WEBVTT - Andrew Russell - The high performance guru 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:08.840 I mean the way that Cyril was treated at the 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:10.920 football I've never seen anyone else treated as well. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.280 I've never seen anyone else treated with as much respect 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:15.080 as Cyril. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:20.799 And his Ever, the week before Cyril leaves, he tells 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:22.600 me it's the happy it's ever been the club. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.079 I'm John Ralph and I'm Glenn MacFarlane. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.320 Welcome to Sacked, a podcast that explores what really happens 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.240 when the ax falls in the AFL world. 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:32.000 Will take you behind the scenes with some of the 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:32.879 biggest names. 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.040 In football and find out how they found out their 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:35.960 time was up and. 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:36.800 Who pulled the trigger. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.280 Today the High Performance Guru, Part one of our chat 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.200 with Andrew Russell. When Andrew Russell was called into Kevin 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.360 Sheety's office at the Old Hilton Hotel as a teenager 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.040 and offered a job, not in his wildest dreams would 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.680 he have been able to predict the three decade high 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.760 performance career that included six premierships across three clubs that 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.200 was to come. Russell was there at the end of 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:02.080 the Bombers dynasty, ports for Choke Breaker, and the start 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.640 of the Hawks decade of dominance from Stuart due to 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.080 Luke Hodge and Si. Really he made a career out 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.680 of preparing premiership players. 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.679 Take us to the start. So you're a fifteen hundred 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.000 meet at Runner National Runner, Yeah. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.640 I said of ran the National, you know the gone 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:19.119 pri meets and all that sort of stuff. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.040 And I came in pretty late to that. 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:21.440 You know. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:22.800 I grew up in Ballarat and I. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.240 Trained with Steve Wantaghetty and I was on leak true 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:31.520 you know, straight record. So yeah, I loved running. I 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.600 love physiology. I was a swimmer growing up as well. 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:36.520 I played footy, but I was a bum. Was very 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.720 good rent all day and up and down. And then 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.400 I got involved in I got involved at the Victorian 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:45.720 Student Sport. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.040 Because I haven't done a degree or well I was 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:48.840 during my degree. 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.280 I got there and it, Yeah, it was an internship 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.320 and I went for my best me and my best 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:56.840 mate went for it, and the clip of the coin, 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.280 I got it, and I got paid eight thousand dollars 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:01.920 for a full time job. And I thought it was 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.600 the best thing of all. She just loved it. And 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:07.880 so I came to Melbourne v I S and those 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.679 days are VS was really highly regarded as sport, like 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.280 that was the place to be and so I'd go training. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.080 I had some unbelievable mentors, you know, Paul Gaston, Troy 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:19.600 Flannagan who's in the NBA. 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:20.920 Now, one of the most highly regards to. 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.720 Sciences in the world. You know, Ver McMillan, Mar McGrath, 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.200 strength and conditioning. So I had this real sports science 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.440 strength nditioning, go to work every day and you see 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:30.760 it was foursome. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:32.440 Dale Evans in the gym. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.720 I did some work with Kathy Freeman speaking conditioning for 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:38.520 a while, sonor Sullivan. 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.200 Who's right, you know, that's athletes the world I'm either 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.000 watching or working with. 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.760 And at that stage the AFL, they were doing their 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:49.239 own thing. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.359 They weren't really interested in people outside, and a couple 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:55.880 of people sort of looked over the corner when I 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.720 was Kevin Chedy. I was doing the draft camp. Actually 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:00.840 I was running the all the testing of the draft is. 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.080 It was out of Waverley. Yeah, yeah, Waverley days. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.600 Yeah, Lawis Pearl Archie heard your shoulder and they said, 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.800 winning someone else to help out. So she's I literally 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.240 did the first bloke he saw. First bloke walked across. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.200 You know, you had no idea I could I could 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.240 have been terrible what I did. And he said, I 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.040 made you want a job, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.239 you know, and I was, I was doing so much 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.120 in my life, It's like, yeah, so I just dropped 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.239 everything and started working at the Bombs. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:26.959 I was at the Bombs part time, still at the 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.520 VS Man. Yeah. Look, it was an unbelievable grounding for me. 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.360 Lauris burl Archie was outstanding. 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:34.760 I got to see some of the best players who 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:36.520 played the game up close so early on. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:37.880 You did your. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.680 Matthew Lloyd's and your Herds and mccury's. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.440 What a time to be involved in late nineties, late 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:43.920 ninety so. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.760 I was, you know, ninety seven just walked through the door, 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.920 which was not a great year for us, and then 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.560 and then ninety eight they were a bit better. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:52.720 And then ninety nine. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.280 Was should have Yeah. 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:58.640 The end of ninety nine, Porter lad knocked on my 0:03:58.720 --> 0:03:59.680 doors twenty. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.240 Two and said, do you want to come and run 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.720 out of program at twenty two years of age, and 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:05.560 I was on holidays with Matex. I was driving in 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.280 the car and driving in the car and I actually 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.560 thought it was pretty funny, you know, but I thought 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.720 there was something about essenon why they lost in ninety nine. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.520 It was so she's made them go to the Grand 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.520 Final ovious there and watch and a few of us 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.320 stuff with them, and it was extraordinary impact had on 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:25.719 that group. And then I remember going back to the 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.320 pullman after it. Yeah, and she's office and. 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.279 He certainly spent more time than there. He still does, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.800 and he got him in and basically said, that's this group. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:41.560 You know that was embarrassing today. You know, they sat 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:42.320 there and the. 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.120 Crag got stuck into him and they were the shreds really, 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.400 you know, and the players hated it, but it was 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.000 part of that drive and obviously been part of a 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.719 few groups that have done some pretty special stuff. That 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:01.320 group was that determined and so they approached the preparation 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:02.520 like lunatics. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:03.720 Like that, wele lunatics. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:05.520 You stay there, you get the premiership. But they come 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.280 knocking again, don't they. The year after, I. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.000 Still don't know Rob Snowden, no idea, you knew someone 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.680 at Essen and he rings me up again and I said, 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:18.880 I said what I said, Well, he rings me up 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:20.040 and I had an interview with Choco. 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:24.080 Wouldhel Welsh so imposing characters to have interview with. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.880 So I walked in and I'm so young and raw 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:33.000 and brash or not not not not brash, just I 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.040 thought I had a good understanding of what I thought 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.320 the game should be and and part of that was 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.880 based on Essendon, and part of it was based on well, 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.400 I want to grab what they did and do, and 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.520 I then want to build on that because I thought 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:46.480 there were things that that could be. 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:47.039 Done as well. 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:53.360 So and I remember sitting and and Chocko, as we knows, 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:54.960 you know, this is the way the game is, this 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.560 is what it's going be played, and I said, I 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.720 don't agree with that. I think this is the way 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.160 the games going, you know, and she's like, you know, really, 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.320 I made a decision. I remember thinking I'm going to 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.520 live and die by the sword here. I'm either walking 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.520 out the door and they do not want anything to 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:15.479 do with me and I'm done, or they might like it. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.080 And so I learned a lot. I stood up to 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.560 what I thought where the game was going. 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:22.760 Which was what well. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.080 I came from a middle distance running background, so I'm saying, 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.400 you know, bring bring some science and physiology to this game. 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.520 And for me, it was a blend of speed, repeat 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.800 speed with a layer of endurance. And so at that 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.719 time back in the AFL, because we're going from semi 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.520 professional to professional, so a lot. 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.840 Has changed in that time of the century. Teams were 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.279 very speed orientated, or teams were very durance orientated. So 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:47.880 I went to a. 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.920 Football club, Port Adelaide that was very endurance, done a 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:52.880 lot of endurance work. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.679 So I knew that. I worked that out. I did research. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.840 So I said, well, we can make it. Put a 0:06:58.880 --> 0:06:59.120 lot of. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.919 Speed, repeat speed, the John Quinn stuff, and then and 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.560 then maintain these Arabic qualities and then build on that. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.400 I think we've got a great product. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.600 I went down to the track I got and so anyway, 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.120 Choco and Phil obviously you know there's something in what 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.440 they heard. And I realized then the truck, I need 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.720 to be chalanced, like I had to go at him 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.600 smartly at the right time, pick the moment. 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.400 But and he was. He was extraordinary to me, Like 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:27.960 I mean, for. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.239 Someone who'd never done anything in the game. The amount 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.600 he backed me in was it because the players are 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.120 older than me. I walk in there, the players are 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.560 older them and Walsh as well, I mean those two. 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.600 I mean, that's the reason it worked for me because 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.040 they backed me to the hill. Just like if any 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.080 criticism kind of my way to bang, they just shut 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:45.960 it down straight away. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.720 So would they confront you or challenge you behind closed doors? 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.520 But then in front of the players, this. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.960 Is our man. And I remember I went down to 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:54.560 the running. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.840 Track, I got the job. Breught Montgomery said, mate, where 0:07:57.840 --> 0:07:58.480 a debarcle? 0:07:58.560 --> 0:07:59.640 You know what are you gonna come? What are you 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:01.680 doing to us? I went to the and best and 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.800 Ferris and I just won it. And I hope people 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.960 come up to you for realsk your case. Are you doing? 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.800 What are you doing? And I'm like, I had no idea. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.320 I walked in the first training session and just come 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.320 from Cedon Too, supposedly as good a team as ever, 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.960 and I thought, oh my god, how good are these 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.040 How good are their skills? Their skills are better than 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.600 this day one. Really were better than senate skill level. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.440 And if you look back now, you think, well, so 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.800 that's what they became. We became a hard running, highly 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.920 skilled team playing up against Brisbane who were tough and 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.480 ruthless and highly skilled team. And so you know, we 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.360 won whatever was seventy percent of the game. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.160 A coupleships yeah, we. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.240 Lost four games two years in a row, and then 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:53.959 we and then we you know, then we look So 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.360 anyway back to when I got there, I had ten 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.240 weeks of pre season before Christmas in. 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:02.959 The first year, which you might get three or four. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:03.959 And now with the whole group. 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.000 And I what I put them through. I've never put 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:13.160 another group like I went hard, as in as in 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.720 really hard. So people wouldn't believe what we did for 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.400 a training week. And this is the ridiculous of us. 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.480 Very very quickly, on Monday we do like this repeat 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:25.400 speed hard track like fast and hard. Monday afternoon we 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:30.280 do light skills waits. Tuesday morning we would do like 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:37.040 an individual needs session aerobic session running was half the group. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.360 Tuesday afternoon's main skills. Tuesday night the midfielders. We then 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.440 go and play at the local touch rugby in the park, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:50.080 so we Josh cars Do Franco and Nick Stevens. We 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.800 go and play against the public and play seventy seven. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.720 For fun or for skill, for skill fitness like it 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.000 was part of the training. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:00.959 Then Wednesday we want to back up. We do a 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.720 two hour aerobic like big aerobic running in sand dune'es. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.320 Thursday was our Friday, we did two sessions speed power skills, 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.200 and then Saturday morning we did a massive, big up 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.440 to fifteen k running session and then the guys who 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.880 were in good shape, we then ride our bikes up 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.280 Mount Lofty get home at lunchtime. 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:20.080 That's not happening these days. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:21.240 And so what. 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.720 Happened is we had an unbelievably fit. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.320 Group, but we broke some blokes as well, and so 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.120 we had some guys we had quite a few grown injuries. 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:31.360 So we had seventy five percent and the were in 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.360 an amazing shape, twenty five cent broken. So then I 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.600 had to tweak and change. And the latest year I 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:39.920 was there was four. That was our lightest training program. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.839 Yeah, because you've got and fit by that stage as well, 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.000 or because that was the right way. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:43.080 To do it. 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.520 No, well, it was like, well, it became very It 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.400 was like I knew what each individual needed. It was 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.240 like he needs more, he needs less, you know, because 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.480 then it's not about you got to get him into 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.280 good shape. There's one thing getting a team in good shape, 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:55.920 and then it's actually getting him to play well at 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.959 the end of the year. And there's that's different, you know, 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.079 And that's hard to do winning. 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.520 And I remember a couple of games. I remember a 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:04.800 couple of games where. 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:07.439 I put more work into on a Thursday, I said, chocko, 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.440 you know, and one we lost and one we just 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:11.560 got over the line and difference. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.120 Between the top two and top four and not. 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:17.640 And I skirted the edges that many times load and 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.439 most of the time got away with it and then 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:21.760 page your back later on. 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:23.800 But it's a fine line. 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:25.280 And that a bit of it's like a bit of 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:26.760 its science, a bit of it, as you say, he's 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.000 knowing how good the group is, the team you're playing against, 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.640 Like tell us that the mix of that across twenty 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.079 five years, because it's because when you get it wrong, it's. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:35.280 You know, you get it really badly wrong. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.920 No, you do, you do, And there plenty have got 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.559 it wrong. And I've been part of that getting it wrong. 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:42.960 But you know what, You've got to get it wrong 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.160 to know how to get it right. You have to 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.679 be pushing the envelope. You have to find out their 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.160 breaking limits. You have to, and you've got to work 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.440 out whether they're whether they can do it, because you 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:58.240 can't win it unless you know, because they know how 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.400 hard they can push. So there's real psychology unit as 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:02.880 much as there's physiology in it. 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:04.800 You've got to make them believe. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:07.160 You have to make the mental sides every bit is 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.320 important as the physical side in a lot of ways. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.280 Too absolutely, I mean, but it builds together. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.640 You know, you want to build resilience, Yes, becomes where 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.840 you only build resilience by doing the work and knowing 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:22.120 where your breaking point is. And so I was really 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:26.360 comfortable pushing the envelope, really comfortable knowing that, guess what, 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.080 every now and then you're going to be criticized, but 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.920 in the big picture, you're going to get more wins 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.160 than losses. And and so then as I went through 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.840 my journey at the clubs, I learned which players I 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.520 couldn't which players I couldn't. So remember, you know, going 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.000 into the final series at Hawthorne, it's just like, these 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.320 guys need work, like they threw live off it. 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.640 So in the end the program ended up going like 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.600 this in the second half of the year. So injury 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:51.440 forms some of that. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.440 It's just like and the benefit of players getting injured 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.880 in season is huge if you get the right top 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.400 of injury, because you then go back and do some 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.520 top up conditioning work and the top up conditioning work, 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:05.760 and I think Richmond, I've spoken to their guys. They 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:07.840 reckon they won one based on a lot of injuries. 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.760 I think a lot of injuries in the year. They 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.280 came back and they're fresh, fresh because you haven't played 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.079 a lot of and physically you've done the work. Hawthorne 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:20.520 and fourteen were a bit like that. Yeah, very stories 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.800 go back. Probably calves are the big ones carves because 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.960 you can't run, but their hardest one she was Hammis 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:28.839 you can run them. There's a lot of injuries you 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.000 can run, so if you can run. It was like, 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:36.480 you know, Born Picket heard his shoulder in four did 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.679 a collar bone, so he's out for eight weeks, ten weeks. 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.960 He wasn't in good shape and basically me and Clark 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:44.640 grabbed him. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:49.160 Clark and said, you know what, we are going to 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.160 train this guy like he's never trained in his life 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:55.680 before and probably struggled a little bit with the physically 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.479 and what we've got him down to forty eight skin folds, 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:00.240 which is phenomen well. 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.439 Would he have been at to start that eight week period. 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:05.920 I think he was about seventy and then he went 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:11.439 to Melbourne. I remember the Melbourne Yeah, yeah, right when 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.679 he left. Yeah, So we would training twice a day. 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:17.920 We'd going to the hills. We'd ride bikes in the mountains. 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:19.720 We're walking up and down the hills. We would just 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.960 we just we just we are not going to give 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:24.440 him it out. 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.160 And guess what, he loved it. He just turned up, 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.120 you know, choppy. If you didn't times turn up, wouldn't 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.960 turn up. If your times turn up at five a m. 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.680 Eleven am, two pm, six pm, He'd be there every 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:38.320 single time. 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:39.240 He loved the routine of it. 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:39.960 I love the routine. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.840 Hewed to win the Norms with battle on, you know, 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:44.480 one of the biggest. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.880 You know, so there are some there are some benefits, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.000 but your team's got to win enough. 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:50.360 You talked about essen of blokes training like lunatics. Mark 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:52.480 Chocko Wims is lunatic in the best possible way. It 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.240 give us your best Chucko's story if you think about 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.800 the you know, those crazy years I like. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.520 To make certainly our major sponsor are in the phone 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:09.040 and Alan Scott's You're wrong. His passion for the game 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:14.280 and his passion like every moment of every day just 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.680 came out so and he and he just and he 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:17.720 wanted perfection. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:18.760 He wanted perfection. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:23.520 He's a skill He's a brilliant skill coach, right absolutely, 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:28.840 how he teaches players skill of the game and breaks 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:29.520 the game down. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.200 Did you know how good he was going to be? 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.840 And how did it eventuate that he became the Hawthorne 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:34.880 coach and you came with him? 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:35.240 Yeah? 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.320 Yeah, Look he was so when we travel into state 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.560 when he was assistant coach, he would basically find the 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.680 best coach, the most high profile person, someone he could 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.760 learn off when he's on the road, and he. 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.840 Would ring anyone. He would just find a number, I mean, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:53.320 just whoever. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:16:00.760 It was his first and drive was enormous, enormous, So 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:03.400 if he was going to fail, he was going to 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.200 fail going down swinging that was in really like he 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.920 puts so much energy into it, working on his craft, 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.120 to getting the latest knowledge. He didn't care where we 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.440 got it from, get it from anywhere around the world. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:17.800 I'll grab it and then i will adapt it to 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.040 this game and my players, and then I'll make him believe. 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.360 So he went in and you know, and what he 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:24.960 did was really smart. He went in and he went 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.120 in with a plan. He went in with a this 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:28.600 is how the game is going to be played, which 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.440 is a bit different to what it was being played. 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.200 He sold it unbelievably well to my knowledge. And he 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:35.680 went in selling that he's got this. 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.440 Group of people around, which was the key to the 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:39.000 people around. 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.840 Yeah, the group here is my group. I trust him 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:45.160 and we're going at it. 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.000 And did you have you on board at that stage? 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:49.480 Well he did verbally? 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:52.360 How did you he did verbally? 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.880 How did you break it to CHOCKO, I'm out of here? 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.000 Well there's actually a really good sort. I changed my mind, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.040 so I completely fluffed it. So I said yes to Clarko. 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.040 I wasn't. I didn't probably think you get the job. 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:06.600 I think he could do the job and do an 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.119 unbelievable job. But like everyone was just like geez, the 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.679 chances are low. Port adelaid that stuffed me around, not 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.320 giving me a contract. They offered me five thousand dollars 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.040 more to stay, and I wasn't getting paid much at all, Like, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.400 will hang on, this is ridiculous, This is like a 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:23.719 round sixteen or fifteen or whatever. I was a bit 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.560 like come on, you know, like that's a bit of respect. 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.359 So I said I'll take my chances. See Clark, I 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.520 jumped in very very smart the way he does it. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:33.680 And then I. 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:35.639 Changed my mind after we win the Grand Final. So 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:36.920 I just had a verbal agreement. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.120 Changed my mind terrible. 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:44.000 The emotion got me so and the reason so the 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:45.760 way I changed my mind was on the Monday after 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:50.480 the Grand Final, We're at the pub and I said, Chuck, 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.800 I'm leaving and he said, no, you're not, and. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.320 So Chocko Welsh. 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:04.200 Phil Welsh, the CEO Matthew Primus basically bundled me into 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.679 a car, grabbed me and said on the Monday. On 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.439 the Monday, So Monday afternoon when the boys they basically 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:10.680 grabbed me, pulled me back to the. 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.280 Father and said well you're not going. You're not going anywhere. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:18.360 And so they offered me a shipload more money, and 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.840 I got caught up a bit in that as a 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.119 young bloker wasn't getting paid much all as well. In 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:27.720 the end I went to Hawthorne for a lot less 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.600 than Hawthorne did not change anything off. 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:38.800 So anyway, I really say he goes berserk. Jason dunstill 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:39.199 rings me. 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.920 He was the CEO who had been dealing with he 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.520 rings me on the Tuesday night after the Grand Final. 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.880 And he says, he you've changed my mind. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:54.760 Yeah, And he says, I hear all these people say 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:59.159 good things about you. I think you're the biggest in 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.320 the world. You tell me you're a person of integrity. 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.040 Well I think yeah, yeah, He. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.679 Goes, I'll make my mind up tomorrow. I'll be at 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:10.399 your place seven o'clock in the morning. All right, So 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:14.200 this is Tuesday night. Next morning, seven o'clock. Bang on 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.240 the door. Dunster walks through. Clark I walks through. Damian Hardware, 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.440 walks through the door, right straight through the door. Didn't 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.400 look at me, did nothing. Dunstill gets the phone, gets 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.960 Choco's number up, chucks it at me, and he says, 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:31.159 we're happy to be here for five minutes, so. 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.159 We'll stay here all day. We don't care. You're going 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:34.480 to ring him. You made a deal with me, You 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:35.199 made a deal with us. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:37.240 You said you were coming if you're a man of integrity, 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:38.840 ring Choco and you were telling them that you're coming 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.560 right now, that's incredible. 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.960 What take long? Take a long? 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:47.040 Well? 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.600 Yeah, well they went to the draft. I was booked 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.080 for the draft camp for two clubs. 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:52.960 And so then there's a story that you know, basically 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.399 run into each other. Choco runs into some Dunstall and 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.159 Clark go in this little mini stairwells. 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.040 That physically runs into almost I had a bit. 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:05.119 Of a confrontation. So yeah, so that's so then I 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.600 got worn. I was very happy to be in the end. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.400 I would have been happy to stay at Port Adelaide. 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.960 I loved that. I love the players, I love the club, 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:13.720 you know. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.920 And then we and then we started a Hawthorne and 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.520 the whole football department is new, like I don't think 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.360 that's ever happened in the game. It certainly might happen again. 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:23.920 Every single person in the food department. 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:26.480 So it's a blank canvas, which is exciting. 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:28.840 And you might walk into a club that has had 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:32.280 turmoil for you know, I mean unbelievable. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.320 So Parker said, I'll go and get my people. You 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:36.960 and go. You go and get your people. You get 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:38.320 the medical guys, you get the physio. 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.520 So that's you know, the great relationship with Andrew Lambert 0:20:41.840 --> 0:20:43.879 who's still there today, which is amazing. 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.240 David mcraths a biomechanist, different perspectives at. 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.720 That stage, so you know, we had Peter McCue the doctor, 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.800 and we had Michael mcdeesey, you know, in that relationship, 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.480 you know, Michael mcdecy Andrew Lambert the physio, me. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:05.240 And my was unbelievably, unbelievably. 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.959 Unbelievably strong for those players. And then that connection with 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.400 Clarko and the footing manager. You know, over the years, 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.160 Mark Evans stepped in, who's gone on to do great. 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.320 Mcdish's the AFL Chief medical officer. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.480 Just good, but it was it was, it was. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:25.879 It was a robust environment, but respectful but robust and 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.680 everyone and everyone was happy with someone jumping into their area. 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.760 So the physio'd be happy saying, hanging, mate, you're pushing 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.160 these guys too hard. It's good point I am. I'd 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:36.280 go to him and say, you know that guy's not 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.000 moving that well, he's left tips really stiff. 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:39.760 I think you got do some work on it. And great, 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:41.399 you know, banging and the doctor would be coming it. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.199 So the players knew that we were type, but they 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:45.480 knew they were also. 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:47.320 Really robust behind the scenes. 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.879 But they knew that we had their best interests, you know, 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.840 the valuable lesson Rob Snow and the foody manager and 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:55.520 what When I went there, he said to me, don't 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:57.680 get cut up into the bullshit, don't get care of 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:00.720 from politics. You just need to spend time the players. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.040 Just work on the players bodies and the players' minds. 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.080 That's all I want you to do. Nothing else. Don't 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:08.920 talk to a board member. Yeah, you don't need to 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.840 do about supporter. Don't do anything. No, just do that. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:14.320 And it was brilliant advice. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.080 And that's pretty much what you followed through your footy career. 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:21.080 As I mean, that becomes harder as you go because absolutely, 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:23.879 you know, I'm a no one at the starts and 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.440 no one cares. And then as you go through people 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:28.440 start asking more of you. You start getting drawn in 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.440 different areas. It's just naturally sort of, you know what happens. 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.080 So you want, you want to try different things, and 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.240 you know so that you just naturally get drawn into 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:37.560 other areas. 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:39.800 So how much of what you would say you did 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:41.760 is about the physical stuff and how much that. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:42.320 Is the mind? 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.840 I can't distinguish between the two because they're so into intertwined, you. 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:48.840 Know, they're start intertwined. 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:51.040 And and then it's the on field you know as well, 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:52.560 the physical men I'm very involved. 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:56.320 So you know, at Hawthorne, i'd have an assistant coach every. 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:58.439 Year that would work with me on the program and 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:01.960 the on field program, so Clark I was overseeing it all. 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:04.280 So you know, every I had, you know, I had 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:09.119 had Bevo and then on camera and you know and 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.200 Simo and then every year I had one of them 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.520 and we were basically playing the program together. And so 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.480 that's conditioning, that skills, that's you know, and then they'd 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:19.600 come in and they put their tactical layer on top 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:21.960 of it. But I mean, and I don't know, I 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:24.359 actually don't really know how other clubs do it because 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:26.040 I haven't had a lot to do with the other 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.399 performance guys and how they do whatever is. But you know, 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:30.879 the way that we did in the way I did it, 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.639 and and Trucko completely backed me in and while she 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:39.440 but I was very very connected and around the ball 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:41.920 program as well as very intertwined. 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:42.760 How much and you'd. 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:45.399 Set the parameters, you'd set the you set the parameters 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:47.520 around how long, how often, how long the drill is 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:48.200 going to go for? 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:51.199 You know, what are we trying to get out of it? 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:53.920 And then they come in and coach that drill, so 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:56.159 there is it's hard to know in the end, so 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:00.359 much crossover, that's hard to know who's driving what in 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:03.159 terms of the program. But and I think, you know, 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.760 I think and I think that even the role hob 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:07.359 from his role is not well understood. 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:09.720 So Luke Hodge got up on stage at the Hall 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:10.399 of Fame, I. 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:13.480 Think crawf when spoke to Andrew Russell and said, you're 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:15.480 going to push this kid out of out of football 0:24:16.000 --> 0:24:17.720 and Jack said, I will have to wait and see 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:19.360 because I'm not going easy on him. 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:20.760 So I think that's the care. 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:22.800 And the guy that we had at the football club. 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.040 You had senior blokes who would he would go and 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:27.520 try and step in when they needed to. But I 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:30.120 think what what Andrew Us and Clark I really saw 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:32.080 was they knew how to read me. They knew what 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:33.919 buttons to push and how I respond. 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:35.840 Tell us about the Luke Codge experience. 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:42.800 Luke Hodge was never lazy. Every time he trained, he 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:45.639 trained hard. He just wasn't in good enough shape to 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:48.320 replicate it over and over and over again because the 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:51.600 way that he was living off the field. So he 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.000 was always ruthless and always trained hard. So that never lazy, 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:01.040 but he didn't support it by sleeping well by. 0:25:01.720 --> 0:25:06.119 You know, he did a lot of time, yeah, getting 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:06.520 back home. 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:10.120 So I went harder at Little than I've ever gone 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:12.080 at any anyone. 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:14.480 And there are some players that I've never gone hard at. 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:16.119 So again this is the art. 0:25:16.160 --> 0:25:17.959 There's some players that all I've done is love them 0:25:18.040 --> 0:25:20.680 up and supported them because I know they couldn't deal 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:20.919 with it. 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:21.680 So to get the. 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:23.240 Best out of them is that in the spectrum, to 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:25.360 get out of the best, I just made a decision. 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:28.800 We could see what he was, and you can see 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:30.280 that he was a tough human. You could see was 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:34.080 I think this guy The best way to get it 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:36.960 out of him is to go hard at him, and 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:39.400 not just go hard at him, but go harded him 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:44.560 publicly as within our walls. So and also from my point, 0:25:44.560 --> 0:25:47.320 it's just like if this guy goes harder at the 0:25:47.359 --> 0:25:50.200 captain and one of the best players ship, we're. 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:52.880 Robust because there's no different rules for this guy. 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:55.920 And that's so important because when you're talking to one player, 0:25:55.960 --> 0:25:56.800 you're not talking to one. 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:58.840 Player, you're talking to forty five players. 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:01.199 And every single time you open your mouth, whether that 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:03.520 be in a group situation or there'd be one be one. 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:07.040 You have to expect that that conversation is going to 0:26:07.040 --> 0:26:07.640 go somewhere. 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:09.320 It's a shitty rule. You know. You go hard at 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:10.880 your players and it trickles down all the way. 0:26:11.440 --> 0:26:14.159 How so yeah, so we went so, you know, like 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:16.480 do you come in every summer and you go, all right, mate, 0:26:17.320 --> 0:26:18.280 these are my list. 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:20.639 Of ten weddings and social functions. 0:26:20.720 --> 0:26:23.359 And I said, when you got time to be the 0:26:23.400 --> 0:26:25.400 captain of the foota club, mate, you know, like, here's 0:26:25.400 --> 0:26:28.000 what do you mean? So, well, you're the captain of 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:31.879 the footay club. You know, I don't worry about me, mate, 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.480 I'll be right, they respect me. I said, well they 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:37.240 might now, yeah, but you know you've got to prepare 0:26:37.359 --> 0:26:40.120 or to do. So we'd have this negotiation every time. 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:42.600 We have this negotiation all the way through. So it 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:45.440 was a negotiation and he loved it, and he knew 0:26:45.480 --> 0:26:46.840 that that was part of it, and I knew it 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:48.920 was part of it. So he'd start there and we'd 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:51.440 end up somewhere. I'd start there and we'd end up 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:55.360 somewhere in the middle. But it ended up being really enjoyable. 0:26:55.320 --> 0:26:56.560 And then they're all. 0:26:56.400 --> 0:26:59.199 Different as well. You know, like Sam Mitchell comes in 0:26:59.240 --> 0:27:01.720 and say, mister, it just sucks me dry. You know, 0:27:01.720 --> 0:27:02.919 it's just like I'm going to get what I can 0:27:02.920 --> 0:27:04.680 get out of this bloke. And then after the first 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:06.560 four five he's like, I've got everything I need him 0:27:06.800 --> 0:27:09.040 and do it myself now. And so then we sort 0:27:09.040 --> 0:27:11.439 of became friends, you know, like we' Kevin friends and 0:27:11.440 --> 0:27:14.280 he goes, I don't need that anymore. But he was 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:17.120 just like in my office every single days, just every 0:27:17.440 --> 0:27:21.600 day was the same to lunatic knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, knowledge 0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:24.000 and knowledge thirstirs How can I get better? 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:27.320 How can this bloke help me? Hodgi, like Hodgie is 0:27:27.359 --> 0:27:30.480 still walking them office at the end. So what's the 0:27:30.520 --> 0:27:32.960 plan today? How what's the intensity? How hard do you 0:27:32.960 --> 0:27:33.680 think it should train? 0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:36.080 You know, you think of this guy, he's been doing 0:27:36.119 --> 0:27:38.280 it for a long time, but he just wanted to 0:27:38.280 --> 0:27:40.800 have the conversation around which drills do I go hard in? 0:27:40.920 --> 0:27:43.720 Because a lot of players in season especially we'll do 0:27:43.800 --> 0:27:45.800 the you know, creepers like this. 0:27:45.840 --> 0:27:48.160 It's like, all right, well, what are we going after today? 0:27:48.520 --> 0:27:50.400 This is where I'm at physically, this is where I'm 0:27:50.440 --> 0:27:54.520 at psychologically. I think I need more work today or 0:27:54.680 --> 0:27:57.040 I might go yes or no based on the data 0:27:57.080 --> 0:27:58.560 and knowing them. 0:27:58.760 --> 0:28:01.440 So Hodgi, you always wanted to have that conversation. 0:28:01.520 --> 0:28:03.760 But I do remember a couple of times I thought 0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:05.440 I've reckoned, I've gone. 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:08.760 I think Crawf did say once come and had a 0:28:08.840 --> 0:28:09.199 chat to you. 0:28:09.560 --> 0:28:11.520 He walked in my office said Jack, mate, what are 0:28:11.520 --> 0:28:15.720 you doing now now? Which is interesting because what Crawf 0:28:15.800 --> 0:28:17.320 was saying is a little bit about Hodgy, but it's 0:28:17.320 --> 0:28:20.199 a bit about him. He didn't respond to that, And 0:28:20.280 --> 0:28:23.359 so me and Crawf are very different. I didn't do 0:28:23.440 --> 0:28:25.159 anywhere near I didn't. I mean he didn't need to. 0:28:25.200 --> 0:28:29.760 He's professional, he's switched on, his meticulous, he's all these things. 0:28:29.760 --> 0:28:31.280 It's just like say, he's like, well, why would you 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:33.560 do that to someone? Because that doesn't work for me. 0:28:33.600 --> 0:28:36.199 So I had to say, mate, that works. You're different, 0:28:36.560 --> 0:28:37.280 so don't put you. 0:28:37.200 --> 0:28:37.880 All leans on it. 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:40.160 So what was the pandrop moment for Luke coach. 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:46.320 The twenty the twenty first the. 0:28:48.000 --> 0:28:53.320 Spider Ever at twenty first. 0:28:51.600 --> 0:28:54.680 Where he yeah, that was the moment. That was the 0:28:54.720 --> 0:28:55.400 moment and. 0:28:55.520 --> 0:28:57.320 He explained that a bit more to us about that. 0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:02.920 Well, well he got you know, he got drawn into 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:06.480 a you know, do a drinking session the night before. 0:29:07.120 --> 0:29:10.000 He then ends up being late, you know, the next 0:29:10.080 --> 0:29:13.120 day for training. Van is trying to get him Richie 0:29:13.160 --> 0:29:17.160 Vandenburg couldn't get onto him, comes in late. One thing 0:29:17.200 --> 0:29:22.080 about Hawthorne is our standards were ridiculously high. As in 0:29:22.120 --> 0:29:25.920 the basics, turn up on time, respecting each other, respect it. 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:28.280 Like it was really simple stuff but really effective. 0:29:28.320 --> 0:29:31.000 So if you're a big name player and you didn't 0:29:31.040 --> 0:29:33.120 turn up or you turn up late, it was a 0:29:33.200 --> 0:29:37.040 big and everyone knew why. So I was just like, well, 0:29:37.080 --> 0:29:39.400 what are you going to do about it? So what 0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:40.719 are you going to do? You know, I mean, what 0:29:40.720 --> 0:29:42.640 are you going to do about it? As a group 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.080 of people, so it was pretty robust, you know, I 0:29:46.120 --> 0:29:48.720 was pretty strong. It was very strong, and it was 0:29:48.760 --> 0:29:51.680 all about it's all about how good could this guy be? 0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:54.920 That good enough? You know, just being good is not 0:29:54.920 --> 0:29:57.440 It was just like, we feel we've got someone. 0:29:57.280 --> 0:30:00.479 Who can be great in our midst and so our 0:30:00.520 --> 0:30:03.960 responsibility is to help that person to be great, and 0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:05.920 so someone get them there. Some of them get them 0:30:06.160 --> 0:30:08.880 there themselves. They don't need anyone, so just let them go. 0:30:09.520 --> 0:30:12.720 Whereas Hodgy for a period of time needed others before 0:30:12.800 --> 0:30:15.120 he then drove it himself because he got there. 0:30:15.840 --> 0:30:19.960 Stuart ju you're getting back playing footy when he probably 0:30:20.360 --> 0:30:22.320 was well and truly well done. Wasn't he was over 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:27.040 and was gone twelve kilos a fraction more, wasn't he? 0:30:27.280 --> 0:30:30.800 We played at one hundred ninety nine on Grand Final day. 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:35.080 So so the getting him back to the club was 0:30:35.080 --> 0:30:37.880 a great and Clarko was a driver without doubt. 0:30:37.960 --> 0:30:40.240 Chris Pelchin, the list boss, was not keen. It's fair 0:30:40.240 --> 0:30:41.840 to say no, and why would you be. 0:30:42.200 --> 0:30:44.640 You know, a guy says I'm done, I finished. Most 0:30:44.640 --> 0:30:47.560 of the time they've done their finished. So it was 0:30:47.600 --> 0:30:49.720 the September, the August. 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:51.960 Of the year before he drafted. I walked down to 0:30:52.000 --> 0:30:52.440 the cafe. 0:30:52.720 --> 0:30:57.640 Clarko sitting in the cafe with someone I didn't recognize them, 0:30:57.800 --> 0:31:00.360 and he walks past and he used to you know, 0:31:00.440 --> 0:31:02.160 he called me Scotty and I called him Scotty. 0:31:02.200 --> 0:31:03.360 I don't even know why. 0:31:03.600 --> 0:31:07.040 And clark I goes, Scotty, it's Scotty, it's Scotty Jew 0:31:07.440 --> 0:31:10.320 and I'm like, no, bullshit, it is not that is 0:31:10.360 --> 0:31:11.400 not Stewie Jude. 0:31:11.720 --> 0:31:14.000 What the hell, what's going on? 0:31:14.040 --> 0:31:14.280 Mate? 0:31:14.320 --> 0:31:19.160 You know, like I don't even recognize you. He you know, 0:31:19.240 --> 0:31:24.160 he wasn't in great physical shape. And Clark I said, 0:31:24.200 --> 0:31:25.120 he's going to play football. 0:31:25.120 --> 0:31:26.320 I said, oh, you're fucking kidding. 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:28.840 Just seriously, there is no way that you were playing 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:29.720 football next year. 0:31:29.800 --> 0:31:31.000 How long have you been out of the game. A 0:31:31.040 --> 0:31:31.600 couple of years? 0:31:32.040 --> 0:31:33.920 I think it was a couple of years. And so 0:31:34.040 --> 0:31:35.960 I said, okay, literally, I'm sitting there, I said, Clark, 0:31:36.000 --> 0:31:39.240 I look like I've got so much going on that 0:31:39.320 --> 0:31:42.040 if he can get down to this way, do not 0:31:42.120 --> 0:31:44.720 run a step. All right, he's got to walk, he's 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:47.120 got a bike ride, and he cannot run. Do not 0:31:47.200 --> 0:31:50.400 run until he gets to this point. And at this point, 0:31:50.480 --> 0:31:53.680 I'm now in. So I goes a good deal. So 0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:56.000 clark I goes to work with him. Clarko is the 0:31:56.040 --> 0:31:57.600 one that goes for walks with him, goes for bike 0:31:57.720 --> 0:31:59.040 rides with him. It's not send him off with the 0:31:59.040 --> 0:32:00.960 rehab coach. It's not and him off. And that's the thing, 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:04.120 and that's the thing that Clarko did, and that we did. 0:32:04.640 --> 0:32:07.840 Everything that the players did, we did we did with him. 0:32:08.320 --> 0:32:09.920 You know, we did it when we go down the 0:32:09.920 --> 0:32:11.719 beach and we jump in the water and those famous 0:32:11.720 --> 0:32:13.320 sessions where we jump in the water and all that. 0:32:13.240 --> 0:32:13.840 Sort of stuff. 0:32:14.120 --> 0:32:16.920 We get in there with them and all investing with them, 0:32:16.960 --> 0:32:18.440 and a lot of the time, to be honest, you know, 0:32:18.440 --> 0:32:20.000 there's a great story went down after the Best and 0:32:20.040 --> 0:32:22.960 Fairest in twenty ten. I me and Clark, I jumped 0:32:22.960 --> 0:32:25.800 in first, and it's like we're in first at four 0:32:25.840 --> 0:32:26.560 o'clock in the morning. 0:32:26.640 --> 0:32:29.560 Yeah, Clark tops off at Barnica Oval. You know, that's 0:32:29.560 --> 0:32:30.200 what I'm going to do. 0:32:30.240 --> 0:32:30.480 Boys. 0:32:31.400 --> 0:32:33.560 One of his gifts was just like, I'm in this 0:32:33.680 --> 0:32:36.040 as much as you know, as much as you're in this. 0:32:37.560 --> 0:32:39.000 So how much way did he have to drop to 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:40.680 actually start running. 0:32:43.600 --> 0:32:45.080 Twenty Yeah? 0:32:45.160 --> 0:32:45.520 Really? 0:32:45.680 --> 0:32:46.080 Wow? 0:32:46.600 --> 0:32:49.240 And so then I got involved and he did it, 0:32:49.280 --> 0:32:51.400 and he really committed, and he committed hard and he 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:54.480 had a real crack and so then then we got 0:32:54.560 --> 0:32:57.479 him from that down to he was still above he's 0:32:57.480 --> 0:32:59.720 playing way to Portado. But it was pretty decent, you know, 0:32:59.760 --> 0:33:03.440 it was. It was pretty good. And his best day 0:33:03.560 --> 0:33:04.040 was gread. 0:33:03.880 --> 0:33:16.640 Final And that's part of folklore, now, isn't it. Dewey 0:33:16.640 --> 0:33:18.719 and Cyril and what they are able to do. It's 0:33:18.840 --> 0:33:21.640 quite remarkable. Did Bud Buddy have an issue through that 0:33:22.120 --> 0:33:23.520 final series as well, did he ever? 0:33:23.600 --> 0:33:25.760 Yeah, so eight. 0:33:27.560 --> 0:33:29.240 Thursday, so we used to do a goal kicking session 0:33:29.240 --> 0:33:30.880 for Thursday mornings before we then go out and train 0:33:30.960 --> 0:33:34.360 on Thursday. So Thursday, Thursday lunchtime is the main session 0:33:34.360 --> 0:33:39.719 where everyone comes to watch. But on that day Hawthorne 0:33:39.760 --> 0:33:42.200 hadn't been for a long time, so ten thousand people 0:33:42.280 --> 0:33:44.800 rock up at seven o'clock in the morning. Bud goes 0:33:44.800 --> 0:33:47.600 out for his normal kicking session. I never went down 0:33:47.640 --> 0:33:49.840 for that session, but I look out and I see 0:33:49.840 --> 0:33:52.080 everyone cheering and he's kicking goal. 0:33:51.960 --> 0:33:54.440 From sixty on the run. Alright, he's putting on the show. 0:33:54.600 --> 0:33:56.720 Come down, Bud and the entertain. 0:33:56.600 --> 0:33:58.640 I'm thinking, well, he's entertaining, there's nothing wrong with that. 0:33:59.680 --> 0:34:01.400 He can come in and sits in the team meeting 0:34:01.400 --> 0:34:04.560 before we go and train straight after it. And I 0:34:04.680 --> 0:34:06.600 catch his eye because I used to stand on the 0:34:06.640 --> 0:34:08.319 side of the room and he's at the in the 0:34:08.360 --> 0:34:10.920 back row, center of the back row, like you know, 0:34:10.960 --> 0:34:13.160 I'm the man, although he didn't want to be the man, 0:34:13.160 --> 0:34:15.000 but he's still sat in the seat that said you 0:34:15.040 --> 0:34:16.000 want to be the man. 0:34:16.160 --> 0:34:18.880 And he looks at me and I'm thinking, I know 0:34:19.000 --> 0:34:20.080 that look from Bud. 0:34:20.480 --> 0:34:24.120 He's no good, as in something's happened and physically he's 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:27.440 no good. So he walks up to me and says 0:34:27.440 --> 0:34:30.080 to me straight after the meeting, I think of tom 0:34:30.120 --> 0:34:34.800 My hamstring. This is This is eleven o'clock on Thursday 0:34:34.800 --> 0:34:36.200 morning before Grand Final day. 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:38.319 So we went out to. 0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:40.879 Train and I said, and I said that it's it's 0:34:40.920 --> 0:34:43.759 the only time I've ever lied in match committee or 0:34:43.800 --> 0:34:46.000 to a coach and said what I didn't believe in 0:34:46.280 --> 0:34:48.640 all right, because I thought he'd injured himself all the 0:34:48.680 --> 0:34:50.400 tests he went in the physio room every test. 0:34:50.160 --> 0:34:53.120 Said that he's done his hamstring all right. So we said, 0:34:53.120 --> 0:34:54.840 all right, during training, Crody's going to be on the 0:34:54.840 --> 0:34:55.520 side of training. 0:34:55.640 --> 0:34:57.239 So you're just going to stand there and do touch 0:34:57.400 --> 0:35:01.280 with Crody and don't train, don't around at all, all right. 0:35:01.160 --> 0:35:02.880 And then we'll send you for an m RS. So training, 0:35:03.440 --> 0:35:04.880 no one because he'd been kicking. 0:35:04.719 --> 0:35:07.319 Goal from everything in the morning, no one picked up 0:35:07.320 --> 0:35:09.680 and he didn't train or they must have thought that 0:35:09.760 --> 0:35:12.359 was just the plan. So no one kneowre think and 0:35:12.440 --> 0:35:14.360 so and we said, well that's a plan for Crody. 0:35:14.400 --> 0:35:15.520 He didn't train last week. 0:35:15.440 --> 0:35:17.600 So no one really made a big deal about so 0:35:18.320 --> 0:35:20.480 no one knew anything. He goes to get the mr right. 0:35:20.560 --> 0:35:22.600 I go to match committ at one o'clock and I said, oh, 0:35:22.680 --> 0:35:25.520 buzz a bit, tiny's hammy. He's going to be okay. 0:35:25.719 --> 0:35:27.520 You know, we're just going to do a surveillance scan. 0:35:28.680 --> 0:35:29.440 He's going to be all right. 0:35:30.080 --> 0:35:34.800 And he went to get the scan and I just 0:35:34.840 --> 0:35:36.240 had the worst two hours of my life. 0:35:36.760 --> 0:35:40.600 Yeah, the big dogs out, you know, the big dogs out, 0:35:41.440 --> 0:35:43.360 and it's going to come back on to me because I. 0:35:43.320 --> 0:35:45.400 Didn't because I allowed him to do it, do it 0:35:45.719 --> 0:35:46.560 and I wasn't down there. 0:35:46.560 --> 0:35:49.800 And anyway, so I'm on the I'm on the freeway 0:35:49.920 --> 0:35:52.640 driving home. I remember exactly where I was, and the 0:35:52.719 --> 0:35:57.239 doctor rings me and Peter mccuee and Peter's Peter's like 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:02.399 I said, Pete just tot to the chase. I'm thinking, 0:36:02.440 --> 0:36:03.799 this is going to be the worst ten seconds of 0:36:03.840 --> 0:36:04.280 my life. 0:36:04.640 --> 0:36:09.520 He goes, there's nothing there, There's nothing there to see. 0:36:10.280 --> 0:36:13.680 So ninety nine that lost the prelim there obviously drives Essendon. 0:36:14.280 --> 0:36:16.560 The loss of a Grand final drives you know, Hawthorne 0:36:16.600 --> 0:36:18.880 to Great Heights fatter, say. 0:36:19.160 --> 0:36:22.320 Ah, without well there was the prelium and the Grand Final. 0:36:22.520 --> 0:36:25.000 Yeah, and probably especially because two and twelve and the 0:36:25.040 --> 0:36:26.359 boys talked about this all the time, is the best 0:36:26.360 --> 0:36:28.480 way Hawthorne played. You know, that was the best in 0:36:28.560 --> 0:36:32.440 that whole period period outside of Grand Final Day fourteen 0:36:32.560 --> 0:36:37.520 fifteen pretty special days. Outside of those two days, which 0:36:37.560 --> 0:36:39.360 are the best two days of the year that that 0:36:39.480 --> 0:36:43.960 team performed two that was the best year. Like just 0:36:44.000 --> 0:36:48.719 a dominant, dominant team for a lot of the year. Yeah, 0:36:48.719 --> 0:36:51.000 but yeah, look, we had a couple of themes that 0:36:51.080 --> 0:36:54.080 ran out. We had Navy Seal theme during that year. 0:36:54.160 --> 0:36:54.600 You know that. 0:36:54.719 --> 0:36:57.440 Probably you know, the players got a little bit si 0:36:57.680 --> 0:36:59.880 by the end of it. 0:37:00.000 --> 0:37:02.200 We've been going hard, we've been playing hard. We didn't 0:37:02.239 --> 0:37:04.680 rest many players. You know, we learned. 0:37:04.800 --> 0:37:08.240 We learned a lot in fifteen twenty fifteen, the last 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:11.280 eight games of the year, we lost two games. 0:37:11.280 --> 0:37:13.120 Two of the players played on Grand Final Day. 0:37:13.200 --> 0:37:15.560 We had two games lost to injury for eight weeks 0:37:16.120 --> 0:37:19.680 and we rested six players, so we had eight games 0:37:19.680 --> 0:37:21.920 and Sam Mitchell was sick once, so we had nine 0:37:22.080 --> 0:37:25.879 games lost from that twenty two in the last eight weeks. 0:37:26.160 --> 0:37:27.000 And as I. 0:37:27.000 --> 0:37:29.239 Said, only two of them were enforced that we got 0:37:29.280 --> 0:37:30.359 to manage the rest of them. 0:37:30.640 --> 0:37:33.759 So we were always for top four, never never to 0:37:33.800 --> 0:37:34.239 be on top. 0:37:34.680 --> 0:37:37.399 We would rather have managed the group and get them 0:37:37.440 --> 0:37:41.040 there in health and finished fourth and then win it 0:37:41.040 --> 0:37:44.280 from there. Then worried there was no ego associate finishing 0:37:44.280 --> 0:37:46.719 on top, preferred not to you know what I mean, 0:37:47.200 --> 0:37:49.080 just what We've got to manage this and a lot 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:51.480 of those years were really challenging, and that we weren't 0:37:51.600 --> 0:37:53.279 in the upper restelong until the end. 0:37:53.400 --> 0:37:56.600 But you peaked at the right time, peak with availabilities. 0:37:56.239 --> 0:37:58.799 With availability and there and so we got to know 0:37:58.840 --> 0:38:01.080 those players particularly well, you know, like and that many 0:38:01.440 --> 0:38:04.040 the Michael with d C Andrew Lambert, Yeah, you know 0:38:04.360 --> 0:38:07.120 myself and you know other you know Blue Boy. 0:38:07.640 --> 0:38:10.200 You know. It's great merriment and there's a heap and 0:38:10.239 --> 0:38:11.000 heap of those guys have. 0:38:10.960 --> 0:38:13.480 Gone on the workman gone on to run another AFL programs, 0:38:13.480 --> 0:38:15.080 which has given me a lot of joy as well. 0:38:15.120 --> 0:38:17.319 You know, the guys. Peter Burge has done an amazing job. 0:38:17.400 --> 0:38:20.800 He was Richmond their premierships and there aw Thorn worked 0:38:20.840 --> 0:38:24.600 he has worked under me in the early days. We 0:38:24.719 --> 0:38:27.080 got to know them particularly well. And the coach and 0:38:27.160 --> 0:38:30.040 coaches basically let us do our thing like they let 0:38:30.080 --> 0:38:31.680 us do our things. They're not training, they're not training. 0:38:31.719 --> 0:38:36.239 There's no he's not training. And you never felt like 0:38:36.719 --> 0:38:39.120 she's been questioned what's going on. I was just like, no, 0:38:39.200 --> 0:38:40.839 they know what to do, they'll do it. 0:38:41.360 --> 0:38:43.279 They'll get the job done for us, you know like that, 0:38:43.360 --> 0:38:47.560 and and that sounds easy, but that's hard, really hard. 0:38:47.719 --> 0:38:50.640 That's that's very and what I'm finding and seeing across 0:38:50.680 --> 0:38:52.120 the AFO weather very rare to get that. 0:38:52.680 --> 0:38:55.040 So Cyril does his hamshing what rapidly to that inn 0:38:55.040 --> 0:38:58.120 at Fortune. I remember being there at the VFL box 0:38:58.200 --> 0:39:00.680 Hill Final where you basically screwed over box Hill because 0:39:00.680 --> 0:39:04.040 he gets dragged off whether James Sisley played well. I've 0:39:04.040 --> 0:39:05.560 got a vision of him playing well in that game. 0:39:05.600 --> 0:39:08.880 But we think to ourselves, he can't play in a 0:39:08.880 --> 0:39:10.719 grand final. How did he play a grand final? 0:39:11.120 --> 0:39:12.000 We think the same thing. 0:39:12.040 --> 0:39:14.799 You know, Look, that was the biggest risk that I've 0:39:14.800 --> 0:39:16.840 ever been involved in Round seven. He does his hammy 0:39:16.880 --> 0:39:19.799 that year, then he comes back at round thirteen, then 0:39:19.840 --> 0:39:20.560 he redoes. 0:39:20.280 --> 0:39:22.160 It around down at Tassy Gold Coast. 0:39:23.360 --> 0:39:26.080 So he does it he hurts his hamsing he's running 0:39:26.120 --> 0:39:27.360 nine and a half meters a second. 0:39:27.360 --> 0:39:29.360 The right is how fast he's running. And this was 0:39:29.360 --> 0:39:31.479 the first one and he did that within twenty five meters, 0:39:31.480 --> 0:39:31.759 all right. 0:39:31.840 --> 0:39:35.040 So he comes back. He re injures it in round sixteen. 0:39:35.440 --> 0:39:39.040 Six weeks later, he reinjured it in training, all right, 0:39:39.760 --> 0:39:40.840 and so we're. 0:39:40.680 --> 0:39:41.799 Thinking he's done for the year. 0:39:41.880 --> 0:39:45.799 Over that's round twenty two, all right, he injures his 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:49.279 heavy small We go to clark We say, Cyril's redone it, 0:39:50.000 --> 0:39:52.360 he's out for the year. He says, well, why is 0:39:52.360 --> 0:39:55.840 he out for the year? He is, you know, you 0:39:55.880 --> 0:39:58.080 can't come back from that, and he's the damage in 0:39:58.120 --> 0:40:00.839 his hamstring was horrendous, like it was five grade ten 0:40:00.880 --> 0:40:01.360 in injury. 0:40:01.840 --> 0:40:03.480 You're thinking, there's no way this guy's coming back. 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:04.720 All right, it's ten week injury. 0:40:05.360 --> 0:40:08.480 So he said, I'll give it a couple of weeks 0:40:08.680 --> 0:40:10.600 rehab him, see how you go. So he got a 0:40:10.640 --> 0:40:12.759 few weeks and then and then Clarko says to him, 0:40:12.920 --> 0:40:15.160 says to us, I really want Cyril to play. 0:40:15.200 --> 0:40:17.920 I want to give it a go. What are the risks? 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:18.920 What are you got to do? And we say no, 0:40:19.000 --> 0:40:21.560 you're mad you know and no. So then we said, 0:40:21.560 --> 0:40:23.160 all right, well, what are the conditions in which we 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:24.040 might get away with it? 0:40:24.800 --> 0:40:28.080 And we say he so, we know that ten in 0:40:28.080 --> 0:40:32.080 injuries can handle probably once they repaired enough, probably handled 0:40:32.080 --> 0:40:34.759 about eighty percent of top speed. So we're saying, if 0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:37.480 he can play at eighty percent top speed, he's a chance. 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:40.719 Now I've never ever said that to anyone, but he's 0:40:40.760 --> 0:40:41.160 a chance. 0:40:42.320 --> 0:40:44.040 I'd rather see her all at eighty than anyone else. 0:40:44.160 --> 0:40:45.680 Yeah, absolutely capable. 0:40:45.800 --> 0:40:48.160 So what we did is we trained him. So we 0:40:48.239 --> 0:40:52.160 trained him to run at eighty percent. So he went 0:40:52.760 --> 0:40:55.000 so so he ripped his hands to me. We know 0:40:55.040 --> 0:40:57.080 he can go nine and a half meters a second, right, 0:40:57.400 --> 0:40:59.719 we prepare him to run between seven and a half 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:01.960 and eight a second, all right, and we tell him 0:41:01.960 --> 0:41:02.640 you canno run. 0:41:02.520 --> 0:41:03.760 Fast in that. So we do run throughs. 0:41:03.800 --> 0:41:04.719 He gets to feel it. 0:41:05.400 --> 0:41:08.440 We did imagery around it, so he'd lie down and 0:41:08.440 --> 0:41:12.280 he would visualize himself running eighty percent, going for a ball, tackle, wrestle, 0:41:12.719 --> 0:41:13.360 don't chase. 0:41:14.080 --> 0:41:15.520 So there's a lot of mine in it. 0:41:15.600 --> 0:41:19.480 And his biggest session he did before he played the 0:41:19.640 --> 0:41:22.960 Boxel Grand Final was three point eight k's and he 0:41:23.000 --> 0:41:25.439 didn't run above seventy seven percent of his maxim before 0:41:25.440 --> 0:41:27.960 he plays that game, all right, So he plays sixty 0:41:27.960 --> 0:41:32.600 two minutes halftime, Clark I says to me, get him off. 0:41:32.640 --> 0:41:34.640 He's playing next week. I said, you can't play next week. 0:41:35.360 --> 0:41:38.440 I said, he's at fifty percent, sixty percent. He's got 0:41:38.480 --> 0:41:40.800 to at least get to seventy five hours. So I said, Cyril, 0:41:41.640 --> 0:41:44.239 I need you go seventy five percent. Yes, okay, And 0:41:44.239 --> 0:41:47.319 Cyril's unbelievable, like not me plays good, execute this. 0:41:47.480 --> 0:41:50.960 That's tough to make self control. So he goes out there, 0:41:50.960 --> 0:41:52.239 he gets to that as soon as he does it, 0:41:52.239 --> 0:41:56.120 get him off. So sixty two minutes he runs seven 0:41:56.120 --> 0:41:58.600 point eight meters a second as his top speed. So 0:41:58.640 --> 0:42:00.480 then we say to Clark, all right, well he jesus, 0:42:00.480 --> 0:42:01.440 this guy's underdone. 0:42:01.960 --> 0:42:04.759 Not one session over three point aks and we're asking 0:42:04.800 --> 0:42:07.240 him to run twelve k's all right, and so that's 0:42:07.440 --> 0:42:10.839 that's that's one session in twelve weeks that he's done 0:42:10.840 --> 0:42:14.200 three point a case. So in many ways it's the 0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:16.680 dumbest deciason, dumbest thing we've ever done. But we had 0:42:16.719 --> 0:42:19.280 parameters and we stuck to it, and we said Cyril, 0:42:19.280 --> 0:42:19.880 you're not to sprint. 0:42:19.920 --> 0:42:22.160 So anyway, he goes out there. 0:42:22.600 --> 0:42:24.439 I don't know if you remember first play the day, ball 0:42:24.480 --> 0:42:27.759 goes in the air, try to take a screamer, and 0:42:27.800 --> 0:42:30.600 I'm thinking, and I must admit, I thought he's gone, 0:42:31.280 --> 0:42:34.080 he's done, because we didn't talk about the year. We 0:42:34.080 --> 0:42:35.960 talked about being in there, about being in the year, 0:42:35.960 --> 0:42:38.560 about in the bubble. He was running and then in there, 0:42:38.640 --> 0:42:41.400 so I thought, I actually thought we got away for it, 0:42:41.440 --> 0:42:43.439 and then I forgot about it and didn't think about 0:42:43.480 --> 0:42:47.359 it until late in the game. Because he ran seven 0:42:47.360 --> 0:42:52.440 point a second in the Grand Final. Wow, seventy's what 0:42:52.520 --> 0:42:53.840 he ran in it. That was his top speed in 0:42:53.880 --> 0:42:55.760 the Grand Final, and yet no one would have ever noticed. 0:42:56.320 --> 0:42:56.960 It's amazing. 0:42:57.080 --> 0:42:59.439 And then says ten minutes in the last quarter because 0:42:59.440 --> 0:43:01.600 we're winning, Well, I said, can we get him off 0:43:01.840 --> 0:43:04.440 hereously we don't want to do Y's answering. Then I 0:43:04.440 --> 0:43:07.360 go to Clark a week later and I said, we 0:43:07.440 --> 0:43:10.560 did his and it looked horrible and couldn't believe it, 0:43:10.600 --> 0:43:12.239 and Basic said, you're not going to see him till 0:43:12.239 --> 0:43:14.680 February because we need to. So you're not going to 0:43:14.719 --> 0:43:17.480 see him A skills until February. We need it and he's like, 0:43:17.480 --> 0:43:18.400 that's five months away. 0:43:18.560 --> 0:43:20.480 It's just like, that's what's going to take. We need 0:43:20.520 --> 0:43:21.680 to recondition him from the start. 0:43:22.080 --> 0:43:22.600 That's what we did. 0:43:22.719 --> 0:43:24.400 So we took him out and then he had his 0:43:24.800 --> 0:43:25.759 one of his best years. 0:43:25.880 --> 0:43:27.640 Going to say, he ends up with a normalifth medal 0:43:27.640 --> 0:43:31.799 at the end of that year, doesn't he and. 0:43:30.640 --> 0:43:33.920 The trust to take him out conditioning well put him 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:34.520 into your program. 0:43:34.680 --> 0:43:36.799 Clarko has been to helen back with the racism saga. 0:43:36.800 --> 0:43:38.000 I don't if you want to say anything. 0:43:37.760 --> 0:43:39.359 About it, but I'm when you were there, you saw 0:43:39.800 --> 0:43:41.640 the way he related to people. You saw that he 0:43:41.760 --> 0:43:44.120 was tough but potentially fair. What's your observation. 0:43:44.200 --> 0:43:48.400 If anything, he only wanted the best for people. He 0:43:48.440 --> 0:43:51.560 wanted to help people. He wanted to help all those 0:43:51.600 --> 0:43:58.680 boys create lives for themselves, you know, make money, you know, 0:43:59.160 --> 0:44:02.520 create legacies, all those things. And he was the same 0:44:02.600 --> 0:44:05.759 with everyone. He was the same with everyone. They had 0:44:05.840 --> 0:44:07.360 nothing to do with anything to do with that. 0:44:07.480 --> 0:44:10.440 It was he was. He was like that with Luke Codge, 0:44:10.840 --> 0:44:13.080 he was like that with jar Rd he was like 0:44:13.160 --> 0:44:17.520 that with me. He was like that with Cyril. I 0:44:17.560 --> 0:44:19.600 mean the way that Cyril was treated at the football 0:44:19.640 --> 0:44:21.720 I've never seen anyone else treated as well as Cyril. 0:44:22.200 --> 0:44:24.640 I've never seen anyone else treated with as much respect 0:44:24.680 --> 0:44:29.960 as Cyril and his family. Ever, the week before Cyril leaves, 0:44:30.800 --> 0:44:32.319 he tells me it's the happiest he's ever been at 0:44:32.320 --> 0:44:35.120 the football club because he's doing it. He's done his knee, 0:44:35.120 --> 0:44:36.719 he's coming back. Spent a lot of time with him, 0:44:37.120 --> 0:44:39.720 he said, it's great. I can't wait to play Sean 0:44:39.760 --> 0:44:40.160 berg On. 0:44:40.280 --> 0:44:42.960 I think I had three or four. 0:44:45.160 --> 0:44:49.160 Played, so yeah, I mean, wow, she didn't act get 0:44:49.200 --> 0:44:51.560 out of control, you know, but just on all those 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:54.239 people around. I mean Jason Burt, Jason Burt was the 0:44:54.280 --> 0:44:57.520 best PDM. You could not imagine a better person or 0:44:57.520 --> 0:45:01.239 a better PDM in the game. And he did for 0:45:01.440 --> 0:45:04.279 so many people and living at his house and he 0:45:04.480 --> 0:45:07.880 was brilliant at his role. You talk about, you know, 0:45:07.880 --> 0:45:10.719 footy clubs and need great people. You can't have a weakness. 0:45:11.120 --> 0:45:13.040 You can't have a weakness in your footy department. You 0:45:13.080 --> 0:45:15.759 don't need to be brilliant in anything you do, but 0:45:15.960 --> 0:45:18.680 you can't have a weakness. And that part of the 0:45:18.719 --> 0:45:22.960 footy club was being so well run Jason. You know, 0:45:23.160 --> 0:45:25.600 Faigue's Vegas is fantastic for Clarko. 0:45:26.480 --> 0:45:27.720 He was really good for the players. 0:45:27.719 --> 0:45:30.319 You know, he was a really good you know, that 0:45:30.520 --> 0:45:33.000 balance worked really really well. And then you had me 0:45:33.000 --> 0:45:35.120 and fig sort of working together and if we didn't, 0:45:35.160 --> 0:45:37.840 you know, if we were thinking this and we go 0:45:37.960 --> 0:45:41.239 together and get Dodgy involved, and so the you know, 0:45:41.280 --> 0:45:45.880 the dynamics just worked really really well. You can't perform 0:45:45.920 --> 0:45:49.839 at the level that that group performed at without having 0:45:49.840 --> 0:45:51.800 a level of harmony, respect. 0:45:51.440 --> 0:45:54.080 And sometimes there were tough conversations. 0:45:54.480 --> 0:45:58.160 That's what high performance is and some people, some people 0:45:58.239 --> 0:46:01.680 don't like it. Some people some people feel very uncomfortable 0:46:01.719 --> 0:46:02.320 in that space. 0:46:02.400 --> 0:46:06.680 But that's the space to be great, want to be great. 0:46:06.680 --> 0:46:07.759 That's the space you gotta be in. 0:46:08.080 --> 0:46:10.439 Thanks for listening to part one of this two part 0:46:10.480 --> 0:46:11.960 episode with Andrew Russell. 0:46:12.440 --> 0:46:14.840 Make sure you tune into episode two, where. 0:46:14.600 --> 0:46:18.879 We delve deeper into Russell's time at the Blues. This 0:46:18.920 --> 0:46:22.319 podcast is a production of Code Sports. To find out more, 0:46:22.440 --> 0:46:26.040 go to codesports dot com dot au or download the 0:46:26.040 --> 0:46:28.000 code Sports app at your app store.