WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Mark Mickan 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.440 Hi, everybody, Welcome to conversations. It's unusual. We sometimes have 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.559 father and son. We've had a husband and wife. I 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.399 don't think we've had brother and sister because a few 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.920 years ago I interviewed Pat Micken as part of this program, 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:19.520 one of our great Australian basketball players. But her brother 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.320 is equally as famous and it's taken me a few 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.959 years to track him down. Mark Micken, welcome to the program. 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.440 How are you. He's great, good, could be well. 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.680 Brother and sister. I think you're the first of it. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.200 So yeah, I'm not the best sportsman in the family. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.280 You're not the best. I'm not sure about that. It's 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.160 been it's been pretty tough for you the last couple 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:47.040 of years. You were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and how 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.040 how you handled it. Don't tell us how that's worked out. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.600 It's been challenging at times. I've got diagnosed in August 0:00:54.600 --> 0:01:00.480 of twenty sixteen, and in two thousand and nine nineteen, 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.480 I had a de brain two deep brain stimulation operations. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.840 Actually I went on the thirteenth of April nineteen, twenty nineteen, 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.479 and another one that was successful on December the fifteenth, 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:13.640 twenty nineteen. 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:15.760 Explain what that is. 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.120 It's a it's a fairly invasive sort of a surgery 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:24.039 where they open up your scale and go into your 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.440 brain and put the little electrodes in your brain. And 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.039 the first time I was asleep the first operation, that 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:36.760 didn't work. In the second operation it did work, and 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.920 I was awake. You're await here in the operation most 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:40.560 of the operation. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:44.480 How are they dead? In the plain of it, They've 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:45.360 gone through your scalp. 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.680 You have an aesthetic and the anethesidist on how you 0:01:50.720 --> 0:02:02.600 say that regulates I could spell it. He regulates your 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:08.600 consciousness really and has you coming in and out amazing. Yeah, 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.000 and what could you feel? At one stage? I could 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.120 feel jack hammer in the back of my head. It 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.600 was a bit horrendous. One stage. He said, I should 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:21.000 have I should have told you I was going to 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:28.120 do that. But anyway, now that the surgery itself was 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.120 very successful. He used to have a severe tremor in 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.440 the right hand and that that is now minimized. And 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.800 some of my left leg used to shake a lot, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.600 and that's fairly well under control now as well. I 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.960 must point out that my circumstances are different to everyone else's. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.720 You know, some people don't qualify for the surgery. 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.040 Why are you? Why are yours different? Why are your 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:54.120 circumstances different? 0:02:55.919 --> 0:03:00.320 Every Parkinson's, every person to live with parking it has 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.400 a different experience with it. And so for some people 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.079 they are very rigid. They might not shake so much, 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.480 but their body be very rigid and stiff. And for 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.679 other people, they shake, they have the shakes, and it 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.040 can figure in so many other ways. Well, you know, 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.040 for me, I've got very low blood pressure as a 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:24.160 result of Parkinson's, and that is quite demilitating at times. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.440 You know, there are times I find it hard to 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.079 walk from one end of the house to the other 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.040 without thinking I'm going to fall over or faint. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.640 And do you have treatment for that? 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.680 Or I a medicated? I medicated for that, And sometimes 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.080 it works better than others. It's working all right today. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.640 Goodness, How did you get in? How did you get 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.000 into the studio? We're in the studio, folks. Mark's come 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.960 in and we met downstairs, came up to the fourth floor. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.320 How did you get into the station? 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:54.360 Come up lifts? 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.520 No? You know, how can you drive yourself with? 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:05.680 Sorry? 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:14.240 I'm glad you're laughing. 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.720 When I sit down with blood pressure, it controls itself. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.000 It's all right, it's driving problem. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.120 I read though that the treatment is controlled from Melbourne. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:23.120 Is that true? 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.680 Can be? Yeah? I have a entallyhealth appointment out every 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:32.080 three or four months with doctor Andrew Evans, who's non 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:37.920 neurologist in Melbourne, and he can use his iPad to 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:46.840 my infrastructure in my brain and adjust it. Wow from 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:47.360 from there? 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:49.359 Can you feel anything when he's doing that? 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:54.080 No, I can't know. And the result of what he 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.680 does can take It can be fair the incident or 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.960 couldn't take a while. So we really haven't adjusted. It's 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.320 I've had the surgery in twenty nineteen because if we 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:09.520 adjusted it could help one area, but then another area 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.760 is of the brain might not function as well, so 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.200 I might end up with a shaking my right leg 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.360 instead of with a shaking my left or something like that. 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.600 So it's a bit of a balancing act and it's 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:22.960 not an exact science. 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.000 And you're comfortable with it maybe apart from the blood pressure, I. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.760 Guess yeah, I am. Yeah. I've been very fortunate. As 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.880 I said, some people's experienced with Parkinson since isn't as 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.400 fortunate as mine. I've got my brother who's in an 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:43.200 HP facility at Flora Flora McDonald on Don Breburan Drive, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:49.880 and he's very debilopitated with Parkinson's. His body's really packed 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.560 up on him. He's got very rigid, very rigid, and 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.279 he sit later on his back all day and it's 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:58.440 very sad. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.919 So to say he's the alert at the same time. 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.919 Yeah, he was aware of this. That must be terrible. Yeah, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:05.800 it's not good. 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:07.760 Well, had an impact on your dad. 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.640 He was similar to my brother. He had a very 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:16.760 rigid sort of body and couldn't talk quite often because 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.200 his facial mush muscles were affected. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:21.839 How old were you when that happened? 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.880 He was He was sixty two. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.440 So you're you're pretty much an adult. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.760 Yeah, I was definitely. Yeah. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.560 So how's how has life changed? DRAMATOA. You were a 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.120 school teacher, you're active, you were coaching, and what happens 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:40.000 these days. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.560 You're getting Parkinson's wasn't part of the plan. 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.840 I put in my life, And I'm sorry, that's right now. 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.839 I don't teach anymore. That's that's pretty much out of 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.400 the question. Because my low blood pressure and associated things 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.560 to do with parkins. I go to the gym. I 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.960 go to the brain and body in the studio at 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:05.760 twenty five King Winding Road only three times a week, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.480 and that's a real winner for me because I can 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:13.880 sit down in a safe environment and do my exercises 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.360 and the exercises of tailor made to suit my condition. 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:19.760 What do you do. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:26.640 A range of weights and aerobic activities? Bike and on 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:27.800 the bike? Yeah? 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.120 What sort of weight training is? 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.880 It's all cables and stacks of boats and things like that, 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:39.120 and it's ch chess. Yeah, pretty much what you might 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.560 do in all GM differently sitting down. For me, it's 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.800 quite an inspirational place to go actually, because they got 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.280 people there with parkings and of all different types, and 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:53.040 people with stroke effective stroke, and all trying their best 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:54.960 to make the most of their lives. 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.360 The thing that impresses me, you're always such a physically 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.400 impressive guy, big tour and strong, and you still aren't 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.880 big tool and strong. You haven't diminished at all and 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.840 you haven't. Is that maybe due to the gym work? 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.400 Do you think I think on big to a bit fat? 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:22.080 You are not fat. We led her put on a 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:23.640 bit away when you get how old are you now? 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:24.960 Sixty four. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.360 Okay, so well you let her put on a bit away. 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:27.800 Thanks. 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.480 Mark mcken is my guest, Folks, he's come all the 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.800 way into We're going to chat about his footy career. 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:36.680 I want to talk about your dad too, because he's 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.360 a bit more about your dad, and maybe your mum 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.880 as well, because I was intrigued in your dad's war service. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.640 She brought in his war records, so I'm can have 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.320 a bit of a look at that. Mark Micken is 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.439 my guess. Back shortly, welcome back to conversations. Mark Micken 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.680 has made his way into the studio and he just 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.000 tuned in him. He had a big chat about he 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.720 has Parkinson's disease and is handling that magnificently and still 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:02.679 laughs and gets around. Is intriguing though, that your father 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.880 had it as well. There must be a genetic compound. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.199 I think in our case there is. Not only did 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.400 my dad have my brother's got it. My first cousin, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:16.040 Barry has it, my dad's sister have it, and well 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.560 it's gone through through the family to a degree. The 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.200 thing is, the treatment for Parkinson's is not really much 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.080 better than it has been over the last fifty years. 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.960 You know, the medications and things like that really haven't 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.040 changed much. And so when we you know, that's why 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:34.119 we're raised money. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.120 For the we should tell us about that. You have 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.640 the bike ride, the twenty four hour bike ride, which 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.440 is well supported by people, and to raise money. That 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.120 money goes towards research. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:51.640 Yeah, and helping people living with Parkinson's to cope. And 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.400 that will be come out of it again this year 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.520 as well. We're doing it again and we don't know. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.240 There will be a meeting with us on that Tomorrow Friday, 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.800 and we'll know more about it than about when it is. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.920 But it's being a fairy well supported by this NFL 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.760 and and by the community at large. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.680 Really now, I know this isn't about me, but I 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.400 have an amusing story about one of the bike rides 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.679 because I was invited to do the bike ride and 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.840 I had a racing bike that hadn't been used for 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.520 a while, so I took it into Super Addiots and 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:27.200 I said, look, I've got to do this bike ride 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.920 with Magnick and can you get it done and get 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.040 it And I spent less money to get the bike 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:37.280 up for scratch and then that's on a stationary bike 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:42.120 at Adelaide. I still had a good result. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:43.200 I didn't know that. 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.720 I had to be there. I guess tell us me, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.120 you you brought your dad's war records in When do 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.680 you look at anybody's war records when you just he's enrolled. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.960 He was a block laborer when he was nineteen, when 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.480 he enlisted in nineteen forty two? Did he Did he 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:03.000 ever talk about it? No? 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.000 Very rarely. We couldn't couldn't glean anything from what he said. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.680 All we think is that because he had a risk 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:15.160 injury or a forearm broken forearm and he got medically discharged, 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.800 that he felt he carried a certain amount of guilt 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:19.520 with him over that. 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.920 But it wasn't discharged on nineteen forty five, So you 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:24.360 sort of st bit. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.440 Of the war. Yeah, I think. I think the fact 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.280 that there were some losses from from the group of 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.120 people he trained with waved heavily on his mind. 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.480 Okay, did he remember after did he get Lansac? Was 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.440 Anzac Day important to it that you remember? Not? 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.640 Really, he didn't. He didn't march hardly March sac Day. 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:41.880 No. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.560 I think it was a conscious decision. I don't really 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.640 know why. And we encouraged him to March as a family. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.400 But he didn't really want to. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.160 What happened to his medals because he on these records 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.360 here he's you know, got citations. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.800 And yeah, to be honest, I don't really know what 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.199 were are, but they'll be in the family somewhere. 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.240 Okay, and your mum, but your mom sports. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.520 She played netball. She was she was taller. She towers 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:16.199 in photos of her era. She towers above her her 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.280 mates because she was She was five foot nine and 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.760 that seeing that looks about six foot three in the photos. 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.600 But she was relative. It's funny how the generations get taller. 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:33.360 But she was quite tall for her era and she 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.280 played a little bit of netball. Sport wasn't really huge 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:41.079 on her agenda, but ye, she was a participated in 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.000 local Riverland netball as far as I know. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:46.960 So where do the sporting gene come from? You think, 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.959 because there's you, there's there's pattern. You've got two other sisters, haven't. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.200 Have you know Lanne who was very talented. She she 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.360 played one game basketball for Australia. I would have played 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.760 a lot more had she not had her knee reconstructed 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:01.920 at a time when they weren't doing it quite as 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.600 well as they do now, and that held her back 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.280 quite a bit. And there's Bev who's the oldest of 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.360 her family and she she was a Riverland hockey player, 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.560 very good hockey player. And I guess the sporting team 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.360 comes from dad. He played cricket and foot in the Riverland. 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.440 He was a leg spin boler and and a fellow 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:25.520 handy bottom not bottom the middle order bestman and as 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.240 a ruckman, as a as a football played in the Rock. 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:34.760 Who's only six foot and he was known as a bulldozer. 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:40.640 I wonder what, yes, So you're playing for reend Mark Rovers. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.800 When did West Adelaide come talk calling on you? 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.680 They didn't really. I played for Remark in junior colts 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.319 on the wing and on the in the senior colts 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:57.240 on the half foll flank. What. I was already tall 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.920 during that time and I grew about six or seven 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.559 interest in one year. And that was when the U 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.040 I came to Adelaide and I thought I'll go out 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.439 of the West hadlaid to ever go and I went 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.280 out and had a look and we got lost on 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:09.720 the way to the ground because we didn't really know 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:10.200 where it was. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.199 Can you get lost. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:20.960 If you come from the mart. And uh And anyway, 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.160 I asked Foggy training and they say that I could. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.640 I could do it. And then one thing going to 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.160 another and I. 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:30.760 Just go I'd like to relive this. And I could 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.880 see rocked up at the club. See can I train? Yeah, 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.160 they hadn't invited you down. No, can I train? So 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:38.640 did you? Who did you speak to? 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.280 Doug Thomas or someone on the mound? Some someone standing 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:48.200 in front of the gres point me in the right direction? 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:49.800 So who was coaching? 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.240 Thenis means forth with the coach? 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.120 And they said they can mark? Can I train? Are 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:57.000 as simple as that? 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.400 Yeah. I went in and I may have rang before 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:03.960 sale was coming, I'm not sure, but they allowed me 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:08.359 to train, and I thought, I feel right about this. 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:14.920 Yeah yeah, And anyway, the games came around and I 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:16.960 didn't get a game for the first three weeks. It 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.040 sounds like I could do at the cruise, Yeah exactly. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:24.760 Uh so what happened? 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.840 Eventually I got a game and I kicked four goals 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:34.160 of Elizabeth Central remember that as a for forward. And 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.840 and then the ruckman I think got injured, you know, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:38.600 and the guy asked me if I could play in 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.200 the rock, and I said, I hope I got it? 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.000 Had you ever played there before? 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.160 And I'll have a got it? And when I came 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.120 and then he kept me in the rock and sort 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:54.360 of things went from there. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.360 Well where'd they go from there? You know? So that 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.760 did you graduate to reserves after that or no? 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.040 I stayed down the nineties for the year. I actually 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.600 won the Best Fairest that year in the nineties. 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.880 Having missed the first three How amazing is that you 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.080 missed the first three games of the first Crows season 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:13.600 and you won the best in first? 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:15.680 Yeah, that's right. 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.760 So anyway, so you win the under nineties best and first, 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.320 so you're obviously on the radar then of the of 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:22.240 the senior coach. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.840 Possibly, but I wouldn't have known it. Nobody spoke, not really, 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.200 And the next year they may be captain of the 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.040 under nineties. And I played a few reserve games as well. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.240 I felt all right at reserve level, but I was 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.800 still going between the two. Between the nineties and reserves. 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.320 I still getting growing into my body and getting used 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.160 to the training. And by this time I was getting 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.920 really into it, and I really loved the West Handlaidian environment. 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.240 I loved my footy. I love the fact that they 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:55.000 had people who could look after you, like strappy nicles 0:16:55.040 --> 0:17:04.680 and and yeah, it was good, a good environment. And 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.080 I started the training. I started to go for runs 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.760 on my own, and I started to think about what 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.320 sort of player could be if I really put mine 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.240 to it. And I started to think that if I 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.680 got myself really fit, I could make something of it 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.200 because I felt comfortable at the level. 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.960 Did you have a mentor or did someone inspire you? 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.240 Not really. I sort of learned that it's not good 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.760 necessarily just to go for a five or ten k run. 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.800 It's better to do repetitions as I used to do 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.359 ten four hundreds as my go to on my own 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:39.520 training experience. 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.320 And you're right about that. So when did the league 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:44.560 team come calling? 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:46.560 And Neil Curley was the coach? 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:47.520 So what do you? 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:53.320 Was this a nine mean eighty one eighty one? Yeah? 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:54.600 I was twenty one years old. 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.000 Okay, So tell us about your first impression of me. 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.639 I was twenty years old, and yeah it was I 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:09.720 hear him whenever he come to me one day and 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:11.880 he said, I'm going to play you on the weekend, son, 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:20.560 And I said, what you and he said, you're playing 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.680 the back pocket against and so that's what happened. I 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:26.359 got about four or five touches and we won by 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:27.080 one hundred points. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:29.560 The board come down there. 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:36.479 I want too much pressure down there. And I played 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.760 three more games, so though the third game I played, 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:41.280 I didn't get on the ground I was played at. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.080 We beat Port at Alberton and I didn't get on 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:46.600 the ground. I just started on the bench and and 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.680 didn't didn't participate. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.840 Beat al That's a big deal, wasn't it In those days? 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:53.240 It was okay. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.200 Now, I know you back for Port Adelaide when you're 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.240 a kid, but what was it like playing against them? 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.520 It was quite interesting, actually, because I was a man 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.280 put out of a supporter and Russell Evitt was my hero. 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.840 And when we first played in a league game, there 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.080 was a ball up at center half back and I 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:12.960 went up and touched him on them who was on 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:14.200 the ball on the pack. I just went up and 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.400 touched him and walked away because there was so much, 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:19.879 so much admiration for him. I can't believe it was 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:25.000 on the same ground as he was. You touched him? 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:26.360 Did you tell him that? 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.840 He knows? Because I've become good friends with Brett, and 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.160 Brett told him. 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:38.640 Great story, when did you start to consolidate your role 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:40.159 as the leading ruckman? 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:44.160 In that same year we said they played in an 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:50.600 elimination final against Nord at Football Park and I played 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.560 in the ford pocket next to Roger Luders. I kicked 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.400 four goals in that game, and that was a game 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.439 that really turned the corner for me. I think we 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.760 lost the We lost the game, but I think it 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.840 really turned the corner for me because to that stage 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.480 I hadn't really shown a whole lot in the league company, 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.400 but in that game I did, and I felt that 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.200 that put more case forward for the following year. 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.280 Mark mckem is my guess, So we need to take 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.480 a break. I don't want to because it's getting interesting, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.800 but we'll be back after the break and we'll continue 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:25.200 this progress of this young skinny kid from ren Mark 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.000 who's making his way west Adelaide back shortly. Welcome back, everybody. 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.440 If you just tuned into conversations, Mark mckin is in 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.840 the studio. He's made his way in. We had a 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:38.600 good chat initially about Mark's illness he's Parkinson's disease, and 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.080 how he's handling it. But we're talking now about his 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.480 footy career, coming down from Renmark, wandering into West Adelaide, 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.239 not really knowing anybody, not knowing how to go about it, 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.880 but slowly consolidating through the under nineteen's reserves. It starts 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.120 to get a game in the league team. And come 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:00.560 about nineteen eighty two. I suppose as a ruck when 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.760 you're competing against someone like Dexter Kennedy, like the young fellow, 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:07.000 what are your memories of those times? 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:09.199 I remember it pretty well because they had Dexter, they 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:15.320 had Michael greg David Gurney, Michael Gregg Young, he was 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:16.959 coming to the end of his career at that stage. 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:18.000 He came from Norwood. 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:19.480 He played for West as well. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:24.000 I forgot that unusual eccentric sort of guy, wasn't he. 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:25.480 I didn't know him very well, but he used to 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.040 ride his bike to training. I know that. 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:31.520 I think he is a doctor. I think he is intelligent. Yeah, 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:33.720 so you've got a lot of competition for ruck. 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.600 Yeah. Neil gave me the opportunity to play in the 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.960 ruck for some reason, and I've got a lot to 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.199 be grateful for having you as a coach because he 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.320 was a fantastic motivator. I didn't want him to stop 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:48.520 talking once he spoke to the group. I just loved 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.160 listening to him and I'd do anything for him. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.000 And well, you're not the only one who feels like that. 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.160 As you know anyway. But he was such a great 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.719 motivator of people, of men. And it's hard to explain 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:03.919 to people the effect that he had had on you 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.000