Speaker 1: Hi, my Boris, and this is straight talk. Wow, I
Speaker 1: have under Nathan theory. We welcome straight to a Boys.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having us. Thanks Mark good Seed mate. Now
Speaker 1: you see each other aftergrad one two years ago. I
Speaker 1: think miss three.
Speaker 2: That was after the first one. You said you couldn't
Speaker 2: believe it actually one one, so might take back?
Speaker 1: Is there a secret?
Speaker 2: Not that you get secret.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't tell you that.
Speaker 2: I'm a big gliver in just preparation giving me confidence.
Speaker 2: Always got doubts coming in. But if I prepared the
Speaker 2: way I wanted to, then I get to gamed down.
Speaker 2: I've got no excuses. I just got to a point
Speaker 2: where if we hadn't have succeeded in the twenty twenty season,
Speaker 2: I would have left the game.
Speaker 1: So actually, what's interesting met Lebron Janes and his son
Speaker 1: they played together. I mean it wasn't there wasn't much
Speaker 1: in it a couple of years. Wow, I haven't er
Speaker 1: Nathan theory. You were went straight to a boys. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having us, Thanks Mark good Seed mate. Again you
Speaker 1: see each other after Grand Final two years ago. I
Speaker 1: think I missed last year three. That was after the
Speaker 1: first one. But the first one was it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: It was you said you couldn't believe it actually won one.
Speaker 1: So well, I have to say thanks for coming to
Speaker 1: likes this only a couple of days after the Grand
Speaker 1: Final and one of my major Both still stand up,
Speaker 1: or at least Nathan will still stand up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a tough couple of days. She sore heads,
Speaker 2: but feeling pretty good now and you're happy to be
Speaker 2: here and sort of reminiscent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's well, I guess congratulations mostant. There's pretty obvious,
Speaker 1: but I think that's I just be great if you
Speaker 1: could talk us through, Nathan, if you could just talk
Speaker 1: through what what does it mean? Not mean to win
Speaker 1: the Grand Final, but what does it mean to celebrate
Speaker 1: post Grand final? Many people we've ever experienced even go
Speaker 1: to the fan day that not many people ever get
Speaker 1: to do that. Some clubs in the young person's lifetime
Speaker 1: River actually win a Grand Final. You guys have won four.
Speaker 1: What is it like for you attending those events? Because
Speaker 1: it's a bit of an any climax.
Speaker 2: It's well yesterday, so usually we do the fan day
Speaker 2: the day after the Grand Final, and like everyone's just
Speaker 2: in the worst state. So this year we changed it.
Speaker 2: We did it yesterday instead had a little went on
Speaker 2: stage and saw all that and then we just signed
Speaker 2: jerseys for about six hours. So it's that part of
Speaker 2: it is like, yeah, it's tough when everyone's hung over
Speaker 2: and all that, but the few days following the game
Speaker 2: is like it's just euphoric, like surreal feeling.
Speaker 1: Like a blur too, I guess, honestly, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: One of the coolest things we did this year was
Speaker 2: went straight back to the Leagues Club and it's the
Speaker 2: busiest I've ever seen the Leagues Club. But you couldn't
Speaker 2: see any part of the ground, just just people everywhere
Speaker 2: going crazy. So that part of it was, yeah, it
Speaker 2: was amazing to sort of share that and feel what
Speaker 2: it's like for people at pen to experience another Grand
Speaker 2: Final win. And yeah, it's it's an amazing feeling.
Speaker 1: It's sort of like just some extent, you guys are
Speaker 1: sort of keep the community together a little bit, like
Speaker 1: there's something everybody hangs out for him in not just Pendrith,
Speaker 1: but the whole area that that your club encompasses. There's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a responsibility for you to some extent,
Speaker 1: like extra pressure, not just with your teammates family in
Speaker 1: case of you Tube, But I mean who carries that
Speaker 1: responsibility do you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely it is a responsibility than one that we
Speaker 2: take really seriously and drives us. Like I keep hearing
Speaker 2: stories about people that you know, they've got kids, are
Speaker 2: six seven years old, and they only know of us
Speaker 2: winning Grand Viinals. So it's just yeah, it's just it's
Speaker 2: just amazing, you know, and it's just so good to
Speaker 2: see to be able to have that ability to make
Speaker 2: so many people so happy, you know, it's just yeah,
Speaker 2: it's crazy. But that one that certainly drives us.
Speaker 1: But that the flip side of it is merely obligation
Speaker 1: to some extent. I mean, like you might feel just
Speaker 1: as disappointed for the fans, like in a real sense
Speaker 1: of disappointment for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But the thing is that we don't. It's not
Speaker 2: all about winning for them. We just want to you know,
Speaker 2: we want to just make them proud of us or
Speaker 2: make them proud of themselves. So that's that's the main
Speaker 2: thing that drives us, and that's more than winning. So
Speaker 2: I think as long as you know, we're playing and
Speaker 2: acting in a certain way that they makes them proud,
Speaker 2: then that'll be enough.
Speaker 1: I can't believe both of you. By the way, I
Speaker 1: just I'm just sitting here. What the fuck too clear,
Speaker 1: It's it's pretty mad like there's all these levels of responsibility,
Speaker 1: and but I'm mean by that, and I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to turn this into away from being a great celebration,
Speaker 1: but but I think it's important to talk about this
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. There's all these levels of responsibility. There's
Speaker 1: you as a son, you as the father, you as
Speaker 1: both of you as a family members. Both your family's
Speaker 1: support that the club, your girlfriend she supports the club.
Speaker 1: Then you've got all your mates who someone's staying, someone going.
Speaker 1: There's a eleven responsibility them to play the very best,
Speaker 1: to do the best you count of the field. Then
Speaker 1: there's the you know, the general area. Then there's business
Speaker 1: business concerns like you know, you've got you're you're there
Speaker 1: with drink West. Then there's you know, then there's the
Speaker 1: fta you know from the area. Groups like you sort
Speaker 1: of have a let of the responsibility for them too.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people sort of hanging in there
Speaker 1: for you to do well. And on the flip side,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people waiting for you to fuck up.
Speaker 1: Look I've got mates and they're not rooster supporters, but
Speaker 1: they're mates. And then they say, and I had arguments
Speaker 1: from the photograph, I want a Sydney to to win
Speaker 1: between Melbourne and Sydney, and they say, ah, fuck, pending
Speaker 1: for one too many games. You know you can get
Speaker 1: that thing, you know, stuff that someone else share the spoils.
Speaker 1: So there's the flip side then, not your haters, but
Speaker 1: the people are sort of death riding a little bit
Speaker 1: that that process. Does that come into your head before
Speaker 1: the ground final or you can eliminate that, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I've honestly never really thought about it
Speaker 2: the way you just described it. I think if I
Speaker 2: was thinking of it like that, it's probably adds a
Speaker 2: lot more pressure. But in the moment, it's honestly just
Speaker 2: playing for my teammates. You want you want them to
Speaker 2: be happy and playing for just the club as a whole,
Speaker 2: and you just want to be successful. You want that
Speaker 2: feeling of winning, and what comes with that is the
Speaker 2: repercussions of keeping everyone happy. It keeps the community happy.
Speaker 2: I think that's saying really evident about Penrith is when
Speaker 2: we're doing well, everyone just seems to be happier, business
Speaker 2: seems to be thriving and are Yeah, Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool. Yeah, and you just you can just
Speaker 2: feel it, like I reckon when we first moved to
Speaker 2: Penrith to now, it's such a different vibe about the
Speaker 2: place and even just going to a cafe and seeing
Speaker 2: everyone just sort of happy and for us to have
Speaker 2: some sort of part of that is pretty cool. And
Speaker 2: everyone's constantly coming out to us and just thanking us
Speaker 2: for what we're doing. And I think that adds an
Speaker 2: extra sort of layer to yeah, wanting to do well
Speaker 2: for for the area, and you do that.
Speaker 1: I haven't win it with the players because you know,
Speaker 1: you're the sort of you're the leader in the group
Speaker 1: in terms of coaching. He's leader on the field, but
Speaker 1: you're a leader every other moment of it. And you've
Speaker 1: got to make sure that young fellas don't think too
Speaker 1: much about these things. They're going to distract them, especially
Speaker 1: on the day. But at the same time, you'd be
Speaker 1: probably fully aware of all those layers that I just
Speaker 1: went through with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's part of leadership, is absorbing pressure
Speaker 2: and you know, I mean things like that, like I
Speaker 2: actually thought about it. This year, we had a we
Speaker 2: had a new major sponsor in my place, and because
Speaker 2: of the success you have, as you know, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, the commercial reality of that is that
Speaker 2: whoever wants to sponsor you have to pay more. And
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, is you know, a new sponsor had the
Speaker 2: old one had been there for ten years and he
Speaker 2: was doing these ads and I spent all this money.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh man, but well again, you know,
Speaker 2: so that does occur to me, you know, because I
Speaker 2: I was in my role, I'm you know, I have
Speaker 2: spent more time and more connected with those types of
Speaker 2: guys where it's not for the players, it's really clear
Speaker 2: like we you know, we have high standards and you
Speaker 2: know we aim to win, so they know that. But
Speaker 2: apart from that, away from that, they just need to
Speaker 2: be you know, getting themselves ready to be able to
Speaker 2: prepare the best they can, train as hard as they
Speaker 2: can and ultimately play well.
Speaker 1: I mean, someone who'd be listening to just watching this now,
Speaker 1: and anybody who looks at Nathan's just around page. Anybody
Speaker 1: watches him play in kick field goals and you know,
Speaker 1: we set up try to score tries under pressure like
Speaker 1: last year's year fourth Grand Final, and and then they
Speaker 1: look at you sitting here now and you're as cool
Speaker 1: as a Cooper mother. But your has always been the cool.
Speaker 1: He's always been cool. I've always been cool. He has
Speaker 1: like who tells me that nobody has just been cool?
Speaker 1: But I get his sense that underneath there's the legs
Speaker 1: are going, and their arms are going, and the machinery
Speaker 1: is really going. It's churning. How do you maintain both
Speaker 1: of you? How do you maintain that level of steadiness
Speaker 1: because you know you're trying to make sure your teammates
Speaker 1: don't see it. The opposition definitely does. You don't want
Speaker 1: them to see it. You don't want the opposition coach
Speaker 1: bellow me to see it. Even if you've got a
Speaker 1: crook show, you don't want to see anything. You've got
Speaker 1: to play a game. You don't want any of the
Speaker 1: fellas to feel like you might be a bit nervous.
Speaker 1: How do you individually? I'd love to know how you
Speaker 1: individually do it? And do you, as a dad coach
Speaker 1: him to do it? Do you say, mate, this is
Speaker 1: what I've always done, or if you just sort of narrated.
Speaker 2: It well, I reckon that you can talk to you
Speaker 2: about just being being happy with how he's prepared. I
Speaker 2: reckon you tell a story about that. Personally, Like, I've
Speaker 2: always hid my emotions mainly, so you mentioned a bit
Speaker 2: about doing that, which there's a balance between being vulnerable
Speaker 2: as well, and I've learned that over these too, to
Speaker 2: be able to actually show, particularly your players and the
Speaker 2: staff that yeah, you aren't perfect and you do get
Speaker 2: nervous and fail and all that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 2: there's a there's a bit of a balance there. Other
Speaker 2: than that, it's just my nature, you know. I just
Speaker 2: I get nervous, I have you know, I have doubts.
Speaker 2: You know, we all have fears, all that stuff. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I just tend to keep it all inside of me.
Speaker 2: So but I have tried to show and part of
Speaker 2: it we might talk about later, But that's become a
Speaker 2: bit of a improvement for me, where I am actually
Speaker 2: giving more of my emotions and particularly to the people
Speaker 2: that are closest to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all got something to learn about that, by
Speaker 1: the way, And what do you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big believer in just preparation giving me confidence.
Speaker 2: I've definitely always got doubts coming in, but I'll consiumind
Speaker 2: myself that if I prepared the way I've wanted to,
Speaker 2: then I get to game down, I've got no excuses.
Speaker 2: I think early in my career where I wasn't really
Speaker 2: I guess wide like that I got to game day
Speaker 2: and it was I felt like sometimes I wasn't even
Speaker 2: joying it because it felt like sort of anxious, and
Speaker 2: I felt like, I don't know if I've done everything
Speaker 2: I could and sort of give myselfself an excuse to
Speaker 2: not play well. Where now I'm really send my ways
Speaker 2: of what I need to do, and then once I
Speaker 2: get to the game, I feel the freest I've felt
Speaker 2: the whole week. It's like, it's this is the fun
Speaker 2: part and this is what I've enjoyed doing since I was,
Speaker 2: you know, a young kid, so why not enjoy it?
Speaker 2: And I'm sort of similar to that as well. I've
Speaker 2: definitely learned to be more vulnerable, particularly to younger players.
Speaker 2: I'm not scared to say to them that, yeah, I
Speaker 2: feel nervous, because I know that they're probably feeling nervous,
Speaker 2: and if they have senior guys say that to them
Speaker 2: and they feel a bit better that they can it's
Speaker 2: just human nature. Really, I don't feel like they're in
Speaker 2: the wrong for feeling nervous. And yeah, I constantly have
Speaker 2: nerves and I constantly have doubts, but I always just
Speaker 2: think back to my preparation to give me confidence and
Speaker 2: definitely got routines of breathing and things I like to
Speaker 2: do during the week that sort of centers me and
Speaker 2: gets me ready for the game.
Speaker 1: Sort of like maybe this is a good maybe a
Speaker 1: good point to talk about this. You remember Freddie is
Speaker 1: Freddy was always in a nature natural things like you know,
Speaker 1: like well, not always, but he became that way, you know,
Speaker 1: like get your shoes off, go on the grass. You've
Speaker 1: had him in origin if you so you know what
Speaker 1: he's like. And but Freddie was always happy to be vulnerable.
Speaker 1: I actually don't know if he has any emotions, but like,
Speaker 1: but like you know, I mean like he And do
Speaker 1: you learn those things you're talking about now? You know,
Speaker 1: the preparedness in a managed way to show how you're feeling,
Speaker 1: but that it doesn't have to be vulnerable as such,
Speaker 1: but just show how you're feeling. That preparedness. If you
Speaker 1: learned that from watching the young guys in your club,
Speaker 1: because it is much more acceptable in their age group,
Speaker 1: in their coort of you know age.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yes, and now I sort of was a fair
Speaker 2: bit deliberate about it as well. It was probably about
Speaker 2: five years ago when I first came back to Panthers.
Speaker 2: I was struggling mentally, and I'd learned over time to
Speaker 2: actually share things with my wife too, because I wasn't
Speaker 2: always doing that. So that was a journey that we
Speaker 2: took together where I started at least, you know, I
Speaker 2: would I would be vulnerable with her about things that
Speaker 2: I was, you know, where I was doubtful or of
Speaker 2: just struggling or whatever. And so eventually it sort of
Speaker 2: became I think, as my role as a leader, I
Speaker 2: need to show the young guys and show people it's
Speaker 2: actually okay to do that. Yeah. So it's been, I guess,
Speaker 2: a bit of a journey of it's but it's definitely been. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I made a choice to do that. And then, as
Speaker 2: you mentioned before, it's a bit of a balancing act,
Speaker 2: you can, yeah, because as a leader, I can't be
Speaker 2: like constantly walking around and saying, oh my god, I
Speaker 2: don't know what I'm doing or yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: Interesting because you're not a bit similar to Robbo and
Speaker 1: some re scs don't You're not a big gaff, you know,
Speaker 1: getting on. They're talking a whole lot of stuff in
Speaker 1: front of the media, and you know, you're pretty reserved.
Speaker 1: You're economical with your words probably the way of saying it.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, that doesn't mean that you're
Speaker 1: not prepared to show how you feel in relation to
Speaker 1: other people and you particularly the people around you, your
Speaker 1: family and your players. One of the things I've noticed
Speaker 1: just watching The East Club is that a lot of
Speaker 1: the Islander boys are very much that way. They're quite
Speaker 1: honest and upfront and open, particularly when it comes to
Speaker 1: family kids, wives, mums, dads, brothers, sisters, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot to learn out of that from my point of view.
Speaker 1: Even when it comes to their religion. You know how
Speaker 1: they feel that they don't care, they'll do it in
Speaker 1: front of everybody. And we sort of started first scene
Speaker 1: with Sunny Bill like when he used to do his
Speaker 1: Muslim prayers and stuff that when he wanted, he was
Speaker 1: happy to do it in front of everybody, not worry
Speaker 1: about what everybody thought. That new development rugby league, you
Speaker 1: reckon from where I say when you played.
Speaker 2: It's definitely different. I was fortunate enough to spend a
Speaker 2: few years playing in New Zealand, yeah, and then coaching
Speaker 2: over this so I lived there for ten years. So
Speaker 2: I learned a lot about the Polynesian culture over there
Speaker 2: from like the late nineties, you know, when I left
Speaker 2: to go there, you know, playing in Sydney Rugby League
Speaker 2: in those days, it was just there was nowhere near
Speaker 2: the Polynesian elements. So I learned a lot about culture.
Speaker 2: I learn a lot about body language as well, where Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's said that sixty percent of communication is body language.
Speaker 2: So for a guy that doesn't necessarily like to talk
Speaker 2: that much, I really like that. So just things like
Speaker 2: touch and you know, how you hold yourself, and they
Speaker 2: do a lot of that. But there's also different Polynesian backgrounds.
Speaker 2: You know, the kids that grow up in Australia, the
Speaker 2: Polynesians are different to the ones that grow up in
Speaker 2: New Zealand. For example. They're just they're a bit more
Speaker 2: they're a bit more brash and a little bit more
Speaker 2: confident then a lot of the kids who come from
Speaker 2: New Zealand. They're very because the big thing in pioneering
Speaker 2: culture is a prospect for their elders.
Speaker 1: And yeah, a little bit shyly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's real there's actually quite a big, big difference
Speaker 2: where when they're all together in family, they all kind
Speaker 2: of acts look like they all look the same, but
Speaker 2: when they're in different settings they can inadapt, they can
Speaker 2: be a bit different. But I'll tell you one of
Speaker 2: they are a lot of fun generally speaking. They they
Speaker 2: love the fun part. So if you try and make
Speaker 2: it too serious all the time, just won't wet work.
Speaker 2: So you've got to you got to let them do themselves,
Speaker 2: I think. Anyway, Yeah, we.
Speaker 1: Might just talk about a couple of the boys in
Speaker 1: the club and the team. I mean, you're going to
Speaker 1: miss some of your your great your mates fisharers Jerome
Speaker 1: Law Obviously I've seen I've been watching a posts, look
Speaker 1: at reading those and you know that you're putting up
Speaker 1: some special photographs of those two in particular. How much
Speaker 1: of their culture, No, I'm not just talking about Pacific
Speaker 1: Islander culture, but I'm just talking about their culture from
Speaker 1: Pacific Island families, but also growing up in the West.
Speaker 1: How much of that rubs off on you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of it. Some of my best mates
Speaker 2: finders or fishing Moldy as well, and just the energy
Speaker 2: they bring is saying that is unrivaled, really, and I
Speaker 2: think they've had a big influence on our culture and
Speaker 2: building that and that sort of touches on the fun
Speaker 2: side of it, but also when it's time to work,
Speaker 2: we're working, and Fishes as the main leader of that.
Speaker 2: He's probably one that's not as loud. He let his
Speaker 2: actions to the talking, but off the field it's fun
Speaker 2: and they really bring that family vibe to the club
Speaker 2: as well. I think just getting everyone included. They want
Speaker 2: people to indulge in their culture and enjoy what they enjoy.
Speaker 2: And yeah, they've both Roemi and Fishing particularly, I've just
Speaker 2: been massive generators of our culture and what has become
Speaker 2: today and going to be sorely missed. But I think
Speaker 2: there are also two guys that will leave a legacy
Speaker 2: for younger guys to into and what they've built is
Speaker 2: not saying that's going to be going to be taken away,
Speaker 2: and I think they can hold their heads high and
Speaker 2: knowing that they've left that legas going out club. It's funny.
Speaker 1: I read something that I think it was Jerome Lewis
Speaker 1: said it that he actually think about his little kid
Speaker 1: and ty Hoose little boy, like actually being the next
Speaker 1: generation of to be to beat the four four wins.
Speaker 1: They're saying they're going to They're going to beat it.
Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty cool, Like yeah, yeah, but and
Speaker 1: they're actually sort of passing that legacy onto their families.
Speaker 1: Like I'd never heard of that sort of stuff before,
Speaker 1: Like in the clubs that I've ever been involved with.
Speaker 1: It's sort of like the Canbury Bulldogs of the nineteen
Speaker 1: eighties and nineties, you remember them, where the Bulldogs are
Speaker 1: the Berries whatever they call but like that process Hues
Speaker 1: and you know, Mortimers and all that, and their kids
Speaker 1: came on and played. I mean, do you feel like
Speaker 1: that's sort of we're talking dynasties here, mate, But I'm serious,
Speaker 1: it is. It is in some respects, So you can
Speaker 1: you see that.
Speaker 2: I hadn't really thought about it until you just said that.
Speaker 2: But that's the fact that Rami and Vizra talking about that,
Speaker 2: that doesn't surprise me. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there he was. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: Jerune one thing.
Speaker 2: I know, like life goes pretty fast, yeah, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: we've been in the Penwrith area as a family for
Speaker 2: twelve years now. Wow, Nathan was fourteen when we came
Speaker 2: and just to be sitting in now having true what
Speaker 2: we have is just mind blowing. You know. It's just
Speaker 2: twelve years gone like that. So yeah, I guess it
Speaker 2: won't be too long before it became Ramy's little Lizzie. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he just graves before it's our eyes. But he's a
Speaker 2: very talented little kid too, so already there's every chance
Speaker 2: he will be.
Speaker 1: So I need to know from you, like, how do
Speaker 1: you do it? Like, I mean, it's it's a big
Speaker 1: question to get it, but you know, you lost a
Speaker 1: couple of players last year, you lost a couple players
Speaker 1: before you just keep I don't know whether is it
Speaker 1: because you've got a good nursery of people out there?
Speaker 1: What's is there a secret?
Speaker 2: Not that I wouldn't tell you that we have. Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: I think we we have a great club for starters.
Speaker 2: It's very well aligned from the very top, you know,
Speaker 2: through management on the board and all our coaching staff,
Speaker 2: all the way through the players. You know. And that's
Speaker 2: easy to say, but it's harder to do, you know,
Speaker 2: And that's probably our greatest strength of the club. So
Speaker 2: assistance we have in place respected by everyone and then
Speaker 2: they followed. We do have a great nursery of players
Speaker 2: as well. We have a good pathway system. But some
Speaker 2: of the players we have lost, you will never be
Speaker 2: able to replace them. You know, if I mentioned guys
Speaker 2: like Philly Army, Kickopy Cross, our Stephen Crichton, I'm special,
Speaker 2: Len you like look and now Fish and Rain, you
Speaker 2: can't replace those guys.
Speaker 1: Like for like you know, I've got to be a
Speaker 1: kid going and yeah quite like yah, and there's burden
Speaker 1: before that is yeah, like it's just been unbelievable, so
Speaker 1: anymore like but you know what we do have is
Speaker 1: we have an incredible leaders in our team led by
Speaker 1: nat and as a l and still have a lot
Speaker 1: of talent on our team. But we you know, each
Speaker 1: year these boys grow together, the chemistry the ones that
Speaker 1: stay become stronger. And it say as I said that
Speaker 1: we have good systems, you know, good chemistry and good
Speaker 1: staff and whoever comes in has seen you know, there's
Speaker 1: a legacy that these guys that leave leave and you
Speaker 1: know it's easier for them to transition into the role.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a never ending search to try and
Speaker 1: keep doing this and we've got to do it again
Speaker 1: next year and we haven't done it yet, so that's
Speaker 1: going to be the challenge that we I guess we
Speaker 1: just step into each and every day.
Speaker 2: We don't. We never live in the past, and to
Speaker 2: this point it's it's where for us. But we also
Speaker 2: know that you know it could you know, if you
Speaker 2: don't keep behind on the ball, it can change quickly.
Speaker 1: So but a bit of you but you always and
Speaker 1: you know, you know the roster obviously, you know the roster.
Speaker 1: You know the salary cap, you know which you can
Speaker 1: and can't fit, you know who's kind of for renewal,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Are you do you do you actually sit
Speaker 1: back and plan with a team or is it ivan clear?
Speaker 1: He does it like a kid who's in seventeen. He's
Speaker 1: looking pretty good. He's in the news Origin team or
Speaker 1: with Queensland Origins, wherever it is. He's coming through the process.
Speaker 1: He is a good marker for to replace Isaiah when
Speaker 1: he leaves and yeah, retires.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely that sort of stuff going on. It
Speaker 2: just sometimes it depends because it comes a bit quicker
Speaker 2: than you think. You know, we never really wanted, you know,
Speaker 2: anticipated guys like you know, Stephen Crin and Spencelania to leave.
Speaker 2: But once a yeah, we've been fortunate enough to you know,
Speaker 2: we've basically had a year to at least try and
Speaker 2: plan for those guys and they've all stayed that extra
Speaker 2: year and played really well. We're always, you know, in
Speaker 2: the background, just trying to bring players through. We got
Speaker 2: lucky this year Paul Alamonti from the from the Bulldogs,
Speaker 2: and I think he went over and above what we
Speaker 2: ever thought he was going to do when he ended
Speaker 2: up starting in the Grand Final for us. So sometimes
Speaker 2: you get a bit of luck and they just you know,
Speaker 2: they fit better than you think. Or the fact that
Speaker 2: we were able to sign him was a shock to
Speaker 2: me that he was even available. So that, yeah, I guess,
Speaker 2: And that's I guess one thing about you know, success,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you get players you want to
Speaker 2: come to your club, you know. Whereas trust me, when
Speaker 2: I first got the Panrith twelve years ago, that wasn't
Speaker 2: the case.
Speaker 1: He had one young fellow something like Almhi for example,
Speaker 1: do you when he comes across do you sort of
Speaker 1: look at him? When he looked at his videos of
Speaker 1: his past previous games and sort of say, Okay, I
Speaker 1: can improve you by doing these these things, or is
Speaker 1: it just improved by Birch or being in a side
Speaker 1: like this?
Speaker 2: Just it depends. I mean, for Paul ELMONTI Paul was
Speaker 2: he's only twenty now, so he's nineteen years old to
Speaker 2: start as a junior. I was actually wondering what there
Speaker 2: must be something wrong with him, the fact that he's
Speaker 2: that we can actually sign him while the Dogs are
Speaker 2: let him go. But I guess they were just on
Speaker 2: a bit of a different track looking for quicker success.
Speaker 2: Maybe i'd I don't know, but so I met him.
Speaker 2: You know, it's just one He's got to fit, you know,
Speaker 2: he's got to fit character wise. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: I just want to get We want to get good
Speaker 2: characters of people who are going to fit our values,
Speaker 2: and not just good players, but good people who are
Speaker 2: going to train hard. They're going to be able to
Speaker 2: be able to play the way we'd like to. They've
Speaker 2: got to be fit enough and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But do you actually set a set of values for
Speaker 1: the club for.
Speaker 2: The well said I originally set the culture, but the
Speaker 2: players have set the values.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they actually write them down some respect, you know,
Speaker 1: is it virtue?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that it was important. The players came up and
Speaker 2: we do it each and every year. We'll revisit them
Speaker 2: so if we have to adjust them or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then when someone comes in, like a new player
Speaker 1: comes into the club, would you sort of sit them
Speaker 1: down and say, meet the senior senior members of the team,
Speaker 1: the team and or and who takes us through these values? Dude,
Speaker 1: this is what we expect. How do you play the game?
Speaker 2: Leak? Yeah, that's it's not as formal as that, but
Speaker 2: it's definitely. Yeah. They find out pretty quick what what's required.
Speaker 2: That's again, we have an amazing staff, but the players themselves,
Speaker 2: we have an incredible leadership group. And now in our team,
Speaker 2: you know, I've never seen anything like I've been lucky
Speaker 2: enough to be involved in anything like it. A lot
Speaker 2: of them have come through together, so that helps. And
Speaker 2: obviously the more experienced, the bigger the games. You know,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, there's evidence that this stuff works.
Speaker 2: And I think that you know, that helps as well.
Speaker 1: When I when I I'm obviously watching the game and
Speaker 1: the energy in the momentum that comes with energy. Especially
Speaker 1: in the second part of the second half on the weekend,
Speaker 1: it just looked like Benrith was ten years younger. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean that in a bad way. I just
Speaker 1: mean that you guys look like younger, keener, more enthusiastic.
Speaker 1: I guess when Melbourne's try was just deflated him a bit,
Speaker 1: but you just you knew how to take advantage of that.
Speaker 1: You knew how to sort of keep the momentum that's
Speaker 1: you on the field. I mean, Ivan's up there in
Speaker 1: the box sort of sending its structures out, but do
Speaker 1: you know immediately it's time to get on top. We
Speaker 1: better take advantage of this.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Usually I think it's more like your eyes just like
Speaker 2: a feel thing. It's probably not saying that we speak
Speaker 2: about too often on the field, but particularly people with
Speaker 2: the spy and the ladder sort of accelerate and go
Speaker 2: towards that. I think that's saying that we've been quite
Speaker 2: lucky to have over these last few years. It sort
Speaker 2: of feels like we've got gears and us that.
Speaker 1: Look like to me, you can go on the gear
Speaker 1: and probably had one or two in Yeah.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing. It's probably been a bit frustrated
Speaker 2: this year that like we've always sort of been like
Speaker 2: hanging in games and then once we get pushed, then
Speaker 2: we were retaliated. We're like, all right, now we'll go
Speaker 2: up a gear. We haven't really blown away teams this year.
Speaker 1: She did in the in the first preliminary semi against
Speaker 1: the r That was the best game, you guys I
Speaker 1: had for a long time.
Speaker 2: We knew we need to get.
Speaker 1: The last game of the Blue Belt. I was out
Speaker 1: there and god, I just wish enjoy it. No, I
Speaker 1: didn't enjoy it all. I wasn't sure what to wear,
Speaker 1: so but someone said, don't wear your suit. But it
Speaker 1: was actually great. It was a great atmosphere. It was
Speaker 1: rugby league what it used to be when I was
Speaker 1: a kid growing up. That's what it feels like to me.
Speaker 1: It was just everyone's into it. I mean there's a
Speaker 1: pretty hostile crowd to be in front of.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they love playing the east Man.
Speaker 1: You know, Well, it's just like going down to Melbourne.
Speaker 1: I guess it's the same feeling. But you guys actually
Speaker 1: did kick into a big That was a big gear change,
Speaker 1: and then I think every game you played after that
Speaker 1: was a new gear. It looked like that. And then
Speaker 1: even in the Grand Final, you look like you just
Speaker 1: kept increasing the gear, kept saying, Okay, well you're going
Speaker 1: to match me. I'll go this way. You're gonna match me,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go this way. That's what it felt like
Speaker 1: to me. And I'm wondering about the leadership on the team,
Speaker 1: the boys. You guys, are you talking to which other
Speaker 1: you say, listen, let's just crack them again, Let's just
Speaker 1: put it into them harder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again like that, I think you fall back
Speaker 2: to your training and also experience, and I think all
Speaker 2: of those as you're sort of talking about that all
Speaker 2: comes from our training. It's something we talk about our
Speaker 2: training constantly. The hard work we're put in. We know
Speaker 2: that it's going to pay us back when we need it.
Speaker 2: Because when you're actually in the moment, it's like everyone's
Speaker 2: pretty fatigued and just sort of trying to gel together,
Speaker 2: but everything's happening so fast, so you probably don't get
Speaker 2: time to say that in the moment, but you sort
Speaker 2: of get looks at each other and sort of know
Speaker 2: that it's time to step it up a bit. And
Speaker 2: I think that's something that where us as a group
Speaker 2: through experience that sort of feel of it has beaning
Speaker 2: that we just haven't even had to speak about now.
Speaker 2: It's sort of sort of know that you know, etcetera.
Speaker 2: And particularly in Grand Final, you know each other that
Speaker 2: well yeah yeah, And it's something that's combinations experience experience
Speaker 2: in big games. And I think that's probably when I
Speaker 2: felt at the most on Sunday night, where he didn't
Speaker 2: even really need to say stuff to each other, just
Speaker 2: knew what was required and what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you. I'm a big rap here,
Speaker 1: but I and tell me if I'm wrong. The rap
Speaker 1: you deserve, but obviously you deserve it, But tell me
Speaker 1: if what I was thinking is wrong. So someone said
Speaker 1: to me the other day, ah, you know, just before the game,
Speaker 1: Bellamy is a genius blah blah blah, and he is.
Speaker 1: He's a great coach. Billy is a great coach. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, you know what's interesting, I think Cray
Speaker 1: Greg Bellamy looks for weaknesses and teams and exploits weakness.
Speaker 1: He's very good exploiting witness. He'll work out where's a
Speaker 1: weakness and he'll play it that all night until he
Speaker 1: gets through and I said, on the other hand, Ivans,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Ivan's like that, but I think
Speaker 1: Ivan is really good at getting the best out of
Speaker 1: his team. And the question then becomes, is the coach
Speaker 1: who can identify a weakness working out his strategies to
Speaker 1: go to the weakness better than the coach who can
Speaker 1: get the best out of every player on the team.
Speaker 1: And I sort of I felt like that's the way
Speaker 1: the game was played. And I think Bellamie was trying
Speaker 1: to find weaknesses. He's maybe your shoulder or whatever the
Speaker 1: case would be, but he couldn't find it. And it
Speaker 1: seemed like to me that they got frustrated watching it.
Speaker 1: I'm Telly, I'm talking about it. Especially when I watched
Speaker 1: the second time. It looked like they were getting frustrated
Speaker 1: that they think we can't find a weakness. But on
Speaker 1: the other hand, you guys are just getting the best
Speaker 1: out of each other. That's what it looked like to me.
Speaker 1: Is there any am I anywhere near that? Or we're
Speaker 1: just making shit up? Because that's how I felt.
Speaker 2: I don't know it was that deliverate, But what I
Speaker 2: will say is if you look at the Melbourne style,
Speaker 2: not a lot of weakness, so I couldn't sort of
Speaker 2: find find weakness in them. So yeah, you're probably right.
Speaker 2: You end up spending more time, you know, on your
Speaker 2: own team, which I think we do it most of
Speaker 2: the time. There'll be some games throughout the year there
Speaker 2: might be a team that's littered with injuries or down
Speaker 2: on form or or whatever, where it's a bit easier
Speaker 2: to you know, actually find a weakness. And you know,
Speaker 2: those types of games, you might zero went on that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff a bit more. But for this game
Speaker 2: against this type of opposition and the bigger the games
Speaker 2: is I think handling you know, basically your headspace is
Speaker 2: something that we've worked a lot a lot on and
Speaker 2: each and every player you know will tell you it's
Speaker 2: a bit the bigger the games and the bigger the pressure,
Speaker 2: it's different, you know, and it becomes more than just
Speaker 2: playing football, you know, It's about playing yourself, you know,
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways. So spend a lot of
Speaker 2: time on that and and I guess that's that's that's
Speaker 2: one big way of trying to get the best out
Speaker 2: of everyone.
Speaker 1: But do you sort of say to yourself, having Hourison's quick,
Speaker 1: we don't give him space, do.
Speaker 2: You go through those processes that were yeah, well, well
Speaker 2: we'll generally talk about, you know, the opposition, where they
Speaker 2: what their strengths are, how they like to play, you know,
Speaker 2: if they got a certain style or whatever, and a
Speaker 2: lot of spend a lot of time on that. Each
Speaker 2: and every guy knows the players they're up against them
Speaker 2: and their own nuances and that type of stuff. So
Speaker 2: there's a lot of work that goes in around you know,
Speaker 2: and knowing your enemy, but probably more work and more
Speaker 2: time built right throughout the season on making sure that
Speaker 2: on the biggest day, you know we're going to we
Speaker 2: can play our best footing, so sort.
Speaker 1: Of getting you to peak at the right time too.
Speaker 2: Yeah you did mention this is this is not really
Speaker 2: it wasn't really a plan. But we hit the finals
Speaker 2: in fairly average form. I'd say, we're actually just trying
Speaker 2: to give you the roosters a false sense of hopeful
Speaker 2: did but like, yeah, I just I think the boys
Speaker 2: knew that, they just knew we had nothing come back,
Speaker 2: which is obviously ye fair help, but they just kind
Speaker 2: of they just went up a level. You could see
Speaker 2: their training and that gives me a great confidence how
Speaker 2: we prepare and it was just like that week of
Speaker 2: preparation was like that was completely different than what we've
Speaker 2: been doing and it'd showed down the field just but.
Speaker 1: It wasn't u to different preparation. It's just that they
Speaker 1: were ready.
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't. It wasn't really different, but they just
Speaker 2: went up a notch and just in terms of intensity
Speaker 2: it was different. Yeah, And that's where that's where it
Speaker 2: all comes from. The intensity of which you train, I
Speaker 2: think is probably the biggest indicator of how you're going
Speaker 2: to play.
Speaker 1: Especially like Grand Final, that that Grand Final build and
Speaker 1: getting the intensity for the Grand vol because they've had
Speaker 1: experienced at it, so much experience at it. Now, how
Speaker 1: much the effective do you think that plays it? Because
Speaker 1: it looks like you guys got so much patience, Like
Speaker 1: like you got you're not panicking at any stage, You're
Speaker 1: not starting to do crazy shit like oh shit, we
Speaker 1: better start throwing the board, you know, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean like it looks like you've got patience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that sort of what you touched on,
Speaker 2: like it's knowing that sort of our best is going
Speaker 2: to beat anyone else and having that little bit of
Speaker 2: confidence in that. And I think we actually had a
Speaker 2: discussion earlier in the week we were training and went
Speaker 2: up to Dad after and we sort of spoke and
Speaker 2: just felt like we'll maybe focusing a bit too much
Speaker 2: on Melbourne rather than just focusing on ourselves and getting
Speaker 2: our game one hundred percent right. And for the rest
Speaker 2: of the week we sort of zoned in on that
Speaker 2: and constantly telling each other that, you know, if we
Speaker 2: bring our best game, it's we're definitely going to be
Speaker 2: in the fight. But I believe that that we're going
Speaker 2: to win it. And I think that helps with knowing
Speaker 2: that if we train well. Again, it comes back to
Speaker 2: that preparation. If you train well, that's what gives you
Speaker 2: confidence for the game, and that feeling was definitely there
Speaker 2: with just the intensity and taking it to another level. Yeah,
Speaker 2: particular grand final.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here and thinking himself, they're both good looking dudes.
Speaker 1: One four Grand Finals. They're like, the father's got the
Speaker 1: perfect son and brother and your other children too as well,
Speaker 1: and perfect wife because he's got a great relationship with
Speaker 1: his wife. The son's singing, I got the perfect dad,
Speaker 1: Like what the hell? Like, what there must be? Is
Speaker 1: there a chink anywhere? It's plenty funny, you never you don't,
Speaker 1: you know, but everything it's like, do you ever think yourself?
Speaker 1: I know, this is like I don't want anything to change.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it was funny. Last time we spoke as
Speaker 2: any of that was with one our first verse on
Speaker 2: then twenty twenty one, and I remember thinking on that night,
Speaker 2: I was just thinking, how can you be so lucky
Speaker 2: where so many things go so well for you in
Speaker 2: one night? Yeah, but I was also saying, just this
Speaker 2: morning did an interview with someone and his twelve years
Speaker 2: of playing NRL and then my first four nine years
Speaker 2: of coaching, and so that's twenty six years took me
Speaker 2: to be able to win a premiership get involved in one.
Speaker 2: So it's been a lot of it didn't happen all
Speaker 2: but it's certainly not all been. It's not all beer
Speaker 2: and skittles. And I had to learn a lot along
Speaker 2: the way and I still know that, you know, and
Speaker 2: in the future it can go the other way quickly.
Speaker 2: So just enjoying the enjoying the fruits of what we're
Speaker 2: doing at the moment, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, you're only fifty two three three fifty three. I
Speaker 1: was going to give you a year theres but like,
Speaker 1: you know, you've got one way to go, like Bennett's
Speaker 1: late seventies or something, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not going to be coaching. I'll be lucky that I'm
Speaker 2: alive of that.
Speaker 1: And I heard Bellamy said the other day that day
Speaker 1: he probably retired before he's seventy, and he's sixty seven,
Speaker 1: I think at the moment, so he said, I'm not
Speaker 1: I mon't be there at seventy. That's there were his words.
Speaker 1: Do you see yourself coaching these blakes for a long
Speaker 1: time that.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm contracted for another three years and
Speaker 2: at the moment, that's that's good enough.
Speaker 1: It's unlikely they're not going to renew the contract. Can
Speaker 1: I tell?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, but I just don't know if I can.
Speaker 2: You know, like, I just can't see myself playing one
Speaker 2: of those guys. It's I'm in my sixties or late seventies,
Speaker 2: still still going through this rollcaster. You know, I want
Speaker 2: to sitting back on a beer in the stand, mate, But.
Speaker 1: It is a rollercaster, it is. I mean, I often
Speaker 1: say I recommend the hardest jobs is coaching, Like well,
Speaker 1: it's a lifestyle heavy like this can be traumatic and terrible.
Speaker 2: It's a lifestyle. It's more than a job. It's you
Speaker 2: live it, you know, and from week to week, depending
Speaker 2: on how the game goes, you know, can dictate how
Speaker 2: your life. It's not just you, it's your family, it's
Speaker 2: your wife, your kids. So it's that's where you put
Speaker 2: your handle for and that's that's the addictive part of
Speaker 2: it as well. Every time you have a loss or
Speaker 2: you're not going well or you know, it's I think
Speaker 2: as a coach, you always feel like there's something good
Speaker 2: around the next corner, you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but does that mean mean that you're by
Speaker 1: a definition and have a positive mindset? Though, like generally speaking,
Speaker 1: you have a good positive outlook and stuff.
Speaker 2: I think so I'm a bit of a realist. But
Speaker 2: I also I just feel like, I guess I have
Speaker 2: enough confidence in myself and and the team and the
Speaker 2: people you know that work for you and whatever that will.
Speaker 2: If we're not going to get right now, we will
Speaker 2: eventually get it right, you know. And I guess if yeah,
Speaker 2: that's I suppose it's just yeah, there's something good around
Speaker 2: the next corner. But there's been plenty of dark times, mane,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I can't just talk from her about there's not just
Speaker 1: two people in your family. There's quite a few of
Speaker 1: this four kids and your wife as well. Maybe you
Speaker 1: just introduce who maybe you could do it, introduce the
Speaker 1: rest of your family to us.
Speaker 2: So what have you got?
Speaker 1: The NOFE is not here today, but like who's there
Speaker 1: and what's the order of kids and what's everybody doing?
Speaker 2: It's got mum back. She's the rock of the family.
Speaker 2: She keeps everyone together real for sure. Yeah she Yeah, how.
Speaker 1: Long you'll be married? Now? We're how long you've been
Speaker 1: hanging out to you? Going together? The type of thing.
Speaker 2: I was out twenty ninth, twenty anniversary last week, so
Speaker 2: we we got engaged after one year and then got married,
Speaker 2: so it's for thirty one years.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations coming from someone and he's had three marriages.
Speaker 2: So thanks. We're beating the others.
Speaker 1: You definitely are. You definitely are and going.
Speaker 2: And then I'm the oldest. Some'm twenty six. I got
Speaker 2: my sister Indiana, she's twenty five or fourteen months apart.
Speaker 1: And what's Indiana doing? She she made a footy Evan.
Speaker 2: She's yeah, she's actually she she's probably the I would
Speaker 2: say the least sporty out of the kids. But she
Speaker 2: loves her footage. She loves telling dad who she who
Speaker 2: should be picking and who's playing well and all that,
Speaker 2: and she's her mam are very similar like that. There's
Speaker 2: social types. They'll go to the footy and have a
Speaker 2: drink and just love chatting and watching the game and yeah,
Speaker 2: she's she's a good time.
Speaker 1: I'm still yeah, she's yeah, and you've got after that.
Speaker 2: And then I've got a brother who's nineteen as he
Speaker 2: just signed up with some of the Warriors. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: that's that'll be interesting change for him.
Speaker 1: But what positions he played?
Speaker 2: He plays half back really yeah, the same structure as
Speaker 2: you are, a bit skinnier, but he was going to
Speaker 2: be taller than me. Yeah. Yeah, when he feels out,
Speaker 2: he feels he's going to be bigger, So it'd be
Speaker 2: a good opportunity for him. I'm actually I couldn't help
Speaker 2: but feel bad for him at times. When he first
Speaker 2: started playing with parents in the juniors, like everyone knew
Speaker 2: who was it was right up to him in the
Speaker 2: paper and he was just trying to work out his
Speaker 2: path and journey. And he's definitely been on a different
Speaker 2: to what I was when I was younger. So I
Speaker 2: think going over to New Zealand's going to really help him,
Speaker 2: just to settle down and just yeah, just work hard
Speaker 2: and if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, we
Speaker 2: still love him and yeah. So and then we've got
Speaker 2: I've got a younger sister as well, in Malaya. She's seventeen,
Speaker 2: and what's he do?
Speaker 1: She's still scool. I guess she left.
Speaker 2: She was doing a hair dress apprenticeship. So me, Malaya
Speaker 2: and Dad are all very similar, quite introverted, not as outgoing.
Speaker 2: And then Chad Indian Mama are the extroverted party type,
Speaker 2: a good time. So it's a good mix in the family.
Speaker 1: Yin and yang sort of thing, you know, like you've
Speaker 1: gotta have someone who cuts and someone who sows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, like otherwise you can have a good tailing,
Speaker 1: good suit. But that that's that's interesting that the I mean,
Speaker 1: you've gone downe perfectly, like two boys do girls, Like,
Speaker 1: how the hell did you do that? I don't have
Speaker 1: four sons, Like.
Speaker 2: You don't know what you know?
Speaker 1: I kept that's probably right if it was something that
Speaker 1: I and I guess I had different mums. So like
Speaker 1: that's what. It didn't help me. I just kept trying it.
Speaker 1: I just kept trying to have a girl, that's and
Speaker 1: I never I just never succeed. Now I've got three
Speaker 1: grandsons as well. And and when you were when you're
Speaker 1: having kids, did you actually wish that your kids play
Speaker 1: foot you? Was that a thing? Because I remember when
Speaker 1: my kids were little, I put them under six's and
Speaker 1: wom bats and like, you know, all that stuff, you know, crocodiles.
Speaker 1: Then they went to the crocodile's while and I just
Speaker 1: wanted to play footy, And a couple of them just
Speaker 1: weren't really interested. Like one particularly got no, I couldn't
Speaker 1: give a shit about you, And he's more academic sort
Speaker 1: of thing, you know. Yeah, And I must say a
Speaker 1: few times I got disappointed, like as a dad, I
Speaker 1: want to see my kids play footy. Were you like
Speaker 1: that as a dad or did you just say or
Speaker 1: do Nathan just naturally sort of want to play footy
Speaker 1: with all the kids at school or something?
Speaker 2: Yeah. Also, as Nat said, he was firstborn, and he
Speaker 2: was honestly by the time he could walk, he was
Speaker 2: kicking footies and hitting him golf balls and just playing
Speaker 2: with any sort of ball, he could say. I didn't
Speaker 2: even have time to even think about whether I wanted
Speaker 2: him to play footy. I didn't really, I didn't necessarily
Speaker 2: want him to play footy. I just wanted him to
Speaker 2: follow what he liked doing, and he just loved playing sport,
Speaker 2: so he you know, I encouraged him to play. You know,
Speaker 2: the more sports the better. That was definitely something that
Speaker 2: I think is important, and he was only too happy
Speaker 2: to do that. So, you know, he played cricket and
Speaker 2: a bit of athletics and played soccer and all sorts
Speaker 2: of stuff. Try to get him in the water, surf
Speaker 2: and yeah, and then just as it turned out, he
Speaker 2: fell in love with footy and he was pretty good
Speaker 2: at it.
Speaker 1: But was it was was he always built. He's a
Speaker 1: big he's a big kid for a half back, like
Speaker 1: like very big.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he wasn't. He wasn't like that. No, he wasn't
Speaker 2: overly big as a kid. Even when he was started
Speaker 2: a teenager when he first played Howld Matthews, he was
Speaker 2: I'm a fourteen coming off the bench playing hooker and
Speaker 2: it wasn't much of it. Fifteen and sixteen, yeah, it
Speaker 2: was sixteen, was fourteen or something or yeah, and so
Speaker 2: that by the time, you know, the other kids obviously
Speaker 2: came around, I had the same thing. If they wanted
Speaker 2: to play sport, awesome, same with jet if if Jenny
Speaker 2: wanted to play footy, great. If he didn't, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: have cared. Yeah, and he just so I kept saying,
Speaker 2: because he was under that much pressure and that everyone
Speaker 2: was watching him, And I said, should we want to
Speaker 2: do this? Mane He's like, yeah, I do it? Okay,
Speaker 2: how much?
Speaker 1: How much your way out of interest. There's a half
Speaker 1: back about ninety at the moment. That's a big half back.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I got to ninety four in the pre sasion
Speaker 2: and I sort of realized this is a bit too big.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, more muscles lost, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah muscle.
Speaker 2: So then at that point were quick the tape, you'll
Speaker 2: tell me the tapes. And then yeah, obviously had the
Speaker 2: hamstring injury as well, So I was like, I sort
Speaker 2: of refined my diet a bit and I'm pretty happy
Speaker 2: at ninety at the moment.
Speaker 1: So do you feel as though any of the injuries
Speaker 1: that were as a result of having, you know, being
Speaker 1: a bigger set.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. But at this point when after
Speaker 2: my second hamstring injury. I was just I wanted to
Speaker 2: look at everything, like I was just putting everything on
Speaker 2: the table and yeah, I just really took like a
Speaker 2: bird's eye view of what was happening what because I
Speaker 2: just felt I felt confident at the time, like I
Speaker 2: felt good in my body, and then these things were
Speaker 2: happening and it's obviously something's going wrong. So yeah, sort
Speaker 2: of find a few little things. The main thing was
Speaker 2: doing just extra hamstring and high speed work, which was
Speaker 2: came from the physiasm hig performance staff, which is the
Speaker 2: base of where it came from. But any little inducies
Speaker 2: I could change to help me, I try to do that.
Speaker 2: You're a perfectionist, yeah, yeah, and it's very frustrating at times.
Speaker 1: He's a perfectionist. Yeah, easy to get it from your mum.
Speaker 2: Nah, No, neither, I think we've mum and I are
Speaker 2: quite happy to be not perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He has to get it right though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know what, it's just, you know what
Speaker 2: does think That's something he has realized as well, that
Speaker 2: you're never perfect, but he he tries to be, and
Speaker 2: he prepares like no one I've ever seen, you know,
Speaker 2: Like I he said earlier, that he's learned that he
Speaker 2: never wanted to give himself an excuse come game day.
Speaker 2: And that's actually there's a lot of it's almost human
Speaker 2: nature that you want to give yourself that a little
Speaker 2: bit of excuse, you know. So it's it's quite a
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the traits that are unusual
Speaker 2: in him, and whays, yeah, it becomes so good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I couldn't kick a goal ever
Speaker 1: then or now, and I look at guys, I give
Speaker 1: me your kicking a goal, especially under pressure. And I
Speaker 1: watch the process you take yourself through, and you're sort
Speaker 1: of talking to yourself. You say something to yourself, I mean,
Speaker 1: is that something you could share with us, Like is there?
Speaker 1: It seems like there's a series of steps that you
Speaker 1: take that sort of dull. All the noise and all
Speaker 1: the people yelling at you. Might be right on the sideline,
Speaker 1: someone trying and wish you the worse, and but it
Speaker 1: seems like you go through this process and for some reason,
Speaker 1: nothing else in the whole world wild exists.
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 1: Like close?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've said this to a few people. But
Speaker 2: when I first get to the top of where I'm
Speaker 2: about to kick the ball, and i'm setting it up.
Speaker 2: I can hear everything in the crowd. I can hear
Speaker 2: people say and stuff. But once I've set it up
Speaker 2: and I get to the top of my runner, it's
Speaker 2: like there's no noise. It all just becomes one and
Speaker 2: then it's just me in my own head pretty much
Speaker 2: like and I especially feel this with the high pressure
Speaker 2: kicks that I won to tie the game or win
Speaker 2: the game. I'll just simplify it and I'll just say
Speaker 2: to myself, keep your head down and don't try to
Speaker 2: get too hard, and take a couple of breaths, and
Speaker 2: it feels like I'm just at the park like when
Speaker 2: I was a young kid kicking. And I know it's
Speaker 2: it seems weird, but yeah, in those high pressure moments,
Speaker 2: it's probably when I feel the most relaxed.
Speaker 1: I reckon And is that partly because you do actually
Speaker 1: practice at the park all the time. Maybe one of
Speaker 1: those guys after training you're still kicking, You're still training,
Speaker 1: you're still kicking goals and yeah, up and under whatever
Speaker 1: you do extras.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, a lot. And that was probably saying that
Speaker 2: I need to refine as well with the hamstring issues,
Speaker 2: which has been it's been a difficult process, but it's
Speaker 2: probably helped me a bit more to see things in
Speaker 2: my own head rather than actually just doing physical reps
Speaker 2: and it's more mental focus and stuff like that, and
Speaker 2: I think that helps me in those sort of high
Speaker 2: pressure moments. It feels like I've been there before and
Speaker 2: I've envisioned it almost. And yeah, I think the thing
Speaker 2: about like the perfectionist thing outside of footy. I'm happy
Speaker 2: to not be perfect. I know I'm not, but for
Speaker 2: some reason in the footy world it's like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: quite meticulous.
Speaker 1: And well, les's like fighters, like boxes and are there
Speaker 1: can be the nicest people outside of the ring. They
Speaker 1: get in the ring, they just switch on and they
Speaker 1: become that person and everybody thinks of they're like that
Speaker 1: all the time, but they're not. But you know, all
Speaker 1: comes down to how they prepare, all the training that
Speaker 1: they get ready to do what they're going to do,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I but I guess I've been talking
Speaker 1: about YouTube the penrith one. So as a team, so
Speaker 1: let's call out a few people and the side like
Speaker 1: who surprised you? Like really, I mean everyone aimed up
Speaker 1: obviously as a team result, but who really surprised you
Speaker 1: in the grand finally, who my god, look that go go.
Speaker 2: Go, Like, well, there's a few I reckon just we're
Speaker 2: talking in the car on the way here, Puel and
Speaker 2: Modi and Isaac Tummer. Just what they were able to do.
Speaker 2: They're probably unsung heroes in some regard of you know,
Speaker 2: they don't get all the wraps and they're not till
Speaker 2: the big name player. But what they were able to
Speaker 2: do on the night of the game was was quite incredible,
Speaker 2: and only with the ball in defense, Like I think
Speaker 2: I was a time I made thirty seven tackles at
Speaker 2: the center, Like it was just unbelievable, and he was
Speaker 2: protecting me. So I have extra extra love for him.
Speaker 2: I think that the obvious ones Leam Martin, Isaiah Oh
Speaker 2: was unbelievable. Like I watched the game back and I
Speaker 2: was like some of the things that come with in
Speaker 2: the last twe minutes, some of his carriers were you know,
Speaker 2: we know he's great, but he was just went to
Speaker 2: another level.
Speaker 1: What would you what would you about? What would you say,
Speaker 1: is what's his skill? Like he seems about it. He's
Speaker 1: very light on his feet for a big, tall, big guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he just keeps, he keeps. I remember once he was
Speaker 1: driving his legs on him and he just lea going, going, going,
Speaker 1: and he would have gone, he'd probably got an extra
Speaker 1: ten post meters. Yeah, and that would that would stuff
Speaker 1: me up before I was the opposition, you know, I thinking,
Speaker 1: because I'm trying to chase a lead, not protect to
Speaker 1: let I'm trying to chase it, So that would get
Speaker 1: into my head, I reckon.
Speaker 2: Well, it gives the rest of us energy as well
Speaker 2: when you see that happen. He just takes a carry
Speaker 2: and he's just carrying three guys from other twenty meters.
Speaker 2: I think we so I spoken about. He's got great balance,
Speaker 2: He's got a great understanding of the game. It's almost
Speaker 2: like having another half back out there. He just understands
Speaker 2: the game so well. And that comes back to your
Speaker 2: fitness as well. You have to be fit to keep
Speaker 2: your head on and know what's happening. And yeah, he's
Speaker 2: just an unbelievable leader. He always says the right thing
Speaker 2: at the right time. And yeah, he's an absolute pleasure
Speaker 2: to play with. He's a big box, tickeral process like
Speaker 2: he's in his whole life. Everything he does, he's just
Speaker 2: so organized, and he's got this. He's got a memory
Speaker 2: like an elephant too, mat he remembers everything, So he
Speaker 2: remembered like as the game's going on, he knows exactly
Speaker 2: what we need, he needs, what the opposition is doing,
Speaker 2: what we're doing, what we It's phenomenal. And he's in
Speaker 2: the middle of the field playing eighty minutes every.
Speaker 1: Week's field coach. Yeah pretty much. Yeah sure, and that
Speaker 1: that on field coach are pretty important. Like if you
Speaker 1: can get that sort of individual.
Speaker 2: We've got a couple. Actually it's pretty handy, you sure,
Speaker 2: Liam mart Like, no, he's not one, but how good? Yeah,
Speaker 2: under Lee. And he's just a big game player and
Speaker 2: every sense of the word. Like sometimes I watch him
Speaker 2: or like because I play right next to him sometimes
Speaker 2: in the club games during the season, it's like, where's
Speaker 2: this guy that's this case that's playing origin in the finals,
Speaker 2: Like he's just a bit you know, not there, But
Speaker 2: as soon as he's needed, he always turns up. And
Speaker 2: the bigger the game, the better he goes. And he
Speaker 2: showed that win the Clive too, so it was, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I was pumped for him.
Speaker 1: It's funny you should say, because you mentioned some let's
Speaker 1: call it unsung heroes. Earlier on you did, Nathan and
Speaker 1: I'm your hooker whose name is just avoids me for
Speaker 1: some reason, but I wanted to give him a great game.
Speaker 2: He's just got like concrete weapon. He's unbelievable. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's he leads the party afterwards as well. He's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, he's just that's half and that that much
Speaker 2: of a team man. You know he will do Yeah,
Speaker 2: he fight his grandmother.
Speaker 1: For a scrap on the ground. You know, take it
Speaker 1: up no matter what. You wouldn't need me to do it.
Speaker 1: And do you, Nathan, do you draw on any sporting
Speaker 1: heroes to for inspiration apart.
Speaker 2: From yeah, a lot, a lot I got. I love
Speaker 2: sort of the American sports. So Tom Brady has always
Speaker 2: won that I've sort of looked up so and just
Speaker 2: listening to him and the way he went about his
Speaker 2: work was saying that I was really drawn towards like
Speaker 2: surgery is he just disects everything and just get it
Speaker 2: all back together. Just unbelievable. So he's probably other tople
Speaker 2: list for me, my could join with the last dance
Speaker 2: After watching that, I was that really inspired me. And
Speaker 2: then people like Lebron James and all that as well.
Speaker 2: They're the guys that I look towards and admired.
Speaker 1: Lebron James. Actually, what's interest about Lebron James and his son?
Speaker 1: They play together. I mean it wasn't there wasn't much
Speaker 1: in it a couple of years, but you could do
Speaker 1: it like hard back yard. Come on. So the celebrations
Speaker 1: that you guys have been going through, they're pretty much over.
Speaker 1: I guess you're going to have your wards. It must
Speaker 1: be coming up soon. You've had yours? Yeah, okay? And
Speaker 1: who won? And what's your top award at the Penrith
Speaker 1: car and what? And what's the murf cut right? Who won?
Speaker 1: Who took the cart Right awards?
Speaker 2: Two in a row? I think that's his third?
Speaker 1: And what do you say to someone like him when
Speaker 1: he when you see that he's now the captain's train side,
Speaker 1: doesn't he?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you what do you what do
Speaker 1: you say to what do you say to mine? What
Speaker 1: do you reach out to him and say?
Speaker 2: Well? I could say I said this to him like
Speaker 2: he broke the all time games record for Panthers this year,
Speaker 2: but took Steve Carter's record two hundred and forty four games,
Speaker 2: which has stood for twenty three years. So I mean
Speaker 2: I said on that occasion, and I feel like I
Speaker 2: don't talk enough about Yo. He like what he does
Speaker 2: for us. He's the best way I could probably sum
Speaker 2: it up is like I'm always looking to give him
Speaker 2: a rest, but I'll just never take him off because
Speaker 2: I just can't. I can't. I can't face us playing
Speaker 2: without him. He played. He's so durable, he's just so consistent,
Speaker 2: makes me feel safe when he's on the field. He
Speaker 2: mentions that I gave him his debut in twenty four
Speaker 2: and when he didn't think he was ready, but I
Speaker 2: had faith in him before he had faith in himself.
Speaker 2: So and all he's done since then is he's helped me.
Speaker 2: So that's how I look at it.
Speaker 1: Can I just go to like a little topic on
Speaker 1: the side, Mary foul I saw a post from her
Speaker 1: with the Penrith jersey on and and then I saw
Speaker 1: one from you with her. It might have been in
Speaker 1: your stories, but I can't remember it was her, Like
Speaker 1: you know, like anything, I'm.
Speaker 2: Just I'm looking forward to seeing her. I got to
Speaker 2: see her soon. And where is she now? She's in England.
Speaker 2: The season had just started so she couldn't come back
Speaker 2: for the game, but she she wore the Panthers jersey
Speaker 2: to her game actually and was watching it.
Speaker 1: So how did you meet her at this event?
Speaker 2: And I'd none of her for a little bit, and
Speaker 2: then I sort of knew that she was going to
Speaker 2: be there that night, and I was a bit like,
Speaker 2: I hope that our path cross and we're no, it
Speaker 2: was not. Story was pretty shy though, so yeah, I
Speaker 2: can imagine. Yeah, so it was it was nothing crazy
Speaker 2: at this stun and then we just she was here
Speaker 2: for the World Cup, so yeah, to know each other
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: And she she's added US ambassador as well. So like,
Speaker 1: if if the two of you, like you know, get
Speaker 1: together and do something, get married or whatever, and you
Speaker 1: move in the house together, you're going to have to
Speaker 1: get a big house because the number of boxes of it,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to.
Speaker 2: Have three rooms for it.
Speaker 1: Because I saw a post it was on your page
Speaker 1: at about being one of your sponsors and poor a
Speaker 1: lady help redesign your bedroom or something, and she didn't
Speaker 1: know how to deal with it. They showed a picture
Speaker 1: of all the like there was a wall full of
Speaker 1: added our shoes.
Speaker 2: That's the start of it. Yeah, I'm pretty into my
Speaker 2: shoes and lucky enough to be responsible out of us.
Speaker 1: So it's a pretty good one to be sponsored by.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely, So they definitely helped that need.
Speaker 1: I was looking at my wheels before I came in
Speaker 1: because I was looking at it in my office and
Speaker 1: much ship. He's probably one of those guys knows everything
Speaker 1: about shoes, you know, and he's going to say something
Speaker 1: to me like I had my crappy I don't even
Speaker 1: say what I got. I got my crappy shoes and
Speaker 1: training shoes.
Speaker 2: I know the feeling.
Speaker 1: Mate. Yeah, you've got to get a shoe game, right mate.
Speaker 2: You've got to help him. I get him shoes pretty
Speaker 2: much every time for his birthday, Christmas, So he's stepping
Speaker 2: it up a little bit.
Speaker 1: If you don't pay from that, do you? Because there's smart.
Speaker 1: He's come on, he's smart. He works ou out pretty quick.
Speaker 2: He used to bag me for it, but now he
Speaker 2: actually appreciates the shoes.
Speaker 1: Well you know how important. Well I've only more recently
Speaker 1: learned how important having a shoe game, right. That's a
Speaker 1: really important thing, especially out where you're living now, because
Speaker 1: that's a big deal. Like, you know, you got to
Speaker 1: have the right shoes, dude, Like and you've got to
Speaker 1: listen to your son. He knows what you should be
Speaker 1: wearing with you right colors. I'm not sure about those ones.
Speaker 2: I'm already married. I don't need to impress anyone.
Speaker 1: Pressure the kids. Can I ask you?
Speaker 2: Like it?
Speaker 1: It's an elephant room question, but like I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: it anyway. Gus cool. Gus is a controversial figure, especially
Speaker 1: he has been in relation to Penrith and in some
Speaker 1: respects self. He was at the roosters for a long time.
Speaker 1: As you know, he's now Cantery. One thing no one
Speaker 1: can deny. Gus a smart guy and committed. Do you
Speaker 1: attribute any any of this success, not the success of
Speaker 1: you as a coach, but success of Pendrith generally to
Speaker 1: what Gus might have done earlier on?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yeah, And I would attribute a lot of success
Speaker 2: as a coach I've had too because I played four
Speaker 2: years under Gus. He also got me to come to
Speaker 2: Penrith originally also sacked me. But a lot of a
Speaker 2: lot of how I look at the game and what
Speaker 2: I learned about the game and how I still coach
Speaker 2: today is from is from Gus, and he would he
Speaker 2: would know that by the way we by the way
Speaker 2: we play, I managed people differently the way he does.
Speaker 2: But from Penrith itself like he yeah, twelve years ago
Speaker 2: when he when he brought me, and he completely changed
Speaker 2: the way that our club was built in terms of pathways.
Speaker 2: At that point, eighty percent of the top twenty five
Speaker 2: in those days, eighty percent were from the players had
Speaker 2: come from elsewhere. Only twenty percent were locally grown. Really yeah,
Speaker 2: and all the success from the past, so like the
Speaker 2: nine to ninety one team, the two thousand and three
Speaker 2: were always there's a big chunk of players either locals
Speaker 2: or kids that had come from the bush or somewhere
Speaker 2: where they'd grown up in Panas. So we had to
Speaker 2: turn that on its head and gust drove all that.
Speaker 2: He created the pathway system a big He was a
Speaker 2: big part of the building our academy, our actual high
Speaker 2: performance center out there as well. So, without doubt, like
Speaker 2: his fingerprints on the way the club was built. Some
Speaker 2: of these guys that you know, Nat and Jerome, he
Speaker 2: was responsible starting the Halves academy. When these boys came
Speaker 2: came through an academy half and that Jerome were really
Speaker 2: they were part of the inaugural one.
Speaker 1: So it's mad yeah, specifically for that those two positions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Trent Barr Okay, wow, Yeah, so Gus had a
Speaker 2: huge influence on it, but I actually think that he
Speaker 2: probably had to leave in order for us to actually
Speaker 2: reach our potential as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well he can be like that though. I mean
Speaker 1: he's he's good in the beginning and structure will set
Speaker 1: up a structure. It's un I mean he did it
Speaker 1: Origin too. If you remember, like during the Puber when
Speaker 1: he was an Origin coach, you did the roosters as
Speaker 1: you remember stick And now he's doing a good job
Speaker 1: with the dogs and he's sort of picked a few,
Speaker 1: picked the eyes out of a few of your ex players.
Speaker 1: He probably knew them before though, I guess, and he
Speaker 1: knew that their potential. Yeah do you does he textures?
Speaker 2: Mate?
Speaker 1: Well done on talking terms.
Speaker 2: I haven't spent it for a long time, but I'm
Speaker 2: sure it would be fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it means he didn't texture like that. The great
Speaker 1: thing about footy, right, and because we all accept the
Speaker 1: tribalism of it and it's still his tribal I mean,
Speaker 1: like it's particularly where you guys are like, it's very
Speaker 1: tribal and like and if I could, certainly you know
Speaker 1: there is and to some extent it's even probably often
Speaker 1: I've talked to the coppers about this, and you know,
Speaker 1: like guys in the administration police and they talk about
Speaker 1: they could get concerned sometimes about the tribalism of footing
Speaker 1: around your area, particularly in is It one four? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And on one hand that's really powerful, like powerful you
Speaker 1: as a member of the community. Power for you as
Speaker 1: a captain of coach and you as a coach and
Speaker 1: as a team member. It really pushes the community together.
Speaker 1: And you've got the FDA from the area. That stuff
Speaker 1: is like to me, that tribalism is what I like
Speaker 1: about footy. One of the Souths have been out of
Speaker 1: hanging there for so long, and don't worry, they'll come back.
Speaker 1: I just know South has come back, you know, like
Speaker 1: he's experienced what I'm talking about, like as a niece
Speaker 1: e bloke, But they always just keep coming back. You
Speaker 1: can't kill him, I won't say it, like cockroaches, but
Speaker 1: you can't kill them, literally can't. And you can't kill
Speaker 1: the troubleism in an area like yours. How do you
Speaker 1: sort of manage to balance that though, Like, make sure
Speaker 1: it doesn't get out of hand, it doesn't become doesn't
Speaker 1: cause a problem for the club. I mean, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if it does, But how do you make
Speaker 1: sure it doesn't?
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, well, I know there's definitely the clubs
Speaker 2: had some fears in and around that. It sort of
Speaker 2: spills over a little bit of local games, particularly around
Speaker 2: spectators and supporters of games and stuff. So and the
Speaker 2: boys themselves, it's quite a big responsibility for them because
Speaker 2: they have such a connection. Yeah, if they're from the
Speaker 2: area of the Mountain drew It boys and they and
Speaker 2: they will have incredible loyalty to where they come from,
Speaker 2: which is really powerful. Yeah, but they've also got to
Speaker 2: be Yeah, they're in a position where they've also got,
Speaker 2: obviously the club to think about their own sort of
Speaker 2: position as a role model in society. And it's a
Speaker 2: pretty tricky, very tricky. It's a tricky situation. But our boys,
Speaker 2: they have done incredibly well. Unhandled it with a plumber,
Speaker 2: must say. I like the way business sort of goes
Speaker 2: about it. He's always joking about everything, and yeah, he
Speaker 2: manages to just anything that's ever serious, you'll just reflect
Speaker 2: with something funny or stupid, and he gets away with
Speaker 2: the like that.
Speaker 1: I think he's maybe and others maybe others see that too,
Speaker 1: Maybe others can learn from that, because it could be
Speaker 1: you know, you don't because lastly you want is a
Speaker 1: split in there, like between groups of guys and they
Speaker 1: got wives and you know, their partners and families and
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters and stuff like that. It can get
Speaker 1: a bit messy. And I guess is that for the
Speaker 1: captainal for the coach to manage or we've.
Speaker 2: We've been really clear at Panthers that we have our
Speaker 2: own culture, right. So you know, a lot of boys
Speaker 2: do come from the area, a lot of boys come
Speaker 2: from other places as well. And no matter who you are,
Speaker 2: where you've come from, you know your cultural backgrounds, color
Speaker 2: of your skin, what, how do you want to heat
Speaker 2: where you have tatoos and no tatoos whatever. As long
Speaker 2: as you fit in the values of the Panthers and
Speaker 2: you know, respect our culture, then you can be. You
Speaker 2: can be from wherever you want. And I think the
Speaker 2: boys themselves have driven that really well, and that's been
Speaker 2: sort of our north star, if you like, for all
Speaker 2: sorts of things, and in particular that what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Can we just drink West? So you're in with sorry,
Speaker 1: the two partners is tie and who's and how's it going?
Speaker 2: Drink West? Yeah, it's good. It's it's a hard gig
Speaker 2: with the brewery is hard, Yeah, but it's it's been enjoyable.
Speaker 2: It's been something that just learning about probably my first
Speaker 2: dip into business, so just learning along the way. And yeah,
Speaker 2: it's been fun. Obviously those two ways the polarizing characters,
Speaker 2: so they always keep it fire.
Speaker 1: I love him, I particularly Ty. Yeah, he's a great guy.
Speaker 1: He's told his story to a million times, like he's
Speaker 1: I just love his effort, like outside of the UFC, Yeah,
Speaker 1: his effort as a person to try to be better.
Speaker 2: Well, he's similar to the sort of Romium business I
Speaker 2: would have give him back to the area and trying
Speaker 2: to build everyone up that that comes from there and
Speaker 2: showing them that there's hope, you know, to make it out.
Speaker 2: And I think that's saying that those boys in particularly
Speaker 2: have done really well and it's now become cool to
Speaker 2: be from Mandre, where in the past probably wasn't totally.
Speaker 1: Will you guys that keep keep that coolners going there,
Speaker 1: like winning grand finals like that on the pins it
Speaker 1: straight up, yeah, you know, like and God help you
Speaker 1: if you lose next year, you get brushed for life.
Speaker 1: But I love the idea that they've built a beer
Speaker 1: around people who live in the West, because this makes
Speaker 1: that's smart to me. Yeah, because you've got to you've
Speaker 1: got a brewer. Now, he's got a brewer. Nowt there,
Speaker 1: and you've actually got as a bar pick going to
Speaker 1: have a drink there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I went out there. I got invited him.
Speaker 1: I went out there, and I thought that's pretty smart.
Speaker 1: And you know, like if if you guys ever needed
Speaker 1: any help, and I've extended to tie if you want,
Speaker 1: like you always coming to talk to me. You know,
Speaker 1: I've got a mate who's he's made of his too.
Speaker 1: He's actually in the moment who owned a brewing business
Speaker 1: and sold him and Mickfending, aren't it and a couple
Speaker 1: others and they sold a large amount of money.
Speaker 3: If you ever wanted to talk to it, that'd be
Speaker 3: great actually because he's here, he hasn't seeing it for
Speaker 3: the next couple of days and anyway he comes back
Speaker 3: and forth. But it'd be good because I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 3: what does does Nathan think about post footy?
Speaker 2: I'll be about it more like, particularly this year with injuries,
Speaker 2: I had a lot of time to myself to think
Speaker 2: and what ifs. Yeah, exactly, Like you just think it's
Speaker 2: going to go forever, but then you have a few injuries,
Speaker 2: you're out of the game and you sort of realize, like,
Speaker 2: this isn't going to last forever. So dragging this year
Speaker 2: is probably the first year I've really thought about post
Speaker 2: footy and what that looks like for me. And yeah,
Speaker 2: it's been an interesting journey. It's one that I am
Speaker 2: excited about. I know it's a fair way away. Well
Speaker 2: I hope it's fair away yet, but something that I'm
Speaker 2: excited about. It's a new passion, something that you can
Speaker 2: put your time and effort into and yeah, we'll see
Speaker 2: when we get there.
Speaker 1: What does a club do that sort of thing I
Speaker 1: would do. It's just penrith sort of extend to their players'
Speaker 1: assistance or you know, like encourage them to do courses
Speaker 1: or is there something going on And as a coach,
Speaker 1: do you do anything in that regard for the team
Speaker 1: and the team members?
Speaker 2: Yeah, not so specifically, We definitely encourage them to to
Speaker 2: do stuff outside of just footy, you know, so whether
Speaker 2: that's plenty of players are actually doing courses and trying
Speaker 2: to look into other things just to help them for
Speaker 2: life after. As that mentioned, it can be a pretty
Speaker 2: sure career and you never quite know when it's over.
Speaker 2: On business stuff, there's yeah, we have sort of help available,
Speaker 2: but it's probably nothing. It's so formal. Maybe you need
Speaker 2: to come out.
Speaker 1: Happy to I'm happy that not because we do that.
Speaker 1: That's the sort of stuff I'd like to do it because,
Speaker 1: as I like to tell it, young blokes and young
Speaker 1: women improve their lives and do better. Because it's kind
Speaker 1: of put me when you say the sporting career, the
Speaker 1: footy career can be short. Well, I mon't be put
Speaker 1: another way. You're going to live to your generation. You
Speaker 1: live to ninety or one hundred, and not many players
Speaker 1: go past thirty five for arguments sake, you know, Jerry
Speaker 1: Evans is probably one. You might too, because you're pretty robust.
Speaker 1: But let's say you get a thirty six, thirty seven.
Speaker 1: That means you've got to fifty odd years. You've got
Speaker 1: to spend money, you've got to make sure something's coming
Speaker 1: in to fill the gap. And it's worth thinking about, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And it's good that you're thinking about that
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. And I guess, you know, having a
Speaker 1: girl you're interested in too, Like you probably start to
Speaker 1: have thoughts to a one day. You know, I've got
Speaker 1: to keep the clearing name going. Yeah, absolutely, have maybe
Speaker 1: one sport, one kid play sport? Probably why not? What
Speaker 1: should be good? If it's a girl or a boy.
Speaker 1: Be a good kicker. You'll be able to kick a ball.
Speaker 1: A lot of things, yeah, but I good. But they're
Speaker 1: the things that make you start to think. And it's funny.
Speaker 1: I guess you look like to me a much more
Speaker 1: mature player this year than I've ever seen you before.
Speaker 1: You know, I know you had some injuries, but you
Speaker 1: look like you're more settled on the on the field.
Speaker 1: You look like you're more in control of yourself, therefore
Speaker 1: puts you more in control of the game. I get
Speaker 1: those thoughts start. That type of personality seems to emerge once
Speaker 1: you start to have thoughts about what am we going
Speaker 1: to do in the future, you know, like will I
Speaker 1: have a family one day? And I guess that's where you're.
Speaker 2: At yeah, I think probably more so than I'm much
Speaker 2: very settled off the field at the moment, just my
Speaker 2: headspace and the people in my life, and I'm really
Speaker 2: content with that. So that definitely helps on the field,
Speaker 2: but it also does make you think about the future
Speaker 2: and what's going to happen, and yeah, put a little
Speaker 2: bit more thought into that.
Speaker 1: So do you just dad and become the dad and
Speaker 1: not the coach anymore? At that point?
Speaker 2: Do you?
Speaker 1: I mean, do you let my kids don't talk to.
Speaker 2: Me about it?
Speaker 1: Just do it? My dad? He's a she's pregnant. You
Speaker 1: know that's a bit extreme, but like, my kids will
Speaker 1: kill me for saying, but I haven't helped you, but
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But like, does do you
Speaker 1: have to cross that bridge? Like Dad's gone from being
Speaker 1: a coach to being dad.
Speaker 2: Well, I've always been lucky with that. Dad's always still
Speaker 2: felt like dad to me. Obviously a train and it
Speaker 2: feels like he's the coach, coach a training or dad,
Speaker 2: I'll call him Dad. But I've realized that I'd never
Speaker 2: say it, like out loud that much because I don't
Speaker 2: really want to be yelling across like Dad, And sometimes
Speaker 2: I'm talking to other people, I will describe it as ivan. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're on the same on the same path. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I have always been lucky that he's still remained dad
Speaker 2: to me. And obviously mum's there too, and I got
Speaker 2: a really close frap with both of them, and they've
Speaker 2: always helped me from a young age with handling money
Speaker 2: and even property and stuff like that. And I've had
Speaker 2: good people around me to help me with that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff. So it's probably made me think about the
Speaker 2: future more than I actually even knew I was at
Speaker 2: the time, and put me in a good space for that.
Speaker 1: Well, you've I have to tell you.
Speaker 2: It's like.
Speaker 1: You your currency outside of the panthers is huge, so
Speaker 1: when we walk outside, your currency is huge. So you've
Speaker 1: got a great future, like for as long as you
Speaker 1: can play footy. Yeah yeah, but and yeah, you've got
Speaker 1: you come from a fantastic family. You've got pretty much
Speaker 1: everything ahead of you. Like it's at some stages sort
Speaker 1: of turns around to you. You've got to take ownership
Speaker 1: of Now I'm the dude, I'm the guy. It's funny
Speaker 1: like parents sort of go like that, like eventually you
Speaker 1: stop having dad and you have sort of equal, you
Speaker 1: become like it's not equal, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Equivalent it's probably better word. And it just seems to
Speaker 1: me like that you're moving into that territory now and
Speaker 1: I look at it, Ivan, I think, what how content
Speaker 1: you must be having such a wonderful family, like mate,
Speaker 1: like could you have a dream that like if you
Speaker 1: go back in the nineties, he must pinch yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I will. I'm super lucky if my family
Speaker 2: is the everything to me and it's yeah, like I
Speaker 2: obviously coach for a living, but that's not who I am.
Speaker 2: And yeah, my family's first and foremost. And interesting you
Speaker 2: say that about about that, because I was thinking about
Speaker 2: that this week where it's like he's like he's now
Speaker 2: a man and it's like, wow, you think you know
Speaker 2: you're firstborn, he's now a man. And just every time
Speaker 2: you just hear him talk, he just amazes me like
Speaker 2: like where he's coming, like where he's at. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Congratulations not only winning the coaching Grand Fato, congratulations to
Speaker 1: you and your wife for raising what you've raised all
Speaker 1: of them. And they often say the opp doesn't drop
Speaker 1: far from the dream, mate, so like, thank you. It's
Speaker 1: going to be it's got to have something a lot
Speaker 1: to do with the way you conduct yourself.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you would be the greatest achievement of my life.
Speaker 2: And my kids, you know, continue to be upstanding citizens
Speaker 2: and at varied of the community.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's pretty cool. Added that brings me
Speaker 1: into this. Yes, by the way, anyone think he played
Speaker 1: didn't get away with that?
Speaker 2: I actually said it was pretty cool. It was pretty
Speaker 2: cool because he's quite as some moment every now and
Speaker 2: you're sitting out.
Speaker 1: Of the top of you guys like you've written a book.
Speaker 1: Not everything counts, but everything matters. It's how connection and
Speaker 1: courage teach us to win an enor And this is
Speaker 1: about it. This is an anoral leadership story. This book's
Speaker 1: going to be on the shelves soon, if not now,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be in the book shelves very soon.
Speaker 1: What's this book about?
Speaker 2: Tell us about? Yeah, so it's not. It's certainly not
Speaker 2: my life story. It's something that's really got me out
Speaker 2: of my comfort zone. I just couldn't even imagine ever
Speaker 2: having a book written about me. I thought that was
Speaker 2: reserved for bokes like you, so.
Speaker 1: Mate, much more than me.
Speaker 2: So I consider myself a pretty normal dude who's just persevered.
Speaker 2: You know, I used the talents that I have and
Speaker 2: learn as much as I can over the years, and
Speaker 2: i'd like to think that I can be obviously, you know,
Speaker 2: parallel with coaching and sport, but it's a bit more
Speaker 2: than that, I think. You know, hopefully people in business can. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it can be helped by some of the stuff that
Speaker 2: I've been through.
Speaker 1: You're in the business of Woody.
Speaker 2: And I'm not telling by the way, this is be
Speaker 2: really clear on this. I'm not telling people how to
Speaker 2: do anything. I just sort of more like my story
Speaker 2: and some stuff that I've learned along the way, and
Speaker 2: hasn't all been easy, and hasn't all been as I
Speaker 2: said earlier, you're and skittles, certainly not. So's some lessons
Speaker 2: in and around that. Obviously, the father son thing where
Speaker 2: you know, just about every junior sports team in Australia,
Speaker 2: you know, has a father, mother son daughter relationship. Even
Speaker 2: in business, there's a lot of small businesses that are
Speaker 2: family businesses. So hopefully you know our story, can you
Speaker 2: know the ups and downs of that, it might be
Speaker 2: able to help too. So yeah, still feels a bit weird,
Speaker 2: and I'm a bit nervous actually about the whole thing.
Speaker 1: But you're killing, You're killing, and I just want to
Speaker 1: read what you wrote in the front of it says,
Speaker 1: this is from you to mom and dad. Think if
Speaker 1: you're showing me the way into the game of rugby
Speaker 1: league the greatest going of all, I owe you everything.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me about your mom and dad?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was I'm the youngest of three boys.
Speaker 2: So we grew up in the Northern Beaches in an
Speaker 2: era where, yeah, we were sort of allowed to get
Speaker 2: out and about, you know that the old days, and
Speaker 2: I was the youngest of three brothers, so I was
Speaker 2: just dragged along and to everything and anything. I was
Speaker 2: very sporty family. Mum and dad split when I was
Speaker 2: pretty young, about ten. So yeah, I don't know, they
Speaker 2: didn't They're always there, but they didn't tell tell us everything,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. They allowed us to become
Speaker 2: you know, there was a pretty set way of how
Speaker 2: you should do things and treat people. But apart from that,
Speaker 2: they always sort of let us kind of find our
Speaker 2: own way, I thought. So, Mum's still I'm still very
Speaker 2: healthy and going well. My dad passed away earlier this year,
Speaker 2: so I'm already hear that. You know what is he
Speaker 2: had a good life. I think he helped us on
Speaker 2: the weekend too, and he would have been up there
Speaker 2: watching him as a huge fan.
Speaker 1: That's actually adds a little extra to the whole thing,
Speaker 1: by the way, Yeah, winning it for him, Yeah, But
Speaker 1: I think, yeah.
Speaker 2: You realize as you get older how much you sort
Speaker 2: of learned from your parents from your early years. You
Speaker 2: know just how things should be done and how they're done,
Speaker 2: and you know ways of looking at things. And as
Speaker 2: I said, they never yeah, they weren't pushing any stretch,
Speaker 2: but they Yeah, they kind of taught your stuff in
Speaker 2: their own way, I reckon, And yeah, I think that's
Speaker 2: You're definitely grateful for that.
Speaker 1: It sounds like they gave you sort of a good
Speaker 1: footing but good wings at the same time.
Speaker 2: I think, so, yeah, to do both. Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: it's important that you kind of let your kids stumble
Speaker 2: and make their own mistakes and yeah, and sort of
Speaker 2: they have to be able to pick them up, but
Speaker 2: they've got to kind of work it out as well.
Speaker 1: I just won't just cover a couple of the chapters.
Speaker 1: He will part their parts. So the first one is
Speaker 1: about culture, the second one is about leadership, which I
Speaker 1: think is a has an application anywhere, not just in
Speaker 1: footy the game itself. That's I guess you'd be talking
Speaker 1: about strategies and tactics and yeah, just seeing the stories
Speaker 1: from the actual and winning. You've got a whole part
Speaker 1: of winning. How important is it for your team in
Speaker 1: terms of like the last weekend, winning that Grand Final?
Speaker 1: Is it for them to understand winning themselves and actually
Speaker 1: know how to win?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I guess that's there's a section in the
Speaker 2: book around I probably made a change in strategy sort
Speaker 2: of five years ago where I was always obviously interested
Speaker 2: in winning and always was competitive and wanted to win,
Speaker 2: but I don't think I was actually being true to
Speaker 2: it where I was completely risking all to win, you know.
Speaker 2: So it might be a bit like you prepare you know, nine,
Speaker 2: but you're not quite the last five for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: just to give you that a little bit of a
Speaker 2: you know, a little bit of moving room. We've got
Speaker 2: a room if you lose off we had done that,
Speaker 2: we would have won or whatever. And I just got
Speaker 2: to a point when I came back to the Panthers
Speaker 2: six years ago, where if we hadn't have succeeded in
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty season, I would have left the game.
Speaker 2: So I just yeah, decided to not only say that myself,
Speaker 2: but put it out there, said that to the players.
Speaker 2: Our whole culture was built on winning. We're a professional
Speaker 2: sports team, you know, we're not a local park team.
Speaker 2: So winning not only matters, but it's essential and that's
Speaker 2: the way we've approached things and we will continue to
Speaker 2: do so just so happens to be. It's worked.
Speaker 1: But I think people would be fascinated too. It's sort
Speaker 1: of a bit of it. I guess what is he
Speaker 1: will be fascinated to read this because I think it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter with you're a footy fan. If a footy fan, yes,
Speaker 1: but if you're not a footy fan, these areas about winning.
Speaker 1: Winning is the same business. You've got to be winning
Speaker 1: businesses in business as well, you need leadership and business,
Speaker 1: you need culture and business and all those chapters or
Speaker 1: sections just as valuable in every walk of life, as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope. So that's that's the idea. Mark, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not just I definitely would never want to have
Speaker 2: a book of just where it's all about me or
Speaker 2: anything like that. I just, yeah, I'm hopeful that people
Speaker 2: in all different walks of life can can get something
Speaker 2: out of it.
Speaker 1: And I got to say, it's an old photo. There's
Speaker 1: not US twenty there, but they're just great here. But
Speaker 1: that's an old photo.
Speaker 2: There was no I'm pretty sure the make up there.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we've got four G cameras. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I look, I'm privileged to heavy in here. I want
Speaker 1: to congratulate again for everything you've done for footy, everything
Speaker 1: you've done for Penrith, every thing you've done in the field,
Speaker 1: everything you've done in the field for your team, but
Speaker 1: you've done for the area and raising a wonderful family.
Speaker 2: Good on.
Speaker 1: Thanks having a prettiate.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, right, appreciate it. Yeah m hm