Speaker 1: Hi, my boris and this is Straight Talks Joseph Acuso.
Speaker 1: So Ali, welcome to Straight Talk, mate. Obviously they head
Speaker 1: one hundred you because someone who may be able to
Speaker 1: save the side. Do you feel pressure?
Speaker 2: The reason I wanted to go was always I wanted
Speaker 2: to play on a Lions tour. I still remember to
Speaker 2: this day the kid I watched it on TV and
Speaker 2: I was like, this is what I want to do
Speaker 2: one day.
Speaker 1: Do you think it'll encourage other younger blokes to continue
Speaker 1: on the rugby union path?
Speaker 2: You know what? I hope when we do play this
Speaker 2: spring tour and a Lions tour and a home Woord Cup,
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of kids are going to
Speaker 2: be inspired to play in a green and gold jersey
Speaker 2: or warortized jersey. I feel like that's probably the biggest
Speaker 2: thing for you know, Australian rugby.
Speaker 1: You did get selected for Origin. In one game of Origin,
Speaker 1: we didn't last long. Can we just quickly talk about
Speaker 1: that what actually happened? Joseph Acuso, So a LEI get
Speaker 1: that right? Mate? Didn't I practice morning? I want to
Speaker 1: get right and I want to get right otherwise nickname
Speaker 1: at the Russes at least sou welcome to straight tow mate.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: It's cool, really cool. So we got you on this show,
Speaker 1: your med training. Now you're in the Wallabies. Not in
Speaker 1: the Wallabies that they haven't announced any at least and.
Speaker 2: Actually announced it the hour ago. So oh really yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah that's so cool. I know. Yeah. I was actually
Speaker 2: yeah stoked. Yeah, family were calling and everyone was happy,
Speaker 2: so mad, everyone was over the moon.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, honestly, like seasons just finished and yeah,
Speaker 2: just straight into we had a camp on Monday Tuesday
Speaker 2: last week and then yeah, just straight into it.
Speaker 1: I knew you in the camp. I didn't realize it
Speaker 1: was so it's just been announced. Man, that's mad. Yeah
Speaker 1: are you feeling yeah?
Speaker 2: Good? Like it's actually yeah crazy, Like I was saying
Speaker 2: before light, it's the whole year. I was just looking
Speaker 2: at like like this time now, I've been reflecting a
Speaker 2: lot over like the last four years and especially this
Speaker 2: year as well, and how everything just honestly, it has
Speaker 2: gone so fast. It's gone way too fast. I just
Speaker 2: kind of you know, yeah, even now just been in
Speaker 2: the Lollaby squad, I'm just like, you know, just stoked.
Speaker 1: And just what position did they call you out?
Speaker 2: There's no no position. I haven't had a proper position
Speaker 2: where I've been training or.
Speaker 1: Anything announced twenty or what are the announced?
Speaker 2: I think how many is it? I noticed two squads
Speaker 2: as of Wallabys A like Wallabies A and then the
Speaker 2: Wallabys are going on a spring tour, so yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: not sure how many in the squad.
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea where you might be playing that?
Speaker 2: I think I spoke spaited a coach like thirteen fifteen
Speaker 2: that's where like I'll be training and then they just
Speaker 2: see where where I would go from.
Speaker 1: There for a meneral audience. What is thirty and fifth?
Speaker 2: Thirteen's outside center and the fifteens a full back? So
Speaker 2: you ever a preference? Not? Not really, to be honest,
Speaker 2: I grew up playing yeah, thirteen fifteen wing. I've always
Speaker 2: played like a lot of positions growing up in union. Yeah,
Speaker 2: a bit different league we played like growing up in
Speaker 2: the league, I honestly just played fullback five eight, I
Speaker 2: was it. I never ever played in the center or wing.
Speaker 2: I was always four bout five eight like the swim psition.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was good.
Speaker 1: So I like to go back a little bit. So
Speaker 1: a lot of people do know you, but a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't know you. A lot of who know you,
Speaker 1: they know of you now. But let's go back to
Speaker 1: young Joseph, going back years ago. Let's you're running only
Speaker 1: twenty one. I think you're in twenty one.
Speaker 2: Don't ye.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's go back to when you're when you're at Penrith,
Speaker 1: before you went off to King So what's the deal.
Speaker 1: Like your dad samone.
Speaker 2: From somemhow or born in yeah, born there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so your dad and he's married to your
Speaker 1: mum obviously, but your mum's background.
Speaker 2: As what Cambodian Australian.
Speaker 1: Cambodian Australian. Okay, so that's an unusual mix.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. Yeah, some old man. He come over
Speaker 2: from someone when he was maybe twelve or thirteen, like
Speaker 2: we'll get quite young. And yeah, mum was, yeah, brought
Speaker 2: up in Australia, grew up here. Her grandpa come over
Speaker 2: from cambode Yeah, when he was like maybe twenty or
Speaker 2: twenty one. And then yeah, I think like the Vietnam
Speaker 2: War happened over there and then he couldn't go back,
Speaker 2: so he ended up just staying, staying here, and then
Speaker 2: my parents end up meeting at a train station now Kingswood, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think Kingswoold train stations were at a club out
Speaker 2: there actually, yeah, Kingswood train station. I think they met
Speaker 2: so yeah.
Speaker 1: And then junior.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Pendell Jr. Growing up played under fours or
Speaker 2: was that? Started at s Mary's and then under fire
Speaker 2: was that brothers, And then from there just played at
Speaker 2: Glenmore Park. Yeah, gone Park, Brumbies.
Speaker 1: Did you play footing in some More?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah he did, he did. He played. He actually played
Speaker 2: a little bit over here too, but he had my
Speaker 2: sister quite young, at maybe seven to eighteen. He had
Speaker 2: my sister, and then yeah, from there he just kind
Speaker 2: of just stopped playing foot and then after the kids. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's looking.
Speaker 1: At the kids and is your mum sporty?
Speaker 2: Yeah, she played a bit of volleyball on that little
Speaker 2: bit growing up. But she always says that My old
Speaker 2: man always says that I'll get more athletic athletic ability
Speaker 2: from him, But it's quietly in the background saying that
Speaker 2: it's from me.
Speaker 1: So who do you look more like? Though? Like I mean, because.
Speaker 2: Actually I look like my mom a lot. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: my old man he's like short and like stocky, so
Speaker 2: I don't look like, yeah my dad at all hype
Speaker 2: from it's weird. My uncle's all tall, So my dad's
Speaker 2: like he's really short, and you look at my uncles,
Speaker 2: they're all like tall, all like six three six four,
Speaker 2: and then my old man's like way on six foot
Speaker 2: but solid. Yeah, he's like yeah, he's built.
Speaker 1: Totally built. So that's a pretty unusual combination, by the way,
Speaker 1: sort of two totally different backgrounds. Yeah, yeah, what do
Speaker 1: you what do you think that culturally you get from that?
Speaker 1: Let's put sport aside, foot your what I just just
Speaker 1: put culturally, what do you get out of mum being
Speaker 1: from Asia background, your dad being from Pacific Islands?
Speaker 2: I think the from like Pacific Islands. I get a
Speaker 2: lot of that. Just being very proud of like family
Speaker 2: where I'm from sometimes like what can you say, very
Speaker 2: like outgoing. I can be outgoing, but from my mom's side,
Speaker 2: Mum's very like intrinsic, says my grandpa is very intrinsic,
Speaker 2: very you know, so spoken kind of thing like that.
Speaker 2: So I feel like I've got a good bars between both, yeah,
Speaker 2: ye and yang. But yeah, I feel like I get
Speaker 2: a bit of both from Yeah, like that outgoing and
Speaker 2: then you know when on my home, like when I'm
Speaker 2: comfortable around people, I feel like I'm very out there
Speaker 2: and you know, say we go out like I'm very
Speaker 2: dance around and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Joey runs that, as Joey runs that, so
Speaker 3: we do a little bit of that.
Speaker 2: But I feel like, yeah, culturally, I still want to
Speaker 2: learn a little bit more about my converting side. I
Speaker 2: feel like I haven't really tapped into that a lot.
Speaker 2: My old man used to try to teach me a
Speaker 2: lot someone and stuff, and I was going up, but
Speaker 2: I was a very I just didn't listen. I didn't listen.
Speaker 1: I wish it's interesting, Joe, because like I come from
Speaker 1: a mixed background mind there too, and one always dominates,
Speaker 1: but one ends up usually when the most people are
Speaker 1: like my dad's side's got more family, bigger family. It
Speaker 1: just sort of dilutes my mother's side. And but as
Speaker 1: I got when I've been start again, I just have
Speaker 1: become much more interested in the Irish part of it.
Speaker 1: But do you think that is it because your dad's
Speaker 1: sides a much bigger family, because and by the way
Speaker 1: some owns a Pacific Islands generally. I mean, I wasn't
Speaker 1: aware of this, and part of me for my ignorance,
Speaker 1: but I always knew that Pacific Islanders generally are very
Speaker 1: family orienteded. But when we had recently out of the roosters,
Speaker 1: out of the stadium, we got all the guys who
Speaker 1: are leaving and their parents and their wives or kids
Speaker 1: and brothers and sisters stuff like that, I got like
Speaker 1: blown away by the importance of family amongst all of
Speaker 1: you guys in our side, just in our team, particularly
Speaker 1: the ones and particularly the ones who are leaving, and
Speaker 1: there's a few like you and Jared, et cetera. And
Speaker 1: what you've sort of looked like to me, you guys,
Speaker 1: you've dragged along the Aussie guys as well, like to
Speaker 1: sort of participate the same way. You know, Teddy's got
Speaker 1: his wife and family there, and you know, like kaz Kiri,
Speaker 1: he's got his family. I can it's sort of like
Speaker 1: like they've seen you guys with your family elements, and
Speaker 1: actually you brought the best down in them. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to the rats are the same. I don't
Speaker 1: want to overplay it, but do you see that, like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit you could, you could say, especially
Speaker 2: with my family, Like every game I've played, they've been
Speaker 2: at every single game, Like even my aunties, my uncle's
Speaker 2: my like extended family, like it've come to every single game.
Speaker 2: Like even we're playing Brizzy, they'll drive all the way
Speaker 2: to Brizzy to come watch. Even in Melbourne they all
Speaker 2: drive down.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's just like I've always you always felt
Speaker 2: out support kind of thing as you as you're playing.
Speaker 2: It's very I don't really say much to my family,
Speaker 2: say obviously I'll say thanks for coming and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: but it's a big thing when you're playing knowing that
Speaker 2: your family's in the crowd someway. Sometimes you don't see
Speaker 2: them when you running out, but it's very it's weird,
Speaker 2: it's like you can't really put words to a kind
Speaker 2: of thing, but it's honestly it's very comforting. Yeah, comforting
Speaker 2: like that you know if if my mum and dad
Speaker 2: are in the crowd and my cousins and all that,
Speaker 2: you know, you know forty thousand people are going to
Speaker 2: be in the stands, but you know about the people
Speaker 2: that you're playing for and you know why you're doing it.
Speaker 2: It's very yeah, comforting because.
Speaker 1: It's funny and again sort of mostly this year, I've
Speaker 1: noticed it more than I ever noticed before. But and
Speaker 1: it's not just us, it's you know, they do it
Speaker 1: at Penrith, et cetera. But I've noticed and I don't
Speaker 1: know what is it? Lay? What's that the thing they
Speaker 1: put around your necks at the end of the game.
Speaker 2: I should know what it's called.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's sort of like a wreath, but
Speaker 1: it's not a wreath. It's a lay or something like that.
Speaker 1: And it's got like it's got lollies or something. What's
Speaker 1: going on there?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: so a lot a lot like lollies. It's just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: a lot of colors. Sometimes they put like tongus for
Speaker 2: their culture, like the like symbols and stuff behind it.
Speaker 2: Some womans might do it that the same. I feel
Speaker 2: like that's every like someone graduates from school. They would
Speaker 2: do it after a big game and while Stone like
Speaker 2: fatility and played his hunt game and his whole family
Speaker 2: come down and suddenly give his whole neck was totally Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was awesome. It's good. I feel like that's It's
Speaker 2: funny because the aunties would stay overnight just doing it.
Speaker 2: It takes a long time just even do one.
Speaker 1: The handmaking yeah yeah, he make it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's just it takes takes a long time.
Speaker 2: So I thought, like, that's just you know, a special
Speaker 2: from you know, your aunties, your uncles and every loved
Speaker 2: one would come and give you one. So and then
Speaker 2: most of the boys that don't give one to the
Speaker 2: boys kind of thing like that. So it's just like
Speaker 2: sharing a lover around.
Speaker 1: I've never really noticed before. This year seemed to be
Speaker 1: much more prevalent. Meant, I saw Penrith doing it as well,
Speaker 1: and I saw Spencer's family do it too, So just
Speaker 1: maybe you just for my sake, explained to me. Is
Speaker 1: it much difference you mentioned Toman, Is it much difference
Speaker 1: between someone and tongue and cultures?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they're they're based around the same like family, religion,
Speaker 2: it's based around the same things. But there's it's very
Speaker 2: it's weird. It's like competitive, it's very competitive. It's very competitive.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, we you know,
Speaker 2: we love each other, but it's very competitive at the
Speaker 2: same time between tongs and someone you grow up and
Speaker 2: like you're proud someone you know and you're going to
Speaker 2: get the song and you're like no, no, some was better.
Speaker 2: Kind of It's always like that kind of thing. But
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, like when we come
Speaker 2: back together, it's like, you know, we're like brothers at
Speaker 2: the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. And because what we in Australia originally have
Speaker 1: really any ever knew was Mari and and it's probably
Speaker 1: been over the last ten years we started to become
Speaker 1: I guess also with the Pacific Islands matches that have
Speaker 1: been played like they've been played at the moment, we
Speaker 1: Australians never really thought about Fijians as regul league players
Speaker 1: or as a real big culture or someone or Tongue
Speaker 1: and or Cook Island for that matter. We just looked
Speaker 1: at Mari. But what's become a really important part of
Speaker 1: our culture now in rugby league at least is all
Speaker 1: of them. And there may him be more that I
Speaker 1: haven't named. I don't know anymore, but there may have been.
Speaker 1: There may be more than I haven't named. As a
Speaker 1: kid growing up, were you aware of that when you
Speaker 1: were living out of Penrith or is it just normal
Speaker 1: out there, well, there was a lot of like Pacific Islanders.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And I was just normal growing up where
Speaker 2: I grew up in, like Western Sydney. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of everyone. My old man's like he grew up in
Speaker 2: me Andre. That's what a lot of Pacific Islanders are like.
Speaker 2: When you played footage, you going against like, you know,
Speaker 2: Pacific Island. These boys are big. Like I'm saying, I
Speaker 2: was big as well when I was growing up. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I feel like it was just everywhere everywhere I went
Speaker 2: because why you know, my aunties and uncles would live
Speaker 2: around the corner. I was just brought up in that,
Speaker 2: you know, like a village, yeah, village kind of thing
Speaker 2: like that, and like obviously you know friends like dad's
Speaker 2: work friends would be you know, Pacific Honors, and then
Speaker 2: it was just always around that Pacific going even going
Speaker 2: to church growing up as well, it was always ad
Speaker 2: Pacific Islanders. So it was just normal kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So when you're I read some with that, were you
Speaker 1: a jumper? Yeah, yeah, I can't remember, like fifteen or
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, So it was actually I started doing high
Speaker 2: jump maybe like four U five and then you're six,
Speaker 2: like in Primuel. Yeah, twelve years old. I honestly it
Speaker 2: was just dawner just to get days of school.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you were good out of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Actually yeah, I alright trying to jump over anything. Now
Speaker 1: you'd be big. You're skinny kid, Yeah I was. I
Speaker 1: was always like maybe you four going into U five.
Speaker 1: I hit like a gross bert and I went up
Speaker 1: to Honestly, I was like six three, yeah, straight away
Speaker 1: like you five and you six see before in high school? Yeah,
Speaker 1: before high school, I had like no, yeah, I know
Speaker 1: because I was just like a normal like honestly, I
Speaker 1: was just normal high like skinny bone kid. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're going like five six around there is
Speaker 1: shot up straight to six three. My shoe sides went
Speaker 1: straight to fourteen, and I was just my mom was like.
Speaker 2: What's going on? Like I was getting to doctor and
Speaker 2: I was eating that one's food. I was crazy. I
Speaker 2: was like I still remember our home. I was just
Speaker 2: like eating everything and then yeah, shot up and then
Speaker 2: yeah I was six three.
Speaker 1: So we're always athletic at that point.
Speaker 2: I was always like nippy, like nippy fast. I was
Speaker 2: always around like football like my old man, and I
Speaker 2: used to like who kicked the ball like all day,
Speaker 2: like honestly with just any top of ball like basketball.
Speaker 2: Was just always like I was always out of the about.
Speaker 2: I was always just like fullot energy. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: if I had anything wrong with me, but I was
Speaker 2: always just like always outside, just like you know, just
Speaker 2: trying to do something. Yeah. So I was always like
Speaker 2: that as a kid.
Speaker 1: But were you playing footy in the panrithicon Rugby League
Speaker 1: and rugby n or just one of.
Speaker 2: The rugby League? And I started playing union to get
Speaker 2: days of school? Yeah, before kings in like ye five
Speaker 2: and six went to a school primary school in Glamwell
Speaker 2: Park ORed region for public school. And then yeah, it
Speaker 2: was funny because I, honestly I was just there's like
Speaker 2: a thing where you make like news of pub teams
Speaker 2: and like, so if you make a district team you
Speaker 2: get one day off, If you make state like ours
Speaker 2: was City West right, you get three days off, and
Speaker 2: then if you made the New South Wales team you
Speaker 2: get a week off. And then in year five I
Speaker 2: made like union and league, and then in year year
Speaker 2: six I made league, Union, Basketball, Athletics and AFL and
Speaker 2: then I was in contention for touch But then I
Speaker 2: couldn't because one of them crossed over. And then it
Speaker 2: was funny. I was actually shout out to more primary
Speaker 2: school teacher because she actually helped me big time because
Speaker 2: I was I wasn't at school. I wasn't. I was
Speaker 2: always out, like I was always playing and we was
Speaker 2: always used to have to travel and then always get
Speaker 2: back at the you know, sit down and study and
Speaker 2: then Yeah, it's honestly like, it was actually one of
Speaker 2: the best times in my life doing that, just like
Speaker 2: traveling around the state and stuff like that. It was
Speaker 2: actually great fun.
Speaker 1: So how'd you end up a king Is because that's
Speaker 1: a pretty expensive joint, pretty sort of elite place to
Speaker 1: get educated.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was Actually it was actually funny. We train
Speaker 2: in year six at Kings and I said to my
Speaker 2: mom walking away from the school, I was like, Mom,
Speaker 2: like I want to I want to go here, and
Speaker 2: my mom like, Mom, like knew straight away. She was
Speaker 2: like she kind of not laughed at me, but she's
Speaker 2: always given me like belief and faith. She's always been like, son, like,
Speaker 2: you know, it's going to cost like sixty grand a
Speaker 2: year like one of these schools, and then me being
Speaker 2: O believing, I'm like no, I want to like I've
Speaker 2: always had that thing. I'm like, no, I want to
Speaker 2: do it, like this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2: And then anyway, I applied at different schools, like I
Speaker 2: applied to Scott's New Inton, I think as well, and
Speaker 2: Scott's gave me a scholarship like maybe like not a
Speaker 2: full scholarship, but my parents couldn't We still couldn't afford it. Anyway,
Speaker 2: Then I'm rolled into my primary, like my local high school,
Speaker 2: which was like Jameson High School, and then maybe the
Speaker 2: supporting school. I don't think it is. I think it's
Speaker 2: just like one of the local state school. And then
Speaker 2: in my head too, I was like still just no,
Speaker 2: I want to go to one of these schools. And maybe,
Speaker 2: like two weeks before orientation, the Penasenes will Panasene's at
Speaker 2: paramatter he got he was starting the eight at Kings
Speaker 2: and they they dropped my name saying like, oh, as
Speaker 2: a kid you know who wants to come here like
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, plays a bit of sport and stuff
Speaker 2: like that, I feel like he can be benefit to
Speaker 2: the school. And then I did my interview and then
Speaker 2: honestly like yeah, maybe. Then on the day I went
Speaker 2: for orientation at Kings, Like, I didn't have any uniform
Speaker 2: and nothing rocked up put a uniform on. I was
Speaker 2: just just gone, like just like just like that. It
Speaker 2: was just like, yeah, honestly crazy, but yeah, schools just yeah,
Speaker 2: the King's School was honestly not one of the best
Speaker 2: things that's happened to my family.
Speaker 1: And ill, yeah, no, it's well. And of course, you know,
Speaker 1: everyone heard about you. You know, I remember stories. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't even know if they're true or not.
Speaker 1: The kid nine, he's playing in the first fifteen and
Speaker 1: I don't know, were.
Speaker 2: You, Yeah, stuff like that. Yeah, I played first basketball
Speaker 2: in year seven. Yeah seven, Yeah, he's seven. I played
Speaker 2: first basketball in year seven. It was yeah, it was cool.
Speaker 2: It was we're looking back on now. I'm just like
Speaker 2: a lot of things I could do. Back when I
Speaker 2: was younger, I was just like just pure, just off,
Speaker 2: you know, just having fun. Just like obviously hard work too.
Speaker 2: My old man he was always train a lot as well,
Speaker 2: but I was just like, I was very full. I
Speaker 2: was very gifted as a young kid, but as well
Speaker 2: I always had that you know, that hard work as well.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, I played you know, you seven played
Speaker 2: first basketball, and yeah, you nine played first rugby, so
Speaker 2: that's true, true, Yeah, yeah, I was playing your first
Speaker 2: rugby first and nine as well.
Speaker 1: So and how much do you think playing rugby league
Speaker 1: in your early years actually help you at schoolboy level
Speaker 1: to play first in rugby union when you're apart from
Speaker 1: the fact you're much you're bigger than every other boy,
Speaker 1: and you know, and I guess, but how much is
Speaker 1: how much skill do you get to play in rugby
Speaker 1: league relative to helping you play at the top level
Speaker 1: at school level in ruby union.
Speaker 2: I feel like obviously you got the board, like the
Speaker 2: skill and the toughness of you know, you've got to
Speaker 2: play rugby league. But I feel like the different sports
Speaker 2: of like basketball, AFL, growing up even league helped even
Speaker 2: playing union or help me foreign here. I could play
Speaker 2: different sports by you know, just taking different parts of
Speaker 2: different sports into different things I played.
Speaker 1: So you borrow from skills you learn from different sports
Speaker 1: for the particular sport you might be playing on the particular.
Speaker 2: That yeah, yeah, i'd always yeah, I feel like you
Speaker 2: subconsciously just pick up on different schools and see you
Speaker 2: different ways of doing things on a footy field. Or
Speaker 2: basketball court and just apply it to whatever sport I
Speaker 2: was playing. I feel like that helped me quite a bit.
Speaker 2: Played at a young age, play first fifteen at a
Speaker 2: young age. I feel like that helped a lot.
Speaker 1: Most people wouldn't realize, but I mean, what six foot five,
Speaker 1: what are one hundred and ninety something?
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably like I reckon six or six five? Yeah,
Speaker 2: around your way one three, one o four, So.
Speaker 1: That's like a perfect weight for an outside back and particular.
Speaker 1: And then rugby in rugby league, were you sort of
Speaker 1: always around those sorts of ninety late high nineties when
Speaker 1: you're at school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like when I was in nine, I was around
Speaker 2: there like ninety, like around there like just under ninety
Speaker 2: kind of thing. Like fifteen yeah, yeah, I was very torn,
Speaker 2: like skinny kind of thing. Yeah, And I'm just like
Speaker 2: slowly just built muscle out.
Speaker 1: Because one of the things, I mean, I watch Plavery
Speaker 1: week for the last couple of years, but like one
Speaker 1: of the things I noticed is that you just run
Speaker 1: a people, you don't seem to give a shit, and
Speaker 1: you run flat out. There's no in between. For Joseph
Speaker 1: Lecky's sort of you know, some guys will change their
Speaker 1: speed at a certain point, you just when you get
Speaker 1: the ball. You just got the ball and you're going
Speaker 1: straight for it, and whoever on the other side has
Speaker 1: to tackle you. Were you always like that as a
Speaker 1: player as a young bloke.
Speaker 2: You know, it was actually funny. As a kid growing up,
Speaker 2: I was always playing my full back five eight, so
Speaker 2: I was always used to like using my hands, especially
Speaker 2: well when I was younger too, like yeah, I was
Speaker 2: always just using my hands. Step in more creative, more creative.
Speaker 2: Growing up. I feel like, you know, coming into the
Speaker 2: rooster system, it's all about you know, like power game,
Speaker 2: you know, power against the first thing and then play
Speaker 2: off that kind of thing, and then I'll come in
Speaker 2: as a winger. I was seventeen eighteen, and at the start,
Speaker 2: I was like I remember, like you know, Jazz is
Speaker 2: like come on, runner, Yeah, yeah, you got to get
Speaker 2: the you know, play the ball like and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'll do anything for the team. That's why I always
Speaker 2: for the mentality. I've always had anything for the team.
Speaker 2: I never used to run the ball, like like growing up,
Speaker 2: I'm not always fast direct, yeah, fast direct. I'd always
Speaker 2: be like, you know, step blah blah blah, do like
Speaker 2: all this fancy stuff and then I don't know, I
Speaker 2: think when I was like, yeah, seven, my first year
Speaker 2: and second year NRL, I was just like, I'm just
Speaker 2: going to pin my ears back and just go like
Speaker 2: every time I get the ball board, just get like
Speaker 2: especially in yardage, I was always like, I don't care
Speaker 2: who it is, It's either going to go up the
Speaker 2: him or the gap or you know, and just try
Speaker 2: to get that quick playable for the team. And then yeah,
Speaker 2: I just kind of built that reputation coming in and
Speaker 2: then yeah, kind of just stuck.
Speaker 1: So everybody wanted you. I don't think you were eighteen
Speaker 1: or seventeen. I think everybody everyone was having a crack
Speaker 1: for him, because I remember hearing about it, you know,
Speaker 1: in various meetings in our club. And of course Russ
Speaker 1: was successful in the end. What does that do to
Speaker 1: a kid when you're seventeen years of age and you
Speaker 1: know people throwing money around, you know, you're in demand.
Speaker 1: How do you keep yourself in check? Like, you know,
Speaker 1: from a ego point of view, And I will say
Speaker 1: straight up, you never displayed any ego. We never saw it.
Speaker 1: Is that your parents or is that your upbringing? What's
Speaker 1: the deal?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think parents. I think parents was the big one,
Speaker 2: or even the school I was at. It was actually
Speaker 2: the school player still in school. Yeah, I was still
Speaker 2: a school I was because I was boarding at school.
Speaker 2: I was living there, so I was always around my
Speaker 2: my good mates, my best mates. I'd always like sometimes
Speaker 2: I'll go back on the weekend. I always see my family.
Speaker 2: It was weird. It was a weird dynamic because I
Speaker 2: was always in the media, like media but at school
Speaker 2: at the same time. So I was just like I
Speaker 2: always knew. There was a lot of talk around myself.
Speaker 2: But to be honest, when I look back on it,
Speaker 2: I don't really know how I deal with it. It
Speaker 2: was just like next job, I kind of thing like that.
Speaker 2: It was just like I knew what path I wanted
Speaker 2: to go on, and I was right with that because
Speaker 2: I always knew, Like I was like, I want to
Speaker 2: play in an NROL when I'm seventeen, Like I've always
Speaker 2: had this thing in my mind. It's like, no, I
Speaker 2: want to do this kind of thing. And from there
Speaker 2: it's just always just been I want to do that,
Speaker 2: then my next thing.
Speaker 1: Do you read the papers? Though?
Speaker 2: When I was when I was first coming in like
Speaker 2: maybe I think I was in the papers when I
Speaker 2: was like maybe third in fourteen. I was saying I
Speaker 2: was the next for our coming through.
Speaker 3: I remember that and I was like, at the start
Speaker 3: is exciting, and I was like, oh cool, this is like,
Speaker 3: this is pretty cool being in the paper and stuff like.
Speaker 1: That, especially being sort of compared to him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, straight away because I loved him growing up.
Speaker 2: I was like, this is one of my orders. I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, this is cool. Like I've been in
Speaker 2: the paper for the first time, and then you know,
Speaker 2: now it's like it's been a couple of times now
Speaker 2: and you're just like, now that the pressure starting to
Speaker 2: come into your head a kind of thing like that,
Speaker 2: and you're like you're thinking about it a little bit,
Speaker 2: and then you're just like I think at the time
Speaker 2: was just how would I say I was dealing with it?
Speaker 2: I was honestly just you know, staying with family. They
Speaker 2: were always you know, keeping me grounded.
Speaker 1: Your dad.
Speaker 2: My parents don't really say a lot. They're very comforting,
Speaker 2: like the way like just their presence there is very
Speaker 2: like comforting. But I've never had my parents. They're very
Speaker 2: they don't talk a lot, and they're very How could
Speaker 2: you say it very loving people. I think I think
Speaker 2: just the love from them to myself always, I just
Speaker 2: knew that that's enough, that's enough, that's all I needed.
Speaker 2: That kept me comfort, just you know, just keep on
Speaker 2: playing footy, just loving the game. Things like that. I
Speaker 2: think that really helped me a lot.
Speaker 1: We're aby to get you exempted to play underrated. Well
Speaker 1: it's called a utrage, but earlier than most. When your
Speaker 1: first game to anyone, who's your first game against Broncos
Speaker 1: with the Broncos say well in the first grade, kid,
Speaker 1: and give you a good clip.
Speaker 2: No, I wasn't not really honestly having like a blur
Speaker 2: like my first NERL game, because I was I was
Speaker 2: still a SCAR member, still a school Like. It was
Speaker 2: funny because I was like any day, but we're training
Speaker 2: boys at the off day. But I was like sitting
Speaker 2: in class at school. It was actually funny. I used
Speaker 2: to go into class and I used to cut me
Speaker 2: in because I was like, I was never at school, Like,
Speaker 2: I was never at school. So especially my best mates
Speaker 2: a little bit of one who areing like, oh this
Speaker 2: guy's back at school kind of thing like that, but
Speaker 2: I was never there. But going back to the game, yeah, honestly,
Speaker 2: just happened like a like a blur. I played five
Speaker 2: games that season. Yeah, I don't have my foot injury.
Speaker 1: So because we were worried you were going to get hurt.
Speaker 1: Because I remember Sonny Bill when he first started playing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he used to do a lot of shoulder
Speaker 1: charges on blokes, and I think you might have even
Speaker 1: done a couple of should charges over you years. But
Speaker 1: but I remember he got injured a lot because he
Speaker 1: had He wasn't a man at that stage. You didn't
Speaker 1: have a man body. You're still developing, not boy's body,
Speaker 1: a teenagers body, I guess, because you were still a
Speaker 1: teenager and we were concerned. I was always thinking of,
Speaker 1: so have this kid doesn't get injured, badly injured. You
Speaker 1: got your you did your foot, Yeah, my Liz treaking
Speaker 1: my my left or some weird thing. What is that
Speaker 1: called from.
Speaker 2: Somebody from a whrse? I don't know something like that.
Speaker 2: Someone tried to explain to me some small thing though. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like a separation in a in your foot. You
Speaker 2: go fire, you got bones in your foot and a
Speaker 2: little bit of separation can like do you miss a
Speaker 2: kind of thing like that? And I was out there
Speaker 2: for like five or six months.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, because I thought it was like, god,
Speaker 1: you know, I hope he hasn't sort of sort of
Speaker 1: done like a permanent injury. Keep repeating itself. But when
Speaker 1: you played first played in those first five games, did
Speaker 1: anybody give you a tickle up like our bikes they
Speaker 1: come on, get up.
Speaker 2: No. I was like, I remember one guy went against
Speaker 2: It was against Pander. I think it was my third
Speaker 2: or second or third game. I think it was Fisher,
Speaker 2: I think because I was playing center at the time,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, you know, kickoff carries and the you know,
Speaker 2: they run and yeah, and I was like I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: here we go. And he's like looking over and I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh god, here we going, and like, you know, just
Speaker 2: trying to tackle them. But I'm got like, you know,
Speaker 2: I've got hit and he's coming up at the top
Speaker 2: said something and he didn't. He's in the game like
Speaker 2: saying something. But I was just like I was the
Speaker 2: first one. I was like, Okay, I'm here, like you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, like an RL standard kind of
Speaker 2: thing like that. Yeah. Yeah, but that was good, probably good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was a good thing I needed it like kind
Speaker 2: of things. So because I.
Speaker 1: Only remember you, you nailed a few blakes. I can't
Speaker 1: remember who specifically now, but you did nail a few blokes,
Speaker 1: particularly when you're playing out. It might have been out
Speaker 1: on the wing. Come he came in, and you did
Speaker 1: hit a few like pretty hard in your early stages.
Speaker 1: In your early stage like like full front, just full speed,
Speaker 1: totally fearless. It was definitely a teenager like inexperienced REGU
Speaker 1: League player, real player, but definitely a teenager fearless. Do
Speaker 1: you remember doing that? Like did you pick out Blake?
Speaker 1: It was someone I just want to really put him.
Speaker 2: Down, like like now because I know like this like
Speaker 2: system and stuff like that. I know when so I
Speaker 2: picked my times come out come of like when not
Speaker 2: to and what to do? You know, Like when you
Speaker 2: first come in, it was just like all right, who
Speaker 2: can I smash? It was just like, yeah, who can
Speaker 2: I run out and kill? And who can I you know,
Speaker 2: like a smash kind of thing. And I was just
Speaker 2: like it was like that my first couple, you know,
Speaker 2: the first couple of games in l.
Speaker 1: Does somebody grab hold of you in the club, in
Speaker 1: the team, I should say, in your team and and
Speaker 1: sort of not becoming your mental but like I don't
Speaker 1: know sort of your guide. Is there any one particular person.
Speaker 2: I'd always say it's a always four people have looked
Speaker 2: up to the club, and it's always been Jared Ria
Speaker 2: har Grays, Luke Keary, Daniel Tubo, and Joey Minho. And
Speaker 2: I feel like I've always gravitated towards them for I've
Speaker 2: always I'm I'm real good mates with Daniel, I'm good
Speaker 2: mates with all of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I've always just taken Joey and
Speaker 2: Daniel helped me like big time coming in when I
Speaker 2: was first like during school, you know, take me under
Speaker 2: a wing and just show me in the ropes and
Speaker 2: how like I knew I could always train and stuff
Speaker 2: like that, but just the little things you've got to
Speaker 2: know to play playing in no role. And I was
Speaker 2: always just asking him questions and they're always you know, good,
Speaker 2: good back to like back to me as well, just
Speaker 2: you know, just show me different things and different was
Speaker 2: that Yeah, two talks a lot. He was my room
Speaker 2: this year, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I was. I'm always
Speaker 2: that young kid, always just annoying him. So's he's one
Speaker 2: of the best men, like one of the best people
Speaker 2: you've met in your life. He's a great man.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that the ones you just named other
Speaker 1: than Tubes are just and resigned, but the others are
Speaker 1: going like and yourself. I mean it's and then obviously
Speaker 1: still as well, although he's going to Canterbury, but Dews
Speaker 1: are sort of going out of the game. Well two
Speaker 1: of them go to England. I mean, jar is going
Speaker 1: to go. Someone said to me in England in the
Speaker 1: in the Super League competition, you can't hit above this
Speaker 1: part of the chest lake rope union. And we'll talk
Speaker 1: about that for you in a moment. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I said to Jared, man, are you going to go
Speaker 1: tackling below that? I said, you'll probably play three games
Speaker 1: for a year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I are going to have a lot of holidays there.
Speaker 2: I can see that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's like I don't think he's ever tackled
Speaker 1: below the chest. I don't ever in his whole career.
Speaker 1: So you you, you've had a great career. The ruses,
Speaker 1: I mean you and you've met some great people. You're
Speaker 1: an extraordinarily important part of you know how Robbo built
Speaker 1: a team and you know out out the way we play,
Speaker 1: you played, you did get selected for Origin, had one
Speaker 1: game of Origin. We didn't last long. Can we just
Speaker 1: quickly talk about that?
Speaker 2: Was that?
Speaker 1: I know you you don't have any malice in you.
Speaker 1: I know you don't play with malice. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: they're not everyone's like that, but you're one of those
Speaker 1: people doesn't have any malice. So I can't imagine when
Speaker 1: it happened. I can't imagine that you went out there
Speaker 1: to take your head off. What actually happened? Did he
Speaker 1: slip under you? Was you just too high? What was it? Judgment?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I look back on it now, and even
Speaker 2: just the whole lead up towards a game, I was
Speaker 2: very excited, Yeah, pumped up. I feel like I learned
Speaker 2: a lot just about playing them big games, about okay,
Speaker 2: what's my process going into the game kind of thing.
Speaker 2: I feel like I was very excited. You know, I
Speaker 2: wanted to go in straight away get a carry, which
Speaker 2: like I always want to start the game fast.
Speaker 1: Is it because that makes you settle down a little
Speaker 1: bit because you've had to carry or yeah understable?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah. Every time I go in the game, I'm
Speaker 2: always trying to find a carry just to get into
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like, is that settle your nerves down something?
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit. I feel like you can go
Speaker 2: missing in games as well, like if you're not going
Speaker 2: to get in, Like I remember my first couple Arrow games,
Speaker 2: like you know, I'm watching the game. I'm not even
Speaker 2: playing a game because I'm watching it. Whereas now I
Speaker 2: feel like, all right, give me a carry, give me
Speaker 2: a tackle, get myself involved in the game, and then
Speaker 2: I'm in the game kind of things like that. And
Speaker 2: I was always a thing I wanted to do in
Speaker 2: the first the first game.
Speaker 1: Just manage to did he say that type of thing?
Speaker 1: Does he come to Joseph, You've got to get in early,
Speaker 1: get started?
Speaker 2: Not really, I feel like I was just I've been
Speaker 2: working a lot with a sports s like I feel like,
Speaker 2: and I always each week would go into a game
Speaker 2: and be like, all right, how are we going to
Speaker 2: target this game or how are we going to like
Speaker 2: what's the plan going into it? And it's always been
Speaker 2: very simple for myself just to get to carry early
Speaker 2: and get into the game kind of thing. And with
Speaker 2: the Origin game, I feel like I did that, got
Speaker 2: a quick carry and then my next thing was all right,
Speaker 2: let's let's get involved by making a decision or a tackle.
Speaker 2: And then I saw Walsh come down the short side
Speaker 2: and I had Gussie and my three men and I'm like,
Speaker 2: all right, you know, looking back on it, I shouldn't
Speaker 2: have went. It was a Gussie was my inside Like
Speaker 2: it was in yardage too, so I didn't I didn't
Speaker 2: really need to go.
Speaker 1: It should have been his tackle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, well he would have like did it would
Speaker 2: have went out at the back and then Gussy obviously
Speaker 2: whilst you got speed, but I trust Gussie to get there.
Speaker 2: Like looking at it now, like I shouldn't have went,
Speaker 2: But I'm always on a back my instinct and my.
Speaker 1: So is that an example of your you using your
Speaker 1: instinct over your judgment? And how often do you have
Speaker 1: to do that in rugby league?
Speaker 2: Oh, You've got to do a lot. I feel like
Speaker 2: I feel like you need to have that, you know,
Speaker 2: logical and then you've got like your instinct kind of thing.
Speaker 2: And I feel like the more games you play in NRL,
Speaker 2: the logical starts to come up a lot. I feel
Speaker 2: like when you first come in it's a lot of
Speaker 2: like instinct, Yeah, but you still got to keep that instinct.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's where you get some of the
Speaker 2: best players in the game. But I feel like if
Speaker 2: you have a balance between both, that's where you.
Speaker 1: Get trying to work out where you're optimistic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to find out like what
Speaker 2: works for you kind of thing like that. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: like going back to the tackle, I should have not gone,
Speaker 2: but I did go back my instinct. You can't pull out.
Speaker 2: I can't pull out, like I'm not going to pull out.
Speaker 2: I should have maybe had like smaller feet going into
Speaker 2: contact if I look back on it.
Speaker 1: Small feet, so.
Speaker 2: When you tackle, you tackle with your feet, and the
Speaker 2: best tackle has always have like short feet going into contact.
Speaker 2: I was crying short steps, yah, short steps on that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you know I was covering a big distance, so
Speaker 2: I should have shorter feet And then.
Speaker 1: Can I just does that mean if you're running towards
Speaker 1: Welsh you can take your big steps to get there
Speaker 1: in time, but then as you get there, you should
Speaker 1: shorten your steps down steps up to you know, leager
Speaker 1: to give you go laterally or Yeah, if you.
Speaker 2: See Stephen Crichton or Joey Man, you're very good. You
Speaker 2: get into the space and then short feet and then
Speaker 2: your last foot should be you know, if you want
Speaker 2: to tackle your right shoulder and you're right, right foot
Speaker 2: should be right where they are kind of right. Was
Speaker 2: if you go big steps, you're gonna So it's that technical. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's technical too. And then yeah, back to the tackle.
Speaker 2: I watched it. He did slip, he did sleep, and
Speaker 2: more height I could have been, Like, honestly, I didn't
Speaker 2: mean to hit him in the ahead. I didn't mean
Speaker 2: to hit him ahead at all, but to hit him
Speaker 2: in the chest, yeah, I would. I love to got
Speaker 2: the chest.
Speaker 1: Like, if I have the chest, are you thinking that
Speaker 1: I want to get him in the chest?
Speaker 2: No, Honestly, I don't really think that. Like, like I
Speaker 2: said about that logic corn is stick. I feel like
Speaker 2: I've been a lot, you know, on the instinct side
Speaker 2: when I play, Yeah, and I feel like it was
Speaker 2: just honestly, it was just an accident. I didn't obviously,
Speaker 2: I go into a game saying I want to play
Speaker 2: with an intense intensity and blah blah blah. But yeah,
Speaker 2: when I hit him in the head, it was just
Speaker 2: like I didn't know if I was on to get
Speaker 2: I didn't because I didn't know I got him flush
Speaker 2: on the head until I got back and I saw
Speaker 2: it on the replay and I was like, I didn't know,
Speaker 2: I want to get set off. He made the right call,
Speaker 2: Like at the end of the day, he made the right
Speaker 2: call of sending me.
Speaker 1: Off, and you feel like, like, what's the feeling goes
Speaker 1: through you win? He has Joseph over here?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I thought, like, I don't know a slide
Speaker 2: chance if I was wanting to get like ten minutes
Speaker 2: or something like that. But I knew, like you know,
Speaker 2: you know, once you're you know you've done something, You're
Speaker 2: just like, yeah, he gets sugned off and you kind
Speaker 2: of walk in the change rooms and then you just
Speaker 2: the first thing you think about as the team, because
Speaker 2: you know, you trained that whole ten day camp just
Speaker 2: to get to this game, and you know you want
Speaker 2: to you want to win. Well, you want to win.
Speaker 2: That's that's how I feel. And and yeah, you just
Speaker 2: felt like you let a lot of people down. I
Speaker 2: feel like I let the team down. And that was
Speaker 2: the main thing. I feel like I let the team down.
Speaker 2: And what do they say to you when I was
Speaker 2: very confident, like everyone was very they knew like I
Speaker 2: was like very like disappointed kind of thing like that.
Speaker 2: So they knew, like I get around him. There's still
Speaker 2: two more games. There's still two more games. So everyone's
Speaker 2: very magic, say Madge magic said the same thing. He
Speaker 2: didn't mean to, you know, like to go for his head,
Speaker 2: and so like it wasn't it wasn't a thing of
Speaker 2: anyone getting angry or its actually very Madge brought me
Speaker 2: into like the King for game two, and I put
Speaker 2: me an extended bench for Origin three as well, So
Speaker 2: I saw that, which was very good, just to be
Speaker 2: still part of the you know, the New South Wales. Yeah,
Speaker 2: even though and he played a couple of minutes.
Speaker 1: But by the way, should before in pride of that?
Speaker 1: Actually you in Vegas?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked in Vegas. Yeah, how good was that?
Speaker 2: That was? I was there?
Speaker 1: It was for me I was expected to, but like
Speaker 1: how good was for you as a player?
Speaker 2: Ah, like even just the whole lead up because we
Speaker 2: went to l also l A. Yeah, you say label
Speaker 2: training there. I feel like I was one of the
Speaker 2: best experiences I've had my life. I really yeah, just
Speaker 2: like I've always loved traveling. That was always a you
Speaker 2: know a thing of myself I've always loved traveling and
Speaker 2: just try, like, you know, I know, the world's big,
Speaker 2: so I've always you know, I always wanted to experience
Speaker 2: different things. And you know, being able to go to
Speaker 2: u c. L A And train there, what else we do?
Speaker 2: I think the Raiders facility. We train there, went to
Speaker 2: an NBA basketball game, watched Lebron play. I'm one of
Speaker 2: my favorite players. Yeah, watching Lebron play like live, that
Speaker 2: was cool too, But I just experienced it with like,
Speaker 2: you know, your best mates as well. I feel like
Speaker 2: that's just even like going to dinners and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: It's just like, yeah, it look back at it now,
Speaker 2: I'm just like, man, it was pretty cool, and.
Speaker 1: I guess I really can't go past it. I have
Speaker 1: to raise it before I get onto the rugby union.
Speaker 1: But Nick, what do you what would you say about Nick?
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone you know he often referred uncle Nick
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff, the godfather, regul league,
Speaker 1: blah blah. But what what was your experience with Nick
Speaker 1: Poloit as that chamman.
Speaker 2: I first met Nick when I was, you know, seventeen,
Speaker 2: because I was deciding to come where I wanted to go.
Speaker 2: I was on a union or stay at rabbit O's
Speaker 2: or come to the Roosters. And I remember I was
Speaker 2: sitting down. I went to his house, went to Nick's
Speaker 2: house in Need the Opera House, and you know, went up.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is not like you know,
Speaker 2: this is nice, this is cool. I've never been to
Speaker 2: one of these fancy the houses before. But I think
Speaker 2: straight away, like Nick doesn't say it, like, he doesn't
Speaker 2: say too much, but he's very the same thing as
Speaker 2: my parents. He's very like confident in the way he
Speaker 2: you know, approaches you your parents. It's all about family for him,
Speaker 2: and he's always he's always included myself, but there's always
Speaker 2: been my filming too, and I feel like that's always
Speaker 2: hit home for myself, and I think, yeah, Nick's always
Speaker 2: just if you need a hand with anything, you always
Speaker 2: know Nick's always always there for not just for yourself,
Speaker 2: but your family. And which is the biggest part of
Speaker 2: why I gravitated, gravitated towards coming towards the Roosters, because
Speaker 2: I just knew him straight away within meeting and Robbo,
Speaker 2: it was just yeah, that was the first two things.
Speaker 2: But Nick, well, honestly, he's a great man, doesn't say
Speaker 2: too much. But he's very back to the word company.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but he treats a club log a family.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, like the whole clubveryvery every every player just
Speaker 2: to myself, just like every player and their family. He's
Speaker 2: the whole squad. And I feel like the best thing
Speaker 2: we talk about as a crew to roosters even just
Speaker 2: like we'll go from midweek lunches or midwek dinners, you know,
Speaker 2: and he would take us out for dinner and we're
Speaker 2: talking to the board, like you know, like boys would
Speaker 2: say other clubs, I wouldn't even meet their board of
Speaker 2: thing like that. And then we always say like, man,
Speaker 2: like we got to go, you know, dinner's like you know,
Speaker 2: a Tuesday week and just go to dinner and meet
Speaker 2: the whole board and NIXT like you know, he's always
Speaker 2: looking after it kind of thing like that, and it's
Speaker 2: just like, yeah, you don't. I don't feel like many
Speaker 2: organizations have that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I haven't been to any other different One'm about to,
Speaker 2: but I feel like, you know, everyone having that relationship
Speaker 2: with Nick. Obviously everyone knows knows him, but like I
Speaker 2: feel like us boys get to know him on.
Speaker 1: A That's right, because most people don't really know him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like what they read about him. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we get a great thing because we always we see
Speaker 2: him each week, like every couple of weeks we go
Speaker 2: for dinner. We always see him there.
Speaker 1: And he doesn't miss a game, and he's always and
Speaker 1: then there's the dinners he holds down the road from
Speaker 1: our studio down the road there, and and he knows
Speaker 1: what everyone's family is doing too, and he's interested.
Speaker 2: He's always he's always asking how the families are. He's
Speaker 2: always a genuine man.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think with Nick, even though like you've read the
Speaker 2: things about you know what Nick has and blah blah blah,
Speaker 2: he's a he's a good human first of all. And
Speaker 2: what about Robert Robos A, he's a good man, rob Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean what has he done for you?
Speaker 2: He Yeah, he brought me in when I was young,
Speaker 2: like seventeen, and he's always you know, he's taught me
Speaker 2: the tough way of footy. First, what does that mean?
Speaker 2: The you know, the hard carries, the you know, the
Speaker 2: yardage carries, what else? Just learning like the off off
Speaker 2: board kind of things. I feel like when you're young,
Speaker 2: you don't really think about that stuff. The effort areas
Speaker 2: all that. I feel like that's the biggest thing that
Speaker 2: you know, Robbo has taught myself in aspect, but even
Speaker 2: just off the field, He's taught me a lot about
Speaker 2: in a spiritual sense totally.
Speaker 1: Not many people know that about him, but he's.
Speaker 2: Very spiritual and I feel like I've learned a lot.
Speaker 2: I've always loved that spiritual stuff. I love learning as
Speaker 2: much as I can and just like just seeing what
Speaker 2: works for me. And I feel like he's, you know,
Speaker 2: brought a lot of that into my life, which I'm
Speaker 2: grateful for.
Speaker 1: Because are you religious in your family?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Parents, yeah, Christian?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, a lot of because a lot of the
Speaker 1: Pacific Island is very religious and in some of the
Speaker 1: clubs you see them even praying before they go into
Speaker 1: the game. Is your family like very religious?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like it was an important.
Speaker 1: Part of your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so my my my dad's old man, my
Speaker 2: grandpa and some more. He's a he's a past over there,
Speaker 2: so he's always praying for us and all that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like I've gone to church a lot, but yeah I haven't.
Speaker 2: I haven't really been like lately, I would save for
Speaker 2: me personally.
Speaker 1: Your dad's listening to this soul. He's going to go.
Speaker 1: Don't worry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's going to go. He he don't worry, he's
Speaker 2: not going to trash it and he's going to go.
Speaker 1: He's going to go. Let's talk about Raaby union. Come on.
Speaker 1: So obviously they head hundred you or hunted you to
Speaker 1: get to other ruby union and it's there's no secret
Speaker 1: you're getting paid a lot of money, particularly compared to
Speaker 1: what you get paid in rugby league, and they've recruited
Speaker 1: you as a as it to some extent, what it
Speaker 1: looks like is someone who may be able to save
Speaker 1: the save the side because the Australians, not Australians not
Speaker 1: doing well in rugby union. We haven't been doing well.
Speaker 1: First it was wartas and now it's well done you
Speaker 1: in Australian side. Do you feel pressure because you know
Speaker 1: there be other players whion't be getting this amount of money.
Speaker 1: Your new kid on the block come from rugby, admitted
Speaker 1: that you played rugby union, played at school and no
Speaker 1: one probably no one doubts your ability, but your credentials
Speaker 1: aren't there yet as a rugby union player, your abilities
Speaker 1: there and your credentials there. There is a rugby league player.
Speaker 1: Is that add pressure to you?
Speaker 2: I think first with the money, I thought, I feel
Speaker 2: like I don't play the game because of money. I've always,
Speaker 2: I've always The reason I wanted to go was always
Speaker 2: I wanted to play on a Lions tour. Like I
Speaker 2: was always a play against the pumps. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: like when I was because every twelve years that happens
Speaker 2: a Lions tour. And I remember sitting there as a
Speaker 2: kid and I was like, this is what I want
Speaker 2: to do one day is playing a line? Yeah? Well
Speaker 2: I remember as a kid, I watched it on TV.
Speaker 2: I watched when his debut. I watched it and Curly
Speaker 2: Bill had to kick the winner and his slipped and
Speaker 2: I remember sitting there and I was like burning.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I was like I still remember to this day and
Speaker 2: I was like no, like one day like I will
Speaker 2: play and I will play in the on to it
Speaker 2: and it's always says.
Speaker 1: The lines store coming up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so next year twenty five And the other thing
Speaker 2: was the home World Cup in twenty twenty seven, and
Speaker 2: even that like just a home World Cup. The last
Speaker 2: song was here was two and three, and that's when
Speaker 2: I was That's when I was born, and yeah, even
Speaker 2: just that for itself, and I was just like, the
Speaker 2: experience is going to have, you know, playing and travel
Speaker 2: and travel. I was like, this is like once in
Speaker 2: a lifetime kind of thing. And I'm like, especially while playing,
Speaker 2: I was like, this is what I'm going to do
Speaker 2: one day?
Speaker 1: And then is it just like a sunny Bill Williams
Speaker 1: moment like two Like, I mean, obviously wudn't play with
Speaker 1: the gil Blacks, but is that similar to it? Do
Speaker 1: you think it's a similar sort of feeling and the
Speaker 1: people like him reach out to you and say, hey, mate,
Speaker 1: this is sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: You should look at for oh, like to go to
Speaker 2: union kind of thing. Yeah, obviously I've got like a
Speaker 2: lot of support, Like you know, is he sunny Bill?
Speaker 2: They've always always know, having more corner to go for
Speaker 2: advice and stuff like that. But I've always it was funny,
Speaker 2: even before I started playing rugby league, when I come
Speaker 2: to the Roosters, I've always had like a vision plan
Speaker 2: of what I wanted to do in the next eight
Speaker 2: Like you know, I've always known what I wanted.
Speaker 1: To do strategically.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I sat down and I was like, sat down,
Speaker 2: I was like this is what I want to do.
Speaker 3: This is what I want to do like each year
Speaker 3: as an achievement. Yeah, like kind of like goal setting
Speaker 3: or experience goal setting it.
Speaker 2: I was like it's like goal setting but also like
Speaker 2: a vision plan of like I would sit down and
Speaker 2: be like, this is what I want to do in
Speaker 2: my life kind of thing. And I always knew I
Speaker 2: was I wanted to play on the lies to when
Speaker 2: I World Cup and yeah I a Grand Final regular. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that was my I was like that was my thing.
Speaker 2: Had Union come asked me if I wanted to come
Speaker 2: there last year because I had an option of my deal,
Speaker 2: but I was always ex option favorite ru Yeah, the
Speaker 2: favorite Rusters, because in my head I was like this
Speaker 2: is this is like this is a year like ey
Speaker 2: like burns me out. We didn't you know, didn't get there.
Speaker 2: But yeah, in my head like obviously I want to,
Speaker 2: you know, win a premiership. That's always been as honestly
Speaker 2: burns me. I still burns you know.
Speaker 3: We got to the like you're only twenty one, I
Speaker 3: know that, but like it's just like there's anyway actually
Speaker 3: like yeah, I just like it's just the thing of
Speaker 3: you know, winning a premiership I've always you know, there
Speaker 3: was always a thing I've really wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Do you He is someone then who has your goals
Speaker 1: and you like you had to go through methodically tick
Speaker 1: them off and sort of say I'm playing down real
Speaker 1: I mean, you sort of got select foraging, but you
Speaker 1: never have had a full games. It's probably something still up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's always Yeah, I've always been a dream
Speaker 2: big guy. I've always you know, written down things of
Speaker 2: like this is what I want to do and this
Speaker 2: is and I'd write them down. And then that's why
Speaker 2: I've been working a lot more sports, because I've always
Speaker 2: been you know, just dreaming about different things. But I
Speaker 2: need to work on the process of getting that kind
Speaker 2: of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I supposed to being a dreamer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, dreamer. I've always been like a dreamer, but you've.
Speaker 1: Got to have the dream that's got to achieve it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to achieve it too. And I've always
Speaker 2: like now i feel like I've changed my mentality. I've
Speaker 2: been like gold driven to want to be more process
Speaker 2: driven kind of yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because the Goali can dream up in a day,
Speaker 1: but the process can take years.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I feel like I love now I'm like taken
Speaker 2: it by day by day. Instead i'd been like, I
Speaker 2: want to win. We're going to win the premiership. How
Speaker 2: can I get better each day kind of thing?
Speaker 1: And would you think rugby union can help you become better?
Speaker 3: Say it regularly even understand I feel like young, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel like more kicking game will get better.
Speaker 1: Kicking is pretty good already, your goal kicking game especially.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually ye pretty good this year. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: been good. Yeah, it's been good. I used to honestly
Speaker 2: stay a whole day apart like a club park. We
Speaker 2: have a field called Chasitan Reserve. I used to go
Speaker 2: to the whole day. I want to go to the
Speaker 2: whole day because my parents always drive to get like
Speaker 2: groceries or something. They would know where I was because
Speaker 2: I was just always practicing. And then when the opportunity
Speaker 2: to come to the goalkicker, I was like, sweet, I've
Speaker 2: been doing this. You know. I had a couple of
Speaker 2: shockers at the start, like getting used to the crowded
Speaker 2: and get into the process of kicking that. But now
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm very confident, you know, going to
Speaker 2: union too. I feel like I want to I want
Speaker 2: to kick a goal kick as well. And yeah, I
Speaker 2: feel like that the skill of you know, learning how
Speaker 2: to kick left foot, right foot, spiral pass, your skill's
Speaker 2: got to be great to players Ruby union. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: feel like that's one of my strengths, been able to
Speaker 2: my skill. I've always loved working on my skill. But
Speaker 2: I feel like that's what I can bring, you know,
Speaker 2: say I play Ruby le one day again, I feel
Speaker 2: like that's what I can bring as well.
Speaker 1: We're expecting you there, you know, you know union and
Speaker 1: every for a little while, we're expecting you to come back.
Speaker 1: We want your back anyway, the rooster that is, I'm
Speaker 1: talking about it, and I think the ame Roagay League
Speaker 1: wants you back to and I think Origin would like
Speaker 1: you back, and I'm no doubt the Australian So I
Speaker 1: would like to have it back to it, you know.
Speaker 1: But like let's just talk about your rugby union. But
Speaker 1: what to expect in terms of ready union. So people
Speaker 1: like Gus feel goold, not Angus, but feel gold. But
Speaker 1: they all had a pretty big crack at you. It
Speaker 1: was pretty controversial. Young Blake too. You're only twenty I
Speaker 1: think at the time side it. What did how did
Speaker 1: you sort of process that ship, like especially when someone
Speaker 1: feel girl said something, Yeah, here's the door showing all
Speaker 1: that NBA. I respect Phil like what he's done for
Speaker 1: rugby League. He's done a lot like for the game,
Speaker 1: you know, even now of the Dogs. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I've always said I was like, I don't
Speaker 2: take it personally kind of thing like that, because it's
Speaker 2: just it's just he's heard the question. He's just he's
Speaker 2: going to make it about He's not having an attack
Speaker 2: on Mete. He's having an attack at Rubby Union, Ruby Union,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So I've always seen it
Speaker 2: in the fact of like I'm not gonna I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna take it personally. I'm just going to take it
Speaker 2: as you know, Phils just having a reaction towards something
Speaker 2: that's not doing towards me. And I've always I felt
Speaker 2: like I've always been good at dealing with things like that,
Speaker 2: And if I see him on the streets to day,
Speaker 2: I'll still go shake his hand and go talk to
Speaker 2: him and stuff like that, because I have no hard
Speaker 2: feelings of what, Yeah, I don't feel like you said
Speaker 2: anything bad anyway.
Speaker 1: Well, Peter Vland has sort of said, you're going to
Speaker 1: get bored and you'll come back to rub anyway, and
Speaker 1: of course ending world down very well in the rugby
Speaker 1: union world. But I look, you know, I've had people
Speaker 1: sitting in that chair ex Roby union players, the current
Speaker 1: coach of Ramwick Stevie Wells, who basically said Robune has
Speaker 1: got a problem HM and Austrain Rebune. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: at the probably at every level, but at this train
Speaker 1: at the not so much of the club level, because
Speaker 1: he said the club level is pretty good, it's alive
Speaker 1: and it's booming, but at the elite level we're not
Speaker 1: doing that well. And just I understand it nearly looks
Speaker 1: like by signing you up it looked like a poach.
Speaker 1: They've poached you out, one of the the up and
Speaker 1: coming rugby league players, a young guy who has had
Speaker 1: rugby union experience, like a bit of a superstar. They've
Speaker 1: plucked you out, poached out out of the rugby league
Speaker 1: system to make to try and to prove the rugby
Speaker 1: union system. And that therefore is nearly an admission that
Speaker 1: there's a problem by the top of administration at the time.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's not now. There's a different administration now,
Speaker 1: not the same administration nearly like an admission. You watch
Speaker 1: rugby union obviously, do you feel as though that they
Speaker 1: need to I mean we need to change the results,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. They're shitty results and they're not results
Speaker 1: Australians are proud of got a new coach. Do you
Speaker 1: feel as though rugby union needs driven? If so, what
Speaker 1: have they got to do? Like, what do you think
Speaker 1: the issue is? Is there recruitment?
Speaker 2: Well, look like we were play like GPS rugby. A
Speaker 2: lot of league boys do, and then you know, when
Speaker 2: you're sixteen seventeen, like boys are trying to see like
Speaker 2: wherever I'm going to get, you know, signed to the league.
Speaker 2: The league club has always come obviously. I think it's
Speaker 2: starting to change now too. I think Gussie was the
Speaker 2: first Angus Crichton was the first one of the first
Speaker 2: players to be like I'm not I'm not going to play.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna wait till twenty one to play. I
Speaker 2: want to play when i'm eighteen. I feel like that
Speaker 2: was the case back then. I feel like it's changed
Speaker 2: a lot now. I feel like I think this year
Speaker 2: they signed a lot of the eight as boys that
Speaker 2: Freddy's boy. Yeah, Freddy's Boy. You know, they've they've signed
Speaker 2: a lot of players in the you know eighteen. I
Speaker 2: feel like they've signed most of them EXCEPTN one or two.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I feel like it's not for
Speaker 2: me to be like how how how are the organizations
Speaker 2: when I change? I feel like I'm going to leave
Speaker 2: that to them for like what I can bring, you know,
Speaker 2: towards you know, the war retards first and then is
Speaker 2: like for like that. I'm not going to say it,
Speaker 2: but I want to change everything. But I'm saying I
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, by me, you know, helping you know,
Speaker 2: other players, helping myself.
Speaker 1: Just to encourage other younger blokes. You've been there and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go to rugby League. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to go to AHL or whatever the case I'm
Speaker 1: going to get. I'm going to continue on the rugby
Speaker 1: union path because you know, just.
Speaker 2: You know what I hope because I feel like when
Speaker 2: we do play this Spring Tour and the Lines Tour
Speaker 2: and a Home Ord Cup, I feel like a lot
Speaker 2: of kids are going to be inspired to one day
Speaker 2: I want to play in a green and gold jersey
Speaker 2: or warortized jersey. I feel like that's the biggest grab
Speaker 2: coming into this next three or four years. I feel
Speaker 2: like that's probably the biggest thing for Australian rugby. You know,
Speaker 2: we do win games and we see the young kids
Speaker 2: in the crowd or you know, fifteen sixteen year olds
Speaker 2: being like all right, this is what I want to
Speaker 2: do one day. I feel like that's the biggest And.
Speaker 1: Do you feel easy you have an obligation to sort
Speaker 1: of draw these younger kids along, like, you know, as
Speaker 1: a because you know, at some stage you already become
Speaker 1: a sort of a senior not a senior RPE union player,
Speaker 1: certain you're getting into that sort of league league senior
Speaker 1: area in terms of years at least. Some of the
Speaker 1: mine is by younger blokes to follow through in the
Speaker 1: rugby union.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel I love that responsibility. Yeah, I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, I love that. I feel like I'm a
Speaker 2: good guy off the field. And then one time in
Speaker 2: the film I'm trying to win. I feel like that's
Speaker 2: anything not winning. I'm not going to walk walk past.
Speaker 2: I'll do everything in my in my world and my
Speaker 2: time to be like everything's towards or how can we
Speaker 2: win this training session on Tuesday leading.
Speaker 1: Up to the winter training session. What do you mean
Speaker 1: how do you win train well?
Speaker 2: Like for me personally, i'd be how am I going
Speaker 2: to prepare for the day, Like I'd wake up the
Speaker 2: right way I'd wake up. I'll get my good hour
Speaker 2: of sleep being my routine. So I'm best for that
Speaker 2: training and I'm set, like I feel like setting the
Speaker 2: standard for you know, I'm not setting the standard. I
Speaker 2: know everyone has their own processes of what they do.
Speaker 2: But if I'm best at my training session, I feel
Speaker 2: like that's just when I helped towards the game kind
Speaker 2: of thing like that.
Speaker 1: That's funny, just funny should say that because I remember
Speaker 1: years when sunny Bill came back to the Rousters. Someone
Speaker 1: told me, I can't remember aways might have been the coach,
Speaker 1: but said that Sunday came in before it, got in
Speaker 1: before everybody else. And I remember hearing stories about you
Speaker 1: getting in before everybody else too, and coming in by
Speaker 1: train from your family's home when you're at school. But
Speaker 1: Sonny came in before everybody else. He had a clipboard
Speaker 1: and he was there doing video sessions before everyone else
Speaker 1: got in, and his there taking notes the whole training
Speaker 1: session and what I was told is that everyone else
Speaker 1: is watching him and the whole standard lifted of everybody,
Speaker 1: and no one asked him to that. That's just his natural,
Speaker 1: perfectionist sort of personality. Are you that type of person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I'm not a person to go
Speaker 2: tell oh, I do like you should do this, do
Speaker 2: that to anyone else. I've always been, you know, focused
Speaker 2: on what I do. I feel like I get in early.
Speaker 2: I feel like my preparation has always been for myself.
Speaker 2: I've always seen that as a big thing of how
Speaker 2: I can prepare for the game in you know, visualizing
Speaker 2: or you know, stretching or I've always found that there's
Speaker 2: a whole whole thing that goes around footage just just
Speaker 2: not been just not you know, just training and passing
Speaker 2: the ball, blah blah blah. I feel like it's a
Speaker 2: lot of things that you need to put towards the game.
Speaker 2: And I feel like, you know, do you have like
Speaker 2: a process?
Speaker 1: I mean like I mean, like let's let's pick at
Speaker 1: any one day, you know, you've got to go to
Speaker 1: training and let's say there's a game, big game coming
Speaker 1: up on Friday night or said day. What would you
Speaker 1: be a routine on like on a training day, like
Speaker 1: would you get about five o'clock or what do you
Speaker 1: do you get for a real extra run?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so say like I mean I'm in season, you know,
Speaker 2: I would get up early first of all, try to
Speaker 2: get everything your mental state right, uld go what do
Speaker 2: you do for that minute? Or go for you know,
Speaker 2: have a cold shower. Then I'd go for a walk
Speaker 2: and you know, just you know, try to take in
Speaker 2: pretty weird dude. I feel like I'm taken like nature,
Speaker 2: like trees blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: Makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then like walk down and go to a
Speaker 2: park and just sit there for me fifteen to twenty
Speaker 2: minutes and just sit and just like everyone has a
Speaker 2: different way of meditating. I feel like I just sit
Speaker 2: there and just visualize the day, like how can I
Speaker 2: best be best for like the day? Yeah kind of
Speaker 2: thing is that before you eat? And yeah, before I
Speaker 2: eat all that, And then I'll get my journal or
Speaker 2: journal every day and journal Yeah yeah, I a shtuld
Speaker 2: write stuff out, write stuff out of like I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say like right like oh this is why I'd write,
Speaker 2: like how things I want to, how I want to
Speaker 2: what I want to do today and send my energy
Speaker 2: towards different things, and then what else would I do?
Speaker 2: I would manifest different things as well about just the
Speaker 2: day instead of because I've always been that you know
Speaker 2: that dream, dude, I've always like how I'm going to
Speaker 2: attack today right now?
Speaker 1: Did you get help to learn how to do this
Speaker 1: that you do it? You as sports? So college just
Speaker 1: help you out.
Speaker 2: I feel like just a like this is of just
Speaker 2: you know, reading different things, listen to different podcasts, and
Speaker 2: I've tried a lot of things and that just haven't
Speaker 2: hasn't worked out. I feel like it chops and changes
Speaker 2: all the time too. Don't get me wrong, I feel
Speaker 2: like there not one set routines when I've been for
Speaker 2: the rest of my career.
Speaker 1: I feel like, but this works for you at the moment, at.
Speaker 2: The moment, this is what works for me right now,
Speaker 2: and I feel like that's you know, just doing my
Speaker 2: process each day helps me go, all right, this is
Speaker 2: how I want to take the day, and you know,
Speaker 2: get the training, you know, I feel like I get
Speaker 2: there early and then you know, start it just depends
Speaker 2: what we have kind of thing like that, and start
Speaker 2: like stretching, and I feel like different things I've learned
Speaker 2: from my trainer and different people and just you know,
Speaker 2: combine at all. And then once I know I step
Speaker 2: on the field, like I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: Are you strict on diet? Like the mini style diets?
Speaker 2: I feel like coming to boys like this is like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they're really strict. I feel like I was a couple
Speaker 2: of times when I first came in, I didn't really
Speaker 2: I don't really know about you know, different foods and
Speaker 2: that when you go up you just eat what's on
Speaker 2: the table kind of thing like that. You don't really Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: when you're a border to like eat school food. And
Speaker 2: then I feel like the more you learn about like
Speaker 2: grass for like organic foods, I feel like that's now
Speaker 2: in my diet. But at the same time, I feel
Speaker 2: like there's a there's a balance between what you need
Speaker 2: to do because you know, you can't be just straight
Speaker 2: the whole time. You know you've got to miss miss
Speaker 2: it up. Sometimes. Yeah, that's the best. I feel like
Speaker 2: that's the best thing. I have had some times where
Speaker 2: I've been, you know, too straight on and just like
Speaker 2: this is what I'm gonna do. I'm not going to
Speaker 2: touch anything else. And then I feel like You're gonna
Speaker 2: have freedom somewhere in your life as well, and I
Speaker 2: feel like that's the best way of doing it for myself.
Speaker 2: Anyone else are different, some people could be different, But
Speaker 2: for myself, that works for you most of me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But have you ever you have probably haven't played
Speaker 1: enough years, But have you ever off the preseason gone
Speaker 1: to the fest food?
Speaker 2: No? No, I feel like I've always see you a drinker. No, No,
Speaker 2: I don't drink. I've actually never had ahol at all ever.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, no, I never got interested, or my parents
Speaker 2: never you know, never drank. I've never seen him drink
Speaker 2: growing up, and I've always, don't know, I've always had
Speaker 2: fun without it kind of I'll go out like I'll
Speaker 2: go out still, and I always, you know, I would always.
Speaker 2: I feel like another person who helped me a lot
Speaker 2: was Joey Mine, who, like he doesn't he doesn't drink.
Speaker 2: He's very comfortable in his own skin. And then once
Speaker 2: I first come into n RL and I saw him
Speaker 2: doing that too, and I was like, oh, I want
Speaker 2: to do it, bro, that's my bro. I want to
Speaker 2: do what he's going to do kind of things.
Speaker 1: So that's amazing though. That's interesting because the amount of
Speaker 1: influence some of Joey Man has had on you and
Speaker 1: then you will have on others. Yeah, like down down
Speaker 1: the trail.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny like Joey doesn't say too much, but
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of I feel like myself, Like, well,
Speaker 2: I don't say a lot too. I feel like we
Speaker 2: kind of just pick up but observe, Like I feel myself,
Speaker 2: I feel like I observe a lot seeing what other
Speaker 2: boys do or even like say Daniel too, but he
Speaker 2: stretches a lot and I'll see like what he's doing,
Speaker 2: so I can, you know, and he would do a
Speaker 2: lot of ash and recovery. I'm like, okay, I know
Speaker 2: that's why he's been playing for so long. Obviously other
Speaker 2: things as well, but I'm all right, this is what
Speaker 2: I'm going to pick up on and then see different
Speaker 2: people doing different things, and then you just like I
Speaker 2: feel like that's one of my strengths as well, just
Speaker 2: observing and seeing how I can it to myself.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. You sort of like taking out the system
Speaker 1: what's best, yeah, and trying it, yeah, and see if
Speaker 1: it works. Yeah, if we stick to it. If it
Speaker 1: doesn't work, just guard it and get it onto something else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even like Lindsay. Lindsay's very strict with his diet
Speaker 2: and I always ask quite like I sometimes I would
Speaker 2: ask him or what I asked people around here and
Speaker 2: be like, oh, what's he you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: and just quickly just you know, there's like observe and
Speaker 2: then try it if it works, and then yeah, I
Speaker 2: feel like that's just life.
Speaker 1: It's funny ask things about that. And he said to me,
Speaker 1: he's strict. And he said to me, made I'm playing
Speaker 1: up front row. He said, I've got to give myself
Speaker 1: my best possible chance. He said, so one thing I
Speaker 1: can control is my diet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: Although Lokado sort of laid him out last week last
Speaker 1: Friday night.
Speaker 2: He's got three times I reckon now, but he's got
Speaker 2: Lindsay three times. Yeah, we got in the final. I
Speaker 2: got him twice in that game and got him in
Speaker 2: the test match test match. But yeah, he's always getting
Speaker 2: up and keep on going.
Speaker 1: He's a best his giant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a giant, huge Honestly, even in the Origin cameras,
Speaker 2: this guy's huge.
Speaker 1: His timing is good too, such a big man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got good time. He's got like good feet
Speaker 2: gone his contact as well, and he's high and he's
Speaker 2: just just pal.
Speaker 1: So, Joseph, what we're at the end now, and you've
Speaker 1: done a great job to by the way, so he
Speaker 1: didn't need to be nervous in the beginning. So because
Speaker 1: you're naturally at this and you're a good You're a
Speaker 1: good speaker, you're a good talker. You know, you know
Speaker 1: your stuff. What is the most exciting thing now that's
Speaker 1: ahead of you? Like just now, what are you thinking
Speaker 1: about right not today but not this minute, but right
Speaker 1: now in your life? What's the most exciting thing that's
Speaker 1: ahead of you? What are you really excited about?
Speaker 2: What am I excited about?
Speaker 1: Here?
Speaker 2: I'm twenty one now, I think I'm very confident in
Speaker 2: my in my skin. I know who I am. I
Speaker 2: know like I love for my family. I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm very excited for you know what, I well rugby
Speaker 2: wise as well. I'm very excited to get to travel
Speaker 2: the world. I'm going to go a lot in this
Speaker 2: next three or four years. I feel like I'm going
Speaker 2: to grow into I'm a man now. I feel like
Speaker 2: I went from a kid to a man at the
Speaker 2: Roosters and I feel like I've learned a lot from mentors,
Speaker 2: you know, Luke Eary, Jared and Daniel and Joey. I
Speaker 2: feel like I've learned so much from them, and I'm
Speaker 2: grateful for allder friendships I've made there. But i feel
Speaker 2: like I'm going to my next path from my journey
Speaker 2: with rugby, and I feel like I'm a what I say,
Speaker 2: I think I'm a man in a sense of like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna attack every moment, but I'm going to get
Speaker 2: like playing rugby wise or I'm gonna you know. I
Speaker 2: feel like the skills I've learned and will learn, will
Speaker 2: you know, help me on the footy field and off
Speaker 2: the field. I feel like I've got to. I'm very
Speaker 2: I'm just very honestly, I'm very excited just what's what's
Speaker 2: to come with rugby. But yeah, I feel like even
Speaker 2: just off the field, it's as good age from twenty
Speaker 2: four to you know, twenty one to like, you know,
Speaker 2: in my next three four years of my life is
Speaker 2: very sign off the field and on the field as well.
Speaker 1: And You've been pretty lucky. You've only I think if
Speaker 1: I had one major injury.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've had one major injury.
Speaker 1: So you've been pretty lucky in that. Not lucky. You
Speaker 1: obviously got the physicality not to get injured. You're probably
Speaker 1: also doing all the right things and probably not drinking
Speaker 1: probably helps. I think anyway, if you you know, quite
Speaker 1: possibly you could play to your you know, thirty four
Speaker 1: to thirty five, play either reunion or or come back
Speaker 1: the league.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you could.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no reason why not. And you and you
Speaker 1: won't get knocked about as much. And you're sort of
Speaker 1: playing out wide. You know, you're not doing hit ups.
Speaker 1: I just carry you do any yard and carries so,
Speaker 1: which means it'll preserve you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that seems to me like quite a clever,
Speaker 1: strategically quite smart if you want to build a long career,
Speaker 1: because you know, when you turn, when you stop playing
Speaker 1: footy whatever whichever code you're playing, you got to do
Speaker 1: something after that. Have you thought about what do I
Speaker 1: do after all that? I know it's a big care
Speaker 1: you're only twenty one, you're only just in the middle
Speaker 1: of it all, But have you thought about that?
Speaker 2: I was actually thinking about that. I feel like I haven't.
Speaker 2: I tried union for like a week, and I was
Speaker 2: very I said, I was like a zoom class. I
Speaker 2: saturned and I was like, Na, this is not for me.
Speaker 2: But at the moment, at the moment, I don't get
Speaker 2: me wrong, my Mum's always saying to me like you
Speaker 2: need you know, you've got to think about things outside
Speaker 2: of footy. I feel like footy takes on you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, like the energy of you know, like
Speaker 2: if you're off days, you think about how can I recover?
Speaker 2: How can I do this? How can I do that?
Speaker 2: How can I do that? But also I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, having something else can you know, play a
Speaker 2: role in you know, having that slow part of being
Speaker 2: away from footy. But I haven't had anything that's really
Speaker 2: you know, come come to me.
Speaker 1: Nothing really excited yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, nothing's really Oh I don't I don't mind learn
Speaker 2: about like property and stuff like that. I feel like
Speaker 2: I've learned a little bit, like a little bit of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 1: Because Lindsay has just done his mortgage course, yeah, and
Speaker 1: case Luke's done a Lucky has done a couple of
Speaker 1: university degrees. And you know these boys that you're probably
Speaker 1: they're much older than you, but there's they've thought about
Speaker 1: what they're going to do post footy. They've obviously got
Speaker 1: families and stuff too. They got kids, both got kids.
Speaker 1: They're thinking about those processes and you're way, you know,
Speaker 1: we need that at this stage. But at some stage,
Speaker 1: I guess it's important that you do think about these
Speaker 1: sort of things, and it's good that you just sort
Speaker 1: of just starting mulled over. But do your parents they say, Joseph,
Speaker 1: what happens if you get injured or Joseph, My.
Speaker 2: Parents are real like cruisy in a sense, like they
Speaker 2: trust me. Yeah, they trust me because I know I've
Speaker 2: always been just driven to do something. I live on myself.
Speaker 2: So I said, sometimes I said, I'm like, what am
Speaker 2: I going to do? Like you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: like besides footy kind of thing. But I feel like
Speaker 2: I love, you know, like meeting people and then you know,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want, you know, say I meet someone and
Speaker 2: then you know, try their industry or like just just
Speaker 2: just try different things, but work like being experience, like experience.
Speaker 2: I feel like the paper and pen has never been territory,
Speaker 2: not my territory. So I feel like you never went
Speaker 2: to school because you're playing. I was never at school
Speaker 2: even in school year twelve year.
Speaker 1: You're playing in four different sides.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, I feel like that's where my journeys
Speaker 2: want to go where. Yeah, well I always said it.
Speaker 2: If I wasn't playing food, I feel like I'd be traveling,
Speaker 2: staying in hostels and you know, meeting different people and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So I feel like something to travel
Speaker 2: or something. Yeah, I feel like I'm.
Speaker 1: Mad, Like you really love that idea of travel.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I've always loved just you know, I'll do
Speaker 2: things by myself like I don't. Obviously I love my
Speaker 2: mates and I love my family, but I've always had
Speaker 2: that thing of like nothing's holding me back from, you know,
Speaker 2: say something. Sometimes you know, people don't want to go
Speaker 2: to movies because I want to go with friends. I'm like,
Speaker 2: i'ld go to movies by myself. I'm very comfortable with
Speaker 2: my own skin, and I'm just like, if I want
Speaker 2: to do something in my life, I want to do it,
Speaker 2: like I'm not going to let nothing hold me back
Speaker 2: from doing it.
Speaker 1: You feel so you must feel quite free.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like i'ld go sit down, like I always eat
Speaker 2: breakfast for myself. I'd always eat lunch or dinner. But
Speaker 2: obviously I love being around my mates. But I just like,
Speaker 2: I'm very very open to anyone wants a chat, but
Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'll sit there and you know, if
Speaker 2: someone's a chat to me, I'll chat to them. But
Speaker 2: I'm very not in a narc Yeah.
Speaker 1: At the same time, you're quite happy to be on
Speaker 1: your own yeaheah.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to be on my own, like I'm happy
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 1: You know. That's a massive freedom, though, Joseph, to be
Speaker 1: able to be that person. Some people feel like they
Speaker 1: have to be attached to people all the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've traveled to like Japan for two weeks for myself.
Speaker 2: I've done. I just want to Hamilton Oland for myself
Speaker 2: like five or six days. Yeah. Well, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: I love hanging on my mates and my family, but
Speaker 2: I do love having my own time. That's what I would,
Speaker 2: you know, That's what I'll be doing if I wasn't
Speaker 2: playing for you, I'd be traveling, traveling, staying at different hostels,
Speaker 2: meeting different people, trying to different languages. That's what I do,
Speaker 2: learn different languages. Yeah, well that sounds like a really
Speaker 2: free spirited person. Yeah yeah, yeah, you really free spirited
Speaker 2: as an individual. Yeah yeah, well maybe you've done.
Speaker 1: It's so proud. Your mom and dad and your family
Speaker 1: are really proud. Everyone of the Russes is really excited
Speaker 1: for you, looking forward to your new career. We're also
Speaker 1: looking forward to coming back. But and it's been a
Speaker 1: delight for us to have you around in our environment.
Speaker 1: And Joseph Acuso Suli, thanks very much for coming on, Mate.
Speaker 2: Than ver much.
Speaker 1: It's been awesome talk about