Speaker 1: Good everyone, Welcome back to The Mason Cox Show. Now
Speaker 1: today we've got a special guest, a man that I'm
Speaker 1: very close with. He's one of the he's known as
Speaker 1: the man that is everywhere. He is one of the
Speaker 1: most iconic people I feel like of Melbourne and of
Speaker 1: the country. He's known. First time I ever met him,
Speaker 1: I think he was I thought he was a regius
Speaker 1: filming of Australia. I was kind of confused on who
Speaker 1: he was, and so I saw him on the back
Speaker 1: of a taxi and I thought, oh, this guy's pretty
Speaker 1: big deal, I'd say, But he's a game show host,
Speaker 1: he's a member of the Order of Australia, he's an
Speaker 1: honorary doctorate from r MIT, Sale of the Century winner,
Speaker 1: former CEO of Channel nine, a journalist and AFL commentator,
Speaker 1: and I could go on and on and on about
Speaker 1: all the different things he's done. But he is one
Speaker 1: of the most probably influential people in my life. I'd say,
Speaker 1: coming to Australia and it's so great to have you
Speaker 1: on The Man in the myth Legend Eddie McGuire show.
Speaker 1: Good to see that, Thanks so much for coming on.
Speaker 2: Interviewing football is not the other way around.
Speaker 1: I know this is I've been nervous here and usually
Speaker 1: you're the one on the other side the mic, so
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to really take control of this conversation.
Speaker 1: But I find it amazing because you've got such an
Speaker 1: amazing story and I think a lot of people gravitate you.
Speaker 1: You to you because you've come from broad Meadows and
Speaker 1: you've been able to create a career of yourself, and
Speaker 1: it's come through a lot of hard work, a lot
Speaker 1: of dedication. I think you're probably the hardest working person
Speaker 1: I've ever met in my life. You're constantly on the go,
Speaker 1: You're constantly doing something. So I know, this whole interview,
Speaker 1: I want to say thank you for taking the time
Speaker 1: to come out and do this. It's amazing to have
Speaker 1: you on and something like I said, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people gravitate to you, and you've got some
Speaker 1: amazing stories that we're going to go through on this podcast.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, in a lot of ways, Mason, what
Speaker 2: you said there is what I'd like to be doing now,
Speaker 2: which I am doing even through our business at GMTV,
Speaker 2: and that is over the journey. Over my journey, so
Speaker 2: many people have given me a hand up. You always
Speaker 2: hear about the discrimination against people. I've always found that
Speaker 2: coming from broad Meadows, if you had a bit of go,
Speaker 2: people go, jeez, that's pretty good. Yeah, this kid's got
Speaker 2: a bit of go about him. Well, they would never
Speaker 2: know where you're from. I just found over the journeys
Speaker 2: so many people gave me a leg up. Not one
Speaker 2: of them going buy me a car. And I think
Speaker 2: they just gave you a chance, or they let you
Speaker 2: not even they didn't have to be that. They might
Speaker 2: just say hello to you, you know. I remember the
Speaker 2: first time Bobby Rose introduced me to someone, he said,
Speaker 2: he's one of us. He's a great Collingwood man. It
Speaker 2: was one of the proudest moments of my life that
Speaker 2: Bob Rose anointed me a Collingwood person. I mean, the
Speaker 2: club met so much to me as a kid coming through.
Speaker 2: But people like Lindsay Fox, who was the Sin Kilda
Speaker 2: president back in those days, and I remember ringing him
Speaker 2: up one Sunday morning something had happened down at the
Speaker 2: Saint Kilda Social Club, which was a regular account. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I can tell you I was either most of them
Speaker 2: or a reporter on the rest of them. But and
Speaker 2: then after that Foxy has looked after me. We became
Speaker 2: close friends. I'm going on his eighty fifth birthday cruise.
Speaker 2: The family are close family friends of ours. And Foxy
Speaker 2: has a great line he says, to have a friend,
Speaker 2: you have to be a friend, and I've always been
Speaker 2: conscious of that along the any that you have to
Speaker 2: give yourself to people as well. So as my time
Speaker 2: has come around, you know, I looked at what I
Speaker 2: was doing with Collingwood. I really saw that as my
Speaker 2: way of giving back to the community without getting into politics,
Speaker 2: So you know, putting in the housing for the homeless
Speaker 2: and things like that. That was part of what we
Speaker 2: need to do. It couldn't just be about trying to
Speaker 2: win the premiership. Of course, that's the thinking about it
Speaker 2: all the time, but it needed to be something bigger
Speaker 2: than that. And the saying that we sort of had
Speaker 2: a colling Wood is if you didn't stand for something,
Speaker 2: you stood for nothing. So that was sort of the
Speaker 2: ethos we wanted to bring back to the club that
Speaker 2: maybe had missed for a while, but was really what
Speaker 2: the club was based on.
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you this, as you brought the
Speaker 1: club already and I was going to bring this at
Speaker 1: the end of the podcast, we'll bring it forward. Is
Speaker 1: it true that you became a colling fan because the
Speaker 1: Collingwood theme song was on the back of a packet
Speaker 1: of chips? Is that story actually true? I've got a
Speaker 1: bit of dirt on you. We're good mates.
Speaker 2: I sort of right there, number class enough. It was
Speaker 2: a doughnut bag. But what happened was in nineteen seventy
Speaker 2: I was from Great Prep. I was five years of
Speaker 2: age and I idolized my brother and clearly my dad
Speaker 2: who because we lived in broad Meadows, the closest team
Speaker 2: was Essendon basically, although were in North Melbourne zone, but
Speaker 2: they were no good at the time, and if I
Speaker 2: was on the other side of the fence, I would
Speaker 2: have been in Carlton's zone. So there I asn't and
Speaker 2: so I idalized like I carried my brother's bag. He
Speaker 2: was everything to me. So I don't even I still
Speaker 2: don't even realize how I turned. But what happened was
Speaker 2: I fell in love with Petty McKenna nineteen seventy the price,
Speaker 2: you know, he should have won the premiership. We were
Speaker 2: right in there going well. McKenna kicked one hundred goals
Speaker 2: and every time you turned on the TV in nineteen seventy,
Speaker 2: the football you saw Collingwood was basically in the replay
Speaker 2: every week. There was no live games in those days
Speaker 2: world of sport. I remember sitting there and finding out
Speaker 2: for the first time that Lou Richards played for Collingwood,
Speaker 2: that he was a Premiership captain, and that was like
Speaker 2: Hollywood had come to broad Meadows. If you liked that,
Speaker 2: Lou was Wow, Lou Richards, you know, and all that
Speaker 2: sort of Anyway, this particular day, Frank, my brother, was
Speaker 2: in there. Dad come back, you know, all the come
Speaker 2: back to and all that. And I was walking back
Speaker 2: from lunchtime from school and there was a Jiffy donut
Speaker 2: bag that used to have the Jiffy donuts right the
Speaker 2: gym donuts, and it used to have the theme songs
Speaker 2: on the back. And I saw the paper about twenty
Speaker 2: meters from home as I came around the corner, and
Speaker 2: I said to myself, all right, this is a sign. Now,
Speaker 2: remember I'm five. This is sort of points to how
Speaker 2: mad I was even back then. And I said, if
Speaker 2: this has got the Collingwood theme sign it, I'll take
Speaker 2: it as a sign. And that's it. And I opened
Speaker 2: and I'm sure enough universes talking about the universe was
Speaker 2: talking to me, and that was my moment. And then
Speaker 2: Frank came home a couple of weeks later and he
Speaker 2: said it was he nearly fell over because Dad had
Speaker 2: bought me a Collingwood jumper. A moment, so number six
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 1: That was it? That was that your sould from that day. Well,
Speaker 1: I want to ask you this to start off, I
Speaker 1: know you as a person. I find you amazing whenever
Speaker 1: I see you work a room. I know you do
Speaker 1: a lot of hosting, You've done some amazing things for
Speaker 1: bush fire relief victims everything else. And I see you
Speaker 1: work a room and it's it's something that's a talent
Speaker 1: that not many people have. Now, I want to get
Speaker 1: some advice from you, right, So let's say someone's listening
Speaker 1: and they want to get a bit of advice on
Speaker 1: maybe let's say this, how is there any tricks you
Speaker 1: use to remember someone's name? Because I feel like you're
Speaker 1: really good at this, so you can really like work
Speaker 1: and remember everyone that's day.
Speaker 2: The first trick is I don't think about it. To
Speaker 2: be honest, I don't go on to go I have
Speaker 2: to work a round people talk about networking and contacts
Speaker 2: and things like that. If you're trying to do that,
Speaker 2: I find it's pretty awkward. And that goes back to
Speaker 2: probably being a journalist from such a young age when
Speaker 2: you're third and fourteen year to actually introduce yourself, have
Speaker 2: a connection with people, and you always remember their stories,
Speaker 2: and so there's always that part of it. I'm finding
Speaker 2: these days. I realized that up until about five years ago,
Speaker 2: I had really good eyesight, and so that would give
Speaker 2: me the chance. So I'd see people from right across
Speaker 2: the room and look at them, pick them, see who
Speaker 2: they work out the connection to them, and i'd be right.
Speaker 2: These days they are almost upon me put the goggles on,
Speaker 2: so it's not as good as it used to be.
Speaker 2: But it's about being interested in people and knowing everyone's
Speaker 2: journey or their connection, and you know, without pumping the
Speaker 2: tires up. I genuinely liked meeting people, not what they
Speaker 2: can do for me. I liked their stories. And I
Speaker 2: suppose going back to being a journalist, you're always looking
Speaker 2: for the story, as opposed to these days you see
Speaker 2: a lot of stories on television and the newspapers and
Speaker 2: they're really just phil everyone's got a story if you
Speaker 2: kick the rock over a little bit and find out
Speaker 2: what's there. So from there I was able to do that,
Speaker 2: and I genuinely was and continue to be an enthusiast.
Speaker 2: I look forward rather than backwards, and so from that
Speaker 2: point of view, every time you walk in the room,
Speaker 2: it's full of possibilities for a bit of fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I think there's a great quote. Someone said
Speaker 1: it was be interested not interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's very much of it.
Speaker 2: That's the quote. That's the short line to a long answer.
Speaker 2: So well done. You've edited me beautifully. Yeah. But then
Speaker 2: when you know, when you are things that at Collingwoo,
Speaker 2: for example, when I was president, and you know, part
Speaker 2: of what you need to do is make people feel
Speaker 2: special as well. I feel the president of the club.
Speaker 2: You know, at the president's lunch, I would go around
Speaker 2: every table because they bought a table to beat the
Speaker 2: president's lunch. And part of the thing I know is
Speaker 2: that they wouldn't have come to see the footy. But too,
Speaker 2: you know, I was entertained and I was a well
Speaker 2: known president, and your celebrity and all that type of thing.
Speaker 2: So you go around to these people and you have
Speaker 2: a bit of interaction and they want to have a
Speaker 2: photo with you and it makes their day. That's what
Speaker 2: my job is as president of Collingwood. Part of what
Speaker 2: I brought to that job was my celebrity. You know,
Speaker 2: people like Jeff Kennett brings his political acumen, Jeff Brown
Speaker 2: now the president of collin brings his business acumen and
Speaker 2: and his connection to the club. You've got everyone's got
Speaker 2: to play there, get their role and my role is
Speaker 2: was was exactly that it was. You know, when you're
Speaker 2: hosting functions, don't just get up and give a speech
Speaker 2: and find out what's going on. And then you know,
Speaker 2: inevitably I'd find out this blokeerus, you know, wants to
Speaker 2: be a sponsor of the club. I've brought him on.
Speaker 2: I'm not give your name, thank you, close that deal
Speaker 2: and anywhere you go.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things. I feel like, that's something
Speaker 1: I've realized, I guess in my time here, is that
Speaker 1: like the littlest of things, he makes someone's day, or
Speaker 1: make someone's weak even in like month or year, and
Speaker 1: they'll talk about it for you like I'll meet someone again,
Speaker 1: you know two years down the road and be like oh,
Speaker 1: I took a photo with you this time doing that,
Speaker 1: you know, and I was like, yeah, yeah, of course
Speaker 1: I'll take a million photos made bike. It is so
Speaker 1: cool to see that you.
Speaker 2: Just give a bit of yourself. I think one of
Speaker 2: the great things about Australia is and particularly Melbourne, particularly Melbourne,
Speaker 2: is the access to everybody. So true, you know, so
Speaker 2: I don't worry about peperazzi. You don't have pepperitis in
Speaker 2: Melbourne because there's no need. You see us every week,
Speaker 2: you know, we are everywhere Whereas in the States, I
Speaker 2: always found even going to the super Bowl, you go
Speaker 2: into one of the top hotels and they say, oh,
Speaker 2: you're here, what are you for it? Super Bowl? Oh
Speaker 2: the parties, Yeah, you're not going at you Yeah, and
Speaker 2: they go you're going to the super Bowl. Whereas where
Speaker 2: we're sitting, I think this has been this place had
Speaker 2: a major impact on my life.
Speaker 1: Let's give it people listening in and watching. We're at
Speaker 1: the MCG Iconic in CG. So there is my office actually.
Speaker 2: Exactly in a box at the MCG. But what I've
Speaker 2: always found, even the difference between Melbourne and Sydney is
Speaker 2: that all our major events are open to everybody. There's
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand seats in this place. Now, maybe the
Speaker 2: Grand Final, maybe the occasional Landsac Day you might struggle
Speaker 2: to get a seat, okay, but every other thing you
Speaker 2: can go to. So as a little boy we would
Speaker 2: come here. I'd sit over there on half food front
Speaker 2: when Peta mckinna kick nine against Richmond one day. I
Speaker 2: was here in the old stand in seventy two when
Speaker 2: we've got bet in the Pulminary Final Life, having led
Speaker 2: by forty two points at halftime. You know, I stood
Speaker 2: over there for the first Anzac Day game between Collingwood
Speaker 2: and Richmond, right on send a wing under the old
Speaker 2: clock when it was they reckoned. It was ninety thousand.
Speaker 2: It was about one hundred and ten thousand. In this particular.
Speaker 2: I sat over there for the first Collingwood Essendon all
Speaker 2: the things I called, the Grand Finals, everything, but not
Speaker 2: only that, but I was over here as a kid
Speaker 2: on the Centenary Test, the day when David Hooks hit
Speaker 2: hit all the boundaries and Rick ma Cosca came back
Speaker 2: unto the ground I see. For the Commonwealth Games, I
Speaker 2: sat over there as an in grade one when the
Speaker 2: Pope was here, so all these things happen. You go
Speaker 2: to the Melbourne Cup, there's one hundred thousand people get
Speaker 2: into Flemington for the four days of the carnival. You
Speaker 2: go to Moomber, which everyone sort of laughs at. But
Speaker 2: if you're a kid out in the Housing Commission house
Speaker 2: in broad Meadows, member was massive. You know. My dad
Speaker 2: was smart. It was Scottish, so he's tight right, and
Speaker 2: he worked out that if you stood opposite the town hall,
Speaker 2: that's where all the performances happened. Because all the vps
Speaker 2: are sitting in the town hall, We're sitting on the
Speaker 2: other side of the road and in the sunshine. We
Speaker 2: thought this was better because they sitting in the shade,
Speaker 2: which is a bit like here you had the MCG.
Speaker 2: We used to sit in the southern stand in the
Speaker 2: old days and we thought this is great as we
Speaker 2: all the noises and it's so vibrant, the members are
Speaker 2: so boring and they're in the cold, you know, and
Speaker 2: so whatever. Whenever he sat, it was my dad and
Speaker 2: I said, you know this, this is the best place
Speaker 2: we could be. And that was our whole enthusiasm for Australia.
Speaker 2: You know, I lived in broadma That may as well
Speaker 2: have been Beverly Hills compared to women Dad came from
Speaker 2: and my mom. So each generation gets its go and
Speaker 2: he just he and Mom just drilled into us that
Speaker 2: this was the greatest place on earth and if you
Speaker 2: had any amount of ability or get up and go,
Speaker 2: this was the place to do it.
Speaker 1: Is it true you hit a hard trick on this, Well, it.
Speaker 2: Was a hat trick and I took two wickets, and
Speaker 2: then it was a media game and Kevin Bartlett was
Speaker 2: actually facing up and I was being an idiot mucking around.
Speaker 2: So I actually went through the fence up into the
Speaker 2: back of the stand to start my running. But I
Speaker 2: got true morpht and I got David Hooks. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: got Hooks. You tried to try to put me over
Speaker 2: the out of the stand and he said he got
Speaker 2: caught on the boundary line. But he said he said it.
Speaker 2: I said, I sucked you in here. That was great,
Speaker 2: He on the on the m c G.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you've got an amazing amount of memories here, mate.
Speaker 1: I know you've been here and you've been part of
Speaker 1: this this building and this structure and this coliseum that
Speaker 1: is and you definitely make it up. But we'll go
Speaker 1: back to a bit of I guess your origins really
Speaker 1: you talked about your parents were immigrants back from Scotland
Speaker 1: and Scotland.
Speaker 2: My dad Scottish Mom. I like a drink as long
Speaker 2: as it's free.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get it's yeah. I've got to ask you
Speaker 1: this because I love my parents, you know, my parents,
Speaker 1: and those are very valiably people that I've got to
Speaker 1: ask you this. What is the biggest life lesson you've
Speaker 1: learned from mom and dad?
Speaker 2: Optimism?
Speaker 1: Optimism and education, education.
Speaker 2: And unconditional love and tough love. You know, there was
Speaker 2: tough love. It was it was pretty pretty brutal experience
Speaker 2: they were coming from, so there was no other way.
Speaker 2: There was no easy day in their life until both
Speaker 2: really came to Australia and started their family here. But
Speaker 2: they were both pulled out of school at a young age.
Speaker 2: Dead was working in the coal mines of Glasgow looking
Speaker 2: at running the pit ponies when he was thirteen or
Speaker 2: fourteen years of age. His big break to get out
Speaker 2: of the mines was World War Two. So you know,
Speaker 2: Dad's life really didn't start until in the forties when
Speaker 2: he came out to Australia and Mum worked hard and
Speaker 2: then then when she came to Australia, she was working
Speaker 2: all the factories out broad Meadows, but you know they
Speaker 2: were able to provide for them. Every year. It was
Speaker 2: the battle to get the books and the uniform and
Speaker 2: play the school fees. And you know we were pretty
Speaker 2: lucky and that you know, we won scholarships and my
Speaker 2: elder sister, my brother Frank, my young sister Bridget and myself,
Speaker 2: so that gave us a chance here. I went to
Speaker 2: CBCS and killed her, so it was great again. It
Speaker 2: was education by osmosis. I'd get on the train every
Speaker 2: morning and my brother actually brought this to my attention
Speaker 2: because he did the same thing. And you get on
Speaker 2: with all the working class people in broad Meadows and
Speaker 2: they'd go into beginning off the various factories along industrial
Speaker 2: broad Meadows Line in those days, and you know, on
Speaker 2: the way up you'd smell then Abisco factory and work
Speaker 2: out whether they're making Vita bridge that day or chocolate
Speaker 2: or whatever, you know, And then I'd get on and
Speaker 2: read the paper. Bought the paper every morning, and you
Speaker 2: go to Flint Street and as you've got to Essendon,
Speaker 2: sort of more professional people getting on, whether they were
Speaker 2: public servants or lawyers and things and sort of different
Speaker 2: people in the suits. And then at the end of
Speaker 2: the day and then when you know, you go to
Speaker 2: the city, you get off at Flint the street and
Speaker 2: out would go to windsor go past the Rosella factory
Speaker 2: in Richmond. You'd smell where they were.
Speaker 1: Cooking making that day effort to get to school.
Speaker 2: So it was an effort, but it was also it
Speaker 2: was good fun. It was late coming home when you're
Speaker 2: fullty training and things. So quite often in Windo you
Speaker 2: go to school in the dark and come home in
Speaker 2: the dark, and you know it, you learned how To's a.
Speaker 1: Malay credit to you work, I think probably comes a
Speaker 1: little bit from that.
Speaker 2: It does. Yeah, well you were you're working twelve hour
Speaker 2: days at school and go home and do your homework.
Speaker 2: But most importantly you see at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: and you'd see that, you know, the working class people
Speaker 2: getting on and you know they had the dirt on
Speaker 2: them and things going home and they worked a really
Speaker 2: hard day, and you know that that to me was
Speaker 2: inspiring to see people who were literally doing pick and
Speaker 2: shovel jobs my dad was, who were doing it and
Speaker 2: for their families and then you know, you might even
Speaker 2: got to church on a Sunday and you knew all
Speaker 2: the faces and all that sort of stuff, and you'd
Speaker 2: see them dressed in their Sunday best and they were
Speaker 2: doing great, and they would be the president of the
Speaker 2: local football club, so Dominic's Football Club or Broady Footy
Speaker 2: Club or those things. And you'd see these people in
Speaker 2: different different guyss and then you'd work out that day
Speaker 2: actually just good hard working class people. They're hugely inspirational.
Speaker 2: And at the same time you'd see the professional people
Speaker 2: and go all right, there's another way through this as well,
Speaker 2: and that was inspirational for so you know, I remember
Speaker 2: one time saying to my dad, I want to get
Speaker 2: a job, a part time job. You know, my mates
Speaker 2: at school were getting making money packing shelves at Corl's
Speaker 2: and I said, He'd think this is great. I want
Speaker 2: to step up. He said, you kidding, He said, I
Speaker 2: haven't come twelve thousand miles for you to stack shelves.
Speaker 2: He said, get in there and do your homework. And
Speaker 2: he said, I'll clean your boots, your jobs to get
Speaker 2: them dirty. You win the trophies, old clean them was
Speaker 2: his motto, and that was it and okay, said you
Speaker 2: were here to study, get the marks, get the results,
Speaker 2: and get on with your life. So that wasn't pressure.
Speaker 2: It was inspiring. But at the same time you knew
Speaker 2: that people were sacrificing their lives and you know, you know,
Speaker 2: the letters would come from Scotland from an island every week,
Speaker 2: and the air mail and things like that, and as
Speaker 2: you've got a bit older, you realized how much they left.
Speaker 1: Behind it to suck.
Speaker 2: So from there you were you were obliged to have
Speaker 2: a go. And then you know, as you know, you
Speaker 2: start to win a few things, starts to become a habit,
Speaker 2: and then you start to get the confidence, and then
Speaker 2: you back yourself in and then sometimes people think I
Speaker 2: want to back myself in too much. At times I
Speaker 2: got over confidence. But you know that's what you needed
Speaker 2: to do, because, as you said, you'd walk into a room,
Speaker 2: you're in your brother's suit, you don't know anyone, and
Speaker 2: you're eighteen and you go right here we go. But
Speaker 2: it was an adventure.
Speaker 1: I actually saw Xander and your jacket recently. It was
Speaker 1: outside the club, kid, and I'll look to us, so
Speaker 1: that looks a little bit does it look like it's
Speaker 1: tailored for you. He just goes it's dad's jacket. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I thought that was this iconic little black trenchcope.
Speaker 2: But he's taken more than a jacket.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't done it, but I'll ask you the last
Speaker 1: thing on growing up and everything else. Now, someone who's
Speaker 1: been massively influential is sister Matthew. Yeah, Now, can you
Speaker 1: tell me the most influential thing that's kind of stuck
Speaker 1: with you from her? Because I know we all have
Speaker 1: these people. I think we all grow up and we idolize.
Speaker 1: And someone who's kind of shown us the ropes and
Speaker 1: maybe you know, pointed us in the right direction whenever
Speaker 1: other things may have joined us away. But is there
Speaker 1: one thing that kind of sticks out that she maybe
Speaker 1: taught you?
Speaker 2: I think what was her name was sister Agnes Murta,
Speaker 2: and she was a nun of the Josephite Nuns, and
Speaker 2: she came out for a while. She was irish, and
Speaker 2: I found it later on. Her sister was a nun
Speaker 2: as well, and they got every bad job going around,
Speaker 2: so they ended up in broad But she was an
Speaker 2: old old woman by that stage. And in grade five
Speaker 2: I had a really hard year. Yeah, mum was My
Speaker 2: mum was really sick, and there was you know, there
Speaker 2: was a fair bit of tumult happening around the family
Speaker 2: at that stage, and it looked like I wouldn't be
Speaker 2: able to go to CBCS and killed Christian Brothers College
Speaker 2: and Kilda, which was all I wanted to do, because
Speaker 2: of the finances and different things. So anyway, grade five
Speaker 2: had been a disaster for me, and the school had
Speaker 2: changed a little bit out some Dominic's, which is a
Speaker 2: great school, great kids, great friends out there, still have
Speaker 2: them to this day. Anyway, So I walked in the
Speaker 2: first day of grade six and I know I've got
Speaker 2: to go for this scholarship exam in March. So it's
Speaker 2: first of February or something, and she looks at me.
Speaker 2: I've heard about you, and I'm trying to be a
Speaker 2: good you know, the good boy, to be honest, and
Speaker 2: I said, well, let me tell you what's happened, which
Speaker 2: was a bit bolshy now that.
Speaker 1: I look back on it, great for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I was pretty confident in those days and reading
Speaker 2: was my salvation. I just read papers and books and
Speaker 2: history and things, so I had a little bit more
Speaker 2: life experience and life experienced the hard way as well.
Speaker 2: And I said to her, so I have to go
Speaker 2: for this exam, and she said right. She looked at
Speaker 2: me and she said, right, okay, you sit there. And
Speaker 2: I came in the next day and had you know,
Speaker 2: we had kids who couldn't read through the kids who
Speaker 2: were brilliant, you know, not just wasn't just me who
Speaker 2: had half a brain. There was really some really good
Speaker 2: people to compete with and against. And she just put
Speaker 2: it up, she said right. And by the time I
Speaker 2: went for the exam, I'd done every entrance exam, scholarship
Speaker 2: exam known to mankind that she collected over forty years
Speaker 2: of being a teacher, to the point when I actually
Speaker 2: sat down and did the exam, I looked around and
Speaker 2: I finished it that quickly. I thought I must have
Speaker 2: missed a couple of pages or something. And so I
Speaker 2: got I got the entry exam, got invited back for
Speaker 2: the scholarship, got the scholarship. And I remember coming home
Speaker 2: at lunchtime. Good Mom was sick. I'd come home at
Speaker 2: lunch time, go and get all the shopping and come
Speaker 2: back and then run back up so I could play
Speaker 2: footy at lunch time. She cooked me a warm meal.
Speaker 2: It was great. So I had this all work done.
Speaker 2: I'd run from school to time myself.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Everything was competitive and about trying to you know, I
Speaker 2: wanted to play footy and everything and win trophies and
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. And I remember coming home
Speaker 2: this day and Mum was waiting at the letter box
Speaker 2: and she had the letter in her hand.
Speaker 1: Oh really, she said, right.
Speaker 2: Okay, she's the letters.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It wasn't opened it up and it was like Willie
Speaker 2: Wonker's golden ticket. Yeah okay, And I remember she said,
Speaker 2: don't tell anybody at the school. Just keep it quiet,
Speaker 2: don't be saying anything. And then but I knew that
Speaker 2: was it. It was up from as Ron Brossey says,
Speaker 2: if it is to be, it's up to me. It
Speaker 2: is up to me, all those words, two letters profound,
Speaker 2: and from that moment on, I thought, right, okay, I've
Speaker 2: got the entrance pass. If it is to be, it
Speaker 2: is up to me, And was fantastic for me.
Speaker 1: It's amazing, like I've talked about multiple times on this podcast,
Speaker 1: of teachers being such a guiding light in this world,
Speaker 1: and it's like they're very for how influential they are
Speaker 1: in some people's lives. Especially the early years, there was
Speaker 1: so much undervalued and underpaid and under.
Speaker 2: A teacher started teaching when she was nineteen and she's
Speaker 2: now older, and she's now seventy, and the amount of
Speaker 2: people over the years have come up and said, your
Speaker 2: sister talk me and I said, how she was a
Speaker 2: great teacher, you know, And she's a great sister too.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm big on that. I'm massive on education.
Speaker 2: That some of the things i have sort of rolling
Speaker 2: around in my head that I'm trying to work on
Speaker 2: as big projects at the moment are all in education
Speaker 2: and trying to inspire kids and get the particularly working
Speaker 2: class kids to get the opportunity. The private school system
Speaker 2: is enormous in Australia. I think I think Australia's secondary
Speaker 2: education is probably the best in the world. I'm not
Speaker 2: so not not as uh not as boying on our
Speaker 2: tertiary education for another day, but yeah, that's something I'd
Speaker 2: really like to do, not teach, but actually facilitate opportunities
Speaker 2: for kitchen stuff.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, Well we'll move in something else. And this
Speaker 1: is this is how I actually got to know you.
Speaker 1: I mentioned this at the beginning of the podcast year
Speaker 1: the Regis filming of Australia. Now a lot of people
Speaker 1: probably don't know Regis filming. There is in Australia, but
Speaker 1: he is the main he's dead. Yeah, he started that
Speaker 1: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Speaker 2: Now he followed us, he followed you, well, we followed
Speaker 2: Chris Tarran in England did the Who Wants to Be
Speaker 2: a Millionaire? And Australia and Holland with a second okay,
Speaker 2: and it took off and it was an enormous show.
Speaker 2: And then Regis later on.
Speaker 1: Have You've been doing this for years now? And I've
Speaker 1: got so many questions because I think it's such a
Speaker 1: unique game show. It's lasted so long. Now I want
Speaker 1: to ask you because I watch it right and I say,
Speaker 1: every time someone answers a question right or wrong, you've
Speaker 1: got this quip it there's all you know, there's all
Speaker 1: fact little factoid or whatever it is. What is on
Speaker 1: your screen whenever you actually are there, you know the
Speaker 1: answer before.
Speaker 2: No, I don't know the questions. I haven't had time.
Speaker 2: I'm not at six in a day, so I don't
Speaker 2: look at the questions.
Speaker 1: I know that's not six episodes a day, So okay.
Speaker 2: I look at the fastest finger questions because they come
Speaker 2: up quickly, and then what we do, and because there's
Speaker 2: insurance involved in things like that, I don't know the
Speaker 2: answers until they're locked in and then on the screen.
Speaker 2: I do get some cheat notes on some things, but
Speaker 2: a lot of times, you know, I'll add the bit
Speaker 2: that I know of and connect it through and the
Speaker 2: hosting of the show or whether the person's from America,
Speaker 2: for example, if you're on there, you know, suddenly there's
Speaker 2: an action to something that that's all I add. Lip
Speaker 2: But yeah, we get a little we get some I
Speaker 2: have a little bit on my screen. I have the
Speaker 2: question the answer where they are on the money tree,
Speaker 2: and that's and that's about it.
Speaker 1: Jeez. I was really thinking they gave you like a
Speaker 1: video and a full script and everything else.
Speaker 2: They get a couple of things on you know, a
Speaker 2: little bit of factoids if you like. But but that's it.
Speaker 2: But there is that we're making up.
Speaker 1: Now, do you have a you have a fair in moments?
Speaker 1: I feel like that is such a life changing show
Speaker 1: to win that amount of money. Is there anyone that
Speaker 1: you've you've heard the story of and it's just kind
Speaker 1: of really hit you hard in the heart, you know,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Time. Yeah, you know, I'll take you back at not.
Speaker 2: One of the funny stories which people don't know is
Speaker 2: I'm sitting at home one time. I remember I've been
Speaker 2: out every night this particular week, and I had a
Speaker 2: Collingwood board meeting in Carla and said, my wife has
Speaker 2: had come home tonight. I'm going to cook a roast.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen you for about a week. Let's sit
Speaker 2: down and as it might have been even before the
Speaker 2: boys were born. Anyway, the night before millionaire, the old
Speaker 2: millionaire who wants to be a millionaire, Molly Meldrum, who
Speaker 2: had one five hundred thousand dollars and it was going
Speaker 2: to charity. And you know, I knew Molly to be
Speaker 2: highly intelligent, and it changed his life. The next day
Speaker 2: what happened and the way people looked at him. The
Speaker 2: money was going to charity. Anyway, I walk in, I'm
Speaker 2: on the phone, color phone off, Come on, get off.
Speaker 2: So I tend the phone off and she pulls out
Speaker 2: the food and the home phone rings. Now the home
Speaker 2: phone is Ali.
Speaker 1: Mam, so hello old school, And.
Speaker 2: I said oh, you know, that's fine. She knows, you know,
Speaker 2: I'll tell it. I'll talk to her tomorrow or something. Ah,
Speaker 2: Kerry and she looks up. It's Kerry Packer Hue. So
Speaker 2: she says, puts the food back iNTS the door. This
Speaker 2: is going to take you well anyway. He starts, easy
Speaker 2: to me, what are you doing? I saw you last night?
Speaker 2: What are you doing giving all my f and money
Speaker 2: to all your f in mates? And I start laughing,
Speaker 2: God thought because it riding through there if it was
Speaker 2: a massive show. And he said, I saw you, you know,
Speaker 2: and he said, I said, hey, listen, there was a
Speaker 2: charity night. As a text induction it starts laughing charity
Speaker 2: And he said to me, he said, listen, son, don't
Speaker 2: be helping any of those doctors or lawyers from two
Speaker 2: rec or Bellevue Hill. He said, don't worry about them.
Speaker 2: He said, but if you get a battler one, I've
Speaker 2: got permission to do what I'm doing anyway, but I
Speaker 2: don't know its You gotta be careful because you don't
Speaker 2: want to give a hint to somebody when there's other
Speaker 2: people who have got their opportunity. They're getting the one chance,
Speaker 2: so we do that pretty straight. But sometimes we get
Speaker 2: to the last couple of questions, there's only one person left.
Speaker 1: Direction, Are you sure?
Speaker 2: Not quite that bad? But but but the funny thing
Speaker 2: is sometimes I could say the answer is D and
Speaker 2: they're just.
Speaker 1: Not listening, paying them, not even playing.
Speaker 2: They're just they're that focused, not even focused. There the lights,
Speaker 2: the camera of the action, the television. It wouldn't matter
Speaker 2: what happens, it's it's a It's an amazing insight into
Speaker 2: human nature. When you get said, oh, yeah, everyone comes on,
Speaker 2: I shoot the lights out at home while I'm cooking. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: well you are doing it tonight. Let's see what happens.
Speaker 1: Have you ever what's the Have you ever had someone
Speaker 1: really like miss a really easy, easy question that's like
Speaker 1: super embarrassing, you just feel terrible for it.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll give the best example. Was the first person
Speaker 2: ever not to get to the first five answers. It
Speaker 2: was a guy called Richard Hatch, the first winner of Survivor.
Speaker 2: Guy got round in the nude. So he came on
Speaker 2: and it was what is twelve times eleven? And he
Speaker 2: at the end of and he blew up, and he
Speaker 2: really arked.
Speaker 1: Up, and he was saying, ah, this question.
Speaker 2: I think it's question three or something, and he said,
Speaker 2: we don't we do times tables to ten. Well, we'll
Speaker 2: do ten times eleven and had twenty two doing that
Speaker 2: type of thing and he blew up and not long
Speaker 2: after he got done for text avoidance and jail with God,
Speaker 2: I must have we might have burst his bubble. But
Speaker 2: there's been there's been some beauty. There was the girl
Speaker 2: who entered to you know what type of ring? You know?
Speaker 2: I can't remember the question now, but there was wedding ring,
Speaker 2: engagement ring, you know whatever ring, and a burger ring.
Speaker 2: And she went burger ring because she had heard the
Speaker 2: story of Adam Cooney, the Brandway medalist who proposed with
Speaker 2: a burger ring. And she just got herself completely confused.
Speaker 2: And she was a really smart girl. In fact, when
Speaker 2: I looked at her card, I thought she could go
Speaker 2: really a big chance, and she was. She was a
Speaker 2: really vivacious person and fun. I thought, I'm gonna have
Speaker 2: a lot of fun with her. This good because you
Speaker 2: love getting I love getting the young women on because
Speaker 2: when people at home or watching younger women going, we
Speaker 2: don't really get a chance at these type of things.
Speaker 2: And it's inspiring for them to go fantastic yeargo girl,
Speaker 2: all that type of rote. So she was. I thought,
Speaker 2: this is going to be a good, good air of TV,
Speaker 2: half hour of TV, and I am bank. She was
Speaker 2: out straight, became an intimate sensation. But you know, she
Speaker 2: was great fun. And people started the usual thing, people
Speaker 2: start becoming mean and all the rest of them. I
Speaker 2: rang her up and she said, hey, listen, don't get
Speaker 2: caught up in all this. It's fun and you'll laugh
Speaker 2: at it down the track, and she said I did.
Speaker 2: I laughed my head off and then it got really mean,
Speaker 2: and she said, but I'm right now. It becomes a
Speaker 2: footnote in in life. Don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: Now. You've done a lot of You've done a lot
Speaker 1: of media reporting, journalism, everything else. Now I'm all about
Speaker 1: a bit of a laugh here and there and now there.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've done some wild crosses in Australia, and
Speaker 1: I've come to this country and I've seen some stuff
Speaker 1: in the media and I'm like just dying laughing. The
Speaker 1: way some reporters have to kind of maneuver their way around,
Speaker 1: or the awkwardness of an interview or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1: Is there anyone that likes stick out sticks out in
Speaker 1: your mind and maybe something weird you have to talk
Speaker 1: about it or report on.
Speaker 2: Well, it was, There's been plenty. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 2: I remember being petrified and as a nadine, I was
Speaker 2: doing crosses and just yeah, and I was hopeless and
Speaker 2: I was trying to learn it. And you know, there's
Speaker 2: a video of me when I'm seventeen, the first time
Speaker 2: I ever stood in front of a camera, and I
Speaker 2: was like that, and I was actually Bruce mcavany who
Speaker 2: grabbed me one day. He said, listen, if I ask
Speaker 2: you a question about football, you can talk for three
Speaker 2: days about it. He said, you're over over preparing. He said,
Speaker 2: just stand there, and when I throw the question to you,
Speaker 2: he said, you know it inside out, just answer it.
Speaker 2: Don't try and you know, quote Shakespeare or anything like.
Speaker 2: Just just do what you've got to do. And so
Speaker 2: I'd nearly been put on the not to be used
Speaker 2: again on live crosses and you know, or for a
Speaker 2: little while. And I saw in those days, because it
Speaker 2: was so new to cross live into television and into
Speaker 2: news reports that they you know, I saw some really
Speaker 2: good reporters lose their lose, lose everything and and you know,
Speaker 2: fall by the wayside. Anyway, so I'm thinking, God, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be out of here. I'm going to be
Speaker 2: back to broad Meadows in no time. And anyway, the
Speaker 2: next time Bruce crossed to me, I've shot the lights
Speaker 2: out doing it. And it was and it was all happening,
Speaker 2: so it was even It wasn't even time to react.
Speaker 2: It was what was going on. And I was moving
Speaker 2: around and getting interviews and came back and almost got
Speaker 2: an ovation from the newsroom that was fantastic, and say,
Speaker 2: the confidence grew and then I'd be came known as
Speaker 2: one of the best live performers. That was it. And
Speaker 2: then you know who would have thought that, Dan the
Speaker 2: track the footy show was all live. I don't use
Speaker 2: AQ million a hot set. I don't use OQ except
Speaker 2: for the names, and you know a couple of little
Speaker 2: things like that, and that became what I was all about.
Speaker 2: And so from there I developed what you said, able
Speaker 2: to be able to walk around back myself in, do
Speaker 2: all the homework beforehand, but just know you've got the
Speaker 2: knowledge and back your knowledge bank in. So there's that.
Speaker 2: But I remember there's one time down at Hawthorne and
Speaker 2: in the eighties we're doing a lot of crosses at
Speaker 2: Hawthorn Asset because they've played with the Brand finals. So
Speaker 2: Durmott was one of my best mates, and Dipper and
Speaker 2: Johnny Platton and all those they're all lunatic seting out there.
Speaker 2: They've got the camera set up and there's nothing behind me,
Speaker 2: nothing behind me, just to you know, like you've see
Speaker 2: sometimes and doing stuff. But everyone was behind the camera
Speaker 2: that all decided they going to make me earn my.
Speaker 1: Money faces and stuff like.
Speaker 2: That's the start of it, right, So they started, they're
Speaker 2: doing all that sort of stuff. So then I'm interviewing Dermot.
Speaker 2: I turned to Dermott and of course as I turned
Speaker 2: drops drops his towel stand of it from here up,
Speaker 2: you know, so that's funny. And then John Platten crawls
Speaker 2: underneath the camera shot and gooses me. You know you
Speaker 2: goozing is don't you?
Speaker 1: The story all the way here? Yeah, this one?
Speaker 2: And then I turned back to camera and Dip is
Speaker 2: standing behind it, jumping up and down in the nude,
Speaker 2: and everyone's doing all sorts.
Speaker 1: Of different times.
Speaker 2: And I've got to do another three stories. And I
Speaker 2: did like to do meantime in Canada, the Canadian Grand Prix,
Speaker 2: you know, and center these things and then they're starting
Speaker 2: to throw things.
Speaker 1: That if you can handle that, you can handle any
Speaker 1: like hilarious.
Speaker 2: But you know, it was a baptism of fire and
Speaker 2: it was like an initiation and some people cut up
Speaker 2: rough and oh, why do you do that? You know,
Speaker 2: I laughed. I loved it. I actually loved the acceptance
Speaker 2: that these all these lunatics were being were being the
Speaker 2: pell and and at the end of it again they
Speaker 2: got standing ovation and Bobby youman, the legendary trainer, brought
Speaker 2: out a sausage on it with with onion and has
Speaker 2: Son well played, you know, and all that. And from
Speaker 2: that moment I knew were accepted and you're part of
Speaker 2: the action. And it was great and for me getting
Speaker 2: involved in VFL football and then a FL football. You know.
Speaker 2: The first night over went to something, Sam Newman and
Speaker 2: I went out for dinner and yeah, pepper steak nearly
Speaker 2: burnt the roof out of my mouth, you know. And
Speaker 2: then but Drew Morphort introduced me to everybody, and I
Speaker 2: met Lou Richards and Jack Dyer and the captain and
Speaker 2: the major Ron Casey hern Channel seven and was basically
Speaker 2: the godfather of footballer and Coco Roberts and all these
Speaker 2: superstars that were mythical and magical figures in my life.
Speaker 2: They were my cartoon characters about the whole on Superman.
Speaker 2: These were the guys Captain Blood and you know, these
Speaker 2: guys who I met, and they brought me in and
Speaker 2: Ted Whitton grabbed me, I don't know, break my hand
Speaker 2: with his famous handshake and poured me a long neck
Speaker 2: beer and them, yeah, well Ted would break your hand.
Speaker 1: The actually break it.
Speaker 2: And and all that sort of stuff. And then afterwards
Speaker 2: Drew and Sam took me around for dinner and took
Speaker 2: me to the first night club and got me in
Speaker 2: my first drink card and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: And ten years later, I'm being asked by Anne Johnson,
Speaker 2: what do you think of Sam Newman being on this
Speaker 2: show we want to do? And I said, He's a legend.
Speaker 2: I love him, He's so funny and John o'ska, really,
Speaker 2: I said, oh no, I think he's absolutely the I
Speaker 2: couldn't think of anyone better. And that was the magic,
Speaker 2: that chemistry from that night where I turned eighteen the
Speaker 2: week before I was drove my father's car, had five
Speaker 2: bucks pocket money, got down to the top of gas
Speaker 2: which is down into Rock Road. Still it's I think
Speaker 2: it's closing now and you seem realizing I had no money,
Speaker 2: pays for dinner, takes me across the road, introduced me
Speaker 2: like I was some superstar and you know, Dre fames
Speaker 2: abroady that night thinking that's the best, that's the greatest,
Speaker 2: No of that.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that's Australian culture. I've talked about on
Speaker 1: the podcast before. Is it's very much people just look
Speaker 1: after each other and it's something that's so unique to
Speaker 1: this country. Is I feel like it's very much lend
Speaker 1: out like a helping hand. It's has become a lot.
Speaker 2: Mean spirited these days, you know, with social media but
Speaker 2: also the media media, and they're always looking to trip
Speaker 2: people up. And you know, it's not about how you're going,
Speaker 2: it's when we can sack here. You know, you're forced
Speaker 2: to apologize. Now, maybe I just apologize and I made
Speaker 2: a mistake or something or you know that type of thing,
Speaker 2: and not that we need to be gentle. I think
Speaker 2: we have to dig deeper on bigger questions as opposed
Speaker 2: to going so hard on flippant questions, and your point
Speaker 2: is right, we can't lose that great give people a
Speaker 2: routine and give them a second chance if required. I mean,
Speaker 2: bad people deserve bad results, but good people who make
Speaker 2: mistakes you need to say, right, we haven't enough of them. Now,
Speaker 2: that's why the other thing people talk about conflict of interest. Now,
Speaker 2: sometimes there's just not enough people in Australia to get
Speaker 2: everything done.
Speaker 1: And we don't realize how small the country is comparatively
Speaker 1: to the rest of the world that they see these
Speaker 1: things overseas. Of the US, maybe there's three hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty something million people and there's only thirty something here
Speaker 1: in Australia. It's like it's just a totally different kind
Speaker 1: of experience.
Speaker 2: You go to the big university's in American pleasure professional.
Speaker 1: Yet well we'll talk about sport now. I know you
Speaker 1: mentioned this before Super Bowl. You love going to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and being an American I've never been. I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to. And there's a story I came remember
Speaker 1: if you told me or someone else told me about
Speaker 1: you somehow making it onto the ground. But the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: after the thing was finished and you were celebrating with
Speaker 1: all the confetti in there and everything else going and.
Speaker 2: Patriots it is, it's it's actually got a double funny
Speaker 2: story this right now because Craig Hutcheson actually loves he
Speaker 2: loves he does, and Craig does a fantastic business ballpark
Speaker 2: where he takes people there and if you've ever want
Speaker 2: to go to the Super Bowl, it's fantastic. Right. So this
Speaker 2: particular day, the day before, I'd interviewed Bill Belichick, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I asked him a question and he actually said,
Speaker 2: that's the only smart question I've had all day. So
Speaker 2: you know, he's notorious for just beating up the media.
Speaker 2: So that was it. So I thought, oh, that's going anyway.
Speaker 2: As we go from the media area, we had room
Speaker 2: pass us to go in because they let the international media.
Speaker 2: I think they've stopped them now this the international media
Speaker 2: to go into the rooms. Now, I've done that all
Speaker 2: my life in football. But you walk in and there
Speaker 2: is Tom Brady, and there's Ron Gronkowski coming out out
Speaker 2: of the shower and standing there, and you could interview
Speaker 2: ever and a Bob Kraft. I've met a couple of times.
Speaker 2: Jonathan his son. I knew from meetings that I had
Speaker 2: with him, so they sort of knew who I was
Speaker 2: and and a bit different to the American sports casters.
Speaker 2: Not surprisingly, I'm in a suit. Okay, so that struck
Speaker 2: away elevated. They're not sure if you're one of the
Speaker 2: owners or from Australia. Anyway, we go downstairs and as
Speaker 2: we're heading towards the rooms, I see all these people
Speaker 2: going the other way and Jane Muller, the American producer
Speaker 2: of mine from Triple and SOT Breakfast Great man. Jay,
Speaker 2: I said, cover up your credentials. I said, put them
Speaker 2: inside your shirt. He says, what what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: I said, just follow me? Said, I said, just follow me.
Speaker 2: I said, don't get don't drop off the back. I said,
Speaker 2: hold on to the back of my jacket. I said,
Speaker 2: we'll see what we can do here. Okay.
Speaker 1: Jay's a big dude. He's like six for six, so
Speaker 1: you can pass as an athlete, I feel like.
Speaker 2: But the thing with Jay, though, is he's very American,
Speaker 2: as you know in that it's like you, yes, sir, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2: You know I've got a ticket that I have to
Speaker 2: stand up here, you know where I'm a bit more
Speaker 2: Australian let's see, let's see how far we get to this.
Speaker 2: So I do a big a U turn and Jay
Speaker 2: slips in behind me and it's the families. I've picked
Speaker 2: it correctly. There are all the families who are going
Speaker 2: out on on the ground. So we're walking out and
Speaker 2: suddenly we come out of the race and all the
Speaker 2: crowd realized it's the families of the New England Patriots.
Speaker 2: So we're waving to everybody, doing the whole routine. So
Speaker 2: out we go. So I'm standing next to Tom Brady
Speaker 2: and cron Cawski and Edelman and these guys, and we're
Speaker 2: standing there and Jay, of course he's got the microphone,
Speaker 2: so I said, well, come on, let's bang off a
Speaker 2: couple of interviews. So everyone's jumping up and down. You know, yeah, cronquit,
Speaker 2: I reckon, yeah, man, And this is fantastic. You got
Speaker 2: anything to say to us A straight you go perserk
Speaker 2: And I look up and up on the stage, I
Speaker 2: look up and they're about to present the the Vince
Speaker 2: Lombardi Trophy and Hutchie's got it in his hands. He's
Speaker 2: up on the back of the stage and he's got
Speaker 2: hold of it. So I start laughing. My head off anyway,
Speaker 2: it comes back down and at every and you could
Speaker 2: see it on the telecast. So this is then it
Speaker 2: comes down and I end up with it that I've
Speaker 2: got it. The guy's going to said because somebody came over.
Speaker 2: It was one of those ones where one of the
Speaker 2: players had it and the family came in. I just said,
Speaker 2: I hold it for you, and they're doing photos and
Speaker 2: Chase getting they're doing this one anyway. From there, it
Speaker 2: all happens. I get a couple of interviews, and I
Speaker 2: said to Jake, let's not have a stay lucky, because
Speaker 2: we're going to get everybody inside. Let's go. So we
Speaker 2: head for the for the rooms, and as we're walking on,
Speaker 2: I realized that Bill Belichick's ten ten meters in front
Speaker 2: of me, and it's like the parting of the Red Sea.
Speaker 2: We get in behind him, a couple of steps behind,
Speaker 2: and again I said, there's a Jake. Now pull out
Speaker 2: their credentials, right, So I've got all the credentials there.
Speaker 2: Then you know whether it was media or I was
Speaker 2: a bodyguard or whatever the case of. So we go
Speaker 2: in and they open and we follow Belichick into the
Speaker 2: rooms and we're the only ones in there. And he
Speaker 2: doesn't know we're behind him, and we weren't going to
Speaker 2: spook him or do anything anyhow, I was able to
Speaker 2: watch Bill Belichick go over and he went over to
Speaker 2: a sink and he just put his head up against
Speaker 2: the wall and leant his head on the wall and
Speaker 2: just took these deep breaths. And we just stayed right back,
Speaker 2: but just to watch what was going on, this amazing
Speaker 2: coach and what it meant for him, and you know,
Speaker 2: you talk to people when they win premierships, particularly coaches,
Speaker 2: and the overwhelming sense of relief and you could just see,
Speaker 2: you know, the blood drained from him and then come
Speaker 2: back into him and threw water up on his face
Speaker 2: and he turned around and he walked over and he
Speaker 2: looked up and he said, who are you guys? I said,
Speaker 2: coach belichicker Eddie mcguiree from Australia with he said, oh good, yeah,
Speaker 2: I remember. It's congratulations, you know. And I didn't pull
Speaker 2: out the interview because it was more an observational thing.
Speaker 2: I sort of, you know, I was kidding around as
Speaker 2: a reporter doing that stuff, but I was more there
Speaker 2: just to observe what was going on. And it was
Speaker 2: a moment, and you don't want to be an idiot
Speaker 2: on those things. You got to understand it. And he
Speaker 2: said all right, and he said, and somebody else come in.
Speaker 2: I said, oh, you guys supposed to be here. I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: we've got these tickets. Were supposed to be in. You're
Speaker 2: supposed to be outside, and you come into. So we
Speaker 2: walk get there's a Q a mile long which is
Speaker 2: straight to the thing at the front of your Thanks maybe,
Speaker 2: but you know, and then we go in and you know,
Speaker 2: you're literally they've got those open style lockets that they're
Speaker 2: have and and there's Brady's locker with you.
Speaker 1: Know, there's seven rings.
Speaker 2: I've got the photos and also and that was I
Speaker 2: think it was the year that they is jump I
Speaker 2: got knocked off and so we actually sent them all
Speaker 2: the video that we had and it didn't see you
Speaker 2: couldn't see that anyone, but at least I've got a
Speaker 2: look of who was around the place. So then we're
Speaker 2: going up and you know, it was funny because I
Speaker 2: went up to to Bob Kraft and did an interview
Speaker 2: with him, and I actually interviewed his wife, who was fantastic,
Speaker 2: And I said, you know, Bob, if you've got anything,
Speaker 2: you know, for the people in Australia, and he's the
Speaker 2: first interview is done, so he's flying, he's so pumped
Speaker 2: out Australia. You're going. So then the next one goes,
Speaker 2: we're from Taiwan, what have you got to talk? Well,
Speaker 2: we're from hongk But it was great, it was It
Speaker 2: was an amazing experience. And yeah, I've been lucky enough
Speaker 2: to go to a number of Super Bowls now hosted
Speaker 2: them for Channel nine back in nineteen ninety eight at
Speaker 2: San Diego and the other one recently call at in
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles and so far stadium was amazing. But
Speaker 2: that was and I was really getting into Gilbernaclachlin, who
Speaker 2: couldn't go because you get your head kicked in by
Speaker 2: the media because you're at the Super was that anyone
Speaker 2: who's in show business, entertainment, stadium management and sport who
Speaker 2: wasn't at that event needs their hedrid. It was a
Speaker 2: master class. And you come back and you know, we
Speaker 2: look at the MCG and you still got people saying, oh,
Speaker 2: do we furbished the southern stand when you're saying, you know.
Speaker 1: You go there, you see it.
Speaker 2: We're also but you also got to read the play
Speaker 2: a bit. It's no point building a new stand here
Speaker 2: and spending a billion dollars and it's going to be
Speaker 2: outdated before it even goes up. Cricket is going to
Speaker 2: change if the world keeps going the way it is,
Speaker 2: whether it's weather patterns. No one's going to stand out
Speaker 2: there from ten o'clock till six o'clock in the middle
Speaker 2: of the blinding heat on Boxing Day. You're going to
Speaker 2: have to have cover that people aren't going to sit
Speaker 2: up the back in July on Friday night football getting
Speaker 2: their head bolted off with hail. You put a roof
Speaker 2: on the thick we live in Melbourne's Sydney have macked
Speaker 2: it up. They haven't put any roos on their stadiums
Speaker 2: because they don't believe it. They have bad weather up there,
Speaker 2: but Melbourne can't fall for it. Now. I know that
Speaker 2: this is an iconic stadium, but it doesn't have to
Speaker 2: be roofed all the time. When we're lucky, we've got
Speaker 2: to rally out across the road. You can have a
Speaker 2: sliding With the technology that coming in it is so great.
Speaker 2: It's all there and when this needs to be in
Speaker 2: the top five stadiums in the world always because it
Speaker 2: brings so much major events to Australia. And we've got
Speaker 2: Marvel Stadium down the road, which is a really good stadium,
Speaker 2: which we underestimate how good it is. But you know,
Speaker 2: concerts and all those sorts of things massive there there.
Speaker 2: And here I.
Speaker 1: Want to ask you another story about sport. Now. You
Speaker 1: told me this story years ago and I still was
Speaker 1: blown away by it, and it's the Joe Fraser story.
Speaker 1: Joe Fraser on an airplane. Can you give us a
Speaker 1: bit of a rundown of this one?
Speaker 2: Well, I was lucky in that I met Muhammed Ali
Speaker 2: and had dinner with Ali. And I was lucky for
Speaker 2: my fortieth birthday through Eloise Pratt and Anthony Pratt were
Speaker 2: actually wrote on you know the usually in the book
Speaker 2: all the time, the big One, and did that, and
Speaker 2: I had ordered one for as my birthday present, and
Speaker 2: so that was good. I've got two boys that I've
Speaker 2: got two autograph books. So anyway, when I was up
Speaker 2: in Sydney, I went to the fights one night. It
Speaker 2: was Mundane versus Green and Joe Fray. I looked across
Speaker 2: the thing. It looks like Jefe Frasier, and you know,
Speaker 2: we're sitting sitting ringside. So the guy who had him
Speaker 2: knew me, came over said, I said, that's said Joe Fraser.
Speaker 2: He said, yeah, it is. Do you want a meeting?
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 1: I want to meet him, of course.
Speaker 2: Across and I meet Joe and he's in a wheelchair
Speaker 2: and he staggers up to his feet and having a
Speaker 2: bit of a chat and he is great. I love
Speaker 2: Joe Fraser. You know, my son's called Joe, but it's
Speaker 2: not necessarily but it certainly was in the back of
Speaker 2: my mind. So he's not named after Joe Fraser as such,
Speaker 2: but it's part of it, right, Joseph Fite Nuns, Joe Fraser.
Speaker 2: You know. Ye, my middle names show Joseph, but he
Speaker 2: just was a Joe when he was born. Anyway, we
Speaker 2: get on the plane the next day. I'm flying to
Speaker 2: America to go to the screenings over there, and Jeff
Speaker 2: Brown was actually with us, and John Alexander, who was
Speaker 2: the head of p B All at that stage, was
Speaker 2: also colling supporter. As it turned out, first class was
Speaker 2: full of Collingwood people and Joe Fraser. And as we
Speaker 2: took off, we're playing Gelong this night and anyway, the
Speaker 2: games on, we're trying to get scores and things, and
Speaker 2: couldn't quite get him. Anyway, we during the course of
Speaker 2: the night, I got invited up because Joe Frasier remembered
Speaker 2: me from the night before and the guy who was
Speaker 2: with him, et cetera. So I sat there for about
Speaker 2: two hours on the flight, asking everything, all the stories.
Speaker 1: The man you'd want to hear stories from, for sure,
Speaker 1: but to you right now, he's.
Speaker 2: At a different level to me. You know, he was
Speaker 2: in there with l he helped create the fable of
Speaker 2: r Le. But he did talk to me about how,
Speaker 2: you know, how hurt he was that he wasn't invited
Speaker 2: to do the like the cauldron at the Olympic Games,
Speaker 2: that Li got it in his hometown. And he said
Speaker 2: he was from Louisville, you know, I was from Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I should have done that, and when you look back
Speaker 2: on it, they both should have done it. They should
Speaker 2: have got them both doing it, you know. And he said,
Speaker 2: you know that second that last fight, he said, you know,
Speaker 2: I can't believe that I didn't go back out. You know,
Speaker 2: he did the right thing, but he did the wrong thing.
Speaker 2: And other three minutes. I knew he couldn't come out.
Speaker 2: I knew I was I was still going, well, well,
Speaker 2: you watch the fight, you know, both of them. That's
Speaker 2: watching two people kill each other live on television. And
Speaker 2: but he then he said, he said, you know that
Speaker 2: after that fight, he said, Ali was in hospital for
Speaker 2: a week. We went to a nightclub that night, you.
Speaker 1: Know, become friends and over there it's like it's like
Speaker 1: Mayweather and McGregor, they all come together after and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there was now there was still there was
Speaker 2: there was an edge. There was an edge with them,
Speaker 2: you know, because Fraser helped Ali when Ali had been
Speaker 2: rubbed out for Vietnam, gave him money financially and all
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff. And Ali Ali had a mean
Speaker 2: side to him. But when you go through the whole thing,
Speaker 2: you see how it worked itself through and old Joe,
Speaker 2: you know, after it got destroyed by Foreman. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: thought that that was the end of it, the you're
Speaker 2: invisible to you're not in boxing. And then of course
Speaker 2: you had Ali beat beat Foreman, and then the two
Speaker 2: of them had that the round three, the thriller, and
Speaker 2: Manila was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Back to the back to the plane back to he's giving.
Speaker 2: Me all this sort of information and we're talking. It's
Speaker 2: just fantastic. Anyway, we land and uh and the news
Speaker 2: comes through the piles have beaten Geelong by a record margin.
Speaker 2: So we're all linked up and we're saying good old
Speaker 2: Collingwood forever up in the first class. But Joe Fraser
Speaker 2: didn't know what was going on. He knew it was
Speaker 2: exciting and he knew that it was big and and
Speaker 2: all I said, anyway, about two months later I met
Speaker 2: in the office up in Sydney at Channel nine and
Speaker 2: you know, it was on We're getting We're getting built
Speaker 2: around the years a fair bit. And this package arrives.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know. I was ticking or
Speaker 2: whatever it was going to be. And I opened it
Speaker 2: up and inside was a boxing glove from Joe Frasier.
Speaker 2: Keep your hands up there, Joe Frasier, which of course
Speaker 2: have So I've got an autograph boxing club from Joe
Speaker 2: Fraser and an autographed goat book from Armad Ali. And wow,
Speaker 2: that's it's pretty bigre it is, But they they don't forget.
Speaker 2: I was on a little Boy when they were the
Speaker 2: first big in Australia. They were the first major events
Speaker 2: coming in via OC Australia on satellite and watching those
Speaker 2: fights in the those days World Heavyweight total fights on
Speaker 2: the front page for days it was Underlieaver. It was amazing,
Speaker 2: shaking hands. Actually put my hand into the right hand
Speaker 2: of Joe Frazier, you.
Speaker 1: Know with nuts people out was watching the left.
Speaker 2: But to know that Joe fort and those fights and
Speaker 2: he was blind in one eye and everything and in
Speaker 2: to see Ali and Ali did the looked at Carla
Speaker 2: and looked at me, looked at at Carla, looked at
Speaker 2: me and she said to color you married him? You
Speaker 2: know he's gay? Yeah, yeah, You just sit there going wow,
Speaker 2: what sort of life is this? Yeah? Man, amazing people.
Speaker 1: I'm moving to the last time we I talking about here,
Speaker 1: and it's it's someone who this is very recent. This
Speaker 1: is all kind of happened. You've had a very close
Speaker 1: relationship with this man. I'm looking across and I see
Speaker 1: his name and the Shane warn stand. I want to
Speaker 1: ask you guys about your personal relationship with him. I
Speaker 1: know you knew him very well and he was someone
Speaker 1: that was very dear to yourself and I had a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of fun times, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of good times with the man. I've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of stories that we go through. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to go through. We'll be here for another four hours,
Speaker 1: but just me, I kep.
Speaker 2: Him keep look. Warning was yeah to me, the quintessential
Speaker 2: kid from Melbourne who came in and was the storybook.
Speaker 2: I mean his life is. I mean, you know, we
Speaker 2: only know parts of it. You know it was was
Speaker 2: even bigger than what it is, and he was enormous.
Speaker 2: But he was also a great friend. The phone call
Speaker 2: would come, you know, what are you doing? I don't
Speaker 2: know what the phone of ringing you look, Shane Warning,
Speaker 2: and you're going to say, this is either going to
Speaker 2: be the biggest story of the year and he needs help,
Speaker 2: or this is going to be a great night ahead
Speaker 2: of us. And you know the amount of times that
Speaker 2: all happened. But once what I loved about Warning is
Speaker 2: once he actually believed you to be a friend and
Speaker 2: you showed to be a friend, then you were in again.
Speaker 2: And I find that with a lot of the great people,
Speaker 2: they they will bring you in and give you everything,
Speaker 2: and they just want to have other friends and other
Speaker 2: people that can rely on. So it was a terrible
Speaker 2: tragedy when the news came through at one thirty that
Speaker 2: morning that Shane had died. But you know, I remember
Speaker 2: going around to his house one time in Dan at
Speaker 2: PORTSI and there's a guy there Ross. Hello. Ross seems
Speaker 2: got an English accent. You obviously he's an important character
Speaker 2: and warning they said that we get talking and start
Speaker 2: talking about in English soccer and well they said, they said,
Speaker 2: it says to be how do you fastid? Well, you know,
Speaker 2: nominally Manchester United and I said, I still as odd
Speaker 2: as this is is a Manchester United guy like Liverpool
Speaker 2: because Kenny Delglish became a friend and you know his
Speaker 2: connection to Celtic. I said, look, I'm a Celtic man
Speaker 2: and yeah, they're the big club. And he says, oh
Speaker 2: really you like Celie's heah, yeah, so I start off. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The first British team to win the European Cup in
Speaker 2: nine at sixty seven won the you know, the Coronation
Speaker 2: Cup in nineteen fifty three and Celtic played Hibbs and
Speaker 2: it was an all Green final and my father was
Speaker 2: there at Hamden Parker was one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 2: thousand people there blah blah blah blah blah, and I
Speaker 2: get wound up into it and they asked, Warning throws
Speaker 2: a few questions. You know, I'm into it about all
Speaker 2: this sort of stuff. Not unusual, you know that I've
Speaker 2: got a bit wound up and going. And then Warning says, ah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I said, said, Ross is a Celtic man. Really if
Speaker 2: you break for the Celtic, said here, he says, yeah,
Speaker 2: his family owned.
Speaker 1: Them, I said, said last and I had just got what.
Speaker 2: I said, what your father you do my Desmond? So
Speaker 2: he said yeah, Ross Desmond. I said, right, okay, now
Speaker 2: he said. I didn't know half of that. It was fantastic.
Speaker 2: So later in the air they're coming out and Ross
Speaker 2: Ross came out for Warning's funeral down at the Saint
Speaker 2: Gilda Footy Club and so the Desmonds are coming out.
Speaker 2: So I'm looking forward to catching up with them. But
Speaker 2: one of my great memories was I took my dad
Speaker 2: back and the last game he saw of Celtic in
Speaker 2: Scotland was with me. The first of the last game he
Speaker 2: went before he came to Australia was knee deep in
Speaker 2: the mud. And this time we went. We sat in
Speaker 2: the director's box. And then the last game he saw
Speaker 2: just before he died, when his ninety four was over
Speaker 2: at Amy Stadium and the Celtic we say coach, but
Speaker 2: manager Neil Lennon actually came up and made a presentation
Speaker 2: to him and became a jumper with maguire n ninety
Speaker 2: four whatever it was, and there must have been ninety
Speaker 2: four and in a beautiful tanker and a ball and
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff to my dad, who couldn't
Speaker 2: believe it that after all these years in Australia, that
Speaker 2: the team that he loved. If we if we breathed
Speaker 2: loudly on a Sunday morning when the BB said World
Speaker 2: Service with no it was getting the results on the radio,
Speaker 2: you'd have to go. That was English Premier League, and
Speaker 2: there's the Division one and again through all that didn't
Speaker 2: bet Division five, then Scotland Quiet, Celtic two Rangers, and
Speaker 2: that was it happiness for another couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I must say, mate, I know you did the send
Speaker 1: off with Warner here at the mcg and that was
Speaker 1: a pretty pretty beautiful moment. I think it was very
Speaker 1: well constructed. I know you're a massive behind it, and
Speaker 1: something I know he would have been proud of.
Speaker 2: Office was enormous and met Gadinski from Mushroom with the
Speaker 2: staging and cos cardown at GMTV and then the mcg
Speaker 2: and Peter Jones who does all the big events in Melbourne.
Speaker 2: And what I loved about it was it was Melbourne
Speaker 2: coming together and because it was on all the stations,
Speaker 2: none of the no one stuck their head in from
Speaker 2: Sydney or any of the other and we're actually able
Speaker 2: to do it. And as a turnout, I was actually
Speaker 2: sick the week before I was and I was petrofied
Speaker 2: I had COVID, so I didn't test myself. I stayed
Speaker 2: home and on the Sunday I thought, I'm going to
Speaker 2: have to write this one because we had to put
Speaker 2: it through protocol, and two because in case I couldn't
Speaker 2: do it. So I was going to test myself on
Speaker 2: the Monday and Tuesday and see how I was going.
Speaker 2: As it turned out, it was a flu that was
Speaker 2: going around Melbourne that time and I tested negative and
Speaker 2: I was right. But so I sat down on the
Speaker 2: Sunday and wrote the funeral. I just sat on the
Speaker 2: kitchen table and it knocked it all out because we
Speaker 2: knew we had out, and we knew we had been
Speaker 2: at Ed Sheeran, and we knew we had Chris Martin,
Speaker 2: and we knew that all these other things were falling
Speaker 2: into place, and you know that, so then you're able
Speaker 2: to put it together. And what was interesting for us
Speaker 2: was because there was no ad breaks, we had to
Speaker 2: really almost do it like a theater production where they
Speaker 2: wanted to know or pull sets out, and we had
Speaker 2: to get the kids from their speech to at the
Speaker 2: top of the stand unveil it. So that's why we
Speaker 2: had the trumpet and then different things like that. So
Speaker 2: it was actually great fun pulling it all together, but
Speaker 2: at the same time making sure that we use the
Speaker 2: mcg as a set rather than it being the venue.
Speaker 2: So we use it as a set, get the shots
Speaker 2: of Melbourne, get people realizing this will be a show,
Speaker 2: not just a funeral, but at the same time keep
Speaker 2: the solemnity of a funeral and what we're actually doing
Speaker 2: and not turning it into a circus. So that was
Speaker 2: what we were trying to do and I think we're
Speaker 2: able to achieve.
Speaker 1: Are you accomplished it so well? Mate? And it's great
Speaker 1: to sit here and look across and see the shame
Speaker 1: warns that I'm sure you're pretty proud of that, and
Speaker 1: probably gives you a bit of goosew'm seeing it.
Speaker 2: But it was great because the day he died, I
Speaker 2: received the phone call from the Premier, Daniel Andrews, who said,
Speaker 2: we need to do a state funeral, don't we and
Speaker 2: what do you think and I said, yeah, absolutely, that'd
Speaker 2: be amazing for the family. And then I went down
Speaker 2: spoke to the family and they're really taken by it.
Speaker 2: And then a couple of days in the phone call
Speaker 2: came through again and you know, what do you think
Speaker 2: about the stand and I said, well, well, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a game. It's a pity didn't happen when he was alive,
Speaker 2: but yeah, what a great moment for the for the family,
Speaker 2: and it's it's it's such a I mean, he's such
Speaker 2: a Melbourne icon.
Speaker 1: You know, he's one of the first people over knew
Speaker 1: shame warning, so if you know anything about Australia, need
Speaker 1: no shame warn.
Speaker 2: Well, he's got a statue at the front and he's
Speaker 2: got on the northern side of the ground. He's got
Speaker 2: to stand on the southern side. And I'm glad that
Speaker 2: the people have come out already and said, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: When it's redeveloped, there will be a shame, whether it
Speaker 2: be the whole stand or part of the stand or
Speaker 2: whatever it's it's there. Yeah, beautiful, It's just enormous.
Speaker 1: You can see how much of a great friend he
Speaker 1: ones to you, mate, and just like you are to me.
Speaker 1: You an amazing friendship. With the amount it's you've been
Speaker 1: someone I've said it before, I'll say it again. You've
Speaker 1: been somewhat of a father figure for me since I've
Speaker 1: moved to this country. It made me too old, but
Speaker 1: we've shared a lot of Christmas dinners. Well, you've always
Speaker 1: taken me in as one of your own.
Speaker 2: And do you bring a certain geness a quiet to
Speaker 2: the equation as well. I remember the first time I
Speaker 2: met you. I remember feeling you and Nol and your
Speaker 2: brother just how impressive you were. And I remember darre
Speaker 2: ringing me and he was over at the Combine in
Speaker 2: America and I said, is anything anyone over there? He said,
Speaker 2: there's one bloke we've got to get and there's a
Speaker 2: couple of clubs into him. I said, well get him
Speaker 2: out here. He said he's coming out and I said, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: make sure we catch up and I'll do the full
Speaker 2: court press on him. And as you said, you didn't
Speaker 2: quite know who I was and you walked out and
Speaker 2: saw me on the back of.
Speaker 1: A big deal.
Speaker 2: But it was great chatting to you. And also what
Speaker 2: I think people underestimate with you is coming with your
Speaker 2: college education. You've brought an enormous maturity to football, not
Speaker 2: just Collingwood, but to football and particularly calling Wood, and
Speaker 2: the way you've been able to battle through your I issues,
Speaker 2: learning the game, the criticism that is coming your way,
Speaker 2: which is quite incredible at times, but also then to
Speaker 2: not only play that game in the Polyminary Final, which
Speaker 2: is one of the most magical moments I've ever had
Speaker 2: in my life. Watching you that day at the MCG
Speaker 2: against Richmond was just one of the greatest things ever.
Speaker 2: To sit behind your parents when your first kick in
Speaker 2: on Anzac Day and you kick the goal and nearly
Speaker 2: see them jump out of the out of the off
Speaker 2: the second deck there, only to probably landed on me
Speaker 2: because I were jumping even higher I reckon. But those
Speaker 2: they were their magic moments that you just look at
Speaker 2: and you think wow. And then everything you've brought and
Speaker 2: what you continue to do even with you becoming an
Speaker 2: Australian citizen in recent times. These are things that are important.
Speaker 2: We have to get past just the media obsession with
Speaker 2: this week. You know, this week's game hero zero sack
Speaker 2: the coach, give him a five year extension. This bloke
Speaker 2: should get you. Forget all that's that that takes care
Speaker 2: of itself. We need to get back to reporting the
Speaker 2: humanity and I think you bring that embodiment to our
Speaker 2: game and it's been great and long may you continue
Speaker 2: to be involved in the game. The fact that you're
Speaker 2: doing this, the fact that you are talking to iconic
Speaker 2: people in Melbourne, says to me you've got a lot
Speaker 2: more to give because you actually get it. Whereas most
Speaker 2: footballers they come and they go, and you know, they
Speaker 2: come back for the past players thing and you think, geezuz,
Speaker 2: you actually might have had a bit more to give
Speaker 2: you had have been given your head. Possibly, I think
Speaker 2: because you became as a mature age person who traveled
Speaker 2: to the other side of the world for a sense
Speaker 2: of adventure, and also because you had your college education
Speaker 2: and you've played a few different sports and things that
Speaker 2: gave you a completely different dimension and a capability to
Speaker 2: get through what has happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I'll look back to my career
Speaker 1: and everything that I've done and everything else comes from zero.
Speaker 1: I didn't know anything. I didn't know anyone in this
Speaker 1: country if I came here, and now Bill, all have
Speaker 1: this amazing experience since because of the people have been
Speaker 1: surrounded me like in that time. And you're a major
Speaker 1: part of that. And it's like we talked about the
Speaker 1: very beginning of this podcast, it's all these people that
Speaker 1: reach their hand out and help you, and that's what
Speaker 1: makes it amazing.
Speaker 2: And I think also, and ask you a question. I
Speaker 2: always find that first generation Australians and all those who
Speaker 2: have come from overseas see Australia for what it is,
Speaker 2: even better than people have been here for generations. I
Speaker 2: find one of the holdbacks on Australia is because it's
Speaker 2: so good that people go, if it's not broke, don't
Speaker 2: fix it. Whereas anyone who's into looking down the track
Speaker 2: of life goes, well, if it's not broke, fix it
Speaker 2: and make it better and do things and look further
Speaker 2: down the track. So you know, we've got you know, unashamedly, Yeah,
Speaker 2: my mother said the best oy of the life was
Speaker 2: and she stepped foot in Australia and I took them
Speaker 2: back forty two years later and she said the second
Speaker 2: best day of life was and she stepped back into Australia. Really,
Speaker 2: So that's that's where our mindset is, or my mindset is,
Speaker 2: and mom and dads were So you know, I just
Speaker 2: love seeing what we can do in Australia. I hate
Speaker 2: when we get caught up in nonsense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of the most beautiful places with some
Speaker 1: of the some just freedoms and things that we take
Speaker 1: for granted every single day that whenever you look back
Speaker 1: to the full picture of it, we're all quite fortunate
Speaker 1: to be here in the circumstances we are. But I
Speaker 1: just want to say a massive thank you Addie for
Speaker 1: coming on mate. It's been a great chat. There's some
Speaker 1: obviic serious So I've got a whole less of things. I
Speaker 1: can go through a million of things. I'll bring a
Speaker 1: wine Christmas next year. I don't think it'll be as
Speaker 1: good as yours.
Speaker 2: But I'll bring a wine taste for good wine.
Speaker 1: I know someone's told me pretty well, so.
Speaker 2: This is like, you know, I could have give him
Speaker 2: a Cordy. All the first street game round now were
Speaker 2: starting with with a Burgundy or a pep.
Speaker 1: The wine glasses that were specific for the top of wine.
Speaker 1: I knew it was in for a lesson. So Mate,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on. It's been a great chat.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Mate, you've been an amazing person in
Speaker 1: my life. I'm so grateful to have as part of
Speaker 1: my journey, so continued. Thanks man, I appreciate We'll speak soon.
Speaker 1: Got anybody, Thanks brother,