Speaker 1: Hey Legends, Welcome back to The Mason Cox Show. Part two,
Speaker 1: Episode to the Grand Final. This is where things get
Speaker 1: a bit, let's say, out of the ordinary. It's the
Speaker 1: celebrations of the Grand Final, everything that happens after you win.
Speaker 1: The cop people. Phil Cox drinks a beer out of
Speaker 1: it huge. We get into that, the family's there, all
Speaker 1: the friends are happening, We go to the bars, we
Speaker 1: get the after party, then the after party, after party.
Speaker 1: We party for a week straight and we roll through
Speaker 1: all the details everyone and then we talk about the journey.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, it's a big one for me, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the hides, lows, everything in between.
Speaker 1: It is an incredible Part two. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big one, So listen in, tune in, settle down. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be big. But we'll get into it now. They
Speaker 1: kick down line. They go like, tap it down, Will,
Speaker 1: and we'll kick it. Four of the son goes right
Speaker 1: and then the game's over and it's like a moment
Speaker 1: that I just I just like was just so exhausted.
Speaker 1: I just fell over and I was like, that's it it,
Speaker 1: It's done, thank God. And then the moment's like you're
Speaker 1: a premiership player, it's like, oh my god, the resurrection
Speaker 1: kind of just get back to your feet, and then
Speaker 1: you just go find the whole crew and Will Will
Speaker 1: it's there about and you just grab the hand. There's
Speaker 1: a big hug, and everyone's freaking out. There's pandemonium and
Speaker 1: you kind of you go from like the exhausted like
Speaker 1: collapse and then your brain is like quiet, and it's
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you kind of your senses
Speaker 1: come back, and then it's, oh my gosh, you like
Speaker 1: crazy experience that just happened, and this is it's done,
Speaker 1: and you're You've won the whole thing, and it's like
Speaker 1: just this amazing just flush of adrenaline that until it is.
Speaker 1: It's seriously, it's it's a weird thing to say it
Speaker 1: and like describe kind of what the feeling was, but
Speaker 1: you just have that rush of like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we did it. And then you find your teammate and
Speaker 1: you're like celebrating with them and it was just chaos,
Speaker 1: man like just absolutely chaos in the best way. And
Speaker 1: I didn't even I didn't shake a single Brisbane player's hand,
Speaker 1: Like I just didn't even see them. Like it was
Speaker 1: just like the whole, like the whole like field was
Speaker 1: rushed by people. Right. You got like all the VFL
Speaker 1: and the afl blas of players come on, and if
Speaker 1: you all the coaches come down. You got all this
Speaker 1: like people and everything around, and the cups there and
Speaker 1: Peter Moores there, and you're you're hugging everyone. You're like
Speaker 1: sitting there like a high five and one you're like
Speaker 1: in just this crazy pandemonium, and it was just nuts
Speaker 1: and you get you get to that point you're like
Speaker 1: we've done it, like we've actually done it. And then
Speaker 1: I think the first hype bit was like Brandon came
Speaker 1: up to me and he was like what God, They're
Speaker 1: just like he's a hype man, right, He's like chest
Speaker 1: bumps the shit out of you. And I was just
Speaker 1: like so like so happy for him, because you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, I mean, like it sounds like maybe a
Speaker 1: bit shit on my side, but it's not like been
Speaker 1: my life goal to be a premature. Yeah, it's an
Speaker 1: amazing experience and like you said, like fulfills this journey.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. But like for someone who grew up from
Speaker 1: the age of five years old to go through oz
Speaker 1: kick and go through the whole experience and like dream
Speaker 1: of that moment. It was so poetic in the sense
Speaker 1: of seeing how much it meant to everyone else, And
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to me too, but like I
Speaker 1: got more happiness from other people there and the motions
Speaker 1: that were coming out of them of what it meant
Speaker 1: to And I'm not just talking players, I'm talking staff
Speaker 1: and coaches and everyone else. Like that's that's the pit.
Speaker 1: Like that's the little part that I loved the most
Speaker 1: about that experience. It sounds like weird saying that, Like
Speaker 1: you don't think about yourself in that moment, but like
Speaker 1: for the next like five days, I couldn't help but
Speaker 1: just be so happy for everyone else that I knew
Speaker 1: it meant so much too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And each person that you would have gone up
Speaker 2: to in that hectic, chaotic moment, each person you saw,
Speaker 2: you would have just thought of everything that you'd been
Speaker 2: through with that in that moment, Oh my god, this
Speaker 2: and this and we've been on this journey and they've
Speaker 2: been through all these things, and you just embrace and
Speaker 2: you hug and you move on to the next person.
Speaker 2: Because there's there would have been forty fifty people out
Speaker 2: there that you've all shared a moment over the past
Speaker 2: ten years with that has led to this that everyone's got.
Speaker 2: There's not many workplaces out there in the world that
Speaker 2: you're like striving towards one common goal, like one very
Speaker 2: specific common goal more than in sport, and like to
Speaker 2: finally achieve that. Like it's not the same people from
Speaker 2: day one to the ran, like the people that do
Speaker 2: make it through together, Like I can't even begin to
Speaker 2: imagine how amazing that moment would have been before any
Speaker 2: self reflection, before a moment of like fuck, like I've
Speaker 2: done this, Like because you're looking at them going like
Speaker 2: we achieved all of this. Yeah, so talk us along
Speaker 2: the way of like each little moment where something hit
Speaker 2: you because you go up you get the medal, like
Speaker 2: you're thinking all of these thoughts and you haven't had
Speaker 2: any time to collect yourself and then you've got to
Speaker 2: go receive your medal.
Speaker 1: It just everything happens so quickly and you want to
Speaker 1: soak it in, like the experience everything, but like you
Speaker 1: go from one thing and you're being told to go
Speaker 1: up to the stand and you're going to get give
Speaker 1: them the medal and then the cap and then the
Speaker 1: walk around the field and it all just happens, and like,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's like an hour of like your life, right,
Speaker 1: but it's something like you just want to enjoy every
Speaker 1: second of and you want to last as long as possible.
Speaker 1: So you go from starting going, collapsing, hugging the players,
Speaker 1: and I went to the sideline. I waited for Craig.
Speaker 1: Craig had to hug like twenty staff members before he
Speaker 1: got to me, so I waited for him patiently, just
Speaker 1: like an idiot, grabbed him and like celebrated with him,
Speaker 1: which was awesome.
Speaker 2: I want to stop in that moment because obviously we've
Speaker 2: talked about it. Repay Fly on the inside of your collar,
Speaker 2: and this is the first moment that you would have
Speaker 2: seen your coach, the guy that taught you to kick daylight,
Speaker 2: taught you about the AFL, taught you what it is
Speaker 2: and what it meant. And you've done it. You've achieved it,
Speaker 2: you've succeeded, you've repaid fly what you set out to
Speaker 2: do the whole time. What did that moment mean in
Speaker 2: that instant did you both share that moment when you
Speaker 2: saw each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's like Hogman for the jb Ice
Speaker 1: game went by a point a prelim incredible to like
Speaker 1: experience just going to a Grand five and then winning
Speaker 1: it and then being able to like have that moment
Speaker 1: and like it was very queer because it's like there's
Speaker 1: just chaos everyone, but like, yeah, like inside the jump
Speaker 1: and repay Fly and there's still there's still more to
Speaker 1: repay him. I feel like there's not it's not like
Speaker 1: a finite done with this. You know, there's so much more.
Speaker 2: You got another two years in.
Speaker 1: Another two years, so he's going to drag that shit out.
Speaker 1: But I think like in that moment and like I
Speaker 1: was talking to Justin Lafitte about the other day, and
Speaker 1: we're just gonna spit bying like kind of the whole
Speaker 1: journey and stuff and how incredible it's been. He's like
Speaker 1: man like to meet someone like flies, like your first
Speaker 1: coach is like just so important to the whole thing happening.
Speaker 1: Like there's not many coaches that would not only give
Speaker 1: so much of the time and energy to you to
Speaker 1: become a better player starting from scratch, but also to
Speaker 1: like help you in a personal standpoint, to be a
Speaker 1: better person. Like there's a lot of coaches you know,
Speaker 1: they've got so much going on that they don't have
Speaker 1: the time energy to put into people. But I think
Speaker 1: like Fly just saw something different than me and wanted
Speaker 1: to develop me on and off the field as a person.
Speaker 1: And that was one of the things I'm super super
Speaker 1: fortunate for is to have him be kind of like
Speaker 1: my first mentor along with Anthony Roca, to go through
Speaker 1: the whole experience with. And he kind of treated me
Speaker 1: like family from day dot where I didn't know anyone.
Speaker 1: So to have that moment where now you feel like
Speaker 1: you've been part of something together that you've both sacrificed
Speaker 1: so much to be able to earn was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Man Like, it's there's no word to really describe it.
Speaker 1: I'll always be indebted to the man is just like
Speaker 1: such an important part of my life and has done
Speaker 1: so much for me. And I was telling like before
Speaker 1: the game, like I was, I was like so emotional
Speaker 1: before the games because I was so happy they had
Speaker 1: a kid and everything went well, you know, like every meeting,
Speaker 1: I feel like I went in there and I was like,
Speaker 1: how's she going, She going all right? How she feels
Speaker 1: she gonna cut you out? And he was so Stokedy now.
Speaker 1: So to have that and like have that full circle
Speaker 1: moment of like him coming in here and me wanting
Speaker 1: to play for him, and me wanting to give back
Speaker 1: what he has given to me and give my time
Speaker 1: and energy and sacrifice for him to be able to
Speaker 1: reach the pinnacle with him as the leader of the
Speaker 1: club was just an amazing moment for me and probably
Speaker 1: him also in that sense to just sit there and say, like,
Speaker 1: you know, you've sacrificed a lot for each other and
Speaker 1: given a lot of your time and life and energy
Speaker 1: to be able to hopefully reach this moment and you
Speaker 1: finally do it together. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's it's going to be pretty cool moving
Speaker 2: forward because it's a snapshot, but it's those guys that
Speaker 2: he won the flag with. You be tied together forever, yeah,
Speaker 2: Like you will see each other every year, every other year,
Speaker 2: every ten year, twenty year. Fly just met up with
Speaker 2: his teammate mates for the twentieth year, So you are
Speaker 2: tied together forever with like the all the people that
Speaker 2: you ran around, you hugged, all the people that you
Speaker 2: you know, got around after the game, all the postgame celebrations,
Speaker 2: Like you'll be able to share those moments, and you'll
Speaker 2: be able to tell the stories. Steel's kick will get
Speaker 2: longer every year.
Speaker 1: You'll get to one hundred meters by next year, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: But it's just an amazing thing. Now, before we get
Speaker 2: to hold up the cup, you go up, your name
Speaker 2: gets called out, your last because well your second to
Speaker 2: last because obviously Captain's last, but number forty six, Mason Cox.
Speaker 2: You go up to receive your medal. You've had a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of blokes, you know, give you an example
Speaker 2: of what to do and what not to do with
Speaker 2: the hat and the handshake very meticulous. Oh and my god,
Speaker 2: isn't everyone watching in judge, So did you have a
Speaker 2: plan going up for the handshake? Because by McCreary, my god,
Speaker 2: he copt some flak for his and got the kid
Speaker 2: through the club, which is an amazing little thing.
Speaker 1: In the moment, we didn't know that happened. Like everyone's
Speaker 1: too excited that it hits social media far right away, bang,
Speaker 1: and it's like that's the instant kind of thing of it.
Speaker 1: But I remember sitting on the side as everyone's getting
Speaker 1: the medals, I'm like kind of dissecting what to do right,
Speaker 1: and like I'm like, okay, yep, hat, first metal, second handshake,
Speaker 1: double cobras, right, that's the that's the transaction fall in line.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, I remember Geelong. I gu
Speaker 1: three went up there and he I think it was
Speaker 1: a three. I want to say, no, it's Stuart went
Speaker 1: up and he like flicked the hat off the kid
Speaker 1: and then became a whole thing, right, and like nab
Speaker 1: ran a whole like media press thing with it, and
Speaker 1: he probably would have got paid thousands of dollars for that.
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking, yeah, throw the hat. I go one
Speaker 1: step further Mason f yeah, far out now. But I
Speaker 1: do remember the kid came out, and I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is a fair way down, so I gotta get there
Speaker 1: and you get the hat and get the medal and stuff.
Speaker 1: And then luckily enough, I think the difference between Maxton
Speaker 1: because I snubbed the kid too. I don't think I
Speaker 1: gave the handshake and I went straight to the double cobras.
Speaker 1: But I think Bo. The problem with Bo's was his
Speaker 1: kids stuck the hand out and he just snuffed left.
Speaker 1: And well, I'm pretty sure my child just didn't didn't
Speaker 1: didn't give the hand first, so therefore I didn't see
Speaker 1: it nor I was. I was just too excited to celebrate,
Speaker 1: and I think that got me away from the media scrutiny. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the kid was like free hat awesome, which I was
Speaker 1: all for too. So I unfortunately did the same thing
Speaker 1: as BO did. But luckily media didn't throw me under
Speaker 1: the bus. They were like, Mace is an American, he
Speaker 1: didn't know what the hell is going on. They're like us,
Speaker 1: I U. But that was cool. One of the cool
Speaker 1: things I guys, looking back on it was like you
Speaker 1: go up on the stage right and you've got like
Speaker 1: obviously a massive crowd there to like watch it happen,
Speaker 1: and then you've got your teammates and stuff, and everyone's
Speaker 1: happy and smiling. And a lot of people were asking
Speaker 1: this question after the game and about like the USA
Speaker 1: chant and like it's it's a pretty unique, cool thing.
Speaker 1: It's very different, and I guess it's somewhat it's nice
Speaker 1: because it's like an individual acknowledgment for something you do, right, Like,
Speaker 1: there's not many people that get that, and it's not
Speaker 1: something I did. Like I say, everyone chant USA like
Speaker 1: it just naturally happened. And when if I went up,
Speaker 1: like the whole team started chating the USA, which was
Speaker 1: really cool. When you get up there, you do the
Speaker 1: metal on the hat and then you're like hear the
Speaker 1: chant in the background. You're like and you look at
Speaker 1: the stadium. This is sick. Yeah, like metal on like
Speaker 1: all eyes kind of on you and you just so
Speaker 1: Hyph're just like what you go yeah, And it was
Speaker 1: it was a cool moment. Man. It's like one of
Speaker 1: those you kind of see people do over the years,
Speaker 1: and to be able to experience that, you know, it's
Speaker 1: something that not many people can. So you soak it in.
Speaker 1: Darcy More goes up incredible human speech and then Dad
Speaker 1: gives the trophy to him, and that was that was
Speaker 1: kind of like a soft It was just like, man,
Speaker 1: that's so cool. And then him and Craig hold it
Speaker 1: up and you're sitting there on the edge're going, hold up.
Speaker 1: We know the big photo is coming, right, so you
Speaker 1: know the photo cops lifted. The team runs onto the
Speaker 1: state so I'm looking around, I'm like, where do you
Speaker 1: Where do you want to go? Right? You want to
Speaker 1: position yourself. You don't want to be last on stage
Speaker 1: because then you're just going to be like out the
Speaker 1: back right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jordy got himself through like front right.
Speaker 1: Everyone's thinking this, you know, everyone starts creeping towards the
Speaker 1: front because they're like, like, we're going to lift the
Speaker 1: cop up, and I'm just like kind of sneaking off
Speaker 1: to the right. I'm sitting there behind besides DC I
Speaker 1: think it was and Darcy Cameron. I'm like, he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And I was like, let's take the right
Speaker 1: stairs and we'll get up the right side so then
Speaker 1: we can get on that side and we can be
Speaker 1: front right. And so we get up there, and then
Speaker 1: as soon as I jumped up, there's like ten players
Speaker 1: in front of me, like, well there it goes that.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'll do what I do every single
Speaker 1: photo back center right next to but I was next
Speaker 1: to the cup in Darcy, which was sick, like iconic photo.
Speaker 1: Obviously that will you know, go down in the memory bank.
Speaker 1: But that was epic. And then you come down and
Speaker 1: I don't think I actually even touched the cup until
Speaker 1: they had already done the full lap, like oh no,
Speaker 1: I went up and did the cup raised with Patty
Speaker 1: the pinske, which was sick and sketchy, super sketch by
Speaker 1: the way, like and the guys just holding your ankle
Speaker 1: and I'm sitting there.
Speaker 2: Like that's worse.
Speaker 1: At one point I grabbed Patty, but then Patty's just
Speaker 1: as like, you know, off balances me. So then we
Speaker 1: almost both went tumbling over the edge and I'm just
Speaker 1: sitting there like, there's this cheer squad and sorry to
Speaker 1: whoever the cheer squad remember was, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: I used their head as a balance point. And then
Speaker 1: my god, I've touched and yeah, so you sit there
Speaker 1: and you hold it up and that was all awesome,
Speaker 1: and like they had the flag and Patty's an absolute legend,
Speaker 1: a good friend and someone who you know, was played
Speaker 1: his role for the whole team and been through you know,
Speaker 1: trials and tribulations changing clubs, and he slided into our side,
Speaker 1: so well it was awesome to hold it up with
Speaker 1: him and everyone's doing their turn up in front of them,
Speaker 1: you know, and that was that was epic, a really
Speaker 1: cool moment. But before that, what everyone was doing, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, his sounds really cocky. And I haven't
Speaker 1: told anyone this. This will be clipped up, I'm sure. Ye.
Speaker 1: So before the game, before we go in there, you
Speaker 1: know a bit of confidence that we're going to win
Speaker 1: this thing. Yeah. I may and may not have gone
Speaker 1: down to my storage cage gotten my American flag and
Speaker 1: given it to my brother. I was prepped. Well. I
Speaker 1: told him, I said, I want two things if we
Speaker 1: win this. I want you to bring the American flag
Speaker 1: to me, and I want you to bring me a cigar.
Speaker 1: He forgot the cigar, but he at least got the
Speaker 1: American flag. So I'm sitting there and everyone's holding the
Speaker 1: cup up, and you're kind of just like loving the moment, right,
Speaker 1: like experience and like you get Nick and Josh like
Speaker 1: holding the cup up. Awesome, iconic moment. And I'm like
Speaker 1: looking at the crowd and I see a few USA flags.
Speaker 1: There's a little kid that always brings the same flag,
Speaker 1: which is awesome seeing him down there. There's what up
Speaker 1: on the concourse. And then I saw one out of
Speaker 1: the corner. My Mam'm like off to the right near
Speaker 1: the race, and I was like, oh, that's interesting. And
Speaker 1: then like the flag comes down a bit and I
Speaker 1: see my brother's head and I was like, oh shit.
Speaker 1: I was like, that's sick. My brother so like run
Speaker 1: over there and he's like ten rows deep product there's
Speaker 1: a million fans in front of him, and he like
Speaker 1: tries to like throw the thing down. It lands like
Speaker 1: five people in front of him, and I'm like, can't
Speaker 1: get the flag into the flag. And I get the
Speaker 1: flag and he's like yah, And I was like, everyone
Speaker 1: move out the way. I was like, my brother's coming
Speaker 1: down and they're like what. I was like, he's there.
Speaker 1: That man right there is my brother. He's coming onto
Speaker 1: the field and everyone's like whoa and they like kind
Speaker 1: of like shuffles his way down, jumping over all the seats.
Speaker 2: Anyone would do anything for you in those.
Speaker 1: Insane It is crazy. What a medallion that's gold that
Speaker 1: looks like this will get you in this in this city.
Speaker 1: It's it's insanity. But we digress to the next thing.
Speaker 1: But he comes down and then he's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: don't want to get on the field security ball. I said, Nolan,
Speaker 1: fuck them, you're coming on the field. I don't have
Speaker 1: whatever you want. Have anyone else here that's like part
Speaker 1: of my family, Like you were at like mom and
Speaker 1: dad and stuff are down in the race, Like I
Speaker 1: don't see them anyway, Like you just came on the field.
Speaker 1: Who cares. So I have the flag and I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there and I look back securities not looking. So I
Speaker 1: just hold the flag up and I go jump and
Speaker 1: he just jumps over the fence and gets on the
Speaker 1: field and we just start walking around and chatting. We
Speaker 1: got a photo together on the field which was epic
Speaker 1: awesome and like the camera guys know who it was,
Speaker 1: so they came over and took a photo. So yeah,
Speaker 1: So I did a little bit of prep work and
Speaker 1: that's how I got the American flag, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: stolen out of the audience. It was actually my own property.
Speaker 2: It was good and it sets up for so many
Speaker 2: amazing photos. And we did touch on this year over
Speaker 2: your journey with your brother. He was your agent, your
Speaker 2: first manager, and there's the moment where you, you know,
Speaker 2: you walked into the MCG for the first time and yeah,
Speaker 2: you get the this could be your office.
Speaker 1: No one actually posted that photo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now full circle, yeah your office. You know,
Speaker 2: you go out there one hundred thousand people, grand final
Speaker 2: day and you get to share it with your brother
Speaker 2: who started the whole journey with you. Like, how much
Speaker 2: did that mean?
Speaker 1: In that moment, it's incredible, Like he's he's been there
Speaker 1: through the good, bad and very ugly, and there's been
Speaker 1: times like that. So it was awesome that he was
Speaker 1: too scared to walk around the ring with us, like
Speaker 1: around the circle, like around the field. I try to
Speaker 1: get him to deal it with me. But now he's
Speaker 1: kind of been someone who I've definitely leaned a lot on.
Speaker 1: You take, I'll try to get emotional here, but someone
Speaker 1: will ever you know you're in those depths, like he
Speaker 1: gives that energy to you to make you get through it,
Speaker 1: If that makes sense. I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: probably have that in their life, where you might have
Speaker 1: a partner as someone who whenever you're in not a
Speaker 1: great mood, they give some of their energy of positivity
Speaker 1: to you to lift you up. And he's always been
Speaker 1: one of those people for me, Like I couldn't tell
Speaker 1: you probably how many times I've called him and said
Speaker 1: like fuck, I don't know if I want to do
Speaker 1: this anymore, which is pretty incredible. So he's been someone
Speaker 1: that's always been a supporter of me, has always pushed
Speaker 1: me to be better and try to do more for
Speaker 1: other people and like realize the journey and the situation,
Speaker 1: how fortunate you are in that sense. So to be
Speaker 1: able to share that with him who's kind of been
Speaker 1: there throughout the experiences of the highs and lowers, and
Speaker 1: be out there like he loves it just as much
Speaker 1: as me, he says, up to two am, just with
Speaker 1: the same as like the mom and dad and the
Speaker 1: brother Austin too. They all stay up watching the game.
Speaker 1: So for them to be in that moment and share
Speaker 1: it with me, it was something I'll never forget and
Speaker 1: something I probably value at the highest because without them,
Speaker 1: I don't exist in that scenario. I don't have that
Speaker 1: moment like and it's just as much of their moment
Speaker 1: as mine as I feel like in time, so even
Speaker 1: after the game, like the dad, everyone knows Phil Cox
Speaker 1: is a mad Colin Wood enough, he's so to see
Speaker 1: his smile after the game and him wearing the metal
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff was all so it's
Speaker 1: as much for them as it is for me now,
Speaker 1: and it's more to I think the older you get,
Speaker 1: the more you just want to share the successes with
Speaker 1: other people and bring people along with the journey, and
Speaker 1: whether it be the Magpie Army, the family, the teammates,
Speaker 1: the staff and the admin or whoever it is. It
Speaker 1: becomes less about you the older you get and the
Speaker 1: more about you know, giving other people some something amazing.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of like us in that moment to
Speaker 1: have him on the ground, And I didn't really think
Speaker 1: about it until after of like, how far from that
Speaker 1: moment whenever we were on the ground nine years ago,
Speaker 1: of like not knowing anything like it, and then being
Speaker 1: to that point where you got a Premiership Metal or undrneck.
Speaker 1: It's a long journey, a tough one and long road.
Speaker 1: But without him, I know for sure I wouldn't be there.
Speaker 1: So it was awesome to have him on the field
Speaker 1: in him probably look back at the crowd and realized
Speaker 1: just like how special of the moment it was.
Speaker 2: And there is a bit of you did mention it
Speaker 2: that most of the boys in the team have been
Speaker 2: on a very different journey to you. So it's like,
Speaker 2: as much as we've heard your journey, their understanding of
Speaker 2: your journey wouldn't be as as strong as your family.
Speaker 2: Like to share that with your family, you know, you're
Speaker 2: all part of the risk that you took to come
Speaker 2: over here. You're all part of that story that journey.
Speaker 2: It must have been an amazing moment. And it didn't
Speaker 2: stop there because we finally got off the field, went downstairs.
Speaker 1: You do the lack of honor and that's just chaos.
Speaker 1: I see Abby, and then she interviews me that it's
Speaker 1: a bit emotional, and then you kind of get to
Speaker 1: the end and yeah, you go down to the rooms
Speaker 1: and it's like you sing the song in these.
Speaker 2: The first moment that the whole you know, like the
Speaker 2: players are together, looking at each other, eyeballing from across.
Speaker 2: You see everyone together in one group, and you sing
Speaker 2: the song, like how did that feel?
Speaker 1: It still always leads us off, so it was everyone
Speaker 1: goes quiet and then still kind of goes nuts and
Speaker 1: you start with a chant and it's and I think
Speaker 1: you'll ever sing it as past as you do on
Speaker 1: that day, because it's it's the finality of the year,
Speaker 1: the finality of understanding. You've accomplished something that you've dreamed
Speaker 1: about and kind of worked so hard for, and you
Speaker 1: got the cup in the middle, and you got everyone
Speaker 1: sitting there looking at each other in the eye and
Speaker 1: being like, we did it. We sacrifice for each other
Speaker 1: to be able to earn this, and be able to
Speaker 1: you know, have this attached to our name forever. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was awesome, man, Like it was you know, you
Speaker 1: sing that song every week you have a win, but
Speaker 1: to sing on that day it's like just a different
Speaker 1: feeling that you can't really explain. And and then after
Speaker 1: that you sing it again with the staff and Adamin
Speaker 1: as any bigger circle, right, And that's just like something
Speaker 1: that's just incredible and not only for us, but to
Speaker 1: share that moment we talk about culture and what we
Speaker 1: want to build and have everyone come along with the
Speaker 1: ride with fans and you know, staff and Adam and
Speaker 1: everyone else that makes it so good and helps us
Speaker 1: along the way. It's it's cool to see them get
Speaker 1: just as much recognition as the twenty three and have
Speaker 1: that experience. So everyone sacrifices, from you know, the boots
Speaker 1: cleaner to you know, the equipment manager, to the coach's
Speaker 1: assistant coaches to VF to the players to the head coach.
Speaker 1: Everyone sacrifices so much to try to reach that goal
Speaker 1: and to have everyone there to sing the song in
Speaker 1: that circle, it is pretty pretty phenomenal to to have
Speaker 1: and a moment a lot of people will never forget. Right,
Speaker 1: you know, you get those pictures outed on the wall
Speaker 1: because they always bring back those happy memories. So that
Speaker 1: was epic and then weird thinking about this, like as
Speaker 1: soon as you've done with that song, I've never seen
Speaker 1: this before, but it the media just was everywhere. It
Speaker 1: was mix in your face, free, it was a free
Speaker 1: for all. Usually it's like you have three things, you
Speaker 1: got triple NBO fox for you get this right, and
Speaker 1: it's sorted, it's all organistic. It was just literally and
Speaker 1: like it was a watering hole in the safari.
Speaker 2: And anyone's in there, anyone.
Speaker 1: And everyone just was banged straight into you. And I
Speaker 1: remember just sitting there and I think it was an
Speaker 1: apologies to whoever this was that came out to me,
Speaker 1: but someone from like the ABC and someone else that
Speaker 1: was radio just like kind of came up to me.
Speaker 1: And I remember just like sitting there looking like just
Speaker 1: like shocked a bit after kind of saying that song,
Speaker 1: and I kind of look up. I'm trying to find
Speaker 1: my family, and I finally see my brothers and my
Speaker 1: mom and I kind of tell them because I usually
Speaker 1: we don't meet in the main area, tell them it
Speaker 1: comes to the hallway because it's a bit of chaos,
Speaker 1: and I go to a quieter area. So the ABC
Speaker 1: guys like, go get your injurview. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go see my family, and like they
Speaker 1: moved away, you know, I kind told them to move
Speaker 1: to the corner. So we have this little there's this
Speaker 1: little hallway in the back that you're not really supposed
Speaker 1: to go to a family. But like, my family just
Speaker 1: came out, the four of them, and we just kind
Speaker 1: of sat there as a group and got to give
Speaker 1: the medal. So all the brothers with the two brothers
Speaker 1: and mom and dad, and they were kind of, oh,
Speaker 1: this is so cool, you know. And that was kind
Speaker 1: of like a moment well, you know, soaking together of
Speaker 1: the experience of that and just being tore. I took
Speaker 1: a photo together after it was just kind of like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, you've done it kind of thing. It's pretty cool,
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Dad's got Beaman face as well. It's just
Speaker 1: love in the moment.
Speaker 2: And yeah, especially in such a hectic environment. You did
Speaker 2: say that you kind of like to sneak up and
Speaker 2: get away out to the silence of the stand. I
Speaker 2: imagine even more so on you know, kind of grand
Speaker 2: final day because it's just being an hectic from day,
Speaker 2: like from the second year guys made the Grand Final
Speaker 2: through to you know, the aftermath would have been nuts.
Speaker 2: There's a photo of you and it kind of looks
Speaker 2: like your first moment of silence, sitting like out on
Speaker 2: the field draped in the American flag, and it kind
Speaker 2: of just looks like it hit you in that moment. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like what was happening in that moment and what was
Speaker 2: going through your hair.
Speaker 1: So you see the family and then kind of we
Speaker 1: have like the meeting after and then everyone comes back
Speaker 1: out and I think at that point we all went
Speaker 1: up the race as like Steph Nadman players only twenty
Speaker 1: three going to the center of the ground and the
Speaker 1: cup goes in the middle, and we all have a
Speaker 1: bit of a you know, say that says twin Us,
Speaker 1: and everyone kind of talks about, you know, the experience
Speaker 1: and stuff in their life and whatnot. Before that, they're
Speaker 1: like everyone's coming out there, I'm celebrating the confetti's on
Speaker 1: the ground. It's like this cool kind of experience. There's
Speaker 1: not many fans left on the stands, so it's just
Speaker 1: like the crew that you know, like the staff and
Speaker 1: people that did it and made it possible. And I
Speaker 1: don't know why I did it, but I kind of
Speaker 1: just was like I kind of like went and sat
Speaker 1: in the center circle and a few boys kind of
Speaker 1: were over there, and I was like, I kind of
Speaker 1: want a moment to myself, like just to soak it
Speaker 1: all in, like kind of taken in. So kind of
Speaker 1: walked over to the opposite side of the ground and
Speaker 1: towards like the fifty I just kind of like sat down,
Speaker 1: just kind of looked around as like holy shit. And
Speaker 1: it kind of brought me back to that moment of
Speaker 1: like the first time I saw the MCG, I was like,
Speaker 1: this place is like huge colosseum like experience insane, and
Speaker 1: there's those moments of like a full MCG is awesome,
Speaker 1: Like there's a vibe to it. There's there's a bit
Speaker 1: of like goosebumps to it, but there's also a weird,
Speaker 1: like eerie, beautiful feeling to an empty MCG of like
Speaker 1: knowing the history that's gone there, knowing all the amazing
Speaker 1: like moments that have happened on that ground in that place,
Speaker 1: right like it's something like spiritual about it. And so
Speaker 1: I just sat down and it did kind of hit me.
Speaker 1: I was trying to be telling it too emotional about it,
Speaker 1: but like I just sat there and just soaked on in.
Speaker 1: I was like, holy shit, like it's happened, Like it's
Speaker 1: it's actually happened, Like it's You've gone from never hearing
Speaker 1: a sport, zero understanding of everything, like no clue, to
Speaker 1: being at the Pinnacle and winning a premiership. Like you
Speaker 1: have experienced everything in AFL, Like there's nothing that's left
Speaker 1: bar winning it again. Maybe there's almost nothing more you
Speaker 1: can experience that goes with this journey. And it's like
Speaker 1: one of those moments I just sat down, I was like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, I'm so glad I did it, Like I'm
Speaker 1: so fortunate I did it and was able to get
Speaker 1: through it and still continue to do it. But I
Speaker 1: just had like an emotional moment that I was just
Speaker 1: like burst into tears and I was like, holy shit,
Speaker 1: it's all it's all happened, like it's actually happened. Like
Speaker 1: ause you think about it, you talk about it and
Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff, but like once the moment
Speaker 1: actually like occurs just almost some disbelief and it doesn't
Speaker 1: like really register in the moment but I sat there
Speaker 1: and I remember just looking down, like seeing the metal
Speaker 1: and seeing everyone celebrating in front of me. And the
Speaker 1: one person that comes over to me first is like
Speaker 1: Darcy Moore, who has been there since Yeah, trying to
Speaker 1: get the emotional but he's been there since day one,
Speaker 1: so it was cool to see him walk over to me.
Speaker 1: I had a few words and stuff, and it was
Speaker 1: cool to like to share that moment together on the
Speaker 1: field where his family's been massive for me. He's been
Speaker 1: massive for me, he's been huge for this whole team.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, and then DC comes over, who's been
Speaker 1: the right hand man the rock for a while, so
Speaker 1: we kind of had a bit of a laugh and
Speaker 1: then everyone kind of gets together and it was an
Speaker 1: incredible moment. But yeah, that was a real full circle
Speaker 1: experience for me, sitting there on my own American flag
Speaker 1: trader from my shoulder like an absolute idiot, but all
Speaker 1: on my act, just looking through like all the moments
Speaker 1: and everything you sacrificed to get to that point, all
Speaker 1: the friends, weddings, boris, family situations you've been through. Brother
Speaker 1: just got married early this year. I miss it, all
Speaker 1: things you give up to have that experience. Kind of
Speaker 1: hit you once and that was kind of like the
Speaker 1: moment for me. Oh I came tell that realization of
Speaker 1: like it's it's completed, like you've done it.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, yeah, you could tell that it was
Speaker 2: like a special moment. And yeah, you definitely you can
Speaker 2: almost hear the echoes, like the cheers are still ringing
Speaker 2: in your ears from like the game just gone. I
Speaker 2: think it's also like important to touch on like that.
Speaker 2: It was so close to not happening so many times,
Speaker 2: So how many times, like did that cross through your
Speaker 2: mind that it was you know, eye surgeries. You're playing
Speaker 2: in the VFL two months ago, and like to be
Speaker 2: sitting there after the Grand Final, you know, metal around
Speaker 2: your neck still representing like America because you're not like
Speaker 2: forgetting where you came from, Like, yeah, it must have
Speaker 2: been a really special moment.
Speaker 1: It was cool. Yeah, it just I said, I'll probably
Speaker 1: sat there for two or three or four minutes before
Speaker 1: kind of like anyone kind of came out to me
Speaker 1: and you just start thinking about like the beginning and yeah,
Speaker 1: like the eye surgeries, the drops to VFL throughout your career,
Speaker 1: Like I've been playing for nine years and played like
Speaker 1: one hundred and ten games or something like either two
Speaker 1: things have happened. You've either been dropped a fuck load
Speaker 1: of times, you've been injured for a decent amount and
Speaker 1: both of those that happened in my career. So yeah,
Speaker 1: you think about all those times of like people have
Speaker 1: helped you through those moments, and like you think about
Speaker 1: you know, like relationships you've sacrificed to be able to
Speaker 1: be in those positions, and people have supported you in
Speaker 1: the tough times, and the people have always been there
Speaker 1: for you no matter what happens, and that all just
Speaker 1: kind of like hits you in the moment. And that
Speaker 1: was like something I always be super happy I did,
Speaker 1: because I was like, you're kind of just getting this,
Speaker 1: like you just don't believe it's it's going on right,
Speaker 1: and you kind of celebrate on and like you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: how good is this primship players? And it's like chaotic.
Speaker 1: But you think about it's like for me, like a
Speaker 1: large majority of my life is on my own, Like
Speaker 1: I will live alone. I like live in a country
Speaker 1: on the other side of the world, away from my
Speaker 1: family and stuff. I don't go have like Sunday dinners
Speaker 1: with mom and dad.
Speaker 2: So even just the cultural difference is like coming over here.
Speaker 1: And you always know you're different and it's okay, it's
Speaker 1: not it's not an issue to be different. But you
Speaker 1: know you're not going to fully one hundredson fit in
Speaker 1: with anyone over here because you just had a different
Speaker 1: experience in life. And that's okay. But I just feel
Speaker 1: like you you have those moments where you have most
Speaker 1: of your life you're on your own, and to have
Speaker 1: that time of success of being able to soak in
Speaker 1: that moment on my own, of like think of all
Speaker 1: the dark times you've been sitting and you know, by yourself,
Speaker 1: thinking like I don't want to do this anymore, and
Speaker 1: then to have that moment to sit there and be like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, like all those times you question it, all
Speaker 1: those times that you were sitting there going like is
Speaker 1: this all worth it? To read the pitting courts, like
Speaker 1: all right, sick, Like I've done it, like I've experienced
Speaker 1: it all, Like everything I came here to do, I've experienced,
Speaker 1: and whatever happens from here is just be honest.
Speaker 2: So what happens from there where we're at the ground,
Speaker 2: You guys have your moment out in the middle of
Speaker 2: the ground. Is it off to the after party?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well suits suits on, so right away you bring
Speaker 1: a suit to the game, whether you want to lose.
Speaker 2: How's that shower set up?
Speaker 1: Oh mate, the greatest shower beer I've ever had in
Speaker 1: my life, hands down. I've had some great shower beers
Speaker 1: in my life, but that one definitely tops it. So
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen we lost, We had to bring our
Speaker 1: suits and went to like the most depressing dinner you
Speaker 1: could possibly fathom. Awake. It was worse than a wake,
Speaker 1: I feel like, and this one the opposite side. Right,
Speaker 1: everyone just like crazy. Suits are getting like, tires are
Speaker 1: getting thrown around, Your jackets are just getting tried. Everyone's
Speaker 1: just like in nuts mode trying to get ready for
Speaker 1: this scene. You get straight out of there, straight on
Speaker 1: the bus, straight over to the post dinner. Then's asking
Speaker 1: me to get on stage. Bang. Everyone has like a
Speaker 1: little bit of dinner, sit down. Coaches address all this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, right, sayee for you different things, and
Speaker 1: you get to the point where everyone starts partying and
Speaker 1: it's pretty loose. Like on the bus, I was chugging
Speaker 1: beers out of the cop like I was. I was
Speaker 1: college drunk in all the good ways.
Speaker 2: Brows you back to all those stories that you wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Tell us, never tell. But I hope no one tells
Speaker 1: too many of those stories from the not of But
Speaker 1: I will say this, Darryl Braithwaite did come up on stage,
Speaker 1: did a few little songs. Darcy Cameron went up sung horses,
Speaker 1: and the USA chant went up to try to get
Speaker 1: me onto there, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure
Speaker 1: the lyrics of horses, so I decided to just duck
Speaker 1: off stage right and you could just couldn't read them.
Speaker 1: I couldn't read him. But I think at that point
Speaker 1: everyone was so drunk and happy, you could have just
Speaker 1: just yelled any incoherent words and people would have gone, yeah,
Speaker 1: just the course, let's just put the mic out to
Speaker 1: the crowd and most store out the rest. So that happened,
Speaker 1: and then from there you go down into the next place,
Speaker 1: which is a bit more like closer group, more admin
Speaker 1: and stuff and like people are part of the football club.
Speaker 1: Family was down there. Epic. Phil Cox drank out of
Speaker 1: the Premiership Cop, which was something I always wanted to see.
Speaker 1: He did that. Both brothers drank out of it, friends
Speaker 1: drank out of it too. It was just sick.
Speaker 2: And then he would be buzzing.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I've never seen a happier man in
Speaker 1: my life. That freaking human was just on cloud nine.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's anything above cloud knine, if
Speaker 1: there's cloud ten or eleven or twelve, but he was
Speaker 1: on cloud one hundred. He was just insane to.
Speaker 2: Get one eye on that cup. Oh that he could
Speaker 2: turn into a spadester if he needed to.
Speaker 1: Well, he like is so funny. So he chugs the
Speaker 1: beer right out of the cop. Big drinker, no, never drinks,
Speaker 1: never drinks, Phil So he drinks the beer out of
Speaker 1: the cop and then miraculously, on cue the Calling with
Speaker 1: Dame song goes over the DJ set right and I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there looking at my dad, and I'm like, you've
Speaker 1: got to go. You've got the pristine, you know, the cop,
Speaker 1: You've got it, like, you've got the chalice. You've got
Speaker 1: to go bring to the people.
Speaker 2: You probably thought he's dyed and gone to him.
Speaker 1: So then are you sitting there? And he takes the
Speaker 1: cop and he goes into the middle of the dance
Speaker 1: floor with the crowd and starts singing the Calling with
Speaker 1: theme song. I've got the video of it, and it
Speaker 1: was just it were one of those moments you know
Speaker 1: you just never forget my dad just being so stuck
Speaker 1: and everyone holding the cup up with him and he's like, eh,
Speaker 1: you know, just loving it, so do that and then
Speaker 1: we go to the next place was in a bar.
Speaker 1: I won't say the name of the box, just say
Speaker 1: someone got their face broken outside of it recently and
Speaker 1: it was just shouldered to shoulder. It was actually not
Speaker 1: enjoyable because it wasn't like blocked off. It was just
Speaker 1: casting anyone anyone. It's crazy, which is just not okay
Speaker 1: on the day like all four but I mean like
Speaker 1: it was just like people were very grabby.
Speaker 2: People start drinking it like eleven ten, mate.
Speaker 1: It was like we got out of there probably eleven
Speaker 1: or twelve, and then we probably got to the next place,
Speaker 1: like one. So like people were lit by that point,
Speaker 1: so there was no care in the world. Like people
Speaker 1: were grabbing the metal, like trying to rip it off
Speaker 1: your neck and stuff and whatnot. It was just chaos
Speaker 1: of this place. One thing I will realize, and this
Speaker 1: is the first time this happened, the power of the metal.
Speaker 1: This thing has got some kind of magical power. You
Speaker 1: just stick this thing in the air and it's like Moses,
Speaker 1: the seas just part. The people just duck left and right,
Speaker 1: and then miraculously, the front of the bar just opens up.
Speaker 1: You want anything, It's on the house. It is incredible
Speaker 1: what this thing gets you.
Speaker 2: How long do you reckon lost?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna keep trying, still.
Speaker 1: Wearing it, so obviously still breaking the benefits. But it
Speaker 1: was insane, like right not we go from there, drinks
Speaker 1: and whatnot, go to the next place. At one point
Speaker 1: I was on stage. I don't remember all of it.
Speaker 1: I was on stage just screaming at the crown. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be very kind of loose on some of the
Speaker 1: details because I don't want to get myself in trouble here.
Speaker 1: But had a good time, like lots of drinks. Champagne
Speaker 1: was pouring, like euphoria of like the experience and everyone's
Speaker 1: hypes because like, oh, the players are here. It's like, okay.
Speaker 2: I feel like if everyone is ahead of you in drinks,
Speaker 2: you're fine because you were playing, they were drinking.
Speaker 1: I was ahead of them somehow. I had made up
Speaker 1: for the four hours they started before me. Very quickly,
Speaker 1: and then we went to a party after that, and
Speaker 1: then I watched the sun come up from my apartment
Speaker 1: and that was a moment I realized I'm too old
Speaker 1: for this shit. I can't I can't do it. And
Speaker 1: it hit me like a ton of bricks. Like I
Speaker 1: was sitting there looking at my window, going like, this
Speaker 1: is just stupid. I should have gone home five hours ago.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I decided to do this. I
Speaker 1: was shotgunning Celtzer's by the end of the night like
Speaker 1: an idiot. There was no need, just no need for it.
Speaker 2: You swinging to meccas.
Speaker 1: Apparently we got maccas. Do I remember getting McDonald's. No.
Speaker 1: I think we bought forty nuggets and I would have
Speaker 1: crushed half of them probably, but there was not a
Speaker 1: real clear record remembrance of that. Slapped for like three hours,
Speaker 1: well rough that morning, waking up not great. I'd been
Speaker 1: smacked in the face with a sledgehammer. Still be drunk, yes,
Speaker 1: for sure. And we get to the point where you
Speaker 1: have to go at like nine am or something, we
Speaker 1: have this we have to meet at the club because
Speaker 1: there's like a function for all the fans on the ground,
Speaker 1: right and everyone's still wearing the jersey. Obviously I'm the
Speaker 1: medal and stuff. I've never seen a more dusty group
Speaker 1: of human beings rocking up to a function and everyone
Speaker 1: was still like I assume everyone was just still drunk.
Speaker 2: Anyone under let's say twenty eight, twenty nine, they would
Speaker 2: have gone through surely like the whole probably yeah, me, No,
Speaker 2: like the family guys, all the old dogs, get out
Speaker 2: of there respectable time. You made it home three hours,
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great accomplishment on the night
Speaker 1: felt it.
Speaker 2: I see Brandon Maynard going home at you know, eleven,
Speaker 2: getting some sleep.
Speaker 1: You can't confirm it that I do not know. But
Speaker 1: we go into there and then there's media there, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is not a good idea. This is
Speaker 1: not a good idea to put media in front of
Speaker 1: people on three hours a sleep, probably still drink from
Speaker 1: the night before of celebrations.
Speaker 2: I saw the interview with Channel nine and No and
Speaker 2: Nick Dacos and Josh comes over and he's like, we're
Speaker 2: going on to get our photos. It's like, mate, I'm
Speaker 2: on air. He's like, oh, don't then whatever.
Speaker 1: He like walks like, why does me I need to
Speaker 1: like document that just please no, just close the doors.
Speaker 1: You can get the vision from outside. You don't need
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: Asking us questions famously. And you know Old Collingwood would
Speaker 2: want me to bring this up. After the nineteen ninety premiership,
Speaker 2: Eddie dragged in a handful of players to present the
Speaker 2: news the next day the channel like the six pm
Speaker 2: news updates they're on just like oh, just like Chris
Speaker 2: So and Darren Lane and like all these guys are
Speaker 2: in there presenting the news like you rough couldn't be
Speaker 2: imagine doing that the next day, six o'clock at.
Speaker 1: Night the next day. I'll sorry a boy that I
Speaker 1: did go on to Media Street. But speaking of the
Speaker 1: Great Man, AD did see him after the game up
Speaker 1: in his box and it was a cool moment of like,
Speaker 1: he's been there for a lot of the tough time,
Speaker 1: so it's a cool moment to acknowledge him and the
Speaker 1: fan up there, which was awesome. And I saw his
Speaker 1: kid out that night and he took a photo of
Speaker 1: the metal around his neck and I'm sure he probably
Speaker 1: he was beaming. Love it. Absolute legend. And then the
Speaker 1: other person I saw, I saw Barks actually in the
Speaker 1: rooms after the game, and gave my heart and that
Speaker 1: was a cool moment too.
Speaker 2: It's cool to hear that he you know, it's it
Speaker 2: sounded like he was conflicted by the whole thing, which
Speaker 2: is like natural emotions. But it's good that he can,
Speaker 2: you know, get around it. He watched the game with
Speaker 2: Nick Maxwell. They shared a moment of just like, you know,
Speaker 2: the club is still like a Wii, like in ten
Speaker 2: years when someone's playing Rock number forty six is taken
Speaker 2: on by some other poor side and they win the flag,
Speaker 2: you're just going to be roped back into it because
Speaker 2: you're part of the club. You're part of like the
Speaker 2: fabric of the club. So it is cool that you know,
Speaker 2: all the older guys, all the people that have been
Speaker 2: there past and like present, can you know, celebrate it
Speaker 2: and they get a moment because you know, they come
Speaker 2: around every ten twenty years if you're lucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thirteen years the last one one one, So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was we had twenty ten premiership guys come in
Speaker 1: before the game and it's pretty cool to I think
Speaker 1: steel and peddles are like the the longest gap between
Speaker 1: premierships was it, Yeah, which is a cool kind of
Speaker 1: accomplishment to know that you stick with the process for
Speaker 1: that long and be able to get to the pinnacle again.
Speaker 1: But yes, we have the media day, they're there, we
Speaker 1: go back to the fans the cup again. Make it
Speaker 1: legendary turns into made it legendary. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: this is a bit blurry brain. I'm not gonna lie
Speaker 1: it together. And then we go into the staff and
Speaker 1: players and stuff, and we get to really kind of
Speaker 1: like celebrate as as a group, which was really nice
Speaker 1: and went to a beautiful place and got to to
Speaker 1: pass a cup around stuff and I kind of really
Speaker 1: enjoy it with the people I've kind of been there
Speaker 1: throughout the year at the club. That was awesome. Big
Speaker 1: night rolling to the next day, Mad Monday, geez. So
Speaker 1: he goes one after another, like three days in a row,
Speaker 1: a big night out that night. Next morning, I'm getting
Speaker 1: a six am. I'm getting up. My phone's going off,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, anyone with half a fucking brain knows
Speaker 1: that I'm sleeping right now or I'm out partying one
Speaker 1: of the two. And then seven am goes off again.
Speaker 1: The person that's calling me is Jace from Jason Law
Speaker 1: on the Morning, and I am that pissed off at him,
Speaker 1: not like I was probably both actually, but I was
Speaker 1: that freaking annoyed. And you know, whenever you wake up
Speaker 1: from a phone call, you can't go back to sleep. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting there staring at the ceiling. I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is all Jason's fault, and I refuse to acknowledge
Speaker 1: him because I knew he would try to get me
Speaker 1: on or some of whatever was So then I get
Speaker 1: a text from the producer like what are you doing.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm staring at the ceiling. Now I've
Speaker 1: got three hours till mad Monday, Like, what what do
Speaker 1: you want?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sleep would have been handy.
Speaker 1: Oh, it would have been so good. But there was
Speaker 1: no chance I was going to sleep. So I was
Speaker 1: like sitting there and like, do you want to come in?
Speaker 1: I was like, stuff it whatever. So they come pick
Speaker 1: me up in a car. I come outside my apartment complex,
Speaker 1: still wearing the jersey, still wearing the metal and I
Speaker 1: wanted to have a beer with Jase because Jase became
Speaker 1: a calling with a fan. Yeah, So I go across
Speaker 1: the street to the IgA and I go and I
Speaker 1: opened up the fridge and the cashier goes, sorry, you
Speaker 1: can't do that, and I said, what do you mean,
Speaker 1: It's like seven thirty in the more. She goes, we
Speaker 1: don't start selling beer till nine am, and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: there you go. I learned something this morning. So I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there. This guy walks up to me, a lovely human,
Speaker 1: and he goes, mate, if she need a beer, I've
Speaker 1: got some of my office, come with me. So I
Speaker 1: walked back cross street. I unfortunately didn't get up to
Speaker 1: his office and stuff because they pulled up around the
Speaker 1: same time. So I go into the car and they
Speaker 1: got me mocked up, and I go into Channel or
Speaker 1: I go into Kiss FM, and I do that, and
Speaker 1: still to this day, I'm not too shirt what was said.
Speaker 1: I was just I was so hungover and so sleep deprived.
Speaker 1: It was like I was, yeah, I was walking zombie.
Speaker 1: They bought me mad because I crushed twenty nugs on
Speaker 1: air and then just literally laid down in the corner
Speaker 1: of the studio while they did ad reads for the
Speaker 1: next hour.
Speaker 2: It would have smelt such it would have.
Speaker 1: Been disgusting, like so gross, hilarious awesome time anyway, So
Speaker 1: and then they take me back. I go to the
Speaker 1: Mad MOUNDY get the kid on go to Mad Monday.
Speaker 1: Big dang, right, So you're going Saturday party, Sunday party,
Speaker 1: Mad Monday. Three days minimal sleep and now I'm thirty two.
Speaker 1: This is not eighteen year old Mason rolling around like
Speaker 1: an idiot, right, So I go to Mad Monday. At
Speaker 1: one point during Mad Monday, I was so sleep deprived.
Speaker 1: Someone goes, mate, there's actually a back room here, and
Speaker 1: I was like, what's in there? They go, there's a
Speaker 1: couch and you go.
Speaker 2: Better than anything you could have heard it.
Speaker 1: That literally couldn't have asked for anything more. So in
Speaker 1: my just just snuck out the back fell asleep for
Speaker 1: an hour on the couch in the middle of Mad Monday,
Speaker 1: and it was the greatest nap I've ever had in
Speaker 1: my life. Nice and walked back up and we continued.
Speaker 2: On nice get away, you can get it next morning.
Speaker 1: So we're three nights now we've gone with minimal sleep,
Speaker 1: and I am I'm really hitting the wall here. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to push through Express Martinez are flowing. That's the
Speaker 1: only thing that's in my blood at the moment. I'm
Speaker 1: just half awake. Next morning, eight am, fasting. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I have surgery on Tuesday shoulder surgery on Tuesday, so
Speaker 1: eight am you start fasting from so I get up
Speaker 1: at eight oh. You can imagine I was starving anything
Speaker 1: and everything. I was hung as hell, and I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there and I'm like, I have to get my last
Speaker 1: drink of water in my last bit of food for
Speaker 1: the day. I check in at eleven, so eight am
Speaker 1: cold turkey, and that's all you want at that point.
Speaker 1: That's like what you know you need to get you
Speaker 1: over the line to get on in life and to
Speaker 1: live right. So honestly, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I
Speaker 1: have a little bit of food, and you know, eleven
Speaker 1: o'clock I end up going to the hospital and then
Speaker 1: they're like, cool, we'll prep you and everything else. I
Speaker 1: sat there till about seven pm from eleven eight hours
Speaker 1: hung sitting there in the fetal position, sweating in the
Speaker 1: middle of that hospital bed on my own in just areas.
Speaker 1: It was one of the worst eight hours of my life.
Speaker 1: No food allowed, no drink allowed. Just everyone knows you've
Speaker 1: got the cotton balls in the back of your throat
Speaker 1: and you're sitting there going what was I thinking? Just
Speaker 1: what in the world was I thinking? I get through
Speaker 1: to that, and I was hoping, like I was hoping,
Speaker 1: surely I get in here, maybe I get like an
Speaker 1: IV drip or something before, just give me pain, whatever
Speaker 1: it may be, just get it in, get it into
Speaker 1: my veins. Front. So seven o'clock old around, I finally
Speaker 1: get in there and I'm talking to the dock and
Speaker 1: he does the surgery and stuff, and all goes well
Speaker 1: from what I know, my shoulders moving around. I'm not
Speaker 1: in a sling, so I assume it's good. Replace the
Speaker 1: live and the best I have felt from Saturday to
Speaker 1: Tuesday night was whenever I woke up from surgery. Usually
Speaker 1: you wake up and you're just you're sore, your head hurts,
Speaker 1: like your anesthesias kicked in, you're in a fog, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. I felt like a million bucks. I felt
Speaker 1: like I had finally got that nap I wanted, I
Speaker 1: had gotten ivy drip in me, and I was I
Speaker 1: was hydrated again. I was ready to go around six
Speaker 1: or wherever the hell it was at that point. So
Speaker 1: that was the best I felt all week. Was after surgery,
Speaker 1: which is a wild thing to say, and he went
Speaker 1: straight back into it, and then that afternoon right so
Speaker 1: then so I sleep that night. I wake up the
Speaker 1: next day and I'm still in hospital.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You wake up the next day and I'll get this
Speaker 1: text from Pendles and Pendle's like, you're still coming tonight.
Speaker 1: He had organized a dinner for the twenty three that played,
Speaker 1: and he goes, he still coming to And I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you mean. He goes, didn't you have surgery?
Speaker 1: And I go, yeah, I'm still in hospital. I was like, great, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel the best I felt out week. He's like,
Speaker 1: are you sure you want I was like, yep, I'm in.
Speaker 1: So that night goes into wine steak dinner, another night
Speaker 1: of drinking.
Speaker 2: You would have eaten?
Speaker 1: You would have eaten? Oh, I that many fries? It
Speaker 1: was unreal, chips, the hell you calm in this country?
Speaker 1: So we go on to that, and then finally I
Speaker 1: get like a day off on Thursday where I just
Speaker 1: sleep for about eighteen hours, so good, and then Friday
Speaker 1: cope one another night out. It was literally about I
Speaker 1: think out of the seven days, I would have been
Speaker 1: partying for six of them, and then I had surgery
Speaker 1: in the middle of the too.
Speaker 2: Sounds almost as hard as finals, like, I got to
Speaker 2: get the body up my body.
Speaker 1: Was more sore after those seven days than actually after
Speaker 1: the granny.
Speaker 2: Right, Oh, I can't imagine it. I don't like, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I had two big ones and I was like, like,
Speaker 2: my organs actually hurt, and I kept like holding like areas,
Speaker 2: and people like, what's wrong with you. It's like, oh,
Speaker 2: my organs just hurt. But like maybe I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe we're too old mates.
Speaker 1: I went from not drinking for like the whole year essentially, yeah,
Speaker 1: to having one of the biggest weeks of my life.
Speaker 2: I've always thought that do you get pissed way easier, like.
Speaker 1: Like a beer and you're like, I was pissed on
Speaker 1: the bus before we got to the dinner after the game.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. So we're getting close to the end
Speaker 2: of you know, wrapped up.
Speaker 1: We've gone for entirely.
Speaker 2: It's now officially our longest podcast. We'll split it up,
Speaker 2: and I reckon maybe because we will do a couple more,
Speaker 2: but I think the fan questions will do, like we
Speaker 2: can do a podcast on that, Like, there will be
Speaker 2: a few things that we can We got time to celebrate,
Speaker 2: time for the people. We got time for the people. Tatoo.
Speaker 2: You did mention on the last podcast that you would
Speaker 2: get a tatoo, and then you didn't want to talk
Speaker 2: too much beyond saying that you're going to go to
Speaker 2: Dan Mixstay's Dad's tatoo parlor. Now is this going to happen?
Speaker 2: What are you going to get? What's what's the thought pattern?
Speaker 1: Shout out Damn Stage Dad Swan Street tattoo po. They're
Speaker 1: there close to uh the train station.
Speaker 2: I feel like they're doing a little pop up tattoo things.
Speaker 1: Liken't post something was like a you know, like a
Speaker 1: like a sale on from ship tattoos for them. So
Speaker 1: I don't think we'll get it soon. I think we'll
Speaker 1: get it maybe whenever we all get back from holidays,
Speaker 1: because we haven't really organized it yet. But I know
Speaker 1: there's some there's some ideas fulling around. If anyone has
Speaker 1: any like if there's an art artist out there that
Speaker 1: like puts together a cool like you know, little drawing
Speaker 1: that has like twenty twenty three premieres and maybe a
Speaker 1: cup in a magpie somehow included.
Speaker 2: Play with goggles.
Speaker 1: Now we're talking, that's pretty good. I would get a
Speaker 1: tattooed on me if it's cool enough, I'd do it.
Speaker 1: Just make room for other ones.
Speaker 2: I do want to touch quickly on your journey before
Speaker 2: we wrap it up, because although we have touched on
Speaker 2: it numerous times. You you know, you take over Marcus
Speaker 2: Smart's position after he goes hamming. You're defending like for
Speaker 2: three weeks. Yeah, I guess Joe l Embiid Like NBA Superstars.
Speaker 2: You go to the draft combine you get in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: that's when you figure out this sport exists. Yeh, Melbourne,
Speaker 2: you head across, you do the Big Australia Grand Tour.
Speaker 2: There's a photo of you and your brother in full
Speaker 2: port Adelaide kit. Not a great interview. You come out
Speaker 2: of it. You get picked up by Collingwood twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: Twenty fifteen, you're playing VFL footy. You're going out to Ballarat,
Speaker 2: dunking your hands in buckets of water to keep them
Speaker 2: warm in the blizzard.
Speaker 1: Rough times.
Speaker 2: Your debut twenty sixteen Anzac Day, first kick, first goal,
Speaker 2: pretty impressive in front of a massive crowd. Dominates the
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen Prelimb, goes into the Grand Final, you lose.
Speaker 2: You're standing on the markdumb Shed kicks the goal over
Speaker 2: your head. Is it ever? Going to happen, sadness. This
Speaker 2: is the down, This is the downarc gets worse and
Speaker 2: you're thinking this movie is starting. Then get etched out
Speaker 2: the script starting a right itself. Eye injuries twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: six surgeries on the eyes. You join the Goggle Gang
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, Fly gets appointed coach. You go from
Speaker 2: seventeenth to losing the pre limb by one point against
Speaker 2: Sydney away from home. One year later, you become an
Speaker 2: Ossie citizen. You play you one hundredth game, you kick
Speaker 2: your hundredth goal, You get your spleen smashed in, almost
Speaker 2: die from almost die from a erupted spleen. You get
Speaker 2: dropped to the VFL only weeks before the end of
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 1: Sign new contract to the VFL.
Speaker 2: Sign a new contract, good time, got the two years.
Speaker 2: Then you go through the final series, back in the team,
Speaker 2: win a premiership, premiership player. That's your journey nine years.
Speaker 2: It's a bit to go two years ago, big legl
Speaker 2: You've got a load.
Speaker 1: Up and go again after that whole bit.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, how does that sit with you? Like
Speaker 2: where you come from to where you are now and
Speaker 2: what you've got left? Can you imagine going at least
Speaker 2: another two years going into this what you'll be thirty five. Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh that's a lot. That's a lot.
Speaker 1: Thirty five is a big number.
Speaker 2: You've been going into your eleventh year. You're pushing Pendles numbers.
Speaker 1: I don't got that far now. It's looking back and
Speaker 1: like think about the whole journey and stuff. It's it's
Speaker 1: pretty incredible. And like I said, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people have got me to this moment and this part
Speaker 1: of life, and a lot of people to thank for,
Speaker 1: like including yourself. Man, Like we've been din friends for
Speaker 1: a long time of it and you've helped me through
Speaker 1: a lot of different stuff and we've chawed through a
Speaker 1: lot of different experiences, which is pretty cool. So not
Speaker 1: only yourself, but a lot of other people have you
Speaker 1: helped me through the journey and it's it's pretty incredible,
Speaker 1: And a lot of people have reached sounds. You write
Speaker 1: a book, you have to do a daco or wherever
Speaker 1: it is, you know, and eventually maybe if someone's ever interested,
Speaker 1: I'll do one. But for me, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: very cool life experience because you talk about taking risks
Speaker 1: and like talk about you know, coming over here, with
Speaker 1: no idea what it was, what was going to happen
Speaker 1: and what was going to actually play out. And then
Speaker 1: for me now to have one of these moments where
Speaker 1: it's a reflection time of you know, you have a
Speaker 1: bit of success and you get to reflect on all
Speaker 1: the reasons you got to that point, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: Like it's just something I never could have imagined, you know,
Speaker 1: being a goofy nerd coming out of Oklahoma State as
Speaker 1: a walk on basketball player. So now sitting there and
Speaker 1: being well, let's be honest, world Champs, Well chance hasho
Speaker 1: World Champs. Suck that, John bid Ab So it's it's
Speaker 1: it's like this kind of complete moment of full circle
Speaker 1: and yeah, you think about the whole journey and being
Speaker 1: able to, like I said, experience one hundred percent of it.
Speaker 1: Like you go from nothing of knowing zero about it
Speaker 1: to then being at the pinnacle and experiencing the ultimate
Speaker 1: euphoria of winning your premiership. It's it's something not many
Speaker 1: people get to experience. But then to come from where
Speaker 1: I've come from and you know, have the journey I've had,
Speaker 1: it just makes it that much more special and that
Speaker 1: much more unique. I guess within its own sense to
Speaker 1: have been able to experience it. Like, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's like I said, there's been so many moments I've
Speaker 1: questioned it. There's so many moments I've probably wanted to quit,
Speaker 1: and so many times I've thought, you know, like what
Speaker 1: am I doing here? And why am I putting myself
Speaker 1: through this? And mental health and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: You have your battles and you kind of get to
Speaker 1: these moments and you realize, like you've become a better
Speaker 1: person for having the experience, and like you've also been
Speaker 1: so fortunate to be able to have that success and
Speaker 1: be able to share with some amazing people along the way,
Speaker 1: and players and teammates that you know are no longer
Speaker 1: with the team and teams are teammates are still there
Speaker 1: and the teams you've you've been through the thick of it.
Speaker 1: It's it's putting your life on the line on a
Speaker 1: weekly basis, and you know, eventually being able to to
Speaker 1: have that ultimate success as something so special. It's it's
Speaker 1: incredible and there's no words that can really describe it.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what it is. It's not like
Speaker 2: it's not over. The journey is not over. It's just
Speaker 2: that you have experienced every emotion and everything that you
Speaker 2: can do in this sport, highs and lows, which makes
Speaker 2: it all the more incredible. And I think as we
Speaker 2: talk about risk and stuff, but you're coming out of this,
Speaker 2: like it's good that you have your health after going
Speaker 2: through what you have. You've been through damage damaged liver
Speaker 2: by the sounds of it this week, But you come
Speaker 2: out of it and you're going to be thirty three,
Speaker 2: thirty five, like your life's only just beginning. And like
Speaker 2: that's the crazy part about all of it, that it
Speaker 2: is good that we can sit here and kind of
Speaker 2: reflect on the journey that's been. But like you like
Speaker 2: you got that much to achieve outside of the game.
Speaker 2: It's like it's been a fun part of your life.
Speaker 2: It's been like it's been a great buddy. Yeah, ups
Speaker 2: and downs, but like.
Speaker 1: People always talk about that and I'm like, it's been
Speaker 1: awesome to win the Grand Final. It's been incredible, like
Speaker 1: such a cool experience. But you always have that motivation
Speaker 1: to do something bigger. That's a weird thing to say
Speaker 1: whenever you think like the pinnacle is getting a metal
Speaker 1: round your neck and raising the cup. But there's always
Speaker 1: something more you're showing for where it'd be two three premierships,
Speaker 1: whoever it may be. And then you go, what's your
Speaker 1: legacy in the game. Can you, you know, bring this
Speaker 1: game to a bigger audience? Can you, you know, be
Speaker 1: that middleman that you know is able to help the
Speaker 1: AFL reach that next you know, next run on the ladder. Now,
Speaker 1: I hope there's something that I can look back once
Speaker 1: I'm at the end of my life to go that
Speaker 1: was an amazing accomplishment, but like overall, that led to
Speaker 1: something even bigger in life, to be able to do
Speaker 1: whether it means, you know, giving this experience to someone
Speaker 1: else who like passes the baton at some point, I'm
Speaker 1: going to retire. At some point someone else is going
Speaker 1: to have to be the main ruck at this club.
Speaker 1: And there's another point where I hope there's another American
Speaker 1: that comes in, there's another American that goes to the
Speaker 1: same kind of stuff, and I get to pass my
Speaker 1: information and wisdom onto them to be able to help
Speaker 1: them be successful. And you get the older you get,
Speaker 1: the more you help those opportunities happen. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of one of those things that fulfills you even more.
Speaker 1: I feel like then you know, successes of holding a
Speaker 1: cup of material things and all that is knowing that
Speaker 1: you've made a difference to other people on the way
Speaker 1: to make them a better person and help them reach
Speaker 1: the successes they want to reach in their life.
Speaker 2: Much of this journey you've been one out, but you
Speaker 2: know the next person that comes through will have a
Speaker 2: path already kind of forged for them, and you'll be
Speaker 2: able to help them out along the way.
Speaker 1: So it'd be exciting. Who knows what snakes.
Speaker 2: I'm big on the like, learn to love the journey,
Speaker 2: not the destination, because it's awesome to have the goal
Speaker 2: of winning the premiership, but if it didn't happen, if
Speaker 2: you look back over the course of your career and
Speaker 2: the course of your life and what you've done, the
Speaker 2: memories that you've made their priceless. Like you talk about
Speaker 2: all the friends that you've made along the way, all
Speaker 2: the you know, experiences that you've had. You met fucking
Speaker 2: Joe Biden sat in the stands. You've seen more of
Speaker 2: australiger woods. You've seen more of Australia than any Australian
Speaker 2: than I know. So like I always think, and I
Speaker 2: see a lot of football, let's get caught up with it.
Speaker 2: But like learn to love the journey, not the destination,
Speaker 2: because like it doesn't happen for everyone. Like not everyone
Speaker 2: finishes their career with a flag. Most players don't finish
Speaker 2: their career with the flag because some hungry teams win
Speaker 2: two or three in a row. But yeah, it's it's yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a massive thing. It's a massive accomplishment. But I
Speaker 2: feel like if you looked back on like your life
Speaker 2: when it's at the end, it's the it's all the
Speaker 2: memories in the moments that like you'll remember.
Speaker 1: It's somewhat of like a sad way to look at it,
Speaker 1: but a beautiful way in the same same time as
Speaker 1: like on my death, mad Am, I going to be
Speaker 1: upset that I didn't take the opportunity and take the risk.
Speaker 1: We're going to be be with complacency, and like that's
Speaker 1: always the way I've kind of looked at any opportunity
Speaker 1: or anything that's come across my desk is like, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, am I gonna sit on
Speaker 1: my death bed and go, oh, this that one time
Speaker 1: shouldn't have done that? You know, I'm probably gonna go.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember doing that. That was forty years ago.
Speaker 1: Like who cares? Like there's bigger things in life that
Speaker 1: you know that I accomplished, and the little things just
Speaker 1: don't matter. Like where you know the big decisions in
Speaker 1: life and stuff like that is what sticks out to
Speaker 1: you whenever you're at the end of your life and
Speaker 1: what you're most proud to sit there and look back upon.
Speaker 1: So I don't know I have that's advice to people
Speaker 1: out there to think like that somewhat negative. Don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, but I think we tend to stress about
Speaker 1: the little things in life too much comparatively to the
Speaker 1: to the big things that matter the most, whether it
Speaker 1: be family, friends, experiences, travel, growing up, becoming like an adult,
Speaker 1: all these things that last forever and are part of
Speaker 1: your legacy. Like it's that means so much more than
Speaker 1: little ticky tak things that we get caught up in
Speaker 1: a daily life.
Speaker 2: It's a good way to finish.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. This is probably six hours long,
Speaker 1: to be honest, but I'll let you do all editing. Brother,
Speaker 1: that's where you got at.
Speaker 2: It's a big one. I don't know how many pieces
Speaker 2: I'll split this up into but yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 2: It was fun to watch. I had a moment after
Speaker 2: the game that was just letting it all out and
Speaker 2: it was just I was it was less So I
Speaker 2: think we're all connected to the club all the past,
Speaker 2: like staff and everything, but like just to see you
Speaker 2: in that moment that it's it's come full circle and
Speaker 2: it was, Yeah, it was not the end like we've said,
Speaker 2: but just like fuck, like it's been just a crazy
Speaker 2: journey and you look out there and there's so many
Speaker 2: stories from all those guys. Oh you look at like
Speaker 2: I was so stoked for Pendles to win another one
Speaker 2: after like you'd think so many fucking times that it's
Speaker 2: never going to happen again for him Steal going out
Speaker 2: there and all the stuff that he's been through, like
Speaker 2: how are leaving his.
Speaker 1: Club after club and was like had the worst win
Speaker 1: loss record I think of any player.
Speaker 2: Broke his arm at the start.
Speaker 1: Of the year, snap in the hospital and being like
Speaker 1: this is fucked. Like this guy's like he's he had
Speaker 1: like surgery four times just to clean up because he
Speaker 1: kept getting infected. And we've had a podcast with Jermany
Speaker 1: about it. To go listen to that. It's incredible what
Speaker 1: he's gone through.
Speaker 2: Oh, Leg Markov, He's.
Speaker 1: Recruited halfway through the year and then we didn't pick
Speaker 1: him up until literally the day of the deadline, and
Speaker 1: we had someone with had chas Dino Chaz ended up
Speaker 1: getting injured and he got on a long injury list.
Speaker 1: Then we picked up Oh while he was probably like
Speaker 1: training at Carlton. He had the full Carlton gear. That's
Speaker 1: what he wore him out Monday Hunt. I get that
Speaker 1: opportunity to come to the club and then be a
Speaker 1: premiership player with it after like three months of being
Speaker 1: there is insane.
Speaker 2: All the way. My check, Brody, my check was a
Speaker 2: VFL defender for Port Melvine gets picked up and wins
Speaker 2: a flag as it.
Speaker 1: VFL game on did his knee. I landed on his
Speaker 1: knee and he was like injured for however long. Next
Speaker 1: thing you know, he gets he gets drafted, bursting beause
Speaker 1: do you remember who who I am? I got no
Speaker 1: fucking IDEA.
Speaker 2: Leaning goal kicker in a premiership year.
Speaker 1: He's been leading goal kick here for about four years now.
Speaker 2: And Josh take us when's when's the best and fairest
Speaker 2: from his brother that.
Speaker 1: Only should have won the brown line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and probably didn't get it because he was like
Speaker 2: injured in the last few rounds. And there it's just
Speaker 2: Darcy Moore father son gets it gets the cup from
Speaker 2: his dad. Like there's that many stories and it's good
Speaker 2: that you guys, like forever we'll just be able to
Speaker 2: meet up. You had thorough merit at the club earlier
Speaker 2: in the week, ninety years old and he's still tied
Speaker 2: to the club, Like that's you guys, forever.
Speaker 1: It's flying. The coaching staff create that culture and as
Speaker 1: one last thing is never to play for our club,
Speaker 1: like you forever connected to us. And you feel that
Speaker 1: from the fans, you feel from the players and the
Speaker 1: staff and everyone hopefully whenever you come back there. And
Speaker 1: we always open arms to explayers to come back and experience,
Speaker 1: you know, what we're doing and be a part of it.
Speaker 1: And you know, the biggest thing we want to do
Speaker 1: is bring you know, people along with this amazing journey.
Speaker 1: And that's like something flies you know preach for a
Speaker 1: long time, is it's not just about us. It's about
Speaker 1: the people who bring along and the happiness we give
Speaker 1: to other people and the hope and smiles that you know,
Speaker 1: or I guess like part of us being successful. It's
Speaker 1: like it's something we can give to people, an experience
Speaker 1: we can give to people by going out and run
Speaker 1: around circles kicking bath sticks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is simple, isn't it. We will finish because
Speaker 2: you are wearing a medal and I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: people can see that on the camera, but the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three Premiership medal.
Speaker 1: It's heavier than I thought it'd be.
Speaker 2: What's written on the back? Do you want to finish
Speaker 2: off the podcast with that? You're written on the bank.
Speaker 1: AFL commissioner some Richard goiter Ao can't forget the AI
Speaker 1: whatever that means. He's a chairman of the AFL commission.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Richard. Hopefully you're a great man. You're
Speaker 1: my boss. One day to compete and win on Grand
Speaker 1: Final day is every player's dream. As a member of
Speaker 1: the premier team. You are now part of the history
Speaker 1: and culture of the greatest game of all.
Speaker 2: Congratulations Mason Cocks, Premiership player.
Speaker 1: Pretty big a. It's pretty freaking cool, right, that's it.
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone for listening. Absolute legends, his lows and everything
Speaker 1: in that podcast and very long but hopefully you've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you celebrated just like we have over the last
Speaker 1: week and it's been an incredible time. This is not
Speaker 1: the end of the podcast for the year. There are
Speaker 1: many podcasts coming back, but obviously this is a massive one.
Speaker 2: We don't know how it's going to roll out from here,
Speaker 2: but it'll.
Speaker 1: We'll find a sponsor. Probably is a number one, hopefully,
Speaker 1: So if you know anyone, please send them my way.
Speaker 1: But now, in all honesty, obviously, like you'll followed around
Speaker 1: the football journey from round one and we've done a
Speaker 1: lot of football talk on this and been through a
Speaker 1: lot of different things. So massive thank you. Throughout the
Speaker 1: whole season of tuning in, listening in, I've had so
Speaker 1: many people come up to me and say they're a
Speaker 1: massive fan of the podcast.
Speaker 2: Good omen the podcast we did last year, very successful year.
Speaker 2: This year the most successful year.
Speaker 1: We continue, Yeah, I think we'll continue it next year.
Speaker 1: But it is incredible to have amazing support from y'all.
Speaker 1: And this doesn't exist without you listening, without you telling
Speaker 1: your friends, and without you watching the social clips and
Speaker 1: everything else. So a massive thank you to everyone out there.
Speaker 1: I hopefully you've enjoyed this episode. It's been a massive one,
Speaker 1: but one that's going to be incredible and go down
Speaker 1: in the history books. So a massive thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of it. Hope you loved it, and
Speaker 1: continue to support us through it, whether it be buying gear,
Speaker 1: telling friends, whatever it may be. And there's gonna be
Speaker 1: plenty more. This isn't the end of the year. There's
Speaker 1: plenty more to go. We'll have trade talks, we'll have
Speaker 1: fan questions, We've got beyond the Valley coming up. There
Speaker 1: is still you.
Speaker 2: Got to catch up with some of your premiership teammates.
Speaker 2: Maybe the coach I want to get want to get
Speaker 2: the flying.
Speaker 1: He's going to the state soon, but I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get them on and some of the teammates will definitely
Speaker 1: come on too. So Darcy Moore has told me is coming.
Speaker 1: That's a little hint for you at some point, so
Speaker 1: I will follow that up. But thank you everyone for
Speaker 1: listening in incredible podcast. I appreciate we appreciate the support,
Speaker 1: and continue to support us through this whole whole journey
Speaker 1: and tell your friends see yea peace