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Speaker 1: Now this weekend, the Northern Territory Thunder they're going to

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Speaker 1: be holding their ten year premiership reunion. Now, the Thunder

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Speaker 1: they really were our pride and joy. I reckon they

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Speaker 1: were playing in the Northeast Australia Football League between twenty

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Speaker 1: eleven and twenty nineteen, but I think they played in

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Speaker 1: Queensland prior to that. But anyway, the man who knows

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Speaker 1: and joins me in the studio right now is cam Islet.

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Speaker 2: Good morning mate, good morning.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you back in the studio. I'm back

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Speaker 1: in the Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been great. We've been back. I've got my

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Speaker 2: son here with me. Oh, we've been back for about

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Speaker 2: a week now and it's been wonderful to come and

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Speaker 2: thaw out from those southern cold mats.

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Speaker 1: I was going to say, mate, how are you enjoying

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Speaker 1: the warm weather. You're based in Adelaide, now, aren't you. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: we so it's definitely a little bit a little bit Hotey.

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Speaker 1: He came just in time for the build up.

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Speaker 2: Yes, when we got out of the plane and then

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Speaker 2: you know, those doors opening up, we both got that

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Speaker 2: lovely warm air coming flying through. But it's been great

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Speaker 2: to obviously back home in the territory and the top

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Speaker 2: end and spending time with family and friends.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, and then of course this weekend, so it's the

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Speaker 1: ten year reunion since you guys won the premiership. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the Thunder was such a huge part of the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory's football history, but also like just the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: more generally, and to have our own team playing at

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Speaker 1: that level was so phenomenal at the time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was absolutely and I was very fortunate to

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Speaker 2: be there from the start. So we started in two

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Speaker 2: thousand and nine. And then Darren Ewing, our full forward,

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Speaker 2: the illustrious full forward Darren Ewing. He'll be joining us

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Speaker 2: over the weekend too at the reunion, which everyone's very

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Speaker 2: excited to see some Darren action. But yeah, so from

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Speaker 2: two thousand and nine, you know, when it formed, it

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Speaker 2: was so exciting and obviously genuinely was a representative team

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Speaker 2: from across the whole territory, so players from and Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs to La Jamanu, to Tiwe Islands, to Jaberu, Gumbolagna,

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Speaker 2: Galiwenia got all these amazing places. So it was really

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Speaker 2: unique and that's the beautiful thing about territory footy, particularly

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Speaker 2: when you get to that representative stage, is that everyone

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Speaker 2: comes from everywhere. But as soon as you put on

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Speaker 2: you know, the black, oak and white, there's this galvination

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Speaker 2: that that happens and it's yeah, it's pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: What was it like then as a team, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you had players coming from all other parts of

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory presumably you know, at different times or

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Speaker 1: they may have been based here or other times they

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Speaker 1: may have had to travel from wherever they were, you know,

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Speaker 1: so training sort of separately and then coming together for

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Speaker 1: a couple of days. I don't know exactly how it worked,

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Speaker 1: but what was it like kind of bringing together a

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Speaker 1: bunch of fellas that are all fantastic at footy but

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Speaker 1: maybe not necessarily based in the same place to be

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Speaker 1: able to train like you ordinarily would with a football team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it was just one of those challenges. But

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Speaker 2: that's how it's always been across the territory. So, as

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Speaker 2: I said, as soon as you put those colors on

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Speaker 2: and your geranzy on, it just brings everyone together. And

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Speaker 2: what was really good was it Obviously football was obviously

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Speaker 2: that the catalyst for this incredible you know, competition, but

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Speaker 2: it was more than just footy, so all the players

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Speaker 2: actually had to be actively working or looking for work

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Speaker 2: or doing some former studies. It was actually about creating

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Speaker 2: really good people and then you know, when you got

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Speaker 2: good people on board, they happened to play some good

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Speaker 2: footy as well. And you know, as soon as we

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Speaker 2: started traveling away together because we're just all together, that

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Speaker 2: time was so crucial to make sure that we did

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Speaker 2: you know, heaps of team building activities, We had dinner

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Speaker 2: and breckys together, just spend as much time together. So

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Speaker 2: then that naturally transitioned onto the footy field.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it all culminated really then with you

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Speaker 1: guys claiming your first ever ne for Premiership in twenty fifteen.

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Speaker 2: What was that like, Well, it was incredible because we've

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Speaker 2: got to spend a share that moment, that that that afternoon,

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Speaker 2: that evening with everyone in the top end. So we

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Speaker 2: had over six thousand people join us at Too Stadium

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Speaker 2: and it certainly came right down to the wire and

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Speaker 2: obviously we're on the on the better end of that result.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, to obviously playing a Grand final at any

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Speaker 2: stage in your career is incredible, but to play it

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Speaker 2: at home in front of friends and family, and it's

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Speaker 2: going to be amazing to sort of bring everyone back

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Speaker 2: together on Saturday night and just sort of reliave some

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Speaker 2: of those moments, but just sort of learn, you know,

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Speaker 2: from people in the crowd or the coaches, you know,

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Speaker 2: what was their feelings, what were their emotions going through,

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Speaker 2: particularly that last quarter when things got super tight.

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Speaker 1: Yes, so tell me about it. I mean, did you, like,

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Speaker 1: presumably you had a great game. What position were you

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Speaker 1: playing in? How did it all unfold? Who had a

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Speaker 1: wonderful game? What can you remember game?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well I can remember a fair bit. You know,

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Speaker 2: a lot of deep breathing going on at different stages

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Speaker 2: through the game. Myself, I was playing sort of through

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Speaker 2: the midfield, a little bit up forward. Everyone obviously played

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Speaker 2: a key role, you know, it comes down to moments,

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Speaker 2: particularly when you only win by a point. A guy

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Speaker 2: had a shot, Gavin Gross and as he's kicked it

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Speaker 2: from the boundary at the mic a long end. He's

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Speaker 2: a left footer, beautiful left foot kick. But as a

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Speaker 2: ball was going through the air, the siren actually went

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Speaker 2: so we needed to make sure that it didn't actually

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Speaker 2: go through for behind to then become a draw. So

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Speaker 2: you know, everyone played their role, but Chris Dunn got

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Speaker 2: best on ground. I think he kicked five goals and

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Speaker 2: was just incredible. But again it does come down to

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Speaker 2: moments when games are that type.

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Speaker 1: And obviously winning a premiership, like you said, being in

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Speaker 1: the Grand final like that, that's a huge highlight. But

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Speaker 1: what were some of the highlights for you playing for

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Speaker 1: Thunder and you know, being part of this truly sort

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Speaker 1: of iconic team for the Northern Territory. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think you know a lot of it

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Speaker 2: is around connection and the relationships that you build, and

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Speaker 2: you work so hard for so long, and you spend

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Speaker 2: so much time with you know, these players, but also

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Speaker 2: the people in the background who are doing a lot

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Speaker 2: of heavy lifting as well, the coaching staff, the support stuff,

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Speaker 2: all of those people, so you develop these really strong

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Speaker 2: relationships so to be actually share moments like that on

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Speaker 2: the field, but then off the field, they're probably the

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Speaker 2: things that you know, certainly for me, that you know,

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Speaker 2: I remember the most and I suppose cherish the most.

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Speaker 1: So this weekend you've got the big reunion. How many players,

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Speaker 1: how many support staff, how many people are here for it?

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Speaker 2: Do you know, yeah, look, we sort of put together

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Speaker 2: a little crew just to i suppose start organizing things.

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Speaker 2: So everyone who's sort of chipped in and helped out,

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Speaker 2: it's been amazing. So you know, we've got a number

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Speaker 2: of players that are flying up from down South, and

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Speaker 2: it's great because you know everyone's off, you know, doing

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Speaker 2: whatever they're doing and just you know, having a great

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Speaker 2: time doing that. But there's support staff that are flying

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Speaker 2: out from down South, people obviously traveling you know, by

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Speaker 2: vehicle to come to Darn for the night. So Saturday

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Speaker 2: night we'll be down at the Michael Long Center enjoying

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Speaker 2: the air con in there. We'll watch Nightcliff Tigers play

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Speaker 2: Southern Districts. But you know, we might sort of sneak

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Speaker 2: out onto the balcony. We'll replay obviously the twenty fifteen

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Speaker 2: Grand Final. You know, I've got Jared, the oldest brother.

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Speaker 2: He's going to run a bit of a Q and

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Speaker 2: A with some of the players, the coach, but some

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Speaker 2: of them also our sponsors and supporters. Just as I

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Speaker 2: said before, that perspective from there experience will be really

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Speaker 2: cool to hear. And then there's a whole host of

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Speaker 2: other little events happening tomorrow night and Saturday or a

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Speaker 2: bit of golf and just really enjoy everyrun's company over

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Speaker 2: the next two or three days.

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Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. Now, can anybody head along if they're

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Speaker 1: at the footy on the weekend or not? Really? Is

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Speaker 1: it all kind of sold out now? Well, it's probably

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Speaker 1: pretty full.

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Speaker 2: Look, we're just trying to get as many people there

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Speaker 2: obviously for us, you know, the players, but also there

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Speaker 2: the coaching staff, the support staff, the sponsors, the supporters.

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Speaker 2: I suppose anyone that's keen to come along certainly do.

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Speaker 2: And we just really want to make sure that everyone

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Speaker 2: gets to enjoy because everyone played a role, Like the

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Speaker 2: results on the field don't happen without the incredible work

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Speaker 2: keepers behind the scenes, and also your partners and your

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Speaker 2: family play a role too. So look, I'm just you know,

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Speaker 2: and I know everyone is just looking forward to catching up.

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Speaker 2: We've all got kids and you know, doing different things,

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Speaker 2: so it just be great to sort of see where

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Speaker 2: everyone's at. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Ah, wonderful stuff. Well, Cam Eiler, great to see you

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Speaker 1: this morning, mate, Thanks so much for coming in and

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Speaker 1: we'll taking us on a bit of a warp down

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Speaker 1: memory lane. I reckon, good on you. Thanks cam, thank you,