People of the Pirates with LA
A behind the scenes podcast sharing stories, characters, and community that make Noosa Pirates RLFC more than just a club. From players and coaches to volunteers and local legends, hear the voices driving the pirates forward.
People of the Pirates with LA
MOSES MBYE
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Moses Mbye, a seasoned NRL veteran and versatile playmaker, began his rugby league journey at the Noosa Pirates as a junior-playing A-grade in Year 12 before moving to Sydney the day after graduating from Sunshine Beach High School.
He made his mark with his NRL debut at the Canterbury - Bankstown Bulldogs, followed by stints at the West Tigers and St. George Illawarra Dragons, before finishing his professional career with St Helens R.F.C. in the Super League.
Beyond club footy, Moses represented Queensland in State of Origin, and earned selection in both the Prime Minister's XIII and World All Stars.
He shares reflections on leadership, community, and life both on and off the field.
This episode has been brought to you from the DGMS studios, home of Don't Get Me Started, Lethal and Money Live and Surf Town. Found at Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and wherever you listen to your podcast.
SPEAKER_03G'day and welcome to People of the Pirates with LA. This is a feature of some of the amazing individuals we have around the Noosa Pirates Rugby League Club. Enjoy their stories. The opinions voiced on this podcast are our own and not the official position of the club or the league. And there is a mild language warning. Enjoy Legends. Alright, legends. So today we have Mr. Moses Mbai, the man that's played over 250 grams of first grade Noosa Pirates Jr., all around good bloke. Here's Moe.
SPEAKER_04How are we guys? What an introduction. All around good bloke. It's a good start to my day.
SPEAKER_02Well, mate, up early. Up early in the water at Noosa. School holidays with the kids.
SPEAKER_04How good is it? Honestly, I I woke up this morning and I was the first thought was I've got to get on the Bruce Highway and get back down south today. So I got up, got down to first point. Sort of my ritual, actually. I think I've I do that every I try to do that every time I'm in Noosa. I just get up in the morning, get down to first point, have a coffee. What a start to your day. Honestly, you can't complain. There's nothing to complain about when you start your day like that.
SPEAKER_03100%. Are you generally an early riser?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I am. I get up, yeah. I try to I go to bed early, see. I'm like, I try to get to in bed sort of half eight and get up at probably five. I like to get my training done in the morning too. Especially when you've got young kids, like the house just turns into bombside early, like kids are arguing, someone can't find a sock and meltdown, and then the TV remote's missing, and so I'm done, I'm training by then. I'm and then I'm in the gym, done my training, get home. Mrs. is sorting all that out. Thank God. God bless her. And then um off to work I go.
SPEAKER_03I find as a busy dad, unless you get that bit of time in the morning, it's hard to get it back.
SPEAKER_04100%. And you always feel like you never regret it either. Like you never start the day early and get stuff done, and then go, oh, I shouldn't have done that. But you always go the other way. You always miss out on it, and then you go, I should have just got it done in the morning. So I feel like that's always been a good start for me. Like just getting up, getting after it, whatever I need to get done. And then I feel like that's the first accomplishment of the day done. It's all just a win from there.
SPEAKER_03100%.
SPEAKER_04But I don't know, everyone's different. Some people like sleeping in. My missus is the opposite, see? She's like, no, I just want to have a lay-in and I'll go train at night or whatever. But I for some reason, if I don't train or get done what I need to get done in the morning, by the time I get to like you go to work or whatever, pick the kids up from school, hey, you just ready to hit the lounge, call it a day.
SPEAKER_03So and I think we were chatting the other day, you try and do something every day, intentionally train sort of every day.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I try to do something every day. It might not be as physically demanding as like a proper hardcore training session, but I try to move every single day, like either a swim or get in the gym and do some weights or go for a run or field training. I just if I can tick something off every day, I reckon it puts me in a good good headspace.
SPEAKER_03And mate, that would be as much sort of managing your mental health as it would be your physical health.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I reckon more so my mental health. Like honestly, I think it in it definitely overlaps. Like you'd have to think it overlaps. Like when you're feeling good physically, I feel like it just you mentally you just you feel good. I notice when if I've been on the piss or been eating shit food, like I just mentally feel like I've let myself down. Like you sort of get that feeling of guilt a little bit. And I it's so easily snowballs because then you go, Well, I feel like shit today, I'm gonna take tomorrow off. And then all of a sudden you've taken two or three days off and you're like, I've just gone so far backwards here. But I just reckon, yeah, when it that's why I just like to do something small every day and it feels like you just keep moving forward. And I reckon that I don't know that for me personally, that that was always helped my mental health.
SPEAKER_03If you ever miss a day, do you do you have a standard you try and get up for? Don't miss two days in a row, anything like that?
SPEAKER_04No, like you do. Obviously, you miss days like travel's a big big one for me, missing days because of travel, but you just that's just life. Like it if you got something genuinely on, you're not giving yourself an excuse. That's you got something on, don't you? So that that's that's just life. Like you can't be in two places at once. So you just got to get it, get it done when you can. And then like this week, I've got to go to Papua New Guinea on Friday for three days. So I can't picture myself running around the streets of Port Moresby. So I don't think I'll get too much done up there. But that's just one of those ones you you've got in the calendar. That's my little rest. I'll get there and back into it next week.
SPEAKER_03So you played a PM's third end game, was that over in PNG?
SPEAKER_04I did. 2016. Mate, that was some experience that was uh have you been to Papua New Guinea?
SPEAKER_03No, no, I head there Tuesday.
SPEAKER_04Oh you gonna I I don't want to I'm sure you've heard plenty of experiences, but just you just got to be experience it for yourself. It's unbelievable. Like, I don't know if you've have you seen many of the videos or anything like that when the teams go up there, the NRL teams or yeah, just they love it, eh?
SPEAKER_03They love rugby league and looks like a passionate supporter base, and like you you never know what you see in the media here if it's accurate or not.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, it's the first time I went there, we well, we went up there for Prime Minister's 13 in 2016, and we took like Greg Inglis and Josh Dugan and Mitchell Moses was playing. Like there was like this, it was like an Australian team. Like we took the it's an unbelievable team. So the locals were like, like they'll you the two like gods up there. I'm not joking. Like, if you ever wanted to get an idea how Kim Kardashian feels walking down Hollywood, that's how you felt. It was unbelievable. Like we couldn't get out of the airport, like you could you're like, it was we had like motor cars, like just police escorts, you couldn't you it'd be it's like there's that many people hanging off you, you lose your shirt, like they'll take the shirt off your back, your heart. It was it was unbelievable, mate. Chasing cars down. It was just like, yeah, it was one of those experiences where you like I was it was one of the best experiences I've had as a footy player, just being able to go there and do that. So and even at our level now, like I'm at state league level, like at the Jets, you still like a movie star up there. They just love rugby league. It's the only country in the world where rugby league's it's national sport, like that's actually their national sport up there. So you understand their like their passion for it.
SPEAKER_03I'm excited to see the Chiefs come in. Do you think this is gonna go well for the NRL?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mate, I've I've got my concerns. Hey, and I'm and look, I'm not across it all. Like, I'm not across what's going on behind the scenes and how it's all going to operate. I'm actually I'm really good friends with with Michael Chavez, who's who's their GM up there, and we speak quite often. And he's doing just an unbelievable job, like diving in head first, taking it on. I just feel like there is going to be so many challenges. Just like when you go there, you'll you'll understand a little bit about what makes the game tick here. I just can't see that happening up there. So, like, there's obviously gonna be a barrier, challenges of the demographic up there isn't the wealthiest of people. Like, yeah, I think their average wage is. I mean, I don't know exact numbers, but it lets us say it's 200 Australian a week. Tickets to the game are still 40 bucks, 50 bucks, or whatever. Like, you're not gonna spend a quarter of your wage on a ticket. Like, there's no public transport. Like, how do you get them in and out of a stadium? There's gonna be some challenges, hey, but they've seem like they've got a plan in place for it. So I'm and I'm not sure what that plan is. It's hard to say if it's gonna do well or not. But I feel like there's gonna be a lot of challenges.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, it's a big geopolitical play, too, isn't it? So there'll be a lot of support behind the scenes, Australia and a lot of money into making this work with the NRL, hey.
SPEAKER_04That's a funny one, that too. Like I think that's depends on how good they go. Like, if they start winning the comp, like the other clubs start getting a bit upset about their the situation they're in with financial benefits and tax-free benefits, and how does that work on the salary cap? And you know what I mean? There's a lot of there's a lot of play here. Like, I mean, I don't think they're gonna be as successful as like off the bat, like it's gonna take time. Yeah, but I mean, realistically, they're dealing with double the salary cap, aren't they? Because they're paying no taxes.
SPEAKER_03You know Dane Campbell, hey. Yeah. Yeah, so Dano was up not too long ago. I was chatting to him. So for the listeners that don't know, he coached us at the Pirates for a few years before he got into the recruitment space for NRL teams. I think he did a stint with the cows and the Broncos, and now he's the head recruitment guy at the Bears. I was talking to him about the roster over there, and they're just taking it slowly, slowly. Like they're just making sure they don't overpay and they secure the right people and they fit the right mould and stuff too. So it's yeah, it'd be a completely different tactic than the recruitment you're looking up at PG.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, I was uh I had lunch with Dano probably a month ago or so, and we had a discussion about recruitment and how do you get good players, you know, and how do you get the players that you want, and there's there's basically two prongs to it. There's the financial prong where you're paying more than they get somewhere else, and that's how you get them, or you give them the opportunity that they don't get somewhere else. Like you they want to play halfback somewhere, but they can't. So that you give them that position. So I guess with PG, you got a new team, brand new team, and you've got a shitload of money. So you can offer both prongs to your recruitment strategy. You can offer someone a position they want to play and a shitload more money than they'd normally get. But they've got to live in completely different circumstances than they used to live in. So I don't know if you're aware, but their plan is to live, it's not a compound, it's a resort. They're gonna live in a resort. On a little island, eh? Well, it's on the mainland, it's in Port Moresby, it's called the how is it called the two ways or the the the trade winds or something like that. It's like a resort complex. It'd be like going down to Ivory Palms or something, and you just you know what I mean, and you just all the staff, families, players live in there. Yeah, it'd be pretty cool, but I just don't know how long you could do it for. Like the COVID bubble. Yeah, but like even the COVID bubble was cool. But we did it for three months. Like, imagine signing up there for three years. Like, it's fair stin, it's fair since it's stin living in a resort. And I feel like I don't know, those parts of your life are those bits that make your life normal, like dropping your kids at school or nipping down the shops, like that that's like the part that makes your life normal. Like, and that's a part where you relate to the rest of the public, so to say. Like you so I don't all that's gonna be taken away from you. I think what they'll probably do, what I would do if I was to go there would you try to spend as much time as you can on the away trip back in Australia.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So like if you're playing the Broncos in round six and then you're playing the Titans in round eight, and a Sydney Club in between, you'd try to stay over here for that whole three weeks. Like, save going back to PG, and then I feel like you'd get that respite of being back in Australia, and I don't know, I feel like they gotta do something like that, but I could be wrong. But yeah, that's something that I reckon they'll look at doing.
SPEAKER_03Depending on your group, it could go both ways. Like if you're in the container with the family and friends and the squad for weeks and weeks at a time, it could really galvanize you up, or if it you get the wrong couple of people in the squad, it could become pretty spicy. Hey, like it you would have played with we all have played footy with folks that are rogues, and you play with them, they're teammates, you go to battle with them, but you're not having a beer with them after the game.
SPEAKER_04No, well that's you're 100% right. And you know what? I I really have a lot of respect for the way they're approaching their recruitment strategy as well. Because what you just mentioned is is priority number one for them. They're actively looking for players who fit that mould of being able to galvanize a group and some senior players, and they don't want because like you said, if you throw a hand grenade in there, it could be anything. The other challenge, I mean, and we've all seen it before, is it's the partners getting along too. Because you get some big personalities in the partners crew, like the wags and that, like you know what I mean. And but even just like everyone has like pineies with their missus, like imagine having to just be in that complex the whole time. Yeah, like and you got the shits with each other, and you're just like, you know, I'm going to the pool. No, I'm going there too. Can't get out of here. Yeah, I need a new hotel. So, yeah, there'll be challenges, but I I'm actually really excited. They've got they've definitely got the right people in the right place, in my opinion. But yeah, yeah, I really like the people they've got running the show. Like Willie Peters will do a good job, and Chamos is unreal, what he's doing.
SPEAKER_03Did you get coached by Willie over in the Super League?
SPEAKER_04No, I didn't. I've never been coached by Will, but I've I've got some mutual friends with him and never heard a bad thing about him, eh? He's a good, proper, good knock-around bloke, like he's he's a he's a man's man. You know, he's straight up and down and honest bloke by the by all reports.
SPEAKER_03From your experience with head coaches, do you find they're more people managers now or and and then support staff uh given the technical sort of bits? I suppose it'll depend on who you're talking about.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's it's definitely a collaborative approach to it. Like a lot of good like the best coaches I've seen, they're just good leaders. Like they're able to get a group together and at the NRL level, you they're so fortunate because you have so many resources, mate. You got a job. There's some there's a job for everyone for every role. Like the assistant, like you got video guys, full-time cutting video, cut and film, then you've got attack coach. You do they just worry about attack, then you got defence coach, they just worry about defence, and then then you obviously got the head coach who sort of oversees his program and and drives the culture. And they are blessed with it with having a lot of resources because they've got a lot of finances and but yeah, they they are great man managers, the good the good good head coaches for sure.
SPEAKER_03When you take it to a state league like a Q Cup sort of level, you're wearing lots of hats.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you you do a lot with a little. But you know what? It makes you it definitely makes you appreciate that side of the game, hey. Like going now, I'm on the other side of the fence and like working in operations and behind the scenes and getting players' permits and dealing with trying to find training gear and all that sort of stuff, and blokes losing training gear and missing flights and booking cabs and all that, like you really go, oh, there's a fair bit that goes on behind here. Like, this is actually a lot more work than people see. Like, everyone just sees that shiny product gets thrown out on the field, but to actually make that happen and keep the lights on, and it's there's a fair bit behind it, and especially at state league level, because you're obviously the funding's not what it is at NRL. And the the other thing is you you're commercially you're not as appealing to like you get you're trying to get sponsors based on them being fans of of the club or they're from the local area, like it's they're not getting a billboard and Suncorp Stadium, are they? Like when you're playing State League today. It's there's a few few more challenges there.
SPEAKER_03And then you've got all your your sort of recreational park footy around it too, because yeah, you've got lots of clubs around it, which hey.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we do. And mate, like I've got so much respect coming back and playing now because hey, we've got blokes who like concretors who go to work all day pouring slugs and and 32 degrees up all day, hunched over, and then come and train. Like by the time we get to five o'clock, sometimes I'm like, man.
SPEAKER_03Ready for a siesta.
SPEAKER_04Mate, yeah, I'm done for the day. These blokes are just coming out in their hives and just training the house down. You're like, how are you doing that? So definitely some respect for those boys. It's it's the hardest, it's the hardest league to not so much to play in, but definitely to coach in. And I think I had a chat with you about this, and you gotta realize that state league, no one wants to be there. And it sounds funny, but it's a pathway club. So every player that's there either wants to be in the NRL or every coach that's there wants to be in the NRL. Like you're trying to, it's part of your journey to the next level. So no one genuinely wants to be there. Like they're they're there because they're to better themselves to move on. So selfishly, you you're doing it to to improve yourself as a development space. So it's it's funny, like you try when you get to the NRL, like everyone has a common goal. Like you're there because you've you've made it there and you've been on this journey, and now you want to get the success, and everyone's got a common goal of winning this premiership. And it's really easy to get the group together when you've got that common goal. When you're at state league level, you've got to really find what's motivating these individuals because they're not making a shitload of money. Like some blokes, you know, get you know, getting their thousand bucks a week play, but like they're working all week as well. So they've got they're balancing this work footy family balance, and it's all part of that putting in that work to move on and get an NRL contract or move upstairs in the like in the world, you know. So you've got to really find out what's motivating these guys.
SPEAKER_03And what's training look like it's three, four hours, four days a week?
SPEAKER_04No, we train we train three days a week during the preseason, we like Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Every now and then there's a Saturday session. But during the week, when in the set when you're playing, you it's just about recovery. Like we played on Saturday. I'll go back in there tonight. Like the boys were in Monday doing some recovery, and I threw the pension card out on Monday and took the day off. But yeah, so with you about recovery, especially at my stage of career, like you just recovering. You still do a lot of training. We do a lot of training. We the the training we do is just as much as NRL. The thing about NRL, the state league is you don't get to do the recovery because you don't you're not in there full-time. So you the recovery, you miss the recovery, you miss the access to physios and the access to the video room, but you're still doing the same content on the field.
SPEAKER_03Have you noticed any difference in people's bodies breaking down without that recovery? Plose early in the season.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, well, not so much to be honest. It's a fine line, NRL, because you like a Formula One car, they'll push you to the brink. Like you're on the edge the whole time because that's you're like on the peak, you're at peak performance, you know what I mean? Whereas at State League, it's not it's not measured, but we don't really wear a GPS and there's not that many like little KPIs that you've got to check. Where NRL, every single thing measured, so they know exactly that they they want you in that sweet spot. But when that goes wrong, it goes wrong, like as when you tear your homie or something happens. But yeah, I don't the injury I'd I'd it'd be a good start to look into about what sort of comparing NRL to state league, like where he goes, but and it probably just comes down to resources to have that data realistically. Resource, mate, just time you've got to have a staff member to be able to dissect all the information and then you've got to have someone to pay for it. So yeah, it's just dead set resources.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and in a role like what what is your official role title?
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I'm I'm uh I'm programs manager, so we s I sort of oversee in particular our women's program at the moment because it's just such a growing space. But yeah, it's maybe you it's like I said, uh in State League, you just do a lot with like you just doesn't really matter what title you have, you just get shit done. Just turn it up. You get there, we got a team of four, and you just get in there and get after it and get the job done whenever you need it is doing. Yeah, yeah, you could well, you could find yourself doing a training session with kids, or you could find yourself buddy booking flights. So you just that's just what you do, yeah. You just get it all done. You can relate to it, you know, you've been in the space.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man. Yeah, it's like uh the way I've never really thought of it with cup this way, but it's a lot more like like grassroots footy than it is NRL in a lot of ways. It's a for-profit thing, so you you don't get the tribalism you do with love their club and they want to play and bleed for their club.
SPEAKER_04That's it.
SPEAKER_03Because yeah, you wouldn't have aspirational cup players saying, Hey, I just want to play for the Ipswich Jets. I don't want to go to Burley, I don't want to go to anywhere, pay me less and I'll stay.
SPEAKER_04No, very rarely you get those guys. Like there might be a couple at each club. Like maybe one or two. Yeah. If that we don't have any of those old school, oh we got probably one Blake Lanahan's like an old school Ipswich bloke. But even like like you said, there's no people going, oh mate, I'll take a pay cut to stay here. I just want to be here. Like people just when's it the best opportunity? That's probably all across the game at the moment now. You probably see that in the NRL too. Like maybe years ago you'd get like that, maybe like that 2000s Broncos crew, or even that 2011 Manly crew, they sort of all stayed together, they're a bit more tribal. But now it's just it's a salary capped sport. So your earnings are capped at a certain level, and so you've got to take what's on offer, don't you?
SPEAKER_03You haven't had a a heap to do with the Sunny Coast rugby league as far as sort of watching, seeing your results and stuff over the last couple of years, hey? Just seeing what pirates are doing sort of on the sides.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I do keep a close eye on it only because of my passion for the pirates. And I mean, social media is great these days too, because you just you can go on your phone and get an update of what's going on in the world. But I'm I'm not up to speed with exactly how it's all running, but it's it's it looks like it's doing well. The pirates look like we're in a good spot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, mate, the club's in a good spot. There's a few teams on the coast that are throwing a bit of cash around in seeing your foot in our hands, so it'll be interesting to see whether that's sort of.
SPEAKER_04I did notice uh I've seen a few old faces and old names and our old names popping up at back of Stanley Rivers or Coulomb or I've seen I I seen Josh Dugan playing on the weekend.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Dugan's got Dugan's at um Stanley as well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. It's Bryce Cartwright down at Coulomb. And yeah, I mean it's good for the game. Like I see, traditionally, like when we when I was playing, like that was more like a Brisbane comp thing. Never really got up this far. Like you you'd see an old ex-NRL player down in Brisbane knocking around. And I guess there's there's some wealth here, you know.
SPEAKER_03Like mate, it's it's an effluent pocket of the world. And yeah, like it's I feel like the money on the coast is a lot more real than it was, say, 10 or 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_04Oh, no doubt. No, I'm uh you don't have to walk out your front door and like it's just Noosha in particular, like it's went especially going away. Like I moved, I left Noosha in 2010. If I just got back now, it'd be unrecognisable. Like I can like you look at a property price of like there'd be it wouldn't be quadruple by since then. Like it's crazy. Like it's it's it's funny because now like all my friends who I grew up with, they don't even live here. Like most of them live southern end of the sunny coast or Gimpy or people just it's just been priced out because you get the Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane guys coming up and you you can't you compete with those guys financially and the young blokes around here just they've had to move just out of town or Coroy, even like Coroy, I mean that's expensive, but that it's yeah, it's yeah, like people when they used to go rent the apartment in Noosa Parade, they don't do that anymore. You know, they go to Coroy or out the back of Taunton or something.
SPEAKER_03Or Gibby. Or gimme people up in Gimpy near. Yeah, gimpy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's just the way it is. But I mean it's it's not whether it's good, bad, I don't know, but it's it's I guess it's good for the for the uh economy here and hopefully we can get some of those people to the pirates, you know, because we've got a good product there and bringing like it'd be good to get some of these local people involved at the club and in some capacity and tipping in some cash and getting some players, that'd be nice.
SPEAKER_03Mate, the first time I was actually on the potty with Lee and Keith, they were talking about the blue car. uh side of rugby league and if the demographic issue here's affecting us yeah much so I think it definitely is but I think as a club we're being proactive enough to combat it at the moment so it'll just be it'll be something we'll have to focus on for years and years moving forward but what can you actually do from this sort of level you can't affect cost of living it's a good point Bart because the the demographic of rugby league players traditionally is blue collar like it's you sort of that's what it was it's like you go down there it's full of high luxes and traybacks.
SPEAKER_04Yeah but if you went down the AFL field it's full of defenders Land Rover defenders and yeah but it's true like it's yeah no it's it's just a different demographic. You get the Melbourne people coming up in you know the the style side high lux and you go down the Pirates and it's got the big echo tray down there and it's just the demographic it's and that's I I guess that's what makes it so good like that.
SPEAKER_03100% you wouldn't change it for the world.
SPEAKER_04No that's what makes it so good.
SPEAKER_03Leave for the best.
SPEAKER_04Well I was actually laughing about this with someone the other day it was like I just remembered like as a kid you'd we'd go up to Croy at on a Tuesday Thursday night and you know talking 20 25 years ago and you'd go up there and you know your mum's taking up there and it's cold and there's smoking in the car like doesn't matter windows up you just never complained you'd train barefoot it's like two degrees at the back of Croy in the middle of July and you just like that's just what it like I don't know just yeah they're like such good memories of of rugby league like it's so fun I was talking about my my missus we had it everyone just smoked like you know they're smoking in the car and you just never said anything you just got on with it like didn't want to be rude. No mum's I'm gonna die yeah no it's yeah it's cold it's cold leave the windows up you know it just it's just good yeah good times yeah you wouldn't change it it's great did you play much senior footy play much footy out of Tawanton or was it mainly always at Carey when you had a pirate's jersey on mainly at Carey I played a couple of A grade games down at Car uh Tawanton when when I was old enough Dane Campbell was coaching but I I graduated school in like 2010 so I was playing A grade when I was at high school and then um I thought I went to Sydney straight away because I went like literally graduated school on Thursday or whatever and I was at I was in Sydney on the Friday like went straight to Canterbury. So they were like you know going to school is and all that shit just get down here so keep you out of trouble.
SPEAKER_03Yeah they just had a plan for us and we just got into it it was pretty cool pretty cool journey and that would have been a big transition young man always known the same environment group of people that sort of stuff in in the bubble too or like I really noticed when I moved away from Noosa how much of a bubble it was but was that a difficult transition as a what 17 year old moving down to Sydney?
SPEAKER_04It was I was so well equipped for it but hey I don't know I don't I've always had that sort of personality where I can kind of just adapt and overcome it but it was it would it it definitely had its challenges like I had my times where I just went what am I doing here but I guess like I I didn't really have a plan B. I never gave myself another option like that's all like if I wasn't doing that I don't know what I would be doing to be honest. So I was like well I'm just gonna stay because I've got nothing else to do. So that was I was in the best place I could possibly be in. And I think looking at it like that was good good for me. Like it was just that was the that was option one and the only option so just push on with that until that option runs out. So yeah and then I obviously you you know it was so good coming home like I remember like you'd get that time off and come home and it was just like this is the best place ever. And I still I still love it. Like now I'm living in Brisbane like I've been up here since Thursday but I had to you know you go back for a day or two here or there and you just it's so good. Like it's so good being close now. And we threw England in between all that too so we got it we've been around. But I definitely want to get back here one day. Try yeah I'd love to live here one day so if anyone's got an online job out there for me then I can live in Noosa shout out. You got the city in your back pocket now yeah it's a bit rusty yeah well I it's just the fabric of Noosa hasn't changed. Like I know a lot of people new people have come and gone but like I always say this about the pirates too it's the fabric of the pirates has never changed like the same faces like I was like 10 and I used to go watch the pirates play and like Anthony Zipp and Gus and that were playing and like they're the president of the club now and you know they're down there coaching like the people the same people there. And I think that like and we've sprinkled in a few more people like self come like years and years ago but like they've come in and and have bought into it and not like push those guys out and it feels like it's the family's just grown you know what I mean and it's pretty cool like that's why I really like spending time there and trying to help out wherever I can it's like they've done such a good job like you as well like they've done such a good job at keeping that family together and then just adding people in rather than trying to rebuild a new family. I reckon that's pretty cool. Like it's you got to respect that and I reckon that's why people keep coming back because they're like you come back to those familiar faces and you enjoy and obviously like you got to be innovative and bring new people in with new ideas and like to be successful you don't have to do that. But I feel like that the balance has been really good of keeping those old heads and giving them new ideas and telling them how to get better with it which is cool.
SPEAKER_03I'm really grateful the Pirates is based in Karoy and Tawanton. Yeah because those demographic things we're talking about they're not as prominent when you you look at the country town side of Karoy and Tawanton like there is a real community there and everyone gets behind their own and yeah it's pretty tribal which is awesome and new people that get involved with the club yeah there's already a good group there so they just sort of slot in if they're the right fit.
SPEAKER_04Do you think do you reckon the schedule affects local A-grade footy on the Sunny coast?
SPEAKER_03Like Sunday games Yeah so refereeing's becoming more and more difficult to get the right people like A grade quality refs for the Sunny Coast. So the schedule this year is a lot more Sundays and it affects the clubs financially. So like we kick back and every event round that we've got for this season we've asked for Saturday games because it's just it's better for takings that's something for me too like because I've been dying to come watch an A grade game.
SPEAKER_04Like sit up on the hill and watch the boys play because I just have I've been away but like being on a Sunday afternoon you're like mate you've got to get back for people got to get to work on Monday and it's just a shit fight and you're like it just makes it really difficult. So I was like you'd think that financially for clubs obviously to run and make money out of the bar or all that and but just getting people to games like Saturday afternoon it's like a family event like it's a good good day so definitely yeah and you you get both sides to it so it's good to have a bit of a mix.
SPEAKER_03Like our next home game on the 2nd of May that's Anzac round Stanley you're gonna be there for that that'll be massive like Stanley's a good club they'll bring a good crew up I'm expecting we'll have a massive crowd. We always do Anzac Day justice too so that'll be the week after Anzac Day. It will be yeah so Anzac weekend is a rep round I think that's 42nd battalion weekend. Yeah so we play Anzac round the following weekend.
SPEAKER_04Yeah I'm keen for that I'll be there I'm looking forward to it hey we've got a buy that week so looking forward to coming up and watching the boys play. Be good I'll bring my kids up and well I've going to the local footy and watching like I'm I I can't remember last time I watched the Pikes play. Like I don't reckon I've watched them play for 10 years. So I'm looking forward to it. Be cool and you're going the boys are going good eh?
SPEAKER_03The boys are going good. Yeah so A's B's and C's are won round one round two nine's got done in a close one against Kawana round one and then had the bye round two so we got Bewar down at Bewar this weekend and I think the 19s are playing cabo at Stanley Rivers on Sunday. Yeah so it's a bit of a split round but another one on the road then we've got Anzac weekend off got heaps of stuff happening next week with Dan Zak with Mel Harris coming up and walk Trek for vettes and we're marching what day is that again the Trek for Vets because Ant Plato was talking about that what's what day is that on? So it starts midnight of Antzac Day so you're walking through the night yeah so we've got Mel Harris here Friday so she's talking about talking to the crew about mental resilience in younger people she's a psychologist from the Newcastle Knights then Trek for Vets and then 930 on Anzac Day where we're marching the pirates are marching in the cool parade which is cool it's the first time we've done that before.
SPEAKER_04Oh that'll be unreal yeah yeah that'll be good yeah that's it's good to see the pyot you that's the other thing pirates have always been big in the community always putting a hand up to do to just get involved with stuff like that. Like that's I think that that's key. Like that's un that's unreal like I love that stuff put into work.
SPEAKER_03Yeah we're so lucky that we've got such a good community and sponsors and people around the the club because realistically you don't get much well you don't get any support really from government and stuff. We get a few field maintenance grants from council but aside from that we're a non-for-profit but we're completely self-sustainable yeah self self-funded that's unreal well that'd be good get there everyone come down and get a get a viewing of the May 2nd Stanley Rivers looking forward to that would be good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah I'm Kane might be in the boots mate Doug's might be playing catch up with your old mate play over Doug's that'll be that'll be Jenko's first game for us too because he's oh yeah got one more match to serve for us against the old club too against the old club that'll be good one of the grades good fella looking forward to watching him roll the Ferrari out of the garage and get going mate yeah he better be fit the Baston he's he's looking pretty fit to get into him yeah I'll get into him I'll be in the sideline with that old that bloke you know yeah that hater just disabusing him can't wait that'll be good so mate um tell me a little bit about the origin story where it all sort of started and that yeah that stage through your your teenage years down to Sydney oh mate this I I've grew up on I mean we're we're in a podcast studio now for our listeners but we're in Tawanton I I grew up literally five doors down you know from where we are right now so and mate life was just about riding bikes around the park playing front yard footy backyard footy we play we'd play cricket in the summer footy in the winter you'd go to school early to play footy with the boys you'd go home to you'd go up you'd stay behind at school to play footy with the boys and then you'd go up to the Croix and train like Tuesday third that was all you did this is rugby league and then I realized I was actually pretty good at it like when I got to about sort of like early teens it's like I'm actually pretty good at this game and then it's funny like you you just there's so many moments that you look back on and just go that was the moment like people just supporting you and I was so lucky I had so many good people supporting us. Yeah but like just played for the Pirates and school footy and just being teenagers and just spending so much time down at Pirate Park. Like we'd go down there to kick in the afternoons and just but then yeah like went obviously I went to Canterbury 2010 played SG ball down there and just made my way I I feel like I went the textbook route of development to to the NRL I played SG ball under 20s New South Wales Cup first grade. It was like the textbook route of development so and yeah so I that's and that like I literally I loved it hey that journey was so cool. Like it was so fun and I feel like it was so good because now I do not miss playing like and I I'm really grateful for that. Like I I'm grateful that I I got to leave the game as a player and went like like I don't feel like playing at all NRL like I don't that's not I don't have any aspiration to try to strive for that anymore. And I feel like that's a good space to be in for some reason. Like I'd hate to be sitting there going I wish I could keep playing and I didn't get to finish. Like I just feel like I've got to finish the way I wanted to finish and Origin was massive like such a good achievement and you never really speak about your own achievement achievements because it's a team sport and you you you get sort of wired up that way but it's so good. Like now I took my kids to Suncorp Stadium the other week to watch the Broncos play the Dolphins yo got a plaque and stuff in the in the wall it's pretty cool. I'd never seen that before and like the kids love it and it's like pretty cool that no one can take that away from you. Yeah so that was cool like all those little things are cool like you I think you'll I haven't had a chance to reflect on my career yet but because I'm still I've just finished playing in November last year over in England now coming straight back into state league and working in footy I haven't actually sat back and had a look but like when you're watching games and stuff you're like I can't believe I used to do that. Like I watched like the Broncos play that that game live and just blokes like 120 kilos and I was going what was I doing? You know what I mean like this it just yeah I I'm so grateful for the career I had like honestly like so much has to go right to get a career like that. Like it's so there's a like there's obviously like a lot of talent but there's a lot of luck involved hey timing. Definitely there's so much timing involved slide and door moments and that I just it did it I got so much went my way like and then it you know I'm not taking any of that away from me but like I worked really hard I've a commit I was so committed to and I worked real extremely hard but I just had a lot of good timing as well so yeah it's it's um definitely grateful for that. Just uh yeah and it's just something that no one can take away from you like once you've done it.
SPEAKER_03And mate like we've spoken a fair bit throughout your career and you've always come across as really grateful a hard worker the eternal optimist too like when we used to talk when you're at the West Tigers and stuff like that too like it was always about getting after it and trying to do everything you could so I'm definitely an optimist mate I it's funny I've had this conversation with one of my colleagues at work and he said the same thing.
SPEAKER_04He just goes mate why are you always this you just like like sometimes there's surely like some negative things you're gonna see in it. And I'm like I don't know like I feel like like I do obviously do see the negative stuff as well but I I just there's so much positive stuff to see like to look at when you're in a career like that. Because there's only there's like these little moments of people like injuries or whatever. You can get there's so much things that can go right. There's there's also times where I look back and go I took the piss there you know like like a couple of like little moments or probably I didn't approach it the right way or you get you start getting ahead of yourself or getting a little bit arrogant there and you do like and it that's good but because you you I learned from that like you learn from those little moments yeah which was good. So and now you're in the next phase you all like you're coaching or whatever you're doing you go you can see you needed to see that sort of stuff and feel that which was good.
SPEAKER_03Well there's a lot to be said about how you you turn up for stuff. If you can control how you turn up for situations that's that's a massive dictator on how it's gonna go hey yeah like especially mentally how you you respond sort of things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah even somewhat now like playing NRL for that long you kind of get a bit institutionalized because you like told where to go what you what to wear what what time you've got to be there how you're gonna get there where you're gonna park your car I'd probably have food for you there when you get there too so you kind of get a little bit institutionalized. So I feel like now is the is where you have to you have to use all those skills that you built with your mental resilience and competing and putting in the hard work I need to use that more so now than I did when I was playing NRL because you're doing more for yourself.
SPEAKER_03You got to do well yeah you've got less systems and structures around your head and you got less people doing stuff for you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I feel like that's the slippery slope that players come out of their career and go, I can just do the same thing as what I was doing then because you can't because you've got to pick up way more workload. Like I'm working way harder now than what I was when I was playing like yeah and you do you have to like you just because there that skill set that I've got to develop when I was playing like that work ethic and working hard it's I've been able to utilise those skills now which was so good. So I'm so grateful I got to do that and got to get to recognise it. Yeah. Because you see so many players come out and still behave the same way they were like either you got so much spare time so they drink and piss the same way or gambling or doing whatever and they end up the money stops like you've got to pivot and just sort of like yeah try to approach it a different way. So that's been good like a good good learning curve for me. Yeah definitely good learning curve yeah so mate with the Jets a lot of the listeners probably would have seen this stuff in the media over the last week or so about the NRL bid for the 20th license have you got much to do with that in short answer no personally I don't but in we as a club are very proactive I don't know if anyone knows Steve Johnson who's our chairman down in the Jets he's um he's an influential figure in rugby league like he's been around a long time and he is the most passionate person about the Jets. Like you you you will not find a more passionate bloke. Like he's one of those guys that like if you cut him open the green blood will come out he's been going for this license for a long time this NRL bit back in 2016 maybe I don't know he was competing with the Dolphins so it's it's sort of bubbling away it's popped back up now the f the flares been relit but we're definitely interested in in it like we we we want we do want it we think we've got the right demographic we've got the right resources we've got the f some financial back end behind us to to make it happen and it makes sense too like having 20 teams as in broadcast deals and no having no buyers and we're optimistic that we'll we we'll get an opportunity to do that and it's it'd be great for the game really like Ipswich I don't know if you've been Ipswich but it's massive now like it's growing like there's like these cities like just popped up out there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I'll get some family down that way but that western corridor has been a big growth corridor like I know especially from the real estate side of things there's been eyes on the Western corridor like pretty intense for the last five plus years like a lot of investments been poured in there.
SPEAKER_04There's some serious wealth out there and like there's hospitals out there's new hospitals there's so many schools it's a growth like it's there's so much potential out there and mate it's just it'll I honestly I don't know if this is the my optimistic mindset coming out but I just think we'll I think it'll happen eh I think I I just think it makes too much sense not to happen. Like it is I don't there's nothing that says it shouldn't happen. Like I don't yeah like you're telling me to like put a team in Perth and Papua New Guinea like if you're looking for challenges. Mate the Dolphins coming in definitely been positive for the game here like as far as youth pathways go the Broncos are doing a lot more than they ever used to do like Reedy and the guys are Slippery's doing great things for the Dolphins it's just it's good for the game it's competitive yeah it's good for the game and it gives another it gives people more opportunities better pathways more awareness to the game as grows a game mate you look through the some of the players that have come out Ipswich mate the best Broncos players are all from Ipswich really the biggest pushback on this Ipswich bid would be the Broncos who that's who the I re I re I don't know if there's a stat on it but I reckon I reckon the majority of Bronco supporters would have been Ipswich people blue collar Ipswich factory workers their railway town you know like hard hard nights who love rugby league and Broncos would have been the closest town.
SPEAKER_03It'd be interesting to see stats if the Dolphins coming in commercially the Broncos or taking some food off their plate.
SPEAKER_04See I don't reckon it would have been up neither do I I don't reckon it would have come from up there I I don't think but I reckon Ipswich would be more competitive. Like it'd be a derby actually Ipswich Broncos be a derby it'd it'd be unreal like even like like you can see like all those Walter boys, Langers. Yeah. Like they're all from they're all Ipswich guys. Like it yeah it'd be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03And then yeah if you if you group Logan into that too you've got and Toomba pedigree out of there hey if you threw in the Western corridor Towomba guys just such a good area for rugby league.
SPEAKER_04And they play out of Suncourt initially anyway hey that's what they have have suggested that because we do we don't have the facility to to host a game yet.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But with the way that Ipswich is growing like it makes sense. I know the Hilton Hotel group has just invested in a hotel they're building a hotel out there. Yeah okay that's positive like you start getting infrastructure like that in the region it it's always positive so yeah that's a big name for the hotel on the Switch eh nice so they all these little you know little initiatives popping up from it what it does mean is there's ex external money coming in too because I'm assuming Hilton's not an Australian company but it like they're they're putting money into a region where they can see opportunity. So you know it's definitely there's a reason why they're doing it. They don't just guess like play people like that don't guess.
SPEAKER_03Yeah no they've got the data and they know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of research behind it. So you know you can it makes a lot of sense that there's there's some stuff happening out there. A lot of sense. So we'll be very interested I'm looking forward to it looking forward to seeing where it lands. When do they award it if they if they give the 20th of shit I don't know I don't know if there's a deadline on it. Well I think it'll have to be see that it'll probably a decision that'll ultimately be in collaboration with the um broadcasters because they they're a massive stakeholder of the game they pay a lot of money. Which the new broadcast deals nearly and it's pay for it it'll be coming up so I I reckon they'll they're in that broadcast deal there would this these conversations would have been hard.
SPEAKER_03To make sense of the timing of it all yeah do you think I know this is speculating do you think you'll see NRL or Netflix or something like that in this next broadcast deal?
SPEAKER_04I do. Yeah yeah I do I think that mate I wouldn't be surprised if they seen on someone like YouTube. Like because it's it's getting to that stage where that's the way it is like traditional media has just changed so much. Like I mean you go back ten years you weren't doing a podcast like this like yeah did you watch an either Channel 9 to get to your players or you you know like Instagram was only around you know so like the this sort of media even met journalism's changed everyone's a journalist now everyone like you know you you your Instagram post guys posting updates and training and injuries and NRL physios and like everyone's a journalist. So that's it's the landscape's changed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah we're in this era of information hey and misinformation too.
SPEAKER_04Well that's what comes with and there's less trust in traditional media than there probably ever has been well there's more competition in media now too because everyone's a journalist everyone needs the story and there's less trust because people there's more people writing shit and they bend the truth and everyone bends the truth by one or two percent and then before you know it it's a hundred percent out of whack.
SPEAKER_03So yeah that's it that's it and unfortunately clickbaits.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and you know what doesn't that yeah it comes with the game mate like when people get upset players get upset about it that's all part of the that's where the money comes from mate you only get paid the big bucks mate no I don't remember you getting flogged in the media much as a player did you no I've always had a decent relationship with meat with journos and you know what like whenever I got flogged it was warranted hey you're playing shit get hammered you can't get upset about that stuff yeah like you just alright cool whatever like what you you can't get upset at I've always if someone writes anything about me that's true I'll cop it. I don't care but if you like if someone just starts making shit up then you're like mate what's going on here but if you if you're playing Bard and you're getting hammered for it, mate, too bad. You're playing Bard you get hammered for it. Just inherently accountable You have to be yeah you just gotta be like whatever. So it comes with the territory and some people don't some people handle it better than others. You gotta be accountable for your actions and and performances.
SPEAKER_03Have you found high performing groups NRL Super League clubs and stuff are they inherently accountable Like the standards are always similar or does it differ club to club?
SPEAKER_04It differs club to club. I feel like the best ran clubs I've been at were the well the best teams that I've been at at clubs were the best ran clubs, like Canterbury, for example. Canterbury would just it starts upstairs and that culture's driven down. Ray Dib was this thing's always stuck with me. Ray Dib was our chairman at Canterbury at the time, and he always used to say the club comes first, the team comes second, and the individual comes third. And that's the way he lived. That's every we did everything like that. And I felt like that was just a really powerful message. Like all the decisions we make before the club. It's not for you, it's not for the team. We make it for the club, and then you know, the the byproduct of having a good club was you get a good team. The byproduct of having a good team is you get good individuals. It wasn't the opposite way. People think you'd go buy these good players to make a good team to make the good club. It was actually the other way around now. He had it. And I thought that was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03Definitely.
SPEAKER_04Always liked that. Always thought, oh, that what a what a brilliant way to look at it, you know. So that was good. That's always stuck with me. I try to actually think about that quite often now in my role with Jets. I try to make decisions and encourage the boys to make decisions on what's going to benefit the club. But like I said, it's that got its challenges because it's a pathways club. So you're trying to make these decisions as what's better for the club, but that might be better for the club in two years when you're not going to be there. So you're like you're really doing stuff for people that like you're laying the foundations for the next generation.
SPEAKER_03The mission statement stuff is something I'd not thought a lot about until a couple of years ago. Yeah. And got to make a profound difference in like individuals, organizations, and stuff, what you're about.
SPEAKER_04And it helps people make decisions. That's the best thing about a mission statement. Is when you're 50-50, you've got something to ask yourself and it helps you make that decision. So if I don't know how to make a decision on something, I can go, well, is it the best decision for the club? Yes, no. I can make my decision now. Or is this the best decision for me? And then that that's it, it gives and you can ask that to people too, what when like even the with their behaviour or like is what you're doing the best thing for the club right now?
SPEAKER_03There's align with their values.
SPEAKER_04And then they that's a simple, it's a question, just is it the best decision? Your decision making right now, is it the best decision for the club? And people will just say, well, no. We'll say, Well, can you stop doing what you're doing? Or yes, and mate, mate, let's push on with that. So I think that's a good that I mean that's why it's important to have some values or a mission statement and align that, align those together.
SPEAKER_03Well, and mate, if we were gonna whack it all through Chat GTP based on the combo that we've had, like it'd probably spit out a pretty concise mission statement and values for yourself based on what you've said to get the success that you've had. Because you've touched on a lot of the the points, eh? Yeah. Like work, accountability, all those things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, I mean, there's definitely it like people always say, like, well, like working really hard, but like, what is that? Like, what is working really hard? Like, what does that look like? You know what I mean? Like, everyone works hard. Like, I feel like everyone works hard. Like, what is staying out all day working hard? Like, I don't it's very hard to measure working hard. Okay, that that's the only thing about that's why throwing that around is is difficult. That's why I reckon goals are good. Like, you have to have goals because then you at least have something to measure, and it's gonna be hard to reach those goals, and that's what working hard is. Like reaching the goal is that was the part that's what that's working hard. But when people say, Oh, I just work really hard, and you're like, what's that look like? Like, I don't know. I could how do you measure that? Like working really hard.
SPEAKER_03A little bit like being busy, hey, it's a subjective thing. Yeah, everyone can be busy, but everyone's everyone's busy in their own mind.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but busy doing what, you know what I mean? So that's that's the thing. Like, I think you've got to have those goals, and even as a club or as a business, like having those KPIs or goals that you need to achieve, and then working towards those, and it might take time, and I think that process of reaching goals is the part that's working hard. That's what it is to me, anyway.
SPEAKER_03We had a pretty similar chat with the Academy kids a a week or so ago after after Adapt. So actually, we haven't even spoken about that. We'll get back to that in a minute. But yeah, mate, I I saw saw some eyes light up in the Academy kids when you were going over this stuff too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and it's you know what, it's not for everyone because sometimes I don't know, you get these gurus come in and think they like you know, they promise you they're gonna change your life with all these new mantles and that. You gotta find out what works for you, I think. Which is a pro which is a good process in itself because you learn a lot about yourself trying to figure out what actually makes you tick. So I think that's pretty cool. Like that's that's something that that I enjoy doing, is like that little bit of figuring out who you are and what you want to do. I'm bad with it. I can never figure out what I want to do. Like I'm a shocker, like I and that's been I'll have all these things that you you know you you think you want to do that, but then you this comes up and you want to do that, and then this comes up and you want to do that. And I you're like, how do I decide what I want to do? So that's always a tricky one for me. Like that's hard. And then your goals change and then you're in a different stage of your life. So you I'm probably due to sit down and go through some of my goals and what I want to do now as well. Like it's something you again, touching on that NRL, you when you're in that system, you've got a facilitator doing that for you. And now I don't, you've got to like go sit down and get those people around you who you you've been with before and trust and go, right, this is what what does it look like in five years, ten years? Like, where do you want to be? Like, I'm probably gonna do a little bit more of that now. So I'm due.
SPEAKER_03Be curious, ask questions. Exactly. I know from a like a business sense, the best businesses I've ever seen, they're curious. They're always challenging the narrative, they're always talking about what they can do differently, encouraging their people internally to come up with solutions outside of the box, and yeah, there's a lot to be said with that.
SPEAKER_04Hey, definitely, yeah, and it's good. That's why a lot of businesses and teams as well, they have a lot of diverse personalities. So because they see it from different points of view, different angles. You do have the same people in there all the time doing the same shit.
SPEAKER_03And speaking of diversity, like you were the face of Harmony Round for the NRL a few years ago, hey. Do you still do much in that space?
SPEAKER_04No, not really. I no, I just I mean, no, I'd I yeah, short answer is no. I mean, I I don't I've always helped promote everything really. Like, I'm just if it's if it helps the game, I've I've always been encouraged in of it. Uh I just give the game's great because it is it's there's so it's so multicultural now.
SPEAKER_03Definitely.
SPEAKER_04It's so multicultural, hey. Like there's people just and the game does they do a good job at it promoting it. That's good. Like even all the fan bases are all like go down. I was at Canterbury and like massive Lebanese culture, and it's like you know, that you go to the game's turn into that sport where it's getting attractive to more cultures, which is good. It's unreal. Like that's and that's how you make it grow, hey. It's like it's you have to be diverse.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, the bigger group of people you appeal to, the better your product's gonna be commercially, hey.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and that's what it's always that's a the game, that's what it is now. It's it's a commercial product. So that's yeah, that's definitely where it's going. They're doing a good job at it.
SPEAKER_03I suppose I was gonna say what's next for you, mate, but you just you just said you need to sit down with uh with Mads and the kids and work out what's next and have a look at a few options, hey.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm sort of in this journey now, which is cool because I'm like we touched on before, you're doing you're wearing a few different hats at Ipswich. I love this, I love this sort of like coaching footy operations path I'm on at the moment. Um I'm joining I'm enjoying that. It's all new, so it's it's really fun. The coaching's rewarding, challenging, but it's rewarding because you get yeah, you get to see and deal with people that are on trying to do what you did, and yeah, there's there's no one way to do it. Like you're just because it works for you isn't the way you have to coach it, so you get to figure it out. And I I really enjoy the mentoring side of it, like just being a sounding board for juniors and trying to offer your opinion on things and you're offering your solution on things and letting them come up with solutions and you blend in them, and it's it's quite it's it's really enjoyable. And they challenge it too, like the young fellas these days.
SPEAKER_03So well, and mate, like we were touching on adapt before. So you've you've just done a collaboration with Sunny Kids up here and at BY working with what 10 to 15 year olds?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, 10 to 15, and yeah, so adapt. We sort of come up with this idea of doing like these clinics, and it the adapt was about it was about building better teammates, like just being better like there's a lot of there's obviously a lot of challenges in youth at the moment. Like I think we see there's a lot of youth crime. And I've got a programme in the juvenile juvie down at BYDC on Tuesday mornings. And I mean, I I I mean I don't know if this is the right thing, but like some of it's not their fault. Some of them are bad kids, like I get it. But some of them are just circumstantial, man. Like some of the kids' situations they've been raised in, and uh, it's just they've never had a chance to to become better people. So with that's a big I do enjoy that side of it as well, trying to help people. I feel like I'm in a position in my life where I can do that and you can actually make a bit of a difference, which is cool, which is rewarding. So, yeah, like adapters stunning kids is an organisation up here on the sunny coast. They help like family refuges for domestic violence and emergency housing and stuff like that. They do a good job. And besides, yeah, I and I know a couple of the people that work there, really nice people. And so I yeah, collaborated with them and we did some clinics and we're gonna do some more and try to do it every school holiday. So we're gonna just see what that looks like going forward. We've got a review process and see what that looks like going forward.
SPEAKER_03Because sunny kids do a fair bit in schools and stuff like that. They do a heap in schools, yeah.
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of people in need out there. Yeah. So there's people need, yeah, there's just people in need, as you know, and life's just challenging, just hard, eh? Like it's just there's so many challenges you have to get through. And you throw in like the price of living, cost of living, and the difficulty of finding work and the not being able to live where you want to live, and it's just there's just people that get overwhelmed and end up in bad situations, and people make these bad decisions, but I can understand why they do it sometimes because they're just overwhelmed with challenges.
SPEAKER_03Well, and you only know what you know if you've grown up in a certain environment and you've gotten modeling all through your childhood. 100%. You're gonna revert back to that if you don't have the tools to differently, hey.
SPEAKER_04That's it, and just like trying to educate kids about how to handle situations and sometimes I can just relate to these kids and I just go, like, you know, you you've made some really shit decisions, but you're not a bad kid. If you actually teach them how to handle a few situations better and just make one or two different decisions, their lives can actually be a lot different.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So yeah.
SPEAKER_03And mate, some of those kids have never had a good male role model. No, none of them have. They've never had the trust to know that they're going to be loved unconditionally by someone close.
SPEAKER_04Nah, they don't let that happen because of the situation they've grown up in. Yeah, yeah. So it's it's good to see like it's actually good to like after about five or six weeks of doing the program in the even in the juvie, you start building a relationship with these kids. They start actually talking to you. So it's pretty cool. That's rewarding. Because and you know what 90% of them are gonna go back doing the same thing, but the 10% that don't, you feel like you've you've done something, you've helped in some sort of way there.
SPEAKER_03Definitely, man, definitely. And like that financial barrier to get into support for some people, like we've done the treasure chest with a few times, so yeah, proactively trying to solve these problems in communities. And you're not gonna solve them all.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you're not gonna solve them more, but you can definitely find a way to help. Like, like you, like even you you like you know firsthand, like you go down to sign-on day in February, you're a single mum in Tawantum with three kids and you're working two jobs, yeah, and you've got to fork out a thousand bucks on a Saturday morning to sign your kid up to play sport. Mate, it's next to impossible. Like you what you're worried about, it just your food lasts until your Friday, you know what I mean? Like come come Saturday morning, you're on the Maggie Noodles, like and then you go chuck in a thousand bucks sign-on fee, and then driving the kids around to sport and like it's pretty intimidating the that thought process for parents. Like, even like even just the thought process of how does that look like for me? Like, how do I get my kids into sport? Like, how do I even let allow that to happen? And then have the time, because I'm working two jobs. I'm doing like it is pretty like I think about it now, and it makes me go, how do parents even do it? Like, it's so hard. So just we'd I want to try to find even more ways to help in that space.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, mate.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, come up with some.
SPEAKER_03It takes a village and it takes blokes like yourself to lead the way. Everyone else that does lots. We were talking about sunny kids before. Shout out to Sunny Kids and everyone that supports them because they do really good stuff. There's heaps of good people around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's just a matter of linking the kids to the resources because a lot of the the gap I would say is the kids that don't reach the resources that can help them.
SPEAKER_04That's the thing. But there's a lot of good, like you say, there's so many good people and the the pot like pet particular the pirates like yourself and the guys down there. This they do you do such a good job at getting the kids down there. Like it's brilliant, like, and that's what it's about. That's why I like it. That's why you you keep coming back and you give the people time down there because you know they've they'll do it for you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So that's good.
SPEAKER_03Uh awesome, mate. Well, mate, you've been super generous with your time. So appreciate you coming in. Is there any parting wisdom you want to give to the listeners before we sign off?
SPEAKER_04No, there's not, mate. I really enjoyed that. Hopefully, you see everyone down there at the Pirate Park. That'd be nice.
SPEAKER_032nd of May.
SPEAKER_04Second of May, it'd be good to get down there. Big crowd, big noose of crowd up on the hill filling up Stanley R send Stanley River's home.
SPEAKER_03And uh good luck this weekend up at PG.
SPEAKER_04Thanks, mate. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, brother. Appreciate you, man.