The Year That Was: 2016 - Rd 11 vs Manly w/ guest co-host Ben Harlum (SiriusXM)

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

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

[00:01:05] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, and especially in 2016. My name is Sam Shinazzi, I'm an OG from 2015, and way before that as well. And this is the year that was, 2016, we're up to round 11 where we go through each game of the season and we talk about the performances and where we are and where we're going and the coverage and the crowd and everything else.

[00:01:30] And we do it with our good friend Ben Harlem, and we let everyone know that Ben Harlem is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club Import Hacking, Jason Hawes of Crypt and Crypts Real Estate. And when he's in town, which will be soon, spoiler, he gets his coffee from Mr. Paisley's. Ben, how are you my friend? I'm good. I'm setting myself up for failure here. Does Mr. Paisley's have Coke Zero available? Or will I have to bring my own when I go and frequent this fine establishment that supports the show, Sam?

[00:02:00] I'm going to be really honest. And you don't know, because the coffee is so good that you don't even think about soft drink that early in the morning. I definitely don't, but I also know that they don't have that. They have different local products. They have a Diet Cola, I believe, in all honesty. So it'll be a local Diet Cola you can check out. Hey, there we go. But if you need Coke Zero, and we love Coke Zero on the show, we're waiting for them to jump on board. But if you need that, we can get it to you.

[00:02:30] So you don't need to worry about that. No, no, no. I've heard so many good things about Mr. Paisley's that I'm happy to trust the opinion, and I'll take whatever Diet Soda they've got on offer. Look at me, so American, saying soda. Gross. I don't even know what you're talking about. Neither do I. Neither do the listeners half the time when they listen to this podcast. And we've been getting some good reviews as well, Sam. So thank you to everybody that's saying nice things. It's awesome. People like to reminisce.

[00:02:56] And I really like part of what we do on SharkCast, or the SharkCast, as Luke Lewis calls it, is a bit of variety. So lately we'll be doing some NRLW in-depth interviews. There's another one coming out tomorrow with Rhiannon Byers. We do the postgame. We do the flagship. I like doing it all. It's a lot of variety, which is awesome. And this is another piece to that product and puzzle.

[00:03:21] So thank you, Ben, for the time you allow us to reminisce about 2016. What a year it was. And in this episode, we're going to go back to the 21st of May, 2016. We're going to go to Southern Cross Group Stadium, now known as Ocean Protect Stadium. We're playing Manly. We've already played them once, and they're one of two teams that have beaten us in 2016.

[00:03:47] So, you know, it's not a guarantee this win going into it at least. Especially with the hoodoo. That doesn't exist anymore. So there's a bunch of things we're going to get to. But what we're going to start with, as we always do, if you haven't heard this, this is how we start. We start with the NYC, which was the under-20s comp back then. It was a bit of a big deal. It was broadcast on Fox, and players had contracts and that kind of thing. So it was kind of cool. And we're going to go back to that.

[00:04:15] It was a 5.15 local time kickoff. Now, Ben, were you in the house for this event, the NRL event? From this point on, except for two games that we will get to, because I was overseas at the time, I'm just going to assume that I was there. I don't have many memories of this game before I re-watched it. I will say that. But certainly, I think at this stage, we're going so well that I'm absolutely going to all of these games.

[00:04:43] As I'm just assuming that you're there as well, right, Sam? I am there, yeah. And I'm on board. So I'm doing everything I can to sort of get out of work and whatever else to, you know. I said to my manager, don't book me any gigs in 2016. This is the one. And it was a lean year. No, 2016 musically, I was at Sharks Games. And NYC, let me tell you who's in the team for the Sharks.

[00:05:13] Fullback, a little man known as Will Kennedy. On the wings, Sammy Vey and Josh Tuolagi. Centers were Bessie Tamagi and Lockie Stein. Halves, young Jack Williams Jr., not the Jack Williams we've come to know and love. Jack Williams A, I think he might have been called. Jack A Williams, right? Jack A Williams, that was it, sorry.

[00:05:37] Rhys Davies is the half, front row of Teppa Fuava and Jamin Joloff with Captain Jaden Braley hooking the scrum. Tony Matiuta, Ashley Nisbet and Jaden McDonough at the back row. The bench is the opera singing Daniel Vasquez, Jess Savage, Billy Magulius, of course, and Eddie Fowler. John Morris is your coach who would go on to bigger and better things.

[00:06:06] And for the Sea Eagles, who are you going to know there? Oh, you're going to know their center, Jesse Ramian. Yes, I, why yes I do. You're going to know their center, Brad Parker. That kind of looks it. Their coach is Chad Randall, but that kind of looks it as for guys who went on to do other things. But there's a very big in there, and that is Jesse Ramian. And is this where we scouted him, I wonder? Maybe.

[00:06:35] He would look so weird in a manly jersey. I mean, anyone looks weird in a manly jersey. But yeah, it was weird enough seeing Ramian in a Newcastle jersey. It's going to be weird next year seeing him in a North Queensland jersey. I'm pretty sure he comes to Cronulla maybe early. Because he's going to be in the World Club Challenge squad. Oh, he's going to be playing. But I remember Jesse telling me that he was, I'm sure he was in the... Yeah, you are right.

[00:07:05] Mid-season, he makes the switch and the Wikipedia, which I mean, take with a grain of salt. It's like better than ChatGPT. So I'm going to choose this over that any day. But yeah, so the first game that they've got him listed for is Gaming Us the Knights, 19th of July. So yeah, he's only a couple of months away from signing with us. There you go. That is fascinating.

[00:07:28] So he's going to be part of the younger brigade who were there in 2016, who were part of the premiership experience from afar. And a bunch of them, including Jesse, have told me that. What an impact it had on them. But that's pretty fascinating. He's going to switch teams and actually play for the Sharks. So interesting. I'd love to get the story on that. Well, maybe we'll get that on Jesse before he leaves. But that's about it as far as Manly guys that you will probably know. And I can tell you that the good guys won 30 to 16.

[00:07:59] And Will Kennedy scored a try amongst others. So I think it's a slightly indifferent year for the NYC so far. But you're only as good as your last game and beat Manly 30 to 16. In front of what would have been a building crowd, because we have got a big crowd approaching for the NRL game. In fact, there's going to be 16,601, which is pretty good. Yeah, that's very good. So. I love that.

[00:08:29] Let's go to NRL 7.30 kickoff. Now, you don't remember being there. That means you don't know where you would have been situated approximately. If I was anywhere, I would have probably been on Beer Hill. That is where I were consuming Pepsi Maxes for the majority of this season. Yeah. But yeah, maybe I wasn't at this game. But if I was, I was definitely on Beer Hill, I'm going to say. That's where you learned all your slang as well. That's right.

[00:08:57] I was a well-adjusted young boy before I learned the language of Beer Hill, Sam. And unfortunately, the kids these days in the Shire going to Ocean Protect Stadium, they just don't get the learnings that all of us did on Beer Hill. Well, they get one learning because I'm going to compare what happened last Saturday, Sunday. When have we played? Sunday. When did we play? Last week? Yep. In real time?

[00:09:25] I'm going to compare a moment there to a moment that we're going to see. So hold the phone on that short. You are right. You are right. But hold the phone. Our referees for this game, Gavin Badger and Alan Shortle. I'm laughing already because there is ref cam involved. So Gavin Badger, Alan Shortle. Our touch judges, Belinda Sharp, who I noticed in the coverage. So did I. I didn't realize that she was working so early.

[00:09:50] A name which I have listed, and I don't know if I saw him in the coverage, which is probably for the best. And you're a rugby league connoisseur. Most people listening are as well. Yeah. Brett Sator. Oh. Former ref. Not a ref yet, maybe. Or maybe he'd been dropped. I can't remember the circumstances. Used to get on my nerves a little bit as a referee. I'm sure he's a lovely guy, but. Really? That's interesting. Don't have a good memory of him.

[00:10:19] So that could be a me thing and not a Brett Suttle thing. So no offense to anyone who's listening. The video ref is Bernard Sutton. Okay. That's our officials. Yep. Let's go to a few facts before we start. Okay. Sharks are coming in red hot, as we know. They're eight and two. They've lost round one to the Cowboys, round three to Manly. Yep. They're on a seven game winning streak. And we'll talk about the streak later on.

[00:10:47] Last week, they defeated the Knights, as people would have heard, 62-0. Yeah. A rather big win. Manly, a four and six. They lost last week to Brisbane, 30 points to six. Wow. They did win the round three clash against us, 22-12, on a Monday night in Brookvale when Ben Harlem won money gambling, I believe, on Luke Lewis. First try, scorer, baby. And what did you borrow that? Donuts or something? Cinnamon donuts.

[00:11:16] Fresh cinnamon donuts from the van at Brookvale. Shout out to my friend, Frankie, who went and got the donuts with our winnings. So, you spoke of the streak before? No, the hoodoo, sorry. You spoke of the hoodoo? Yes. And it's been a hoodoo since 1967. But in this current time, current being the past 2016, we've won one of the past 14 against Manly. That's dire. It's not good.

[00:11:41] Now, some people who listen and watch know I have an affiliation with Fox Sports in the stats department. And when we get these nuggets, we go to town on it. We let everyone know. We write about it. It's everywhere. And that's all you're going to hear about. And so, there was the Canberra and George one for a long time, which was a lot of fun. Yep. The Cronulla one was real. So, one of the past 14 games. So, it's a thing. It's real. It's actually, it's not just black and white. It's real.

[00:12:11] So, I'm very happy because we have my buddy Andrew Voss calling. Now, we have discussed him, I think, this year already. But his return to mainstream broadcasting, he was doing the Warriors games exclusively for Sky, which Fox picked up. But once he came to Fox full-time, whenever that was, it was such a bright move for everyone.

[00:12:40] It was just the move that had to be made. They did it. And without disrespecting the other commentators who we talk about throughout these episodes, there is a big difference in quality when Vossi comes on. Well, he just has that. You're so used to him either being on the sideline with Rabs or doing the secondary Channel 9 games that you're so used to, to his voice and the way that he does that sort of commentary, right?

[00:13:07] So, to have him back after, really, there was no reason why he should have left Channel 9 in the first place. But to have him back and now that he's still going, and like, obviously, with Warren Smith and his current voice issues, like, he's doing the Fox commentary for Origin this year and he does the grand final. What that means is that there will be a world down the track where Channel 9 might not have the broadcast rights and Fox will.

[00:13:36] That means that all of the classic games are going to use the Warren Smith-Andrew Voss commentary as opposed to the Ray Warren-Matthew Thompson stuff. So, it's cool for him as well to get back into the swing of things as well. I feel like that, and correct me if I'm wrong, also, when you're doing the commentary on Fox, you sort of can be a bit loose and show a bit more of your personality,

[00:14:00] which I think came across to Channel 9 and then now even more as he's, you know, probably hits his prime. Definitely. He's definitely in his prime. Now, we have additional commentary from Greg Alexander, our mate Andy Raymond on the sideline, and he's joined by another person, and it's a little out of the blue. Yes. And that's legendary fullback Anthony Minichiello of all people.

[00:14:25] And here I am thinking that people go to the Roosters just to live in Bondi and win premierships, but they do say that there are job opportunities that come up after signing with the Roosters, and look, there's Minichiello on the sideline, much like I tune in on a Saturday, and look, there's Waria Hargraves on the panel. If he played for the Tigers, I doubt he would have gotten that opportunity, but hey, good for Minichiello.

[00:14:49] How many more games do you think we're going to see him on the sideline or hear him on the sideline for the rest of the season, Sam? I mean, I don't know about Sharks, but in general, three to four maybe? I don't remember being a thing. Not to insult your employer, but I will say that this experiment of having some of these players like Gasnia and Minichiello on the sideline hasn't really resulted in anything moving forward.

[00:15:17] We've got great people like Yalara Pitts and Jake Jukes on the sideline now that are really good and aren't ex-players. I think the only one that I can really think of is Brett Tate gets a run because he's up in Townsville, and he's your go-to Cowboys guy. But it's interesting all of these people you don't remember that are getting a run as a bit of a trial after retirement. I think, to be fair to the great Gaz, he was part of the crew for a year or two. He was in the office a lot.

[00:15:44] I think he was almost full-time, whereas Minichie definitely wasn't, and I think he's having a bit of fun. I'm sure Minichie could probably have a better job somewhere else with the click of the fingers, and I think that's what's happened. So very smart guy. I think he runs his own business. He's got the successful wife, or last I heard he did. So we're not here to talk about Minichie, though. We're here to talk about Brett Stewart dropping the first kick from Chad Townsend.

[00:16:13] But the ref says play on, and then a chorus of the BS word is chanted. It's mainly started from your B-Hill. And the last time I heard that was on Sunday when Rinaldo Militalo was disallowed a try, and the entire crowd was letting it ring. And I was like, I've heard this before. This is kind of cool. You're getting PTSD. And then the quote from the commentary is, no doubt it went backwards. No doubt it went backwards.

[00:16:41] There was a bit of doubt in my mind, Sam. So Sharkies are playing in members jerseys. You're a member and you're a jersey guy. What are your thoughts? Look pretty good. Yeah. And we've had members jerseys that look like our current heritage jersey to go back to 2002. And we've had other ones that are all white that have all the names on them. And this one, from what I remember, even though I watched it just the other day, is sponsorless. So it's literally just got all of the names there.

[00:17:09] And there's obviously a good novelty when you look at the jersey and you can see where your name is and just that you've got prime position. Maybe you're underneath the logo. You're not like sort of the back shoulder or whatever. Because it's sort of luck of the draw depending on how the formatting goes, right? You'd be shenazzy, so you'd be near the back. Whereas I'm Harlem, so I'm sort of maybe in the middle, maybe where the logo sort of would go. I think my brother might have had an incident where his name was split. Maybe it was like David.

[00:17:37] Yeah, I've seen that before where, you know, it goes, you know, Kieran and then, you know, next line, Frazier or whatever there. But it looks good. It looks good. A bit of a change. We know we're going to get a few different jerseys this year, which is going to be exciting moving forward. But Ennis has what I'm calling the worst forward pass ever in the third minute to Fafita on the burst. He would have scored if they didn't call it back. They called it a scrum. And Vossi wants to know why it's not a penalty.

[00:18:06] To which Brandy says there's a lot of mysteries in the game, a lot of things we can't answer. We can't answer. Yeah. And then I had a shocking thought, and I'm glad that we're both sitting down because I would want you to be sitting down for this thought. We're going to obviously cover the grand final later in the year. What happens if that try was pulled back for a full forward pass? Because this was almost identical except for the one fact that it was a forward pass.

[00:18:31] I think you're getting hysterical because it's Ennis to Fafita close to the line, but it's not. So you don't think it's that close enough? Okay. No. Okay, that's fine. Your point stands though. What if? I get that. Well, I'm glad that they worked out the kinks before they got to October because I was like, oh, great. Ennis to Fafita, how good. We've got signs of things to come. And then it gets pulled back for a forward pass.

[00:18:59] I'm like, geez, I'm glad it's happening in this manly game as opposed to later in the year. Now, I'm glad that I had a bit of an empty stomach watching this back because Ref Cam is back. And you know what Ref Cam does to my nervous, nauseous system. So there's more of that to come, so stay tuned. Eighth minute quick passing. Maloney to Beal who flicks it on. Nice little flick to Fecky. And he just destroys Brett Stewart as he crosses over in the left-hand side of the touch.

[00:19:29] Vossi and Brandy are backing Fecky and Valentine each to break Peachy's record of 19 tries in a season, which I found interesting to hear listening back in hindsight. That was cool. And this is Brett Stewart's first game back. He's in number 20 and he ends up retiring after this year. The commentary is, he hasn't been able to make his mark. Well, that's what happens when you drop the ball and you let Fecky run over you.

[00:19:56] Or, and I quote, turned him into a pancake. So we're talking about Vossi and the commentators letting a bit of their personality show. Well, there you go. Turned him into a pancake. But I will say, one thing that if any of you do go and watch the games, and nrl.com has some of these games so you can easily go back and either watch the highlights or the full thing like Sam and I have, is that one thing that I did notice, and we probably haven't had enough of it in the years since,

[00:20:25] is that there's so many players backing up when it comes to the offload or when a player makes a break. Occasionally, it's one thing that I know that a lot of people get angry at is that when you do have someone looking for an offload and the rest of us are getting asked as if I play. The rest of the team are getting ready for the next play, right? Or there's no support when someone makes a break. Whereas here, you've got Chad there for the offload or Beals passing it. It just felt like there were so many players, whether they're in sync with each other or they had that heads up play.

[00:20:53] Always looking out for, can we continue this play as opposed to just taking the tackle or working on the next play. That's one thing I really did notice from this game in particular. Yeah, there's a different energy for starters. Yeah. And they're playing with a purpose. And when I say that respectfully, I'm not saying that 26 are not. But there is a real rhythm and a purpose in the sense of they know what they're going to do to win the comp, essentially.

[00:21:21] They know that they've got a ticket here to Paradise. And they're really just going for it. And we'll see, particularly in this first half, it doesn't work a lot of the time. It works great when it works. But then when it doesn't, and it's actually quite a sloppy first half, there's lots of errors. So Maloney, one from one from the sideline. Great kick, 6-0. Neil, Andy pipes in and says, there are seven sharks in line to play for New South Wales, you know, according to rumors and speculation. Seven sharks.

[00:21:50] Meaning he also has a little chat. And then in the 12th minute, Darcy Lussick tries to kill Paul Gallen, but he can't. Gallen sort of shrugs him off. And then we have a ref cam replay of this moment too. So they're really, the producers and directors, the directors really bringing in ref cam more and more in this game. It's a slow kind of, and we'll, we'll peak at a point, which we'll get to. But as spoken of before, there's six errors in the opening 12 minutes for both teams. So it's a little sloppy.

[00:22:19] It's not bad, but they're sort of finding their groove. We've mentioned Beer Hill a bunch, a bunch of times. We're not getting paid to mention Beer Hill, but it looks at capacity. Yeah. It looks packed. It really does look packed. Which is great. And the whole, the whole ground looks, yeah, pretty sensational. I think the fans are really buying in. We'll talk more about the fans as we go along. Andrew Voss says the Fox Sports Lab has Chad as the fourth best half in the comp

[00:22:49] with all the ways we measure that. And that he's a smoky for New South Wales. Yes. Which is an improvement because the last game we had Joel Kane suggesting that Luke Lewis could play in the halves for New South Wales. So I'm glad that Chad, Chad getting a bit of love. And honestly, if, if they had, if they had put Maloney and Chad in, in 2016 as the halves or even 2017, 2018, it probably wouldn't have looked out of place to be perfectly honest with you. Both going really well. Oh, you know what we haven't done, Ben? What's that?

[00:23:18] It's your job to remind me. Here we go. Are you going to do the teams now? Do you want to? Okay. Let's do it. Speaking of Chad. We've got to stick to rhythm. Barber, Fecky, Bird, Beal. So Beal's starting. Holmes, Maloney, Townsend, Fafita, Ennis, Tangatisi is starting. Matt Pryor is out. Luke Lewis, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen. You bench is Lutelli, Hyington, Becuya and Captain America. So there's no Pryor and no Lutelli to start. Pryor is out of the team. Otherwise, we're as per.

[00:23:48] And for the Manly Sea Eagles, because this is why it's interesting, is number two is there. So Brett Stewart is at fullback. Matty Wright, former Shark. Matty Wright is on the wing. Tom Travojevic, Jamie Lyon, Braden William, as I call him, on the wing. And the halves are Dylan Walker, Cherry Evans. The pack is Lussic, Matt Parcell, Brenton Lawrence, Lewis Brown, Jamie Bura, Jake Travojevic.

[00:24:16] And the bench is Nate Miles, Brenton Lawrence, Josh Starling and former Shark, one of my favourites at the time, Vave. But yeah, a bit of love there for Matty Wright and Vave. I thought I'd better throw that in. So next time, Ben, you've got to remind me what about Coke Zero? Coke Zero, you're obsessed with Coke Zero, but not obsessed with team lineups. Oh, well, I mean, get Kieran to do this episode then if you want someone else. Jeez, just because I'm the 14th person

[00:24:45] that finally agreed to do this with you, Sam. Jeez. Don't tell things that aren't true because people will put that on forums and stuff. You demanded to be on every episode. I do, because I'm an egomaniac. I will say I did spend the whole game trying to work out who was in the halves of Cherry Evans and I only just got my answer then when you showed me the team list. I did not see Dylan Walker at all in this game. All right. Matt Wright with a kick error and then Vossi says, it's all wrong, not right,

[00:25:14] which I thought was a bit harsh, a bit obvious. He's like, come on. Okay. There's another good line coming up just before halftime. I will flag. The Sharks initially refused the two points right near the sticks, but get another penalty and then Gal wants the two. Mainly, I think one of the commentators, is it Brandy? One of them says he needs a breather, which I find interesting. Yeah. So two from two for Maloney. We're up eight nil. Happy days. And then some great commentary here.

[00:25:41] Andrew Voss is talking about his co-commentator, Anthony Minichiello. He talks about the first time that he commentated a Minichiello game and he said it was on a radio with Ben Elias, who was then retired. So it was Andrew Voss, Ben Elias on one of the radio networks. To which Ben Elias described the game as a battle of nutrition. Yep, that's it. A battle of nutrition. Sounds like my diet.

[00:26:12] At times they play with speed and power. They roll down the field. Like it's at times breathtaking, I will say. When it works, as we said, when it works. Yeah, it's really good. It's like, whoa. Like you actually sit back and go, man, this is a really red hot team. After another penalty stoppage, there's lots of penalties, lots of errors. Vossi says, I think they should all go up to the Chinese restaurant, get some spring rolls and start again. Speaking of a battle of nutrition,

[00:26:42] take me to King Man. My goodness. That sounds good to me. You know what? I know that you and hopefully me, if I tag along with you enough, will be in the company of D&M as a tester in the coming weeks. And we're obviously going to ask him about where we're at with the Chinese restaurant. We need to tell him that we've done the recap episodes and every home game, every home game, the Chinese restaurant gets a mention in the commentary team. So all they have to do is

[00:27:12] open up a new one. Obviously, you and I get priority tables, seating, discount, etc. But for the commentary team or all the media actually in the media boxes, and they do it for other things. When you go to a media box in 2026, Ocean Protect is everywhere so they can read it out just as a spoiler, as a behind the scenes. Much like I'm sure with your radio show, there's lots of tip sheets for people. Sure. All you need to do is have the new name of the Chinese restaurant

[00:27:41] and every time the commentator mentions it in 2026, you mention the restaurant. You know what we could do? Let's see. Who has this trademark for King Wan? Let's trademark it ourselves. We could, I mean, I don't want to, we could have a side podcast. We have to do it now before the thousands of people listening do it. That's right. Lucky we have a head start before we upload the episode. Sam, what was your go-to dish at King Wan? Back then, it's controversial, but probably lemon chicken.

[00:28:10] I was a lemon chicken guy. Love it. Boneless lemon chicken or lemon chicken? Preferably boneless. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. But my go-to now, and again, it's not controversial because most people go for the pork, but it's sweet and sour chicken. I just had that for dinner. Oh, dude, love it. How about that? Look at us. Look at us. Meant to be. You want me to do this with Kieran. Get out of here. Yeah, we need to talk to Dino about Chinese restaurant. All right, I'm going to look up

[00:28:40] the King Wan copyright. You keep going. Now, some great Chad Townsend defense on his own line. Andrew Fofito, probably the best player on the field in this game. After 28 minutes, he's ran for 100 meters already. Yeah, it's a really good Fofito game. Unbelievable. The ball goes through the hands to the right, and Barbar has the last pass to Valentine Holmes, who scores up 12-0. Maloney is two from three.

[00:29:10] This is where things get a bit hairy for me. 31st minute. I'm glad I didn't have any Chinese food because there's three tackles in a row of Ref Cam, and it's getting shaky as anything. We need to set you up with motion sickness, car sickness tablets. Yeah, they can jump on board too. The Let's Go Shackies on the megaphone can be heard. Drums and Trumpets, and we spoke about our friend Trish who gave us all the names last time. I won't go through it right now, but all the names

[00:29:40] were listed in the last episode of all the great fans who were involved. So, very vocal crowd. However, in the 39th minute, the Sharky Snooze button is around. Tom Trevojevic scores through Jack Byrne, Chantowson, and Jamie Lyon misses a goal, which is somewhat important. Yes, very. Yep. And he's 0 from 1, so it's 12-4 halftime.

[00:30:09] I don't remember the halftime entertainment. In 2016, it could have been maybe a big bouncy ball with people inside it. I did like that. A big kick and you had to catch the kick and that sort of stuff. Yep. They brought back a bit of that this year with the kicks as kicks for goals and that kind of thing, and that's kind of fun. Yeah. The simpler the entertainment, really. I agree. Okay. So, let's jump to second half and Vossi calls, this is one of the

[00:30:39] great commentary moments, Vossi calls Vave with the kickoff, I believe. And he says he's running from the cheese toasty end. Now, this is a riddle that's been sold by Andrew Voss because we were talking about this in a prior episode. We did, yeah. So, the cheese toasty van was there. And so, he said, running from the cheese toasty end, one of the highlights of coming to the Sharks home ground this year, $4, slice of cheese, two bits of bread, sliver of butter. So,

[00:31:09] another great product placement by Vossi. I don't think he's getting a free toasty for saying it. Again, if we insert the Chinese restaurant situation, it all works out. Big cheese toasty fan. I can tell you right now that there is no trademark and no business registered under King One restaurant since, looks like, cancelled from 2014. So, we're ready to go. That's right. What's the approximate price of such a license?

[00:31:39] I don't know, actually. Can you Google that while we talk? Because if it's realistic, we should just do it. We can hold Dino to a fight and go, well, you want it, man. That's right, yeah. Because you have to bring back the name. Okay, how much to trademark business name in Australia. And then we can really talk about like a special seat for us and table and maybe a little picture of us up on the wall, you and me. Yeah! Registering a trademark in Australia costs a minimum of $250 and takes at least

[00:32:08] seven months. Okay, got a lot of work to do before we launch it. I don't know, to get approval or something, but I guess we could just register the business name so then if anyone else jumps in, we can be like, no, we had it before you. We could launch the side podcast of the King Wan Memorial Pod. Well, 125 between us, we could drag in like a Fraser or someone else and even lessen the blow, but we could just get the two of us really. I'm happy to do that. We should talk about that in all sincerity. I love a side hustle. Now,

[00:32:39] Vave is a ball of energy and it's a big ball and it has to be said he's having a great game and the commentators are all over him. I don't know why he didn't have 10 years in the NRL. Agreed. He didn't. He didn't, unfortunately. 45th minute DCE kicks for Jamie Bure, all these names you sort of haven't remembered for a while and, you know, Bure's played a million games. And Vossi calls him like an honest toiler or something. That Jamie Bure, he's an honest toiler and actually, I also thought, since we're talking about the Manly team, I thought Parcell,

[00:33:09] he went to the Super League way too early. He was a great player and would have had a great NRL career and the fact he went to Super League like he was in, he was in his early 20s or something when he went crazy. He could have stuck around. So try to Jamie Bure. Jamie Lyon misses the goal. Zero from two. Another missed. Another miss. They're up, we're up 12-8. Sharks are up 12-8. But we have had the try scored against us just before halftime and then just after halftime. Very un-Sharks-like.

[00:33:38] Very disappointing experience for us all. Yes, it is. And there's more coming. Because in the 51st minute, Will.i.am scores a try down our right side. Brett Stewart with a lovely draw and pass. Bullet pass. Val's out of place there and they level at 12-ball but Jamie Lyon can't get the goal again. He's zero from three. What really, and I don't know if it's here or if it's later in the game,

[00:34:08] they show a montage of all of his missed kicks which is so humiliating. I don't think I've ever seen, like obviously the montage of Nico kicking all those goals in the lead up to his streak. That was a thing of beauty. But they actually go back and they show a montage of all of Jamie Lyon's missed kicks. It was unbelievable. I mean, there's a reason why they probably do it which we'll get to but yeah, not good for the old confidence when you're watching back. So, more ref cam, more nausea for me

[00:34:38] and our play, I've noted, as we've said, when it works, it works, up and down. It ranges from energetic in the words of Brandy to disastrous, quote disastrous, there's a set where it just goes wrong and Brandy in 2016 is quite dramatic from what we gathered from watching Sharks games. So, to call the premiership winning team in attack disastrous and he's not wrong, like something happened and it was, that moment was disastrous but I thought

[00:35:07] the terminology was a bit dramatic. Yeah. Now, and this is because not long after in the 63rd minute there is a beautiful set and I want everyone just to go back to the 63rd minute and watch this. If you have no time for anything else, go to the 63rd minute and there's offloads, there's fast ball, there's fast movements, they go all the way and force a dropout so there's no points scored from there but it's one of the great sets. Do you remember making a note about that, Ben?

[00:35:37] I believe it's here, yeah. Yeah, it was just fantastic to watch. They pretty much go the whole way but it's through fast, energetic running, it's through offloading, it's a few trick plays but it's not that fancy, it's just sort of hard running and passing and yeah, really great energy. It's just like as you said earlier in the first half, it's just that rhythm, right? There just seems to be really just, things are clicking, things are really cooking, it's good. Big Andy Feeder has another great run and then we get a penalty

[00:36:07] and Maloney kicks the goal, we're up 14-12. 12. This was an interesting moment, if you're not watching you sort of miss it, Brett Kamali's in the crowd with his vast array of children but he's just like in the outer with all the fans just hanging out. Yeah, he's just wearing a grey hoodie and he's just there as like, it's almost like they were just panning and someone went into the director saying, stop playing the montage of Jamie Lyon missing the kick says Brett Kamali focus on him and he sort of like sheepishly goes, oh hi, good to see you,

[00:36:37] very funny. But yeah, good on him, man of the people. Yeah, nice moment, nice moment for Noddy. Now, my colleagues at the lab are very busy and the commentary team reveal, because we are in equal first hoping to get a first after this game, they reveal it's been 424 rounds since we led the comp, the third longest break, I'm guessing in that time,

[00:37:06] I don't know if it's forever, maybe it is forever, I didn't really listen that well, but it's been 16 years. That's crazy, since 2000. That's a good start. We're starting to believe. 68th minute, we go to the bunker for another Will.i.am possible try, but it's not a try because Brett Stewart takes out Ben Barber when he's catching the ball. Yep. The more you look at it, the more obvious it is and Brandy's the one that points out that he's not even looking at the ball, he's just looking at Ben Barber

[00:37:35] and he sort of clashes with him to which Wade Graham has a big issue. This is my favourite part of the whole game, I'll tell you this much, you go for it. Wade Graham says to the referee, Gavin Badger, you're going to blow a penalty, I saw you with the whistle in your mouth, why did you go to the bunker? And then Gavin Badger says, you're not the captain to which he says, I am. Paul Gallen's off the field and then he repeats the question, dances around the answer, but it reminded me

[00:38:05] of the great quote, I don't want to get too controversial here. Okay. I can say the word when the Asada stuff went down and all the players were dragged into, I guess, the Asada offices to tell their side of it or whatever. Wade Graham infancy rocks up in I think shorts and thongs, something very casual, sits down and I believe the Asada person says to him something like, could you paint us a picture about what happened on this day? And Wade Graham's

[00:38:34] quote was, and I believe word for word, I'm not here to paint you an effing picture. I don't believe he said the word effing, I think he said the real word. Awesome. One of my favourite quotes ever, I'm not here to paint you an effing picture. That's what I saw when I saw him in 2016 talking to Gavin Badger. Hey, what are you doing? You're not the captain anyway. I am gals off the field. It was just so good because Badger, who seems like a very genuine nice guy, just has nothing in response. Just is like, oh crap,

[00:39:04] you've got me there, son. And I felt bad for him because he obviously was just not backing himself. He was relying on technology, which is not the crime of this century. And man, the Fox Audio in 2016 was just prime. You can hear and see everything. Like it's, yeah, the ref cam, the whole thing. 71st minute we have, as I've written a Barca, but it must mean a Barba try. Barca. Chad to Maloney to Barba.

[00:39:34] Very quick passing at the line. They're all engaging the line and Barba does that thing where he kind of sort of steps in but through and scores a try. Maloney gets the goal. We're up 20 to 12. Okay? 20 to 12. Yep. Andy's having another great moment in the game. Andy for feeder. Just epic numbers. 75th minute we lose the scrum feed and Andrew Voss just loses his mind as you can imagine.

[00:40:02] The reason we lose it is because I think because of a shot clock situation and they were trying to get it all organized and Chad, instead of feeding the ball to the second row a lock, which is, you know, universally known, he fed it just in the middle. He just went, here we go. Boom. Like an actual scrum should be. And lost the scrum to which Andrew Voss called him an idiot and an imbecile. Yes, but no one was

[00:40:32] more excited than Bossy to see a scrum feed who get won by the other team. 75th minute way Graham's off with a leg issue so we'll follow that up in the coming week. So who's the captain now? Someone asked Badger who's the captain. No, Gal's back on. Gal came back on. Oh, okay. I think we have a bye coming up, yeah? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yes, we do. So he might be okay. We'll find that out in the coming games. Now, this is where I really they lost me. The coverage lost me.

[00:41:02] 76 minute ref cam in a scrum. You see, you're the ref essentially and the scrum's in front of him and what do you do when you're a ref? You're looking both ways to make sure everything's cool up and down and I'm just like you've got it. This is not good TV. Please stop. I'm about to be sick all over my TV. Thankfully, I wasn't. You know, if we have anyone at Fox watching right now, you know I love you but don't ever bring that back.

[00:41:31] You didn't go in and knock on the boss's door and was like, hey bud, let's stop with the ref cam back in 2016? I'm sure I would have told someone. I bet you did. Someone. Nah, someone would have gotten a word. Because it's a lifelong affliction for me. Yeah. I've told you about Blair Witch. Anyway, lots of flags are seen in the crowd and particularly in a few bays like the CWSC and a few other bays. Did you see the one sign that I saw? No. What did you see? Oh, sorry to interrupt but I saw a nice lady

[00:42:01] that was holding a sign saying all I want for Christmas is a premiership. Oh, I didn't see that. That's cool. Now, first of all, it's what? May? So, thinking about Christmas we're season rushing. We're barely just out at Easter and we're already talking about Christmas but she got her Christmas wish. All she wanted for Christmas was a premiership. I thought that was just it's just these little things that you just noticed as you watch these things back that you go, ah, we really were believing. We were believing. To her credit, maybe her birthday is earlier in the year and there's not really anything after

[00:42:30] to celebrate, so to speak, for a gift. So, it makes some sense to me. I am a season rusher as you know as well so I've got no problem with that. She's going to get her wish. That's the great news. Yeah, lots of flags in the crowd. They look like the ones that are given out which is awesome. Yep. It runs the same flag. It looks very nice but I'm talking a hundred. Like, there was a lot of flags. It was really a good vibe and I'm not a flag person at all but it looked really good. The camera then does a great work. So, the production again,

[00:43:00] like, I mean, we're selling them pretty hard but the production was great. The camera for full time and for the song is right, well, just in front of the CWSC Bay pretty much hanging over the fence looking towards them and we see the gentleman who we mentioned in the last episode playing the trumpet. We see him. Bubbles. Yep. Bubbles. That's his name. He posts on the message board as Bubbles. That's his name. Why are you laughing? Is he still rocking? He's still good? I think I've seen, I mean, I think I've seen the trumpet

[00:43:30] getting a good run. Great. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. No, I'm not saying anything's up with Bubbles. I'm just saying like, I think Trish said in the message to us that she mentioned all these people. So, I did laugh at the nickname Bubbles because I didn't remember that was what his name was. When I hear Bubbles I think of a monkey or whatever. But anyway. Oh, yeah. I'm not associating Bubbles with Bubbles or Bubbles with Michael Jackson. He's our trumpet guy and we love him. We love him.

[00:44:02] He's out of love except for Brett Sutter who obviously has some sort of long-standing feud going with Shanaz. No, no. Brett Sutter and I are okay. Okay. Anyway, Bubbles is there and he's going off. And what I love is he's totally in time and tune, obviously because he's a great musician, with the song over the PA. And he always does that. Like, he actually, he's not even, like, he has to time it earlier than the song starts as well.

[00:44:31] That's what has always gotten me is that he does the little bit of the polka song before the up-up Cronulla starts. So, and he nails it every time. Yeah. I assume that you'd have to practice. I mean, you'd get, especially 2016, you'd be able to do it every week. But he can obviously play. Like, I don't think he's... Yeah. Like, I don't think it's the only thing in his repertoire. The kid can play. But the great thing is everyone's singing along and you're sort of in the crowd. Really, really nice scenes at the end. And, you know,

[00:44:59] the hoodoo's partially over, thank goodness. You know, now it's two from 15, which is great. And we're on our way. We're in first spot. Yeah. Which is crazy because actually, if I look at the 2016 season here, how many rounds do you think we actually led the ladder? Because that's the one thing is that I said in the last game is that, you know, Brisbane were right up there. They were the favourites for pretty much the whole season. But then they're sort of a non-factor by the time that we get to the finals, right?

[00:45:29] We would have led up until, what, a game or two after the draw probably. Yeah. So, in a row we lead. This is the first time of the year because we're around 11, right? So, 11, 12, 13 we lead. And then 15 all the way to 21 we are first on the ladder. So, that's a real nice chunk then. We are, I don't know if we're the favourites to win the comp or anything by this stage, but it's really, Brisbane don't lead the ladder for the rest of the year. It's just us and Melbourne really. And then obviously Canberra come in

[00:45:58] to sneak into second place at the end. But... It is right at that draw then because round 21 is the draw. For the rest of the streak, we are pretty much number one on the ladder except for round 14. Can I point out, and it's been pointed out on our show and probably other shows, is that in 2026, the Sharks have lost to the Dragons and the Raiders in really bad fashion. Yep. In 2016, we had a draw with the Titans who we're playing this week. So, that's not a great omen. But forget about that.

[00:46:28] We lost to the Raiders and the Dragons in a row. We did. And they were depressing losses as well. I was there for both of them. We'll cover them later in the series. But yeah, I will say that considering that we had the streak and that everything was sort of humming. Now, in saying that, Chad didn't disclete his shoulder. So, that sort of broke the analogies between 2016 and 2026 when Trindle went off in the last game. But there are a lot of similarities and that is what I'm holding on hope to. Well, the bad news for that is

[00:46:58] I'm reminded here we actually lose three in a row in 2016. There's a loss to Souths. Yeah, I was also at the Souths game as well. So, this year we've lost two in a row. To Canberra and St. George. But we've already lost to Souths this year. Yeah, I'm just going with end of season. And that was rounds 22, 23, 24. Thankfully, this week it's round 25. Yep. And the corresponding game is really exciting

[00:47:27] because we absolutely smashed the Roosters at home and everything's back on track. That's a very good game. That's our Battlefield jersey game. Can't wait for it. So, we defeated Manly. I'm in the wrong season. What am I doing here? 20 to 12, let's say. Happy days. Happy days. We're genuinely believing that's eight in a row, I believe. And that, I think they said that was our best streak since, I guess it'd be 2002.

[00:47:53] So, we win 30 to 16 in the NYC and we win 20 to 12 in the main game. Things are looking good. Things are looking really good. Big crowd. I dare say the club was rocking both atmospherically and financially from that night. Always did really well out of those. You know where it would have really been rocking after the game. Absolutely. Our very own King Juan. King Juan. That's right. You didn't ask me what my favourite dish was,

[00:48:22] which I found offensive to be honest with you, Sam. So, I'm just going to offer it to you now. I'm doing a bunch of things away from Shark House Pod where I'm trying to better myself in all seriousness. Okay. And we're not going to go into too much more detail. But that is a bit of a, it's not a problem for me. You don't ask. I do ask. But the fact that I didn't and didn't recognise it and you remind me now, I'm like, whoa, that's shameful. Well, I wouldn't say it's shameful

[00:48:51] because, I mean, it's, if you weren't good at asking people, well, if you weren't good at asking other people questions, you wouldn't have had this podcast for, what, 11 plus years? 12. What's your favourite dish? I love a Billy Key chicken. Oh, yeah. Okay. Me too. Which is sort of exclusive to the Sydney area, sort of came out of Chinatown, came up with it was Billy Key or was related to Billy Key. And then... Has it branched out across the world or not? No, no.

[00:49:20] You can't get Billy Key chicken here in New York. I dare say if you're in like Melbourne or something or Brisbane, you probably wouldn't be able to get a Billy Key chicken. It's very much a Sydney-based dish. Yeah. Very big fan of a Billy Key. So, if you're out there and you're going to a Chinese restaurant this weekend or something and you see it on the menu, get a Billy Key chicken, think of Sam and I and... And Billy. Where did Billy originate from restaurant-wise? There was a very good article that Adam, is it Lior, that used to be on MasterChef,

[00:49:48] he wrote his favourite, Billy Key chicken's one of his favourite dishes, and it did come from the Chinese restaurants in like Chinatown, Sussex Street, that sort of area of Sydney. And that's where it came from. You know what? I'll text you that article after we wrap up this podcast, Sam. Bit of homework for you. Appreciate that. So, the King Wan, kind of owned by Ben Harlem and Sam Shnazzi. That's it. In the future, it will be. The near future, maybe. Doing a bit of research myself, Ben,

[00:50:16] I've been looking for the episode from 2016 Shark Cast with Adam Neiman and myself. I can't find a direct manly review. And what's interesting is there's a buy after it. So, I think what we might have done is, I don't know why, but we would have maybe not done an episode that week because I'm looking at, it goes from episode 45, which is the night's review manly preview, into episode, the next episode,

[00:50:45] which is kind of a bye week. And we talk about the year that's been, and there's a bit about the manly game, and then moving forward to the next game. So, I'm going to have a listen to that. And if it's kind of applicable to what we're doing, I'll chuck it up. If I don't, it doesn't mean it's the end of it. It just means there's not a direct kind of review of the game. So, we'll work all that out. Benny, we'll see you in Australia pretty soon, which is exciting. Yeah, looking forward to it. But as per usual, you'll be in Australia, and I have all these things planned, and you'll be like,

[00:51:16] I don't have any time. Yeah, the only thing that works for our friendship, Sam, is the fact that you are a night owl, which means that, A, we can have text conversations when it's like 2 a.m. your time, and it's like during the day for me. So, it's a very good time zone friendship that we've got. And then also is that I can text you if I've just finished, because my morning show in America then becomes a night show when I come back to Sydney. So, then I can wrap up the show at midnight and text you and be like,

[00:51:44] hey, Sharks at Carrillo is still open for a couple of hours. Do you want to go get a Coke Zero? And then you will be up, and then I'll meet you there. So, that does help. Do they do Billy Key Chicken at Sharks at Carrillo? That's a great question. If they don't, we should make a suggestion. We should. We'll find out in the next two weeks. All right, Ben, thanks for your time. Really appreciate it, as always. I think my point was being, we might try and do an episode while you're out here, but maybe that won't happen. But we can always try. We'll see. Look, we'll try. And look, as we've said,

[00:52:14] we're not up to date with, we're not going round for round with 2026. But the good thing is, once the 2026 is over, when we obviously win the comp in October this year, we can just keep going, keep reliving 2016 in the off season. Unless we do an episode every night while you're here in the wee hours, and then we catch up. My family might have something to say about that. In the wee hours, the wee hours they're asleep, your family. We can discuss this off air. It's been a very loose episode,

[00:52:42] and I very much enjoyed it. No alien talk, so Kieran's gimmick is still fresh and all good for his show on a Monday or whenever you're going to record it this week. Or a Wednesday, yeah. Or a Wednesday. Hey, I love waking up and seeing that you've got a new episode with Kieran that I can walk around the park and listen to. So yeah, all the conspiracies and that, Kieran, he can have that. I'm just happy with the Billy Key Chicken chat. And if you guys, if you had a favourite dish at King One, send us a note, charcast.com.au

[00:53:10] or get in touch on the Instagram. I'm not even joking. I genuinely would like to know. Absolutely. We're here to talk about the food. Ben, we will see you soon. Appreciate your time. Everyone else, thanks so much for tuning in. Go back and listen to... If you made it through 56 minutes of this madness, I salute you. I get the stats. People listen through. They're not doing a minute and then stopping. They're listening to everything, which is great. That's why I love it. The Shark Cast universe is rocking, Benny. We'll talk to you soon, my friend.

[00:53:48] Shark Cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the 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 & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[00:54:18] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies! And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy. Sharkies!