Those words got Sharks forward Andrew Fifita in a spot of bother earlier this year – it’s not like they were made on a podcast made to be shared online or anything.

The wisdom of the time and place notwithstanding, it says a lot about the big prop’s mentality, and that of the Sharks. It’s what’s made them successful.

For Fifita, it seems absolutely essential. The more people hate, the better he plays. If you look at most of his best performances, and he’s produced a few, they’ve always come when he’s been challenged.

He was almost universally acknowledged as the best player on the park in the Sharks breakthrough grand final win in 2016.

Many thought the fact he wasn’t wearing the Clive Churchill Medal on the Sharks victory lap was due to his public support of coward-punch killer Kieran Loveridge. 

You could make a compelling argument he’d done enough to deserve prejudicial treatment but, would he have produced the performance without the controversy? Maybe, but it certainly helped. 

It cost him a $20,000 fine, and a Kangaroos jersey that season. Listen to him speak of his Tongan heritage and it’s clear it wasn’t the main reason he turned down a Kangaroos jumper the following season to play for Tonga in the World Cup – but it probably helped.

He copped more flak for that call and the timing of it. His response was to play a key role in Tonga’s imagination-capturing run to the Cup semi-final. 

It was plain as that ‘FKL’ scrawled on his arm two years ago when he delivered epic spray at his own coach’s box in round 23 after scoring a barnstorming try not dissimilar to his grand final match-winner in 2016.

Whether it was aimed at Shane Flanagan or Jim Dymock (as claimed), is largely irrelevant. He was hooked just before halftime for giving away a cheap penalty and was told by someone he wasn’t running hard enough. The response was Fifita all over, angry, menacing, defiant, from the heart not the head.

However you look at it, it came again in response to a challenge. When it comes to the Sharks, it's not just Fifita, he’s just the one who attracts the most controversy. Ever since the ASADA scandal, the Sharks have drawn fuel from hate – real or imagined. 

Paul Gallen’s arguably the most polarising figure in the game, but he’s at his best in a brawl. Matt Moylan’s certainly a softer spoken character, but he did his talking on his return to Penrith in round 18, James Segeyaro to.

And remember Michael Ennis and his viking clap in the face of the Raiders faithful in the 2016 qualifying final in Canberra? It was as good a sledge as we’ve ever seen and he didn’t have to utter a word.

That win was one of the best finals victories you’ll ever see. Could they have done without the hate? again, maybe, but it probably helped. It goes some way to explaining why the Sharks have become a constant thorn in Melbourne’s side in recent seasons. 

The Storm are motivated weekly by absolute dedication to their self-imposed standards. It’s a steadier and more consistent fuel than hate. It’s why they’ve been more consistent than the Sharks the last three seasons.

Hate is a fickle, often fleeting, motivation. It ebbs and flows, as the Sharks form has. Fifita was giving away lazy penalties in round 23 until someone dared tell him he wasn’t running hard enough. You didn’t need to be a lip-reader to make out his response. 

They lost four of five games heading into that memorable finals win in Canberra before being sparked by the vitriol of the Raiders fans. Hate won’t get you up for a season… but it can get you up for a day. The Sharks have had one of those days five of the last seven times they’ve faced the Storm. 

They’re rightfully considered underdogs this weekend. Kickoff formed the opinion midway through the Melbourne-Souths clash in week one that the winner of that match would win the competition.

It’s still the wise money, but the Sharks only need to be up for a day. They’ll be in Melbourne… where every c...t hates them.