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Speaker 1: Now we've been talking a lot about rugby league this morning,

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Speaker 1: following on from the news that the Paramatta Eels their

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Speaker 1: partnership is ending with the Northern Territory after twelve years.

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Speaker 1: But one partnership that we know is continuing on and

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Speaker 1: it's going to be an exciting twenty twenty five season,

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Speaker 1: is that with the Gold Coast Suns and the Melbourne

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Speaker 1: Football Club set to play three high profile matches here

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Speaker 1: in Darwin and indeed in Alice Springs. Now the timing

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Speaker 1: of the Darwin games also coincides with Base in the Grass.

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Speaker 1: It's going to mean that footy fans have got another

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Speaker 1: reason to come to the top end. And joining me

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Speaker 1: in the studio to tell us a little bit more

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Speaker 1: is afl NT chair Sean Bowden. Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning Cody. It's good to be here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you in the studio. Now talk

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Speaker 1: me through the games and when they're going to be

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Speaker 1: happening with the Suns.

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Speaker 3: All right, So the first game we've got, of course,

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Speaker 3: as you just said, they've got the Suns again, which

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Speaker 3: is terrific. Their Too Stadium has been referred to as

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Speaker 3: their fortress. So they're coming back to the fidd and

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Speaker 3: I haven't been beaten in six consecutive games, so that's

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Speaker 3: been good for them and good good for us, and

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Speaker 3: I think the AFL have been really thoughtful in how

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Speaker 3: they've put the drawer together.

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Speaker 2: It'll be the Suns versus the Bulldogs on the tenth

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Speaker 2: of May.

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Speaker 3: So Bulldogs finals team this year on the up, you

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Speaker 3: know Luky Beverage coaching and they're a really strong team

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Speaker 3: with support in in Darwin from their past relationships with

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Speaker 3: us up here.

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Speaker 2: So we've got the Sons and the Dogs.

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Speaker 3: Then we've got the Sons and the Hawks on the

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Speaker 3: fifteenth and major start Indigenous rounds so Doug Nichols Round.

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Speaker 3: And the Hawks are really up and about and their

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Speaker 3: team and their energy is fantastic.

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Speaker 2: So that's going to be a really big game.

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Speaker 3: I think that'll mirror the Sun's Geelong going from last year,

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Speaker 3: which was a ripper.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it went off.

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Speaker 1: People absolutely love it.

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Speaker 3: They yeah, no, it's good, it's good. The crowds, crowds

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Speaker 3: are strong, the energy is good. We've got that link

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Speaker 3: with base and the grasses. We've worked really hard with

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Speaker 3: major events and shout out to them. They've been fantastic

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Speaker 3: in supporting us. She's an a bishop previously, and now

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Speaker 3: Trevor Cox is acting in the chair there and he's

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Speaker 3: got a son playing for Warratah, so he's invested. But

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Speaker 3: they're really professional at major events and they're doing a

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Speaker 3: great job. And we've got this really nice link with

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Speaker 3: Base in the Grass that produced some real dividends last year.

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Speaker 3: The numbers are really strong about people who came for

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Speaker 3: the foot and then stayed on for Base.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so stayed for an extra few days or

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Speaker 1: whatever to go and be.

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Speaker 2: Part of that too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's some of the data says that people came

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Speaker 3: for the North game can't stayed for the Cats game

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Speaker 3: and then went to base as well. So that's good

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Speaker 3: for the territory and it's something to think about as

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Speaker 3: we think about Alice Springs as well, where the Demons

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Speaker 3: play the Saints, and that's another strong game and that

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Speaker 3: you might recall people recall that Gil McCadam out of

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs Saints player. Yeah, yep, Russell Jeffrey was a

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Speaker 3: Saints player, and we're hoping Nikki Windmar might come along

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Speaker 3: to that game. Another Saints player into the heart of

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Speaker 3: the nation in Alice Springs and it's good to think

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Speaker 3: about maybe how we might use that game to create

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Speaker 3: that second week or the week before and just give

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs a bit of a bit of shot in

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Speaker 3: the arm, a bit of a boost on it. It's

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Speaker 3: a great town, it's a great footy town, and people

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Speaker 3: get around the footy.

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Speaker 2: And when we have the footy events, they're just terrific.

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Speaker 2: So we love it.

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Speaker 3: They love it, and the hotels are full, and the

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Speaker 3: restaurants are full, and the communities are just just jumping

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Speaker 3: out of their skin.

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Speaker 2: So you know, that's something where we're.

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Speaker 3: Going to work on in the lead up to the

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Speaker 3: first of June in Alice Springs. And the more we

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Speaker 3: can do they're the better, I think, Cody, Well and.

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Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong, But you're a you grew

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Speaker 1: up or you lived in Alice Springs for quite some time.

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Speaker 1: I mean I grew up in littletown of Mount iSER,

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Speaker 1: and you know that when when a big game, like

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Speaker 1: a football game comes to a town, you know, a

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Speaker 1: small regional town, it does so much in terms of

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Speaker 1: really boosting that town up and getting everybody out and

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Speaker 1: about and people really going and supporting the.

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Speaker 3: Footy and for the young boys and girls, and the

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Speaker 3: women's participate, as we know, is just really really strong

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Speaker 3: in the church bit for both of them. You can't

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Speaker 3: be what you can't see. And bringing these teams and

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Speaker 3: these players and the support staff so that the people

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Speaker 3: of Alice Springs and the people of Darwin, the people

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Speaker 3: of territory can see what it takes and what it

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Speaker 3: is I think is really important and you get that

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Speaker 3: energy around it as a young person. I remember, I mean,

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Speaker 3: we're in Alice Springs and a few my brothers and myself,

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Speaker 3: we're fortunate to be in the footy world.

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Speaker 2: It was just terrific.

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Speaker 3: We didn't get AFL games back then, but we got some,

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Speaker 3: we got some special games. Essendon came and played the

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Speaker 3: Aboriginal All Stars, and Richmond came and played practice matches

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Speaker 3: and these sort of things.

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Speaker 2: So that was terrific.

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Speaker 3: And you know that these are memories that I hold

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Speaker 3: that and I'm sure other people who of my generation

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Speaker 3: do that. Just keep you going and keep your loving

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Speaker 3: football and keep you loving the community.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I've really noticed, like with the

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Speaker 1: partnership with the Sons for example, and again you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm certainly not an AFL expert. But one of the

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Speaker 1: things that I've noticed is that since we I've had

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Speaker 1: that partnership there does seem to be a lot of

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Speaker 1: young territory and sort of going up through the ranks

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Speaker 1: right with the Sons, both in the men's and women's league.

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Speaker 2: Correct, is that something.

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Speaker 1: That you know that you've really sort of tried to

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Speaker 1: forge with the partnership with the Suns.

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Speaker 3: We have and it's a really important pathway. We have

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Speaker 3: to keep working on our pathways so that we can

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Speaker 3: get the talent that is in the territory.

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Speaker 2: There's three standouts. We've got Taddy Anna.

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Speaker 3: Perry and the women's I think she's a good chance

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Speaker 3: to go on Wayland Davy and Ricky Ment the two

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Speaker 3: young men. Ricky's out of Alice Springs, so there's opportunities

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Speaker 3: there for them. We'll see what happens over the next

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Speaker 3: few days. But the Sons have just been terrific. And

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Speaker 3: Lloyd Johnson, who came out of Borrow Lawler. You follow

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Speaker 3: his career and see the energy around him after the

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Speaker 3: game last year with his family and the community with him,

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Speaker 3: it's just terrific.

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Speaker 2: Credit to the Suns and we need to hear in

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Speaker 2: the territory.

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Speaker 3: We need to keep believing and keep supporting our young

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Speaker 3: talent and get him on those pathways.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think it's really important to to do, and

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Speaker 1: it does seem as though there are plenty of pathways

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Speaker 1: for Territorians when it comes to when it comes to

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Speaker 1: their footy. Hey, before I let you go, Sean, just

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Speaker 1: a quick one. I know the week before last there

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Speaker 1: was a bit of controversy following the Pride Round and

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Speaker 1: what we saw was the Warretar Football Club, their women's side,

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Speaker 1: lose a sponsor after somebody sort of wasn't I guess

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Speaker 1: overly happy about that Pride Round.

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Speaker 3: When you delved a.

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Speaker 1: Little bit more deeply, it got into some of the

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Speaker 1: concerns that people have got with trans people maybe playing

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Speaker 1: in different grades of footy. What did you make of

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Speaker 1: that whole situation, Because obviously Tars aren't the ones that

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Speaker 1: decide whether they have the Pride Round, but they certainly

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Speaker 1: you want to be part of it and support it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Tars were really strong in their response

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Speaker 3: and really mature and how they responded. And the good

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Speaker 3: news is they've had a replacement sponsor come along, So

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Speaker 3: I mean that's what footy is you lose some sponsors,

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Speaker 3: you gain some sponsors, so it's a melting pot footy,

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Speaker 3: and we've got to set the rules and make sure

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Speaker 3: everyone is safe and it's done properly. We think we're

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Speaker 3: doing that and we're doing it well, and you know,

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Speaker 3: it's great to see the foot he goes on and

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Speaker 3: the tars are going well, and we'll move on from

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Speaker 3: there and keep going into this terrific season.

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Speaker 1: What is the situation with transplayers when it comes to

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Speaker 1: like your Women's Premier League for example, can I ask?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm assuming that there's rules in place.

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Speaker 3: There are rules and guidelines and these are best bought

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Speaker 3: up privately with the league, so if there are issues,

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Speaker 3: that's the way to manage these and the AFL has

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Speaker 3: got a code that they manage and they're very hands

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Speaker 3: on with this from past experiences. So if there are issues,

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Speaker 3: I just encourage people to confidentially call the AFL into

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Speaker 3: and speak to someone there about it and raise the

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Speaker 3: issues and we're always open to having the discussion and

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Speaker 3: explaining that the details of the rules with it that

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Speaker 3: go around these things. And we want a strong, safe,

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Speaker 3: beautiful envine garment for people and that's what we're determined

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Speaker 3: to keep happening.

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Speaker 1: Well, Shawn, we are going to have to leave it.

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Speaker 1: They really appreciate your time. Thank you for coming in

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Speaker 1: this morning, and no doubt we'll talk to you again

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Speaker 1: very soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Catie, thank you. Pleasure