have seen others already own.

[00:20:26] I'm yet to own it, but I will. And that's the, I guess retro jacket? The Aussie Ducks. Are you talking about the Aussie Duck? Yeah, it's nice, isn't it? How good is it, the little zip up there? It's on the shark's door now.

[00:20:40] Yeah, I didn't know that was coming. You and Barnty kept that one from me. Every day I get inundated with stuff like, Jersey Huts, Vizers. I'm like, yeah, this is awesome guys. Thanks for the intel. You keep that one from me. Almost fainted.

[00:20:54] And you're a zip up guy as well. So you're ready to go. That's like right up your alley, but it looks so good. And there's been plenty of good pieces coming out this year. There's another spray jacket.

[00:21:03] Or it's like a zip up jacket that I just got as well. It's a similar like windbreaker style old school, like bomber looking jacket. Yeah, is this a shark's thing or are all the clubs doing it? No, I think it's a shark's thing.

[00:21:15] I think it's Barnty just, you know, trying a few different things here and there. So he's made some really good choices and some really good pieces this year. And I'm laughing it up. Yeah, I mean that one should sell really well. I had visions of,

[00:21:28] so next time game is Friday week, which I believe is that the heritage jumper day. So everyone's gonna wear their heritage. They're all gonna wear those and they should. Everyone should wear them. I'm gonna go, I think in the new jacket just to stand out a bit differently.

[00:21:42] Nice. That's a good choice. Nah, I might wear the jersey actually. We'll see. Why not wear both? It will be cold. And I'll probably wear both. And then another layer on top. It's been good for sharks fans who love that kind of thing and or of that vintage

[00:21:56] or if they just like that kind of vintage. It's good to see that they're showing their history, you know, cause it's important. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what fits exactly the history side of the club and you know, making sure we recognize those that have come before us.

[00:22:09] And obviously Barnty has been leaning into that with a lot of his merch stuff at the moment and that's really good. Loving it. So what are you doing tonight? You and Troy just hanging out playing chess. What's gonna happen? What's our pre game day ping pong?

[00:22:21] Did you say beer pong? Is that what you said? I wish. Oh, ping pong. But no, it'll be ping pong. The boys have been getting all their massages and last bits of prep and we'll be slapping away on the ping pong table

[00:22:32] trying not to make too much noise. The sharks have been don't mind a bit of ping pong. They love it. Yeah, there's a table down at the club and everywhere we go away. So it's a good little competitive vibe on the ping pong table.

[00:22:43] Tell you guys really good at it. Jess Chich, she's a surprise packet out there. She smashes every one. I can actually see that. She loves it. She's so competitive as well. I can see that too, knowing her. I've known her for 10 years or so

[00:22:55] and I can see that, yeah. Yeah, we got dinner in the team hotel tonight and just relax and probably watch the other game that's on and that'll be it. Off to bed and away we go game day. Yeah, it's an early start, right?

[00:23:08] Six o'clock you go off tomorrow. Busy day for all of you guys and girls. Busy day for our fans. Let's get that win. I wanna thank you guys for your time. I know you're busy up there in Koff's Harbour between your ping pong

[00:23:19] and your photography and everything else you're doing. Your uploads. Thanks for having me. I always love coming on. And give our best to everyone up there. We'll do it. Wish you were here. But yeah, we got some trips planned. It would be cool.

[00:23:30] We got some trips planned, guys. Yeah, absolutely. We got some good ones coming up. Good luck, guys, with all your efforts up there and we will see you. I'm glad you made it up there safe as well, by the way. There was a bit of concern about that.

[00:23:40] I'm glad you got there in one piece. The old Rex's flat's a bit dodgy, a bit iffy, a bit scary but we made it. They were really good. We're not knocking Rex. I like Rex. The plane was small. The plane was tiny.

[00:23:53] It was definitely, you hop on and you just like, oh, this is a bit awkward. But no, they're really good. So it was an enjoyable flight. Touch wood, I'm knocking wood right now for the flight back so we'll all be good. Thank you so much.

[00:24:05] We'll see you soon. Enjoy your game. Get lots of footage of the team song when they sing the song after we win. We'll do. This has been Sharkars Pod and this has been a special preview episode. We don't get to do them all the time

[00:24:18] but we try and do stuff for you guys and girls when we can. And we will talk to you all soon. Enjoy the game. Let's get those Titans up, up, Cronulla. Let's go. Sharkers! Sharkers! Back in the Shire. Tell you watch live jump

[00:24:48] cause we're coming out with a trophy.