'Would be an amazing experience': Sharks coach keen to head to Las Vegas in 2025 06:46

Let's catch up with the Cronulla Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon off the back of their 22-12 win over the Broncos last night. It sees them move to the top of the table again. He's on the line. G'day, Fitzy. Afternoon, gents. How are we? Mate, very well. You'd be pretty happy with that one, I would have thought, beating the Broncos at Suncorp.

Yeah, I thought it was a really strong performance. And probably the most important thing, we were looking for a response for our performances in the weeks previous to that. So I thought we got that. I thought it was a pretty intense game and we controlled most of that. So yeah, there's different ways of winning. And to control a pretty handy Brisbane Broncos outfit, they're hard to hang on to. So I thought we did a good job there.

Yeah, Fitzy, what pleased you most about it? Like the fact that you were down and then you found a way in that second half? Yeah, I thought, to be honest, downing that...

Probably had us a little bit confused at that point with the scoreboard. I actually thought we were doing alright. We were in control of the physical energy of the game. I thought we were making good metres. We did get the points due to they were defending their trial line quite well. And then if you look at how they jagged their points, one caught us on a blown ruck and a kick deflection. So I thought we were actually going alright. The scoreboard suggested otherwise. And then...

Yeah, really pleased in knuckling down, hanging onto the ball, playing our footy and turning them around. And I just thought we had a good physical edge about us last night. I think the game changed a bit when you threw Royce Hunt out there, mate. I thought... And I know on TV, on commentary, they were glowing in their praise of him. His stats were phenomenal. He had 24 minutes, 88 metres, six tackle busts and offload and made 10 tackles. It's a fair effort. Yeah, he's all power, Royce. He's hard to hang on to and...

You know, we've sort of... Our interchange guys have been playing pretty strongly the last few weeks. I mean, Jack Williams goes under the radar. Big Tooks, he's only 22, Big Tooks, and he's been playing strongly for us as well. And we have been using Sifu there a little bit as well, but we put Tommy back there as well. So I thought all those guys definitely shifted energy, but none more so than Royce's...

Yeah, he got on it. Just got him on just at the right time. We were starting to get a bit of traction back in the game. And, yeah, he's hard to hold. See, one thing you're not short of, a front row, is, geez, you've got some there. And they're all pretty handy players. Yeah, yeah, we've worked pretty hard on them. They've been in the club for a long period of time now. Obviously, we brought in Oregon at the start of last year. I think Oregon's starting to find his straps. But we have a...

But we've had a lot of injuries through our forwards throughout the course of the year and still haven't had a real stable line-up in our middles and front row. We've got Toby back into the starting line-up, which was good for us. Toby's an important player for us. We've still got Brad and Ewelly to come back. So, yeah, we've got a good rotation of guys there and you need it, particularly coming into the back end and particularly after this origin period with Cam being disrupted there.

Craig, we know he's had his issues this year and they've been well documented and he's addressing them. But gee, Braden Trinder was good last night. Yeah, he's a good player. Very good player. He's fit.

He did. He got a real painful lesson and it is well documented. But what he can do, he's got a different dimension to his attack, Tricky. And obviously playing with Akko last night, he took most of the control there. But when Tricky's at it, he's got a wonderful kicking game and he really backs his instincts. You just never know when he's going to take

take someone on and he's got that sort of he's got that cheek about him he's a terrific kid but he's learned a painful lesson and we're glad to get him back in and get some consistency back into his 42.

One last one, Fitzy. It relates to Las Vegas next year. Your CEO, Dino Mezzatesta, has been buttering us up on the continuous call team with beautiful food down there at Point Spitz Stadium, the brisket, the Asian Bay Chinese. Oh, the Asian Bay Chinese. The Philly Steak. Philly Steak. Have you been there, Fitzy, by the way? Yeah. How'd you go there? Oh, well, last week, yeah, we got a good inaugural feed. I want to hit the yum cha though. I'll hit the yum cha. LAUGHTER

I could do with a good feed at the moment. Can't go wrong with a good yum char. But Penrith Warriors, Cronulla, Canberra, they're reporting today the four clubs in the box seat to go to Las Vegas. That's obviously something you want to do, Fitzy? Yeah, I think based on what we saw there last year, what a terrific spectacle just for the game in general. And, you know, for us as the Sharks, as you know, we're still waiting for our development and club to reopen. I think to have the opportunity to travel and

and get over there and see something different. I think it would be an amazing experience for the players and the staff to get to come along. So Gisele did a good job of it.

last year. It'd be hard. We were all sitting at home envious last year. I was just thinking about the staff going. How many staff would go there? Who would miss out? Well, I'm hoping the GM, he gets to tell the staff that miss out because I'm not doing it. LAUGHTER

I've got to pick a team and leave players out every week so he can leave the game. Actually, I should ask you about Nico Hines. Obviously, state of origin the other night. How's he pulled up, Fitzy? And in your opinion, does he hold on to his spot for game number two?

Yeah, I don't have an opinion on whether he holds his spot or not due to I just have no control over that. I've got zero input into that. What I would say is I think Nicko's a realist at the moment. I thought he certainly didn't shrink. He had a couple of moments of execution there. I reckon if he had his time again, he would have chose a different kick and

a couple of different plays there, but what I did like about it, he didn't stop going after the game. He got plenty of touches, plenty of involvements and had a crack, but yeah, at that level, you know how important the execution of things is. What I'm really looking forward to today is we've sort of been unsettled with him due to injury and ended

in and out and whatever. He's getting it back, getting some good footy into him. And he's got to get out there for the Sharks and make it undeniable. And there's some pretty good candidates back on the field now. So the ball's in the go squad there. Well, I think I speak on behalf of your supporters and this continuous call team. I know the players are getting some raps at the moment, but I think you deserve a big rap. Making the move from an assistant at the Roosters to head coach at the Sharks is

You're making a good fist of it, and you should be enormously proud of yourself, Fitzy. Keep it up, and we'll hopefully see plenty more wins coming the way of the Sharks and some finals footy in 2024. Appreciate your time, as always. Yeah, no worries, lads. Enjoy your hour. Thanks. Good on you, mate. Craig Fitzgibbon.