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
TIM BURGER
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People of the Pirates with LA | EP12 – Tim Burger
Some people find rugby league. Others find a community that changes their life.
Born and raised in Canada, Tim Burger grew up on the ice with a hockey stick in hand. Fast forward a few years and he’s traded skates for footy boots, becoming a passionate rugby league supporter and a die-hard Cronulla Sharks tragic.
Today, Tim is the dedicated Secretary of the Noosa Pirates, helping steer the club behind the scenes while playing a key role in one of the club’s greatest success stories.
But his journey hasn’t been without incredible adversity.
Tim shares the remarkable story of surviving a light plane crash, the long and challenging road back to health, and the physical and mental battle that followed. He opens up about the defining moment in his recovery—the day he stopped asking “Why me?” and started embracing the miracle that he was still here. It’s a powerful lesson in gratitude, resilience and perspective that will resonate with everyone.
At the Pirates, Tim has been instrumental in building our female rugby league program from just a handful of girls into a thriving community of more than 120 female players. His passion for creating opportunities has helped shape the future of the club, and it’s especially fitting that his own daughter is set to become the first Noosa Pirates junior to earn a prestigious 10-Year Jacket.
This is a conversation about family, community, overcoming adversity and giving back to a club that’s become home.
A ripper yarn with one of the great people behind the Blue & Gold.
Ep sponsor;
Bullitt Espresso Van
📍 1 Gibson Rd, Noosaville
🏴☠️ People of the Pirates with LA – Episode 12. Arrrgggh
This episode has been brought to you from the DGMS studios, home of Don't Get Me Started, Lethal and Money Live, and SurfTown, 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, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 12. Today's guest is Tim Berger. Welcome on, Timmy. Hi, how are you? Good, mate. Good, good. Excellent. I think you're our first, first American guest that we've had on here. See, no, no, Canadian, mate. Yeah, I know, mate. No, I'm stirring you up. We had that chat.
SPEAKER_02You Kiwis just can't tell in an accent, can you?
SPEAKER_03That's it, mate. We're all uh all scaffolders. Yeah, there you go, mate. Welcome on the potty. Thanks for coming on. Oh, thanks for having me. Podcast version. So uh we'll go easy on you, mate. Thank you. Mate, I'm actually really excited about this one. We've talked off air about some stories and stuff that we'll get to a little bit later on in the potty. But mate, let's start from the start. Tell us about the Tim Burger story, mate. Oh, it's you know, pretty much a normal kind of story.
SPEAKER_02Kid growing up in Canada, single mom. I'm a little bit different from a lot of your guys. I obviously didn't play any rugby as a kid, but played ice hockey all my life till I was 18, sort of thing. Never professional or nothing like that, but you know, just your junior kind of player, had a lot of fun, got in a few fights. It was all good times. Yeah. Just did a bit of that growing up and stuff. So when you say Canada, that's Calgary. Calgary, yeah. Coming from Calgary, Calgary Stampede, a lot of people know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, Cowtown. Grew up with like 15 channels of country music. It's terrible. Love a bit of country. I'm converted to country music fan, mate. No, worst thing in the world. Ice hockey man. So how young do you start? Mate, I started skating when I was five, four or five. I was on a pair of skates. You're either playing ice hockey or you're skiing.
SPEAKER_03So yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I was an ice hockey guy, loved it. Is it's probably pretty good for me having a single mom and stuff. So had the boys around and yeah, got into it, had a bit of fun. There's a few stories there. But yeah, it was the 80s, so you're allowed to fight and stuff, man. Yeah. And you only get say seven games for slapping a ref, but we won't talk about that.
SPEAKER_03Is there any little ice hockey stories you want to tell from juniors?
SPEAKER_02Well, there was the ref one, yeah. Yeah. You know, bench clearing brawls were kind of informed back then and stuff. We had a few of those. Yeah, no, it was good times. I mean, I I played pretty good up until I realized about 17 when I was the last guy cut from the triple A team that that was it, wasn't going to make it. I was just a community hockey player, but yeah, still had a bit of fun.
SPEAKER_03And how does it work when ice hockey pathways? So you play for your club side and Calgary's got a team of sorry, competition of teams, and then you get divisional sides and rep pathways and stuff on that similar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, kind of sort of. It's all community hockey. None of it's in school, right? You just you're playing for your community, and that's all good. You hit about 15, 16, that's when the rep stuff starts. So that's when you get triple A teams like the Royals were the team that I was trying out with and stuff. So when I was 16, like I said, I I got cut last off that. That's where they take you out of the community and you get your rep team and stuff, you start playing for them. And then most of the pathways, either you go to college or you play junior hockey sort of thing, you know, so you can end up on a team out Cam loops or something, playing junior hockey and stuff like that. And then from there you go semi-professional, would be like the Falcons sort of thing. Yeah, those are the best games to go to because uh that's where the boys are still fighting to get into the NHL and stuff like that. And then yeah, then you're professional sort of thing. So and big crowds? Massive, all the time. Yeah. Because it's all arena stuff, hey. It's all yeah, it's all in there. Well, when I started playing, man, showing my age, we were outside. So I remember, you know, as a kid, when you're eight, nine, minus ten, get your long johns on and everything, and you're out. You used to get to skate down a little path to the rink and stuff like that. But by the time I was 12, everything was inside, and now everything's inside. Yeah, so it's good times.
SPEAKER_03I'd imagine I've been to some indoor basketball stuff before, and the atmosphere's really good when a game's foreign along. Yeah. It's enclosed. It is similar, similar sort of vibe in hockey.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, except we're a bit more bloodthirsty, probably. So yeah, all those uh crowds, yeah. You you get right into it. It's funny, I took the kids back two Christmases ago, and I I got us sitting right behind the penalty box. You know, when they come in, you're supposed to smash on the glass. The visitor team, my kids are too scared, but the player was there, and then the ref came in and they were having an argument. No hold bar, the ref swearing at the player, player swearing at the ref. Nothing like they're like, and my kids are just blown away that the refs were talking like that and stuff, but that's just part and parcel of the game. So no positive environment programming, no positive environment. No, not at all. But very tribal by the stands of things. Very tribal, man. Yeah, yeah. There's even a club, one of the pro clubs down in the States that won't sell away tickets if you're not in the proper postcode. Really? Yeah, I think it's uh the Carolina hurricanes or something like that. If you try, say you're from Calgary trying to get a ticket, they won't sell. They won't sell you one. Because I want to be hostile home crowd. Yeah, yeah. So it's pretty crazy that way. Yeah, cool. That's good times.
SPEAKER_03Didn't say any rugby sort of growing up with rugby unions or nothing, man.
SPEAKER_02Nothing. No, it's gridironing. So hockey's all community. You're gridiron, as you you guys call it. That's all school, right? So you play all that in school and stuff. Rugby was kind of a thing that was shoved in for about four weeks during the the year at high school. And that was basically just the gridiron guys throwing the ball around. You didn't really see it maybe in college, but that was it. You know, like there's other sports, baseball, basketball. Rugby wasn't really played at all. Follow the Wolf Pack, like Toronto Wolfpack when they were Oh, I I kept an eye on them. I mean, just because it was interesting, because every North American I show rugby league, they love it. They're like, crazy guys, no pads, smashing the shit out of each other, you know? Yeah, and I followed it a bit, but the problem, unfortunately, what happened there was COVID killed it, right? Because uh they just signed Sonny Bill Williams, you know, when they made it finally into the Super League. I think they're doing a thing where they'd go over for a month, stay in the UK, then fly back for a month and play out of Toronto. That had just started ramping up and COVID came and just pretty much killed it and just hasn't resurrected, unfortunately. I think New York was trying to get a team in a super league at that time too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think they intended for a license or something like that. Yeah. I I really hope that the NRL does get involved in Super League and we see a stronger North Hemisphere Compag.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think with Vegas now, because I've gone to two of those, that was a great production, by the way. It's a good time. If anyone needs a trip, guys, West Tigers are playing. Eels. It's yeah, yeah. It's a uh it's a good time. Yeah, it's a bit of fun. And I think, like I said, any American that watches that, they love it. You know, when I was there explaining it to guys and stuff, they they just couldn't believe the violence sort of thing.
SPEAKER_03Well, I haven't spoken to too many people that are sort of real freshies with rugby league abroad like this before. Do they understand the rules and stuff? Does it make sense to someone that hasn't grown up with it? Kinda sorta.
SPEAKER_02Once you get into it, you gotta like explain, you know, the six-tackle thing and and that sort of stuff. Like when I first watched it, I had no idea. Like it took me, you know, a while to figure it out. It's is it is actually a pretty simple game when you look at it. It's not like Union, yeah, you know, like uh chess and checkers. Yeah, that game. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out that game. Me too, man. It's a pretty simple game, really, the concept, you know. And the reason I loved it, and like I came over from playing ice hockey, which is a very fast game. And I watched this and I went, this is good, like a lot of action, always constantly moving. So yeah, no, it's uh I think anyone that played hockey would love to watch uh rugby league. I would have loved to play it when I was a kid, man. It would have been awesome. Cool. So young man Calgary College? Well, I started college after high school, but I was working at Safeway, which is like Wolvers. Back then, you know, we're talking late 80s, early 90s, and it was all heavily unionized. I made a lot of money there. And I went, nah, screw college. I was making a lot of money. I was making $18.50 an hour in 1991 stacking fruit, and it was ridiculous. That's how I ended up coming to Australia. They put in a bio program to get rid of all the top paid employees, you know, the ones that were at the top of the range. So I was 22 at the time, and they gave me 22 and a half grand to quit my job. I was like, yeah, all right, thank you. That's like a grand for every year I'm alive, right? So, you know, a whole bunch of us that worked there, because they wanted to get rid of us all and then redo the uh union agreement or whatever at lower rates and stuff. So that's why I dropped out of college. I wasn't making too much money due to that. You know, I was only working 32 hours a week and it's pulling in, you know, a lot of money. Yeah, when they offered me that, I was like, yeah, sweet. And then I met these Australian guys that were snowboarding over here, and they're like, Oh, you know, come to Australia, rah. And I'm like, well, yeah, I just got a massive payout. I'm not really doing nothing. So me, I had to wait. A couple of mates had to save up their cash. I already had my cash. So I worked at Costco for like, you know, about a year, and then they saved up. And then September 94, we packed the bags and flew to Australia. Landed in Kansas. It was awesome. And was it always just gonna be a holiday? Well, yeah, I jokingly said I was gonna meet, marry some Australian chick and stay there, right? And that's pretty much what happened. But yeah, yeah, it was just supposed to be, you know, the usual working holiday and then go back home sort of thing. I do remember though, probably the first two weeks that I was here, we were in surfers. Was it surfers? I was it was the grand final. Bulldog's camera was on in the hostel. And that was the first ever time I'd seen rugby league. And I was like watching it, just going, what is this game? It was crazy, man. It was an awesome game. And then that was it though. That was the grand final. So I I didn't see anything until I got down to Crenella where the boys that I knew lived and stuff. So yeah, and it sticks out in my head watching it in the hostel, just going, Wow, this is a pretty full-on game, man.
SPEAKER_03So you jumped in the van and drove around or backpacked down. We were we were flying at that time.
SPEAKER_02We had like the program was you got six flights in Australia to take. So we flew into Cairns, then flew to Brisbane and went down to the Gold Coast, sort of thing, and then from the Gold Coast, flew to Sydney. A couple of our mates from Australia, they had two bedroom apartments set up for us in Crenella. Yeah, we rocked into there and we were just like, How is this an awesome place, man? Like, so good. That was it. And then yeah, we based ourselves out of Cornella for a year. You know, I did removalist job, hardest job of my life, I think. Walking up and down, flights of stairs carrying furniture. You'd rock up to a third floor apartment, they'd have a 1975 Calvin Air steel fridge, and you'd be like, Oh my god. So it's a pretty good job, man.
SPEAKER_03Was it much of a culture shock when you came to Australia, mid-90s? Not too bad.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we prepared ourselves. We watched Romper Stomper. We're thinking, what are we getting ourselves into here, man? It's pretty crazy. But the one thing, especially me, I had to learn, I had a bit of a temper and stuff. I had to learn the payout sort of thing. Didn't really understand if someone's actually paying you out, you're they probably like you. So if you one once I figured that whole Aussie humor thing out, then it was okay. But I mean, the cultures are so the same. Very similar. You go to Canada, you come here, it's a very laid back similar kind of culture and stuff. You know, we put hot dogs on the barbecue, you guys put sausages, that's about it, man. But yeah, no, it's very easy to like transfer over. Have you ever been homesick and thought about going home? No way, man. Not once I'd been here and stuff. I think I found my place when I got here, sort of thing. So uh, and then about six months into the trip, I was doing a removalist job. Here's a good one for you. We got the call, we'd finished our job, and the other truck called us and said, Oh mate, we need some help on this job. The elevator broke, and they were moving this lady up, you know, it's three, four flights of stairs. So we're like, all right, yeah, we'll come and help you. So we're working in it's a nice old lady and her sister were there, and we got talking, and her sister had been to Calgary and stuff, and it was like, Yeah, yeah, that's all good, cool, man. Had a good chat, and then we ended the day and moved on. Then about a week later, the Mardi Gras was on. So the boys at the gym are like, hey, you know, like you gotta go to Mardi Gras, you gotta see it, man. You know, you hear traveling. I'm like, Yeah, yeah. So they got a bunch of people from the gym together, and we headed into the city, and I started talking to this chick, and she's like, Oh, are you a removalist? I'm like, Yeah, yeah. She's like, Oh, you moved my aunt the other day. And I'm like, Oh, the one with the elevator. She's like, Yeah, yeah. So I had a bit of a chat with her and ended up marrying her, basically. And that was Felicia. So I met her mom and her aunt a week before I met her.
SPEAKER_03So Wow, what a sliding doors moment that is.
SPEAKER_02I know it's crazy, man. Love at first sight. Oh, just a couple of 20-year-olds hanging out, you know. But uh yeah, no, so that was one of my little interesting stories, yeah. And that was in the shire. That was in the shark, man. Yeah. Yes. So Felicia's Cranola, born and bred, sort of things. Is that how you became a sharkies fan? Well, yeah, the boys got me a shark. They they made me sharkies a fan. First thing they taught me was like, go for Cranola and hate Manly. Yeah, it was good. It was funny though. Felicia was the one that took me to my first rugby game, and it was St. George and the Bulldogs at Kagra. I remember sitting there, I was like, oh yeah, cool, I was really into it. And I had these Bulldog fans beside me, and they're just killing me because the Bulldogs were winning, right? And they're like, oh, it's too easy, too easy, you know, yelling. I was like, is it killing me? And then right at the end of the game, Nathan Brown, right, had glow long goldy lock hair, right? Scored a try in the corner to win the game. So I just started giving it back to these bulldog guys. Like I didn't really care who won. But Felicia and her friends are like, shut up, shut up. I'm like, what, man? They'll stab you, man. Right. Because I was like giving it to them all the way out. And they're like, no, no, shh, shh. That was my first uh rugby league game. But then the boys we went to that season, pretty much every home game for Cornell and stuff. And it was when you could run onto the field after the game, and yeah, you'd head straight into the leagues club afterwards and very messy nights.
SPEAKER_03I wonder if you're the that first game you watched, the St. George game, was Goldie playing in that? Do you know? Noel Goldthorpe? Oh man, I couldn't remember.
SPEAKER_02I just remember Nathan Brown scoring in the corner to win and giving it to the Bulldogs fans. And I have ever since. Good crowd. Big crowd. Oh, it was an awesome crowd back then. Yeah. Yeah. And those days on the uh Hill and Crenola were so much fun. Like they were good times.
SPEAKER_03And from then, a how do I say this? A love for rugby league. Love for Crenola. Love for rugby league.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, love for canola. Yeah. Could have picked any team, got Cranola, but I loved it, man. Yeah, it's like just such a awesome sport. I'm a life member, or they call it a petrol member at a shark park, you know, and stuff. Yeah. So yeah, just loved it. And you got to be there for the the maiden premiership. Yeah, I was there with the boys. We were that excited. I only had to wait 25 years. They had waited 50. Yeah. So, you know, it was great. Yeah, we can get into how I ended up partying with the team a little bit later on for with the grand final, but one of the best nights of my life. We'll keep that one. We'll save that one for a little bit later on. So that was it. Yeah, just then got married to Felicia, lived in Crenella, worked at a fruit shop, basically, up up in Guyana and stuff like that. And then that was it pretty much. Life kind of cruised along. And then actually, I'd finally get a job to where I was working at a uh company selling, working in the warehouse and stuff. But working on the mall during the summer was awesome. You know, on the that fruit shop. I did that for about four years and young guy. Start early in the morning, have a couple hours off in the middle of the day, go down to the beach, go for a swim, come back, pack up the fruit shop, go home. It's great. So you were there. So this is your 20s now, your mid-20s, something like that. Yeah, mid-twenties, kind of getting older and stuff. Fleisha had started her own screen printing business at that point, right? She's been in the fashion industry for years, ever since I known her. She used to do stuff with Mambo and that sort of thing. She'd started a screen printing business, and right beside it was a company that needed a guy to work in the warehouse, and I thought, you know, I can't work at the fruit shop all my life. So I went over and started working for them, sort of thing. And a distribution. Yeah. So, you know, I met the guy and what they sold was like, sounds pretty average, but it's like hand towel, toilet paper, hand soap, all this kind of stuff. So they bring it in, then you get your distributors all around the country and stuff like that. So I just, yeah, you know, had life, carried on, worked there for a while, worked my way up. I mean, when we started, there's like three guys there the boss, the sales guy, and me in the warehouse. And then, you know, as it grew and grew and grew, I ended up getting into sales and stuff like that, growing with the company. So I ended up, I'd be about 2006, 2007, taking care of all New South Wales for all their distributors and stuff like that. Lot of time on the road? Lots of time on the road. We didn't have a family then, so I'd be away for a week at a time, sort of thing, going out to, you know, Dubbo, Bathurst, all those towns and stuff. And actually at that time, when it first started, you know, there's only two or three of us on the road. So I'd have to go up to Queensland a couple times a year, see the distributors up there and stuff. But as we grew, you know, I I started training guys, and we had a guy in Queensland, then we get a guy in Victoria, and so the company kind of kept on growing. So you've seen a lot of Australia then? I saw more of Australia than I ever have of Canada. I've been pretty much everywhere, sort of thing. You know, because I would actually fly twice a year over to Perth to see the guys out there, sort of thing, make sure they're going into them, and we had more guys that could live over there and take care of them and stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And is that how you did you sort of plant the seed to come up to Queensland at that stage? Or was that something? That's way down the track.
SPEAKER_02Way down the track. So what what happened was I'll get into the main story that I know you love. It was 2007, you know, I'd been working on the road and our factory rep, Randy, would come over, you know, the guy from Goja. So we're the company that introduced Pure L hand sanitizer to the world, sort of thing, right? They invented hand sanitizer. So this is way before the whole pandemic stuff and that. 2007, we were launching the hand sanit thing and stuff like that. And Randy's a pilot. So when he would come over, me and him would go flying, because it was heaps better to fly to Bathurst and drive or fly to Orange and stuff. And he'd get his hours up. And he's from America, right? You know, fly to my distributors, you're in, you're out, good. Come back to Sydney, have dinner, everything is good. And we had a big weekend. We were like, had to go see our second-tier distributors that weren't at the launch. So one of them was down at Canberra. So me and Randy are like, yeah, sweet. Monday afternoon, we'll fly down to Canberra, do the presentation, fly back. We'd flown this plane several times. Randy owned two of the exact same models back in San Francisco where he lived. And we were flying back after actually a pretty average meeting. The guy that was there didn't like him at all, but had to go. That's why he wasn't at the launch, basically. But we were we were flying back and we were probably five minutes out from Bankstown Airport. The engine stopped and gravity won, basically. So I remember a lot of things. Randy making the May Day call. We were over the M7 at four o'clock in the afternoon. This particular four-seater plane, it has its own parachute system. So we used to joke around. Something happened, pull the parachute, we'll just float on down, right? What we didn't know was the plane had a heavy landing about four or five months before. And when that happens, you know, they check the engine, replace the prop, go through all these protocols to make sure the plane's flight worthy. At the time, no one had checked the rocket for the parachute, and it had shifted just the trajectory and stuff. So, anyways, we pull the parachute. I remember Randy grabs it, pops out, deploys backwards, wraps around the tail of the plane, and Randy lost rudder control and pulled us off course, and we ended up slamming onto a side of a hill then gliding onto the road. So the last thing I remember is just clipping a couple of trees, and that's it, sort of thing. So hit the ground. Yeah, that was about it. Lucky we were right by the M7. People saw us go down. A truck driver got there first. Randy was found wandering around the field, but I was trapped in the plane. My legs are wrapped underneath the seat. My feet were on my calves, basically. My face was all smashed in, legs are broken, arms are broken, chest sternums cracked, bleeding out in the plane from cuts and stuff. You know, I was just super lucky that first responders got there and they radioed and got me Lud or whatever, sort of thing that gave me transfusions in the plane because I was bleeding out in the plane. The problem with them was they couldn't cut me out right away because there was this rocket hanging there. And they're like, they didn't know if they cut the roof off, it was going to explode. They had to get on to the company to find out where to cut, how to get me out of the plane, basically. So I was probably trapped in there for a couple hours before they got me out. So it's a miracle you solved, really. Yeah, I shouldn't be. I should be dead, basically. The the police actually, the guys that were first there wanted to come see me because they said it was before I had my face operation because my whole face was smashed in. I had a 10-hour operation on my face, and it they just said, you know, we we can't go to car accidents and see people with less injuries that die, and we just don't know how you're survived, basically. In that first bit, I broke my back, right? So my L1s in three pieces. You know, I was I was just really lucky. I had really good surgeons, you know, because I should be paralyzed. I mean, I should be dead, but you know, next up I should be paralyzed, but I'm not a lot of things, good things went my way that day, I guess. And Randy was uh yeah, Randy, he had more head trauma, brain injuries, you know. Found him wandering around, dazed. You know, he had a broken ankle and elbow, but plane came down on my side, which is why I got like trapped in there, gotten all crushed and stuff. And we were super lucky, and well, I am, that it didn't catch fire, you know, sort of things. And then next thing I remember is waking up out of the they put you in a coma, obviously, because my back was broken and woke up just going like that. How long you in a were you in a coma for? They only kept me in for about five or six days. And then that time they didn't know if I was going to be paralyzed, if I'd walk again. And then at that time I was still like, I see you, you know, I could have died at any time, sort of thing. And yeah, they woke me up, started wiggling my toes, I guess, on my right foot. And poor Felicia, like she's like having to deal with the fact that her husband is hanging on to life and could be paralyzed, right? Yeah, my toes started wiggling on my right leg first, and then it took another hour or so before my left leg started working. That's the the worst leg that I have. They started going and they're like, Well, he has function, so that's good. And so I never had to live through any of that because by the time I was conscious that everything was moving. It's pretty crazy. So obviously, Falacia, frenzy, and all your loved one driver in Canada. Well, I mean, my family's there, but I mean, uh my mates and all that were here and stuff. So they drove her, like we lived in Crenella, and I was at Westmead. So if you know Sydney, that's an hour plus drive. I was in ICU and high dependency for six weeks at the time I set the record at Westmeat. Don't know if it's a great record to have, but records a record. Yeah, there you go. And yeah, so she she's trying to run a screen printing business and drive back and forth an hour each way every day to make sure you know I was alive and stuff like that. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. And then if you're going to crash a plane, make sure you're working because we're covered based for everything. She read the fine print and went, ah, he can be in any hospital, private, whatever. So she, once I got out of that high dependency unit, got me transferred back to the Shire to a Arena private hospital, man, where I spent the next five months learning to walk again and stuff like that. Yeah, so big recovery process. Massive, man. Yeah, I broken so yeah. Mate, I was I was pretty messed up. Like everything was broken, you know. Like I said, my legs, my face, my arms, my back, my sternum. You know, I I spent hours upon hours in rehab, basically.
SPEAKER_03Well, not just physical injury, but mentally, that's gotta take and an a huge toll on now.
SPEAKER_02It was massive, yeah. Yeah, and there's another one, one of my stories is uh, you know, I'd I'd go to physio or rehab daily, daily. One day I was just over it. It is hard. Like I spent hours there, and you know, the physios came down going, what are you doing? Why aren't you off there? Not fucking over it, you know, really shitty mood and stuff. And I don't know if you guys know being up here in Queensland and that, but there was a little girl, Sophie D'Lazio. You ever hear about her? She was a poor little girl in the uh she's in daycare, and a car slammed through the roundabout and hit her. And she lost both her legs, you know, half her body was burnt, sort of thing, lost an arm too, I think, or something like that. And then the poor kid, man, a year later, her nanny's walking her across the crosswalk, car hits her again, and you're just like, so anyways, it just happened to be that I was watching the Today show, and you know, I was in my little feel sorry for myself mode sort of thing. And her dad came on and started talking about a book he and her were writing and stuff, and I started listening to him, and I was like, you know what? You got nothing. This poor little girl almost died, that sort of thing. And and I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I'm gonna be able to walk again, I put in the work, you know, I'm live. I was back up at a physio five minutes later. Go and pull your head out of your ass, get it together. So there's a there's lots of those little things that you know trigger you and stuff like that. Yeah. So that was one of those moments in my life that you know, you realize, you know, you're not that bad. Okay. So I get a little teary when I think of that. Oh man, appreciate you being vulnerable. Yeah, so and I was also lucky, like all my mates, there's no way they're gonna let me sit around and feel sorry for myself. Like the boys there, they're very active guys, like they're you know, full wakeboarders and like a pro status sort of thing and stuff like that. So they're like, yeah, they wouldn't let me sit around and feel sorry for myself. So I had a good base around me, which you need to definitely, definitely. You need your trauma, hey. You have to have that around you, sort of thing. So but like you said, the mental health thing, yeah, I had to go see the psychologist and stuff. That's when I found out I was a very angry man because I was a pretty active guy and I'll never run again, sort of thing, and stuff like my ankles are fused and stuff like that. And when I started the rehab, and when I got out of hospital, I had to go to a gym. And I was super lucky that the girls in rehab knew this guy, Rob, that he was really, really good, you know, rehab physician or personal trainer, but high-level personal trainer, sort of thing. So I was lucky I met him, sort of thing. And I remember walking into the gym. Well, mate, I was still in the wheelchair, you know, getting in the gym and then standing up and stuff and feeling insanely intimidated because I was so weak and so fragile. And I'd been like in gyms all my life, you know, like never worried about it before, and but it just felt everyone staring at me and stuff, and yeah, it was very hard to get that going. It's a very weird experience. And that's what the psychologist had to help me with because I was so angry that I couldn't be the physical person I was before and stuff.
SPEAKER_03So you you mentioned Sophie big inspiration for you, and that was sort of a a moment during your recovery. Has anyone ever come up and told you that you inspired them through their recovery?
SPEAKER_02Or well, no, not not so much that, but it's kind of leads into a a shark story. A guy that I used to paddle with, I used to do outrigger canoeing and stuff, and Felicia's actually, as you know, being world champion and stuff. She one of the guys that that we're paddled with and stuff, he was a trainer down in St. George, the physio. And he saw Rob working with me, you know, and he knew me. He knew me before, and he went up to Rob and said, you know, I like the work you're doing with Tim, sort of thing. You ever thought about doing stuff in the NRL? He ended up going down to St. George and being the strength coach down there and stuff, eh? So uh I always tell him I, you know, I started his career in there. Yeah, yeah, sort of thing. And and so they were down at St. George for a bit, and Rob continuing building my body back. It took years. And then there's a time when Bennett was going to go be the coach at St. George, and they were kind of like, man, you know, he brings all his staff, and Flanagan was taking over at Cornella and he needed to hire new people. So they went up, Rob and and that went and saw Shane Flanagan, and yeah, they ended up hiring Andy, Andy Gray was his name. I think he did stuff with New South Wales in that too, Andy. But anyways, they hired Andy and Rob became the shark strength coach, right? You know, as we're training, we used to train right down in Cornella and stuff, and I'm like, mate, if they ever make the grand final, you have to get me into the after party, you know? And this would have been about 2012, 2013 sort of thing when he started there. Life goes on, I'm still working. So I I I went back to the job I was app, but I w I couldn't go back on the road. So I ended up doing all their purchasing and doing all the international shipping and stuff like that. So I could, you know, I was stuck at a desk because I just at that time I was too many physical things going on, which is great though for me. It was all in the Shire, too, right? Like I never had to leave the Shire, man. It's like one of those shire. Little bubble luck nights. Yeah, I love it, man. Yeah, so 2016 comes along, boys make the grand final. I'm with a mate of mine. We're loading up our eskey, parking the uh truck in the park car park at Shark Park for the after party, sort of thing. The night before, Rob calls me and goes, Yeah, I got you a ticket to the after party if we win, sort of thing. I was like, all right, awesome, man. So go to the game, great game. Obviously, I still watch it and freak out that last couple of minutes where Melbourne's going down the side and Ricky Litelli comes across and takes the guy when we actually win and stuff. And I still get nervous watching it though. But yeah, and we get back to Shark Park and we're partying, partying, you know, it's awesome. And I called Rob at midnight. I'm like, dude, where are you guys? And they're still at he was out in the middle of the field at that time. Yeah, they're chilling. And he goes, mate, we're just getting on the bus. I'll call you when you get there. And I'm like, yeah, cool. And you know, they get in, and me and his mate Doc are at the bottom of the stairs at Shark Park. If you know it, the cops are there, and people are like, Oh, I wish the players would come down and say, you know, good day and stuff. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. And then Rob comes down, has our passive. I'm like, all right, see you guys. Boom. Straight up the stairs and partied with them all night long. It was awesome, man. It was probably the best night of my life. Like on the dance floor, partying with the guys, and it was awesome.
SPEAKER_03Because he uh because you've been such a long time fan and what happened with the plane crash. Did the guys know who you were? No. Or were you just a dude? Just a a tragic. Just a tragic that guy did.
SPEAKER_02Like, and there's a few of us up there that I knew too. Like this Maddie guy, he was a sponsor, he was up there, and this other guy and he somehow snuck in, got up the elevator because he knew the the place so well. I'm like, how are you up here? He's like, oh man, I just came up the elevator. But uh, in your rain. Yeah, there's a few of us up there, and mate, it was so good, man. You know, I got pitches with Val Holmes and Luke Lewis with the metal, and Fafita was up there, and I went I went up to Mick Innes and said, Mate, I used to hate you, but I love you now. And you just laughed, man. So uh yeah, no, he was uh it was a good night, man. And then probably about seven in the morning I said to Rob, man, I gotta go. And he's like, Oh, what are you doing? I'm like, mate, we've been drinking since two in the afternoon, right? You only started after the game, sort of thing. I uh come out of the club and my mate Reese, who we were packing up the eskey, him and Dean are walking across the parking lot dragging the eskey because they'd been out there all night going and stuff. It's like, hey boys, how are you? And they're like, Yeah, back to Dean's house, still on the on the cans a bit and passed out. And that week in the Shire was awesome. It was just party. Northeast was going off for you know, nights on end, and yeah, it was great, man. So just the whole area celebrated. The whole area celebrated, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was like one of the best nights, like I said, best night of my life, man.
SPEAKER_03It's one of those, not everyone gets to experience the euphoria after a grandfall and a win, hey. No, like that.
SPEAKER_0250 years they'd been waiting, professional rugby club. Who gets a chance to party with the players?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like it's amazing. It was so good. Mate, even just like local footy wise, when we won the comp in 2017, and we turned it on at the clubhouse, like that was god, there was a lot of love getting around, catching the bus back and coming into a crowded clubhouse and just everyone was on cloud nine. So I can't wait for it this year. Yeah, 100%. After an NRL grand final would be amazing. It was, man. It was amazing. Yeah, it was good. And you you got the number plates, mate.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Well, if you see me driving around, if you understand, it says up up 16. So there you go. Couldn't get him in New South Wales, easy to get them up here. Yeah, fair, fair.
SPEAKER_03There's lots of Sharkies fans up here.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. There seems man, there's a lot at the club. Yeah. Right? You got me, you got Danny, you got Steve, you know. Yeah, no, we love it. It's all good. But yeah, so that that was my uh party with the uh the sharks, and then really got into the kids and stuff like that. Kind of if I go back a bit, like now why we moved up here and stuff. So during that time with the plane crash and stuff, we'd been trying to have kids and uh we lost like three babies, you know. A lot of families have that happen and stuff, and it's brutal, man. Like one of them, we got to 21 weeks, 22, and you know, just have the miscarriage and stuff. And you know, after the plane crash and all that, I'm like, I'm over the tragedy. Like we wanted to have kids. Apparently, I woke up out of the coma and told Felicia we're gonna have two kids, and you know, because we were getting on, not getting on, but I was like 30, what was that, 35, 37 at the time then, sort of thing. So we started looking into surrogacy and stuff like that. Yeah, and to do it in Australia is so hard because like even though it's your genetic material, the woman that carries your child can keep it, like she can just change her mind, and I would be the father and she would be the mother, and like Felicia would have to adopt the child, or if she decided to keep it, they just keep it.
SPEAKER_03So well, I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's crazy, man. Yeah, yeah. I I don't know if they changed it, but you know, that's like what 16 years ago or whatever. But we're flying over to North America quite a bit because there was a whole obviously lawsuit and stuff with the plane and all that stuff. So I started looking into it, and in Canada, good, and like the lady that carry your children, they're yours, sort of thing. It's all good and stuff. So we you know found this agency in Toronto, and it is pretty cool. We we flew in to have a chat because I'd been over on that side of the country in Minnesota with the lawyers and stuff, yeah. And anyways, they're like, Yeah, you know, we're going through the thing, and we're like, Oh, can we have someone like anywhere in the country? It's not just Toronto where you have your surrogates. And she goes, No, no, we we got a lady actually in Calgary where my family's from, right? And we're like, oh, do you think we could meet her and stuff? She's like, Well, she's new, but yeah, you know, she hasn't really gone through all this stuff. Like, you got to go through in Canada psychological things and all this before they sign you up. Anyways, we fly to Canada. We meet Laura Lee at the Cheesecake Cafe. Yeah, it was awesome. Just hit it off like that. It was so good. Her and Felicia, and Felicia's graphic designer, she did graphic design, and pretty much right after that, she said, Yeah, sign you up, you know, do the baby thing for you. We went over to Toronto, do your thing. Laura Lee gets pregnant, has Liv, our beautiful baby girl. And she came early, so I watched it on Skype. But because uh lucky Felicia had flown over a couple weeks earlier and stuff, like she called me and goes, It's happening now. I'm like, what do I do? I'm stuck in Australia, right? But I was over there in a week. But yeah, so Lorely had Livy for us, which is awesome. And then we thought we'd better we flew Laura Lee and her family over there, because all our friends obviously wanted to meet her and stuff like that. While she was there, she pulled Felicia aside and said, Liv needs a sibling. And we're like, Oh, we can't ask you to do it again. You've given us this most awesome gift like you could ever give us. She said, Nope, we're doing it again. So we're like, uh, you sure? And she's like, Yeah, back to Toronto, and boom, had Oscar 19 months later, I think it is. Yeah, something like that. What a beautiful story. Yeah, yeah, she's awesome. She's still friends with us, right? Yeah. Like obviously, like and the kids know her, and her kids are graduating now. It blows my mind. So she, if it wasn't for her, yeah, we wouldn't have our beautiful kids that we have. Another little part of the journey there. Law full of miracles, man. It is a life full of miracles, man. So uh, and that that's what I tell people. Every day is a beautiful day. No matter how shitty your day is, it's still a beautiful day to be alive because the alternative sucks. Definitely. Yeah, yeah, that's how we had the kids, and you know, they are around for the 2016 final when daddy came home and had to go for a nap, sort of thing. Yeah. Because they're pretty young then. And they are starting school, you know. We're we're in Kranala, and Sydney was just getting crazy then. You know, it was 2017, 2018 sort of thing, and we were like, we we gotta get out of here. I was still working for the same company, but I had the plane crash. I at that point I'd I'd trained my boss basically. I was the longest-serving employee there, and I was actually back on the road then, sort of thing. I got back into sales and stuff, but I wasn't really doing what I was doing before. Basically, what I was doing was flying around the country, which is kind of ironic that I had to get in the planes and fly to New Zealand because we had distributors in New Zealand and stuff. We we just had to get out of Sydney, it was just too crowded. Like Felicia cracked it one day because it took her over 20 minutes to get the kids from school to the swim lessons, which is five minutes down the road, but the traffic was just insane. I'd never even been to Noosa, but I had a distributor up here that I had to visit. So they're in Koonda Park, and uh actually Ash works for them now. And I went, you know, to see them and then I booked a place in Noosa and I drove up from my meeting there and driving around and I went, yeah, I could live here. It it felt to me like how Cornella was in 1994 when I first came over. Nice, like it was secluded away from everything, had the beaches, had the water, and then I flew back home and I told Felicia, yeah, go to Noosa. Because I at first we were thinking about staying in New South Wales at Kingscliffe, I think it was. Yeah, but didn't I yeah, I didn't really dig it. I thought it was too close to Byron and stuff and the Gold Coast saying when I came to Nusa, I was just like, Yeah, this is the home. Yeah, it was cool. And then Felicia and came up and scouted it out and stuff, and you know, I called my boss and everyone into the office and said, I gotta tell you guys something, sort of thing. And they were all freaking out, thinking I was going to quit. And I said, Listen, me and Felicia have decided to move to Queensland, to NUSA. I want to keep working though. And at that time, all I needed was an airport for my job because I just was flying around the country. They're like, Oh, oh yeah, tell us what you need. It's all good. And we thought you were going to quit. I'm like, no, no, I don't want to quit. And they're like, ah, anything you need, man. We don't care. We know you do your job. And that's how we ended up coming to NUSA. It was awesome. Probably the best decision I ever made in my life.
SPEAKER_03And men, like, I've been sitting here thinking, after the plane crash, a lot of people wouldn't have gone back to work. I didn't have to go back to work. The fact that you went back and saw your tenure through with the company, that's your man. Well, then a lot about your character.
SPEAKER_02And the company was massively supportive. And it was a great company to work for. It was a family company owned. Like they've actually been around for over a hundred years. They started out in New Zealand, right? And it's uh I think they're into the fourth generation now, people that own it and stuff. They were awesome, very supportive and stuff, made sure I had everything I needed. And I was really lucky when I got out of the hospital because the guy that was doing the shipping and the buying and that was leaving the company, so I had a perfect desk job for myself. Yeah, and they just moved me straight in and trained me up and stuff. And so I I was super lucky with them and and that's uh they're a good company to work for. I still talk to them, I see them all the time. Awesome. Yeah, so uh yeah, it was good. But you know, we moved up here and it was right in the middle of footy season, and yeah, the kids, you guys were almost my first protocol, basically, beside the school was, you know, both Oscar and Liv were playing rugby league. Liv had actually only played three games for Dela. She's kind of funny, actually. She was playing soccer and she uh went to one of Oscar's games. She's older, right? Two years older. She uh came to me and said, Dad, I've been thinking in my head. I was like, oh God, this could be anything. You know, I got a seven-year-old girl, tell me that. And I go, Yeah, what isn't Liv? She goes, Soccer's boring. I want to play football like Oscar. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's cool. Next year, Dila has a you know, girls league, tag league. No, no, no. I want to tackle with the boys. And there you go. And uh yeah, so I'm like, all right. So that next year we signed her up at D'La. I wanted her to play down there before we moved up here. I wanted to see how it was. And then I gave, I think it was Christy Hart a call. Yeah. And said, Hey, you know, we're moving up there, someplace for Dila. My daughter plays for Dila, and you let girls play, because at the time it was like, Yeah, yeah. And she's like, Oh yeah, yeah, come up. And uh, we got up here, and Ben Williams was a coach of the under eights that year. And I don't know, he just had this little blonde girl, but he just put her straight into the team, no fluffing around. She was part of that team, and she grew up playing with those boys till under 12 with Ollie and Lockheed and stuff. And so good. Yeah, it was awesome, man. And the pirates, they're you guys, we now you're just part of the family, basically.
SPEAKER_03Talked about on the potty a bunch of times, but it is like a big family, eh?
SPEAKER_02It is, man. Beautiful big community. Mate, it's I've been in a lot of sporting clubs and stuff like that, but yeah, then at the moment I think we we have a great culture, great committee, great volunteers, good parents, stuff like that. And Liv's been there now for nine years. Oscar unfortunately went to the dark side, plays union, but that's a school thing, I think, because he, you know, all his mates, private school, they uh they were all over there. He he played a few years at the Pirates, but just didn't have any friends from school and stuff. So uh he kind of felt isolated, I think, and stuff. And yeah, his mates were playing, you know. It's just good that he's still playing sport. Hey, it's important, isn't it? The thing is he's good at it too. So yeah, so anyways, yeah, I love uh I love the parts.
SPEAKER_03So, mate, from humble beginnings, a couple of girls being in the juniors when you arrived. Yeah, let's talk about where it's at now.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, so Livy was there, and then a couple years as she was playing, Sabella Medita joined the team, but that was pretty much it. There were some older girls, I think, that were playing, some under 17s, but the pirates never had a full team. I think they were always joining with other clubs and stuff to get a girls' team going. And then, as you know, when you hit 13, the girls can't play with the boys anymore. You know, international rules. And you know, I said to Benny, like, what are we gonna do with the girls? And he's like, Here, here's a number for this lady, give her a call, see what you can do. Because I'm like, man, I don't want them to go to Coolom or anything like that, you know. So poor Jess Goldthorpe got a call from this Canadian guy going, Hey, what are you guys going to do for my girls? You know, I got three girls in playing league, there's nothing for them. And she she was pretty cool. She's like, All right, leave it with me, sort of thing. And we showed up to training that year and there's four girls at first, you know, and we're like, okay, we can start building on this. And honestly, in about three weeks from that, we had 10 girls for that under 13s team, sort of thing. And I'm like, ah, this, okay, it's going, word of mouth and stuff. By the end of the season, I think we had 20 girls on that team. And it was a pretty broad aged group, like from 13 down to about 11 sort of thing. But it was good. Okay. This is good. Kept on pushing it. We'd been pushing it, and now, you know, through through all that effort with me, Jess, other people, there's what two-thirds of the club. Or no, sorry, one third of the club is girls now. Yeah. But what is it?
SPEAKER_03120 girls, something like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And I think this year was the first year they had pirates only under 17s, pirates only under 15s, pirates only under 13s. We got the 11 girls. I think 11s. Is this the first year or second year? Second year for the under-elevens. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Might be the first.
SPEAKER_03I know there was some talk under nines. Yeah, yeah. Under yeah, yeah, not enough numbers.
SPEAKER_02So this is yeah, so this is the second year for under 11s. Under 13 girls last year, undefeated, grand finalists. 15 girls are looking good this year, you know. So are the 13 girls now, they moved up into division one. So yeah, no, that obviously for me with the pirates, my passion is the girls' side of the game.
SPEAKER_03And and mate, it's it's good to have a mix of people on committee with different backgrounds and stuff too. And mate, you're an all-rounder. You do well, for anyone that doesn't know, Timmy's our secretary of the club. Yeah, big job, like massive job. Yeah, you suck me into that one, dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I was going out for coffee with you and Gus, just have a little talk about joining the committee. Next thing you know, I walked by my house going, Yeah, I think I'm going to be the secretary. Fleisha just was shaking her head. But you guys got me at a good time because I'd been retired for two years and I was you know, I'd worked all my life. I started when I was 13 with a paper root, yeah, and I'd never not worked. Worked until that point in my life, basically, obviously with my six months off and with the plane crash. But yeah, so I was starting to get bored, but I did not realize how massive the job was. Secretary is probably the biggest job in the club. It is, man. Like I you know, I say to Pam now, who's obviously secretary before me, I don't know how you did it with a job. Like seriously, it's so massive. I was super lucky though, because I had Pam, I had Jess to help me and stuff. Or because uh that first year I told you I was over at the uh in Vegas for the first part of it, so I kind of missed a bit of the season and we'd been to Canada too that year. That's when yeah, the kids had gone back and stuff. But yeah, they helped me immensely, or else I yeah, I could have been in a bit of trouble.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think from memory, Benny Williams might have put your name up and given us a tap on the shoulder. It was Benny, man. He have a coffee with you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he he's like, Oh, don't worry, we think we'll just kind of like maybe do it, you know, like junior secretary and blah blah blah. It'll be easy. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, I'm you know, I was always happy to help. I was Liv's manager and stuff for most of uh the time there. And uh I kind of stepped back when Gussie came back. Poor Gussie uh rocks back into uh coaching and he had three girls on his team. I don't know if he actually knew how to handle that, man, sort of thing. But no, he was good with the girls too. Yeah, I thought I was just yeah, yeah, when I was meeting you guys, I thought I'd just have a nice back room kind of role or whatever. But yeah, I walked out secretary.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you put your hand up because you're doing a fantastic job. Yeah, well, thanks, man. Had you ever done committee stuff before?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I swore I'd never go on a committee again. Different experience last time. Oh man, I was the treasurer at Outrigger Club and stuff. Those people shouldn't say those people, it wasn't as nice as our committee. There's more politics and stuff going on in there and stuff, like people with agendas and yeah, man, it was just yeah, it's too much sort of thing. So I'd done that for about five years doing the treasure and stuff like that, and then I was just like, yeah, never again will I be in a committee. And Felicia just shook her head when I walked back in, saying I was doing it. But mate, I honestly I actually enjoy it, man. You know, yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_03I was listening to a podcast the other day and it was behavioral scientist bloke, and he's talking about statistically having if you put it on a linear range, top 10%, bottom 10% days, and you're gonna have 36 of each of those ends of the spectrum each year. I thought that's a really interesting way to to think of it when you're having a shit day. Yeah. One of those bottom 10% days. Well, you're gonna have one every week and a half, statistically.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I think of it, mate, because I obviously I think every every day is a good day, even though shit ones, man. 100%. I gotta go, mate. I'm alive. Life is good. I mean, look at where I live. We're in a little mini paradise here, so. Do you reckon they're still upside in the club? Do you reckon we've still got growth areas and stuff? Mate, massive growth areas. Man, we're we should be on a club bow on the move, man. You know what our drive is right now, trying to get things sorted and stuff. But if we if we get those facilities and stuff sorted, you know, we could be the we should be. And that's part of our thing, the best club on the on the Sunshine Coast, I think. Yeah, we just need amenities to match our numbers. Exactly. Yeah, so change rooms for all those girls. Yeah, well, that's it, you know, sort of thing and stuff. Because that's that's the growth right now, sort of thing. I mean, the boys' game's grown too. I mean, we're up on numbers from last year and stuff in the boys' game and that.
SPEAKER_03But uh 100%. What did we say?
SPEAKER_02495 or something right overall. All up, yeah. Yeah, last when we looked at it, yeah. Yeah, that includes our seniors and stuff, you know, and the senior boys are looking good right now. Got that big push to the playoffs and stuff, very excited about.
SPEAKER_03So Yeah, I was thinking about it the other day. I can't remember another time when the clubs had so many teams that are gonna make finals. So there's not too many across the competitive age groups that aren't gonna aren't gonna play. And the ones that are gonna miss the semis, it's like you 17s girls, for example. That's a s under 16 girl side basically with a couple of seventeen-year-old girls, so they'll be better for this experience.
SPEAKER_02I think it is the first time they they miss the uh finals this year. Yeah. But man, they've been so good this year. They're just having the hard time crossing line. Like their defense is immaculate, it's just getting that forward play sometimes going, so things.
SPEAKER_03And the standard of the competitions in well, actually the standard, the whole competition's improved. Like the standard of the seniors is definitely better than when I hung the boots up. And the juniors, I feel, is the same too.
SPEAKER_02Like I I really haven't had much to do with the seniors until I became secretary. I don't even think I'd been to a senior game. I've just been so involved with the junior side of things, and then yeah, I had no idea what goes on on the senior side of things. It was a bit of an eye-opener, but yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, it's good to see. And like you said, the standard of the football, even with the girls like Paul Guy with his side, he has those girls like drilled and and stuff. Our girls are like the the skill. A lot of a lot of the girls came over from touch this year and hadn't tackled stuff before, and and they've grown immensely since the start of the season. Game's looking good. It's good, man.
SPEAKER_03So there you go. We talked about it off mic before, but I'm sure everyone around the rugby league community knows about peps. We made a bit of a joke about it before. The peps? Yeah. Are the peps your bane of your existence at the moment?
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, they're a bit of an interesting thing. Actually, you know, you know what the bane of my thing is blue cards. Blue cards. Blue cards. Very, very hard organization to work with, man. The peps, the peps are mate, they're both necessary processes. Oh, totally. And they're there for a good reason. Oh, man, you need them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm actually surprised at what's involved with all that stuff. You know, you just don't know until you get involved. I mean, even being on the committee, like I said, I'd you know, I've been around for nine years, and it's the only last two that have been on the committee. I had no idea what committee people did. The amount of work and effort all they put in to make the club go is amazing. Takes a village hey. Yeah. And you know, I now like respect everything they did before I joined the committee because it's it's a massive job, you know. And like you said, we are very lucky to have the people we do on that committee.
SPEAKER_03Right across the club. We are very fortunate for our committee people. But yeah, everyone that chips in and does something right across the club, even from just jumping in and doing a stint in the canteen. Yeah, we talk to a lot of other clubs, and not every other club is as fortunate as us to be supported the way that we are by the parents and stuff. Well, for the most part, for the most part, you're always gonna get the one percenters, mate.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you get that, but you know, like I I think again we're fortunate that we have Lisa, the manager's manager. She she drives that, getting the volunteers and stuff, you know, gets it out to the managers, and you know, like you said, that flows on. And the very rare time that we don't have our people, you know, helping out and stuff. So it's good. And if you look at it, we're not the largest club sort of thing. You look at Cloundra and Kabucha and all that stuff. If I said that right, you guys always always butcher how I say things, man. So or I actually butcher the words, I guess. But uh, you know, those are massive clubs, but I think we outperform them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's good. I mentioned the peps before, so for anyone that's listening that doesn't know, you can put positive peps in, and that's it's actually called the Positive Environment Programme. So people use it as a bit of a notice board to let us know pretty quick when they're not happy with something. But just encourage everyone to do some positive peps too. Those are for other clubs too. Like if if you have a great experience when we're playing an away game somewhere, it means a lot to committee people to get a bit of positive feedback because you don't get as much positive feedback as you do the the negative stuff. So exactly. Yeah, but no, it's good. Richie Johnson on the weekend. How big was that?
SPEAKER_02You've been involved in some you've been involved in what the last well, the last couple on the committee, but obviously live and Oscar played in them, yeah, and you know, and even Felicia was in there flipping burgers. Yeah, she's never eaten a burger in her life, never even had one. She was in there helping out and stuff, and probably one of the best things we do. And we had another ripper this weekend. Or last weekend, you know. Well, what did we have? 1,500 kids. Yeah, it's nearly 1,600 kids. Yeah, and then massive. Throw the parents on there and the grandparents that come and weather helped out, wasn't too bad. So 6,000 odd people, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It was a massive effort, all done volunteers, coaches. I think we counted there's 80 something people on volunteer rosters. Plus, we had we had some uh senior players and stuff turning up that were just cruising around because they there wasn't a shift for them to jump into, so they just helping doing bits and pieces. It's good.
SPEAKER_02When living that we're playing, there's no senior players there back then, right? The way the seniors, boys and or well, men and women, not boys and girls, men and women, have come to help the juniors, and Ash Davis probably pushed that a bit. Credit to Ash and yeah, and got the patrons there, and you know, the seniors coming to the junior games and and helping out with the coaches and stuff like that. I think is is one of the best things that we do at the club. Yeah. Is to get those seniors because those kids look up to them, you know, they want to be the A grade players and stuff, and for them to come down and hang out, you know, with the internationals and stuff like that, I think is uh one of the best things that we do.
SPEAKER_03And the nine ains and C grade and Reggie's like all of that whole senior cohorts being fantastic. Yeah, yeah. And you see at senior games because there's heaps of junior kids there.
SPEAKER_02So it's and the girls like they come and watch all the senior games and stuff and get the senior women. A lot of the time our under-17s do uh oppose sessions against them and stuff, you know, which is awesome to help them develop, and then the seventeens do oppose against the fifteens.
SPEAKER_03Which is good for our open women too. Yeah, because the skill level of some of the girls coming through that have been in a system for eight or ten years, like it's uh they probably played a lot more footy than some of the senior women have that uh come fresh into it, played a bit of social touch and stuff, haven't had the footy in their hands as much, so it's works both ways. It's really beneficial.
SPEAKER_02They're hanging for this generation of girls to move up into opens, and you're you're starting to see that other clubs, the younger girls on the teams and stuff like that. So you look at five years, that open women's competition is going to be pretty full on, I think. You know, the numbers and stuff.
SPEAKER_03I think we'll see a lot more of our junior girls and sort of the bread pathways with Falcons and Yeah. Yeah, we got some good ones right now.
SPEAKER_02You know, you know, Big Livy and Ivy and stuff. They're chart or Claire, she's destined for good things, I think. Yes, she's a little go.
SPEAKER_03She's a very good player, yeah. Well, Jay Wales, she played for Australia back in the day. So I don't know if she I actually don't know. We should get Jay on here to talk about earlier Australian footy and stuff like that too. But I don't know if there was any juniors for her to play when she was coming through here, whether it was Metro and stuff. But shout out to Joy Bowden, he made his NRL debut last weekend. So he's another pirate that's um that's pulled on NRL jersey. But I don't know if we've had an NRL W player come out of the club yet. Not yet, no. I haven't seen any.
SPEAKER_02There's a few from like Sunny Coast and that that are playing in there. Yeah, definitely. I know actually I was down in Sydney. There's a girl from Cornell that made uh her debut for the uh Gold Coast Titans. So my mates are pretty happy with that, man. Yeah. Yeah, she was on. But yeah, the the girls' game, the women's game is growing. It's good to see.
SPEAKER_03Who do you reckon's gonna win? Are you are you following the open women's comp closely?
SPEAKER_02Or are you just more so junior girls? Yeah, mostly junior girls, man. I'm not too on top of, you know, I think probably what Coolum, I would say, would be up there on the women's, and yeah, I'm not too sure, man. They're looking good actually in the 17s. They're probably them and Cloundra will be there. Our girls will be in the 15s, I'd say, with Marichidor. That looks like that'll be their grand final if it goes according to form. And then 13 girls will be, could be our girls, up against probably Clouder again, sort of thing. Clounder or I forget who's second on the ladder with them right now, but but it's a strong call, like you said.
SPEAKER_03Oh, credit to all the clubs out there putting in the work in their junior pathways, especially in that girl space, because it's great to see the game growing and all the stuff that the league and the QRL are doing in that space and the NRL more broadly. Yeah, it's all positive here. Well, mate, I'm just I'm looking at the clock and we've been uh we've been having a fair yarn here.
SPEAKER_02I told you you get me going, I won't shut up, man.
SPEAKER_03I always throw you back to the guests on and ask if there's any little wisdom or last little stories that you want to pass on.
SPEAKER_02Don't know if I got any more stories left. Well, I probably do. They're probably not fit for uh the podcast. You know, I just I look back and yeah, just tell everyone, remember every day's a good day. It's a good day to be alive, it's a good day to hang out with your mates, just enjoy life, man.
SPEAKER_03Mate, it it's been pretty inspirational hearing your story. So thank you for being vulnerable and open and up. And mate, I already had a massive amount of respect for you as a bloke, but it's great to hear the story and yeah, hear the making of Timmy a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02I do actually want to apologize to all the players when I butcher their name when I'm announcing them when I'm up in the PA box, man. But you know I try. Crazy Americans. Yeah, that's it. I actually, you know who I felt sorry for, if I can, just say is uh Eulis's uh parents were over from America, and uh he scored a try and I called it and stuff, and then I was talking to his mom after, and I I had to apologize because uh she wanted to hear his name with an Australian accent, and she got me up in the box calling the try. So that's funny. Yeah, she's I heard you, and I'm like, who's this American guy? I was like, no, no, come on, Canadian. Yeah, she was great. We've got to get Eulis on the potty soon. Yeah, he's got a great story. Yeah, he's a he's a cool bloke, man. Yeah, I I listened to Henry's too, man. He's yeah, he was good, man.
SPEAKER_03Actually, Henry's had the most hits all over the world from anyone that's been on, yeah. So he's he's been listened to in bloody every continent in the world.
SPEAKER_02Well, man, he's he's a great bloke, man. He's you know, we didn't even get into our junior development program and stuff. He's helped Antel with that. And I remember you picked him up on that first day, and then I went and grabbed him, took him to the clubhouse to uh get him registered, and he was just shattered. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, he's a great bloke though. He is, he's a legend. Yeah, I'm really, really grateful for the the people that have come into the club this year. They've bought right into the culture and they've they've really added a fair bit too. Yeah, it's awesome. Next Tuesday, our all ability side is playing their last game next weekend for the the game against Kabucha, and I think we're gonna do a bit of a pose against the Academy kids. So that'll be cool. That'll be pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They'll be into it. Camo Pixelworks are doing a little doco to connect rugby league and level disguise, so they'll get some footage and stuff there. And yeah, we'll make sure other academy kids have their shirts on. Looking good. Yeah, excellent, mate.
SPEAKER_02Cool, cool. Awesome. Well, thanks for that, Lynn.
SPEAKER_03Well, mate, yeah, thanks for coming on, you're big legend. Not a problem, mate. Yeah, keep doing your thing. All right, thanks guys. All right, see ya.