The Year That Was: 2016 - Rd 8 vs Penrith w/ Ben Harlum Plus a Bonus Old Episode Surprise Rd 8 Review!!

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[00:00:53] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast Pod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This is our 2016 recap episode series. I'm with Benny Harlum.

[00:01:17] We're brought to you by Dysons Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking, Jason Hawes of Crips & Crips Real Estate, and we get our coffee from Mr. Paisley's. So, Ben, last episode we were in Canberra, and we won pretty convincingly. We were. Like it was pretty good, the streak's on, four in a row, happy days. And we moved forward a week in late April. It's almost Anzac Day, it's the 24th of April in fact.

[00:01:47] Yep, Anzac Day round. The logo is on the field from what I remember. Yeah, we're down at Southern Cross Group Stadium, as it was then known. And it's a pretty good day. You and I were both in attendance. I'm sure a lot of our listeners were in attendance. I can tell you the crowd was 14,273. So, you know, people are starting to believe, Benny. People are starting to believe. They are. They are.

[00:02:13] And 14,000, because one thing I remember from this game is just how packed it was. I remember I went with a couple of friends and we normally would be able to jag a seat near the family hill, but that was packed. And then we couldn't go to the second choice. And we did end up sitting on Beer Hill, which was packed. And even when you look at the game, you can see that the crowd, it looks like they stopped counting at 14,000 and just let everyone else in. Because it actually looks quite packed. That's the one thing I remember from the game is how busy it seemed.

[00:02:43] Yeah, for sure. And it was a sign of things to come. I talk about it quite often that year, but it kind of culminates in that Newcastle afternoon game where I think we put a number on them again. But it is jam-packed, I think a four o'clock game. And it could have been two, I'm not sure. But it was a Sunday afternoon game. And yeah, sign of things to come, which is awesome. Now, as is customary in our recap series, if you haven't heard the other episodes, please go listen and watch.

[00:03:11] We do like to start things off earlier with the NYC under-20s game. And so far, we've had a pretty good season. Won a bunch of games. A lot of young rising stars. This time, we have come up against Penrith at our stadium. It's 1.45 kickoff. I'm sure I was there for it. And let me run you through our team.

[00:03:38] Our team is Will Kennedy at fullback. Sione Katoa and Josh Tuolagi on wings. Bessie Tumagi and Lachlan Stein are the centers. Young Jack Williams, so not the famous Jack Williams, the other one. And Rhys Davies are our halves. Our forward pack, looking very much like a team that played last week, is Tepe Fuava, Jaden Braley, captain. Jamin Jolliffe, Jaden Walker, Ashley Nisbet, and Jaden McDonough. So that's three Jadens in the one pack.

[00:04:08] Justin Timu, Tony Matuta, Leon Tupula, and Billy Magulius, of course, in 17. He seemed to own that 17 jersey. Coached by John Bomber-Morris. This is where it gets interesting, my friend. The Penrith Panthers. You ready for this? See how many you can remember from this one. The future is bright. Fullback, Dylan Edwards.

[00:04:34] In the centers, they have Braden Burns and Robbie Jennings. The halves, captain, Tyrone May. Halfback, Nathan Cleary. Hooker, Wade Egan. Second rower, Corey Waddell. Bench, Liam Martin. One of the Crichtons, Christian Crichton.

[00:05:05] Coach, former Shark, current Bulldog, Cam Serraldo. Yep. A real sign of things to come there, Sam. What a sigh. Now, unfortunately for the Sharks fans, they didn't get the job done on this occasion. They lost 24 points to 14. I can tell you that Sione Katoa and Billy Magulius scored tries for us. Dylan Edwards got two for them. Braden Burns. Nathan Cleary can't kick goals. Two from five.

[00:05:33] Oh, he's going to have to start learning. Yeah. So, a rare loss for the Sharks in NYC so far. And I was definitely there to watch that. And I think they would have had a pretty healthy crowd too on a Sunday, given the crowd that was building in. And that's what the NYC was happening that week. Now, Ben, as far as NRL goes, we've won four in a row. Yeah.

[00:06:03] That includes Melbourne, West Tigers, Gold Coast, Canberra last week. We're at five and two. Looking pretty good. Penrith Panthers have won three games and had four losses. And they're coming off a win against the Roosters away from home, 20 to 16. Now, keep in mind the Roosters are not having a good year. They're not. It's a soft comp. So, soft comp. So, that's what's going on. The conditions are listed as good and light rain. I don't know if there was light rain, to be honest.

[00:06:31] I don't know if these conditions really hold up as far as historically. We might need to keep our eye on that more closely when we're watching the games. I don't think there was light rain. I could be wrong. That is Shark Park. Or sorry, Southern Cross Group Stadium. Now known as Ocean Protect Stadium. I can tell you the referees are Grant Atkins and Alan Shortle, because there are two referees. Yes. Steve Chitty is the video referee. We've heard of him. Yeah. And on one wing, on one touch judge side is Casey Badger.

[00:06:59] But for some reason, they didn't list the other person. But Casey Badger is one of the touchies. Yeah. Okay. I didn't realize that Casey was running around for this long. But okay, cool. So, what's young Ben thinking coming into this game? Four in a row. You're pretty happy at this point as a Sharks fan? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty stoked. Not the first Shark Park game of the year that I would have attended. But certainly a very busy one.

[00:07:26] And this is the one where I feel like that more of my friends that might have been a bit more flaky in terms of going to Sharks games were more interested in coming. So, I do think that I was with a couple of them that were like, oh, Sharks are winning. Yeah. Okay. I'll come to the game tonight. Yeah. That sounds good. Yeah. So, things are tracking in the right direction, Sam. There was a lot of that that year as the year went on. A lot of, hey, you going to the footy? Yeah.

[00:07:56] That's what I do. I go to the footy. And to be honest, there's a bit of that starting this year as well. Hey, you going to the footy? Yeah. I go to the footy. Yeah. I can only imagine, oh, 66-0. Oh, when's the next game? Oh, against the Knights. Okay. Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Yep. Yeah. Which is cool. Everyone's welcome. The more the merrier. Let's get 80,000 there on October 2, 2016. Which we'll get to. And let's ask Ticketek for all of their emails so we can sign them up for memberships the next year. It's a great idea. Thank you. It's a great idea.

[00:08:26] Or just email them now 10 years later and go, hey, I heard that you're at this game. Where the hell are you now? Yeah, that's right. He's a punch card. How many games have you been to since? You're killing me. Now, you mentioned Larry David before. Have you on the other episode, I think? Have you seen the new series? I have such a long list of TV shows that I need to catch up. You know what? The World Cup has taken over my life, Shanaz. It's just... We're almost there. We're almost there.

[00:08:55] We're almost at the end. I've traveled and gone to a couple of games. I've just had the TV on nonstop. Yes. Fair enough. So all the TV shows and movies that I've been meaning to watch in the last month, it's been a bit of a disaster trying to catch up on them, to be honest with you. All right. Well, I've seen the first three episodes. I think there's only three that's dropped. Maybe there's four. But I've seen the opening three Larry David new episodes. And everyone knows I'm a lifelong fan. Yep. Honest to God.

[00:09:23] Like, I haven't liked everything he's ever done. I've liked most of it, obviously. This is legit career best. And the third episode, if it doesn't get him thrown out of America, I don't know what will. Because he... Right. And we won't talk about it because we don't want you to get thrown out of America. Please. He just unleashes on a certain someone to the point where there is no confusion about what he's talking about. Okay. And it is crazy. But that's not why you should watch it. It's a great show. It's a great show.

[00:09:53] Let's move on. It is 2016. We are at Sharks Stadium, known as Southern Cross Group Stadium. Now known as Ocean Protect Stadium. And one of our favourite things happens in the third minute, Ben. We have a Mick Ennis try. And it's a dummy half barge over. I'm going to show you how bad I am. Try. Just love it. Just really love it. He gets into a bit of strife later on in this game. He does. But it's good to start.

[00:10:22] And look, I do feel like I'm a broken record at times with these episodes in terms of just talking about the spine. And anyone that's listened to all of the episodes would know how strongly that I felt about how in the first couple of games, Mick is like controlling the game. He is kicking on the fifth tackle. He is putting us in position to try and get us to certain places to score in the first couple of games. He takes a step back. And then just slowly but surely.

[00:10:49] And even in the last game, and the commentators talk about the 2012 grand final and how he never would run from dummy half. And this was something that Craig Bellamy always made sure that the storm knew because they could be a bit more creative at marker because they knew that he wouldn't run, blah, blah, blah. But he evolves his game. And it's not something that I think we appreciate enough. And there he is running in from dummy half. And when he's not setting up tries, he's scoring them for himself.

[00:11:15] The NS Sharks chapter, while I would say it was too short, there's lots of growth there and obviously has the ultimate conclusion. I've talked too long about it. But yeah, good way to start. Another good way to start is to show the team cards. Let's go to the team cards right now. Ah, very good. Because there's an interesting number 17 that I need to know more about. We have Ben Barber, Sasaya Fecky, Jack Bird, Ricky Lutelli and Valentine of the Future.

[00:11:43] Holmes, James Mullaney and Chad Townsendia Harves. Fita Ennis, Matt Pryor in 16, of course. Jason Becuya, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen, captain. Our bench in 10. Number 10 is Sam Tagatisi. 14, Gerard Briel. 15, Chris Huygdon. And then 17 is Luke Lewis. So what do you need to know about our 17? Yeah, because he didn't play last week against Canberra. And I can't remember if it was a concussion or an injury or what kept him out.

[00:12:12] Because I pretty much felt like that he played almost every game in 2016. But then when I was watching the game and I didn't really even think about it. And then he comes on and I go, oh, Luke Lewis in the 17. I didn't even sort of even process the fact that he was on the interchange bench. But obviously there was some sort of injury or something that prevented him from starting after the previous game. And then we, and the other thing is that we talk about how, how consistent we are with our lineup all year.

[00:12:40] But then, you know, we were a couple games without Gallen at the start of the year. Here we are without Lewis and he starts off the, like we actually do have a couple of struggles with injury. And then once we get to origin period, we've got a few players that are playing origin as well. So I guess the rose tinted glasses where we go, oh, you know, we were so consistent during the year. We had the same one to 17 every, every, every week except for prior playing in 16 and not coming off the bench. But like we actually did have a couple of injuries along the way. We did. We did.

[00:13:08] I think maybe the fact that there weren't mass injuries is the thing we focus on, but you're right. Losing Gall for a week or two, losing Luke Lewis. It's important to note those things. Let's go over to the Panthers. A weird Panthers team as well. It's weird, dude. It's weird. Not a bad one. Not a bad one, but it's weird. No. Because they're so, they're so close to the dynasty starting. And like, obviously we've got Maloney at the time.

[00:13:33] And then like Cleary and Edwards playing NYC, like you just said, but like, Yo is there in the number 12, as you're about to say. And it's like, oh, okay. I don't even put Isaiah Yo in 2016. No. It doesn't compute to me. He scores a try, I think. He does. Matt Moiland at fullback. Mansour and Dallin Watini-Zelezniak on the wings. Wanga Blake and Peter Hiccu in the centers. Tamare Martin. Am I correct in saying it's Tamare Martin?

[00:14:03] You are. Yes. Correct. Still playing. And of course, one of my favorite human beings, Jamie Soward. And then we have Latu Wallace RCG, which is Regan Campbell-Gillard. Bryce Cartwright. Yo. And Trent Merrin locks the scrum. Former shark. Broke my heart to leave. Tyrone Peachy is on the bench with Matagi. James Fisher Harris and Jeremy Lattimore, who would become a future shark. Future shark. Future shark. Future shark. Yeah.

[00:14:32] So that's your Panthers team. It's pretty out there. Pretty bizarre, but still pretty good in a strange way. And they're going to test us. That's for sure. So you know what this team looks like. This looks like the type of team where if you were just watching the NRL for the first year and you were told the Panthers are an expansion team and they got to steal whatever players from other teams as possible and they just had to put together a side. This is what it looks like because you look at like the Warriors influence there. Then you got Soward in there.

[00:15:03] And then RCG and Cartwright and Merrin and like the journeyman Lattimore or whatever. It really does look like an expansion side that they've just been able to pick and choose from other sides. It doesn't look very consistent. We'll take that young peachy guy. He looks pretty good from Cronulla. He's not going to get my game time. Yeah. We'll take him. We're going to take him. You know, Fisher Harris becomes Fisher Harris, obviously. But like, it's just, it's, it's just so funny just to see all of these players that I don't even associate with the Panthers.

[00:15:33] Yeah. For sure. Well, cause he stuck around for a, for a comp, didn't he? Uh, I don't know about a comp, but he was definitely there a long time. He was there for 2020, I think. So long since they, um, since they've been good. They've been good for so long is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. So we had the third minute, which we love. And then we have Maloney missing the goal, which was kind of gettable. It wasn't right in front, but it was gettable and he misses the goal. It's kind of weird.

[00:16:03] Yeah. After such a good performance the previous week, um, goal kicking, not a good one for, um, uh, for either side, uh, Penrith, obviously, and, uh, ended up with the, um, the bad end of the stick there when it comes to the goal kicking. But yeah, we've got four nil. That's it. So fifth minute, a very spectacular one handed offload line break assist to Ben Barber down our left. We are running towards the water end. I should point out and he runs about 30 meters.

[00:16:32] And then the person backing up is Andrew for feeder. He's ready to score, but then one of Blake brings him down. But unfortunately would what I think he's a game ending injury. It's a, it's a one that stops him in his tracks anyway, for the time being when a Blake stops Andrew for feeder from scoring. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:50] That's a sentence that you don't really, um, uh, expect, but, um, I'm going to spoil myself because, uh, when Val, uh, makes a great line break and ends up scoring in that, the try that you tease last episode, and you're obviously going to be gushing over soon. The person that's in support for him is Luke Lewis. And so like, look at that, there's two examples of our forwards backing up, um, which, you know, yeah, really cool. So we get a penalty in the 17th minute.

[00:17:19] And as Shane Flanagan used to like to say, go for the two and it takes it to six nil, which makes sense. Uh, Melanie's one from two and then Bikuya has a head knock and he has to go to the head bin. He doesn't look, uh, too well. And Luke Lewis comes on much to the surprise of you and I, and he looks pretty fit and raring to go and he's ready to rock.

[00:17:40] So Luke Lewis comes on and it's not that much longer where he has one of the moments of shark park history, should we say? Oh, and yeah. So Benny's going straight to the headline. So I was only providing just a bit of, you know, colorful, you please proceed, Sam. I don't think I spoiled much. It was a autumn afternoon and it was about 3.30 PM. Uh, Luke Lewis destroys Matt Moylan.

[00:18:09] One of the most memorable hits we've seen on the tri-line. So borderline tri-save, but absolutely destroys him. Now we get the ball. It's all great. And everyone's out of their seat and having a good time. And then our mate McEnnis comes along in the moment and just can't help himself. He pushes someone. I think, I think Moylan pushed, he gets pushed.

[00:18:30] And then as the, I think NRL.com reporter, definitely spent his time at Fox, David Murdoch, um, quote, the cereal pest. Mick Ennis comes along. That's the end of the quote, cereal pest. And he gives away a penalty and it's not a great ending to that moment, but a great moment for Luke Lewis. Like just tough as nails. And to be Matt Moylan's credit, he gets up and shakes it off. And he's a tough guy. He gets up, shakes it off.

[00:19:00] He gives Lewis credit when they asked him about it afterwards, but he gets knocked so crazy that he goes, you know what? In a couple of years, I don't want to be on the receiving end of this. I'm going to go join the Sharks instead. Um, in the press conference, I asked Flano about Ennis and he goes, look, he comes in, he raises the spirits. He does it every week. And this week he just happened to give a penalty. I'll cop that because he lifts everybody's spirits when he comes in to celebrate a big hit. And I was like, you know what? You've done very well to protect him there, Flano. No, we didn't throw him under the bus. Uh, well done.

[00:19:30] Um, it was very, very, um, uh, restrained response. So at this point, Benny, I'm going to suggest to you that after we are done talking, you and I in present time talking about 2016, I'm going to throw up an episode from 2016, which my former colleague, Adam Newman, and I did after the games. A couple days after the game, we used to record on a Tuesday night, every Tuesday night, we'd be doing it. And I'm going to throw up most of the episode.

[00:19:59] And I can tell you that he and I are a little bit critical of Mick Ennis. A bit more than Flano was. A little bit worried about what's going to happen in a big game. Oh, wow. And we're a little bit critical of a few other people. So all I'll say is keep it in mind that this was a few days after the game. We didn't know what was coming, the whole thing. It's a very upbeat episode. Don't get me wrong. A lot of praise, a lot of praise. The audio quality is not great, which was a rarity for us in this episode. But just stay tuned.

[00:20:28] And if you're not interested in that kind of thing, turn it off. Do not send me one piece of hate mail because I would not accept it. But it's an idea that we've had floating around. A few other people have suggested doing it where we can after Ben and I talk about the game from 2016. We're going to throw up an episode that actually existed in real time in 2016. Hopefully that all makes sense. But we are a little bit critical of Mick Ennis in this moment as a spoiler as to what may be coming later on. That's very funny. I look forward to hearing the thoughts.

[00:20:58] So 37th minute, we get a penalty and Maloney takes a shot at goal because Shane Flanagan loves taking a shot at goal. And so we're going to go to the break 8-0 up. Yep. And I think that's a fair scoreline. It's a pretty even game. I think we have the upper hand, but it's not like we're actually destroying them like we were last week against Canberra.

[00:21:20] Now, it should be pointed out, and it becomes very obvious with a few plays, that there was a bit of a gust, a bit of a wind situation at the ground as it can be down there. And so in the 45th minute, Sowie puts up a huge bomb, and they're traveling towards the water now, obviously. I say obviously because I mentioned we were going the other way before. And the bomb goes between Ben Barber and Sosai Fecky, but I will say it is Fecky's ball.

[00:21:49] There's no doubt it's Fecky's ball. And instead of putting his big hands out to grab it, he puts his leg out to kind of trap it almost. I think he might have lost it. And unfortunately, it sort of like skims his leg or whatever. Future Shark Moylan grabs it to score, and we lead 8-6. And to quote, I believe Matt Thompson is the caller for Channel 9. He is, yes. I didn't realize that he was around this long. But yeah, he was there with your friend Sterlo.

[00:22:19] That's right, my mate Sterlo. He was at Fox before that doing NYC, and then they grabbed him. Oh, was he? Okay. Yes. Oh, God. Okay. So Matt Thompson from Channel 9, quote, an awful mistake from Fecky, and Molyn is in the right place at the right time. And I think that's pretty fair. Like, I think Fecky, I appreciate he lost the ball. And you can appreciate in the episode we're going to put on later on between Nibin and I, we give Fecky a little bit of stick for not doing the right thing. But it's just one of those things, and unfortunately he puts the leg out and it goes the wrong way.

[00:22:49] So, so be it. That's what's happened. They're leading eight points to six. I mean, from memory, would you say Sasaya's good under the high ball? Average? Not good? What are your memories of Sasaya? I don't remember too many lost balls, to be perfectly honest with you, from Fecky. Mainly because I just remember that the other backs are mainly like your vows of the world and your barbers of the world would sort of end up taking them.

[00:23:17] I don't remember him in particular being that much of a liability at the back. Would you say anything about that, Sam? No, I thought it was a question. The only thing I'd say is that at the end of the prelim in 2016, he must have been hitting the Diet Cokes pretty hard, the Coke Zeroes, because he had, I think, two or three spills at the end. Everyone was like, oh my God. But it didn't matter. I would say he was above average. Like, he definitely caught some, and we'll talk about it on the episode that's going to stream later on.

[00:23:46] We'll talk about it. He catches some, but he drops some. It's a bad day. It's not, it wasn't, I don't think he was particularly bad, but moments like this made him look bad. And I think that was a bit of the fear moving forward. So, 50th minute, Maloney, show and go, close to the line. It's very similar to the Cowboys' prelim try, the first one, not the spectacular intercept, but the other one. Remember the other one he scores where he goes through nine guys and puts the ball down? It's very similar. However, he loses the ball.

[00:24:15] So we'll see it later on where it'll work later in the year, but he loses the ball, no try. 53rd minute, down our right side, Yo scores. And it's unfortunately a rookie one-on-one miss. For some reason they go to the video ref, but it's clearly a try. For some reason, obviously, to make money and to say hello to their relatives, et cetera. Sauer misses the goal, but Penrith lead 10 points to eight in the 53rd minute.

[00:24:44] Yeah, this is when it starts to get a bit dicey on Beer Hill from my memory. And I'm sure all around the stadium, it starts to get a bit dicey. A bit of language, a bit of beer flying around. Oh yeah, very much so. So 58th minute, right side of the attack, looking spectacular. Quick hands, going towards the wing. It gets to Jack Bird in the centers and he grubbers back inside for Chad Townsend. It looks unbelievable.

[00:25:14] So much so that Chad dabs after seemingly scoring the try. That's how you know it's 2016. It's not the first, nor will it be the last time he dabs after a try in 2016, Sam. We're taking that dab back because he, unfortunately, going to video ref, he's offside. Offside. The dab is cursed. Yeah. So, so no dab for, for Chad, but it was a really, it wasn't just a grubber try.

[00:25:40] It was a really good looking try with quick hands, ball going right, ball coming back in from Jack Bird for Chad, who was there. But unfortunately it was a little bit offside. Um, 60th minutes. We have a James Fisher Harris try down our left. Uh, Ricky again is initially at fault, unfortunately, but then it all sort of falls apart. Yeah. So it misses again.

[00:26:08] Conditions are great for Dickers and they're leading 14, eight. So they've got to convert a try on us in the 60th minute. And we're thinking, hmm, the streak's not going to last too long here. Maybe. Well, there's 20 minutes to go. And in the 65th minute, cometh the hour cometh the man, Chad Townsend, the much malign Chad Townsend in some circles. Yeah. Having a great season, dude.

[00:26:37] He does a little show and go and runs, I guess, down our right channel line break. Beautiful. Like probably 30, 40 meter line break. And Maloney is to his left. I feel like Luke Lewis might've been there as well. Uh, and was that the one we were talking about before? No, it was the Val one. The Val one. Anyway, Maloney scores, but it's very much Chad Townsend's try. Uh, we're all super happy. Maloney gets the goal.

[00:27:07] He's three from four and it's 14 all in the 65th minute. And Chad is just doing more great Chad things. Like he's really, I guess, almost peaking at this point. Yeah. It's like, it's that sort of weird thing that we, that so many people give, um, slack to Nico and Trindle about these days about the, who's taking over, who's going to take control. But it's just so fascinating that without that sort of external talk that Chad and Jimmy just, they just know how to compliment each other.

[00:27:36] They know how to play six and seven, six, seven, um, at just different times. And they, it's, it's just for, you got to remember this is their first year together. Like, it's just amazing how quickly they, they sort of work in sync. Um, and Chad is on a heater at this stage. It's amazing. It's only been, um, you know, this year that they're, they're together round eight. We are in now and they're starting to gel.

[00:28:06] Like we, we talk about, you know, the camera game last week, it was a bit clunky, a bit click. Yeah. A lot of errors in this game. It's looking a bit more clinical when it, when it does click. There's less errors. They're not probably creating as many opportunities. Pendleton through a little bit better than Campbell last week, but when it clicks, it looks unbelievable. And, and they're really finding their rhythm. They're on the streak and it's actually looking pretty good.

[00:28:34] And people are starting to believe we're now leading at, no, it's 14 all. And so in the 73rd minute comes a very memorable try, which I mentioned in the last episode. 73rd minute Valentine Holmes try. It's about an 80 meter try. There's quick hands from Chad to Jack bird to Valentine. So both Chad and Birdie should sort of get some, um, accolades here. Yeah. But then Val doesn't in and away on man saw.

[00:29:05] And then sourd kind of has to chase him down, but he bumps him off. It's really spectacular. And then just scoots down the right hand edge. The crowd is going nuts. It's probably in your top 10 Val moments, I reckon. And a lot of joy is in the stadium. Now he's very quick and Maloney gets the goal. Pretty easy goal.

[00:29:35] He's four from five. The sharks are leading 20 to 14 and things are looking pretty good. What's your, what's your thoughts on that Val try though? You think top 10 Val moments? I'd say so. I think you could do a three hour pod on your favorite Val moments, to be honest, uh, with you, Sam. Um, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me. Um, but I will, like I said earlier, and I did spoil it by saying that it was just so impressive just to see Luke Lewis, um, in support. Um, what minute is this? You said it was the 70 something minute 73rd. Yeah.

[00:30:04] Like, I mean, I know that he came off the bench, but still like, that's really impressive that he's, he's following up and like, he's fast, man. Like that's all. Yeah. That's all center Luke Lewis there backing up just in case, but, um, just a superstar try. Honestly, it's, it's one of those that you see on the highlights, like the for feed to try. We said a couple, um, couple of weeks ago that you always see on the highlights and then, um, and then you see it in the context of the game and you see it in the go. That's an important try as well. Considering. Yeah.

[00:30:34] Uh, how on edge that game was. Yeah. Same with this one. Exactly right, Benny. Well said, you know, there's no, there's no guarantee we're going to win this game. And then Val puts the foot down with some help from, from bird and from Chad as well, but, uh, very much the in and away on man. So is what got him away. And then the speed from pushing away from sour is what got him home. So 20 to 14, we're winning. We're having a good time. The streak is going to continue. Oh my God.

[00:31:01] And then it's getting down to the final minutes. It's there's some broken play. What I've, what I've listed is borderline hail Mary stuff. And they score out wide about five meters in from touch through James Fisher Harris. Not quite sure what he was doing there, but it's gone through several hands. The ball's gone to the ground, the whole thing. You can see it coming. And then boom, they score. It's 20 to 18.

[00:31:31] Sharks are winning. Yeah. But sourd has the ability to put this into golden point, a very, very kickable goal. I would say a very kickable goal. Okay. So you're not going to say very, very. No, I just say for him, for the, for his skill. However, we've already established the conditions are not good with the wind. Mm-hmm . You've already established that the beer and swear words are flying around on Beer Hill. I was, I was death riding him.

[00:31:59] Unfortunately, unfortunately for Sowie, he's got Beer Hill right behind him. Yep. And he also has the entire crowd with the exception of maybe 500 Panda fans really giving it to him. I even, I was having a little boo myself and he moves in. You think it, ah, the streak's probably, you know, they get a field goal. I've seen this before. The streak lives because he pushes it to the right and the crowd goes bonkers. Yeah.

[00:32:26] It goes from this jeering for like two minutes to cheering for two minutes. It's amazing. Yeah. And then sharks are up 20 to 18. I think there's like 11, 12, not much on the clock left. And the referee actually says to the Penrith guy, I'm sorry, you have to kick off. He apologizes for the fact that he, that we've established the games over. And for some reason, I'm pretty sure they don't kick it short.

[00:32:54] They kick it long and Ben just sort of takes it out the back. Is that right from memory? I think so. But what a, what a weird thing. Surely you would have gone for like a little grubber or a short kickoff or something, but maybe they were just that. Maybe I'm thinking of the last game we did because they scored late in the game, but in this game anyway, they had to kick off. So point is we win 20 to 18 happy days. The streak is alive.

[00:33:21] And honestly, Penrith are quite unlucky because they scored more tries. They scored four tries to three, only kicked one goal. Soward even asked Moylan to kick one of the goals and he misses it. So no one's having a good, a good game. Moylan after the game goes, I don't really know. He just asked me to kick the goal and I tried and I didn't kick it. I was like, thanks for your honesty, mate. Um, and then how about this? I saw this as a stat, um, Sam. So the combined margin there, so they've lost five games, including the sharks game.

[00:33:50] The combined margin is only 19 points, which was the lowest total in NRL history at this point. So they are very unlucky with their losses. They are losing close games throughout. I think that year, that year might've been a record for them or, or a record, which they took. It might've been, you know, like 20 games decided by two points or whatever. It was something like that floating around Penrith around that time. So they were close.

[00:34:17] Uh, but the streak leaves the NRL reporter, David Murdoch calling us the local masters of flair and niggle. Well, I like that because like I said in the last episode, Sam, it felt like that we were always described as the bring them down to our level team. But we have so much flair and we're playing so fast at times.

[00:34:37] And some of these tries like that Val try, like the, the sharks of 2011, the, that were the, the gritty team that would just try and do our best to, to accommodate for the lack of maybe natural talent that the full team had. Yeah. It was a street fight. Whereas 2016, like we're so skillful and we're just seeing by game by game.

[00:34:58] I hope everyone that's listening or watching, if you are following along, even if you're just watching the three minute highlights on YouTube, like you can just see the team is clicking and we're playing such a brand of football. It's probably, would you say that it's the best year taking away the fact that we actually won the premiership? Would you say it's the best year in terms of how the side has played? Or is that a hard question to answer? Considering you mean from an, from an, from an entertainment point of view. Yeah.

[00:35:23] I would say from a, like an enjoyable, like, like obviously a winner, but like 2012 is very different from 2016. Right. If it's not the best, it's got to be in the top three. You might, you might have a, you might have, yeah, you might have a John Lang kind of 99 or 01. Yes. To be, to be completely honest, you might have a Fitzy Niko 2022. Like they were pretty fun. I know I'm going recent.

[00:35:53] I'm sure a lot of our fans go back and go, oh, 88, like 88 were pretty, pretty flash, but more definitely modern era. It's got to be, yeah, I'd say it has to be the one because as you say, like we're the defensive. We're the big bullies and all that sort of stuff. We're the, the nigglers, but we're also the local masters of flair. And yeah, it's mainly a bird homes barber as well thing. Yes. Yep.

[00:36:22] But then you have Jimmy Maloney and he's not, even though he can defend and he's known to put his body in the line, he's not, we didn't buy him for it to be a defender. He's an amazing attacker. Chad, probably more of an all rounder. But when you have, and yeah, Letelli and, and Fekie are more kind of like barge them down kind of powerhouses. But when you have Barber, Bird and Valentine Holmes in that year, yeah, if it's not number one, it's got to be close.

[00:36:51] And then that's just our opinion. Someone will go, Steve Rogers, 1973 attacking tries. We're talking about, we're talking about entertainment for the eye, like just yes. Eye popping tries. And there was a lot because you know, when you're beating Newcastle 62 nil or whatever, like there's a lot of great moments. So not to, not to be the host here, but do you mind if I encourage that if people are listening and they want to submit to the mailbag, maybe their top three.

[00:37:16] Cause I would probably agree with you and say 2022, 2016 and maybe 99, maybe 2001 instead, but I'd probably go close to 99 as my top three in terms of entertaining football. That's what comes to my mind. And you are a bit younger than me. Some of our listeners are older than me. Some are younger. And that's what I want to know. I want to know. Cause obviously I can't tell you what the 73 sharks were like, you know, the 88 sharks.

[00:37:43] So I would love to hear people's thoughts in the mailbag if they want to get in touch. If not, well, that's fine. We'll just stick it out. The game was a lot different, I guess as well. Like particularly in the seventies was a lot more just, it was a rumble and then occasionally a breakout try, et cetera. By the late eighties, it was getting a lot more entertaining. And yeah, by the time of the late nineties, you know, Lang had him on a string. So I don't think what you and I are suggesting is unfair, but yeah, it's going to depend on your age and what you like and what you might call entertaining.

[00:38:11] But for eye popping tries, I mean, Valentine home is like legitimately would have to be two or three, maybe more of them in the top 15, 20 of sharks of all time. The ones where he's half his body's out and he's putting them down the long range intercept against the Cowboys. There's a lot of Valentine highlights and that's obviously very biased from his number one fan, but also it's also factual, at least opinion based factual, but a great year. But I think I might, I might get up some merch. What do you reckon?

[00:38:41] Local masters of flair and niggle 2016. I might do some merch or something around that. Flair and niggle. I like that. Excellent. So Ben, we win 2018. The streak continues. Do you know where we're going next? I'm not sure where we're going next. Oh, do you want me to check? Are you asking me that you know the answer? No, I don't know the answer. I think Brisbane are coming to town or we're going to town. Oh, yeah. I think Brisbane are coming to town. Yeah, Brisbane are coming. Because I talk about it in the old episode that you're going to hear shortly.

[00:39:10] Because that's an exciting one because our wins against Brisbane were few and far in between in this era. So whenever we did get to beat Brisbane, it was always a good one, especially when it's a home game against Brisbane. Yeah, we don't get them every year. So it is exciting when they come to town and that's what's coming. So you and I will hit that one shortly, which will be fun. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. This is our 2016 series recap.

[00:39:38] We're going to get all the way to the grand final, have a good time there. We've had a bit of time off. We're back and we'll jump back into it. So I very much enjoyed, Benny, the last two episodes in particular of recent bias. Again, with the word recent bias, we did Canberra last game and this one is Penrith. And we're two games away from the famous Newcastle game. So get excited, guys. And he's not talking about Friday night, Ocean Protect. He's talking about 2016 in Newcastle, I believe.

[00:40:07] I wouldn't mind on Friday night if we beat them 62-0. That would be fun with me. Well, we did the Teamless Tuesday episode yesterday and our listeners are pretty confident. And they're so confident, they're making me nervous. Oh, yeah. That also makes me nervous, yeah. When we have to back up a big win and there's a top four spot on the line. Yeah. But you know what, Ben? When you win by 62-0, sorry, 66-0 against the Dolphins, the next week you're allowed to believe. You're allowed to be confident. You're allowed to walk with a bit of a swagger. And I like that. I like that.

[00:40:37] And, you know, speaking of swagger, I saw Blake Braley at the cafe this morning. And he's a pretty happy guy. He's got an Origin Series on his back. He's got one eye on the trophy at the end of the year. So I think a big win like that does help the confidence at the very least for everyone. Oh, 100% it does. It makes everybody excited. And then especially if it was an away game, we're all, you know, gagging at the idea of being able to go back down home and celebrating a bit late. Yeah. You'll have to delay that for a month or two.

[00:41:05] You'll be back later in the year, which is exciting. Yes, I will be. But until then, we'll talk to you over the interwebs about the next game. Brisbane at Cronulla 2016. Of course, it'll be round nine if my math is correct. We'll get back to you in the next little while. But until then, I hope you're enjoying the series. Make sure you like, subscribe, share, et cetera. And Ben, we'll talk to you soon, my friend. Take care over there in New York City. So is this now? You're going to play a 2016 episode? Are you going to upload that separately? Thanks for reminding me. No, you're a great man.

[00:41:34] Before I hit end recording, I'm going to hit not yet. All right. So coming up, right now, Benny, thank you. Coming up, unless I edit it and don't get the guts to do it, but I think I will. Coming up, there is a 2016, put the thumbs down. I'll be here for a while. 2016 episode. And for a lot of our listeners, they know what's coming. But for a lot of listeners, they don't, right? To be fair, because we've got a lot of new listeners, even as of this year compared to last year, da, da, da, da, da.

[00:42:04] But in 2015, I started the podcast and I started it with a fellow called Adam Newman. Shark's tragic. And we did it for probably, I don't know, seven or eight years together. We were like the duo kind of thing. And that's what you're going to hear now. And this was recorded, I think, on the Tuesday following the Panthers win, which we just discussed. I will warn you, the audio is not amazing. It's perfectly listenable. But we are, I'd like to think, known for our good audio. But this week, for whatever reason, we're in separate, it sounds like separate countries,

[00:42:33] which isn't the case, I don't think. But there is a difference in audio, shall we say, between Adam and myself, which is totally fine. And we talk about the Penrith game, talk about the upcoming Brisbane game, a bit of news. I've left the old ads in as well. So people will get a real laugh out of those because they're a little bit more B-grade, which I think is what we were going for. But it's all fun. And I don't want anyone to write to me about it. Just going to put it out in the ether and that's it.

[00:43:01] And if we keep getting the time and guts to do it, we're going to keep putting it out there. It's very nerve-wracking, Benny, because I did want to listen to it just for a lot of different reasons. Yeah. And when you start ragging on Ricky Letelli's defense, you're like, what? Why am I? But then I watched the Penrith game and he wasn't great against Penrith. So it's all in the moment. It's all in context, but we don't know what's ahead of us.

[00:43:30] We have no idea what's ahead of us. I think I'm daring to dream. I'm talking about making history already, which surprised me because I remember I was using that phrase a lot, probably from round 10 onwards. But sort of after round eight, I'm already saying let's make history. So I'm already on board the Believe train. But yeah, just keep in mind if you keep listening to the next part. And if you don't want to or if it's too whatever for you, turn it off. Again, I don't want to hear about it.

[00:43:59] But if you do, just realize that this was 16 years ago. No, 10 years ago. And I didn't know what was coming. So just leave it at that. Don't be too cruel. In fact, don't be cruel at all because cruelty sucks. And that's what's coming up, Benny. Thanks for letting me intro it so beautifully and eloquently like I do. And we will talk to everyone soon, you and I, in real life about the old life soon.

[00:44:24] And to make things even more confusing, here's an episode literally from 2016. Up, up. Benny and I will talk to you soon. Stay tuned for that if you want to listen. Ben, I'll talk to you soon, brother. Hey, Sam, let's go make some history. Wee-hee. Let's do it. Let's go. Sharkies! Sharkies!

[00:44:59] And welcome to this week's episode of Shark Cast Radio, a weekly podcast on all things Cronulla Sharks, brought to you by Dyson Logistics, Shark Island Brewing, and the Locker Room at Sharks Leagues. I am Sharks Nut Newman, and as usual, I'm joined in the Locker Room by my fellow Sharks Nut and good mate, Sam. How you doing, bro? Newman, I'm in fourth place, but I'm still feeling pretty good. I feel like I'm in third place. Everyone get in touch with us, sharkcastpod at gmail.com. We're on Twitter. The Twitter handle is sharkcastpod. We're on Facebook.

[00:45:28] We are everywhere, baby. Please come and find us. And as you would all know, the Sharks had an absolutely epic come from behind victory to beat the Penrith Panthers 20 points to 18, and as Sam has already announced, that leaves us in fourth position, basically on for and against, on the NRL ladder.

[00:45:55] Now, we are set up with a primo clash against the Brisbane Broncos, who sit two points ahead of us on the competition ladder. So we could theoretically go into first place, but without getting ahead of ourselves, what a game that was on the Sunday afternoon, Sam. Yeah, look, aside from maybe the grand final replay this year, I think that it probably was the best game, second best game of the year. From a neutral point of view, from a fan point of view, it was outstanding. I was worried about those Penrith Panthers.

[00:46:24] They're a talented mob, and they were coming back. The offloads, Newman, were 18 each. So basically, we stepped up our offloads a little bit from more than usual to match their attacking flair, and I guess it worked. But, I mean, a guy like Trent Merrin, for example, was offloading at will, and the longer the game went, the harder they were to stop. But a very, very good win. Again, a great team effort. I can't say that enough. I don't know. I mean, who were your highlights for you?

[00:46:53] Who do you think played best for us? I don't want to steal your thunder as a stats man, Sam, but the highlight for me was the fact that we lost pretty much every single stat. Completion rates were worse. We made more errors. We scored less tries. The penalty has basically won every category of statistic, except for goal kicking, obviously, and we still went on to win the game. And it's been aeons since we have been able to say that we have done that as a team.

[00:47:22] And if you want to mount a credible premiership chance, you have to learn how to win ugly. It's not necessarily that we won ugly, but we found a way to win, and that was the highlight for me. Looking at the stats now, I mean, we were down in possession, down in completions, just down in run meters. We made one more line break, which, you know, can be important. Less kick meters. So, yeah, you're right. Of course I'm right. You think I'm going to say, come on to the Shark Cast radio and be wrong, Sam?

[00:47:51] Well, historically speaking, it's happened once I was asked for. It wasn't an ugly win, you're right. It was a brave, strong win. And, gee, when little Chad Townsend, our little mate, when he made that break towards the end of the game and he looked inside and Maloney was there, I was so excited. I'm so excited to see Chad just have a great game again. Man, he's maturing nicely. Oh, isn't he what? He's not alone. But just to have your halfback be playing this consistent when really a lot of people,

[00:48:21] probably outside of the club, were so not excited by his return. Oh, there were plenty of Sharks fans that were like, what are we signing him for? He's not that good and he only looks good because he was next to Sean Johnson, blah, blah, blah. There was plenty of Sharks supporters that weren't psyched on his signing. Well, to have him exceed those expectations is just wonderful. And I keep saying he's not alone. There are a lot of guys out there. I mean, Paul Gallum was incredible again.

[00:48:48] And Fafino was actually, I think, down on his meters, but he still had a great game. And I mean, there's probably that one weak link that we talk about from time to time, which is the left edge. That aside, Matt Pryor, come on. Matt Pryor, why am I not talking about him? A third week in a row close to man in the match performance. The way he, I'm not going to say shoots out of the line, but the way he comes out of the line. Aggressively. Yeah, with that. And he's the first one there and he makes high contact.

[00:49:16] It's always high contact, body on body, obviously. And then everyone gets behind him and it's just, it's so effective at the moment. It's almost like he's a new signing. Like, it's almost like we've got a new player. Yeah. Because he's so different to how he's been playing. He was really good last year for us, but he wasn't this aggressive and this, you know, up for it, shall we say. He was solid last year, let's be honest. He was a solid player, reliable and did a job. But this year, he's outstanding.

[00:49:47] Yeah, he is. He is. Yeah, that's a good point. He is. Yeah, Gallum was great. I mean, everyone played really good. So, they're in a very healthy position as we talk about every week. There are players below them playing second grade, not getting onto the field at all. People sitting on the bench who are good players in their own right. So, we might get into that maybe later on with the team news, Newman. But, um... Glory days, Samuel. Five in a row. Big crowds in at Southern Cross Group Stadium. Good form. Expansive football.

[00:50:16] Winning easily. Winning ugly. Absolutely, you know, putting it on the board. And it was... I'm thrilled to bits that they're playing so well. And I just hope they can maintain it. Now, to go back to your issue, to your comment about the left edge. Yeah. I watched the game from the Southern Grandstand from behind the posts, which I don't ordinarily do. Normally, I sit side on because you get a better view. But I had a really good look at the way that left edge defends.

[00:50:45] Ricky Lattelli didn't defend well on the weekend. He's got a bit of form in that regard. The way that they communicate... I mean, I'm sure the coach is aware of it. And I'm sure they're working on it. We've seen him defend well in games this year. But we need him doing that every week. Because when you're in a team this strong, from 1 to 17, and as we say, through to probably 23, 24 players. And you've got a real chance at making a statement this year. And as I've been saying, making history.

[00:51:13] Which I believe that we have a real, genuine chance of doing. You don't want to be that weak link for starters. And you probably can't have too much of a weak link to go on and be that success. So they're going to have to do something about it sooner rather than later. But you're right. I mean, you know, we're not knocking Ricky. We like him. He's a good player. He's a good bloke. But I guess we're almost demanding perfection this year. Well, that's great. That's the point it's getting to. But if you're looking to try and drag up negatives from the game, there are so few there.

[00:51:42] That you're sort of saying, oh, well, our left edge leaked points. And one player out of the 7e wasn't defensively where he needed him to be. That's excellent. I mean, you don't get perfection. Not every player plays a good game every game. Not everything always works. My concern is that if you're coaching against the Sharks, you're going to say, how are we going to score points here? We're coming up against a coach this week who's seen a few games in his time. Correct. And it is a concern. You speak about people making errors.

[00:52:12] Let's talk about Sasaya Fekke. He was peppered in the second half with some extraordinarily high-swirling balls. Unfortunately, the last one that he didn't even really attempt cost us a try. It was costly. And the problem with that is not so much the try. It's the fact that he's now going to be known or assumed to be a player who has trouble under the high ball. I don't really believe in that theory. But the more they kicked to him, Newman, the more shaky he got.

[00:52:37] When was the last time Sasaya Fekke caught a bomb in traffic and scored a try from it? Oh, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. Newman, I'm already on the defense. He's not good under the high ball. That's not a big part of his game. Yeah, but he hasn't had too many howlers is what I'm getting at. And to his credit, I must say, and it must be pointed out, he did catch one or two difficult balls after he made the error, which was a great sign. He could have gone to water. Absolutely, and he didn't.

[00:53:05] And I think that we need to talk about that in the same breath that we're talking about him mucking up. The reason for this, though, Samuel, there was a big period of the game where the Sharky Sanooze button was applied when Penrith had a lot of dominance. Even though we went up 8-0, we scored an easy try early, and then our attack sort of looked really rudderless for a while there. And on the back of that, our defense slowed right down,

[00:53:35] and Penrith were running really hard, and it was so obvious being at the ground. Penrith were running really, really hard, getting off loads, and they were making 60, 70 meters a set, and it was allowing Saward to put up these horror bombs. And live at the ground, they were huge. Now, there was no kick pressure on him at all. Every time he went to put up one of these bombs, and it was clear that was their strategy, maybe Ennis ran out on the line and put a bit of pressure on him,

[00:54:03] but there was no one there smacking him around the chops, as if to say, well, if you're going to take that long, take a kick. There was just no kick pressure. And that was putting a lot of pressure on Sasai Feke and Ben Barber, because he had all the time in the world to put a kick on. And then, after they scored that try, our D improved, and Saward was kicking from worse positions on the field. So they were marching up the field, and on the back of good field position,

[00:54:32] putting up these horror bombs. So Sasai Feke wasn't getting the support of these forwards. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, most games, Ennis has been terrific at kick pressure. But he can't do it all by himself. No, he can't. He can't. Let's talk about Ennis as well. I'm not going to call it a brain snap, because he seems to do it. You were unhappy about this, were you? I wasn't happy. He seems to do it quite a lot. I love Mick Ennis, and he has brought so much to our team,

[00:54:58] from try-scoring opportunities to just a great person to have in the club. Look, Luke Lewis saved a try, pulled off one of the hits of the year, and instead of probably marching towards Lukey, Ennis marched towards Saward. And it resulted in a penalty. It put a lot more pressure on that defensive line, which was already, you know, at bursting point. And to the Sharks' credit, they held on for that half. But I think when it comes to big games, I'm extremely worried.

[00:55:28] Newman, I talk about it a lot. I'm extremely worried about him or someone like him giving away those kind of unnecessary penalties. Look, they're winning games. He's playing pretty good. It's probably the only negative in his game at the moment, you know. And he just turns into someone else, you know. He just, something happens. It's just, he's white-line figure. He steps over that white line, but you're dead right. Like, Penrith on the attack, on the attack. Luke Lewis. That's like the stuff of dreams. Where you're thinking, they're on the attack. Come on, let's get an error.

[00:55:55] And to get an error that way, you know, a massive shot. They spill the ball. We end up with it. And obviously, he did it because they were excited. That sort of stuff can turn the game. And it was just silly for Edison. I'll put it out there. But if it's any other player that does that, if it's to side-effect you, for example, he doesn't get penalised. But Ennis has got a reputation. And the refs are obviously looking for him. And it was very silly. And it could have cost us.

[00:56:22] But overall, as you said, Sam, we've been very nitpicky this week. Yeah, we are. We've got a lot to be proud of. We do. We do. Let's give a wrap to my little mate, Valentine Holmes. Past few times, he's had the opportunity to run away with it. He's been run down by older men and faster men. But he showed the world how quick he is with that fantastic try set up by Jack Bird. And, boy, was I excited. I can imagine that you were, Sam. And he scored that right in front of me on the Southern Grandstand.

[00:56:52] And I'll tell you what, he just, it looked like he dropped maybe a yard apiece with an injury or a stiff hip flexor, as you put it, when we interviewed him on Showcast TV. Mate, he wasn't, he was moving freely there. And I can remember Jamie Howard was a speedster. Yeah, that was pathetic defence, the way he just brushed him off. And it couldn't have been a better way to win the game. So, I mean, we could sit here and talk for an hour about how good it was and all the highlights and what an excellent day it was down at the club.

[00:57:22] But we'll wrap it up there and we'll go to a break. On the other side of the break, we'll come back with the news. Well, this is, this has got to be the last play really. Has it been a chop-locks, his five seconds. Homes for the sideline.

[00:57:32] Now it's coming to the time of the show where we see what news has washed in across what you've been doing towards the Mangravy Shores of Southern Cross Group Stadium. You've got some results there for Samuel.

[00:58:00] The under-20s NYC team went down 24-14. They remain in fifth spot with a game in hand. They did come up against the competition leaders, Penrith. And unfortunately, Johnny Morris' boys couldn't get it done. But, you know, to go within 10 against the leaders isn't too bad. I'm sure Johnny will have them primed for another game this week. I actually sat on the Southern Grandstand because I had some visitors in and the Sharks looked after me with some tickets. Oh, beautiful. And Johnny Morris sat behind me for first grade.

[00:58:30] I had a good chat to Johnny and he was not a very happy man. Let's just put it that way. I was thinking about him, Newman, and his role at the club because he's primarily there to be NYC coach. But he's also involved in other aspects of the coaching, of course. And I was wondering, you know, when the Sharks going so well in first grade but he's lost his NYC game, I wonder what the mood's like. You know, I wonder what he's thinking, what he's feeling. You give me a little hint there, which makes sense. Well, his mood wasn't good and I was asking him a couple of, you know,

[00:58:59] because the coaches know the rules better than I do. So when he's going to the bunker, I'm like, I reckon that was a try and slip. I don't know. He was really cranky. So maybe it's just I was punishing him. I don't believe that for a second, Newman. Now we have the Jets with the bye. Yeah. They are in third spot in the, for all intents and purposes, New South Wales Cup. Some disappointing news for the younger fellas. Both the Matthews Cup and SG Ball Cup teams were knocked out of the finals.

[00:59:29] Oh, dear. Yeah, I did. Both games at Leicardo. The under-16s lost 20 to 10 and the SG Ball went down 32-6 and a pretty comprehensive loss. So, you know, they've done really well to get there yet again to that stage two years in a row. And, you know, everyone wants to beat the champions and they beat the champions. So the Sharks are out for this year, but it's good to see that the young guys are at that level at least.

[00:59:57] And I spoke to Dave Howlett through the week, our guest last week, and he just said that both sides played quite well, tried really hard and just weren't good enough. So sometimes you've just got to wear that. You know, that's a national championship one year and semi-final appearances for both grades another year. Yeah, that's, you know, on balance. That's a very good result. It is, Newman. Now, some more news. Our captain, Paul Gallen, has been chosen at prop for the Australian team

[01:00:26] to play New Zealand Friday week. So we congratulate Paul Gallon for that. He's in a team with a lot of Queenslanders. It sounds like Mal kept him sort of on tenderhooks as to whether he'd be selected. So that was, yeah, well done to him. His form totally warrants selection. He's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. The other thing I want to talk about with regards to this, Sam, and Blake Ferguson, right?

[01:00:55] Would you have him in front of our... I am very critical of this man, as a lot of our listeners are. But taking my critical glasses off, his defense is probably in the top five worst in the comp. And I'm not sure if the stats react that way or not, but just watching him, he has no idea how to defend. And that's at center. But his attack is still not too bad. He's got that big fend, and he can set up some tries. But no, I would not think that he would be in the Australian team,

[01:01:22] and I'd much rather have Valentine Holmes. I think that if they pick the team on form, Val's in front of him. Mansour's probably in front of them both, but... Well, I've got another contender for you, Newman. He's coming down to the Shire this week. A young man called Corey Oates. He's the best winner in the comp. Exactly. But I'll just sort of say that in terms of other Sharks being selected, and I should have framed that before I mentioned Val, but Gale's form is warranted. Where else can you fit a Shark in the team?

[01:01:52] Probably you'd think that Val, you can make a case for Val in front of Fergo, but not in front of Oates. The other news that came into the rugby league world this week was comments made by Robbo, the coach of the Roosters, just ripping into the referees. Now, I've always been at a line that coaches will never plan referees for a loss, but it's just interesting to see how other clubs operate against our club.

[01:02:19] Now, obviously, Nick Politis has said to Trent Robinson, this is BS. Go in there and rip in, and we'll cover any fine that you get and try and exert some pressure. If you rewind a couple of weeks, I think it was the manly game where Shane Flanagan was very, very critical of the bunker. But because we don't have that luxury of being a wealthy club and no one's going to grab Shane Flanagan and say, hey, mate, go nuts. It's just interesting to look at the different approach from the coaches.

[01:02:48] What's your take on that, Sam? I think it's definitely money talk. And if you've got it, then why not? I think that if he watched the game back, he would have seen that the Roosters scored off two pretty dubious plays. One was a very strong hint of a knock-on. The other one came from a forward pass two plays earlier. Personally mentioned Ben Cummins and his distaste for him and vice versa. I thought that was a bit crossing the line a bit. So I have no problem with the fines. I also, I do think it's okay for coaches to speak out though,

[01:03:18] but you've got to think this guy's, you know, they're such a great team, historically speaking. They're coming last for various reasons. He's at desperation times. They've lost one of the biggest matches of the year, the Anzac Clash, and he's let loose. And this is the battle that the Sharks will always have. They feel that they're getting a dub draw by the referees. They're going to throw money at the problem. We don't have that advantage. And it's the same will come up against Brisbane this week and preview the game later on.

[01:03:46] They've got so much more money to spend on their football department and that's what we're competing against. So in frame of that, you know, again, we should be so happy with how the boys are tracking. One more piece of news, Sam. We still have a couple of trucker hats for sale. They're $22. Email us at sharkcastpod at gmail.com and we will get one out to you. $22 includes shipping. They're a very fancy item. I actually gave one to Benny Ross for coming on Shark Cast TV and our mate John Docker.

[01:04:15] He was rocking his at the game on Sunday. Hey, Newman buddy. I was on the internet and I bought this amazing product but there was no shipping involved. I don't know how to get my product from America to Australia. Don't give one of those big corporate logistics companies a call. Get in touch with our mates, Dyson Logistics. They can ship anything from an envelope to a 40-foot container, air freight, sea freight, rail, road. They can do all your customs clearance

[01:04:43] and they'll do it at a fraction of the cost of those corporate competitors and with the best service you can possibly expect. How do I get in touch with these guys? You mean they sound amazing? Man, you can call them on 8339-1844 but the best way is to go to Dyson, which is D-Y-S-O-N Logistics.com. That's Dyson Logistics.com and tell them the Shark Cast sent you.

[01:05:12] I know it's come to the time of the show where we go at the front of Shark Cast headquarters and look into the slot and see what that little fella who rips around the neighbourhood on a high-bees motorbike has dumped into the tiny box that's jammed into the front fence. The way to get in touch with us is sharkcastpod at gmail.com and you can also hit us up on Facebook and Twitter at Shark Cast Pod. Now, Sam, the letters are drying up. We need people's input, don't we? We do. We do. I mean, we get a lot of feedback from people

[01:05:42] in a lot of different formats, which we can incorporate, but we do like to keep it a bit more traditional with a, hey, how you doing, you know, letter. We want to know what you guys think. Yeah. We want to discuss your topics. So, and if you don't send them in, we can't do it. It's just Santa Sam and Adam Schell, and we don't want it to be that way. Now, we have one a long way away, Blaze from Singapore, and he is discussing the Broncos game this week. He wants to know when the last time the Broncos played in the daylight,

[01:06:12] and it's a very good question, because they are specials for Friday night at 7.45, 7.50, 8 o'clock kickoff. They haven't played this year in daylight, and don't know if it's going to affect their game or not, because they're going pretty good, and I've got to say I'm pretty impressed with them, and I think they'll be in the grand final, and I hope we play them in the grand final. But interesting situation for them to be constantly playing at night, and then, you know, throw them in daytime down at Shark Park. Yeah, it's a different environment for them. They're used to playing in the big grounds.

[01:06:42] They're used to playing at night. They have big coverage, and, you know, our little ground in the daytime, I think that plays in their advantage, but in terms of whether it makes a difference through the day, I don't know. I don't know. Hard to say. I think the only thing, Newman, is probably things like game preparation, and if they're playing at 8 o'clock at night, well, they're going to have a sleep during the day, they're going to have dinner at a certain time, but that gets thrown a little bit askew because they're playing at 4 o'clock, and they're travelling. Having said that, they're a world-class operation.

[01:07:12] They've got the best coach in history. I don't think it's going to affect them, but it is a very good question. Just on places from Singapore. I will be in Singapore in two weekends' time, and I'm going to watch a game with him, some bar somewhere in Singapore, the Knights game, Sharks-Knights. How good is that? Well, in respect to the late Great Prince, let's go crazy, baby. That's amazing. That's incredible, isn't it? Yeah, that'd be good. Okay, we've got another letter, which is from Andrew, and Andrew's from Caringbah South.

[01:07:42] Oh, Caringbah South. That's right. Okay, we're differentiating between the South and the North. Okay, that's cool. I'm cool with that. Caringbah South is the same suburb, Samuel. Is it really? It is, yes. Same postcode, though. Same postcode, but it's the same suburb. Really? When did this happen? When did I lose touch with my home ground? He said, you guys are doing a great job giving access and insight to fans. So thank you, Andrew. Short and sweet. Thank you. So as we said, that's all we've got for the letters this week.

[01:08:11] We need your input. We want to talk about issues that you want us to talk about. They are dancing in the streets of Cronulla even now. From Caringbah to Summerlin to Miranda. Newman, big game this week. The media are talking it up. The fans are talking it up. I have to be honest with you, Newman. I've been trying to talk it down. I've been trying to say, it's just another game the Sharks need to win at home.

[01:08:38] They need to win all their home matches, some away, and we're laughing. But as the week goes on, I've got to tell you, I'm getting pretty excited about this match. Oh, I'm pumped. I'm frothing. I mean... Taking down there already. Both teams, Newman, have won five games in a row. And in this competition, that's pretty good. I think someone's going to lose. Let's get into Gerard Beal. We've discussed it a lot, I know.

[01:09:03] But playing against the best team in the comp, you would think, can we get by with three guys on the bench, so to speak, Newman? I don't know. When we get injured back, he looks like a genius. When the team looks really tired and we've only got three forwards on the bench, it looks like a dumb move. So I don't have a read on it.

[01:09:24] And Flano's, I'm led to believe that his take on it is we've got enough motives in the forwards to cover with three subs. And basically, this number 70 is a traditional replacement. If Ben Barber gets injured, he comes on and they reshuffle the back line. Or if Jack Byrd goes down... It's working. I mean, that's what you've got to say.

[01:09:48] See, Newman, the way I would do it is I would base my bench based on who we're playing more than my philosophy on the game. A lot of the weeks, that's what I would do, I think, if I was in that position. And I look at Brisbane and their pack is extraordinary and their bench is pretty strong as well. So you're going to have a lot of big guys playing, what, less minutes in some instances than our guys. And they'll be fresher, therefore. And we're talking about international players.

[01:10:16] And I'm not saying we're not up for it. I just hope we don't get tired. No, no, I agree. That makes perfect sense. And just on the Broncos, they are going to be without Adam Blair. They don't have McCulloch, which is a big... That's helpful. That's a big loss to them. And Sam, I believe Alex Glenn is in extreme doubt. They're a little bit weaker. But I just want to point out that their run, you say that they've won five in a row,

[01:10:44] but their run has been Titans away. Then they played the Dragons at home, beating 26-0. Then they played the Knights at home, beating 53-0. And then they played the Rabbitohs, who were a rabble, 30-8. Now, they haven't had a hard run. Oh, look, I understand what you're saying. I appreciate what you're saying. You can only play who you're given, and they're five from five as we are. Our run's probably been slightly tougher.

[01:11:13] But I'll tell you what, Newman, the last three times the Broncos have come to town, they have won. Yeah, it's one of those things, isn't it? We go all right up there. The record, Newman, is something like the last however many games, four or five games, the away team has won. But that's in the past. It's in the past, and there's going to be a big crowd in. I've spoken to the Sharks already. I actually tried to get some more tickets, and they told me to go jump in the river because there just wasn't tickets to give away.

[01:11:43] And I believe what happens is the standard capacity is 18,000. And if they think there's going to be more than that, they have to make applications to council and the police to get 1,500 more in. Yeah. And they've done that for this weekend. Okay. So there is going to be a big crowd in. Ah, the Broncos are used to playing in front of a big crowd, but a hostile local crowd like this? I don't know.

[01:12:04] And one thing that should be pointed out was the level of abuse that Jamie Sauer copped when he was lining up that last kick was next level. And he's so close to the ground at Shark Park. Yeah. And he admitted, he just admitted on the NRL back page, the Fox program, that it rattled him. It's a massive advantage playing down there this week on the back of five wins. You know, Sharks fans, not our listeners, but the other fans who probably don't know about us, they're a little bit fickle.

[01:12:33] They're a little bit, we'll see in the finals if you make it. At the moment, I think those guys are starting to come to games, which is fantastic. You know, when we're successful, and it's an obvious statement, we have bigger and better crowds. So I think that we're... It's up with every club though, Sam. Yeah, it is. Look, it's not a shot. It's not a shot. We're primed this week, Newman, for a massive crowd. Hopefully the weather's okay. And I think that it can play to our advantage.

[01:12:57] The other thing I'm loving is the fact that we're probably not going to be picked by too many pundits to win the game. No. I think people will think we'll go close, et cetera, et cetera. But I can't see clear-cut a whole bunch of people saying Sharks to win. And the Sharks historically love that. They love being the underdog. They love being told they can't win. And they love playing competition leaders. It's a fact.

[01:13:21] But particularly in the sort of dark years, 2009 to 2011, and in 2014, the big wins were against the classy team. So... Correct. The fact that we're at that level now, I don't think we'll take away from the fact we're going to be the underdogs. And I think at home, I'm really... I'm not without confidence, Newman. I've got to tell you. I'm looking forward to it, man. Mate, but I'll tell you what. We're going to have to be better than what we were against Pendrith.

[01:13:48] We're going to have to control the football better, and we're going to have to defend better. Because there's a couple of times there where Pendrith just sort of went, well, we've got to score a try here, and then they score a try. Yeah. And, you know, as you said, with the players like Milford, Oates, Ben Hunt, we're going to have to be on our game. And I'm just looking forward to it. I can't wait. Bring on Sunday. Yeah. It's going to be good. We urge everyone to get out there. If you can get out there and cheer on the NYC boys, they'd be happy to play in front of as big a crowd as they can get. Kickoff is 4 o'clock.

[01:14:18] We encourage you to pre-purchase your tickets to save lining up or, indeed, missing out, which is a reality. And, yeah, just get there. Be vocal. You know, be respectful to others, but be vocal. And I really think the home crowd advantage is going to be a factor. I really do. You are getting that record out of its sleeve. We've had to buy a few copies. Locator on eBay, a 7-inch copy of the song because the last one's been worn out. Put it on. Play it loud. Play it proud. This is the biggest game in since forever.

[01:14:48] And I'm just psyched about it. And as we say every week, what do we say, Sam? Let's go, you boys. You can do it. Let's make history and let's play hard. Go, you Sharkies. Go, you Sharks.

[01:15:20] Sharkies. Sharkies. Sharks. Forever.

[01:16:40] 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 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.

[01:17:10] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Closed Captioning by the Sutherland Shirts Real Estate.