WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Sam Kekovich

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<v Speaker 1>Get everyone welcome once again to conversations. My guest today

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<v Speaker 1>is you gotta love speaking to him or listening to him,

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<v Speaker 1>because he was a great player, really talented football player,

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<v Speaker 1>one best and fairest in his first full season with

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<v Speaker 1>the mighty North Melbourne in those days, played in North

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<v Speaker 1>Melbourne's first premiership team. But he's probably much more famous

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<v Speaker 1>to the wider Australia in this day and age because

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<v Speaker 1>of his promotion of our wonderful Lamb products. And I

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<v Speaker 1>can speak of nobody else. Sam Kekevic, Sam, Welcome to Adelaide.

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<v Speaker 2>How are you? I'm outstanding, Graham, and thank you for

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<v Speaker 2>that flattering introduction.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, we all think we know you, but I mean

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<v Speaker 1>those of us who were played at the same time

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<v Speaker 1>as you do. But the more look at it, I

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<v Speaker 1>mean there's more we need to know. So we'll talk

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<v Speaker 1>about all the footy career and the Lamb promotion which

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<v Speaker 1>has given you lots of fame. I suppose no to

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<v Speaker 1>rite you because they attract some criticism to the Australian.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know why why would people complain about Lambad.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just what I needed. Yeah, I needed that exposure

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<v Speaker 2>in my life. Yeah, I don't know. The landscape of

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<v Speaker 2>the world we live in our gram has changed enormously

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<v Speaker 2>from the day that you and I. Yeah, we're trudging

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<v Speaker 2>our stuff on the on the hallow turf, because our

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<v Speaker 2>DNA was always based on a reverence, tonguing cheek and

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<v Speaker 2>a good old belly laugh. Now that we've been invaded

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<v Speaker 2>by all these intellectual non descripts, missed their vocation in

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<v Speaker 2>life and trying to impinge themselves on the inane crusades,

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<v Speaker 2>trying to validate and legitimize their own existence, the world

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<v Speaker 2>has changed and somehow we've fallen for what.

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<v Speaker 1>People didn't see then. And you didn't miss a beat.

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<v Speaker 1>The microphone fell in your lap without missing a beat.

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<v Speaker 1>Sam just scooped it up and put it back.

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<v Speaker 2>And well, you've got to also understand appropart of that

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<v Speaker 2>part of my intrusion. If you recall in our early

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<v Speaker 2>days and look at you're an old hand at this.

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<v Speaker 2>Now you're an old pro. I'm just, you know, sort

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<v Speaker 2>of hip came away through the labyrinths trying to keep

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<v Speaker 2>up with you. But in the early days, when we're

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<v Speaker 2>thrust on world of sport or through any medium, you

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<v Speaker 2>know you have to fend for yourself. There was no

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<v Speaker 2>such thing as an education. I remember going to World

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<v Speaker 2>of Sport Lou Richard, Jack Dyer and Ron Casey like,

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<v Speaker 2>you've got to be on delta alert there and if

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<v Speaker 2>you didn't stack up, you'd certainly be exposed for all

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<v Speaker 2>your foibles.

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<v Speaker 1>You're definitely We've never got any training at it. It was.

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<v Speaker 1>It was just throwing.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a raw and deep head and see how you

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<v Speaker 2>can survive.

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<v Speaker 1>Actually, you start off on a rant. Just as we

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<v Speaker 1>started speaking about the way of the world how it

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<v Speaker 1>is today. I guess you're talking about politically correctness, plan

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<v Speaker 1>for correctness, and the and the influence of the woke brigade.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes for better or for worse. Well, I think it's

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<v Speaker 2>for worse. I think we're waking up as a nation.

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<v Speaker 2>We realize that we've been due for so long. And

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<v Speaker 2>the reality is I find it quite a barrant when

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<v Speaker 2>we get compartmentalized by being misogynist, racist, homophobic. We're none

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<v Speaker 2>of those things. Our DNA revolves purely, as I said initially,

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<v Speaker 2>on a reverence, satire and tongue in cheek, a good

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<v Speaker 2>old fashioned belly laugh. There's never any intent or malice

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<v Speaker 2>in our in our delivery. The only time, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>there's racism involved, you think a bit better than somebody else.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's certainly not the Australian DNA. Some of the

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<v Speaker 2>dialogue could have could have been, you know, when some

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<v Speaker 2>of the dig has been over the top and unpleasant,

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<v Speaker 2>and I think there had to be some sort of reform. Well,

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<v Speaker 2>some sort of reform you okay, might have been a

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<v Speaker 2>bit brutal or truculent in some regard, but at the

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<v Speaker 2>end of the day, particularly in the fields of endeavor,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, and now I'm talking about sport. Now you know,

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<v Speaker 2>we always doffed ourid, put our met out and enjoyed

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<v Speaker 2>a convivial after the game. It was all forgotten. There

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<v Speaker 2>was no acrimony or no you long held grievances.

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<v Speaker 1>Redown again there's someone who well, yes that again, there's

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<v Speaker 1>somebody you remember, so you do.

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<v Speaker 2>But we always used to handle you know, we dealt

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<v Speaker 2>with it in a very how would I how would

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<v Speaker 2>I say? You know, we dealt We handed out the

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<v Speaker 2>receipt at the appropriate time and the ledger was squared.

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<v Speaker 2>But there was no long term animosity.

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<v Speaker 1>No, you did right. Eventually you do forgive, you do forgive.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell me about the Kekevich family. Now were you're born

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<v Speaker 1>in w A.

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<v Speaker 2>I was born in w A. My parents were freedom fighters.

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<v Speaker 2>They opposed Nazism and communism and the old Yugoslavia freedom fighters.

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<v Speaker 1>They'll expand on that for us.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, they defended their country. They fought with the part

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<v Speaker 2>of the ends with the locals to avert in Yugoslavia

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<v Speaker 2>in Yugoslavia, and then they escaped through tries through the

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<v Speaker 2>north and ended up in Cairo in Egypt, and then

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<v Speaker 2>caught the boat. My brother was born in Alarisia Camp

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<v Speaker 2>in Alarish, Egypt. And in those days when you migrated

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<v Speaker 2>to Australia either went to the US and Canada or

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<v Speaker 2>to Premantle to Australia. Well, we had friends or associates.

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<v Speaker 2>Mom and dad knew them in Fremantle in Australia. So

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<v Speaker 2>we went to a place called Mensumup where we grew tobacco.

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<v Speaker 2>Here we did. Tobacco was a huge industry in those

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<v Speaker 2>days in Mensumup, and then my father was very adept

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<v Speaker 2>at it. And then got a call to come over

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<v Speaker 2>to when the salt got in the soil in a

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<v Speaker 2>memory and went to Myrtleford which is the tobacco hub

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<v Speaker 2>in those days of Mariba in North Queensland. The other

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<v Speaker 2>two tobacco growing areas in the fifties and sixties, sixties

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<v Speaker 2>and seventies, they were huge industries.

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<v Speaker 1>Did your mom and dad ever talk about the war

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<v Speaker 1>about the well, yes, well it escapades, if I can

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<v Speaker 1>call it.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, look very very vaguely, very vaguely. There are some

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<v Speaker 2>very bit of memories. But the great thing about my

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<v Speaker 2>parents and I'm sure well mum had a I believe,

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<v Speaker 2>and I've heard it said a couple of times it

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<v Speaker 2>saw her parents shot before a firing squad. Now that's

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<v Speaker 2>but she never ever elaborated in detail. And of course

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<v Speaker 2>in those days before Tito died, you know, we could

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<v Speaker 2>never go back to Yugoslavia because there was still being

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<v Speaker 2>apprehended in jail. And a lot of people that did

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<v Speaker 2>escape did very well in in the tobacco industry, sent

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<v Speaker 2>money backs for their loved ones that they had to

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<v Speaker 2>leave behind. You know, a lot of people that escaped

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<v Speaker 2>had to leave a lot of loved ones behind, which

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<v Speaker 2>they catered for a little bit later on when they

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<v Speaker 2>did very well. But the ones that tried to go back,

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<v Speaker 2>they were apprehended in jailed. Even still then, is.

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<v Speaker 1>There a hint of emotion you're saying it?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, there is, you know, I mean about family. You

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<v Speaker 2>tearing up. No, I'm not tearing up. I'm just giving

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<v Speaker 2>you the fact that I can recite them because I

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<v Speaker 2>had these conversations in the early pieces. I remember mourning

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<v Speaker 2>me a lot of things about the war and about

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<v Speaker 2>certain races and certain people that you saw firsthand. And

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<v Speaker 2>that's always been indelibly Wisconsin in my mind. But you know,

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<v Speaker 2>as such as life, you move on, you get strong,

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<v Speaker 2>you know. But the one thing I will say about

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<v Speaker 2>my parents, and this is not as an affront or

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<v Speaker 2>anything to the contemporary, but my parents assimilated, learned the language, district,

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<v Speaker 2>their laws, and became leaders of the community. And you

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<v Speaker 2>know in Myrtleford they were very, very proud, and you know,

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<v Speaker 2>they were involved in a lot of communal things, took

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<v Speaker 2>us to all the sports, football, basketball, cricket, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>and really embraced the community.

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<v Speaker 1>So how a were you when you went to Myrtleford?

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<v Speaker 2>I was only I was ten, So.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a that's typical country.

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<v Speaker 2>Victoria Fantastic footy and cricket forty cricket, basketball, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>swim down the river, you know, mix, hang around with

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<v Speaker 2>all your mates, the skills, socials, you know, the occasional

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<v Speaker 2>girlfriend after halftime in the local picture theater. Oh those

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<v Speaker 2>you know, unadulterated, simple things in life that we enjoyed,

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<v Speaker 2>made our own fun. Did your mom dad ever go

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<v Speaker 2>back to No, no, never went back.

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<v Speaker 1>And so you never met your grandparents?

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<v Speaker 2>No, no, Yeah, it's a sad thing. But they obviously

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<v Speaker 2>exchanged letters and phone calls, but never never. We bought

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<v Speaker 2>an uncle out once, the third brother. There were three brothers,

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<v Speaker 2>my father and my eldest, oldest uncle. They came out together.

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<v Speaker 2>The third one, the youngest, went have to stay back

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<v Speaker 2>and look after his parents and look after parents. So

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<v Speaker 2>after years and the seventies, we brought him out to

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<v Speaker 2>see if you get assimilar, but just couldn't. So he

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<v Speaker 2>went back. And you know, a life on the Tata

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<v Speaker 2>Apparent was pretty good. You know, it relaxed a lot

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<v Speaker 2>under the old communist regime. You know, there was that

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<v Speaker 2>a fairly good life.

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<v Speaker 1>Did they escape all the tension and the tumol and

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<v Speaker 1>the violence of you know, Eastern Europe?

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<v Speaker 2>And no, not really you're talking about the war. After

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<v Speaker 2>the war, Oh, there are still remnants of it. I

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<v Speaker 2>think they escaped most most of it is there was

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of activity, you know, in the Balkan region

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<v Speaker 2>during that period.

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<v Speaker 1>Now I understand that like civil war between the service, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>all of that, all of that. Anyway, let's get back

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<v Speaker 1>to Murtalford. It sounds like a happier well.

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<v Speaker 2>I've always had. I've been lucky, I've escaped it or

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<v Speaker 2>made I've had a charmed life. And with the whole

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<v Speaker 2>you know, the whole family we did as kids. You know,

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<v Speaker 2>it was never thrust upon us. We had the best

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<v Speaker 2>of everything. We never had much money, I'm sure, but

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<v Speaker 2>whatever I had, that was always better. And that's we

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<v Speaker 2>had a good education, a good u a good life.

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<v Speaker 2>We're taking all the sports. We had the best of everything.

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<v Speaker 2>They probably suffered, but we you know, Murderford was fantastic.

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<v Speaker 1>Did you have an ambition as a kid?

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<v Speaker 2>Look any country kid growing up Graham you should know

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<v Speaker 2>that always had a manic obsession to play league football.

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<v Speaker 2>That's all we lived for to become a league football.

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<v Speaker 2>You know. I used to run around trying to get

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<v Speaker 2>every snippet of news that cards. I used to collect

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<v Speaker 2>every card.

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<v Speaker 1>Who was Who was your hero?

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<v Speaker 2>Well? I used to like Ray Gabrick. I was a

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<v Speaker 2>mayor calling supporter Big gave was you know, I fell

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<v Speaker 2>in love with him and you know Leaf football was

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<v Speaker 2>everything I lived and died for it.

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<v Speaker 1>We need to take a break. I don't want to,

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<v Speaker 1>but we will. Sam Kekevich is my guest, will embark

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<v Speaker 1>on this footy career when we come back back Shortley, folks.

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<v Speaker 1>My guest on conversations today is the famous or people

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<v Speaker 1>could say infamous, perhaps Sam Keikovich. We know him fondly

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<v Speaker 1>for his ads on the TV and social media about

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<v Speaker 1>his promotion of the lamb industry, the meat industry. But

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<v Speaker 1>if it just turned in. He and his parents have

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<v Speaker 1>immigrated from Yoslavia after the I know it's got different

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<v Speaker 1>names now, but growing up in a country town of

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<v Speaker 1>Victoria called Myrtleford, which was famous for tobacco industry. They

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<v Speaker 1>still grow tobacco.

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<v Speaker 2>I think I got quator system now. I think that's

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<v Speaker 2>all gone, all terminators. A lot of wines there now.

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<v Speaker 2>But even prior to that, I was in a I

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<v Speaker 2>was called Gunbao near Kahuna. Up until ten I had

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<v Speaker 2>I had one year Cahuna High School and then we

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<v Speaker 2>moved over to Cahunahs on the Murray River and here

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<v Speaker 2>we took about twenty five forty miles horse of Ichuka.

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<v Speaker 1>So you grew up wanting to be Ray Gabli playing.

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to be a le football there, but I enjoyed.

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<v Speaker 2>I was a command colling with supporter and our footy.

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<v Speaker 2>Our end of season holiday, for want of a better term,

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<v Speaker 2>was always the Grand Final. We go to Melbourne and

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<v Speaker 2>Dad to take us to Melbourne. We'd have three or

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<v Speaker 2>four days in Melbourne, so we come there, get their Friday,

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<v Speaker 2>go the MCG. I got to the BFA Grand Final

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<v Speaker 2>of for Sunday, which was big and also in those

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<v Speaker 2>days and we could all we always secure tickets because

0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.080
<v Speaker 2>my uncle had a good rapport with a guy that

0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.480
<v Speaker 2>you will know called Mary Wiedeman. Mary Whedeman went to

0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.760
<v Speaker 2>Aubrey as a coach and in those days you might

0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.200
<v Speaker 2>recall in the early seventies the country had all the money.

0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.520
<v Speaker 2>There's a lot of champion football in the b fellows

0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.560
<v Speaker 2>that was now and then left prematurely like Weedham and

0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.959
<v Speaker 2>bob Rose and every club is particularly my area called

0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:13.000
<v Speaker 2>the Avans and Murray like Mirtleford, Yarrawanga, Corowa, Ruther, Glenn

0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:19.000
<v Speaker 2>Banella all had league league players because that's where the

0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.640
<v Speaker 2>money was. And Weedham and I think left at twenty eight.

0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:25.480
<v Speaker 2>Bobby Rose the same age and Mary had They set

0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.720
<v Speaker 2>him up very well in Aubury. He was a captain

0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.080
<v Speaker 2>coach of Aubury. So you must have been the star

0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.680
<v Speaker 2>as a junior. Well, yeah, have all three boys must

0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.240
<v Speaker 2>have been good? Yeah, we were well, we had a

0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:37.840
<v Speaker 2>mad passion for the game and you know we had

0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.920
<v Speaker 2>a natural, a natural tendency towards it.

0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.599
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, So when did North Melbourne come knocking.

0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:49.160
<v Speaker 2>In about sixty seven? They started sixty eight. Brian, my

0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.440
<v Speaker 2>older brother, went to Carlton. They played in the premiersure

0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.640
<v Speaker 2>I was going to Carlton. They resigned to go to Carlton.

0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.839
<v Speaker 2>What happened, Well, if you recall, and you know you're

0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.840
<v Speaker 2>a very astute and very well researched. But the AFL,

0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:08.480
<v Speaker 2>in their wisdom was the BFL overnight, implemented a policy

0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:13.439
<v Speaker 2>called zoning. Oh remember that, So the best performed country

0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.400
<v Speaker 2>zone was allocated of the worst performed league club. So

0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.599
<v Speaker 2>all of a sudden, the Avans and Murray, which was

0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.640
<v Speaker 2>the leading country zone, was allocated to North Melbourne, so

0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:24.120
<v Speaker 2>I had no.

0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:25.760
<v Speaker 1>Choice and they were the bottom team.

0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:26.680
<v Speaker 2>They were the bottom team.

0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:27.600
<v Speaker 1>How did you feel?

0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.560
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, well I was delighted just to go

0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.160
<v Speaker 2>to the just to be playing VFL football. I didn't

0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 2>care where I went. But Ron Joseph was very, very

0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.000
<v Speaker 2>very forceful in assertive and we loved Ron Joseph. And

0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.040
<v Speaker 2>of course he recruited the bulk of the seventy five

0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.240
<v Speaker 2>premiership side and you know, run very well. It just

0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.880
<v Speaker 2>unfortunately passed away just recently as well. So it was

0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.320
<v Speaker 2>you know, there were no hard years, our early years,

0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.760
<v Speaker 2>but the great thing of being associated with the clubs

0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.880
<v Speaker 2>that struggled, we also enjoyed the really good years with

0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:01.520
<v Speaker 2>when Ron Barassi arrived.

0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:02.760
<v Speaker 1>Your brothers at Carlton.

0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.680
<v Speaker 2>My brothers at Carlton played in the premiership. Premiership sided

0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.480
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen sixty eight and if you recall the great

0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:13.079
<v Speaker 2>trivia quiz where the victor kick less goals than the vanquished,

0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.000
<v Speaker 2>Carlton kicked seven, Eston kick d eight and Brian kicked

0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.800
<v Speaker 2>four of the seven. Really, yeah, it's interesting. I didn't know,

0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.360
<v Speaker 2>but I was heading to Carlton and I often told

0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:23.680
<v Speaker 2>them if I had have gone to Carlton, I'd be

0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:28.720
<v Speaker 2>rack raving to John Nichols that I enjoyed North Melbourne

0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.600
<v Speaker 2>and then said, I look, I owe everything in North Melbourne. Yeah.

0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.320
<v Speaker 2>So you walk into North who was coaching Keith McKenzie.

0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.520
<v Speaker 2>He was a champion rover of the club at the time.

0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.920
<v Speaker 2>Aileen and co had just retired. Doug Dale and Lorry

0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.280
<v Speaker 2>Dewai were the big names there. Of course, good guys,

0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.400
<v Speaker 2>great guys. And I arrived there Wednesday night. I had

0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.800
<v Speaker 2>a bitter battle than to this day. I regretted, but

0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.400
<v Speaker 2>I did A left there in tears at Birdleford, who

0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:56.280
<v Speaker 2>you know, we were on the cusp of winning our

0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.200
<v Speaker 2>first ever premiership and I was in fine form there

0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:00.800
<v Speaker 2>at an R forty. You know, I was a seventeen

0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.960
<v Speaker 2>year old kid. But so you walk out eventually he

0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.240
<v Speaker 2>walked out. I said, I just wanted the opportunity in

0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.640
<v Speaker 2>Rome was either going to kill Ron Joseph and my

0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.720
<v Speaker 2>mother and I and Ron Joseph drove into Melbourne. A

0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.440
<v Speaker 2>car broke down at Banilla. We got the love of

0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:16.800
<v Speaker 2>God it I don't know what he did, but he

0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.240
<v Speaker 2>fixed it. We got in the Melbourne. About some ungodly hour.

0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.120
<v Speaker 2>We dropped mamat the motel in North Melbourne. We drove

0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.840
<v Speaker 2>the high that Ron's property. This was This was Wednesday

0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.320
<v Speaker 2>night or Tuesday night, one of the two. The following

0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.280
<v Speaker 2>day we went to John pars and he bought me

0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:38.280
<v Speaker 2>a suit, two shirts. Anyhow, I had a whole new

0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.680
<v Speaker 2>wardrobe and I trained that night Thursday night. For the

0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:46.120
<v Speaker 2>first time. We didn't knowing too many Petans, too many

0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:47.800
<v Speaker 2>of the players. I knew a lot of them because

0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.400
<v Speaker 2>I studied. I loved the game and I went straight

0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.720
<v Speaker 2>into the side. Geelong. We played you along in our

0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.680
<v Speaker 2>first game whereabout at Aden Street, and I played on

0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.080
<v Speaker 2>a guy called Dennis Marshall. Good player he was, and

0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:06.280
<v Speaker 2>I managed to was sentiment. I played in the center

0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.480
<v Speaker 2>in my first game, kidding me. I was seventeen. It

0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 2>just turned ada in.

0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.680
<v Speaker 1>Your first game you've trained once and Marshall.

0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:19.240
<v Speaker 2>Straight in the side. Anyhow, I did you win? No,

0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:23.240
<v Speaker 2>we got beaten, but I was uh nearly nearly got

0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:27.720
<v Speaker 2>the votres. I had a really good game, an impressive game.

0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.320
<v Speaker 2>Bet his fate would have it. On the Saturday night

0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.560
<v Speaker 2>I went to I think it was in Melbourne tonight

0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.360
<v Speaker 2>one of the Graham Kenny shows, I think it was

0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.160
<v Speaker 2>Sunday was on World of Sport. On the Monday I

0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.040
<v Speaker 2>got on TV Ring Side, I won the Player of

0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.680
<v Speaker 2>the Week award, the cock or whatever it was. Wednesday

0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.640
<v Speaker 2>had a new Manaro. So I'm in the I in Melbourne.

0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.120
<v Speaker 2>I'm in Melbourne four days, I think five days. I

0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.160
<v Speaker 2>thought to myself, Ship, this is a lot easy, and

0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:58.440
<v Speaker 2>I thought was fretting about league football. God strike a light.

0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:00.840
<v Speaker 2>And of course, as I learned later on, in life

0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:02.640
<v Speaker 2>got harder, It got a lot harder.

0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.440
<v Speaker 1>So what happened to your mates at Mertleford? Did they

0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:06.840
<v Speaker 1>they were in the flag?

0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.399
<v Speaker 2>Ah? No they did not. They did later on they

0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.840
<v Speaker 2>won the flag later on. But I had a great

0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.119
<v Speaker 2>association with a lot of those guys at Mertleford that

0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.800
<v Speaker 2>taught me so much. Martin Cross was the coach at

0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.000
<v Speaker 2>the time, an ex Carlton raver. But we had a

0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.240
<v Speaker 2>wonderful life and a great report of great community involvement.

0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.480
<v Speaker 1>Okay, so tell me now some North Melbourne, a perennial

0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.359
<v Speaker 1>cellar dweller. Then Ron Barassi comes, You're you're, you're there.

0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.240
<v Speaker 1>When Ron Barassi arrives, I am.

0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.440
<v Speaker 2>I'm at the peakham of powers when he arrived. Tell

0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.960
<v Speaker 2>us about that, well, you can imagine the place, the

0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.960
<v Speaker 2>euphoric scenes, the place was went a gog. Was when

0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.040
<v Speaker 2>it was announced that Ron Barassi was going to coach

0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.600
<v Speaker 2>the Cellar Dwell. I had the audacity game in the

0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.840
<v Speaker 2>marketplace to cure the biggest single name in the game.

0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.159
<v Speaker 2>And I remember vividly when it was announced the following

0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.160
<v Speaker 2>day that Ron Barassi was going to coach us. Even

0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:56.800
<v Speaker 2>I got that excited. I decided I was going to

0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:01.440
<v Speaker 2>train that year, but he was. It was just phenomenal.

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.120
<v Speaker 2>They were, you know, the streets of North Melbourne, Inner

0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:12.200
<v Speaker 2>Melbourne's industrial suburbs like Kensington, North Melbourne. The North Melbourne

0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.080
<v Speaker 2>supporters who threw sick and thin and through rayin hale

0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:20.200
<v Speaker 2>and shine supported the club, you know, with great passion,

0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:25.280
<v Speaker 2>and the great Messiah arrived and virtually flicked things overnight.

0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.760
<v Speaker 2>But also we had a we had a very astute

0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.600
<v Speaker 2>leadership to Al Naylor took over the Helm as the

0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:35.520
<v Speaker 2>president and he took advantage of a law that permitted

0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.600
<v Speaker 2>ten year players to transfer clubs, and that led to

0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:46.000
<v Speaker 2>the advent of Doug Wade. Johnny Rantell and also Barry

0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.240
<v Speaker 2>Davis who captained our first ever premiership. So that was

0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.880
<v Speaker 2>a lovely a lovely filler for one of a better

0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.600
<v Speaker 2>term because at the nucleus of a very very good side,

0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.080
<v Speaker 2>the shumer Bushes and the Blights and the Greggs and

0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.800
<v Speaker 2>the Brightesses and you know, and the likes were still developed.

0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.520
<v Speaker 2>And that really topped this off nicely.

0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.639
<v Speaker 1>If you evaded the question what was the first training

0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.920
<v Speaker 1>session like under Ambrassi? What sort of impact did he make?

0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:14.360
<v Speaker 1>What demands did he.

0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.280
<v Speaker 2>Well, I'll tell you the mans. I'll tell you right now.

0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.320
<v Speaker 2>I was in a catatonic state when he opened his mouth.

0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.080
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's trance like you'd just you could feel

0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:27.320
<v Speaker 2>the spine almost tingle. His very presence and he had

0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.919
<v Speaker 2>that big, loud voice, but there wasn't a voice or

0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.480
<v Speaker 2>his power of verration that really moved you. It was

0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.000
<v Speaker 2>just his very presence. Let's telling you. Well, you well

0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.560
<v Speaker 2>know that yourself, you experienced it yourself. But I'll tell

0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.320
<v Speaker 2>you what he could deliver a terrade of invective and

0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:46.199
<v Speaker 2>unbridled abuse that there wouldn't be a HR department that

0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.480
<v Speaker 2>could adjudicate on it. I'll tell you. And today's the

0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.800
<v Speaker 2>contemporarys of today, let me tell you, they would be

0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.960
<v Speaker 2>running home to their mothers that quickly. I don't want

0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.080
<v Speaker 2>to play this game anymore. I got that brute over

0:19:58.119 --> 0:19:59.159
<v Speaker 2>here telling me what to do.

0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:01.840
<v Speaker 1>That was the That was the only issue I had

0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.720
<v Speaker 1>with barrass not that I felt it, but I saw

0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.720
<v Speaker 1>it that the way he would abuse players, and the

0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.000
<v Speaker 1>and then that I thought that was a failing of

0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.560
<v Speaker 1>How can I criticize him because the record stands for everything.

0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:19.239
<v Speaker 1>You look at the record and it's unassailable. But at

0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:20.160
<v Speaker 1>the same time.

0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.719
<v Speaker 2>There's others to share that thought. But to his eternal credit,

0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:28.159
<v Speaker 2>I must confess, Barass was never selfish in that regard.

0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.879
<v Speaker 2>You know, as aurora as that may sound, it was

0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.480
<v Speaker 2>always intended for the benefit of the recipient, to extract

0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.919
<v Speaker 2>a performance. It's more conducive to him being a better player.

0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.439
<v Speaker 2>It was never about him. In fact, he was the

0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:42.639
<v Speaker 2>only one. He's the only one that ever didn't realize

0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:43.520
<v Speaker 2>how famous he was.

0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:47.439
<v Speaker 1>I think he suffered that fate at the hand of

0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:48.080
<v Speaker 1>Norman Smith.

0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:50.280
<v Speaker 2>Well, it's a similar thing. He was a whipping I

0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.200
<v Speaker 2>was a wheeping boy too, with a lot of us were,

0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.480
<v Speaker 2>and you know normal Smith was certainly instrumental in that

0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:57.680
<v Speaker 2>used to keep him very tight.

0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.040
<v Speaker 1>The great Sam Kikovich, he's my guess, folks back after

0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:03.639
<v Speaker 1>the break, Welcome back everybody. If you just tuned in,

0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.320
<v Speaker 1>we're chatting with Sam Keikovich. And as you can imagine,

0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.600
<v Speaker 1>it's a it's a great experience when the MIC's on

0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:11.960
<v Speaker 1>and when it's off, it's it's great. We're talking footy

0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.399
<v Speaker 1>mainly and we'll probably come to the to the Lamb

0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.040
<v Speaker 1>story a bit a bit later. But if you just

0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.960
<v Speaker 1>churned in, Sam as a young fellow come down from

0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:26.240
<v Speaker 1>Myrtleford trains, once goes into the center in his first game,

0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.960
<v Speaker 1>plays well, it starts to establish himself as a North

0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.960
<v Speaker 1>Melbourne player, the great Ron Brass. He arrives North Melbourne,

0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:39.040
<v Speaker 1>recruit extremely well and start to get some success. Now,

0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.120
<v Speaker 1>can we can we jump to the early days? I mean,

0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:45.720
<v Speaker 1>because you were a glamorous player, won't you?

0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:46.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?

0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.560
<v Speaker 1>But you can't you can't resilve from that.

0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.040
<v Speaker 2>No. Well, look but North moment was that sort of

0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.120
<v Speaker 2>club where we're Hollywood and in those days they would

0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.440
<v Speaker 2>promote that element. You know, it's not like today they

0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.880
<v Speaker 2>keep it under under a under lock and key because

0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:06.119
<v Speaker 2>they might give you opposition, you know, an advantage of

0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.640
<v Speaker 2>some descriptions, and you know, but no, we were comforting

0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:13.399
<v Speaker 2>our own skin and the club, you know, perceived someone

0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:15.920
<v Speaker 2>like myself who was you know, probably had some marketing,

0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:17.880
<v Speaker 2>you know benefit.

0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:23.000
<v Speaker 1>What was it? What was that marking? Was that your physique?

0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.640
<v Speaker 1>Was that your good looks? Was it your charisma?

0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.520
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's not makes it very difficult. Got a listening audience,

0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:36.199
<v Speaker 2>But you've got to say not that hard in the eye.

0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:47.080
<v Speaker 1>Well, fifty years ago you won your best and first

0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:47.800
<v Speaker 1>in your first year.

0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:49.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, second year sixty nine?

0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:52.080
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, when were you surprised at that?

0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:55.879
<v Speaker 2>Not really, I thought, I just said, well, you know,

0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:58.360
<v Speaker 2>well that's you, to be honest, you know, when you've

0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.359
<v Speaker 2>played well, when you've had a good year. Some of

0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:03.879
<v Speaker 2>those great players that you're playing with, what position did

0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:05.040
<v Speaker 2>you play ruckraver?

0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:07.280
<v Speaker 1>Okay, and who was your ruckland then?

0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.359
<v Speaker 2>Ah, well had Barry Goodie Gooda and Rodney Dell in

0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.120
<v Speaker 2>the early days, but Barry Goodean predominantly, and then mc

0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.440
<v Speaker 2>nolan in later days. The galloping is somitra what a guy?

0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:20.520
<v Speaker 2>What a guy? Buried big Meck.

0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:25.000
<v Speaker 1>So you've won the best and fairest and all of

0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:27.560
<v Speaker 1>a sudden you're a big star in Melbourne playing for

0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:31.919
<v Speaker 1>this What was happening off the field, well, what was

0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:34.200
<v Speaker 1>happening off the field, Well got probably ahead of myself

0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:36.720
<v Speaker 1>and you know, low Lely club light, No its Melbourne

0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:38.600
<v Speaker 1>probably tolerated a bit more than they perps should have

0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:41.639
<v Speaker 1>even run by his own definition, said they've had. I

0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:44.199
<v Speaker 1>got to a more successful club where there was a

0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:48.199
<v Speaker 1>discipline imposed a bit more stringently because of you know

0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:49.919
<v Speaker 1>the fact that the club is, you know, you got

0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:53.040
<v Speaker 1>a number of superstars. Perhaps might have been a bit different.

0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:57.439
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure, but I just, you know, sort of

0:23:57.480 --> 0:23:59.560
<v Speaker 1>fell in love with the bright lights and neon science

0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:03.440
<v Speaker 1>for a period of time and football after a while.

0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:07.000
<v Speaker 1>I'm not so sure that it was of paramount importance.

0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:10.360
<v Speaker 2>But I did get back after Barras. When Brass arrived,

0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:15.000
<v Speaker 2>he shook me and shook that lethargy, and I got

0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:16.880
<v Speaker 2>back on back on track, and I had a couple

0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:18.280
<v Speaker 2>of great years with barrass.

0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:22.120
<v Speaker 1>Tell Us about the nude centerfold, oh God, strike a lot.

0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:24.640
<v Speaker 1>You can't avoid it, Well you can't, it's there.

0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:27.600
<v Speaker 2>I realized that I'm not trying to avoid it. Had

0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:31.280
<v Speaker 2>the revolve. I guess, gee, we're trying to augmentor me

0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:34.719
<v Speaker 2>are income that we're on with? You know that? And

0:24:34.720 --> 0:24:37.159
<v Speaker 2>then it'd be up at X amount for a did

0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:40.240
<v Speaker 2>a photo shirt? Well there was a there was a

0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:45.040
<v Speaker 2>slighter molument, a small stipend. Nothing to talk about these days,

0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:48.200
<v Speaker 2>but yeah, I was approached what I do in nude centerfold?

0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:50.840
<v Speaker 2>I thought, well, yeah, but I run again enough, I was.

0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:55.560
<v Speaker 2>I was even approached a little bit earlier than that

0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:59.000
<v Speaker 2>if I would do a strip show twice a week

0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:06.040
<v Speaker 2>at a at a colorful venue, a bit like the

0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:11.280
<v Speaker 2>Chippendales in Yeah, twice a week for about five hundred

0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:12.840
<v Speaker 2>dollars now five hundred dollars a week.

0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:14.480
<v Speaker 1>As you know in those days, why are you talking

0:25:14.560 --> 0:25:15.800
<v Speaker 1>sixty seven sixty.

0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:19.359
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, sixty nine, seventy seventy years Wow, you know you

0:25:19.359 --> 0:25:20.719
<v Speaker 2>can buy a house for five thousand.

0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:23.520
<v Speaker 1>I remember getting forty four dollars a week in the

0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:27.720
<v Speaker 1>job that I was doing at the time Vietnam with combattle.

0:25:27.720 --> 0:25:30.760
<v Speaker 1>House was fifty five, although we didn't pay tax, so

0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:32.480
<v Speaker 1>that was five hundred dollars.

0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:35.119
<v Speaker 2>Five hundred dollars. You're kidding, Oh, I was that tempted,

0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:38.119
<v Speaker 2>But I thought, how could I possibly tell my parents, now,

0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:39.840
<v Speaker 2>what are you doing? Sun up? So we spent half

0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:43.040
<v Speaker 2>our lives educating you and well, Mum, you wouldn't believe

0:25:43.080 --> 0:25:45.760
<v Speaker 2>I'm just having offered this wonderful year and then gave

0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:47.520
<v Speaker 2>back to the club and tell Ron Joseph and Ron

0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:51.080
<v Speaker 2>Baressi and Alan Ailet. Look, I don't think anyone will

0:25:51.080 --> 0:25:53.240
<v Speaker 2>really knowed us if I just went across just two

0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:58.520
<v Speaker 2>nights a week, and you could imagine the response. There

0:25:58.680 --> 0:26:01.760
<v Speaker 2>was a kind of avoid asking this question because well,

0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:05.080
<v Speaker 2>ask it because there's a sadness. Your older brother played

0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:09.840
<v Speaker 2>for Carlton. Younger brother, My younger brother, Michael was killed. Yes,

0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:12.320
<v Speaker 2>in I was seventy two, and he was an outstander.

0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:14.360
<v Speaker 2>He was an outsider where he played a game at Melbourne,

0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:18.280
<v Speaker 2>at North Melbourne when he was sixteen. Yeah, he was

0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:21.480
<v Speaker 2>a trendy grammar and he decided to run home after

0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:25.040
<v Speaker 2>a game one Saturday night in the rain, in the

0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:29.119
<v Speaker 2>midst of the mid midwinter, and unfortunately tragically got struck.

0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:33.760
<v Speaker 2>And that was a you could imagine. My mother was

0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:36.399
<v Speaker 2>in Merderford. Dad was home on his own. Brian was

0:26:36.440 --> 0:26:39.280
<v Speaker 2>a Carlton somewhere. I was at North Melbourne, and I'll

0:26:39.280 --> 0:26:41.080
<v Speaker 2>never forget when Ron Joseph called me in from the

0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:46.639
<v Speaker 2>players after the game entertainment. You know, we help sharing

0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:48.240
<v Speaker 2>a beer with the opposition of Us and Kilda.

0:26:48.600 --> 0:26:49.320
<v Speaker 1>It was a Saturday.

0:26:49.400 --> 0:26:52.359
<v Speaker 2>It was a Saturday Saturday night, and I remember On

0:26:52.520 --> 0:26:54.919
<v Speaker 2>Joseph calling me into his office and told me your

0:26:54.960 --> 0:26:55.800
<v Speaker 2>brother's being killed.

0:26:56.160 --> 0:26:56.720
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

0:26:56.840 --> 0:27:01.080
<v Speaker 2>Well the whole world fell apart, and then you know,

0:27:01.240 --> 0:27:04.439
<v Speaker 2>Dad being home on his own, he collapsed. Then they

0:27:04.520 --> 0:27:06.800
<v Speaker 2>bought Mums Edta she wont to go to the morgue,

0:27:08.040 --> 0:27:13.159
<v Speaker 2>and then they just compounded from there on n So

0:27:13.240 --> 0:27:16.720
<v Speaker 2>there are difficult times. Well it's hard to imagine unless

0:27:16.720 --> 0:27:17.280
<v Speaker 2>you've been through it.

0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:18.480
<v Speaker 1>We can't.

0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:20.840
<v Speaker 2>You can't. You know, you pick up the tissues every day.

0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:23.840
<v Speaker 2>I mean you read them some atrocities, you know, kids

0:27:23.920 --> 0:27:28.080
<v Speaker 2>being molested or kids dying or drowning, and you think,

0:27:28.119 --> 0:27:29.600
<v Speaker 2>oh god, that shocking, and your even on at the

0:27:29.640 --> 0:27:32.320
<v Speaker 2>next page. But when it actually happens in your own doorstep,

0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:36.960
<v Speaker 2>you know it impacts enormously. And to see parents bury

0:27:37.080 --> 0:27:41.280
<v Speaker 2>children is a horror story. We always recognize that we've

0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:46.359
<v Speaker 2>got to buryer parents, that's inevitable, but to see the

0:27:46.400 --> 0:27:48.199
<v Speaker 2>opposite it's gut wrenching.

0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:51.720
<v Speaker 1>Has he left a legacy? Can you? Can you maintain

0:27:51.800 --> 0:27:53.040
<v Speaker 1>a legacy his memory?

0:27:53.400 --> 0:27:56.479
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, the school, the school has as a legacy

0:27:56.560 --> 0:27:59.840
<v Speaker 2>of him and to us, he's always left the legacy

0:28:00.720 --> 0:28:03.840
<v Speaker 2>you know of you know, even at that tender age,

0:28:04.720 --> 0:28:08.200
<v Speaker 2>you know, and I remember Ron and Alan Aylett saying

0:28:08.480 --> 0:28:12.840
<v Speaker 2>he had enormous leadership qualities even then, and his schooled

0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:15.680
<v Speaker 2>for the very first time beat Assumption. A lot of

0:28:15.760 --> 0:28:19.600
<v Speaker 2>his a lot of the lot of the Assumption players

0:28:19.640 --> 0:28:22.600
<v Speaker 2>of that era often still speak highly of the time

0:28:22.680 --> 0:28:25.960
<v Speaker 2>that you know, Michael Kekevich, you know, played such a

0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:28.840
<v Speaker 2>prominent role, and a lot of the people that went

0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:33.920
<v Speaker 2>to Trendy Grammar still speak highly of his association with

0:28:34.080 --> 0:28:38.680
<v Speaker 2>the footy Tip. So yeah, but he did leave her

0:28:38.760 --> 0:28:41.959
<v Speaker 2>lasting legacy and you know, and memory to us all.

0:28:43.280 --> 0:28:47.880
<v Speaker 1>So, what is happening in your private life as we speak? No,

0:28:48.080 --> 0:28:52.360
<v Speaker 1>not now? When you're this glamorous stripper.

0:28:52.960 --> 0:29:02.640
<v Speaker 2>Well, Elvis on tour, a bevy of beauties and bright

0:29:02.760 --> 0:29:06.120
<v Speaker 2>lights and neon science. As they say, they say to George,

0:29:06.200 --> 0:29:08.640
<v Speaker 2>best way to go wrong? George, I said, what where

0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:12.120
<v Speaker 2>do they go wrong? No? Well, I was always in

0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:15.160
<v Speaker 2>those days we all worked. Yeah. Life was great. Life

0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:17.560
<v Speaker 2>was a ball. We trained and played and I was

0:29:17.600 --> 0:29:21.000
<v Speaker 2>happy to just you know, keep going. And of course

0:29:21.040 --> 0:29:23.840
<v Speaker 2>when it all came to an end, not that it

0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:26.920
<v Speaker 2>didn't bother me. You know, I wasn't lost. I was

0:29:27.000 --> 0:29:28.760
<v Speaker 2>quite content. I did what I wanted to do, and

0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:30.960
<v Speaker 2>I was I guess all I was asking did you

0:29:31.000 --> 0:29:34.480
<v Speaker 2>get married? Did you get Yeah, yeah, I got married.

0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:37.080
<v Speaker 2>Did you get married to kids? Yeah, you got married,

0:29:37.120 --> 0:29:41.040
<v Speaker 2>got three grand kids. I got married and separate and

0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:44.160
<v Speaker 2>divorced and went and I was been with a partner

0:29:44.200 --> 0:29:45.200
<v Speaker 2>there for forty odd years.

0:29:45.360 --> 0:29:45.600
<v Speaker 1>Wow.

0:29:45.960 --> 0:29:50.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So life's pretty stable to the to the one that.

0:29:50.560 --> 0:29:53.320
<v Speaker 1>So the injuries took us told to there was a

0:29:53.360 --> 0:29:56.960
<v Speaker 1>sum criticism of your injuries were extra curricular? Played soccer?

0:29:57.040 --> 0:29:58.080
<v Speaker 1>You played? Well? I did?

0:29:58.200 --> 0:30:00.320
<v Speaker 2>I did. I did be knee. The first knee I

0:30:00.360 --> 0:30:03.640
<v Speaker 2>did was I did against Romania in the Harry Vitals

0:30:04.240 --> 0:30:07.200
<v Speaker 2>glast thing. Oh okay, so I did that and that

0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:09.280
<v Speaker 2>was a But in those days, in the seventies, for

0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:12.800
<v Speaker 2>God's sake, you know, a tourm, a cruciate liguament. You know,

0:30:12.880 --> 0:30:14.840
<v Speaker 2>in those days, you're on your back for two weeks,

0:30:14.880 --> 0:30:16.920
<v Speaker 2>you're plaster of Paris and you're wither away and you've

0:30:16.920 --> 0:30:20.240
<v Speaker 2>got to rebuild. You know, it's all about immobilization these days.

0:30:20.280 --> 0:30:22.920
<v Speaker 2>You get up. The minute you're off, the block is

0:30:22.960 --> 0:30:26.520
<v Speaker 2>still on your feet. So medicine's taken a whole new turn.

0:30:27.200 --> 0:30:29.680
<v Speaker 2>And of course not tho I'm using that excuse. I

0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:31.680
<v Speaker 2>had a lot of a lot of injuries, a lot

0:30:31.680 --> 0:30:34.360
<v Speaker 2>of knee problems. But I still likeaked out a very

0:30:34.360 --> 0:30:36.440
<v Speaker 2>good career over ten years, which I really, you know,

0:30:36.920 --> 0:30:41.040
<v Speaker 2>am grateful for. I had some great surgeons and but.

0:30:41.120 --> 0:30:44.800
<v Speaker 1>They're so different than this day and age. Oh so different.

0:30:45.280 --> 0:30:46.280
<v Speaker 2>Keyhole operations.

0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:47.680
<v Speaker 1>I keep thinking of Barry Robin.

0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:51.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, just never the same, never the same, You're never

0:30:51.600 --> 0:30:55.720
<v Speaker 2>the same. But now they help tital titanium replacements. You know,

0:30:55.800 --> 0:30:57.280
<v Speaker 2>in those days they'd pack it up with a bit

0:30:57.360 --> 0:31:00.840
<v Speaker 2>of concrete or they'd stitch it up. And but I

0:31:00.960 --> 0:31:03.160
<v Speaker 2>had John Grant at the time at North Melbourne. He

0:31:03.240 --> 0:31:06.640
<v Speaker 2>was a father of you know, that type of medicine,

0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:08.200
<v Speaker 2>and he was fantastic.

0:31:08.960 --> 0:31:11.680
<v Speaker 1>Sam Kekovich is my guest. Folks were a little bit

0:31:11.720 --> 0:31:14.400
<v Speaker 1>more footy to come after the break. But then we'll

0:31:14.440 --> 0:31:18.360
<v Speaker 1>talk about his new found fame in later years. Back

0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:22.000
<v Speaker 1>shortly we're speaking with Sam Kekevich, who's in town for Actually,

0:31:22.000 --> 0:31:22.680
<v Speaker 1>what are you in town for?

0:31:23.960 --> 0:31:26.320
<v Speaker 2>Well, I was in town to do a speaking engagement.

0:31:26.480 --> 0:31:27.560
<v Speaker 1>Okay, whereabouts?

0:31:28.080 --> 0:31:30.720
<v Speaker 2>I was at the for Variety.

0:31:31.200 --> 0:31:32.000
<v Speaker 1>Oh well done?

0:31:32.240 --> 0:31:34.760
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, good cause I do a fair bit with them.

0:31:35.040 --> 0:31:35.800
<v Speaker 2>They're fantastic.

0:31:35.880 --> 0:31:39.520
<v Speaker 1>If you just tuned in, we've tracked Sam's career from

0:31:39.800 --> 0:31:43.880
<v Speaker 1>Myrtleford to North Melbourne. Injuries start to take their toll.

0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:46.560
<v Speaker 1>Do you give it away or do you get sacked?

0:31:46.640 --> 0:31:48.960
<v Speaker 1>Or does Piran come calling? What had they? No?

0:31:49.120 --> 0:31:51.800
<v Speaker 2>No, I got sacked, Brass said, nice. Brass sacked me.

0:31:52.720 --> 0:31:55.360
<v Speaker 2>I'll be implicitly candid with you. I didn't, but I

0:31:55.440 --> 0:31:58.120
<v Speaker 2>had enough. It was mutual by the same taken. And

0:31:58.240 --> 0:32:01.120
<v Speaker 2>then I went to Collingwood for four games, right yeah,

0:32:01.200 --> 0:32:03.920
<v Speaker 2>Tommy Hafey thought, and I had it. You wouldn't believe

0:32:03.920 --> 0:32:05.920
<v Speaker 2>my first game I was wanted, you know, nearly bog

0:32:06.120 --> 0:32:08.840
<v Speaker 2>The first game we kicked four goals against Carlton. But

0:32:09.000 --> 0:32:11.320
<v Speaker 2>then again I copped injuries there and you know that

0:32:11.600 --> 0:32:14.680
<v Speaker 2>went to a natural grave. But then I went to

0:32:14.760 --> 0:32:17.960
<v Speaker 2>Pran the VFA and Sir Ripert Steele, who was the

0:32:18.040 --> 0:32:20.040
<v Speaker 2>chairman of the v r C then and Charles Lux

0:32:20.080 --> 0:32:23.600
<v Speaker 2>who was the Lord Mayor of Pran. I won to

0:32:23.640 --> 0:32:25.480
<v Speaker 2>coach Port Melbourne at the time, but I had already

0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:28.200
<v Speaker 2>appointed the coach. But I went to Pran and there

0:32:28.240 --> 0:32:29.680
<v Speaker 2>were two of the best of the years. We won

0:32:29.720 --> 0:32:32.840
<v Speaker 2>a premiership in our first year and the VFA in

0:32:32.920 --> 0:32:34.320
<v Speaker 2>those days. Believe me, I don't know if you know

0:32:34.480 --> 0:32:37.120
<v Speaker 2>much about the history of the VFA, but the Port

0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:39.560
<v Speaker 2>Melbourne's and the dandelongs and the Center against were tougher

0:32:39.640 --> 0:32:41.120
<v Speaker 2>than any VFL game you play.

0:32:41.320 --> 0:32:44.200
<v Speaker 1>There's some vision of run seventy eight Grand.

0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:45.520
<v Speaker 2>Final against Preston.

0:32:45.280 --> 0:32:48.040
<v Speaker 1>Against Preston and it's just how violent was it?

0:32:49.400 --> 0:32:52.520
<v Speaker 2>That was? That was that was quite meet by comparison

0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:55.320
<v Speaker 2>with some of the Some of the games were just brutal.

0:32:55.440 --> 0:32:58.400
<v Speaker 1>There are some vision, there's some vision on on YouTube.

0:32:58.560 --> 0:33:00.440
<v Speaker 1>I didn't see you and you sort of kept kept

0:33:00.440 --> 0:33:00.760
<v Speaker 1>out of that.

0:33:00.880 --> 0:33:02.400
<v Speaker 2>I always try to get out of the firing line,

0:33:02.440 --> 0:33:05.160
<v Speaker 2>I could, Graham. You know, they're a bit too willing

0:33:05.200 --> 0:33:06.440
<v Speaker 2>for me in that stage in my life.

0:33:07.120 --> 0:33:10.360
<v Speaker 1>What was the emotion like that you'd played an apprenticeship

0:33:10.360 --> 0:33:11.000
<v Speaker 1>for North Melbourne.

0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:13.000
<v Speaker 2>Well, I played in the preper but I really enjoyed

0:33:13.040 --> 0:33:16.080
<v Speaker 2>the time at Paran. You know, whilst it was you know,

0:33:16.280 --> 0:33:23.000
<v Speaker 2>a lesser, a lesser achieve a competition, but still the

0:33:23.120 --> 0:33:25.960
<v Speaker 2>people involved and you know, the it still had the

0:33:26.000 --> 0:33:29.560
<v Speaker 2>same emotions, it still had all the same ingredients, and

0:33:29.640 --> 0:33:33.360
<v Speaker 2>it still had the same meaning and they were terrific days.

0:33:34.000 --> 0:33:35.720
<v Speaker 2>It really reinvigorated me Paran.

0:33:36.480 --> 0:33:38.600
<v Speaker 1>So what happened after a couple of years at Paran,

0:33:38.920 --> 0:33:40.520
<v Speaker 1>that's that's it. Footy careers.

0:33:41.160 --> 0:33:44.680
<v Speaker 2>I went to Sydney. I coached at Newtown in Sydney,

0:33:44.720 --> 0:33:47.560
<v Speaker 2>and I coached New South Wales for a couple of years. Yeah,

0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:51.800
<v Speaker 2>when Alan Jeans was Alan Jeans coach in New South Wales,

0:33:51.880 --> 0:33:54.280
<v Speaker 2>he went to Hawthorne. So I was coaching Newtown in

0:33:54.360 --> 0:33:59.440
<v Speaker 2>the local competition and then I coached the Sydney the

0:33:59.520 --> 0:34:02.880
<v Speaker 2>New South state side which played in a Tier two,

0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:06.720
<v Speaker 2>played Canberra Tasmania in the carnival side.

0:34:06.840 --> 0:34:10.160
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you coach didn't play, No, No, I wasn't playing though.

0:34:10.800 --> 0:34:14.200
<v Speaker 1>That was a rough competition that Sidney coch. I played

0:34:14.200 --> 0:34:15.560
<v Speaker 1>a couple of games. I was in the army for

0:34:16.440 --> 0:34:19.239
<v Speaker 1>George Yes and Georgia. Oh my gosh, I haven't been

0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:20.120
<v Speaker 1>hit so many times.

0:34:21.680 --> 0:34:24.200
<v Speaker 2>Well, if you had a reputation they would, I would

0:34:24.239 --> 0:34:25.160
<v Speaker 2>certainly seek you out.

0:34:26.920 --> 0:34:29.480
<v Speaker 1>What were you doing career wise? After after I was

0:34:29.560 --> 0:34:29.759
<v Speaker 1>with the.

0:34:29.760 --> 0:34:31.480
<v Speaker 2>Brewery, I was with the brewery for long time in

0:34:31.600 --> 0:34:35.960
<v Speaker 2>pr and promotions for Toothing Company. And then when I

0:34:36.080 --> 0:34:38.160
<v Speaker 2>came back, I was with a company called Disco Source

0:34:38.200 --> 0:34:43.080
<v Speaker 2>Australia which was a computer consumer company for about a

0:34:43.239 --> 0:34:47.239
<v Speaker 2>decade or twelve years. And then I took over when

0:34:47.280 --> 0:34:49.640
<v Speaker 2>Teddy Witten died, I took over the calling of k

0:34:49.840 --> 0:34:53.040
<v Speaker 2>Rock and I was also on Triple M and you

0:34:53.360 --> 0:34:56.360
<v Speaker 2>back on the circuit doing the footy shows Sunday Footy

0:34:56.440 --> 0:34:59.439
<v Speaker 2>Show on seven and nine over. When I got sacked

0:34:59.440 --> 0:35:03.000
<v Speaker 2>from one, I went to the other. They remy you know,

0:35:03.080 --> 0:35:06.920
<v Speaker 2>it was like the deck chairs are Titanic at one stage. So,

0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:08.920
<v Speaker 2>you know, for about four or five years I was,

0:35:09.200 --> 0:35:10.200
<v Speaker 2>you know through the medium.

0:35:11.200 --> 0:35:14.080
<v Speaker 1>When did the meat industry come calling?

0:35:14.239 --> 0:35:17.560
<v Speaker 2>Well, manifest modesty will preclude me elaborating in detail here,

0:35:17.640 --> 0:35:19.840
<v Speaker 2>but two thousand and five I go for it. I

0:35:19.920 --> 0:35:24.160
<v Speaker 2>will go for it. Two thousand and five we started, Now,

0:35:24.239 --> 0:35:26.360
<v Speaker 2>if you know anything about the rural sector, which are

0:35:26.400 --> 0:35:29.759
<v Speaker 2>the real true champions of our society. Two thousand and

0:35:29.800 --> 0:35:31.400
<v Speaker 2>five were culling our sheet and putting them in the

0:35:31.440 --> 0:35:34.680
<v Speaker 2>ground for a buck ahead. Farmers were walking off their

0:35:34.719 --> 0:35:37.800
<v Speaker 2>properties because they couldn't be able to see them. The

0:35:38.080 --> 0:35:41.359
<v Speaker 2>family dinner table wasn't a very compatible one. And if

0:35:41.400 --> 0:35:43.400
<v Speaker 2>I told you some of the other stories would make

0:35:43.440 --> 0:35:48.680
<v Speaker 2>your head spin. Suicides and you know it. It was

0:35:48.719 --> 0:35:51.680
<v Speaker 2>a shocking time for the Australian farmer. You know he's

0:35:51.840 --> 0:35:53.200
<v Speaker 2>you know he's a lot of the banks are calling

0:35:53.239 --> 0:35:56.520
<v Speaker 2>their markers back in. So it was a dreadful time.

0:35:56.640 --> 0:36:01.320
<v Speaker 2>The droughts, floods all impact that he So I was

0:36:01.400 --> 0:36:04.279
<v Speaker 2>asked to what I promote lamb wasn't the sexiest thing

0:36:04.280 --> 0:36:09.160
<v Speaker 2>in the world to do, but we did. Dave Thomasin

0:36:09.320 --> 0:36:11.160
<v Speaker 2>used to see me work on a show called The Fat.

0:36:11.600 --> 0:36:14.239
<v Speaker 2>If you remember The Fat on the ABC. I used

0:36:14.239 --> 0:36:17.280
<v Speaker 2>to do a mayor was in the early late nineties

0:36:17.920 --> 0:36:20.279
<v Speaker 2>and I used to do a monologue, political monologue on

0:36:20.440 --> 0:36:23.839
<v Speaker 2>nondescripts that permeate our society and give them a bit

0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:26.560
<v Speaker 2>of a whack. And I used to look down the

0:36:26.640 --> 0:36:30.600
<v Speaker 2>gun barrels, right down the down the barrel of the camera.

0:36:31.480 --> 0:36:33.720
<v Speaker 2>And David Thomasin, in his wisdom, he was the marketing

0:36:33.800 --> 0:36:38.239
<v Speaker 2>manager of Australian meat and livestock. Thought, well, this may

0:36:38.320 --> 0:36:43.160
<v Speaker 2>revolutionize commercial the way we present our commercial. You know,

0:36:43.320 --> 0:36:46.919
<v Speaker 2>you don't make sense. I'm Sam Kikovich and just down

0:36:47.000 --> 0:36:49.400
<v Speaker 2>the barrel. So we did. It just took off like

0:36:49.520 --> 0:36:52.680
<v Speaker 2>wild fine, based purely on a reverence, satire and tongue

0:36:52.719 --> 0:36:55.680
<v Speaker 2>in cheek. And that's what made it so appealing. Did

0:36:55.760 --> 0:36:58.560
<v Speaker 2>it surprise you, Well, not really, I thought this. I

0:36:58.600 --> 0:37:00.840
<v Speaker 2>thought the scripts were very good because I had to

0:37:00.840 --> 0:37:04.600
<v Speaker 2>philosophically be who I am. You know, they couldn't deviate off.

0:37:05.200 --> 0:37:07.719
<v Speaker 1>But they recognized in New South Wales and Queensland and

0:37:07.840 --> 0:37:09.880
<v Speaker 1>other places. Yeah, where's no footy?

0:37:10.440 --> 0:37:13.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah I didn't. Yeah my word, Yeah they did, but

0:37:14.320 --> 0:37:17.080
<v Speaker 2>perhaps not initially they weren't content about who the person was.

0:37:17.160 --> 0:37:20.040
<v Speaker 2>I think they admired the content. But there's time war on.

0:37:20.560 --> 0:37:22.440
<v Speaker 2>You got to understand how this is my twentieth year

0:37:22.480 --> 0:37:26.040
<v Speaker 2>I've done them. Wow, you know, and that's very rare

0:37:26.160 --> 0:37:27.040
<v Speaker 2>in this game.

0:37:27.200 --> 0:37:29.160
<v Speaker 1>And how successful do you think they've been?

0:37:29.800 --> 0:37:32.799
<v Speaker 2>Look, you can measure it well, it's probably the most

0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:36.000
<v Speaker 2>successful campaign in the history of Australian television. Can be

0:37:36.160 --> 0:37:39.160
<v Speaker 2>massive in export dollars and local dollars. And let me

0:37:39.200 --> 0:37:41.400
<v Speaker 2>tell you the farmers. You will want to say a

0:37:41.440 --> 0:37:43.000
<v Speaker 2>bad word about me in the bush? Might its be

0:37:43.120 --> 0:37:48.640
<v Speaker 2>like killing Bambi? I'm telling you, and so yeah, and

0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:51.160
<v Speaker 2>that was it. I meant to say, who would have

0:37:51.239 --> 0:37:53.719
<v Speaker 2>thought from those early beginnings in two thousand and five

0:37:53.800 --> 0:37:56.520
<v Speaker 2>when they culling shape, that would have taken off? And

0:37:56.520 --> 0:37:58.480
<v Speaker 2>I always remember when I signed the second contry, they

0:37:58.560 --> 0:38:01.239
<v Speaker 2>rang me up and said, do you have a manager? Now?

0:38:01.320 --> 0:38:05.160
<v Speaker 2>You like this because you're pretty student? I said, do

0:38:05.320 --> 0:38:07.880
<v Speaker 2>I have a manager? Yeah? But I don't usese managers.

0:38:07.920 --> 0:38:11.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm my own man. I'll decide. I said, Well, we'd

0:38:11.520 --> 0:38:13.000
<v Speaker 2>like to talk about a two or three year deal

0:38:13.120 --> 0:38:16.200
<v Speaker 2>with you. I said, certainly. So I came to a

0:38:16.239 --> 0:38:20.479
<v Speaker 2>restaurant and we sat down. We proceeded to have a chat,

0:38:21.840 --> 0:38:23.920
<v Speaker 2>and then they gave me a coaster, be a coaster

0:38:25.200 --> 0:38:26.880
<v Speaker 2>and a pin and they said, write down what do

0:38:26.960 --> 0:38:31.239
<v Speaker 2>you think you're worth over the next two or three years? Well,

0:38:31.360 --> 0:38:36.840
<v Speaker 2>beads of perspiration over my browse? Ah, What were I

0:38:37.040 --> 0:38:41.080
<v Speaker 2>going to do? Now? God? What can I possibly say?

0:38:41.160 --> 0:38:43.080
<v Speaker 2>Could I put an extra nord there? I went from

0:38:43.239 --> 0:38:46.480
<v Speaker 2>thirty oh jee whiz. I was in a dilemma. I

0:38:46.560 --> 0:38:49.960
<v Speaker 2>really wasn't a dilemma I talk about if I put

0:38:50.000 --> 0:38:54.759
<v Speaker 2>another nord I think, I look at this narissistic press. No,

0:38:56.200 --> 0:38:58.120
<v Speaker 2>I thought I'd be a bit concervative. I really gave

0:38:58.200 --> 0:39:02.120
<v Speaker 2>myself a nice little yeah, Cliff, and I gave it

0:39:02.160 --> 0:39:04.879
<v Speaker 2>to them. And that's how honorable they were. They got

0:39:05.000 --> 0:39:06.759
<v Speaker 2>mine and ripped it up and they said, you better

0:39:06.800 --> 0:39:07.439
<v Speaker 2>have a look at mine.

0:39:08.120 --> 0:39:10.040
<v Speaker 1>It was more, it was more, what did you put

0:39:10.080 --> 0:39:10.520
<v Speaker 1>on yours?

0:39:10.920 --> 0:39:14.200
<v Speaker 2>Well, I don't know. I think it was you're breaking up?

0:39:14.280 --> 0:39:17.640
<v Speaker 1>What was that I said? I said, I said, what

0:39:17.840 --> 0:39:19.000
<v Speaker 1>did you find yours.

0:39:18.800 --> 0:39:21.960
<v Speaker 2>Twenty years ago? It might have been one hundred hundred really,

0:39:22.000 --> 0:39:24.279
<v Speaker 2>and they gave you more. They gave me more. It

0:39:24.400 --> 0:39:27.839
<v Speaker 2>was very, very honorable. But we've had a relationship now

0:39:27.880 --> 0:39:32.200
<v Speaker 2>for twenty years. We do the the Summer campaign and

0:39:32.360 --> 0:39:34.480
<v Speaker 2>it's just been a big hit. It's been an enormous hit.

0:39:34.880 --> 0:39:37.400
<v Speaker 1>What surprises me though, if you look at the complaints

0:39:37.440 --> 0:39:43.000
<v Speaker 1>to the Australian Broadcasting Tribute you feature regularly, But why why.

0:39:43.000 --> 0:39:44.680
<v Speaker 2>Is he but it's any malice? Why because they have

0:39:44.680 --> 0:39:47.160
<v Speaker 2>a crack of the vegetarians, those soaper avoiding doll bludging

0:39:47.200 --> 0:39:50.520
<v Speaker 2>pots making vegans. Why would be be pissed up with that.

0:39:50.640 --> 0:39:53.120
<v Speaker 2>He would take umbrage of that. We're Australian, for Christ's sake,

0:39:53.600 --> 0:39:55.400
<v Speaker 2>And I tell people if ever drive a PJ O

0:39:55.560 --> 0:39:58.719
<v Speaker 2>Rena or a citron, run over them because they bound

0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:01.040
<v Speaker 2>to have a beotful of among beans lentil. Stay away

0:40:01.040 --> 0:40:04.800
<v Speaker 2>from vegans because they're always hungry. So you got my

0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:07.320
<v Speaker 2>drift all right across the board here would take umbrage

0:40:07.360 --> 0:40:09.840
<v Speaker 2>of that. And there you get the you know, you

0:40:09.960 --> 0:40:13.680
<v Speaker 2>get the wokes, and you get the politically correct nondescripts,

0:40:14.680 --> 0:40:18.800
<v Speaker 2>get a sense of humor. He's up smell the roses.

0:40:19.480 --> 0:40:22.040
<v Speaker 1>So they're always dismissed, though, aren't they always dismissed?

0:40:22.080 --> 0:40:25.520
<v Speaker 2>Not only that they get dismissed by What they don't

0:40:25.560 --> 0:40:27.960
<v Speaker 2>realize is the one that dismissed them, give me a

0:40:28.040 --> 0:40:32.560
<v Speaker 2>call and said keep going, just a see to be done.

0:40:33.239 --> 0:40:35.200
<v Speaker 1>No, you can see the complaints that they get, and

0:40:35.320 --> 0:40:38.680
<v Speaker 1>you're not the most complained about it. But you're up there.

0:40:39.080 --> 0:40:41.080
<v Speaker 1>So how does it? How's the day pan out for you?

0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:43.719
<v Speaker 1>These as we speak? You've got your one arm and

0:40:44.239 --> 0:40:44.840
<v Speaker 1>in a sling.

0:40:45.320 --> 0:40:48.680
<v Speaker 2>Well, I've just had a shoulder replaced, but that's that's

0:40:48.760 --> 0:40:51.600
<v Speaker 2>only six weeks old. So I'll survive that. That's your

0:40:51.640 --> 0:40:54.719
<v Speaker 2>second shoulder, the second shoulder, both hips, both knees, and

0:40:55.120 --> 0:40:58.359
<v Speaker 2>a nukele. So I'm almost bionic. And my great fear

0:40:58.480 --> 0:41:00.400
<v Speaker 2>is I'm going to live to well over one hundred twenty.

0:41:00.880 --> 0:41:04.040
<v Speaker 2>I'll have no mates to go out with. I'll be

0:41:04.080 --> 0:41:07.640
<v Speaker 2>a lonely old man and sort of I'll be peramulating

0:41:07.680 --> 0:41:10.160
<v Speaker 2>around the periphery of these wonderful cities and they'll say,

0:41:10.200 --> 0:41:12.440
<v Speaker 2>oh God, I think I remember him it was.

0:41:13.400 --> 0:41:15.439
<v Speaker 1>I don't think you'd be like that. No, I don't

0:41:15.480 --> 0:41:18.839
<v Speaker 1>know the modern game. You must give us soon.

0:41:19.520 --> 0:41:22.400
<v Speaker 2>I'll give you as my synopsis on that. Look, I

0:41:22.520 --> 0:41:24.759
<v Speaker 2>love the game. I love the game. I'm disappointed in

0:41:24.800 --> 0:41:28.000
<v Speaker 2>the manner in which it's played At times. I just

0:41:28.120 --> 0:41:32.399
<v Speaker 2>can't possibly comprehend some of the inept umpiring that takes place.

0:41:33.440 --> 0:41:36.000
<v Speaker 2>I don't know whether they haven't turned it into a

0:41:37.600 --> 0:41:42.000
<v Speaker 2>into a university course of Yeah, ten umpiring may pay

0:41:42.040 --> 0:41:43.840
<v Speaker 2>them half a million dollars each. The players get a

0:41:43.920 --> 0:41:47.880
<v Speaker 2>million dollars, get six God, you get a dozen competent umpires.

0:41:47.960 --> 0:41:51.359
<v Speaker 2>Teach them. You know the rules thoroughly. I know there's

0:41:51.360 --> 0:41:53.719
<v Speaker 2>a lot of gray areas, and it's subject to interpretation,

0:41:54.440 --> 0:41:56.800
<v Speaker 2>but it's a very simple rule you should adhere to

0:41:57.400 --> 0:42:01.400
<v Speaker 2>always look after person making the play. You know, I

0:42:01.520 --> 0:42:05.120
<v Speaker 2>get sick and tired of rewarding parasites. And it's almost

0:42:05.200 --> 0:42:08.640
<v Speaker 2>endemic throughout our society. You look at our corporate world.

0:42:09.960 --> 0:42:14.640
<v Speaker 2>You know, failed CEOs walking away with the salacious wage paget.

0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:17.879
<v Speaker 2>You know, when's that ever come across We were talking

0:42:17.880 --> 0:42:20.680
<v Speaker 2>about meritocracy. I don't give a stuff. You employ fifty

0:42:20.719 --> 0:42:23.640
<v Speaker 2>eight women in the board. It's the best people for

0:42:23.760 --> 0:42:26.319
<v Speaker 2>the job. But don't tell me all there's been about

0:42:26.360 --> 0:42:30.239
<v Speaker 2>quota systems. When's that coming to vague? Why don't we

0:42:31.000 --> 0:42:34.520
<v Speaker 2>raise the bar? You know, everyone gets a prize. No,

0:42:34.680 --> 0:42:36.560
<v Speaker 2>you don't get a prize. One of the reason we've

0:42:36.560 --> 0:42:38.920
<v Speaker 2>got these social problems that are prevalent, now, let me

0:42:38.960 --> 0:42:42.880
<v Speaker 2>assure you, is because they're very fact that their formative stage,

0:42:43.239 --> 0:42:46.080
<v Speaker 2>they're all given a prize, and so when they're exposed

0:42:46.080 --> 0:42:48.640
<v Speaker 2>to the riggers of the real world and when they

0:42:49.080 --> 0:42:53.200
<v Speaker 2>get rejection and come across the roadblock, Oh, how had

0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:55.759
<v Speaker 2>that happen? Why has that happened? No, I'm going to ah,

0:42:55.960 --> 0:42:57.920
<v Speaker 2>don't worry, son, there's a one eight hundred number you

0:42:57.920 --> 0:43:00.760
<v Speaker 2>can ring or a one three hundred or soft landing,

0:43:01.520 --> 0:43:04.360
<v Speaker 2>and in the day that was never the case. Not

0:43:04.480 --> 0:43:07.480
<v Speaker 2>that I'm saying that was right. I'm not an old dinosaur.

0:43:07.960 --> 0:43:11.239
<v Speaker 2>I'm a pretty contemporary, switched on bloke. But there are

0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:15.520
<v Speaker 2>there are certain parameters and dynamics we need to adhere to.

0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:18.640
<v Speaker 2>And it's not the Australian Why I tell people we'll

0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:21.680
<v Speaker 2>as sixty thousand that the Gallipoli, the Western Front and

0:43:21.760 --> 0:43:23.800
<v Speaker 2>the Somme for us to enjoy the privilege is a

0:43:23.840 --> 0:43:28.200
<v Speaker 2>wonderful democracy. Now, there were certain guidelines and you know,

0:43:29.000 --> 0:43:32.040
<v Speaker 2>these people played the eldimate sacrifice, made the ultimate sacrifice

0:43:32.040 --> 0:43:34.160
<v Speaker 2>for us to enjoy that. And let me tell you,

0:43:34.160 --> 0:43:35.920
<v Speaker 2>they turn over in their graves as they see some

0:43:36.040 --> 0:43:38.320
<v Speaker 2>of the things that we're the way, we're abusing and

0:43:38.400 --> 0:43:41.600
<v Speaker 2>prostituting them. It's great to catch up, Sam, it really is.

0:43:41.719 --> 0:43:43.239
<v Speaker 2>We've come to the end. I know we can go

0:43:43.280 --> 0:43:45.880
<v Speaker 2>a bit longer. It's idiot, that's it. I flew all

0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:48.920
<v Speaker 2>away for that. I didn't even talk about myself.

0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:53.840
<v Speaker 1>I think you did. Sam Keikovich, was my guess. Mikes,

0:43:53.960 --> 0:43:55.400
<v Speaker 1>thank you so much for joining us.