Speaker 1: Yeah, Gooday, guys, it's Maddie John's Yeah, look at it.
Speaker 1: You can tell I'm just not myself at the moment,
Speaker 1: a little bit down, but I tell it'll cheer me up.
Speaker 1: Hitting the follow but on our podcast with the Family
Speaker 1: podcast and backstage so you don't miss any of the
Speaker 1: good stuff we've got coming up. And thank you guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you again for listening to the podcast and giving
Speaker 1: us your support. Good on you, guys.
Speaker 2: What was it a slip at the other day or something.
Speaker 2: You're saying that you come back from a weekend away
Speaker 2: and he's, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: She went. She goes were go for a week. She
Speaker 1: has all these these idealism about faking going and we'll
Speaker 1: going to the city. We'll have it a romanic. Okay,
Speaker 1: yeah great. Anyway, anyway, I ducked off and she did
Speaker 1: a thing that I came back late, and then she
Speaker 1: went berserk. I said, fucking made half. Now, I like
Speaker 1: to guys, suppose a romanic. And we did the same
Speaker 1: thing the next day. Yeah, she got me playing the pokeys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we just do mate. They played poking and now
Speaker 3: they're fighting about something that like just has started just
Speaker 3: from like dad losing his credit card. It's just it's
Speaker 3: just so stupid. They just both of you are just idiots.
Speaker 2: I love how you're like at the point now your
Speaker 2: friends who me and Dad, like, you know, like it's
Speaker 2: like looking at a couple, but you know.
Speaker 3: Like, oh yeah, I look real when like when your
Speaker 3: parents used to fight when you were young, you go.
Speaker 4: Oh no, it's gonna end. It's going to end.
Speaker 3: And now I just go like, just get over. Dad's
Speaker 3: sleeping on the couch like three nights and it's just
Speaker 3: like and then he's gone, mate, like what about her?
Speaker 3: And then she'll be like what about him? I'll be like,
Speaker 3: you're both just as bad as each other. I couldn't
Speaker 3: even care less.
Speaker 1: Sleeping on the couch, just next social cat up on
Speaker 1: the grille.
Speaker 3: Seriously, not the good kind, uh. Connor Watson, Welcome to
Speaker 3: the podcast.
Speaker 4: We got you on a bye week?
Speaker 3: I would say, Matthew, I would say somewhat a part
Speaker 3: of the family. Connor, Yes, close personal friend, you know,
Speaker 3: ex teammate of Jack.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 3: Dad probably looks at you as somewhat have done. Yeah, someone,
Speaker 3: what do you get up to on a bye week?
Speaker 2: Not much we got because we've got the whole week off.
Speaker 2: But I was just thinking as I drove up here.
Speaker 2: Do you remember when you took us for that half
Speaker 2: session down the parking Do you remember? Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it didn't really help that much.
Speaker 4: I really do that one. You've played about every position.
Speaker 1: Coaches when there was a new counsel. Boys come down.
Speaker 1: They're so enthusiastic the coaching stuff. Yeah, wow, great, you go, mate.
Speaker 1: You know this is when you shift a ball, dow'n
Speaker 1: have to do block formation. Just get it there, bing
Speaker 1: ding ding. Oh yeah, this is a revolutionary. This is great.
Speaker 1: I didn't use it at all. Waste my time.
Speaker 3: I feel free to get that mic into your no, no, no,
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about your podcast as back in
Speaker 3: the day. But you haven't done a podcast in a
Speaker 3: long time, mate, it's.
Speaker 2: Been a little bit. It's been a while. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: actually can't remember.
Speaker 3: The last one I did would have been that was
Speaker 3: obviously with two five seven. We're gonna we're going to
Speaker 3: touch on all that, but that like a gang, No
Speaker 3: that was that was wasn't that like your house number?
Speaker 2: House number? Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah, And then it
Speaker 2: ended up the house always got egged because we basically
Speaker 2: gave their house number, didn't actually get ye house cars.
Speaker 2: It didn't help when I had first went to Newcastle
Speaker 2: and part of my deal was club car and rock
Speaker 2: up get the club car, and it's just like everywhere.
Speaker 2: I can't remember what the sponsor was, but it was
Speaker 2: just like Newcastle Knights sponsored by or whatever.
Speaker 4: Who's driving around now Braddy.
Speaker 3: I saw Braddy up in Newcastle the other day driving past,
Speaker 3: and the other reason I knew it was him because
Speaker 3: I had Massive Night's logo on the door. It was like, mate,
Speaker 3: you can't be getting around it. Yeah, people were just
Speaker 3: hamming your car. You have a few bad games.
Speaker 2: And I knew you guys like knew where I lived,
Speaker 2: so I wasn't far from like I was in Hamilton South,
Speaker 2: so you got the sort of housing commission block just
Speaker 2: up the road there. And I'm just fit in my
Speaker 2: garage one so I couldn't hide the car. So just
Speaker 2: out the front of my house was this Night's car.
Speaker 1: I had a car sponsorship at the Nights in two.
Speaker 1: Connor turned up at the car yard. I won't going
Speaker 1: to say the name of it. Of course it might
Speaker 1: still be there, but I walked straight and walked up
Speaker 1: to the place, says do you yeah, mate, you know they're
Speaker 1: going to give you a car for twelve months turned up.
Speaker 1: They pointed to it. It was a like a nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty two Ford Falcon kids, and it had wires coming
Speaker 1: out of the tire. One of them and ask Trusha,
Speaker 1: this is true. I couldn't if I put my foot
Speaker 1: on the brake without having my foot still on the accelerator,
Speaker 1: it would actually conk out, it would stop. So I
Speaker 1: used to have to pull up at a light, put my
Speaker 1: foot on the brake or put the handbrake on, keep
Speaker 1: the foot on the accelerator. Then these and I and
Speaker 1: the other thing. The driver's door didn't open, so I
Speaker 1: had to jump through the window like dukes have haz.
Speaker 3: His style every time, every time in and out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh that's shit.
Speaker 3: What was Why didn't you? Why would you even keep it?
Speaker 1: Because beggars can't be chooses, That's true. Begars cannot be choosers.
Speaker 3: We don't see much obviously, you're in the eastern suburbs now.
Speaker 3: We don't see as much of you as we would
Speaker 3: like to these days. But we actually saw each other
Speaker 3: not long ago, a few weeks ago, had a bit
Speaker 3: of a night out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good. It was good to see you again.
Speaker 2: It was it had been a little while. That's why
Speaker 2: I felt bad the other day when I rang you
Speaker 2: and I didn't realize because I knew you sold the
Speaker 2: old house. Yeah, yeah, I drove past it. I was
Speaker 2: visiting one of my mates the other day. I was
Speaker 2: telling you. Yeah, I didn't actually realize you guys still
Speaker 2: lived in COOLROI so I brushed. I brushed it the
Speaker 2: other day. But yeah, it was good to see you.
Speaker 2: The other week I come down sort of. It was
Speaker 2: a day day or two after a game, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys had just beaten was it Saint George Day,
Speaker 3: which is a good win.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I saw you the night after the game,
Speaker 2: I think, and then the next day you're still out
Speaker 2: east and yeah, I had something on it. I can't
Speaker 2: rememb what it was, but I was just I was
Speaker 2: just cruising and Semi Walks has called me. I didn't answer,
Speaker 2: you know, like just I knew what. I knew what
Speaker 2: the boys were up to though they're on the beers.
Speaker 2: I was like, nah, I don't even want to answer
Speaker 2: the phone, and get like yeah, get my arm twisted
Speaker 2: into this, and then semi text my missus and goes, hey, Keanna,
Speaker 2: can you tell Kinnor to call me? It's urgent. So
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, oh, I know what's happened to you.
Speaker 1: I've freaked out.
Speaker 2: I've called him, and he goes, hey, mate, We're just
Speaker 2: at the end of your street. I'm with Cooper, me
Speaker 2: Mark Cooper, see, well, come down. I was like, you're serious.
Speaker 2: You made me think that something's happened. Like I'm freaking
Speaker 2: out here calling you because I'm worried about you, and
Speaker 2: then you're just down the end of my streets. So
Speaker 2: I went down and ye saw the boys.
Speaker 4: We had a good laugh for a couple of hours.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a great couple of hours. And I
Speaker 2: don't know, have you told that story which one?
Speaker 3: Yeahah, yeah, we told told it on the family partty
Speaker 3: before you can sell it.
Speaker 2: Was that funny. We're just we're sitting outside it started
Speaker 2: poor rain to n yeah, and then this like group
Speaker 2: of girls just come out and then they're just sitting
Speaker 2: there like waiting for an uber. We didn't pay too
Speaker 2: much attention to it, and then turned around, I was
Speaker 2: like one of the girls had almost died. She's like
Speaker 2: passed out in the in.
Speaker 3: The gut told me, yeah, kissing down on her like
Speaker 3: the rain was. She was nearly drowning in the rain.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So then we've tried to like trying to move
Speaker 2: her under the cover. There's a few of us that
Speaker 2: have gone over to grab her, but because she's full passed out,
Speaker 2: she was heavy, dead like dead way yeah yeah, hard
Speaker 2: to carry just like limbs, limbs flying everywhere. So we've
Speaker 2: moved onto the seat and I'm not sure what's happened
Speaker 2: because she's it's almost like she she wasn't. It wasn't
Speaker 2: like she was drunk passed out. She's just fully gone.
Speaker 3: It was like she'd fallen slip, but she was like
Speaker 3: vomiting too.
Speaker 1: But I heard amongst all that she recognized you boys.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, so she wakes up and Cooper's there like
Speaker 2: helping her. First thing she like looks up and she goes,
Speaker 2: is that Cooper John's.
Speaker 4: And all the boys remember.
Speaker 3: After this, her uber rocks up and me and Connor
Speaker 3: put her arms over each of us, like we're carrying
Speaker 3: off our bloke who just hurt his knee off the field,
Speaker 3: like two yellow shirts. We're dragging her off and we're
Speaker 3: trying We're in the rain at this stage, getting pissed on.
Speaker 3: We're just trying to get her in the uber. And
Speaker 3: remember she was like she must have been a massive
Speaker 3: footy fan because she kept saying to Connor. She kept
Speaker 3: going like, Connor like been loving, be loving what you're
Speaker 3: doing this season and kind of like, yeah, good on,
Speaker 3: you're good on your buddy, trying.
Speaker 4: To push her in and she's going, do you see
Speaker 4: yourself as a nine? Or I was going, she knows what.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: I could have you know what, Connor, I should have
Speaker 1: been there because I was with Coop the night before
Speaker 1: and I was just settling in. I was having a
Speaker 1: ball and all of a sudden he goes goes, oh
Speaker 1: your car's here. I went mad, I didn't order a car's.
Speaker 3: He finished, yeah, we were at Brandon's and I said
Speaker 3: it's time for beginning to go.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because Mum was texting.
Speaker 3: Me, so she was like, oh, mate, you know, send
Speaker 3: Dad again. Of course you also, and we've told this
Speaker 3: a fair few times, but you also came me you
Speaker 3: Jack and a lot of the boys had a big
Speaker 3: Byron Bay trip back in twenty twenty after the Melbourne's
Speaker 3: Grand Final. We had a Big Boys trip planned. We
Speaker 3: have obviously won the Grand Final then basically turned into
Speaker 3: Melbourne's Mad Monday. You and Sammy Verrels had we've planned
Speaker 3: this for ages. You boys felt that uncomfortable coming up.
Speaker 2: I remember rocking up because it was when I had
Speaker 2: done my Achilles that year, so the club had sent
Speaker 2: me up to do my myb like rehab at the
Speaker 2: you know they got the surfing headquarters up there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the surfer golf.
Speaker 2: So I went up there and just trained in there
Speaker 2: for a week because they've got like all the trampolines,
Speaker 2: great gym and stuff, and they've got good physios there.
Speaker 2: So the club were just like, as part as your rehab,
Speaker 2: let's get you up there, get your away from the facility,
Speaker 2: and then they were luck then you can have a
Speaker 2: week off after that. So planning this trip, gone up
Speaker 2: to Kingscliff Storm had then gone and won the camp
Speaker 2: and I had no idea what I was walking into really,
Speaker 2: And I remember, because I was training, I was like
Speaker 2: a day or two late. So I've walked in maybe
Speaker 2: on day two or three, and I've just like walked
Speaker 2: in through the house and then I've just like literally
Speaker 2: walked in on the storm mad Monday, and I was
Speaker 2: expecting to be there with a couple boys, but it
Speaker 2: was like the whole twenty of was.
Speaker 3: To be fair, you handled yourself very well, because it
Speaker 3: would have been very easy boken another team to just
Speaker 3: go to Verels kind of did go to water the
Speaker 3: first time. I remember Sammy like, We're all sitting out
Speaker 3: the back with music and that, having a laugh, and
Speaker 3: sam we just kind of went to bed because he
Speaker 3: was like, oh he was feeling he was uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: But this is the great thing, isn't about the game.
Speaker 1: There is a real camaraderie and a brotherhood in the game,
Speaker 1: and the fact that you can walk in somewhere. You
Speaker 1: can walk into a pub tomorrow and it might be
Speaker 1: aside the most despised team that you don't get along with,
Speaker 1: you've been sent off as soon as you walk in there.
Speaker 1: Everything everyone's so inclusive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is pretty cool because because the Brummage boys
Speaker 3: were there, Jesse and Ken and Kenny and Vels hadn't
Speaker 3: met him before. But then like obviously after a few
Speaker 3: days on the piece, you just become mate with everyone.
Speaker 3: And he was saying like because he was always kind
Speaker 3: of scared of him on the field. He was a
Speaker 3: young player of Sammy and he always faced Jesse in
Speaker 3: the middle. Jesse would like just like rough him up, and.
Speaker 2: He did the same thing to me, you know when
Speaker 2: like you do a kick chase and you go to
Speaker 2: do like an escort. Every time he just like shoved
Speaker 2: me in the back or try and push me over. Yeah,
Speaker 2: same thing always.
Speaker 3: And then he said the next year after he was like,
Speaker 3: every time I played Jesse, it was like it was
Speaker 3: way better, like you just like yeah, still like still
Speaker 3: rough me up, but he roughed me up in like
Speaker 3: a friendly way, like just a forearm and rub it
Speaker 3: over your nose.
Speaker 1: He's not being mean spirited. Now he's someone chuckling behind me.
Speaker 1: They want to add the.
Speaker 3: I'm just having flashbacks to the next morning when the
Speaker 3: Brubbish brothers woke up together.
Speaker 4: I just they can they can handle their own.
Speaker 1: The Rummish boys.
Speaker 3: Oh they're good drinkers, yeah, yeah, don't get don't get enough.
Speaker 3: They don't get enough wrap when like you know, and
Speaker 3: in podcasts and stuff, they go, oh, you know, who's
Speaker 3: who's the good drinkers? And you know, by far everyone
Speaker 3: goes up munster and cheese and those kind of lads,
Speaker 3: the Brummish boys. Gee there undercover.
Speaker 1: Yeah very just take the top off the bottle and
Speaker 1: don't put it back on. Yeah, they're just steady, you know,
Speaker 1: they're just steady away.
Speaker 3: Just good. Yeah, obviously responsible.
Speaker 1: I'll say this right there is there is. There is
Speaker 1: a certain degree of fools gold with some of the drinkers.
Speaker 1: And I'll use the Queensland as an example. People will go, oh,
Speaker 1: make the Queensland boys, they can put away case in point.
Speaker 1: Gordon tallis known as big drinker, and yes he can. However,
Speaker 1: it's four x gold.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: It's four x gold and four x only mid is.
Speaker 1: Mid strength. Yeah, no, it used to be four x
Speaker 1: has another one. It's a marone can that's a full strength,
Speaker 1: but you never see it. But the drink of Queensland
Speaker 1: is four x gold. They all drink it. I don't
Speaker 1: get that. If I'm going to have a beer like,
Speaker 1: I drink it for one reason to get a buzz.
Speaker 1: Like if I wanted to drink for the taste, I
Speaker 1: drink Pepsi Max.
Speaker 3: A buzz rough Field.
Speaker 1: So with Gordon sometimes we'll get there before the last
Speaker 1: show and we'll drink tekula and vodka shots before. It's
Speaker 1: a bit of a celebration of sorts. And we had
Speaker 1: one year Gordon to start banging him back and he
Speaker 1: sat on the couch and Mate, he was gone. He
Speaker 1: couldn't even talk Yuh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a byron for one.
Speaker 3: Sorry, because I don't want to let this story go
Speaker 3: and miss uh, I think it was the last night.
Speaker 3: And you've you've befriended some hippies and we kind of
Speaker 3: can befriend like people anywhere as well. Condor is a
Speaker 3: friendly guy. He's had a friendly face. Yeah, and he's
Speaker 3: taken us all to this what do we call it,
Speaker 3: like a hostel, almost a commune.
Speaker 2: It was a full.
Speaker 3: Commune and you were only allowed to be in there
Speaker 3: if you live there. And we've walked in, Mate, there
Speaker 3: were hula hoops, there were hacky sacks, there were bean backs,
Speaker 3: there was an acoustic guitar tantric sex and Connor was
Speaker 3: just like follow my lead everyone because we were just
Speaker 3: like six seven footballers, like so out of our depth.
Speaker 3: We were dressed like in our ones, in our best kit.
Speaker 3: Everyone else was dressed in like skirts and eggs. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like horrible stuff. And you're befriended a bloke. I think
Speaker 3: the bloke's name was Tim.
Speaker 2: Actually, you've got a great memory because it.
Speaker 1: Was one of so much.
Speaker 2: That's a good pointed season player of the year, see that.
Speaker 4: What I'm glad that you brought that up.
Speaker 1: Did the commune stink? Because I think about hippies is
Speaker 1: I always think themselves. Come on, guys, have a shower.
Speaker 3: But they were like tents, like there were people were
Speaker 3: living in tents and there was a big bonfire and
Speaker 3: acoustic guitar. And you become friends with this bloke named Tim.
Speaker 2: Remember because there was no grow so yeah, the bar
Speaker 2: was the bar was shut, so uh basically anyone who
Speaker 2: was in there. They just had like bottles of wine.
Speaker 2: And then I got talking to this Tim dude. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we had a few bottles of red that he that
Speaker 2: he didn't shared with.
Speaker 3: He had some hidden some hidden bottles. And the way
Speaker 3: that now it's it's an excellent way to be fraying
Speaker 3: a hippie. What kind of did was he goes, He's like,
Speaker 3: what's your name, Tim? I'm condor And he goes, Tim,
Speaker 3: can I tell you something? Can be honest with you
Speaker 3: for a sec He's like there's something about you. He's like,
Speaker 3: he's like me and you, and he was like an old.
Speaker 4: He was like an old.
Speaker 3: It would have been like forty plus spr forty plus,
Speaker 3: like he was old. And he was going, your vibe
Speaker 3: me and you. I just feel like I've been drawn
Speaker 3: to you out of everyone at this commune. I'm drawn
Speaker 3: to you, like I feel connected to you. And he
Speaker 3: was like, and he was going, dude, I was about
Speaker 3: to say the same thing, and then he was like, oh, anyway.
Speaker 3: It kind of was like just louveed him up, loved
Speaker 3: him up, and he goes, is there any like, is
Speaker 3: there any grug around? And he's like, for me, my mates,
Speaker 3: oh bloody earth, here, bring out this like it was
Speaker 3: it was a shanty of a bottle as well, like
Speaker 3: it wasn't and I hadn't been aging for a long time.
Speaker 3: This red and he started sharing with this all. We
Speaker 3: ended up getting booted because somebody realized that we didn't
Speaker 3: live there.
Speaker 1: That's funny, hippies, acoustic guitars, hula hoops, tent. Sure you
Speaker 1: weren't in hell.
Speaker 4: We weren't in hell, but it was good fun.
Speaker 3: That was our last night and we all had to
Speaker 3: sort of vacate the next week.
Speaker 1: Connor socially like towns like which you had known. When
Speaker 1: you're playing one team in one city towns the players
Speaker 1: sort of draw together all the time and go out together.
Speaker 1: They come like family. What about you when you have
Speaker 1: a night out in Sydney, is it a lot of
Speaker 1: times with teammates or is it a little bit different
Speaker 1: dynamic in Sydney.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it still is, Mattie. I think there's probably something
Speaker 2: when I come back from New he to the Roosters
Speaker 2: and I've been away for a while, like probably felt
Speaker 2: like when I first come back, it's just because people
Speaker 2: live all over Sydney. It sort of it's not like
Speaker 2: in Newcastle. You know, we'd finish training and'd be like,
Speaker 2: all right, boys, let's go get a coffee. Pretty much
Speaker 2: everyone would be there because it's ten minutes to get
Speaker 2: everywhere in Newcastle. Where in here after a long day,
Speaker 2: you know a lot of the time some of the
Speaker 2: boys are going to go out west to Crnala. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just sort of initially I felt like struggle with that
Speaker 2: a little bit. But as time's going on and I
Speaker 2: feel like this group that we've got at the moment
Speaker 2: is probably the most connected we've been as far as
Speaker 2: you know, like if there's anything on, boys are really
Speaker 2: making the effort to sort of be there. And you know,
Speaker 2: even I find that as time's gone on in the game,
Speaker 2: you know, from when I started, like people have changed
Speaker 2: a lot, Like the young guys have changed a lot,
Speaker 2: and you know, they probably don't enjoy going out for
Speaker 2: a beer as much as when I first started, like
Speaker 2: we all did. So it's also finding ways to connect
Speaker 2: other than going for beers because not everyone drinks, and
Speaker 2: the guys, like you know, there's a lot of young
Speaker 2: guys that are you know, religious and they don't drink,
Speaker 2: and it's also finding how do you connect with these
Speaker 2: young dudes away from just going to the pub and everyone.
Speaker 3: It's a good point, but yeah, I remember like that
Speaker 3: was that was the connecting fact when I first come
Speaker 3: into grade too. It was like get down train hard
Speaker 3: all week and then everyone down at the part and
Speaker 3: it was just like being.
Speaker 1: The connector no alcohol speaking of hell again.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, but like you said, like you're probably right,
Speaker 3: it is more like beach and coffee. Yeah, it looks like,
Speaker 3: especially every in the East.
Speaker 1: It's funny, Connor, I wonder whether this year in particular,
Speaker 1: what to make just pull tight of the roosters is
Speaker 1: the fact, first time for a long long time with
Speaker 1: the Roosters there were low expectations. The pressure has just
Speaker 1: been taken off a little bit. Hence I can see
Speaker 1: the reason why you blake you and join yourself so much.
Speaker 1: I thought the previous couple of years, you just you know,
Speaker 1: you have your wins, and there'd be times where the
Speaker 1: cider was playing well, but you never just looked on
Speaker 1: top of your own game. Where this year you can
Speaker 1: just see a real joy and enjoyment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I do agree, Mattie. I think you know,
Speaker 2: and that's not saying we haven't been close to the
Speaker 2: last few years. It just feels like this year it's
Speaker 2: just like we're a really tight knit group. I think
Speaker 2: the thing that's probably cost us the last few years
Speaker 2: has you know, we've been able to score points sort
Speaker 2: of from anything, really like we're out of our own end.
Speaker 2: Like we've got great attacking players. We've always had these
Speaker 2: big superstars, you know, like Joey both the Joey's. You
Speaker 2: lose those sort of guys, and there was a big
Speaker 2: shift in our mentality this year. During pre season, and
Speaker 2: it probably didn't show in the trial game and then
Speaker 2: round one because we got done by fifty in both
Speaker 2: of those. But it was like playing more complimentary attacking
Speaker 2: footy for our defense. Gotcha, yes, because last year was
Speaker 2: like we can score points from anything, so let's push everything.
Speaker 2: But then you win by forty. But you also let
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four points, which we did a lot.
Speaker 2: Where I feel like our defense is in a way
Speaker 2: better place this year, and it's and defense is what
Speaker 2: wins premiership.
Speaker 1: And our tear it and the irony is you're attacking better.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting you say that because you know, you
Speaker 1: know to let people know what you'd say in there.
Speaker 1: The equation is you can only make how good your
Speaker 1: defense is dictates how many errors you can make in attack.
Speaker 1: If your defense is poor, then you've basically got to
Speaker 1: be you've got to be complete and around ninety to
Speaker 1: ninety five percent. But if your defense is really strong
Speaker 1: and allows you to take more risks. And it's funny
Speaker 1: watching you in those previous years, that makes sense because
Speaker 1: you're channeling so much energy into your attack and in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways the attack suffered because of it.
Speaker 1: This year it looks like, right, we're made doing on defense,
Speaker 1: We're made doing on the things that really matter, kick, chase,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And as a consequence, like your attacks
Speaker 1: really picked up because it's less structured.
Speaker 2: Yeah make sense. Yeah, well I think you saw that.
Speaker 2: And on the weekend against the Cowboys, like a lot
Speaker 2: of the trials we scored was like offload to three
Speaker 2: short passes and then you know Marky goes and does
Speaker 2: like he's freaky fair. Oh yeah, Billy scores that try
Speaker 2: out on the left. But also though like we're under
Speaker 2: no illusions of like there's still so much more work
Speaker 2: to be done, more growth as a side, and you know,
Speaker 2: like the last couple of weeks have been really good,
Speaker 2: but we need to find that consistency. And although our
Speaker 2: football is more complimentary at the moment, our YARDI jerrors
Speaker 2: are still killing us a bit. Like you've seen it
Speaker 2: in games where you know, the first forty minutes we've
Speaker 2: turned over a lot of ball and we've defended awesome,
Speaker 2: Like we've defended our goal line really well, and you're
Speaker 2: going at halftime and you're like, come on, boys, we
Speaker 2: need to hold the ball. But like great defense, everyone's
Speaker 2: moving so well on the goal line, like you know,
Speaker 2: they don't look like scoring, but eventually you turn over
Speaker 2: that much football and you give that much possession. Like
Speaker 2: we've been run down I don't know how many times,
Speaker 2: but after the sixtieth minute, in that sixtieth to seventieth minute,
Speaker 2: until the last couple of weeks, we've been really poor
Speaker 2: where you know, we've had leads going into that and
Speaker 2: you know that's when we want to close out games,
Speaker 2: but we haven't been able to. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's because like we're running out of steam or
Speaker 2: we're just giving them too much ball. But for us,
Speaker 2: the biggest thing is you don't want to be conservative
Speaker 2: in your football and you don't want to go away
Speaker 2: from you know, what makes us great, but we also
Speaker 2: and you don't want to be like boys we need
Speaker 2: to hold the bok because then everyone's tight. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: but you need to find the balance of okay, like
Speaker 2: let's be happy to just get out of our own
Speaker 2: and get a good kick away instead of oh, like
Speaker 2: there's a half opportunity to score. Yeah, because we can
Speaker 2: get like I don't know, Rugula League, like it's in
Speaker 2: such a place now where you know, it's just so
Speaker 2: reliant on live boar and like breaking teams down later
Speaker 2: in the game. Yeah, yeah, in that sixtieth to eightieth minute.
Speaker 2: But you can't do that if you don't.
Speaker 3: Well, it's hard when you have when you have like
Speaker 3: the attacking, like the young gun attacking threats to yours
Speaker 3: that you've got like Mark no one, I need to say,
Speaker 3: Robert Toyer, who's been grouse.
Speaker 4: Like he's really seen in a hugo.
Speaker 3: And the halves, like the best thing about them is
Speaker 3: they probably don't think long like the long game. They
Speaker 3: think like now, and that's why they come up with
Speaker 3: such mad players like you've seen Markey Marx. Markey, Mark
Speaker 3: has been phenomenal. Like that, try you set up.
Speaker 4: Earlier in the like no one else is doing that.
Speaker 3: Most wingers are probably just trying to either get down
Speaker 3: or throw a back infield.
Speaker 4: That's what's good.
Speaker 3: Like he comes up with some ras sometimes, but that's
Speaker 3: because he's wanting to, like he's thinking about a tackle.
Speaker 1: They're talking at the moment. The word going around he'll
Speaker 1: play next year with the Roosters and then he'll go
Speaker 1: back to union that they want him back, I mean
Speaker 1: for the Raby Union. As far as winning the World
Speaker 1: Cup or having an impact in the World Cup. They
Speaker 1: must be looking at him, mark at the Roosters playing
Speaker 1: playing for the Roosters, getting it, getting stronger in certain
Speaker 1: areas of games, and rubbing their hands together. If they
Speaker 1: can get him back, that's that's pretty It would have
Speaker 1: been like, you know, he's an outstanding player and outstanding athlete,
Speaker 1: but there's certain areas in rugby league that you can
Speaker 1: see he's improving week in week out. But it's funny
Speaker 1: kind of what you just said there. It is so
Speaker 1: true in the modern game is that you want to
Speaker 1: consolidate the points you've got. You don't want to be
Speaker 1: being frivolous with the football. But the moment you try
Speaker 1: to shut your own game down and just focus and
Speaker 1: tie on defense, I'll just run you down. But you know,
Speaker 1: kind of it must be just I just thought. Started
Speaker 1: the year, we interview with Angus Crichton and we asked
Speaker 1: him there, is it nice to look at the expert
Speaker 1: predictions at the start of the year, not you know
Speaker 1: all those count, but just to not see a lot
Speaker 1: of those guys have you in the eight Most of
Speaker 1: times you pick up and you're looking, mate, Roosters win
Speaker 1: the comp, win the comp, and they say, we don't
Speaker 1: you know, you don't worry about the outside noise, but
Speaker 1: it does. It sweeps in just the lower expectations, particularly
Speaker 1: for the younger Blakes. It just makes you. You enjoy
Speaker 1: your football a lot more.
Speaker 4: Yeah, have to you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually funy. It's pretty petty of for me.
Speaker 2: But I remember, like seeing some stuff on Instagram. I
Speaker 2: screenshot at it just so I like would have that
Speaker 2: and in my memory pain. But yeah, heaps everyone everyone,
Speaker 2: Everyone wrote us off. But I also knew the way
Speaker 2: we're training, like what sort of what we're capable of,
Speaker 2: because you do, you lose a lot of talent. But
Speaker 2: the club spent a lot of money on the academy,
Speaker 2: all that, you know, the units they've got, all the
Speaker 2: all of those young guys living in units together, and
Speaker 2: I think they had to, I guess, show faith in
Speaker 2: in the work that they've done there and rely on that.
Speaker 2: And now you're starting to see guys like you know,
Speaker 2: see who's been in our team for a fairweile and
Speaker 2: he's he's great young player. He's got so much more
Speaker 2: growth in him too. I think Blake Steep's come through
Speaker 2: Benaiah who played hooker on the weekend for US. Two
Speaker 2: of those great kicks ye kick the twenty that bounce
Speaker 2: back like Celessie as well. Yeah, there's some other guys
Speaker 2: that have sort of like stood up, like young Taylor
Speaker 2: who's played a few games for US, the front rower. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you go and like say it like there's all of
Speaker 2: these guys that they've shown faith in and and you're
Speaker 2: starting to see I guess some of the fruits of that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but I think the biggest thing for us
Speaker 2: is just finding that consistency week to week. And you know,
Speaker 2: for me, like early days, I can remember good one week,
Speaker 2: terrible the next because just this constant battle of you know,
Speaker 2: my football probably has got more consistent in the last
Speaker 2: couple of years, and you know that comes with experience
Speaker 2: and time and you know that there's going to be
Speaker 2: a few teething issues with this.
Speaker 3: Has been nice?
Speaker 4: Has it been nice?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Like you've cemented a role, like because you've played a
Speaker 3: lot of different positions. You played fullback for a stint
Speaker 3: there the early days at the Rooster's Lock fivetes.
Speaker 4: Did you play at the nights.
Speaker 2: That one year where they it was funny because I
Speaker 2: played it the year before, so Kaitlyn was injured for
Speaker 2: a game where he hurt himself for a game, and
Speaker 2: then I moved to fullback in it, I think with
Speaker 2: us and the Dogs and ended up scoring two tries
Speaker 2: and I think from there Brown he was like, oh,
Speaker 2: maybe we moved kind of a fullback and.
Speaker 1: It's up there with the time that breath went to
Speaker 1: fullback once.
Speaker 4: But is it any nice?
Speaker 3: Like it seems like the last couple of years you've
Speaker 3: you've really found your role in at nine, like because
Speaker 3: people probably didn't know whether Roosters is going to play
Speaker 3: as a forwardeen. It must be nice having that sort
Speaker 3: of consistency you can train there all year.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, I think I still think Locke's my
Speaker 2: best position. Yeah, yeah, I do. I think the freedom
Speaker 2: of Locke is it just enables me to like run
Speaker 2: the ball a bit more. I can also being like
Speaker 2: a half full back and a hooker, like you know,
Speaker 2: I can be another link man through the middle. But
Speaker 2: it has been good this year just to sort of
Speaker 2: pretty much focus on nine and thirteen mostly nine. You know,
Speaker 2: we've sort of cheese going on to souths Now, but
Speaker 2: the emergence of Benaiah like will probably mean that I'll
Speaker 2: play more thirteen towards the back end of the year.
Speaker 1: Can I ask you on that on the move to
Speaker 1: the Roosters and as yourself and Kurt me and remind
Speaker 1: me so much. You know, you're so similar in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways in the fact that you know, watching
Speaker 1: you guys, the ability to play really fast and sometimes
Speaker 1: even kind of you know, not tickling the brakes enough,
Speaker 1: you know, playing that thrust all the time. And I
Speaker 1: think both years were like that at Newcastle, but particularly Kurt.
Speaker 1: I was watching Kurt at Newcastle sometimes come on, mane,
Speaker 1: you got to squoeze the breaks. Everything was full tilt
Speaker 1: all the time, both of you. You're going to the
Speaker 1: roosters and Kurt going to the dogs. I'm suing you
Speaker 1: just slow down a little bit more and far more selective.
Speaker 1: Is that something that Robbo worked on with you.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it were, like, yeah, we definitely
Speaker 2: spoke about it, because I think that's the reason why
Speaker 2: you know, I've moved around so much. Was the way
Speaker 2: that I played was like my strength, but it was
Speaker 2: also what brought me undone and you know, like we
Speaker 2: can talk about probably when I was out here doing
Speaker 2: the halves stuff. It was all just one hundred miles
Speaker 2: an hour. And with that, you know, you create, you
Speaker 2: do some good stuff, but then you also do a
Speaker 2: lot of bad stuff as well. And I would just
Speaker 2: like do some yeah, great things, and then I would
Speaker 2: just make some of the dumbest and worst mistakes ever.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it was like me just
Speaker 2: playing more football and just realizing you didn't need to
Speaker 2: be in a rush, but even earlier in my career,
Speaker 2: I just felt like generally I was in a rush
Speaker 2: with everything, you know, like I wanted to be a
Speaker 2: starting player and all this sort of stuff. But as
Speaker 2: it's worked out, you know, being moved around and just
Speaker 2: being more looking at it, like from taking a step back.
Speaker 2: And I think having injuries probably helped this as well,
Speaker 2: because they just made me slow down. They forced me
Speaker 2: to slow down and actually appreciate that I'm living out
Speaker 2: my childhood dream. Like just even playing off the bench
Speaker 2: is great, and it doesn't matter what position, as long
Speaker 2: as I can go and have an impact on a
Speaker 2: game and just get out there. I was just yeah
Speaker 2: excited to do that, and I feel like freeing myself
Speaker 2: up from that expectation or from aiming for this big
Speaker 2: goal of wanting to do this and score tries every
Speaker 2: week and do this, and just worrying about the present
Speaker 2: moment and just actually going out there and having fun,
Speaker 2: but also understanding how hard the game is as well,
Speaker 2: because you know, like you've got to be in that headspace.
Speaker 2: It's not like you've got to be willing to work hard.
Speaker 2: But just going out there and enjoying myself was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, a weight lifted off me, and my
Speaker 2: football has just got more consistent because of that, which
Speaker 2: is weird. It's not contradictory right now, but it's true.
Speaker 1: The temptation in even team sport is to focus on
Speaker 1: yourself because it's so cut cutthroat to get there and say, mate,
Speaker 1: I need to do this, I want to do this.
Speaker 1: If when you just settle and just become part of
Speaker 1: the team, make the enjoyment just goes through the roof,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. When when as opposed to going you wanting
Speaker 1: people to meet your demands, it's a it's a huge difference.
Speaker 3: And when you look back in your decision now, like
Speaker 3: of because it was it was a bit of a
Speaker 3: hard decision at the time or your mate to that
Speaker 3: NEWI at Newcastle. I think Newcastle maybe even come up
Speaker 3: with more money than the Roosters at the time, but
Speaker 3: you decided.
Speaker 4: To go to the Trickies.
Speaker 3: Now being there for a few years, like looking back
Speaker 3: on that decision and where you're at now, how do
Speaker 3: you see it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so funny because if you ask me like
Speaker 2: two years after going back to the Roosters, I would
Speaker 2: have been like, why did I come back here? Yeah,
Speaker 2: because that was when I had so that first year,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that one of my last games at
Speaker 2: the Nights, I'd done like a little tear in my
Speaker 2: pateel attendant. And then so that next year at the Roosters,
Speaker 2: like I was playing okay, but I was playing on
Speaker 2: one sort of leg and kept just hurting this ptel attendant.
Speaker 2: And then that next preseason then I ruptured it, and
Speaker 2: then I've missed the whole year at the Roosters. And
Speaker 2: then I can remember even saying it to like my
Speaker 2: missus and just being like why did I come back here?
Speaker 2: Like yeah, like what have I done? But I think
Speaker 2: it just shows you you just don't, I don't know,
Speaker 2: you just can't ride the highs too much and ride
Speaker 2: the lows too much because you just never know what's coming.
Speaker 2: Just honestly, just I just stayed, like just try to
Speaker 2: stay the course. I was very lucky. I had, you know,
Speaker 2: great people, great support network around me, because like after
Speaker 2: that year when I had the knee, like it almost
Speaker 2: looked at one point that I was going to have
Speaker 2: to go to the Super League to keep playing, because
Speaker 2: it was honestly, like I remember one day, so the
Speaker 2: roosters are essentially said to me, you know, like, there's
Speaker 2: not we don't really have space for you here. Next year,
Speaker 2: Sandon was going really good, so I sort of thought
Speaker 2: he was going to be in that utility role with
Speaker 2: Luke still being there in the halves. And then I
Speaker 2: remember I was like, god, an off from a Super
Speaker 2: League club, and my financial advisors like, mate, you got
Speaker 2: to take it. You've got a mortgage, this sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: I was like losing my mind. And then so I've
Speaker 2: rang Chimesy Steve Gillies, my agent. I'm like, mate, I
Speaker 2: was like, like, surely there's an NFL club out there
Speaker 2: who's willing to take a chance on me. And I
Speaker 2: remember he texted me and he would just like send
Speaker 2: me screenshots of the text messages from the club, from
Speaker 2: the club, That's all I said. It was like kicking
Speaker 2: a man while he was down. I kept getting like, no,
Speaker 2: we're all good. Thanks, No, we're all good. Thanks, No,
Speaker 2: we're all good. Thanks.
Speaker 4: You're supposed to protect.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well he was just like I guess this is
Speaker 2: this is the reality, Like this is where you're at.
Speaker 4: It's honest. Yeah, yeah, And I just.
Speaker 2: Couldn't believe how quickly like I'd sort of gone from
Speaker 2: you know, like love of my football up at Newcastle
Speaker 2: and then this thing with the knee happens, and then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden I was like, you know, my
Speaker 2: own RL career is over. And then it was only
Speaker 2: really that Gus was Gus Good. Was like I went
Speaker 2: and sort of had a chat with him, and then
Speaker 2: the dogs were like looking at bringing me over there,
Speaker 2: and then from there the Russes did manage to find.
Speaker 1: In that funny though, like like that a low so
Speaker 1: often is followed by your highest heighth advice versa and
Speaker 1: pour our young check balls, stop four tries the week
Speaker 1: before probably the greatest moment, and he's up there in
Speaker 1: his life and then the next week does his a
Speaker 1: cl like you know, I mean, it's.
Speaker 3: Just it is, It's an unforgiving game, and like you said,
Speaker 3: sometimes those lows can last two years, these long term injuries. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean you do an acl or and Achilles.
Speaker 3: People don't realize how hard mentally.
Speaker 4: That ship is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's guys like you know BRAI like Jade
Speaker 2: and Brayley, Billy Smith, like they've gone through like two
Speaker 2: a cls Achilles, Like I think Billy's had three Billy's
Speaker 2: I can't remember, it's two or three a cls. But
Speaker 2: then he also had the foot what's the big one
Speaker 2: in the foot Liz Frank, So he had one of those,
Speaker 2: like and then just for him to steal like we
Speaker 2: see how good he's playing now, and it was always
Speaker 2: it's always been there for Billy, but just for him to, yeah,
Speaker 2: stick through all of that because it has just been
Speaker 2: so easy for guys like that to throw it all away.
Speaker 2: But we'll talk about what.
Speaker 3: Are your highs?
Speaker 4: Last year?
Speaker 3: Made State of Origin run that's a rapid rise, that's yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what was that?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: Did you did you because your your form was outstanding,
Speaker 3: they had to put you in the role, But did
Speaker 3: you expect Like, how surreal was that few sort of
Speaker 3: going through all that and then coming into an origin spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was pretty wild, to be honest.
Speaker 2: I just like because every year, you know, I would
Speaker 2: always do my your goals or whatever looking at the
Speaker 2: and you'd always say like state of origin, state of origin.
Speaker 2: But no year I was like, really a chance because
Speaker 2: I've never played consistent footy enough to actually warrant even
Speaker 2: being talked about. But that year, going like going into
Speaker 2: last year, I think my goal was like play every
Speaker 2: game for the Roosters and then be in the origin discussion.
Speaker 2: Was like I had it. I wrote it up in
Speaker 2: my mirror in my bedroom. And Round one Roosters didn't
Speaker 2: get Yeah, yeah, both of us. So it was like
Speaker 2: New South Wales cut for the first couple of weeks
Speaker 2: and I'm just thinking, oh god, there's going to be
Speaker 2: a long year. And then so obviously couldn't play every
Speaker 2: game at n L for the Roosters, but then round
Speaker 2: three got caught up, and yeah, just was like let's
Speaker 2: just go and have fun, like don't put any pressure
Speaker 2: on yourself, kind of that mindset that I was talking
Speaker 2: about before, and then yeah, ended up just stringing enough
Speaker 2: good games together. And then I remember after probably like
Speaker 2: five or six weeks of playing, and Robbo sat me
Speaker 2: down and he's like, Okay, it's getting pretty close to
Speaker 2: our origent selection. Just like so you know, like Madges called
Speaker 2: me and he's looking at you, and I was like,
Speaker 2: what the hell? Really? Yeah, yeah, because you know some
Speaker 2: of the journeys you run, like Danny Widler lives in Bondo,
Speaker 2: so running to him down the main street, He's like, mate,
Speaker 2: I'm hearing your clothes to Origin. And I just thought like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: these guys journeys like they're probably he's probably just like
Speaker 2: saying like maybe he's heard a whisper. It's probably not
Speaker 2: actually a chance. And then yeah, and in reality, I
Speaker 2: just thought that ship might have sailed. And I just
Speaker 2: think it was very lucky timing from me. You know,
Speaker 2: Magic come in with this new philosophy, wanted to bring
Speaker 2: a new squad in. I was playing well enough, and
Speaker 2: just the timing of everything it just worked out. And
Speaker 2: then YE had to be able to play well actually
Speaker 2: because I'd heard I was closed. But then we played
Speaker 2: Magic Ground maybe so Robbo's told me that the week
Speaker 2: after we've played, and then I've gone and I've fractured
Speaker 2: my larynx in my throat, and then so now you're
Speaker 2: going to miss four weeks. And I missed the first
Speaker 2: Origin because of that, And then once I got in,
Speaker 2: I was thinking, Jesus, I've been this close to getting
Speaker 2: picked for Origin and now I've gone and fractured my laryx,
Speaker 2: and then thinking, you know, if they go good and
Speaker 2: they win, like, I'm probably a chance of not getting
Speaker 2: picked now, and then yeah they didn't. Obviously Sue got
Speaker 2: SimBin and they lost, and then Mad just picked me
Speaker 2: and then sort of said, you know, luck, you probably
Speaker 2: would have been any first game if you didn't have
Speaker 2: the throat injury.
Speaker 4: And it's funny sliding doors.
Speaker 3: If you play first game and they get beat, yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't know who. You don't know who gets dropped
Speaker 3: like it they look for answers, had you.
Speaker 1: I was walking in to training for the first ever
Speaker 1: the Blues, and we spoke to a few of the
Speaker 1: boys that have been here before. It is for people
Speaker 1: that want to know what it's like. It is like
Speaker 1: walking to a new school yard, isn't it. It's just mate,
Speaker 1: you're shitting yourself.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. I can remember how nervous it was
Speaker 2: for the first training. It was like you know when
Speaker 2: you first started training with the NURL squad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was looking at all your heroes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was like, man, I haven't been this nervous
Speaker 2: for training for eight nine years far out and then yeah,
Speaker 2: just remember like first pass, now, this first past, now
Speaker 2: this first like.
Speaker 1: You just go, don't drop it. Yeah, first of camp
Speaker 1: I walked into I think it was Laza. I walked
Speaker 1: in one camp and one of my first ever one.
Speaker 1: Laso is just you know, kind of the game, but big, gruff, angry,
Speaker 1: cranky guy. I remember walking and I'll see Lazo and
Speaker 1: go fucking lost Lazzo and I got a Lazo hair
Speaker 1: going yes did you blokes play? Yes? Cowboys? I just
Speaker 1: go I said, wow, we got boot he gus fucking
Speaker 1: dogs just walked off. Fuck yeah you have. But going
Speaker 1: in there, who was the guy that sort of settled
Speaker 1: your well?
Speaker 2: I guess like me and Gussie are pretty tight, so
Speaker 2: going in there with him, I think we might have
Speaker 2: even got picked up in the same car together. So
Speaker 2: just sort of gone out there with him and Spencer
Speaker 2: as well, like yeah, those guys spending done the first one,
Speaker 2: so he sort of knew what he was going into
Speaker 2: the second Origin camp. But those guys were just yeah,
Speaker 2: that the ones that I guess initially yeah, made me
Speaker 2: sort of feel comfortable. But I just remember the whole
Speaker 2: week was like the biggest blue I got so stitched
Speaker 2: up to fire out. It was funny. So we got
Speaker 2: there and like, no one really says like, this is
Speaker 2: what we're doing. They're just like, go upstairs, you gotta
Speaker 2: sign your contract and then just get checked out by
Speaker 2: the physios and they'll give you your gear bag. And
Speaker 2: I can just remember rocking up there, like even just
Speaker 2: the news cameras at the hotel. You're thinking, Jesus is
Speaker 2: like different intensity. It just comes with the whole week.
Speaker 2: And then I walk upstairs Zero big serios like, which
Speaker 2: is good because I've known zero for a long long time.
Speaker 2: Have like and there's a lot of guys that I
Speaker 2: knew that I'd played with or played sort of against,
Speaker 2: and you know, you're friendly about that camaraderie before players,
Speaker 2: so you know guys, you've had beers with guys before
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff played, you know, junior rep stuff
Speaker 2: with different people, and Sira goes, here's your gearbag mate.
Speaker 2: And then so Madges called me and mue in because
Speaker 2: you wanted to show us this video, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 2: And then that is like all right, so we'll go
Speaker 2: be downstairs in five minutes. We're like, we're going to
Speaker 2: go over and do the media stuff. So going to
Speaker 2: my gearbag and I'm like looking through it and I'm thinking,
Speaker 2: I can't be late to be downstairs, Like this is
Speaker 2: your first thing, don't you can't be late. It's got
Speaker 2: five minutes. I'm going through my gearbag. I'm looking for
Speaker 2: shorts and everything's in packages and stuff and it's hard
Speaker 2: to get like a read. So I'm ripping everything. It's
Speaker 2: making a mess everywhere. And I try these shorts and
Speaker 2: I'm like looking at these can't be right. And I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: and look at the time. Go bro, you've got a minute.
Speaker 2: You gotta get downstairs on text us, what are you
Speaker 2: wearing to go? Just just wear shorts and like a
Speaker 2: polo and a jumper, So go downstairs. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: these shorts are that tight, the game shorts. Nah. I
Speaker 2: walked down into the team room. Everyone's looking at me.
Speaker 2: They just start cracking up. SiO, give me the woman's shorts.
Speaker 2: So that time on me, like the medium is yeah,
Speaker 2: because I don't know if you've got the he reckons,
Speaker 2: you've got the W and the M confused, I reckon Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I've just walked into this team room and there
Speaker 2: just everyone's cracking up.
Speaker 4: You got given the.
Speaker 1: Year film sitting on the bench, you know, and that
Speaker 1: in that game too, you know, everything's in the balance
Speaker 1: waiting for the call.
Speaker 2: We'll see the game to actually made. He was the
Speaker 2: one where we'd had that really dominant first taf YEP.
Speaker 2: So I was just sort of thinking like, yeah, go it, like,
Speaker 2: don't't blow it. Yeah, don't blow it, like you know,
Speaker 2: and then it was just once I got on, was
Speaker 2: just like just enjoy this, like just soak it up,
Speaker 2: like take them on to do it sort of just yeah,
Speaker 2: back yourself and get into your first tackle and first run,
Speaker 2: similar to like when you make your first grade thea boo.
Speaker 2: You know, you just sort of like, I just want
Speaker 2: to get out there and make your first run on
Speaker 2: first tackle. But game three was probably a bit more Yeah.
Speaker 1: When you go on, So you go on, the game
Speaker 1: is in the balance, so how you feel them when
Speaker 1: you're staying there with the touch judge about to go
Speaker 1: on the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just sort of you know, because you play the
Speaker 2: game one hundred times through your head. You're sitting on
Speaker 2: there for sixty minutes and then cause your cause your name,
Speaker 2: and you just yeah, just sort of want to go
Speaker 2: in and just not put any pressure, like you know.
Speaker 2: It's it's that contradiction of you want to go out
Speaker 2: there and you want to perform. But I think for me,
Speaker 2: I know I'm at my best when I don't like
Speaker 2: I just go out there and be in the mote.
Speaker 2: Just yeah, go on the flow. And I just wanted
Speaker 2: to get out there and yeah, just try and contribute
Speaker 2: in any way possible, and whatever I was doing in
Speaker 2: that moment, just nail it. So whether it was that
Speaker 2: pass or like you know, where it's yeah, a pass
Speaker 2: you run, or just get my first tackle. Make sure
Speaker 2: I win my first tackle. Get your step.
Speaker 3: It was a crazy finish that game too, Like that
Speaker 3: was the one where you hit Angus Crichton.
Speaker 4: He does a horrendous offload to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I.
Speaker 3: Trolled along the ground hand grenade to Romi. Romi goes
Speaker 3: through find Bradman to score that mad match winning try.
Speaker 3: Like that must have been some like talk about a
Speaker 3: dream first series in Origin?
Speaker 4: Was that was that? That's as good as it gets.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just remember after the games being like, what
Speaker 2: the hell has happened? Yeah in the last you know,
Speaker 2: like we talked about the sort of the twelve months before,
Speaker 2: and just thinking like if you told me this had happened,
Speaker 2: like this is going to happen next year, I just
Speaker 2: would have been like, you lie, mate, No, there's no way.
Speaker 2: So just for it all to happen, I was just yeah,
Speaker 2: so grateful and just try to really enjoy everything as
Speaker 2: much as I could.
Speaker 1: Well would I tell you terrific, Blake. That's the end
Speaker 1: of part one, right, that's time to jump over for
Speaker 1: part two, which I hope you enjoy every bit as
Speaker 1: much I know you will.