# #84 | Daly Cherry-Evans | The 10 Year Deal, His Future & Return to Brookvale

An episode of [Backstage with Cooper & Matty Johns](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1729949087), 12 Apr 2026, 1 h 04 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/d7a60aed-0ec1-4a17-9f87-b248003b7796/70435f1c-9791-4a13-aea7-b42600330fb5/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=676e8df2-b284-47a4-9fbd-b248003b77ad

Daly Cherry-Evans joins us and takes us deep into his incredible NRL journey, from his early days to becoming a Manly legend. He opens up on the famous 10-year deal, his future in the game, recent return to Brookvale Oval - Plus, stories from his wedding where Cooper was MC. 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-Welcome to First Grade 3:30-Relationship On & Off-Field 9:30-The Wedding 14:45-Gym Bros 16:30-Roosters Chat 28:20-Final Year at Manly 31:00-10 Year Deal 37:00-Keiran Foran 40:00-Des Hasler 48:00-Best Players 50:00-2013 Grand Final 54:00-Future in Rugby League 1:00:00-COVID 1:03:00-Boiling See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: So what did you say about it's.
[0:07] Speaker 2: Just a joke, fun games and Shenanigan's the National Rugby League.
[0:11] Speaker 1: It is just just a just a fun joke.
[0:13] Speaker 2: First podcast for a wheal chairs, Yeah, first grade mate
[0:20] Speaker 2: to the.
[0:20] Speaker 1: Big leagues, Yeah, dalli chairvers. Look we've been we've been
[0:24] Speaker 1: waiting for this moment for quite a while. Not gonna
[0:27] Speaker 1: lie when I when I am c your wedding, U,
[0:29] Speaker 1: the one condition was, Hey, I scratched your back, you
[0:33] Speaker 1: scratch mine. Unfortunately it's taken about two years for you
[0:36] Speaker 1: to scratch that. It just turned into a blister, got
[0:40] Speaker 1: rings all over my back.
[0:41] Speaker 3: Now the suspense was killing me too, Sure it was, Yeah,
[0:45] Speaker 3: I'm sure.
[0:45] Speaker 1: It kept the other night. But is this your first podcast.
[0:52] Speaker 3: I'd say yeah. Based on where the podcast landscape's gone.
[0:56] Speaker 3: Did some very sort of more sort of endly stuff
[1:00] Speaker 3: with the y KTR boys back in the day, I'd
[1:03] Speaker 3: say that's as broad as my podcasting experience went. So
[1:06] Speaker 3: this definitely looks a bit more formal.
[1:08] Speaker 1: Well, you are a I would say you're someone who
[1:12] Speaker 1: doesn't do a lot of media. Is that a fair assumption?
[1:15] Speaker 2: Yeah?
[1:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, they're quite a private person.
[1:17] Speaker 3: I'd say, naturally, I'm a private person.
[1:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously naturally closed book. No, it is funny because
[1:24] Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on this later, but I'm going
[1:26] Speaker 1: to touch on it now. I would say you're probably
[1:30] Speaker 1: the most what's the word, I would say, misunderstood person
[1:35] Speaker 1: in rugby.
[1:36] Speaker 3: League that can be taken.
[1:39] Speaker 1: No, I would say in a good way, in a
[1:42] Speaker 1: great way, I think, because I think you live through
[1:46] Speaker 1: two generations. Right, you sort of had the the start
[1:50] Speaker 1: you you lived through the social media generation, but you've
[1:52] Speaker 1: also when you first come into first grade, social media
[1:55] Speaker 1: wasn't that big. So I think a lot of that
[1:58] Speaker 1: generational players are there like closed off, like they don't
[2:01] Speaker 1: really do a whole lot of me. They don't show
[2:03] Speaker 1: a lot of their private lives. Who are very private.
[2:05] Speaker 1: And I remember when I when I was at Melbourne
[2:09] Speaker 1: and about to sign to me Only, I was like,
[2:11] Speaker 1: I wonder if I'm going to get along with Dally
[2:13] Speaker 1: Cherry Evans, Like I wonder, I wonder what he's like
[2:17] Speaker 1: and Harry Harry and Monster who'd been in origin. He goes,
[2:20] Speaker 1: trust me, he's he how you think he's going to be.
[2:24] Speaker 1: He will be miles and miles different than what you
[2:26] Speaker 1: see on the TV, which is a good thing.
[2:30] Speaker 3: I sort of I reckon become aware of it through
[2:32] Speaker 3: the middle part of my career around that sort of
[2:36] Speaker 3: image that I was attracting, and I reckon I enjoyed
[2:40] Speaker 3: leaning into it. I really enjoy when someone comes up
[2:44] Speaker 3: to me and we might through an event or an
[2:46] Speaker 3: occasion or through friends of friends, and then a couple
[2:49] Speaker 3: of beers in, You're just not I thought you were.
[2:54] Speaker 2: I thought you were a nice guy.
[2:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, it definite. He took me by surprise, and still
[3:02] Speaker 1: I reckon. That's the number one question I got when
[3:04] Speaker 1: I come to Manley. It was, what's you know? What's Dallas?
[3:07] Speaker 1: Shevans like? You know, pretty pretty stiff sort of guy.
[3:10] Speaker 1: He's I said, what he like? What he character? He
[3:13] Speaker 1: sometimes perceives himself on the TV. You know, you give
[3:16] Speaker 1: the diplomatic politician answer. Sometimes he's not.
[3:19] Speaker 2: He's the best flow and he just loves taking the
[3:21] Speaker 2: piss out of all we're got in common. We're very
[3:24] Speaker 2: much deally, both of us closed books. We show a
[3:27] Speaker 2: very serious image.
[3:28] Speaker 1: We're not really like you couldn't be further away.
[3:33] Speaker 2: What a pleasure it is sitting here with like like
[3:36] Speaker 2: your halves. Combination of your standing YouTube blokes, How did
[3:41] Speaker 2: you a couple of things about your relationship? How did
[3:44] Speaker 2: you blokes hit like hit it off straight away to
[3:48] Speaker 2: the extent that Coopen's mate and doing your doing your
[3:52] Speaker 2: wedding and whatnot.
[3:53] Speaker 3: Well, there's two parts to us, right, there's the on
[3:56] Speaker 3: field relationship and there's your field relationship, the off field
[4:01] Speaker 3: relations The on field relationship is short lived and unsuccessful
[4:07] Speaker 3: as all reship, but the bond was built through the
[4:12] Speaker 3: off field. Yeah, and here we are two years after
[4:16] Speaker 3: the wedding, still talking.
[4:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
[4:18] Speaker 2: You know.
[4:19] Speaker 1: I think the first I reckon, the first interaction was Army.
[4:23] Speaker 1: Remember we had Army Camp and we were in the
[4:25] Speaker 1: same group, in the same group two blogs that just
[4:28] Speaker 1: love getting their hands dirty. Because you hadn't even been
[4:33] Speaker 1: at pre season yet, I had it, and you basically
[4:35] Speaker 1: just rolled straight into the team Army camp because it
[4:38] Speaker 1: receives his first year was like everyone, yets do it
[4:40] Speaker 1: all together, and it was.
[4:43] Speaker 2: It was.
[4:43] Speaker 1: It was a tough Army camp, but it was I
[4:46] Speaker 1: actually looked back on it and I said, oh, we
[4:48] Speaker 1: had such a fun group. I just remember us laughing
[4:50] Speaker 1: the whole time, having such a good time.
[4:52] Speaker 3: We were so bad as well. I mean naturally there
[4:55] Speaker 3: was us in it. Yeah, Ray Ray was one of
[5:01] Speaker 3: the standouts through Ray Vega people. Was a great team mate.
[5:06] Speaker 3: He was hilarious. He had a real great sense of
[5:09] Speaker 3: humor about him, also a really hard edge which made
[5:12] Speaker 3: you very nervous around him. But just quickly the army story,
[5:15] Speaker 3: the army camp story, where where this must be? I
[5:18] Speaker 3: reckon day three of it, So you're knacked. You've got
[5:20] Speaker 3: nothing left and we're all carrying these jerry cans which
[5:23] Speaker 3: were full of our water supply for three days. Anyway,
[5:26] Speaker 3: it's day three and he's just got one in two
[5:28] Speaker 3: arms and he's hawking and four SIPs.
[5:32] Speaker 1: It looked heavy.
[5:33] Speaker 3: It looked heavy, and SIPs is gone. He's hurting. But
[5:35] Speaker 3: I've got a bit of go left in me. I'm
[5:37] Speaker 3: going to go grab it off him. And Ray give
[5:39] Speaker 3: me that and grabbed it with one arm. It was
[5:43] Speaker 3: pretended it was.
[5:46] Speaker 2: Ray.
[5:48] Speaker 1: I forgot about that so much. Remember when Remember we
[5:51] Speaker 1: were doing like a They gave us like an activity
[5:54] Speaker 1: our group because Old was in our group as well,
[5:56] Speaker 1: and it was one where like only one person. It
[5:58] Speaker 1: was like almost like a little treasure hunting yet a
[6:00] Speaker 1: run up and like put some sort of puzzle piece
[6:03] Speaker 1: in and then the other run battles. Yeah, and Homol
[6:06] Speaker 1: trying to be a good teammate, he was like, yeah, don'torry, boys,
[6:08] Speaker 1: I'll go up next. Sprinted up three steps in. Remember
[6:11] Speaker 1: it did sindersmos.
[6:16] Speaker 2: How did they compare it to the Melbourne camp?
[6:18] Speaker 1: There was a lot.
[6:19] Speaker 2: This was a lot more.
[6:20] Speaker 1: That one's a lot more team building. And because there's
[6:23] Speaker 1: there was like thirty six people on it. Yeah, Like
[6:25] Speaker 1: it sounds bad, but you can hide a little bit
[6:27] Speaker 1: more behind. Like the Melbourne one, it's only new people,
[6:29] Speaker 1: so it's like ten of you on it, so all
[6:31] Speaker 1: eyes are on you. Like there's never a moment where
[6:33] Speaker 1: you can just go all right, like I can just
[6:36] Speaker 1: take five minutes here and like no one's really watching me. Yeah,
[6:39] Speaker 1: but that one there was more sleep on the only one,
[6:41] Speaker 1: like there were little I think they'd be like, you know,
[6:43] Speaker 1: go over sleep and you get like three or four
[6:45] Speaker 1: hours and then they come wake up in the middle
[6:46] Speaker 1: of the night, like we've got to go to a track.
[6:48] Speaker 2: Okay, let me have a guess who was Let me
[6:50] Speaker 2: have a guess who was best. I'm just the best
[6:52] Speaker 2: I've got the only boys.
[6:53] Speaker 3: Three people that come to mind that were really good.
[6:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, let me have a get I would say Lachlan
[6:58] Speaker 2: Croker be one a man of the land, and he didn't.
[7:01] Speaker 3: He doesn't get to mention in.
[7:06] Speaker 2: Okay, okay, a little sookie as well.
[7:11] Speaker 1: What wasn't there? I wasn't the Bulldogs then he was
[7:13] Speaker 1: before he got sacked from the Dogs.
[7:15] Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay, just ripping through the some of the
[7:19] Speaker 2: people there at the moment, kayle Weeks, that was kaya
[7:23] Speaker 2: because he was there.
[7:24] Speaker 1: It didn't doesn't doesn't come front to mind. You go,
[7:28] Speaker 1: I don't know who you're going to say.
[7:29] Speaker 3: My first one, Number one was he could join the
[7:32] Speaker 3: army tomorrow as Ethan Bullymore. Yeah. Yeah, he was unbelievable. Yeah,
[7:39] Speaker 3: he was almost robotic in the way that he just
[7:41] Speaker 3: followed orders. He didn't get tired because.
[7:44] Speaker 1: He's a he's a specimen too, Like people don't realize
[7:47] Speaker 1: how strong he is. So when it comes to like
[7:49] Speaker 1: carrying Jerry cans all that stuff, it's so heavy and
[7:52] Speaker 1: just grinding, and there's not a lot going on. Like
[7:54] Speaker 1: Fool's intelligent, but there's not a lot of like stuff,
[7:58] Speaker 1: so he can just lock in and just like on
[8:00] Speaker 1: the track where you're walking for like six hours holding
[8:02] Speaker 1: Jerry Cans. He was just like a duck, like just
[8:05] Speaker 1: continually bobbing his head and walking like no.
[8:07] Speaker 2: Backs to say that because I look at Ethan and
[8:11] Speaker 2: what you just said there rings bot like for me.
[8:14] Speaker 2: I was about to say, and I don't mean this
[8:16] Speaker 2: in a bad way, but he's like an empty vessel.
[8:20] Speaker 2: What I mean by that is he he's like a
[8:22] Speaker 2: guy who just I don't know, he just someone blokes around,
[8:25] Speaker 2: not a lot on his mind.
[8:27] Speaker 1: Just yeah, I would I'd probably say it's a fair
[8:29] Speaker 1: assessment with someone's driving him.
[8:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, unless you're talking about bitcoin. He caught him. Me
[8:32] Speaker 2: and Fletching a part but Magic Ground and give us
[8:35] Speaker 2: a sell on bigcoin for for like fucking hours. It's just.
[8:42] Speaker 1: Uh and the other one who won it, Jake was good,
[8:45] Speaker 1: Troy Vich he was a surprise, was unreal. Who was
[8:48] Speaker 1: the other one that comes to your head?
[8:50] Speaker 4: Rubes?
[8:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, people don't. I don't you know how they're doing
[8:55] Speaker 1: that like rivals on the TV at the moment where
[8:57] Speaker 1: it's like AFL Rugby Union Ruby leagu versus each other
[9:01] Speaker 1: and they I think they got while she and Josh
[9:02] Speaker 1: Ado Car for the blokes for the league. Reuben would
[9:06] Speaker 1: be so good at stuff like that because he's he's
[9:08] Speaker 1: fast fit, but he's also so strong, like in the gym.
[9:13] Speaker 3: Well, they just have to edit too much of his
[9:15] Speaker 3: complaining out.
[9:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, and his ship.
[9:18] Speaker 2: Chat he really shot chat Jack.
[9:26] Speaker 3: The catch with Rooms is is that because he's always
[9:28] Speaker 3: had to he's been so lucky to probably rely on
[9:32] Speaker 3: his good looks, he probably hasn't had to manufacture many conversations.
[9:35] Speaker 2: I can relate to that, totally relate to that. So
[9:39] Speaker 2: tell me, Dally, tell me about so the wedding. Tell
[9:42] Speaker 2: me about like I'm getting secondhand reports all the time
[9:47] Speaker 2: about your wedding and basically the job that him that
[9:50] Speaker 2: Cooper did a MC There was some I hear some
[9:54] Speaker 2: awkward moments on the wedding attendees.
[9:59] Speaker 1: Awkward for her.
[10:02] Speaker 4: In laws.
[10:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a few. I didn't go. I wouldn't
[10:09] Speaker 1: say I want at you too hard.
[10:10] Speaker 3: You were nice to me, which was good.
[10:12] Speaker 1: I think there was only one joke I had about you,
[10:14] Speaker 1: and it was in reference I all said it to
[10:16] Speaker 1: your wife, Vessa. I said, Vessa, congratulations on locking him down.
[10:20] Speaker 1: I'd just be worried because he has a tendency after
[10:23] Speaker 1: long term commitment to have to backflip.
[10:29] Speaker 3: I think that was the only which is fine. It's fine.
[10:32] Speaker 1: Yeah, he keeps were in the room as well. So
[10:35] Speaker 1: I was actually thinking about this as before I knew.
[10:37] Speaker 1: I knew it was going to come up in this party,
[10:39] Speaker 1: and I was sitting there and I sort of had
[10:41] Speaker 1: to look back to the I've still got the run
[10:42] Speaker 1: sheet of all the jokes I went, and I looked back,
[10:45] Speaker 1: and then I remembered all the chess's little girls were there.
[10:49] Speaker 1: I can't believe I said this in.
[10:50] Speaker 2: Front of them.
[10:52] Speaker 3: Just giving him a strong constitution mate very protected on
[10:56] Speaker 3: the Northern beaches, so it's good to give him a
[10:58] Speaker 3: little bit extra. I must admit, like it was, I
[11:03] Speaker 3: didn't know exactly what you were going to come to
[11:06] Speaker 3: the wedding with. I just sort of we met a
[11:08] Speaker 3: couple of times before it, and you sort of were
[11:10] Speaker 3: pretty respectful and said what's off limits?
[11:13] Speaker 1: To be fair, you're pretty good. You pretty well said nothing.
[11:18] Speaker 3: Not much.
[11:19] Speaker 2: All the day off we do. I drove Cooper, he's
[11:22] Speaker 2: the wedding. We were chit chatting about some of the
[11:24] Speaker 2: jokes you're running past me, and I thought oh yeah,
[11:29] Speaker 2: this could be one of two ways. Right, how long
[11:33] Speaker 2: he's won for you? How long did you invest? How
[11:35] Speaker 2: long were you been going out? I mean you've had
[11:37] Speaker 2: how many kids? Three kids?
[11:39] Speaker 3: Yep, three daughters?
[11:40] Speaker 2: How long before? What made you just what I mean?
[11:45] Speaker 2: Was it pressure from invest Was it your decision to go?
[11:48] Speaker 2: You know what, we may as well get married.
[11:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, we just parked it for so long, right, Yeah,
[11:54] Speaker 3: footy gets in the way, kids get in the way.
[11:56] Speaker 3: So I don't know what the moment was without throwing
[12:00] Speaker 3: the wife under the bus too much. I'm going to
[12:04] Speaker 3: need boattocks getting old. Yeah, yeah, so we decided we
[12:10] Speaker 3: better get a wedding. But yeah, no, we've been together
[12:14] Speaker 3: for a long time, Maddie, So it was never as
[12:17] Speaker 3: the best way to explain it was to most people
[12:20] Speaker 3: was it wasn't to officially make us a husband and wife.
[12:24] Speaker 3: It was more just a way to celebrate our relationship
[12:26] Speaker 3: for being together.
[12:27] Speaker 2: For so long. And I suppose for the kids as well.
[12:29] Speaker 3: And I think that was also a really big part
[12:31] Speaker 3: and they are a really big part of the ceremony
[12:33] Speaker 3: at the start of the day.
[12:34] Speaker 1: That is that I imagine that's actually pretty like it's
[12:37] Speaker 1: almost cooler to have your kids there like coming down
[12:40] Speaker 1: as with flower girls. I mean it made you quite emotional.
[12:43] Speaker 4: That's I say.
[12:45] Speaker 2: We've had news podcasts and your name has come up
[12:47] Speaker 2: as being one of the more emotional men when it
[12:50] Speaker 2: comes to weddings. I say, estrogen.
[12:54] Speaker 4: Your boobs.
[12:55] Speaker 3: So we're not just talking about my wedding, which, for
[13:00] Speaker 3: the record, I was a bloveringness. I was just was graceful.
[13:05] Speaker 2: I love.
[13:07] Speaker 1: We had We had an overs and unders market on
[13:10] Speaker 1: how long it takes you to cry? Whoever took the
[13:13] Speaker 1: unders cleaned up. You're crying and your grooves were walking around.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Tony Wilson came down and I said, there's singular to
[13:23] Speaker 1: you started roll down to tea.
[13:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, something's gone. Something's gone, There's something's been lost, some masculinity.
[13:31] Speaker 1: What else is I remember? And you're telling me once
[13:34] Speaker 1: when you first were a young player at Manly, you
[13:37] Speaker 1: actually did work experience with Matthew's wife and my mother,
[13:40] Speaker 1: trist John's or something like that.
[13:44] Speaker 5: Jamie Ber was Janie Burer, and you did that program
[13:47] Speaker 5: at Narrabine maybe one time with true.
[13:49] Speaker 2: Yes she yes, she was doing something there.
[13:53] Speaker 3: We were doing. I'm not sure what exactly it was,
[13:56] Speaker 3: but through the twenties they were sort of living education.
[14:00] Speaker 1: There's a real hands on program.
[14:04] Speaker 2: That's my mum, Dally, that's my wife. It's not funny.
[14:12] Speaker 2: Where did you get that ball from rejectifying my wife? Cooper?
[14:15] Speaker 2: I got it.
[14:16] Speaker 1: I was at the show esday and I got some goodies.
[14:19] Speaker 1: I've got some whiz fizz whiz fizz want you don't
[14:24] Speaker 1: want it? Okay? Right, One other thing I want to
[14:31] Speaker 1: bring up before we get into a little bit of
[14:33] Speaker 1: some serious nitty gritty stuff. My one of my great
[14:36] Speaker 1: memories from us playing together a mainly apart from our lockers,
[14:40] Speaker 1: been next to each other as well. We're always just
[14:42] Speaker 1: coming to gossip about our weekends. But you and I,
[14:46] Speaker 1: you and I were gym partners. Oh, the weights must
[14:50] Speaker 1: have been terrified. Well it was a running joke because
[14:57] Speaker 1: people will be in there just growing and the man
[14:59] Speaker 1: it was can row wade around like Tan Yeller, Bully
[15:02] Speaker 1: Rub and what we mentioned before. And then people have
[15:04] Speaker 1: looked to us and there was this there was a
[15:07] Speaker 1: remember like in some of the gym's they put they
[15:10] Speaker 1: do like a bench press test. It was like you know,
[15:12] Speaker 1: they put sixty killers on the bench and they attach
[15:14] Speaker 1: it to these whys and they like measure how quick
[15:16] Speaker 1: you can get it up, shows like how powerful you are.
[15:20] Speaker 3: Actually get it off.
[15:25] Speaker 1: I think it was me and Chairs's worst nightmare. We'd
[15:27] Speaker 1: just be putting it off. And then the gym guy
[15:29] Speaker 1: who come over, eight boys, you get you haven't done
[15:31] Speaker 1: your testing yet. The only bloke that hated it more
[15:33] Speaker 1: than you and I it was Jake.
[15:36] Speaker 2: Be We beat him.
[15:39] Speaker 1: And he was so office because everyone was like, we'd
[15:41] Speaker 1: be able to do a lot less weight than everyone,
[15:44] Speaker 1: and it was the only thing Jake just could not win,
[15:47] Speaker 1: like anything in the gym with explosiveness. He'd be like
[15:50] Speaker 1: half a second behind me and Chairs in it.
[15:53] Speaker 3: Waits is not his forte, nor was it ource to
[15:55] Speaker 3: be fair. So no, but people aren't expecting us. Look yeah,
[16:01] Speaker 3: like it's like eating your veggies. If I've got to
[16:04] Speaker 3: explain it to people, you've got to do it. It's
[16:06] Speaker 3: got the part of the job.
[16:07] Speaker 2: I can imagine per second and have just seeing there
[16:11] Speaker 2: just looking over at YouTube, like just going have a
[16:13] Speaker 2: look at those two little white honkings just over.
[16:16] Speaker 3: There, inspiring stuff.
[16:19] Speaker 1: What's the difference, Like, let's go on a bit of
[16:22] Speaker 1: Rooster's Chat going over to the Roosters this year. What's
[16:25] Speaker 1: been Because you spent majority of your life as a
[16:27] Speaker 1: seagull fifteen years, what's been the change being like, has
[16:30] Speaker 1: it been refreshing? Has it been scary?
[16:34] Speaker 3: Definitely scary at the start. There was definitely a lot
[16:37] Speaker 3: of just nervousness around the change because I'd been somewhere
[16:41] Speaker 3: for half of my life, so it was a big,
[16:44] Speaker 3: big change. It was always going to be a big change,
[16:47] Speaker 3: So yeah, I was nervous for it, but I deep
[16:49] Speaker 3: down was excited for it. That's what I was excited
[16:52] Speaker 3: to do, was to go and put myself in another
[16:54] Speaker 3: footy team, another footy club, new coach, new teammates, new structures, systems,
[17:00] Speaker 3: just a completely different experience.
[17:02] Speaker 1: What's that like trying to learn a whole new calls
[17:04] Speaker 1: and playbooks and that, because for you muscle memory for
[17:08] Speaker 1: fifteen years, it's hard enough even learning something for three years,
[17:11] Speaker 1: but literally your whole rugby league career in the NFL
[17:13] Speaker 1: has been at one club with all the same calls,
[17:15] Speaker 1: like you know, dual thresh. Yeah, they've sort of pivoted
[17:19] Speaker 1: away from that now, But was it hard? Like, are
[17:22] Speaker 1: you calling manly plays initially when you get there.
[17:24] Speaker 3: I have done so yeah in the preseason and a
[17:28] Speaker 3: few of the boys would say, oh, hey, that's the
[17:30] Speaker 3: old Teddy was really good at it. Actually that's the
[17:36] Speaker 3: old Sup. Which is good though, because I did tell
[17:38] Speaker 3: them just tell me straight away. So yeah, But I
[17:41] Speaker 3: guess you get a little bit of experience with that
[17:43] Speaker 3: stuff when you go into an Origin camera and Asie
[17:45] Speaker 3: camp they've got different names. So I guess that's a
[17:48] Speaker 3: little bit of an experience I had with learning different
[17:51] Speaker 3: play calling, and different coaches have sometimes come in and said, no,
[17:54] Speaker 3: you need a fresh change, we're doing new names.
[17:55] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[17:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, So that's happened on a couple occasions through my
[18:00] Speaker 3: time at Mainly So that was just a yeah, a longer,
[18:03] Speaker 3: more bigger version of that.
[18:04] Speaker 2: At Newcastle, our spoo of the line call was real estate.
[18:07] Speaker 2: I claim your real estate bang for oh yeah. So
[18:10] Speaker 2: we went into Origin cares and Chiefs, just the defense
[18:13] Speaker 2: line doing a defensive job. He's a screaming real estate right.
[18:18] Speaker 2: You can see all the other those going what the
[18:20] Speaker 2: fuck is it? Chief? Hey, listen, not every team uses
[18:25] Speaker 2: real estate.
[18:27] Speaker 1: That's actually like the thinking behind it. It's kind of
[18:30] Speaker 1: a weird call to have for line speed. But while
[18:33] Speaker 1: we're on real estate, because you are somewhat of a
[18:34] Speaker 1: real you are, mate, you are. People probably don't know
[18:39] Speaker 1: how much you, I would say, scroll through real estate
[18:42] Speaker 1: dot Com in your spare time. Yeah, you're a sucker
[18:45] Speaker 1: for it, aren't you.
[18:45] Speaker 3: I am. I'm a great window shopper. I really enjoyed
[18:49] Speaker 3: your scene with the market. Different you actually are too.
[18:54] Speaker 3: You do like it.
[18:55] Speaker 4: I mean I love it.
[18:56] Speaker 2: A hunt for bargains every single day. But I get
[18:59] Speaker 2: on I'll jump on chairs. I'm trying to think what
[19:02] Speaker 2: it's called zelo, jump on zulo and it does want
[19:05] Speaker 2: it does all over the world. So you can type
[19:07] Speaker 2: in real estate in Nashville and I'll do make it
[19:10] Speaker 2: on American cities and you're getting a real idea of
[19:12] Speaker 2: how the city's going by the price of real estate.
[19:14] Speaker 2: Like a number of years ago, there are four bedroom
[19:16] Speaker 2: houses for sale in Detroit for ten thousand dollars US. Well.
[19:20] Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and what in terms of buying overseas, is
[19:25] Speaker 1: there any countries where you don't have to be a
[19:26] Speaker 1: citizen you can just buy a property. Yeah, of course,
[19:29] Speaker 1: there's heaves in the Caribbean.
[19:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of countries that actually that they
[19:35] Speaker 2: want overseas money, they'll know you to be a citizen.
[19:39] Speaker 5: There's countries in the in the South American region where
[19:42] Speaker 5: I've got to make that works in superhots where they'll
[19:44] Speaker 5: actually pay you.
[19:44] Speaker 1: Money, give you an allowance to be a citizen.
[19:47] Speaker 2: Same with Italy. In Italy, in southern Italy, in particularly
[19:50] Speaker 2: these beautiful little like many medieval villages made, they're selling
[19:55] Speaker 2: houses for a dollar or as Jack said, encouraging you,
[19:58] Speaker 2: providing incentive for overseas people to live there and buy
[20:02] Speaker 2: their There are real estate.
[20:06] Speaker 1: That's all we got time for. Tell us people more
[20:11] Speaker 1: about the roosters. Obviously, you would have played a bit
[20:13] Speaker 1: fair to rap footy with blokes like Angus Crichton and
[20:15] Speaker 1: James Tedesco training in there every day with him, because
[20:19] Speaker 1: you probably don't get to see what goes into so
[20:22] Speaker 1: much preparation by being in a rep camp, but being
[20:24] Speaker 1: in there for a whole preseason. What are they like?
[20:27] Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, having that experience with some of the fellas,
[20:31] Speaker 3: I've had an idea of what they were like on
[20:33] Speaker 3: a personal level, and then I guess you can sort
[20:35] Speaker 3: of see what their training habits might be like. Back
[20:37] Speaker 3: at the Roosters. So yeah, it's a bit different to Manly,
[20:41] Speaker 3: which again is another reason why I wanted to go
[20:43] Speaker 3: and do something different was to experience those new structures
[20:46] Speaker 3: and training programs.
[20:47] Speaker 4: And stuff like that.
[20:48] Speaker 3: So yeah, i'd say there's the level of physicality that
[20:52] Speaker 3: the boys training with pretty full on.
[20:54] Speaker 1: I've heard the Roosters is pretty like full contact at
[20:57] Speaker 1: training and that it builds to it.
[20:58] Speaker 3: It's not just recession go for it. It's you know,
[21:02] Speaker 3: it's controlled. But when the when the boys go there,
[21:04] Speaker 3: they get after it. So I was took me a
[21:06] Speaker 3: couple of sessions to really hate that. You understand, you
[21:11] Speaker 3: don't think.
[21:11] Speaker 1: It's Crichton inside or he's you're coming up you have
[21:14] Speaker 1: to tackle him.
[21:14] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[21:15] Speaker 3: So when Yeah, so obviously when it's thirteen on thirteen
[21:18] Speaker 3: we're usually playing as as as the same team Gus
[21:21] Speaker 3: and I. But if it does go into the left
[21:23] Speaker 3: and right attacking stuff, I've got to get in front
[21:27] Speaker 3: of your Gussie.
[21:29] Speaker 2: He said, nightmare.
[21:30] Speaker 3: And I've had to do that sometimes, you know, a
[21:32] Speaker 3: handful of times during a footy season, and that in
[21:35] Speaker 3: itself is tough work. He's obviously given me a couple
[21:38] Speaker 3: of really hard games. He's a great player and having
[21:41] Speaker 3: to do that on a weekly basis is not one
[21:43] Speaker 3: of the reasons why I went to the Roosters, but
[21:46] Speaker 3: it's part of.
[21:46] Speaker 2: The deal, part of the chefs going to a new club,
[21:49] Speaker 2: new players, all those things, but a new system are played,
[21:51] Speaker 2: new new system training. I remember talking to Cooper Kronk
[21:55] Speaker 2: when he went from when he went from the Melbourne
[21:58] Speaker 2: Storm across to the Roosters. What surprised him was how
[22:03] Speaker 2: they didn't train that that hard. He said, it was
[22:06] Speaker 2: just so different to Melbourne. Their philosophy was right, we
[22:09] Speaker 2: might start a little bit slow, we're going to pick
[22:11] Speaker 2: up at the back end where Melbourne straight out of
[22:13] Speaker 2: the gates want to want to get away wins. How
[22:15] Speaker 2: did you find the training as far as, let you know,
[22:17] Speaker 2: the physicality, like you know in terms of four hundreds,
[22:21] Speaker 2: eight hundreds, all that sort of stuff, mainly to Roosters.
[22:26] Speaker 3: Like physically, there's no doubt about it. It takes you
[22:28] Speaker 3: a little bit to get used to and pre season
[22:30] Speaker 3: in general is not easy. So it was that that
[22:34] Speaker 3: first two weeks I reckon we had Cocota before Christmas
[22:38] Speaker 3: as well, but that's two weeks of Christmas before pre Christmas,
[22:41] Speaker 3: I trained for as much as I was trying to
[22:44] Speaker 3: learn plays, they're also physically just trying to get used
[22:46] Speaker 3: to what their normal is. Yeah, it was a fair
[22:48] Speaker 3: bit actually, And then also on top of that, like
[22:52] Speaker 3: I'm obviously at the back end of my career. So
[22:55] Speaker 3: when training is physical and you know, whether it's long
[22:58] Speaker 3: running sessions and stuff, and you combine that with the
[23:02] Speaker 3: tackling side of things, like, it does take its toll.
[23:05] Speaker 3: So I guess that's where as an older fellow, I'm
[23:07] Speaker 3: just trying to be smarter with Yeah.
[23:09] Speaker 2: I was going to say, does Trent Robinson and the
[23:11] Speaker 2: training stuff expect you to do the same thing as
[23:14] Speaker 2: say ye have Let's say Robins were like the same
[23:19] Speaker 2: expectations or do they just let that they ease you
[23:22] Speaker 2: in and out of training.
[23:23] Speaker 3: I'm not sure what it's like year to year, but
[23:25] Speaker 3: because it's this was the new club for me, I
[23:27] Speaker 3: wanted to go in there and make sure I was
[23:29] Speaker 3: doing as much as I possibly could, so I'd got
[23:31] Speaker 3: to I don't reckon I missed a heap of training
[23:34] Speaker 3: this preseason. I've got a fair bit of it done,
[23:36] Speaker 3: But I don't mind that when you go into a
[23:38] Speaker 3: footy season having done a fair bit of the preseason,
[23:41] Speaker 3: if not all of it. It gives you a great
[23:42] Speaker 3: deal of confidence in yourself.
[23:44] Speaker 1: So and it's also like, it's pretty good. I imagine
[23:47] Speaker 1: young guys coming to the roosters, like the young players
[23:49] Speaker 1: that aren't even in first grade, to see a thirty
[23:51] Speaker 1: seven year old who's like, and you're very fit, you
[23:54] Speaker 1: win a lot of the fitness are you're a great
[23:56] Speaker 1: trainer outside of the gym, AH expect like it'd be
[24:00] Speaker 1: a great I suppose example for those young guys.
[24:04] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:04] Speaker 3: Well, maybe that was the whole point of it all
[24:06] Speaker 3: from Trent's philosophy as well as the coach was just
[24:10] Speaker 3: getting there and sort of lead the way. But I
[24:12] Speaker 3: think we were sort of already on the same page
[24:14] Speaker 3: with that. I know this sort of person I am
[24:16] Speaker 3: as you want to get a really good lock a
[24:18] Speaker 3: preseason done and gives you confidence during the season if
[24:21] Speaker 3: you do need to miss a session here or there,
[24:23] Speaker 3: you won't feel too guilty.
[24:24] Speaker 2: It's interesting to get a new club. Number of things
[24:27] Speaker 2: change a system, but you know you're dealing with a
[24:30] Speaker 2: whole new set of players and oftentimes I remember going
[24:34] Speaker 2: from Newcastle to Krnulla and the one guy I hated
[24:37] Speaker 2: most in the Cornella side was a felt called Dean
[24:39] Speaker 2: Treesta who was a hooker and he was just an agitator.
[24:42] Speaker 2: He just always got in my face on the field.
[24:45] Speaker 2: On the film mate Mate, honestly, drove is crazy. I
[24:48] Speaker 2: could not stand the play, But as soon as I
[24:50] Speaker 2: went to the Sharks, he was one of my favorite blokes.
[24:53] Speaker 2: We just got on so well. Have you had any
[24:55] Speaker 2: of that at the Roosters.
[24:58] Speaker 3: Ideas, I'd say the first person that comes to mind
[25:03] Speaker 3: is Victor Radley. Have had nothing to do with Rads
[25:08] Speaker 3: before I got to the Roosters. Maybe meet him in
[25:10] Speaker 3: passing a handful of times for an Aussie toour he
[25:14] Speaker 3: come away for us for a little sort of Minia version.
[25:17] Speaker 3: I guess so, sort of twenty eighteen nineteen period, So
[25:21] Speaker 3: he was amongst this squad then, but he was a
[25:22] Speaker 3: bit younger and sort of Yeah, we just didn't have
[25:24] Speaker 3: a lot to do with each other. But yeah, now
[25:28] Speaker 3: he's a massive part of the Roosters. He's a leader,
[25:32] Speaker 3: he's a hard trainer, he has high expectations of himself
[25:35] Speaker 3: and the people around him, And I guess there was
[25:38] Speaker 3: a lot of me that just thought he was Alarican.
[25:40] Speaker 3: And he's still quite funny, There's no doubt about it.
[25:42] Speaker 3: Rads has got a great way with making a session
[25:45] Speaker 3: lighter when it needs to be lighter when it comes
[25:47] Speaker 3: to humor. But yeah, just didn't realize that deep down
[25:52] Speaker 3: there's this fellow there that is just highly competitive and
[25:55] Speaker 3: wants to get the best out of himself and the
[25:56] Speaker 3: people around him.
[25:57] Speaker 2: I suppose you don't make it, do you. You don't
[26:00] Speaker 2: make it in the NL if you just have Yeah,
[26:02] Speaker 2: that that larryn figure. What about? What about? Was there
[26:06] Speaker 2: any hazing so to speak? You know, when you get
[26:09] Speaker 2: in there, you got the new guy who's arrived or anything.
[26:11] Speaker 2: Was anything like any shenanigans like that, any practical jokes
[26:14] Speaker 2: been played on it?
[26:15] Speaker 3: No, not not enough early, that's for sure, which makes
[26:18] Speaker 3: you sort of like, sh yeah, what's going on?
[26:21] Speaker 4: Hate me?
[26:22] Speaker 3: But they Yeah, I think there was. You know, I
[26:25] Speaker 3: just felt a huge lot of respect and love from
[26:27] Speaker 3: all of the boys when I got there early. But
[26:30] Speaker 3: after a little while, Yeah, then the joke starts to come.
[26:33] Speaker 3: Have you the nicknames?
[26:34] Speaker 1: Can you ask Trent Robinson something?
[26:35] Speaker 3: Right? So on? Behalf of you?
[26:37] Speaker 1: Yeah, as a personal close personal friend. I ask you
[26:40] Speaker 1: if you remember this next to me of training, So
[26:43] Speaker 1: Christian Welch, who you played sat Roger Welchie once stitched
[26:47] Speaker 1: up Harry, Harry wanted our yoga instructor. He wanted to
[26:51] Speaker 1: ask me Ha the yoga instructor involved with the storm.
[26:53] Speaker 1: He wanted to ask her a question for this nech
[26:56] Speaker 1: nically he had. And he asked Welchie for the for
[26:59] Speaker 1: the number and he was like, yeah, you're sweet. Welchi
[27:01] Speaker 1: gave him Trent Robinson's number. Don't know why Welchi had
[27:04] Speaker 1: Robbo's number. Potentially he may have been trying to switch clubs. Yeah, aha.
[27:08] Speaker 1: And then anyway, Harry's texted like asking this sort of
[27:11] Speaker 1: physical therapy question to the yoga instructor and fair play
[27:16] Speaker 1: to Trent Robinson. He goes, oh, yes, mate, So what
[27:19] Speaker 1: you can do for that is he goes sit cross legged,
[27:22] Speaker 1: naked on the ground and fill up half a glass
[27:25] Speaker 1: of milk and put it on your forehead and sit
[27:27] Speaker 1: there and meditate for thirty to forty minutes and usually
[27:30] Speaker 1: that'll fix up the muscles in your neck.
[27:33] Speaker 2: And Harry goes, what.
[27:37] Speaker 1: Married and click on and he was like, he.
[27:39] Speaker 3: Goes this is legit.
[27:40] Speaker 2: I said, I can't be.
[27:42] Speaker 3: There's no way that's legit.
[27:43] Speaker 1: And he sent it into the group chat and one
[27:45] Speaker 1: of the boys come back with, fuck, that's Trent Robinson's dumb.
[27:50] Speaker 1: And then two weeks later we played the Roosters and
[27:53] Speaker 1: Robo went up the Welchie in the hallway and he goes,
[27:56] Speaker 1: don't you fucking give my number out again? Seriously apparently,
[28:00] Speaker 1: and she was rattled. It was right before they were
[28:02] Speaker 1: about to play Welch. She comes and goes, Robot hates.
[28:07] Speaker 1: It's actually a really good gap from him.
[28:09] Speaker 2: Chairs, Like my last year I had at Newcastle was
[28:11] Speaker 2: really was I found, like I'm curious from youring was
[28:16] Speaker 2: a tough year. I looked back at it and I
[28:18] Speaker 2: just didn't enjoy it. It's one of my great regrets.
[28:20] Speaker 2: I didn't enjoy it at all. And I could see,
[28:22] Speaker 2: you know, there was so much going on at the
[28:23] Speaker 2: club and everything. What about yourself? Chairs, do you look
[28:26] Speaker 2: back that last after so many unbelievable years of mainly
[28:30] Speaker 2: that last year with there was so much going on.
[28:32] Speaker 2: Just to give you a regret a bit.
[28:35] Speaker 3: Nothing that comes to mind. I mean, I really wish
[28:39] Speaker 3: we had been able to make the finals. That was
[28:41] Speaker 3: one thing that deep down when I knew it was
[28:45] Speaker 3: my last year at Manley, I would love to have
[28:47] Speaker 3: been a finals campaign.
[28:48] Speaker 4: I really do.
[28:50] Speaker 3: Mainly obviously because that's exactly what we're trying to do
[28:53] Speaker 3: each season, is to get into the finals and give
[28:55] Speaker 3: yourself a chance to win a premiership. But the friendships
[28:58] Speaker 3: that we've got within the group, it just would have
[29:00] Speaker 3: been a nice way for us to finish. But you know,
[29:03] Speaker 3: you just don't get those fairy tales unless you know,
[29:06] Speaker 3: you put the right work in and get it all
[29:08] Speaker 3: right on the footy field, and we just didn't.
[29:10] Speaker 2: Did you start to feel towards like, you know, the
[29:12] Speaker 2: last couple of years at Manly, like you're thinking yourself, yeah,
[29:16] Speaker 2: you know, I might need a change, you know, you
[29:18] Speaker 2: know a lot of most players may go to England
[29:21] Speaker 2: where you've decided to shift to the roosters. Did you
[29:23] Speaker 2: have that feeling a little bit?
[29:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there was definitely something there for the last
[29:31] Speaker 3: few years. And it wasn't I've got to leave Manly.
[29:34] Speaker 3: It was more like when on finished footy, what's next?
[29:38] Speaker 3: And then as I continued to play footy, I guess
[29:41] Speaker 3: what happened was I just got this thing withinside of
[29:44] Speaker 3: me that was like, maybe this next thing is not
[29:47] Speaker 3: different to rugby league. Maybe it's in rugby league and
[29:49] Speaker 3: it's somewhere else. And that thought had never crossed my mind.
[29:52] Speaker 3: I always deep down thought, manly, start to finish, that's
[29:56] Speaker 3: going to be it, ye, And it just over time
[29:59] Speaker 3: there was just something there and I got I reckon.
[30:03] Speaker 3: My understanding of it is that I am a person.
[30:06] Speaker 3: I'm a very curious person, and I do believe my
[30:09] Speaker 3: time in camps talking to players from other clubs just
[30:12] Speaker 3: kept sparking that curiosity. And over time, like I said,
[30:15] Speaker 3: I thought maybe it was going to finish somewhere else
[30:18] Speaker 3: and maybe like in a different code, doing something overseas
[30:21] Speaker 3: or super leaguesin whatever it was. For a long time,
[30:24] Speaker 3: I didn't think it'd be at another club in the NRL.
[30:27] Speaker 3: But yeah, it's funny. These things just have a way
[30:30] Speaker 3: of manifesting and before you know it.
[30:35] Speaker 2: I'll ask you if you are one of the first
[30:37] Speaker 2: guys to ever sign one of these, And we started
[30:40] Speaker 2: to see more of it. Ten year deal that was
[30:44] Speaker 2: just massive at the time you came in twenty eleven.
[30:46] Speaker 2: You just win the competition mainly have a number of
[30:48] Speaker 2: really good years. But then, mainly, as is the way
[30:50] Speaker 2: we salary cap, all of a sudden mainly got to
[30:53] Speaker 2: start to shed some players, and you know, you're in
[30:56] Speaker 2: a situation where you're about to leave the club. But
[30:59] Speaker 2: then the Great Bob Fulton gets back involved and realizes
[31:02] Speaker 2: the importance of you at that club, and then you
[31:05] Speaker 2: guys go and strike this which still no one really
[31:10] Speaker 2: had an idea exactly what the deal was. It a
[31:12] Speaker 2: ten year deal, was an open edited What was the
[31:14] Speaker 2: nature of that deal? And how like, how was the
[31:17] Speaker 2: negotiations with Bozo because he can make the late Great
[31:20] Speaker 2: Bob Fulton mate, he could be he could go at you.
[31:23] Speaker 3: Very convincing, very convincing man. Yeah, so my relationship with
[31:29] Speaker 3: Bob was very much non existent until he was I
[31:32] Speaker 3: don't know the context, but he was reintroduced back to
[31:34] Speaker 3: the club, I guess, to sort of get things back
[31:36] Speaker 3: on track. So yeah, I was done, signed, sealed, delivered
[31:41] Speaker 3: at the.
[31:43] Speaker 4: Goldie Titans yet and by the way, you interested, and
[31:53] Speaker 4: it was just.
[31:55] Speaker 3: It was a long process because it was over months.
[31:58] Speaker 3: Because I was so stubborn in that don't mainly knew
[32:01] Speaker 3: the rules. Bob knew the rules we've gotten till this date.
[32:04] Speaker 3: I can't remember the date exactly, but call it June.
[32:07] Speaker 2: Whatever.
[32:08] Speaker 3: He knows they've got till this time that they can
[32:11] Speaker 3: get me to renege on the deal and then stay.
[32:13] Speaker 3: So he's working in the background with management and I'm
[32:16] Speaker 3: just saying I don't want to hear it.
[32:18] Speaker 4: I don't want to hear it.
[32:19] Speaker 3: And then I got asked just to sit down. Just
[32:22] Speaker 3: give him the time and day, give him the respect.
[32:25] Speaker 2: So there was there an end date to the contract.
[32:31] Speaker 2: Was it specifically ten years because that time people are going,
[32:35] Speaker 2: you know, what is the nature of the contract is
[32:37] Speaker 2: open ended?
[32:39] Speaker 3: It was an eight year deal, and I thought that
[32:42] Speaker 3: was going to get me to retire.
[32:43] Speaker 1: It did that was because you and Jason Tamal.
[32:47] Speaker 3: It might have been genuinely at ten.
[32:49] Speaker 2: Yeah he was ten him and there was another player
[32:53] Speaker 2: that a tend but j two, he was ten years.
[32:57] Speaker 4: That's been yeah, you No.
[33:00] Speaker 2: It wasn't. I don't know that happened before I got there,
[33:04] Speaker 2: changed the subject that I'm not exactly sure she's good ownership.
[33:09] Speaker 2: I don't know if it was val Homes. I thought
[33:11] Speaker 2: for a second that two players that signed it.
[33:15] Speaker 1: It wasn't our because they went to the NFL. There
[33:19] Speaker 1: the I don't know what, I don't know, I know,
[33:22] Speaker 1: but what's up? I actually wanted to ask you, sorry.
[33:25] Speaker 1: In terms of that eight year deal, had anyone in
[33:28] Speaker 1: your generation signed what was the longest contract? Back then?
[33:31] Speaker 3: Super League? Were they signing.
[33:35] Speaker 2: Long There were some Super League was signing some people
[33:38] Speaker 2: a long year deals, So like Ricky Ricky Stewart have
[33:42] Speaker 2: I think he had a seven year deal. Other here
[33:44] Speaker 2: there's some six, seven, eight year deals. Andrew and I
[33:47] Speaker 2: we signed a five year. The standard was probably around
[33:50] Speaker 2: five years for people. But there were a few big,
[33:53] Speaker 2: big deals and I'll tear what makes some people made
[33:57] Speaker 2: some money because and I don't want to know, but
[34:00] Speaker 2: there was a couple of really iconic players and they
[34:04] Speaker 2: signed a Super League deal to specifically play at the
[34:08] Speaker 2: club they were at, let's call it Canbra. No, but
[34:14] Speaker 2: they signed a deal. There was a player, an iconic
[34:16] Speaker 2: player who signed a Super League deal with Canbra and
[34:19] Speaker 2: part of it and it was big, big money. Look,
[34:21] Speaker 2: it was probably close to a million dollars, but I'm guessing,
[34:24] Speaker 2: but around would have been that around that mark, and
[34:26] Speaker 2: I think it was. I think it was seven or
[34:28] Speaker 2: eight years or something like that. But the deal was
[34:30] Speaker 2: he had to play Canberra. Well what happened Camber let
[34:32] Speaker 2: him go and Camber at the time not really not really,
[34:37] Speaker 2: you know, dot and the ice crossing the two. He's
[34:39] Speaker 2: realizing the very nature of the contract, like the small print,
[34:42] Speaker 2: and the Bulldogs signed this player. So he went to
[34:45] Speaker 2: the Bulldogs. I think the Bulldogs would have played about
[34:48] Speaker 2: seven fifty eight hundred and then they went back to
[34:50] Speaker 2: the management. His manager went back and said to the Raiders, Hey, guys,
[34:56] Speaker 2: looks something here. This is part of the deal. So
[34:59] Speaker 2: he got two ways.
[35:00] Speaker 1: Oh so he got paid both. I think I know
[35:02] Speaker 1: the player is her current car.
[35:07] Speaker 2: Nothing extep. These were some of the things happen in
[35:10] Speaker 2: the Super League war. There were a number, probably a
[35:13] Speaker 2: decade ago, there were a few five year deals, none
[35:15] Speaker 2: of them en did well. Remember Brent Sherwan signing fifteen
[35:19] Speaker 2: years ago, signed a five year deal. Craig Gower signed
[35:21] Speaker 2: a five year deal. Both players, I don't think reached
[35:24] Speaker 2: the end of that.
[35:24] Speaker 1: And did they if when the super League folded, like
[35:27] Speaker 1: the players that signed seven year deals or long term
[35:29] Speaker 1: deals with the Super League, did they get paid out
[35:31] Speaker 1: for that?
[35:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, they got paid. It's nice jeezu.
[35:34] Speaker 1: Were you guys were lucky back then to play?
[35:37] Speaker 2: Then some people just get kicked up the ars by rainbows.
[35:42] Speaker 1: You mentioned rugby like playing different codes before?
[35:45] Speaker 3: Was it?
[35:46] Speaker 1: And when you when you decided it was going to
[35:48] Speaker 1: be last year at Manley last year, did you think
[35:51] Speaker 1: at all that maybe like overseas union, that sort of
[35:55] Speaker 1: cross code thing.
[35:56] Speaker 3: I reckon not so much just recently, but definitely had
[36:00] Speaker 3: periods of that later part of my career. I thought, okay, yeah,
[36:04] Speaker 3: you know, time at Manly's probably coming on in soon.
[36:06] Speaker 3: Rugby league is going to be all over, so you
[36:08] Speaker 3: know what's next? Is there something I can get away
[36:10] Speaker 3: with on like a life experience sort of level where
[36:14] Speaker 3: I can go away still competitively play, but you know
[36:17] Speaker 3: you're going away with your family and doing something really
[36:19] Speaker 3: cool for a short term period.
[36:21] Speaker 1: And what was that? Was that like any conversations that
[36:24] Speaker 1: went not really?
[36:26] Speaker 3: No, No, I've never never genuinely engaged in anything.
[36:32] Speaker 1: Japanese Ragon.
[36:36] Speaker 3: If you've got a few, I'm sure there's I'm sure.
[36:43] Speaker 1: An excellent kicking game and off both feet. My question
[36:46] Speaker 1: is to you off the both feet thing, are you ampidexterous.
[36:49] Speaker 3: No, you just learned just my dad hamming me out
[36:55] Speaker 3: in the backyard. Just go practice both feet, both feet feet. Yeah,
[36:58] Speaker 3: it was dad's idea. Yeah. So he was pretty yeah,
[37:03] Speaker 3: pretty ruthless with it.
[37:05] Speaker 1: Is he disciplinarian like my dad.
[37:09] Speaker 2: Calm down, I'll give you the belt again. You're not
[37:11] Speaker 2: too old for that treatment.
[37:15] Speaker 1: Look mainly at the moment, there's a lot going on there.
[37:17] Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you a great mate, Kieran Foreign
[37:19] Speaker 1: he's now the head coach of it. Yeah, they've just
[37:21] Speaker 1: had an excellent win over the Dolphins. Looked a completely
[37:26] Speaker 1: different side. Paul Seeds would have been a homegoing Where
[37:29] Speaker 1: was that when I was coaching? My question to you
[37:33] Speaker 1: is if you were still at Manly. Wouldn't know if
[37:37] Speaker 1: you're still at Manly now because you and follow some
[37:40] Speaker 1: people coach, you know, people that they play within the
[37:43] Speaker 1: back end of their career, like Benji would have played
[37:45] Speaker 1: with a few people who's coaching. But you guys are
[37:47] Speaker 1: there together day one. He's actually two years younger than
[37:50] Speaker 1: you follows. Would that have been weird if he was
[37:53] Speaker 1: coaching you?
[37:54] Speaker 3: I don't think it would have been, only because their
[37:57] Speaker 3: relationship is so strong. That's why I I reckon it
[38:01] Speaker 3: would have worked for us. And it's easy to say
[38:02] Speaker 3: because it's a hypothetical, but I'd have no dramas. I
[38:06] Speaker 3: was taking orders from him and we were playing alongside
[38:08] Speaker 3: of each other. If you look at our relationship and
[38:12] Speaker 3: what he was like as a player, he was really
[38:16] Speaker 3: direct to the point and knew exactly what he was
[38:19] Speaker 3: going into a game to do for not just his
[38:21] Speaker 3: own game, but the people around him. And at times
[38:24] Speaker 3: if I didn't toe the line like he would spray me.
[38:27] Speaker 3: No dramas at all. So I've got I reckon it'd
[38:30] Speaker 3: be a great relationship.
[38:31] Speaker 1: How do you reckon he'd feel because it would probably
[38:34] Speaker 1: would have been the first ever coach player relationship where
[38:38] Speaker 1: the coach is younger than the senior playoffs and I
[38:40] Speaker 1: don't think that that would have never have been a thing.
[38:42] Speaker 2: Right, And I feel good was Guss is the youngest
[38:45] Speaker 2: bloke to ever win in our role Premiership. Gus wanted
[38:49] Speaker 2: to twenty eight. I think wow. With Bulldogs he would
[38:52] Speaker 2: have had a number of as a coach. He's yes,
[38:54] Speaker 2: as coach he'd had a couple of key players older
[38:56] Speaker 2: than him.
[38:57] Speaker 3: Oh wow. When Trent Robinson won in twenty thirteen at
[39:01] Speaker 3: the Roosters. I'm going to say he was early thirties.
[39:05] Speaker 3: He would have been far off him.
[39:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, many it would have been.
[39:09] Speaker 3: I don't know if he was older, but it's probably
[39:11] Speaker 3: the same.
[39:11] Speaker 2: All But how radically different Adas Hasler and Trent Robinson
[39:17] Speaker 2: are they like, you know too of you know, like
[39:20] Speaker 2: a guy Des has, no doubt probably been your biggest
[39:23] Speaker 2: influence as far as the coach compared to Robbo, Like,
[39:26] Speaker 2: how do they how do they sort of stuck up against?
[39:29] Speaker 3: Yeah, I reckon, There's there's things that you can compare
[39:33] Speaker 3: the way that they coach. I'd say they both believe
[39:39] Speaker 3: in the structures and systems that they've got or philosophies
[39:44] Speaker 3: of the game. I think that's probably the best way
[39:46] Speaker 3: to put it. There's philosophies within how they see the
[39:49] Speaker 3: game and it's done most effectively. Des had some really
[39:53] Speaker 3: strong beliefs. On one he believed, you know, attack and
[39:55] Speaker 3: defense should look like and Trent the same. So I
[39:59] Speaker 3: really appreciate it coach like those two in particular, who
[40:02] Speaker 3: have just been so very strong in their beliefs. And
[40:05] Speaker 3: I think the other part within that was both of
[40:08] Speaker 3: them and I've only been working alongside Robo for a
[40:12] Speaker 3: short time, but they both empower you to make sure
[40:16] Speaker 3: that yeah we've got this yep, but you still have
[40:20] Speaker 3: to be you. I think that's really important.
[40:23] Speaker 2: Des is an unpredictable character. He's an elusive guy. You know,
[40:28] Speaker 2: I'm incredibly secret and I imagine a difficult guy to
[40:31] Speaker 2: sometimes know, which is probably what would have been one
[40:34] Speaker 2: of his strengths to understand is to play where the
[40:36] Speaker 2: line was at times? What were the things like? For instance,
[40:41] Speaker 2: if I'm coming in first day at Manly back in
[40:44] Speaker 2: the day Dees's coach. You want a captain and I
[40:46] Speaker 2: gave it, and you want to give me some advice
[40:48] Speaker 2: on Dez what to do to impress DearS and what
[40:51] Speaker 2: absolutely not to do otherwise you know, your face, his wrath,
[40:55] Speaker 2: what were they being.
[40:58] Speaker 3: Ah, that's a tricky one. I'd say, what to do?
[41:05] Speaker 3: What to do? It seems like, yeah, well he loves
[41:10] Speaker 3: his footing yep, so what to do? Well, ask him
[41:12] Speaker 3: what his expectations of you are straight away. That'd be
[41:15] Speaker 3: a good start with Dez and get that boundary of
[41:18] Speaker 3: what he wants to see out of you, and then
[41:19] Speaker 3: what you can go after.
[41:21] Speaker 2: Yep, and then what not to do mistackled I imagine image,
[41:27] Speaker 2: imagine having a background and strength conditioning, and that was
[41:30] Speaker 2: the that was the cornerstone of his success as a player.
[41:34] Speaker 2: So I can I can only imagine if you turned
[41:36] Speaker 2: up at training and you're being a little bit tardy,
[41:38] Speaker 2: be all over you.
[41:39] Speaker 3: Yeah he was, he was. He was hilarious. Dos he
[41:44] Speaker 3: He'd have obviously high expectations in pre season in particular
[41:48] Speaker 3: of how a training session should look and the intensity
[41:51] Speaker 3: within it all. And I still remember one day we
[41:54] Speaker 3: were doing a bit more of a middle focused thrill
[41:56] Speaker 3: and within that it sort of takes up the middle
[41:59] Speaker 3: part of the field. It's sort of very high contact
[42:03] Speaker 3: and sort of simulates game speed sort of stuff. So
[42:07] Speaker 3: within that I reckon it was Jack Gajefski and he
[42:11] Speaker 3: was in a tackle and there was an offload and
[42:14] Speaker 3: Des ran from the side of the drill into the
[42:17] Speaker 3: drill and was running through the drill yelling at Jack,
[42:20] Speaker 3: why are you letting them offloads in the way, But
[42:27] Speaker 3: he didn't care.
[42:27] Speaker 4: He was just into him.
[42:29] Speaker 3: He was great. So if he had an expectation and
[42:31] Speaker 3: if he felt like that you needed to be better.
[42:34] Speaker 3: Sometimes it was that it was in the middle of
[42:36] Speaker 3: a drill. Sometimes the drill would start again, and sometimes
[42:39] Speaker 3: you just come and grab you one on one. I
[42:40] Speaker 3: need to tell you, I need more from you.
[42:42] Speaker 1: But I love I love the story. I think it
[42:44] Speaker 1: was when we had Locky Croker's birthday one time. We
[42:47] Speaker 1: used to Big Croker Birthday and we do a pub
[42:50] Speaker 1: crawl and Kurt de lewis katl who you would have
[42:53] Speaker 1: played with a manly. He plays a bit of reserve
[42:55] Speaker 1: grade now.
[42:55] Speaker 3: Up in Burley. I believe Katie one of the greatest,
[42:58] Speaker 3: one of the great to be there.
[43:00] Speaker 1: Can't run to save his life. He's bow legged, so
[43:02] Speaker 1: he sort of runs in a very awkward way. But
[43:04] Speaker 1: he described his time at mainly that there was a
[43:07] Speaker 1: few one on one sessions in his office with Dez.
[43:10] Speaker 1: Apparently Dez was like he wasn't happy with some because
[43:14] Speaker 1: you think he made his debut and some of his
[43:16] Speaker 1: contact was a little bit loose, not really stepping into
[43:18] Speaker 1: his contact and really hitting and trying to drive them back,
[43:21] Speaker 1: trying to catch on a restaurant on their back. And
[43:22] Speaker 1: apparently Katiel says, mate, he had me in there one
[43:26] Speaker 1: day for half an hour and he was just saying,
[43:28] Speaker 1: run at me, run at me, and Katie would run
[43:30] Speaker 1: at him, and Dez was showing him what it felt
[43:33] Speaker 1: like to have someone actually trying to hit you.
[43:37] Speaker 2: Jimmy Graham said he walked into an office once and
[43:39] Speaker 2: he had a young player literally pinned on the ground
[43:42] Speaker 2: like he was wrestling. He said, it was almost like,
[43:44] Speaker 2: oh my god, what have I walked on?
[43:47] Speaker 1: Remember we had Jakie on.
[43:48] Speaker 5: Jakie said the bungalows up there at twin waters Man
[43:51] Speaker 5: when we were all living up there together, all the teams,
[43:53] Speaker 5: and they reckon. One of the cleaners might have walked
[43:55] Speaker 5: in on De's mid wrestle session with Jake on the
[43:58] Speaker 5: hardwood floors.
[44:01] Speaker 2: Which one of you guys is Mummy. You're obviously not mummy, Jacob.
[44:08] Speaker 3: He was. He's a great coach. I got a lot
[44:14] Speaker 3: out of DESSI and a lot of that was that
[44:17] Speaker 3: direct feedback.
[44:18] Speaker 4: He was unreal.
[44:19] Speaker 3: But there was a softer side Todas, which is great,
[44:22] Speaker 3: the comedy side in him. For as much as he
[44:24] Speaker 3: was serious, he genuinely enjoyed when the boys were window him.
[44:28] Speaker 2: What about the time, Coop, We're up in Newcastle the
[44:31] Speaker 2: Knights are playing the Bulldogs, that night, and I've gone
[44:34] Speaker 2: on Triple MP and they asked me on triple and
[44:36] Speaker 2: who I think will win? And I've just gone yeah,
[44:39] Speaker 2: blah blah blah Newcastle because of A B and C.
[44:42] Speaker 2: So we arrive at a Newcastle. I think you're in
[44:45] Speaker 2: the passenger seat, Jack Hue, Jacker anyway, phone anyway, it's
[44:50] Speaker 2: dairs and not going to be happy about this. So
[44:53] Speaker 2: I did Jack, I did that, Jack steps. There was
[44:56] Speaker 2: a lot of that through my childhood.
[44:58] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[44:58] Speaker 2: And when bang, Hey Daisy, Maddie, how are you? I said, yeah, dassy,
[45:05] Speaker 2: going good mate? How the boys come along? Yeah, we're
[45:07] Speaker 2: going good. Listen, I'm going to cut to the chase.
[45:11] Speaker 2: I listened to your radio show, right, I listened to
[45:13] Speaker 2: it most days. Oh yeah, yep, yep, yep, he goes, yeah,
[45:18] Speaker 2: And I'm going right anyway, made what do I do?
[45:23] Speaker 2: I put a full scap paper on the seat next
[45:25] Speaker 2: to me, and I have I have two columns, and
[45:28] Speaker 2: whenever you take a caller, I have a column and
[45:31] Speaker 2: a male and female column. So for a man rings,
[45:34] Speaker 2: I still strike against the male side, and that goes.
[45:37] Speaker 2: I've been doing this study for the last six months
[45:39] Speaker 2: and I estimate probably eighty percent of your listeners are men. Yep, yep,
[45:44] Speaker 2: that'd be right deasy anyway, Daisy, mate, away, what can
[45:46] Speaker 2: I help you with? DESI what's doing? He goes, no, Mate,
[45:48] Speaker 2: I just wanted to pass that.
[45:49] Speaker 4: On the AI.
[45:52] Speaker 1: It was dead said it was Soberzarre. It's almost like
[45:56] Speaker 1: a Mathia type threat though it's like I've been you know,
[46:00] Speaker 1: It's like I'm listening, I just want I'm just here.
[46:02] Speaker 1: It's just like a little weight on the back. It's
[46:04] Speaker 1: like a hand on the back of the shoulder, just
[46:05] Speaker 1: so you know I'm there.
[46:06] Speaker 2: And then another time he ranged me right and we're
[46:09] Speaker 2: talking something going on at the time. And again on
[46:12] Speaker 2: trip Lamb, I just said, look, there's some coaches that
[46:14] Speaker 2: need to give more to the media something something, Maddie.
[46:18] Speaker 2: How I am so good, Daisy, you know how's trition?
[46:21] Speaker 2: The boys? Oh there's are going really good. Mate, listen
[46:24] Speaker 2: to your comments about you know, some of the coaches,
[46:27] Speaker 2: and Mate, I couldn't agree with him more. Some need to.
[46:31] Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what, Maddie, fucking some of the
[46:34] Speaker 2: people in the mood. And he just started fucking screaming.
[46:38] Speaker 2: I just met two or three minutes and I'm going
[46:39] Speaker 2: there's this, this, this, stop you talking to me. Oh sorry,
[46:43] Speaker 2: these things just fire me.
[46:48] Speaker 1: Oh he's an angry man because I went he was
[46:51] Speaker 1: at your wedding, and I made a couple of jokes
[46:54] Speaker 1: about him, and I remember, like everyone was laughing at
[46:56] Speaker 1: this one joke because I think I said, uh, I
[47:00] Speaker 1: sometimes get nervous during public speaking. So a good tip
[47:04] Speaker 1: my granddad once taught me was imagine everyone the audience naked,
[47:07] Speaker 1: so so on that note, like I was pointed to,
[47:10] Speaker 1: like your in laws or something like that, I said,
[47:12] Speaker 1: you look at you look amazing and Dez, I didn't
[47:14] Speaker 1: know you had like a landing strip.
[47:21] Speaker 4: Ever, I laughed.
[47:22] Speaker 1: I looked down at my notes to see where am
[47:23] Speaker 1: I going with this next, and then I looked up
[47:25] Speaker 1: and Des and his wife just were staring at me,
[47:28] Speaker 1: not like, not laughing at all, and I don't know.
[47:31] Speaker 1: So then for the rest of the night I just
[47:33] Speaker 1: avoided him.
[47:36] Speaker 2: Who's the Who's the best player you played alongside?
[47:39] Speaker 4: Oh wow, that's a trick.
[47:40] Speaker 2: That's truck. You can name a couple, but blokes you've
[47:43] Speaker 2: been alongside And just said, mate, you know where I
[47:45] Speaker 2: what a player?
[47:46] Speaker 3: Yep, the first one that always comes to mind when
[47:48] Speaker 3: I get asked. Is maybe because they're in a different position.
[47:53] Speaker 3: But I always admired g I. I love g I
[47:58] Speaker 3: just the way that he could move. He could physically
[48:02] Speaker 3: beat someone with a palm or run over them, or
[48:05] Speaker 3: he could get you with footwork and then completely leave
[48:10] Speaker 3: you in Did.
[48:11] Speaker 1: You play it on his side, like when you played
[48:13] Speaker 1: Representative with him?
[48:14] Speaker 3: With him you were his half or you were sure
[48:17] Speaker 3: if I played a great deal next to him. He
[48:19] Speaker 3: was always a left side player, so I didn't play
[48:22] Speaker 3: a lot of footing next to GI, but really admired him,
[48:25] Speaker 3: really admired him. JT was the other one that always
[48:29] Speaker 3: comes up. I loved playing alongside JT, but also watching
[48:33] Speaker 3: him play yep is competitive nature being out there.
[48:36] Speaker 1: With JT as a half. Is he a big talker
[48:39] Speaker 1: or is he kind of just reactive, Like does he
[48:41] Speaker 1: organize a lot of stuff or he's just out there
[48:43] Speaker 1: and then when he gets foot in his hands like
[48:45] Speaker 1: brilliance kind of cat.
[48:46] Speaker 3: I would say, like most tars not for everyone, but JT.
[48:50] Speaker 3: I feel like watching him his natural ability was his
[48:54] Speaker 3: biggest strength at the start, Like the way that he
[48:57] Speaker 3: just played the game. He could pop up wherever he wanted.
[49:00] Speaker 3: The end, he was obviously he was an amazing halfback.
[49:04] Speaker 3: He could steer a whole team around. So I don't
[49:07] Speaker 3: know if that's a fair analysis, but I reckon the
[49:10] Speaker 3: way he turned into a great halfback by the end,
[49:13] Speaker 3: but his biggest strength wasn't that at the start.
[49:15] Speaker 2: So how was your relationship a question like people like
[49:18] Speaker 2: Cameron Smith and Cooper Kronk and Billy Slater, because you're
[49:22] Speaker 2: in a manly side where they were the core of
[49:26] Speaker 2: You're the core of the manly side. They're the core
[49:28] Speaker 2: of a Melbourne side during where you guys had a
[49:31] Speaker 2: pretty hooted rivalry. How was that relationship?
[49:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, well I was new to it and caught the
[49:36] Speaker 3: back end of that rivalry and it was a genuine rivalry.
[49:39] Speaker 4: It was great.
[49:40] Speaker 3: It was those things sort of get forced a bit
[49:43] Speaker 3: these days, but there's nothing that gets a rivalry started
[49:47] Speaker 3: and went in and losing round finals against each other.
[49:50] Speaker 3: And I was coming into first grade on the back
[49:53] Speaker 3: of that, So yeah, it was I don't know if
[49:56] Speaker 3: I don't know if it changed anything for anyone else,
[49:58] Speaker 3: but I know, walking into an origin camp, I was
[50:01] Speaker 3: still too young to think this is a rivalry. I
[50:04] Speaker 3: was in an Origin camp about to play with Cam
[50:07] Speaker 3: Smith and Gi and Cooper and Billy. So I was
[50:11] Speaker 3: just in there ready to learn.
[50:13] Speaker 2: Something else in your career, I run past. Oftentimes Green
[50:16] Speaker 2: Final losses are remembered, like you know, really people hardback
[50:21] Speaker 2: and go and will remind the players in that game.
[50:24] Speaker 2: One that doesn't get spoken about Billy at all is
[50:28] Speaker 2: when you guys lost to the Roosters. What you're leading
[50:31] Speaker 2: at halftime?
[50:31] Speaker 4: What was the score we got out to?
[50:34] Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure the score was twenty to eight with twenty.
[50:36] Speaker 4: To go, twenty to eight, we're twenty a goo?
[50:39] Speaker 2: I mean twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen? Was that twenty sixteen?
[50:44] Speaker 3: Twenty thirteen times?
[50:47] Speaker 2: What a sliding doors moment? If Tubs goes on to
[50:51] Speaker 2: win that Grand Final, like what happens? Happens? Now? Tell
[50:55] Speaker 2: me about that Grand Final? What was spoken about at halftime?
[50:59] Speaker 2: To be up twenty to and then lose it? What
[51:01] Speaker 2: are you? What are your memories?
[51:02] Speaker 3: I don't know if it ever really got unpacked with everyone,
[51:06] Speaker 3: to be fair, Yeah, it's a strange one. Yeah, I reckon.
[51:10] Speaker 3: I didn't watch it for years after I didn't watch it. Yeah,
[51:14] Speaker 3: it broke my heart every time I saw it, but
[51:17] Speaker 3: I did eventually sit down one off season I reckon.
[51:20] Speaker 3: It must have been a good five to six years later,
[51:22] Speaker 3: I was in an off season, I thought, you just
[51:23] Speaker 3: got to tackle this, You're just got to watch it. Yeah,
[51:27] Speaker 3: so yeah, I reckon. I don't know if everyone within
[51:31] Speaker 3: the side of that twenty thirteen side has spoken about
[51:35] Speaker 3: I've spoken to some of the boys about it. Yeah,
[51:37] Speaker 3: and it definitely stayed with them for a long time,
[51:39] Speaker 3: that's for sure.
[51:40] Speaker 1: They had a fair sight like that. The rooster's salary
[51:43] Speaker 1: cap joke always gets thrown around, but if there's every
[51:45] Speaker 1: like that was a red hot nice season.
[51:48] Speaker 3: The squad they put together that Yearny.
[51:52] Speaker 2: Bill wins second half, his first half was probably his
[51:54] Speaker 2: worst half all seasons. Second half probably he's best. They
[51:58] Speaker 2: lost the first game of the year to Souse, knock
[52:01] Speaker 2: him over. Souse dominated that season until probably just before
[52:06] Speaker 2: the finals and they started hitting the wall. You were
[52:09] Speaker 2: you were Clove Churchill Medale that night. How did that
[52:12] Speaker 2: feel to get up there to be, you know, to
[52:14] Speaker 2: be the best's best player in the field but lose it.
[52:17] Speaker 3: It's the only way to describe it. Is a bittersweet. Yeah,
[52:20] Speaker 3: it epitomizes what that that is. It's a bittersweet. It's
[52:24] Speaker 3: having been a kid that loves footy and watched so
[52:29] Speaker 3: many people before me go up and receive a Clive
[52:31] Speaker 3: Churchill I know how special it is. So I guess
[52:34] Speaker 3: when I was in that moment, I didn't, in my
[52:37] Speaker 3: wildest dreams, think that I was going to be up
[52:39] Speaker 3: there on the losing side.
[52:40] Speaker 2: So when you look, you've got Australian jersey there, you
[52:44] Speaker 2: got your Queensland jerseys. Yeah, your Premiership win a jersey
[52:48] Speaker 2: for twenty twenty eleven. Where does the Clive Churchill Medal
[52:51] Speaker 2: sit dally when you look at it? What emotion do
[52:54] Speaker 2: you feel?
[52:56] Speaker 3: It's one of those ones. I don't think I'll truly
[52:59] Speaker 3: understand till I'm done.
[53:00] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[53:01] Speaker 3: I think there's so many moments and there's so many
[53:03] Speaker 3: cool jerseys or games that I've been a part of,
[53:06] Speaker 3: which is amazing. But I don't think I really let
[53:10] Speaker 3: myself enjoy it all until it's done, which is a
[53:13] Speaker 3: shame because I might look back on my career and go,
[53:16] Speaker 3: jeez mate, you should have just sat and taken a
[53:18] Speaker 3: breath and enjoyed it for what it is, But I
[53:20] Speaker 3: guess that's always been what makes me tick is just
[53:24] Speaker 3: I'm grateful for the opportunities I've got. But if for
[53:27] Speaker 3: any second I stopped for too long, I'm going to
[53:29] Speaker 3: lose sight of where i want to keep going.
[53:30] Speaker 2: So let's talk about that, right We're getting dally into
[53:35] Speaker 2: the twilight, right, Well, I'm guessing yeah, definitely, definitely. So
[53:39] Speaker 2: one thing the Roosters are very very good at, Robbo
[53:42] Speaker 2: and Nick Politis is planning for the future. They're so
[53:45] Speaker 2: good at that. And I've got no doubt that you know,
[53:47] Speaker 2: they haven't brought you wholly and solely for what you're
[53:50] Speaker 2: going to do on the field in twenty twenty six.
[53:52] Speaker 2: Where do you sit at the moment as far as
[53:55] Speaker 2: your future concerned. Do you think you're still a chance
[53:58] Speaker 2: to play next year? Do you see yourself more likely
[54:00] Speaker 2: moving to coaching? What are you thinking?
[54:02] Speaker 3: I would say, I definitely am not thinking this is
[54:06] Speaker 3: my last year, yep. But I'm also sitting right on
[54:10] Speaker 3: the fence where it's being open minded. I think I
[54:13] Speaker 3: said it a couple of weeks ago in my Meatia commitments,
[54:15] Speaker 3: and they said, oh, this is the first time we've
[54:16] Speaker 3: got to speak to you this year? What are you
[54:17] Speaker 3: doing next year?
[54:21] Speaker 2: Four?
[54:22] Speaker 3: Thanks guys, But the nature of the vast everyone just
[54:25] Speaker 3: wants to know. And I was really clear. If the
[54:28] Speaker 3: Roosters decided that my best footy was done and my job,
[54:32] Speaker 3: as you said, was to play this year, but also
[54:35] Speaker 3: to help nurture and bring on some of the fellas
[54:37] Speaker 3: that are in the squad, then that's fine with me.
[54:41] Speaker 4: That's footy.
[54:41] Speaker 3: I'm alright with that. But the competitor in me is
[54:43] Speaker 3: going to back myself to keep playing as level as possible.
[54:47] Speaker 3: Are you kind of just going to get to the
[54:48] Speaker 3: end of the year and to see you feel out
[54:52] Speaker 3: of respect to the club? I don't think I could
[54:54] Speaker 3: do that. I think the club needs to know that,
[54:56] Speaker 3: and they need to know with the future of the
[54:58] Speaker 3: young fellas that are confident at the heels. And that's fine.
[55:01] Speaker 3: Like I'm completely aware of where I'm at in my
[55:03] Speaker 3: career and the landscape of it. So that's why I
[55:08] Speaker 3: think the conversations behind closed doors will be quite natural
[55:10] Speaker 3: and quite comfortable.
[55:12] Speaker 1: Can I direct a stat to your attention right? I
[55:15] Speaker 1: I was hoping a like this conversation came up because
[55:18] Speaker 1: I have a stat I googled how old you were chess.
[55:21] Speaker 1: I was surprised. I said, what, I'm friends with a
[55:23] Speaker 1: thirty seven year old. It could be your dad, the
[55:30] Speaker 1: oldest ever player in the NR old you know how
[55:32] Speaker 1: old is or who it is? Whoever played NRL? Paul
[55:36] Speaker 1: Gallon it is. It was thirty eight and thirty days
[55:39] Speaker 1: still playing in an eral. This might just be in
[55:41] Speaker 1: the era. But you're thirty seven now, your birthdays in February.
[55:46] Speaker 1: If you play again next year, you're thirty eight and
[55:50] Speaker 1: you'll be the oldest player I ever played.
[55:52] Speaker 3: In that's pretty cool, pretty so what that means if
[55:56] Speaker 3: you did get it? You know, I don't know. Paul
[55:58] Speaker 3: Gallon sitting at home and he's got a plak up
[56:00] Speaker 3: on the on the wall.
[56:03] Speaker 2: Shoe pology puts in his hearing.
[56:09] Speaker 1: A pretty cool achievement.
[56:10] Speaker 3: But like to do that, I mean, like I think
[56:13] Speaker 3: it's just that, That's all it is. It's just a
[56:15] Speaker 3: cool little achieve and I wouldn't be hanging my hat
[56:17] Speaker 3: on my career saying, you know, I've got to do it.
[56:22] Speaker 1: Grand that was the oldest you might be. You'll be
[56:25] Speaker 1: in the rocking chair. You might be in the rocking chair.
[56:28] Speaker 2: I was at the Roosters and I thought time was
[56:30] Speaker 2: up and then you wouldn't believe it, the gold goes Titans.
[56:34] Speaker 2: After that I went to the Bulldogs.
[56:36] Speaker 1: Knucklin Gal, what what actually? Because you're quite durable for
[56:41] Speaker 1: somebody you haven't been, I wouldn't say you've been, similar
[56:44] Speaker 1: to like Cameron Smith.
[56:45] Speaker 3: You have.
[56:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, so let me touch every piece of wood in
[56:47] Speaker 1: this joint. That's not wood actually that's that's gold and
[56:50] Speaker 1: we've just sort of lathered it. But what has been?
[56:54] Speaker 1: Because you're also someone who's not like I would say,
[56:57] Speaker 1: you know, just goes home and does ice bars or
[56:59] Speaker 1: like you, you still have fun in your life. You
[57:01] Speaker 1: like to be with your friends and whatnot. What do
[57:04] Speaker 1: you do away from football to like get your body right?
[57:06] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[57:08] Speaker 3: I reckon This is I don't know if it's knowledge,
[57:11] Speaker 3: but it's my way. I reckon my experience and advice
[57:14] Speaker 3: passing on the young fellas. I reckon. I haven't really
[57:17] Speaker 3: said it publicly much, but balance. Balance is so important.
[57:19] Speaker 3: You've got to have the ability to be on and
[57:22] Speaker 3: at training. There's certain times where you can be very
[57:26] Speaker 3: serious in meetings and on the field and stuff, but
[57:28] Speaker 3: there's also a great lot of time to relax and
[57:33] Speaker 3: that that for me when I'm not at training is
[57:35] Speaker 3: either with my family or sometimes it's just honestly not
[57:39] Speaker 3: with anyone around. I think that's really important as well.
[57:42] Speaker 3: And then time with the boys. I think if there's
[57:45] Speaker 3: anything that I've got not right all the time, that's
[57:49] Speaker 3: always a bit of a balancing act. But it's a
[57:51] Speaker 3: key part of having longevity is having balance because how.
[57:55] Speaker 1: Like the amount of circumstances where you have a player
[57:58] Speaker 1: in there who's so gifted athletically and they do everything right,
[58:01] Speaker 1: like they might not even drink, like they might not
[58:04] Speaker 1: drink the whole year. They're doing ice bars and Saunders
[58:06] Speaker 1: twice a day, but a lot of the times they're
[58:10] Speaker 1: the ones that get the most injured.
[58:11] Speaker 3: It's a hard one, isn't it.
[58:13] Speaker 2: I played alongside of the guy he come to our
[58:15] Speaker 2: club and he never ever got injured. I don't think
[58:20] Speaker 2: he got injured at any point in his career. But
[58:22] Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm going to say this completely honestly. He
[58:27] Speaker 2: was an alcoholic. He was while he was playing, and yeah,
[58:30] Speaker 2: he admits sometimes that when he was a younger player,
[58:33] Speaker 2: it was just a big part of his life that
[58:34] Speaker 2: he would actually even drink sometimes heavily than not for
[58:38] Speaker 2: a game, yet never got injured. Like it was. He
[58:42] Speaker 2: was just mate the stories he'd had, Like you know,
[58:45] Speaker 2: he was at a club once and went out. He
[58:47] Speaker 2: was at an early opener early on a Sunday morning
[58:52] Speaker 2: and they had to play the Broncos that afternoon, and
[58:55] Speaker 2: he was an early opener and a friend of the
[58:57] Speaker 2: coach went up, put his hand on his shoulder and said,
[59:00] Speaker 2: what the fuck are you doing here? He went immediately home,
[59:03] Speaker 2: threw himself in the shower, ring some of his teammates
[59:05] Speaker 2: and said, you've got to come and pick me up
[59:06] Speaker 2: before the game. They went and got him, got him
[59:08] Speaker 2: some coffee, went out there, broke the record for the
[59:11] Speaker 2: club for most tackles, got me in to the match.
[59:14] Speaker 1: Imagine the friend of the coach.
[59:17] Speaker 2: But it's just showsure like you go. I mean, they're
[59:20] Speaker 2: saying lebron Jones has a bottle of red every night.
[59:23] Speaker 2: Now he's actually just basically worked out like I can
[59:26] Speaker 2: do that. It is just so mental.
[59:29] Speaker 3: Everyone's different, right, There's obviously a roleg in edigs play.
[59:33] Speaker 3: I reckon no doubt that has to have an impact
[59:36] Speaker 3: on people and what their gene Pool is, but the
[59:39] Speaker 3: mental side things muddy.
[59:41] Speaker 2: It's huge, just everything it is.
[59:44] Speaker 1: I wanted to I want to ask you before we
[59:46] Speaker 1: wrap it up about Queensland, queens and Marines, because you're
[59:49] Speaker 1: a part of You're actually you're the oldest captain as well.
[59:52] Speaker 1: Age is a real theme in this podcast for Queensland,
[59:57] Speaker 1: but you're also a part of captaining the worst Queensland.
[1:00:00] Speaker 1: It's not ever in Covid, who ended up winning the
[1:00:01] Speaker 1: camp after Munthster went in after the twenty twenty Grand Final,
[1:00:05] Speaker 1: who basically been drinking for two weeks straight.
[1:00:07] Speaker 3: What was that camp like considering the environment where we
[1:00:11] Speaker 3: weren't allowed out. We were literally in a hotel. We
[1:00:15] Speaker 3: had a team room and then it was your own
[1:00:18] Speaker 3: room that you could go do then otherwise we jump
[1:00:20] Speaker 3: on a bus and go to training. So it was
[1:00:21] Speaker 3: a really really bizarre time. A lot of the world
[1:00:24] Speaker 3: was still moving around us, but we had to stay
[1:00:25] Speaker 3: in this bubble. So it was a really really weird time.
[1:00:28] Speaker 3: But I'm sure the Blues will probably be the same.
[1:00:32] Speaker 3: It was a really really great time because of the
[1:00:35] Speaker 3: staff and the players just completely brought into it and
[1:00:38] Speaker 3: made a great situation out of a really uncomfortable situation
[1:00:42] Speaker 3: was It was fun times, very very fun times.
[1:00:45] Speaker 2: How did your family? How did your wife handle the bubble?
[1:00:49] Speaker 2: Did they enjoy it?
[1:00:53] Speaker 3: They kids and wife? I Reckon loved the one where
[1:00:56] Speaker 3: we moved to Sunshine Coast. That was the great That
[1:00:59] Speaker 3: was yeah. And I say this with the biggest respective
[1:01:02] Speaker 3: people in COVID who couldn't leave home and lost people
[1:01:05] Speaker 3: like our situation. We were very very lucky. We will
[1:01:08] Speaker 3: continuing to play and which is work right, We were
[1:01:11] Speaker 3: able to work, which is play footy and live in Queensland.
[1:01:14] Speaker 2: Ye, incredible time, incredible that you blokes were part of
[1:01:23] Speaker 2: the three U blokes to actually be able. You'll be
[1:01:25] Speaker 2: able to tell people one day your grand Jordan just
[1:01:26] Speaker 2: say mate, when this virus hit the world and completely
[1:01:30] Speaker 2: shut the world down. You know, our comp we were
[1:01:33] Speaker 2: able to work because we all moved into a compound.
[1:01:36] Speaker 2: The whole conetition. It is unbelieved.
[1:01:38] Speaker 1: It is weird when you look back on it now,
[1:01:40] Speaker 1: it feels like ages ago now, but it's like it's
[1:01:42] Speaker 1: like the modern day black plague, Like people just freaking out.
[1:01:46] Speaker 2: That's exactly what it was, you know, and you think
[1:01:49] Speaker 2: about all the time, like they always say the earth
[1:01:51] Speaker 2: has a correction, Mother Nature will correct, and they oftentimes
[1:01:54] Speaker 2: talk about viruses to hit hit the earth and decimate,
[1:01:57] Speaker 2: which control population.
[1:02:00] Speaker 4: Abe.
[1:02:00] Speaker 2: It's just that we've become so good with you know,
[1:02:03] Speaker 2: as far as medicine and science are concerned, that we've
[1:02:06] Speaker 2: beaten the first time we've beaten it one. It's one nill.
[1:02:10] Speaker 3: Mother Nature had to crack the other night after the
[1:02:13] Speaker 3: Manly Rooster's game, influx of boils across both sides.
[1:02:18] Speaker 1: Oh really yeah, shocking boils because because of the wet weather.
[1:02:22] Speaker 3: I don't know enough about medicine. But can you help
[1:02:26] Speaker 3: me how both sides on a rainy night at Brookie.
[1:02:31] Speaker 1: We have asked the right person, Maddie.
[1:02:34] Speaker 2: I usually only deal with things like syphilis. But I
[1:02:38] Speaker 2: have a crack.
[1:02:38] Speaker 1: We should bring the boil. See if he picks up,
[1:02:42] Speaker 1: we'll ring Tino. He's actually the boiler.
[1:02:45] Speaker 2: Well, they say, well, I think boils. I think it
[1:02:48] Speaker 2: would have just.
[1:02:48] Speaker 1: Been rubbing up again, right, what happens every game?
[1:02:52] Speaker 2: Or is it or were they boils? Or was it
[1:02:55] Speaker 2: were the boils a byproduct of blood poisoning? Because it
[1:02:58] Speaker 2: could be blood poised?
[1:02:59] Speaker 1: They say, boil is in your it's in your blood
[1:03:02] Speaker 1: and then when you get like a half a nick
[1:03:03] Speaker 1: or something, that's when it just erupts.
[1:03:05] Speaker 2: That's that's it's happened. I'd say, there's grass and everything
[1:03:08] Speaker 2: going on. It's blood poisoning which has resulted in boils.
[1:03:11] Speaker 2: That'll onnely cosh, there's your prescription.
[1:03:13] Speaker 4: Go well, let my teammates.
[1:03:15] Speaker 1: Now, let's ring anyway because he's he'll he's the ring king,
[1:03:21] Speaker 1: he's the boil king.
[1:03:22] Speaker 3: And the.
[1:03:25] Speaker 1: And we'll leave him my voicemail. If he doesn't pick up.
[1:03:27] Speaker 2: I'll use I'll leave him abaus mail box number Osship.
[1:03:33] Speaker 1: If you can't, I realized that I can't belave voice
[1:03:39] Speaker 1: as number out of dally.
[1:03:41] Speaker 2: Look on that, mate. We'll let you get back to
[1:03:43] Speaker 2: the family. We're doing this on a eastern Monday. Yeah. Yeah,
[1:03:47] Speaker 2: taking away from the family, mate. Really appreciate your time. Look,
[1:03:50] Speaker 2: and you've got a long way to go, Like you said,
[1:03:53] Speaker 2: there's not necessarily going to be a final year. But
[1:03:55] Speaker 2: congratulations on your career.
[1:03:56] Speaker 4: Thanks so far.
[1:03:58] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
[1:03:59] Speaker 1: But there's a plenty of want to go road to
[1:04:01] Speaker 1: road to forty I say.
[1:04:03] Speaker 2: And if you and your wife are thinking about renewing
[1:04:05] Speaker 2: your vows, maybe think about another MCU I am available.
[1:04:10] Speaker 1: He's expensive. Is yay Way or expensive mane you bet
[1:04:14] Speaker 1: you

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