WEBVTT - Off The Record #7: Matty Johns goes Off The Record 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.360 Okay, welcome to a very special edition of Off the 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:04.840 Record with Buzz and Webby. We promised you an international 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:06.920 superstar and we've delivered. 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:07.760 Hugh Jack and Digner. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.600 He's a legend of rugby league, of TV, of radio, newspaper, 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.480 of podcasts and Las Vegas dive bars. He played one 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:17.960 hundred and seventy six matches for the Newcastle Knights, including 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.279 the nineteen ninety seven Aarl Premiership, twenty five games for 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.360 the Wig and Warriors, twenty one for the Sharks. He 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.759 also played nine matches for Australia four for New South 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.280 Wales before injury forced him to retire. But Buzz here 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:29.840 listening to me. 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:31.920 I'm listening Buzz. 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.880 This guy's football career was merely a tasty entree before 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.800 the sumptuous main course of rugby league, analysis, impersonations and 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:43.120 vague references to illegal activity. He's the star of The 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.800 Late Show with Mattie John's, Sunday Night with Mattie John's, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.600 Morning Glory with Maddie John's, The Backstage Podcast with Cooper 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.520 and Maddie John's, The Johns Family Podcast, and Maddie and Kronk. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:53.920 I'm exhausted. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:55.520 Some call him amla maniac. 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.160 Those who work with him call him attire and are 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.080 very difficult to work for. Actually I'm yet to see it, 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:02.840 but he is seriously one of the best humans I've 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:04.800 ever met in footy and in life. And I'm sure 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.600 buzz you feel the same way. Maddie, John's welcome. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.520 Thanks for the invite. I'm enjoying the show. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:11.039 Thank you. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.720 I'm enjoying the show. Excellent. What an incredible mate. Even 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:16.920 I'm blown away by what I've done. 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:24.960 It took to write that word. Very good, Buzzy, you 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:25.679 lead off your. 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.000 The I don't know where to start with your Maddie, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.200 and so I'm you know, I've never interviewed you. I 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.440 can't recall last time, apart from the Stinking newcast. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.080 Had a stick in Newcastle. That was the one where 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:41.760 you said he was six buzz brother Andrew, Brother Andrew. 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.440 We were doing a training session at the field. And 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.160 Andrew used to get in a mood sometimes and when 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.440 he was in a mood, he would deliberately fire balls 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.440 fire passes at the feet of the players, the fowards 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.200 who worked with their hands him a mouthful. So that 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.680 was the last training session heading into Christmas and We're 0:01:59.720 --> 0:01:59.960 all good. 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.680 We're going to this Vietnamese. 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:06.440 Restaurant that night, players, partners, coaches, wipes and all that 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.360 sort of stuff. And the players were just off Andrew 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.720 and I said, I can fix that. So I went 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.600 to Joey and I just said it's been canceled. And 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.680 he said, oh mate, I'm happy anyway, do you want 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.359 to go? I said, well, you're in luck. So you know, 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.679 we're sitting at the Vietnamese restaurant, Darling little restaurant there 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:28.799 on Delaney the junction. Yes, So I'm sitting there and 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:34.040 I can hear rumbling coming down the street and as 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:38.000 Andrew and his Poluka mates all blind drunk, and when 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.800 I when someone came in side. Your brother's coming up. 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:41.480 Oh, here we go. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.040 He's going to he's going to find out double crossed him. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.280 And of course he spots me in there and the 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.320 whole team, and he starts screaming abuse. Might have been 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:54.799 punching the front the glass. Well, anyway, he's giving me 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.200 a mouthful. Everyone in the restaurant's horrified. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:58.080 He walks. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:02:59.680 I know where he's going. He's going down the Creektor's 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.800 Arms Hotel. And I'm sitting there and I'm starting to 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.919 stew and I said, Tricia sitting together the toilet. She goes, 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:08.400 don't do anything to you. So I was just going 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:08.960 to the toilet. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:10.600 So I've ducked out. 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:12.440 Gone down there and walked into the part and of 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.720 course he's in there with all these dropic mates birds 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.800 of a feather and he's going, oh, here she is. 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.800 She's arrived, and I said, come on out the front. Well, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.840 Tricia arrived and he when he came out the front, 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.080 he was a little disorientated on the way out. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:32.400 Little did I know that on the. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.480 Way Tricia belled him over the head with a bag, 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:37.960 got him at the sharp spot, obviously because he was 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.720 but he was also full, and I thought, here, here 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.360 we go. He's here's the victory, and just hit him 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.080 with a couple of lefts. He drops and I say, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.280 you know my job's done, so ill I go. And 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.400 then two days later we had a call from Buzz 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.520 made our way and Phil Rosfeld here, I know what 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:55.800 this is. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:02.760 About, and he was in complete denial, complete denial, not 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:07.880 knowing that I photos. I didn't have a vader, but 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.080 made I went to school, I went to I was 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.040 raised in new castlebody didn't know that. And I had 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.320 a few of the regulars at the cricket his arms. 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:20.080 I just happened to be at school with and make 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.360 They're reliable people. So when I ring Maddie and he's 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:29.760 in fulled denial, didn't happen everything sweet, I put Joey Ondra, 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.680 I said, well, it's a shame, mate. I was going 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:34.320 to write that you bashed him, you know, and you 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.680 clearly won the fight. And then he was you got 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.560 me run. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:42.719 We did run in the paper. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.039 It was the lead to what's the bars? Tell me 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:46.320 what happened? What's the bust? 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.240 And we had a dinner that night, a family dinner. 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:50.839 It's fee to say. 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.280 The family dinner was a little. 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.000 Icy, a little bit, a little bit frosting. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.560 And my daughter, my daughter, my sister who's ten years 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.719 my junior, had her new boyf friend. It's the first 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.120 time we'd met, and he's sitting in between Andrew and 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.640 I at the dinner and it was it's night He'll 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:07.159 never forget. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:09.520 Are you guys? 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.800 Relieved that there was no such thing as camera phones 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:13.160 back in the nineties. 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:19.040 Because TV for Djandre If I needed it for a cook. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:19.960 It on your buzz yes. 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:22.960 I mean, you know it would have been different for 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:28.440 a lot of football back then, veteran journalists. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.440 Different society, society, isn't it. I mean, you've seen these 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:36.719 things now on these different social medium mediums like TikTok, 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.479 where people just walk up to people in the street 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.640 start feeling them and political questions and things like that. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.680 You just, well, your brother loves that stuff very good. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.640 He really does. He's a people personally, he is people. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:50.280 He doesn't know. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:52.240 I wanted to ask you because I've seen you in 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.159 public money like, You're very good with the public. 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.200 I reckon you know, you make a pint of really. 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:58.920 I remember we were in Vegas earlier this year when 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:00.400 you and I ran into each other in front of 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.960 the Ballaggio, when neither of us were in a particularly 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.279 great state to be talking to the public, but you 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:06.880 had all these people coming up to you and your 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.080 role with it. Look, do you make a point of 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:11.640 not being a prick to people when they come up 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:12.800 to you for a photo and the chat. 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.120 It's not a discipline at all. I actually like people, now. 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.320 That's just it's just part of my makeup. I'm a 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:23.080 conversationalist and I like people, so for me, it's no drama. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.120 It's just Andrews. Andrew's just different, it's not I've seen 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:27.600 Andrew do. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.440 Some incredible things for people, you know, for people you know, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.800 some people who are down on their luck, and you 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.560 know some people who lived around the Newcastle area who 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.000 were really doing it tough and we're at rock bottom. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.680 I've seen him do some amazing things. I remember my. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.560 Dear mate Brian Carney when he played in Newcastle. He 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:49.680 said he was saying to me, he said, I used 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:54.000 to tell all the former teammates back at Wigan, you 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.080 wouldn't believe Andrew John. Sometimes there was the local bloke 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.599 who's doing it tough. Alcohol and Joey once a week 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.880 would have him up on his balcony and they would 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:08.640 sit down in the afternoon have a beer and yeah. 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.039 He's misunderstood your brother. 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:13.000 How are you too now. 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:18.280 Buzz, We're actually good and the connection, the reconnections come through. 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.080 I heard the story Jack and. 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.640 My oldest son Jack. One thing about Andrew Andrew is 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.080 a very good uncle. He's a very very good uncle, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.600 and he's very good to my boys. And they're they're 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.240 really close, particularly Jack and he are really really close. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.280 You know, to the point that when I was away 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:37.640 for a week or so, the neighbors were saying, when 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.840 me and Joey had fallen out, he was They were like, oh, 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:42.480 it's nice to see that Andrew was around the house. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:48.640 I said, But now he's he's a very good, very 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:49.920 good uncle to the two boys. 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:50.120 Good. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.680 Hey, I want to go back, and I'm trying to 0:07:55.680 --> 0:08:01.119 think if things should never been asked before. You've done 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.080 so well in life as a football player. Now in 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.240 the mood is where he speiled off at the top. 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.680 What were you like at school? You're smart. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.440 At school. I struggled at school. 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.560 Bus I don't know, like you know all the today. 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.600 There's all these terms for things and whatnot. And I've 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.720 never gone and never tried to. But I had something 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.800 going on because I could not hold attention whatsoever. You know, 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.080 I'd struggling class. 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:32.880 Can you remember your HS suit? 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:39.480 No, it was completely I remember having a science teacher 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.280 who was a terrific bloke, and he came up to 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.280 me and it was about a month out from the 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.120 HSC and he had my exercise books, of course, the 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.800 day's before computers, the old exercise book and he goes, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.280 I hand it to you John's. He said, I want 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.199 to congratulate you. He said, somehow you've got away from 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.080 the last six months, not right, adding a single thing 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:02.600 in this exercise book. 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:04.360 Yeah. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.360 He said, I've got a lot of fears for your future. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.880 And I said, I've got a lot of fears, sir 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:10.839 as well. But now I struggled to school. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:12.880 Buzz, Were your mum and dad worried that you was 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:13.360 a kid? Then? 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.400 Yes, yep, that they were. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.720 For Andrew, it was always Andrew was actually a pretty 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:23.960 good student. And for Andrew Buzz. You know, I'm not 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:29.679 exaggerating here and saying that like Andrew when he was 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.599 a kid was quite a phenomenon when it came to 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.000 rugby league. He's certainly not one of those guys to 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.120 go who would have thought and he just sprout wings 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.559 like people Andrew was a kid that he would get 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.520 the worst player in the side and tell him go 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.440 down the other end of the field standing the end goal, 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.800 and Joey would beat everyone handing the ball. I put 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.120 the ball down. He was pretty amazing. I'm not comparing 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.440 into people like Wayne Greskin. I'm not for one second. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.199 People knew from an early age He's going to be 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.160 a special special football people knew. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.880 I remember interviewing Wayne g Resky once and when I 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.200 was working at Triple Am and Lovely Men by the way, 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.800 and I said to him, I asked him about, what 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.000 were you like when you were young? And he said, 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.120 from as long as I remembered, I was always going 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.880 to be the one they call him the great one special. 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.880 Yeah, And he said people would. 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.560 People would drive sometimes three or four hours just to 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.440 come and watch me when I was like a seven 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.000 year old. And I said, was that ever a burden went? No, 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.280 because I always knew where I was. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:33.640 Going to go. 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:39.079 And for Andrew, Andrew, just Andrew from being a junior 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.160 all the way through, never endured any doubt whatsoever. The 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:47.520 only thing he had to endure was I'll never I'll 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:52.959 never forget were kids and he in the middle of 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:57.240 the night he was having this agonizing pain in his legs, to. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:58.160 The point that. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:02.959 In a short period of time he could barely run, 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:04.600 he could only really shuffle. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:09.400 And what had turned out? Mom and Dad sought. 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.240 Diagnosis and no one could find it. Neil help and 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.480 end up finding and it was oscar slats, you know, 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.040 the growing disease and the leagues which can affect you 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.600 know a lot of times affect young sportsmen, and they 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.240 got it in the nick of time. He said, if 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.719 this kept going, he was so bad and how he 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.640 got his start at the Newcastle Knights. He was trialing 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.240 for the end of fifteen side and I'll never forget this. 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.839 I felt so sorry for him because he was out 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.200 there trialing and he couldn't run. He was basically it 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.400 was almost like he could brisk walk and people were laughing, going, 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.400 look at this kid, like you know anyway, David Waite, 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.440 to his credit of course, former first grade coach at 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:52.160 the Newcastle Knights, who at that point was wait, he 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.000 was the development manager at the Knights that were in 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.400 charge of signing young players. He just said, I'm going 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.800 to sign that kid. He said him to go out 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.240 there and play with what was going on and what 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.160 he was enduring. He said, he's got something about him. 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.840 I never knew that story when I look. I started 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.600 my career in Newcastle and remember covering the Knights and 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.600 when you guys were playing, you know, a Sunday afternoon 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.360 marathon stadium bathes in sunshine and you guys would play 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:23.960 there and the Knights would get on a roll like 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.280 you were unstoppable. To me, it looked like you were 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.880 in the backyard at sesnok all the park And is 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:30.560 that what have felt like? 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:30.880 Yeah? 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.960 It was just it was so much fun. Particularly like 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.319 you don't you like you think about for. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.960 Whatever reason, some of those Newcastle size I played in, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.600 we were almost like we never felt the pressure because 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.760 we're so tight. We're like we really were like a family. 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.760 I never realized what a special group we had until 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.880 I left Newcastle and you look back and again, you know, 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:57.800 but it was like I would I wake up on 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.280 the Sunday morning for the heart of Games, I go 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.839 around the corner, I picked Joey up and we drive 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.920 to the game, and you knew how big a crowd 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:07.600 it was going to be by how far away from 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.560 the stadium just starts to the cars parked. So if 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.480 you're playing the Broncos and those big sides, honestly, you 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.520 saw the cars parking kilometers away and you're going, Okay, 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.000 we're going to have a full house, this is going 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:19.760 to be this is going to be something. And our 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.600 dressing room before the game, it was like there were 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.480 there were nerves, of course, but it. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.760 Was more excitement. We used to have music blaring in there. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.000 It was just so much fun. It was. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:32.640 It really was having with. 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:35.679 Wock had his way. 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.000 How late his career did the arrive in your. 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.560 Walk drived in ninety nine, So when I come into 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.720 first crate, So I started getting a run around ninety 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.839 ninety two. It was the David Waite years, and then 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.960 went into Malcolm really for a number of years, and 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.240 then Warren came along, so we had. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:54.640 Did you get on? 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.760 Did initially have gone? Really good? It was it was 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:00.480 did you first? 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:02.480 You did a lot of great play? 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.920 That was always yours to say that, he said, Rothfield 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:09.480 and those blokes a call him shackles. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.320 I'm just letting I grow up with Stephen Bimer and 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.080 he kept telling me shackling me. 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:16.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.560 He had that revitation with us, not so much because 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:25.400 we've been established buzz and I look back, you know, 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.680 we did have I think it was a number of things. 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.000 I look back at it now and I have to 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.200 I take a fair bit of responsibility out of it. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.960 But there were circumstances. There was from my angle, I 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:43.200 warrant may Warren had a difficult bedside manner he was 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:50.480 well known for. I've noticed, yeah, great tactically, but from 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:55.000 my angle, it's funny. As I get older, I start 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.960 to think about it more and it actually starts. I'm 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.440 able to piece them the pieces. I put the pieces together. 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.560 I've got a lot easier, and a lot of it 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.040 is if I move away from talking out Warren for 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.280 a second. For me, I had about four really big 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:17.240 years heading into two thousand and I'll preface this by 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.960 saying I wasn't a natural footballer. Buzz I couldn't. I 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.760 just couldn't wake up on a Sunday and just go 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.160 out there and play like an Andrew could, or like 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.440 a lot of those great players like a Monthster I 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:28.200 Reckon would do that. 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.000 For me, I had to put myself with my writing skills. 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.120 I'm going to say that, buzz, but. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.240 I had to put myself through the ringer all week 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.200 to get myself to perform like I did, And that 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.760 takes a toll. It takes a toll on you. So 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:49.240 I came into grade three, ninety four, ninety six, ninety seven. 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:51.440 Those four years were really big years. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:57.280 So ninety five Malcolm really arrives. We suddenly go from 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.440 being a mid table side. We're starting to mature as 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.080 a team. We get into the final four. At the 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:03.280 end of that year, we go a way for the 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.200 Australian side. We take state of Origin for the first time. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:07.280 The next year is a. 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.080 Little bit of disappointment for the club, but we're still 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.640 playing rep football. Ninety seven was ninety seven. It was 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:18.720 just a mega year. Huge ninety eight we had a 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.920 great season. Again, we had a lot of injuries, but 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:23.000 what we started to find out it gave you a 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.600 little insight. I can only imagine what penrith On threw 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.240 going for five in a row. But even being the 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.400 defending premiers from playing the next year, mate, you're playing 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:35.440 against sides that are just sky higher beats and we 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.880 led we would joint minor premiers with the Broncos in 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.600 ninety eight, and then we just went lost, loss and 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.720 went out. We were just we'd run out of gas. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:50.080 But then ninety nine Warren arrived and I really channeled 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:52.680 that much energy into ninety nine. Right, it's going to 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:54.200 be a big season and I reckon it was the 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.600 best year of my career. Warren had a lot to 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:01.160 do with that. I went away for the Try Nations. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:02.920 I was able to do something I could never do 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.199 for the rest of my career for the previously and 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.080 that was forced Freddy into Locke and. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:11.440 I played six in the Australians. 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.399 It was a really big one, so we played and 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.639 some of those games in that tri Nation. The final 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.240 we played against New Zealand was without a doubt in 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:24.600 miment for me, the toughest game I ever played my life. 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.560 It was ridiculous. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:31.200 And then you go away and it was an abbreviated 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.639 preseason because you've put a month or six weeks on 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.159 the end of the year. There were at football and 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.320 I remember coming back to training in two thousand and 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.399 I just didn't want to be there and there was 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:48.480 just something missing, something missing to the point that if 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:50.800 you told me to run one hundred meters down the 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.680 other in field in a drill, I'd struggle to do it. 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:53.520 I just. 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.119 I put so much into those previous five years, and 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.240 particularly the twelve months before that, I just emptied myself 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:07.919 out and and yeah, I started the season on the 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:09.959 back foot. I got an injury in the trials and 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:11.720 from then I was just playing catch up. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.439 Uh and and so you know, I was. 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.000 I was difficult to I would have been difficult people 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.399 to a person to deal with at that time. And 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.119 of course on top of that, Warren could be a 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.080 difficult guy to work with. Warren is no compromising man, 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.760 you know. It's just like it's all about wins, it's 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:28.320 all about loss. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:30.000 You just have a blow up on the training paddic. 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.080 Yeah, there was a blow up in the tray. There 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:33.960 was a blow up in the training paddic. I remember 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:34.480 bas too. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:39.200 He wrote about it. Yeah, it was something like there 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.960 was a big bit going on and Warren had. 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:49.480 Said something to one of the players and and then 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.600 I and then I chirped up and started saying something 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.720 and things just sort of went from there and things 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:58.480 were not really the same after. 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.159 You or not one of us, was that one of 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.120 the things you said. I remember the stories from the time. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.760 I don't know. I don't know where I read that. 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:08.840 I don't know. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.000 It was a lazy and it was and it was 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.800 a difficult point at time because I'd always been a 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:16.840 bloke that always got on very well with his coaches, 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.840 you know, and becoming an easy teammate to get along with. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.000 That year, it wasn't at all, I was a really 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.760 frustrated player and you know, and that's that's my side 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.720 of it. I look at things that Warren, you know, 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:31.680 could have done a lot better and whatnot. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.960 But at the end of the day, right about his 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:36.920 table manners or lack of. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.760 Yeah oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah mate. He could hit. 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:43.159