# #68 | Jason Ryles

An episode of [Backstage with Cooper & Matty Johns](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1729949087), 19 Oct 2025, 1 h 12 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/d7a60aed-0ec1-4a17-9f87-b248003b7796/35a836f5-6198-4611-9617-b37b00a2ca0d/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=676e8df2-b284-47a4-9fbd-b248003b77ad

Jason Ryles joins Cooper and Matty to chat about his first days as Parramatta coach, Bellamy’s best prank, coaching the game’s greats, and how he’s shaping the Eels’ new era — plus tea parties, BBQs, and plenty of laughs. Subscribe, Watch, and Follow Catch the full episode on YouTube and stay updated by following us on social media: Linktree: Backstage with Cooper & Matty Contact Us For any enquiries, email us at: contact@johnsmedia.com.au 0:00-Intro 3:30-Tea Parties at Joeys 7:00-Craig Bellamy Prank 9:30-First as NRL Coach 16:20-First Day 18:20-Recruits 20:20-Mitch Moses 23:45-De Silva’s Eyebrows 24:45-Coaching 27:30-BBQ at Rylesy’s 29:30-Rugby Union 33:30-English Media 36:45-Affects on Players 42:30-Jason The Monster 44:40-Coaching the GOAT’s 47:30-Favourite Video Session 49:00-Parra’s Happy 51:40-Dylan Brown Situation 55:40-Josh Addo Carr 57:00-Jason Ryles 1:07:00-Melbourne Round 1 1:09:00-Gifts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: I know you're tall, so we'll get that.
[0:02] Speaker 2: This is letting me out.
[0:03] Speaker 3: We're on now, Rosy just letting people know that Cooper's
[0:07] Speaker 3: teaching Rosy the little nuances of the media.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Well, I've seen such a bit.
[0:10] Speaker 1: I've seen some of your press conferences this year, so
[0:13] Speaker 1: I know that you are a fan of getting in
[0:15] Speaker 1: front of the microphone.
[0:16] Speaker 4: No, no, no, kids, is just running me through who
[0:19] Speaker 4: runs the podcast?
[0:20] Speaker 1: Well, first of all, what was a massive kick in
[0:24] Speaker 1: the guts was Rosy said, so whose podcast is this?
[0:28] Speaker 4: Is this?
[0:28] Speaker 1: Yours? Isn't Maddie, which obviously he hasn't listened to a
[0:32] Speaker 1: single episode at all, because my name's on there, is
[0:35] Speaker 1: Roll and obviously Jack is Jack is the brains behind it.
[0:38] Speaker 1: So we're very offended, Rosy. But thanks for coming all
[0:42] Speaker 1: the way up from because that was that's about a
[0:45] Speaker 1: three hour trip.
[0:46] Speaker 4: Forty eight Would you would.
[0:50] Speaker 2: Have putted in the GBS gol what no.
[0:54] Speaker 1: No, Well it's nice because you you know, when I
[0:58] Speaker 1: said to Dad, we were going to have one of
[1:00] Speaker 1: my one of my favorite assistant coaches on who has
[1:03] Speaker 1: had such a massive impact on when I was a player.
[1:06] Speaker 1: Quite seriously, it's it's quite surreal. To have you on,
[1:09] Speaker 1: but obviously Ryan Herecliff couldn't come on, So thanks for
[1:12] Speaker 1: you to feel in Cliff, Ryan Hinchcliffe brother. Yeah that'shin.
[1:16] Speaker 1: She's brother from Wagga. Yeah, he's not not a very
[1:20] Speaker 1: nice person.
[1:21] Speaker 2: But I tear what it is, surreal, Rossie, we're just
[1:26] Speaker 2: talking before.
[1:26] Speaker 3: I mean, your father or aliment mahon was the first
[1:28] Speaker 3: of the first every coach of the Newcastle Knights. He
[1:32] Speaker 3: was the guy that laid the foundations for the club
[1:34] Speaker 3: and all the success that come after it. Of course
[1:37] Speaker 3: he hasn't got his fingerprints anywhere near what's happened in
[1:39] Speaker 3: the last twenty years.
[1:40] Speaker 2: But but yeah, you got to make.
[1:44] Speaker 4: Made him a couple of times. Yeah, just through functions
[1:46] Speaker 4: in that. But I don't know I was going to
[1:48] Speaker 4: marry his daughter. Yeah he thought different.
[1:54] Speaker 2: No, he's it made he was.
[1:56] Speaker 3: He was a great, great coach and made he you know,
[1:59] Speaker 3: you think about it and you get a great appreciation
[2:02] Speaker 3: for this. Now when the nice first coming to the
[2:04] Speaker 3: comp that first year, their total expenditure on players was
[2:07] Speaker 3: ninety thousand dollars, you know, and so Maca went right up.
[2:10] Speaker 3: What I got to do is I'm going to train,
[2:12] Speaker 3: train them hard set really high standards and yeah, but
[2:18] Speaker 3: second third year made the finals on an honestly shoe
[2:23] Speaker 3: string budget.
[2:23] Speaker 4: So Atlanta's mum, Glennas gave me his coaching notes and
[2:27] Speaker 4: you go through them and you don't read them all
[2:29] Speaker 4: at once, but it's just over time, and it's just
[2:31] Speaker 4: funny how it's all so similar still, like all the
[2:34] Speaker 4: principles of what was important and still important now. So yeah,
[2:39] Speaker 4: it's a pretty good read, like if you're into your
[2:42] Speaker 4: foot and that sort of thing you're coaching. But yeah,
[2:44] Speaker 4: just get a little bit more time now to get
[2:46] Speaker 4: a bit more detailed with things. But at the heart
[2:49] Speaker 4: of it, at the core of it, it's pretty similar
[2:50] Speaker 4: in regards to all the principles and that so even
[2:53] Speaker 4: the same calls in when I came through Steelers, they
[2:58] Speaker 4: were still using them. Yeah, it was Yeah, I.
[3:02] Speaker 3: Tell you what, he'll carry it. He could carry a
[3:04] Speaker 3: big stick if he wasn't happy about something. I remember
[3:07] Speaker 3: one day because we were playing, we played, we were
[3:10] Speaker 3: playing twenty ones and then you sit on the bench
[3:12] Speaker 3: for reserve grade roles.
[3:13] Speaker 2: He remember back in those days.
[3:14] Speaker 3: And he was the first grade coach of course, but
[3:16] Speaker 3: they signed a player from rugby Union, who initially was
[3:21] Speaker 3: really struggling, really struggled, and that year he sort of
[3:25] Speaker 3: up and down and they they're playing Senators, played him
[3:27] Speaker 3: wing in this last game of the year. They said, yeah,
[3:31] Speaker 3: there's nothing came the finals put him at fullback. Well
[3:34] Speaker 3: in the first half he had had a SHOCKO right.
[3:37] Speaker 3: So Macca walks into the dressing room and David Waite,
[3:40] Speaker 3: who's the preserve grade coach, is addressing the team blah
[3:42] Speaker 3: blah blah, and Maka went up, put his hand on
[3:45] Speaker 3: Wade his shoulder and step away for a second. And
[3:48] Speaker 3: when I said, I'll give you the benefit of the
[3:50] Speaker 3: doubt for six months, you're a scrace, You're a I'll
[3:55] Speaker 3: give you the choice now to stay at this club
[3:57] Speaker 3: or go straight and make the Blake stay and played
[4:01] Speaker 3: in the next two seasons.
[4:02] Speaker 2: Was outstanding?
[4:04] Speaker 1: Did you too, like this is sorry not to do
[4:07] Speaker 1: with that story, but was there ever a crossover with
[4:09] Speaker 1: you two playing with her against each other?
[4:12] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[4:12] Speaker 1: Or you knocked him out? Was that like at a bar?
[4:17] Speaker 2: Now we played you were playing the playing the Sharks.
[4:20] Speaker 3: I ran the ball up and I stepped and stumbled
[4:23] Speaker 3: and Rosey hit me with his shoulder straight in the head.
[4:27] Speaker 4: It wasn't.
[4:28] Speaker 3: It wasn't the sort of knockout where you get carried off.
[4:30] Speaker 3: You just get stunned for a couple of minutes.
[4:32] Speaker 1: So only that the one one game against each other.
[4:35] Speaker 4: Yeah, I do remember the Shark Park one.
[4:38] Speaker 2: That was the second one. First one we played at
[4:40] Speaker 2: Sydney Football stadied the second one because.
[4:42] Speaker 1: You played more with Joey.
[4:44] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah that was a bit more more, more of
[4:47] Speaker 4: the rep stuff and that.
[4:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, nasty things to you Joey on the field.
[4:51] Speaker 4: Uh No, No, he was good. He was very encouraging
[4:53] Speaker 4: because he knew we needed our help we got forward.
[4:59] Speaker 4: If we didn't, then yeah, he was very encouraging. Did
[5:03] Speaker 4: you room together in Origin across from each other? So
[5:06] Speaker 4: I'd room with Bedsy. There are a couple of times yeah,
[5:09] Speaker 4: and then yeah his Royal Highness was across from us.
[5:14] Speaker 2: Oh your majesty Well.
[5:15] Speaker 4: Because yeah it was good value because it was always
[5:17] Speaker 4: good chat and him and Beds he got on real
[5:19] Speaker 4: well and he'd come in for a chat and I'd
[5:20] Speaker 4: just sit and listen.
[5:21] Speaker 3: So whatever he used to get there, and that's right
[5:25] Speaker 3: times up in Origin camp. He's had your fund for
[5:27] Speaker 3: a couple of days now no more boost to the
[5:29] Speaker 3: to the game. So Joey would walk around with a
[5:31] Speaker 3: tea cup and it just be full spirits.
[5:34] Speaker 1: Yeah, wasn't it. Wasn't there a thing like come to
[5:36] Speaker 1: my room for a tea party.
[5:37] Speaker 4: Tea parties in Joey's room.
[5:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, and everybody have robes on.
[5:40] Speaker 4: Yeah, Joey had a robe on. He had a notebook
[5:44] Speaker 4: and a pen. But I'm not sure that was false.
[5:48] Speaker 3: Youtubekes repart of a g up on a coach which
[5:54] Speaker 3: mate almost turned out.
[5:56] Speaker 1: So do you remember that one refreshment? Okay, so it
[6:01] Speaker 1: was oh yeah, right, you just reminded me that. So
[6:04] Speaker 1: remember in COVID with belly ache. So remember how you
[6:08] Speaker 1: used to have to put You used to have to
[6:13] Speaker 1: put into it app every day, like where you've been
[6:16] Speaker 1: if you've left the house, and belly egg one day
[6:18] Speaker 1: put in that he went to Woolies. Remember he was
[6:21] Speaker 1: wigging out, going why did I put that in? Someone's
[6:23] Speaker 1: going to ring me. Someone's going to ring me about it,
[6:25] Speaker 1: and then you go, coops, you should ring him as
[6:27] Speaker 1: a COVID officer. But remember we were planning on playing
[6:30] Speaker 1: it in front of the whole team, but it just
[6:32] Speaker 1: got it got too dark.
[6:36] Speaker 4: For the room.
[6:37] Speaker 1: Course, tell me, tell me, tell me the vocal Okay,
[6:41] Speaker 1: So it was I pretended to be like the COVID bubble,
[6:46] Speaker 1: like the leader, and I was ringing him and I
[6:47] Speaker 1: was just like, mate, just want a couple of questions understood.
[6:49] Speaker 1: You went to Woolies yesterday And he was like, yeah, yeah,
[6:52] Speaker 1: it was that. And I said, oh, you know, you
[6:54] Speaker 1: understand it. You're not supposed to be leaving the bubble
[6:57] Speaker 1: like sort of hinted that he might have to isolate
[6:59] Speaker 1: and ship and then he sort of he went a
[7:01] Speaker 1: bit dark and was like, you know, I'm not my
[7:05] Speaker 1: partner at the house. She hasn't been well, so she
[7:07] Speaker 1: I couldn't leave it, like she couldn't go to Willis.
[7:10] Speaker 1: And I'm going sitting there and Paul Mamroofsky he's filming
[7:13] Speaker 1: it for me, and I'm going I'm looking at the
[7:15] Speaker 1: camera and I'm going, what do I do? What started
[7:20] Speaker 1: as like a lighthearted prank is now venturing into like
[7:24] Speaker 1: territory where if he finds out it's me like, he's
[7:28] Speaker 1: probably gonna hate me. You told him, yeah, you told him,
[7:32] Speaker 1: but he's no.
[7:34] Speaker 4: I think I asked, did you get the call, and
[7:36] Speaker 4: he goes, yeah, got the call, and yeah, that's right. Yeah,
[7:41] Speaker 4: And I actually told him that it was a JA.
[7:44] Speaker 1: But yeah, you told but you told him it was
[7:46] Speaker 1: you told him it was me because you come up
[7:48] Speaker 1: and you said, I thought it was funny, Like, wait
[7:50] Speaker 1: until he comes up and speaks to you about it.
[7:52] Speaker 1: Never did. And I remember all year I was going like,
[7:58] Speaker 1: is he like planning for revenge? Is he holding this
[8:01] Speaker 1: against me? Like what's going to happen from this? Thank
[8:04] Speaker 1: God he didn't.
[8:05] Speaker 4: I don't think stuff like that. Phes genuine like he's
[8:09] Speaker 4: just like that happened, and he's been pranked that many
[8:13] Speaker 4: times and trying to do stuff to him as because
[8:16] Speaker 4: they obviously like him, you know, yeah, and then he
[8:19] Speaker 4: just like whatever.
[8:21] Speaker 3: Still one of the great Brandon and the Rocks.
[8:28] Speaker 1: She just never realized. He's too proud to like to
[8:31] Speaker 1: even let it known that it was heavy. We carried
[8:36] Speaker 1: it up the ste Do you get done by a
[8:41] Speaker 1: bit of pranks by the way, Yeah, yeah, Hopey started
[8:44] Speaker 1: to do a little bit.
[8:46] Speaker 4: Jamaine how Good, Yeah, Jermaine hot Wood. But yeah, I'm
[8:49] Speaker 4: sure it's coming. The more they get comforted have enjoyed
[8:52] Speaker 4: the first year Yeah, it's been good. It's been an experience. Obviously,
[9:00] Speaker 4: I think because I spent twelve years of just watching
[9:04] Speaker 4: head coaches, it was probably a good grounding for me.
[9:07] Speaker 4: But yeah, I think the biggest thing that I learned
[9:10] Speaker 4: out of it was probably the recruitment and retentions super
[9:14] Speaker 4: important and to get that done as early as possible,
[9:17] Speaker 4: and having someone like Brownie there was it's been He's
[9:22] Speaker 4: been through five times, so's he's been a really good
[9:25] Speaker 4: sounding board for me. And we've got a really good
[9:27] Speaker 4: crew there in regards to recruitment and GM and that
[9:30] Speaker 4: sort of thing who's been a really good support as well.
[9:32] Speaker 4: So but yeah, it's a good experience. At first, it
[9:36] Speaker 4: was a bit bumpy and that sort of thing, probably
[9:37] Speaker 4: a bit more bumpy than I expected, but you know,
[9:41] Speaker 4: we got through it. Yeah.
[9:43] Speaker 3: You know, it's funny, role is. I don't know many
[9:46] Speaker 3: new coaches who had to endure as much as you
[9:49] Speaker 3: did to walk in there, and you had to make
[9:51] Speaker 3: some tough calls on fan favorites like GAFA, and you're
[9:54] Speaker 3: bringing young guys through your losing guys. On top of that,
[9:57] Speaker 3: you have the Dylan Brown situation, bubbl Way Mitchell sitting
[10:01] Speaker 3: on the sidelines, unsure when he's going to return, but
[10:04] Speaker 3: you've got you know, you know, you had your team
[10:07] Speaker 3: starting the season with confidence a lowe from what's happened
[10:09] Speaker 3: the year before, but you've got it all out the way.
[10:12] Speaker 3: It was almost like you've been able to clear the decks,
[10:16] Speaker 3: and then midyear things just started to turn around.
[10:19] Speaker 4: Yeah. So I think the best piece of advice I
[10:21] Speaker 4: got along the way was if we're going to get
[10:25] Speaker 4: this change down, we've got to do it quick, and
[10:27] Speaker 4: it's got to be you know, as you get the
[10:30] Speaker 4: first years. Basically, let's get it done as quick as
[10:33] Speaker 4: we can. And then that way, all the you know,
[10:36] Speaker 4: all the little bits with the tactical stuff was a
[10:40] Speaker 4: fair bit different for these guys as well, and you know,
[10:43] Speaker 4: we had that was a lot of change in that
[10:44] Speaker 4: regard as well, like tactically so, and then the recruitment
[10:48] Speaker 4: stuff on top of it was sort of you know,
[10:50] Speaker 4: bubbling away, like you said, So we just got it
[10:52] Speaker 4: done as quick as we could and then, you know,
[10:55] Speaker 4: and then we started to see these younger kids get
[10:57] Speaker 4: their experience in first grade and then they started to
[11:00] Speaker 4: prove and yeah, so it's something that you wouldn't have
[11:02] Speaker 4: seen in the past in regards to the footy stuff,
[11:06] Speaker 4: but for these boys, it was really different.
[11:08] Speaker 1: It's one of those things where it's like it gets
[11:10] Speaker 1: worse before it gets better, and it's one of those
[11:12] Speaker 1: you've got to it's hard for you because you know
[11:14] Speaker 1: it works, so you've got to push it and push
[11:17] Speaker 1: it and almost make them believe like it's going to
[11:19] Speaker 1: come good. You just need to be consistently.
[11:21] Speaker 4: Yeah, and in fairness to the group, they've super compliant,
[11:25] Speaker 4: probably too much a little bit at times, but you know,
[11:28] Speaker 4: I can't fault them for that. And they you know,
[11:31] Speaker 4: they bought into absolutely everything. Mitchell and Junior Hoppy, Jack Williams,
[11:35] Speaker 4: those guys they really supported me and drove it as well,
[11:38] Speaker 4: so because they'd kind of seen a little bit of
[11:40] Speaker 4: stuff at other clubs as well. So it's yeah, without
[11:45] Speaker 4: their support, it would have been probably even more difficult.
[11:48] Speaker 1: Is there anything that like, because you've you've been an
[11:50] Speaker 1: assistant and a couple of really good clubs under good coaches,
[11:53] Speaker 1: is there anything that you prepared for that when you
[11:58] Speaker 1: went into that head coaching role you were like, holy shit,
[12:00] Speaker 1: this is like next level kind or was there anything
[12:04] Speaker 1: that really surprised you about it.
[12:05] Speaker 4: Yeah, probably the importance of the recruitment and the attention,
[12:09] Speaker 4: like that's something you take a little bit for granted
[12:11] Speaker 4: as a as an assistant, and how much you've got
[12:14] Speaker 4: to get involved in it and you've got to have
[12:17] Speaker 4: some input into it, and whilst it's happening behind the
[12:19] Speaker 4: scenes and your coach and the footy team, there's there's
[12:22] Speaker 4: a lot of that going on, the conversations and that
[12:24] Speaker 4: type of thing. The other part of it, I reckon
[12:27] Speaker 4: and I've got to be careful sometimes because I'm quite
[12:30] Speaker 4: you know, have a bit of fun and that sort
[12:32] Speaker 4: of thing. But your words are powerful as a as
[12:35] Speaker 4: a head coach, So what you say, You've got to
[12:37] Speaker 4: just be really careful with how you frame it up
[12:39] Speaker 4: and that type of thing at times, and just check
[12:42] Speaker 4: yourself that you're not the assistant anymore. Yeah, just that
[12:46] Speaker 4: type of thing. So yeah, that's what That's probably the
[12:49] Speaker 4: two things that sit out a little bit. But in
[12:53] Speaker 4: saying that, sorry, in saying that these because I'd sat
[12:57] Speaker 4: there for so long and watched Craig and watched it
[12:59] Speaker 4: like you probably didn't he doesn't know. But Europe just
[13:03] Speaker 4: in time the whole time you're just watching and you're analyzing,
[13:06] Speaker 4: and you're thinking what would I do there? And then
[13:08] Speaker 4: you see Robbo's way of doing things and it's a
[13:11] Speaker 4: little bit different to Craig, but at at the fundamental
[13:14] Speaker 4: level it's the same, you know, so with the management
[13:16] Speaker 4: and then obviously and he's got another way of doing
[13:18] Speaker 4: things as well. So I've got a really good grounding
[13:20] Speaker 4: in regards to seeing some elite coaches do things a
[13:25] Speaker 4: different way but then get the same outcome.
[13:28] Speaker 3: How hard is it, Rosie, And how much sort of
[13:32] Speaker 3: initial back last year you get because it's proven now
[13:35] Speaker 3: that you had a decision make you had YOUNGI there
[13:39] Speaker 3: who was just coming through like no one anticipated, no
[13:42] Speaker 3: one really knew him, but you obviously knew what he
[13:45] Speaker 3: was all about. And having to not pay top dollar
[13:48] Speaker 3: for Gutha and having to let him go, Like, what
[13:51] Speaker 3: was the reaction initially like amongst community and fans and
[13:56] Speaker 3: the club.
[13:58] Speaker 4: I think the initial reaction was pretty emotional because he'd
[14:03] Speaker 4: done so much for the club, and but for me,
[14:07] Speaker 4: because I don't have any social media, I don't sort
[14:10] Speaker 4: of follow the news too much, I didn't really see
[14:14] Speaker 4: the reaction, to be honest with you, I just knew
[14:17] Speaker 4: that as long as we did the right thing by
[14:19] Speaker 4: Clinton and whoever else was sort of looking to you
[14:23] Speaker 4: possibly give another opportunity another club, and because of the
[14:27] Speaker 4: way it happened, Clint got another two years really good money.
[14:31] Speaker 4: So it was kind of like, you can't knock that
[14:34] Speaker 4: back because you're going to still be playing fullback and
[14:37] Speaker 4: I can't guarantee what position you're going to be playing.
[14:39] Speaker 4: I'll try and map it out as best I can,
[14:41] Speaker 4: but you know, the opportunity was good for both sides,
[14:44] Speaker 4: so therefore it sort of worked for us internally. But yeah,
[14:49] Speaker 4: but for me as long as as long as Clint
[14:52] Speaker 4: and his family were okay with it, and it was
[14:54] Speaker 4: really clear and I was open and honest with how
[14:57] Speaker 4: we're going to go through it. And in fantasy him,
[15:00] Speaker 4: he was really good. Yeah, I can see why he's
[15:03] Speaker 4: such a well liked fella.
[15:04] Speaker 3: And it's been like it has been when when the
[15:09] Speaker 3: young fellows come through for you, blas and doing really
[15:11] Speaker 3: good as giving you guys a fresh start, I must say,
[15:14] Speaker 3: as revitalized too. He was their best player this.
[15:16] Speaker 4: Year, player of the years. Yeah, and there wasn't anything
[15:20] Speaker 4: in regards to that. He couldn't play. It was more
[15:23] Speaker 4: I was looking to go in a little bit of
[15:24] Speaker 4: a different direction and it sort of works.
[15:26] Speaker 2: So yeah, but what what was your first day like?
[15:30] Speaker 3: Because you talk about your first day as a player,
[15:34] Speaker 3: for your first day you walk into a rep camp,
[15:35] Speaker 3: it was.
[15:36] Speaker 2: Like your first day school. What's it like first day
[15:38] Speaker 2: as principal?
[15:43] Speaker 4: The first day when I went in, I was sort
[15:45] Speaker 4: of earning into paral leagues the first few times. But
[15:48] Speaker 4: the actual first day was okay. It wasn't anything that
[15:53] Speaker 4: I didn't expect because Belli and that will go away
[15:56] Speaker 4: a fair bit, and then Robbo left me with the
[15:58] Speaker 4: first part of a pre season with King as well,
[16:00] Speaker 4: so I had a little bit of experience what the
[16:02] Speaker 4: first day was going to be like in that regard,
[16:04] Speaker 4: and I have tried to keep it as normal as possible.
[16:07] Speaker 4: These are the standards and this is how we're going
[16:09] Speaker 4: to do things, and then off we go and then
[16:11] Speaker 4: we'll learn along the way. So but but I wasn't inside.
[16:16] Speaker 4: I was yeah, it was like the duck, you know, like.
[16:21] Speaker 1: Did you know many of the players apart from coaching
[16:24] Speaker 1: against them, but there any plays in a relationship.
[16:25] Speaker 4: With no not off the top of my head, but
[16:29] Speaker 4: I spoke to them. I touch base with all of
[16:32] Speaker 4: them and made sure I spoke to them. But I
[16:34] Speaker 4: didn't actually know the.
[16:35] Speaker 1: Part from Fox obviously when the Fox come over.
[16:37] Speaker 4: The Fox was a little bit later. Yeah yeah, so
[16:41] Speaker 4: but yeah, no not really, so it was it was
[16:44] Speaker 4: all new for everyone.
[16:45] Speaker 1: So yeah, that's hard. And then you spoke about the
[16:48] Speaker 1: assistant being an assistant. How you have such a close
[16:52] Speaker 1: relationship with the players. You almost have as an assistant,
[16:55] Speaker 1: letting people know who don't like know this. You can
[16:58] Speaker 1: have a relationship where you're going to the pub with
[17:00] Speaker 1: the boys after a hard session, like you're actually you're
[17:03] Speaker 1: you're almost the link between the head coach and the players.
[17:06] Speaker 1: So you've been an assistant for so many years and
[17:09] Speaker 1: had such a good relationship with the boys. Like how
[17:13] Speaker 1: tough is that to pull yourself up when you know
[17:15] Speaker 1: you start having a good time with the boys.
[17:17] Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, So, like I find it pretty easy now,
[17:21] Speaker 4: Like because I was ready to do it, it wasn't
[17:24] Speaker 4: It wasn't fast for me, So yeah, I don't. I
[17:28] Speaker 4: don't find it too bad. The only thing is, like
[17:30] Speaker 4: I said before, just being careful that I don't get
[17:33] Speaker 4: caught up in too much banto because some of the
[17:35] Speaker 4: stuff they say, I find it funny and I just go.
[17:40] Speaker 4: But I let them go, you know, like it it's
[17:42] Speaker 4: their environment.
[17:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, we've had a couple of year recruits here, veteran
[17:46] Speaker 3: recruits we had. We've had josh Hada Car and we
[17:49] Speaker 3: had Dylan Walker. You know, if you've taught about recruitment
[17:52] Speaker 3: and retention, then you've done a fantastic job there. I
[17:56] Speaker 3: think it's Fox's best every year. I've seen him play,
[17:58] Speaker 3: not so much first try and bet you just see
[18:01] Speaker 3: how much he enjoyed the leadership and Dylan Walker. You know,
[18:04] Speaker 3: I've got a question here, I say, was there a
[18:06] Speaker 3: point that you felt things turn around? From a layman
[18:10] Speaker 3: watching on the box, I felt everything turned around the
[18:13] Speaker 3: moment you put Dylan Walker on that on the field
[18:15] Speaker 3: that day, start operating through the middle.
[18:17] Speaker 4: Yeah, the first ten minutes. I was going to say,
[18:19] Speaker 4: but you beat me to it, but yeah, he's footy
[18:23] Speaker 4: IQ and his experience. I know his experience would be
[18:27] Speaker 4: good for us, and i'd seen him play, but I
[18:29] Speaker 4: didn't realize, you know, the effect that you have on
[18:32] Speaker 4: our team straight away, and we were really missing that
[18:35] Speaker 4: in the middle third of the field, especially with Mitchell
[18:37] Speaker 4: not playing early doors and yeah, so he and the
[18:42] Speaker 4: other part of it is like his leadership, he's not
[18:45] Speaker 4: He's not I want to be in the leadership type group.
[18:47] Speaker 4: He's like your backbone guy. He's you're seven out of
[18:51] Speaker 4: ten everywhere, you know what you're going to get. He
[18:52] Speaker 4: helps the younger blokes, he's you know, in all the
[18:55] Speaker 4: contact sessions. He's quite good at that stuff too.
[18:57] Speaker 3: So I was really impressed play football like you a
[19:01] Speaker 3: student of the game. That's I don't know. I wasn't
[19:04] Speaker 3: sure what he was like.
[19:05] Speaker 2: I was probably to watch the way he played mainly
[19:09] Speaker 2: in different clubs.
[19:10] Speaker 1: Well.
[19:10] Speaker 3: Actually mag used to bring him over as a young
[19:12] Speaker 3: Blake will Luke here in that and essentially he was
[19:15] Speaker 3: his powerhouse runner. So you know, a lot of times
[19:18] Speaker 3: those players have more of a simplistic view on the game.
[19:21] Speaker 3: But he really impressed me here.
[19:23] Speaker 4: He was a six as a kid, I think, so
[19:25] Speaker 4: that's what he played coming through. So I've learned, you know,
[19:30] Speaker 4: in regards to how to control that middle third of
[19:32] Speaker 4: the field. And he works really well with Brownie and
[19:34] Speaker 4: Wise in that as well. So and obviously him and
[19:36] Speaker 4: Mitchell have a really good relationship in regards to that
[19:39] Speaker 4: as well. So it's it was a really good fit
[19:41] Speaker 4: for us. And another year ago.
[19:45] Speaker 2: Your half pace going good.
[19:46] Speaker 3: Mate, Like you know, if you're talking, he doesn't get
[19:50] Speaker 3: mentioned who's the best player in the game a lot
[19:52] Speaker 3: of times. He'll get to mention here and there. But
[19:54] Speaker 3: know he like Nathan. But I'll tell what made his
[19:57] Speaker 3: He's gone neck and neck with Nathan this year. He's
[20:01] Speaker 3: he's been fantastic Mitchell.
[20:02] Speaker 4: Yeah, he's he's a competitor, he's you know, he's obviously
[20:06] Speaker 4: got really high footy IQ and I think there's still
[20:08] Speaker 4: a little bit left in his game in regards to
[20:12] Speaker 4: like next year, we want to try and evolve our
[20:14] Speaker 4: middle third of the field in regards to our playing
[20:17] Speaker 4: off nine and those combinations at the halves and the
[20:20] Speaker 4: fullback out through the middle of the field. So you know,
[20:23] Speaker 4: I think his game will go to another little bit
[20:25] Speaker 4: of a level in regards to having that string to
[20:29] Speaker 4: his bow. And then I think as a kid he
[20:31] Speaker 4: was a really natural support player, but it kind of
[20:34] Speaker 4: you kind of didn't hasn't done that for a few years,
[20:36] Speaker 4: and that's something that we're trying to encourage him to do.
[20:39] Speaker 4: As well. It's just that I think you've seen in
[20:42] Speaker 4: the Nights game early in that the third try I
[20:44] Speaker 4: think it was the break was made on the left,
[20:47] Speaker 4: Mitchell come from the right support scored the try, so
[20:49] Speaker 4: we had it. We're just trying to brand in that.
[20:51] Speaker 4: I've been trying to encourage him to do that year,
[20:53] Speaker 4: just like we need to score more ad lib tries
[20:55] Speaker 4: in regards to instead of just trying to manufacture anything.
[20:59] Speaker 3: So that's that's a hard thing that for half that
[21:02] Speaker 3: that's almost compartmentalizing to gain right, I'm going to steer
[21:05] Speaker 3: the side and push around the part at the same
[21:07] Speaker 3: time going to play in front foot.
[21:08] Speaker 4: Yeah, and just being really clear with if you get
[21:11] Speaker 4: tackled on play for will work it out. Yeah, you
[21:14] Speaker 4: know what I mean. There's times where you really need
[21:16] Speaker 4: to set up for your kick, but then there's other
[21:18] Speaker 4: times we're going you keep going.
[21:20] Speaker 1: Well, he started as Mitch was a fullback, like initially
[21:24] Speaker 1: in twenties, I believe, so I think that's where a
[21:26] Speaker 1: lot of his running game and support play came from.
[21:28] Speaker 1: And then obviously he shifted to seven where probably all of
[21:32] Speaker 1: his communication and stuff. He fell into a habit of
[21:35] Speaker 1: losing that part of his game because he had to
[21:37] Speaker 1: focus so much and other stuff.
[21:38] Speaker 4: I think it was him and Brooks came through.
[21:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I remember there was games. There's some highlights
[21:43] Speaker 1: him watching a YouTube back in the day when he's
[21:45] Speaker 1: in twenties. He's scoring like Hunter tries kick return at
[21:48] Speaker 1: full back because he's running game. He's that quick, quick
[21:53] Speaker 1: as half out there.
[21:54] Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, we're pretty cool. But he's underestimated with
[21:58] Speaker 4: his defense as well, just his movements and his decisions
[22:02] Speaker 4: and his ability to lock that edge down.
[22:04] Speaker 3: So he's strong personality. He's a challenging much not so
[22:09] Speaker 3: much challenge, But does he come to you and want more.
[22:12] Speaker 4: Or I've said this openly to him and I reckon,
[22:16] Speaker 4: I've got him at a good time of his career.
[22:18] Speaker 4: He's ready, like he wants to win everything. Like, so
[22:20] Speaker 4: he comes in and he wins the toss and it's like,
[22:22] Speaker 4: I got him. It's I love it. I absolutely love it,
[22:26] Speaker 4: and me and Jeniu sort of have a bit of
[22:29] Speaker 4: a giggle about it, but it's yeah, I think I've
[22:31] Speaker 4: got him at a good stage. He's got kids now,
[22:33] Speaker 4: he's got a lovely wife at home. He's got a
[22:36] Speaker 4: nice family, he's building, it's all that sort of thing.
[22:38] Speaker 4: So he's much more settled, and I think, yeah, I
[22:42] Speaker 4: think he's willing to do whatever it takes to help
[22:45] Speaker 4: us win, and that you know, that means helping the
[22:47] Speaker 4: young kids and obviously gives him a tickle up every
[22:51] Speaker 4: now and then. But compared to what we had coming through, that's.
[22:59] Speaker 1: Spray.
[23:00] Speaker 4: Yeah, but he's yeah, he's ready to to help us do.
[23:05] Speaker 1: Now, this this has nothing to do with coaching, Rosie,
[23:07] Speaker 1: but you've just sparked my memory on and I want
[23:10] Speaker 1: to ask you about it. Talon to Silver's eyebrows. Are
[23:13] Speaker 1: they the most manicure? Are they the most well kept
[23:15] Speaker 1: eyebrows that you've ever seen?
[23:17] Speaker 4: I think they're well cared.
[23:19] Speaker 2: Brazilian is Portuguese?
[23:22] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[23:23] Speaker 1: Is he Portuguese?
[23:24] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[23:25] Speaker 1: Well they are unbelievable. I saw a picture of him.
[23:27] Speaker 4: The other day.
[23:28] Speaker 1: Portuguese people, No, no, the food from Portugal is great, but
[23:32] Speaker 1: the eyebrows to food Portuguese chicken.
[23:35] Speaker 2: Let's look, come on, name is the Portuguese dish?
[23:40] Speaker 1: Portuguese chicken is.
[23:42] Speaker 2: Chicken, but it's like it's but it's chicken. What's a dish?
[23:47] Speaker 1: Come on?
[23:49] Speaker 5: Pela, Yeah, the wolves ross Portuguese great food a porthos
[24:01] Speaker 5: not Portuguese food, mate.
[24:03] Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry, Rosie. When you're an assister goach, did you
[24:07] Speaker 1: ever want to be a head coach or did this
[24:10] Speaker 1: just kind of happen the more you did it?
[24:13] Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, my first ever coaching experience was head killed
[24:18] Speaker 4: captain coach at West in Wollongong.
[24:20] Speaker 3: So yeah, that's a good breed around that club.
[24:25] Speaker 4: Good. Yeah. Yeah. So then the second year I was
[24:30] Speaker 4: going to solely coach and then we got short and
[24:32] Speaker 4: then I played a few games, but yeah, I had
[24:34] Speaker 4: that experience and that's probably the hardest thing I've ever done,
[24:37] Speaker 4: Like captain coaching really from the front row. Yeah, at
[24:40] Speaker 4: a stage of your life where food is good, but
[24:44] Speaker 4: you're sort of getting this bug of coaching and then
[24:46] Speaker 4: you're trying to manage the players. But then you go ship,
[24:48] Speaker 4: I've got to play well as well, So yeah, like
[24:51] Speaker 4: it's one of the hardest. As a half back, I
[24:53] Speaker 4: reckon it'd be, it'd be fun. Yeah, playing in the
[24:55] Speaker 4: front was actually really hard. So extension a little bit.
[24:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, ye two that age role playing in the local competition,
[25:04] Speaker 3: which some games can.
[25:04] Speaker 2: Be catch and kill. At that point your career you
[25:07] Speaker 2: must have been waking up.
[25:10] Speaker 4: A little bit a little bit. Yeah, I've never said
[25:12] Speaker 4: that a little bit, but yeah, But then that's how
[25:17] Speaker 4: the bug sort of came with coaching. So that was
[25:18] Speaker 4: kind of my first experience. But then when I went
[25:20] Speaker 4: down to Melbourne the like after two years, went down
[25:25] Speaker 4: there and was an assistant. I was really happy to
[25:28] Speaker 4: do that as long as I could, you know. And
[25:30] Speaker 4: then just over time you kind of start thinking about
[25:33] Speaker 4: because I was pretty hungry for PD like just getting out,
[25:35] Speaker 4: and that's how I sort of met up with Eddie
[25:38] Speaker 4: and through Dean Bent and he sort of hooked me
[25:41] Speaker 4: up with Eddie, and then I went over there and
[25:43] Speaker 4: then I seen a little bit of that and then
[25:46] Speaker 4: and then you start to think, you know what I mean,
[25:48] Speaker 4: And then yeah, so that's.
[25:50] Speaker 1: How it sort of So how did Melbourne come about that?
[25:53] Speaker 1: How did was that a comment like did you just
[25:55] Speaker 1: reach out to Belly and say I want to be
[25:58] Speaker 1: an assistant coach or they look looking for someone at
[26:00] Speaker 1: the time.
[26:01] Speaker 4: Yeah, So what happened was I'd been down there once
[26:03] Speaker 4: or twice just to do a bit of bumper stuff
[26:05] Speaker 4: and a bit of tackle tech and all that sort
[26:06] Speaker 4: of stuff. But and justin Morgan left, I think, and
[26:12] Speaker 4: then there was an opportunity, and then Frank just kind
[26:16] Speaker 4: of rang. I might have rang Frank and yeah, anyway,
[26:19] Speaker 4: so as it goes, and might I spoke to Adam
[26:22] Speaker 4: O'Brien maybe, yeah, because he was our assistant down there.
[26:25] Speaker 4: And then that's how it sort of came. And then
[26:28] Speaker 4: Alana wasn't that keen to go back because she was
[26:32] Speaker 4: just getting settled today and I was just like, I'm going,
[26:36] Speaker 4: I'm new wife. Yeah, so I had to talk her
[26:39] Speaker 4: around and then she came around pretty quick. She's super supportive,
[26:42] Speaker 4: but it's and then that's how.
[26:43] Speaker 1: It come about because that because that crew down there,
[26:47] Speaker 1: like the people always talk about how the playing stuff
[26:51] Speaker 1: and the like the playing group and the clubs so tight,
[26:54] Speaker 1: but the coaching staff down there is so tight too,
[26:57] Speaker 1: same sort of thing. Everyone's no one's from Melbourne, so
[27:00] Speaker 1: the coaching stuff become just as tight as the playing group.
[27:03] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, like it's the same as the playing group.
[27:06] Speaker 4: Like you don't have any other support down there, so
[27:09] Speaker 4: we sort of Lana and I without two little girls,
[27:12] Speaker 4: Like we didn't have any support, so you kind of
[27:15] Speaker 4: relied on the coaching staffs. Wives and anyone involved in
[27:19] Speaker 4: the club, and you and I can't. He was really
[27:22] Speaker 4: good for us as well, So you just get used
[27:25] Speaker 4: to being around each other all the time, where you know,
[27:28] Speaker 4: you struck up these relationships and.
[27:30] Speaker 1: You were always keen like the role. Barbecue at Rosies
[27:34] Speaker 1: became a weekly occurrence for me.
[27:38] Speaker 4: And fifty dollars experience the groceries.
[27:43] Speaker 1: Dead said there was that much meat, but Rolsey would
[27:46] Speaker 1: cook up on the bar. Remember one time.
[27:49] Speaker 4: Would do those skewers. Yeah before for a week. Yeah,
[27:55] Speaker 4: but remember remember.
[27:57] Speaker 2: All I still screaming, I'll met a colon over.
[28:00] Speaker 1: Remember I brought I brought Uncle Joey one night, Remember
[28:04] Speaker 1: that we're still the amount, and he was pretty like
[28:09] Speaker 1: I think he'd had a few leading into the dinner.
[28:14] Speaker 1: Remember we're all sit me, you and Harry. I think
[28:20] Speaker 1: Curtis Scott was there as well. We're sitting there listening
[28:23] Speaker 1: and I don't reckon any of us. Spoke for two hours,
[28:27] Speaker 1: and Joey just spun these stories after stories, and I
[28:30] Speaker 1: remember that they started getting so far fetched that I
[28:36] Speaker 1: think he realized that we were all laughing at how
[28:38] Speaker 1: untrue they were. So then he'd start going like start
[28:41] Speaker 1: calling himself Pinocchio because going remember that, Oh that was
[28:49] Speaker 1: so fun?
[28:50] Speaker 3: What about Rossie gone? English Rugby Union, which culturally, imagine
[28:56] Speaker 3: the side is very very different to National Rugby League Australia.
[29:00] Speaker 3: You've got blokes who have obviously come out of a
[29:03] Speaker 3: high you know, affluent, very affluent families, you know, private schools,
[29:11] Speaker 3: all that stuff. How did you find the culture of
[29:13] Speaker 3: those sides?
[29:14] Speaker 4: Yeah, surprisingly it was very similar to Melbourne. Like even
[29:18] Speaker 4: though yeah they were highly paid boys. They you know
[29:20] Speaker 4: they Prince Harry was in their phone and text and
[29:23] Speaker 4: like that. That's that's how connected they all kind of were. Yeah,
[29:33] Speaker 4: the team had security. We had two security guards full
[29:35] Speaker 4: time just because they're seen as a security threat allegedly apparently.
[29:41] Speaker 2: But yeah, the World cups on.
[29:44] Speaker 4: Yeah. But but in regards to the work ethic, the
[29:48] Speaker 4: diligence in and around their training, how hard they go
[29:51] Speaker 4: training like the union boys, Like I know they from
[29:55] Speaker 4: a league point of view, it's a bit of a
[29:57] Speaker 4: they see it as a in inverted commas softer game. But
[30:00] Speaker 4: it is not one bit at all that they train
[30:03] Speaker 4: those years. Don't get the way they do just through
[30:06] Speaker 4: a couple of things, they go hard.
[30:08] Speaker 1: Mate, in what in what aspect Rossie, because obviously like
[30:11] Speaker 1: NRL is very conditioning based, like that sort of training
[30:14] Speaker 1: is highly intense. You know a lot of long running,
[30:17] Speaker 1: a lot of stuff off the ground. What part of
[30:20] Speaker 1: the English rugby union training is very hard.
[30:23] Speaker 4: The scrum they do live scrums and I think it's
[30:26] Speaker 4: all the rugby. Like I've seen it at the Wallabies
[30:28] Speaker 4: as well, and they did the live scrums and if
[30:31] Speaker 4: you've watched one of them live, like they get up
[30:34] Speaker 4: and they're seeing stars like the front rowers and that.
[30:37] Speaker 4: So that there's that and then just the way Eddie
[30:39] Speaker 4: had them train and it was it was full on
[30:42] Speaker 4: the breakdown. They can test the breakdown physical. I was physical, mate,
[30:47] Speaker 4: And they're huge, big number seven.
[30:49] Speaker 2: Yeah there's a big tong and you had that whole.
[30:54] Speaker 4: Captain now so but yeah, like but they're all big
[30:57] Speaker 4: and and but you you have this perception of them
[31:02] Speaker 4: being the short, fat guy, tall guy. But they all
[31:06] Speaker 4: have a purpose and there's all there's the reason why
[31:09] Speaker 4: they are the shape they are and yeah, but I
[31:11] Speaker 4: think yeah, the way Eddie had them training like that,
[31:14] Speaker 4: they were fit and ready to go and hence the
[31:16] Speaker 4: reason why they only just missed out on.
[31:18] Speaker 3: The World Cup mate Rossie. Just one more. And as
[31:22] Speaker 3: far as English rugby union, the Northern boys who had
[31:25] Speaker 3: the background and rugby league, Owen Farrell, George Ford, how
[31:29] Speaker 3: were they the Northern players compared to the Southern players.
[31:32] Speaker 3: Was so much difference in how they operated.
[31:36] Speaker 4: No, not not as much. It was like they still
[31:39] Speaker 4: all had the same work ethic, Like obviously. One thing
[31:41] Speaker 4: I did notice is of them knew the NRL like
[31:46] Speaker 4: they followed it like we watched the Origins. Everyone more
[31:49] Speaker 4: over there, like it was a big thing and everyone
[31:51] Speaker 4: to get down there and they'd all watch it like
[31:53] Speaker 4: it was a bit of an occasion with the Origin
[31:56] Speaker 4: jersey at the back.
[32:00] Speaker 1: It's about the tea party.
[32:03] Speaker 4: Yeah, so it was, you know, I want and George
[32:08] Speaker 4: that like I think they especially and like he could
[32:11] Speaker 4: have played league easily. I think most of his juniors,
[32:14] Speaker 4: So I'm trying to get him.
[32:17] Speaker 3: Yeah, when he was younger, when we're over there, I
[32:19] Speaker 3: remember he was coming through as a kid, trying to
[32:22] Speaker 3: get him there he's but I imagine media is a
[32:27] Speaker 3: whole another level for English rugby unions havebloid media.
[32:32] Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, so there's that and the biggest thing
[32:35] Speaker 4: I noticed. So the day they open it up for
[32:37] Speaker 4: the media, the captain run, that's when the media is
[32:40] Speaker 4: allowed to set it. It's like from the twenty medle
[32:44] Speaker 4: line to twenty medle line and it's side by side, cameras,
[32:47] Speaker 4: reporters like everything. It is just like it's a whole.
[32:51] Speaker 4: I was like, I remember the first time I seen it,
[32:53] Speaker 4: and I said one of the other coaches, like this
[32:55] Speaker 4: normal time, This is just normal. Wow wow, okay.
[32:59] Speaker 1: Sweet, did you get kind of the cameras much over there?
[33:01] Speaker 4: No, no, no, no.
[33:05] Speaker 3: Took on Eddie over there, but also made a sort
[33:08] Speaker 3: of toilert took on Andy Farrell and he was out
[33:11] Speaker 3: here for the Lions tour.
[33:12] Speaker 2: He was coach. Mate.
[33:13] Speaker 3: They won the series, but mate, he was under it,
[33:16] Speaker 3: you know, he was under attack from the media over
[33:19] Speaker 3: there from bringing one out. Regardless of how much experienced
[33:23] Speaker 3: anyone has got, the quality of the player.
[33:25] Speaker 4: Well, on one copped a bit as well, so hence
[33:27] Speaker 4: the reason he ended up. I think it was a
[33:29] Speaker 4: rassling the French comp Yeah, ended up going there. So
[33:33] Speaker 4: there's a bit more of the story that I don't
[33:35] Speaker 4: know about it, but I think there was a there's
[33:36] Speaker 4: a lot of pressure because he was England captain for
[33:39] Speaker 4: a long time and yeah, because they hadn't won a
[33:41] Speaker 4: World Cup, there was a fair bit gun on there.
[33:44] Speaker 4: But yeah, it's a whole other level. Yeah.
[33:47] Speaker 3: Yeah, Any any players that you looked at that it's
[33:50] Speaker 3: ever gone through your mind as far as recruitment at all, any.
[33:55] Speaker 4: Of the rugby boys, not not really like but there's
[33:58] Speaker 4: obviously ones you'd see like Owen and George and those guys,
[34:01] Speaker 4: And there's like there's a few of the outside backs
[34:06] Speaker 4: that I think could convert over like a Markie Mark, Like, like,
[34:11] Speaker 4: he's actually surprised me at how quickly he's adapted. Like
[34:14] Speaker 4: I knew physically that he was, like I'd seen him
[34:17] Speaker 4: do all the catching and all that sort of thing
[34:18] Speaker 4: at training and that type of thing, but I just
[34:21] Speaker 4: didn't think it would be so defensively, it's so different
[34:26] Speaker 4: for him because he basically works the backfield in rugby,
[34:30] Speaker 4: so it's not a whole heap of defensive decisions or
[34:32] Speaker 4: anything like that. So obviously still got a little bit
[34:34] Speaker 4: of a way to go there. Like the stuff feels
[34:37] Speaker 4: done with the footage freaky.
[34:41] Speaker 3: And you know, like he came on the show and
[34:44] Speaker 3: were assuming So what was the hardest thing as far
[34:49] Speaker 3: as adapting. He said it was the training. He said,
[34:52] Speaker 3: Literally the first day I trained, he said, I passed out.
[34:55] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was that hard.
[34:58] Speaker 1: What about advice versa, Like some of the boys that
[35:00] Speaker 1: you've coached as assistants and as a head coach, having
[35:04] Speaker 1: that rugby union knowledge that you do, which could you
[35:07] Speaker 1: see possibly make a switch the union?
[35:10] Speaker 4: I think the games are so different, like the forwards,
[35:14] Speaker 4: it would be really hard for them to change over.
[35:16] Speaker 4: Of course that the little nuances in their roles, Like
[35:20] Speaker 4: it's it's kind of they get all their reps through
[35:23] Speaker 4: the schools and then like through their school boy careers
[35:26] Speaker 4: and that type of thing, and they get the craft
[35:29] Speaker 4: in it. Like Richie McCaw. I can't imagine he would
[35:32] Speaker 4: have made it in the league, but because he was
[35:34] Speaker 4: so smart and he was so they're technically good at
[35:37] Speaker 4: the breakdown and around the breakdowns, it's a whole nother
[35:41] Speaker 4: beast like and if you're not good in the breakdown,
[35:43] Speaker 4: then the rest of it doesn't matter as much. So
[35:47] Speaker 4: it's that's a whole you know, the whole thing in itself.
[35:52] Speaker 3: Back on the Paramatta boys, and you know, I imagine Yeah,
[35:56] Speaker 3: like when you're a n RL coach and the players
[36:00] Speaker 3: will come from different backgrounds and a lot of those
[36:04] Speaker 3: households they're from, you know, they come from difficult circumstances,
[36:07] Speaker 3: and so they look at the coach. Their coach is
[36:09] Speaker 3: almost like a second father or some in our real kids.
[36:13] Speaker 3: You know, they don't have dads.
[36:14] Speaker 2: You don't have the father.
[36:16] Speaker 3: How you said, you've got to be careful what you
[36:18] Speaker 3: say or any do you find at times if you
[36:22] Speaker 3: have a training week where you're not at your best
[36:27] Speaker 3: that rubs off on the side. Do they pick up
[36:29] Speaker 3: on things like that?
[36:30] Speaker 4: I think they pick up on everything. That's one thing.
[36:33] Speaker 4: And I think you remember as a player, like your
[36:35] Speaker 4: smell bullshit straight away and smell what's happening around. Then
[36:39] Speaker 4: the week of the Rooster's game, I got really sick like,
[36:42] Speaker 4: and I did my best to hide it, and I
[36:44] Speaker 4: probably talked to day three before wise you picked it up. Yeah,
[36:49] Speaker 4: But in saying that, like, I just made sure that
[36:51] Speaker 4: when I got out of the car, if I had
[36:53] Speaker 4: a normal job all day a week and a half off,
[36:55] Speaker 4: you know what I mean. But it was just one
[36:57] Speaker 4: of those times that you just stump up back on
[37:00] Speaker 4: and just make sure that I'm up for them in
[37:04] Speaker 4: front of him in meetings and at training and that
[37:05] Speaker 4: sort of thing, and then get the quadrills into it,
[37:08] Speaker 4: and then crack on certainly that that energy. Man, I'm
[37:12] Speaker 4: a big believer in that. Yeah, like the energy in
[37:14] Speaker 4: regards to the whole environment, not just the footy team,
[37:18] Speaker 4: but the whole environment of the club. And then it
[37:20] Speaker 4: all filters through. So again that's why your words are powerful.
[37:23] Speaker 4: Like just being sarcastic in that time of stuff. I
[37:27] Speaker 4: try to avoid that just because there's truth in jests
[37:30] Speaker 4: and it's going to.
[37:31] Speaker 3: Be careful young blas take literal think there's And I
[37:36] Speaker 3: asked that question because at the back end of the
[37:38] Speaker 3: regular season the Melbourne Storm, it was the week that
[37:42] Speaker 3: Belly had a six hundredth game and there was all
[37:45] Speaker 3: the celebrations, he had a lot of media and anything,
[37:48] Speaker 3: and that week was arguably one of the Storm's worst
[37:52] Speaker 3: performances under Craig's Tanya, and I asked, remember asking Cooper Kronk,
[37:57] Speaker 3: I said, do you think craigile some ways blame himself?
[38:00] Speaker 2: And he said.
[38:01] Speaker 4: Absolutely, yeah, definitely, yeah. Yeah. So it's like for me,
[38:07] Speaker 4: like when we lose or don't perform. Well, I'm always like,
[38:11] Speaker 4: that's on us. I think, yeah, and there's we're the
[38:14] Speaker 4: ones that are preparing the boys to play, and whether
[38:18] Speaker 4: it's tactically or did we get the week wrong with
[38:20] Speaker 4: our messaging or was it the theme or was it
[38:23] Speaker 4: you know, our language in and around the place. So
[38:25] Speaker 4: again where I'm always looking for a little how can
[38:28] Speaker 4: we be better for next week and make sure that
[38:31] Speaker 4: that doesn't happen again?
[38:32] Speaker 1: Do you being coming from being a player assistant into
[38:35] Speaker 1: a head coach You're very good at well, I found
[38:39] Speaker 1: you were very good at Melbourne at being very transparent
[38:42] Speaker 1: and honestly, like a lot of coaches probably try to
[38:45] Speaker 1: go about things in a different way. In their head
[38:47] Speaker 1: they think they might be protecting a player, but in hindsight,
[38:51] Speaker 1: the players, like you said, they smell bullshit, so they
[38:53] Speaker 1: just feel being lied to and stuff. Have you taken
[38:56] Speaker 1: that like it's a different approach to a lot of coaches,
[38:59] Speaker 1: But do you just try to be as just transparent
[39:02] Speaker 1: and honest with your players as possible?
[39:04] Speaker 4: Yeah. One of the biggest things for me honestly builds trust.
[39:07] Speaker 4: So that's and I think it's more in my personality,
[39:11] Speaker 4: Like I wouldn't like, I don't lie to my kids.
[39:13] Speaker 4: I don't like within reason obviously.
[39:15] Speaker 2: But I'll write that down.
[39:17] Speaker 1: I make an art of it.
[39:22] Speaker 2: Am I good looking dad? Yeah sure? My good player?
[39:24] Speaker 2: Yeah right?
[39:29] Speaker 1: A bit harsh, but yeah.
[39:32] Speaker 4: So like I just try and be as honest as
[39:34] Speaker 4: I can with him, and obviously sometimes the brutal honesty
[39:37] Speaker 4: sometimes is and I think it's one thing that Brownie
[39:40] Speaker 4: sort of spoke to me about. He had to learn
[39:42] Speaker 4: that how we were brought up is different to how
[39:46] Speaker 4: these boys are brought up now. So we just got
[39:48] Speaker 4: to make sure that we'll get the message right. But
[39:51] Speaker 4: that's there's no bullshit about it.
[39:52] Speaker 1: So I got to give you at Rosie because I
[39:56] Speaker 1: still have the am of the belief of this. And
[39:58] Speaker 1: I think I said it when I boot a storm,
[40:00] Speaker 1: but I don't reckon I debut was probably as soon
[40:03] Speaker 1: as I do without you being there, because you're an
[40:06] Speaker 1: assistant there and you knew obviously a lot of what
[40:10] Speaker 1: the coaches thought of me where I needed to improve,
[40:12] Speaker 1: and you were very honest and direct with me with like,
[40:15] Speaker 1: this is what they think, this is what you need
[40:17] Speaker 1: to improve, When probably a lot of other coaches wouldn't
[40:21] Speaker 1: come up to someone who's young and say that to him,
[40:23] Speaker 1: and you held me to account every day. I remember,
[40:26] Speaker 1: I like, not that I hated you for it, but
[40:28] Speaker 1: there were some sessions, Rosie where I was going, just
[40:31] Speaker 1: give me your break for one day because the big
[40:34] Speaker 1: thing tackle, Well it was like they wanted to see
[40:38] Speaker 1: me tackling bigger guys.
[40:39] Speaker 4: Yea.
[40:40] Speaker 1: And for six months, Rosie would make me do reps
[40:44] Speaker 1: after every session with Nelson for lice, big guy, Like
[40:49] Speaker 1: after big sessions. You just forced me, even if I
[40:51] Speaker 1: was like, mate, I'm I'm bugger, you go. You got
[40:53] Speaker 1: to do it, like you just got to be consistent
[40:55] Speaker 1: with it, and it ended up paying dividends at the
[40:57] Speaker 1: back end of the year, got to a debut. But
[40:59] Speaker 1: like that sort of stuff is so important for a coach.
[41:03] Speaker 4: Yeah, like for me, like seeing players fulfill their potential
[41:07] Speaker 4: or giving them the chance to try to feel the
[41:10] Speaker 4: potential that they might not be good enough, but I'm
[41:14] Speaker 4: talking I'm not talking about you, but they might be
[41:17] Speaker 4: at the other end, and you know that they are elite,
[41:19] Speaker 4: you know what I mean, So whatever it is, just trying,
[41:22] Speaker 4: like you know, seeing them do that is like very
[41:26] Speaker 4: fulfilling and that's you know, obviously it doesn't happen overnight,
[41:30] Speaker 4: and it takes time, and I'm seeing a lot of
[41:33] Speaker 4: that with our boys now, Like it's you know that
[41:35] Speaker 4: they're slowly starting to get it and understand it, and
[41:39] Speaker 4: you know, those little improved We always talk about continuous improvement,
[41:42] Speaker 4: and that's exactly what we did with you. You know,
[41:45] Speaker 4: just that you're not going to like, there's going to
[41:48] Speaker 4: be days where you don't feel like the doing things,
[41:49] Speaker 4: but you've just got to get the reps in just
[41:51] Speaker 4: so that. Yeah, you know, I think Belli says it
[41:54] Speaker 4: all the time that the best day to do your
[41:56] Speaker 4: extras is when you've had a hard session. Of course,
[42:01] Speaker 4: that's when you don't actually feel like doing it, and
[42:02] Speaker 4: in games you're not going to feel like doing it
[42:04] Speaker 4: at times as well, but you've just got all those
[42:07] Speaker 4: reps in the bank because you've just done it. Like,
[42:09] Speaker 4: I do not feel like it today, but I'm going
[42:11] Speaker 4: to get my twenty reps out and then I'm getting
[42:13] Speaker 4: off the field. So that's something. Yeah.
[42:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, Darmia Rosie was he was a scary man during
[42:19] Speaker 1: that period that that COVID period, remember, because our wrestle
[42:22] Speaker 1: coach John Donahue. He couldn't travel, he couldn't travel to
[42:25] Speaker 1: the COVID bubble because you can only take well, this
[42:30] Speaker 1: is the thing, right, and this is I think this
[42:35] Speaker 1: was a huge reason why we won the camp that
[42:37] Speaker 1: year because JD was very Everyone was very scared of
[42:41] Speaker 1: John Donahue. So when and the sessions when he wasn't there,
[42:44] Speaker 1: probably leading into that year, you could feel the intensity
[42:47] Speaker 1: drop down a little bit, just like a tiny bit,
[42:49] Speaker 1: because people weren't scared as much of him being there.
[42:52] Speaker 1: And then that year you took a hold of those
[42:55] Speaker 1: wrecial sessions and initially, I could let you know, from
[42:58] Speaker 1: a player's point of view, Initially were like, yes, Rosie
[43:01] Speaker 1: is one of the boys, he'll look after us, he
[43:02] Speaker 1: won't do that. But I don't know what happened to
[43:05] Speaker 1: Rosie during that period. He turned into this evil man,
[43:09] Speaker 1: this evil, angry man, and it almost took us, like
[43:13] Speaker 1: to a whole new level of training because I don't
[43:16] Speaker 1: know whether no one expected it.
[43:17] Speaker 4: From him John's instructions or.
[43:19] Speaker 1: Was that his instruction.
[43:21] Speaker 4: He was.
[43:22] Speaker 1: I remember because I was talking, I rang Harry leading this,
[43:25] Speaker 1: I said, what do you remember from the times of Rosie?
[43:27] Speaker 1: And he was like, remember when Rosie was just turned
[43:29] Speaker 1: into like this scary evil human being John two. It was,
[43:34] Speaker 1: But I imagine that must have been hard for you
[43:36] Speaker 1: because it's not like I remember, Jade, that's good times.
[43:46] Speaker 4: Oh that's scary something nothing to camera.
[43:51] Speaker 1: Smith Nah, Smithy had nothing to do with it, absolutely nothing. Actually,
[43:57] Speaker 1: was that hard for you? I mean he played okay
[44:01] Speaker 1: that year. I mean he did miss a few weeks
[44:03] Speaker 1: without ac joint. But was that hard for you? Because
[44:06] Speaker 1: you played Smithy, was your captain, and then you go
[44:08] Speaker 1: into being his assistant coach and then running wrestle sessions
[44:11] Speaker 1: where you've got to be quite hard on the pad
[44:14] Speaker 1: push itself.
[44:15] Speaker 4: Did you notice that he wasn't in all of them?
[44:19] Speaker 4: You guys, I knew where a bread was, but.
[44:23] Speaker 1: He'd be doing goal kicking a.
[44:24] Speaker 3: Lot of the Come on cop, pick it up, Harry,
[44:27] Speaker 3: What are you doing, Cameron perfect?
[44:32] Speaker 1: Is that tough though?
[44:32] Speaker 4: Doing that? Like having to? I still remember my first
[44:36] Speaker 4: meeting at Storm and I was up and Bellier didn't
[44:40] Speaker 4: really give me any guidance on what to show. You
[44:43] Speaker 4: said you show likes his feedback is no feedback is
[44:47] Speaker 4: good feedback? So like and and if if I don't
[44:50] Speaker 4: like it. Then I'll he didn't say nothing after the meeting,
[44:54] Speaker 4: so it must have been okay. But I just remember
[44:56] Speaker 4: seeing Cameron would sit down to the left there, Cooper
[45:00] Speaker 4: be in the back corner, and Bill would kind of
[45:02] Speaker 4: be just in front of her and it was just
[45:04] Speaker 4: eyes on. Now, Coops was actually quite good, like he
[45:07] Speaker 4: was like, you know, try to support you. But the
[45:09] Speaker 4: other two they were just waiting for you to slip.
[45:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, right, come what he got?
[45:15] Speaker 4: Yeah, and then but no like it was but again
[45:18] Speaker 4: that was supportive away from it, but they put you
[45:20] Speaker 4: under the pump in the means. I was so nervous.
[45:22] Speaker 4: But it's a good grounding because you can't. You've got
[45:26] Speaker 4: to make sure you're on top of your work. Yeah,
[45:28] Speaker 4: because you know you've got three blokes in there that
[45:30] Speaker 4: know more than you do about it.
[45:32] Speaker 2: Give an example of that.
[45:33] Speaker 3: When Joey had retired twelve months and I was doing
[45:38] Speaker 3: coaching down Melm doing the attack anyway, Belly said, mate,
[45:41] Speaker 3: would you and Andrew gone through a bit of difficult
[45:44] Speaker 3: time and be like said, mate, next time you come down,
[45:46] Speaker 3: bring him down.
[45:47] Speaker 2: You don't have.
[45:47] Speaker 3: To get up and address the boys. Never taught mate,
[45:50] Speaker 3: I've never seen Joey's so fucking nervous. My life really
[45:53] Speaker 3: got up and he wrote this. He wrote a lot
[45:57] Speaker 3: of his notes and key points on his inside, like
[46:00] Speaker 3: the inside the forearm, so he looked down but made
[46:03] Speaker 3: he was sweating so much beforehand that all the ink
[46:06] Speaker 3: just was leaking and running running off the end of
[46:08] Speaker 3: his fingers.
[46:09] Speaker 1: What yeah, were you there? Were you there?
[46:11] Speaker 4: There would have been before.
[46:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was before Roles.
[46:14] Speaker 3: He was there and everyone was like blown away. Everyone
[46:18] Speaker 3: was like, I can't believe, Like Joey was.
[46:21] Speaker 2: Nervous, hard talking in front of a group.
[46:24] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it is there. And one of Smithy's favorites.
[46:27] Speaker 4: You'd remember when whenever Belly a call one of us
[46:29] Speaker 4: didn't get a word right, He'd just like just be
[46:32] Speaker 4: like this. He turned end of the car and obviously
[46:38] Speaker 4: bell I had just done it for so long. He
[46:40] Speaker 4: just crack on and smith he had sort of do
[46:43] Speaker 4: that and then.
[46:50] Speaker 1: You know you one more time because there's a story
[46:54] Speaker 1: is my favorite, my favorite every moment in a video session,
[46:57] Speaker 1: I reckon. So Belly as got this story worry about
[47:00] Speaker 1: Brett White, which he loves to tell, loves to tell,
[47:04] Speaker 1: and it's essentially the messaging of it is. He's got
[47:08] Speaker 1: all these big stars.
[47:09] Speaker 2: In the room, Cameron Smith.
[47:10] Speaker 1: Cooper, Billy Slater, and they're trying to work out how
[47:14] Speaker 1: to win this game during this tough time where they've
[47:17] Speaker 1: lost a few on the trot and Brett White gets
[47:18] Speaker 1: up and he goes, guys, I don't know much about
[47:21] Speaker 1: rug Billy, but I know it's an easy game when
[47:24] Speaker 1: everyone does their job. Now, Billy has simple game when
[47:28] Speaker 1: everyone does their job. And he has told this relentlessly,
[47:31] Speaker 1: like every year, you get up and tell the same
[47:34] Speaker 1: story to everyone. And Smithy one day, Geeter, I think
[47:39] Speaker 1: it was cheese. Cameron goes cheez in this meeting today
[47:43] Speaker 1: just because we had a bit of a tough period
[47:45] Speaker 1: in preseas. I think we're getting kind of sledge for
[47:48] Speaker 1: dropping a heap of ball. And Brandon just Brandon gets
[47:53] Speaker 1: up randomly in the middle of the session and he goes, Billy,
[47:55] Speaker 1: can I just say something? And he goes, yeah, fucking
[47:57] Speaker 1: go Brittan, and he goes, guys. I don't know much
[48:00] Speaker 1: about rugby league, but I but I know it's a
[48:04] Speaker 1: simple game if everybody does their job.
[48:13] Speaker 4: Oh that is good.
[48:15] Speaker 2: I'll tell you, Rossie with your group to be congratulated.
[48:18] Speaker 3: Was in the high pressure atmosphere a professional sport, professional
[48:23] Speaker 3: rugby league. Jeez, I tear what you blokes? Your your
[48:26] Speaker 3: team looks like they're having a good time. That's a
[48:28] Speaker 3: thing that really like to watch them play.
[48:30] Speaker 2: They played the back end of the year with a
[48:32] Speaker 2: smile on their face.
[48:33] Speaker 1: Like how hard?
[48:34] Speaker 2: What what sort of things you put in place? I
[48:36] Speaker 2: mean in the old.
[48:37] Speaker 3: Days you have the you know, the clown of the
[48:39] Speaker 3: week shirt and all that sort of stuff. What are
[48:41] Speaker 3: the things you bo do alleviate pressure?
[48:43] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I've been asked out a bit and
[48:46] Speaker 4: said we looked happy and do we and like that?
[48:49] Speaker 4: That was training. I just try to keep everything as
[48:53] Speaker 4: consistent as possible, regardless of the result. You know. So
[48:57] Speaker 4: just if we got beat on the weekend and I
[48:59] Speaker 4: didn't change the next week's train and this is the
[49:02] Speaker 4: review day, this is preview, this is you know, this
[49:05] Speaker 4: is what looks the same all the time. That's probably
[49:07] Speaker 4: one thing we did a lot of work on our
[49:11] Speaker 4: We call it power proud, that's our culture, so you know,
[49:13] Speaker 4: proud to wear the jersey, proud of the area, you know,
[49:17] Speaker 4: and then we sort of built it up like that
[49:18] Speaker 4: and then the power of person sits in the middle
[49:20] Speaker 4: and part the three pillars of the power of person,
[49:22] Speaker 4: you bring your culture, So where are you the talent's
[49:26] Speaker 4: Portuguese side, so I want to know about it, Junior
[49:28] Speaker 4: som we want to know about it, so we sort
[49:31] Speaker 4: of encourage that, and then the self leadership and then
[49:35] Speaker 4: the team first action. So the team first was got
[49:38] Speaker 4: to add to it next year, but it's and then
[49:40] Speaker 4: then we had family supporters, fans and members, and then
[49:46] Speaker 4: we had past players learning environment, and then we had
[49:48] Speaker 4: a continuous improvement so that was and then through that
[49:53] Speaker 4: we just had like whilst it was a serious session,
[49:56] Speaker 4: we had a bit of fun with it as well.
[49:58] Speaker 4: And then I just think it transferred onto the field
[50:00] Speaker 4: and then I'm not exactly sure why we look so happy,
[50:06] Speaker 4: but for me, at the end of the day, like
[50:08] Speaker 4: we get our work done, we do all the little
[50:10] Speaker 4: things as well as we can drill down hard on
[50:13] Speaker 4: the fundamentals, but we're playing footy, Go and enjoy yourself,
[50:17] Speaker 4: So that's right. Yeah, yeah, but I think a lot
[50:20] Speaker 4: of that came from the players, to be honest with you. Yeah.
[50:23] Speaker 4: So my philosophy on coaching in general is just create
[50:26] Speaker 4: an environment where we can where all our people can
[50:28] Speaker 4: be the best they can be, not just the players,
[50:30] Speaker 4: the coaches, the staff upstairs and that sort of thing.
[50:33] Speaker 4: So hopefully they continue.
[50:37] Speaker 3: So on the players and you know, you sit there,
[50:41] Speaker 3: you're the coach of the side and you're looking out
[50:43] Speaker 3: for them, but dealing with them individually and their own
[50:47] Speaker 3: challenge and stuff like that. And it was a very
[50:50] Speaker 3: very tough time at the beginning of the year for
[50:52] Speaker 3: all parties. But Dylan Brown the way that he conducted
[50:56] Speaker 3: himself at the back end of the year, where I
[50:58] Speaker 3: would say most players would march out the door or
[51:02] Speaker 3: at least be a destabilizing influence, yet he seemed he
[51:06] Speaker 3: was like completely the opposite.
[51:08] Speaker 4: Yeah, and again back to your point before, Like I
[51:11] Speaker 4: was really open and honest with him through the process
[51:15] Speaker 4: and when he was doing stuff with the Knights and ourselves,
[51:19] Speaker 4: and like we had a six year deal there for him,
[51:22] Speaker 4: like that was you know, he'd already had signed, then
[51:25] Speaker 4: he just had to take up the option and that
[51:27] Speaker 4: sort of thing, and then the nights one come up
[51:29] Speaker 4: and then you know, obviously we sort of worked our
[51:31] Speaker 4: way through that and that was obviously difficult for everyone. Yeah, Yeah,
[51:41] Speaker 4: and again like when he come in every day, Like
[51:44] Speaker 4: there was probably a couple of times there where I
[51:45] Speaker 4: could see like I sort of said to him, like
[51:47] Speaker 4: his eyes would go a bit. But then after once
[51:50] Speaker 4: it was all done and said like we just moved on.
[51:53] Speaker 4: And then sort of came a point June thirty where
[51:56] Speaker 4: I kind of made a decision where I was really
[51:58] Speaker 4: open and honest with him and I was so I
[52:00] Speaker 4: said it before, but just said, look, I don't know
[52:02] Speaker 4: how like you've got the opportunity to go now or that.
[52:07] Speaker 4: The flip side is I want to get moving with
[52:10] Speaker 4: who the next five they could possibly be, And obviously
[52:15] Speaker 4: Dean Hawkins had an opportunity and Joe ash had an
[52:17] Speaker 4: opportunity as well. And they said, I don't play good. Yeah, yeah,
[52:20] Speaker 4: they got better. Yeah, And I just said, I don't
[52:22] Speaker 4: know if you're going to play every game or no games,
[52:26] Speaker 4: or you might play a different edition. And he goes, bro, Sweet,
[52:30] Speaker 4: you just tell me what you want me to do,
[52:31] Speaker 4: and I do it for the team, And I was like, oh, wow, okay, sweet,
[52:36] Speaker 4: I didn't expect that reaction. And yeah, and then he
[52:39] Speaker 4: came in the next day and we cracked on and
[52:41] Speaker 4: then I think I don't have Dina. Well Joash played
[52:44] Speaker 4: there or Dina might have been in the Hearts at
[52:46] Speaker 4: the time when Mitchell had his car. So and yeah,
[52:49] Speaker 4: we cracked on and he played center there for a
[52:50] Speaker 4: little bit and he did not flinch. He didn't say
[52:54] Speaker 4: what am I doing this for? Why am I doing this?
[52:56] Speaker 4: It was just no, you just tell me what you
[52:58] Speaker 4: need me to do.
[52:59] Speaker 2: His final game is through in the six jersey.
[53:01] Speaker 4: That was that.
[53:04] Speaker 2: Like a symbol or a thank you or was it
[53:06] Speaker 2: just through necessity.
[53:07] Speaker 4: I think Brownie sort of said something to me about
[53:11] Speaker 4: a month out. He said, just have a think about this,
[53:14] Speaker 4: and he said it might happen naturally anyway, but just
[53:17] Speaker 4: have a think about it. And as it got closed,
[53:19] Speaker 4: so Joe ash just got surgery on his skatefoard. So
[53:22] Speaker 4: there's you know, we already knew that was coming up.
[53:25] Speaker 4: We were going to try and get it the week
[53:26] Speaker 4: of the last game, just to get on the front
[53:29] Speaker 4: foot with it. But as it turned out, he couldn't
[53:32] Speaker 4: get it till the Monday, so the day after the game.
[53:34] Speaker 4: But I sort of I just got Joe Ash in
[53:36] Speaker 4: and said, mate, this is what I'm going to do. Yep,
[53:39] Speaker 4: this is why it's not a reflection on you. And
[53:41] Speaker 4: then I got Dylan in and he thought I was
[53:42] Speaker 4: joking at first, then yeah, and he said yeah, he
[53:46] Speaker 4: was pumped, like he was genuinely pumped to play six
[53:49] Speaker 4: just for one last time. So again open and honest
[53:52] Speaker 4: with him, and they took it really well. Joe Ash
[53:55] Speaker 4: is a really good kid in regards to I think
[53:57] Speaker 4: if you go back to some of the tries that
[53:59] Speaker 4: were scored through the year, when he's adding I think
[54:00] Speaker 4: it was the most captain man for us this year.
[54:04] Speaker 4: He'd done a heap of him, but he was cheering
[54:07] Speaker 4: like the fans celebrate. It's yeah, like and I think
[54:14] Speaker 4: within a into the question before why the boys enjoying it?
[54:17] Speaker 4: Like obviously we did a lot of work on our
[54:19] Speaker 4: culture and will continue to. But like kids like Joe
[54:22] Speaker 4: Ash and Foxy and you know, like Josh, Josh's bounce
[54:25] Speaker 4: standing for us. Like obviously the footy, you know, we
[54:27] Speaker 4: know all getting with the footy, but I didn't realize
[54:30] Speaker 4: how much his footo IQ wued accelerated. Yeah, and you know,
[54:35] Speaker 4: Sean Russell's improves a lot this year, and fox He's
[54:39] Speaker 4: got a lot to do with that. That's not same.
[54:41] Speaker 4: That's obviously the coach, but fox he's done most of
[54:43] Speaker 4: the work because he's standing next to him. He's coaching
[54:47] Speaker 4: the energy that he brings.
[54:50] Speaker 3: The difference when he came in on the show, like
[54:52] Speaker 3: me even just a year ago, because he bounces in
[54:55] Speaker 3: he can be quite frivolous and yeah, and he was
[54:59] Speaker 3: just really really switched.
[55:00] Speaker 4: On, really clear on where he's at in his life
[55:03] Speaker 4: and he wants to help people, but he also wants
[55:05] Speaker 4: to do the best he can.
[55:06] Speaker 1: So it gets a little bit like like you talk
[55:09] Speaker 1: about going from assistant to a head coach. I think
[55:12] Speaker 1: I see a lot of similarities in when you see
[55:14] Speaker 1: those young players turn into the leaders, like Foxy was
[55:17] Speaker 1: is the exactly perfect example when he come in are
[55:21] Speaker 1: like we know what he was like at Melbourne. He
[55:24] Speaker 1: was he was that, he was the vibe man. He
[55:27] Speaker 1: had all the jokes. He would rarely be serious. But
[55:30] Speaker 1: he has a really good balance now of the joking side,
[55:34] Speaker 1: which obviously brings the locker room together, but that real steady,
[55:38] Speaker 1: serious head on and pulling people up if they need
[55:41] Speaker 1: to be pulled up.
[55:42] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so in meetings and like obviously he's in
[55:44] Speaker 4: our back five and wise. He sort of looks after that,
[55:46] Speaker 4: but he sort of said to him, let the other
[55:50] Speaker 4: boys talk and help them, because he was he knows
[55:53] Speaker 4: the answers to it, like I'll get him in sometimes
[55:56] Speaker 4: and something's happened on the edge, and what do you think?
[55:58] Speaker 4: What do you reckon? He brah like, and then you
[56:01] Speaker 4: got up with the TV and tell me what's going on.
[56:02] Speaker 4: I'm like that makes sense, you know. So and he
[56:08] Speaker 4: encourages the boys to talk, like in his unit meetings,
[56:11] Speaker 4: in his backfire. So he's like, if he wants to
[56:15] Speaker 4: be like, he could be a real positional coach when
[56:19] Speaker 4: he finishes footy.
[56:20] Speaker 2: So that's good.
[56:20] Speaker 1: Were you what were you like as a player?
[56:23] Speaker 2: Rose?
[56:23] Speaker 1: Were you like very yeah, very vocal? Were you very
[56:27] Speaker 1: vocal in video session?
[56:29] Speaker 4: I wasn't very vocal? I was. I was pretty yeah,
[56:32] Speaker 4: like so early on, like I came in and I
[56:36] Speaker 4: was ball at a gate, you know, and then I
[56:38] Speaker 4: hurt my shoulder in the last origin and three and
[56:42] Speaker 4: obviously I lost me front delt and then hold out
[56:45] Speaker 4: didn't work and that was kind of my that was
[56:47] Speaker 4: my weaponar I'm bump. So was never the same player again,
[56:51] Speaker 4: so I had to sort of work out different tools
[56:53] Speaker 4: and different things. But I think I look back on
[56:56] Speaker 4: it and it's kind of helps me with my coaching
[56:58] Speaker 4: as well, because like I don't reckon, I've got the
[57:03] Speaker 4: most out of myself, like and it wasn't because of
[57:06] Speaker 4: the coaching or anything. It was because of myself. And
[57:08] Speaker 4: I didn't really have anyone like you were saying before, mate,
[57:11] Speaker 4: we're going to do twenty tackles before we finished today,
[57:14] Speaker 4: or you know, like I kind of got by on.
[57:16] Speaker 4: I knew I could catch as long as I was
[57:18] Speaker 4: running hard under the ball. I knew I could bend
[57:20] Speaker 4: the line most of the time, you know what I mean.
[57:24] Speaker 4: But I just don't think I've got the most out
[57:26] Speaker 4: of myself, which sort of drives me now to make
[57:28] Speaker 4: sure that the players in our program don't have that experience.
[57:33] Speaker 3: It's funny what watching you, you know, when sometimes you
[57:36] Speaker 3: get a real sense of all the teams in the competition.
[57:39] Speaker 3: And I remember with you Blake's Rosie, My sense of
[57:42] Speaker 3: the Saint Georgia Laura sides you played in was that
[57:45] Speaker 3: there was a lot of pressure. That's the sense I
[57:47] Speaker 3: always got. I almost had a look at you Blakes
[57:49] Speaker 3: and thought myself it doesn't look fun because you had
[57:53] Speaker 3: a club that had very high expectations, a fan you know,
[57:57] Speaker 3: a fan group that were going to come on, you know,
[57:59] Speaker 3: when are we going to in this competition. He just
[58:01] Speaker 3: didn't look like fun. I imagine times would have been,
[58:04] Speaker 3: but it just looked.
[58:04] Speaker 2: Like a lot of pressure.
[58:05] Speaker 4: Yeah, we had a good time away from the field,
[58:08] Speaker 4: but I think, like looking back on it, not thinking
[58:10] Speaker 4: at the time, but looking back on it, Yeah, there
[58:13] Speaker 4: was an enormous way of expectations, especially five and six
[58:17] Speaker 4: and five. Yeah, like whilst the other teams did really
[58:21] Speaker 4: well and Tides one and that sort of thing that
[58:23] Speaker 4: that was an opportunity missed. I think, yeah, I was just.
[58:25] Speaker 2: Super gazz more than anyone.
[58:28] Speaker 3: I saw it with Mark as when he when he
[58:30] Speaker 3: left to go to a start front. I remember that
[58:37] Speaker 3: when he was just about to exit because he was
[58:39] Speaker 3: looking at they were going to take him to Wigan.
[58:41] Speaker 3: But I remember him really being really mate. It was
[58:45] Speaker 3: it looked damaged. Yeah, you know, just all the attention
[58:49] Speaker 3: and all the expectation that sat on his shoulders and
[58:53] Speaker 3: and I suppose that, mate, and that puts you in
[58:56] Speaker 3: good stead. Now the fact that you know, and I
[59:00] Speaker 3: the Paramatta fans got right behind you. But you know
[59:02] Speaker 3: they've been in the last fifteen years looking at the
[59:05] Speaker 3: watchgowing comeboys.
[59:06] Speaker 2: You know, when's it going to happen?
[59:07] Speaker 4: Yeah, well this year is probably. They're very encouraging that
[59:10] Speaker 4: sort of thing and hopefully we can keep continuing that.
[59:12] Speaker 4: But I'm sure there's going to be a stage where
[59:14] Speaker 4: they're going to look down at the clock again and yeah,
[59:16] Speaker 4: but again we're doing that.
[59:18] Speaker 2: As well as yep.
[59:19] Speaker 4: Well there's a period now where we want to keep
[59:23] Speaker 4: getting better and that sort of thing, like I think
[59:25] Speaker 4: Mitchell said it in one of his presses, like he
[59:27] Speaker 4: wants to win and that's kind of the feeling within
[59:30] Speaker 4: the club. But we know that there's going to be
[59:32] Speaker 4: a process to that.
[59:33] Speaker 1: When you look back and you're playing career, what club
[59:36] Speaker 1: do you like? Who do you see yourself as? Is
[59:38] Speaker 1: your main club? Like as your old boy? Who do
[59:40] Speaker 1: you resonate? Mostly because you played mostly with Dragons, you
[59:43] Speaker 1: went over to Catalan as well Roosters and you finished
[59:46] Speaker 1: at Melbourne. When you look back, now, what club is
[59:49] Speaker 1: your heart at as a player?
[59:51] Speaker 4: I wouldn't say my heart anyone more than the other.
[59:56] Speaker 4: Like I came into grade in the end of ninety
[59:59] Speaker 4: seven Dragons till the end of our weight. So that's
[1:00:02] Speaker 4: a big almost a quarter of my life, you know.
[1:00:04] Speaker 4: So you know, there's obviously and it's the local club
[1:00:08] Speaker 4: in the area, like you know with the Knights and
[1:00:10] Speaker 4: that sort of thing. But it's yeah, I just had
[1:00:13] Speaker 4: different experiences at each one of them. You know. I
[1:00:16] Speaker 4: think I was when I was when I look back,
[1:00:19] Speaker 4: and I didn't know it at the time. When I
[1:00:20] Speaker 4: look back on it, I was probably a little bit
[1:00:22] Speaker 4: lost at the Dragons, like just trying to find my
[1:00:24] Speaker 4: identity and where do I fit a work? And then
[1:00:27] Speaker 4: I went to Catalan and then realize that there's a
[1:00:30] Speaker 4: big world out there and no one really cares about
[1:00:32] Speaker 4: the NRL, so there's probably that pressure thing where then
[1:00:35] Speaker 4: I came ended up coming back to where the enjoyment
[1:00:38] Speaker 4: of the foota was great over there because you plan
[1:00:41] Speaker 4: on the weekend, no one speaks English, and you know
[1:00:44] Speaker 4: what I mean.
[1:00:45] Speaker 1: I just clearly jump in, why why did you go
[1:00:47] Speaker 1: from the Dragons go over Super League? And then returned
[1:00:50] Speaker 1: back to the NRAL.
[1:00:51] Speaker 4: Well, I had a couple of years ago. I might
[1:00:52] Speaker 4: have been at three or two years ago, and then
[1:00:54] Speaker 4: Wayne came in and then he sort of moved me on.
[1:00:57] Speaker 4: And I've actually met Wayne fairly recent and I thanked
[1:01:01] Speaker 4: him for moving me because it was one of the
[1:01:02] Speaker 4: best things that's ever happened to me in regards to
[1:01:05] Speaker 4: where I'm at now. I would never be where I'm
[1:01:07] Speaker 4: at now if Wayne didn't move me, So like that's
[1:01:10] Speaker 4: it sort of ties in with my belief of everything
[1:01:13] Speaker 4: happens for a reason. And even at the time, you're like.
[1:01:16] Speaker 3: Yes, you know yourself getting rid of it, Yeah, show him.
[1:01:23] Speaker 4: But at the time I didn't kick stones. And I remember,
[1:01:26] Speaker 4: I think it was probably halfway through the Iran Craig
[1:01:29] Speaker 4: Gang and I and I said to him, I said,
[1:01:32] Speaker 4: he's going to move me, isn't he? And he goes, well, yeah,
[1:01:34] Speaker 4: do you want me to come over and have a chat?
[1:01:37] Speaker 4: I remember sitting on the couch and I said no,
[1:01:40] Speaker 4: but it's fine, made like I get it, like yeah,
[1:01:43] Speaker 4: room with web on a kangaroo tour, and he sort
[1:01:45] Speaker 4: of mentioned along the lines he doesn't like playing his
[1:01:48] Speaker 4: front rowers like a certain amount of money, and I
[1:01:50] Speaker 4: knew I was above that certain amount of money at
[1:01:52] Speaker 4: the time, but again, yeah, I just sort of cracked
[1:01:56] Speaker 4: on with it. And I got the Player of the
[1:01:58] Speaker 4: Year that year because I remember halfway through the I'm
[1:02:01] Speaker 4: going to go. If you move me, I'm going to
[1:02:04] Speaker 4: like I'm going, I'm going for it. And I made
[1:02:07] Speaker 4: sure I was playing the best foot I possibly could
[1:02:09] Speaker 4: because I didn't want to be kicking stones there and
[1:02:11] Speaker 4: because I was getting moved, I'm like, I'm still wearing
[1:02:14] Speaker 4: this jersey. They've given me the opportunity, so I'm going
[1:02:16] Speaker 4: to do my best to finish the year as best
[1:02:18] Speaker 4: I can. And I ended up getting the Player of
[1:02:20] Speaker 4: the Year, which I thought was like a bit of
[1:02:22] Speaker 4: a just a bit of a team first sort of mentality,
[1:02:27] Speaker 4: like I still want to play well.
[1:02:29] Speaker 2: That a little bit.
[1:02:30] Speaker 3: Yeah, by knowing to get moved on, you sort of
[1:02:33] Speaker 3: get there and go well. Being moved on almost the
[1:02:35] Speaker 3: pressure alleviates it. Just it just goes to show it
[1:02:38] Speaker 3: with football, is that when you can remove the pressure
[1:02:42] Speaker 3: which a lot of times most last year you applied
[1:02:44] Speaker 3: to put on yourself.
[1:02:45] Speaker 2: How much how much easier it is?
[1:02:47] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[1:02:47] Speaker 2: How much better for performance?
[1:02:49] Speaker 1: What do you what do you find when you when
[1:02:51] Speaker 1: you come back?
[1:02:52] Speaker 4: Then I ended up at the Roosters in Melbourne. Why
[1:02:55] Speaker 4: did I come back? I too used to go and
[1:02:57] Speaker 4: meet Catalan's one and then just an opportunit only came
[1:03:00] Speaker 4: up back at the Roosters, and I just remember when
[1:03:03] Speaker 4: went there when I was younger, and I'm like, what
[1:03:06] Speaker 4: was intrigued by what the Roosters club? Yeah? Yeah, but
[1:03:10] Speaker 4: then you get in the four walls and it's so
[1:03:13] Speaker 4: supportive and really good people in there, and player eleven
[1:03:18] Speaker 4: hundred the Roosters, you know something. I just remember those they've.
[1:03:22] Speaker 1: Had eleven hundred players ten years ago, a long time.
[1:03:29] Speaker 3: That's pushing one hundred and twenty years. Yeah, because you.
[1:03:33] Speaker 4: Then I got moved from there too, and then that's yeah.
[1:03:38] Speaker 1: Did you leave any club on your own acord roll?
[1:03:42] Speaker 4: And you have that in common Melbourne. I got in first, Frank.
[1:03:46] Speaker 1: We have a chat.
[1:03:47] Speaker 4: Frank.
[1:03:47] Speaker 2: I'm just let you know.
[1:03:48] Speaker 1: And retiring because they used you spoke about that before,
[1:03:53] Speaker 1: that mentality of you know, why me when you're at
[1:03:56] Speaker 1: the Dragons, because you are you're used as a as
[1:03:59] Speaker 1: an example at Melbourne. Obviously you you're in that side
[1:04:04] Speaker 1: that it was a two thousand and twelve, so twenty twelve,
[1:04:08] Speaker 1: you're you played the whole year and then you do
[1:04:10] Speaker 1: your hamstring in the Final. Leading into the Grand Final.
[1:04:14] Speaker 4: I did it round so second last game of the year.
[1:04:18] Speaker 4: Craig had already told me, he said, you have the
[1:04:19] Speaker 4: last week off and then we'll get you ready for finals.
[1:04:22] Speaker 4: So in that second last game, I just felt something
[1:04:24] Speaker 4: in myham. It was against Sharks and anyway, so the
[1:04:28] Speaker 4: week off and then it ended up being a strain
[1:04:32] Speaker 4: and then I've got it ready and I was going
[1:04:34] Speaker 4: to play again on the prelimb, and then the week
[1:04:37] Speaker 4: of that before the last session before we're about to
[1:04:39] Speaker 4: fly to Sydney. Yeah, I still remember the feeling. I
[1:04:43] Speaker 4: still remember it. Yeah, but again, why do things happen?
[1:04:47] Speaker 4: Like Richie Fayoso was there, his legs be was better
[1:04:50] Speaker 4: than mine. It was more powerfully at a point of difference.
[1:04:52] Speaker 4: So I'm kind of like thinking, is that sort of
[1:04:54] Speaker 4: fake going? Like when I look at it as a
[1:04:56] Speaker 4: coach now, I think, and he's a thirty four year
[1:04:59] Speaker 4: old roll I'm Richie there, who's powerful like any and
[1:05:02] Speaker 4: he played well in the Grand Final on the prelim
[1:05:04] Speaker 4: so we still won.
[1:05:06] Speaker 1: So yeah, but you are you're used as a There's
[1:05:10] Speaker 1: certain stories that get recycled back through in finals. Talk
[1:05:13] Speaker 1: about for the for like the players that aren't playing
[1:05:16] Speaker 1: in the squad or aren't picked about how your mentality
[1:05:18] Speaker 1: can impact a group, because Bella always talks about. You know,
[1:05:21] Speaker 1: that was pretty heartbreaking for You're in the back end
[1:05:23] Speaker 1: of his career, trying to win a premiership and then
[1:05:26] Speaker 1: you do your hamstring. It was very easy that you
[1:05:29] Speaker 1: could have kicked stones and sort of not really cared
[1:05:31] Speaker 1: about the Grand Final post them. But apparently your attitude
[1:05:34] Speaker 1: coming back in post that hamstring to really help the
[1:05:38] Speaker 1: team prepare.
[1:05:39] Speaker 4: Yeah, I just didn't change, just like I didn't just
[1:05:42] Speaker 4: didn't change the way I acted or anything like that.
[1:05:45] Speaker 3: You didn't get Yeah, that's goods minimum. Just finally, because
[1:05:56] Speaker 3: we know too much time, what is it like as
[1:06:00] Speaker 3: like camaraderie mons coaches or more to the point, when
[1:06:04] Speaker 3: you're coaching against Craig, Like what's the relationship like on
[1:06:08] Speaker 3: game day or after the game?
[1:06:11] Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I don't have an issue with it, and
[1:06:14] Speaker 4: I'm sure.
[1:06:14] Speaker 2: He doesn't like Craig and always have a beer after.
[1:06:18] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, this year we didn't really get a chance
[1:06:21] Speaker 4: to do that. But yeah, like especially after round one,
[1:06:26] Speaker 4: six six after, don't worry that I'm still trying to
[1:06:29] Speaker 4: do that. We want to say we won the second half.
[1:06:33] Speaker 3: Like when you when you're sitting there and you're watching
[1:06:35] Speaker 3: that and thing like, I mean, you must be sort
[1:06:39] Speaker 3: of looking like.
[1:06:41] Speaker 4: I said to Brownie in the middle of it, because
[1:06:42] Speaker 4: he's obviously been around the block a few times, and
[1:06:45] Speaker 4: I said, do it, and mate, there's nothing you can do.
[1:06:49] Speaker 4: He said, you just need to get down there, reset
[1:06:51] Speaker 4: them at half time. We'll go again.
[1:06:54] Speaker 3: Where we go that Melbourne said the start of the year,
[1:06:57] Speaker 3: when you're playing day games.
[1:07:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, if they haven't, they haven't lost around one. Yeah,
[1:07:04] Speaker 1: since Craig's been there. Yeah, so that's a that's a
[1:07:07] Speaker 1: bloody heart. Imagine. What do you remember when the drawer
[1:07:10] Speaker 1: came out and you saw you had Melbourne round one?
[1:07:13] Speaker 4: It was I thought it would be a good challenge
[1:07:14] Speaker 4: for us, like just you know, something to get up
[1:07:17] Speaker 4: for that first game. And then Mitch went down, and
[1:07:19] Speaker 4: then we had guys leave through the preseason and we
[1:07:22] Speaker 4: had a few more injuries and that sort of thing.
[1:07:24] Speaker 4: So we sort of sent a young crew down there,
[1:07:27] Speaker 4: which you know, I'm sure they won't forget it either,
[1:07:29] Speaker 4: and they obviously learned from it, so there's always some
[1:07:33] Speaker 4: good stuff to take out of it, but I think
[1:07:36] Speaker 4: it really highlighted where we were as a club.
[1:07:39] Speaker 2: Did you need to play them again?
[1:07:41] Speaker 4: Yeah, we got beat sixteen ten and I reckon what
[1:07:44] Speaker 4: proved We had some opportunities to win, we just couldn't
[1:07:47] Speaker 4: quite quite name.
[1:07:49] Speaker 3: And what a lift for those young players to say, look,
[1:07:52] Speaker 3: you know, look what you're exposed to at the start
[1:07:55] Speaker 3: of the year, and look what we ended up getting to.
[1:07:57] Speaker 3: You know, I can they imagine all those young blakes
[1:08:00] Speaker 3: they watched Monster and all those guys onto you and wow,
[1:08:03] Speaker 3: suddenly you know, and I've been there when you're playing
[1:08:06] Speaker 3: Bradley Clyde and Melmaningra and that Ricky and you're going,
[1:08:08] Speaker 3: fucking hell, this is as bad as I as tough
[1:08:12] Speaker 3: as I.
[1:08:12] Speaker 4: Thought it was going to be. But yeah, we had
[1:08:15] Speaker 4: Riley on send me to a BARTI on debut is
[1:08:18] Speaker 4: his second first grade game, Charlie go I think third
[1:08:22] Speaker 4: first grader, So we had like a lot of an
[1:08:24] Speaker 4: experience there.
[1:08:24] Speaker 3: And yeah, Rosie, look with too much, we're taking them
[1:08:28] Speaker 3: too much your time to start. We've made consider him
[1:08:31] Speaker 3: that it took your week to get his mate. But
[1:08:34] Speaker 3: I just want to say make congratulate, congratulations on your
[1:08:38] Speaker 3: first year, you.
[1:08:40] Speaker 2: Know, to go through what you did early on. But
[1:08:42] Speaker 2: just again you know.
[1:08:44] Speaker 3: That the players were really really happy. Whatever you're doing
[1:08:46] Speaker 3: in there is working really well. And mate, look, I
[1:08:49] Speaker 3: know they're watching the clocks, watching the haven at looked
[1:08:53] Speaker 3: at the watch. But mate, I I'm certain in your
[1:08:56] Speaker 3: tenure they're at paramount. You're going to win it. You're
[1:08:59] Speaker 3: going to win. One will be rooting for you, mate,
[1:09:01] Speaker 3: sitting on the couch, blind runt, but I'll be rooting
[1:09:03] Speaker 3: for you.
[1:09:04] Speaker 4: One second. One thing. We actually have something here for
[1:09:06] Speaker 4: Rosie Cooper. Cooper requested this, So we have a we
[1:09:13] Speaker 4: have a Cooper.
[1:09:13] Speaker 6: John's poster from his time at his time at the
[1:09:18] Speaker 6: Sanley Seagulls, and it's signed by three of the most
[1:09:22] Speaker 6: closest people to him. One's Nathan Cleary, one's Mark Chorus
[1:09:26] Speaker 6: and one's Klein Pong That so we had only fitting
[1:09:30] Speaker 6: three people that cheap loads. We love we love you
[1:09:33] Speaker 6: to sign it if that's possible. You don't get it.
[1:09:36] Speaker 1: This is a gift I've got the I've got at home. Yeah,
[1:09:52] Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean that's just we're just you can
[1:09:55] Speaker 1: sign it anywhere you want to feel.
[1:09:56] Speaker 2: To put a message of encouragement.
[1:09:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, from my my favorite one of my favorite coaches.
[1:10:01] Speaker 6: Little background on that, he actually Cuba thought like when
[1:10:04] Speaker 6: we started the potty February and twenty twenty four, thought
[1:10:07] Speaker 6: would be a really good idea. It'd be funny to
[1:10:08] Speaker 6: get all our guests to do it. Straight after Mark Brewers,
[1:10:11] Speaker 6: you like forgot about.
[1:10:12] Speaker 1: It and then just keep Yeah, I completely you know
[1:10:15] Speaker 1: when you think of a great idea rosy and then
[1:10:16] Speaker 1: like you're slowly just it manifests into something else. You know.
[1:10:21] Speaker 1: Another story that's just sparked my mind before we leave.
[1:10:23] Speaker 4: Sorry, I just come up again.
[1:10:26] Speaker 1: It involves our Billy Walters. So you remember we'd always
[1:10:31] Speaker 1: go to the same pub Dad for Mad Monday, and
[1:10:35] Speaker 1: it was like five hundred meters up the road from
[1:10:37] Speaker 1: where Harry and I lived, so it was always so
[1:10:39] Speaker 1: makes we could just walk down and then walk home.
[1:10:41] Speaker 1: But this one pub, and it was a dingy pub was' iti.
[1:10:44] Speaker 1: It was bad, like it was a great pub, but
[1:10:49] Speaker 1: it was like very deep, like it was perfect for
[1:10:51] Speaker 1: what we wanted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the bar, the
[1:10:56] Speaker 1: bar had this like circular oval end, remember that. And
[1:10:59] Speaker 1: then somebody I don't know who started it, someone came
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: up with this drinking game where yeah, we had a
[1:11:04] Speaker 1: pool ball which ended up like heat the pool balls,
[1:11:08] Speaker 1: and then if you put your beer on the bar
[1:11:10] Speaker 1: on the end, you had to roll the pool ball,
[1:11:12] Speaker 1: and if the pool ball hit your schooner, the boys
[1:11:15] Speaker 1: had to scull it like it so everyone was on edge.
[1:11:18] Speaker 1: Rossie was the king of.
[1:11:18] Speaker 4: It by the end.
[1:11:19] Speaker 1: Rosie was just parked in there and he just you
[1:11:22] Speaker 1: had like I reckon. At one stage you weren't even
[1:11:24] Speaker 1: you'd stop drinking. You just had thirty pool balls on
[1:11:27] Speaker 1: you and you just throwing it. And I remember Harry
[1:11:32] Speaker 1: got like Harry was like, I'm getting Rosie. I'm getting
[1:11:35] Speaker 1: Rosie because Rossie's been getting like whenever it was like
[1:11:37] Speaker 1: he was watching Harry. Whenever Harry put his scooned it down,
[1:11:40] Speaker 1: he'd already launched a ball, and Rossie was like very
[1:11:46] Speaker 1: like he was aware. You'd bade everyone. You'd put your
[1:11:48] Speaker 1: you'll beer down and then look around, so like foxing
[1:11:51] Speaker 1: everyone and start throwing balls around. You just lifted up
[1:11:53] Speaker 1: and Billy Walters was on your right and Harry launched
[1:11:57] Speaker 1: a ball that hard, like he was really wanted to
[1:11:59] Speaker 1: get you. And you've lifted your schooner and Billy's just
[1:12:02] Speaker 1: sitting there, not even taking notice of the world around him,
[1:12:05] Speaker 1: and it hit his class that hard. It just completely exploded.
[1:12:11] Speaker 1: It went, his schooner, went all over him. He was
[1:12:13] Speaker 1: that often he didn't even realize anyone was playing the
[1:12:15] Speaker 1: game around. Good times and great class. Thanks Roles Foles.

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