WEBVTT - Nic Naitanui - Ordineroli Speaking

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<v Speaker 1>Ordinarily Speaking, I found be careful who you pretend to be,

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<v Speaker 1>because you might just forget who you really are soon time.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello and welcome to season two of Ordinarily Speaking, a

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<v Speaker 2>podcast that celebrates resilience in sport. It's great to be

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<v Speaker 2>back and I'm so excited for you to hear this episode.

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<v Speaker 2>Today's guest is footballer Nick Natanui. Nick is one of

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<v Speaker 2>Australia's most recognizable sports stars. The West Coast Eagle has

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<v Speaker 2>overcome plenty of adversity across his life to get to

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<v Speaker 2>where he is. In the past six years alone, the

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<v Speaker 2>boy from Fiji lost his beloved mum, played in a

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<v Speaker 2>losing Grand final, did two acls, and then watched from

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<v Speaker 2>the sidelines as his teammates won a premiership. All of

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<v Speaker 2>it drives him every day. I'm really excited for you

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<v Speaker 2>to hear this episode because this is Nick exactly as

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<v Speaker 2>I've come to know and love him. A storyteller at times,

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<v Speaker 2>a bit of a contradiction, but most of all, a

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<v Speaker 2>genuine and generous human being who is a product of

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<v Speaker 2>his mother's hard work and big heart. He has always

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<v Speaker 2>held on to his sense of humor and love of culture,

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<v Speaker 2>and that really comes through in this chat. I hope

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<v Speaker 2>you enjoy listening to this app as much as I

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<v Speaker 2>enjoyed recording it. Don't forget if you like the podcast,

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<v Speaker 2>hit subscribe, follow at ordinarily Underscore speaking on Instagram, and

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<v Speaker 2>tell your mates, well, Nick, thanks very much for spending

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<v Speaker 2>some time with me. You're laughing already, so this should

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<v Speaker 2>be a little bit of fun in honor of not

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<v Speaker 2>being able to travel at the moment. I know you

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<v Speaker 2>love traveling and you've seen some amazing little corners of

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<v Speaker 2>the world. It also is a great opportunity to get

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<v Speaker 2>outside your comfort zone. I wanted to ask you about

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<v Speaker 2>a couple of times that you've been traveling and fair

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<v Speaker 2>to say you've been outside your comfort zone. Starting with

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<v Speaker 2>a story you told me recently about the time you

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<v Speaker 2>went with West Coast to Cambodia and forced to share

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<v Speaker 2>a room with the head coach, John Worsfold in interesting circumstances.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah that was Oh thanks for having me to start with,

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<v Speaker 1>but yeah, that was some interesting time. So our team

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<v Speaker 1>goes across there. The first to third year players go

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<v Speaker 1>across to Cambodia and it helps out some of the

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<v Speaker 1>orphanages and build houses and learn a bit about their

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<v Speaker 1>pass and their history in Cambodia, And yeah, I stated

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<v Speaker 1>at orphanage with a number of my teammates and a

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<v Speaker 1>few coaches, and yeah, I was lucky enough to bunk

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<v Speaker 1>with John Warsfold. And yeah, I had an orphanage in

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<v Speaker 1>the middle of Cambodia, and it was not the greatest

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<v Speaker 1>place to sleep. I remember a rat running across me,

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<v Speaker 1>but I think I told you that, but it was. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I couldn't react to it because you know, the head

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<v Speaker 1>coach that anyone looks soft in front of.

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<v Speaker 2>Him, so you were literally sharing bunk beds with him.

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<v Speaker 1>I was sharing a bunk bed. Yeah, I was at

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<v Speaker 1>the top, he was down the bottom, and just rat

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<v Speaker 1>ran across and I wanted to squeal because I hate rodents.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm scared of mice, like I hate things like I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know why I hate those things, Like I can

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<v Speaker 1>deal with deal with snakes, deal with spiders, but mice

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<v Speaker 1>and rats, I just hate. So to see one of

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<v Speaker 1>those big things, which is look like a cat, it

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<v Speaker 1>was that big run across. I had to deal with it, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and I had to suck it up, but I was scared.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't sleep one night, But yeah, everyone was winging

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<v Speaker 1>about the beds and you know, the sheets and whatnot.

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<v Speaker 1>But I didn't care about that. I was more worried

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<v Speaker 1>about what was going to run into my mouth when

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<v Speaker 1>I was asleep.

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<v Speaker 2>And you're a bit worried about looking a little weak

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<v Speaker 2>in front of the head coach as a youngster.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was, what was I nineteen or so? So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't want to look, you know, intimidated by a

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<v Speaker 1>little small mouse. So no, I'm gonna lie it was

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<v Speaker 1>a big cat, look like a dog. But yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>didn't want to look sof so I just suck it up.

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<v Speaker 1>But that was one of the interesting trips and one

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<v Speaker 1>of the interesting places I've slept around the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Still not even close to being the most interesting story

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<v Speaker 2>you've told me about your travels. Tell me about the

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<v Speaker 2>time that you went to the Syrian border.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, that'd be a bit careful with this one. No,

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<v Speaker 1>I like to travel somewhere different, I think for me,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess growing up here in Perth, we've got the

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<v Speaker 1>best coastline, the best beaches, white sandy beaches and ocean.

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<v Speaker 1>So when people think of holiday destinations, they think of,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, going to an amazing island or an amazing

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<v Speaker 1>beach around the world. And for me, I'm the complete opposite.

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<v Speaker 1>Like my family, my village is back home in Fiji

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<v Speaker 1>and we've got white, sandy beaches and great islands and

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<v Speaker 1>same here in Perth. So for me, I try to

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<v Speaker 1>get the complete opposite and somewhere different. And sometimes, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I go to the extreme level when I go to

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<v Speaker 1>places where you probably shouldn't travel or less traveled. And

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<v Speaker 1>I was in Israel. I went to Israel, and while

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<v Speaker 1>I was there, it was fun, but I wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>see the Gaza Strip, so I went there. I wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to see Palestine, so I went across and saw Bethlehem

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<v Speaker 1>and went you know, through Palestine, and then yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>went to the Syrian border, and yeah, it was different.

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<v Speaker 1>Like when you're seeing missiles fly over your head at nighttime,

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<v Speaker 1>or you know, people walking around with you know, machine

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<v Speaker 1>guns like Ak forty seven's in the street, things like that,

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<v Speaker 1>or you see millets and groups running wild with their

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<v Speaker 1>you know, on the back of their Toyta highlaxes. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a big eye opener. It's a different world. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>for me growing up here in Perth, you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>suburb of Midland. Like a lot of people out there,

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<v Speaker 1>I think they're gangsters. Yeah, you know, gangsters like you

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<v Speaker 1>go over there, those guys there are gangsters, like they're

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<v Speaker 1>real thugs, like they you know, they see some stuff

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<v Speaker 1>and they deal with some real last stuff and it

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<v Speaker 1>just I love things that put things into perspective, and

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<v Speaker 1>for me, that was one of the biggest eye open

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<v Speaker 1>It's probably not the safest. I wouldn't recommend anyone going there.

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<v Speaker 1>The club didn't really like me going there, but my

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<v Speaker 1>own man, I'm a free spirit, so I'm free to

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<v Speaker 1>travel where I can when I can.

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<v Speaker 2>So just not at the moment.

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<v Speaker 1>Just not at the moment. Yeah I say that now,

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<v Speaker 1>but yeah, at the time, I thought it was a

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<v Speaker 1>good idea and I'm actually happy that I witnessed it.

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<v Speaker 1>I got back in one piece. All the times, it

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<v Speaker 1>didn't feel like I was going.

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<v Speaker 2>To tell me about that because you were legitimately scared

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<v Speaker 2>at a few moments.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was really scared. I don't like talking about

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<v Speaker 1>it because the club told me not to go, and

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<v Speaker 1>a good friend about as Julie Bishop, she helped me

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<v Speaker 1>get across there with.

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<v Speaker 2>Shod pick up that little name drop there.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, she helped me get across, obviously, having a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of dealings with you know, foreign affairs and the stuff over.

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<v Speaker 2>And a West Coast fan obviously, Yeah, she was.

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<v Speaker 1>The number one ticket holder for a while at West Coast,

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<v Speaker 1>And yeah, she helped me get in contact with a

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<v Speaker 1>few people and put me in the right places. But

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<v Speaker 1>in Israel I was safe. But once I crossed the border,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, especially when you're in Palestinian areas, or

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you're in a place where the bloke driving

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<v Speaker 1>around doesn't speak English, and like I said, there's militant

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<v Speaker 1>groups in certain parts. Yeah, I found myself in some

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<v Speaker 1>sticky situations, like I remember one time I had to

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<v Speaker 1>lay down flat in the car and put a jacket

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<v Speaker 1>over my head because I was in the wrong place

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<v Speaker 1>at the wrong time, and I looked like an American

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<v Speaker 1>but I was you know, I was screaming I'm from Fiji,

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<v Speaker 1>so they didn't know where I was from. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>times like that where you worry and you think something

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<v Speaker 1>really bad is going to happen, or I'm not going

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<v Speaker 1>to see my you know, my friends were family again.

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<v Speaker 2>But and you legitimately thought that in that moment.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I'm happy to say I cried. I cried,

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<v Speaker 1>I lay down and cried. But I'm telling you right now,

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<v Speaker 1>if anyone else is in that situation, it was like

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<v Speaker 1>a movie, you'd be screaming and crying too. So but

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<v Speaker 1>I'm happy, like I'm happy I did it. I'm glad

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<v Speaker 1>I did it, and yeah, I won't do it again.

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<v Speaker 1>I won't do it again. I'm actually happy that I

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<v Speaker 1>got told or I have no option to travel this year.

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<v Speaker 1>I can actually stay home and.

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<v Speaker 2>See Berth just laying down in the back of a car.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the guy. The guy didn't speak any English, so

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<v Speaker 1>he spoke Arabic, and for some reason I understood Arabic

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<v Speaker 1>because I could see it in the fear in his eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>so I could speak fluent Arabic when he's telling me

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<v Speaker 1>to lay down and cover myself up and don't get up.

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<v Speaker 1>I remember because the funniest part was we'll probably ten

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<v Speaker 1>minutes from the border trying to get back, and I

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<v Speaker 1>was so scared that he was like, okay, all clear,

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<v Speaker 1>all clear, we can we can you can sit up now,

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<v Speaker 1>we can go back, and I legit laid flat. I

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<v Speaker 1>was just like I was laying It was so embarrassing.

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<v Speaker 1>But I was laying flat and still talking to him

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<v Speaker 1>as he drove and sat up upright because there was

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<v Speaker 1>no way I was sitting up and risking it. So

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<v Speaker 1>I was like, you know what, mate, No, I'm all good.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll lay down flat, yeah, and I'll talk to you.

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<v Speaker 1>But there's no chance. I almost died back there. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>not getting up. But yeah, it was an experience. It

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<v Speaker 1>was an experience.

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<v Speaker 2>The last travel one I wanted to bring up USA.

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<v Speaker 2>New Year's some pretty illustrious company. Who are you hanging

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<v Speaker 2>out with? And is it true that you lost your

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<v Speaker 2>passport and it showed up in a certain reality TV

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<v Speaker 2>stars house a little while later?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, no, that's a lot. I was over there, tin

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<v Speaker 1>was Actually no, I wasn't. I I was training, but

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<v Speaker 1>we did have New Years. Yeah, I did lose my passport,

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<v Speaker 1>so I forgot my driver's license, so I had to

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<v Speaker 1>use my passports Idea around the place. And I don't know, No,

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<v Speaker 1>that's a lie. This is this is where my humility

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<v Speaker 1>has to come into it, because I got humbled real quick.

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<v Speaker 1>Because in Perth, the way it works, I go out,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't have to carry Idea around. I could just

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<v Speaker 1>get him in my head. In my head, I thought,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm who I am nicknamed. I can go around and

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<v Speaker 1>do what I want. So I try to. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>try to rock up and where's your idea, sir? And

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<v Speaker 1>there's no you know, you say you play football? Like what? Who? Like? Where? Like? Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>So I had to actually get a cab and go

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<v Speaker 1>and get my passport. So that's probably why I lost it,

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<v Speaker 1>because I'm not used to carrying something like that around.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, news E was a good experience.

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<v Speaker 2>Who are you hanging out with?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't like, Yeah, some some big people. Yeah, No,

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<v Speaker 1>it's some basketballers and some musicians and whatnot.

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<v Speaker 2>Ben Simmons and a few others.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So with Ben, and he was dating one of

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<v Speaker 1>the Kardashians at the time, So one of the jeners,

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<v Speaker 1>so Ye had hooked us up, and you know, we

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<v Speaker 1>caught up a few times beforehand, and we got invited

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<v Speaker 1>to Drake had a New Year's e party at his

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<v Speaker 1>club in LA in Beverly Hills, and yeah, I was

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<v Speaker 1>there with them. And it was funny because I had

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<v Speaker 1>my little strength and conditioning coach, Jordan. He came across

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<v Speaker 1>with me and trained for two weeks and he doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>know a thing about Hollywood isn't watched. I don't think

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<v Speaker 1>he watches TV. So he was in there with Lebron,

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<v Speaker 1>like he did the Countdown with Lebron and Chris Brown

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<v Speaker 1>and you know nas, all these guys are in there.

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<v Speaker 1>And I remember he went up to this big this

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<v Speaker 1>big dude with a leather jacket on and he goes, so, hey, mate,

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<v Speaker 1>what do you do for crust? And this American guy,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, had twenty gold chains and all the rings

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<v Speaker 1>and stuff. He was like, who there is this dude?

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<v Speaker 1>What's what's his goal? What's his deal? And I was like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm so sorry, Like it doesn't mean it. He's not

0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.840
<v Speaker 1>being rude. And he's like, what do you mean mate?

0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:58.000
<v Speaker 1>What do you What do you do for a crust?

0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:59.400
<v Speaker 1>And he goes, what does across me me? And he

0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.000
<v Speaker 1>goes what do you did for a job? And he's

0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.000
<v Speaker 1>like you're in my VP section And I was like, man,

0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.120
<v Speaker 1>Jordy walk away and he goes why. I said, man,

0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.360
<v Speaker 1>that guy's P Diddy, Like you're asking P Diddy in

0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.080
<v Speaker 1>his little private area what he does for a job. Like, man,

0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.760
<v Speaker 1>you're embarrassing me. But I think low key they loved it.

0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.280
<v Speaker 1>Because no one knew well he didn't know who they were.

0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.080
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, man, like it was. It was different, It

0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.199
<v Speaker 1>was different, but yeah, memorable, memorable New Years e that

0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:24.840
<v Speaker 1>I won't forget.

0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:26.200
<v Speaker 2>Where did your passport show up?

0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.680
<v Speaker 1>I don't known. It was at someone's outside the house

0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:37.240
<v Speaker 1>party afterwards. So Scott Scotty, Yeah, Scott six Scott. Yeah,

0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.400
<v Speaker 1>I don't know how he got it, but yeah, it's

0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:45.160
<v Speaker 1>funny because we sat. I spent New Year's Day at

0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.600
<v Speaker 1>the Australian Immigration in La downtown La trying to get

0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.560
<v Speaker 1>a whole new, brand new passport. But that was a

0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.440
<v Speaker 1>process and then yeah, finally got it back. So fun times,

0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.800
<v Speaker 1>fun times. But yeah, those are all past memories now

0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.640
<v Speaker 1>stuck here in Perth. Yeah, what do I do near you?

0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:05.400
<v Speaker 1>I spent New Years on the Swan River with a

0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.120
<v Speaker 1>couple of my schoolmates, so just as good.

0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.600
<v Speaker 2>Who'd be the most impressive person in your little black

0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:11.600
<v Speaker 2>book of contacts?

0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:18.040
<v Speaker 1>Ah don't know, don't know, no idea, No, I don't know.

0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.319
<v Speaker 1>It's probably hard to pick. Probably hard to pick. Nah.

0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.400
<v Speaker 1>One of my teammates, I don't know, Luke Shoey, I

0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:29.480
<v Speaker 1>don't know. Yeah, they seem to look after me. Yeah,

0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:30.600
<v Speaker 1>but they fun times.

0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.400
<v Speaker 2>I love it. One of the stories that stands out

0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:35.240
<v Speaker 2>to me, and I'll get into the serious stuff soon,

0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.080
<v Speaker 2>but one of the stories that I always bring up

0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.400
<v Speaker 2>around you. We've obviously known each other for many, many

0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.520
<v Speaker 2>years now, ever since you retouted as potential number one

0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.680
<v Speaker 2>draft pickers as a teenager. But I remember being in

0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.640
<v Speaker 2>Melbourne working on the footy and you, I think, sent

0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.720
<v Speaker 2>me a DM on Twitter and said promo shoots are

0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.400
<v Speaker 2>coming up. I've forgotten my jumper, my West Coast jumper.

0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.400
<v Speaker 2>Where's an AFL store that I can Yeah.

0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.400
<v Speaker 1>That was Bush's fault. Usha put me on the pump.

0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.560
<v Speaker 1>They didn't pack my guernsey for me, and yeah, I

0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.520
<v Speaker 1>didn't know. I didn't know anyone in Melbourne. And I

0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.520
<v Speaker 1>hit my manager up, Paul Connors, if you're listening, and

0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.240
<v Speaker 1>he was no help. And I thought, who's a West

0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.560
<v Speaker 1>Australian who followed his West Coast. You didn't obviously follow

0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:18.360
<v Speaker 1>West Coast, you were free supporters. He didn't help me,

0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.920
<v Speaker 1>but I just need the jumper, and I clearly figured

0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.880
<v Speaker 1>I just because I guess going up on Perth, you

0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.360
<v Speaker 1>realize you think West Coast is or three are the

0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.320
<v Speaker 1>two biggest things in Australia, Like you don't just think wa.

0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.320
<v Speaker 1>So to go there and realize that there's no AFL

0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.480
<v Speaker 1>store selling West Coast was was a bit of a

0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.000
<v Speaker 1>shock to me. I don't know. I was like, sure,

0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:38.720
<v Speaker 1>they can just walk into a you know, a sports

0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.240
<v Speaker 1>store and buy one.

0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:44.000
<v Speaker 2>But I just love find I love the fact that

0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.880
<v Speaker 2>you were willing to walk into an AFL store and go,

0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:48.560
<v Speaker 2>can I please I have a number nine.

0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.600
<v Speaker 1>Jump. I don't worry, I've done it many times before. Yeah,

0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:55.240
<v Speaker 1>I didn't think of it like that. I was still young.

0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.280
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I didn't know how the AFL system worked.

0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.160
<v Speaker 1>I just needed the jumper. I used to work in

0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.600
<v Speaker 1>the sports store, so I just thought it was a

0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.199
<v Speaker 1>thing to do. I was desperate, didn't desperate.

0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.400
<v Speaker 2>Didn't know that a few years now the track you'd

0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.400
<v Speaker 2>be spending New Years with Lebron James and the Kardashians.

0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.120
<v Speaker 2>Times have changed good now. This podcast is about resilience

0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.640
<v Speaker 2>and celebrating resilience, and your whole life really is a

0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.480
<v Speaker 2>picture of resilience and overcoming plenty of adversity. But the

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.320
<v Speaker 2>last five or six years in particular have been so

0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.880
<v Speaker 2>I want to go back to what made your parents

0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.280
<v Speaker 2>move from Fiji in the first place.

0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.600
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I think most like most Fijian families or most

0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.240
<v Speaker 1>on the families, it's a better opportunity. Like life on

0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.600
<v Speaker 1>the islands pretty good and everyone's pretty happy and comfortable

0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.160
<v Speaker 1>with what they do. But I guess those who seek

0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:51.200
<v Speaker 1>more or want more for their children try and get overseas.

0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.040
<v Speaker 1>So the two destinations for the three destinations for Fijians

0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:01.280
<v Speaker 1>either America or New Zealand or Australia. So New Zealand's

0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.680
<v Speaker 1>got a heavy population in Fijians and so does Australia.

0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.440
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, for them, it was more better opportunity for

0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.880
<v Speaker 1>us and you know, finding finding ways that you know,

0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.680
<v Speaker 1>we can do better at school and you know, live

0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.400
<v Speaker 1>a better life. I still feel the lifestyle on Fiji

0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.360
<v Speaker 1>is a lot nicer, like it's pretty carefree and everyone's

0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.000
<v Speaker 1>got so little, but they're so happy, which I still

0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.520
<v Speaker 1>enjoy getting bits and pieces of that every now and then.

0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.840
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I'm grateful we're here though, because I've been

0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 1>able to set myself up and set a lot of

0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.240
<v Speaker 1>my family up as well with the things I've been

0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.600
<v Speaker 1>able to achieve by going to a good school and

0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:37.480
<v Speaker 1>getting a good education.

0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.600
<v Speaker 2>What did your parents give up to come here and

0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.680
<v Speaker 2>how tough was that for them to get started?

0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.560
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's pretty tough, I think the family aspect of things.

0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.120
<v Speaker 1>And it took me years to understand that. Like I

0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.120
<v Speaker 1>just thought it'd be a simple move and you know,

0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.520
<v Speaker 1>get going, but coming across with just the clothes in

0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:58.360
<v Speaker 1>your back, like, no support, no no money, Like I guess,

0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.320
<v Speaker 1>you know, you're not in titled to you know, social

0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:04.360
<v Speaker 1>benefits and things like that. So for me, I didn't

0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:05.920
<v Speaker 1>really understand it until a couple of years ago. My

0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:07.920
<v Speaker 1>sister who was living in Fiji, she just moved back

0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:12.160
<v Speaker 1>here with her children and realizing that they're not entitled

0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:17.640
<v Speaker 1>to medicare or centering things like that to help subsidize

0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.480
<v Speaker 1>certain things. Just how hard it probably would have been

0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.280
<v Speaker 1>on my family back then. I sort of knew, like

0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.920
<v Speaker 1>I knew, but I didn't really know, you know, to

0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:30.760
<v Speaker 1>what extent that they were facing hardships at you know,

0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.880
<v Speaker 1>especially feeding you know, growing little humans all the time.

0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:37.440
<v Speaker 1>It would have been pretty hard work. So I think

0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:38.920
<v Speaker 1>I've got a pretty good grasp on what it would

0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.280
<v Speaker 1>have been like for them back then.

0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:42.720
<v Speaker 2>How many siblings do you have I've got an.

0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.800
<v Speaker 1>Older brother, I've got an older sister, and I've got

0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:45.360
<v Speaker 1>a twin brother.

0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.200
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's four little kids to four.

0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And my older brother and sister stayed back in

0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.440
<v Speaker 1>Fiji for a little bit, and myself and my twin

0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.760
<v Speaker 1>brother were here, but we'd be back and forth with

0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:56.320
<v Speaker 1>the time, So even things like a fair has gone

0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.720
<v Speaker 1>back to Fiji. Like I sometimes think, how did my

0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:00.760
<v Speaker 1>mum afford to pay for us to fly all the

0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.560
<v Speaker 1>way back there and come back all the time. But

0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:05.960
<v Speaker 1>it just shows if you work hard enough, like mum

0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.399
<v Speaker 1>was working pretty hard, shifts going out, you can you know,

0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.240
<v Speaker 1>you can do those sort of things. And I think

0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.320
<v Speaker 1>the importance of actually understood the benefit of taking us

0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.040
<v Speaker 1>back and you know, learning about culture, learning about family,

0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:20.520
<v Speaker 1>And for her it was getting back to family as well.

0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.119
<v Speaker 1>Like I think one thing that we miss here is

0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.919
<v Speaker 1>the community aspect and the family aspect of things. And

0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.280
<v Speaker 1>like I said, my sister's probably been a big eye

0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.920
<v Speaker 1>opener for me because back home, you can just leave

0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.040
<v Speaker 1>your kids with whoever, or you can just run around

0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.560
<v Speaker 1>the street because everyone's in a tight knit village, whereas here,

0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:38.760
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's very rare that you catch up with

0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:40.720
<v Speaker 1>your neighbors. Every single neighbor in your street. You might

0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:42.840
<v Speaker 1>know one or two, but it's rare that you know

0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.240
<v Speaker 1>every single one and you're you're doing everything. You're just

0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.680
<v Speaker 1>walking into their house and making yourself something to eat.

0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.000
<v Speaker 1>If I did that, he could probably get arrested. So yeah,

0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:55.720
<v Speaker 1>So that kind of lack of community or family, it's

0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.560
<v Speaker 1>probably the biggest loss, yeah, and probably the biggest downside

0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.120
<v Speaker 1>to coming here. But the side, I think the benefits

0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.320
<v Speaker 1>have been able to achieve a heap more at school

0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.040
<v Speaker 1>and we did workplace and go further, you know, makes

0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:07.640
<v Speaker 1>up for it all.

0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.120
<v Speaker 2>So you were born in New South Wales and your

0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.840
<v Speaker 2>dad passed away of cancer when you were two too, Yeah,

0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:14.440
<v Speaker 2>when I was two.

0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.159
<v Speaker 1>So then my mum's brother actually moved over afterwards and

0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:18.840
<v Speaker 1>he moved to Perth. He met some guys while he

0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.000
<v Speaker 1>was in Fiji and got a job in Karatha out

0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.880
<v Speaker 1>of all places, and was like, I've got this house

0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.960
<v Speaker 1>in this fabulous area. You're going to help look after

0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.359
<v Speaker 1>my kids while, you know, and stay with us while

0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.919
<v Speaker 1>I'm on the mind, and things like that, And that

0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.440
<v Speaker 1>place happened to be Midvale or Midland, and yeah, that's

0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:41.280
<v Speaker 1>why that became my home, a new home. And yeah,

0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.239
<v Speaker 1>we recited there for you know, most of my childhood life.

0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.960
<v Speaker 1>But we did move to and front places a lot

0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:49.760
<v Speaker 1>going up. Like yeah, like I said, it's hard, especially

0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.399
<v Speaker 1>if you don't have a documentation or you don't have

0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.359
<v Speaker 1>things behind you to help you, you know, even to

0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:56.840
<v Speaker 1>rent a house. Like people know how it is to

0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.200
<v Speaker 1>rent a house now, but to rent a house it

0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.239
<v Speaker 1>came from overseas is having their money things like that.

0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.679
<v Speaker 1>It was. It was tough. We lived in so many

0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:05.159
<v Speaker 1>different hours a going up. I think I can of

0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.119
<v Speaker 1>the other day I was, I reckon up until a

0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.639
<v Speaker 1>year twelve, I probably lived in about fifty sixty houses.

0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.080
<v Speaker 1>Wow really so yeah, I didn't really. We didn't own

0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.359
<v Speaker 1>our first house until I started playing footy. So I

0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.560
<v Speaker 1>remember sitting down with Trevor Nisbert and John Moresort at

0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.720
<v Speaker 1>the time, and that was one of my goals was

0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.680
<v Speaker 1>to buy a house. And they figured out a plan

0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.960
<v Speaker 1>and said, Nick, you want to buy a five hundred

0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.560
<v Speaker 1>thousand dollar house, this is what you need to do, this,

0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.400
<v Speaker 1>this and this says how much you can spend each

0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.320
<v Speaker 1>week with my management as well, and then you can

0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.080
<v Speaker 1>do it and that was a proudest thing of my life.

0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.600
<v Speaker 1>I think, like to buy my first family house like

0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.520
<v Speaker 1>it was. It wasn't the greatest house, but for me,

0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.520
<v Speaker 1>it was like the taj Mahal was the biggest thing ever.

0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.040
<v Speaker 1>I thought it was amazing. So and it was ours,

0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:49.600
<v Speaker 1>like you didn't have to worry about like rent, expect inspections.

0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.159
<v Speaker 1>You have to worry about someone coming to check that

0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.560
<v Speaker 1>your beds clean, things like that, or your bond. You're

0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:55.160
<v Speaker 1>not getting your bond back because you scratch the walls.

0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:59.919
<v Speaker 1>So that was something I lived with my whole childhood.

0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.399
<v Speaker 1>So to have your own house, yeah, it was. But

0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.720
<v Speaker 1>I'm still thankful for being able to go through some

0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.440
<v Speaker 1>of the hard times as well. I don't think it

0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.240
<v Speaker 1>would have I would put me in a good situation

0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.080
<v Speaker 1>when I got the footy if I hadn't had those things.

0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.120
<v Speaker 1>So it made me work harder. It did teach me resilience.

0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.840
<v Speaker 1>It taught me compassion for others. It still teaches me

0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.840
<v Speaker 1>that as well. So I'm very understanding when guys aren't

0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.080
<v Speaker 1>going through the you know, the best of times, or

0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.359
<v Speaker 1>they're not going down the right past. There's always a reason.

0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.240
<v Speaker 1>But my biggest thing Punctuality is big with me as well,

0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:35.199
<v Speaker 1>because I used to you know, my mum never had

0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.040
<v Speaker 1>a license growing up single mother, so I'd always catch

0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:39.959
<v Speaker 1>I used to have the me and my brother used

0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.280
<v Speaker 1>to stick it tate in the hallway, all the bus

0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:44.960
<v Speaker 1>routes for every bus in our area, and then the

0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.040
<v Speaker 1>train times everything so we could get from like I'd

0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.000
<v Speaker 1>have State training and Clermont and then come back and

0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.520
<v Speaker 1>have training and bassading for Swan districts, and then get

0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:54.320
<v Speaker 1>the Midvale for my local training. I'll get the school

0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.080
<v Speaker 1>and then get to the State Library to go and

0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:58.680
<v Speaker 1>do my study. Because we didn't have a printer at home,

0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:00.720
<v Speaker 1>so I'd know how to get back and forth and

0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:02.159
<v Speaker 1>get it all on time to get home and have

0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.280
<v Speaker 1>dinner and then get to school on time the next morning.

0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:06.399
<v Speaker 1>So when I see young guys, my biggest thing was

0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.840
<v Speaker 1>a young guy up late to training. They still eat

0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:10.240
<v Speaker 1>to me, even though I shouldn't let it eat me.

0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:11.480
<v Speaker 1>But it's just one of those things that still do

0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.200
<v Speaker 1>because I'm like you if you're you know, if you

0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:15.960
<v Speaker 1>didn't wake up and you can still drive your car

0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.600
<v Speaker 1>in time, like man, I was catching three trains my

0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.880
<v Speaker 1>first two years at playing West Coast, Like, sure, it's

0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:23.520
<v Speaker 1>not that hard to get right, but sometimes I have

0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.119
<v Speaker 1>to pull myself back and go, you know what, everyone's different.

0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.040
<v Speaker 1>Room excels or it doesn't do well in certain areas,

0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:30.840
<v Speaker 1>so just let it be.

0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:33.760
<v Speaker 2>What was the look on your mom's face when you

0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:34.760
<v Speaker 2>told her about the house?

0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.640
<v Speaker 1>Oh proud. Yeah, it's sick of you know, we're sick

0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.399
<v Speaker 1>of living with other people, like I listed to live

0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:41.920
<v Speaker 1>with cousins and that. Like even when I was when

0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.879
<v Speaker 1>I got drafted, I remember I trained. I remember training

0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:48.560
<v Speaker 1>at West Coast that first week when I got to

0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.080
<v Speaker 1>the club, and yeah, I was still sharing. I was

0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:53.119
<v Speaker 1>sharing a house with one of my mum's friends, this

0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.119
<v Speaker 1>elderly lady like she was she would have been seventy

0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.720
<v Speaker 1>or so, and her family, And yeah I was sharing

0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:00.320
<v Speaker 1>a bedroom, Like I shared a bedroom with my mom

0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:04.080
<v Speaker 1>and my brother when I was year twelve doing my

0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:07.600
<v Speaker 1>TEA exams and then getting drafted as an eighteen year old.

0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.040
<v Speaker 1>So I am yeah, I look back now, I got

0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:12.959
<v Speaker 1>I've got a nice house and stuff like that. But

0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.040
<v Speaker 1>sometimes I feel a bit guilty because I'm like, man,

0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.239
<v Speaker 1>like this one little room like this could fit three

0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:18.840
<v Speaker 1>of us in it.

0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.159
<v Speaker 2>Like it's just got your shoes in it.

0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:22.800
<v Speaker 1>I just got my shoes And now I'm like, man,

0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:24.639
<v Speaker 1>imagine this when I was growing up, Like, man, I

0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:26.320
<v Speaker 1>could have laid here, I could have slept there. Got

0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:27.120
<v Speaker 1>it eaten over.

0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.680
<v Speaker 2>Here, sleeping. You don't sleep on beds, doude.

0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.159
<v Speaker 1>Oh I don't. I don't. It's funny you say that

0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:35.919
<v Speaker 1>because it was really hot on four was it Friday night?

0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:38.120
<v Speaker 1>Just gone? And I slept in the kitchen. I sat

0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:40.840
<v Speaker 1>on the floor because the tiles are real cold. And yeah,

0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:43.080
<v Speaker 1>I'm a weirder like that, but I do have air

0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.000
<v Speaker 1>and I do have a fan. I do own those things.

0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.080
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know something about the tiles are just

0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:48.960
<v Speaker 1>a little bit cooler.

0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:50.720
<v Speaker 2>So when did that start.

0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:53.000
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a Fiji thing. I always people always

0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.480
<v Speaker 1>ask me, but I think I never really noticed it.

0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.119
<v Speaker 1>But when I go to my family's house, it's the

0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.560
<v Speaker 1>same thing. Like if you walk into a Fiji or

0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:01.639
<v Speaker 1>any if you if you know a salmon or a

0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.000
<v Speaker 1>tonguein or even some of the New Zealand guys, like

0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:06.720
<v Speaker 1>you see a couch in their house, they will never

0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.000
<v Speaker 1>sit on it unless you're an Aussie and you're coming around.

0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:11.359
<v Speaker 1>But if it's just them, you'll see the couches just

0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:13.280
<v Speaker 1>for decoration. You just go and sit. You know how

0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.080
<v Speaker 1>those old like Italian or slav families have like the

0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.439
<v Speaker 1>couch with all the plastic over it. They had that

0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:21.600
<v Speaker 1>little land room that it's there. It's nice, but no

0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.160
<v Speaker 1>one touches, No one uses just a little showcasing. That's

0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.359
<v Speaker 1>like my bed in my house and all Fie Jean's

0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:28.760
<v Speaker 1>houses the beds like that, and so is the couches.

0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:30.440
<v Speaker 1>You don't use it. You just go and sleep next

0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:31.840
<v Speaker 1>to it on the floor. You sit on the front

0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:33.919
<v Speaker 1>of the couch on the floor. You never sit on it,

0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.240
<v Speaker 1>so unless you have visitors. So yeah, Christmas time is

0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:39.240
<v Speaker 1>hard because you know my friends will come over and

0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:42.040
<v Speaker 1>that I'm like man like you guys acts act Australian

0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:43.879
<v Speaker 1>for a bit, like using knife and fork because we

0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:45.960
<v Speaker 1>eat with our hands like you know, like don't sit

0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:47.600
<v Speaker 1>on the ground like sit on the table in the

0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:50.480
<v Speaker 1>chairs like. But then after awhile, it's like you know

0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:53.639
<v Speaker 1>what stuff people don't like it. You can't be please everyone,

0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:55.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, but there are certain times we have to

0:23:55.560 --> 0:24:00.480
<v Speaker 1>check yourself and go. We're in Australia, live the old way.

0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:07.160
<v Speaker 2>What was the I guess the hardest, the worst place

0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:07.960
<v Speaker 2>that you lived in.

0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:13.439
<v Speaker 1>The hardest, the worst? Where was I I lived in

0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:15.119
<v Speaker 1>a detention center when I was young, When I was

0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:17.080
<v Speaker 1>real young, when I was at four or five, I

0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:20.640
<v Speaker 1>lived in an attention center in New South Wales. Yeah,

0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:22.359
<v Speaker 1>we didn't really have our documentation and things like that,

0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:24.960
<v Speaker 1>especially when my old man passed away. You know, he

0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:26.919
<v Speaker 1>obviously brought us over and things like that, so we

0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:30.440
<v Speaker 1>didn't have you know, full citizenship and things like that.

0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:32.760
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, we spend a bit of time in there.

0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:35.800
<v Speaker 1>So those kind of things still stick out of me,

0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:37.840
<v Speaker 1>Like I like going to refugee camps and working with

0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:41.960
<v Speaker 1>children from those sort of backgrounds, because yeah, I've been there,

0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:45.119
<v Speaker 1>I've lived through, I've done what they've done. And you know,

0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:48.040
<v Speaker 1>those guys that come through the AFL system of fled war,

0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:49.680
<v Speaker 1>you know, guys like a Leer, a Leer and things

0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:51.760
<v Speaker 1>like that. So that's why those guys. I have a

0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:53.280
<v Speaker 1>lot of time with those guys and some of the

0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.200
<v Speaker 1>kids that come through my academy at the moment they

0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:59.199
<v Speaker 1>come through those those pathways and I'm like, you know,

0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:01.119
<v Speaker 1>you can still achieve even though you've been there or

0:25:01.119 --> 0:25:04.960
<v Speaker 1>you've you've done things like it's you know, it's just

0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:10.000
<v Speaker 1>something that you'll learn from and you know, obviously hopefully

0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:12.399
<v Speaker 1>it inspires you to do better and you know, to

0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:14.960
<v Speaker 1>inspire others as well. So that's probably been the toughest

0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:16.760
<v Speaker 1>place I live. But in saying that, I was pretty young.

0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:19.760
<v Speaker 1>So when you're a kid, you're pretty oblivious to how

0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:21.399
<v Speaker 1>hard it is. You know, you've got food, you've got

0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:24.200
<v Speaker 1>a bed, like it's not that bad. Yeah.

0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:25.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, how long were you there for?

0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:29.200
<v Speaker 1>We spent probably close to six months to a year. Yeah,

0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:35.439
<v Speaker 1>so yeah, not ages, but long enough to remember. Yeah.

0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:37.800
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you must have such an enormous amount of respect

0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:41.120
<v Speaker 2>for your mum. The fact that she lived through that

0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:45.280
<v Speaker 2>with YouTube boys as a single mum. That must like, yeah, the.

0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:47.760
<v Speaker 1>Players of me, Yeah, it does. I think, like when

0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:50.240
<v Speaker 1>things get tough, I'm like, man, for if my mum

0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:52.080
<v Speaker 1>could do it, Like I don't know what wings and

0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:54.080
<v Speaker 1>like I wings about having a walk down the road

0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:56.080
<v Speaker 1>and someone young about nicknat as I get a coffee,

0:25:56.119 --> 0:25:58.840
<v Speaker 1>but I always go, like I always put myself back

0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:01.159
<v Speaker 1>and go. You know, mum went through some tough you know,

0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:03.720
<v Speaker 1>mentally that would have been tough, like you know, some

0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:05.919
<v Speaker 1>of the pride things and some of the embarrassment of

0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.680
<v Speaker 1>having a asked for a hand. Mum never really asked

0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:11.040
<v Speaker 1>for help too often, but would take it when she

0:26:11.080 --> 0:26:13.720
<v Speaker 1>really needed it. But she'd do anything for us like

0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:17.280
<v Speaker 1>us boys, like I think, yeah, I like you said,

0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:19.440
<v Speaker 1>if she could. She was always willing to help others too.

0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:22.680
<v Speaker 1>So my mum worked at a women's refuge with domestic violence,

0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:24.800
<v Speaker 1>but also worked at a homeless shelter for most of

0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:27.600
<v Speaker 1>her life, and she was always helping others. So Christmas

0:26:27.640 --> 0:26:30.880
<v Speaker 1>time at my house was with three or four other families,

0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:34.440
<v Speaker 1>or she was at work with those families. So I've

0:26:34.480 --> 0:26:38.359
<v Speaker 1>always been used to sharing, like I've always what's mine is, yeah,

0:26:38.400 --> 0:26:40.880
<v Speaker 1>what's mine is yours kind of thing. But I didn't

0:26:40.880 --> 0:26:42.800
<v Speaker 1>say I can't. I'll be lying if I said I didn't.

0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:44.840
<v Speaker 1>You know, I didn't like it like I liked it.

0:26:44.880 --> 0:26:46.840
<v Speaker 1>I hated it like I hated having to share my things.

0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:50.600
<v Speaker 2>But you're already a twins, so yeah, no, So.

0:26:50.560 --> 0:26:52.240
<v Speaker 1>This is the worst part. So people dont understand that

0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:55.320
<v Speaker 1>I've got a like I said, my older sister, my

0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:57.960
<v Speaker 1>twin brother, and myself had the same birthday. We were

0:26:57.960 --> 0:26:59.520
<v Speaker 1>all born the same day. It's the worst thing ever.

0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:02.600
<v Speaker 1>It's the worst thing ever because you know, everyone goes, oh,

0:27:02.640 --> 0:27:04.000
<v Speaker 1>it's my birthday. It's not my birthday.

0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:05.320
<v Speaker 2>You even hate the day as well.

0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:09.440
<v Speaker 1>I hate May the fourth, May the fourth, my birthdays

0:27:09.440 --> 0:27:11.040
<v Speaker 1>May the fourth, and I get these I used to

0:27:11.040 --> 0:27:14.200
<v Speaker 1>get these shitty little Star Wars cards every year, May

0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:17.040
<v Speaker 1>the Fourth be with you, and oh yeah, the gag

0:27:17.119 --> 0:27:19.760
<v Speaker 1>just gets older and older, and still to this day

0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:22.920
<v Speaker 1>it happens like you'll get a little notification on Instagram

0:27:23.040 --> 0:27:25.160
<v Speaker 1>or Twitter or something and someone's sending your Darth Vader

0:27:25.359 --> 0:27:27.440
<v Speaker 1>or Luke Skyl. I don't even watch Star Wars. I

0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:29.800
<v Speaker 1>hate Star Wars, so to see that stuff, I'm like,

0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:33.000
<v Speaker 1>I hate birthdays. I'm a birthday greench I'm a Christmas Grench.

0:27:33.160 --> 0:27:35.479
<v Speaker 1>I hate all that stuff because I think, I think

0:27:35.520 --> 0:27:37.399
<v Speaker 1>maybe because I have to share everything, Like you know,

0:27:37.400 --> 0:27:39.199
<v Speaker 1>when your birthday you get this massive cake, but you

0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:41.359
<v Speaker 1>think about it, like I used to sit there on

0:27:41.359 --> 0:27:43.480
<v Speaker 1>birthdays and there used to be singing a song with

0:27:43.560 --> 0:27:46.720
<v Speaker 1>your candle's happy birthday, and everyone just pauses because I

0:27:46.720 --> 0:27:50.639
<v Speaker 1>don't know whose name to say Birthday're like like so

0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:52.879
<v Speaker 1>so so I reckon, it's not funny, don't laugh. So

0:27:52.960 --> 0:27:54.879
<v Speaker 1>my my birthday is a murmur like, it's just a

0:27:54.880 --> 0:27:57.919
<v Speaker 1>little mumble. That's why I reckon, I'm mumble because my

0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:00.440
<v Speaker 1>birthday song every year has been a mumble like because

0:28:00.440 --> 0:28:02.000
<v Speaker 1>everyone sings it and everyone gets to that point where

0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:05.760
<v Speaker 1>they're just happy birthday, dear, because I don't know whose

0:28:05.800 --> 0:28:07.160
<v Speaker 1>name to say Firth out of the three of us.

0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:09.919
<v Speaker 1>So stuff birthdays. Please move on to the next question.

0:28:11.640 --> 0:28:15.680
<v Speaker 1>I was making me angry thinking about it getting old.

0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:21.080
<v Speaker 2>How does having a mom like that shape who you are?

0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:23.520
<v Speaker 2>And because you do give back a lot. I know

0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:25.520
<v Speaker 2>you don't necessarily like talking about it, but you do

0:28:25.640 --> 0:28:27.040
<v Speaker 2>give back a lot and you do a lot of

0:28:27.040 --> 0:28:28.000
<v Speaker 2>really generous things.

0:28:29.359 --> 0:28:31.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that's just probably instilled me now, like

0:28:31.280 --> 0:28:34.199
<v Speaker 1>I kind of feel obliged to do it, but the

0:28:34.200 --> 0:28:35.719
<v Speaker 1>same thing, I'm willing and I want to do it

0:28:36.840 --> 0:28:38.160
<v Speaker 1>just because I know how hard it was. I know

0:28:38.160 --> 0:28:40.600
<v Speaker 1>how hard it was for my family to get through

0:28:40.640 --> 0:28:43.640
<v Speaker 1>certain times and to do certain things, and just that

0:28:43.680 --> 0:28:46.160
<v Speaker 1>little bit of help, Like I remember I couldn't afford

0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:47.880
<v Speaker 1>footy books when I first started playing. And I'll never

0:28:47.960 --> 0:28:50.160
<v Speaker 1>forget one of the guys I played with. His name

0:28:50.160 --> 0:28:51.920
<v Speaker 1>was Cameron Manuel. He's the old man gave me my

0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:54.280
<v Speaker 1>first pair of footyboots because I played my first season

0:28:54.280 --> 0:28:57.000
<v Speaker 1>and a half in just in sneakers, and he gave

0:28:57.040 --> 0:28:58.800
<v Speaker 1>me my first fair of fair of footy boots. And

0:28:59.560 --> 0:29:01.280
<v Speaker 1>you know, I cherished those things like it was a

0:29:01.720 --> 0:29:03.479
<v Speaker 1>you know, like they were a million dollar pair. So

0:29:03.520 --> 0:29:06.520
<v Speaker 1>things like that, like they're little things, and I always

0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:09.440
<v Speaker 1>think that, you know, he probably never realized the impact

0:29:09.440 --> 0:29:11.480
<v Speaker 1>that actually had on me. But for me, I used

0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:13.640
<v Speaker 1>to think, Man, I've got a pair of footybooches. Now,

0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:16.240
<v Speaker 1>now I'm gonna be CHRISTI out like I'm I'm a

0:29:16.280 --> 0:29:17.920
<v Speaker 1>gun now like I was okay before, but now I'm

0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:19.440
<v Speaker 1>really good because I've got a pair of footybriochs. So

0:29:19.920 --> 0:29:22.960
<v Speaker 1>things like that, like I think, I think, unknowingly, if

0:29:23.000 --> 0:29:24.640
<v Speaker 1>you do more of those things, there's gonna be one

0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:27.480
<v Speaker 1>person out there that it really impacts and it helps them,

0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:30.200
<v Speaker 1>you know, pursue their career even more so it just

0:29:30.200 --> 0:29:31.880
<v Speaker 1>just helps them out and it helps their family as well,

0:29:31.880 --> 0:29:33.960
<v Speaker 1>Like it takes that burden off my mum having to

0:29:34.000 --> 0:29:37.520
<v Speaker 1>buy what a footybooks now two hundred bucks? I don't

0:29:37.600 --> 0:29:39.320
<v Speaker 1>have parents afford it, but especially if you've got a

0:29:39.400 --> 0:29:41.440
<v Speaker 1>number of kids, or you're working a number of jobs,

0:29:41.440 --> 0:29:44.160
<v Speaker 1>like to justify buying a pair of footybooths and playing

0:29:44.160 --> 0:29:45.760
<v Speaker 1>footy fees like I had, I had people in my

0:29:45.800 --> 0:29:48.000
<v Speaker 1>area used to pay for myself, Like I had a

0:29:48.000 --> 0:29:50.640
<v Speaker 1>pretty poor community where I grew up, and we had

0:29:50.720 --> 0:29:54.080
<v Speaker 1>this Italian guy, Frank Viccio, used to help pay. I

0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:55.280
<v Speaker 1>don't know if I'm aloud to say this, but he'd

0:29:55.280 --> 0:29:58.000
<v Speaker 1>pay our school fees, pay our footy fees, and you

0:29:58.040 --> 0:29:59.760
<v Speaker 1>just find ways to pay them back over the time,

0:30:00.400 --> 0:30:02.520
<v Speaker 1>because otherwise, I don't reckon I would go to school.

0:30:02.520 --> 0:30:04.040
<v Speaker 1>I don't reckon I would have been playing footy if

0:30:04.040 --> 0:30:06.400
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't for people like that, because you just can't

0:30:06.400 --> 0:30:08.600
<v Speaker 1>afford certain things, Like there was no chance I was

0:30:08.640 --> 0:30:10.840
<v Speaker 1>paying cricket because I couldn't afford gloves, pads, bats and

0:30:10.880 --> 0:30:13.040
<v Speaker 1>all that kind of stuff. There's some stealing them. There's

0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:14.720
<v Speaker 1>no way that I was. There was no way that

0:30:14.760 --> 0:30:17.440
<v Speaker 1>I was playing for that stuff. So cricket was the

0:30:17.560 --> 0:30:19.960
<v Speaker 1>least thing I was interested in because I knew that

0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:21.680
<v Speaker 1>stuff's prizy. Yeah.

0:30:21.880 --> 0:30:24.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Was there any point, at any point in time

0:30:24.520 --> 0:30:27.400
<v Speaker 2>in your childhood that you did sort of veer down

0:30:27.440 --> 0:30:30.680
<v Speaker 2>that path or worry that that could be a way

0:30:30.680 --> 0:30:33.280
<v Speaker 2>of doing things, or did your mom just always keep

0:30:33.280 --> 0:30:34.120
<v Speaker 2>you on the straight and narrow.

0:30:34.400 --> 0:30:38.480
<v Speaker 3>I was pretty nah yeah, oh no, Like I think

0:30:38.600 --> 0:30:40.720
<v Speaker 3>sometimes when you really want something and you need something,

0:30:40.760 --> 0:30:43.200
<v Speaker 3>you sort of justify in your head that taking something

0:30:43.320 --> 0:30:46.680
<v Speaker 3>is taking stealing something is worthwhile.

0:30:46.720 --> 0:30:48.960
<v Speaker 1>So if I needed a pair of footy socks because

0:30:48.960 --> 0:30:52.520
<v Speaker 1>I know I really need it, like my old workplace

0:30:52.560 --> 0:30:55.880
<v Speaker 1>is going to hit this Slayer Guard Sports, they brought

0:30:55.920 --> 0:30:58.240
<v Speaker 1>these like high performance socks. So every sock now has

0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:01.160
<v Speaker 1>these like elasticity in it. And Swan Districts had these

0:31:01.200 --> 0:31:04.040
<v Speaker 1>black socks and everyone had them. They were like fifteen bucks,

0:31:04.040 --> 0:31:05.840
<v Speaker 1>and I was like, man, I don't have fifteen bucks.

0:31:06.120 --> 0:31:08.040
<v Speaker 1>So I used I just take a couple of pairs.

0:31:08.080 --> 0:31:09.800
<v Speaker 1>He's take a couple of pairs and help some of

0:31:09.800 --> 0:31:12.160
<v Speaker 1>my mates out who didn't who couldn't afford fifteen dollars

0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:14.560
<v Speaker 1>socks because I didn't want these old wet cotton socks.

0:31:14.560 --> 0:31:16.880
<v Speaker 1>And when it rained, like you know, like I played

0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:19.160
<v Speaker 1>with guys like Alex Rants and that, and you know,

0:31:19.640 --> 0:31:21.640
<v Speaker 1>rance he had money, wouldn't under saying they had money,

0:31:21.680 --> 0:31:22.800
<v Speaker 1>and he used to have all the gear. He had

0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:24.800
<v Speaker 1>a pair of skins, things like that, and I was like, man,

0:31:25.120 --> 0:31:26.720
<v Speaker 1>I want some of that, and if that's gonna make

0:31:26.760 --> 0:31:28.480
<v Speaker 1>me a better player, I'll find a way to get

0:31:28.520 --> 0:31:31.800
<v Speaker 1>some of that. So either work harder or I just borrow.

0:31:32.240 --> 0:31:37.280
<v Speaker 1>So a few of us boys just borrowed and didn't return.

0:31:37.360 --> 0:31:40.840
<v Speaker 1>But it was, yeah, I don't know, I really did

0:31:40.840 --> 0:31:42.240
<v Speaker 1>it because I knew if I came home and I

0:31:42.240 --> 0:31:44.800
<v Speaker 1>didn't and I was doing things like that, there's gonna

0:31:44.800 --> 0:31:47.440
<v Speaker 1>be consequences. So I was. I was fearful, feul.

0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:49.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, if pinching socks is the worst that you did,

0:31:49.840 --> 0:31:51.560
<v Speaker 2>even if they were fancy socks, I feel like that's

0:31:51.560 --> 0:31:52.040
<v Speaker 2>pretty good.

0:31:52.240 --> 0:31:53.720
<v Speaker 1>I don't care you steal a lot of you steal

0:31:53.760 --> 0:31:56.680
<v Speaker 1>the cars, the same thing, and still stealing. That doesn't

0:31:56.680 --> 0:31:57.200
<v Speaker 1>make her right.

0:31:58.360 --> 0:32:01.840
<v Speaker 2>You've you've since in the book about social inclusion, and

0:32:01.880 --> 0:32:05.440
<v Speaker 2>you've spoken a little bit about growing up in Midland.

0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:08.560
<v Speaker 2>Did you ever feel that as a kid, did you

0:32:08.640 --> 0:32:10.200
<v Speaker 2>feel that you were different?

0:32:12.720 --> 0:32:15.040
<v Speaker 1>That's a stupid question. I'm tall, black and skinny and

0:32:15.080 --> 0:32:17.560
<v Speaker 1>got bloody, crazy curly. Yeah, of course I felt different.

0:32:18.600 --> 0:32:20.240
<v Speaker 1>There was no one else that looked like me around me.

0:32:20.560 --> 0:32:23.120
<v Speaker 1>I was playing this game called football, and there was

0:32:23.120 --> 0:32:24.720
<v Speaker 1>no one I could go, yep, that's me right there.

0:32:24.760 --> 0:32:26.160
<v Speaker 1>There was Derek kick it, that's about it. And he

0:32:26.200 --> 0:32:28.880
<v Speaker 1>wasn't even from my country. It was like, yeah, so

0:32:28.960 --> 0:32:32.600
<v Speaker 1>I didn't feel like anyone was like me. So I

0:32:32.640 --> 0:32:35.120
<v Speaker 1>felt out of place for sure. Every day of the week,

0:32:35.160 --> 0:32:37.800
<v Speaker 1>everywhere I went, Like, you know what, the funny thing is,

0:32:37.840 --> 0:32:39.680
<v Speaker 1>I always I've got a joke with my friends. I'm like, man,

0:32:39.680 --> 0:32:41.840
<v Speaker 1>I'm a token black guy because everywhere you go, Like

0:32:41.880 --> 0:32:44.200
<v Speaker 1>I went swimming down South and duns were yelling up

0:32:44.280 --> 0:32:46.440
<v Speaker 1>last week and I was in the swimming hole and

0:32:46.440 --> 0:32:48.240
<v Speaker 1>I said to one of my mates, I was like, man,

0:32:48.760 --> 0:32:51.720
<v Speaker 1>I'm the only black person here. So like when I

0:32:51.760 --> 0:32:54.080
<v Speaker 1>took him to Fiji, I was like, man, you realize

0:32:54.120 --> 0:32:56.200
<v Speaker 1>you're the only white guy here. And he's like, yeah,

0:32:56.200 --> 0:32:57.920
<v Speaker 1>I feel weird. I'm like, yeah, welcome to my life.

0:32:58.040 --> 0:33:00.240
<v Speaker 1>Me every single day that's me. I feel like odd

0:33:00.280 --> 0:33:03.240
<v Speaker 1>one out And yeah, I think I'm going off track here,

0:33:03.280 --> 0:33:05.600
<v Speaker 1>but I think all the time I felt out of place.

0:33:05.640 --> 0:33:10.440
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I think it's such a multicultural society now

0:33:10.600 --> 0:33:12.840
<v Speaker 1>that you know you walk into a classroom and there's

0:33:12.840 --> 0:33:15.440
<v Speaker 1>such a mixture of children that kids don't really know

0:33:15.480 --> 0:33:18.360
<v Speaker 1>the difference. But for me growing up, like, yeah, I

0:33:18.400 --> 0:33:19.880
<v Speaker 1>was dark, but I wasn't indigenous. I had a lot

0:33:19.880 --> 0:33:21.840
<v Speaker 1>of Indigenous kids, but I wasn't one of them. But

0:33:22.440 --> 0:33:25.760
<v Speaker 1>it did help because, yeah, those guys kind of took

0:33:25.760 --> 0:33:26.640
<v Speaker 1>me under their wing a bit.

0:33:27.360 --> 0:33:29.479
<v Speaker 2>How did it feel it was a kid to be different?

0:33:31.320 --> 0:33:34.720
<v Speaker 1>I didn't really like, yeah, I knew I was different.

0:33:34.760 --> 0:33:37.360
<v Speaker 1>Like my family didn't speak English at home, so you know,

0:33:37.480 --> 0:33:40.200
<v Speaker 1>I found it would speak Fiji at home, so it

0:33:40.240 --> 0:33:43.120
<v Speaker 1>was that was a different thing, Like that was different.

0:33:43.120 --> 0:33:45.720
<v Speaker 1>But I just think you learned, like you just learned

0:33:45.720 --> 0:33:49.400
<v Speaker 1>along the way that you were different and you can

0:33:49.480 --> 0:33:53.320
<v Speaker 1>embrace that. And for me, yeah, culture has always been

0:33:53.360 --> 0:33:54.840
<v Speaker 1>a big thing, I think, going back and forth and

0:33:55.000 --> 0:33:58.200
<v Speaker 1>understanding that it's important and you know, we still went

0:33:58.200 --> 0:34:00.680
<v Speaker 1>through the customs and the traditions at home. You'll practice

0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:03.560
<v Speaker 1>it with the Fijian community here in Perth on a

0:34:03.560 --> 0:34:07.320
<v Speaker 1>weekly basis. So if I didn't feel, you know, at

0:34:07.360 --> 0:34:10.120
<v Speaker 1>place or in my right place at school, I knew

0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:11.680
<v Speaker 1>when I went to these things in the weekend with

0:34:11.680 --> 0:34:14.279
<v Speaker 1>my family that I would. It wasn't until I got

0:34:14.320 --> 0:34:16.880
<v Speaker 1>to the footy field and I'm playing sport that you know,

0:34:16.920 --> 0:34:19.719
<v Speaker 1>you start you know, being subjected to racism and things

0:34:19.760 --> 0:34:21.839
<v Speaker 1>like that that you go, wow, do I really want

0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:24.239
<v Speaker 1>to do this? Do I fit in? It's just for me?

0:34:24.560 --> 0:34:27.239
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they're right, And yeah, those are the only times

0:34:27.280 --> 0:34:29.640
<v Speaker 1>I probably felt unhappy or unsafe with it all.

0:34:29.800 --> 0:34:31.400
<v Speaker 2>Do you remember the first time that happened?

0:34:31.719 --> 0:34:34.680
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, all the time. I remember every single situation. Yeah,

0:34:34.719 --> 0:34:37.799
<v Speaker 1>it probably happened. Oh, I'd say every couple of weeks, like,

0:34:38.560 --> 0:34:40.320
<v Speaker 1>and it wasn't when it was Sometimes it was players

0:34:40.360 --> 0:34:43.120
<v Speaker 1>that I think, but to be parents as well. People

0:34:43.160 --> 0:34:46.719
<v Speaker 1>on the sidelines call you certain things, and yeah, I

0:34:46.800 --> 0:34:50.279
<v Speaker 1>found ways to react. Sometimes I reacted badly. I used

0:34:50.280 --> 0:34:53.120
<v Speaker 1>to get really angry, but then sometimes I just walk away,

0:34:53.160 --> 0:34:56.040
<v Speaker 1>And but I always felt a need to say something

0:34:56.120 --> 0:34:57.799
<v Speaker 1>back to them. Like as much as people want you

0:34:57.800 --> 0:34:59.879
<v Speaker 1>to walk away, I thought, you know, even back then,

0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:02.640
<v Speaker 1>pretty scary when it's you know, fifty year old who's

0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:05.400
<v Speaker 1>saying these things and you're only twelve years of age.

0:35:06.920 --> 0:35:08.440
<v Speaker 1>But you find at a young age, you find the

0:35:08.480 --> 0:35:10.439
<v Speaker 1>ways to bite back and you find ways to protect yourself,

0:35:10.480 --> 0:35:12.759
<v Speaker 1>and I think that's helped me in good stead to

0:35:12.960 --> 0:35:16.239
<v Speaker 1>my adult life as well. So I think speaking up

0:35:16.239 --> 0:35:19.400
<v Speaker 1>on it was helpful. They might not like being confronted,

0:35:19.440 --> 0:35:22.560
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, it definitely played on me because I used

0:35:22.600 --> 0:35:24.040
<v Speaker 1>to think, you know, there was no one else that

0:35:24.160 --> 0:35:27.040
<v Speaker 1>out there looked like me. People would say, you know,

0:35:27.080 --> 0:35:28.799
<v Speaker 1>are you playing the right sport? Are you lost? What

0:35:28.800 --> 0:35:30.279
<v Speaker 1>are you doing? You should be inside the rec center

0:35:30.280 --> 0:35:32.719
<v Speaker 1>playing basketball. That's more old people's type of sport. Things

0:35:32.719 --> 0:35:35.480
<v Speaker 1>like that, and you go, what am I people? What's

0:35:35.520 --> 0:35:38.399
<v Speaker 1>going on? So as a kid it really hurt Now

0:35:38.400 --> 0:35:41.239
<v Speaker 1>I look back and laugh at it. But as a kid,

0:35:41.320 --> 0:35:44.440
<v Speaker 1>you know, you feel like your world's ending. So you know,

0:35:44.480 --> 0:35:46.359
<v Speaker 1>when you fail a test at school or things like that,

0:35:46.760 --> 0:35:49.279
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, man, this is nothing like there mean some

0:35:49.320 --> 0:35:53.200
<v Speaker 1>real life problems out here. But yeah, it didn't didn't

0:35:53.200 --> 0:35:56.160
<v Speaker 1>feel nice. But I don't know. I think the society

0:35:56.160 --> 0:35:58.680
<v Speaker 1>has changed a bit over the years. Even looking at

0:35:59.000 --> 0:36:03.319
<v Speaker 1>you know, happy reacted to Australia Day yesterday. I think

0:36:03.360 --> 0:36:05.600
<v Speaker 1>people have a more whether they agree with what's happening

0:36:05.640 --> 0:36:07.520
<v Speaker 1>or not, they have more of an awareness, which is good,

0:36:07.520 --> 0:36:09.640
<v Speaker 1>which I reckon as a child at school. When I

0:36:09.719 --> 0:36:12.000
<v Speaker 1>was at school, that awareness was sort of there, but

0:36:12.040 --> 0:36:14.239
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't really spoken about. It was just in the

0:36:14.239 --> 0:36:15.000
<v Speaker 1>back burner a bit.

0:36:16.040 --> 0:36:18.160
<v Speaker 2>What does the kids say to a fifty year old

0:36:18.360 --> 0:36:19.600
<v Speaker 2>bloat on the sidelines?

0:36:20.000 --> 0:36:23.520
<v Speaker 1>Can you swear on you? I don't know. No, I

0:36:23.560 --> 0:36:25.319
<v Speaker 1>just told them where to go, like I just yeah

0:36:25.400 --> 0:36:28.840
<v Speaker 1>I would, Yeah, I'd get angry and probably wasn't the

0:36:28.840 --> 0:36:30.680
<v Speaker 1>best way. Like now we do a lot of seminars

0:36:30.680 --> 0:36:32.560
<v Speaker 1>and things on how to receive and give feedback, and

0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:34.719
<v Speaker 1>probably not the right way to do things because it

0:36:34.760 --> 0:36:38.440
<v Speaker 1>wasn't very constructive. But I gave him. I gave him

0:36:38.480 --> 0:36:41.440
<v Speaker 1>some back. I never I never gave racism back to

0:36:41.560 --> 0:36:43.719
<v Speaker 1>racism though I learned that. I think my mum talking

0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:48.000
<v Speaker 1>about was, you know, to take it on board. Obviously

0:36:48.080 --> 0:36:50.400
<v Speaker 1>they've got something that they've got some sort of ignorance

0:36:50.440 --> 0:36:54.080
<v Speaker 1>or they've got something wrong with them. So yeah, I

0:36:54.120 --> 0:36:57.640
<v Speaker 1>never really bit back with racism. I just stood up

0:36:57.640 --> 0:37:00.000
<v Speaker 1>for myself. Really, I think I have another colored kid

0:37:00.080 --> 0:37:03.160
<v Speaker 1>around you probably helped as well, so they were always

0:37:03.200 --> 0:37:03.720
<v Speaker 1>in my corner.

0:37:04.160 --> 0:37:06.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, as a player. Do you still cop it on

0:37:06.520 --> 0:37:07.160
<v Speaker 2>social media?

0:37:07.960 --> 0:37:11.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah all the time. Yeah, yeah all the time. Like

0:37:12.320 --> 0:37:14.120
<v Speaker 1>you think sometimes you think you get to a point

0:37:14.200 --> 0:37:15.480
<v Speaker 1>like I was saying, well, I didn't take my ID

0:37:15.680 --> 0:37:19.640
<v Speaker 1>to the nightclub. You think you're a rock star. Yeah,

0:37:19.680 --> 0:37:21.040
<v Speaker 1>sometimes you get to that point where you think you

0:37:21.080 --> 0:37:24.800
<v Speaker 1>are what's the word you think you're you know, not

0:37:24.880 --> 0:37:26.560
<v Speaker 1>going to be a target, or you're bigger than that.

0:37:26.600 --> 0:37:29.440
<v Speaker 1>You're not. But man, i'd say, especially during the season,

0:37:31.120 --> 0:37:33.160
<v Speaker 1>you know, especially if you push someone over, you do

0:37:33.200 --> 0:37:36.719
<v Speaker 1>something to another person's team that they support, there's always

0:37:36.760 --> 0:37:39.120
<v Speaker 1>someone with an anonymous account, sometimes not even anonymous on

0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:42.120
<v Speaker 1>some people aren't scared at all. And I'll write some

0:37:42.239 --> 0:37:44.680
<v Speaker 1>pretty racist stuff. When I was younger, when I was

0:37:44.800 --> 0:37:46.400
<v Speaker 1>nineteen twenty, I used to screenshot a lot of that

0:37:46.400 --> 0:37:48.360
<v Speaker 1>stuff and keep on to it. And I see a

0:37:48.360 --> 0:37:50.080
<v Speaker 1>lot of guys now repost it and share it and

0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:52.480
<v Speaker 1>things like that. That used to be me, but now

0:37:52.520 --> 0:37:55.120
<v Speaker 1>I just like, I hate giving them a voice. I'm like, man,

0:37:55.160 --> 0:37:56.799
<v Speaker 1>if you're relevant, no one knows who you are, why

0:37:56.840 --> 0:37:59.000
<v Speaker 1>should I give you a voice on my platform? Yeah,

0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:00.960
<v Speaker 1>I'll call you out. I fight back. I used to

0:38:01.040 --> 0:38:03.240
<v Speaker 1>write back to them and have a goal with them,

0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:06.640
<v Speaker 1>but especially if I knew they've lived in Perth though,

0:38:06.880 --> 0:38:08.439
<v Speaker 1>I'd find a way to meet them, Like I'd find

0:38:08.440 --> 0:38:09.200
<v Speaker 1>a way to catch up.

0:38:09.160 --> 0:38:11.440
<v Speaker 2>With them and have you done that?

0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:13.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially when you see someone in nightclub

0:38:14.040 --> 0:38:15.319
<v Speaker 1>or something and you know who they are, you know

0:38:15.360 --> 0:38:19.640
<v Speaker 1>what they've done. I'll let them know. You wouldn't say

0:38:19.640 --> 0:38:21.759
<v Speaker 1>to their face. My biggest thing is some of these guys,

0:38:21.800 --> 0:38:23.600
<v Speaker 1>I don't care if you're a twenty year old man

0:38:23.680 --> 0:38:26.320
<v Speaker 1>or a sixty year old man, like you saw a

0:38:26.360 --> 0:38:27.719
<v Speaker 1>big black guy in public, You're not going to come

0:38:27.800 --> 0:38:29.120
<v Speaker 1>up to him and say some of the stuff that

0:38:29.160 --> 0:38:33.319
<v Speaker 1>you said. And yeah, it's gotten a few of my

0:38:33.360 --> 0:38:34.759
<v Speaker 1>mates and a few of my family members, and my

0:38:34.800 --> 0:38:37.440
<v Speaker 1>brother and my cousin's in trouble because they tend to

0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:39.399
<v Speaker 1>stick up for me and fight back, which I don't.

0:38:39.480 --> 0:38:41.240
<v Speaker 1>I like, but I don't like. I love the loyalty,

0:38:41.280 --> 0:38:43.640
<v Speaker 1>but sometimes I hate getting other people in trouble for

0:38:43.760 --> 0:38:49.480
<v Speaker 1>my things. I guess, so you know, Yeah, I don't know.

0:38:49.719 --> 0:38:53.560
<v Speaker 1>Everyone deals it their own way, but yeah, I just

0:38:53.920 --> 0:38:56.040
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. Everyone's got a big big mouth. Everyone's

0:38:56.040 --> 0:38:58.520
<v Speaker 1>got a lot more balls when they're on social media,

0:38:58.560 --> 0:38:59.360
<v Speaker 1>and they would in real.

0:38:59.239 --> 0:39:02.960
<v Speaker 2>Life say all the time, how often well.

0:39:02.760 --> 0:39:05.960
<v Speaker 1>As in social media stuff, Oh every game, every game,

0:39:06.000 --> 0:39:07.919
<v Speaker 1>I'd well, we played twenty odd games a year, I'd

0:39:07.920 --> 0:39:10.720
<v Speaker 1>get twenty times a year easily, easily. I should probably

0:39:10.719 --> 0:39:14.279
<v Speaker 1>start documenting screenshot and keeping it, but I've learned to

0:39:14.320 --> 0:39:16.520
<v Speaker 1>move on. I'm like, you know what, Like I'm not

0:39:16.520 --> 0:39:18.319
<v Speaker 1>gonna waste I got too much stuff going on to

0:39:18.320 --> 0:39:20.759
<v Speaker 1>worry about someone writing me a bag comment. And I

0:39:20.800 --> 0:39:22.680
<v Speaker 1>don't mind if you bag my football or you bag

0:39:23.320 --> 0:39:25.520
<v Speaker 1>you know the way I do things. But when you

0:39:25.560 --> 0:39:27.880
<v Speaker 1>start being in race or you bring family into it

0:39:27.920 --> 0:39:30.480
<v Speaker 1>like that kind of stuff, especially what hurts me more

0:39:30.520 --> 0:39:32.680
<v Speaker 1>than they do it to my teammates, especially my younger teammates,

0:39:32.719 --> 0:39:34.680
<v Speaker 1>Like I got young teammates like Liam Ryan and they

0:39:34.680 --> 0:39:36.960
<v Speaker 1>who copy it all the time. And he went through

0:39:37.000 --> 0:39:39.120
<v Speaker 1>a phase where he was copping it every single week.

0:39:39.400 --> 0:39:40.880
<v Speaker 1>And if they haven't been given the tools or the

0:39:40.920 --> 0:39:43.239
<v Speaker 1>resilience to get you know, to look past it, it'll

0:39:43.280 --> 0:39:46.560
<v Speaker 1>be a bigger person and just you know, not let

0:39:46.600 --> 0:39:48.759
<v Speaker 1>it affect them too much. I'd be okay, But when

0:39:48.800 --> 0:39:50.960
<v Speaker 1>I see how much it hurts them and hurts their family,

0:39:52.560 --> 0:39:54.640
<v Speaker 1>you know, like that, that really pisses me off. Like yeah,

0:39:54.680 --> 0:39:56.359
<v Speaker 1>especially when they bring their children into it and things

0:39:56.400 --> 0:39:59.160
<v Speaker 1>like that. That's just like I don't know, Sometimes you

0:39:59.160 --> 0:40:00.359
<v Speaker 1>just want to catch some of these. I was one

0:40:00.400 --> 0:40:03.680
<v Speaker 1>on one and deal with them because you just because

0:40:03.680 --> 0:40:05.319
<v Speaker 1>I just like you just you would never do it

0:40:05.320 --> 0:40:09.000
<v Speaker 1>like you wouldn't do it anyone. So but everyone's why different.

0:40:09.200 --> 0:40:11.440
<v Speaker 1>Someone's got a reason why they do it. They just

0:40:11.480 --> 0:40:12.360
<v Speaker 1>need to be educated.

0:40:12.760 --> 0:40:16.359
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, when you became a big footy star, what does

0:40:16.400 --> 0:40:17.399
<v Speaker 2>your mom think about it? All?

0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:22.080
<v Speaker 1>Nothing? Like I said, we'll still we'll still share the

0:40:22.120 --> 0:40:24.719
<v Speaker 1>same room. So I was still sleeping there. I was

0:40:25.239 --> 0:40:27.319
<v Speaker 1>still washing dishes. I still mop on the floors, which

0:40:27.360 --> 0:40:28.640
<v Speaker 1>I still like doing.

0:40:29.560 --> 0:40:30.680
<v Speaker 2>Because you got to sleep on them.

0:40:30.760 --> 0:40:32.799
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because I want to. That's you know, that's that's

0:40:32.800 --> 0:40:34.719
<v Speaker 1>probably why I actually like I want to. I got

0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:36.279
<v Speaker 1>a new dice and vacuum and things like that. I

0:40:36.280 --> 0:40:38.960
<v Speaker 1>got to mop like I enjoy those things because I

0:40:39.000 --> 0:40:42.400
<v Speaker 1>sleep on the floor. That's probably why it makes sense. Now. No,

0:40:42.560 --> 0:40:44.640
<v Speaker 1>she didn't really care, like she was still like, you know,

0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:47.120
<v Speaker 1>I think going back to Fiji is a big thing,

0:40:47.200 --> 0:40:50.080
<v Speaker 1>Like no one really cares what you do. Like you

0:40:50.120 --> 0:40:51.839
<v Speaker 1>go back to the village, you still have to go

0:40:51.880 --> 0:40:55.520
<v Speaker 1>and do what everyone else does. Like it doesn't matter

0:40:55.520 --> 0:40:57.279
<v Speaker 1>whether you earn a hundred million dollars a year or

0:40:57.360 --> 0:41:01.080
<v Speaker 1>you're on TV or you you know, the biggest scientists

0:41:01.080 --> 0:41:03.799
<v Speaker 1>in the world, whatever you do, you're still an everyday person,

0:41:03.840 --> 0:41:05.840
<v Speaker 1>which I like, sometimes I get pissed off. I'm like,

0:41:06.400 --> 0:41:08.000
<v Speaker 1>there's no way I'll be doing this back in Perst,

0:41:08.040 --> 0:41:10.680
<v Speaker 1>so they wouldn't make me do this. And then I'm like,

0:41:10.760 --> 0:41:13.959
<v Speaker 1>that's just my ego speaking there and pull myself back

0:41:14.000 --> 0:41:16.480
<v Speaker 1>and you know, it's good. And that happened at home

0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:18.640
<v Speaker 1>every day. Like my twin brother didn't give a shit

0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:20.120
<v Speaker 1>what I did. He'd wake up at four o'clock in

0:41:20.120 --> 0:41:22.000
<v Speaker 1>the morning because he's a plumber and go to work

0:41:22.000 --> 0:41:23.480
<v Speaker 1>and he'd bang his tool as loud as you can,

0:41:23.520 --> 0:41:25.400
<v Speaker 1>and he'd be like, you know what, I come home

0:41:25.400 --> 0:41:27.160
<v Speaker 1>from training, like, I complain on my back, so I

0:41:27.160 --> 0:41:29.759
<v Speaker 1>had a hard session. He's like, oh, cry, I cry

0:41:29.880 --> 0:41:31.880
<v Speaker 1>like he was. He's been clean and shit out of

0:41:31.880 --> 0:41:34.399
<v Speaker 1>people's toilet since four thirty in the morning all day.

0:41:34.520 --> 0:41:37.200
<v Speaker 1>And that stuff would just you know, put things in

0:41:37.239 --> 0:41:39.400
<v Speaker 1>a perspective and I go, you know what, Yeah, he

0:41:39.440 --> 0:41:41.000
<v Speaker 1>had a harder day to me. I'dn't been playing. I

0:41:41.000 --> 0:41:43.239
<v Speaker 1>was kicking the foot around like I had to lift

0:41:43.239 --> 0:41:45.880
<v Speaker 1>an extra weights, the extra weight in the gym in

0:41:45.920 --> 0:41:48.200
<v Speaker 1>the air co on, like it's not that hard. Yeah

0:41:48.200 --> 0:41:51.800
<v Speaker 1>it's hard work, but yeah, it's all relative. It's all relative.

0:41:51.840 --> 0:41:54.879
<v Speaker 1>So those guys are good just to you know, keep

0:41:54.920 --> 0:41:55.400
<v Speaker 1>me grounded.

0:41:55.480 --> 0:41:59.719
<v Speaker 2>I guess yeah, because you are a brilliant contradiction because

0:41:59.760 --> 0:42:02.239
<v Speaker 2>you you hate the public card that you also get

0:42:02.320 --> 0:42:07.640
<v Speaker 2>quite cranky and people don't recognize that one. With your

0:42:08.520 --> 0:42:10.160
<v Speaker 2>niece and nephews the other day.

0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:16.680
<v Speaker 1>Pick up, they just don't appreciate me. My niece and

0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:18.880
<v Speaker 1>nephew don't appreciate me. Like I've been doing book I've

0:42:18.880 --> 0:42:21.200
<v Speaker 1>been getting school books all day today but for them,

0:42:21.280 --> 0:42:23.239
<v Speaker 1>and they don't appreciate me. But no, at school that's

0:42:23.239 --> 0:42:25.279
<v Speaker 1>the biggest thing. So like my little nephew, I'm picking

0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:27.320
<v Speaker 1>him up from school and they've got to hold the

0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:30.000
<v Speaker 1>hand policy. As he crossed a bit when there's no crosswalk,

0:42:30.920 --> 0:42:33.000
<v Speaker 1>and he refused to hold my hand. I'm not hold

0:42:33.000 --> 0:42:34.719
<v Speaker 1>my hand, hold my hand. He's only in primary school,

0:42:34.719 --> 0:42:37.279
<v Speaker 1>he's young, and you one, you two, I'm hold my hand,

0:42:37.320 --> 0:42:39.239
<v Speaker 1>hold my hand, and he's like no, and I'm like,

0:42:39.400 --> 0:42:41.440
<v Speaker 1>just hold my hand. We can't cross the road otherwise,

0:42:41.680 --> 0:42:44.879
<v Speaker 1>and he wouldn't do it, and I had to think

0:42:44.960 --> 0:42:46.759
<v Speaker 1>I got real upset. I got really angry. I was like,

0:42:47.160 --> 0:42:48.640
<v Speaker 1>I actually swore it in the poor little kid. I

0:42:48.640 --> 0:42:50.239
<v Speaker 1>was like, do you know how many of your little

0:42:50.239 --> 0:42:52.200
<v Speaker 1>friends in your classroom would die to hold his hand?

0:42:52.520 --> 0:42:54.640
<v Speaker 1>And then when I said I started laughing to myself.

0:42:54.719 --> 0:42:57.279
<v Speaker 1>I was like, man, who do you think you are? Oh?

0:42:57.360 --> 0:42:58.719
<v Speaker 1>And he was looking at me. He like looked up

0:42:58.760 --> 0:43:01.319
<v Speaker 1>at me. He was like, he's like, what do you mean?

0:43:01.560 --> 0:43:02.800
<v Speaker 1>Why would I want to hold you? Why would my

0:43:02.800 --> 0:43:04.799
<v Speaker 1>friends want to hold your hand? Yuck? Like? And I

0:43:04.840 --> 0:43:07.200
<v Speaker 1>was like, oh shit, Like he doesn't get what I'm saying,

0:43:07.239 --> 0:43:09.120
<v Speaker 1>like going on And I was like, don't worry, don't worry,

0:43:09.160 --> 0:43:10.839
<v Speaker 1>just hold my hand. I grabbed him, dragg him across

0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:13.160
<v Speaker 1>the road. But they still get confused, Like I remember

0:43:13.160 --> 0:43:14.200
<v Speaker 1>he came in the other day when I was at

0:43:14.239 --> 0:43:17.400
<v Speaker 1>my sister's house and he was like, Mom, Mom, and

0:43:17.400 --> 0:43:20.520
<v Speaker 1>I'm sitting on the couch watching cartoons with the other two. Yes,

0:43:20.560 --> 0:43:23.800
<v Speaker 1>I love my cartoons. And he goes, oh, mom, the

0:43:23.880 --> 0:43:26.520
<v Speaker 1>kids are asking me. Is a nick Nat here? And

0:43:26.560 --> 0:43:29.160
<v Speaker 1>then he's like She's like what, He goes nick Nat

0:43:29.239 --> 0:43:31.880
<v Speaker 1>And I was like, what are you talking about? You idiot?

0:43:31.920 --> 0:43:33.879
<v Speaker 1>Like I am nick Nat, and he was, no, you're

0:43:34.000 --> 0:43:36.279
<v Speaker 1>they call me more MoMA means uncle Epheesians. They're like

0:43:36.280 --> 0:43:38.520
<v Speaker 1>your MoMA. So they're like, they didn't know my name

0:43:38.640 --> 0:43:40.839
<v Speaker 1>was nick Nat, like or people call me nick Nat.

0:43:40.840 --> 0:43:42.360
<v Speaker 1>So they were thinking, why are these kids at the

0:43:42.400 --> 0:43:44.359
<v Speaker 1>front asking for nick Nat? And why do they want

0:43:44.360 --> 0:43:46.360
<v Speaker 1>to see you for? Like they still don't realize that

0:43:46.440 --> 0:43:48.000
<v Speaker 1>they know I kick a ball around, but they probably

0:43:48.000 --> 0:43:50.759
<v Speaker 1>don't know that it's pretty big over here. But I

0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:52.400
<v Speaker 1>like it though, because it keeps me um well. Like

0:43:52.440 --> 0:43:54.359
<v Speaker 1>I said, I need those little things because you get

0:43:54.360 --> 0:43:55.640
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people saying yes in your life all

0:43:55.640 --> 0:43:57.120
<v Speaker 1>the time, so it's good to have people saying no,

0:43:57.280 --> 0:43:59.959
<v Speaker 1>or who are you? Like a bunch of hours running

0:44:00.000 --> 0:44:03.680
<v Speaker 1>in the house is young. I love it, but I

0:44:03.680 --> 0:44:04.040
<v Speaker 1>hate it.

0:44:04.239 --> 0:44:06.360
<v Speaker 2>I hate It's fair to say that you think that

0:44:06.480 --> 0:44:09.680
<v Speaker 2>last year, the bubble and the COVID situation, the bubble

0:44:09.880 --> 0:44:12.400
<v Speaker 2>that was happening with with the AFL, you thought that

0:44:12.480 --> 0:44:14.239
<v Speaker 2>was a bit of an insight for everyone else into

0:44:14.280 --> 0:44:15.719
<v Speaker 2>what it's like my life.

0:44:15.760 --> 0:44:18.239
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, everyone thinks is it's all glamorous and it's all

0:44:18.360 --> 0:44:20.800
<v Speaker 1>nice and no it's not. That's my life. The bubble

0:44:20.800 --> 0:44:22.800
<v Speaker 1>life is my life. I sit at home doing nothing

0:44:22.840 --> 0:44:25.359
<v Speaker 1>like I'll you know, I'll rush to go and quickly

0:44:25.440 --> 0:44:26.680
<v Speaker 1>go get a coffee and get out of there as

0:44:26.719 --> 0:44:28.480
<v Speaker 1>quick as I can. Like it's rare that I'll sit

0:44:28.520 --> 0:44:31.520
<v Speaker 1>around and hang around so for people to go through

0:44:31.560 --> 0:44:33.840
<v Speaker 1>COVID and to see you know, you can only be

0:44:33.880 --> 0:44:35.920
<v Speaker 1>there and quick contact, have things and you know leave,

0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:38.239
<v Speaker 1>you can't dine in and things like that. Welcome to

0:44:38.320 --> 0:44:40.279
<v Speaker 1>my life, sucked in. I was loving it. I was

0:44:40.320 --> 0:44:43.000
<v Speaker 1>loving the whole hub life like it was like people,

0:44:43.080 --> 0:44:45.160
<v Speaker 1>this is and that this will build mental toughness for you,

0:44:45.200 --> 0:44:47.719
<v Speaker 1>This will build mental resilience for because people hated it.

0:44:47.719 --> 0:44:49.640
<v Speaker 1>People hated not the human contact and things like that.

0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:52.480
<v Speaker 1>And I'm like, oh, I wish she just walked the

0:44:52.560 --> 0:44:54.000
<v Speaker 1>day in my shoes. Well, had a week in my

0:44:54.000 --> 0:44:56.000
<v Speaker 1>life for a bit, and you see how much of

0:44:56.000 --> 0:44:58.279
<v Speaker 1>my bedroom wars or how much of my backyard I

0:44:58.280 --> 0:45:00.160
<v Speaker 1>see because I don't go and do things. But I

0:45:00.200 --> 0:45:02.440
<v Speaker 1>love my bubble as much as I say I you

0:45:02.480 --> 0:45:05.440
<v Speaker 1>know it's different and it's it's hard. I enjoy not

0:45:05.520 --> 0:45:07.640
<v Speaker 1>being contact with people. I love my own space.

0:45:07.520 --> 0:45:09.319
<v Speaker 2>Because you actually did a good deed for me when

0:45:09.320 --> 0:45:11.480
<v Speaker 2>I was in hotel quarantine. You came past as a

0:45:11.600 --> 0:45:13.120
<v Speaker 2>good ay and way from the outside.

0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:15.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I waved down what came past and waved. I

0:45:15.000 --> 0:45:16.960
<v Speaker 1>was actually visiting one of my teammates, Jared Cameron. I

0:45:16.960 --> 0:45:18.399
<v Speaker 1>had to go make sure he was on the right jack,

0:45:18.480 --> 0:45:20.520
<v Speaker 1>so went past. He lives on the corner, so I

0:45:20.520 --> 0:45:22.680
<v Speaker 1>was going to his So that's the only reason. Otherwise

0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:23.520
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't have come back.

0:45:24.840 --> 0:45:26.839
<v Speaker 2>But then you complained to me in the entire time

0:45:26.880 --> 0:45:29.120
<v Speaker 2>because every man and his dog stopped you on the store.

0:45:29.280 --> 0:45:31.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you saw there was that. Even the homeless guy

0:45:31.239 --> 0:45:33.400
<v Speaker 1>came running over to come and hug me. And this

0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:35.640
<v Speaker 1>was during COVID time, so not meant to be hugging people.

0:45:35.680 --> 0:45:37.319
<v Speaker 1>So he came and described me and hugged me. But

0:45:37.800 --> 0:45:39.200
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna say no, I hugged him back.

0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:43.360
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, I appreciate. I appreciate you leaving.

0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:45.120
<v Speaker 1>Thank you.

0:45:45.760 --> 0:45:48.080
<v Speaker 2>Is it also true that you and this is a

0:45:48.080 --> 0:45:50.680
<v Speaker 2>bit more of a serious one because when people were

0:45:50.719 --> 0:45:53.200
<v Speaker 2>laid off or stood down over COVID times, is it

0:45:53.239 --> 0:45:55.920
<v Speaker 2>true that you actually went around and made deliveries of

0:45:56.280 --> 0:45:59.200
<v Speaker 2>cookies to you're shaking your head when you know it's

0:45:59.239 --> 0:46:02.480
<v Speaker 2>true to people who were asked me, who will let go?

0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:05.040
<v Speaker 1>No? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah?

0:46:05.840 --> 0:46:07.360
<v Speaker 2>What was then?

0:46:07.560 --> 0:46:09.600
<v Speaker 1>I know people doing it tough, Like I said, people

0:46:09.680 --> 0:46:13.319
<v Speaker 1>doing tough. So a lot of those people had, you know,

0:46:13.360 --> 0:46:15.919
<v Speaker 1>the workplace done a lot for me stuff and work

0:46:15.960 --> 0:46:19.480
<v Speaker 1>people and some are still still working, but some were

0:46:19.560 --> 0:46:22.120
<v Speaker 1>laid off. But I don't know as good as a gesture.

0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:24.200
<v Speaker 1>Myself and my brother in law just drove around. It

0:46:24.280 --> 0:46:26.680
<v Speaker 1>took us all day. Though Harry did all the hard

0:46:26.680 --> 0:46:28.839
<v Speaker 1>work my brother in law. I was just driving around.

0:46:28.840 --> 0:46:31.359
<v Speaker 1>So I wasn't really meant to because yeah, because we

0:46:31.360 --> 0:46:33.759
<v Speaker 1>were in quarantine COVID sort of time, so we could

0:46:33.880 --> 0:46:35.399
<v Speaker 1>drive around, were not meant to go on people's houses.

0:46:35.480 --> 0:46:38.279
<v Speaker 1>So Harry just like we loaded up the car and

0:46:38.360 --> 0:46:41.480
<v Speaker 1>Harry jumped out at everyone's houses. So we did fifty

0:46:41.560 --> 0:46:44.080
<v Speaker 1>six houses or so all over person. So we went

0:46:44.120 --> 0:46:46.560
<v Speaker 1>from Junle up Man my mapping schools. Like I said,

0:46:46.560 --> 0:46:48.759
<v Speaker 1>I used to have the bus, arm table and my thing,

0:46:49.040 --> 0:46:50.680
<v Speaker 1>so I know every single suburb about the back of

0:46:50.719 --> 0:46:52.680
<v Speaker 1>my hand. I could get to any suburban perth like that.

0:46:52.719 --> 0:46:56.279
<v Speaker 1>I don't need no GPS. So I got from as

0:46:56.320 --> 0:46:58.279
<v Speaker 1>far as Burns Beach kind of journal up the area

0:46:58.280 --> 0:47:01.560
<v Speaker 1>which is far north Perth all the way to an

0:47:01.560 --> 0:47:04.440
<v Speaker 1>hour away down towards like Coburn kind of you know,

0:47:04.920 --> 0:47:08.160
<v Speaker 1>Gendercott area out there, and the coast. We did, the hills,

0:47:08.160 --> 0:47:10.960
<v Speaker 1>we did, inter city, did apartments. Yeah, we did it all.

0:47:11.000 --> 0:47:13.120
<v Speaker 1>It was fun though it was actually it was actually

0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:15.720
<v Speaker 1>good for my benefit too, because I was stuck locked indoors,

0:47:15.760 --> 0:47:17.200
<v Speaker 1>so to be able to get out and drive around

0:47:17.239 --> 0:47:19.520
<v Speaker 1>and see Perth and have a legitimate excuse for the

0:47:19.520 --> 0:47:22.680
<v Speaker 1>police pulled me over. Yeah, it was a good thing,

0:47:22.719 --> 0:47:25.239
<v Speaker 1>but I don't know, I think they appreciated it. Well.

0:47:25.719 --> 0:47:27.200
<v Speaker 1>I hope.

0:47:33.960 --> 0:47:39.760
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to. Ordinarily, speaking with Nick Natanui, twenty fifteen

0:47:39.920 --> 0:47:43.640
<v Speaker 2>was a pretty life altering year for you. Tell me

0:47:43.680 --> 0:47:47.479
<v Speaker 2>about August and when you found out about your mum.

0:47:48.120 --> 0:47:49.719
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that was that was probably the toughest time in

0:47:49.760 --> 0:47:56.200
<v Speaker 1>my life. I was getting ready to play Hawthorne here

0:47:56.400 --> 0:47:59.560
<v Speaker 1>at home, and yeah, we had a meeting and then

0:48:00.040 --> 0:48:03.279
<v Speaker 1>we'd finished up Captain's run day before a game, and yeah,

0:48:03.280 --> 0:48:05.160
<v Speaker 1>I found out that The news was pretty devastating because

0:48:05.400 --> 0:48:07.320
<v Speaker 1>my mum had just recently moved back to Fiji to

0:48:07.400 --> 0:48:11.279
<v Speaker 1>go live over there. So yeah, it was a shock.

0:48:11.719 --> 0:48:14.600
<v Speaker 1>It was something you know, I was prepping, prepping to

0:48:14.600 --> 0:48:18.479
<v Speaker 1>play footy finals went too far away. Yeah, everything felt

0:48:18.520 --> 0:48:20.080
<v Speaker 1>like it was all in place, all in plan. Then

0:48:20.120 --> 0:48:22.799
<v Speaker 1>that happened and it was just a massive shock to me.

0:48:22.880 --> 0:48:24.840
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, I had to go back home to Fiji

0:48:24.880 --> 0:48:28.280
<v Speaker 1>and do what we need to do. And oh it's different,

0:48:28.360 --> 0:48:31.959
<v Speaker 1>like I think it was. It was, yeah, and something

0:48:32.000 --> 0:48:35.280
<v Speaker 1>I never expected. But it was a big eye opener.

0:48:35.520 --> 0:48:38.239
<v Speaker 1>Like and like I said, everything puts things into perspective too,

0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:41.120
<v Speaker 1>Like as big as or as much as footy seemed

0:48:41.160 --> 0:48:42.640
<v Speaker 1>like it was the only thing I cared about in

0:48:42.640 --> 0:48:43.840
<v Speaker 1>the world or the biggest thing I cared about in

0:48:43.840 --> 0:48:48.520
<v Speaker 1>the world, I think family, you know, it takes over that,

0:48:48.760 --> 0:48:52.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, especially when you're going through some such hardships.

0:48:52.120 --> 0:48:56.840
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, it was a tough time. Yeah, that week

0:48:57.120 --> 0:48:59.880
<v Speaker 1>and a bit, you know, just trying to book flights

0:48:59.880 --> 0:49:02.279
<v Speaker 1>and get over there as soon as possible, telling my

0:49:02.320 --> 0:49:06.600
<v Speaker 1>brother when he got home things like that. Yeah, it

0:49:06.640 --> 0:49:08.279
<v Speaker 1>was it was tough.

0:49:08.560 --> 0:49:10.040
<v Speaker 2>What do you remember from that phone call?

0:49:11.160 --> 0:49:13.360
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I got a phone call from Fiji telling me

0:49:13.400 --> 0:49:16.400
<v Speaker 1>what had what had happened. Yeah, I think it took

0:49:16.480 --> 0:49:17.680
<v Speaker 1>I was in sub Black at the time. I was

0:49:17.680 --> 0:49:22.040
<v Speaker 1>out getting a coffee just before I went home. So yeah,

0:49:22.080 --> 0:49:25.680
<v Speaker 1>I remember I broke down. I was just in my car.

0:49:25.840 --> 0:49:27.360
<v Speaker 1>I was just waiting for my coffee and ended up

0:49:27.400 --> 0:49:30.400
<v Speaker 1>end up getting it, I think. And I lived. I

0:49:30.480 --> 0:49:31.719
<v Speaker 1>lived all the way in the swan View, so in

0:49:31.760 --> 0:49:33.279
<v Speaker 1>the Hills a Purse. It's about an hour or so,

0:49:33.400 --> 0:49:36.520
<v Speaker 1>forty five or so out of from Subiaco. So in

0:49:36.520 --> 0:49:37.520
<v Speaker 1>my head I was thinking, how am I going to

0:49:37.640 --> 0:49:39.560
<v Speaker 1>drive all the way home with this on my chest?

0:49:39.640 --> 0:49:44.000
<v Speaker 1>So I actually stopped in to see Trevorsbert. I walked

0:49:44.040 --> 0:49:47.000
<v Speaker 1>in there crying, and I've walked into his office and

0:49:47.160 --> 0:49:51.400
<v Speaker 1>told him and Anna who he's pa. And yeah, I

0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:53.040
<v Speaker 1>can't really remember. It's pretty much a blur, but I

0:49:53.040 --> 0:49:56.080
<v Speaker 1>think maybe he drove me home. I didn't drive home.

0:49:56.400 --> 0:49:59.279
<v Speaker 1>He did, or one of the other staff did. And

0:49:59.560 --> 0:50:02.840
<v Speaker 1>went home and sat there, and man, I think something

0:50:02.880 --> 0:50:04.640
<v Speaker 1>just takes over. You go from you know, you're really

0:50:04.719 --> 0:50:08.279
<v Speaker 1>upset and grieving, but then you also, you know, being

0:50:09.000 --> 0:50:10.960
<v Speaker 1>the oldest out of my twins like I've always been,

0:50:11.680 --> 0:50:13.040
<v Speaker 1>I guess the one in charge of the one that

0:50:13.160 --> 0:50:16.520
<v Speaker 1>takes control, you know, with my whole family too, especially

0:50:16.520 --> 0:50:18.279
<v Speaker 1>with playing food, you learn a lot of skills that

0:50:18.800 --> 0:50:21.160
<v Speaker 1>some of your family members probably aren't equipped with or

0:50:21.280 --> 0:50:25.799
<v Speaker 1>aren't taught, you know, just from their lifestyle. And I've

0:50:25.840 --> 0:50:28.359
<v Speaker 1>always been switched on with things like that. And for me,

0:50:28.400 --> 0:50:29.840
<v Speaker 1>it just went in the logistical mode, how are we

0:50:29.880 --> 0:50:31.719
<v Speaker 1>getting there, what's going on? What do we need to do?

0:50:31.800 --> 0:50:35.759
<v Speaker 1>And you go on a full just turbo mode where

0:50:35.760 --> 0:50:37.520
<v Speaker 1>you're just going and getting stuff done. And our culture

0:50:37.560 --> 0:50:42.000
<v Speaker 1>is different, like morning a loss does happen, but you

0:50:42.040 --> 0:50:44.040
<v Speaker 1>still have to get things done like our culture, Like

0:50:45.680 --> 0:50:47.480
<v Speaker 1>I don't know how to explain it, Like we go

0:50:47.560 --> 0:50:52.480
<v Speaker 1>to the morgue. I have to dress mum, makeup mum,

0:50:52.520 --> 0:50:54.440
<v Speaker 1>you do all these things. You've got to carry your

0:50:54.440 --> 0:50:56.319
<v Speaker 1>parent into a coffin. You got to pick out the

0:50:56.320 --> 0:50:59.480
<v Speaker 1>coffin yourself. Like there's no what you got. There's no

0:50:59.520 --> 0:51:02.359
<v Speaker 1>funeral home. There's no like leanno' day or bad whatever

0:51:02.360 --> 0:51:04.319
<v Speaker 1>they call them over here, Perslo funeral homes those type

0:51:04.280 --> 0:51:07.120
<v Speaker 1>of things. So I know all the funeral homes over here,

0:51:07.160 --> 0:51:09.480
<v Speaker 1>but back in Fiji, there's none of that. So you

0:51:09.480 --> 0:51:11.360
<v Speaker 1>have to go and you've got to size up. You

0:51:11.360 --> 0:51:14.000
<v Speaker 1>know what size coffin you need? What you know things

0:51:14.040 --> 0:51:16.479
<v Speaker 1>like that that you're measuring up things. So you're you're grieving,

0:51:16.560 --> 0:51:18.160
<v Speaker 1>but at the same time you're getting stuff done. So

0:51:19.760 --> 0:51:21.480
<v Speaker 1>I just remember my brother. We cried through the whole

0:51:21.520 --> 0:51:23.120
<v Speaker 1>thing like it was. It was tearful, it was hard

0:51:23.160 --> 0:51:25.120
<v Speaker 1>to do. But we can't look at each other and

0:51:25.120 --> 0:51:26.600
<v Speaker 1>we're like, you know, we got to get this done.

0:51:26.640 --> 0:51:27.960
<v Speaker 1>No one else is going to do it for us. Yeah,

0:51:27.960 --> 0:51:30.000
<v Speaker 1>we've got family doing other aspects of the funeral here,

0:51:30.040 --> 0:51:31.719
<v Speaker 1>but we want to make sure we do it right.

0:51:31.800 --> 0:51:35.319
<v Speaker 1>So I left someone else. I left my I think

0:51:35.320 --> 0:51:37.080
<v Speaker 1>my sister and that in charge of letting everyone else

0:51:37.120 --> 0:51:38.600
<v Speaker 1>know what had happened and what's going on when the

0:51:38.640 --> 0:51:41.920
<v Speaker 1>funeral details are but trying to book the funeral when

0:51:41.960 --> 0:51:45.360
<v Speaker 1>it's going to happen. You know, hearses, you know in

0:51:45.640 --> 0:51:48.319
<v Speaker 1>our village where people bring meat and stuff, so someone

0:51:48.320 --> 0:51:51.080
<v Speaker 1>goes and get the cow or pigs. I remember going

0:51:51.120 --> 0:51:53.880
<v Speaker 1>to a butcher, not even a butcher, it was like

0:51:53.920 --> 0:51:56.400
<v Speaker 1>a chicken farm to go and get like three hundred chickens,

0:51:56.440 --> 0:51:58.400
<v Speaker 1>like because you know, the whole village comes out like

0:51:58.840 --> 0:52:00.360
<v Speaker 1>not like you just have fifty b would come to

0:52:00.360 --> 0:52:03.719
<v Speaker 1>the funeral. We have villages like met like there would

0:52:03.719 --> 0:52:05.680
<v Speaker 1>have been a thousand people. So at the funeral, so

0:52:05.719 --> 0:52:07.480
<v Speaker 1>you've got to cater for all that kind of stuff.

0:52:08.480 --> 0:52:10.759
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, picking clothes, like like I said, just doing

0:52:10.800 --> 0:52:13.120
<v Speaker 1>the things that a funeral home normally does for you.

0:52:14.280 --> 0:52:15.640
<v Speaker 1>We've had to do it, but it wasn't a shock

0:52:15.680 --> 0:52:17.320
<v Speaker 1>to me because I've done it plenty of times with

0:52:17.760 --> 0:52:20.279
<v Speaker 1>family members over the years or friends and things like that.

0:52:20.360 --> 0:52:23.239
<v Speaker 1>So it's just a part of our culture, you know,

0:52:23.360 --> 0:52:26.360
<v Speaker 1>picking out tombstones things like that, and burial spots and

0:52:26.560 --> 0:52:29.640
<v Speaker 1>having to dig the whole things like that. So it did.

0:52:30.040 --> 0:52:31.680
<v Speaker 1>It was it was a normal thing. But at the

0:52:31.719 --> 0:52:33.879
<v Speaker 1>same time, it was probably harder when you know it's

0:52:33.880 --> 0:52:36.839
<v Speaker 1>someone so close to you, you know, when it's your mother,

0:52:37.760 --> 0:52:40.040
<v Speaker 1>those things are just a little bit harder than what

0:52:40.080 --> 0:52:44.239
<v Speaker 1>they normally are. So man, people talk about resilience, that

0:52:44.200 --> 0:52:45.960
<v Speaker 1>I was the most resilient I ever had to be,

0:52:45.960 --> 0:52:48.040
<v Speaker 1>because I you know, I was grieving, I was mourning,

0:52:48.040 --> 0:52:49.160
<v Speaker 1>but I just had to get it done at the

0:52:49.160 --> 0:52:52.640
<v Speaker 1>same time. So yeah, And then in the way, in

0:52:52.680 --> 0:52:55.440
<v Speaker 1>the back of that, it was after the funeral was done,

0:52:55.440 --> 0:52:56.720
<v Speaker 1>I think it all hit me and I was pretty

0:52:56.800 --> 0:52:59.000
<v Speaker 1>upset and I didn't want to come home. And then

0:52:59.040 --> 0:53:01.719
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't until my uncle's just told me, like, don't

0:53:01.719 --> 0:53:03.200
<v Speaker 1>waste your time here. You need to get back to Perth,

0:53:03.280 --> 0:53:05.960
<v Speaker 1>like he got footy to play. I had lost track

0:53:06.000 --> 0:53:07.520
<v Speaker 1>of the fixture. I didn't know where we were at.

0:53:07.560 --> 0:53:09.479
<v Speaker 1>And it was just before a week or so before

0:53:09.560 --> 0:53:11.640
<v Speaker 1>finals and we're going alright. And I came back and

0:53:11.680 --> 0:53:14.719
<v Speaker 1>played a couple of finals because I did convince me

0:53:14.719 --> 0:53:16.440
<v Speaker 1>to come home. I didn't want to come home. And

0:53:16.480 --> 0:53:18.120
<v Speaker 1>then we made the Grand Final that year. But that

0:53:18.200 --> 0:53:19.840
<v Speaker 1>was a blur. That was all a blur, Like I

0:53:19.880 --> 0:53:22.320
<v Speaker 1>think it's pretty selfish with me. I said it many times.

0:53:22.360 --> 0:53:25.440
<v Speaker 1>It was the Grand Finals, a time where as a

0:53:25.520 --> 0:53:27.640
<v Speaker 1>child that's your boyhood, dreamed to make it to a

0:53:27.680 --> 0:53:29.360
<v Speaker 1>grand father, that Grand Final parades meant to be the

0:53:29.400 --> 0:53:32.560
<v Speaker 1>biggest thing, you know, before playing the actual game. And

0:53:32.719 --> 0:53:34.200
<v Speaker 1>for me, I didn't want to be there. I remember

0:53:34.239 --> 0:53:36.320
<v Speaker 1>I stepped in my I did the Grand Final parade.

0:53:36.320 --> 0:53:37.960
<v Speaker 1>It was a bit of a blur. But then my

0:53:38.000 --> 0:53:40.600
<v Speaker 1>brother came to my hotel room. I didn't have any family, like,

0:53:40.640 --> 0:53:42.080
<v Speaker 1>I had no family over, so it was just my

0:53:42.120 --> 0:53:45.239
<v Speaker 1>brother came across. There's just the two of us and

0:53:45.680 --> 0:53:48.520
<v Speaker 1>we sat in my hotel room and talk. We cried.

0:53:48.600 --> 0:53:51.359
<v Speaker 1>We didn't sleep, like I probably had two hours, maybe

0:53:51.400 --> 0:53:53.040
<v Speaker 1>an hour and a half, two hours sleep before the

0:53:53.040 --> 0:53:56.040
<v Speaker 1>Grand Final. And I feel I sometimes get angry when

0:53:56.080 --> 0:53:57.680
<v Speaker 1>you talk about mental demons and things like that. I

0:53:57.680 --> 0:54:00.200
<v Speaker 1>still feel a bit selfish for that, because I'm like, man,

0:54:00.239 --> 0:54:04.160
<v Speaker 1>I didn't have the ideal preparation. But then again, who's

0:54:04.200 --> 0:54:06.359
<v Speaker 1>to know that someone else wasn't anxious in their room

0:54:06.360 --> 0:54:10.040
<v Speaker 1>about the game and didn't sleep well at all? So yeah,

0:54:10.040 --> 0:54:13.000
<v Speaker 1>I didn't have the greatest preparation. And it probably wasn't

0:54:13.040 --> 0:54:16.239
<v Speaker 1>until we lost that Grand Final to Hawthorne, and probably

0:54:16.280 --> 0:54:18.680
<v Speaker 1>wasn't too asked that that I realized. You know, I

0:54:18.719 --> 0:54:21.040
<v Speaker 1>just felt this wave of emotion come upon me and

0:54:21.160 --> 0:54:22.680
<v Speaker 1>I sat in the change in his crying. I think,

0:54:22.920 --> 0:54:25.480
<v Speaker 1>you know, losing I lost a cousin earlier in that year,

0:54:26.360 --> 0:54:28.040
<v Speaker 1>you know, we had to bury him here in Perth,

0:54:28.560 --> 0:54:31.000
<v Speaker 1>and then having to bury my mum and then lost

0:54:31.080 --> 0:54:32.880
<v Speaker 1>the loss of a grand fine Weber. Sitting there, I

0:54:32.880 --> 0:54:36.040
<v Speaker 1>think that just you know, all come upon me at

0:54:36.040 --> 0:54:39.239
<v Speaker 1>one time, and yeah, that was probably the saddest time

0:54:39.400 --> 0:54:42.000
<v Speaker 1>I'd ever been in my life. And I had to

0:54:42.040 --> 0:54:45.400
<v Speaker 1>find a new way to live, you know, find a

0:54:45.440 --> 0:54:47.719
<v Speaker 1>new reason to do things, like a new why. I

0:54:47.719 --> 0:54:49.759
<v Speaker 1>think the biggest thing in my life was why I

0:54:49.760 --> 0:54:51.520
<v Speaker 1>did things was to impress my mum or to help

0:54:51.520 --> 0:54:54.960
<v Speaker 1>her live a better life stay because he sacrificed so

0:54:55.040 --> 0:54:58.600
<v Speaker 1>much for us, as when will children. So my biggest goal,

0:54:58.640 --> 0:55:01.040
<v Speaker 1>on my biggest drive was to you know, to give

0:55:01.080 --> 0:55:02.799
<v Speaker 1>her and the rest of my family better life. So

0:55:03.480 --> 0:55:06.160
<v Speaker 1>that court sort of went out the window and you

0:55:06.280 --> 0:55:10.120
<v Speaker 1>had to find new reasons and new avenues to you know,

0:55:10.160 --> 0:55:12.600
<v Speaker 1>to keep myself motivated to do certain things, because sometimes

0:55:12.760 --> 0:55:14.480
<v Speaker 1>I wake up whether it was worth playing footy anymore,

0:55:14.480 --> 0:55:17.319
<v Speaker 1>whether it was whether it was worth doing what I do, like,

0:55:18.000 --> 0:55:19.680
<v Speaker 1>you know, what's what's what's the point of doing it

0:55:19.719 --> 0:55:21.840
<v Speaker 1>if if I haven't my mum there? But I had

0:55:21.840 --> 0:55:23.880
<v Speaker 1>to remember I still got siblings out there, and you

0:55:23.920 --> 0:55:26.680
<v Speaker 1>know they've got kids as well. So I guess now

0:55:26.880 --> 0:55:30.040
<v Speaker 1>nowadays it's just you know, reverted to doing it for them.

0:55:30.520 --> 0:55:32.799
<v Speaker 2>I saw your post on social media today Today would

0:55:32.840 --> 0:55:34.000
<v Speaker 2>have been her birthday, Is that right?

0:55:34.080 --> 0:55:38.440
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Mum's birthday today. Yeah, Mum's birthday. Yeah. It's always

0:55:38.440 --> 0:55:40.880
<v Speaker 1>a tough time. I think any masks or any milestones

0:55:40.880 --> 0:55:47.399
<v Speaker 1>in the calendar, birthdays Mother's Day, Christmas things like that, Yeah,

0:55:47.719 --> 0:55:50.000
<v Speaker 1>are a reminder, And the first few years was pretty tough.

0:55:50.080 --> 0:55:53.880
<v Speaker 1>It still is tough, but I've probably learned ways to

0:55:53.920 --> 0:55:55.640
<v Speaker 1>cope with it. Like I think the first two years,

0:55:55.719 --> 0:55:57.440
<v Speaker 1>I found I was so upset, Like I wouldn't go

0:55:57.480 --> 0:56:02.840
<v Speaker 1>to training sometimes on those days. But yeah, it doesn't

0:56:02.840 --> 0:56:05.200
<v Speaker 1>get any easier. You just find coping mechanisms to get

0:56:05.200 --> 0:56:05.719
<v Speaker 1>through the days.

0:56:05.800 --> 0:56:08.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, what are your coping mechanisms.

0:56:08.840 --> 0:56:11.319
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I kicked myself a lot, so I

0:56:11.400 --> 0:56:13.320
<v Speaker 1>just sit in the room and I just talk to myself.

0:56:13.320 --> 0:56:16.480
<v Speaker 1>I have a good relationship with my mirror. I do

0:56:16.560 --> 0:56:19.120
<v Speaker 1>the old mirror test and I talk to myself. Yeah,

0:56:19.560 --> 0:56:21.759
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I'll sit there. I don't like to

0:56:21.800 --> 0:56:23.840
<v Speaker 1>bring my stress on my problems on the others, Like

0:56:23.880 --> 0:56:27.000
<v Speaker 1>I'm one to help people. That's probably my biggest downfall.

0:56:27.040 --> 0:56:29.399
<v Speaker 1>I don't like. I don't open up too much because

0:56:29.440 --> 0:56:31.359
<v Speaker 1>I don't like to. I don't want to just because

0:56:31.360 --> 0:56:32.520
<v Speaker 1>I might be having a shit day. I don't want

0:56:32.480 --> 0:56:35.080
<v Speaker 1>to make someone else's day shit. So I'll just deal

0:56:35.080 --> 0:56:36.360
<v Speaker 1>with it, like I've learned to deal with stuff in

0:56:36.400 --> 0:56:39.680
<v Speaker 1>the past. Like I don't know. Everyone says you should

0:56:39.680 --> 0:56:41.919
<v Speaker 1>go and talk and do things and that. But I'm

0:56:41.920 --> 0:56:43.279
<v Speaker 1>not a big one for that. I'm more just you know,

0:56:44.000 --> 0:56:46.040
<v Speaker 1>yeah you're sad, but you still got two feet and

0:56:46.040 --> 0:56:48.239
<v Speaker 1>the heartbeat you live and like, oh, well, get over it,

0:56:48.360 --> 0:56:50.920
<v Speaker 1>move forward. Yeah. I know it's a bad mentality. I

0:56:50.920 --> 0:56:53.000
<v Speaker 1>go out there preaching, you know, open up, don't bottle

0:56:53.040 --> 0:56:56.280
<v Speaker 1>things up. But yeah, I'm a bit different. More differently.

0:56:58.160 --> 0:57:00.000
<v Speaker 2>You've got a shrine in your house for your mum,

0:57:00.080 --> 0:57:01.239
<v Speaker 2>don't attribute for your mum.

0:57:01.320 --> 0:57:02.640
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, as soon as you walk in, Yeah, as soon

0:57:02.640 --> 0:57:04.560
<v Speaker 1>as you walk in, there's a big shrine, just some

0:57:04.560 --> 0:57:08.360
<v Speaker 1>photos and flowers and whatnot, candles and that. Yeah. I

0:57:08.400 --> 0:57:11.000
<v Speaker 1>think for me, it's just a telling reminder when I

0:57:11.000 --> 0:57:12.920
<v Speaker 1>go home every day that like, like I said, I've

0:57:12.920 --> 0:57:15.600
<v Speaker 1>got a nice house and I'm not ashamed to say that,

0:57:15.640 --> 0:57:18.960
<v Speaker 1>but I think all the hard work and sacrifices she'd

0:57:19.000 --> 0:57:21.040
<v Speaker 1>made for us, I'm able to do that, and I'm

0:57:21.040 --> 0:57:23.880
<v Speaker 1>able to do the job I do every day. And

0:57:23.920 --> 0:57:25.680
<v Speaker 1>I think walking into that house every day, this just

0:57:25.720 --> 0:57:27.040
<v Speaker 1>reminds me and go, you know what, this is what

0:57:27.080 --> 0:57:28.640
<v Speaker 1>I'm doing it for. This is what I did it for,

0:57:30.240 --> 0:57:32.280
<v Speaker 1>and this is who I'm you know, who I am

0:57:32.360 --> 0:57:34.400
<v Speaker 1>and who I was always have been trying to make proud.

0:57:34.440 --> 0:57:37.280
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, there's no hiding. As soon as you open

0:57:37.320 --> 0:57:39.720
<v Speaker 1>the front door, straight there and you kind of you

0:57:39.800 --> 0:57:42.439
<v Speaker 1>got your head down because you're embarrassed or you're looking

0:57:42.480 --> 0:57:46.720
<v Speaker 1>at the pictures straight in the eye. So yeah, I enjoyed.

0:57:46.760 --> 0:57:47.720
<v Speaker 1>I enjoy having it right there.

0:57:48.800 --> 0:57:53.040
<v Speaker 2>That's beautiful. The next couple of years, I mean, you

0:57:53.080 --> 0:57:55.680
<v Speaker 2>talk about the losing ground final and everything you went

0:57:55.720 --> 0:57:57.600
<v Speaker 2>through there, but the next couple of years you're also

0:57:58.000 --> 0:58:01.800
<v Speaker 2>cop to acls and missed pretty much the best part

0:58:01.800 --> 0:58:04.920
<v Speaker 2>of the next few years. How hard was that to

0:58:05.240 --> 0:58:06.560
<v Speaker 2>navigate your way through?

0:58:07.360 --> 0:58:10.400
<v Speaker 1>I see, were hard. I think just compounded, you know,

0:58:10.520 --> 0:58:13.880
<v Speaker 1>exacerbated by what had happened, you know, the previous years.

0:58:14.000 --> 0:58:16.120
<v Speaker 1>You know, the first one was was sad and I

0:58:16.160 --> 0:58:18.800
<v Speaker 1>was upset, But the second one that hit home, I

0:58:18.840 --> 0:58:20.880
<v Speaker 1>was like, man, I've done one I've ever done too,

0:58:21.000 --> 0:58:24.040
<v Speaker 1>But no perspective. I always say it. People probably sick

0:58:24.080 --> 0:58:25.600
<v Speaker 1>of me saying it. Perspective has been a bigger one

0:58:25.600 --> 0:58:27.800
<v Speaker 1>for me. Like I've always put things into perspective and

0:58:28.480 --> 0:58:30.880
<v Speaker 1>know that there is a worst life out there, and

0:58:31.040 --> 0:58:32.760
<v Speaker 1>I think that's why I traveled to certain places like

0:58:32.760 --> 0:58:35.520
<v Speaker 1>like I said, I lived in some dodgy areas. I've

0:58:35.520 --> 0:58:38.000
<v Speaker 1>done some things where I've been able to see people

0:58:38.040 --> 0:58:41.360
<v Speaker 1>living a pretty hard life, and I revert back to

0:58:41.400 --> 0:58:43.720
<v Speaker 1>seeing that, you know, my village last style and people

0:58:43.800 --> 0:58:46.440
<v Speaker 1>got nothing, people struggling that, but they still find a

0:58:46.440 --> 0:58:49.280
<v Speaker 1>way to get through. And oh well, and there's no

0:58:49.280 --> 0:58:50.760
<v Speaker 1>one to blame for my knees. And like someone's come

0:58:50.800 --> 0:58:52.280
<v Speaker 1>and run me over in a car crash or anything

0:58:52.280 --> 0:58:54.400
<v Speaker 1>like that, Like I've jumped up and not been able

0:58:54.400 --> 0:58:55.919
<v Speaker 1>to land. Probably his my own fault, so I can't

0:58:55.920 --> 0:58:57.920
<v Speaker 1>blame anyone, like I didn't do no one else did

0:58:57.960 --> 0:59:00.240
<v Speaker 1>my need to me. But you yeah, well I'd got

0:59:00.320 --> 0:59:03.520
<v Speaker 1>to learn a land better, so I yeah, it's not

0:59:03.560 --> 0:59:05.120
<v Speaker 1>the worst thing. Like people will talk about how hard

0:59:05.120 --> 0:59:06.480
<v Speaker 1>it is and what not. Yeah, it is hard, and

0:59:06.880 --> 0:59:09.200
<v Speaker 1>there is a long journey back, but it's just the

0:59:09.240 --> 0:59:11.440
<v Speaker 1>patience of the whole thing, Like it's a year long injury.

0:59:12.600 --> 0:59:15.800
<v Speaker 1>The patience and finding things to keep your brain occupied

0:59:16.840 --> 0:59:19.160
<v Speaker 1>was probably the hardest part. But like I said, I

0:59:19.160 --> 0:59:21.280
<v Speaker 1>wasn't dead. I'm still living, so still living and breathing.

0:59:21.360 --> 0:59:24.240
<v Speaker 1>Like you can't cry about it, Like, well you can

0:59:24.320 --> 0:59:26.040
<v Speaker 1>cry about it, but don't cry for nothing. Cry and

0:59:26.040 --> 0:59:28.240
<v Speaker 1>get something out of it's my biggest thing. Like it

0:59:28.320 --> 0:59:31.680
<v Speaker 1>was tough, but it's just a knee, Like, oh, well,

0:59:31.880 --> 0:59:32.440
<v Speaker 1>get over it.

0:59:32.960 --> 0:59:34.880
<v Speaker 2>Were there any moments where you caught yourself and went

0:59:34.960 --> 0:59:36.320
<v Speaker 2>this is this is crap?

0:59:36.560 --> 0:59:38.240
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, when you got to crawl, when you got

0:59:38.240 --> 0:59:39.560
<v Speaker 1>to plan out your day on how you're going to

0:59:39.560 --> 0:59:40.800
<v Speaker 1>get to the toilet or how you're going to shower

0:59:40.800 --> 0:59:42.800
<v Speaker 1>because you've got to crawl around the house to get

0:59:42.840 --> 0:59:44.360
<v Speaker 1>to the frigi or things like that. Like I couldn't

0:59:44.360 --> 0:59:45.880
<v Speaker 1>walk because they took my hamstring out of my other

0:59:45.960 --> 0:59:48.680
<v Speaker 1>leg as well. So when you're crawling and you feel

0:59:48.680 --> 0:59:51.080
<v Speaker 1>like you're in the army and you're trying to get somewhere,

0:59:51.360 --> 0:59:54.640
<v Speaker 1>I'll never forget this. I feel weird sharing this, but

0:59:54.680 --> 0:59:56.960
<v Speaker 1>my uncle had just moved back from the Netherlands to

0:59:57.000 --> 0:59:59.920
<v Speaker 1>Perth and he's got a Dutch wife and she's the

1:00:00.120 --> 1:00:01.480
<v Speaker 1>make fresh bread all the time. And him and his

1:00:01.520 --> 1:00:04.320
<v Speaker 1>wife would come around and they used to bring me

1:00:04.360 --> 1:00:06.880
<v Speaker 1>food like bread every couple of days or things like that,

1:00:06.960 --> 1:00:10.000
<v Speaker 1>and they gave him a spare key, or they took

1:00:10.040 --> 1:00:13.360
<v Speaker 1>the spare key from the front. Didn't life anyway, I

1:00:13.400 --> 1:00:16.000
<v Speaker 1>had this. I had a process, like my bathroom downstairs

1:00:16.080 --> 1:00:19.480
<v Speaker 1>is about thirty meters away, and I had a process

1:00:19.480 --> 1:00:21.760
<v Speaker 1>where I'd leave my clothes next to them where I

1:00:21.760 --> 1:00:23.680
<v Speaker 1>slept in the lund room because I couldn't get upstairs,

1:00:24.520 --> 1:00:26.840
<v Speaker 1>and then I'd crawl all the way to the shower.

1:00:27.360 --> 1:00:28.920
<v Speaker 1>It's a lot. It was like a two hour process.

1:00:28.960 --> 1:00:31.000
<v Speaker 1>Have a shower laying down. I've got one of those

1:00:31.040 --> 1:00:33.800
<v Speaker 1>showers we can take the head off it and wash yourself.

1:00:34.040 --> 1:00:36.640
<v Speaker 1>And then I'd have to crawl back, like in the nude,

1:00:36.680 --> 1:00:39.320
<v Speaker 1>across back the kitchen floor, all the way back to

1:00:39.360 --> 1:00:41.160
<v Speaker 1>the laundry to get changed. And it took so long.

1:00:41.440 --> 1:00:43.280
<v Speaker 1>And I remember just this is where I felt that

1:00:43.320 --> 1:00:45.760
<v Speaker 1>the lowers the lows. I just hit this Dutch voice

1:00:45.800 --> 1:00:48.840
<v Speaker 1>at the door going hello, Nick, I watch your bread,

1:00:48.880 --> 1:00:50.720
<v Speaker 1>and like, I don't even know that's actually talks. But

1:00:51.240 --> 1:00:53.680
<v Speaker 1>so my uncle and his wife were out the front door,

1:00:53.680 --> 1:00:56.760
<v Speaker 1>and all I could hear was the key like opening,

1:00:57.000 --> 1:00:59.600
<v Speaker 1>and I'm laying there naked, half crawling across the floor

1:00:59.600 --> 1:01:02.240
<v Speaker 1>trying to get back, and I'm like, no, not come

1:01:02.320 --> 1:01:04.280
<v Speaker 1>in here. I've never felt like the biggest piece of

1:01:04.320 --> 1:01:06.760
<v Speaker 1>shit in my life. I was like, I didn't want

1:01:06.760 --> 1:01:08.640
<v Speaker 1>to see them. I didn't want them seeing me at

1:01:08.680 --> 1:01:11.400
<v Speaker 1>my at my worst, and yeah, you know, like have

1:01:11.440 --> 1:01:13.600
<v Speaker 1>you seen everybody loves Raymond? You know how? You know

1:01:13.640 --> 1:01:15.600
<v Speaker 1>how the guys kind of is it. Frank and Marina,

1:01:15.760 --> 1:01:18.120
<v Speaker 1>the dad and the mom had to come over and

1:01:18.720 --> 1:01:20.360
<v Speaker 1>they like, he has to dive across and turn the

1:01:20.440 --> 1:01:21.960
<v Speaker 1>music off and get to the front door. And then

1:01:22.240 --> 1:01:24.400
<v Speaker 1>at the end they just put their hands through into that.

1:01:24.400 --> 1:01:25.960
<v Speaker 1>That's pretty much what happened. They opened the door and

1:01:26.760 --> 1:01:28.080
<v Speaker 1>let's just so it was a pretty sight.

1:01:28.920 --> 1:01:31.560
<v Speaker 2>So they did find you there, they did, but I just.

1:01:31.560 --> 1:01:37.640
<v Speaker 1>Had to roll over and yeah, oh yeah, it wasn't great.

1:01:37.640 --> 1:01:39.720
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't great. But that's probably the hardest part, not

1:01:39.760 --> 1:01:41.680
<v Speaker 1>being able to do things I really wanted to do.

1:01:41.720 --> 1:01:44.600
<v Speaker 1>And I hate just sitting still. Sometimes I like to

1:01:44.640 --> 1:01:46.320
<v Speaker 1>go and do things, even if it's just mop the

1:01:46.360 --> 1:01:49.280
<v Speaker 1>floors to do something. I hate being vulnerable. I hate

1:01:49.280 --> 1:01:51.960
<v Speaker 1>being vulnerable. So to someone for someone to see me

1:01:52.000 --> 1:01:52.960
<v Speaker 1>at that point in my.

1:01:52.920 --> 1:01:55.840
<v Speaker 2>Life was how did they react.

1:01:56.880 --> 1:01:58.720
<v Speaker 1>I was just pissed off that they took my spare key.

1:01:58.760 --> 1:02:00.840
<v Speaker 1>I was like, gave you the right And when I'm

1:02:00.880 --> 1:02:03.439
<v Speaker 1>screaming no, don't still open the door like it's fair.

1:02:03.480 --> 1:02:06.520
<v Speaker 1>Gol Any want their bread. I don't even like bread anyway.

1:02:07.720 --> 1:02:10.560
<v Speaker 2>I shouldn't be laughing because the.

1:02:10.440 --> 1:02:12.920
<v Speaker 1>Hardest times in my life that you're laughing, like you're

1:02:12.920 --> 1:02:14.880
<v Speaker 1>just a little throwaway anyway.

1:02:15.120 --> 1:02:16.919
<v Speaker 2>Of all the stories you've told me over the years,

1:02:16.920 --> 1:02:18.520
<v Speaker 2>you've never told me that one before.

1:02:18.560 --> 1:02:20.240
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a story I really want to tell.

1:02:20.760 --> 1:02:26.560
<v Speaker 1>I've had some bad situations. I'm not going to go anymore.

1:02:26.640 --> 1:02:27.840
<v Speaker 1>There we go, yep, perfect.

1:02:29.320 --> 1:02:32.880
<v Speaker 2>So you end up working your ass off, let's be honest,

1:02:33.240 --> 1:02:36.960
<v Speaker 2>and you make it through to another Grand Final in

1:02:37.240 --> 1:02:41.120
<v Speaker 2>twenty eighteen and you're not out there because you've done

1:02:41.120 --> 1:02:45.560
<v Speaker 2>your a cl that second time. How hard was that

1:02:45.760 --> 1:02:49.480
<v Speaker 2>watching that Grand Final when the boys you've worked so

1:02:49.560 --> 1:02:51.280
<v Speaker 2>hard with are in it and you're not.

1:02:52.000 --> 1:02:55.840
<v Speaker 1>That was tough. That was really tough because, yeah, if

1:02:55.880 --> 1:02:57.160
<v Speaker 1>you gave me a couple more months, I would have

1:02:57.160 --> 1:02:59.600
<v Speaker 1>been able to play. I reckon. So knowing that, like

1:02:59.640 --> 1:03:01.520
<v Speaker 1>if I just freshly done it, I would have been

1:03:01.600 --> 1:03:04.160
<v Speaker 1>like fair enough. But because I knew I was still

1:03:04.200 --> 1:03:05.600
<v Speaker 1>half a chance, I was aming an R and going

1:03:05.600 --> 1:03:07.440
<v Speaker 1>I wonder if they let them play. Yeah, So that

1:03:07.520 --> 1:03:09.200
<v Speaker 1>was hard. But I had a coaching role at the time,

1:03:09.280 --> 1:03:11.920
<v Speaker 1>so it wasn't too bad. But also there was guys

1:03:11.920 --> 1:03:14.200
<v Speaker 1>around my age group who missed out as well. So

1:03:14.840 --> 1:03:17.560
<v Speaker 1>Eric McKenzie was one, he'd been there for ten plus years.

1:03:17.680 --> 1:03:20.040
<v Speaker 1>Andrew Gaff was the same, and Brad Shepard. There's a

1:03:20.040 --> 1:03:22.680
<v Speaker 1>lot of other guys, but those key guys in particular

1:03:22.720 --> 1:03:25.320
<v Speaker 1>had been around for, you know, the majority of my

1:03:25.360 --> 1:03:28.640
<v Speaker 1>footy career. So to have other guys around you going

1:03:28.640 --> 1:03:30.360
<v Speaker 1>through the same thing, you could almost lean on each

1:03:30.360 --> 1:03:34.000
<v Speaker 1>other and be upset. But yeah, it was tough. It

1:03:34.040 --> 1:03:36.720
<v Speaker 1>was tough to watch. I remember I was happy when

1:03:36.720 --> 1:03:39.040
<v Speaker 1>the boys won it, like I was really really happy,

1:03:39.200 --> 1:03:40.840
<v Speaker 1>but had a little cry, had a little cry and

1:03:40.880 --> 1:03:43.640
<v Speaker 1>the change ms of my own in the corner. I

1:03:43.640 --> 1:03:45.520
<v Speaker 1>remember one of our physios. She probably doesn't know this,

1:03:45.560 --> 1:03:47.880
<v Speaker 1>but she came across and I was putting my suit

1:03:47.920 --> 1:03:49.680
<v Speaker 1>on and I was putting my jacket on, and I

1:03:49.760 --> 1:03:51.720
<v Speaker 1>was crying facing the wall, and we all had given

1:03:51.720 --> 1:03:54.760
<v Speaker 1>this big bottle of champagne, and she came in to

1:03:54.800 --> 1:03:56.880
<v Speaker 1>ask me if I needed anything, and I was crying

1:03:56.920 --> 1:03:58.680
<v Speaker 1>so much, but I didn't want her to see me

1:03:58.680 --> 1:04:01.240
<v Speaker 1>crying because I hate people seeing me weak, so it's

1:04:01.240 --> 1:04:03.800
<v Speaker 1>not weak to crist just to everyone knows. I don't

1:04:03.840 --> 1:04:07.040
<v Speaker 1>like people seeing me cry sometimes, so I like, I

1:04:07.120 --> 1:04:09.600
<v Speaker 1>like shook the bottle of champagne and try to scull it,

1:04:09.840 --> 1:04:11.880
<v Speaker 1>so then it like frosted my mouth and my nose

1:04:11.920 --> 1:04:13.920
<v Speaker 1>and made my eyes tearing, and I was like, oh, sorry,

1:04:13.920 --> 1:04:16.440
<v Speaker 1>so I just drank champagne because she thought my eyes

1:04:16.480 --> 1:04:18.120
<v Speaker 1>are watering because of the champagne. But really I was

1:04:18.120 --> 1:04:20.200
<v Speaker 1>crying because I didn't win the game final. But I

1:04:20.320 --> 1:04:23.520
<v Speaker 1>moved on. I learned, like I find myself going to

1:04:23.640 --> 1:04:26.080
<v Speaker 1>and from So after the Grand Fire and the boys

1:04:26.080 --> 1:04:27.680
<v Speaker 1>were on stage, I went out there with Brad Shepherd

1:04:27.720 --> 1:04:30.040
<v Speaker 1>and sat in the oval. It was it was pitch black.

1:04:30.080 --> 1:04:31.280
<v Speaker 1>No one else was out there. They were all getting

1:04:31.320 --> 1:04:33.920
<v Speaker 1>on stage getting presented. I don't know what they were doing.

1:04:33.960 --> 1:04:36.280
<v Speaker 1>They'd already get their trophies and their medals and whatnot.

1:04:37.080 --> 1:04:38.520
<v Speaker 1>And I just felt like jumping on one of those

1:04:38.520 --> 1:04:40.400
<v Speaker 1>fireworks and just been like, you know what, blow me up.

1:04:40.480 --> 1:04:42.400
<v Speaker 1>I don't care. I'm done with this dumb footy. Like

1:04:42.880 --> 1:04:45.480
<v Speaker 1>it was a tough time, but I don't know perspective.

1:04:45.560 --> 1:04:47.080
<v Speaker 1>I think that's the biggest thing, Like, yeah, I didn't

1:04:47.080 --> 1:04:50.560
<v Speaker 1>win it, but well you hurt yourself so too bad. Like, yes,

1:04:50.600 --> 1:04:52.120
<v Speaker 1>it is the biggest thing, but sometimes it's not the

1:04:52.160 --> 1:04:56.200
<v Speaker 1>biggest thing. And I think it also helps drive me

1:04:56.280 --> 1:04:58.840
<v Speaker 1>to get better and you know, want to win one.

1:04:58.920 --> 1:05:03.360
<v Speaker 1>So everyone else's got different answers on that part of things,

1:05:03.400 --> 1:05:06.920
<v Speaker 1>But for me, I don't know. Yeah I lost, but

1:05:07.040 --> 1:05:09.280
<v Speaker 1>did I die? I know. Look, me and little Shad

1:05:09.320 --> 1:05:10.640
<v Speaker 1>I used to always say that to each other, but

1:05:10.720 --> 1:05:13.840
<v Speaker 1>did you die? And I think that's as stupid as

1:05:13.920 --> 1:05:17.200
<v Speaker 1>that sounds. That's kept me mentally saying and got me

1:05:17.200 --> 1:05:19.360
<v Speaker 1>through some of those tough times because no, I didn't die.

1:05:19.440 --> 1:05:23.320
<v Speaker 1>Yes I lost, but everyone loses in life. Just don't

1:05:23.400 --> 1:05:26.040
<v Speaker 1>keep losing. Yeah, it was tough, and the boys joke

1:05:26.080 --> 1:05:27.440
<v Speaker 1>about it all the time. I used to get jealous.

1:05:27.440 --> 1:05:29.400
<v Speaker 1>I get jealous of everyone's a little well. I got

1:05:29.440 --> 1:05:30.880
<v Speaker 1>my mate to come and tatoo all the boys at

1:05:30.880 --> 1:05:33.600
<v Speaker 1>my house, all the little premiership tatoos on their angles

1:05:33.600 --> 1:05:36.480
<v Speaker 1>and whatnot. That was hard to watch, but same time

1:05:36.520 --> 1:05:38.000
<v Speaker 1>I was happy for him. They did all the hard work.

1:05:39.200 --> 1:05:40.760
<v Speaker 1>I'd probably a little bit grumpy with some of the

1:05:40.800 --> 1:05:42.840
<v Speaker 1>young boys at one one because I was like, you

1:05:42.880 --> 1:05:44.560
<v Speaker 1>guys have been here like one year or something, and

1:05:44.600 --> 1:05:46.960
<v Speaker 1>you've already got a premiership. But you know, there's some

1:05:47.040 --> 1:05:49.240
<v Speaker 1>great players who've gone through in the past and never

1:05:49.240 --> 1:05:51.800
<v Speaker 1>won one, and they've been there for fifteen or so years.

1:05:51.840 --> 1:05:56.200
<v Speaker 1>So sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you make your own luck.

1:05:56.240 --> 1:05:59.160
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I did my a cl No one did

1:05:59.160 --> 1:06:03.360
<v Speaker 1>it to me. Does it drive you, Yeah, definitely, Yeah,

1:06:03.360 --> 1:06:05.480
<v Speaker 1>it drives me every single day I got to training. Yeah,

1:06:05.760 --> 1:06:08.840
<v Speaker 1>otherwise I reckon I would have given it up by now. Yeah, yep.

1:06:09.160 --> 1:06:10.520
<v Speaker 2>If you won that flag year old, oh.

1:06:10.680 --> 1:06:12.120
<v Speaker 1>No, I think I would be hungry for another one.

1:06:12.120 --> 1:06:15.960
<v Speaker 1>I like, but I just probably would have been a

1:06:15.960 --> 1:06:18.080
<v Speaker 1>bit slower with getting the training. I think I wouldn't

1:06:18.120 --> 1:06:20.400
<v Speaker 1>be as I wouldn't be as punctured, would not I

1:06:20.440 --> 1:06:23.480
<v Speaker 1>still be punctured in saying that I was late to

1:06:23.520 --> 1:06:24.200
<v Speaker 1>hear that you were.

1:06:24.240 --> 1:06:26.000
<v Speaker 2>I was going to say that earlier the phone call.

1:06:26.040 --> 1:06:27.520
<v Speaker 1>I was in the driver, I was here. I was

1:06:27.560 --> 1:06:31.280
<v Speaker 1>just on my phone dealing with outside problems, school books

1:06:31.320 --> 1:06:33.360
<v Speaker 1>for the children. Appreciate holding my hand.

1:06:34.120 --> 1:06:38.439
<v Speaker 2>So after everything you've been through, there's I mean, there's

1:06:38.480 --> 1:06:41.720
<v Speaker 2>so much there. How much did it mean to you

1:06:42.080 --> 1:06:44.800
<v Speaker 2>that last year when COVID is happening and you're in

1:06:44.840 --> 1:06:49.760
<v Speaker 2>a bubble and thirty years of age that you managed

1:06:49.800 --> 1:06:51.600
<v Speaker 2>to play some of your best foot and win the

1:06:51.640 --> 1:06:54.880
<v Speaker 2>club BNF. How much did that mean to you? Given everything?

1:06:56.040 --> 1:06:58.520
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I think, big, bigger pitcher. It probably just I

1:06:58.520 --> 1:06:59.960
<v Speaker 1>think I was set up for COVID, like I was

1:07:00.640 --> 1:07:03.840
<v Speaker 1>prepared mentally and physically for COVID because I'd been through

1:07:03.840 --> 1:07:05.800
<v Speaker 1>some stuff, like I'd seen some shit in the past,

1:07:05.800 --> 1:07:08.640
<v Speaker 1>like I've done done the time and seen things. And

1:07:08.800 --> 1:07:11.240
<v Speaker 1>I think a COVID year was, like I said it was,

1:07:11.360 --> 1:07:13.560
<v Speaker 1>it was the norm to me, so it was something

1:07:13.600 --> 1:07:16.680
<v Speaker 1>I was comfortable with. Win in the BNF was a

1:07:16.680 --> 1:07:19.400
<v Speaker 1>good way to I guess, top off the year, and

1:07:19.520 --> 1:07:21.480
<v Speaker 1>you know, it was a good little accolade to have,

1:07:21.840 --> 1:07:23.280
<v Speaker 1>you know when I will be to look back on

1:07:23.520 --> 1:07:26.080
<v Speaker 1>at the end of my career. But I don't know.

1:07:26.120 --> 1:07:28.080
<v Speaker 1>I don't really get too fussy about those sort of things,

1:07:28.080 --> 1:07:29.600
<v Speaker 1>like if I want to, yes, it's great to have

1:07:29.640 --> 1:07:31.800
<v Speaker 1>as a good honor, But at the same time, if

1:07:31.840 --> 1:07:33.960
<v Speaker 1>I lost it or someone else wanted, I'd be just

1:07:34.000 --> 1:07:37.240
<v Speaker 1>as happy for them. So I was just happy to

1:07:37.240 --> 1:07:39.040
<v Speaker 1>be paying footy, like I think I found myself at

1:07:39.080 --> 1:07:42.280
<v Speaker 1>times winging about, you know, being in a harbor and

1:07:42.320 --> 1:07:43.640
<v Speaker 1>doing things. But then you look back and go, you

1:07:43.720 --> 1:07:46.040
<v Speaker 1>know what, we're the only ones traveling at the moment.

1:07:46.040 --> 1:07:47.720
<v Speaker 1>We're in the Gold Coast. Everyone else is stuck in

1:07:47.920 --> 1:07:51.440
<v Speaker 1>w A. We're staying in a fancy golf resort. We

1:07:51.520 --> 1:07:53.000
<v Speaker 1>get to go to the beach like we're in the

1:07:53.000 --> 1:07:55.720
<v Speaker 1>Gold Coast. Like it's we're getting fed. Get we still

1:07:55.720 --> 1:07:57.720
<v Speaker 1>have a job, Like we still we're still getting paid

1:07:57.720 --> 1:07:59.120
<v Speaker 1>them up be only half the pay, but we're still

1:07:59.160 --> 1:08:02.360
<v Speaker 1>getting paid something. And we're kicking the ball around. Like yeah,

1:08:02.360 --> 1:08:06.160
<v Speaker 1>it is tough in certain aspects, but not the worst thing.

1:08:06.280 --> 1:08:09.200
<v Speaker 1>Like we're still living our living our lives over here,

1:08:09.280 --> 1:08:11.920
<v Speaker 1>so and people were dying around the world. I think

1:08:11.960 --> 1:08:15.600
<v Speaker 1>that's probably what, you know, probably capped off my ear

1:08:15.600 --> 1:08:17.920
<v Speaker 1>and made me really knuckle down and go, you know what,

1:08:18.280 --> 1:08:20.439
<v Speaker 1>concentrate your footy because you're one of the lucky few

1:08:20.600 --> 1:08:22.680
<v Speaker 1>still get to do their job. So I think that

1:08:22.760 --> 1:08:26.080
<v Speaker 1>helped me play some consistent footy and my body felt good,

1:08:26.080 --> 1:08:29.240
<v Speaker 1>My body felt right, And yeah, it's probably a testament

1:08:29.280 --> 1:08:31.880
<v Speaker 1>to medical team because they managed me and looked after

1:08:31.920 --> 1:08:35.920
<v Speaker 1>me really well throughout the year. But still chasing that

1:08:35.960 --> 1:08:39.519
<v Speaker 1>elusive Grand Final win. So yes, it was nice to

1:08:39.560 --> 1:08:42.880
<v Speaker 1>get the best and fairest, but I'd rather the other

1:08:42.920 --> 1:08:46.960
<v Speaker 1>metal around my neck. Yeah, hopefully one day, hopefully this year.

1:08:47.160 --> 1:08:49.320
<v Speaker 1>What would it mean, I mean the world to me.

1:08:49.439 --> 1:08:52.559
<v Speaker 1>Top It'd a cap off everything. I think it'd make

1:08:52.640 --> 1:08:55.559
<v Speaker 1>all the you know I think about the keep reverting

1:08:55.560 --> 1:08:57.599
<v Speaker 1>back to these bus schedules and bus time tables. But

1:08:57.840 --> 1:09:00.080
<v Speaker 1>it'll make all those trips late at night, the training,

1:09:00.120 --> 1:09:01.880
<v Speaker 1>all those extra things I've had to do, all those

1:09:02.280 --> 1:09:05.120
<v Speaker 1>times I've had to argue with my mum for footy

1:09:05.160 --> 1:09:07.840
<v Speaker 1>fees or the reasoning why football is going to pay

1:09:07.840 --> 1:09:10.599
<v Speaker 1>off when I'm an older person, which was the hardest

1:09:10.600 --> 1:09:12.360
<v Speaker 1>thing of it. I always hear Basha Hoully talk about

1:09:12.400 --> 1:09:14.320
<v Speaker 1>with having a sneak out to play footy because his

1:09:14.360 --> 1:09:16.439
<v Speaker 1>parents never agree with it. I was in the same boat,

1:09:16.560 --> 1:09:18.160
<v Speaker 1>like my mom was like I bring you to this

1:09:18.200 --> 1:09:20.800
<v Speaker 1>country and you want to and you want to play

1:09:20.800 --> 1:09:23.519
<v Speaker 1>this stupid game, Like go and get a real job,

1:09:23.600 --> 1:09:25.360
<v Speaker 1>be a doctor, do something like that. But then you

1:09:25.400 --> 1:09:28.520
<v Speaker 1>slowly realize how good footy is and you know, networking

1:09:29.000 --> 1:09:30.840
<v Speaker 1>and bringing good things so not only yourself but to

1:09:30.880 --> 1:09:33.400
<v Speaker 1>your family as well. And I think all those hardships

1:09:33.439 --> 1:09:38.200
<v Speaker 1>and all those tough times, having a Premiership medal will

1:09:38.240 --> 1:09:39.120
<v Speaker 1>make it all worthwhile.

1:09:40.160 --> 1:09:43.400
<v Speaker 2>And just finally, you spoke at the very beginning about

1:09:43.680 --> 1:09:46.720
<v Speaker 2>growing up and not seeing anyone like you playing the

1:09:46.760 --> 1:09:49.639
<v Speaker 2>game that you've turned out to love. How much does

1:09:49.640 --> 1:09:53.080
<v Speaker 2>it mean to you to know that Now little kids

1:09:53.080 --> 1:09:55.240
<v Speaker 2>that look like you get to see you and know

1:09:55.320 --> 1:09:56.000
<v Speaker 2>it's possible.

1:09:56.120 --> 1:09:58.640
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's good, Like I think it's amazing, Like, oh,

1:09:59.280 --> 1:10:01.280
<v Speaker 1>like I always get the odd football that comes up

1:10:01.320 --> 1:10:03.160
<v Speaker 1>and says, you know, what, you inspire me to play footy.

1:10:04.200 --> 1:10:05.760
<v Speaker 1>You know, some of these kids that I play with now,

1:10:06.400 --> 1:10:08.479
<v Speaker 1>I went and visited them at school and spoke to them,

1:10:08.640 --> 1:10:11.040
<v Speaker 1>like some of my teammates now, I've got photos with

1:10:11.080 --> 1:10:12.680
<v Speaker 1>them when they were in primary school and I was

1:10:13.000 --> 1:10:14.920
<v Speaker 1>just starting out my footy career at West Coast and

1:10:15.320 --> 1:10:16.439
<v Speaker 1>you know, they were like, oh, I wanted to be

1:10:16.520 --> 1:10:19.040
<v Speaker 1>rockman like you. And then I see the multicultural kids

1:10:19.080 --> 1:10:22.760
<v Speaker 1>come through and you know, and they've you know, drawn

1:10:22.800 --> 1:10:25.839
<v Speaker 1>from my story what they can and made their own pathway.

1:10:25.920 --> 1:10:28.439
<v Speaker 1>So that's always inspiring. And I think the biggest thing

1:10:28.439 --> 1:10:29.920
<v Speaker 1>I know, it's got me in trouble, it's gotten people

1:10:29.920 --> 1:10:32.240
<v Speaker 1>in trouble over the years. But book week, like, when

1:10:32.240 --> 1:10:35.519
<v Speaker 1>I see kids dress up like me in the right manner,

1:10:35.960 --> 1:10:38.400
<v Speaker 1>it's always a humbling experience.

1:10:38.439 --> 1:10:38.600
<v Speaker 2>You go.

1:10:38.680 --> 1:10:41.439
<v Speaker 1>You know, they could dress up as Superman or Batman

1:10:41.560 --> 1:10:44.120
<v Speaker 1>or a Fortnite character or something like that, but they

1:10:44.240 --> 1:10:48.000
<v Speaker 1>choose to dress up like Nick Knat Like. It's yeah.

1:10:48.400 --> 1:10:50.240
<v Speaker 1>Never in my wilder streams I would have imagined that

1:10:50.280 --> 1:10:53.639
<v Speaker 1>and envisioned that. So yeah, I'm so glad that I've

1:10:53.800 --> 1:10:56.639
<v Speaker 1>been able to have the career I've had this far.

1:10:57.520 --> 1:10:59.000
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if I've got a right to say this,

1:10:59.040 --> 1:11:00.800
<v Speaker 2>but I'm bloody proud of you, having seen it from

1:11:00.800 --> 1:11:04.360
<v Speaker 2>the very beginning. I think you've become such a great

1:11:04.400 --> 1:11:06.920
<v Speaker 2>bloke and I'm very privileged to say a good mate,

1:11:07.000 --> 1:11:09.840
<v Speaker 2>and I really appreciate everything that you've said today, but

1:11:10.280 --> 1:11:13.559
<v Speaker 2>also our chats over the years, I've appreciated it. So

1:11:13.760 --> 1:11:16.320
<v Speaker 2>I really do hope, even as a Freemantle supporter, you

1:11:16.400 --> 1:11:17.200
<v Speaker 2>do get that flat.

1:11:17.960 --> 1:11:19.240
<v Speaker 1>Thank you very much, Thank you.

1:11:23.880 --> 1:11:29.080
<v Speaker 2>Time, Thanks for listening to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking.

1:11:29.200 --> 1:11:32.799
<v Speaker 2>Another episode will drop on Wednesday. If you liked thisp

1:11:32.840 --> 1:11:35.040
<v Speaker 2>with Nick, you may also enjoy the chat with Adam

1:11:35.080 --> 1:11:38.280
<v Speaker 2>true Law from season one. Check it out Don't Forget.

1:11:38.400 --> 1:11:42.320
<v Speaker 2>If you like the podcast, hit subscribe, follow at Ordinarily

1:11:42.439 --> 1:11:48.000
<v Speaker 2>Underscore Speaking on Instagram and at Narrowly Underscore Meadows on Twitter,

1:11:48.280 --> 1:11:51.519
<v Speaker 2>and tell your mates. And thanks again to musician Woody

1:11:51.560 --> 1:11:53.880
<v Speaker 2>Pitney for his track love Me Like You Want to

1:11:53.880 --> 1:11:59.280
<v Speaker 2>Be Loved.

1:12:00.560 --> 1:12:05.680
<v Speaker 1>Tell me that you want a meld. Just end me

1:12:05.760 --> 1:12:11.320
<v Speaker 1>like you wanna mead because I'm competraet the fire and

1:12:11.560 --> 1:12:16.439
<v Speaker 1>the end me like you Water Mead