The Year That Was: 2016 - Rd 6 vs Gold Coast w/ guest co-host Ben Harlum

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

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[00:01:06] Welcome to SharkCast Finder Podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. My name is Sam Shinazzi, OG2015. This show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hors at Cripps & Cripps Real Estate. This is our 2016 recap, catch-up, re-watch, how good was it episode, series. And on the other end of this line is our good friend Ben Harlem, all the way from New York City. Ben, how are you, my friend?

[00:01:34] I'm good, mate. It seems like that 2016, you know, it's just the hype is getting bigger and bigger as we lead up to that final round game against the Storm. So I'm glad that we, I mean, we started early and now everyone else is catching up. You're catching up with players from the squad and we've got raffles and we've got rings and there's lots going on. So I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I'm glad you're tooting our horn as well. Thanks, Ben.

[00:02:00] Now, you're right. Like it's a special year. We want to make note of it. Of course, the priority is our 2026 current team. But I have to say when I ran into the three gentlemen last week, Wade Graham, James Milani, Luke Lewis, it was, I still got that special feeling. I'm like, you guys did something really cool and I appreciate that and let's talk about it. So we're here to talk about the round six match against the Titans at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

[00:02:25] Now, going into this game in the NRL, so the Sharks have lost to the Cowboys in round one by six points up in Townsville. We beat the Dastardly Dragons 30 to 2, the Chad Townsend game at Southern Cross Group Stadium. In round three, we lost at Brookie. You won on first try score though. Sure did. We lost 22-12. We came back to Southern Cross Group Stadium.

[00:02:55] We won against Melbourne in a great match, 14-6. And then we recently recapped the Campbelltown game, a high-scoring affair, 34-26 win over the West Tigers. If my mathematics is correct, that makes us 3-2. And I can tell you the Titans are going to be 3-2 as well, but we'll get to that shortly. Ben, as usual, we look back at the NYC under-20s match that happened usually almost every time before the game.

[00:03:24] Occasionally there might be a split round or something, but usually before the game you get NYC game. We are down at Southern Cross Group Stadium. It is a Sunday 2 o'clock NRL kickoff. This is about 11.45 a.m. for the NYC. Let's go through our Sharkies team. Now, I will note the referees, two referees, Peter Goff and Casey Badger. Oh, wow. Two names that we kind of know. Now, for the Mighty Sharks at fullback, William Kennedy. So he's gone from halfback to fullback. Yeah. Okay. Yep.

[00:03:54] Sione Katoa on one wing, Josh Tualagi on the other, Bessie Tamaga and Lockie Steyer in the centres, Jack Williams Jr. and Rhys Davies are the halves. Props are Teppa Fuava, who I don't really recall that well, actually. Uh, Jaden Braley is the captain and Jamin Joloff is the other prop. Jaden Walker, Ashley Nisbet, Jaden McDonough at the back row.

[00:04:19] And your bench is Justin Timu, Jess Savage, Leon Tupula and the great Billy Magulius, coached by John Morris. Now, the Gold Coast Titans coached by Ben Wolfe, a name that we now know. Notables for them are fullback, I believe he played NRL, Tyrone Roberts-Davis. Philip Sammy is in the centres. The other centre is Captain Jed Cartwright. Okay. Josh Rogers at 5'8", I believe did something later on.

[00:04:46] And their lock is Max King. I'm assuming it's the same Max King. You would think so. And that's about it as far as NRL experience goes of people who we would know. Now, here's the match report from the day. The Sharks have scored a 12-point victory over the Gold Coast Titans in round six of the NYC competition, trailing by 14 points. Another comeback. Time dwindling.

[00:05:13] The young Sharks showed resilience and determination beyond their years to reverse the momentum and earn the two points with a scoring effort of 20 straight points. Fourth win of the season. NYC was known, as we have discussed, Ben, for their attack. Not a lot of D, a lot of attack. And it was a bit like PBL ball now. If you had the ball, you were kind of going to score or at least have a good chance of it. So, it sounds like we were on the end of it for a while, then we turned it around.

[00:05:43] So, a good win there for the young Sharks. We move on to the NRL game. Now, was young Ben in the stadium on this occasion? I'm going to assume now that for most of the streak, and really until the end of the year, I am most likely at the game. That's going to be my general attitude towards games, especially if I don't remember.

[00:06:10] I know there was a period where there's a Warriors and an Eels game, and I was in America. But apart from that, I'm pretty much at a lot of these games. So, that's just going to be my general position, if I can't remember, Sam, is that I was there. Especially on a Sunday afternoon. You know, beautiful day. What were you doing in America? Having a holiday. Having a holiday, yes. That was a Disney holiday in Orlando.

[00:06:39] And also, I went on a bit of a side trip, because it's around this time that Guns N' Roses announced that Axel and Slash and Duff were getting back together. And so, they were about to play Coachella around this time that the Titans game was on. And then they announced a tour, and I was going to be in America at the time. So, I had to make a brief detour and leave my friend Tim and go to Chicago to see them reunite. So, very important for me. Did Tim not want to go see G&R? No. He kept going with the original plan.

[00:07:08] He was in New York, and then I ended up meeting him afterwards. Yeah. So, that was a good trip. And should we point out, Ben is a big Guns N' Roses guy. Yeah, they're my favourite band. Soon to be in Australia. Yeah, they are. Yes, we're about a month away from them being here in the States, and then they'll come visit you at the end of the year. Okay. So, Sunday afternoon, footy down at Southern Cross Group Stadium. I'm sorry. I didn't ask. Were you there? I'm sorry.

[00:07:37] That's very rude of me that you asked where my location was, and I didn't ask if you were there. Not rude, but I – look, I honestly have no memory of it except for the Ben Barber try, I think, got me out of my seat. So, I'm going to say I was there. Okay. I think from a kind of lifestyle point of view at the time, I mean, I probably had to work at some point that day, but I might have been able to – I'm pretty sure I was there. I'm pretty sure I went to, I think, the majority of home games, if not all that year.

[00:08:04] So, let's lock us in for that, but I actually have no memory of it, to be fair. Now, crowd of 11,753, so not quite sold out as it would be later in the year for the Newcastle game, et cetera, once we're really on that run, and we're up to sort of like the 18,000s or whatever, or 17, whatever it was, which is interesting because great team. They're on a bit of a roll now. There's a bit of hope in the Shire. It's a Sunday. A nice Sunday. Yeah.

[00:08:33] I know the Titans aren't a draw card, but as we've been talking about off-air, their team's actually not that bad, and we'll get to it really shortly. Mm-hmm. It is noticeable, and we'll talk about it throughout the game, the crowd's pretty amped. Like, the 11,000 people who are there, almost 12,000, they know that this team's going to maybe kick on and do something, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And I know you're going to mention a bit later on, but shout out to the effects mics that really pick up how amped the crowd are.

[00:09:02] Man, the Fox in 2016, they were really cranking that effects mic. So, Sharks are 3-2. The Titans are 3-2 as well. Now, let's flash up some team cards, which I believe I have ready. And we'll go with the home team first. Okay. So, for people listening, I'll read it out to you. And it's a pretty standard team, as we're going to say most weeks, thank goodness.

[00:09:28] So, Ben Barber at fullback, Ewingers as Asaya Fecki, and the future Valentine Holmes. Jack Bird, not the only Bird playing in this game. Jack Bird and Ricky Letelli are your centers. Maloney and Townsend are your halves. Front row is Vafita Ennis Pryor in 16. Luke Lewis, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen is back the captain.

[00:09:50] And the bench is Sam Tagatisi in 10, Chris Hockington, Captain America Joseph Polo, and Gerard Beal. So, that's your team there, Ben. I mean, you got any comment on that? It's pretty standard. Pretty standard. And the usual Tagatisi switching with Pryor, whoever's 16 and 10 sort of switching beforehand. The jerseys were made and only fit one of them, whatever it is.

[00:10:16] And then, as per usual, Beal becomes a handy selection on the bench. What about that? It seems to be every week. The foresight of Shane Flanagan. Yeah. He's a visionary, as we say in the wrestling world. All right. Let's flush up the Titans team now for those watching, for those listening. Here we go. So, the very talented, I believe very talented, but also we'll be told this every time he gets the ball.

[00:10:44] In 19, Will Zillman, the man with the best name in rugby league, or at least top five names, William Zillman. On one wing, we have David Mead. On the other, we have Anthony Don. So, a lot of characters in this team. Josh Hoffman and Nene McDonald, who I believe is a future shark. Is that right, Ben? A future shark, Nene McDonald? Does he go to the Dragons for a bit? He might have went. Yeah, I think he might be. Didn't he come to us? I'm sure he came to us. You keep reading the list. I'm going to have a look at his Wikipedia.

[00:11:14] Cam Cullen at six. We've got the historian, Ash Taylor at number seven. Bit of joke for our listeners there. And the forward pack is Dave Shillington, Nathan Friend, Ryan James, Zeb Tayer, premiership winner and signer of big checks, Chris McQueen, and our very own Greg Bird Lock. So, that forward pack again is Shillington Friend, Ryan James, Zeb Tayer, Chris McQueen, Greg Bird. It's a pretty good pack.

[00:11:40] And then the bench, former shark and one of the greats, Luke Douglas. We have Pulu, Parsi, and then I believe again while you're Googling, future former shark, Dan Mortimer. Absolutely a future shark in Daniel Mortimer. If we ever do a 2017 recap, there will be a Tigers game that he saves the day for us. But yeah, 2020, McDonald plays two games and scores one try. So, you all right, Sam? Of course he did. Of course he did. All right.

[00:12:10] So, here we go. That's your team there. It's a pretty good team there, Ben. And from the – I'll flush it up against what we talked about. It's a pretty good team. I mean, there's a bit of speed out the back. The halves are young and pretty daring. And the forwards are pretty good. What's your take on the Titans team, Ben? Yeah, I'm interested. Cameron Cullen making his NRL debut here. And then Daniel Mortimer's on the bench. I'm surprised that Mortimer sort of doesn't slip into the halves here.

[00:12:38] And they do make a big note of Cameron Cullen. And it seems like that his dad played footy as well, at least the commentators mentioned. At least Kevi Walters does. I can tell you, if you're wondering what Cameron Cullen's doing now, Sam, if you are looking for a house in Burley Heads, he is one of the leading rural estate agents up there.

[00:12:57] So if you're looking for a bit of a sea change, he has some very, very expensive housing that you can move into in the Burley Gold Coast area, just in case. And so they've got some experience there. Chris McQueen, Greg Bird in the back row. Pretty big forward bench as well. So not the worst Gold Coast Titans team. But we did say they are three and two just like the Sharks. So they're coming in with some good form. We'll take that down now, Ben.

[00:13:26] And we're often running at Shark Park or as it was known then as Southern Cross Group Stadium. Commentary is from Joel Sugarcane and Kevin Walters with our man Andy Raymond on the bench. Always get the giggles of Andy. I don't know why. Great man. No one loves the sideline commentary status more than you, Sam, which I do appreciate. I will say that you mentioned obviously it being a home game.

[00:13:55] There is a graphic as we start the game that Fox mentioned from the pre-lab lab. The Sharks haven't won their first three home games since 2005. So that's an interesting one. We're notorious slow starters, but I didn't realize that for that 11-year period that we hadn't won the first three home games in a row. So we were just known as the Fox Sports Stats Crew. The Stats, Fox Sports Stats. And that's... Stats Crew. I love a crew.

[00:14:22] Eventually, I think it might have been Patrick Delaney or someone came in and went, you know what? We've got to jazz this up a little bit. We went through all these different names, like scenarios. And we came to the lab and we were like, eh. But that's what they went with and that's who we are. I love a rebrand. Yes. The only reason I think I laugh about the Andy Raymond situation is because of the Mark Gasney thing, which we discussed on one of the other episodes. He came and gone. We'll see if he pops up before the end of the year. I'm sure he will be. All right. So we've got to kick off at the game.

[00:14:52] And in the first set in defense, Michael Ennis gives away a penalty. Yep, he does. And I think for a while, for a few games, probably in the past and now in the next few, we're all like, he's a bit of a penalty guy, isn't he? You know, is it going to work out okay? Is it going to have a happy ending? Of course it does.

[00:15:16] Some great commentary early on where we find out that Nathan Friend is working as a bricky laborer, but he's still playing NRL. What an era. What a throwback. So he's carrying bricks by day and training at night. And I think it was, yeah, both Joel Kane and Kevin Walters were astounded by this fact. I'm astounded now. I love it. Yeah. You can make that four of us.

[00:15:41] The Sharks' second set, there's some great attack down our right with offloads ball play. Valentine Holmes is almost put into touch, drops the ball back to Ben Barber. However, it's deemed a knock-on to which Ben Barber motions to the touch judge, can you see, sir? Yeah. It's very good. We've got great Fox camera work and also audio. And really, you are a fly on the wall in this game.

[00:16:08] And I found that quite comical. Yeah. Like he is. We were talking about astounded just before. Ben Barber's astounded at the fact that the touchy made the decision in that way against him. The touchy's right over him. And it looks like Ben's right, actually. Ben Barber's right. So third minute in. Maloney gathers a kick on our own goal lines. We're back on our own line. Maloney gathers a kick, passes it to Ben Barber, runs away.

[00:16:37] Nene McDonald is chasing him. It's not much of a battle because Ben Barber's so electric. Although McDonald catches up to him. There's a moment there where you think McDonald's got Ben Barber. And then he does a step to his left and then shoots off. And the crowd, you can hear the crowd roar. I remember getting up off my seat. And it's one of the great Ben Barber tries of that year, especially if not his career. It's not top three, but it'd be like top 10. Just that little moment where he does the step.

[00:17:06] But however, Grant Atkins isn't quite sure. So we go to the bunker. Although Kevin says, Kevin Walters says, I'm pretty sure this is a try. Yes. So we see the main video ref. He's got two of his colleagues in front of him. There's a lot of TVs. Kevin then changes his mind. Kevin Walters, he changes his mind on the replay. Very quickly, he does change his mind. I think because of a knock-on situation or something.

[00:17:32] However, they say there's insufficient evidence to turn it around. So therefore, it's a try. Happy days. But we went from like a clear-cut try to no try to try again. Maloney hits the post, which he'll do quite a lot this year. So he's 0 from 1. We are leading 4-0. Here comes the great Andy Raymond. And this is a great thing that is a constant throughout the game. Mick Ennis versus our former player Greg Bird.

[00:18:02] And their battle with the mouth. Just the constant barrage between the two of them, which we'll come to a point later on. But who are you backing there? Ennis versus Greg. Like, it's a good battle. Greg Bird. It is a good battle. And it does go from being verbal to physical about halfway through. I don't know. Like, that's a very close call. I'd almost give it to Mick.

[00:18:29] Just thinking maybe, you know, maybe at this stage of his career, maybe Greg's run out of insults and things to yell back. But then I guess Mick is at the end of his career as well. I'm going to say that that's almost a draw in my mind. I feel like Mick would be the cheekier. But Greg would be the harder hitter. He'd be in the gutter. Yes. He wouldn't let anything... He would go low, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And that's fine. You know, do what you got to do. Exactly. 10th minute.

[00:18:59] Wade Graham injured from a crusher tackle. But I believe he'll play on. Yes, he does. 11th minute. The Sharks refuse the two points. They turn away the two points. With Maloney overriding Ennis to attack rather than take a kick. Did you notice that? I did. And then I also noticed that in another great case of commentary brilliance is that they lead up as soon as the Sharks get the penalty. It's a, well, the Sharks have been straight away.

[00:19:28] They choose to do the penalty goal and there's no doubt that Flanagan will be making them do the same thing. And then just as Joel Cain and Kevin Walters say that, Maloney goes, no, we're good. Because it was a very Shane Flanagan thing you do. And it probably even up to his Dragon's days. He loves the two points. Especially when we're only four points up. Yeah, it made sense. But we don't do that. But thankfully, in the next minute, we're going to score a try to Sasaya Fecchi in the left corner.

[00:19:56] Now, Andrew Fafita offloads. Spins left. Wade Graham with a great try assist. So we're up 8-0. There is Spirit Fingers behind Maloney from the sideline. But he hits the post again. Now, what's the record for the most amount of times that a conversion has hit the post? Because we're at 2-2 now. It's got to be James Maloney in this game, probably. It must be. Now, this is where I found Fingers getting a bit weird with the commentary. Okay.

[00:20:24] And I was watching this game late at night. And I thought, and just to disclose, as some people know, I've had a bit of, I won't say illness over the weekend. But I've had a health situation which was really uncomfortable. And it's to do with my hearing. And so it's kind of messed with my whole brain. I thought I was hearing things at first. However, I wasn't. Because they keep going back to these talking points.

[00:20:50] So Joel Cain discussing athletes having daughters being a lucky charm. And he goes through a whole bunch of people. Because some people in this game have just given birth. I believe one is Luke Lewis. They've just had a baby, baby girl. But he goes through a whole list of athletes who are great athletes. And they also seem to have daughters. But we'll come back to that. Okay? Okay. Yep. Kevvy, I note, seems enamored with Will Zilman.

[00:21:18] A lot of great compliments for Will Zilman. I legitimately was a fan of his work back in the day. So I understand it. But he was really honing down on Will Zilman. Joel Cain says Ennis has white line fever as he's the nicest guy off the field. Which you and I can both attest to. Attest to. Absolutely. Here we go. Greg Bird and Mick Ennis scuffle. Paul, this is one of my favorite footy moments of this game. The ref gets them all together. Don't do that.

[00:21:48] No more. Anyone does it, you're off. And Paul, along with the mic seemingly on his chest, says, quote, Hey, boys, pull your heads in. Play footy, eh? Well, look, I do always wonder when they go, you know, go back and tell your team to, you know, knock it off or whatever. You don't hear it. You always wonder, okay, like, what do they actually say? And there was proof right there in the game. It was like Gal had a microphone on him right there. It was great. What a great moment.

[00:22:17] The audio is so good in this episode. And we have pointed out that we're both watching on NRL.com and the vision is not, you know. The best. It's not 4K. But the audio is crisp. Oh, yeah. So it sort of makes up for a little bit. But that's the quote. Hey, boys, pull your heads in. Play footy, eh? 17th minute, Ennis to Pryor with a try from close range. Some good hands. But we are going to go to the video ref. But it's a try. It's his first try since 2013.

[00:22:48] In the lead up, Greg Bird takes out Maloney. Mm-hmm. With a shoulder on head on report. And then the Fox microphone, again, I'm giving a lot of credit to these guys, picks up a Sharks fan screaming out, clear as daylight, send him off, you grub. It's amazing. I love it. It's great. This is a real... We've had some... We're actually including the Manly game as well. We've had some good games with some really high-quality crowd audio.

[00:23:17] So wherever they had the crowd, Mike, in 2016, bring it back, I say. Put it back in that position. Benny, so that's the try to the great Matt Pryor. Yeah, it wouldn't be the best try that he scores this year. Absolutely. There are better ones ahead. But reading the match report, and I was reading it on the Titans website, they were very, very stressed. This was like top paragraph of the match report that I know we're on to the second try now.

[00:23:46] But the Titans concede the first try in the game for the fifth week in a row. So they are not happy because it seems like there's a period here. And we are at pains to mention how good the Titans are, that they are keeping this a very close game and they do come back. But not only is it conceding the first try for the fifth game in a row, so obviously we're in round six. And then also they're at pains to mention in the report that it seems like there's just

[00:24:13] a 15-minute period where they seem to just switch off because in a Melbourne game, Melbourne scored two or three tries in a row. We just do two tries in a row. It just feels like that in the match report on the official Titans website, they very much want to stress how frustrating this must be internally as well as for the fans, which I thought was quite funny. That is good info there. Good intel, Benny. Thank you. So Valentine Holmes will take the kick because Maloney's been taken out for the short term. Yeah. And he kicks it.

[00:24:44] And so we go up 14-0. And Maloney goes off the field. Bird goes to 5-8. And in the visionary from the coach, Gerard Beale to the centers. Not the first or last time that has happened. So Maloney's off Jack Bird to 5-8 and Gerard Beale to the centers. Now, here we're informed by Eddie Raymond who said, and I think I'd forgotten about this,

[00:25:12] the Sharks had feelers from the Storm, the Melbourne Storm, to get Gerard Beale. So the Melbourne Storm won and Gerard Beale mid-season, to which the Sharks said, quote, no way. Up until this week, it was no way. And you are right. Like, it does become important because I think of the world that before June 30, we deal Beale to the Storm. How does our fortunes change? If anything.

[00:25:36] I mean, maybe, you know what, and we're going to keep it very friendly here, maybe a Mitch Brown becomes the next guy off the rank. Yeah. Maybe, like as I said in one of the last episodes, how the message boards really wanted Ben Hampton to join the Sharks. Maybe there's a trade involved and Ben Hampton becomes the 2016 Grand Final Hero, or at least one of them. Or he becomes the villain and we lose it because I don't rate Ben Hampton, if you remember. There you go.

[00:26:05] So, yeah, that's a really interesting one. That's the first time, and I'm sure I heard it back then. But, yeah, that's the first time I remember that being a thing in a very long time. So that's fascinating. Great Andy Raymond there. The crowd is amped, I've noted. There's a vibe in 2016. And someone has a cowbell. Love that. See, I don't remember the cowbell, but there's definitely someone in the crowd. Oh, I remember some. Yeah, I remember the cowbell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will Ferrell style. I remember the cowbell.

[00:26:33] Well, 32nd minute on debut. Your man Cam Cullen. Quick run. Goes through some middle forwards. Unfortunately, Grant Atkins isn't sure if it's a try. But their video ref does say try. So they're back in it. Luke Lewis leaves the field at this point with a clash with Luke Douglas. And here we go. So Joel Cain discusses concussion.

[00:26:58] And when Joel Cain became a father at some point in his life, it was around the time when he was concussed from playing football too. And he's relating it to Luke Lewis, who had just become a new father in this week. And now he's concussed. So there was a lot of parental talk. Yeah. And we love Sugar Cain. Like, he's a great guy. So it's all factual. But it's just not what you're expecting to hear. We're not near Father's Day.

[00:27:28] Like, there's nothing really... Yeah, I don't know what has prompted it. But like, Joel, go for it. He is really laying it on thick with the fathers and the football players giving birth to daughters sort of chat. Now, I think I may have missed a Titans try here because we're already at... What score have we got? We've got 14-12. So I might have missed a Titans try here. But it's 14-12 to the Sharks. Sam Tangatisi comes on. He makes two errors in five minutes, which I do remember.

[00:27:58] And I do remember the knives out for Sam at that point. And I was like, that's a bit early for the knives. But two clear-cut errors. So that was disappointing. And then the historian, Ash Taylor, with a solo try. So we should say, we go to halftime 14-12. I'm getting ahead of myself. 14-12, Sharks are leading at halftime. Pretty good first half. The game's very even. The Spine is playing well, Benny.

[00:28:24] Now, at this point in time, we can confirm a bit of talk about what we were discussing in past episodes about the Spine chat. Yeah. Which has been this ongoing theme of every episode. Just because. And this is the issue, Sam. And I know I've said it before. But around the Manly game, there was a very small newspaper article that I don't think. It was in the Telegraph. But it was an AP article. So that means that it came from like, it was just a very small in the corner sort of mention. And I've never seen any other proof of it since.

[00:28:53] But I really vividly remember it. That after the Manly game, there was some sort of Spine meeting where the guys got together and they worked out whatever it was. And we've never heard anything of it since. And we've been trying to track down whether there's, you know, an answer. And I mean, Sam, you have been interviewing members of the Spine on the podcast. You do bump into members of the Spine in your workplace much more than I would in New York.

[00:29:18] So I gave you the mission of getting at least some sort of just a tidbit of information for me on what this meeting was or actually if it actually existed. Or maybe it was just in my breakfast radio 4 a.m. crazy mind. But it wasn't. It actually did happen. Yes. And we have confirmation from our halfback, Chad Townsend, kind enough to get in touch with us. And it happened at a Central Coast camp. Now, we don't have a lot more on there.

[00:29:47] And he kindly sent me a photo of the camp where it was him and some of the Spine members in deep conversations. It's obviously something very important at turning point in the season because it's on his wall in his studio. I kid you not. Wow. Okay. But I don't know when the camp was, but it must have been, I don't know, at some point after the first few games. Yeah. Because when do you take a camp? Was it before the Storm game as if like, hey, we're going to do this as if it's an away game?

[00:30:16] Is it before the Manly game? It was a Monday game, the Storm. So I think we had a few Mondays. So it could have been like a Wednesday, Thursday before. So we can find that stuff out. But there was definitely a gathering. I like it. We have a tick that the Spine meeting did exist. That gives me great joy. And we will be continuing on the case as we move forward. Thank you for getting that, Sam. I was a bit disappointed it wasn't in a cafe or something. So everyone could just, yeah, locals could see it and hear it. And what are these guys up to?

[00:30:46] You know, because I'm privy and everyone who lives in my neighborhood are privy to the Sharks have expired meetings at Mr. Paisley's. Again, hopefully not breaking kayfabe, but it does happen. So was Mr. Paisley's around in 2016? No, no, no. I'm just saying like now they do it. You might see Will and everyone in there and they're talking about the game. It's pretty cool. Like, oh, wow, they're talking about the game. Don't go talk to them. Don't get a selfie with them today. Don't bother them. Yeah. But I was hoping maybe they would have been at – what was that cafe?

[00:31:14] There was a cafe near where the new pub is and Valentine's Home's loved – Valentine's Home lived in there. He'd walk past and be like, hey, Val. He was on the smoothies all day and night. Anyway, we're getting – I'm still trying to work out the one that Kieran doesn't like that he refused to say the other day. Yeah. Okay. And there's a lot of unanswered questions from this podcast. I thought it started with a G and ended with a D, but it wasn't grind. He wasn't talking about grind. Oops. Oh, yeah. He was talking about something else. Okay. We'll be on the case with that one too.

[00:31:44] Anyway, that's the halftime report from us. Yes. So 43rd minute Tagertese with his third error. Not a good day so far. Which is not good. Because I always had him in NRL Fantasy because he was always good because he had – he was a front row, a second row. But also because he had previously played as a center, he was a dual position person in the old super coach NRL Fantasy.

[00:32:10] So any error from Tagertese I never enjoyed because it would affect me in Fantasy that week. So 45th minute, the historian Ash Taylor with a solo try goes past the goat, Paul Gallen, unfortunately. Hopefully Gallen doesn't hear this. And they take the lead 18-14. So our short streak of a couple of games is not looking great at the moment. Now, this is a bugbear for a lot of Sharks fans in 2016 and throughout his Sharks career.

[00:32:39] And even I, as the premier fan of Valentine Holmes will attest to – it also used to drive me up the wall. Valentine Holmes kicks the ball out in the fall from a kickoff. And it wasn't close either. Like, Greg Bird catches it and he is literally right out. You could almost say that he was in, like, row A of that concourse section. He's that far out when he catches it. Yeah. So it became a bit of a habit for him. It wasn't every time.

[00:33:08] But you could probably say, what, one in every three games he would kick the ball out in the fall. Be like, mate, just stop doing that, please. Yeah, he was certainly good for it. 55th minute, Matt Pryor with a big hit on Ignatius Parsi turns the ball over. Next minute, Mick Ennis with a dummy half kick from close to the line. Andy Fafida, big bop, with a try.

[00:33:31] And then does the dancing celebration afterwards, which a lot of our fans would know because over the years they've replayed it a lot. Kevin Walters says, quote, like Andy Raymond dancing on a Sunday night on the coast. Who are we to doubt? Kevin Walters when it comes to his reports on Andy Raymond. Yeah, I don't remember anything about this game except for one thing, and it's that Andrew Fafida try it,

[00:33:59] because they do replay it over and over again because of the post-match celebration. You remember the Ben Barber try and getting off your seat? I remember the Fafida try. Yeah, it's a good one, too. It's a great kick from Ennis, who is slowly but surely taking a step back on the fifth tackles and not sort of putting the kicks in and that sort of stuff. He's relying on Maloney and Townsend because of the aforementioned spine meeting. But that's a good one.

[00:34:25] Now, you're a popular culture guru, particularly compared to someone like myself. Okay, that's nice of you to say. Is there any rhyme or reason why Andrew is dancing this way? No, I can't think of any sort of trend. Like 2016 was like, I'm thinking like the mannequin challenge when you'd all sort of be like paused as you roamed around

[00:34:48] or like maybe like the Harlem Shake, spelt differently to my last name, where you do a bit of a crazy dance to that song. Like, what did the fox say? There's this, I can't, Desposito. There's nothing from 2016 that I can think that would have been that post-match celebration. It was certainly very eye-catching. I think it was in 2013, was his first year with the club maybe?

[00:35:12] And he scored that long-range try against the West Tigers and then he did like the lawnmower motion. Do you remember that one? That's a good one. I don't remember that, but that's a great one. Yeah, so he had a bit of form, Andrew Vifida. Had a bit of form with this sort of stuff. So Sharks lead 20 to 18. Val gets the kick two from two. Still very close. Second half attack, I've noticed that we're getting quite flashy, Ben, with the ball. Which is great. Now, 65th minute, Greg Bird tackles Ben Barber.

[00:35:42] Very much, it's 50-50 on whether he was in the air or not. Like, it's almost perfectly timed to be fair. But he absolutely crunches him. At this point, Wade Graham, I've noted, gets very much like Doc from Back to the Future by predicting that he may as well have got him with a swinging arm. Such is the danger of tackling in the air. Or close to being in the air. So Wade has seen the future. And in the future, you'll not be allowed to do this sort of stuff. No, that's right.

[00:36:09] And if it was in the future, that sort of tackle, if you got the penalty, they probably would have done a captain's challenge. Because as you said, it was so close to being like perfectly timed. Yeah. And whether it was or wasn't. Yeah. That one's definitely getting challenged. And to this point and this decision, someone in the crowd, again, picked up by the Fox Sports mic, says, you're kidding yourself, ref. Some wonderful lone vocal performances from the crowd captured. And they're different people. It's not the one guy.

[00:36:39] Captured on the Fox Sports mic. Like, you have to, you don't even need your headphones on. Like, you just need to appreciate this. Like, have a watch and appreciate the microphone use. The historian Ash Taylor kicks a penalty goal and we're 20 all now. 20 all. And it's around this time, I don't know, this caught your eye or your ear that Andy Raymond reports that he's got a section of Greg Bird friends and family behind him.

[00:37:06] And even they are giving him stick because their love of the sharks has taken precedence over their friendship with Birdie. How good's that? And then he's giving it back to the friends. And he's giving it back to them. That's even better. Obviously a controversial figure for things that happened off the field. But, I mean, it's a shame that it happened for lots of different reasons. But from a shark point of view, it's a shame because he was, dare I say, maybe is, I'm

[00:37:35] not going to say legend, but, you know, he was on his way, Greg Bird. Like, he was A, a very good footballer and B, a massive character and someone you loved having in your team. So, it's a shame it went pear-shaped. But this was a reminder for you and I watching this game that he actually was still pretty good. Yeah. We call Tall Tom a cult figure in the shy. Well, Greg Bird is well on his way if he kept going and things didn't go the way they did. As you said, a shame for multiple reasons.

[00:38:05] But, yeah, he would have went from cult figure to even more. And, yeah, good reminder. Now, the crowd is really into the game. There's 12 minutes to go. Our correspondent, Chad Townsend, gets the field goal in the 69th minute. Field goal, I didn't remember this at all. We go up 21-20. Some good times there. And I think they were talking about Valentine maybe having a shot and obviously Meloni's there. So, it was a good, probably most of the spine.

[00:38:34] I mean, maybe take Ennis out of it. But most of the spine would have been pretty good at field goals. I imagine Ben Barber could get one. So, we're pretty fortunate there. So, Chaddy gets it this time around. 71st minute, Ennis scoots our dummy half to Chad, to Bird, to Beal, to Val, who scores one of his more famous tries in the corner of the field. There is literally no room left on that field. And he finds space jumping in the air. Now, Grant Atkins has a try.

[00:39:04] But we've got to go to the video ref. And they confirm it's a try because it's Valentine of the Future Homes. I believe he misses the goal from the sideline, but we're up 25-20. Now, this try is also memorable, Ben, for the motion that he does. Mm-hmm. And you were impressed? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I thought you were going to elaborate there. No. Well, I was really impressed with both this one and the fecky try that there is such little room.

[00:39:32] And I thought the fecky try was so impressive because there was zero room for him to get anything in there. And then this one, even more so, that it's almost like predating the whole, okay, we're going to get the pad that's out and we're going to do the whole, let's try and get it in as much as possible. It's just so impressive that with such little room to move that you get one of these classic tries out of. Yeah, you're right. Like it was like now we definitely take it for granted. You just think, oh, that's an amazing try. Good one. He scored.

[00:40:01] And we probably didn't sell the fecky one enough because fecky is a bigger unit. It's probably harder for him to score those tries in Valentine's. 77th minute, Alan Shortle gets a go at the referee, the referee himself. And he says it's a try for Biel, but it's not a try. It's a high tackle by Jack Bird. That's right. Don't be mistaken that you might think a high tackle by Bird means Greg. No. And then Captain Gallon does his job by questioning the rules.

[00:40:30] And he's having a great chat with the referee. Yeah. And then he questions with the, almost finishes with a question saying, is it just this game you're refereeing this way or is it all games? Which you could take, you know, that could be, that could get him in a lot of trouble, that sort of question. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. But also it's probably a very appropriate question to ask a referee in 2026 as well. I mean, Gal was on a streak here.

[00:40:56] Gal, 2016 Gal, he just, he'll do anything for his team. Like, I love it. I love it. It's so, like, I've not forgotten, like, what a warrior is and all that sort of stuff. I watch him 100% footy every week. He's still cheeky as, but this is like in-game gal. Like, he's not taking a backward step from a ref, from anyone. And he legitimately, I would say, in my words, questions whether he's refereeing the game fair, basically. Pretty much.

[00:41:25] But he just says it in a way that he just gets away with it. So good. Yeah. The referee doesn't, if he gets little laughs and walks away, it's like, gee, he got away with that pretty good. Now, the Titans are finishing strong. They're chasing the win. I do note that they will stop the streak later in the year for a spoiler for our younger listeners. Yeah. The streak win later on for the Titans. But not with a loss. Not with a loss. There's five seconds left.

[00:41:52] Ennis gives away a dummy half penalty, which I think is on purpose, some sort of strategic kind of thing. Yeah. And they get one last tackle with the defense set. But Barber gets the kick. And the streak is now three wins. Sharks win 25-20. We're on our way. Happy days. Sing the song. And a pretty good afternoon at Southern Cross Group Stadium Sunday, the 10th of April. Benny. Now, I have saved my most important question to last.

[00:42:21] And we did go to the bunker a few times. And we have talked about how there was limited sponsorship. But they did keep going to the bunker a lot as if to sell it. Not as many times as they do in 2026, of course. And before they go to the try and the no try, they're advertising what sounds like an interesting product of KFC's Zinger Black, Sam. Oh. Where the bun is black. And I'm curious whether this is something that you'd be willing to try. Well, can you define black for me?

[00:42:49] Well, it's like the color of the bun is like they've got some food dye or whatever. And it is colored black. But it's not like a, how do I say this? It's not like a burnt style. No, it's not burnt or anything. It's literally the same KFC bun that you have had all these years on your original Philip Burgers, Sam. But it's just got a bit of food dye in there. And it's just the color black. I find that completely unnecessary. I find it a bit kooky. Okay. Would I try it?

[00:43:19] Maybe. But I wouldn't be longing to go have a food color dyed bun. No. Okay. Good to know. I would say that the superior item, and I might be biased because I was the one that put this into existence, would be the McDonald's McEnnis that would make its debut later in the year. But we will save that to when we run out of things to talk about later in 2016. Well, I know you won't forget that. I will forget that. But it's already raising lots of questions in my head. About the McEnnis?

[00:43:47] I think you just said the McEnnis, which sounds a lot like McEnnis. That would be the reason. Yes, that would be there. I know there's a few people that listen to the Shark Cast. Okay. Here's the challenge. If you guys had a McEnnis burger from McDonald's in the Shire sometime in 2016, A, you're welcome. And B, send Sam a note and we'll read back your feedback in the next episode when we relive the next game in 2016.

[00:44:14] Yes, the classic McEnnis burger available for a very limited time only in McDonald's stores. Yeah, sharkhustpod.gmail.com. Hit us up in the DMs about the McEnnis burger. I have like 1% of memory in my head about that. He ate it on NRL 360 as well. There you go. Oh, yeah. The Maccas. Shout out to the local Maccas of the Shire. They got a lot of publicity those couple of weeks when we put that together. That's amazing. Surely our mate Cleve had a bunch of them. Cleve would have had it.

[00:44:44] I know our friend, I'm pretty sure our friend Ash in the merch world, she definitely had one. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Amazing. Well, that does open up a whole lot of questions, which we won't get to now. But, you know, I wouldn't mind eating a Matt Pryor, for example, or something. Oh, whatever you want to do in your spare time when you think about 2016, Sam, is fine with me. Matt Pryor would be, I'd be a chicken burger, I think. Yes. A lot of lettuce, some sauce, some cheese.

[00:45:15] We could do that. That'd be a fun episode, just equating our heroes with burgers. Yep. Might get in a bit of trouble. Yeah, because it'd be like, yeah, which burger falls apart under stress and we wouldn't want to shame any of our premiership winning players with that one. Not many of those guys, that's for sure. No. Nope. Well, Ben, what a great outing it was. Round six, we're on our way. Three games in a row. I mean, that's pretty good. I mean, we've had three games in a row under Craig Fitzgibbon in recent times.

[00:45:43] We haven't had 16, but we're going to get to that. How are you feeling now as a Sharks fan? What are you feeling? Yeah, pretty good. Pretty good. These are the wins where, as we both admitted, we both completely forgot about these games except for one try apiece. But these are the games that, in some other seasons, we've lost because, you know, the Titans have come back and they've just gotten back on the bell and they get the momentum and we sort of lose it, especially against the Titans.

[00:46:11] I feel like the Titans-Sharks rivalry is an underrated one because there's always been crazy games between the two sides. But, yeah, these are the games that you look back on and they're not the flashy games. They're not the big Newcastle games and that sort of stuff. But they're the games that really define the season where you can see the side coming together and you see elements, you know, McEnnis going to Fafita. I know it was a kick this time. It's going to be a pass in the grand final. But, like, these are the little elements that are getting put together step by step.

[00:46:39] And without wins like this, we don't get to the point where we obviously our destination is October 2016. So I like it. I like this activity because these are games that we forgot about, that we get to relive and really enjoy for the first time. And such quality commentary from Joel and Kevi and your mate Andy. Yep. And as we said, important moments in our history. Like, without this, maybe we don't finish as high and then we don't get the shot and all that sort of stuff.

[00:47:09] So it's all part of the journey. Now, speaking of journeys, Ben, you'll be in Australia within moments like Magic. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much by the time that you upload this pod, I'm probably going to be on a plane ready to go down for the Dargons game. So I'm looking forward to it. But it's always good to time a trip with a couple of Sharks games.

[00:47:34] My family wouldn't want to hear this, but the Sharks draw does take priority when it comes to scheduling my trips home. But I'm looking forward to it. I mean, what are we in now, June? We've missed your mum's birthday, right? Yeah. So mum's birthday has come and gone. Yeah. But, yeah, this is the period where, look, to peel the curtain back over here once summer starts in America, that's when we start with lots of holidays and that sort of stuff around.

[00:48:04] You know, we've got Juneteenth coming up, which is an important holiday in America. July 4th, of course. That's when I can sort of take that time. March is too early for me to be taking time off. But dare I say as well, sorry to turn this into a basketball podcast for a second, but I am here in New York and the playoffs and the finals are just about to start. And the Knicks are in the NBA finals for the first time since 1999. So there's very much a 2016 vibe.

[00:48:32] If you think about what 2016 was like near the end of the season in the Shire, it's kind of like that amplified here in New York. Everybody is very excited. There is a lot of excitement in the area. So it really does. It's a good, I guess, environment to be. It's a good environment to be in when we're talking about 2016 because there's so much similarities here. Now, the only thing they need to do is get Dan Housen some courtside seats, then they won't be cursed again. Correct.

[00:48:59] And you will be thrilled to know how much the courtside seats are going for. You can actually, it's cheaper to fly to San Antonio and book a hotel and then get the seats there for the game whenever you're listening to this. Then it would be just to go down the street to Madison Square Garden. Even the watch party for game one that they had on sale this morning, I went into the queue and I was 110,000th in line. So that was real reassuring for me. As you can tell, I didn't get tickets.

[00:49:29] And that was just to watch it on the screen at Madison Square Garden. As in like outside or something? No, inside because they're playing it in Texas for game one. So you could go to Madison Square Garden, $10 a ticket. They lower the Jumbotron and everyone can watch the game there. And it's probably like the most affordable way that any of us could get into the finals. But yeah, 110,000th in line. So that was good. That was real good. I'll be watching it at home. A similar thing in 2015 for the Cowboys final at Crowley's Club.

[00:49:57] Big screen at the back. And a lot of people turned up and I turned up and then we lost 39-0. Yeah, hopefully it's not that dire an outcome for the old Knicks over here in New York. I wouldn't have thought so. Benny, we'll see you in a matter of hours or minutes or seconds, depending on how we do this. I look forward to seeing you. We'll have a Coke Zero, which is always fun. And we will be back for round seven. If I have a quick look at my...

[00:50:26] I know our fans already know what game it is. I don't know what it is. Drum roll, please. Drum roll. We're going to GIO Stadium on a Sunday afternoon to play the Raiders. Ooh. Ooh. Not the best Canberra game of the season, but an interesting one. Yeah, nonetheless. For a spoiler. They're all good. Spoiler. Spoiler. The next, what, 13-odd games are going to be really good, guys. So don't worry.

[00:50:57] They are. I'm just looking at some of these. I can't wait. I can't wait for that Bulldogs game. Oh, my God. There's a close Cowboys. Anyway, we don't want to give away too much. There's a lot of close games here. The streak could have been over. Yeah, heaps of close games. There's a golden point game. There's three in a row. Three in a row with a buy-in there that was super close. Yep. I was at the Bulldogs game that you're talking about. Yeah. Like, yeah. It wasn't like the easiest of runs, this streak. One of my favorite games, Parramatta at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

[00:51:26] I think we were down 18-0 after like 10 minutes. That's the one I was in America for. So I'm actually really looking forward to reliving that one. Good game. Good game. Was it Bevan French hat trick, maybe? Is that why we were down 18-0? That's all coming back to me now, baby. We'll soon find out. Celine. We will see you. I appreciate your getting my pop culture references. We will see you down under. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being had. Everyone else will be back with more episodes, specifically about this season being 2026.

[00:51:55] And of course, with Ben as he waves goodbye. Bye. I'm going into the bit. I'm still... It's the longest wave. I feel like I'm the queen on the balcony. Back soon. And we'll see you, Ben, at Down Under. Up, up, everyone. Let's go get it. It's over! It's over! It's over! SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Karimbar region and has his eye all across the shire.

[00:52:25] Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies!

[00:52:50] Back in the shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy.