Speaker 1: Alright, So the Official Jets Podcast back better than ever.
Speaker 1: We had a video this time. Two thousand nineteen is
Speaker 1: upon us Jets Bills is this Sunday, and we kick
Speaker 1: things off this week with Valentine Holmes, who's really the
Speaker 1: eleventh practice squad player for the Jets. He's exempt because
Speaker 1: he's part of the International Pathway program, which is why
Speaker 1: there are eleven practice squad players and not ten. This
Speaker 1: guy is a fascinating character. He's done a lot of
Speaker 1: things early in his life and he was a star,
Speaker 1: yeah in the rugby league. Yeah. I don't think people
Speaker 1: understand that by the time. Montgomery understands it because he
Speaker 1: did that. Listen. I looked at this guy up after
Speaker 1: the Jets sign him, and he's like Michael Jordan's Okay,
Speaker 1: So throughout the season, we're kicking things off with val Holmes,
Speaker 1: but throughout the season we're gonna be taking fan questions.
Speaker 1: Once we know who's gonna be on the pod, will
Speaker 1: tweet it out if you have questions, tweet at one
Speaker 1: of us will ask the guests on the podcast, and
Speaker 1: where can you find the podcast? You didn't ask that,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna answer it for you. Apple Podcast SoundCloud,
Speaker 1: really wherever you can find podcasts, make sure to leave
Speaker 1: a review. And now is there anything else you want
Speaker 1: to add in here? Let's bring in Bill all right?
Speaker 1: All right, so we're kicking off the official Jets podcast
Speaker 1: back officially in the two thousand nineteen season with Al Holmes.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. You're batting leadoff for us, so
Speaker 1: that means you're up first and a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: There's no pressure, A lot of pressure. No pressure. Uh yeah, no,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on. I think fans have a thousand
Speaker 1: questions for you because your story is just so interesting.
Speaker 1: So I just kind of want to start things off
Speaker 1: by what gave you the itch to want to come
Speaker 1: overseas and pursue an NFL career. Yeah, it's uh probably
Speaker 1: started back in at the end of um myself in
Speaker 1: another playoff from Rugby League go the opportunity to trying
Speaker 1: in l A in front of a few teams. Put
Speaker 1: us through a pretty much like a combined type training
Speaker 1: drills and stuff like that, and our managers had organized
Speaker 1: all that stuff, so I don't know how they got
Speaker 1: in touch with those guys and then um that we
Speaker 1: put us through all that. We've never done anything like
Speaker 1: that before and they were quite happy and pleased with
Speaker 1: how we you know, took overy with the unit and
Speaker 1: did the drills and executed and didn't make really any mistakes.
Speaker 1: And then obviously it's quite big in Australia. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of US boys watch it. You know, everyone
Speaker 1: plays the fantasies and stuff like that, so it's it's
Speaker 1: quite big. Not just you know NFL, you you know
Speaker 1: the NBA, so people watch hockey, baseball, American sports. Did
Speaker 1: they select you to do that combine type training or
Speaker 1: did you and your body say we want to try
Speaker 1: to do this? Well, I had no idea who was
Speaker 1: doing it. My manager coming to me and asked me
Speaker 1: if it was something you know, I was all paid for?
Speaker 1: Is or the trip was everything paid for? And I
Speaker 1: thought might as well. Was the end of our the
Speaker 1: year for us, so were on holidays and um, there
Speaker 1: was always something I would have been interested in doing,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, for the opportunity to come up
Speaker 1: was good. And you know I got to kind of
Speaker 1: experience it's just at a little high school in l a. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I got to meet some of the scouts there.
Speaker 1: There was quite a few that I think that was
Speaker 1: over about fifteen different clubs there, so it was It's
Speaker 1: probably the most nervous I've ever been for something. And
Speaker 1: I've played in Grand finals, I've played over a hundred
Speaker 1: games back home, and this is that was probably the
Speaker 1: most nervous I've been trying to perform in front of
Speaker 1: with clipboards and someone I didn't know. So growing up
Speaker 1: in Australia, who were the guys that you looked up
Speaker 1: to in the sports world and you said, hey, I
Speaker 1: watched a little bit of American football where there guys
Speaker 1: that you said, I really look up to. The Obviously
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I had my idols were
Speaker 1: in rugby league. Um, you know, I've got to play
Speaker 1: alongside some guys that I never thought I would would
Speaker 1: have and also play against. But as I got older
Speaker 1: and it was just more so in the last few years. Um,
Speaker 1: I've been watching you know, NFL and basketball as any
Speaker 1: American sport closely most NFL, uh, and I love like
Speaker 1: although obviously the receivers and running backs, you know, they
Speaker 1: their swagger and how they kind of play and um,
Speaker 1: you know, treat every game. It's it's awesome to see
Speaker 1: they all got very talented and you know, very special
Speaker 1: in their own kind of way. But my favorite player
Speaker 1: used to you know, kind of watch his slides before
Speaker 1: my games a few years ago is Odell Beckham. You
Speaker 1: know many first time. I'm sure a lot of people
Speaker 1: would have done that, but he's probably my favorite player.
Speaker 1: Any kind of motivated me to try and make the
Speaker 1: move to um come over and pursue something like this.
Speaker 1: But have you had a chance to talk to him
Speaker 1: at all? Nah? No, not at all. I've obviously seen
Speaker 1: I've been watching him very closely. You're gonna tell him
Speaker 1: anything for a game we do probably not listen to
Speaker 1: Green's I think this is a fascinating deal because mixed
Speaker 1: reaction from folks in Australia when you decided to make
Speaker 1: this attempt You're going over to play with the New
Speaker 1: York Jets through the International Bathway program, because a lot
Speaker 1: of people are we'll watch you back right, yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So it was obviously mixed emotions. There was a lot
Speaker 1: of people that were obviously excited and wanted to follow
Speaker 1: how I went because I was a fellow regularly guy
Speaker 1: named Jared Haane that cocted the same thing. He was
Speaker 1: the right Yeah, and obviously he did quite well, so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of people that supported him
Speaker 1: and really you wanted him to go well, and they
Speaker 1: probably had the same you know, people wanted to stay
Speaker 1: because he was really good in our sports. You're obviously
Speaker 1: gonna get guys that are disappointed in you're leaving, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted you to stay for the for
Speaker 1: that team. It was at Sharks, and there was a
Speaker 1: lot of fans that were, you know, not happy that
Speaker 1: I had left. But I'm sure over these past few weeks,
Speaker 1: I've been pretty excited. How difficult How difficult was it
Speaker 1: for you to make that decision? Because I don't know
Speaker 1: if fans know this, but I don't mean to make
Speaker 1: you feel uncomfortable, but you're pretty big deal back home,
Speaker 1: so I don't know what the comparison would be for
Speaker 1: the opposite, like if if an NFL player decided to
Speaker 1: go play in rugby league, But for you personally, how
Speaker 1: difficult was it for you to say, you know what,
Speaker 1: I want to put away what I'm doing here right now,
Speaker 1: even though I'm good at it and I want to
Speaker 1: try something. Yeah that's different. Yeah, it was very difficult
Speaker 1: as um. Obviously you'll I felt like I had a
Speaker 1: pretty good come up, a pretty good year, and I
Speaker 1: was coming off contract as well, which you know obviously
Speaker 1: played a part in a little bit of it. Um,
Speaker 1: But I had to you know, the team I was with, Sharks,
Speaker 1: they had offered me a pretty good deal to stay,
Speaker 1: and but it was just something I've you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of lived with his to not have any regrets,
Speaker 1: and I've really felt like I strongly would have regretted
Speaker 1: not you know, given this a cracker, especially with the
Speaker 1: opportunity that came up with that pathway, the international pathways.
Speaker 1: You know, I felt like it was just a calling
Speaker 1: for me, and um, ever since I kind of did it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been excited since being here, and UM,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty happy I made that decision coming over. We'll
Speaker 1: jump back to football in a minute, but Uh, what's
Speaker 1: the biggest difference is as far as living is concerned
Speaker 1: coming over here. You live in New Jersey right now,
Speaker 1: but you've been to New York multiple times. I know
Speaker 1: prior to this you've cited the beaches and the coffee. Yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously Sydney is quite expensive as well, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: too much of a of a change, but I had
Speaker 1: my own place there. I was a little bit a
Speaker 1: bit better at a car and stuff like that as well.
Speaker 1: Said it's um, you know, I don't really have all
Speaker 1: that kind of accessories at the moment, but you know,
Speaker 1: I lived quite close to facility at the moment and
Speaker 1: it's quite easy to to get back and forth. But
Speaker 1: there's the most important thing is that like coffee, I'm
Speaker 1: really doing this that. And also Bluestone have sent me
Speaker 1: some coffee beans because they must have seen I've said
Speaker 1: that a few times. So it's it's an Australian cafe
Speaker 1: in New York City there and they're doing really well.
Speaker 1: So They've sent me some coffee and I've been having
Speaker 1: it at home. How many how many coffees do you
Speaker 1: have it there? Yeah? I probably have one or sometimes none,
Speaker 1: just because isn't the way to really find a nice one.
Speaker 1: But back on two or three Koree screw up in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: they should have a couple of places for Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not a coffee drinker though, is that weird?
Speaker 1: I don't drink coffee. I'm a lot of guys that haven't,
Speaker 1: so yeah, to get yeah, you you definitely need it.
Speaker 1: What was it What was it difficult to get adjusted
Speaker 1: to the driving on the opposite side of the road
Speaker 1: when you came here. Um, I haven't really, but do
Speaker 1: you understand it would be quite difficult. So how do
Speaker 1: you get to work every day? Um? I'll have a
Speaker 1: little scooter that a rod I love that time Montgomery
Speaker 1: let me borrow Who's Yeah, it's one of the elect
Speaker 1: like the bird scooters. Yeah, it's a Bird's good. It's
Speaker 1: electric on it tastes like minutes. Get short cut through
Speaker 1: the It's like these buildings. You can just cut through
Speaker 1: the It's great. So you don't even need to go
Speaker 1: on the main road. No, he was actually Ryan in
Speaker 1: the locker room the other day. I think I saw
Speaker 1: you riding in the locker room straight to my stright
Speaker 1: to my locker. You know, I was looking. I was
Speaker 1: printing something earlier than I saw someone riding a scooter
Speaker 1: out the window. It might have been you. Would have
Speaker 1: been well, would it be Blake Cashman? Because it I
Speaker 1: thought for a second from a distance it might have
Speaker 1: been him too. He might have one. Were you wearing
Speaker 1: a hat on your way into where? And it was
Speaker 1: definitely you. What does Jamal Adams says he has like
Speaker 1: a motorcycle scooter looking thing. Yeah, I think it's like
Speaker 1: an electric bike. Yeah, an electric bike was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So I want to I mean, I want to touch
Speaker 1: on a thousand things. But in particular, you told me
Speaker 1: this when you signed that you basically casually ran the
Speaker 1: New York City Marathon, like you didn't really train for it.
Speaker 1: You just kind of said, Okay, yeah, i'll do it.
Speaker 1: I'll sign up, and then you ran twenty six point
Speaker 1: two miles or whatever it is. That's psychotic. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: Obviously my wife has has done it three or four times.
Speaker 1: In the family fitness freaks, so they love running um
Speaker 1: and I've I've supported them in the past three years,
Speaker 1: and I thought I might as well give it a
Speaker 1: crack if I can. If if I don't finished, I
Speaker 1: could always just bail them, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: him at the end, But like I said, I didn't
Speaker 1: train because I was in season the whole year. I
Speaker 1: couldn't really you literally didn't have any program. No, well,
Speaker 1: I'm because I'm the Sharks at the time. So it's
Speaker 1: not like I could just run for ten days after
Speaker 1: a game or before a game because i'd be stuffed,
Speaker 1: but I's ont me played the next week. So this
Speaker 1: was just treated in season as my training for the
Speaker 1: marathon because I knew I was doing it from the
Speaker 1: side of the year. So New York City Marathons October correct. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so what kind of what was your average mile? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: when I was insted in four and a half hours,
Speaker 1: So what did that? I don't know. I didn't really
Speaker 1: I was just did you run with I'm not going
Speaker 1: to try to do the math, but yeah, a marathon.
Speaker 1: I was just happy I finished it. I did not
Speaker 1: think I was gonna even get close to to finishing it.
Speaker 1: But was your wife encouraging you or was she like,
Speaker 1: You're never gonna be able to do this? No, she's real.
Speaker 1: She really happened me out with it. She stayed with
Speaker 1: me the whole time. Um, she could have easily just
Speaker 1: ran off and finished it. What's her best time? She's
Speaker 1: donna didn't like three hours? God, what do you ever
Speaker 1: do it again? No, that's the first and last. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm happy I did it, get like a gold medal
Speaker 1: and stuff like AE. Okay, but so this is fascinating
Speaker 1: because I'm thinking of you and you're a young guy.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying, bucket list already already did the New
Speaker 1: York City Marathon, You've already played in the National Football
Speaker 1: League preseason action. I mean, what else is on that list?
Speaker 1: As far as Bell Holmes is concerned, it all seems
Speaker 1: to be in New York though. My wife and I
Speaker 1: always said we've lived an extreme roller coast lifestyle these
Speaker 1: past few years, moving from a small town to Sydney.
Speaker 1: I've made some rep teams there and it's just been
Speaker 1: you know, up and one a grand fin. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's um and she's been there through it all. And
Speaker 1: to move over to New York City and also do
Speaker 1: the marathon, it's um, you know, something that we at
Speaker 1: this age wouldn't think would be here. So it's we're
Speaker 1: just trying to, you know, just have fun while we're
Speaker 1: while we're doing this, and you know, you can get
Speaker 1: one life that lives on. Let's talk about some of
Speaker 1: your country man, country people. I should say a lot
Speaker 1: of people say when we bring up rugby, I say,
Speaker 1: it's not rugby, it's the Rugby League. Talk about the signal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a very big deal because people take that personally.
Speaker 1: People came at US when when you signed here and
Speaker 1: we put rugby, people said no, no, no, it has
Speaker 1: to be rugby league, and you know we had no idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's two major there's a rugby union, which everyone calls rugby.
Speaker 1: It's like either fifteen or side or um there's seven
Speaker 1: rugby Um the USA. It seems quite good at seven.
Speaker 1: So that's probably why it gets a bit um confused
Speaker 1: and lost in there. But rugby league has only played
Speaker 1: in England and Australia and New Zealand, so that's probably
Speaker 1: why it's not like worldwide rugby union is and um,
Speaker 1: but I feel like it's getting there. A lot of
Speaker 1: people that's starting to know what hopefully a lot of
Speaker 1: people more in American know it now. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously Jordan my Larder played for the past the Eagles.
Speaker 1: He played rugby league as well. And when I remember
Speaker 1: when he first you know, got drafting and stuff. They're
Speaker 1: saying he's a rugby star in Australia, but it's rugby league. Again.
Speaker 1: Jared Hayne played rugby league. So I feel like it's
Speaker 1: getting out there. It's um, it's just obviously not worldwide,
Speaker 1: like you know, everyone knows that all Blacks, the South
Speaker 1: Africans and all that. So that's all rugby union that
Speaker 1: they play fifteen. It's why we have thirty in aside.
Speaker 1: And the rules are completely different. So but you could
Speaker 1: do both. I mean I used to play rugby union,
Speaker 1: yes in school. Um, I haven't played in a while,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't be as hard as the transition it
Speaker 1: is to to the NFL. So how many of you
Speaker 1: your current teammates fully understand I know Time Montgomery is
Speaker 1: one of them, fully know about your success in Australia
Speaker 1: because I from where I said, it comes off that
Speaker 1: you came in. He just didn't really say anything that
Speaker 1: and your teammates probably thought, oh, it's an Austrailian guy
Speaker 1: trying to come over, not realizing how successful you were overseas.
Speaker 1: So how many teammates fully know and understand? Well, I
Speaker 1: know the whole running back class now because Todd made
Speaker 1: the coach puts in front of everyone. So I blew
Speaker 1: up your spot pretty much talking to a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of the boys about and um, you know,
Speaker 1: Frankie lub knows, Harvey Bronson, They kind of um you know,
Speaker 1: how for I am just a little bit and obviously
Speaker 1: now um, but there's more so just a running back class.
Speaker 1: I'm not really out here to tell everyone what I did,
Speaker 1: which is very respectable. By the way, I very much
Speaker 1: enjoy the way that you came across that. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was just um, you know, I was obviously putting that
Speaker 1: behind me. I just wanted to focus on this and
Speaker 1: you know, trying to make a stamp in this game.
Speaker 1: What was your favorite moment over there in the Rugby League?
Speaker 1: Probably been in the Grand Final for my team. It
Speaker 1: was so since we've been It was on our fiftieth
Speaker 1: year that the club has been you know, alive or started,
Speaker 1: and it was on the fiftith year we won as
Speaker 1: the first ever. UM. There's been like so many great
Speaker 1: players I've played at the club and the team we
Speaker 1: had was we went We've won fifteen games in a row,
Speaker 1: drew the sixteenth and then lost the Seventever, but to
Speaker 1: win fifteen in a row and that competition is it's
Speaker 1: really hard to do and I just felt like we
Speaker 1: had a great year that year. That was year I
Speaker 1: played for Australia as well. At the end of the
Speaker 1: year UM one of Grand Finals twenty one. It was
Speaker 1: my most favorite kind of memorable year a time. How
Speaker 1: much is that free form as far as that game
Speaker 1: is concerned, compared to now you're over here in the NFL,
Speaker 1: where everything scripted, you go huddle up for thirty seconds
Speaker 1: before a snap. Yeah, it's it's completely different. You obviously
Speaker 1: you know this is I feel like it's a real,
Speaker 1: real team sport. Every player literally needs to be in
Speaker 1: the right spot, needs to know what they're doing, needs
Speaker 1: to block the right person or you know, leave the
Speaker 1: right person or whatever. And um, that's how you kind
Speaker 1: of get down the field. Where in rugby league it's um,
Speaker 1: you know, if you obviously there's some set plays and
Speaker 1: stuff you got to do, but you know, one one
Speaker 1: or two players, you can kind of open up the match,
Speaker 1: um and every now and then by just breaking the line.
Speaker 1: And you can't LIKEE have blockers for you. So you're
Speaker 1: going to do it, you know, free free hand for yourself.
Speaker 1: You just gotta try and create space and create create
Speaker 1: a whole or line break. So take us through. I
Speaker 1: guess the first time you put on pads and practice,
Speaker 1: you put on the helmet, you buckle up your chin strap,
Speaker 1: you go on the huddle, and you know, the ball
Speaker 1: is coming to you, like what is going through your head?
Speaker 1: And you get hit and you go down or whatever,
Speaker 1: you stay up in training camp and just take us
Speaker 1: through your head, your emotions and the first time that
Speaker 1: you got a good pop, like what are you saying?
Speaker 1: Like what are you feeling at that moment? Well, it's
Speaker 1: actually the running back coach help me out for a
Speaker 1: lit while, just to make sure I understand the game,
Speaker 1: understand the play calls and stuff like that, which was
Speaker 1: really good. I needed that. It's probably like a few
Speaker 1: weeks in where I got my first you know, properly
Speaker 1: running and I think it was I don't know it
Speaker 1: was seven on seven off it was actually eleven. I
Speaker 1: guess it waiting about that first scrimmage, right that Saturday
Speaker 1: scrimmage that you guys had out of here. As far
Speaker 1: as that first hit, yeah, that was probably pretty much
Speaker 1: my first hit. And then we've we've always to hold
Speaker 1: each other right in the spring, but first contact session
Speaker 1: would have been that one, and I definitely felt that
Speaker 1: you obviously we've got to try and you know, just
Speaker 1: get up at all times, and you know, because the
Speaker 1: defense obviously you know like to layer up if you
Speaker 1: know the plot for good hit. So I tried to
Speaker 1: just get up straight away, you know, thinking that it
Speaker 1: was nothing. So but I definitely felt how different is
Speaker 1: it hit? You know, that hit like that versus taking
Speaker 1: a big hit back home. Um, it's a little bit different,
Speaker 1: only because I didn't see that coming, so I had
Speaker 1: no idea he was coming. Obviously you lose a bit
Speaker 1: of peripheral vision and he's just come flying in from
Speaker 1: the side and I was all I was focused on
Speaker 1: was trying to get to the end zone. Um. But
Speaker 1: in rugby league, in rugby union, you can kind of
Speaker 1: see who's coming to try and tackle you, so you
Speaker 1: can neither brace for it or you can evade him somehow. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, you can prepare to get tackled. But in
Speaker 1: this in this league, it's they're come and flying in
Speaker 1: the safety. If you're catching the ball facing your quarterback
Speaker 1: and it's safety, you can come and just clean you up.
Speaker 1: Where you can't really do that. Rugby league, it's got
Speaker 1: to be you know, it's all kind of in front
Speaker 1: of you. You mentioned tie a couple of times, and
Speaker 1: you mentioned in your position coach Jim Bob Cooder ti
Speaker 1: kind of taking you under his wings a little bit. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: especially you know in April in our spring camp, he
Speaker 1: was you know, we're all living at the av together.
Speaker 1: Would he would help me out like pretty much every
Speaker 1: day out of training, even we did some study sessions
Speaker 1: at the a F F on our days off. So he
Speaker 1: was one person that you know, really helped me throughout
Speaker 1: this kind of transition into the NFL with the Jets,
Speaker 1: and you know it's um, He's helped me a lot.
Speaker 1: Whether it's because he's obviously transitioned from wing wing so
Speaker 1: receiver to run him back and he knows a lot,
Speaker 1: so he's um, you know, helped me out a lot
Speaker 1: through this, and also the other boys have helped me
Speaker 1: out a lot as well. Leave But since Laveland Bell
Speaker 1: has been coming in, always been saying, is lower your
Speaker 1: pads just because in the first few games I was
Speaker 1: running quite high. You know, the players were getting under me,
Speaker 1: so I needed to low my pads. And I felt
Speaker 1: like in that last game I was doing that a lot,
Speaker 1: and I was just from these guys just keep getting
Speaker 1: into me and help me out. Why the success in
Speaker 1: the passing game because a lot of guys, I would
Speaker 1: imagine might be making the transition and say, well, I
Speaker 1: can take your hand off and I'll try to find
Speaker 1: the hole. But you've seen to be quite adequate as
Speaker 1: far as catching the boy out of the backfield. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I just you know a lot of
Speaker 1: the boys have mentioned that I've had no that I've
Speaker 1: got good hands and can catch a ball. And obviously
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks are quite they're quite good and they can
Speaker 1: put it on the spot for you and so. And
Speaker 1: I just feel like when I do get moved motioned
Speaker 1: out or if I am like kind of in the
Speaker 1: slaughter out and why, I just feel like, you know, not,
Speaker 1: you're not out there that often. I try to make
Speaker 1: the most of every opportunity I get out there, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I got pretty lucky that every time I
Speaker 1: was out there threw it to me. So uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know it so well. Moving forward, now, we
Speaker 1: talked a lot about lifetime goals in one mouth, but
Speaker 1: in terms of this year, you're the eleventh practice squad player.
Speaker 1: You have an exemption because of the International Pathway program.
Speaker 1: What is your goal now as as terms of as
Speaker 1: far as growth goes as an NFL player taking this
Speaker 1: year on the practice squad and trying to improve your
Speaker 1: game throughout this year before next spring and training camp
Speaker 1: and so on. Yeah, just the you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to experience the whole season. Um, you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: got a home games and stuff, and we'll watch all
Speaker 1: the games and just experience what it's like throughout the week.
Speaker 1: Taking the house serious it is because it's a real
Speaker 1: games on a preseason aim and um, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: get better at everything I've have to do. Um, and
Speaker 1: just I'm just trying to kind of be on my feet.
Speaker 1: I'm looking too far into the future at what i
Speaker 1: want to do. But you know, I'm just I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to be here, very grateful her Jets gave me
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be on the practice squad, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just here for to support the boys and help
Speaker 1: them out wherever I can on the on the field.
Speaker 1: For that scap. How long have you and Natalia have
Speaker 1: been together? You just got married in April, and um,
Speaker 1: what if she meant to you throughout your life? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've actually been together since high school, so it's high school,
Speaker 1: sweet artists. She's pretty much been my rock. She's been
Speaker 1: there through everything I've done from whether I was in
Speaker 1: under twenties and through when I started playing first grade,
Speaker 1: she was always there to support me and um, and
Speaker 1: now she's over here on the other side of the world.
Speaker 1: She left their family and we have a little dog
Speaker 1: and she was really sad to leave leave Leo. So
Speaker 1: you know, she left her left everyone for me and
Speaker 1: to obviously be here with me, and um. You know
Speaker 1: she does things like that which you know really helps
Speaker 1: me out and everything I'm doing. And um, yeah, she's
Speaker 1: pretty much you know, I've been the one that's kind
Speaker 1: of been pushing me. Where did you guys go on
Speaker 1: your honeymoon before you came to New York. We actually
Speaker 1: haven't done a honeymoon as well. When I got married
Speaker 1: was two days later I came into Chinese So then,
Speaker 1: where would you like to honeymoon? We've been talking about
Speaker 1: going to the Maldaes. Um. Yeah, that's some that we've
Speaker 1: both wanted to do it for a while, but we
Speaker 1: don't know. It's quite expensive, but try to figure that
Speaker 1: out in the off season. I just want to do
Speaker 1: you have anything else? I have one final question if
Speaker 1: you go for all right, this is this is kind
Speaker 1: of random question. So I've been in too Australia a
Speaker 1: couple of times, and a lot of Australians have pretty
Speaker 1: good American accents. Do you have a good American accent?
Speaker 1: I don't had a good accent, but I've picked up
Speaker 1: a few, you know, words that the boys to be saying.
Speaker 1: And it's only like a little okay, like what, um,
Speaker 1: you know some of the boys say finner. I know
Speaker 1: what that means. And and it's uh, you know, always
Speaker 1: hearing on movies or songs or some of that. So
Speaker 1: it's that's pretty cool. He put me on spot. Um,
Speaker 1: you take your time. Yeah, I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: I used to live with the guy J J. Jones
Speaker 1: in the in Spring and he's from Missisiubi down south,
Speaker 1: so whenever he told I'd barely understand what he was saying.
Speaker 1: But um, you'd say something some crazy stuff that you
Speaker 1: know'd be you'd just see it in movies, because obviously
Speaker 1: we will watch you know, American movies. It's quite cool
Speaker 1: to kind of be around and all that. But maybe
Speaker 1: if you get me on I might be able to alright,
Speaker 1: well that next time I see in the locker room,
Speaker 1: you can who's your favorite actor you're talking about? Movies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: go bas Denzel Denzel Son, Um, I want to know.
Speaker 1: I wanted to know if you were going to Crow there,
Speaker 1: Russell Crow. I've only seen a few of his movies. Okay,
Speaker 1: watch too much of him? Yeah you know someone else?
Speaker 1: Uh Liam Neeson, you can't go wrong. Yeah, all right, Val,
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. You did a great job as the
Speaker 1: first guest on the Official Jets Podcast. What do you
Speaker 1: think about New York? By the way I did it?
Speaker 1: I want to ask one Jets drive. Tremendous job by
Speaker 1: a production crew and yourself as far as your appearance
Speaker 1: on it. But are you gonna make stops throughout the
Speaker 1: year in the city at a couple of these Rugby
Speaker 1: league places where your fans gather and watch some games. Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I wouldn't mind it if if time permits,
Speaker 1: If if time permits you, if I have a day
Speaker 1: off or whatever, I can get in there. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's like an hour tray and rode from from Madison's.
Speaker 1: Uh I from from up for it or whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it'd be it'd be cool to you want to sit
Speaker 1: down there, you know, watch for you con fans buy
Speaker 1: your pints so they gotta wait until the point. That's
Speaker 1: a big that's a big drink. Can I buy you
Speaker 1: and I buy you a drink about that? I mean,
Speaker 1: if if I'm allowed to you. Yeah? All right, Well,
Speaker 1: val appreciate the time and best of luck this season.
Speaker 1: Thanks Gus, Thanks having Okay, so how about Valentine talking
Speaker 1: about casually running. Yeah, that's ridiculous. You run every day? No, no,
Speaker 1: but I casually ran a half marathon a few years
Speaker 1: back and my legs felt like cement afterwards. But that
Speaker 1: just speaks to this kind of shape of professional athlete.
Speaker 1: Is okay? I was because I was gonna ask you
Speaker 1: frequently run with your dog? But could you imagine just
Speaker 1: getting up? And obviously he didn't just wake up and
Speaker 1: decide he's gonna run. He's played in rugby league, so
Speaker 1: the conditioning was there, But to me, that's still crazy.
Speaker 1: List His wife is obviously very driven. Anybody who's run
Speaker 1: multiple marathons in their time, that speaks to their mindset.
Speaker 1: So that's a great pair. And when your wife's running
Speaker 1: a marathon, I gotta imagine you're saying yourself, I gotta finish. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and I will say that I thought it was
Speaker 1: I wonder how quickly Vow's wife would have completed the
Speaker 1: marathon and had Val not been there, because he did.
Speaker 1: I mean, based on what Val was saying, she's quite
Speaker 1: the runner. He didn't really jump on that, But I
Speaker 1: do want to bucket list from him at some point
Speaker 1: because again, rugby league star runs the New York City Marathon.
Speaker 1: How he's a member of the New York Jets. It's
Speaker 1: a hell of a line. Yeah, I feel like I'd
Speaker 1: like to accomplish something of similar magnitude for just one
Speaker 1: of those things, not let alone three before the age
Speaker 1: of Yeah. And I know, I feel bad for some
Speaker 1: folks over there because if you're a fan of the Sharks,
Speaker 1: my friend, my my friend true story, I didn't say
Speaker 1: this to him, but my friend as a fan of
Speaker 1: the Sharks, and when Val signed here, he texted me
Speaker 1: immediately and was like, you gotta watch out for this guy.
Speaker 1: Da da da da da, He's part of my favorite team.
Speaker 1: Because you know, let's bring Michael Jordan back into the
Speaker 1: conversation by saying, you know, he talked to compare. He
Speaker 1: took some time off after his father's tragic death, and
Speaker 1: then he went to minor league baseball So if you're
Speaker 1: a Bulls fan, you love Jordan's come back to the balls,
Speaker 1: which he ultimately did it. I think that's a to me.
Speaker 1: The first thing that stuck out in my mind to
Speaker 1: try to compare I didn't do it was Andrew Luck
Speaker 1: somehow compare that situation of Valentine's. It's completely different. But
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, that's a very good example. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought that up, and again, please leave us a review.
Speaker 1: The Official Jets Podcast is back for two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: better than ever. You got questions, will answer. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have awesome, no doubt, no doubt. Stay tuned Lee this review,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, Spotify, SoundCloud, wherever you want to find a podcast,
Speaker 1: find us and we'll see you next week.