Shane Parrish (Dieter Brummer), although, off-screen the pair became best friends. Their storyline began in 1992 when Tug frames Shane for a burglary and he vows to get revenge. Their feud was still prominent in 1993 when Tug discovers that Shane is planning to kiss his love interest Sarah Thompson (Laura Vasquez). In the book Home and Away – Official Collector’s Edition, Andrea Black wrote that Tug is left "absolutely furious" by Shane's actions. But noted that it was all a ploy on Shane's behalf and Sarah did, in fact, love him. In 2008, Bancks said that some of his favourite scenes featured Brummer and their character's on-screen rivalry crossed over into real life. But Bancks said that he and Brummer approached their own in "more of a joking way". Inside Soap's Oliver wrote that Tug and Shane were always involved in battles but Bancks and Brummer were a "formidable pair" on the "teen scene" appearing on magazine covers alongside one another as a result of the storyline. Relationship with Sarah Thompson Tug had long been portrayed as having an interest in Sarah. Bancks told a reporter from Look-in that Tug "took a liking to her the moment he saw her, and he was really surprised that she liked him too. It's not often someone breaks through Tug's tough exterior like Sarah has." Vasquez added that Sarah immediately thought that Tug was "cute" and "she liked the way he treated her too. He was a known troublemaker but she saw the softer side of him." As Tug and Sarah's relationship progressed they share a kiss. The scenes were Vasquez's first to involve kissing and she felt "really nervous" but it turned out to be "really easy". The on-screen duo would soon be engaged in many "snogging scenes", but their first kiss was filmed during the Australian school holidays. Vasquez told BIG!'s Lisa Anthony that filming the embrace proved "quite nerve-racking" due to an entire "circle of school kids" surrounding them. Already feeling nervous, an audience made the actors feel worse during the shoot. It was a "nightmare situation" for Bancks who had found it strange to kiss in front of "seven hundred thousand people". Tug fans were already hassling Bancks having sensed a kiss with Sarah was imminent. Tug and Sarah get engaged but after an argument, Sarah hands Tug the engagement ring back. Vasquez felt that it happened because