"If I Was Rich, I Would Do Some Weird Sh*t"

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1:00Learn more at Kia.com or visit your Southern California Kia dealer. When was the last time you felt in control of your business finances? Expenses tracked, invoices sent, taxes ready. That's where Foun comes in. Foun brings your banking, bookkeeping, invoicing, and taxes together in one simple app. Manage expenses, invoice clients, send payments, and prep for tax time right where you bank. Join the hundreds of thousands who have already streamlined their finances with Foun. Open a Foun account for free at found.com. That's F-O-U-M-D.com. Found as a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking service is provided by Lead Bank member FDIC. Hello and welcome to episode 603 of Ferga on the Freak. I'm that book from Rocket League, project Andrew Ferguson. You can find me on Twitter at AndrewRLP. And join me as always as the glorious League Freak. You can also find on Twitter at League Freak. Hey, you're out of the month. Hi, Andrew, how are you? How are you doing? I'm just breathing. I'm trying to find some Zen. Oh, nice. Why?

2:00I can show you Flanagan. Oh, okay. What's he done? He's interested in being the West Tigers assistant coach. Yeah, you'll be like an interest in a lot of things, Eric. I think it works for Triple M at the moment, doesn't he? He does, but you know, the West Tigers have a long and dare I say proud tradition of doing the stupid fucking thing that the media wants them to do. Yes. And this is definitely right in their ballpark of stupid things that only the West Tigers would do. True. And I'm concerned. Yeah. I've got all the justifications of the world to prove to me that they won't do it. Right? I'll go through them. I'm not sure if he's going to do it. But I'm not sure if he's going to do it. Benji Marshall has a bit of a pension for only hiring coaches and staff who he played football with. Yes. I don't like that. But that in this instance, that's a very good thing.

3:00Might save him. That might save everybody. On the other side though, Flanagan did use to play for West. And he's got a thing for that now. You know, going back to clubs used to play for. But I mean, when you have a Leben, that's the reason why he won't do it. I just want to say that in mind, I wish you would go to the other club he played for but he hasn't coached at yet. That's paramount. That would be funny, high. That would be magnificent. You fucking hilarious. Yes. Yeah. Look, it's really weird, some of the. The. Like the things he has said, right. And I know you've got to list there, right. But the things that you have said since he got sacked a fucking mind blowing, right. And when you add to that, the fact that they didn't win a game this year when he was a coach. They were terrible last year as well. He hasn't proven he can coach outside of coaching a team that is not only incumpliant with the Salar cap but has other issues that we do. You know, Glenn knows all about them. Glenn brings that stuff up regularly. We should have actually got him in for this episode. He'd have loved this,

4:02he'd have said some stuff about like stuff I don't agree with but Glenn says things about Shane Flanagan and that that sharks team in 2016 that is really makes you think. It does, it does. Make sure. He's he's win percentage as a coach in the NREL. What has it a guess? Shane Flanagan, I'm going to say I mean, is that the sharks, he's probably at the sharks for a short amount of time. I'm going to say it's 48%. You're not far off. 50.42%. Okay. Just break and even. Just break and even. Only by four games. He's got 121 wins and 117 losses. Okay. Not exactly brilliant. The last time he had a season where he went over 50% was in 2018. Mm hmm. And he's rapidly gone downhill since then. Yeah. Do you know something happened and he

5:09hasn't been coaching for six years and he came back to the dragons. It's really and it's really weird that all of his success happened in a certain point of time for the game. It's really strange that. Hey. Come back to the dragons. First year there, 45% success rate. Second season, 33% quite a drop. Yeah. Yeah. But he was rebuilding them. They were getting better. He was just rebuilding getting the getting the team he wanted in play. Sanctuary and 2026. He's still waiting on getting his first win of the year there. Yeah. Yeah. He said seven games already. When was his last win as a coach? It would have been like July last year or something. Something like that. August 9, 2025. Just over a year ago. There we go. And it was against Crannulloble. Oh, man. Um, I all of the off-field dramas aside and we don't need to put them aside. They

6:14should definitely be included. Yeah. From the off-field dramas aside, right? Yes. He's absolutely best. Yes. He's absolutely peak. You could say that he was reasonably solid as an offensive coach. And that's it. Attack wise. He has never had a clue on how to coach a coherent attacking unit. He would need the only way that his attack would be able to work is if somehow you took regular rugby league players and gave them the ability to play as hard as possible for 80 straight minutes. And I don't think that that's possible. Andrew, you'd have to have some sort of like something extra that you found. If we were to look at, let's have a look at his big season where he won the Premiership Royal Sharks. Yeah. Those are lost season I call it. Basically 24 points to a game. 24. Canberra were the best attack in the start of that year. 28.67 points

7:19per game. Four and a half points per game more than the Sharks. Yeah. If we have a look. So 24, that was actually his best season for attack was 24 points per game. How many teams did better than 24 points per game this year in the regular season? Oh my goodness. I would say 24. I'm going to say 12. Close. It's 10. Okay. And North Queensland went far off. Okay. From being 11. Okay. So if you were to take that attack and chuck it in there, he finishes 11th. Yeah. And look, the only reason that they won that Premiership for the Sharks, we all know what it was. We all know it. There's only a certain way that that works out. You know, it's like why was Rodney how I would apply as hard as fast as he did for the storm? Oh, we worked that out too.

8:21Like it's just of course. You know, of course. Well, I mean, the thing I'm trying to get out of guess is the fact that he was never good in attack. Yeah. And he's absolutely best. He was a solid defensive coach. Yeah. And what we've seen in the last three years at the Dragon City came back is he has been unable to adapt to the way the game has changed. Yeah. He's woeful attacking record got even worse. And the one thing he had gone for him was solid defense. That went horribly worse. But his defensive coaching is now far worse than his attack coaching. And his attack coaching is dreadful. Yeah. And it looked his selections were terrible. He just basically turned his back on a junior base at that club. And you know, he kept picking his son, which was insane. He really got found out. He really got found out. And you know,

9:24I just can't believe that he will get a job again anywhere in the NREL. He doesn't deserve it. He's not worth it. No. As I said, ignore all of the off-field crap. And you should definitely include it. But ignore it. And just look at fewer on-field results. He is right now sub-par. Absolutely best. He is sub-par. He is so bad, not even super league or championship clubs are looking for him as a coach. And they're some out there that are looking for coaches. Yeah. He's available. They're like, you know, we've got to break out the back. We might use that instead. Wouldn't it be interesting if he ended up at Castleford and seeing if the all of the dragons players that Castleford have signed still want to get out of their contracts. That would be really, really interesting. I don't think there's as many clubs that would want to take him on.

10:25Yeah. He is not proven that he can handle the current game. No. I would not want him anywhere near any NREL club. Where do I mind? No. We were saying that this whole time. We've had a podcast. I thought it was insane that any club wanted him there. And you know, when the dragons turned the keys over to him, we said it was going to be a disaster. It ended up being a disaster. And the weird thing is is when you hear him talk about his time at the dragons, he talks about it as though it wasn't a complete disaster. He talks about positive things. And it's like there are no positive things there that wouldn't spoon us like they literally start from scratch because of you. You know, it's very fat. He had some very famous quotes about like he would have brought players up from Reserve grade, but they're just not there. And it turns out that Dean Young, who I don't remember, he's a coach either, but Dean Young brought some of these guys in and they did okay, which is at least a start like as long as you come into first grade and do okay, that's something

11:30you can build upon. Flanagan talks about his time at the dragon. Like sort of quote from him where he said like, you know, in, we had a plan and it was going all right and, you know, in three, four years time, we felt like we could have won a premiership. It's like, what the fuck are you talking about? That's just crazy. And he keeps coming up with these sorts of things that he said since he got sacked by the dragons that are just naughty and just shows a complete disconnect from the reality of his situation that he was at the dragon. So at the very least, yeah, he's lost the plot. Yeah, and Benji Marshall was shown that he in the last three years, vastly better despite his inexperience. Oh, yeah, take Benji Marshall and look, I'm completely out on Benji Marshall's coach in a later. You know that. I'll talk about that. And I know you don't agree with that and that's fine. But I will say one thing, okay, that is, because as you know, I was willing to give him a chance

12:32because the club needed to do something, anything to change what it was doing. Yeah. And so, you know, what Benji was never, never put in the right position for this role. Never been a coach before a team change just made you do it now. Can't be bothered. Yeah, it was fucked. And so he got a horrible, horrible entry into coaching. But I think what he needs is he's got to stop surrounding himself because we see this a lot of times right. Stop scotter surrounding himself with guys he likes. He knows he used to play with these mates. Can't have that. No, because that breeds complacency. Especially at a club like the West Tigers, where it's like you're talking about 20, what is it now? 26 years of just complete failure. You know, if it was the Melbourne storm where it's like well Craig Bellamy knows this guy, you know, he's worked with him before and stuff. You'll be like, all right, that's fine. But when it's a club that only knows failure, it's a different story. That's right. So I think

13:36the club needs to stop looking at whatever's available, especially when it comes to coaches. Right. You've taken a punt on Benji fine. You know what? Go with it. But surround him with people who know how to win. And Shane Flanagan is not that person. No, I've said, I said it on Twitter today. I said, I think the perfect person to be assistant coach to someone like Jeff Tooby. Yeah, that I mean, that would be a move in the right direction. For even perform a very good, structured defense, which the Tigers genuinely need. Yeah, look, I just think that the West Tigers aren't a serious football team. I put them in this, after all the Adam Dewey stuff, I put them in the Gold Coast Titans category of like, I just don't need to think about this team anymore because they're not, they have no interest in taking any of this year seriously. So I'm just not going to take them seriously. And I just think that they're just shuffling deck chairs and trying to make fucking the media happy. And you know, everyone just want to keep their jobs and, you know, they'll, they'll say everyone's so important

14:40to this. Like when you've got a losing team, right? You can't keep going on about people that you can't let go. Everyone is fucking expandable at a losing club. And you get these teams where people will be like, Oh, we can't lose this guy. We can't lose him. And it's like you can fucking lose everyone. You shit. That's right. Shall we go through some of the Flanagan quotes? Yeah, let's do it. I'll just read him out. Feel free to make any comments as you like. I'm just going to read his quotes. So he's got he, I want to coach. I'm not worried about being a head coach. I've had my time there, whether it is an assistant coach or in the admin side of things, I want to be involved. My ego is not that big that I have to leave the big boss. But this is what it get there. Do something that I love. This guy's fucking ego was so big that he got banned from coaching and having anything to do with the team. And he still had stuff to do with the team. And then basically we can assume piston moaned about it to his media mates until they

15:45just started advocating for him to get back into the coaching gig. And then they basically got him a job. And then he fucked it up again. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We're next on. I love rugby league. I've done it my whole life. So I don't want to at this stage of my life go and start in another industry. I want to continue in this. That's fair enough. I mean, you know, I probably would have done things differently to protect my job. But he took his pathway. So he then says that he hasn't actually applied for the target job. But he hasn't ruled himself out of potentially going for the role. He did this for so many years with so many coach and jobs. So hang on. The thing I like about this is I don't have a big ego. Yeah. But this is all about me thinking about I might apply for their role. Yeah, I might do it. The point is they're good enough for me. I walk in the door and just say how you save is here. But I can't.

16:47Exactly. Because he talked about the Tigers have an enormous amount of young talent. And he says they have a lot of class players. A lot of them are young. Ben she's working really hard and trying hard. But maybe he's on his own and needs some help. I'm glad that he's not trying to get a job there. Hey, it doesn't sound like it at all. Just kiss everyone's ass. Just everything's great. Here are those wonderful. I really like the people that work there. They're really trying hard, you know, they just need somebody that's I don't know me. You know what they do. He's not really just me. I like the fact that he said, you know, it's not an ego thing. We're going to keep going back to that comment because that's a cracker. But yeah, it's not an ego thing. I haven't actually applied for it yet. And then he gives it gives it quite like this. I enjoy the challenge of a role like this. I enjoy working with young men, teaching them, getting into systems, and seeing how people improve their careers. I think I've got some runs on the board. I've got to work whatever club it is. I think I can add something. He's already talking like he's got it. Yeah, what the fuck?

17:50He's already got the job he hasn't applied for. I've got some runs on the board. It's like, yeah, tell us about the dudes that woke up in their legs were black in the middle of the night. How about those runs on the board? Those legs were still running with their asleep. Yes, if I imagine waking up in the middle of the night, your legs are fucking black. That must have been terrifying. But anyway, he also praised the tigers for quote, getting off their arse and doing something about it as far as their dramas. What did they do? They didn't do anything. They literally made it worse. If you have a system in place, you can pluck a kid out of the Jersey Flake team and have him trained in the ennarell and it won't be all new to them. Why did he do that? He did with his son. Why didn't he do all of this shit? He did with Kyle. The language that they used, they've been through the pathway and already understand it.

18:52Then the progression in the role is also quicker because they started learning it three years earlier. This is the same dude that was like, oh, I'd bring some plays out from reserve grade, but they ran on. That's all there is. He's fucking, he's just in a different reality to the one I live in. I live in World 616. This is the same one where Thanos got snapped out of existence by Tony Stark in a heroic moment. I don't live on whatever world Shane Flanagan lives on. I see the club's going to hire him. I'm going to say this. If they do, I'm going to stop supporting them until he's gone. I'm not going to go and jump to another club, but I'm just not going to support the targets at all. In any fashion, if he's there at that club, I can't.

19:53He's saying all the things that make it sound like he's got a job. It's all the same sheet he said about the fucking the dragons. Yeah, you know, all of this, and it's the the ask his and two. Yeah, and it's all white. Everyone's really good. You know what? They're lineups actually, but they just need some systems in places. Like what they need your systems mate. They need your systems. They need to turf out Benji Marshall's systems. Not that it matters. It's the West Tigers. No one cares about fucking Winner football games. If they did, they care about Winner football games. That's right. So now while on the West Tigers, Jerome Lui. Yep. So good. Good on him. I've not been fully across the story. What I think I heard was that they had the club awards night, and he was somewhere else probably on holiday, whatever. I sort of being a bunch of the, yeah, go on, go on. So a bunch of former players of, you know,

20:57they've been pissing and moaning all about it. I, NRL360 was on in the background today. And yesterday, and it was, I'll read to quote Billy Benny. Darv and, you know, that dickhead. I've been wanting to hear him say something about the West Tigers in a few minutes. And block under on their sound. Oh, you're contracting to the Tigers until November. You still there, club captain. I was like, man, that like tapped out, fucking six months ago. He's gone. Let him go. I said this months ago, I said, I think once to go, just fucking let him go. Don't keep selecting him. Just piss him off. Like the seasons are already done. Let's just move on to the next phase where he's not here. And start getting those runs on the board before next season. I've written him off and moved on already. Just like I have with Lockle and Gal, but I don't know why the West Tigers, they're still pissy about that. But you move on. Like you... I'm not going to get pissy about it. Yeah, you know what? He done this dirty.

21:57And you kind of back went back on his word. He's talking about you know, being here for the whole time. But you know what? If you don't want to be then fuck off. But they couldn't keep him. I don't know. I generally couldn't care less if he doesn't want to be there. That's fucking letting go. Just fuck off. I don't want him at their ward. So if you don't want to be there, I don't think... What, what, what, what, what a ward is he going to win anyway? Why are the West Tigers giving out fucking awards? Wow, you know. Why is there an awards night for the West Tigers? It should be your fucking wake. If I should have to turn up in fucking black and you know, I'll play to food and they sit down and I say, yeah man, we're fucking suck. I killed my whole career. This year was really good. They shouldn't be having a fucking awards night. Yeah, they should, they should be rewarded for what they've done to their integrity. You know, they've thrown it away for this club and I think they should get something back and return for that.

22:57You got me fired up to the West Tigers and fucking... Why do I say it? The way I see it with Jerome Leye. Right. And this is the last thing I'm going to say about Jerome Leye and the West Tigers. Because I think it's now relevant, right? Jerome Leye went there on a West Tigers premium because they can't fucking attract decent players from other clubs. He come in with four premium ships. He undoubtedly helped make them a better team. Even though they didn't become a great deal better, he definitely helped their culture of the club. He was willing to be there long term. He got a much better offer. He signed by the way of contract extension with them. That was his player option. He got a huge offer from the PNG chiefs that probably would have dragged him away from every other club. Fuck, he went from the premiers to the West Tigers for more money and that's fine. He has four premierships. He's proven everything as a player. And then the fucking West Tigers started shooting on him and starting all this bullshit. I would just be like, fuck, I'm out of here man.

23:59I'm not turning up at you stupid fucking awards night. This is a guy that's won four premierships and they wanted to turn up for an awards night for fucking what was it? 14th place? He's I'm glad he didn't turn up. He went to tomorrow or something. I bet it was beautiful. I bet he had fucking room service. 1.2 million bucks a year ago at that fucking club. I bet he had an ocean view. I bet he had people walking up to him on a morning. So would you like to have a coffee this morning? And he was like, you know what? I might go with the orange juice this morning. So I put a little twist element in there. Oh certainly. So I put his feet up for the day. Beautiful sunshine. It's just warming up there. I bet it was fucking and this can't say. I'm sure it turned up to watch fucking, you know, this can't do. Adam Dewey. Who's going to give the fucking speeches? Adam Dewey? Fuck off. Adam Dewey's going to sit up there and say, I'm late for this club. I'll give anything for this club except for playing out of position. I want to. But I'd give anything for this fucking team.

25:01And then a Benji Moshe is sitting up there and gone. We had some challenges this year. It's like, of course, you did fucking Benji. You caused most of them. Fuck that. I'd be at a wonderful time. In fact, I'm going to fall. I think I do follow him on Instagram. I'm going to check out what his audio went to. Oh, that's why that's what that's everything. I think about your own. Louis Tom at the West. Yeah, I couldn't care less. That's fine. That's fine. I get that. I mean, I tapped out on when he left when he decided to sign the Zell Swede. Okay, you don't. I wouldn't. When a club is. If the West Tigers had to be like in the top eight at the time he signed that contract and they needed to keep winning in order to make the finals, then yeah, keep selecting. But they were losing and dropping out of the contention and look like that. No chance to get in there anyway. So my idea is, if he's leaving the club, then let him go and play reserve. Of course, I'm going to help help your next lot of players come through and play with them.

26:05And start working on the squad you're going to have the next year. You can give them some runs on the board now. So when they start next year, they're not coming in completely bloody. I don't know where it's to what to do or you know, they don't have any combinations. They're all set. They're ready to go. You know, it would help a little bit. And instead we're going to do this thing where we've played him all year. He's mind Zell Swede. And it has been. He watched the way he was playing and it was it was not fully in the game. He was giving away silly penalties. He's last tackle options for pretty miserable half the time. He was still putting in in defense. But that was again, it wasn't as much as he had done last year. What he did last year that club was fucking superhuman. And look, there's only so much you can do personally in defense over and over again as people file around you until you it's just a natural human thing. You know, it's like I'm killing myself here and it's not making any like people

27:08are seeing what I'm doing. But it's not making any difference. You know, and yeah, it's the way she down. So the Tigers, they drifted backwards a little bit this year. Not a lot, but a little bit. And that's not great given that they made big strides last year, but they still weren't really in the in the whole title run. But they should have been trying to get at least a double figures for win. So last year they had nine, 10 or 11 should have been their target this year. I know I said as much at the start of the year like they should be trying to get, you know, around that nine, 10, 11th position on the ladder. That's where they need to be. When you're doing a rebuild like they've done and you're so far out of the picture and have been for so long, you don't want to try and make, you know, giant leaps and just make the final. So go right, we've done it because the first thing will happen when you do that is you drop out the next year and then you're back to where the Tigers are again. They need to call it. It's called it's called right during. Well, the Brisbane did a pretty good example of it this year.

28:10I did. At least I want to promise you that. That's right. You can forget it when you've got to ring on your finger. I think the Tigers needed to ease their way up for ladder and work their way up there and just go little by little and build that culture, build that form, build it all up because by the time you get to the finals then, you know, you become much harder than you work together. You've got the combinations there. It works better that way and you better chance of surviving in the finals a bit longer. And you know, maintaining a successful unit. But they've they're just panicked again. No, no, we're going to be still finals again and go, why are you panicking about that now? You do it every fucking year. Yeah, it's just fucking work with it. Stating, they just take baby steps. Yeah. But they want they just take baby steps backwards instead. They want. They'll fuck it up. They'll have lose more players. They don't want to get out of there. They'll stick with fucking Benji Marshall who'll sign just some of these friends friends instead.

29:14And it's just fucking the same shit every year for 20 fucking years out of them. Makes me angry. I'm not even a fan. But yeah, that's pretty much it. Yeah. Well, you know what, Andrew, if you're going to go on West Tigers Rants like that, we can't keep doing the podcast. Hi. The speedal, it's felt foreign to have knocked down one as frequently as we have this year. I know. We should just do that. We should have like a clock that ticks down. Just like every 10 days it says it rings and it says West Tigers Rant. We just get on just destroy the club and be like, oh yeah, that was good. Have a purge. Yeah. We'll go in the opposite direction. Dacence the last West Tigers Rant. Yeah. It always comes back to zero. Should we talk about some good stuff in Rampy League? Sure. Yeah, excellent. Well, because I was told that we left it too long to talk about the NRO finals

30:19by Nadine who had some, she had some very controversial things to say to me on a phone call. We had not too long ago. She dropped the C bomb a lot. I could not believe it. Yeah, she says that a lot. She says she does. She does trust me. Did you get a dressing deal? No, no, no, she just said, I'm sorry. I'm talking to this. Can't, that can't, and this, but I can watch in this game. And this can't still miss can't think and a fucking. I was like, geez, Nadine, come on now. Come on now. We can't be saying those words of the party. You can't say that word. I don't say it. So, for all those games, two very, very interesting games coming up. Should we preview them now? Yeah, why not? Excellent. Let's do it. I've got a little bit of data here. Where is it? It's a bit tricky to find some information on these games because they're, they've not played each other a ton of times, especially the the shocks one.

31:20And there's the kind of evenly matched to be. What do we got here? You got your information. So we're the first guy Saturday night. East and Standard Time for Australia. Is it Standard Time yet? The daylight's having time. No, it's still a normal time. What does that mean for you though, Andrew? Everything that the cows are not eating the curtains. That's always good. That's it. That's fucking sad. Let's look. It kicks off Saturday 750 PM if you're living the East Coast of Australia. Maybe it doesn't if you're living Brisbane. I ain't got fuck you people. Well, Brisbane's, you know, they're still in 1978 time. The Roosters of one just three of their last 12 final games. That's not good. The Sharks of one four of their last six final games. And the Roosters of Lost their last three games of Ali on Stadium. And Daniel Tupo needs a win to equal Jailbury or Hargraze for being the most

32:21winning Roosters player in Premiership Games. Oh, well, that's weird that he held that record. Yeah, I thought the same thing too. Yeah, remember when he retired and I was saying he's the maybe the best front row of all time. And it's like, can you people fucking shut up and stop making statements like that? Look, the Roosters last week against the Panthers did all right, but they I think they hit some of the heights that they're going to hit considering that Seymour, because not in the team, that they're half-facus 38 years old and that their coach can't make adjustments, which is fine. All of that's fine. Yeah, either team are. I think that the Roosters will absolutely destroy the Sharks. The Sharks were disgusting against the North Queensland Cowboys. The Cowboys were the worst finals team I've ever seen. They're put in the worst finals performance I've ever seen. And I just think that the the Sharks looked so sharky for a finals game.

33:21And I just think the Roosters will destroy them in this one. Yeah, look like the Sharks weren't great. But I don't think they were that bad. You think they had a few tries that were very close to scoring. Cowboys got one off a forward pass. So the school I was a lot closer than another was should have been. However, insane that the Sharks had so much possession in key attack and territory. Yeah, didn't convert much of that into genuine opportunities. Yeah. So the big concern obviously is, Trendle is so important to that team's attack. And I haven't seen a performance from him that was as brave as I was because he's his arm looked like it was numb for big chunks of that game. And he stayed on the field and still kept putting himself in the line. He did that tackle in the second half. And he was just one on one against the second rower. He also ran the ball too.

34:25Yeah, which is I think is maybe even as big of a thing where, you know, that that could be an area of the game where you can be like, okay, I won't run the ball. But he was pretty happy to run the ball. And considering he was playing with one arm, I thought he had a very, very good game. Very strong game, Pome. What I would like to see, which they didn't do, is when he's when he's got the ball in a attack, especially when he looks like he's going to start running. If the sharks had just had to make sure there's someone there that he could pass the fucking ball to because the number of times he makes alpha break and there's no one there. Fuck someone. That's where I want to see a wing out or Kennedy or a center. I want to see one of those backs there to be hanging around waiting for an offload because there's going to be one. It is an underrated part of the game passing the ball to another human being that's actually in existence there. It's pretty crazy how when you've got players that actually want to play

35:26football with somebody that's trying to do something that works a lot better than everyone's sitting back and going, oh man, look at him go. So he can do some good shit here. Oh my watch this. I'll give an elbow to the guy. Look at this guy. Look at him. I know we lucky easy in our team. That's called doing the by the way that movie is called doing a more lethalo. Because I don't know he has this tendency. I find you just get these players everywhere then. When you see them and they start to drift a little bit sideways then decide to just automatically straighten and run. They automatically in your head you go, oh fuck he's going to get through here. They just look like they're going to do that. He's one of those guys that looks like he's going to do that. Doesn't always. Not even that often but he just looks so threatening and he picks his moments really well to do that. But just no one goes with him and it's just frustrates me because it looks like the team is coached so that they run and they hang off the second rowers unawful lot and they look for the off-lights from those guys but nowhere else on the field.

36:30Yeah. Just like guys come on fuck. He's doing the hard work. He'll work with him. Yeah you would have thought like there would be an urgency in their performance. Not just because it's a final game but because their number one playmaker is playing so bastard like he should not be out there. Definitely shouldn't. And you would think that everyone would be up on their toes. Like if you see him doing this man, watch your excuse. And I just didn't see that out of the players. Taluclei was very good as well. I thought he'd come on the bench. He was fantastic but it was just those two in the whole shark's team that really impressed me with their performances. Look back when remember when he played Origin at Santer and he had those like what was it? A two-month period where he was just bleating everyone at Santer and that's how he got into the origin. So yeah. And we were like hmm I'd prefer him on the bench. Yeah. But ever since then like for the next year after that he was still being put in the center. So I was like no no no they need

37:33to put him on the bench and have him come in and play in the middle of the field. That's where he's at. He's best. Yeah. And I took ages to get to that point and then this year they started playing him. Yeah sometimes starting but I was off and off the bench but coming in in that 25 minute period of a game sometimes earlier and in the middle and he's got this ability to because he does he's pretty mobile for a you know I'm forward so to speak. Yeah. He gets outside his man really well and he's so hard to get down he's got that low center of gravity. He's a real like real powerful runner and again they just let him run and go down and someone go with him. Yeah he was tearing him up and he was playing a bit of a loan hand in that regard and he's definitely the sort of play you've got to use right. Yeah. And I think that as you say they after his initial burst of form they kind of didn't use him right and I think that I still don't think that like that game was it

38:39was happenstance that he went out in the centers after a certain number of minutes and it just worked out really well it worked it for how he should be used. And it you know you would hope that they would learn lessons from that. I just watched this game and I just felt like it was just everything that you expect out of the sharks in a finals game where so many of their players were just sort of disinterested it seemed and not engaged and didn't realise that it was a sudden death game it was like the worst sudden death game I've ever seen where it just felt like both sides were treating it like it was a fucking Saturday night round six game that didn't really matter much to either team it was very strange. Nico Hines looked like a deer in the headlights again unfortunately and you know I just watched that performance and thought yeah this shark's team's done they just don't know it yet and if they'd I think if they'd applied

39:44four or five teams that didn't make the finals they would have got their ass kicked. On that performance yes I do think they were playing to be five percent better than opposition and the cowboys were dreadful. Oh the cowboys were fucking terrible. Came out with intensity in the first five minutes and then just fell off and they could have really easily won that game against the sharks really easily. Look at how they played in the last 15 minutes. I had done that from the outset they'd have got the win. Yeah and just move the ball around but in the first half they just tuck it under the arm and barge forward and sharks' middles are pretty good defensively so you're not gonna do anything there you gotta move it around you get a round of players. They didn't none of that. You just idiots you got all the pace out why they didn't use any of it. Todd Payne's a terrible coach and you know the weird thing that I got out of this game there were two things the first thing was whoever sharks playing next week is gonna destroy them

40:46and the second thing was Craig Fitzgibbon needs to get out of this club. He needs to find himself a job at a club where they haven't got this fucking curse hanging over them and see if he's a really good coach because if he stays here his coach and career is just gonna peter out a little bit. The same thing happened to John Lang and John Lang happened to get fired and ended up at the Panthers and that did wonders for him. I think that Craig Fitzgibbon should talk to John Lang about like you can stay at the one club and try and build something but if it's the sharks you're only gonna be able to build to a certain point and yeah that was the thing that I got out of it is Craig Fitzgibbon needs to start looking at other clubs. Like the worst hikes? No. There are, look, Craig Fitzgibbon at say... Yeah look you gotta pick it. Look if Craig Fitzgibbon put his name in for the storm job. That would be interesting. I will say I genuinely think he's

41:52a good coach and he's... I think he's an alright coach too. And he knows how to build like a good roster and a good squad. Well the roster he's got isn't a bad one. No it's not. It's really well balanced. Yeah it is. The problem is it's the sharks. You know I could look I could say you know what I'd like to see Craig Fitzgibbon go to the paramedic eels but it's the eels. Yeah there's only... There's some clubs where if you go there good fucking luck because you're not just fighting against what is happening in the short term you'll fight against a lot of history that's history for a bloody good reason. So you're going with the roosters this one? I think the roosters could put 40 or 50 on them. I think they will annihilate them. I think the problem the roosters have in this game is you go from playing that grunty contest that they had against the panthers. They're going to come

42:56in against the sharks. They're going to buzz saw them. They're going to feel on top of the world and then they're going to go up against a dolphin side that's had two weeks off. I think their biggest problem is not getting ahead of themselves. I don't think this is going to be a contest and look we might have sharks people that follow us if they do. Men what are you doing? With all stuff that Glenn says about your club far out but... I just think you're honest. I'm just being honest. For a point of difference I don't think the roosters have done much to prove to me that they are going to flog anybody in this final's race. As much as the sharks went with that impressive I think the roosters got bashed last week and so I think they're going to be not as good this week and I'm going to say the sharks are in with a chance on this one. Okay that's fair enough. It's not going to be a hiding. I think it's going to be a high score in close games. I'm like 28-24 or something. Shit low that. Are you looking forward to the big clash between

44:00Mollatala and the rugby union winner? Sure why not? It's a big it's going to be a big clash. You know who's going to be that winner? It's always big when wingers get over the corner. I think the winner is going to be gravity because those two can't stop the ball more than you'll fucking never say any other big talk and wingers drop it. It's going to be great. Yeah it's can't wait. Okay the next game. So the next game let me bring it up I mean so Sunday afternoon 4pm 6pm if you're local Auckland time it's the New Zealand Warriors at Eden Park a sold out Eden Park hosting the Newcastle Knights. The Warriors of 117 of their last 19 games played in New Zealand against the Knights since 2006. That's pretty good. And the Knights of one five of their last 18 finals matches played away from Newcastle since 1998. That's not good. The Knights have advanced past the

45:02first week of the finals on 10 occasions however they won just three times in their seconds finals matches. That was 1995 2001 and 2013. I really love that start. They choke. Yeah they get they're like just a little bit of hope and then they rug pull their own fans. They do. They do. I was going to say something about rug pull and then crypto but I like it because that's probably liabous but this okay tell me what you think about this game because I've got some very specific thoughts about this match. The Knights have been playing a pretty good physical type of footy. I do like some of the stuff that they do however the Warriors look like they're very methodical about how they do things. They're very patient. They're very clinical with how they do things. Their attack isn't going to run up a big score in your two off them but their defense is they're going to pretty good defensive system and I worried that the Knights of Fence can't handle the

46:08Warriors. They've got good systems in attack. I don't think they're my good hand ones so I'm expecting the Warriors to win this one by probably two drawers. The Warriors can go on periods of the game where it feels like they're just a barn stormer. Yeah. Which is and they're so good to watch when that happens. The thing about this game that I'm thinking about a lot is that first of all the Knights are a really solid team. They're just a solid footy team and you're going to have to beat them to beat them. They're not going to beat themselves. They very rarely play terrible football. They're just a really solid footy team and they're going to test you up but they've only got a certain number of gears that they can go through. The Warriors meanwhile have had this great season. They've sold out every home game. There's a lot of hype around them. They had that first game last week at home. Sold out crowd very quickly and they put up a bit of a dark egg. Their performance was not great against the team playing their first finals game which is a

47:13worry. Right. Now it's the second game. They're playing at the national stadium and even bigger crowd. Everyone's expecting them to win at home. They're having Warriors days and stuff like that and the Dean was telling me about it and phone call we had earlier. It's like everyone's supposed to wear their Warriors merch to work and school and everything and they'll lead up to the game. It is a very, very big occasion and if they lose and they've lost in straight sets their season is a disaster. If they win it and they've had these two back-to-back join occasions then they've got to build again for a preliminary final against a Panthers and it's going to be another huge week for them. So how they are going to handle all of this stuff is massive to how their whole premiership run is going to be and I just worry that they're going to get into this game. It's going to be a little bit like last week where they're just not at their best. Their form isn't as

48:17good as it's been in the past and I could honestly see the Knights still in it from them in a little bit the same way that I think it happened to them last week against the Dolphins because the Warriors should have won that game with all the possession and field position I had they should have won that game. I mean that Dolphins attack is fucking crazy. It is yeah. They just know how to score points. They're fucking insane. I love watching them play when they got the ball in here. When they're defending I'll just go look for a while but when they're in attack oh man they'll push it out there and turn it into gold every time. Yep. So you reckon the Knights might get up. Look I'm tipping the the Warriors right. You have to yeah you have to. But it's just very much like last week's game where I tipped the Warriors and said that I can see the Dolphins beating them. I feel the same way about this one where I can see the

49:19Knights winning and the Warriors being like what the fuck happened to our seats. Everything was so good and we just we just dropped the ball when it mattered. You're concerned they're gonna rate is it? I really am. I really really am. I think they're better than the Raiders though. They're definitely better than the Raiders. Like last year's Raiders. Yeah. Oh 100% 100% they haven't got the same culture of choking and making excuses and stuff. The thing is the occasion. And that's why finals experience is so important because being able to handle the occasion is absolutely massive and we've seen not every team can do it and this is the test that the Warriors have to pass. And having watched them last week on the occasion I was really concerned.

50:20Well that's fair. So and then we've got what the the Panthers we plan the winner of Warriors Nights yep and the Dolphins will play the winner of Shaq's Roosters. Yeah so which team do you think has the ASEA run there? Well whoever's not playing Panthers. Well no I mean like of those two teams that made it through. Who has the ASEA who's gonna have the ASEA opponent out of the Dolphins or the Panthers? Probably the Dolphins. Yeah I'd agree. You know because so what you want about the Shaq's obviously they've only had the one grand final. But they are also you know there are more consistent than most other teams in the competition. I'm given by you know how many you know consecutive

51:21finals campaigns have made. You can't do that by fluke. So they are proven to some extent to be a team that can win games on a regular basis. Obviously their record against Panthers is dreadful. But who are you talking about? The Shaq's. Right. So they're not going to be a team that's just giving me a complete push-over lock the West Tigers are. But they would be playing the Dolphins if they won. Oh with the. Yeah. No it's it's Warriors versus it'd be Warriors. Yeah. Yeah. The Roosters know to win games so that's another good one there. The Knights and the Warriors. I think you'll always look at those two and go again it's a bit of lack of experience in in finals football. So there's a little bit of an unknown entity about them. And Panthers tend to eat those teams up. Yeah a little bit. Yeah. I think you know what the funny thing is is if the

52:23if the Knights do get through and play Panthers, I would feel the exact same way about the Knights as I do about the when they're playing the Warriors. Like Panthers really should and Panthers are different, right. But Panthers really should beat them quite comfortably. But the Knights are going to make it difficult. You're not going to just push the Knights over. So it's not anything against the Warriors. No. No. I said the same thing against South's actually last week. I was like South should win, but the Knights are going to make it difficult. So I think that's what makes these finals games so interesting this weekend is that you've got all of these different dynamics on these teams that are you know not just about what we say in the football field on the football field. There's a lot going on beyond that. And it's all going to play out on the football field. And the cool thing is we're going to say it. Be played out. It's fucking so exciting to think about. I can't wait. Yeah. Speaking of also interesting. Yes. Super league.

53:28They're no, they're final start this weekend. Oh, do they? And there's nocent helens in the finals. They finish seventh. But but but but they're a big club. Hmm. You know at the end of the year, the seventh at 15 wins 12 losses. Their points difference was plus 22. They can see the 614 points and only scored 636. But almost the you know, parrots. Which is kind of crazy. So the teams that made it Wigan end up with the league leader shield. 22 wins five losses. Leads with second, warrington third, wakefield fourth, Lee fifth and whole chaos snuck in in six plays. Bradford finished last. Hull Fc had a certain cast for both that all had eight wins. York had nine wins. They did pretty well for their first season in there.

54:32Catalan's and Toulouse both had 10 wins and sent helens. 15 wins in seventh place. So just taking you. We've got wakefield versus Lee and Warrington versus whole chaos. So yeah, so wakefield versus Lee. Yep. Warrington versus whole chaos. Yeah. Why is the national press ignoring these giant games between these metropolis? I don't understand it, man. I think it's just the bias in rugby union and soccer. It must be. I think it's those things. Has to be. What else could it be? Yeah. It can't be because they're fucking a bunch of 20 little towns playing one another. There's no way that wouldn't happen. No, no, it's not that at all. I mean, there should be people in Edinburgh that are sitting in bars right now saying, we're really looking for that fucking wakefield game. They obviously don't sound like that. They've got a they probably better like that. If you heard it, but I'm just trying to, you know,

55:37yeah, make it better. Yeah. Yeah. In the championship, London finished on top of the table with 23 wins and one loss. Dispointing lost that one. With a points difference of plus 1,000. What are we doing? Oh, fuck me. The average score this year was 62.9 to 12.3. Oh, what was trains than taking? Gleeshwag be like seriously, Andrew? I just can't put my finger on it. Newcastle was second. They had a points difference of plus 791. Sucks. And then we go through the race. We've got Olden, Donkaster, witness, Barrow, Sheffield, Midlands in eight place, made their first finals, parents in the championship, I believe. And they had a points difference of plus two. White Haven were ninth with minus 142. And badly were tenth with plus 82.

56:41You know, a lot of people were saying that Barrow had a good season. I'm just kidding. No one's fucking talking about Barrow who gives a shit. Interestingly enough, North Wales finished dead last with minus six competition points. And their points difference was you think London's plus 12, well, 1,250 was pretty impressive. Yeah. North Wales were minus 1,452. They could be seated on average 72.2 points for a game. It was a tough season. Oh, the rugby league in Wales has just gone great guns. Ever since 1907, their first international. It's just all being down here. Really, hasn't it? It has. I don't know why they didn't think when they had those two forefits. They say, they're forefitted to Midlands in the Channel's Cup. And they're two weeks later, they're forefitted to Donkaster. Given that they've been getting flogged the whole time, I don't know why they didn't gain. You know what? This forefitter thing is a bit easier on us. He still gets the loss, but the scoreboard's not as bad. It's like, you know how Hollywood worked out that you can

57:45find some loophole where you can make a movie lose hundreds of millions of dollars, but you actually make money on it somehow. Yeah. Like that's that loophole, but on the sporting context, like, look, we're going to forefit every game. And we're going to give, what is a 30-new win when you're forefitted every game? I think it's over there. We're going to forefit every game, but it's going to help out for him against. We're going to look so much better. Yeah. You think, look here at the after the last four foot against Donkaster in round 12, they lost every game. These are the scorelines. 18-0, 108-10, 86-0, 134-0, 80-12, 94-0, 64-4, good effort, 116-6, 19-0, 68-6, 120-0, 60-10, 90-6, and then they finish with a 98-0 loss. If he's the crazy thing, there are some of these places, and we're talking about the win-wiles, right? But there are also some scorelines from some of the towns in Northern England

58:51that had scorelines that were in that vicinity as well, right? In the championship. There's a lot that's been talked about right now about Rugby League in the UK and Europe, and it's a wide extent. If there are people that would say to you, Rugby League won't work, and I'm just going to chuck it out. Let's say, let's say, fucking Berlin, let's pick Berlin, just randomly, right? Let's say Rugby League won't work in Berlin. Team from Berlin would just get absolutely flogged and no one plays it there, right? But then you look at some of these places that are supposedly heartland clubs in the championship, and they're getting flogged every fucking week. And it seems like no one plays Rugby League there, because if they did, they wouldn't be getting flogged like this. And so you've got to wonder like, why are these places so revered amongst locals for what they bring to the game when it seems

59:57like they don't actually fucking bring anything to the game. Like, I know if my local club was on the end of 90 Neil scorelines week after week after week, I'd be like, you know what? We don't bring much to the table, but you talk to some people over there and they'll be like, oh, these clubs have been around for, you know, longer than your country, he's even had federation. And it's like, yeah, but they've done nothing for that long. If you've had a hundred year head start, and it's 131 years for some of these places, and you're getting flogged in the championship every week, like what have you actually fucking done? That we couldn't do it by putting together a team in six weeks and plonk on the menu here. Basically that, yeah. You know, well, if you've got all this infrastructure, no, do you have any stadium, no? Have you got these big junior league that you support, no? All right, we'll do you do much in the local community. Oh, yeah, we run a chookwrap all

1:00:58every softened. Oh, cool. Does anyone give a fuck, no? Like, what are we holding on to here that's so precious that we couldn't just create like I could grab 20 prex off the street here in Western Sydney, right? I can just drive around right now. What time is it? It's 11, 13 pm. All right, I could get in my car and drive around. It need a pretty big car. Just pick up 13 dudes off the street and say, hey, do you want to fucking start a rugby league club in, fucking Amsterdam? Do you want to start a rugby league club in Madrid? No, be like, first of all, who's the fucking you? Yeah, who the fuck you? I'm not getting any car, you weirdo. I'm not selling anything. I've got to do a nut again. Yeah, I don't know if I can dare get a new club. I once we got through all those. I could take them to Madrid, start a rugby league team today that would do better than some of the championship clubs.

1:01:59Well, you know, it's interesting about this North Wales Crusader's team this year. They had four wins for the entire year and probably got off to the best start for a team that had the one of the worst records ever because they started with a challenge cup win over Bedford Tigers and 110 nil. Bedford though. Yeah. But they actually had more coaches than wins this year. Holy fuck. That's five coaches and four wins. Oh my god. Not one coach made up to 10 games this year. D Muir eight games, Mike, Grady, Six games, Martin, Fisher, Fowl games, Christian and Inu three games and Sean Long three games. Honestly, yeah, what a joke. With the thing that I think that England, rugby league people honestly don't understand is that we have like four grades lower than the NRL. We have competitions that are better than this. You know, that are better than what the championship provides.

1:03:06You know, and we don't have one or two of them. We have dozens of them. Well, let's check the New South Wales Cup show. That's the next level down from the NRL. That's yeah, one of the two that in Queensland Cup. The worst team this year was mainly they had a points difference in minus 403, one just two of 22 terrible. They can see it on average 36 points per game. Yeah, which is terrible. Not 72 points per game. Exactly. In the Queensland Cup, how is that one? The PNG side, the Hunters, they finished last with three wins from 20 games and the points difference was minus 349 and they can see the 33 points per game. Which is once again terrible, but not even close to these teams. Yeah. You know, and that's, you know, you could take a local A grade team from Australia and they would they would make the finals of that championship easily.

1:04:07Yeah. I did see talk that they were they're looking at changing the championship next year to being an Eastern or West division might as well. They might. Which is going to be kind of crazy. The NRL apparently has got all by two teams across the line in their bid to buy a share and super league. The NRL for the apparently, I said that they want London to be in the super league. Yeah, that's apparently that is has to has to happen for the deal to go through. Which means there's going to be one they're either going to expand the competition, which I don't think you can do. Or they're going to get rid of someone that's in there or they may be going to contract the league. Which might be why you've got two teams that don't want it to happen. Well, yeah, I mean, at this stage, it's cast for them. Bradford are the ones that are the bottom two sides.

1:05:11Yeah. And a lot of people looking at cast for. To be the one to drop down. But I mean, at this stage, yeah, Bradford did have less wins. Look, if your Bradford is a city, right? Yeah. That should be a reason why they stay. Okay, but here's the thing. If you're a city and you were in that city and you failed once, you fell apart, went broke and then you come back and you say it's going to be different this time and it's no different at all. I have questions. Well, I mean, we hear that ask questions about a lot of teams here. Yeah, that's true. I think we're wasting our time over there. Hi. I think the, you know, probably just needs to get you know, we're going to put in their two teams. Have a 16 team calm. Just be done with it that way. And I'd be bringing up London and Newcastle.

1:06:16Yeah. Because who else is that to bring up really? I mean, they're the two best performing sides. But I mean, who else can you bring up from a decent sized area? Yeah. And that's the thing like they desperately need London and Newcastle in there. Yeah. Or London and anybody else that's in a city. Well, I think Newcastle, they're second. I mean, all the other places are just, you've got old and don't cast a witness barrow, Sheffield Midlands, Whitehaven, Batley, Doosbury, Southford, Hunsland, Gull, Rochdale, Keith Lee, Swinton, workington, Halifax and North Wales. Yeah. So you basically just got a bunch of well-established English, you know, Northern, Northern, you know, Northern Union teams sort of thing. Yeah. And as we just said, like it's not like these places are rude with the health that these clubs are in, they're just, they're not. And we've got to go to places where there's plenty of people and plenty of option to get money. Yeah. And advertising. Yeah. London and Newcastle spread the game a bit wider.

1:07:21I wonder if the, I wonder if the two teams that are fighting against it, I could see where it would be Castleford, yeah, Castleford, right? And the artist formerly known as the Huddersfield Giants, who were going to Doosbury, but we'll still call themselves Huddersfield. I could see where the hour was like, this is fucking ridiculous, those two go and we're just bringing in London and Newcastle. And I could see where it turned out that way. I'd like to know what the deal is with Huddersfield and why they seem to do better than others when it comes to those, you know, ranking things, whatever it is, ratings, IMG ratings. They seem to do better than their latter position shows on those ratings. I wonder what to know how, because some of the things there are, you know, crowd sizes obviously and you know, fan engagement and social media stuff, I'm just going, I don't see how they're getting that.

1:08:26Yeah. I look, I think that they, the clubs really quickly started gaming the system. And I saw a thing where I'm almost certain it's Huddersfield where they were going to get points for their stadium situation, but it maybe was like the current stadium. So like, Macau, is it still called Macau Pline Stadium in Huddersfield? No, John Smith. Okay, whatever they're called, Accu Stadium. No, of course. Huddersfield Stadium. Curkley Stadium is the non-sponsor name. All right. It wasn't called Huddersfield Municipal Council Stadium. That would have been better, I don't know. Anyway, that, that stadium that they're going to get the points for that stadium, but they won't actually be playing there. Like, there was some weird thing about that. And they thought, look, they worked out how to game the system. As soon as they started, there was social media points and all the like, they worked out that you do instead of

1:09:30doing pictures. If you do a video and it automatically plays, even if someone scrolls past it, even if they don't take in the, and so that counts as a video player or a multimedia player, whatever. So they started game the system. At the end of the day, all of that, that point scoring stuff doesn't really mean much when the game is fucked. True. I think the concept and the idea what they're trying to do is logical. Yeah, definitely. It's, it's what you do when things are going to be better. Yeah, you don't do it right now because right now you're trying to make the thing survive. Yeah, you could apply that formula to the NR real right. Yeah, that's right. And say like, okay, which teams do we need to start thinking about maybe relocating? And that would work in the NR real right now. Correct. But as you say, in a complete mess of a situation that superly is in,

1:10:32it's not really relevant. It's also a competition where the teams aren't equal. No, like in the NR real, they're all reasonably equal. You know, they've got the same salary cap, they pay the same wages, you know, so you can make a claim to say clubs of as equal as they can possibly be in the NR real. That doesn't exist in the superly. Yeah, they've got a salary cap, but it's not quite working the way a normal salary cap should. Yeah, it's bullshit. Yeah, the superly exhalo cap is a complete fabrication. It's a bit flimsy. It's a good plate lot. fluid fluid. It's a okay, let's test you out Andrew. No, it's bullshit. Take down with the adjectives gone. It's no, it's not fluid. It's moist. It's a fallacy. Oh, boy. But there we go. That's pretty much that drama. Yeah, look, I, we've talked about it a lot,

1:11:35but yeah, I think we're wasting our time. I would much rather see the NR real spend 60 million bucks per season on Rugby League in New Zealand. Because I think rugby league in New Zealand is in a great position. There's a lot coming out this week, in fact, from Rugby Union, where the New Zealand Rugby Union put a warning out to its shareholders, because it's now got private equity involved. So it has to talk about like it's a financial position. And they're going to lose, I think it was $66 million this year. And they actually listed the NR real as a rising threat. Um, the NRL has a bigger television audience, accumulated television audience in New Zealand, then Rugby Union does, which is interesting. Got more games, but still that's something that advertisers take interest in. And I just think the time is now to strike in New Zealand. And I

1:12:38would have, yeah, got to have another team in there as soon as possible. I would be happy with two or three teams as soon as possible in New Zealand. But that would mean having to move in our team in Australia. And, you know, we've had that discussion a few times. I actually saw somebody on Twitter this week, and I wish I could remember who it was. And they said that the Gold Coast Titan should be forced to move if we're going to move the team. And they talked about how futile sport is on the Gold Coast, how poor the Titans have been. And I don't like the idea. I really hate it. It makes me sick thinking about it. And yet damn it, it makes so much sense. Yeah, I mean, we're spoken about the problem with sport on the Gold Coast for quite a while. I don't know. It's an interesting one. I think it's weird because Rugby League has been on the Gold Coast since, you know, I don't know, I don't know, no, it's just crazy how long they've had a

1:13:40foothold in the game. And yet how much they've struggled when they've been put onto the big, into the big league, into the big stage. Yeah. And they just can't convert it to all that all that growth, all that, you know, grassroots fully they've got there. And they can't convert it into a team that can win. They've got to import everybody there. Everything makes sense except for their performance in the top grade, which has been absolutely abysmal since they've been in the top grade on and off. Yeah, well, I think the work going in the right direction with Josh Hane there at the moment. Oh, so do I, so do I. But like, say tomorrow you heard that the Gold Coast Titans were moving to a Christchurch. Would you be like, oh man, would you be like, yeah, okay. Yeah, pretty much yeah, yeah, a lot of and like, I added suck for Gold Coast fans who have had to set through so much

1:14:45shit over so many years. But I don't, well, come on, not that much. What do you mean not that much? I'm right here. They've been through, they've been through some of the worst stuff ever. And then there's 10 levels of shit in their West Togas fans on the make you fair enough. I'm sorry. You had you had you had every right say that. Since the West Togas were last in the finals, the Titans have at least been there twice and the bottom one wouldn't spoon in that time. That's true. Yeah, damn, you put it that way. That's fucked, hey, yep. That's really fucked. Yep. Okay, can I ask you a question? And I hate bagging the tiger's, I don't, because I don't want to make you upset because you're my friend, right? Well, that's what I say to my people when they talk to your people anyway. Yeah, that's what I mean, my guys have been told to say that in turn. Yeah, yeah, I say look, if you say

1:15:46telling that he's my friend, you know, I think it's legally obligated in our contracts as well. Yeah, we have a friendly disposition with one another. Yeah, but I don't like, I don't like bag in your team. And it's hard because they deserve bagging, right? So that's why it's so I say that before I ask this question. If you woke up tomorrow and it said the West tigers were moving somewhere else, how would you feel about it? I generally we can care because you know, I live in another state to my team. So I don't get the same play anyway. So the whole tribal, you know, geographical thing doesn't apply to me. Okay, so I'm like, no, I couldn't give you shit. I mean, what is their home now? Yeah, yeah, good point. Yeah, they do. They will play a record number of games at Campbelltown next year's CX. Yeah, um, yeah, um, it doesn't really impact me a great deal, but I can see how some people would get a bit upset. Yeah, um, this stage, I'm too much of a,

1:16:54you know, rational thinking person when it comes to the teams and where they should be located. And there's still in my mind too many teams in Sydney. Yeah. And I've said it before, like if, if ever any in our team, does matter which one it is, if any team in Sydney struggles that has to fold, they'll let it fold and they won't replace them with another team in Sydney. They'll just go perfect. That's a bit more space in Sydney. That's all we need. Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if the other one was just waiting for one of the teams this in need to just get to that point and they just go, we're not helping you. We're just going to let, we're just going to let evolution take this course. That's what, what will be will be a sea. I don't know that you could fold in the current. You shouldn't climb it with the NRL Payne like they're going to be hand in NRL clubs 20 million bucks a year, like even if that's all you have to work on, you have no sponsors around it, you still shouldn't fold, you know. That's right. But yeah, teams will try. That's like

1:17:57it's funny that we get to this point. Like even with this rooted the health and RRL is in, we still get to a point with certain clubs where you got a question and like the sharks are another one, there's been a lot of talk about their situation with the stadium and how they couldn't play finals games at home and stuff like that. And then the West Tiger has been the West Tigers and then like, you know, the Gold Coast has never really worked for God knows what reason. And it's weird that it keeps coming back to certain clubs and it's, it sucks. Yeah, I guess it does. Yeah, I'd say I for war. You know, with the geographic situation, like Penrath have obviously played at Paramount for the last two years. I know Panthers fans have fucking hated it. Panthers fans can't wait to get back to Penrath 40 stadium. I actually haven't attended a Panthers game since I've been at Paramount of stadium. I just, and people will blow up about it,

1:19:01I don't care. I just am not interested in all of the travel and the parking situation and all that shit. Well, I mean also because you absolutely just despise everything to do a Paramount as well. Well, there is that. Do you know I probably have all of the stadiums I've been to in my life. Paramount of stadium is definitely the number two stadium I've attended with that question. And some of my favorite times going to the footies have been Paramount of stadium with enough. So, so it's just interesting because like when you said you don't have that tribal thing and it made me instantly think about the Panthers playing at Paramount of stadium because you could at times in the history of definitely said economically it would have been better for Penrath to play at Paramount of stadium. But me as a Panthers fan just as an individual I fucking hated it and haven't gone.

1:20:02Yeah, and that makes sense. Yeah. Plus you know, it is a Paramount. It's just, it's you know what, it's like it's at least a 40 minute drive for me, right? Going against the traffic. And then you've got to find parking which I fucking hate and it's never the same way a Paramount of a zoo. You're always parking somewhere different and I just hate it. I just didn't want to do it. That's fair. That's fair. That's what that's why when I talk about stadiums and upgrades and stuff. I talk about the whole stadium experience and the first thing I talk about is parking. Yeah, so something we do in Melbourne because the public transport actually works rather well around the football stadiums and nowhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The whole city is basically geared towards fucking AFL working and nothing else outside of it working. Yeah, the brown hot water and the pictures are malls. Yeah.

1:21:07Yeah. Don't get me started. No, no. We could do a whole podcast for an hour about that. I can hear the dead dropping sea bombs again. Did you see what she said about their coffee? Yeah, it was fucking hilarious. Very controversial. Was my goodness. I'm surprised you didn't have the premiere wherever it is near. Yeah, who is it? Oh, some prick. I don't know. I don't know. I've lost interest in the whole politics stuff. All I know is that they get their information and their leadership from the great leader. Yeah. I don't know what they do really. Yeah. They've all just started to merge into sound and all the same now. So I just lost interest. Yeah. That's all politicians. They're all just it's like who is it that that comedian that said it's one big party and you're not invited? Who is it? George Carlin. George Carlin. Well, he's pretty much right.

1:22:10Yes. In other news, Formula One has decided that in 2027, they're going to start racing everywhere and the season will never end. 2020 is the last season of F1 and it will go on for an eternity. Yeah, perpetual season. I'm really looking forward to it. If there's one thing I'm looking forward to the most, it's the oversaturation of the product and being able to look forward to a sprint race at Monaco. Oh, fuck me. If there's anything that I that I want to see more that a bunch of cars going in a race and not overtaking each other and the race finishes in the same order that they started is getting to see that twice at the same racetrack in the same weekend. I'm so fucking keen for this. Especially when you consider like, oh, but what about the first lap chaos of Monaco? It's like, okay, so you want to be a winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, right? Okay.

1:23:15So what are you going to do in the sprint race? Are you going to fucking go off or are you going to be the most cautious prick ever? That's right. You take the you take the inside line up the first corner and then you win the race. Yeah. You don't overtake. You don't do anything. No, you just single file it. Yeah. There's only one line to race. Did you watch that race last week at Madrid? Yes. I don't think anything in Formula One has ever made me as angry as that disgusting track. Brand new straight out the box and there was four overtakes in the whole race. It was a disgraceful dog shit of a fucking race. Yeah. You know what the crazy thing is is that the racetrack when you'll look at it, it's designed to just completely destroy cars and in the in the the F2 and F3, there was cars crushing everywhere and red flags everywhere. And the first thing I thought was when you've got the most elite drivers in the competition and

1:24:20Lance Stroll, there's a fair chance that they're going to be very cautious and not make all those mistakes and then we're going to end up with a race that is a procession. And other than the you know, yo-yoing because of people pressing the button on their dash to deploy factory power, fake overtakes, other than that that ability, the opportunities to pass on that track were also very slim. I don't know why they make these street circuits and they make them narrow and then put all these 90 degree turns in there because it kind of kills it any chance they've haven't overtaken. Yeah. And there's only one line you can take through every part of the track. Yeah. And like the other end of that, like you've got the apex of the corner, you've got a hard turn right? But then across the track you've got a wall that you go into if you go wide. Yes. So that's just literally single file through that corner.

1:25:21They have one corner there where it's that exact situation, but the corner then slightly turns back on itself. And like that's like the best corner you could ever create if you wanted to make sure cars did not overtake one another. As like it, make that anti-racing corner is that corner. I know. And then it's like, okay, the other anti-racing corner would be if you had a chicane that you had to go through that was so quick and single file and then the other side of that chicane is a wall. So it's like, and they they had like those two turns on the same track. And then it's like, let's in between those corners, let's make a sneaky sort of like track so that you can't actually line up at pass on someone. You can't get a real good slipstream. But let's have make it so that that's parts really, really narrow and have fucking just brick walls

1:26:21either side of it. And they did all of this on the one track in a brand new track. Yeah, it was dreadful and I hope I don't have to see any more races that that track ever again, but sadly we will. Yeah, they said they're going to change the track next year. And I don't know how you do that. Just start again. Yeah, bulldozer. Well, I was saying in the day and early because we talked about it a little bit. Like, I saw heaps of nice parkland there, right? Just concrete. Just fucking tear it out. We don't need any more trees. We're we're going to suffocate anyway. We've all seen in Tostella. The blight's going to get us, right? Yeah. So we don't need organics. So just tear all the trees out, right? And make some really good corners. Get it? Somebody that's ever ever looked at a race ever before in the whole fucking life. Just get them to make the track.

1:27:21That would be a really good thing to do. You know, we've got a few decent tracks. Why don't we just have three races that all the only good tracks we've got? Yeah. In my life. Yeah. Oh, no, no, no, no, sorry. Yeah. Spa. Spa. What would be the other one? The peak? Silversus is not bad. It's fine. All right. I wish we could go back to the no burger ring. I always I always liked races there. Germany does have good race tracks. Yeah. The other one, Hockenheim Ring wasn't too bad either. A bit more technical. I liked Hockenheim when it was the old track. Yeah. I'll be track. The odd layout was much better. Yeah. Do you know they've bulldozed all of that? Oh, no. Yeah. They fucking destroyed it completely. Hi. It's crazy. Well, that's that's what they need to do in Madrid. If they get to fix it, scrap the whole thing and then just rebuild Hockenheim Ring the original one. That'd be awesome.

1:28:21There we go. We fixed it. We fixed it. Yeah. As we do. Yeah. We're really fixers. Hi. Hi. That's that's all we know. But yeah, there's going to be 10 sprint races next year. That's part of the 24-grown Priests. So we're going to basically have 34 races. It's insane. Sprint races in Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Canada, Monaco, Great Britain, Italy, Brazil, Qatar, Abu Dhabi. And there's very much off. It's going to be racing with a tortuant of March until the tortuant of December. It's I mean, some of those ones are going to be great. Some of those sprint races that they've added will be fun, right? But that is a lot of races. This is what happens when you get private equity involved in sport. They take the sport. They make decisions that are not about the sport. And they just it's like a sponge that they ring out. You know, private equity is

1:29:28not interested in sport and competition. They're just very interested in money. And that's why remember there was a few years ago, people were saying private equity for the NRL. I'd be great. Tinged it in you and me. Well, like my God, people is stupid. Don't want that. No, not at all. Do the other thing that gets me about this is why have they not put a sprint race at Austria because Red Bull Ring is just absolutely perfect for a sprint race weekend. Yeah. As you and me were talking, we did have a really great our long podcast after last week's episode about Formula One. It was magnificent. Some of the best points we've ever made ever in 600 and something episodes and we didn't record it. Austria, the perfect modern day track for the modern day car. Yeah, 100%. The less not have a sprint race there. Let's have one in fucking monocard. Let's put in my car. We now can overtake each other. Yeah, that'd be great.

1:30:29Fucking amazing. And then the put them at long tracks as well with Japan, a Silverstone. I don't know. It feels weird having a sprint sprint. It looks like something you do over a short distance and you go flat out and then we put on long tracks. Yeah. Yeah. I get where you're made by that. It's it's kind of weird. You know, I don't understand. I think Canada will be fun. That should be all right. I even think Australia will work. The Australian track needs some changes too. It does. It's good. Some nice turns. It's not too bad. Like there's a lot of other tracks on here that are much worse. But yeah, everyone can be improved. I would like to see. It's not really as you can, but you know, down the back the back end of the course and you've got it's a very wide S is almost. Yep. I would like to see those that area tightened up because I think you would get a the hard stop into that corner and then you'd get

1:31:35the cars having to regain traction coming out of it and you could get some overtaken maybe coming out of that corner there. As it is right now, it's just a single fall basically through there. Yeah, that's not very cool. I can agree with that. Maybe straighten up the line coming into that so that's not so much of a curve. Yep. That could work. That's what that's one change. Old makes straight off the back. Yeah. Yeah. More F1 than the Rizanna Rol next year. Kind of crazy. It is. It's fucking nuts. Can we get you to an F1 race next year? Have you seen the prices? I was talking about that tonight. It's fucking hell. Ridiculous. I am. It's nuts. Yeah. See, no. Unless I get absolutely flooded with with Patreon. Yeah.

1:32:36Patreon subscribers. Which I can't say happened. That's the prices are nuts. Yeah. Yeah. $700 just on RISE day. Now because there's a sprint race on, it's going to be $700 on two of the days. Look, I was looking at Pant, this season tickets for next year. Because we'll be back at Pant and Reth and I'll become a real fan again. And for really good tickets, premium black tickets, it's $600 for the whole season. Imagine paying $700 for a die. Yeah. That's pretty. The value difference and we'll both love F1. Yeah. The value difference is not comparable. No, there's no way at the current rate that I would spend a single cent on going to anything F1. What could you, what would be a single day event that costs $700 that you would be like, okay, I'm going to do that.

1:33:41Yeah. Just the tick. I'm talking just get you in the gate is the price. I can't. I miss this. I'm a bit of a tie-dass. I don't know. Yeah. I'm struggling to think of something that I'd be like, oh yeah, that. It's got to be something that I would very, very keen on having to see. Mm-hmm. That would be very rare. Probably a six hour lecture from Tony Collins. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Tony, I just want you to know Tony, one would be a five and a half hour lecture by you. I just let you know Tony. I don't mind if you record that over an entire year in Little Spurts and just put some video on. I just watched it at the cinema. No, you make your call. It was six hours. I was only five and a half hours. I don't, I don't believe Tony that you need to do a whole six hours, Tony.

1:34:42For me, you just have to do five and a half hours. What if I'm trying to sign? What if Tony wants to do six hours? Now you're now you're under money. Now hold your horses, Andrew. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. That's funny. You know what? I would spend, I don't even know how much the tickets are after the rainfall, but if say somebody said to me, Grandfinger, Penderist, in a Grandfinal, 700 bucks and it is like in a, there's some sort of box, some sort of really good box where it's like you get food and everything. I'd spend that. But then you get to go and party with the team. I don't even need that. See, that's the thing. I don't, I'm not interested in any of that stuff. So when like you get your season tickets, it'll be like, oh, there's fan days and meet greats and stuff. I don't know why I think it's, I may be weird in this sense, but I don't really

1:35:45have any interest in any of that. Yeah, I don't know. I still wouldn't spend 700 bucks on anything where it'd be like related. What, what, what, what would it be? I wouldn't be asking. Other than Tony Collins. And yeah, yeah, make, make an appornment, work six hours, fear he's tied, far out of Andrew. He'd love it. He fucking will. Yeah, I bet you could say you could be like, you could sit down, he'd have nothing, right, nothing prepared, right? Sit down, say Tony, tell me about the lacing of the old leather foibles. And they did just start him. That'd just be how you start him. It'd just be down it down the track. And like, you know, seven and a half hours later, you're like, Tony, I got places to be met because he could still be talking about. Woody stuff that is, he's just great. I don't know. I wouldn't be going anywhere. You just be sitting. So if you've got time spare, Tony, I'll just dish out another 700 bucks,

1:36:47you can just keep going. It's like putting putting, putting the meter, putting the money in the meter again. Yeah, just feed it some more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. That that that permeate for me. Yeah. That'd be it. What about, what about a 700 bucks to go somewhere in the world? Would you spend 700 bucks to be like just the fly? Um, okay. You got some places to be more on daya. Southern France. Oh, really? What Southern France? Well, you know, that's where the rugby league is and the the whole war history there in the resistance. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be where I'd go. 700 bucks. I would really like to see Monaco, not even Journal Grand Prix weekend, just to walk around it, just to see what it's like. That's fair. You know what I want to do?

1:37:50This is going to sound really dumb, right? I want to go to Monaco and go to McDonald's in Monaco. Right. I want to eat fast food in Monaco, like the base level fast food in Monaco. People be like, why it's Monaco? It's like, yeah, because it's Monaco. It's full of rich people everywhere who would never get stuff. Yeah. I want to be like, I want to go into like it's just rich people for our isn't stuff and just going into a place and be like, I have a big Mac meal, double quarter pound of place and just be eating crap in Monaco. Where, how close would the closest back is being a Monaco though? I've looked it up. No way. Is there anyone there? I believe there's McDonald's in Monaco, but there's only one. That does surprise me. Yeah. It'll be no one near the track though, wouldn't it? No, I think it's like kind of on the outskirts. Yeah, it pushes as far as possible. Yeah. Yeah. You mean you crap food over there. What a fucking weird thing to want to do,

1:38:54hey, I want to go to Monaco not during a race weekend to need a big Mac. I get that. I bet the big maximum Monaco is so good though. I mean, that's basically just a flip of what you can't really do. You live in the west of suburbs where you drive around the Mercedes. It's just less fucking boats parked really. That's right. It's like you go, you walk along the river and the peen river and you're like, there's just less less yachts. I mean, Freaky's so rich that even though Pairer doesn't have any actual water, he built his own boat just to put his boats in there. Dude, if I was rich, right, I would literally have a moat. We've talked about this. I think the podcast. I'd have a compound. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually looking up. I was looking up, there's a place in Pairer if it's closed now. It's called Notre Dame. And it used to be this rich guy and he had a private zoo. And eventually it got shut down because the animals weren't alive.

1:39:57When it was healthier, they should have been okay. They were old animals. I'm not going to bag the dude, right? But this place, I went on a school excursion there once and I must have been really, really young. But I remember going there and being like, this guy's a fucking gang star. This guy's a baller. This is amazing. And I was I was thinking about it this week and I was like, man, if I was rich, I would buy that place. And it was for sale for seven and a half million bucks in 2019, which if you are better, it's worth way more now. I don't know if it's sold in 2019. But man, if I and I would turn it into like basically Australia's version of the Playboy Mansion. But at the same time, I would build the compound wall around it. And yeah, I would do some weed shit. That's going to have to be the title for the episode I think. I would do some weed

1:41:00shit. If I was rich, I would do some weed shit. Yeah, that's the title. And then you can listen all the way to have she can listen. Yeah, yeah, she can listen to two hours of podcast to get to this point. And just go, is that it? It's like, fuck. Pricks got me again. Yeah. Yeah. Ah, all right. So was there any emails? No emails, which is all right. But what's wrong with you people? If people want to send us an email, it's podcast at leakfreak.com. Podcast at leakfreak.com. Get into it, people. Make sure you check us out on the socials as well. That'd be great. Comments and stuff like that. You know, send us comments in the YouTube thing. We promise we'll read them sometimes. Let's do YouTube comments next week. We can do that. Yeah, because we'll be leading up to the prelims. And it's going to be interesting. Very exciting part of the year.

1:42:04And then we're going to do we're going to do a live episode for the Dali hymns. Don't we talk about that every year? We've done it a couple of years. I don't know. The Dali hymns are so fucking boring now. Do you find them more boring than they've ever been? A little bit. Yeah. That's right. We could fix it. Fix everything else. It would have been way more fun to do a live episode of the West Tigers awards. What if we can find that and just do it anyway? That'd be fucking funny, huh? Clubman of the year. Adam Dewey. And then nominees are. Is there a list of who won their awards? We should look at that. I think there is. Oh, fine. That list. I hope you won Clubman of the year. That would be so funny. He didn't. Ah, damn it. Does it have a list on here? Here we go. The winners are

1:43:0622-26 West Tigers award winners. The big medal went to Alex Twil. And the NRW play of the year went to Racine McGregor. The players play of the award went to Kaurasaire. The NRW plays play of the show event. The rookie of the year went to Makacini. And the NRW rookie of the year went to Nemo Gessa. And the Wayne Pierce community award winner was Jock Madden. Jock Madden, man. Let's hope they play Jock Madden next year. That'd be nice. Yeah, it'd be good to have a half back. Yeah, it would be, hi. I reckon, I reckon after 131 years of rugby league, I think we've worked out, you need a half back, huh? It certainly helps. The data leans in that direction. Yeah. It genuinely does. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, the data leans that way. And it has done for quite a long time.

1:44:08Like even beyond the NRW era. Yeah. I mean, rugby league before them, they were just like a bunch of decades running around kicking around. They're allowed to footage just all garbos. Yeah. I mean, they went on a football, but they're just doing it on the street. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In a paddock. Yeah. In fact, I don't think there's even any footage from them. No, didn't have it. So no one couldn't refute any of this. There was no documented. Anything. No, no one even recorded their names. No, no, who cares? It's only fucking nine years of the game to history. Who gives a fuck? That's right. It doesn't matter. It relevant. No. It relevant. Boy, well, shall we put a bow on this one? Let's do it. I love our fucking therapy shits sessions. Fucking great, aren't they? They're so good. They're getting they're getting more and more frequent too, which is interesting. All right. Well, thanks for tuning in. Make sure you check us out on all of our socials. We're on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace.

1:45:11Getting in touch with us. Send us an email about any old thing you want. Doesn't have to be fully. We keep saying that all the time. No, you do as email's about fully, but send us something about anything. We'll yap about it. That's what we know how to do. When it's time to scale your business, it's time for Shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want, like all the way. Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your chitching from every channel, write in one spot, and turn real-time reporting into big time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today. Whether you meal prep or meal panic, Instacart's new shopping assistant Clementine is here to help. Now you can generate a recipe in seconds. Add everything you need to make it to your cart and have it delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. Plus, you can plan a menu for any occasion. Get meal ideas for the week and reorder your faves with just a few taps. That way,

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