Speaker 1: Christ Yeah, welcome friends to the Christian O'Connell Show podcast.
Speaker 1: Shawan is on the Line. I saw your new documentary
Speaker 1: out on Amazon Prime today so over the weekend, and
Speaker 1: I loved it. I thought it was brilliant.
Speaker 2: No, thanks very much, mate, I appreciate that. It's some
Speaker 2: of the stuff we visited and talked about and was
Speaker 2: thirty years ago. Some of it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 2: It was a long time. Some of it was pretty brutal.
Speaker 2: But I think it's my journey. I've been in the
Speaker 2: public eye for the last thirty two years, so my
Speaker 2: journey's been a long one and it's still going. Made
Speaker 2: plenty of mistakes, I've had some great times along that way,
Speaker 2: played a near of Australian cricket that was the best
Speaker 2: in the world. So yeah, look, I think the right
Speaker 2: time to do something like this now that my children
Speaker 2: are older, you know, turning twenty five, twenty three, and
Speaker 2: twenty one, so it means I'm old too. But look,
Speaker 2: it was an interesting process to do and I'm you know,
Speaker 2: the feedback I'm getting has been pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: I was really surprised by it, Shane. I've got to
Speaker 1: be honest, and I think a lot of people if
Speaker 1: they're really honest. I was expecting a kind of brash,
Speaker 1: sort of greatest hits, because you've had an amazing career.
Speaker 1: You are one of the greats. You'd always go down
Speaker 1: as that, And there was that, but there was way more.
Speaker 1: I found it quite surprising. You're a lot more open
Speaker 1: and honest than I thought you would be about all
Speaker 1: of it, not just the successes, but the bits where
Speaker 1: and you're right, it happens when you get to sort
Speaker 1: of look back at your life and you can join
Speaker 1: the dots, and I think you can take You can
Speaker 1: be not just honest and sort of having a go
Speaker 1: at yourself, but also talk about regret in a better way,
Speaker 1: and the chance for heeding. Your relationship with your kids
Speaker 1: went from obviously really bad it could be any worse,
Speaker 1: to now you can clearly see the love that you
Speaker 1: still have for them and the love they have for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look some of the you know, going through divorce
Speaker 2: is the hardest, even in private. It's a tough time
Speaker 2: for anyone that has to go through that, and it's
Speaker 2: a tough time for your children. For me, you know,
Speaker 2: when I was on all over the news and everyone
Speaker 2: wanted to judge me about it, and I wanted to
Speaker 2: comment about it and talk about it. It was on all
Speaker 2: the front page newspapers. Makes it a lot harder, you know.
Speaker 2: And that was seventeen years ago. People forget howpened. It's
Speaker 2: nearly twenty years ago, so to talk about that. And
Speaker 2: my relationship with the children has always been great. There's
Speaker 2: been a few times over the journey that have been
Speaker 2: disappointed in me. They've only ever seen me as dad
Speaker 2: and they want mum happy, they want dad happy, and
Speaker 2: we both are now. And there's been lots of tough
Speaker 2: chats that we've had in private with the children, and
Speaker 2: you know, it hasn't been easy at times, but at
Speaker 2: the moment and along that journey, it's always been about respect.
Speaker 2: And we've got an unbelievable relationship. You know, all my
Speaker 2: three children, I've got an unbelievable relationship. We have a
Speaker 2: lot of fun together.
Speaker 1: And what kind of dad? Are you right? Because I
Speaker 1: got daughters right, they're fifteen and seventeen, and I am
Speaker 1: terrible at saying no. I am an absolute pushover. I
Speaker 1: just lived to say yes right. Are you like that
Speaker 1: as well?
Speaker 2: I am?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's hard, isn't it. I think parenting, what our parents
Speaker 2: did to us, we don't want to do to our children.
Speaker 2: And I think, and I think it goes on like
Speaker 2: so when my children have children, they won't want to
Speaker 2: do some of the stuff that I did because I
Speaker 2: was so strict at times too. But as they've got older,
Speaker 2: I'm like, come on, I'll try to be really strict
Speaker 2: at times. And then I go, oh, yeah, okay. They
Speaker 2: come and see me and they go, oh dad, plea,
Speaker 2: ok yeah, okay, come on, just this one Stone tell
Speaker 2: the other two. So I'm a bit of a pushover. Yeah,
Speaker 2: But I look, being a parent is very rewarding. It's
Speaker 2: not easy. It's tough, especially being a single parent. It's
Speaker 2: not easy. But look, it's very rewarding. And having a
Speaker 2: great relationship with your children is very satisfying. And it's great.
Speaker 1: The bit where they're on the couch together, right and
Speaker 1: they're all talking about you being the dorky dad. It's
Speaker 1: lovely to see that, right because obviously when the door shuts,
Speaker 1: that's what all dads are. You're a dorky dad. And
Speaker 1: I noticed behind them, Shane, right, there's all these amazing games.
Speaker 1: Are those dairs?
Speaker 2: No, there I've got a.
Speaker 1: Yours.
Speaker 2: Yes, I've got a man cave, and I saw I couldn't.
Speaker 1: It distracted me. I paused it, and I was so
Speaker 1: jealous that I wondered whether it was theirs or yours?
Speaker 1: The amazing What have you got there?
Speaker 2: Well, I've got the old Space Invaders machine, which I
Speaker 2: think has got one hundred and something different games like
Speaker 2: a La Glaxicons, pac Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, So
Speaker 2: I've got one of them. And then I've got Lethal Weapon, Pinball,
Speaker 2: I've got Ninja Turtles. I've got a poker table, I've
Speaker 2: got a billiard table and all that it is. So
Speaker 2: we have a bit of fun up here, me and
Speaker 2: the kids.
Speaker 1: We've got your own basement RSL there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just need a few poking machines. But yeah,
Speaker 2: look it's a it's a great place just to hang private.
Speaker 2: My friends. We come and play. We have home games
Speaker 2: of poker here. My kids come and hang out here.
Speaker 2: There's some music up here. We've got some good speakers
Speaker 2: up here where the kids can come and hang We
Speaker 2: all just to the music and have some fun. So
Speaker 2: that it's a good spot.
Speaker 1: There are so many great moments in your career and
Speaker 1: the documentary captures done really well. There's a line that
Speaker 1: you say in this the ball that changed my life
Speaker 1: talking about the First Test and the Gatting Ball. When
Speaker 1: you're talking about it, Shane, right, you can see what
Speaker 1: it physically does to you, you know when we recalled
Speaker 1: a memory even though it's quite a few years ago,
Speaker 1: but physically it's like you're reliving it. Tell us about
Speaker 1: that because watching it you took us there. I could
Speaker 1: see it the way your body reacted to nerves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I mean that was I think I was
Speaker 2: twenty two years of age. I'd going to England to
Speaker 2: play in an Ashes series and I was about to
Speaker 2: buy my first ball. Mike Gadding and grah and Gucci
Speaker 2: were staring at me at the non strikers end, so
Speaker 2: I was pretty nervous, and I was one of those
Speaker 2: moments that I suppose when you look back, was meant
Speaker 2: to be. You know, people call it the ball of
Speaker 2: the century, the greatest ball of all time, the greatest
Speaker 2: Ashes moment of all time. So the magnitude of the
Speaker 2: impact that had, it's one of those moments where people say,
Speaker 2: when they stopped me on the street, I said, they
Speaker 2: remember where they were when it happened, and it was
Speaker 2: a dude. It changed my life. I went from an
Speaker 2: Australian cricketer to suddenly more people want to know not
Speaker 2: just about my cricket, but everything else about my life.
Speaker 2: And suddenly I was sitting on the bus, you know,
Speaker 2: going to the ground and we're all reading the papers
Speaker 2: and saying ten things you didn't know about Shane War
Speaker 2: and I'm reading going I didn't know that about me either.
Speaker 2: That didn't happen. So suddenly it was like, I don't
Speaker 2: know what the words are, but people were just so
Speaker 2: interested in what I was doing. And I was getting
Speaker 2: followed at twenty two years of age. I was, you know,
Speaker 2: I was getting paparazzi people following me everywhere, and it
Speaker 2: was just how much saying well yeah, and people going
Speaker 2: to understand it's not just one photographer following you. We're
Speaker 2: talking ten, fifteen, twenty photographers chasing you in a car
Speaker 2: when you walking down the street or driving down to
Speaker 2: the Supermarke.
Speaker 1: And I said, so what, you're twenty two years of age.
Speaker 1: You're never going to be ready for that.
Speaker 2: No, well that's the thing. So to try and understand
Speaker 2: there's no school you can go to to try and
Speaker 2: do that. So I've you know, through my whole career
Speaker 2: in the last thirty odd years, I've always just tried
Speaker 2: to be myself. I've never pretended to be something.
Speaker 1: Wrong though, mate, because that's like growing up in public
Speaker 1: and any human life. If you've been doing it right,
Speaker 1: you're going to make mistakes. Right, if you're doing it right,
Speaker 1: that's what life is. Sadly, it's human. You're going to
Speaker 1: make mistakes. But when you're doing it and suddenly it's
Speaker 1: front and back page news, that's so that pressure must
Speaker 1: be just really hard. At times it was.
Speaker 2: It was I'm not going to say it wasn't it was.
Speaker 2: It was very difficult at times. I made plenty of
Speaker 2: mistakes and I'll make plenty more, you know, I make
Speaker 2: plenty more. I'm fifty times earning fifty three this year,
Speaker 2: and I make plenty more mistakes. But that's part. But
Speaker 2: that's part of the journey. That's part of life. You know,
Speaker 2: you make mistakes. That's how you've become a better person
Speaker 2: and how you become you learn it out life. You
Speaker 2: can't go No one goes through life not making mistakes.
Speaker 2: No one. You've got to bounce back up. And I
Speaker 2: think if everything's great through your whole life, I don't know,
Speaker 2: you don't get the full perspective of appreciating that the
Speaker 2: good times, appreciating the great things that happen in your life.
Speaker 2: If you don't have the lows, You've got to have both.
Speaker 2: And I've been you know, I've had plenty of loads.
Speaker 2: I've had plenty of eyes and there was myself. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I consider myself so grateful for those opportunities and
Speaker 2: I'm thankful, you know, to play cricket for Australia and
Speaker 2: be part of the best side in the world for
Speaker 2: fifteen years, and play with some of the greatest cricketers
Speaker 2: of all time and travel the world with these guys.
Speaker 2: It was you know, it was an amazing time and
Speaker 2: it was great fun. And you know in a.
Speaker 1: Great era as well, wasn't it. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: sport these days has changed massively, isn't it. Because they're
Speaker 1: so wary not just of what goes on when they're
Speaker 1: being an athlete, it's it's their private life. It's getting canceled,
Speaker 1: the threat of that saying the wrong thing. Suddenly you're
Speaker 1: trending or there' stuff that there's so much more pressure.
Speaker 1: Do you think you had a great time to become
Speaker 1: Shane Warn and do it in the nineties.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I look at the modern day athlete, I don't
Speaker 2: you know. It's great that they can get paid so
Speaker 2: much money and all that sort of stuff, but there's
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff that they it's not you know,
Speaker 2: this social media stuff, the judgments that are out there.
Speaker 2: Every single little thing gets analyzed, and that's why we're
Speaker 2: seeing robots. That's why we don't see too many characters anymore.
Speaker 2: Because it's funny because people want to see characters. But
Speaker 2: as soon as we see someone a little bit different,
Speaker 2: or they get a bit emotional out in the sports field,
Speaker 2: or they get a bit too brutal out there and
Speaker 2: they want to win so badly, then we nail them.
Speaker 2: So you can't have it both ways. You know, we
Speaker 2: all want characters. We don't want people at the end
Speaker 2: of a great match and then player of the game,
Speaker 2: player of the match, and suddenly let's say, yeah, it
Speaker 2: was a great team effort, we all played well. I mean,
Speaker 2: how boring is that? But that's what we're going to get.
Speaker 2: Why we keep judging people and we're so harsh on
Speaker 2: sports for men and women these days. So you know,
Speaker 2: I just wish we could embrace people and if they
Speaker 2: do the wrong thing, fine, you know, go after them,
Speaker 2: but don't just go after them and try and make
Speaker 2: them do bad things. So look at my time, it
Speaker 2: was completely different time. I've seen it since nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: nine the current day, and it's changed so much for
Speaker 2: the modern day athlete. And you know, back when we
Speaker 2: were growing up and when we were playing sport, the
Speaker 2: glark and machines and Ninja turtles was great fun and
Speaker 2: there's no one videoing you when you played it and
Speaker 2: put it on tilt. You push it too hard. Now,
Speaker 2: if you go down the arcade and want to play
Speaker 2: something like that, people will video it and it'll be
Speaker 2: all over socials and people will judge and say, oh,
Speaker 2: how ridiculous, awful. So look, there are some great things
Speaker 2: about the social media side. And I enjoy social media.
Speaker 2: I enjoy the platforms, and I enjoy the interactions you
Speaker 2: can have with your fans and the public, and I
Speaker 2: really enjoy that and give people a snippet of your life.
Speaker 2: But I think it's hard for the modern day athlete.
Speaker 2: It's very difficult. For them.
Speaker 1: Otherwise, great, well said Chain. You're listening to the question
Speaker 1: you know Carl Show podcast. I noticed in a documentary
Speaker 1: as well. You and your son. You're in what looks
Speaker 1: like some sort of attic, and it's basically a museum
Speaker 1: of you. You've got everything. I was. It's incredible. You've
Speaker 1: got every I always see when you pick up the
Speaker 1: stumps and stuff that and you run off with them
Speaker 1: at the end of the test and that now they
Speaker 1: must just go straight to the pub. No idea where
Speaker 1: that is wake up the next morning, no idea. We
Speaker 1: but you've got it all. It's like a museum.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I didn't collect a lot of stuff, but I
Speaker 2: collected stuff that I thought was important, like the gatting.
Speaker 1: Stump and the ball and that should be the mcg
Speaker 1: in that museum. Now you've got all the best swagger.
Speaker 2: I've given a lot of stuff to lords at MCAC.
Speaker 2: I've given a lot of stuff for the MCG, my shoes,
Speaker 2: for the seven hundreds, wicket, all that stuff, I've given
Speaker 2: all of them.
Speaker 1: Did you keep any of the Nike shoes? What was
Speaker 1: it the see I didn't know that happened. Was it
Speaker 1: the air flippers? The big Nike deal you did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was it. In nineteen ninety four. Wow, I
Speaker 2: flew over to meet Phil Knight, the owner of Nike,
Speaker 2: and meet Michael Jordan both Jack unbelievable, and shot a
Speaker 2: commercial with him. I had to design my own shoe.
Speaker 1: So that was Did you really design it? You said
Speaker 1: that in the documentary and I'm thinking, come on, he's
Speaker 1: not sat down with a bit of paper, and did
Speaker 1: you really design your own shoe?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think for memory off the top of my head,
Speaker 2: there was thirty eight different cricket shoes available at that time,
Speaker 2: and we had all thirty eight different shoes there, and
Speaker 2: we said what was good about them, what was bad
Speaker 2: about them? And then the Nike people added their own
Speaker 2: touch to it, like, for instance, we put what was
Speaker 2: called this is this testimony. I think it's called Sarah
Speaker 2: Combe on the toe because people used to drag their toe,
Speaker 2: so this thing would never ever wear out. And I
Speaker 2: said to them that after, I said, that's no good,
Speaker 2: because that means I have one pair of shoes. The
Speaker 2: whole time we wanted to buy more, so they sold out.
Speaker 2: Everyone wanted them. We have their flipper, their sentry for Batsman.
Speaker 2: We had a bowling shoe and it was you know,
Speaker 2: it's pretty cool or there was no one else around
Speaker 2: doing that sort of stuff besides Michael Jordan at that time,
Speaker 2: So yeah, I was. I felt very lucky to have
Speaker 2: that opportunity with Nike to do that, and I was
Speaker 2: with them for a long long time. So yeah, look,
Speaker 2: that was great fun to go over and do that,
Speaker 2: great experience.
Speaker 1: Well, amazing stuff. Do you miss it when you when
Speaker 1: you're watching a game? You do great stuff on Fox?
Speaker 1: Do you miss it? Shane? Do you know it's one
Speaker 1: thing commentating it and you're on the sidelines and that
Speaker 1: part of your life is over now, But do you
Speaker 1: miss it sometimes? Uh?
Speaker 2: Look, I'm a competitor. I'd like to think as myself
Speaker 2: as pretty competitive in everything I do, and just to
Speaker 2: you know, I watch and it's great to be a commentator.
Speaker 2: I hope people enjoy me trying to take them out
Speaker 2: into the middle of the game when I'm commentating. Occasionally
Speaker 2: I miss it. Yeah, I think the biggest thing when
Speaker 2: any athlete retires, you more miss the common arterie of
Speaker 2: everyone mostly pranks and everyone played in the dressing room
Speaker 2: and being on tour with the lads and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: But being in the bus rides, when people playing guitar
Speaker 2: and you're playing cards, you miss that makeshift. And then
Speaker 2: every now and then, like a World Cup final, the
Speaker 2: first day of an ashes series, we think, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: the juice will start flowing. Your statis wouldn't mind being
Speaker 2: out there, and it brings back some great memories. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I don't miss them competing because when I wake
Speaker 2: up sometimes it's a bit hard to even walk to
Speaker 2: the bathroom and everything hurts.
Speaker 1: You start to make all these noises coming from your body,
Speaker 1: all the pops and at your knees creaking, and.
Speaker 2: That that's it. That's it. Yeah, I don't miss the
Speaker 2: playing too much.
Speaker 1: Tell you one thing I noticed, right, I always think
Speaker 1: you remember the first in your life, like your first
Speaker 1: girlfriend and for you obviously your first Test wickets and
Speaker 1: your first car. There's one bit where there's a photo
Speaker 1: of you with this classic old forward grenade. My dad
Speaker 1: had the same car, right, same color. Was that your
Speaker 1: first car? What was your first car?
Speaker 2: My first car was a Ford Cortina at TC Cortina
Speaker 2: and you flashed, Oh yeah, I was flashing. Then I
Speaker 2: had a Valiant Pacer.
Speaker 1: Big time. Now wonder they called your Hollywood.
Speaker 2: That's it. I had a big black stripe down and
Speaker 2: I went on. My goodness, I had all those when
Speaker 2: I got my first contract from Cricket Australia, and I
Speaker 2: got three thousand dollars wow, And that was my contract.
Speaker 2: And I was working part time in a pizza shop
Speaker 2: on a Friday night as well, while whilst I was
Speaker 2: still playing cricket for Australia. And I'd say, one, where
Speaker 2: was it? I was just around the corner from where
Speaker 2: I lived. It's changed names about fifty times and no
Speaker 2: longer there now, but I saved up some money and
Speaker 2: back then there used to be the now Jbhis used
Speaker 2: to be called Strathfield Car Radio here in Australia. And
Speaker 2: I drove my car down and said, I want the
Speaker 2: best stereo system you can possibly get. So I spent
Speaker 2: all my money in my contract with Cricket Australia on
Speaker 2: this car stereo, and everywhere I went, I had it
Speaker 2: so loud I blew the speakers up after the first week.
Speaker 2: So I used to love it. And I had an
Speaker 2: acadaca playing all those eighties hids. Yeah, I had them all.
Speaker 1: Would you love to have that car now?
Speaker 2: Ah, it'd be worth a fortune there.
Speaker 1: It would be worth an update fourteenas those old ones
Speaker 1: and that were the old fastest strike they're worth a
Speaker 1: fortune now you get them on antiques Rojo.
Speaker 2: I know I wanted the SLR fives and Tarana as well,
Speaker 2: so but I couldn't afford one of those. Many regrets,
Speaker 2: so many regrets. It was a great time, a great time.
Speaker 1: Well listen one, it's always a joy having you on
Speaker 1: a show. I really enjoy talking to you, and I
Speaker 1: genuinely loved your documentary. I thought it was it's going
Speaker 1: to surprise people in a good way. You're very very open,
Speaker 1: very open hearted. You get to see I loved meeting
Speaker 1: you mum and and your brother and that the relationship,
Speaker 1: the deep love that you all have between you and
Speaker 1: your kids is something. Yeah, from where it was. It's
Speaker 1: more important about how you handle it. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of most of life, really, isn't it. And yeah, it
Speaker 1: comes right out the screen. It will cheer people up. Actually,
Speaker 1: it's a great romp through an amazing life that's still
Speaker 1: got a long way to go. So thanks speaking to Shane,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it. You're welcome on the show. Anytime.
Speaker 1: I'd love to come around that man cave and played
Speaker 1: the Lethal Weapon game. I used to play that back
Speaker 1: in the nineties. It's a great game.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me mate and I
Speaker 2: people enjoy the documentary, and you're welcome any time, because
Speaker 2: I'll smash you.
Speaker 1: It's a competitor, all right, Mornie. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I let you go. The documentary is out now. It's
Speaker 1: called Shane obviously, it's on Amazon Prime. I loved it.
Speaker 1: You will really enjoy it. Watch it.
Speaker 2: The Christian O'Connell Show podcast