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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, I'm Troy Dodds and welcome to the On

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the Record podcast presented by the Western Weekend. On this podcast,

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I'm joined by special guests. So all have such great

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stories to tell about Penrith and the role they're played

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in our city. They are Penrith stories told by Penris people. Today,

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my special guest is former Champion Panthers hooker Luke Prittis.

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Luke won a premiership with Penrith in two thousand and

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three and since his footy career has carved a strong

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career in business and the charity sector. Luke, thanks for

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joining us. Morning, Troy, Morning Penrith. First question we always

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ask where and when we are born?

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Speaker 2: Where Dubbo at the Western Plains when the four seventy seven.

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Speaker 3: And what was growing up there?

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Speaker 2: Like, well, are we left there when I was still

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a baby, So I can't kill you all right, I'm

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still got family back there. But my old man worked

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for Cole's Supermarkets, so we moved around quite a bit.

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So from Dubbo we moved to Wollongong, started playing footy,

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up to Sydney, out the Wagger, back to Canberra and

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that was probably home for most of the time. It

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was Canberra as I see it, growing up sort of

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as a teenager and into a into a footy crew

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from there.

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Speaker 3: What were your parents like? Good?

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Speaker 2: No, just no, we're just normal people, no struggle like

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everyone else, didn't have sort of nothing. There was no

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silver spoon in my mouth, my mouth and my sisters,

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so we sort of Mum and Dad worked for everything

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they could. And I said, we traveled around because Dad

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had to to move for work if you had to,

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if you tried to get a an upgrade in his position.

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He we did it for a bit of traveling. So

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that was that was our life. But we settled into

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Sydney for quite a while as Dad sort of moved

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through most of the cold supermarkets through Sydney. I think

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now at one stage we were living in Beverly Hills,

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that's where we were sort of based, but he was

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traveling over to the Manly store so there was no

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sort of freeways in that back in those days. So

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that was a big tussle. But you did that to

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put obviously food on the table and put my sister

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and I through school. And yeah, then we end up

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in Canberra, so.

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Speaker 1: And growing up as a key with sport always a

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pretty key part of your life. And was it always footy? Yeah,

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it was footy from from the start. My old man

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actually played out here with Tim Sheen's out at Campbelltown

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when he coached the city Ruse So and Pete Maholand

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rest in peace. He was part of that sort of

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organization as well. So I knew Pete for for a

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long time and lucky enough that when I did come

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to Penrith, Pete was part of the team here. And yeah,

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I mean Pete used to tell the story of me

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as a four year old with the old soft drink

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cans on the feet, trudging up and down the up

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and down the field, so that was good. But yeah,

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sport was was always a good outlet for me.

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Speaker 2: It was rugby league. You know, I played tennis as well.

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Water polo. I was polo water polo. Yeah, I used

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to love water polo. Actually, then they said a bit

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of swimming until I sort of got too fat and

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heavy and it didn't grow really but always I suppose

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one thing that Mum and Dad always put forward was

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that education for me had to come first. So if

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I wasn't sort of doing my school work, et cetera.

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Then footy training wasn't an option. So let's to say

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that I didn't miss too many footy training sessions.

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Speaker 1: So enough, your a professional career course started with Camera

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nine ninety seven, the other Super League season, so rugby

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league is pretty pretty split and torn apart at that point.

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But when was the time when you were like, no,

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I can actually make a career out of this.

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Speaker 2: Like it.

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Speaker 1: I was always in the lead up to ninety seven,

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but was there was there a light bulb moment that

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was like I'm just gonna I'm going to keep going here.

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Speaker 2: Probably when I switched to from I used to play

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a bit of five to eight half back. At one

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stage I was playing locke for some reason, even I

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was like four foot nothing. But yeah, Jeff Davison a

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bloke from down at Canberra. He was he's sort of

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probably one of the first coaches that ever did Level

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four coaching and now he was down there at Canberra

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and that then he coached sort of a year above

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me in our local local side down there at Waden Western,

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and he sort of brought me up and basically said

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you need to play hooker. So I sort of played

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a season of hooker and that year I sort of

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finished off. We won here under seventeen s grand final

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there Waden Western, with a great bunch of blokes that

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I still keep in contact with. I made schoolboys, played

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Australian school boys, and I suppose from that point started

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to get noticed by by the Raiders and went on

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through the through the junior system there. So from a

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kid that played fourth at Sandi's rugby union school, where

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I wasn't really sort of Rugby union wasn't my wasn't

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my game, and I tried everything I could to stay

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out of it, even trying out for their basket because

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that was the rule. You only had to try out

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for one sport, and me four foot nothing trying out

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for basketball. Obviously I wasn't great at that, so I

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missed out, but I ticked the box. But it wasn't

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long before they found out that I played rugby league

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on a Sunday, so the school rules to play rugby

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union on a Saturday. But yeah, probably from that point

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I was young at school, so I finished school at

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seven eight and then went sort through to UNI as well.

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So those years at UNI I played sort of the juniors.

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Back then it was Jersey flagger that sort of under nineteens,

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not was it now under twenty fives or something, But yeah,

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from that point of view, it was always sort of

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a pathway. But I said at match with education as well,

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remember your first grade wut? Yeah it was off the

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bench against the Bulldogs. So and I think we actually

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got smashed the Bulldogs back in those days. Yeah, they

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had some great forwards and I just remember that young

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kid playing in Aka up against some of those blokes

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where they call them just to call them the dogs

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a war. I mean, they're probably a little bit past

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that ara and they're still pretty good. Maybe before the Masons

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and all that sort of come in, there was still

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some hard blokes like Britain that's still sitting there. So

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we lost that, but yeah, it was It's always a

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kid's dream if you start and your debut and from

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that point in time sort of move forward and all

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becomes a bit of a blur sometimes, but I would

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wouldn't trade it in for anything.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, so begins a three hundred plus game career, elite

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company there, but you're only at camera a couple of

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years and you get Luid to Brisbane.

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Speaker 3: So how did that all come about that, so that

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switched to the Broncos.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but it concluded. I always wanted to be And

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many people don't know this, but I always sort of

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strive to be that the captain of the Raiders. You know,

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there's some great leaders down there, Ricky Stewart, Laurie Daily,

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Brad Clyde. I'd always sort of like to tell the

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story about Brad Clyde. Where As a junior Bay we

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used to always train as a full club. Now you

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go out the seaf it Oval, it was freezing bluddy cold.

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The whole club would train together, juniors all the way

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up to first grade, and we sort were warming up

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and I sort of got the split up with Brad

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Clyde and obviously knew who he was. He is a superstar,

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and he's with his kid, and he come over and

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shook my hand and he sort of actually introduced himself.

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He said, mate, Brad Clyde, which your name? I said,

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I'll look prettiest, mate, And that that point was sort

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of pivotal, I suppose for the rest of my career.

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Is that he's a bloke that had done every in

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the game. Knew that I knew him, but still made

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the effort that he wasn't big headed enough to say

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he introduced himself as who he was, didn't just expect

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to be known. So that was sort of the pivotal

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point there. So I always sort of aimed to potentially

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captain the Raiders one day. But the first year I

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was sort of mostly off the bench, and Simon Wolford

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or Germ as he's name, was the starting hooker. The

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second year in ninety eight, that sort of switched around,

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and then obviously we were both sort of off contract.

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Melmninger was the coach back then and they obviously had

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to make a choice. Steve Olders had sort of just

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decided to move on to go up to North Queensland

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and they opted for Germ. So I actually signed with

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Adelaide Rams that stage. There's a heap of young blokes players,

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Jason Ferris, a few other blokes that had sort of

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gone over and signed with the Rams that I'd played

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a lot of junior rep football with. So Dean Lance

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was the coach over there at that stage, so sort

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of went over there. I sort of went across late

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because I was finishing officer of my last year at

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Union at that stage and I said, I'm not sort

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of missing out on those exams. So I went over

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and I think it was within two weeks. Obviously the

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news was that we were chopped. I think it was

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the Rams, I think the Western Reds and maybe the

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Newcastle side. I think it was so that point I

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would always had a clause in my contract that I

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was going to go to a news limited side. Obviously

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I'd signed Super League at that sort of stage, and

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I made an oath to myself that I wouldn't be

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going back to be coached under me. I'm and inger

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at the Raiders again. So made a phone called it

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to Wayne and from there that's sort of where I

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ended up in Brisbane. There was no guarantees, even though

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I sort of said, no, if I trained the house

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down at pre season, blah blah blah, can I be

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starting uga?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: Can I do this? This, this, and you'll start from

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the bottom. So fair enough has said. I went up

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there with no promises and just an opportunity, and within

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a couple of weeks I think I think that was

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the worst start it's had. I think we had nine

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out of the first teen games, we won one and

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had one drawer so I sort of got sort of

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pulled into the starting side after about four or five games,

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and yeah, that was where it kicked off.

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Speaker 1: It is your first stint with Wayne. What were your

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first impressions of Wayne Bennett? Oh, say, great coach. Yeah,

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he keeps things simple.

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Speaker 2: Again, a lot of coaches think you're in first grade

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and you know all the basics. No, that's not always

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the case. So it's making sure the basics are done well.

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And from the basics, that's you're building blocks to do

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everything else. So Wayne was very smart with that. He

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didn't try and complicate things. He gave you a job

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what you needed to do, and kept it simple. He

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had to sort of, I suppose a theory that Darren

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Locke is and that we're capable of being ten out

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of ten players. Someone like me may have been a

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six or a seven. I don't know, you'd have to

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ask him that, probably four or five. But anyway, but no,

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he always rated his players, but he knew that you

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needed a whole team of those workers as well to

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let the Darren Locke is and that perform at the

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ten out of ten. So that was one thing that

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I got off way. And he keeps things very simple,

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to the basics and you can build from that. If

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things are going wrong in a game, you come back

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to the basics again. But it was an honor to

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play with blokes like No. I think I got to

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play the last half of Fi Lang's career before you

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went over to England, so that was great. And again

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I was blessed Canberra. I had a pretty much an

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international forward pack and the same up there in Brisbane.

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So as a young hooker now I had some good

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blokes to play around and look after you're on the

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field and.

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Speaker 1: Of course only your second year at Brisbane and you

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win the comp first first first premiership pretty young and

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pretty early in your career as well. When you look

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back on it now, given that you would win another

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one a couple of years later with Penroth, probably a

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little bit more mature. Are did you take it all

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in that first one? Was it was it easy to

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take in or was it a bit of a whirl

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wind given it had happened reasonably early in your career

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00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:41,039
a couple of years in?

241
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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it was good because I mean up there

242
00:11:43,519 --> 00:11:47,480
the Broncos had an expectation of winning. Obviously the biggest

243
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,440
club in the game at that point in time, and

244
00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,080
when they got the Grand Finals, there was an expectation

245
00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,480
that you win Grand Finals. So for me as a

246
00:11:54,519 --> 00:11:57,159
young bloke again, I had a job to do that

247
00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,240
day and that was if you sort of remember Shane Weep,

248
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he had sort of broken his arm and came back

249
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and had this big freaking cast. My job was to

250
00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,080
protect that tackle. Only think that was on that side

251
00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,480
of him that did the job. And I said, no,

252
00:12:10,759 --> 00:12:13,879
we basically just won that through the forwards. We didn't

253
00:12:13,919 --> 00:12:15,720
have the best back line on that those days, but

254
00:12:16,799 --> 00:12:19,200
we just we won that com through a great set

255
00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,600
of forwards and just steamroll blokes in the end. So

256
00:12:21,799 --> 00:12:23,919
that was sort of that job. And yeah, I sort

257
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of just took it on board and it was just

258
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,159
great celebrations, he said, young young bloke then sort of

259
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come down the Penrith and win a couple of years later,

260
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thinking okay, well every sort of two or three years

261
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,679
going to win a Grand finally this is good. But

262
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obviously that didn't pan out to be the case. But

263
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certainly differences between winning in Brisbane and obviously having those

264
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,600
superstars around us and then coming to Penrith and winning

265
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and I suppose being one of the leaders in that

266
00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:51,600
club when we did win. You you mentioned Penrith.

267
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Speaker 1: Tell me about how Penrith comes about, because at that

268
00:12:53,879 --> 00:12:59,080
point Penrith is not really attracting big name players. You know,

269
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,519
there'd been some some pretty dour days I guess after

270
00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,840
that first premiership in the nineties. So you're probably the

271
00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,159
biggest name player that Penrifin signed in a long time.

272
00:13:09,399 --> 00:13:11,039
How did that all come about? How do you end

273
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,639
up from the premiers in two thousand to the two

274
00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:15,000
thousand and one Wooden Spooners.

275
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Wayne Wayne's Is this the fallout of a.

276
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Speaker 3: Bit of fallout in the relationship with Wayne?

277
00:13:23,519 --> 00:13:28,639
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yes, and no, probably had a couple of fallouts. Yeah,

278
00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:32,559
I suppose winning in two thousand, being in a great side,

279
00:13:32,639 --> 00:13:34,600
went on sort of two thousand and one and made

280
00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,080
my sort of debut New South Wales and at that stage,

281
00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,840
obviously Brisbane had never paid a cent for me, so

282
00:13:41,879 --> 00:13:46,120
I said, I was signed with News Limited, so that's

283
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,120
who paid the contract. So, yeah, three year contract up there,

284
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,960
coming to the end they making New South Wales and

285
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,639
at that stage I'd sort of ditched my manager and

286
00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:59,879
basically was doing it myself. And was sort of in negotiation,

287
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,000
and it was always I just wait till after Origin,

288
00:14:02,399 --> 00:14:05,240
wait till after Origin. I'm sort of going Okay, well,

289
00:14:05,519 --> 00:14:07,240
back in those days, it was back that it was

290
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,320
the June thirty cut off line, and obviously Origin three

291
00:14:10,519 --> 00:14:13,320
was around that sort of time, and we passed that

292
00:14:13,759 --> 00:14:15,919
June thirty had come and gone, and they kept sort

293
00:14:15,919 --> 00:14:19,440
of promising promising, and then sort of I basically remember

294
00:14:19,679 --> 00:14:21,840
we finished a field session one day and Wayne called

295
00:14:21,879 --> 00:14:24,639
me over, still out on the field and basically just said, mate,

296
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,600
we're not signing it. And that was sort of it.

297
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,559
And I went fucking really like a sort of a

298
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:36,919
bit dumbfounding, because I said, the promises, the promises of promises.

299
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,720
If they were going to let me go, they should

300
00:14:40,759 --> 00:14:43,519
have done the right thing and told me before Origin

301
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,759
or during Origin I could have a sort of chance. And

302
00:14:46,799 --> 00:14:49,320
so I suppose that at that time the only real

303
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,720
club that was on offer was was South, to be honest,

304
00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,960
So I'd sort of started some I'd picked up a

305
00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,759
bloke up there, that commercial bloke that was one of

306
00:15:01,799 --> 00:15:04,919
the sort of my friends that that was able to

307
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,559
sort of start to help me in the contract negotiations

308
00:15:07,559 --> 00:15:11,320
and yeah, he was. He sort of he was in contact.

309
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,159
I think it was Sean Garlic back in those days,

310
00:15:13,279 --> 00:15:16,440
was a footy manager of Souse and obviously you know

311
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,759
Souse went't going real good either. So coming from premiers

312
00:15:20,759 --> 00:15:23,120
in Brisbane to going to Souse, it was like, well,

313
00:15:23,159 --> 00:15:25,120
and need to get as much as I sort of

314
00:15:25,159 --> 00:15:28,039
can out of these guys. And we're going back and

315
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,919
forth with negotiations and then Wayne sort of got a

316
00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:34,559
sniff that that was it, and he's going, oh, you

317
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,080
don't want to go to house, mate, you don't want

318
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:37,360
to go to the house. And I said, well mate,

319
00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:40,600
excuse me, friends, but you haven't left me with too manybody,

320
00:15:41,159 --> 00:15:45,320
too many options, and he said, oh what about Penrith

321
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,159
And I went, well mate, I'm not going there. You've

322
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,279
got Craig Gower. I had played Australia in the hooking

323
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,240
position at that point in time, and he said, oh,

324
00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:55,639
I've got a feeling that he might sort of move

325
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,879
the half back and I went, well, you've got a

326
00:15:58,919 --> 00:16:02,240
week and he's come back, and then basically gave me

327
00:16:02,279 --> 00:16:05,759
the introduction to Royce. Roycey gave me a call and

328
00:16:05,799 --> 00:16:08,159
again I was sort of pretty skeptical of going down there.

329
00:16:08,159 --> 00:16:09,759
Am I just going to sort of be a fill

330
00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:13,320
in for Gowie, Like if he doesn't perform at number seven,

331
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,679
he's gonna win his number nine back. And then I

332
00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,519
actually think I oven spoke to Gowi and he sort

333
00:16:18,519 --> 00:16:20,720
of was a bit dumbfounded as to why I would

334
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,320
be leaving Brisbane to become to Penrith, as you mentioned.

335
00:16:25,159 --> 00:16:28,080
But anyway, the deal ended up getting done and sort

336
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,279
of come down here and first game, I mean, the

337
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,360
build up is the Battle of the West, as we

338
00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:35,799
caught these days against paramatter it was still big brother

339
00:16:35,879 --> 00:16:39,000
versus a little brother, and I sort of everyone was

340
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:40,600
sort of keyed up. I think we played in the

341
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,399
first round and they gone, this is the best chance

342
00:16:42,399 --> 00:16:45,279
that we got to beat Paramedic because Parameda had obviously

343
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,440
performed pretty well in two thousand and one, and going, okay,

344
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,679
this is good. And I remember I think we got

345
00:16:50,679 --> 00:16:54,759
done fifty odd something and spent more time leaning up

346
00:16:54,759 --> 00:16:56,919
against the goalposting and what the hell? And I got

347
00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:58,879
off that, got off the field and had all these

348
00:16:58,919 --> 00:17:02,039
messages on the phone mobile phone, and it was Big

349
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,480
Dell going, ah, you look good, pushing hanging onnder that

350
00:17:05,519 --> 00:17:07,519
goalpost mate, blah blah blah, And I was thinking, here,

351
00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:11,440
what if I sort of done but hard year that year?

352
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,359
But obviously the following year or that offseason, a lot

353
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,440
of us sort of senior blokes I suppose at that

354
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,039
stage I still wasn't that old, but senior player. We

355
00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:21,880
sort of got together and we sort of made some

356
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,279
changes internally just ourselves as a playing group, and obviously

357
00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:29,720
the result the following year was a premiership. So ups

358
00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:32,359
and downs, but that's the story of how I come

359
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:33,319
to penwith.

360
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,599
Speaker 1: And yeah, you mentioned two thousand and three crazy year.

361
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,440
In fact, it sort of starts pretty similar to two

362
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,440
thousand and two, I think in the sense that a

363
00:17:40,519 --> 00:17:43,599
couple of heavy defeats, it was a victory against the Roosters,

364
00:17:43,599 --> 00:17:45,880
a late victory against the Roosters, it probably started to

365
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:46,680
spur things.

366
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:46,799
Speaker 3: On a bit.

367
00:17:47,319 --> 00:17:50,680
Speaker 1: Was there any point during that three season and obviously

368
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,440
you wind up winning the minor premiership, but still weren't

369
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:54,799
premiership favorites all the way through to Grand Final Day?

370
00:17:54,839 --> 00:17:56,640
But was there a moment that you guys actually felt

371
00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,759
no were a chance here? Look, I think once we

372
00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:06,200
got in front and we had that adage of we

373
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,160
went the best defensive side, that that's for sure. But

374
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,319
we're goddamn good scoring outfit. And if you could score

375
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,680
thirty we had pretty much the skill set and the

376
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,640
ability that we thought we could score thirty two. But yeah,

377
00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:20,279
and that's what happened a lot of times.

378
00:18:20,279 --> 00:18:23,279
Speaker 2: And I think you're a fan of the game going

379
00:18:23,279 --> 00:18:27,200
out to every game. The roller coaster of watching us

380
00:18:27,279 --> 00:18:29,079
that year. I just sort of think as a fan,

381
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,559
we're in front, we're behind, we're in front, we're in nine.

382
00:18:32,599 --> 00:18:34,440
And then we scored the last couple of minutes we win.

383
00:18:34,599 --> 00:18:39,200
So I think as we kept winning, that's where you

384
00:18:40,319 --> 00:18:43,920
get that confidence from. And yeah, we weren't favorites, but

385
00:18:44,279 --> 00:18:46,960
we were in our own minds. I remember sort of

386
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,200
talking the SATs and that sort of one stage and

387
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:50,960
I thought, oh no, we've got something here. And then

388
00:18:51,319 --> 00:18:53,759
the pivotal moment, obviously when we get to the Grand

389
00:18:53,799 --> 00:18:55,759
Final week and that I think the story has been

390
00:18:55,759 --> 00:18:58,400
told a thousand times. But we walk into the old

391
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,119
Grand Final breakfast. We had to spend the night in

392
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:02,799
the city, and you get up at the cracker dawn

393
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,960
and put on your suits and chit and walk in.

394
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:10,519
Here's my friend arm. But then we walk in and

395
00:19:10,519 --> 00:19:14,359
we had blakes like the Luke's, the Rooney's, the Swains,

396
00:19:15,519 --> 00:19:18,000
Lukie Lewis aw young kids that have grown up in

397
00:19:18,039 --> 00:19:20,680
Penrith and just enjoying the moment. And that's sort of

398
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:22,039
one of the things that I sort of said to

399
00:19:22,599 --> 00:19:24,599
out of my experience of that sort of one Grand

400
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,920
Finals and joy enjoy the enjoy the times when you're

401
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,599
not on the training field, because they go pretty quick

402
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:32,960
and it's a great week. But the main thing is

403
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:34,839
that when we actually get on the training field, you've

404
00:19:34,839 --> 00:19:36,720
got to put all that the side and do our

405
00:19:36,799 --> 00:19:38,920
job and then you know, you relax again. And we

406
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,400
walked into that Grand Final breakfast and I said, all

407
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,039
those blokes they laughing and carrying around and Joe another

408
00:19:45,039 --> 00:19:47,799
of our ladies, cam Cord, are out recording things and

409
00:19:47,839 --> 00:19:49,440
that we all sort of sit up there and then

410
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,119
the rusters come in and it look like they're just cardboard,

411
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,200
that's stiff. They had their ties up around their necks,

412
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:57,960
that none of them was smile and another of them

413
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,079
were joking. They sat there they sort of didn't I

414
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,240
will throw on food and that up on stage to

415
00:20:02,319 --> 00:20:04,599
each other and they just didn't move And at that

416
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,119
sort of point. I think we remember talking back the

417
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,079
SATs in that garden, We've got this like they're that

418
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,319
uptight because all the pressure was on them, and obviously

419
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,240
history shows it that that was the case.

420
00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 1: How much did you bring your experience in that lead up?

421
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,480
You know you don't want to camp a few years earlier.

422
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:25,839
I'm guessing you wanted the only player in that team

423
00:20:25,839 --> 00:20:27,799
that had won a comp previously.

424
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, LINGI had obviously played in the grand final with

425
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,640
the Sharks seven the Super League one, but hadn't won it.

426
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:35,960
But yeah, I was the only one that sort of

427
00:20:36,039 --> 00:20:39,039
had won, and I suppose that's where I felt a

428
00:20:39,039 --> 00:20:42,039
bit more on me, even though we had Gowy and

429
00:20:42,039 --> 00:20:44,480
we had some blokes that have obviously played international football,

430
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,079
but no one had experienced that week. So again you

431
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,680
can't sort of dictate what happens in that week. But

432
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:53,720
I did pass on I said the experience around, no

433
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:55,559
enjoying the week, But at the end of the day,

434
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:57,720
you've still we've still got a week, We've still got

435
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,480
a gain to play, and you can't get caught in

436
00:21:00,519 --> 00:21:02,799
the atmosphere because the game will pass us before we

437
00:21:03,079 --> 00:21:06,440
know and we'll lose. So the main thing was enjoy

438
00:21:06,519 --> 00:21:08,559
the time off the field and enjoy all the events.

439
00:21:08,599 --> 00:21:11,680
But when you get on the training paddock, you just

440
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,960
got to be one hundred percent focused on doing things right.

441
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:14,559
Speaker 3: We don't want to be.

442
00:21:14,559 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 2: Training for two hours a session, but when we get

443
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000
on there, it's got to be one hundred and ten

444
00:21:19,039 --> 00:21:22,000
percent focus. And then now you relax again. We can't

445
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,599
play the game before we get there. And I think

446
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,720
you'll sort of see from the scenes of the videos

447
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,960
and that when we actually in the shed and you,

448
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:32,279
I think it was Presto was still asleep. Now we

449
00:21:32,279 --> 00:21:34,680
were sort of half asleep, and you know, that was

450
00:21:34,759 --> 00:21:36,759
just attitude that we sort of took in there. It

451
00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:40,400
was another game. It was a big game, but our

452
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,200
persona didn't change from any other sort of week even

453
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:44,799
though it was a Grand Final, And I think that

454
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,599
was the edge that sort of got us across.

455
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:48,400
Speaker 3: The rest, obviously is history.

456
00:21:49,319 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: When the Grand Final that night against the Roosters, I

457
00:21:51,759 --> 00:21:54,359
mentioned you weren't favorites even going into the game, despite

458
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,359
the fact that you know, you'd sort of conquered everything

459
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,960
that year, and you mentioned about defense, you ultimately produce

460
00:22:01,079 --> 00:22:03,640
probably the best defensive bonds of the season on that

461
00:22:03,759 --> 00:22:07,119
night for you, though, really special night. You become Penerish

462
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,839
first Clivee Churchill Medal winner after the man you mentioned earlier.

463
00:22:09,839 --> 00:22:13,359
Of course Bradley Clyde won in ninety one in Penis

464
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,799
other premiership win. Just an incredible night. I felt like

465
00:22:16,799 --> 00:22:19,519
sort of everything just fell into place that you've been

466
00:22:19,519 --> 00:22:23,279
working towards. What about for you from the individual point

467
00:22:23,279 --> 00:22:25,640
of view, like a big moments for you?

468
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, I suppose the week was easy for me because

469
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,400
I know my family was sick. We donely had sort

470
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,680
of just our a new new baby a couple of

471
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:40,519
weeks beforehand, so again it was train train hard focus.

472
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,880
But when it was off the field, it was focus

473
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,279
on family and helping Holly out and that sort of stuff.

474
00:22:46,319 --> 00:22:50,319
So obviously I'd had a couple of turbulent weeks leading

475
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,759
up there. I missed the semi final, I think it

476
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,400
was it against Brisbane. I think it was because we

477
00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,400
made a decision. I had sort of cartilage damage, so

478
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:02,839
we made a decision to go in and get an

479
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,440
operation to numb that nerve underneath, and there was a

480
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,000
one percent chance that they'd punch my lung and I

481
00:23:09,079 --> 00:23:11,440
wake up with a lung tube hanging out, so that

482
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,640
one percent happened and he did punch my lung. So

483
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,319
that's why I sort of didn't play that game. But yeah,

484
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,440
the week itself, as I said, was pretty easy. We

485
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,319
didn't decide to go into camps and that, so we

486
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,240
stayed at home. Apart from going in and doing the

487
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,599
Grand Final breakfast, we actually come back home, so there

488
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,119
was no staying in hotels for us. So it was

489
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:41,400
all about making things comfortable in enormous rounds. I suppose personally, again,

490
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,599
I just thought being the underground finalist in there, it

491
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,119
was about taking a bit of a leadership, but not

492
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,440
overplaying my hand. Obviously we had we had Gowy, we

493
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:55,000
had pressed those blokes. But I suppose everything just sort

494
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,200
of come into place. I'm pretty meticulous in what I

495
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,160
do when leading to a game, and I knew it

496
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:02,599
was going to rain, so I actually went out and

497
00:24:02,599 --> 00:24:04,319
bought a new pair of boots. Even though I was

498
00:24:04,319 --> 00:24:08,160
sort of sponsored by someone else, they didn't have the

499
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,480
studs that I wanted, so I went in bore a

500
00:24:10,519 --> 00:24:13,079
pair of Assex which had six studs at the front

501
00:24:13,079 --> 00:24:15,440
and to at the back, and I pulled those studs

502
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,160
out and I went and brought these little plastic triangle

503
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,839
studs that were sort of twenty one inches because you

504
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:23,799
just can't be slipping over in a game like that,

505
00:24:24,839 --> 00:24:27,400
and all those little things that just come off. And again,

506
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,200
everyone played their role. That was the main thing. Yep,

507
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,440
I played a great game, but as you said, we

508
00:24:33,519 --> 00:24:37,000
had the best offensive game probably of the season. Blokes

509
00:24:37,039 --> 00:24:40,559
like Marty laying the hair bears. Everyone just turned up

510
00:24:40,559 --> 00:24:43,480
and did their job. And as I sort of always say,

511
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,079
and most of the great coaches say, you go out

512
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:47,920
there and you do your job, then you look for

513
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,480
the actress. So to me, I did my job. But

514
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,640
there was a couple of opportunities that we decided to take.

515
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:58,720
Obviously the first half I tried a similar down the

516
00:24:58,759 --> 00:25:01,359
short side move which got an in this up. But

517
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,160
I suppose when you get to this this age, I'll

518
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,279
get to that sort of note that that level, you

519
00:25:06,319 --> 00:25:08,160
can't let those sort of defeat your sort of thing,

520
00:25:08,279 --> 00:25:11,799
so you always keep it in the trick bag again,

521
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,240
and it obviously helps the steal the game.

522
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 3: And what about the celebrations pretty pretty significant. There was

523
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:19,720
a bus involved. The next day. I think you guys

524
00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:21,559
uped up on a west bus back.

525
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,599
Speaker 1: To the ground when you finally got through the celebrations

526
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,039
and whatnot, like a pretty well nine I'm guessing yeah,

527
00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:27,640
it certainly was.

528
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,039
Speaker 2: I mean, Gowy had a tribe that sort of went

529
00:25:31,079 --> 00:25:33,400
off out. I mean, I think there was sort of

530
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:36,720
most of them, the older blokes. Help put myself in

531
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,759
that side at the moment, but we sort of stayed

532
00:25:38,759 --> 00:25:40,319
back here at the club. I think we end up

533
00:25:40,319 --> 00:25:43,920
in the in the actual chairman's office back here, and

534
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,640
then we sort of found our way up to the

535
00:25:45,759 --> 00:25:48,319
I think it was the Peach Tree, was the Pioneer.

536
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:50,559
There's a couple of us up there, and that's where

537
00:25:50,599 --> 00:25:53,759
we'd all sort of agreed to meet afterwards, so we

538
00:25:53,799 --> 00:25:56,599
went up there and yeah, then obviously Gowy had his

539
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,440
crew and he had to get them there somehow, and

540
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,839
that's where they hijacked the US. A couple of stories there,

541
00:26:01,839 --> 00:26:06,480
but had great celebrations and again then one of the

542
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,039
best parts of it was then doing the sort of

543
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,240
the fan day where we all got dressed up as

544
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,440
gangsters and that. But we gave back to the to

545
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,119
the crowd over there, and I sort of remember Helen,

546
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,160
one of the staff members because it was starting to

547
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,640
get bloody hot, and obviously we've been out on the

548
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,319
drink all night, so there wasn't enough water going around.

549
00:26:23,319 --> 00:26:25,559
But she ended up sort of hiding me in an

550
00:26:25,599 --> 00:26:28,079
open and dragged me back around because I actually went

551
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:31,039
over to the Eastern steand to do that sort of side.

552
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,920
And yeah, so there's some good memories around that. But

553
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,519
I'm sure the boys from from this era that have

554
00:26:36,599 --> 00:26:38,119
sort of just won for in a row, we have

555
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,200
some pretty good stories to tell as well.

556
00:26:40,519 --> 00:26:41,799
Speaker 3: Have you watched the game back in fall?

557
00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:46,519
Speaker 2: No, not really. I think I know we've what's on

558
00:26:46,599 --> 00:26:48,559
the phone and Facebook and all that those days. It

559
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,680
wasn't as big back in our days twenty years ago,

560
00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:56,400
so I know that SAT's when and made a thousand

561
00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,599
copies of the game and gave everyone well one again

562
00:27:00,599 --> 00:27:03,240
and then just had hiss on repeat for that one

563
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,240
that one minute, but never watched it in full. But

564
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,440
there's enough clips on YouTube and that that do a

565
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,039
really good summary of the game, and obviously they all

566
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,839
sort of start popping up around the grand final times

567
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,720
and it's still sort of gives you some shivers when

568
00:27:17,759 --> 00:27:20,440
you actually go back and watch it, and especially you

569
00:27:20,519 --> 00:27:22,440
watch that first hit up that Marty Lane took and

570
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:24,960
you got the absolute shit bashed out of him that

571
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,400
first that first hit and kept going. So it still

572
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:29,559
gives them some good memories.

573
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,160
Speaker 3: Two thousand and four pretty good premiership defense.

574
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,759
Speaker 1: Obviously went out in the Premium Final, but then things

575
00:27:35,839 --> 00:27:39,039
start to fall away a little bit. So what happened

576
00:27:39,079 --> 00:27:41,640
in that mid two thousands period, because it was a

577
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,599
you know, it was only two years sort of after

578
00:27:44,799 --> 00:27:46,599
the premiership they started the fall out.

579
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 3: Pini fell out of the eighth for a while.

580
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, had you said two thousand and four, if Reese

581
00:27:50,839 --> 00:27:53,680
didn't get zimbinned a couple of minutes to go, I

582
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,839
think we win that we beat the Bulldogs in then

583
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,640
minal semi and I reckon we go on and win

584
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,000
and go back to back. But that sort of shows

585
00:28:01,039 --> 00:28:05,759
that sliding door moment. Look, I just think, and this

586
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:10,799
is personally, I don't think the club was capable of

587
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,200
handling the success of two thousand and three. And I

588
00:28:14,279 --> 00:28:17,079
don't say that in any disrespect to the people that

589
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,400
were the club, but there were a lot of young

590
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,279
players that were never going to leave Penrith that their

591
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:24,480
managers did a great job for them, and we had

592
00:28:24,519 --> 00:28:29,920
an inexperienced admin staff that basically stuff the salary cap up.

593
00:28:30,039 --> 00:28:32,240
So you sort of look at the players that were

594
00:28:32,279 --> 00:28:37,640
able to bring in afterwards, and I shine a beacon

595
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:41,559
on Amos Roberts. Now he came there, he would end

596
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,279
up being the top try scorer, But did he stay

597
00:28:45,359 --> 00:28:47,359
for more than one year? No, because he was basically

598
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,440
on a basic contract and we could never offer him

599
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,039
anything else. So we were really top heavy with the

600
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,240
cash that we sort of spent on the salary cap,

601
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,279
and it just meant that we couldn't sort of replace

602
00:28:57,799 --> 00:29:01,680
and turn over some players to keep that sort of going.

603
00:29:04,599 --> 00:29:06,359
I don't think there was sort of know that their

604
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:12,240
success wasn't lost because of the player's drive, but all

605
00:29:12,279 --> 00:29:14,920
the good sides, you see that they do turn a

606
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,559
couple of players over every year because you need to

607
00:29:17,599 --> 00:29:20,079
sort of keep things sort of freshen that. And obviously

608
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,799
then the pressure was then put back on Langy And

609
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:28,160
obviously we know what sort of happened there, the new

610
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,920
age of made La coming in. Obviously that's another part

611
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:36,160
of my story. I suppose there's a lot of misinformation

612
00:29:36,319 --> 00:29:40,240
or I'm gonna say lies that was thrown around about

613
00:29:40,319 --> 00:29:43,200
me and the role that I played there. I was

614
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,119
always a team member and I will refute anything that

615
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,880
I ever did they was in the best interest of

616
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,160
the team. And then yeah, I mean that was the

617
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:55,799
end of it. And I don't think what They didn't

618
00:29:55,839 --> 00:29:58,440
get back to the semifinals till after i'd sort of left,

619
00:29:58,519 --> 00:30:00,359
and that was when I sort of gone the Saint

620
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:05,200
George And I think was it so prior to that?

621
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,039
Speaker 1: Obviously you mentioned about John lang So that was a

622
00:30:07,799 --> 00:30:11,200
difficult period. It was difficult to see a coach, coach go.

623
00:30:12,759 --> 00:30:14,400
How did all that unfold from player.

624
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,599
Speaker 2: Perspective, Yeah, I don't know that. I didn't I didn't

625
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,640
get that. That wasn't me. Okay, that wasn't sort of.

626
00:30:21,799 --> 00:30:24,319
I was never involved in any of that sort of

627
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,880
political part of it. I was there. To me, football

628
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:29,279
was a job. It was a job that I loved

629
00:30:29,359 --> 00:30:32,680
to do. Obviously, from a club's point of view, we

630
00:30:32,799 --> 00:30:34,680
had a CEO at that sort of stage that thought

631
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,319
it was time for change again. In Langy's defense, he

632
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,279
was an old school coach, you know, and it's probably

633
00:30:42,599 --> 00:30:45,200
some of the players didn't think that he was keeping

634
00:30:45,279 --> 00:30:47,880
up with the times. But Langy told you the truth,

635
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:50,839
and that was the one thing that I always respected

636
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:52,799
about Langy. If he if he had a shit game,

637
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:54,880
he told you he didn't stead of try and buter

638
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,839
your up and say you need to do better or whatever.

639
00:30:57,079 --> 00:30:59,319
It was pretty much black and white. And maybe it

640
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,119
was that changing in the guard in terms of the players,

641
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,000
the young blokes coming through that you had never sort of,

642
00:31:06,079 --> 00:31:09,200
I suppose, had anything outside football, that football bubble, that

643
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,200
maybe that wasn't the way that the new era of

644
00:31:13,319 --> 00:31:15,599
player could be handled. They needed to be sort of

645
00:31:16,039 --> 00:31:19,400
cuddled a little bit more so. But yeah, Laney leaving.

646
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,920
I had never had sort of any idea or any

647
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,720
sort of role or input in that sort of stuff.

648
00:31:24,759 --> 00:31:29,359
So it was disappointing. I was obviously, I had a

649
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,039
meeting with Matt Elliott before him. I was coming off contract,

650
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:38,119
and I decided that I'd stay his thoughts and what

651
00:31:38,279 --> 00:31:42,480
he was sort of sold. I thought it was great,

652
00:31:42,599 --> 00:31:45,039
was going to get us back on track. And I

653
00:31:45,119 --> 00:31:46,880
mean he came down to I was working sort of

654
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,920
down at Camden obviously, I was working as a financial

655
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,279
planner in my business at that stage as well, and

656
00:31:52,519 --> 00:31:54,559
I said, well, based on what you've sort of said,

657
00:31:55,359 --> 00:31:58,680
I'm happy to commit which I did, but sort of

658
00:31:58,759 --> 00:32:01,759
what I suppose what train expired after that wasn't the

659
00:32:01,799 --> 00:32:03,599
same story that was told.

660
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's plenty of man Elliot stories around in Penrith, like, yes,

661
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,200
but from your perspective, like, how did it how does

662
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,880
it all end it at Penrith from your perspective? And

663
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,319
then I guess the breakdown of the relationship with Matt.

664
00:32:14,599 --> 00:32:16,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, I think because I was seen as

665
00:32:16,799 --> 00:32:20,039
a team leader, there was an underlying current that they

666
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:21,839
thought that I was sort of trying to under me

667
00:32:22,119 --> 00:32:24,440
undermine what was sort of going on, which is further

668
00:32:24,519 --> 00:32:26,799
from the truth. We had obviously a lot of young

669
00:32:27,559 --> 00:32:30,559
Islander boys sort of coming through and they're not obviously

670
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,519
really open to being talking to authority. So it was

671
00:32:33,559 --> 00:32:37,559
Blake's Loots, myself and Big T, and we had Frankie

672
00:32:37,559 --> 00:32:39,720
Pritchard was a young up and comer and that point

673
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,480
of he was never going to be talking to the

674
00:32:42,559 --> 00:32:44,200
coach the way that he needed to do, So they

675
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:45,720
sort of all came to me, and I was just

676
00:32:45,799 --> 00:32:48,880
passing that sort of feedback through the way that we

677
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,039
were training. Some of the boys didn't believe that we

678
00:32:53,119 --> 00:32:56,200
were sort of actually being coached to the benefit of

679
00:32:56,319 --> 00:32:58,519
the skill set of the side. We were a big

680
00:32:58,599 --> 00:33:01,559
bunch of forwards and first off season we had blokes

681
00:33:02,079 --> 00:33:06,680
they dropping ten kilos and with the coaching what we

682
00:33:06,759 --> 00:33:10,400
had to do. We were eating bluddy tuna and rice.

683
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,720
You had a fifteen minut winter tuna and rice and

684
00:33:13,799 --> 00:33:15,640
then go out and get flogged for another two hours

685
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:17,640
in the middle of the summer. The heat and blakes

686
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,160
were just sort of dropping weight, like ridiculous. And then

687
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,279
we tried to play the same level of game what

688
00:33:23,359 --> 00:33:27,279
we did, which if you're ten kilos lighter, it doesn't work.

689
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:33,640
But again we tried to make it work again. Whether

690
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,039
it's true or not, I thought I was a bit

691
00:33:35,079 --> 00:33:38,039
of a scapegoat. Obviously, pauli Aton came onto the scene

692
00:33:38,039 --> 00:33:39,759
at that sort of stage, so I got dropped back

693
00:33:39,799 --> 00:33:43,839
to Reserved Graide for quite a while there. They didn't

694
00:33:43,839 --> 00:33:46,079
win a game without me, and I got sort of,

695
00:33:46,119 --> 00:33:50,599
I suppose, brought back up. There were some apologies by

696
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,000
some key people that the following year from the staff,

697
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,559
but then at the end of the day it was

698
00:33:57,640 --> 00:33:58,279
time to move on.

699
00:33:59,000 --> 00:33:59,559
Speaker 3: I wanted to.

700
00:33:59,559 --> 00:34:03,039
Speaker 2: Stay with but it obviously wasn't just a working relationship,

701
00:34:03,119 --> 00:34:05,519
and I suppose the most disappointing thing is that there

702
00:34:05,559 --> 00:34:07,559
was a lot of people that had sort of come

703
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,199
through and got into high places in the Penrith organization

704
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,519
at that stage that had called on me for many

705
00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:17,400
years to do it, to do a job with the

706
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,639
players off the field, etc. And when I went to

707
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,800
speak to some of those people, it was like that

708
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,880
loyalty had been pretty much that that door had been shut.

709
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,280
So that was probably the more disappointing thing that I

710
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,159
thought that the people that I respected and were loyal to,

711
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,199
I don't think it was sort of shown back to

712
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:38,039
me the same way. But at that sort of point,

713
00:34:38,079 --> 00:34:40,880
I'd realized that rugby league was it was a business,

714
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,840
and they were doing what they what they thought. But

715
00:34:44,119 --> 00:34:46,199
I suppose I get a bit of the last laugh

716
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,960
by saying that Penrith never won another premiership without me

717
00:34:50,039 --> 00:34:51,840
not there until this sort of new era.

718
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:55,559
Speaker 1: Rugular is a business, and it's a business that comes

719
00:34:55,599 --> 00:34:58,159
full circle. Because you were, you know, with Wayne Bennett

720
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,199
at the Dragons in in two thousand and nine, So

721
00:35:02,199 --> 00:35:04,679
had you spoken a way much in the ensuing years

722
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,440
from in the lead.

723
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,800
Speaker 2: Up to that, Well, a little story that wasn't wasn't

724
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,079
known that after we won the Grand Final, I'd actually

725
00:35:11,079 --> 00:35:14,239
agreed to go back to Brisbane. One personally wrung me

726
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,239
up and basically gave me exactly what I had asked for,

727
00:35:18,039 --> 00:35:20,360
and I'd agreed to go back. So I had to

728
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,440
play the two thousand and four season out. Yeah, so

729
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,239
I verbally had agreed, and so family were ready to

730
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,880
sort of pack up, and then I remember we played

731
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,440
I played Test match I think it was that year

732
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,840
against the Kiwis, I think it was, and then we

733
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,039
end up playing Brisbane up there earlier in the year

734
00:35:42,039 --> 00:35:42,960
as well, I think it was.

735
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 3: I know it was.

736
00:35:45,199 --> 00:35:46,639
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a test match, so most of our

737
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,360
players obviously to Joey, Frankie Pritchard, a lot of those

738
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,480
boys that sort of played for New Zealand. And then

739
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,079
the same week we went up to Brisbane and it

740
00:35:55,199 --> 00:35:57,719
was stinking hot and we got our asses handed to

741
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,480
us on a plate. And after that game, so the

742
00:36:01,559 --> 00:36:04,239
following week Wayne sort of rang up and he then

743
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,320
renigged on the deal and I went, I've already told

744
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:10,480
Penrith that I'm sort of leaving and blah blah blah,

745
00:36:10,559 --> 00:36:12,360
and my family.

746
00:36:12,159 --> 00:36:12,800
Speaker 3: Is ready to move.

747
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,280
Speaker 2: And he just said, oh, i'll get back to you.

748
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:16,880
Leave it with me for a week and I'll get

749
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:21,119
back to you. And that week was longer and longer

750
00:36:21,159 --> 00:36:24,719
and longer and never eventuated. Eventually I had to sort

751
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:29,119
of going higher another manager, and yeah, the deal, the

752
00:36:29,199 --> 00:36:31,840
deal was sort of dropped and I ended up that

753
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:33,639
was I suppose where I end up sort of staying

754
00:36:33,639 --> 00:36:38,280
with with Penrith. So that was sort of Wayne Mark too. Yes,

755
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,480
then I sort of I actually just heard, and I

756
00:36:41,519 --> 00:36:43,239
don't know how if it was on the news or

757
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,679
on the grape vine, that he was actually going down

758
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,119
the Saint George. I knew when I left Penrith that,

759
00:36:48,679 --> 00:36:50,480
you know, I still had a couple of good years

760
00:36:50,559 --> 00:36:52,800
left in me. I wanted to keep playing footy, but

761
00:36:53,079 --> 00:36:55,280
I didn't want to go over and play for the

762
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:59,360
Roosters or anything like that. And he was looking for

763
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,599
some blokes obviously that knew that knew his style. Obviously

764
00:37:02,679 --> 00:37:05,079
Wendel was there the year before before he got there,

765
00:37:06,039 --> 00:37:07,480
and he sort of got a couple of blokes that

766
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,519
I thought that he could be sort of a leadership.

767
00:37:10,679 --> 00:37:13,719
So agreed to go down there for two years and

768
00:37:14,599 --> 00:37:16,559
well started off well, but I did want to leave Penrith,

769
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,079
so I sort of committed to going down there, but

770
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,079
part of the deal was that I didn't have to

771
00:37:22,159 --> 00:37:24,800
sort of travel back down because obviously they were based

772
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,719
at Wollongong at that stage. Now after the game for rehab,

773
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,519
et cetera, now he knew that I was professional enough

774
00:37:30,559 --> 00:37:33,039
to do my own stuff back up here, which I was.

775
00:37:33,159 --> 00:37:33,639
Speaker 3: But then.

776
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:40,400
Speaker 2: Again, lo and behold, when you're not there, other people

777
00:37:40,519 --> 00:37:43,079
get to sort of tell their visions of stories and

778
00:37:43,119 --> 00:37:47,039
what happened on the field, which is different to what

779
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,199
I would have sort of said. And yeah, I was

780
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:55,440
sort of, I suppose, without notice, dropped sort of after

781
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:57,559
I think it must have been ten games that that year.

782
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:00,440
And yeah, it wasn't until later on that I sort

783
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,280
of found out what was sort of being said in

784
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:06,039
team meetings when I wasn't there. So that was sort of,

785
00:38:06,039 --> 00:38:07,519
I suppose, a lesson for me. It was the first

786
00:38:07,559 --> 00:38:10,079
time I'd ever played for a side that I wasn't

787
00:38:10,159 --> 00:38:13,880
living in five or ten minutes from the training an.

788
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:14,840
Speaker 3: Outsider in that I did.

789
00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:17,719
Speaker 2: I did, And it was a different culture down there. Okay,

790
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:21,519
so like there's a lot of blokes that have never

791
00:38:21,679 --> 00:38:24,719
been outside football, so it was a bit like being

792
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,119
naming year twelve, and you know, there's the popular group

793
00:38:28,159 --> 00:38:30,880
and then there was the other blokes that decided they'd

794
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,039
pick on throughout the different parts. And I just of

795
00:38:34,079 --> 00:38:36,119
remember that this sort of group of players tried to

796
00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:38,760
play some pranks in that on me, and I sort

797
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,559
of just pretty much in blood attitude, said, boys, I'm

798
00:38:42,599 --> 00:38:45,079
fucking thirty two years old, I'm not here to I'm

799
00:38:45,119 --> 00:38:49,039
not a fucking schoolboy, so just f off and leave

800
00:38:49,079 --> 00:38:51,000
me alone and go and pick on someone else because

801
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:57,159
we're mature many So whether that whether that played a

802
00:38:57,239 --> 00:39:00,280
part in it, I don't know, But again actually joyed

803
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,519
the rest of that year because I went back and

804
00:39:03,599 --> 00:39:06,519
played a lot of games with shel Harbor, which again

805
00:39:06,639 --> 00:39:09,119
was another twenty five minutes down the road, so the

806
00:39:09,199 --> 00:39:13,239
travel was pretty hectic, but it actually got me back

807
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:15,559
to sort of grassroots of where you started playing footy.

808
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,679
So there's a lot of young blokes back there that

809
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,280
again the idea that they wanted to use Shell Harbor

810
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,000
to potentially get a contract with Saint George the next year.

811
00:39:25,119 --> 00:39:29,159
So I did actually enjoy joy my time down there

812
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,599
just playing football. I have to worry about politics and

813
00:39:32,639 --> 00:39:36,960
all that sort of that stuff. And yeah, we played

814
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,599
some good games and probably had one of my last

815
00:39:39,639 --> 00:39:42,280
fights on the field down there, and there was myself

816
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:46,159
and Maddie Head and again he was a great player

817
00:39:46,199 --> 00:39:49,119
that probably just I should have should have done a

818
00:39:49,119 --> 00:39:51,840
lot more, but his attitude wasn't there. But again the

819
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:57,360
following year, again was resigned playing for Shell Harbor for

820
00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,159
the rest of the year, and I don't know, Wayne

821
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,960
tried to retire me. I said, well, that's fine, mate,

822
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,000
and I've got a contract for next year, so pay

823
00:40:05,079 --> 00:40:07,519
that money out and we'll be done. And he wouldn't

824
00:40:07,519 --> 00:40:09,400
do it. So I remember sort of sitting in the

825
00:40:09,519 --> 00:40:11,119
in the car park and I was picking the kids

826
00:40:11,199 --> 00:40:15,280
up from school, just waiting, and he called again. I said, okay,

827
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:16,880
so what are we doing. Are you paying me out

828
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,360
or not? And my pre season was going to start

829
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,599
sort of the following week, and he went, I'll see

830
00:40:21,639 --> 00:40:24,280
you next Monday, seven o'clock or whatever it was, and

831
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,840
I went, day, fair enough, So I'm playing Shell Harbor

832
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:29,519
for the year. That that's fine. And then the first

833
00:40:29,599 --> 00:40:35,159
game was it Feeny breaks his ankle and I think

834
00:40:35,199 --> 00:40:37,079
they played PARAMOUNTA. So I'm sort of sitting in the

835
00:40:37,119 --> 00:40:39,400
stand and I was supposed to play Shell Harbor the

836
00:40:39,519 --> 00:40:42,719
next day and he breaks his ankle, and basically after

837
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,599
the game, Wayne pulls me aside and said, mate, you're

838
00:40:44,599 --> 00:40:46,440
not not playing tomorrow. And I went, mate, if just

839
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,440
trained all off season and I want to play, and

840
00:40:49,559 --> 00:40:51,199
he said no. So I had to drive down the

841
00:40:51,199 --> 00:40:54,199
Woollongong and do a flog session because I wasn't playing

842
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:56,679
that work, and then pretty much played the rest of

843
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:00,719
the year, obviously getting us close to the semis. And

844
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:03,639
I suppose Wayne, what are we up to?

845
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,400
Speaker 3: Wayne? Mark three by this time? As well? You get

846
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:07,960
to play a th round.

847
00:41:08,159 --> 00:41:09,719
Speaker 2: I've played with a three hundred games. So that was

848
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:13,360
against Gold Coast up on the Gold Coast, so that

849
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:17,960
was good. And again the Dragons recognized that. So yeah,

850
00:41:18,119 --> 00:41:20,800
that was that was a feat. I suppose looking back

851
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,320
in the Creer, I think, okay, I spent half a

852
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,280
season with Penrith playing reserve grade. I pretty much spent

853
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:29,920
another two thirds of a season Saint George playing reserve grade.

854
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:33,880
I probably could have got three fifty if everything went

855
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,760
went to plan, but that's life. But yeah, you got

856
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,199
that three hundred game. And then again Fernie had actually

857
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:43,920
sort of rehabbed a lot quicker than what they thought.

858
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:45,239
He thought he'd beat out for the sort of the

859
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:47,440
rest of the season, and Wayne sort of pulled me

860
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:52,199
aside and said, Jamie's coming back in the next couple

861
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:53,840
of weeks. And it happened to be that sort of

862
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:55,719
week and he said, but now I'm going to sort

863
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,119
of keep you at starting hooker, and it's probably we're

864
00:41:59,159 --> 00:42:02,880
probably going to drop Dean Young out of the seventeen.

865
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,719
I thought that's a big call because obviously Albert his

866
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:09,239
dad was at that stage I will say, sort of

867
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,760
an assistant sort of coach sort of role, and obviously

868
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:17,199
Dina Laker junior and that I okay, well that's your call. Great, thanks,

869
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,119
And then that was on the Monday, and he named

870
00:42:20,159 --> 00:42:23,119
the team I think on a Wednesday and get in

871
00:42:23,199 --> 00:42:25,679
there and I'm not even in the squad. So I've

872
00:42:25,679 --> 00:42:27,320
gone from me and told that I was starting hooker,

873
00:42:28,599 --> 00:42:33,800
not even in the top eighty. It's like dumbfounded, and

874
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,880
never had another conversation about it. Since Australian's going to

875
00:42:38,039 --> 00:42:40,480
win the camp. They do. Yeah, so I think I

876
00:42:40,559 --> 00:42:42,400
got maybe one more game out of that.

877
00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:44,039
Speaker 1: So you wouldn't have you wouldn't have known when you

878
00:42:44,159 --> 00:42:46,199
last got you played your last game, you didn't know

879
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:47,400
it was your last game exactly.

880
00:42:47,559 --> 00:42:51,360
Speaker 2: So I think Dina got sick one game. It might

881
00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:53,280
have been against Brisbane or something, and I ended up

882
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:55,960
getting pulled in at the last minute, and I think

883
00:42:56,039 --> 00:42:58,079
that might have been my last game. I'm not quite sure,

884
00:42:58,159 --> 00:43:00,320
but then it was. I suppose it was just the

885
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,880
way that everything was handled. Again, I was dirty about that.

886
00:43:04,159 --> 00:43:08,679
Let's let's be facing it. I did respect Wayne, but

887
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,480
you know, at that point, after sort of two other

888
00:43:11,559 --> 00:43:15,480
times to be lied to, and then the man, the

889
00:43:15,599 --> 00:43:18,840
legend of Wayne Bedden it's so called, doesn't have the

890
00:43:19,599 --> 00:43:21,480
respect to me of all the sort of years that

891
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,280
we'd played under him to come up and say, man,

892
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:28,039
I've changed my mind and this is the reason why. Yeah,

893
00:43:28,079 --> 00:43:33,079
that was that was pretty hard to take. So then

894
00:43:33,119 --> 00:43:37,400
throughout the whole sort of, I suppose the whole semi final,

895
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:41,559
it felt like Wayne was always sort of watching over

896
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:43,280
me to make sure that I wasn't going to try

897
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,800
and take Fennie or someone else out to get a start.

898
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:49,559
And that's that's not me, but that's the persona that

899
00:43:49,679 --> 00:43:51,840
he gave me. And I remember after they won the

900
00:43:52,639 --> 00:43:54,840
to get into the Grand Final, and he got all

901
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:59,760
US X play X players, but you know that outside

902
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:01,920
that the squad together and basically said, you know, this

903
00:44:02,119 --> 00:44:04,400
is this is this is the week that that sort

904
00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:06,920
of counts, et cetera. And the focus is on the

905
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:09,079
blokes that are in the starting seventeen. Now you've got

906
00:44:09,119 --> 00:44:11,800
to do everything you need to do to support them,

907
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,280
et cetera. Blah blah. And it's about them, not not

908
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,559
about you guys. And you like turn and look look

909
00:44:16,639 --> 00:44:18,960
me dead in the eye, and I went, oh, mate,

910
00:44:19,119 --> 00:44:22,320
that speech was all about me. It wasn't anyone else,

911
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:23,599
because there was no one else sort of that was

912
00:44:23,639 --> 00:44:25,960
going to get into the starting side or even into

913
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,000
that squad from there. Again, I just thought made that's

914
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:33,280
sort of disrespectful. And I end up actually being segregated

915
00:44:33,679 --> 00:44:36,639
for that whole Grand Final week. I was basically sent

916
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:39,440
to all the sponsors of events, et cetera, while the

917
00:44:39,559 --> 00:44:42,519
rest of the extended squad got to stay with the players.

918
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,119
They went onto a couple of cruiseres and all that

919
00:44:45,199 --> 00:44:49,599
sort of stuff. And I suppose that that whole couple

920
00:44:49,639 --> 00:44:52,679
of weeks and the way it sort of finished, yeah,

921
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:56,360
I can't say that I can sort of respect way

922
00:44:56,440 --> 00:45:00,320
enough after that, and I didn't have you much to

923
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:04,320
do with him, since look, I broke the bread obviously.

924
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:06,480
You know, we run the foundation here and again it

925
00:45:06,519 --> 00:45:08,599
took me a long long time, a number of years,

926
00:45:09,599 --> 00:45:14,559
and we basically sort of we ran a grand final breakfast.

927
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:16,679
He was a guest, and he was a guest, so

928
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:21,440
i'd serve brushed everything the side and went, okay, lot,

929
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:24,320
I'm gonna ask him if you'll come down and support us.

930
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,599
This will this will be the moment of truth. He

931
00:45:26,679 --> 00:45:28,519
took the phone call and he said, yep, as long

932
00:45:28,599 --> 00:45:31,519
as you fly me down, fly me back. And I said, well,

933
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:33,639
of course we're not going to. I'm not gonna make

934
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:36,760
you pay for your own trip. And that I thought, okay,

935
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:38,880
well that's a good start. And I went to the

936
00:45:39,039 --> 00:45:41,239
to the airport because again we're trying to save all

937
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:42,960
all the money we came for the foundation. So I

938
00:45:43,039 --> 00:45:46,440
actually went to the airport picked him up. As soon

939
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:48,559
as you got into carriest A Low, I had two

940
00:45:48,639 --> 00:45:50,719
GB on on the radio and he said, what are

941
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,079
you looking? Where are you listening to these? Which for

942
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:56,079
I went, well, because they do a good finance report,

943
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,440
and from that point your phones went in and he

944
00:45:59,559 --> 00:46:01,800
was just on the phone talking for the whole trip.

945
00:46:02,639 --> 00:46:04,599
And we had at sort of Saint Mary's Leeds Club,

946
00:46:04,679 --> 00:46:07,000
So that whole trip he basically didn't say a word

947
00:46:07,079 --> 00:46:09,599
to me. We got in there and he knew. He

948
00:46:09,679 --> 00:46:15,960
sort of roll'd we have I'm trying to think Tim Gilbert,

949
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,679
I think was our was our MC And he sort

950
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:20,159
of come up to me and he said, oh, preday, like,

951
00:46:20,199 --> 00:46:23,840
no Wayne here obviously know your history, etc. And I went, yeah, yeah,

952
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:26,480
And he said, do you think he'll mind if I

953
00:46:26,519 --> 00:46:30,599
sort of bring up it that your relationship and blah blah.

954
00:46:30,679 --> 00:46:34,920
Is it choke? And I went, yeah, surely things are

955
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,199
over because he's sort of here and blah blah blah.

956
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:38,320
And I said, be able to light in the room

957
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,159
up and hopefully get him to laugh, you know, he

958
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,039
doesn't laugh much. But well, that was the wrong decision.

959
00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:46,559
He took it completely the wrong way and basically spent

960
00:46:46,639 --> 00:46:50,840
the rest of the morning basically just slinging shit about

961
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:52,440
me and that it was time for me to retire

962
00:46:52,519 --> 00:46:54,440
and I know he did me a favor and all

963
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:56,440
this sort of stuff, and then talking about parenting and

964
00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:58,559
all that, and I don't think we spoke about the

965
00:46:58,679 --> 00:47:01,440
game at all. And at that stage, name he was

966
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,880
obviously still married to his wife Trish. I knew that

967
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:07,079
he didn't drink, but Trish liked a nice bottle of wine,

968
00:47:07,119 --> 00:47:10,039
and we'd had some bottles of wine sort of donated

969
00:47:10,079 --> 00:47:11,960
to us for our guests, and I sort of gave

970
00:47:12,039 --> 00:47:14,719
that to him, and so I said thanks, even after

971
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:19,440
everything that he sort of set up on stage about me, thanks,

972
00:47:19,519 --> 00:47:21,400
and I know you don't drink, but no, he's a

973
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,719
bottle of wine for Trish, and he sort of took it,

974
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,239
and then I think someone asked for a photograph or something,

975
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,039
and he put it down, and then he basically just

976
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:29,920
walked out.

977
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,239
Speaker 3: Because did you drive him back to the airport.

978
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,679
Speaker 2: No, I'd arranged to have a silver was it silver

979
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:40,199
taxi or whatever at that stage, so he said, where's

980
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:42,679
my taxi? I said it'll be waiting out the front

981
00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:44,199
for you, and he just left. He left the bottle

982
00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:47,840
of wine there, didn't say goodbye sort of anything. And

983
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:50,119
then I get a phone call probably about twenty minutes later,

984
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:53,199
after he's obviously gone and it's way and again thinking okay,

985
00:47:53,199 --> 00:47:55,679
well maybe he's ringing up to apologize, or he wants

986
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:58,559
wine or something, already wants his wine. Yeah, and it

987
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:02,440
was have you paid this blow? I said what he said,

988
00:48:02,639 --> 00:48:04,440
have you paid this bloke? Like he wants his payment?

989
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,840
And I said, oh no, he's he's already been paid.

990
00:48:07,079 --> 00:48:10,039
He went thanks and hung up, and that was that's

991
00:48:10,039 --> 00:48:15,119
the last time I've spoken away. So I haven't put that.

992
00:48:15,679 --> 00:48:18,599
Speaker 3: There's been a lot chapters of the other way there is.

993
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,119
Speaker 2: And look, I'm not going to say I'm these this

994
00:48:22,199 --> 00:48:24,880
personally get along with. I know when Rich I first

995
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:28,599
come to the Panthers, he tried to sort of joke

996
00:48:28,679 --> 00:48:30,679
with me and all that sort of stuff. And again,

997
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,119
at that point in time, to me, as I said,

998
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:36,840
Rugby League was how I support my family. It was

999
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,960
my job, it was my business. Yeah, you know, I

1000
00:48:40,119 --> 00:48:45,280
wasn't there to try and make people feel better and

1001
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:48,199
that about about their roles like Rich did his role

1002
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:50,840
to do what my roles are played to do. And

1003
00:48:51,079 --> 00:48:54,320
you know, obviously my life has been sort of up

1004
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:57,440
and down with many things due to our kids with

1005
00:48:57,519 --> 00:49:00,599
autism and all that sort of stuff. So it's I'm

1006
00:49:00,639 --> 00:49:03,119
probably not the easiest person to get on with and

1007
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:06,079
I can be blunt at times, but you know, I

1008
00:49:06,199 --> 00:49:07,760
always put my hand on my heart and say that

1009
00:49:09,639 --> 00:49:12,079
what I say is the truth, and I don't sort

1010
00:49:12,079 --> 00:49:15,559
of I don't back away from that. So and again,

1011
00:49:15,639 --> 00:49:19,679
whether that's Wayne and I, I don't know. I wasn't

1012
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:22,440
one of the players that I needed a father figure.

1013
00:49:22,519 --> 00:49:25,760
Four your Darius boys, your lockers and lockers and that

1014
00:49:26,079 --> 00:49:29,000
that Wayne sort of took them on his own kids

1015
00:49:29,039 --> 00:49:31,639
per se. And I made that sort of clear when

1016
00:49:31,679 --> 00:49:33,800
I got to Brisbane. It was like, well, I'm here

1017
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:37,440
to play footy, Wayne, and you know I've got a dad.

1018
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,239
I'm here to play football, so I don't need that.

1019
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,800
And whether that was I don't know that's the way

1020
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:45,679
he took it. But again, I suppose I got through

1021
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:50,239
my times with Wayne at Brisbane because Craig Bellamy was there.

1022
00:49:51,039 --> 00:49:53,079
I had Craig Bellamy as an under twenty one coach

1023
00:49:53,119 --> 00:49:55,920
down at Canberra and I had a great relationship with him.

1024
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:59,679
And actually Craig actually had a lot of the reason

1025
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:02,639
for them success while Brisbane was up there when he

1026
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,239
was there, and I found it a lot easier to

1027
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:07,719
talk to Craig, and Craig was sort of meant to

1028
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,079
me and then obviously have the discussions with Wayne as needed.

1029
00:50:11,159 --> 00:50:13,960
So I never actually felt a real good comfort to

1030
00:50:14,039 --> 00:50:16,239
talk to Wayne. And again I was only a young

1031
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:18,960
blake when I was up up in Brisbane, different times

1032
00:50:19,039 --> 00:50:21,800
in Saint George, and that's where I thought the respect

1033
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:25,519
wasn't sort of shown. But unfortunately there's many a story

1034
00:50:25,599 --> 00:50:28,639
that other players that not.

1035
00:50:28,679 --> 00:50:29,599
Speaker 3: The first and not the last.

1036
00:50:29,679 --> 00:50:33,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could tell you about that as well. But

1037
00:50:33,679 --> 00:50:36,840
he's a great coach and his record shows it. But

1038
00:50:37,599 --> 00:50:40,320
probably the other side and now I've been a great man.

1039
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:43,199
I'll leave that, leave that one alone.

1040
00:50:43,119 --> 00:50:45,800
Speaker 1: Before we wrap up. A couple of quick things you mentioned.

1041
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:48,239
Just started financial planning while you were still playing. That's

1042
00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:51,280
what you're doing these days? How's business?

1043
00:50:53,119 --> 00:50:58,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, plenty on, So emerged sort of my sort of

1044
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:01,599
been a financial planner for twenty years now. So I

1045
00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:03,800
did start while I was playing and built my sort

1046
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,320
of business, and I sort of merged a business a

1047
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:08,519
couple of years ago into a bigger place where I'm

1048
00:51:08,519 --> 00:51:13,239
still now invest Blues, So still working there as a

1049
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:18,320
financial planner. The foundation's still still in place. When we

1050
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,360
start that sort of two thousand and I want to

1051
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:22,440
say two thousand and four two thousand.

1052
00:51:22,119 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 1: And five, I was going to mention the foundation, your

1053
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,639
son Cooper gets an autism diagnosis, which probably opens your eyes,

1054
00:51:27,639 --> 00:51:31,320
I guess to that world and the assistance it's needed.

1055
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:34,679
And Luke Pretzs Foundation starts and still around today doing

1056
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:35,159
great things.

1057
00:51:35,679 --> 00:51:38,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are, and we've been through some ups and downs.

1058
00:51:39,559 --> 00:51:42,719
It's some pretty hard times for the charities at the moment.

1059
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,639
So obviously businesses are doing it tough, and when businesses

1060
00:51:45,679 --> 00:51:49,320
are doing it tough, that usually partner with charities. Then know,

1061
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:51,519
the charities sort of start to do it tough. But

1062
00:51:51,599 --> 00:51:55,000
we sort of we got through COVID, which I don't

1063
00:51:55,039 --> 00:51:57,280
know how to be honest, but we managed to sort

1064
00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:00,280
of stay afloat through COVID, which is hard when business

1065
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:04,280
is based off seeing face to face clients. And we're

1066
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:07,159
still around. Say whether we sort of pivot at some

1067
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:08,880
point in time and in the future, I don't know.

1068
00:52:09,559 --> 00:52:12,199
Our model was probably before its time, and now a

1069
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:14,039
lot of the private sector has sort of taken on

1070
00:52:14,119 --> 00:52:16,719
that model. And I suppose when you're driving to make

1071
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:21,039
a profit as opposed to a non for profit, it

1072
00:52:21,159 --> 00:52:24,639
sort of can be hard to compete. But I suppose

1073
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:27,400
life has got different for us. Now I know my

1074
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,840
wife is being diagnosed. It's been autistic as well. She's

1075
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:36,840
got some mental health challenges. Our eldest has been diagnosed

1076
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,159
as well, and now youngest has been diagnosed as well,

1077
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:42,800
so there's a lot of challenges. My youngest is now

1078
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,920
twenty one, so we're sort of moved into that next

1079
00:52:46,039 --> 00:52:50,480
phase of life is adulthood, and it's been probably a

1080
00:52:50,559 --> 00:52:53,400
pretty hard twenty four months. We've been battling against the

1081
00:52:53,519 --> 00:52:58,159
ends to get proper support for Cooper. He's a young

1082
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:04,599
adult and it was deemed capable of living independently without

1083
00:53:04,639 --> 00:53:08,199
any support. Well you've sort of met Cooper, probably not recently,

1084
00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:11,199
but all the people that know Cooper is he needs

1085
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:14,000
twenty four to seven care. So we've been we basically

1086
00:53:14,039 --> 00:53:17,719
spent the last twenty months at the Appeals Tribunal fighting

1087
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:21,039
for proper funding for Cooper to be able to sort

1088
00:53:21,039 --> 00:53:23,599
of move out into an independent home but be supported.

1089
00:53:24,119 --> 00:53:26,599
And sort of last week we finally sort of got

1090
00:53:26,639 --> 00:53:28,639
an agreement and they gave us what we asked for

1091
00:53:28,679 --> 00:53:32,360
twenty months ago. So that was has been a pretty

1092
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,679
turbulent ride, to be honest, I think it's sort of

1093
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:38,360
broken us a couple of times and we've sort of

1094
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:41,199
come back together, and it's sort of again, I think,

1095
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:43,639
if you don't have the drive, and I think the

1096
00:53:43,679 --> 00:53:45,719
only reason that I sort of got through that is

1097
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:50,360
because my mentality is a professional sports person, because Holly

1098
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:54,280
sort of lost it. But I'm thinking the average person

1099
00:53:54,559 --> 00:53:57,360
to spend twenty months going back and forth in the

1100
00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:01,440
fighting for your kid against the tribe neral system and

1101
00:54:01,519 --> 00:54:03,880
we didn't actually even get to a hearing and this

1102
00:54:04,079 --> 00:54:09,599
is before we even get to that negotiated of an outcome.

1103
00:54:09,679 --> 00:54:12,920
But how does the average person do that? So there's

1104
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:16,159
a lot of things broken in the system. But again

1105
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,840
I call back on the Peneris community is that the

1106
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:23,679
foundation wouldn't be still here if we didn't have community support.

1107
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:28,000
So that's the old adage that takes a community to

1108
00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:30,400
raisor family, not just an individual.

1109
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:33,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been fantastic that that's the foundation has kept

1110
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:35,239
it so linked to Penrith as well after all the

1111
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:38,239
great years here as as a player. We could probably

1112
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:41,360
do another whole podcast on the NBA's.

1113
00:54:42,639 --> 00:54:44,559
Speaker 3: Case, no doubt about that. But look, last question we

1114
00:54:44,599 --> 00:54:46,639
always ask, how would Luke Prindes like to be.

1115
00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:52,639
Speaker 2: Remembered as someone that did give back to the community.

1116
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:57,719
I think, as I said, from that pivotal moment with

1117
00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:02,599
Bradley Clyde back in early early days, I think I'd

1118
00:55:02,679 --> 00:55:05,440
like to know, like to be thought that a through

1119
00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:08,559
the foundation, we've done something good to the Pendrish community.

1120
00:55:08,599 --> 00:55:11,480
And I always like to think that ninety nine times

1121
00:55:11,519 --> 00:55:14,119
out of one hundred after the game now I'd stay

1122
00:55:14,159 --> 00:55:18,199
there and sign autographs and respect because it was the

1123
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:20,360
one thing that I did try and instill in a

1124
00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:23,119
lot of the young players is that before the salary

1125
00:55:23,199 --> 00:55:26,280
cap become what it was, it was blokes like no

1126
00:55:26,519 --> 00:55:30,079
Year and the Todds and that paid their money to

1127
00:55:30,119 --> 00:55:34,440
go and watch us, the fans that who paid our

1128
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:38,159
wages pretty much. So it was always making sure that no,

1129
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:40,760
you acknowledge the fans, you gave back to the community.

1130
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:44,239
And again, yes, I'll always be remembered for the two

1131
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:46,559
thousand and three Grand Final, but I'd also like to

1132
00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:50,800
hopefully think it was more that game. But what I've

1133
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:54,199
sort of brought back to the Pendrish community that I'm recognized.

1134
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:56,239
Speaker 1: For certainly, and as I said, a great career but

1135
00:55:56,280 --> 00:55:59,119
also fantastic, tastic story in terms of business, and the

1136
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:01,519
charity as well started while you're all still playing, so

1137
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:03,960
there'll be a lesson in there for for some young

1138
00:56:04,039 --> 00:56:06,239
players around or some even some older senior players.

1139
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:08,440
Speaker 3: Make great story and thanks for joining us.

1140
00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:11,000
Speaker 2: Appreciate it and.

1141
00:56:11,199 --> 00:56:13,840
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed. Our Chat on the Record is

1142
00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:16,880
produced by the Western Weekend. Ot hear future episode. Search

1143
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:19,440
Western Weekend wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure

1144
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:22,119
you hit subscribe. Check out Western Weekend dot com dot

1145
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:23,920
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