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Speaker 1: Welcome to the mentor. I'm Mark Boris Lewis Brown. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to call you Louis Well the mentor mate.

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Speaker 2: Thanks having Mark.

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Speaker 1: You got your T shirt on there.

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Speaker 3: Earl's Assex, I mean, pretty good brands to have alongside Eather.

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Speaker 3: We're going to talk about that in a moment. But

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Speaker 3: I'm actually curious you're by the sound of accident. You're

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Speaker 3: in New Zealand. Have you got islander parents?

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Speaker 2: Now? So I grew up a single mum. So my dad,

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Speaker 2: my dad he is he's this Kiwi park how like

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Speaker 2: we call him white Kiwi back in New Zealand. And

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Speaker 2: actually my mom were Moldy. So my grandparents were born

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Speaker 2: in a small island off New Zealand, part of New

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Speaker 2: Zealand still called but like Tasmania called the Chadam Islands.

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Speaker 2: So that's where the roots sort of la run deep,

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Speaker 2: sort of that multi heritage.

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Speaker 1: So you murray in your mom's side and your dad's

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Speaker 1: a white yeah y white white park. Yeah, they call

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Speaker 1: it white.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I was just like white person and molder white person. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And okay, so brother sisters.

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Speaker 2: I've only got one older siblings. I've got one one

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Speaker 2: half brother. He's younger than me. Don't really have much

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Speaker 2: connection with him, but an older sister, she's five years

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Speaker 2: older than me, and she lives she lives here in Sydney.

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Speaker 2: So she's married with her to a Lebanese. My brother

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Speaker 2: in law, he's a Lebanese and so we've got little

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Speaker 2: half caste, moldy Lebanese running out of a Maryland's there

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Speaker 2: and so got a nice bit of culture running through

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Speaker 2: the family at the moment.

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Speaker 3: It's a good mix. And you're you played footy, so

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Speaker 3: we'll come to that in the moment. But like I'm

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Speaker 3: always curious about you grew I presume you grew up

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Speaker 3: in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so grew up, grew up and crash it. So

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Speaker 2: born born in nineteen eighty six. It makes me thirty seven.

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Speaker 2: Like I said to you before, Mark Studio, don't don't

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Speaker 2: remind me. I've had a few people remind me lately.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, grew up in christ Church, which is a

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Speaker 2: really predominantly rugby city, not much rugby league going on that.

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Speaker 1: End up getting the league.

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Speaker 2: So how it sort of came about, Like I mentioned before,

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Speaker 2: family tradition sorry, roots run back to the Chatham Islands

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Speaker 2: and I'm not too sure if you remember, but my

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Speaker 2: cousin he played for the Weston West Suburbs Magpies back

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Speaker 2: in the day. His name is Brendan Tudor, so the

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Speaker 2: baby Face Assassin they used to call him.

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Speaker 3: I remember the side, yeah, because my uncle played for them,

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Speaker 3: so like, yeah, there a big West Suburbs were a

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Speaker 3: really popular site.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they were my favorite team as a kid. That

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Speaker 2: like Paul Langmack black and white jersey. Yeah, black and

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Speaker 2: white jerseys. I've still got one as a kid with

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Speaker 2: the Magpie on it, but anyone. Yeah, Shane Flanagan was there, Flanno,

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Speaker 2: Britt Stewart who was from christ Which as well. So

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Speaker 2: that that was my team as a kid, because you

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Speaker 2: know when when you're younger and you have someone that's

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Speaker 2: on TV or famous in your family, they become a hero,

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Speaker 2: you see. So so Brendan was to my gateway to

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Speaker 2: rugby league and my introduction to the to the sport

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Speaker 2: and as a four year old, I just absolutely fell

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Speaker 2: in love with it and it became my career after that.

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Speaker 1: It was as much.

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Speaker 3: IRL or rugby league, at least for juniors in a

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Speaker 3: place like Cross Tip.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there is there's great. There's like the pathways are

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Speaker 2: starting to get really good at the moment. When I

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Speaker 2: was a kid, they were pretty strong. Towards the back

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Speaker 2: end of my teenage career, like it basically moved. The

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Speaker 2: numbers were running short. So basically on a Saturday, I'd

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Speaker 2: play rugby, then on Monday night I'd play rugby league.

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Speaker 2: And that was kind of the way it kind of went.

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Speaker 2: So I was kind of the outcast at school. Went

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Speaker 2: to school. All my mates were rugby players and I

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Speaker 2: was a rugby league player, and you know, I would

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Speaker 2: always argue about, you know, what sport was tougher. So

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Speaker 2: it was cool to be able to kind of get

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Speaker 2: my rugby mates to come play with me on a

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Speaker 2: Monday night and then I'd played rugby with them on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: And then it got to the age when I was

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Speaker 2: thirteen or fourteen, I started making both rip teams Kenneby

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Speaker 2: Rugby and Kenneby Rugby League. And rugby league was always

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Speaker 2: my my journey and I got offered two scholarships to

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Speaker 2: some prestigious schools and Christ Church, christ College and St Andrew's.

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Speaker 2: But there's one catch. Yeah, I had to give up

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Speaker 2: regul league and you know, for me, coming from a

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Speaker 2: single mom who worked three jobs as a butcher and

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Speaker 2: everything she could become was a butcher. She's a butcher.

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Speaker 2: She's still there today school. Yeah so she's there of

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Speaker 2: my stepdad's actually her boss, and yeah, so she worked

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Speaker 2: really hard. And you know, for me, we both went

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Speaker 2: to those interviews with those prestigious schools, and you know,

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Speaker 2: I walked out. She's like, what do you think? And

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Speaker 2: I was just like, mum, like, you know, they're trying

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Speaker 2: to tell me what I can do at the age

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Speaker 2: of thirteen, like I wanted this is the world's mind,

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Speaker 2: Like I want to be able to create my own

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Speaker 2: path where my dreams always to plan the NRAL back

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Speaker 2: then it was the Winfield Cup. So I chose to

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Speaker 2: go to public school, Papa Nui High and basically, you know,

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Speaker 2: I spent two years there and then got my first

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Speaker 2: kind of launch pad into you know, the system over here,

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Speaker 2: and that was through the Sydney.

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Speaker 3: Roosters and then uh, just by the way, and I

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Speaker 3: should I would to make this clear, not that I

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Speaker 3: disliked rugby union, but when someone says you're a bit

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Speaker 3: of an outcast, that probably means you can tackle as

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Speaker 3: a rugby league player, you can tackle low rugby union

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Speaker 3: guys don't really, especially at the young age.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, there's much tackle.

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Speaker 2: Now there's not much. It's more grab and go for

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Speaker 2: the ball.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And in New Zealand, like you know, like they used

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Speaker 2: to call rugby league state house rugby. So they called

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Speaker 2: state House rugby because over here we over here the

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Speaker 2: housing Commission of the Housing Commissions, but back in New

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Speaker 2: Zealand at state state housing. So that's what the rugby

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Speaker 2: boys used to call it. And you know, I'd make

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Speaker 2: rip teams and stuff like that, but I was the outcast.

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Speaker 2: I was that rugby league boy that shouldn't be part

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Speaker 2: of this rugby team, you know, like that all these

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Speaker 2: boys were going to private schools and I was the

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Speaker 2: only public school boy and I was playing both sports,

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Speaker 2: and parents used to complain, but you know, it used

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Speaker 2: to toughen me's bit.

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Speaker 3: The same here, a bit similar here now because the

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Speaker 3: private school boys are still playing rugby and because of

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Speaker 3: my boys are in private school. But one of the

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Speaker 3: issues that we always had was that they played rugby

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Speaker 3: union for the school on Saturday, but they played rugby

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Speaker 3: league on Sunday. Yeah, and the school didn't like it. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: and because they won't know whether maybe they had again

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Speaker 3: get injured or something like that. And that in fact,

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Speaker 3: as I got up up to higher grades as the

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Speaker 3: kids got older at school, there were moments there with

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Speaker 3: the school of Banya, they wouldn't let you play for

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Speaker 3: the best team in the school if you played rugby league.

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Speaker 2: It was pretty much like that when I was young

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Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, it is, it is you kind of

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Speaker 2: and as a kid you want to you know, you

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Speaker 2: love sport like I come from an era where there

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Speaker 2: was no technology internet, so you know, like it was

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Speaker 2: you know, played till the lights came on. That's when

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Speaker 2: you went home and you played both codes. That's that's

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Speaker 2: how you made up your time. And that's that was

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Speaker 2: what all my passion was, you know, rugby league, rugby basketball,

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Speaker 2: even though I couldn't play it, and then touch footy

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Speaker 2: that was always my summer sport. Got a bit into cricket,

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Speaker 2: but it was never good at it. All I wanted

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Speaker 2: to do was sixers and stuff like that. And you

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Speaker 2: know I was always but always into rugby league. You know,

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Speaker 2: I grew up My favorite player was Alfie Langer. I'm

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Speaker 2: always always quite short, as a young kid playing half back.

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Speaker 2: And you know, so I predominantly supported the Broncos and

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Speaker 2: the Magpies when the Magpies went winning that the Broncos

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Speaker 2: when my team until the Warriors came in at nine

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Speaker 2: to five.

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Speaker 1: Who recruited you into playing footy in.

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Speaker 2: Australia, The great Arthur Beazza.

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Speaker 1: So you would have come to the Roosters.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, came to the Roosters. Very fortunate to come into

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Speaker 2: a great pathway. To be honest, I was shipped myself

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Speaker 2: leaving christ Church. You know, I was a massive Mummies

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Speaker 2: boy as a kid, you know, not having a father

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Speaker 2: figure around, you know. But but the hardest thing for

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Speaker 2: me was to leave leave christ Church because that was

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Speaker 2: comfort for me. And you know, even though I didn't

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Speaker 2: have a dad, my Coddle which is grandfather of Maldi,

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Speaker 2: my mom's dad, he stepped up and he was like

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Speaker 2: my dad as a kid and he was the one

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Speaker 2: that took me to rugby league each morning and feed

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Speaker 2: me up for a coke and and a chocolate bar

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Speaker 2: before we got to the field and I'd play. I'd

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Speaker 2: play it under elevens and under twelves because I had

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Speaker 2: so much energy and then you know, that was the

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Speaker 2: hardest thing about coming to the Roosters was saying goodbye

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Speaker 2: to them. And I used to get really homesick as

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Speaker 2: a kid, and that was kind of the first huge

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Speaker 2: obstacle I sort of came, like overcame as a young

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Speaker 2: kid and a human being, was to leave mum and

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Speaker 2: my grandfather and come over here. And you know, it's

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Speaker 2: a you're a small fish and a big pond over

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Speaker 2: here with basing exactly, mate, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: And I actually got put up in Hall Street when

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Speaker 2: they used to have and the Rooster's Home, so to

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Speaker 2: live there with four twenty five year olds. I grew

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Speaker 2: up playing with cso older, so it was one.

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Speaker 1: Of my favorite places.

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Speaker 3: Got he was like when he tackled, Yeah, it was amazing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah he went off to Canberra, of course, but it

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Speaker 3: was sticky. But yeah, So you must have played with

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Speaker 3: when Ricky Ricky Show was around.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I played with when Ricky was playing and

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Speaker 2: then I was in the Jusey Fleig team. So I

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Speaker 2: lived in Hall Street and the Rooster's Home came in.

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Speaker 2: Our Jusy Flig team was super talented, you know, Chaun

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Speaker 2: kenney Dale, Frank Paul Noui Sala Sah obviously was up

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Speaker 2: in the first grade. Another boyfriend christ at Sea Matassa,

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Speaker 2: So you know, we all sort of found ourselves where

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Speaker 2: we were and had a great coach and Jimmy Dimmock,

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Speaker 2: you know, that hybrid five eight Locke who you know

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Speaker 2: bounced from the Bulldogs to the Paramatta. But was was

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Speaker 2: that that hard tonguing boy that you know, was a

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Speaker 2: great player when great wrestling. He used to get his

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Speaker 2: brother into Yeah yeah, yeah, mad wrestler. But just the

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Speaker 2: camaraderie he brought, and you know that the swag that

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Speaker 2: he walked around because you know, he he'd done so

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Speaker 2: much in the game already and he was just great,

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Speaker 2: a great coach to have around. And then obviously our

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Speaker 2: trainer at the time as well was Bennie Gardner, who's

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Speaker 2: actually part of the Panther system now, so full circle

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Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And but really really enjoyed my time

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Speaker 2: at the Roosters. And that was sort of the period

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Speaker 2: when Reserve Grade was was linking up with Newtown, so

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Speaker 2: they were playing out at Hinton Park. So you know,

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Speaker 2: us Josey Flig boys we thought were the big wigs

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Speaker 2: because we were playing before NRAL each week. I ad

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Speaker 2: it Alliance. Back then it was a Sydney football stadium,

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Speaker 2: so it was a great experience and you know, for

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Speaker 2: me it was a dream come true.

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Speaker 1: But what did you learn?

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Speaker 3: What, like when those in those processes, Looking back though,

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Speaker 3: what do you learn about yourself? Apart from the fact

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Speaker 3: that you worked out you were able to sort of

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Speaker 3: live without your mum. But when I say without your mom,

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Speaker 3: like not in your mum's house, what did you learn?

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Speaker 3: What techniques did you learn in terms of coping mechanisms?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's a great question to be honest with you, Mark,

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Speaker 2: Like there was many a night I'd cry to Mum

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Speaker 2: wanting to come home, you know, even though it's I

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Speaker 2: look back now and think it's only a two and

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Speaker 2: a half hour flight. She was like, you've worked too

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Speaker 2: hard to get to this. This is what all you've wanted,

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Speaker 2: And like learning to cope without my mum, like learning

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Speaker 2: to do washing, cooking, well, fortunate enough to have a

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Speaker 2: cook at the at the Rooster's home. And then eventually

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Speaker 2: as time went on, I sort of migrated out of

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Speaker 2: the Rooster's home and learned to sign a lease for

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Speaker 2: a rental property. This is all within the age of

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Speaker 2: seventeen eighteen, and you know, had to grow up very

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Speaker 2: very fast. And I think maturity was a massive one.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was walking into a changing ship, you

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Speaker 2: know at Wentworth Park, that's we used to train full time. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: like you know, like Minchello, if it's given Preithvanessa Rickardson,

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Speaker 2: it's given Wingy, Amos Roberts. You know, there's so many,

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Speaker 2: so many great players there. I just had to grow

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Speaker 2: up like maturely, and maturity was a massive one. Back

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Speaker 2: then it was you know, you didn't speak to anyone

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Speaker 2: unless you were spoken to. It was hit down. That

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Speaker 2: was like Ricky Sting. And just learned a lot about

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Speaker 2: myself how how much you can go through but you

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Speaker 2: can come out the other side. And that I really

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Speaker 2: believe that's led a great foundation for me for you know,

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Speaker 2: my time now as a human because I've gone through

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Speaker 2: so much as a kid, but now you go through much,

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Speaker 2: so much of an adult, and you can see light

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Speaker 2: at the end of the tunnel, and just.

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Speaker 1: How do you get that?

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Speaker 3: How do you get like, how do you keep that positive?

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Speaker 3: That's important you just said at the end of the

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Speaker 3: tunnel and you know, it's not the train coming towards you.

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Speaker 3: You know, how do you keep that positive view? Like,

264
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Speaker 3: how did and did you ruggle to get to that position?

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Speaker 3: Did you say, well, look, I'm better off taking the

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Speaker 3: positive view, yep, because the other of you is pretty shitty.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't get me anywhere. What was your process?

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Speaker 2: So my first so, my first interaction when I first

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Speaker 2: came over here at the Roosters was I got chucked

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Speaker 2: into the Wanda sand Hills. And anyone that knows is

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Speaker 2: Wanda sand Hills. They're pretty tough. Yeah, And back back

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Speaker 2: in christ we didn't do much fitness, but you come

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Speaker 2: over here in the system and it was all fitness.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: Ricky was crazy. So they chucked us out at Wanda

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Speaker 2: sand Hills. And to be honest with you, that was

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Speaker 2: the worst day of my life. Like like during that period,

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Speaker 2: I didn't even complete it. I ended up in the bush,

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Speaker 2: lactated up, spewing up Ricky telling me to get up,

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Speaker 2: you're soft. But for me, like, I went home that

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Speaker 2: day very embarrassed. I knew what I had to work

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Speaker 2: on the next morning, I rocked up to Wentworth Park

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Speaker 2: at five am and put myself in the Fat Club

284
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Speaker 2: because I knew it wasn't fair enough and I.

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Speaker 1: Had just explained what the fat club was.

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Speaker 2: So the fat club is basically a club where you

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Speaker 2: go each morning when you back back in those days.

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Speaker 2: They still do it now as skin folds, so you

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Speaker 2: have to be under ninety ninety skinfolds. I think it's

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Speaker 2: about seven different points on your body to see where

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Speaker 2: your body fats at if.

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Speaker 1: You don't meet those, especially in the preseason.

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Speaker 2: Especially in the preseason, it's big on getting your nutrition right,

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Speaker 2: your body right. So I got put in the fat club.

295
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Speaker 2: Five am rower Ronnie Palmer taking that worst worst we

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Speaker 2: do like nine hundred meters and three minutes on the roll.

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Speaker 2: Anyone that knows the role, that's a bit of a

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Speaker 2: tough gig. So we had to do about five six

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Speaker 2: of them into the bike into that. So that was

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Speaker 2: me growing up within over the night, like I put

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Speaker 2: my hand up, I knew where I was going wrong

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Speaker 2: and sort of put myself in a position where I

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Speaker 2: was vulnerable but willing to take it on. And I

304
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Speaker 2: just sort of grew from there and before I knew it,

305
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Speaker 2: you know, I was starting number nine and a star

306
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Speaker 2: started a jersey flig team and slowly building confidence as

307
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Speaker 2: I went on. I think when I moved out of

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Speaker 2: the Rooster's house and I kind of really found my independence,

309
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Speaker 2: really lean on my support network, my mum back home

310
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Speaker 2: should fly over then. Obviously my sister was living here

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Speaker 2: at the same time, so I really leaned into her

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Speaker 2: a lot as well. And then also my grandfather. He

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Speaker 2: was a massive rock in my life. And you know,

314
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Speaker 2: back then in New Zealand, the old cell phone, it

315
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,520
Speaker 2: was hard to get credit. Twenty dollars, got your twenty dollars,

316
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Speaker 2: but you move up here to get forty nine dollars,

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Speaker 2: it would get you two undred and fifty. So I

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Speaker 2: was fit on the phone to them, so you know,

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Speaker 2: they really helped me get through it. And I look

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Speaker 2: back on it now. There was moments where a mum was,

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Speaker 2: you know, moments away from booking a flight home. But

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Speaker 2: I'm just so glad I stuck it out because I

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Speaker 2: know if I'd gone home, it would have been the

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Speaker 2: biggest recruit of my life.

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Speaker 3: So it's interesting to talk about, and there is some

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00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:43,400
Speaker 3: significance around that fat squad because because a lot of

327
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 3: really good players first grades get put in that squad

328
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Speaker 3: if they come back from the preseason break or before

329
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Speaker 3: the preseason, after the break from playing footing, if inevitably

330
00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:54,680
Speaker 3: a lot of good weight on because they get on

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Speaker 3: the beers and they haven't shit, and then I'm being

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00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,080
Speaker 3: managed and they don't have any obligation to train and

333
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,200
Speaker 3: end or play that they're literally taking a break. But

334
00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 3: a lot of big guys, especially when they're used to

335
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,320
Speaker 3: having a high metabolic rate as a result of training

336
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,920
Speaker 3: lots of ours every day, they wait on pretty simple.

337
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 3: But there's a bit of a a little bit of

338
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Speaker 3: a reputation issue being in the fat squad. There was

339
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,600
Speaker 3: you know, you're in a fat squad. That's the first thing.

340
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Speaker 3: The second thing is Ronnie Palmer, the Bondai charmer who

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00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,880
Speaker 3: actually contacted me last week, funnily enough, who I used

342
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,160
Speaker 3: to train. So I used to train me and Ronnie

343
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Speaker 3: and Sticky's training. When you park in the gym on

344
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,480
Speaker 3: the second level, yeah, we should train there together, three

345
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Speaker 3: of us. And I just quickly say that Ricky would

346
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Speaker 3: Everyone knows him as a bit of a sledge when

347
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,560
Speaker 3: he played. Ricky was a sledge in every thing he did,

348
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,240
Speaker 3: so he would we would turn off a train like

349
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 3: two or three times a week. We'd start off on

350
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Speaker 3: the row and I hate the fucking row. It's one

351
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:57,440
Speaker 3: of the worst machines that are, which is why I

352
00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,680
Speaker 3: had one. And Ricky as soon as you would get there,

353
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,200
Speaker 3: he would start sledging me. He'd say, it is like

354
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 3: twenty odd years ago. Twenty years ago, I guess. But

355
00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,640
Speaker 3: he'd say, mate, what's happened to your your biceps?

356
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Speaker 1: League? I only saw him.

357
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:15,120
Speaker 3: We go and he say, you haven't done any XO,

358
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,080
Speaker 3: no training, but you look really weak. He starts sledging me,

359
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:22,480
Speaker 3: and so the process. So Ronnie then would punish us,

360
00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 3: punish and Ronnie was like Ronnie's five or six years

361
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,320
Speaker 3: older than me. But Ronnie is fit as fit as

362
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,680
Speaker 3: any of the players in those days anyway, especially and

363
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,240
Speaker 3: he could lift, he could run, he could do everything

364
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,240
Speaker 3: what you guys could do. Great imagination too, and the

365
00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,600
Speaker 3: nicest bloke in the world, in the world. But at

366
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,480
Speaker 3: the same time, you had to punish you or push

367
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:46,840
Speaker 3: you beyond your limits. And to be in the fat squad,

368
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 3: to volunteer to go on the fat squad to get better,

369
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 3: that's a big call because, as I said, there's a

370
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,440
Speaker 3: reputation issue around It looks like you've got no discipline,

371
00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,000
Speaker 3: and so I want to ask you, either we either

372
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,680
Speaker 3: push ourselves or agree to be pushed by somebody else.

373
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Speaker 3: Do you think that's a way of building mental resilience

374
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,760
Speaker 3: apart of physical resilience in footy, but the mental resilience

375
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Speaker 3: just to equip you for business environments?

376
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Speaker 2: Oh, I definitely, I think it's huge.

377
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:14,359
Speaker 1: So what does that mean then for you?

378
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:14,640
Speaker 2: Then?

379
00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:19,480
Speaker 3: Like, like, if someone else is listening to this, doesn't

380
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,719
Speaker 3: mean I should allow myself to be subjected to someone

381
00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:25,800
Speaker 3: who's either a mentor or is not a mentor as

382
00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,480
Speaker 3: just a family friend or in your case it's about footy,

383
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,760
Speaker 3: but allow them to push my to push me and

384
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:34,960
Speaker 3: never do I not challenge it? Do I say no,

385
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,960
Speaker 3: fuck you, I'm not doing that. How do you how

386
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,040
Speaker 3: do you become someone who allows themselves to sort of

387
00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:45,200
Speaker 3: volunteer for this and sit back and cop a sweet

388
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:46,639
Speaker 3: and just do it what you've been told?

389
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:50,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a great question. Again. I kind of felt

390
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,080
Speaker 2: myself just migrat into it naturally. I feel like it

391
00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 2: was kind of installed in me as a young kid

392
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:55,200
Speaker 2: from my mum.

393
00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,359
Speaker 1: Does that mean, of course you've always been a compliant kid?

394
00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:58,320
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I think so.

395
00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,800
Speaker 1: I think, well, you're never naughty.

396
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:03,240
Speaker 2: I was very driven at a young age. You know,

397
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,560
Speaker 2: we go back to that conversation when the principals were

398
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,720
Speaker 2: telling me I had to I had to give up

399
00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:09,920
Speaker 2: Ragua League, and at the age of thirteen, I went

400
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:11,280
Speaker 2: back to Mum and said, I'm not going to let

401
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:12,920
Speaker 2: them tell me what I can do in my life.

402
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:13,520
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?

403
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,840
Speaker 3: And does that mean being your rebellious or your complying

404
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:17,840
Speaker 3: to your objectives?

405
00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,400
Speaker 2: I think it was just more mean being driven and

406
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,520
Speaker 2: having a goal of what I wanted and there's nothing

407
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:23,919
Speaker 2: that was going to stop me from getting there.

408
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:25,320
Speaker 1: Okay, so stop me there.

409
00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:27,399
Speaker 3: So does that mean then in relation to what you do,

410
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,360
Speaker 3: because you've obviously carried those characteristics of resilience through into

411
00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:33,000
Speaker 3: your business life, which were going to talk about.

412
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:33,480
Speaker 1: In the second half.

413
00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:38,399
Speaker 3: But does that mean though that therefore, what allowed you

414
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,880
Speaker 3: to become resilient as a result of complying with what

415
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 3: the fat Squad training environment was? Is that because you

416
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,000
Speaker 3: were driven or is that just because you just.

417
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:52,119
Speaker 1: Complied?

418
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:57,680
Speaker 2: What? Is it driven? Definitely driven? Driven, like like I

419
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,640
Speaker 2: wouldn't believe. I still surprised myself today how driven I am,

420
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 2: And like I said before, like I really feel like

421
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,359
Speaker 2: that comes from the environment that's created as a kid.

422
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 2: What is that, you know, like watching my mom, Like

423
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:11,879
Speaker 2: I didn't really get it when I was a kid,

424
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,480
Speaker 2: but seeing mom work three jobs to keep the lights on,

425
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:18,560
Speaker 2: to pay the rent, you know, like wondering, you know

426
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,199
Speaker 2: why she's up so early, wondering why I was at

427
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 2: training forty minutes before everyone else. Because she was installing

428
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,359
Speaker 2: those things into me. She hated me being late. I

429
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,119
Speaker 2: was always there thirty minutes, thirty or forty minutes before,

430
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,879
Speaker 2: waiting in the car, kicking the ball around, just seeing

431
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,159
Speaker 2: her like she was a great netble player, like to

432
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,000
Speaker 2: the point where she could have played for the Silver Ferns,

433
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,320
Speaker 2: And she sacrificed to give up her dream for me

434
00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:42,320
Speaker 2: to live my dream. And that was believing in me

435
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 2: at such a young age, and she installed this like

436
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,439
Speaker 2: driving me that you know, I wanted to get out

437
00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,639
Speaker 2: of christ Church. I didn't want to just be another number.

438
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,680
Speaker 2: I wanted to live my dream and show everyone else

439
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,240
Speaker 2: that you can tell me that I can't do something,

440
00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,679
Speaker 2: but I'm going to go do it anyway, Like to

441
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,440
Speaker 2: the point where i'd be according to the principal's office

442
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,400
Speaker 2: and at high school and said, you know, you need

443
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:06,520
Speaker 2: to stop going on about this rugby league dream because

444
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 2: it's not going to happen. Like you know, teachers actually

445
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,960
Speaker 2: telling me as opposed to encouraging me to live my dream.

446
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:14,360
Speaker 2: They were telling me to no, you can't do that,

447
00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,520
Speaker 2: you can't like what are you doing? You didn't focus

448
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,159
Speaker 2: on academics. But I was never an academic kid. I

449
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,560
Speaker 2: couldn't concentrate in the classroom. I just wanted to play footy.

450
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 2: I wanted to eat my lunch and back out and

451
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,720
Speaker 2: play footy again. And you know, to the point where

452
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,679
Speaker 2: you know, in one week, I had three meetings with

453
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 2: three three teachers from different subjects, all telling me the

454
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,879
Speaker 2: same thing. You need to give up this rugby league

455
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,040
Speaker 2: dream because it's not for you. Do you know the

456
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,800
Speaker 2: percentage of people that play NRL and it just went

457
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 2: in one year and out the other.

458
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,320
Speaker 3: So does that mean that as a business person in

459
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,680
Speaker 3: your lad of life, like someone who might be sort

460
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,800
Speaker 3: of dreaming to have it and be driven and be

461
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:55,600
Speaker 3: like completely completely obsessed without being about being successful in

462
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,760
Speaker 3: their business dream? Does that mean that no matter what happens,

463
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,600
Speaker 3: no matter what someone says. It's a it's a fuck

464
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,879
Speaker 3: you type moment. I'm going to do what I'm going

465
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 3: to do. It doesn't matter even.

466
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:07,879
Speaker 1: If I fail.

467
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I like, my biggest mantra at the moment

468
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,000
Speaker 2: is I'd rather fail at something I want to do

469
00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:16,680
Speaker 2: then I don't want to do. I can easily go

470
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,000
Speaker 2: and work on a building site. I could easily go

471
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:20,919
Speaker 2: be a cleaner, and I could fail at that, but

472
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:22,919
Speaker 2: that's not what I want to do. I'd rather go

473
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,120
Speaker 2: spend my time and invest it in myself and one

474
00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:28,240
Speaker 2: of my passions. And if I failed, I found that list,

475
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,080
Speaker 2: I've given it a shot. That's just how my brain operates,

476
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 2: and I'm slowly learning more about that as I go

477
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 2: through business and learning behaviors from rugby league at a

478
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,199
Speaker 2: young age that I can carry from sport over to

479
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:40,920
Speaker 2: the business side.

480
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,520
Speaker 1: So let's just and just to close off the loops.

481
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 3: So in terms of your regul argue career, so we

482
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 3: ended up having to say you you didn't end up

483
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,760
Speaker 3: playing Grave for the Roos, you play for League for

484
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:51,160
Speaker 3: the Roosters.

485
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 1: Where did you go after that? Where did you finish up?

486
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 2: So I basically spin two years at the Roosters. Basically.

487
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,280
Speaker 2: I remember one night I'd had a good game and

488
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:01,879
Speaker 2: Sticky came out to me in the league's club. I

489
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 2: said that we're going to resign you on Tuesday. I

490
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 2: was working up at Rebel Rebel Sports East Garden at

491
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 2: the time. And then I remember my boss at the

492
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 2: time coming said to me on the Monday or Ricky

493
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,360
Speaker 2: actually has been fired. So for me, I was like, well,

494
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:15,879
Speaker 2: what's next? So I rang my manager.

495
00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:18,200
Speaker 1: That was when we tried to employ Wayne Bennett.

496
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was it, yeah, yeah, yeah. All I remember

497
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:22,639
Speaker 2: was him saying to me, you're gonna You're going to

498
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,640
Speaker 2: be resigned, And that whole weekend I was puffed out,

499
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 2: my chest was out. I was thinking, great, I'm gonna

500
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,879
Speaker 2: been another time bit of time here. And then it

501
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,200
Speaker 2: fell through. Chris Anderson came in under there.

502
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,120
Speaker 3: I was the one because I was on the board

503
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:37,120
Speaker 3: at the time still, and I was the one who

504
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:38,440
Speaker 3: gave and O the job.

505
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,199
Speaker 1: I gave O the job because he was.

506
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 3: His traian coach. Pri Ye did have a heart attack,

507
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 3: but we did. We didn't have another coach because Bennett

508
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 3: was going to coach YEP. And that's and recently, you know,

509
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 3: we reviewed the book about this on our straight Talk podcast,

510
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 3: and yeah, so we gave the job and with Freddie

511
00:22:58,520 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 3: being this systant.

512
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, yeah, so and then they decided not

513
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,480
Speaker 2: to Chris decided he wanted to part ways. I was

514
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,960
Speaker 2: only a young kid, and so I spent one winter

515
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,640
Speaker 2: for one year at the Tigers part time. So once

516
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 2: again like having to learn to get through over hurdles again,

517
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,359
Speaker 2: like you know, I'd gone from being told I was

518
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,919
Speaker 2: going to be resigned that I didn't I wasn't wanted,

519
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,159
Speaker 2: then going to the West Tigers. At that time, it

520
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 2: wasn't even Science so the West Tigers was Balmain Ride Tigers,

521
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 2: so I was the next tier under And then having

522
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:32,919
Speaker 2: to go through that and still trying to believe in

523
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 2: myself that there's a stream of NRL that I want

524
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,720
Speaker 2: to take in, but like there's the hurdles I have

525
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 2: to go through that aren't going my way, Like just

526
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,240
Speaker 2: have to stick it out. So I went to the Tigers,

527
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 2: took up a job at Classic Sports at the same time,

528
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 2: so I was get up at five am in the morning,

529
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,720
Speaker 2: so I'd work from five am to three o'clock in

530
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,639
Speaker 2: the Arvo drive to likeaut train for four hours and

531
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 2: then I would drive home. And I did that for

532
00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,160
Speaker 2: a year and basically that was basically my last shot

533
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 2: at it. And I towards the back end of the year,

534
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 2: my manager rang me and he said, the Warriors are

535
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 2: interested in you and obviously been been in New Zealand. Kid.

536
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 2: You know when they came in the comp in ninety five,

537
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,680
Speaker 2: you know it was it changed everything for rgular League

538
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 2: fans in New Zealand. And you know, to me, that

539
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 2: was going home and you know, representing my country. It

540
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,159
Speaker 2: was my favorite team, and I thought to myself, why not,

541
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,440
Speaker 2: why not give a shot? It was minimal money. I

542
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 2: had just done my foot at the time, so I

543
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 2: list frank injury so it's like attendant ligament in your foot,

544
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 2: which is like about a six month recovery. And so

545
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 2: Ivan signed me. He'd only seen me play on a DVD.

546
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 2: I was overweight at the time. Basically when went over

547
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 2: to New Zealand, walked in the first day, I was

548
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 2: one hundred and eight kilos overweight. I spoke to Craig Walker,

549
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 2: was the Walks of the trainer at the time. Walked

550
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 2: up to Walks in the office, introduced myself and they

551
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 2: were still on about a three month period because that

552
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 2: just the year before, in two thousand and eight, they'd

553
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,440
Speaker 2: gone to the Grand Final qualifier against Manly where the

554
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 2: first week of the finals they bet that it was

555
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 2: the old system where one played eight yeah, and they

556
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 2: played the Storm and they bit them down at Olympic Park.

557
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 2: So the boys are on an extended pre season and

558
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 2: I went there to walk. So I said, I'm overweight,

559
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 2: I got this frank injury. I'm in the gym tomorrow.

560
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 2: And basically that off season taught myself how to walk

561
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,879
Speaker 2: against walk laps of the field, ran laps of the field,

562
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,359
Speaker 2: which was probably the best thing for me, because I

563
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 2: was overweight from this injury. If I got put back

564
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 2: into the full time squad straight away, even would have

565
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,439
Speaker 2: kicked me out because I would have been overweight, unfit.

566
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 2: But because I was injured, allowing me to rehab back properly,

567
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:51,479
Speaker 2: and by the time I got back into full time training,

568
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 2: I was fit as a fiddle. I dropped twelve kilos.

569
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 2: I was ninety six down to ninety six playing hooker

570
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 2: and basically was training at hooker. Weird fear bit of

571
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 2: like depth in the hooker role. We'd obviously had Nathan

572
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 2: Feene there, Ian Henderson was there and Hindo was there,

573
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,199
Speaker 2: and yeah, I was playing hooker and then we played it.

574
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,240
Speaker 2: We played a trial against the Cowboys and I remember

575
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 2: I played a twenty minute quarter at hooker and then

576
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,880
Speaker 2: I even come up to me at halftime and he said,

577
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 2: he said, mate, have you have played back row? Said,

578
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 2: I never played in my life. And he said, you

579
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 2: know Jonathan Thurston who was he was on the right

580
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 2: hand side that game we're playing the Cowboys. He said,

581
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 2: just try and rip his inside shoulder of I want

582
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 2: you to run that line and as that's the main

583
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 2: back rolls line to get inside your your your three

584
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 2: man's inside shoulder. And fortunately that day Grant Ravelli, who

585
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,160
Speaker 2: was also a Rooster's junior, he was at the Warriors

586
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 2: at the time, he put me through two holes and

587
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,359
Speaker 2: I scored a double at the back row. And that's

588
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,399
Speaker 2: when I became a back roll, a hybrid back roll.

589
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,359
Speaker 2: I was a little a little bit of a different

590
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 2: shape to most back rolls, more in that Anthony watt

591
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,200
Speaker 2: Our mold, where I was a like lower center of

592
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 2: gravity and had good leg drive. And that's how I

593
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 2: became a back roller and I started my career of the.

594
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: Warriors, and where did you finished career?

595
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 2: So I finished my I ended up so played just

596
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 2: under one hundred games for the Warriors. Then I followed

597
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 2: Ivan over to Pinrith in twenty and thirteen. I spent

598
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 2: four years there and then spent my last three years

599
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,680
Speaker 2: at Manly. Retired in two thousand and five years ago,

600
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 2: so twenty and eighteen.

601
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 3: So that regul league career was a I mean, apart

602
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 3: from having played the sport you really loved and all

603
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,440
Speaker 3: that sort of childhood sort of dream blah blah blah.

604
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,120
Speaker 3: Get all that part. That's it's pretty good. But really

605
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,919
Speaker 3: what happens from here is it equipped you to do something.

606
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,639
Speaker 3: And I am going to go to the break, and

607
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 3: when I come back from the break, I want to

608
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 3: talk it. I want you to talk to me about

609
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:58,200
Speaker 3: the earl's itch, the itch to set up a brand.

610
00:27:58,920 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: I need to know about that.

611
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:01,920
Speaker 3: And I want to know what you learn from your

612
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 3: years as rugby leagues. Sitting here on your own in Australia.

613
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,120
Speaker 3: What did you learn from those years that you've put

614
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 3: into play in relation to your brand, your business brand?

615
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 1: And then we're going to talk about some of the collaborations.

616
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 3: You're doing, because I can see the assets thing right there,

617
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 3: and that's driving me crazy.

618
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 1: I've got to know about that. So let's go. The

619
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 1: break comes straight back.

620
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: We've just been taught with Louis about his footy life

621
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,639
Speaker 3: and some you might be thinking, well, you know what

622
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 3: you is that really a mentor subject or is it

623
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 3: more a straight talk subject. Well, I think it's really

624
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 3: important because we're talking about mindset. For me, in mindset

625
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 3: is a really important component of being successful as an entrepreneur,

626
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 3: as a business owner, particularly you know when we get setbacks,

627
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 3: and you get a lot of setbacks in footy, most

628
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 3: people just think, oh wow, you know, they can pay

629
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:54,640
Speaker 3: you a load of money and doing.

630
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 1: What they love.

631
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 3: That's assuming that they are Jonathan Thurston or something like that,

632
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 3: who's like extraordinarily gift it and gets the right pathway,

633
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 3: and it doesn't always happen. And you know, ninety nine

634
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 3: out of one hundred players don't experience that, and it's

635
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 3: one in one hundred, maybe even less. And Louis probably

636
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 3: one of those ones who he had a good career,

637
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 3: but he wasn't someone who just automatically jumped into first

638
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 3: grade at the age of nineteen. And you know what

639
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 3: didn't become wasn't Mitchell Pierce played his whole career playing

640
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 3: first grade type of thing. And you have to build

641
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 3: a certain mindset and a certain resilience to get through

642
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 3: that shit. And what I want to talk to Lewis

643
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 3: about now is Louis like, tell me what was that,

644
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 3: because you know he had his urge or as a

645
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 3: kid to play rugby league. When des urge to create

646
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 3: a brand start to sort of get into your bones.

647
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's man, that's probably that's probably the tuning put

648
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 2: in my life, that question. It was. I remember, so

649
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 2: I had spent nearly ten years playing inn RL, so

650
00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 2: I played one hundred and ninety nine games, didn't quite

651
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 2: get the two hundred, played fifteen tests for for the

652
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 2: Kiwis and twenty and sixteen I was over in the

653
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 2: UK playing in the Four Nations David Kidwell's coach at

654
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 2: the time, and we're about to play. We just played,

655
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:23,560
Speaker 2: We just plaid the Kangaroos at Anfield, Liverpool's home ground

656
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 2: in the Four Nations final. Got absolutely pumped. I think

657
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 2: it was like thirty six four that had a great team,

658
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 2: like you know, Thurston, cam Smith, Kronk Gregg Yinglis Morris brothers,

659
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 2: you know, great back rowers, you know. It was it

660
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 2: was a fear squad that they had had put against

661
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 2: us and put a fear scoring us. And I remember

662
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 2: sitting at the bar going back to the hotel, sitting

663
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 2: at the bar with Sean Johnson and his partner and

664
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 2: a phone. A phone call come through from my sister

665
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 2: and her been a regul league. Found thought she wanted

666
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 2: to speak about the game, and I left it, didn't

667
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 2: answer it because I wasn't really in the mood to

668
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 2: speak about rugby league at the time, and it was

669
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 2: the end of the year and it's enjoying having a

670
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 2: sparkling water and a red wine at the bar. And

671
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 2: then she ran me back straight away and I knew

672
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 2: something was up. Answered the call and I said, hey,

673
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 2: what's hey Mendes, so that's my sister's name's what's happened?

674
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 2: She's like his dad And I was like, well, what's happened?

675
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 2: And she's like, oh, he's taken his own life, his dad,

676
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: he's committed suicide.

677
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: And your biological father, yeah, my.

678
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 2: Biological father who I hadn't spoken til spoken to since

679
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,720
Speaker 2: I was twenty one, I was now thirty at the time,

680
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 2: sat there and just broke down in tears, like I

681
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 2: didn't even know what it was.

682
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: It was just like a shock for start.

683
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know my dad, My dad was a

684
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 2: good guy, but it was just a useless father. And

685
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 2: you know, I kind of carried this chip on my

686
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 2: shoulder as a young kid, like like you kind of

687
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 2: mumba lamas, but you kind of fucked my childhood. Now,

688
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 2: you know, you've thrown the spanner in the works, and

689
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 2: you're fucking fuck with me in my adulthood as well,

690
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So I sat there and

691
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 2: I had all this these these thoughts going through my head,

692
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:16,920
Speaker 2: and you know, I had I had to break the

693
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 2: news to someone else, and I told Sean and I

694
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 2: had to go up to my room, and then before

695
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:23,960
Speaker 2: I knew it, the whole squad was in my room.

696
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 2: David Kibwell, included the managers, everyone, and everyone was just

697
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 2: there kind of helping me out, and and I hopped

698
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 2: on that we were the logistics out so I could

699
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 2: get back to christ Itch for the funeral. And so

700
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 2: I got back to Krash Church through this whole next

701
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 2: two days of traveling from London to christ Church so

702
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 2: much thoughts were going through my head. I was about

703
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 2: to go back home to a family that's part of

704
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 2: me that I haven't seen for nearly twenty odd years,

705
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 2: and that was a bit of a mine, a mine

706
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 2: mind fuck within itself. And so anyway, I get myself,

707
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 2: me and my sister at our self prepared for the

708
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 2: funeral and walking to the funeral and here's my half

709
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 2: brother who's basically four or five years younger than me,

710
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 2: looks like my twin, and I haven't seen him since

711
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 2: I'm seven. So that's my first shock. See obviously, see

712
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 2: my dad, and you know, see my aunties who I

713
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 2: haven't seen since I was a young kid. And I'm

714
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 2: basically four with a room full of strangers. But there's

715
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 2: this part, there's there's this still part of me that's

716
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 2: in this room. And throughout the day, as I went

717
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 2: from the funeral to my dad's grave site, I actually

718
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 2: found out my dad, my grandfather, and my great grandfather

719
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 2: had all taken their own lives.

720
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 1: Wow, and on your dad's side.

721
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 2: On my dad's side. Yeah, And the only thing that

722
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 2: we share in common is the same middle name, and

723
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 2: that's Earl. And as a young kid, I used to

724
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 2: hate that middle name.

725
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,360
Speaker 3: All of you had the same middle name, great grandfather, grandfather, dad,

726
00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 3: and you.

727
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 2: And me and I found that out dream that day

728
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 2: and as a kid the middle name. I don't know

729
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 2: whether it was just to do with the association with

730
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 2: my dad because I thought he was useless as a kid.

731
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 2: Like when I was a kid, I hated the middle name.

732
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 2: I felt like it gave me bad energy. And whenever

733
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 2: someone would ask me, what's your middle name, I would

734
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 2: say I don't have one. I'd always go like, I

735
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 2: don't have one. And basically that was the turning point

736
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 2: of my life. I continue to play rugby league for

737
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 2: the next two years, but I felt like my job

738
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 2: when I felt like my dream was starting to turn

739
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 2: into a job. And I believe when your dream starts

740
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:40,880
Speaker 2: to turn into a job, it's time to walk away.

741
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 2: That's that's the sport, that's life. That's the universe tapping

742
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 2: on your shoulder saying hey, like you need to go

743
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 2: find something else and.

744
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 1: Tap out, tap out.

745
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 2: And you know, when I was a kid, when I'd

746
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 2: hang out with my dad, he was real stylish kind

747
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,360
Speaker 2: of dude, had a great, great the way he dressed

748
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 2: did great dress sense. He you know, wore Levi as

749
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 2: with the Chuck Taylor's had the the jacket, the Harley Davison,

750
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 2: whereas all my mate's friends they would wear the track

751
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,799
Speaker 2: the footy tracksuits and stuff like that. So I used

752
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 2: to be quite embarrassed by the way my dad dressed,

753
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 2: but he was quite hip. So I guess that's where

754
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 2: it sort of came into.

755
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,839
Speaker 1: The other days, the dreams with the belt exactly too.

756
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly exactly, tucked off the polar Yeah, you know,

757
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 2: I look exactly to exactly. And so I'd sort of

758
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 2: come to this point in my life where I was

759
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,439
Speaker 2: about to leave Manly. I've been offered a three year

760
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:31,880
Speaker 2: deal to go to Purpayong to play the cat Lands

761
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 2: over in the south of France. I was meant to

762
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,760
Speaker 2: leave on the Friday. On the Wednesday, I decided I'd retire.

763
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 2: I just felt like I couldn't take over this because

764
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 2: I had two years to kind of digest what had

765
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 2: gone on, and my form had kind of fallen off.

766
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 2: The back to the Woods the back end of the

767
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,239
Speaker 2: year my back into the crew, so I knew it

768
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,680
Speaker 2: was just time to let go what year we're doing

769
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 2: Man twenty seventeen eighteen. Yeah, so towards the back end

770
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 2: of then, and I thought to myself, like, listen, there's

771
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 2: a great tune to go to France and just kind

772
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:03,840
Speaker 2: of finish off your career as a working holidays.

773
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,760
Speaker 1: I think SKD was there, he was.

774
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,359
Speaker 2: A few of the boys there. Percy would have been

775
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 2: there filling up. So I think there's a few kind

776
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 2: of boys there. But deep down inside me, there was

777
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 2: just something that was holding me back, and I felt

778
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 2: like taking that with me, the suicide over there to

779
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 2: a non speaking English country, trying to get therapy. And

780
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 2: then also outside of regular league, my hobby was fashion

781
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:33,000
Speaker 2: and love sneakers, love clothing, and I sawt of I

782
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,920
Speaker 2: saw a niche kind of movement in the market where

783
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 2: you know, I've I've lived one dream and once you've

784
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 2: lived your dream and you've broken through that like dream atmosphere,

785
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,880
Speaker 2: and you kind of I don't know what it is,

786
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:48,759
Speaker 2: but you feel like you can do anything. If you

787
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 2: really want to do something, you'll go and do it.

788
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 2: And like I said before, like I'd rather foul out

789
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:55,319
Speaker 2: something I want to do than I don't want to do.

790
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,920
Speaker 2: So retired on the Wednesday. On the Monday, I started

791
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,800
Speaker 2: up Earls at the same time parallel with getting a

792
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:05,759
Speaker 2: job at SkyTV. So sky TV is over here at

793
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 2: Fox Sports in New Zealand at Sky Sports, so I

794
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 2: was gone back every Wednesday and I was doing all

795
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 2: the Warriors home games. I was commentary and reporting and

796
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 2: started up Earl's.

797
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 1: But what was it was going to be?

798
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,160
Speaker 3: Like, Like, I get the brand, I understand with the

799
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 3: name camera, but what was your Like what excus were

800
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 3: we going to be running with?

801
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 1: What do you well?

802
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 2: I basically, I basically the reason I came to clothing

803
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,720
Speaker 2: is because that was my passion. The name. I remember.

804
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 2: I was up on College Street in Sydney, just by

805
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 2: Hyde Park and I pulled over the side of the

806
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 2: road and I was like, I'm going to start this

807
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 2: thing called Earl's Collection because basically I didn't have a

808
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 2: relationship with my dad, you know, through my adulthood, and

809
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 2: I always thought i'd have a I would have an

810
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:48,959
Speaker 2: adult conversation with him and let bygones be by gones,

811
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 2: build a bridge and we can both move on and

812
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 2: just live life, you know what I mean, and find

813
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,399
Speaker 2: out about his childhood. But for obvious reasons that didn't

814
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 2: get to happen. So I thought I would honor him

815
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 2: and take this negative, this real negative cloud of this

816
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 2: name and try and turn it into something positive. So

817
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 2: I had named it Earl's Collection. And I was sick

818
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,720
Speaker 2: of buying other people's clothing. It's beending lots of money

819
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 2: on high end clothing. When I felt the quality and

820
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:19,320
Speaker 2: basically felt like I could create that myself. So reached

821
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 2: out to a mate who put me in touch with

822
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,840
Speaker 2: a production company in China, and you know, within six months,

823
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,279
Speaker 2: I'd launched a fourteen piece collection and I was on

824
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 2: my journey to start with Earl's collection.

825
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 3: Just take me through a good forward in piece collection.

826
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 3: So what are we talking about?

827
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: Tea's strides?

828
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 2: So we started with Tea's teas these basketball shorts which

829
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,680
Speaker 2: became a craze.

830
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 1: And can you describe those?

831
00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 2: So basketball short?

832
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:47,400
Speaker 1: I know what a basket, but you're.

833
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 2: So basically we had these they called the Earl Short

834
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 2: basically just a nice premium bit of polyestamesh with Earl's

835
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,960
Speaker 2: kind of applicate across the front and would change the

836
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 2: colors out. And it got to the point mark where

837
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:06,799
Speaker 2: you know, like we're doing like twelve hundred peers in

838
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 2: three minutes. I put them up online and they just disappear.

839
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:11,399
Speaker 1: And how did everyone know about it?

840
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 2: Well, just like I guess, the first fan, my first

841
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 2: customer base and the brand of winness I got was

842
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 2: that Rugby League fan. So basically, at the time, the

843
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,400
Speaker 2: people that followed me through Rugby League were going to

844
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 2: come on.

845
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:26,520
Speaker 1: This journey with me with where they're following you.

846
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 2: Although I followed me from New Zealand that we don't

847
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 2: know what platform Facebook, Instagram, Facebook, you know, Twitter, stuff

848
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 2: like that, and then we had no marketing or anything.

849
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:40,839
Speaker 2: I knew nothing. I absolutely knew nothing. I knew nothing

850
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:43,160
Speaker 2: about clothing. All I knew was I had a good

851
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 2: I felt like I had a good eye, and I

852
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,680
Speaker 2: was going to teach myself how to use Photoshop illustrator

853
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 2: and learned to design a fourteen piece collection and put

854
00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,319
Speaker 2: it together shoot it. I shot my first shoot up

855
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 2: in China Gwon Joe just randomly happened. I was going

856
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 2: up there check check the factories, and then yeah, I

857
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:05,799
Speaker 2: just thought, let's just give this a go.

858
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: So shorts, T shirts, what else?

859
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 2: Switch shirts, hoodies, socks, hats, So start off with that

860
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,240
Speaker 2: so just a small range bit of forty people.

861
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 4: Nearly accessories as well, exactly, and I usually just stop me,

862
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 4: but did you have you must have had a fairly

863
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 4: big a reasonable audience from me forty days.

864
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,320
Speaker 2: So yeah, not too bad. I wouldn't say the biggest,

865
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:30,319
Speaker 2: the biggest following, but a lot of people knew, like

866
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,800
Speaker 2: outside of Rguy League, they're eighty minutes. I loved clothing.

867
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 2: I love sneakers, and I'd always like take photos of

868
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 2: fits and that that I put up on my Instagram.

869
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm from the era of like living

870
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 2: my adulthood with no social media. Then also this thing

871
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:47,879
Speaker 2: coming through with social media and you're getting used to it,

872
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 2: you know. I'd go to like Warriors functions and I'll

873
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 2: wear Cardigan and Ivan Claire. He would always come up to

874
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 2: me with a smile on his face, saying, fuck, what's

875
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 2: what are you wearing there? Mate? That's fucking terrible? Do

876
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:00,360
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? But I always true to

877
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 2: who I was, and that's what he loved about me

878
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 2: the most. And we'd go on footy trips and all

879
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 2: the boys would hassle me about wearing you know, like

880
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,320
Speaker 2: Cardigan's tight jeans, and all, you know, all the craze,

881
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 2: and then they'd get me one on one they'd be like, hey, Louis,

882
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 2: can you take me shopping? My missus ask if I

883
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,239
Speaker 2: could dress a little bit like you're a little bit more.

884
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 2: So I'll start to see the boys sort of accept

885
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,080
Speaker 2: me for who I was. And you know, I just

886
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 2: thought to myself, it's just still a fourteen piece collection.

887
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 2: See how it goes? Dropped it and it sold out

888
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,400
Speaker 2: pretty much within a month.

889
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 1: So where do you take it from there?

890
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,480
Speaker 3: So you know, like Earl's collection is obviously successful first tub,

891
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 3: but what is it doing now?

892
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:43,359
Speaker 2: Well, now now we're five years in, we're sixteen collections deep.

893
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 2: We've done a few collabs now which have been crazy.

894
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 2: For example, start off with new era hats, so as

895
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 2: a kid, I wore a new era hat. And then

896
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,040
Speaker 2: next it went to Cassio G Shock. So as a kid,

897
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 2: my grandfather, all my uncles were g Shocks, So for me,

898
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,960
Speaker 2: I wasn't raised around Rolex or anything. G shock to

899
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 2: me exactly, and that's still pretty cool now. So I

900
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 2: started off doing the two co labs with them, and

901
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 2: can ijust you approach them with they approach you now

902
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 2: so all of my collabs, I've I'm the type of

903
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 2: person at the moment where I feel like I have

904
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,440
Speaker 2: a little bit of imposter syndrome. So I'm in this,

905
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 2: I'm in this like career that I'm so new at

906
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 2: but I feel like I'm good at. But I also

907
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,320
Speaker 2: feel like I kind of don't belong at the moment.

908
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 2: So I never reached out to anyone. I'm quite shy

909
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 2: kind of person, so everyone sort of reached out to

910
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,920
Speaker 2: us just you know, this new brand and obviously the

911
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 2: profile of Regula League and stuff like that, and that

912
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 2: helped build as well while I was working on Sky Sports.

913
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 2: And then probably the biggest co lab that's at at

914
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 2: the moment that came across our desk on my desk

915
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:55,440
Speaker 2: came up two years ago, sorry a year and a

916
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,879
Speaker 2: half ago, and that was with Essex.

917
00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 1: And what is that That's a sure obviously, but what

918
00:42:59,160 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 1: we're talking about.

919
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 2: So basically i'll give you a little story about it.

920
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:09,759
Speaker 2: So mentioned before, my grandfather m your father's side of

921
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:13,200
Speaker 2: the mother side, my mom's side. Yeah, so look after Yeah,

922
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,560
Speaker 2: so he's basically my dad, He's my hero. He was everything.

923
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 2: So he'd never been on a plane, before. Sorry. The

924
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:22,320
Speaker 2: only plane he had caught was when he was eighteen.

925
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,040
Speaker 2: He'd gone from the chatter Mylins to christ Church. His

926
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,319
Speaker 2: parents said, go live in the mainland, make money. Do

927
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,319
Speaker 2: we have to raise your family. Only plane he had

928
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:35,880
Speaker 2: ever been on two thousand and nine, he hopped on

929
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:37,800
Speaker 2: another plane to come and watch him play for the Warriors.

930
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:39,160
Speaker 2: The first time we've been on a plane. And I

931
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:41,799
Speaker 2: think it was nearly forty years and Mum rings me

932
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 2: and she said, oh, it's Pop. He's had a foot

933
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,920
Speaker 2: he's had a fall at the airport. And I was like, oh, okay, sweet,

934
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 2: no worry. So he gets to my house. He's limping around.

935
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:51,479
Speaker 2: He's got cuts all through his back and he said,

936
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 2: I was something wrong with my bloody calf. So I

937
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:55,000
Speaker 2: said to my hop on the couch, I feel it.

938
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:59,640
Speaker 2: He's torn as achilles. He's torn as achilles. Anyway, I've

939
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:01,640
Speaker 2: gone on the game. I look. I didn't think they

940
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 2: were going to make it. I've looked up here he's

941
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 2: rolling on this on this in this wheelchair. And ever

942
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:12,600
Speaker 2: since that day, for the next fifteen years, every Birthday,

943
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,480
Speaker 2: every Christmas, every Father's Day, I brought him a Peer

944
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,000
Speaker 2: of Essex because Asex have an eight millimeter hell raised

945
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,839
Speaker 2: in the back, more cushion for his calfs than that

946
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 2: a year and a half ago. And they've got good

947
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 2: structure too, great, great structure, best running shoe and you know,

948
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 2: great for him. They look good as well. Oh they

949
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 2: look great, mate.

950
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,919
Speaker 1: These are the best for me for walking?

951
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:35,760
Speaker 2: Are they're the Pegasus?

952
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:40,040
Speaker 1: No, they're the Pegasus. But for running yep ac great.

953
00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:40,759
Speaker 2: Counters are great.

954
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:45,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I sometimes I were the counters. Yeah, I'm

955
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:47,040
Speaker 3: sorry about that audience.

956
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 2: You're good, mate, You're good. And a year and a

957
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 2: half ago, unfortunately I lost my grandfather. He died at

958
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 2: the age of ninety two, and I went home for

959
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 2: the for his funeral, and the day after he passed away,

960
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,920
Speaker 2: I got an email from Essex Wow, Essex Australia saying

961
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,759
Speaker 2: they had no idea about anything like what was going

962
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 2: on in my life, and they said to me, can

963
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 2: you can you come to our Marsden Park office for

964
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 2: a meeting? And I was like, listen, I'm my way

965
00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:19,799
Speaker 2: at the moment for my grandfather's funeral, but I can

966
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,160
Speaker 2: come when I get out and get back to Australia.

967
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 2: So I thought that that process was just going to be.

968
00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 2: They're going to give me stuff to wear. My photo

969
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,279
Speaker 2: shoots went out there for sponsorship for something years, like

970
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:32,919
Speaker 2: a sponsorship. So I'd been an Essex athlete before while

971
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 2: I was playing footy. So I went out there and

972
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,239
Speaker 2: they basically said, sat me down. They said we want

973
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:38,719
Speaker 2: to we want to do a co lab with you

974
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,560
Speaker 2: on your shoe. And I got got goosebumps, like I

975
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 2: was just like, this is meant to be. And you know,

976
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 2: for the next year and a half we really worked

977
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 2: on a shoe. I designed it in a week with

978
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 2: my colleague Lachlin and within a week we designed the

979
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:57,520
Speaker 2: shoe about my MOLDI heritage back in christ Church and year.

980
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 2: At the moment we just released it and it's gone crazy, biggest,

981
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:07,799
Speaker 2: biggest collab I've ever done. We're the only second Australian

982
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:10,160
Speaker 2: brand to ever do a co lab behind with Assex

983
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:15,000
Speaker 2: behind Paw and yeah we put it, we raffled it

984
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 2: and within five hours it's sold out.

985
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 3: Wow, five hours five hours, So Assids will probably do

986
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:21,680
Speaker 3: another one they roll it up.

987
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've already asked me to come on for part

988
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,319
Speaker 2: two and they've also they've also helped me I'm going

989
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 2: to help them out with their football side of things,

990
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:33,200
Speaker 2: footy boots side, so you know, for the rest of

991
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:36,239
Speaker 2: the year we're working closely with them with you know,

992
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:38,879
Speaker 2: the design and working on co lab too, and then

993
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,080
Speaker 2: also you know the footy book footy boot design. So

994
00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:45,120
Speaker 2: very very full circle thing for me with the ASEX.

995
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 1: You've gone from being a footy player.

996
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:48,160
Speaker 3: We're gonna have to wrap here, but I just want

997
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:49,799
Speaker 3: to You've gone from being a footy player, which is

998
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:51,959
Speaker 3: really physical and I mean there's a lot of mental

999
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,279
Speaker 3: stuff involved, but there's a lot of physicality involved in

1000
00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:58,080
Speaker 3: like and skills, skills on the field, but they're really

1001
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:00,800
Speaker 3: fairly binary. Like you either you take with miss a

1002
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:02,600
Speaker 3: tackle or you make a break or you don't make

1003
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:05,520
Speaker 3: a break. It's sort of one or the other. To

1004
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:10,880
Speaker 3: becoming a creative yeah, so you're basically creative now creative business,

1005
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 3: but you're creative crass, you're creating shit.

1006
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then I'm about to on Monday, Monday week,

1007
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,799
Speaker 2: I'm going back to New Zealand actually about to be

1008
00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 2: announced as the Warriors creative director.

1009
00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:23,080
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, so that's cool.

1010
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, So once again a full circle thing. Get to

1011
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,320
Speaker 2: go back home work with them, take over order the

1012
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:33,319
Speaker 2: design for the jerseys off field stuff, training gear, and

1013
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,000
Speaker 2: then also help out Jerry Seius who with wellness and

1014
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 2: teaching the boys about transition, you know, teacher. I think

1015
00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:42,719
Speaker 2: that's the coolest part about that job has been able

1016
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,719
Speaker 2: to go back and showing the young generation that you

1017
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 2: can come back to the sport other than coaching and training,

1018
00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:50,520
Speaker 2: you can come back in a creative way. So to

1019
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:52,839
Speaker 2: be able to take over the creative direction of the

1020
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,560
Speaker 2: Warriors as an absolute dream come true. So a lot

1021
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 2: of these colebs that I'm doing, and you know, freelance

1022
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,040
Speaker 2: stuff all being full circle stuff, and it's sort of

1023
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:04,880
Speaker 2: just the energies that came to me. And when the Warriors,

1024
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 2: when they approached me, it was just a no brain

1025
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,920
Speaker 2: because you know, I'm still transitioning from regular league to

1026
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 2: normal life and I go to therapy once a week

1027
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,440
Speaker 2: and I'm learning how to detach myself from the sport

1028
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:19,239
Speaker 2: in a good way, but then also transitioning to what

1029
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:21,880
Speaker 2: is my purpose now as a creative and sort of

1030
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:25,719
Speaker 2: diving into my brain of how I become more creative

1031
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,880
Speaker 2: and you know, how do I channel that creativity that

1032
00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:31,800
Speaker 2: I've held them for nearly thirty three years. I didn't

1033
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,520
Speaker 2: think I was a creative person. But sorry, I knew

1034
00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 2: I was a creative person, but I didn't know how

1035
00:48:36,239 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 2: to channel it. I used to channel it and the

1036
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 2: way used to dress, but now a channel it and

1037
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 2: the way I make clothes and also push the finishing

1038
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:45,400
Speaker 2: touches on, you know, something like the Warriors the jerseys

1039
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 2: in the next two years.

1040
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 3: Well, Lewis Man, it is actually a real pleasure to

1041
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:50,760
Speaker 3: hear your story.

1042
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:52,760
Speaker 1: But probably what I'm getting.

1043
00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:55,880
Speaker 3: From all is something I'll just if I could just

1044
00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 3: articulate it for a moment. What's really important. It's not

1045
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:05,279
Speaker 3: only you sort of you know, hunkering down on your

1046
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,680
Speaker 3: creative ability, and you have an ability to create things

1047
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 3: and design things that make things look good or deliver

1048
00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 3: things that look good. But probably where the next stage

1049
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 3: of your life is going to be is actually paying

1050
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,319
Speaker 3: forward the luck that you've had, and whether it's luck

1051
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:22,640
Speaker 3: or or a combination of you know, destiny or effort

1052
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:28,560
Speaker 3: as well. But like you helping out and or even

1053
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:30,320
Speaker 3: coming on this show today to talk to me about

1054
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 3: and to talk to an audience more importantly about forty

1055
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:36,400
Speaker 3: people just don't have to be footy people. Yeah, but

1056
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:39,760
Speaker 3: you know that you can identify yourself as a footballer

1057
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,839
Speaker 3: when you're playing football, perhaps, but there's a process of

1058
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:46,960
Speaker 3: de identifying yourself. It's nearly like a brain issue, is

1059
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 3: nearly like a change in the way your neurology works.

1060
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:55,239
Speaker 3: I've got to transition myself out as identifying myself as

1061
00:49:55,239 --> 00:49:58,520
Speaker 3: a footballer. Now I'm identifying saying myself as a creative.

1062
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,240
Speaker 3: But at some stage probably going to start to identifying

1063
00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:03,840
Speaker 3: yourself as someone's got to pay forward what you've learned,

1064
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:06,400
Speaker 3: and that's being at the Warriors.

1065
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:07,799
Speaker 1: That's one of the things you're going to be able

1066
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:08,120
Speaker 1: to do.

1067
00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:11,839
Speaker 3: And some people I said, oh, he's lucky, was some

1068
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:14,760
Speaker 3: sort of divine into venture by his grandparents, his grandfather,

1069
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,160
Speaker 3: et cetera. No, No, I don't think so. I think

1070
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:20,000
Speaker 3: it's just been open to things happening. Just be open

1071
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,160
Speaker 3: to shit and be prepared to do it for sure.

1072
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:25,040
Speaker 2: And like you know, the last year, I've been on

1073
00:50:25,080 --> 00:50:29,120
Speaker 2: a massive journey mark like lost my grandfather. One of

1074
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,840
Speaker 2: my one of my good friends who worked at Earl's,

1075
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,719
Speaker 2: she got murdered. Her and her dad got murdered in

1076
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:39,719
Speaker 2: Auckland and then went through a massive relationship breakup and

1077
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,319
Speaker 2: I really really had rock bottom around January this year

1078
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 2: and sorry two thousand and three, and just thought to myself, like,

1079
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,200
Speaker 2: you know, you can either the single swim and my

1080
00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:55,400
Speaker 2: whole life. I've swam, I've never sunk, and that's the

1081
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:57,760
Speaker 2: drive I just have in me. And I picked myself

1082
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,640
Speaker 2: up up of the ground and realized, is that the

1083
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,080
Speaker 2: root of the core that I was going through was

1084
00:51:03,239 --> 00:51:07,000
Speaker 2: that reidentify like reidentifying Hawaii, and what my purpose is.

1085
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:10,200
Speaker 1: It's your issue my exactly. It's not the factor lost somebody.

1086
00:51:10,320 --> 00:51:11,320
Speaker 1: It's your issue.

1087
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,200
Speaker 2: Exactly, and deal with it exactly. And then I started

1088
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:15,320
Speaker 2: going to therapy once a week, turn that to twice

1089
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 2: a week, and I'm learning to change my behaviors from

1090
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 2: rugby league. The vocabulary that you're spoken to in rugby league,

1091
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,120
Speaker 2: you know, you know as as a thirty year old,

1092
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:29,200
Speaker 2: you know you're getting told you're old and you're a

1093
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,239
Speaker 2: veteran and you're you're about to retire. Those words like

1094
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:35,440
Speaker 2: they stick with you, you know, because within five years you're

1095
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:39,120
Speaker 2: going to transition meetings. You're being told this is what

1096
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:42,160
Speaker 2: football looks like, our life looks after football, and like

1097
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,560
Speaker 2: you said before, like when when you retire as a

1098
00:51:46,239 --> 00:51:50,160
Speaker 2: sports person in general, it's about having that purpose. And

1099
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:52,040
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of us on this planet,

1100
00:51:52,080 --> 00:51:54,400
Speaker 2: as at X athletes, feel like we're just being solely

1101
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:57,759
Speaker 2: put on this earth to play sport. But you know,

1102
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,759
Speaker 2: some of us that have kids. I don't have any kids,

1103
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 2: but the boys that have kids have that purpose of

1104
00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:06,280
Speaker 2: being a dad. You know, My purpose now in life

1105
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,960
Speaker 2: is about creating a life that I'm happy about living.

1106
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:13,719
Speaker 2: And you know, like you said, teaching others that you

1107
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 2: can have a happy life and you can make your

1108
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 2: career bigger after footy than it was and footy and

1109
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm doing that at the moment.

1110
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,760
Speaker 1: No, I think that's for me anyway is really important.

1111
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:26,640
Speaker 1: It's funny. I was, I was. I woke up every

1112
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:27,040
Speaker 1: let morning.

1113
00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:29,040
Speaker 3: I was thinking about these sort of things about just

1114
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:32,640
Speaker 3: generally about the transitions you have in life. Look at

1115
00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:35,719
Speaker 3: my age expects people on me to be retired, and

1116
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:38,319
Speaker 3: I think it's bullshit, Like I've got so much more

1117
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,440
Speaker 3: energy and so much more to give. And my mind's

1118
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:46,040
Speaker 3: about like minds of particular project like and you know,

1119
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:48,480
Speaker 3: some people, my thing is a transaction, but I'm not

1120
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:49,600
Speaker 3: really looking to do a transaction.

1121
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:51,520
Speaker 1: I'm actually looking to help people and to live a.

1122
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:53,960
Speaker 3: Better life, a healthier life, a longer life, A longer,

1123
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,680
Speaker 3: healthier life is probably my big passion, and that's something

1124
00:52:57,719 --> 00:52:59,319
Speaker 3: I feel as I should do. I should do it

1125
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:01,520
Speaker 3: for myself, but should everybody else. And I'm lucky enough

1126
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:03,520
Speaker 3: to be able to do it. You're doing what you're

1127
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:08,920
Speaker 3: doing at the Warriors at the moment, and for me,

1128
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:09,560
Speaker 3: I don't want to.

1129
00:53:09,680 --> 00:53:12,200
Speaker 1: I don't want to.

1130
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,760
Speaker 3: Earmark myself as being a finance guy in my whole life,

1131
00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:16,560
Speaker 3: which it wasn't what it was. You don't want to

1132
00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:20,040
Speaker 3: be a footed person all your life. Open the possibilities

1133
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,400
Speaker 3: and just be prepared to go on the adventure and

1134
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:27,279
Speaker 3: explore them and fuck up, makes misstakes, lean on people

1135
00:53:27,360 --> 00:53:30,840
Speaker 3: for help, Come and tell your story. See a therapist.

1136
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:33,560
Speaker 3: Nothing wrong with that. Man as SATA therapist is not

1137
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:36,480
Speaker 3: a needty thing of mental health thing. It's actually like

1138
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:38,640
Speaker 3: it's like a process of learning.

1139
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:41,040
Speaker 2: It's my favorite time of the week learning about yourself

1140
00:53:41,239 --> 00:53:44,560
Speaker 2: and you're getting better. Thursday, at four o'clock every week,

1141
00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 2: I go into Willara and close the door for an

1142
00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 2: hour and a half of my therapist and speak what

1143
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 2: I need to speak about, and I'll tell you what.

1144
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:56,480
Speaker 2: I come out so much lighter, like I don't carry

1145
00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:59,399
Speaker 2: the burden that I carry that week. You know, I'm

1146
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:03,759
Speaker 2: still learning about business, you know, like I I'm only

1147
00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:06,360
Speaker 2: five years into this journey of earls and you know

1148
00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:10,480
Speaker 2: I have this saying that I don't have a ceiling,

1149
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:12,440
Speaker 2: like you know, the only thing holding me back from

1150
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:14,359
Speaker 2: doing things is me. You know how far I want

1151
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 2: to go with this, you know, this asset that I've

1152
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:19,239
Speaker 2: got on now, like I've dreamt about, Like there's a

1153
00:54:19,239 --> 00:54:22,480
Speaker 2: store called Kith and the US that's I've always wanted

1154
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,200
Speaker 2: to be stocked in and I've picked up the shoe

1155
00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 2: they're about to stock it in there, and you know,

1156
00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:31,400
Speaker 2: just just small things like that, that that once again

1157
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 2: people telling me I can't do something and then I

1158
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,600
Speaker 2: go and do it, like just about proving yourself right

1159
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:39,319
Speaker 2: and you know, being selfish along the way. And you

1160
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:41,720
Speaker 2: got to be exactly because for a long long time,

1161
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:43,880
Speaker 2: like my whole life, I put rugby league first. You know,

1162
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:46,200
Speaker 2: I missed best mates's weddings to be the best man

1163
00:54:46,239 --> 00:54:48,719
Speaker 2: that I miss my best mates, like kids being born

1164
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:52,280
Speaker 2: and now It's about giving back to myself and making

1165
00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:55,960
Speaker 2: myself happy and being flexible to take myself out of

1166
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,000
Speaker 2: a controlled environment where forty eight weeks of the year

1167
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:01,719
Speaker 2: are basically bunk it down for me. Already, I've got

1168
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:04,640
Speaker 2: four weeks that I can be flexible. Now I have

1169
00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:07,000
Speaker 2: fifty two weeks that I'm flexible, and I like to

1170
00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 2: I like to be flexed with my work. I like

1171
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:12,040
Speaker 2: to be flexed with my employees. I like to also

1172
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 2: encourage my employees to follow their hobbies too. You know

1173
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:19,200
Speaker 2: the Lachlan who works for me, how we actually met.

1174
00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:23,279
Speaker 2: His passion is to change actually rugby league jerseys. So

1175
00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:25,040
Speaker 2: two and a half years ago I saw him on Instagram,

1176
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,959
Speaker 2: this young kid. He's a Knights fan. He changes rugby

1177
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:30,880
Speaker 2: league jerseys for a hobby, and that's how we connected.

1178
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:33,080
Speaker 2: I saw him on Instagram. I gave him a brief,

1179
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:35,239
Speaker 2: he sent it back to me, and then he come

1180
00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:36,520
Speaker 2: and spend a week with me. He's been with me

1181
00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 2: since and now both of us have this hobby. Of

1182
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:44,040
Speaker 2: his hobby is rugby league and rugby league uniforms. My

1183
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:46,400
Speaker 2: old hobby was rugby league and now we're joining on

1184
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:49,960
Speaker 2: this journey together to go do this warriors creative direction

1185
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 2: and you know, live it together. And I can't think

1186
00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:55,360
Speaker 2: of a more kind of special way to kind of

1187
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 2: do that with someone and spread our wings and see

1188
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,160
Speaker 2: how far we can really take ourselves. And you know,

1189
00:56:01,719 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 2: as I played in an era of rugby league when

1190
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:08,479
Speaker 2: you weren't encouraged to do his stuff outside of rugby league,

1191
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:10,719
Speaker 2: was fully focused and I understand that was the era

1192
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,000
Speaker 2: and at that time that's all you knew. So to

1193
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:17,520
Speaker 2: be able to go and you know now and explore

1194
00:56:17,560 --> 00:56:20,160
Speaker 2: these different avenues of creativity, There's so many ways to

1195
00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,759
Speaker 2: be creative. I'm just really loving it.

1196
00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:29,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Lewis Earl Brown, congratulations made on Earl's collective

1197
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:32,560
Speaker 3: and well done and keep those coilabs going and make

1198
00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:34,440
Speaker 3: us rogby league community proud of you.

1199
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:36,239
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me Mark. I really

1200
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:36,719
Speaker 2: enjoyed it