WEBVTT - Hayden Ballantyne - Ordineroli Speaking 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.600 Ordinarily Speaking. You may know me as an intense small 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.400 forward who played for the Fremantle Doctors, but more recently 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.040 had to go through family tragedy and how I dealt 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:20.960 with it. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:30.240 Soon time, Hello and welcome to this week's episode of 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.480 Ordinarily Speaking. Whether you hate him or admire him, or 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.839 a bit of both, Hayden Valentine is as tough as 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.600 they come. Drafted as a mature aged recruit at twenty 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.080 one and standing at just one hundred and seventy four centimeters, 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.360 Hayden went on to play one hundred and seventy one 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.479 games and kick two hundred and fifty four goals for 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.680 the Fremantle Football Club, forging a special relationship with coach 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.720 Ross Lyon along the way. Prior to Hayden's final year 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.320 at the club, he was confronted with the biggest challenge 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:07.920 of his life. On Grand Final night twenty eighteen, Hayden's 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.000 little brother, Brendan, was hit by a car and killed. 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.760 Brendan's fiance was just up the road about to pick 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.880 him up. He was just twenty two years old, a 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.800 father of one and with another baby on the way. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.520 This episode is raw and confronting if it is a 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.480 trigger for you, please ask for help. Lifeline and Beyond 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.040 Blue are just a couple of places you can go. 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.960 Hayden's hope is that by sharing his story it might 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.640 help other people navigate their way through loss. We caught 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.800 up at his rural property in Wa, where Hayden is 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:55.600 now a horse trainer. Well, Ballas, thanks so much for 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.640 spending some time with me. I've got to say this 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.000 is a first for me. We're recording a podcast episode 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.360 in your stables in Western Australia and you've had a 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:04.960 pretty busy day. You had to put this back at 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.160 a few hours. Tell me about your date about. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.720 Yeah, so I had the draft through four or five 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.040 hundred cattle this morning. Well we started in the morning 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.440 and finished about four o'clock, so I've spent a long day, 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:15.960 but yeah, we got here in the end. 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.679 What time do you break up most days, I normally. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.640 Got up about five, get out to the stables and 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.799 work the horses, and then I head off on my 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:24.640 day about eight o'clock and do what I need to do. 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.440 And it's sometimes as long hour today as a long day. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:29.960 But then tomorrow I haven't got a whole lot on, 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.359 so it all balances out and normally ends up being 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:33.919 a normal week for most people. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.280 So this is just something that you sort of planned 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.640 throughout footy as well. This was going on while you 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:39.320 were playing footing. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.640 Yeah, bits and pieces obviously now as much of a 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.080 hands on roll where you know, I couldn't control it 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:46.799 as much as what I'd like, where now I've got 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.960 full control. And now it's been really good. And I've 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:51.600 actually learned a lot more in the last couple of 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.960 years at post football about how my business has actually work. 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.480 So it's it's been quite good. A bit of a 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.639 learning curve, but yeah, things are pretty efficient now, so 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:00.000 it's good. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.760 So when you're saying you know you're wrangling cattle, you're 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:04.480 actually chasing cattle, right. 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.760 I jumped off the motorbike and tackled a calf this 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.919 afternoon because he didn't have an ear tag, so I 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.160 had to jump off the motorbike and tackled him. And 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.120 they're only four or five weeks old. They're bloody strong 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:15.720 little things, so this is hard work. 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.240 I had a bit of a blowgoing, yeah, solid, what's 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:19.239 harder tackling it? 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:20.359 Now? 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.799 These things are tough. They're tough little buggers and they're 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.600 relentless to they don't stop because you know, they think 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.120 we're going to eat them, so they're pretty scared. And yeah, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:30.720 we had to put a new ear tag in him, 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:32.280 and yeah he was solid. 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:34.720 So you don't just nickname them or anything like that 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.520 footy players or something Scarlet's out there. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:39.680 No, no, no, no, yeah, maybe a couple I want to 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.320 give them back to. But we if you know, we've 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.680 got kids, and if they name an animal, we're not 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.400 allow to put on the dinner table. So we don't 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:50.960 name name any of our animals that we don't want 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:52.720 to keep that we want to keep. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.160 I feel like that's a pretty good rule, you know. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.680 I was thinking back before this interview to when we 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.920 first met, and it was when you were twenty one 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.800 and you were a favorite for the Sandover. You were 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.920 working at a surf shop in mandra I was working 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.880 at Channel seven News and your favorite for the Sandover 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.720 about to get drafted by the Frio Dockers, and you 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:20.000 were just the most confident young bloke going around. And 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.599 I spoke to you great mate Aaron Sandalans ahead of 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.680 this as well, and he said, when you marched into 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:26.880 the club a few weeks later he thought, who is 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.800 this little arrogant so and so? Is that pretty much 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:31.800 the way you've always been? 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:32.680 Or what made you that way? 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.279 I think something, you know, my statue. You got to 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.760 have a bit of presence about you somehow. So confidence 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.240 was my thing, and that's how I played my footy. 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.279 I played with a bit of a chip on my shoulder, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.240 and I didn't make any apologies about that. I had 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.880 to show confidence or flair in some way. And I 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.960 remember Aaron did actually say it to me when I 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.360 later on down the track when we become good mates. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.200 He goes, you first walked in, I thought you little 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.760 tossa little arrogant little shit and then and then we 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.200 end up being great mates. So it's I run how 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:00.760 that works out. 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.360 What was the chip on the shoulder? Is it the height? 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:03.640 Like? 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:04.120 What was it? 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.599 I don't know. I just I was pretty confident my 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.680 abilities and what I could do. And I knew I 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.800 was pretty I could handle a fair bit. I was 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.279 pretty tough and could handle whatever anyone threw at me. 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.760 So I dish it out, they throw it back, and 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.839 most people can't handle as well as what I could. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.000 It's actually true, isn't that It is pretty true. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:24.760 Yea, I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't mind if 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.320 I hurt people's feeling. I was out there to win 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.200 a game of footy. I wasn't out there to make friends. 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.320 So and that was my match through footy. I was 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:31.680 out there to win, not to make friends. 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.200 You were kind of one of those blokes that everyone 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.479 hated but everyone would have loved to have been on 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:38.119 their team. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:39.800 Is that what you felt when you were playing a 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:40.240 fair bit? 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:40.520 Yeah? 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.400 And you know, now that I have retired, I do 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.080 see a few ex players us Stevie Johnson I saw 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:47.880 last year after the Grand Final and we had a 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.200 few beers together and he said that exact same thing. 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.560 He goes, you know, I didn't like it at all 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.760 on the field, but I would have liked you playing 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.840 for Geelong. So you know, when you hear things like that, 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.320 it wouldn't say it made me feel better, you know, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.279 it just made me think. You know, I actually did 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.080 my job pretty well when when it was my turn 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:04.880 to go always went. 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.920 Does it ever hurt your feelings when people were being 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.160 horrible to your social media and all those things. 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:12.680 Not at all, not when it was directed at me, 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:14.640 Because I was water for ducks, back for me, but 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:16.960 sometimes it was directed at my family and that would 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.360 piss me off a bit. You know, there's a few 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.800 tweets in that that would go on of threats and 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:23.600 stuff like that, and it was directed at me, you know, 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:25.919 happy days, go your hardest. But if it was directed 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:27.400 to my family, I took a bit to that. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.240 Yeah, what was the worst, you cops. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.560 Someone threatened my wife or my partner at the time, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.760 now wife. Yeah, he was going to bash me and 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.040 then do something to my wife, and that was that 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.160 was Yeah, that was a tipping point. And that that 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.839 person got found. He's in w A, which you know, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.480 was a little bit worrying, but yeah, yeah, I never 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.280 found out his name, so there's not much I could 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:49.920 have done about it. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:51.800 What do you do in a situation like that? 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.960 The club and the AFL teams in general, they have 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.160 amazing resources and they can someone sends out a silly 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.560 tweet or a Facebook thing of threat someone. They're found 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.760 straight away and the police got involved. They confiscated all 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.479 his I t like, his computer, his iPad, call that 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.800 and made him tell his wife what he said on 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.280 the tweet, and his wife went berserk I heard, so 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.160 it was a yeah, I don't think you'd be doing anything. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:18.280 Like that again the wife it. 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:19.720 Was, and it was, you know, it was just a 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.239 drunken comment when you know, he's we'd beat his team 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.880 and I played quite well and pissed off some people 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.600 and he he didn't like it, so he got he 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.880 was drunk, said something he probably regretted the next day. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:33.840 How does. 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:41.520 Daughter horses she wants to go on the MIC's good girl, 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:44.080 I love it. 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.640 How does that impact your wife at the time or 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:47.920 your partner at the time. 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.040 But now, wife, you know, you. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:52.640 Don't need to know what you need to know. She 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.440 didn't need to know what was being said and all 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.480 what was being done at the time. It was a 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.680 little bit disturbing for what for myself, but she didn't 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:01.880 need to know at the time. And when it was 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:03.880 all said and done, I told her what was happening 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.200 and she was a little bit shocked. But it kind 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:07.480 of goes with the territory. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.120 That's the thing, though, isn't it. 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.880 It's you sign up for it, but your family doesn't 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:13.480 exactly right. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.360 The one that gets upset the most of my nan 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.680 who's you know, she's eighty six now. But when I 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.200 was playing, she'd read the newspapers and on the Facebook 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.280 and all that and see all the nasty stuff, and 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:26.840 Nan don't worry about it. That doesn't bother me. And 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:28.160 she used to get a little bit of upset, but 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.360 she's she's I think I'll get my confidence and a 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.480 bit of personality from my Nan, so it's not too bad. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:34.760 I suppose she'll deal with it. 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:35.439 See that's the thing. 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:37.760 People never think about the NAN when they're writing the 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:38.920 mean tweets. 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.400 Exactly right, and they don't think about the impact on 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.280 the families afterwards, because most players that don't really care 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.040 what people say, but what the keyboard worries. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.640 So so it never impacted you when it was directed 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:49.079 at you. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.840 Not, No, not in the slightest at all. And even 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.040 it even spurred me on a bit more because obviously 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.839 I'm doing my job right. If they're getting that upset 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:59.600 of what I'm doing on the field and playing well 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:01.520 and doing my thing, obviously I'm doing it well. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:03.880 The moment that always comes up when I talk to 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.200 your former teammates and anyone really to do with footy 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.480 other than the Maddie Skull incident is you playing with 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.320 a broken jaw. How bad was that pain that you 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.640 were in and how did you play that game? 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.360 Which time? Yeah, well there was a few I think 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.120 when I did it during the game, I didn't feel much. 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:26.559 I felt a bit dazed and that because you know, 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.679 it was fairly big impact. But I was a bit 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.120 dazed and got through the game. And then after the 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.200 game it was bloody sore. It was really sore. And 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:37.439 they couldn't really give me a whole lot because I'm 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.480 allergic to some of the the painkillers I give us. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.040 I can't. I can only take certain things. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:43.720 Is that right? 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.320 There's one that it's not a bad allergy, but it 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.000 makes me real itchy. I've got I've got sensitive skin. 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.240 One sensitive thing I have got, I've got sensive skin, 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.000 and I'll get real itchy from these, from these tablets, 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.200 so they can't give it to me. And so all 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.079 I was panted off through broken jaw. So it was 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.640 pretty solid until we got until we got back to Perth, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:06.800 and and then I had surgery on the Tuesday. And 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.679 normally I wake up rat shit from surgeries. I rake 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:11.760 up real bad. I don't do well with the When 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.920 they knocked me out and I'll wake up feeling good 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.920 like I felt. Okay did It wasn't blurry or anything 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.200 I normally am, wasn't saying any silly things I can 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:21.880 normally do, and. 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:23.439 Your concussion test is honest. 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.440 Yeah that's right. So I rang Ross pretty much straight away. 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.720 I said, Ross, if fucking get this swelling out, you're 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.480 gonna play me, because perhaps three hundredth I think it 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.720 was Perabs three hundred. And he was pretty much no 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.320 straight away, and I kept pestering and pested him all week, 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.040 and then pretty much all the swelling on most one 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.640 side went, and the side that actually broke was still 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.640 a little bit swollen. And then I said I'm playing, 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.839 and he goes, okay, so let me play. They can't 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.880 really jab your face because you know it doesn't work, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.280 So I just played through it and the only isn't 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.360 really hurt. I got tackled. I tackled sorry Andrew Mackie, 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:00.640 and he knew I had the jaw and squeezed my 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.360 head and something clicked in there and that that hurt. 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.040 And Mickey Barlow came and dragged him off and made 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.439 it even worse, so he tried to help, but it 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.920 didn't help, And yeah, that was that was pretty solid. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.600 And then a couple of years later against Geelong, I tackled. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:17.440 It's always Geelong. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.200 Yeah it was Geelong tackle Cory in right, and as 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.280 he's going to handle the ball, his elbow got me 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.200 in the face and I fractured, had five fractures through 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.000 my face and there's a photo of my swall, swollen eyelid. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.199 I really puffed up. And at one photo of the year, 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.400 I was told so one little ticket the box there. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.720 They were pretty solid, but I don't know, you don't 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:40.439 really feel much once you're out there. I didn't really 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:42.480 didn't feel much pain at all into half the game. 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:44.520 Is that the most physical pain you've ever been in? 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.400 No, the most physical pain was my I broke my 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.640 foot in a game as well, and because you can 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.439 jab them up, I couldn't feel anything beautiful played the 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.920 rest of the game. And then about half an hour 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:57.800 of the game it started to creep in this pain 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.600 and it was it was the worst paint of the 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.520 been in. And yeah, it wasn't enjoyable, enjoyable at all. 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:04.640 It brought you to tears. 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.040 Not quiet, but it was pretty close. You can't walk, 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.160 you can't move, you got to keep your foot up 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.520 otherwise just throbs all night and all day and it 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.240 is just not nice at all. Plus that was the 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.120 last game of twenty ten and I broke it then. 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.840 And then the following week we played finals against Hawthorne one, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:23.760 so I missed. That was the first final series I 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:25.319 could have been involved in and missed it, So that 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.240 was that was the most sour point for me. I 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.320 think of injuries missing that final. 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.200 That's the thing about you that your teammates say, it's 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.800 you know, you can be the arrogant little shit, as 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.520 Sandy put it, but you never asked somebody to do 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.319 what you weren't willing to do. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:39.920 Is that fair? 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.040 Yeah? Exactly right. And I was pretty vocal towards people 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.080 who didn't work hard. And I suppose you're right do 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.719 the things that I was doing, because if I can 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.000 do it, why can't you. Pad was a lot like 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:52.719 that as well. I think I got that a bit 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.720 from Pav and Aaron to a degree as well. I 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.960 see Aaron working so hard, such a big bloke like him, 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.560 running and trying keep up with me, like he busses 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.679 asked to try and get as fitness well prepared as 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:06.559 you can, like, if that big fellow can do it, 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.240 why I can't wait. He's an absolute superstar. I want 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.200 to be better than him, or be as you know, 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.200 held up on a mantle like he is around other people. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.160 So that's how that's what how hard I've got to work. 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:18.760 Speaking of held up on a mantle. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.240 Who came up with the idea of the chair off 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.000 at the end of both of your careers. 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.760 That was Aaron on the night. So he said, get 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:28.600 on my shoulders. So I'm looking at his shoulders. He said, 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.480 get on my shoulders, and when he says it twice, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.280 you don't argue the second time. So I said, I 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.400 got on his shoulders. And it was actually, you know, 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.079 looking at all the photos, actually pretty cool getting sentif 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.040 like that. It was, yeah, really good to be going 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:41.360 out with one of my best mates as well. 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.959 It was very unique having a rutman just carrying a 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.480 small forward on top of his shoulders like he was 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:46.880 a child. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.560 Yeah, and that's what it looked like to look like 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.280 I was sitting on dad's shoulders. But the boy like 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.040 Dave I remember Dave Money and someone else was walking 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.120 out to obviously come to chair us off and then 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:59.560 they end up just helping me get up on his 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.880 shoulders and walked off like that. So it was a 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.160 pretty pretty special moment to walk around with the kids 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:05.240 as well. It was really good. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:09.680 Your girls, I hear their little mini Hayden Valentine's. They've 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:10.600 got a bit of going them. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.600 They do. They're quite good at their sports, and they're 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.600 not scared of much, which scares me a little bit. 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.520 Not much does scare me, but seeing them do some 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.160 of the things they do, I just think, oh my god, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.880 there's going to be broken bones at some point, and 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:24.920 it just makes me a bit nervous. Like they love 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.440 their horses, they're always riding their ponies, they do gymnastics. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:30.920 The eldest one wants to play football this year, and 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.560 I haven't pushed them towards football just because of the 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.920 injury factor, and but you know, he was inevitable, I think, 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.280 and they're actually quite good at it. So yeah, we'll 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:42.960 see how that one goes. I'll be coaching this year 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.640 to coaching the under twelve pilt Has Skills team, so 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.240 that's awesome. That'll be fun. 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:48.960 I feel like there's a little part of you that 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.000 maybe is realizing what you inflicted on your parents. 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.320 I know my dad regularly reminds me of that about 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.040 he sees that his grandkids and what they do, and 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.400 he goes, hey, mate, that's what you'd did to me 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:01.400 when you were younger. 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.000 So cop it now, you said before you hand it 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.800 out some pretty honest feedbacks as a player. Do you 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.600 remember any of those that stand out to you that 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:10.440 you sort of said, I'm not copying. 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.400 That towards my teammates. Yeah, I used to ride Brendan 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.520 Cox quite hard because I can just see how talented, 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.040 naturally talented he is. He plays such good games of 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.760 footy and it's like he doesn't even need to try. 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.440 He's just he's just that naturally gifted, that athletic, and 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:30.960 if he listens to this, his head's going to blow 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.080 up massively. But he actually is quite a unique player 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.040 and that he's quick, he's agile, he can kick at 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.440 both sides, and he's got great hands. He's a big man. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.920 So he's one that I think, could, you know, eventually 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.320 be a superstar. He's just trying to get that out 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:46.960 of him. And I used to ride him pretty hard, 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.080 and what would you say, pull your finger out, you know. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.360 I used to push him all the time, like physically 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.360 push him and say get there and do this and 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.240 do that. And it wasn't so much what I said, 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:57.480 It was what I was doing and trying to get 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.120 him to come along with me kind of thing. And 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.640 he did. He did, used to try and keep up 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.760 and do it, do as much as he could. But 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.760 once he actually does click for him and he realizes 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.160 how good he could be, it's yeah, he could be 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:11.080 an actual superstar. 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:12.480 Do you see yourself as a leader. 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.440 I didn't really see myself as a leader. I just 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.480 thought I was doing I suppose I did in a sense, 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.360 but without trying to be. I wasn't trying to go 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.040 out there and be a leader. I was just trying 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.280 to get the best out of myself and hopefully bringing 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.960 someone along for the ride at the same time. I 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.480 would always get Sunny Walter's brand and Materira, any of 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.800 my small forwards around me. After training, we do five 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.600 or ten minutes of ground balls, five or ten minutes 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.720 of touch, just because that's our craft. We need to 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.760 be one touch players, and I'd make them and Sonny 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.560 would try to sneak off. Sometimes I'd make him come 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.920 back out, and we do it pretty much religiously after 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.720 every main training session, just to get that touch before 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:52.160 we got on the plane and went over to Melbourne 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.080 or something like that. So that was something I always 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.080 made sure happen, just for myself one and for the 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.200 other two boys or whoever was with us, just to 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.720 make sure we were one touch players and at the 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:05.240 top of our game as much as we could. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.480 And watching your daughter just very obediently go and feed 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.359 the horses, stay quiet and off back to the house 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:11.760 as well. 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:13.760