Paul Gallen may have the most intimidating boxing record amongst his Cronulla Sharks teammates – but he’s not the best wrestler in the black, white and blue.

2018 recruit Josh Dugan has revealed how he stole the crown off the Sharks co-captain on The Halfcast Podcast, run by UFC fighters – and Sporting News regulars – Tyson Pedro and Tai Tuivasa.

The scene: Cronulla, pre-season. Several of Cronulla’s stars have the week off. Sharks prop Andrew Fifita takes it from here.

“Some of the boys had a trial match, but Gal had just had a baby and we made it into a little wet the head and went out for lunch,” Fifita said. “It was meant to be lunch and then it went into the night.”

“Gal was our best wrestler in the club; I don’t know how it came up but Duges…”

“The boys were geeing me up, asking why I came to the club and I was like, ‘I want to win a comp,’ and they’re like, ‘No you don’t. You’re just here for the money,’” Dugan interjected. “I just started getting that gee’d up and wild. Eventually, I said, ‘righto; let’s go. You’ll probably beat me in a fight, Gal, but I’ll wrestle your head off.’”





And so some of Cronulla’s biggest names found themselves at the top of Cronulla park, right above South Cronulla beach.

“We’re at the top of the hill and the beach is down the bottom,” Fifita said. “The guys started at the top and we were all like, ‘shhh shhh’ because it was night time and there were people around. We were huddling around as they made their way down the hill. It was like watching the Lion King, how they just wrestled and fell on top of each other all the way down the hill.”

MORE: Tai Tuivasa explains why he had to give up rugby league for fighting

And then it happened. The passing of the guard.

“I ended up getting him in an arm bar and just said, ‘Bro, you know I’ve got you. Tap,’” Dugan said

Fifita remembers it differently.

“’I’m going to break your arm!’ And then Gal was all, ‘I’m not tapping!”

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After a brief conversation on the logistics of who would tell coach Shane Flanagan should the co-captain’s arm be snapped by Cronulla’s high-profile recruit, it was all over.

“The boys are in the background yelling, ‘snap it,’" Dugan said. “Wadeo [Sharks co-captain Wade Graham] bet his whole house on Gal. You owe me your house, mate.”

“Gal keeps trying to get a rematch, but I’m doing a Conor McGregor: I’m retiring.”

Tasty stuff. You can catch the full episode, including what it would cost for Fifita to touch gloves with his twin brother (or anyone, really), when it lands on the boys’ Youtube page on Tuesday.

While you wait, check out Tai and Tyson at home, for their first podcast with Sporting News.