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Speaker 1: Jersey and Amanda jam Mason.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've had a raft of big name mystery footy

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Speaker 2: tippers over the course of the season, from shannonol to

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Speaker 2: Wally Lewis, from Steve Menzies to Pete Murray. Last week

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Speaker 2: Millie Elliott got one out of two.

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Speaker 3: Well, you can't beat with Steve Menzies. I think got

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Speaker 3: eight out of eight, so very early in the season.

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Speaker 3: He won.

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Speaker 2: Is a giant champion. But it's only fitting that we

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Speaker 2: wrap up the season with this man.

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of a big deal.

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Speaker 2: They kicked off their NRL career in two thousand playing

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Speaker 2: for the Bulldogs. Over his career, he went on to

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Speaker 2: represent the Australian national Rugby League team, earning twenty four caps.

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Speaker 2: He's only got one head at playing thirteen games in

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Speaker 2: the state of origin for New South Wales. In two

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Speaker 2: thousand and two, they were named Deli and Prop of

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Speaker 2: the Year for their exceptional season performance. They went on

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Speaker 2: to win the two thousand and four Clive Churchill Medal

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Speaker 2: as best player on the field in the Grand Final,

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Speaker 2: and of course two thousand and four won the Grand

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Speaker 2: Final with Cannery Bulldogs. It's Willie Mason. He's an awesome

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Speaker 2: sight in fourth White Billy couldn't help himself.

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Speaker 3: Here he is, Hello, Willie Mason. How are you?

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Speaker 1: That brought a lot of PTSD back here in Raven?

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Speaker 3: I can imagine in a week like this where you're

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Speaker 3: watching players get ready for a big Grand final, do

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Speaker 3: you still feel a fresh sight in your veins? He

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Speaker 3: still does it still touch you somehow?

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Speaker 1: It does? Actually, especially when I do interviews like this

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Speaker 1: and you bring all that stuff up, it doesn't. It doesn't.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty you know, you're sort of it's in the

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Speaker 1: back of your head a lot until you sort of

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Speaker 1: talk about it and you relive it again, and that's

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Speaker 1: when it sort of comes up to the front. But

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Speaker 1: usually I'm okay. But then you watch game day, game week,

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Speaker 1: and like you see a lot of stuff on social media,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, you can really like relate to the players,

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Speaker 1: and you saw you get really nervous because it's probably

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Speaker 1: the most important game. I mean footas not everything, but

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Speaker 1: at that time it is. When you're playing and playing

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Speaker 1: any grand final and winning it is probably the most

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Speaker 1: important thing you can do in your krea, the best

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Speaker 1: thing you can do. So when you reflect on it

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Speaker 1: now in a different perspective. You look at it different.

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Speaker 2: I look at your history and in the days, these

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Speaker 2: days of social media and everything, how do you feel

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Speaker 2: about back in your day because you were pretty much

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Speaker 2: everywhere back in those days, it would have been a

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Speaker 2: lot harder these days, I'm sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you just have to evolve with the times. I

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Speaker 1: suppose I played fil an era where the game just

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Speaker 1: come back together, and we brought it back together in

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Speaker 1: their late ninety nine's and early two thousands. You know,

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Speaker 1: society was so different back then. It was a lot

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Speaker 1: more fun and a lot more forgiving, and everybody was

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Speaker 1: just having a good time, and rugby league players were

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Speaker 1: just part of the fabric. And like you can go

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Speaker 1: down the pub and see tannabus there or anywhere. Now

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Speaker 1: you just you don't really see all those players. And

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Speaker 1: you guys areunderstand that too because you lived through it

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Speaker 1: as well. So the players now are under so much

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Speaker 1: scrutiny and everything like that. But that's that's what happens

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Speaker 1: when it becomes a dollon dollar company. So all these

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Speaker 1: little factors go into everything. But you know, if you're

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Speaker 1: a player these days, you just need to evolve with

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Speaker 1: the times and understand you can't do anything if you

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Speaker 1: want to. And I think they hear all these stories

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Speaker 1: of our sort of generation and everything like and try

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Speaker 1: and emulate it, like, dude, you can't. It's just a

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Speaker 1: timing place where we're like, you can't do it because

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Speaker 1: you're going to be in trouble, like we're doing anything criminal.

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Speaker 1: But it's just like back then it was allowed. Right

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Speaker 1: now it's like so frowned upon men they're just going

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Speaker 1: to like they'll probably get ready of because it's the

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Speaker 1: image of the game first before anyone.

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Speaker 2: But you've got a lot of fun to the game.

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Speaker 2: I always love watching you play and I love seeing you.

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Speaker 2: So you're Channel seven now your Sydney Channel seven, New

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Speaker 2: Sydney League insider, Willie.

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Speaker 1: This is your who would have thought that?

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Speaker 3: Right A will INSIDERI.

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Speaker 1: The NRL and NRL insider for Channel seven. So things

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Speaker 1: coming forward so circle. So that's that's a lot of fun,

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Speaker 1: you know, just me being me being on TV and

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Speaker 1: they understand what I'm like and they understand, you know,

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Speaker 1: what I bring to the to the channel, and I'm

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Speaker 1: having a lot of fun just sort of reading off

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Speaker 1: prompters and everything like that. It's a bit weird. You know,

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Speaker 1: I do a podcast, levels network podcast. I do a

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Speaker 1: few things where you know, there's there's cameras there and everything,

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Speaker 1: but it's a bit different in the studio, right, It's well,

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Speaker 1: you're sort of staring at nothing. There's no crowds as

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Speaker 1: I know, a grown up.

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Speaker 3: Look, I know Jones is too grown up. Jonesy' is

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Speaker 3: a sharky. I'm a rooster. We were hoping that our

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Speaker 3: teams would meet in the Grand Final that they are

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Speaker 3: in the women's final. Do you have a tip for

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Speaker 3: who you think will win? The NRLW Roosters or the Sharks.

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Speaker 1: The Roosters, I think you get that they're pretty good

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Speaker 1: in the women's lead, they're always pretty good. It's been

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Speaker 1: such an exciting comp for women's. Like my business minder

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Speaker 1: justin horror for for the podcast. He loves the women's games.

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Speaker 1: He's upsetted. I think he watches the women's games all

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Speaker 1: than the men's.

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Speaker 2: It is good.

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Speaker 1: I can't I just can't watch, Like, I just can't

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Speaker 1: watch twenty something games. I watched every single men's game

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Speaker 1: for a couple of women's games in there, but you

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Speaker 1: know how many hours that is to watching footy? Over

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Speaker 1: the weekend. I need to socialize.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: I have a family that I need to attend to.

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Speaker 2: My wife was watching so much footy. She started to

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Speaker 2: watch one hundred percent footy and then she come up

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Speaker 2: with these stocks.

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Speaker 1: That's when you know you.

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Speaker 3: Write too much.

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Speaker 2: Okay, the big dance mate Penrith versus Melbourne. Who are

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Speaker 2: you tipping?

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Speaker 1: If Nelson off for Solomona was playing for Melbourne, I

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Speaker 1: would lean towards Melbourne. But because that big man's out

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Speaker 1: and he's the only one I reckon, they could scare

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Speaker 1: Theoda or Fisher Harris and it's going to be one

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Speaker 1: in the middle. It's always one in the middle. Now

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Speaker 1: that he's gone. I just think that Penros will see

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Speaker 1: a weakness in their middles and just attack it. And

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Speaker 1: then they've got Cleary and all these superstars. They've got

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Speaker 1: so many good players. It's it's pretty unfair when you

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Speaker 1: look at it.

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Speaker 2: And in the case of and only just in the

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Speaker 2: case of Nelson, did you feel that he was hard

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Speaker 2: done by for that?

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Speaker 1: I was.

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Speaker 2: I thought they might him.

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Speaker 1: Off on that one. I feel the game, the game

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Speaker 1: didn't give him a chance by giving giving him a

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Speaker 1: grade three. You get a great three. That's like doing

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Speaker 1: the most malicious thing on the field. He was he

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Speaker 1: missed his target by a millimeter right, and it's like

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of nuances in that hit. I thought

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Speaker 1: he should be allowed to play this week because I've

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Speaker 1: seen worse. I think he's hard done by and I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, they don't ruin a good Grand Final. I

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Speaker 1: just they just make it a little bit more unfair

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Speaker 1: towards Penrith because he's such a big, big human and

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Speaker 1: he's probably the best decoy in the game. People don't

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Speaker 1: understand just because he's not scoring, like you know, twenty

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Speaker 1: tides a year, he sets up those with his decoys, right,

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Speaker 1: So you missed that sort of element out of the game.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I've seen Penrith get him because they're

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Speaker 1: just methodical. Name they're like they're like Melbourne two point zero.

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Speaker 1: You know what Melbourne was doing in two thousand and

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Speaker 1: sixty two, sixteen seventeen. That's that. But like just with

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Speaker 1: that gold near of players, Low Cleary, Crichton, kick it out,

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Speaker 1: you know, Leam Martin, yo Offisher Arras.

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Speaker 2: Believe what they've done, Yeah, there are They are a

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Speaker 2: dream machine. Just like you, Willie. It's so great to

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Speaker 2: catch up with you mate, and you can catch Willie

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Speaker 2: on Channel seven as as seven News, Sydney League Insider

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Speaker 2: on all his podcast levels. Willie Mason, thank you for

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Speaker 2: being on our show.

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Speaker 1: Thanks guys, Caaren