The Sharks will be coached by Shane Glass, with Ralph Saunders the manager. For the first time they’ll field a team in the women’s competition while they’ll also have two junior teams.

Ralph was the guest this week on Friday Sport Talk, where he spoke about the challenge of playing knockout football, which he described as ‘fast and furious.’

More than 60 teams will be involved and it is a knockout in the truest sense of the word – teams that are beaten are out, there’s no second chance.

Biripi made the quarter-final last year where they were beaten by eventual winners, the formidable Redfern All Blacks (RAB), the favourites for next weekend.

Ralph remains confident Biripi will again be competitive. The knockout will be played at Leichhardt Oval, with matches starting Saturday.