Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Mason Cox Show. Now,
Speaker 1: as always a start off the show, like subscribe to
Speaker 1: our seven platforms we got Spotify, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Speaker 1: TikTok and YouTube smashing that now. But today is a
Speaker 1: very special guest, a man that I've got so much
Speaker 1: respect for. You cops a lot of criticism in his
Speaker 1: job and he does it with an utmost passion that
Speaker 1: you can possibly think of. He's a great man named
Speaker 1: Razor Ray Chamberlain. Now he has got a story to tell.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you he's one of the most iconic people
Speaker 1: in the IFL industry. And it is an absolute great chat.
Speaker 1: So really excited for you to listen in. I want
Speaker 1: to actually start off with a quote of yours. Now,
Speaker 1: I did a bit of research on you, right hows
Speaker 1: to do with oh my guests? And I've read this quote.
Speaker 1: I really vibe with this. This is a really good one.
Speaker 1: And the quote is elite performance is a sum of
Speaker 1: all the micro moments. It's a craft and it's what
Speaker 1: underpins the most special moments. Now, is that a quote
Speaker 1: from you?
Speaker 2: It is? Actually?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is that is good good research.
Speaker 1: I'll do I'll do my best I'll do my best
Speaker 1: work for people come on, and then it kind of
Speaker 1: goes downhill once again. A mine, No, but it kind
Speaker 1: of I guess gives you a bit of an idea
Speaker 1: the kind of personality you are. There's so many little
Speaker 1: things that probably happened in your life to lead you
Speaker 1: to where you are today. And yeah, we'll just jump
Speaker 1: into it. Because you're born in act. You're not a
Speaker 1: Melbourne man, not a ben.
Speaker 3: Man, not a Melbourne man.
Speaker 4: And thank you for that. Man, that's really kind of you.
Speaker 4: I think one of the first lessons I learned here
Speaker 4: in Melbourne. I was in the VFL and mate, you
Speaker 4: ain't this way vibe, but you will not have seen
Speaker 4: this stuff. I'm as old as dirt, right, And so
Speaker 4: what would happen is they would play curtain raisers yep,
Speaker 4: before the big dogs rolled out, right. So Richmond may
Speaker 4: be playing Essendon at the MCG and so there'll be
Speaker 4: a curtain raiser at like nine to thirty am, right,
Speaker 4: like proper early. And you know, so this whole notion
Speaker 4: of kicking the jew off is legit, right, So you'd
Speaker 4: be drying the ground for when the big show started.
Speaker 4: And I remember one day I was walking across the
Speaker 4: MCG and one of our coaches was there and he
Speaker 4: said to me, he goes, you know, mate, he goes,
Speaker 4: I think you're a horrible Hayden Kennedy. Now, Hayden Kennedy
Speaker 4: was the games record holder, he was our coach. He's
Speaker 4: a legend. I have always just held Hayden on a pedestal.
Speaker 4: He's a legend, right in what we do. He goes,
Speaker 4: you'll be a worse Darren Goldspink. So Darren goldspin compied
Speaker 4: are Besquilian Grand Finals and whatever. Right, he goes, you're
Speaker 4: a dog shit Matthew James, who was the it guy, right,
Speaker 4: and he goes, but you know, he goes on that
Speaker 4: you make a bloody good Ray Chamberlain. And it was
Speaker 4: really funny because this guy only observed me in like
Speaker 4: three or four games ever so early doors like I'm
Speaker 4: talking two thousand, you two thousand and But I remember
Speaker 4: this conversation so vividly, like it resonated with me. The
Speaker 4: kind of thing what I kind of came to an
Speaker 4: understanding because I was only packed it in and went home.
Speaker 4: I trial, you're trying to make the AFL list. Missed
Speaker 4: out again, missed out on trialing again. I was like,
Speaker 4: you know what, shove it. I'm out. And my now
Speaker 4: wife said to me, you regret it, you regret stop
Speaker 4: being a silk.
Speaker 3: Have another dig. You will regret this if you go now.
Speaker 4: And it was midway through the following season that I
Speaker 4: got a phone call and got promoted onto the AFL.
Speaker 4: And the thing that resonated with me back then was,
Speaker 4: you know, if you're authentically who you are, You've got
Speaker 4: no evil to anyone, You're not trying to treat anyone poorly,
Speaker 4: You're not doing anything wrong per se, and you're just
Speaker 4: being authentically yourself and you fall short. I can live
Speaker 4: with that, that will be okay with me. But if
Speaker 4: you're trying to put yourself forward to something you just
Speaker 4: it's just not who you are and you fail. I
Speaker 4: don't think. I don't think that would I would, It
Speaker 4: would be very restless.
Speaker 3: I would. I would not forgive myself for that.
Speaker 4: So I just I don't know when it stopped being
Speaker 4: cool to treat people well right and just for you right,
Speaker 4: like what is del buckleyy? Everyone else has taken right?
Speaker 4: So like, just just be yourself and I don't know
Speaker 4: any other way.
Speaker 1: Mate, Yeah, and it's it is a crazy too. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anyone that's ever done it even
Speaker 1: remotely close to what you do. Like you, you're very unique,
Speaker 1: and you've got such a good relationship I feel like
Speaker 1: with the industry itself and players and coaches and everyone else,
Speaker 1: and you're so well respected within the a f L.
Speaker 1: And it's it is a credit to you, and it's yeah,
Speaker 1: I look at it and at some point, I guess
Speaker 1: we're somewhat similar stories. That's probably really going after it.
Speaker 1: That's a really good question a little bit, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think you you grew up probably
Speaker 1: wanting to be an umpire because you originally were cricket players.
Speaker 1: What I've looked up, it's just true, did a little
Speaker 1: bit of a little bit of creen and you're a
Speaker 1: part of the national championship is what I actually read.
Speaker 4: I love my cricket and I and it was something
Speaker 4: that I considered myself to be good at. I'm okay,
Speaker 4: I'm a wicket keeper and I could bat a little bit,
Speaker 4: and I loved the game and the sides I played in.
Speaker 3: We won premierships and all that sort of stuff. When
Speaker 3: we weren't meant to.
Speaker 4: So I played, uh well from a kid, but I
Speaker 4: played senior cricket for Tagronong in the in the act
Speaker 4: that's in.
Speaker 1: Camera, mate, Ye don't ask me how to say that.
Speaker 4: And we played against guys like so Brad Hadden who
Speaker 4: was a wicket keeper for Australia and is now a
Speaker 4: coach at the level. There were guys like there, there's
Speaker 4: a big West Indian guy I used to play. There's
Speaker 4: lots of names that won't resonate with you at all.
Speaker 2: Right, we're nearly on. It was she really just tested
Speaker 2: my knowledge.
Speaker 4: But it was really competitive, and we were all these
Speaker 4: young guys because we were out I think of south
Speaker 4: of the city and then go further south that like
Speaker 4: as far south as that's where I grew up, right
Speaker 4: and that, and so we were like in a nappy valley.
Speaker 4: So we're all these young guys and I remember the
Speaker 4: paper said, oh, you know they had us finishing last young,
Speaker 4: lots of potential too soon.
Speaker 5: Sounds familiar, right, you heard this song and we won
Speaker 5: the camp, right, we won the camp and so you
Speaker 5: know that was off the back of lots of people contributing.
Speaker 4: But I loved cricket and I played national championships and
Speaker 4: got offers to go and play in Sydney and overseas
Speaker 4: and stuff like that for little bits and bobs. But
Speaker 4: I wasn't ever going to be like elite. I wasn't
Speaker 4: that like you look at guys like I remember coming
Speaker 4: down and I played at Melbourne. I got invited down
Speaker 4: to play from a friend and I remember seeing Brad
Speaker 4: Hodge hit the cricket ball and it just sounds different,
Speaker 4: like they just like the guys who are the best, Yeah,
Speaker 4: like they just do it different. Hads was the same.
Speaker 4: He'd hit a ball I need a seven nine hit,
Speaker 4: he like he'd hit a cricket ball, right, So the guys.
Speaker 4: I was never that level ever. But I was a
Speaker 4: good clubby right, and I loved it. But umpiring I
Speaker 4: got into by chance. So you know, this whole thing
Speaker 4: about six thousand umpires short and you know, like I was.
Speaker 2: Going to ask you about that's fair, God keep going.
Speaker 4: Well, we haven't discovered fire, because you know, twenty odd
Speaker 4: years ago when I umpired my first game by accident,
Speaker 4: I went down to watch my youngest brother play. So
Speaker 4: my mom and dad were a bit worried about him
Speaker 4: come and take an interest in him. So I went
Speaker 4: down to watch him play and no umpire turned up. Yeah,
Speaker 4: And so then the club president comes over and I'm
Speaker 4: playing in the under eighteen's that day goes ray. If
Speaker 4: you umpire, the game will fill your cart with petrol, right,
Speaker 4: and we won't let anyone hang any shit on you, right,
Speaker 4: Like that's.
Speaker 2: Literally it by college of us my crew.
Speaker 4: So I can't see Marma. He's still giving me two
Speaker 4: twenty bucks for petrol. She's like yep. So I pocketed
Speaker 4: that a commerce and then I went back and I said,
Speaker 4: all right, nah, I'm in. And it got to halftime
Speaker 4: and this old skinny guy come over. His name's Bob Stacey,
Speaker 4: ripping human being. I learned more about umpiring in the
Speaker 4: three years that Bob was my coach and mentor. Then
Speaker 4: I've probably learned technically since he was just brilliant. This
Speaker 4: man's huge loan, right, and he is incredible. And he
Speaker 4: says to me, oh, how long you how long you
Speaker 4: been doing this for? And I said forty five minutes?
Speaker 4: And he has no, no, not today, like like how long?
Speaker 4: I said, no, one I understood the question forty five
Speaker 4: minutes face like and he goes, you know, you can
Speaker 4: earn six figures part time doing this. And I think
Speaker 4: at the time, because I was in college, like I
Speaker 4: was in year eleven, I think.
Speaker 3: I was working at Eagle Boys Pizza.
Speaker 2: Shout out to Eagle Boys Pizza.
Speaker 3: Let's go, mate, pink Pole.
Speaker 4: So the bonus structure at Eagle Boys was how many
Speaker 4: garlic breads you could knock off in a shift drive.
Speaker 2: That's so huge.
Speaker 4: So six figures part time. I'm like, mate, I'm in.
Speaker 4: And I loved footy. I've always loved DFEL footy and
Speaker 4: I played two hundred and fifty games for my club.
Speaker 4: Guys like Aaron Hamil who is now coach at Carlton
Speaker 4: oh yeah yeah, and Craig Bolton who played for Brisbane
Speaker 4: and Sydney. Justin Bloomfield's a premiership player at Essendon. So
Speaker 4: these those lads were all in the same age group
Speaker 4: and they are a year younger than me. But that
Speaker 4: was sort of where I grew up. But I was
Speaker 4: no good and they were awesome. So anyway, I ended
Speaker 4: up umpiring and I loved it, mate. I loved it
Speaker 4: because it's anyway. But the point being is that there
Speaker 4: was shortage of Umpires thirty years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so it's been a consistent like headline for
Speaker 2: thirty years.
Speaker 3: Have you. Yeah, And there's lots of reasons for that.
Speaker 1: I think it's just the fear of not having someone
Speaker 1: like and there's always constant scrutiny around it where everyone goes, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, like we need get better in this when
Speaker 1: you get better in this, And the reason is because
Speaker 1: we don't have enough resources. We don't have this with that,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like it's like an easy excuse maybe.
Speaker 4: I think also like there's lots of inputs, there's lots
Speaker 4: of simple things we could do, I think to help it.
Speaker 4: But I know lots of people are genuinely invested in
Speaker 4: trying to help recruit, retain, and make empiring something that's
Speaker 4: more appealing to broader community, so you know what, all
Speaker 4: power to them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. You've kind of died on a few
Speaker 1: things that we're going to talk about definitely, but we'll
Speaker 1: go back to So I guess you talked about it
Speaker 1: recently or sorry just a second ago about going and
Speaker 1: starting I guess a bit of school and then getting
Speaker 1: into umpiring and then from there having those kind of
Speaker 1: mentors and everything else. Now, you're a man who's got
Speaker 1: a lot of experience in AFL, and you've had a
Speaker 1: lot of mentors along the way, and you're probably now
Speaker 1: on the other side of the spectrum where you're actually
Speaker 1: mentoring young kids along the way.
Speaker 2: What is some of your best advice?
Speaker 1: Because you've had a successful career and it's not even done, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: you're I need to actually ask you this.
Speaker 2: How are you feeling? You've been injured, so I need
Speaker 2: to actually get an update here.
Speaker 4: So I've gone through the sorry, off, the time, denial, denial,
Speaker 4: and I'll be fine, right, I'll be fine. Right, It's
Speaker 4: only a torn tendon in the hip, You'll be fine.
Speaker 4: I mean we've run a bit, but I'll be fine.
Speaker 4: To trying to rehab and realizing that potentially I won't
Speaker 4: be fine, so then anger, right, and then you know,
Speaker 4: you get your The office sook for a few days
Speaker 4: and I'm at acceptance, acceptance, acceptance. So I've been I've
Speaker 4: done my rest, I've been in the gym, building the
Speaker 4: serena and and just trying to yeah, get the strength
Speaker 4: and everything back, and I tomorrow I'll do my fifth
Speaker 4: run back.
Speaker 3: So I'm I'm where we're working back in towards the direction.
Speaker 3: You know what I do.
Speaker 4: I love the game, as I said, and I have
Speaker 4: such incredible regard for those who you know, the coaches,
Speaker 4: the players, and the fans. I mean you know that yourself,
Speaker 4: Like last couple of years where we didn't have fans there,
Speaker 4: like it was a different.
Speaker 5: Suck.
Speaker 4: So I genuinely really highly value the game and everyone
Speaker 4: who's involved in it. And so yeah, I'm filthy when
Speaker 4: you watch these games that kicks after the sire and
Speaker 4: draws and rarah, and you're like.
Speaker 2: It's the last ten games of ours.
Speaker 3: There just watching on the couch, going man.
Speaker 4: But but yeah, so I'll get there, I'll get back.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, with all the experience you have, what is what's
Speaker 1: some advice from maybe someone who's maybe listening, who doesn't
Speaker 1: quite know what they're going to do with her life,
Speaker 1: maybe doesn't have a thirty year plan. I mean obviously
Speaker 1: you're probably life in general. You weren't probably planning to
Speaker 1: be an mPire. You're probably you know, as a kid,
Speaker 1: wishing to be a cricket player and play for Australia
Speaker 1: and all that, and then maybe playing the AFL and
Speaker 1: then now you can't take a bit of a left turn.
Speaker 1: You're kind of doing something different, Like what is your
Speaker 1: advice to someone who may be a bit lost in
Speaker 1: the sense of what their career is going to be
Speaker 1: going forward?
Speaker 3: This is awesome.
Speaker 4: And I was speaking to a young fellow only just
Speaker 4: last week actually and caught up with him and his parents.
Speaker 4: And I don't think you don't need to have a
Speaker 4: destination in mind.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 4: I think it's great to be aspirational and have people
Speaker 4: that are your heroes. I love George Gregan. He played
Speaker 4: for the Wallabies, right, And this guy was just the
Speaker 4: most fierce competitor and he was a cricket out and
Speaker 4: he was from Canberra, right, So I love this dude, right, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 4: And then you know I so that's all cool, right,
Speaker 4: But I think what it's about is just trying to
Speaker 4: understand that being being happy, right, treating people well. So
Speaker 4: you know we all at different times, Mason are We're
Speaker 4: givers and takers at different times, right. And there's this
Speaker 4: saying that I kind of like, which is, you know,
Speaker 4: takers eat better, but give us sleep better, right, And
Speaker 4: I think if you can just go, I'm not here
Speaker 4: to be interesting. I'm actually wanting to be interested. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's really hard, and I think I've learned some of
Speaker 4: this stuff since being a dad. To be air right, Well,
Speaker 4: you know, we get caught up, and I'll be doing
Speaker 4: this today because it's the nature of what we're doing, right.
Speaker 4: I will listen to your question and my intentions to respond, right,
Speaker 4: But when you're a dad, you actually you need to
Speaker 4: listen to hear them. Yeah, is actually more important. So
Speaker 4: then when you come back to your question, young person
Speaker 4: not sure what they want to be, you don't need
Speaker 4: to know the outcome. And you can have dreams and
Speaker 4: goals and aspirations and all that bullshit, but really what
Speaker 4: it is just bringing the best version of yourself every
Speaker 4: day feet hit the ground and the world goes. Look out,
Speaker 4: old mates into it, and enjoy your life. So treat
Speaker 4: people well, find the joy, right, and then follow your
Speaker 4: nose and I just you know, we're learning all the time.
Speaker 4: My mum is a great example. Hey, we love moms
Speaker 4: on the show, right, my mum's a great example of
Speaker 4: the answer to this question, or just trying to give
Speaker 4: an illustration as to what I'm trying to say. Right,
Speaker 4: my mom went to typing school mate, right, I still
Speaker 4: give a shit about that before Patricia Elle and Chamberlain.
Speaker 4: Do you realize you're that old? You typing school Raymond John? Right?
Speaker 4: It's madness, right. So the point being is the world.
Speaker 3: Just evolves so rapidly, right, and all.
Speaker 4: These different bits and pieces, and you're zigging and zagging.
Speaker 4: So you were learning nothing's done every day as a
Speaker 4: school day, all that gear, right, So don't fret about
Speaker 4: the outcome, right, Immerse yourself in what you're doing by
Speaker 4: all means, as I said, have aspirations and goals.
Speaker 3: But immerse yourself in the day and the people you're with.
Speaker 1: That's sharing the experience with those such a massive part
Speaker 1: of like actually being happy.
Speaker 4: I feel like totally and I don't want to get
Speaker 4: all number stay on people or whatever, but it is
Speaker 4: it's like, don't worry about where you land, right, it's
Speaker 4: that whole travel piece and you know, winning and losing together,
Speaker 4: the cool, the results whatever. I can think of some
Speaker 4: of our games where we've come up. I remember coming
Speaker 4: off a game with the SCG, I thought we were
Speaker 4: going to get the crap beat out of it. So
Speaker 4: well so the security guards there I've known since I
Speaker 4: was a kid, right, because I was doing with the
Speaker 4: security those tight right, so AFL reserves and that and
Speaker 4: that I'd always you get the AFL would bring out
Speaker 4: these the broadcasters have a tie every year, that have
Speaker 4: a broadcaster's tie, and I'd get one, and I'd always
Speaker 4: give it to the security guard. He loved it, and
Speaker 4: he still looks after me today, this bloke, he's a
Speaker 4: legend in city. Anyway, we do this game and there'd
Speaker 4: been an error and this is back before your time.
Speaker 4: There's only one boundary on pire on each side, right,
Speaker 4: so those boys had to shammer mate and if the
Speaker 4: ball got rebounded out of deep fifty, there's no way
Speaker 4: they could see it on the half of a flank,
Speaker 4: like it's physically impossible.
Speaker 3: And this ball on the replay it looked like the
Speaker 3: ball almost hit the fence. It was that far out right,
Speaker 3: and got the goal. Results on.
Speaker 4: Now they're up by two points because fans are cutting
Speaker 4: losing it anyway, Essendon win and we're like Jesus, now
Speaker 4: I'm in the field, so I'm washing my hands clear
Speaker 4: of this.
Speaker 3: Has got nothing to do with me.
Speaker 4: Right, We're about to make our way off and you've
Speaker 4: got to walk through the crowd in Sydney, right, and
Speaker 4: the security guards.
Speaker 3: Come barreling out. Now they don't normally do that.
Speaker 4: They meet us about five meters off the ground and
Speaker 4: he's come running out Jesus and he just looked at me.
Speaker 3: He goes, keep your mouth shut and your head down.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: Anyway, it was a pretty ordinary reception this day, right,
Speaker 4: But we still talk about that night. Yeah, Like Scott
Speaker 4: McLaren and Chris Donlin and myself we were the three
Speaker 4: umpires right as forever ago. But I remember that like
Speaker 4: it was last night. So it wasn't a great night
Speaker 4: for it.
Speaker 5: Off the field, no, no, we walked off yeah, I
Speaker 5: would have been dead spread, no chance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't great.
Speaker 4: And I remember I learned a lot because so we
Speaker 4: were the embryos, right and Scottie he was like the
Speaker 4: old boy who was responsible. Now, it had nothing to
Speaker 4: do with him that because it was a boundary on pire. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but he knew he was going to be held accountable.
Speaker 4: Boy our coaches that things didn't go the way they're
Speaker 4: meant to, right. He was so flat after the game
Speaker 4: because we had this umpiring issue, right, And I learned
Speaker 4: the responsibility actually that is accompanied in the role. Up
Speaker 4: until that, I thought it was really cool to be
Speaker 4: doing these games. I didn't realize for the big dogs
Speaker 4: back and ending of it, what comes with it, right,
Speaker 4: because I'm still too knew to understand. So even in
Speaker 4: the losses, you've got these great stories and memories.
Speaker 3: And it's because of the people that you're with.
Speaker 4: So really, mate, that's a long way for us getting
Speaker 4: to answer your question, but quite frankly that you get
Speaker 4: on with your day.
Speaker 1: It's about the people you were with and the experiences
Speaker 1: you have, memories you create, agreed numbers. Correct, we'll go
Speaker 1: back to your university. Now your teacher pastel are in teaching?
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I feel like teaching and the way a lot of
Speaker 1: people know you as you Someone might have a crack
Speaker 1: at you and you kind of go, oh, that's inappropriate.
Speaker 1: Now it puts you to know, don't say those kind
Speaker 1: of words. We're not about that. You know, like very
Speaker 1: you like a teacher two players. I feel like sometimes
Speaker 1: there's a bit on that. Now, what lessons have you
Speaker 1: learned in teaching that you apply to your life now?
Speaker 1: Because teaching is something that we I think undervalue as
Speaker 1: a society. Teachers have the hardest job that you will
Speaker 1: ever find anyone else in this world.
Speaker 4: To have you spent four years doing your bachelor of education, right,
Speaker 4: come out, you get a job. If you're any good,
Speaker 4: they load up with every other responsibility that you can
Speaker 4: think of because they're so underresourced. Right, this is within
Speaker 4: the system. And then so what happens then the very
Speaker 4: last thing that you get to is actually the pedagogy, right,
Speaker 4: the science of teaching and learning. It's the last You
Speaker 4: don't even get to it because you're doing every other
Speaker 4: thing within the system and your three steps from the door,
Speaker 4: and it's like, what lesson is this?
Speaker 3: Who's here? What are we doing today? And I feel
Speaker 3: on that really hard to actually accept. I was actually I.
Speaker 4: Meant to be engaging with each of these individuals and
Speaker 4: understanding them and then conveying things in a way that
Speaker 4: you understand versus they understand versus. And I'm not doing
Speaker 4: any of that because I'm doing administering all these other
Speaker 4: programs and whatever, right, So that I found that really
Speaker 4: really quite frustrating.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, teaching is a challenge.
Speaker 4: What I mean, I think one of the cool things
Speaker 4: like if I talk to you in a certain and
Speaker 4: we've got an issue to discuss or whatever. I can
Speaker 4: talk in a certain way. But if I'm talking with
Speaker 4: Dustin Martin as an example, it will be far more
Speaker 4: succinct and it'll be just move on, right, versus if
Speaker 4: I talk to somebody over here where they don't even
Speaker 4: want to be spoken to.
Speaker 2: So you've taken personalities of players before you tike to on.
Speaker 4: So you absolutely understand that you've got to have the
Speaker 4: whole golf set right.
Speaker 3: You can't just bring a driver to everyone every event.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe just laying up with a seven, I'll
Speaker 4: be fine, right, And that's the craft of what we do.
Speaker 4: So it's not necessarily an athletic event that we do.
Speaker 4: It's not I don't think it's a young dude's game
Speaker 4: at the elite level. Actually, yeah, because you haven't learned enough,
Speaker 4: failed enough as a human rights life experiences drying and go. Actually,
Speaker 4: and so as much as you want to, I think
Speaker 4: you're challenged. It's challenging to have the empathy that's required
Speaker 4: and then also understanding, well, yeah, that's fine, but this
Speaker 4: is my.
Speaker 2: Job, especially in the heat of the moment.
Speaker 4: So the other part to it is we're in a
Speaker 4: really weird time, right, where we want everything to be
Speaker 4: perfect and see that you know it's got to be
Speaker 4: right or wrong. Well, that's actual, that's not what happens
Speaker 4: in our game, mate, But we're dealing in things like
Speaker 4: reasonable time, prior opportunity, genuine attempt. So it's subjective in nature,
Speaker 4: right the AFL right, drop it. This is where you
Speaker 4: got to You got to just get just sip on
Speaker 4: the tea for sip on the tea.
Speaker 3: For a minute and just consider this.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: So one hundred thousand at the g right, you're taking
Speaker 4: hangers against the tigers and it's going nuts, right, and
Speaker 4: there's a tackle on center wing. Okay, one hundred thousand people,
Speaker 4: they're fifty right, and fifty thousand go back, and then
Speaker 4: this little dude in the green shirt goes play on right,
Speaker 4: and then one hundred thousand people Mason come together and
Speaker 4: they agree on one thing.
Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm doing, But.
Speaker 4: Then they talk about it all week, and it's TV
Speaker 4: shows and it's coffees and it's newspapers and it's podcasts. Right,
Speaker 4: And that's actually the beauty of the game, mate, So
Speaker 4: it's not a black and white game. You want that,
Speaker 4: go to the tennis, they'll have a seat, lots.
Speaker 3: Of empty seats.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll tell you right, boring, you.
Speaker 3: Can do that if that's your stick.
Speaker 4: But that's not what we're trade in here, Okay, Right,
Speaker 4: and so, and the whole game itself is predicated around
Speaker 4: this ambiguity but also this management. So we run around
Speaker 4: with this whole idea that we've got to be right
Speaker 4: all the time, just get it right. And they're different,
Speaker 4: they're different, Yeah, and we have trouble with that. We
Speaker 4: have trouble selling that, and we have trouble understanding that.
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, And I think that's where we get
Speaker 4: some of the the fights.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Because I've always had a thing with IFL is
Speaker 1: very there is a lot of ambiguity around stuff, and
Speaker 1: rules change every year, which is a wild thing to
Speaker 1: say about a sport. It's like it might be that
Speaker 1: one year, might not be. You were telling me a
Speaker 1: story about bouncing the ball in the middle of the games,
Speaker 1: not in the center bounce, and I was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: that actually happened.
Speaker 3: I had no idea sorted out.
Speaker 1: Which people are wondering whether bounces are going to be
Speaker 1: in the IFL in five years and it was like
Speaker 1: that was everywhere. So it is changing quite a bit,
Speaker 1: but we all dive into more of you on piring
Speaker 1: because I've got you here and I can talk to
Speaker 1: you forever, to be honest.
Speaker 2: But all fast forward a bit.
Speaker 1: Now you have done what is probably some of my
Speaker 1: supporters have remembered and one of the most unique experiences
Speaker 1: has ever happened.
Speaker 2: A Grand Final rematch. Yes, now can you talk to
Speaker 2: that day?
Speaker 1: Maybe some like smaller stories that happened kind of in
Speaker 1: there of that, maybe some people don't know about. That
Speaker 1: was just because that day is iconic and not just
Speaker 1: for that fan of Saint Kilda and Collingwood and all that.
Speaker 1: But I think just as for the sport itself, to
Speaker 1: have a Grand Final rematch is something that's just you'll
Speaker 1: never maybe see again.
Speaker 4: No you won't. They've changed the rules, so they won't.
Speaker 4: They'll finish it on that day no matter what overtime
Speaker 4: blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: They might change it.
Speaker 3: I reckon they won't.
Speaker 4: There's a couple of really cool things, and I've got
Speaker 4: to say I was blessed in that the support that
Speaker 4: I had with my colleagues, so I had two of
Speaker 4: our umpires who apart from being fabulous umpires like in
Speaker 4: what we do, they're our greats. Okay, they're ripping humans
Speaker 4: and they're different. They're different guys. They're really smart there
Speaker 4: that they and they're bloody brilliant at what they do,
Speaker 4: and so they they I knew I was so well
Speaker 4: protected and surrounded, right. So I'm forever indebted to Sean
Speaker 4: Ryan and Brett Rosebery in terms of how they treated
Speaker 4: me for the whole week and then and then the.
Speaker 3: Ensuing week because it's massive.
Speaker 2: It's a different experience.
Speaker 3: It's massive.
Speaker 4: You get hundreds of text messages and there's media, and
Speaker 4: there's training eventually, and then there's buddy parades and all
Speaker 4: this stuff that you've never done before and you're naked, mate,
Speaker 4: Like Friday, I got home from the Grand Final parade
Speaker 4: whole war was knackered, mate.
Speaker 3: When I said to my honestly, we'll pick this up.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: So it's a huge week and so they did all
Speaker 4: the heavy lifting, Sean and Brett, and I just had
Speaker 4: to try and manage myself. So I owe them massively.
Speaker 4: But a couple of really I think interesting stories. Well,
Speaker 4: certainly for us, we had not had a draw yeah.
Speaker 4: I remember at the end, Nick Maxwell and Nick Reewelt
Speaker 4: were here and Nickreewelt said to me, what happens now
Speaker 4: out right? And I said, well, if that's if that's accurate,
Speaker 4: we have to come back next week, jees. So he
Speaker 4: dropped a few, so he gave me some feedback, the
Speaker 4: big fella. And then I remember we're walking off and
Speaker 4: Adrian Anderson was walking onto the ground with Peter Material
Speaker 4: and they were going to present the Norm Smith Medal
Speaker 4: for the best player on the ground. And Adrian's a
Speaker 4: really disciplined, straight, you know workface bang right, and he's
Speaker 4: walking on and obviously realizes it's they're going to sell
Speaker 4: it out again next week. You know stuff. I ever
Speaker 4: heard him swear? Right, He's like, great job. And I
Speaker 4: said the boys, I said, I reckon, we're sweet for
Speaker 4: next week.
Speaker 2: Another braain, let's do it again.
Speaker 4: But we come off the ground and like normally, what
Speaker 4: happens is there's a bath and it's full of you know,
Speaker 4: champagne and all that, right, and that quickly got emptied, right,
Speaker 4: and all the hierarchy came in and like very much,
Speaker 4: get ready for it, well done, pull your heads in,
Speaker 4: get ready for next week, You've got a week to go,
Speaker 4: and like we have all like you guys, do you know,
Speaker 4: we have our silly Sundays and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 3: And you've bought the outfit and you.
Speaker 4: Couldn't go, couldn't go right, So all of those things
Speaker 4: spilled out of it.
Speaker 3: I remember different different parts of the game.
Speaker 4: I remember going out there and Brett took the first
Speaker 4: bounce and they said just get it in an end
Speaker 4: zone and just get into the vibe of the game. Relax,
Speaker 4: you know, and Darren Jolly kicks a goal twenty three
Speaker 4: seconds in. I'm standing in the middle of the MCG
Speaker 4: with go up straight, you mustard right.
Speaker 3: So that was that was cool, and I just remember
Speaker 3: how hot it was.
Speaker 4: So you know, your umpire back then, the way you
Speaker 4: got appointed to games was different to now. So if
Speaker 4: you're going well, you got the bigger games, yeah, deemed the.
Speaker 2: More high profile games Friday, Friday.
Speaker 3: Night, Saturday night.
Speaker 4: And so for the last eight weeks of the season,
Speaker 4: I umpired at nighttime in Melbourne every week. So it's
Speaker 4: like four degrees, right, different Grand Final day it's twenty
Speaker 4: six degrees. I just remember, and I could run, right,
Speaker 4: I remember going She's hot. So it was just all
Speaker 4: those little nuances. I remember seeing the screen at one
Speaker 4: stage and there's they've cut Eric Banner and Michael Klymm.
Speaker 3: Go geez, all the big dogs are in town, you know.
Speaker 4: So it was it was a really unique experience and
Speaker 4: I got to say, yeah, one of the coolest, so
Speaker 4: of the coolest two weeks of my sporting career for sure.
Speaker 4: Do you know how many guys and at this stage
Speaker 4: it's only been men in the field. Do you know
Speaker 4: how many umpires in one hundred eighty years have unpied
Speaker 4: an AFL Grand Final as a field umpire, So one
Speaker 4: hundred eighty years of foot year, it's like a sta
Speaker 4: yeah years, that's unpacket's hundred eighty years. So you've got
Speaker 4: one umpire for a while, and then they went to
Speaker 4: two and for like twenty five or plus years. It
Speaker 4: might be longer than that, might be closer to thirty.
Speaker 4: Actually now we've had three in the field. So one
Speaker 4: hundred and eighty years, how many people have had the
Speaker 4: opportunity to umpire an AFL Grand Final? Like one fifty
Speaker 4: less than sixty what less than sixty fifty? Yeah, one
Speaker 4: hundred percent in the field, right, so they don't just
Speaker 4: hand these out. Yeah, Like people always go, oh, you're
Speaker 4: doing the Grand Final.
Speaker 3: This year, mate, walk through this with me.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 4: So it's really hard. It's a special club to be
Speaker 4: afforded the chance. And so yeah too, Like I've did
Speaker 4: two in one year, which was super cool. And I've
Speaker 4: sat on the bench three times. That's the worst seat
Speaker 4: in the world, the first loser. And then I got
Speaker 4: to do another one in twenty and nineteen. So to
Speaker 4: be involved six times and three times on the field. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's just it's just the best.
Speaker 2: It's cool.
Speaker 1: I were in twenty eighteen. Sorry, yeah, twenty eighteen and replayed.
Speaker 1: I walked out on the ground before the game and
Speaker 1: you were there and you were filthy. You were not
Speaker 1: you were not in a good meet this trap to
Speaker 1: be there. You were right to be there, but I mean,
Speaker 1: like you wanted to be on the field. You were
Speaker 1: the subset of the day. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: remember talking and you were just like I was like happy,
Speaker 1: excited about the Grand Final, like just locked in.
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, I just want to be on fire
Speaker 2: in to day.
Speaker 4: And the hardest thing about it is that the three
Speaker 4: people who have the spot that you have jealously want
Speaker 4: to be in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the mates, oh exactly, and you were trained with
Speaker 2: them all the time, all the.
Speaker 4: Time, right, and like those three people who unpighted in
Speaker 4: that game, we don't pied together. And we've known each
Speaker 4: other since we're like in our early twenties. Yeah, we've
Speaker 4: gone out to get weddings and birthdays and children being
Speaker 4: born and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: So they're your.
Speaker 4: Mates, right, and you only want them to succeed because
Speaker 4: the group is being represented by and the game is
Speaker 4: being represented by those three people on the field at
Speaker 4: that time, and we all just we're just waiting to exhale, right,
Speaker 4: we don't win, all lose, right, we don't want to
Speaker 4: breathe out and be able to get on with life. Right,
Speaker 4: So you want them to do super well. But at
Speaker 4: the same time, you've got this thing where you go.
Speaker 2: Man that client, come on, you know.
Speaker 4: So yeah, one hundred percent and what a great game,
Speaker 4: Like I know you guys would be a result whatever,
Speaker 4: but brilliant match and like incredible day.
Speaker 2: Would you have called it?
Speaker 4: I got a better idea first quarter? First quarter when
Speaker 4: Langdon didn't want to rush the ball, would have you
Speaker 4: rushed it.
Speaker 3: Remember that, because there's there's two hours. We can go
Speaker 3: back to any moment you want. It's a foot off
Speaker 3: the line. You just got to rush for all of us.
Speaker 2: It's just implanted in my head.
Speaker 1: Okay on grand finals though, because as players, I didn't
Speaker 1: understand this when I first went to a grandfather and
Speaker 1: people told me, I said, oh, grandfather was unpired totally different.
Speaker 1: Now I didn't get it. I didn't. I didn't think I, Oh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a game. Everyone does the same thing.
Speaker 1: You know, you get umpired the same way you would
Speaker 1: on a regular match day, and it is umpired differently.
Speaker 1: Now I want to ask you why, why is that?
Speaker 1: Out of curiousity and a fan of it, I'll answer
Speaker 1: that openly and honestly. But I'm going to start with
Speaker 1: a question. So you've made it, you've made an assertion.
Speaker 1: You've said that it's umpired differently.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Right, So I'm going to say, how, tell me how
Speaker 4: in your eyes? Right, because this is cool you've played
Speaker 4: in them. Yeah, how is it unpied different?
Speaker 2: It is not. It's not ticky tack. It is loose.
Speaker 1: It is that can be too many high tackles or
Speaker 1: holding the balls or holding the man or anything like that.
Speaker 2: It is just play on and just it is. It's
Speaker 2: really just an arm wrestle.
Speaker 1: I feel like at times trying to get like the ball,
Speaker 1: are trying to get pass the one whoever it is,
Speaker 1: because you realize that like you're not going to get
Speaker 1: you really have to actually get a disposal off and
Speaker 1: do it correctly because.
Speaker 2: It's no gifts. There's no gifts.
Speaker 4: Catching kid, that's fine. I would so I get that.
Speaker 4: I understand where you're coming from with that. I'd ask
Speaker 4: you to consider this, right, So, of the twenty four
Speaker 4: players that took the field in twenty eighteen, yep, for
Speaker 4: you guys, were they you're considered your best twenty four players.
Speaker 2: That we had available. I'd so, yeah, yeah, it'd have
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Great.
Speaker 4: So we have thirty four umpires on our list. Yeah,
Speaker 4: some have just debuted, some of umpired four hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty games, right, So we've whittled them down, and there
Speaker 4: are three left standing.
Speaker 3: Four four.
Speaker 4: Well, I've been there three times, no, and I was
Speaker 4: I was sitting, was standing. There are three left standing,
Speaker 4: trust me, right, and.
Speaker 3: And they are the best. They are the best, And.
Speaker 4: That doesn't make them infallible. We're human and we will
Speaker 4: make errors, etc. But they are pretty damn good and
Speaker 4: have demonstrated at it. At that time they are flying,
Speaker 4: and so what happens is everything gels right.
Speaker 3: So on field you'll.
Speaker 4: Have system at structure, at stoppage and behind the ball,
Speaker 4: and when you turn it over you know you know
Speaker 4: where you've got to fall back to and what you've
Speaker 4: got to do and whatever we have same, we've got
Speaker 4: system and structure, and what happens for you. If someone
Speaker 4: doesn't fall back and do their job in the matter
Speaker 4: in which they are meant to, you get picked apart.
Speaker 3: You can see to goal right.
Speaker 4: If we don't have somebody doing what they're meant to do,
Speaker 4: we get picked apart, and free kicker error occurs, and
Speaker 4: set kick control is a cock up, and there's a
Speaker 4: miss fifty or a fifty paid that shouldn't have been
Speaker 4: or whatever's things start to just you start picking at
Speaker 4: the pulling it and next thing go a big hole
Speaker 4: in your jump. Right, it's the same thing, but what
Speaker 4: you've got is the three best. They do everything right,
Speaker 4: and it's not sexy talk. It's just disciplined every time
Speaker 4: getting it right. And you know they're going to do it.
Speaker 4: You don't even have to look. So why do we
Speaker 4: umpire differently? We don't.
Speaker 3: We've just got three dudes who are killing it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right with the best players who aren't prepared to
Speaker 4: take the piss because games are so tight. I'm not
Speaker 4: going to be the dude that does something with ill
Speaker 4: discipline cost fifty costs a goal and we get twidded
Speaker 4: by a point.
Speaker 3: I can't live with myself. I'm not doing it.
Speaker 4: So it's all these inputs that result in the overall product.
Speaker 4: It's not done differently, mate, it's just done well. It's
Speaker 4: a good way to put it, very good way to
Speaker 4: put it.
Speaker 1: I ask this because there's you're told abally the three
Speaker 1: and you have to have gel between three people, and
Speaker 1: that do you kind of travel as umpire as as groups?
Speaker 3: We do? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: And is there kind of like some that you guess.
Speaker 1: Like are more experienced with each other therefore they kind
Speaker 1: of travel more often together, if that makes sense? Because
Speaker 1: I remember back to COVID days and this is probably
Speaker 1: where I really gained I think an enormous amount of
Speaker 1: respect for empires because you never really think of all
Speaker 1: the I guess things people give up to do their job.
Speaker 1: And then whenever that happened and the world's got turned
Speaker 1: upside down, you realize, like everyone gave up everything to
Speaker 1: do this career of AFL and to go and travel
Speaker 1: the world or travel the country and do all the
Speaker 1: quarantine everything else. I remember being in quarantine Perth, and
Speaker 1: I remember like traveling on planes with you guys, and
Speaker 1: you're doing hotels with you guys and everything else, and
Speaker 1: it was like these guys are doing the exact guys
Speaker 1: and girls are doing the exact same that we're having
Speaker 1: to do and don't get like the you know.
Speaker 2: The praise and the glory and all this other stuff.
Speaker 1: Like they just get bashed like twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: and they're doing all the same, Like you know, they're
Speaker 1: giving up as much as we are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're having to travel around.
Speaker 1: All these crazy things, and these governments are making everyone
Speaker 1: do and it's not even like reported on and it's
Speaker 1: like this is just expected from the IFL.
Speaker 2: Otherwise we wouldn't be able to play a game.
Speaker 4: There was a game where the three umpires flew in
Speaker 4: on a charter to Adelaide, and this is when.
Speaker 3: Things were really on the move.
Speaker 4: And we'd all been essentially in New South Wales and
Speaker 4: then they dispersed us to Queensland Perth. Right, depending on
Speaker 4: the different border issues. Anyway, two of the three I think,
Speaker 4: but certainly at least two, if not all three, had
Speaker 4: been in New South Wales within a certain time period,
Speaker 4: which meant South Australia wouldn't let him in.
Speaker 3: So they've arrived, they've landed.
Speaker 4: And the coppers are there and they've gone they can
Speaker 4: do bro and you're gonna go to the hotel for
Speaker 4: two weeks and park yourself there?
Speaker 3: What now?
Speaker 4: Fortunately one of them was a barrister and he goes,
Speaker 4: I don't think that's how it's going to unfold. A
Speaker 4: conversation ensued anyway, So they weren't going umpire the game
Speaker 4: and off they can get back on a plane. They
Speaker 4: went back to the Gold Coast, right, but they weren't
Speaker 4: going to So now we've got no umpires there.
Speaker 3: So phones are going berserk.
Speaker 4: Right, dudes are on the golf course where and they're
Speaker 4: looking for people who have not been in Sydney in
Speaker 4: the last fourteen days?
Speaker 3: Right, and again they go get to.
Speaker 4: The airport now, so dudes are just grabbing their staff
Speaker 4: hoofing it to the airport.
Speaker 3: They've got a private jet private cannot make yourself huge,
Speaker 3: hoof it in land. They're in their kit.
Speaker 4: There's no change of clothes whatever. They are ready to
Speaker 4: roll into the car. Copper's wolf them to the ground.
Speaker 4: Everyone's out there warming up the broadcast as a talk
Speaker 4: and Mark Raschudo has got his thing gun whatever, right,
Speaker 4: and then like two minutes before they're meant to start
Speaker 4: the game, these umpires come barreling out the barreling out
Speaker 4: the race and start paying away to go right.
Speaker 3: So it was just madness. It was madness.
Speaker 4: And you know, in the two seasons that we had
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty one, and I'm only representative of everyone
Speaker 4: else on the list. I'm not special, right, I spent
Speaker 4: eight months out of my house. Yeah, like so, and
Speaker 4: you know, you've got a young one and a wife,
Speaker 4: and you've got a small business that you're trying to
Speaker 4: run and all those things, and we're all impacted differently,
Speaker 4: we're everyone globally. It's a pandemic, right, But yeah, it
Speaker 4: was pretty full on. Our group knew that it was
Speaker 4: so important that we fronted because it's not about us.
Speaker 4: But unfortunately, if we don't lob there's no game, doesn't
Speaker 4: happen and that I remember initial conversations and there was
Speaker 4: all this concern about, you know, because we didn't know
Speaker 4: about anything to.
Speaker 3: Get paid, you know, how we're going to see our family,
Speaker 3: what will happen.
Speaker 4: But we just had to have faith that the AFL
Speaker 4: would do everything they could to support us. I remember
Speaker 4: having this conversation with the group at some point we
Speaker 4: actually just need to put our faith in that we're
Speaker 4: going to get treated the right way, and we were
Speaker 4: and we were in space right. So I will look
Speaker 4: back on it if it's a twenty chapter book right
Speaker 4: that twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, they will probably
Speaker 4: be the best read to hold that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you had the Wirbnb with a few other
Speaker 1: umpires the release of that.
Speaker 2: I remember how we had.
Speaker 4: A Scarborough beach pad for a period of time. It
Speaker 4: was it was like I think Kanya had been there,
Speaker 4: like it was pretty good, and that was that was
Speaker 4: just a lucky sort of thing, but the best you know,
Speaker 4: and you know, hanging with hanging with your colleagues and
Speaker 4: actually hearing about and meeting their families and all those things.
Speaker 4: When they came in for a period. So true, it
Speaker 4: was really cool, Like it was a unique experience out
Speaker 4: of the twenty year chapter twenty chapter career. Yeah, so
Speaker 4: it was. It was full on, but I got to
Speaker 4: be honest, I really loved it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think one of the coolest things. Like we because
Speaker 1: we were up in twin widers and we had two
Speaker 1: other teams that are always up there with us, and
Speaker 1: like you talk about all the other families, like everyone's
Speaker 1: kids became friends and they're like you go playing against
Speaker 1: these guys on the weekend. You know, I don't really
Speaker 1: know each other because like you just kind of maybe
Speaker 1: you played against each other growing up whoever it is.
Speaker 1: But like you actually really got to know like people
Speaker 1: and their families and like hung out together and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, which is really cool, Like that doesn't really
Speaker 1: happen anywhere else or any other experience.
Speaker 4: And I remember, I remember, so all the families come
Speaker 4: from a period, right, And that was a bit controversial
Speaker 4: on that going to quarantine and there was all the
Speaker 4: a f L and a few of the officials that
Speaker 4: have to come up, and I remember going, Okay, who
Speaker 4: do I know? It probably really matters, and like so
Speaker 4: I took I would get on their LinkedIn page or
Speaker 4: whatever and takes screenshot and sent them to my wife
Speaker 4: and go show some respect across this person, just to
Speaker 4: say hello, right, for God's sake. But no, as I said,
Speaker 4: you know, we were looked after incredibly well. And we
Speaker 4: always you will have issues that bob up along the
Speaker 4: way and you can have it, be a bit aggrieved
Speaker 4: about something or whatever, but in a time that was
Speaker 4: you know, really no one Jesus right, we were looked
Speaker 4: after brilliantly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about that with the AFL, And I
Speaker 1: guess the connection between the umpires and the AFL because
Speaker 1: you're very religant on them, they're religing on you. It's
Speaker 1: a very very mutual I guess respect in that sense. Now,
Speaker 1: whenever it comes to I guess like reviewing games like
Speaker 1: AFL and yourself, like let's say AFI wants to adjudicate
Speaker 1: something now or a change a rule or whatever it
Speaker 1: may be, or look at things in a different light,
Speaker 1: like I mean, obviously we'll probably dabble on it because
Speaker 1: there's obviously quite I guess Top Court the MoMA is
Speaker 1: guinea and had high tackles and all that, But how
Speaker 1: is the I guess, like the stream of communication come
Speaker 1: from the AFL to umpires to I guess, change things
Speaker 1: when you need to change it or adjudicate things in
Speaker 1: different ways whenever they come.
Speaker 4: Up without getting too forensic, if a rule is going
Speaker 4: to be changed, not an interpretation that's been an actual rule,
Speaker 4: it's going to come from the commission.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they have to sign off on all of that.
Speaker 4: Okay, so there's due process there, and of course you've
Speaker 4: got the executive and then Brad Scott and his team
Speaker 4: in that part is a streamline there, and then they'll
Speaker 4: be having conversations driven by data, coaches, players, association.
Speaker 3: Right, all of that stuff's getting thrown around.
Speaker 4: And then ultimately what will happen is there'll be a
Speaker 4: direction that will be afforded to the umpiring department. YEP,
Speaker 4: this is what we're seeking, this is why, this is
Speaker 4: what underpins it, this is what we're trying to change.
Speaker 4: These are the reasons for the change rather right, and
Speaker 4: so then we will get taken along on that journey
Speaker 4: with examples, questions, all really important stuff when you're trying
Speaker 4: to contextualize this amendment that you're not going to get
Speaker 4: two exact examples. They might be similar, but no two
Speaker 4: are exactly the same, and we have to and then
Speaker 4: make the right call. Right, So you need to understand
Speaker 4: it to a depth.
Speaker 3: That will allow you to do that.
Speaker 4: So there's a lot of that, but we get to
Speaker 4: see a whole heap of vision, multiple examples plenty. As
Speaker 4: I said, all this debate and not as though we're
Speaker 4: going to change anything. That's not what it's about. It's
Speaker 4: about making sure that cemented in our head what am
Speaker 4: I looking for? Yeah, and why so that we're very
Speaker 4: well supported in that sense and ultimately our responsibility. So
Speaker 4: I'd say to people of the time, my opportunity to
Speaker 4: have a like, to have choice around decision making is
Speaker 4: at its highest when.
Speaker 3: I'm ordering off the room surface menu.
Speaker 4: Right, Like, we're told, Hey, these are the rules, these
Speaker 4: are the interpretations, this is what we want, you want
Speaker 4: to get picked, this is what you need to do.
Speaker 3: Right, So I need to park.
Speaker 4: Whatever individual view of the game I may have, which
Speaker 4: will be different to yours and the person at the
Speaker 4: coffee shop. Right, my job is to implement the instructions
Speaker 4: in accordance with what I've been given. Yeah, yeah, your
Speaker 4: extension of the end of and so park your fan
Speaker 4: hat and do your job. And that's that's actually really challenging,
Speaker 4: right because we're all passionate about it. We can't get
Speaker 4: involved in an elite level if you don't have a passion
Speaker 4: for it. No, exactly, you won't survive because it sucks.
Speaker 4: It where's you're down and you're at right. So we're
Speaker 4: all passionately involved, and so then you've got to park
Speaker 4: whatever emotional attachment you might have to something and go,
Speaker 4: what's my job here. I'm supposed to deliver on this.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm here to do. So that's that's part
Speaker 4: of the lens through which umpires view the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's going to be such a tough thing
Speaker 1: to to be. I guess like someone else's voice in
Speaker 1: a sense, like very much probably makes sense the ifl's
Speaker 1: voice on what is the rules of the game? I
Speaker 1: get there's stuff to say, like a paperwork of for
Speaker 1: like you know, this is this rule, this is this rule,
Speaker 1: But like you're the one in the pressure of the
Speaker 1: moment that's actually adjudicating and making those rules actually stand
Speaker 1: up correct. And I feel like that that bit's actually
Speaker 1: just as hard as actually making rules and understand like
Speaker 1: changing everything else like that. I feel like it's almost
Speaker 1: the hardest thing is to actually be the conduit of
Speaker 1: the AFL and the players to say this is how
Speaker 1: the game's going to be played.
Speaker 4: And I think it's actually, really I've not had it.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's been I've never been in a
Speaker 4: conversation with someone who's articulated in that way, and I
Speaker 4: think it's a really I think it's brilliantly articulated and
Speaker 4: it's exactly what we do. And one thing that's changed
Speaker 4: in my twenty years involvement is this understanding and acceptance
Speaker 4: from the industry that a couple of things. One is
Speaker 4: that umpires will make a mistake. So if they've cocked
Speaker 4: one up, that's not the rule or the interpretation they
Speaker 4: they were a human being, like you miss a target,
Speaker 4: you double clutch a mark, whatever, right, you make mistakes.
Speaker 4: And then there's the other bit where the game, the
Speaker 4: industry media even I think are much more empathetic around this,
Speaker 4: where they go, actually, no, that's what they're being asked
Speaker 4: to do. They don't pile on umpiring so much. They'll
Speaker 4: talk more in reference to the individualize the person. And
Speaker 4: I think that's awesome. I think that's been the good
Speaker 4: progression and an understanding that hey, like you've intimated, you're
Speaker 4: just you're just a conduit. So it's not don't blame here.
Speaker 4: If you've got a problem with the rule, go upstream.
Speaker 4: If there's a problem with the implementation, then yeah, that's
Speaker 4: on the individual. Yeah, you make an error. It's a
Speaker 4: what is it? It's a wins and losses industries right
Speaker 4: where they're saying right, get it right or get out. Yeah,
Speaker 4: So you know, that's that's part of the challenge because
Speaker 4: I feel like people don't realize that.
Speaker 1: I guess umpires are kind of they're similar in the
Speaker 1: sense of like to players, as like you are reviewed
Speaker 1: every week and like if you're not going well, like
Speaker 1: you get dropped and then you get moved up if
Speaker 1: you are going well, And like it's kind of weird
Speaker 1: because I think the AFI makes it seem as empires
Speaker 1: are supposed to be in the background. They're not supposed
Speaker 1: to be seen. Really, they're not really supposed to be
Speaker 1: part of necessarily like the highlights package every day, you know,
Speaker 1: like they want them to just you know, maneuver things
Speaker 1: to make sure all works out. Everyone understands they're in
Speaker 1: the same place, in the right places at the right time,
Speaker 1: telling them in direction what they need to do, but
Speaker 1: they don't want them to be in front of like
Speaker 1: the camera per se. Yep, and I'll talk back to
Speaker 1: a you did make a highlight recently?
Speaker 2: This is this is a few a few years ago now,
Speaker 2: an eron ball.
Speaker 1: Let's just say it was kicked and this is a
Speaker 1: very iconic moment of your career. Probably not something you
Speaker 1: want to have in your highlights.
Speaker 5: But.
Speaker 2: Let's say it hit your package. Let's just say that
Speaker 2: for your highlights package of all.
Speaker 1: If you know, someone kicks it offside and hits you
Speaker 1: in the package and you just you just take it,
Speaker 1: like some people would just go you kidding me, like
Speaker 1: this ridiculous full of you just take it strong, and
Speaker 1: you're like, there's the first time probably I realized what
Speaker 1: this meant, and that means I'm bold, And that was yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm out. Whatever it was, you know, ten outs, whatever
Speaker 1: the hell isn't that's right? And I couldn't stop but laughing.
Speaker 1: I think it was such like an iconic moment that
Speaker 1: just described you so well. I was like, this man
Speaker 1: just gets on with it. He just is himself, has
Speaker 1: a laugh, it joys life and just moves on.
Speaker 3: That can come at me like a trace trable. So
Speaker 3: he's monk.
Speaker 2: I never apologized.
Speaker 3: I really didn't do it on purpose. He doesn't know
Speaker 3: me an apology at all.
Speaker 4: And he's bollyed this thing and it's come out of
Speaker 4: it like a cannon and I couldn't go under it.
Speaker 3: I couldn't go over it. I'm like, oh man, and
Speaker 3: it hit me.
Speaker 4: And so you carry your spare whistle like a pocket
Speaker 4: inside like like where you put your keys and a bruise.
Speaker 3: I got hit my crick.
Speaker 4: And you know, the crowd went nuts and they loved it. Right,
Speaker 4: We were never happier and I just about that went
Speaker 4: that's out right, and they lost it. But I think again, right,
Speaker 4: this is again coming down to understanding, like what's there
Speaker 4: to fred about?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like it's.
Speaker 4: Okay next, you know so, but a bit of fun.
Speaker 1: Now we'll move into well, actually we'll finish this foot
Speaker 1: each chatter off because a lot of people obviously it's
Speaker 1: very top author the moment, and I won't go to
Speaker 1: in depth into because I want to get you in
Speaker 1: trouble by any means, but I want to get your take.
Speaker 2: On high tackling at the moment.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of a lot of media around it,
Speaker 1: a lot of media I'd like to get I guess
Speaker 1: your take on the ruling that is, and what's being
Speaker 1: told from the umpire's side of things, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I spoke about this publicly last week on a different
Speaker 4: like on a radio thing I do. So that's not
Speaker 4: a problem. So what's really important to understand this is
Speaker 4: what's underpinning it is actually care, a duty of care
Speaker 4: for the players holistically across the entire competition. Right, So
Speaker 4: what fundamentally underpins the laws of Australian rules football, And
Speaker 4: it's in the very first page of the role of
Speaker 4: the Umpire. Okay, And I know how much you've read
Speaker 4: the law book Huge Fano, cover to cover, baby, and
Speaker 4: it talks about the role of the umpire and one
Speaker 4: of is there's sort of three key factors in particular,
Speaker 4: and one of them is to ensure that the game
Speaker 4: is played in a fair and safe manner. Okay, So
Speaker 4: protection of the ball player is paramount. That is still
Speaker 4: the same. But the problem is, right that broadly across
Speaker 4: the competition, this doesn't relate to one player right across
Speaker 4: the competition, and I'm going to bang bang bang any
Speaker 4: game you like, any club you like, I can show
Speaker 4: you examples the game and by extent talking about players
Speaker 4: are taken the PI double five with the laws of
Speaker 4: the game to induce free kick because as you know,
Speaker 4: set shot and goal inside forward fifty in particular, that's king,
Speaker 4: it's so hard, so you can get a free kick
Speaker 4: tick right, you buy farms, guys are take contestant market
Speaker 4: inside fifty by farms, right, So I understand what drives
Speaker 4: that behavior. That's okay, right, But then the extension of it,
Speaker 4: if you pull back for a moment, is that factions
Speaker 4: and those behaviors are inducing the very thing that we're
Speaker 4: trying to minimize and remove. So at some point, so
Speaker 4: let's say, when you're raising a child, or even if
Speaker 4: for those without children, you've got a dog and you're
Speaker 4: training the dog. Right, if you reward shitty behavior, what
Speaker 4: do you get? Same, you get more shitty behavior made right.
Speaker 4: So it's the same with this whole unpouring piece. Right,
Speaker 4: there's a carrot there being dangled out. You'll keep doing it.
Speaker 4: Got to remove it. So nah had a gupfull not
Speaker 4: happening anymore. Play actually win the football so that the
Speaker 4: people will get in these freeze. That's the first thing
Speaker 4: they're getting the ball first, tick the box right now,
Speaker 4: run carry handball kick what play?
Speaker 3: Not secure ball?
Speaker 4: Feign defender, lower tilt, hook arm, look for high contact. No, no, no,
Speaker 4: don't do that play. That's I think if we're trying
Speaker 4: to capture it, that's how I would articulate it.
Speaker 3: So it is to ensure that.
Speaker 4: You can protect the players. And what happens with you, guys,
Speaker 4: because you are brave to a point where you need
Speaker 4: protecting from yourselves. You're mad, You're bloody mad, right, and
Speaker 4: I've got the most incredible respect, Holy shit, but what
Speaker 4: do you do in son?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: You need to be protected from yourselves at times, and
Speaker 4: this is one of those moments. And we've had it
Speaker 4: with contact below the knees, right, go back a few years.
Speaker 4: You'd slide in and like Rugby, clear the ruck. We'll
Speaker 4: knock them out. Teammate come in, right, needed protecting from yourself.
Speaker 4: You rule, can't slide in feet and boots first, canniball behavior, right,
Speaker 4: you need protecting from yourselves. And I truly believe, and
Speaker 4: this is just my opinion. That's in a in a nutshell,
Speaker 4: what's trying to be undertaken here.
Speaker 1: It's a tough thing to I guess, try to to
Speaker 1: be correct on It's very hard.
Speaker 2: I've never got a high tackle in my life, so
Speaker 2: by the worst person to ask, to be honest, but
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 3: There's a few. There's a few key because someone's.
Speaker 2: Getting the high tackle.
Speaker 1: If it's me, you're getting a heart tagle with someone
Speaker 1: else like they're jumping of of their standards. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it is such an interesting thing. It's great to hear
Speaker 1: your your side of it because I feel like you
Speaker 1: do articulate very well. I guess the we've talked about
Speaker 1: being the voice of the i FL and how to
Speaker 1: adjudicate rules, and it's it's not an easy thing to do.
Speaker 1: It's not an easy thing to do, but we'll move
Speaker 1: into it. I want to I want to pump up
Speaker 1: what you're doing right now because you've got so much
Speaker 1: going on outside of football.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: You've got your founder and director of the Chamberlain and
Speaker 1: Co Mortgage broken services.
Speaker 3: That's true. Yeah, so that's that's keeps me off the
Speaker 3: main streets.
Speaker 2: Because every armpire has got a side gig.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well we all we all are either studying or working.
Speaker 2: And you've started your own company, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And so that was that's eighteen years now and
Speaker 4: I've been undertaking this and got a really awesome team
Speaker 4: so that I get in their way.
Speaker 3: Like the more I'm away, the better they go.
Speaker 4: So my job is really to resource them effectively and
Speaker 4: then allow them to be the best they can be.
Speaker 3: So I got a great team there. And the thing
Speaker 3: I like.
Speaker 4: About it is you get to advocate for people. So
Speaker 4: like we write, we look at budget and how many
Speaker 4: lanes we've got to write and what our volume's got
Speaker 4: to be and what that equals, and right, really sort
Speaker 4: of just clunky ears with running business, Right, But what
Speaker 4: you're doing is like this person's able to take their
Speaker 4: kids to Disneyland, or this lady is able to buy
Speaker 4: her daughter her first car, or there's always that under
Speaker 4: all of these things. I love those stories and I
Speaker 4: love helping people obtain that, yeah, reach their goals. It's
Speaker 4: so cool, right, So that that's the thing that that
Speaker 4: actually gets me fired up Monday through Friday with that Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: And you shout out to the website, Yeah, we'll get.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, that's fine. Chamberlain and Co dot Com get
Speaker 3: on it and yeah, reach out.
Speaker 2: And they can help you out with everything you possibly Well,
Speaker 2: you won't speak to me.
Speaker 4: Its chill out, all right, it won't get to me.
Speaker 4: There's a front line there. I don't see that it
Speaker 4: gets It gets filtered before it gets to make mote.
Speaker 2: That's so good.
Speaker 1: The other thing you're doing Chamberlain Foundation, Now I love
Speaker 1: this because this is something that you're passionate about.
Speaker 2: I've known you've done this for a while.
Speaker 1: And it raises funds to revide support for suicide prevention
Speaker 1: and mental health awareness. Now can you speak a bit
Speaker 1: to that because I feel like that's something that in
Speaker 1: today's society is so so so important.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So this this goes back six years now. And I remember,
Speaker 4: so I grew up in Canberra with my brothers and
Speaker 4: they still reside in Canberra and they've got families and
Speaker 4: business and jobs and all that sort of stuff. And
Speaker 4: I would ring them and it'd be have you have
Speaker 4: you spoken to mom this week? Who's paying for Christmas?
Speaker 3: That kind of gear?
Speaker 4: And that was okay when I first left home, but
Speaker 4: it got to a point was like, hey, mate, who
Speaker 4: are you again? What have you got that role? Right?
Speaker 4: So I thought I wouldn't it be cool if we
Speaker 4: all did something there was a bit challenging and fun
Speaker 4: together and the boys went, no, that's as actually, let's
Speaker 4: do that.
Speaker 3: And then life gets busy.
Speaker 4: And I was driving home one night down the Pena
Speaker 4: Highway and I was getting towards Southland and the phone rang.
Speaker 4: It was my brother, and I started giving him a
Speaker 4: bit of stick, you know, as you do, and then
Speaker 4: I realized he was actually quite upset, and he was
Speaker 4: emotional and he said, he said, Robbie took his own life.
Speaker 4: And I remember thinking he was referencing my cousin and
Speaker 4: my best mate and my best man. But that's rob
Speaker 4: and he said Robbie. So he was talking about his
Speaker 4: best mate. And so now I'm feeling better, which was weird. Yeah,
Speaker 4: And Robbie left behind two young kids and a whole
Speaker 4: range of stuff. Now it's not we're not special, Sadly, sadly,
Speaker 4: we're not special, like you know, this is this is
Speaker 4: out there. Everyone's got a story around this, which is
Speaker 4: kind of the point. But if nothing else, Robbie's passing
Speaker 4: put a rocket up us and it gave us a purpose,
Speaker 4: so that really narrowed our our scope in what we're
Speaker 4: going to do. And so we created our foundation and
Speaker 4: it's you know, it's legit, no one and by the way,
Speaker 4: everyone who runs it is a volunteer. No one takes
Speaker 4: ano that out of it fully like deductible gift recipient
Speaker 4: ordered the whole bag. So that's super good. And we've
Speaker 4: been able to you know, raise and then move on
Speaker 4: nearly four hundred grand, which is good, right, that must
Speaker 4: be feel great about it, right, And we get to
Speaker 4: fund programs that support and where we like to really
Speaker 4: channel into our return servicemen and women and our first responders.
Speaker 4: Whenever things go to the ship, we're looking at them, right,
Speaker 4: And yet I feel yeah, and I feel like they're
Speaker 4: probably not as rewarded or as supported as they really
Speaker 4: deserve to be. So our most recent donation was to
Speaker 4: the Police Association of Victoria, which was all around stuff
Speaker 4: pertaining to PTSD resources and training for their graduates. So
Speaker 4: that's really cool. But that's what we do. So we
Speaker 4: run events, we do things. Our first event was Boots
Speaker 4: in the Water in Burmaghuey, which is on the New
Speaker 4: south West South Coast, I know you know the Burma guy.
Speaker 4: Well mate, and then hike to the top of Meta Posiosco.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, So those are the sorts of things we do.
Speaker 4: These we do these bike tours, we have luncheons and
Speaker 4: all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3: So that's what we do.
Speaker 4: And we've got my others and we've got two sisters
Speaker 4: who have formed the board for the most part of
Speaker 4: the time. This people have come and gome like we
Speaker 4: get accountant and all that type of stuff that represent
Speaker 4: and a cyst. But really the the legends are actually
Speaker 4: like our tribe the kind of lunch every year and
Speaker 4: participate and like they're the ones who drive it and
Speaker 4: they're the reason why we're able to donate the money
Speaker 4: that we do and do the things that we do.
Speaker 3: So they're the ones who make it cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, get you linked up with the charity I do
Speaker 1: call the Life Changer. Okay, life change, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: and checking them out. But that's awesome. Seriously, Now, I
Speaker 1: love the people that look beyond themselves. Look beyond and
Speaker 1: it's it's a classic kind of quote. I'm probably going
Speaker 1: to butcher this, but it's plant the seeds for trees
Speaker 1: for trees you'll never never sit in the shade of
Speaker 1: correct and it's such just that.
Speaker 2: But that was the moment.
Speaker 1: But no, it's so true that people that have the
Speaker 1: mindset to be able to look past their lifetime, to
Speaker 1: be able to to ate a better future for someone
Speaker 1: else down the road, and to help people out that
Speaker 1: are outside of their inner circle. It's a credit to you, mate,
Speaker 1: It's an absolute credit to you.
Speaker 4: Well, now, thank you. It helped me though, if I'm
Speaker 4: really honest, you know, like so, I I'd love on pie,
Speaker 4: I love footy, but I had I had a tough
Speaker 4: time myself with just dealing with all this sort of
Speaker 4: media staff and whatever, which I embraced. Now I'm like, right,
Speaker 4: you can't take the cordill out the water, right, I'm
Speaker 4: into this.
Speaker 3: There's no way I can dampen it or whatever. But
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 4: I actually tried not to be part of any of it.
Speaker 4: And I remember being I'm not going to say bullied,
Speaker 4: because that's the wrong word, but I was strongly encouraged. Okay, right,
Speaker 4: pushed the direction right to do an interview with Triple
Speaker 4: M and they were really cool to me, Okay they were,
Speaker 4: and BT and James Brayshaw and carry lyon and all
Speaker 4: that demail on that, and I dropped a silly line
Speaker 4: that they found humorous, and I suggested that potentially the
Speaker 4: Dingo had taken the wrong Chamberlain.
Speaker 3: Right, so I don't know with you, so and so
Speaker 3: then they were wush.
Speaker 4: And that was in two thousand and seven, right, And
Speaker 4: so then that alls, and that all this rais of
Speaker 4: stuff had been happening. And anyway, I got injured and
Speaker 4: I had to have surgery and they and it didn't
Speaker 4: go great, and so then I reinjured. I put my
Speaker 4: kneecup in half in a game colling Wood Cartlein mcg
Speaker 4: and so I was like, okay, you're cooked. And again
Speaker 4: I lose his corner. Right, So I took the family
Speaker 4: where Jeff Geieshon was our boss. He goes, listen, get
Speaker 4: out of the country, going go somewhere, which was so
Speaker 4: kind of Jeff. Right, he's a ripping human being, he
Speaker 4: really cares. He's such a nice man. And so we
Speaker 4: went to Hawaii because I was the only place you'd gather.
Speaker 4: It was a bank drop of a hat, and we
Speaker 4: loved it. And I read this book Robbie McEwen. I
Speaker 4: got I got told read this book. It's a great autobiograph.
Speaker 4: I'm going to mate. It's about a dude in Liker
Speaker 4: on a bike. Like, how exciting going to be such
Speaker 4: a good read?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: And in it he had a Poteller tendernopathy injury that
Speaker 4: rocked his career. His was a little more dramatic than mine.
Speaker 4: Came around a blind corner and smashed his knee into
Speaker 4: a concrete pylon.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: And what smacked me in my fat head Mason, was
Speaker 4: that this book, this autobiography, his challenge, his injury challenge.
Speaker 3: It was one.
Speaker 4: Chapter, small bar of his whole fucking book, mate, Right.
Speaker 4: And so what I realized was like, Man, I can
Speaker 4: sit here and sook the house down, or I can
Speaker 4: just write this chapter out actually and write it as
Speaker 4: best I can. So I just threw myself into being
Speaker 4: the best rehabit that ever dreary breath. Right, some time
Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty games since then, I was told
Speaker 4: I was cooked. So I had to change a lot
Speaker 4: of stuff and whatever. But what it did was I
Speaker 4: went this whole raisor thing that I don't understand, and
Speaker 4: I get angry about because people are saying stuff about
Speaker 4: out me and I don't have a platform to talk
Speaker 4: back or at least provide my view of it, which
Speaker 4: didn't sit well with my personality, right, And so the
Speaker 4: problem was me. I knew that I wasn't handling it.
Speaker 4: I had to grow up and I had to become
Speaker 4: more evolved and smarter and all that sort of shit.
Speaker 4: This foundation, I went, if I get back and all
Speaker 4: this brew hahas existing, I'm going to use it for
Speaker 4: something good like that, so that I don't. I'm really
Speaker 4: lucky that I've got that avenue, Like it keeps me
Speaker 4: motivated and I get more out of it.
Speaker 3: I reckon that I put in what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 4: And yeah, so it's cool and we love it, and
Speaker 4: it's good for our family, you know, the boys like
Speaker 4: it keeps us something and we've met this beautiful these
Speaker 4: two sisters who are just in legends and they sort
Speaker 4: of umpire between us and stop us blowing each other
Speaker 4: and that.
Speaker 3: So it's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Oh that's awesome. Man, It's it's cool,
Speaker 1: like it's to have. It actually is like something your
Speaker 1: whole family does. It is quite unique. I feel like
Speaker 1: everyone says, don't go into business with your family, But
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've probably got stories right the weekly Weekly.
Speaker 1: I love that. Well, do you want to give a
Speaker 1: shout out guess to where you can donate for the foundation?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: I know you also do a motivation motivational speaking, is
Speaker 2: that correct?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: No, that's that's good fun. Actually, I love getting out
Speaker 4: to commut like particularly like we do like corporate stuff
Speaker 4: and all that, and that's good fun. And you meet
Speaker 4: lots of people and it's always big events and that's
Speaker 4: good fun.
Speaker 3: But the ones that are really cool, like you know,
Speaker 3: I was at a chooker.
Speaker 1: Your chew cut the other week, right, our producers from
Speaker 1: a cheer girl, God's Country stories from a chew gu Yeah,
Speaker 1: I bet, and.
Speaker 4: And I've got to gotta go there. It was brilliant,
Speaker 4: the best couple of days. It was so much fun.
Speaker 4: Met some legends up there, and you know, you get
Speaker 4: immersed in local football and nipall clubs, right, and you
Speaker 4: just takes me back to again, You're gonna You're never
Speaker 4: gonna forget places, the Tagnong Valley where I grew up
Speaker 4: and playing for the Tugerong Lines, and you know, it's
Speaker 4: just all of that again and you go, you remember
Speaker 4: why you love the game.
Speaker 3: Actually I love those sorts of things.
Speaker 4: But yeah, Chamberlain Foundation dot Org is where you can
Speaker 4: go to and find the donate.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we're we're it's a big it's on a
Speaker 3: big build at the moment. We're on it.
Speaker 4: That's actually the task that it's twenty twenty two is
Speaker 4: the creation of our online platform. So we've generated We've
Speaker 4: got a corporate partner who's helping fund that, so we're
Speaker 4: in the build there. But yeah, Chamberlain Foundation dot org
Speaker 4: and you can find us. We donate now and it's,
Speaker 4: as I said, totally tax deductible.
Speaker 2: Huge.
Speaker 4: You get your receipt and all that sort of gear
Speaker 4: and the money goes too directly to.
Speaker 3: Our partners.
Speaker 4: And so we've had the Police Association of Victoria, are
Speaker 4: you okay, Lifeline and Grief Line they've been our beneficiaries.
Speaker 4: And yeah, they're all really really reputable and brilliant organizations
Speaker 4: that are making a difference in people's lives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, which is really cool. That's awesome, man.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for doing that,
Speaker 1: and thank you for coming on the pod, mate mate,
Speaker 1: It is so.
Speaker 2: Good to chat to you.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: Like there's so many different facets of your life. I
Speaker 1: feel like they're so fascinating that I could. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll go to the USA at the end of the year.
Speaker 2: We're going to go to the US.
Speaker 1: I fell together in California, California, big fan of LA
Speaker 1: Here we come.
Speaker 2: The boys are back. The boys they're back.
Speaker 3: We'll find a couple of just fun, a couple on
Speaker 3: the back end.
Speaker 1: We'll find that I'm sure a few frothies for the
Speaker 1: first season. But honestly, thanks so much for coming on, mate.
Speaker 1: I love your story. I love the way you look
Speaker 1: at life. I love your personality and your the uniqueness
Speaker 1: of what you go about and do them. It is
Speaker 1: so so cool to see someone charismatically be themselves no
Speaker 1: matter what. And hearing some more about your charity and
Speaker 1: your foundation and everything else is just It adds to
Speaker 1: the story of the human you are, mate, and it's
Speaker 1: a It's a credit to you for what you do
Speaker 1: and the way you go about it.
Speaker 2: So massive.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on, mate, and can't wait to
Speaker 1: see you running aund again. Hopefully you get the injury
Speaker 1: and back out there.
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty three. Good luck for the rest of you, mate.
Speaker 4: You guys are flying and bring joy to a lot
Speaker 4: of people and thanks for the opportunity mate.
Speaker 2: Now thank you