Brendan Cowell Interview - December 2024

[00:00:01] The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking is a hidden gem of the Shire, situated on the banks of the beautiful Port Hacking.

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[00:01:10] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate.

[00:01:31] Turn your porch lights off because we're coming out with a trophy.

[00:01:47] Welcome to SharkCast Pod, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world of mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks.

[00:01:54] As you can see on the YouTube, if you're listening on the YouTube, this show is brought to you by Dyson Logistics,

[00:01:59] the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Crips & Crips Real Estate.

[00:02:03] You also see another gentleman there.

[00:02:05] If you're on the YouTube, if you're listening on the podcast, we appreciate that too.

[00:02:08] This gentleman was last on the show in 2015 and in 2015, that was our first year of podcasting.

[00:02:15] And we were hanging out in a small apartment in Newtown.

[00:02:21] The Sharks hadn't made history and our lives have changed ever since.

[00:02:27] He is an actor, writer, director, producer, author, showrunner.

[00:02:34] He's been in such great things as Love My Way, Game of Thrones, Avatar, a whole bunch of stuff.

[00:02:40] He was in Broke, which is very close to my heart, the Heath Davis film.

[00:02:44] He's an award-winning playwright.

[00:02:46] He was the co-host of The League Lounge, also close to my heart with my friend Warren Smith on Fox Sports.

[00:02:52] I don't know what else to say about this fellow, but he's an absolute legend.

[00:02:55] Shark's icon in his own right, Mr. Brendan Cowell.

[00:02:59] Welcome, sir.

[00:03:00] Thank you, Sam.

[00:03:01] Thank you for having me.

[00:03:02] I just spotted a really well-designed Nico Hines doll just there.

[00:03:09] And that wasn't an intentional set decoration, but it does prove that you and I are equally, equally obsessed by this gathering of men.

[00:03:20] We really are.

[00:03:21] And we're going to get into it.

[00:03:22] We're going to get into a few things, as much as time allows, of course.

[00:03:26] So, Plum is out.

[00:03:28] The TV show is out.

[00:03:29] It's aired on the ABC.

[00:03:31] You can watch it in iView.

[00:03:32] We've been telling our listeners to do so, Brendan.

[00:03:34] I am obsessed with the show.

[00:03:36] I love the book.

[00:03:38] We've had a lot of good feedback from listeners already who've watched the show.

[00:03:41] The way I want to attack this today is I'm just going to say we're going to have some spoilers on here.

[00:03:52] Pause.

[00:03:52] Pause.

[00:03:53] Watch six hours.

[00:03:54] Come back.

[00:03:54] There'll be a few spoilers.

[00:03:55] Yes, yes.

[00:03:56] But we're at the end of kind of your media cycle almost with that.

[00:03:59] So I don't want to cover everything you've already covered because all of our listeners have already listened to all of your interviews.

[00:04:04] However, we do have to just get to the basis of Plum, right?

[00:04:08] Yeah.

[00:04:09] No, that wasn't a dig in anyone, Brendan.

[00:04:12] Save the best to luck.

[00:04:13] No, I just know that I did over 100 interviews or something.

[00:04:16] I imposed myself on society.

[00:04:18] So I apologize for that.

[00:04:19] But the show has gone on to be a bit of a hit and in doing so helped a lot of people.

[00:04:26] Yeah.

[00:04:27] Well, I want to get into that as well because I love the message.

[00:04:30] When people ask me what it's about, I don't say it's about footy.

[00:04:34] I don't say it's about rugby league.

[00:04:35] I say it's about a guy who is in the second part of his life and he's really struggling with things.

[00:04:41] And I dance around that.

[00:04:42] It's a little bit like when you try and tell people about Friday Night Lights, a TV show or even the movie, you don't want to say, oh, it's about college football.

[00:04:50] No, it's about a small town in Texas.

[00:04:52] I kind of relate that to this show because there's so much going on.

[00:04:56] Small town, hometown, CTE, family relationships, all sorts of relationships.

[00:05:01] It's not just about footy, right?

[00:05:03] No.

[00:05:04] And yeah, I think I've had so many lovely messages on social media and through relatives and friends and on our modern convict on my production company's website.

[00:05:16] Just incredible.

[00:05:17] All positive, all kind of touched by it.

[00:05:20] And one guy said, yeah, it's not about footy or CTE at all.

[00:05:24] It's about life's hurdles.

[00:05:26] And I thought, oh, that's a lovely way of putting it.

[00:05:28] It's just all the hurdles that life throws at you, especially in that part of your life, you know, new marriages, exes, kids, illness, discrimination, time, love, trust, betrayal, father, son.

[00:05:50] Health, you know, all that stuff and how you deal with it, how you face it and how we face it as families and as Australians.

[00:05:57] And it uses CTE as the thing that causes the ripple effect of that.

[00:06:04] But it really could be anything, any type of illness or any change in a family that to this point has been just happily dysfunctional.

[00:06:13] You know, like all families are just going along in their happy dysfunction.

[00:06:18] And then all of a sudden they're tripped up by something bigger than them.

[00:06:22] But these are good people, right?

[00:06:24] The people of Plum are good people.

[00:06:26] But suddenly there's something beyond their capacity that they've never had to deal with before.

[00:06:31] And so their emotional maturity and their bonds are tested.

[00:06:37] How do we go from novel to TV show?

[00:06:41] What's the process there?

[00:06:42] Well, yeah, I think I wrote the novel for me like at a quite a tough time in my life.

[00:06:47] And then I feel like I've written the TV show for others to see if it could help others.

[00:06:52] But usually what happens is I'm kind of selling the dream all over town, you know,

[00:06:59] knocking on doors and getting the agent to get me in with the ABC or Stan or such and go, hey, you know,

[00:07:05] or a production company, hey, I've got this cool idea.

[00:07:09] And in this case, it was so different, Sam, where Louise Smith and Sally Riley,

[00:07:14] who are no longer at the ABC, Louise Smith emailed me and said,

[00:07:18] Sally and I really responded to the book.

[00:07:22] And they had kind of versions of Plum as dads and uncles.

[00:07:27] And they knew this kind of guy, this tough footy guy who was a little bit damaged later.

[00:07:35] And they said, should we talk about it?

[00:07:37] And all of a sudden there was a Zoom that said Plum TV show on the Zoom, ABC.

[00:07:41] And I thought, oh, holy shit.

[00:07:43] This is the first time I haven't had to go and do the dance.

[00:07:48] So the whole time we were going through script development,

[00:07:50] which was kind of three or four phases is how it works.

[00:07:53] They say, why don't you write a scene breakdown?

[00:07:55] Why don't you write one episode?

[00:07:57] Why don't you write two episodes?

[00:07:58] And then they say, write the rest of the episodes,

[00:08:01] which is when you start to think, oh shit, we might make this thing.

[00:08:04] And I have this wonderful friend, Fiona Series,

[00:08:07] who I wrote Love My Way With.

[00:08:09] And she's written other shows such as Tangle and The Great.

[00:08:14] And she's very good at taking my big carnival of a brain and all my ideas.

[00:08:19] And the book has so many storylines in it, so much going on in the book.

[00:08:24] And she just went, that's the show.

[00:08:28] Because you can't, you just can't tell all the tales.

[00:08:31] So you have to choose a muscle or an artery and go, this is what we're doing.

[00:08:36] And so that was the process.

[00:08:38] So was it up to your colleague, your friend who you mentioned just then

[00:08:41] to completely hone it into the TV script?

[00:08:45] Or did you have a big say in it?

[00:08:47] Or was it just her vision?

[00:08:49] Oh, no, not her vision.

[00:08:51] I mean, it was my show.

[00:08:53] I wrote, produced, I was the show runner.

[00:08:55] So the color of the pillow slips came down to me.

[00:08:58] The T-shirts and casting as much as you can.

[00:09:03] Because casting has a lot of political and different navigational things in it

[00:09:08] in terms of stars and what you need.

[00:09:11] But no, it was a true collaboration with Fiona.

[00:09:14] I mean, Fiona, I brought her on.

[00:09:16] I said, you write these two.

[00:09:17] And we plotted out the six.

[00:09:20] And I think it was, you know, I help her write.

[00:09:24] I write and I flourish.

[00:09:27] And she's very economical.

[00:09:28] And so I think I brought the poet out in her.

[00:09:31] And she, you know, brought incredible structure, a kind of minimalist approach.

[00:09:38] So it was definitely, you know, it's like a good halves combination.

[00:09:42] You know, you've got somebody, the game manager, and then you have a running number six.

[00:09:47] You know, so she was probably the seven and I was probably the six.

[00:09:52] Obviously, a lot of it is based in Cronulla.

[00:09:55] There's, you shoot elsewhere.

[00:09:56] We won't spoil too much of that of where you go.

[00:09:58] But there's a couple of episodes where you go elsewhere.

[00:10:00] But the heart of it is in Cronulla.

[00:10:03] You're a Cronulla boy.

[00:10:04] We know this.

[00:10:05] What was that like?

[00:10:06] Coming back to your hometown, filming, you're the show runner.

[00:10:10] That means you do everything as you say.

[00:10:12] You rock up into town with your trucks.

[00:10:14] I saw a few of them one day.

[00:10:15] Like, Brendan must be here, you know.

[00:10:18] That must be pretty, I don't know.

[00:10:21] I don't know what that feels like.

[00:10:22] It must be pretty amazing.

[00:10:23] Yeah.

[00:10:24] It was amazing.

[00:10:26] And, you know, the ivy, you know, the vine of ivy in Cronulla, it moves quickly.

[00:10:32] You know, everyone's like, I heard you're shooting there and you're shooting there and you're shooting there.

[00:10:36] It's all happening.

[00:10:37] Or they're at the Green Hills.

[00:10:38] They're at Margaritas, you know.

[00:10:40] And I used a lot of friends from the Shire, family members.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:46] Everyone popped up.

[00:10:47] If my nan was still alive, she would have been in there, you know.

[00:10:51] Well, your mum does star in it.

[00:10:53] Yeah, Von the Poet.

[00:10:54] One of my best mates has the line in the canoe where he says, hey, plop me a fuckwit.

[00:11:01] In the kayak.

[00:11:02] Yeah, but what was good, Sam, I guess, in a poetic kind of parable kind of sense was that I put my hand up when I was 13 and 14 to be the drama kid and it didn't go down that well in Cronulla.

[00:11:16] And then at 17, a drama teacher called Ken Graneman came in and drama came into the Shire.

[00:11:23] And, you know, it was the first year we had drama, year 11 and 12.

[00:11:26] And suddenly I wasn't so strange.

[00:11:31] I had a place to go at lunch and I had a teacher to talk to.

[00:11:34] And suddenly it was kind of nearly a bit cool in year 11 and 12 to be, you know, because we entertained at assembly.

[00:11:41] You had a little comedy trio with Richard Badalato and Sean Bateman.

[00:11:45] And to come back, you know, at the age of 47, 48, and to make a story that is a love letter to Cronulla in a lot of ways and to the Cronulla Sharks from being the drama kid that in 1989, 1990, put my hand up and went, this is me.

[00:12:03] And that's what I was kind of proud of, you know, it was a nice kind of homecoming.

[00:12:08] And to put my two loves out there, which is art, creativity and footy sharks.

[00:12:14] So it was, it was pretty wild.

[00:12:17] Can't believe it.

[00:12:18] What school did you go to?

[00:12:19] I went to De La Salle Carinba, then I went to Carinba.

[00:12:23] I went to Fatima, our lady Fatima, De La Salle Carinba, De La Salle Cronulla, because, you know, they split you up in seven and 10, then they put you back together in 11.

[00:12:33] So I'm Carinba Highboy and I can relate to the, I mean, everyone can relate to the not feeling like feeling like an outsider, but I played drums back then.

[00:12:43] And so I joined the school band.

[00:12:44] I was good enough playing in the band.

[00:12:46] We entertained an assembly.

[00:12:48] So I know I can relate to that kind of vibe.

[00:12:51] The outlet in high school.

[00:12:53] It's a thing you wish upon others.

[00:12:55] Yeah.

[00:12:56] Yeah.

[00:12:56] It was, it was just, yeah, from being bullied and ostracized to all of a sudden being a

[00:13:03] like, Oh, he's cool.

[00:13:04] He's funny.

[00:13:05] He's weird.

[00:13:06] I like him.

[00:13:07] And then, you know, I was going to race parties and suddenly I was a bit, Oh, he's what's going on with him.

[00:13:15] So, yeah.

[00:13:16] And I was lucky.

[00:13:17] I had a really good year in year 11 and 12, like the girls and the guys got on really well.

[00:13:22] A lot of, you know, a lot of us still communicate and it was, there wasn't really like different gangs and groups.

[00:13:29] We're all, we were very social.

[00:13:31] So yeah, my year, all those cats, that was awesome.

[00:13:35] Have you had reunions or you don't really need to?

[00:13:38] Yeah.

[00:13:39] We had a reunion recently and I paid the $45 and then I forgot about it.

[00:13:46] And I was that night.

[00:13:48] I was like, Oh, why is Ben calling me?

[00:13:51] And then they say, Oh, where the fuck were you, cow?

[00:13:54] I'm like, Oh, fuck.

[00:13:58] Missed a reunion.

[00:13:59] And the other reunion, I went to go to my appendix burst.

[00:14:04] Oh.

[00:14:05] So I've only been to the 10 year.

[00:14:07] I missed the 20 and the 30.

[00:14:09] That's very dramatic.

[00:14:10] Fuck.

[00:14:11] 30 year reunion.

[00:14:13] That's dumb.

[00:14:13] I know, man.

[00:14:14] I'm in the same bracket.

[00:14:15] So locations.

[00:14:16] I wanted to ask you about that.

[00:14:17] Locations for the, for the show.

[00:14:19] It took me a while.

[00:14:21] And even though I frequent it from time to time and certainly my past, I have took me a

[00:14:25] while to realize what pub you were in.

[00:14:27] Oh yeah.

[00:14:28] What pub were we?

[00:14:29] The carrying bar hotel, right?

[00:14:31] Oh yeah.

[00:14:32] We're in the carrying bar in yeah.

[00:14:34] The Cas bar.

[00:14:35] Yeah.

[00:14:35] I thought maybe it was Northies or something, but then I saw the, the shark supporters logo.

[00:14:41] I was like, Oh, carrying bar in.

[00:14:42] It had to be that.

[00:14:43] I mean, it's kind of an, and a lot of the, you know, the Darryl Bromans, a lot of the,

[00:14:48] a lot of the footy guys are in there and I grew up there and you could see noise works

[00:14:54] there and rat cat there and midnight oil fucking plate there in excess.

[00:14:59] Yeah.

[00:15:00] You know what I mean?

[00:15:01] Like it, it was, it was cool, but on Saturday, but also it was a boxing ring some nights.

[00:15:08] Oh really?

[00:15:08] You know, it was, it was tough.

[00:15:11] Oh, gotcha.

[00:15:12] Yeah.

[00:15:12] Gotcha.

[00:15:13] Yeah.

[00:15:13] But yeah, I just know like, I know a lot of blokes that knock off there and I know

[00:15:19] that that's where a lot of footy players can go and not get harassed.

[00:15:23] Yeah.

[00:15:23] Yeah.

[00:15:23] A lot of our current players can float up there from, and especially recently retired

[00:15:28] players hang out there, which is awesome.

[00:15:31] Yeah.

[00:15:32] It's just a little less intense.

[00:15:34] And, but now they've got a really good restaurant out the back and they, the, the people there

[00:15:38] were really lovely to us.

[00:15:40] Oh, awesome.

[00:15:41] How much scoping did you have to do as location scout?

[00:15:45] Like, did you just know, Oh, this is where it's going to be.

[00:15:47] Or did you spend some time before shooting, deciding on exactly where you're going to be?

[00:15:53] Well, yeah, you have, you have a locations department and a location manager and a location scout.

[00:16:00] So were you giving them hints?

[00:16:02] Were you like, Hey, do it here.

[00:16:03] There's the book and the script.

[00:16:05] You know, you look at the script, it'd be interior carrying by in day.

[00:16:09] So she would come up and say, Rachel would come up and say, BC, do you want to shoot in

[00:16:16] the carrying bar in or would you rather, you know, and also on that day that we're filming,

[00:16:20] we're also doing a scene at the beach.

[00:16:22] We could go carrying by to there, or we could put it on that day.

[00:16:25] So a lot of the time it's to do with schedule actors and proximity, because if you've got

[00:16:32] to move location, you're like, well, we want a pub close to where we're shooting the park

[00:16:36] close to where the beach is.

[00:16:38] So then we can put our unit base there.

[00:16:41] Yeah.

[00:16:41] Take Asher and Brendan up there, Gavin, Vincent down there.

[00:16:44] And we can, you know, we don't, cause what burns you on a TV,

[00:16:49] the Australian TV day where you're filming eight or nine minutes, which is quite a lot.

[00:16:54] What burns you is location moves.

[00:16:57] If you've got to move the unit truck and the camera truck, and you've got to move that twice,

[00:17:03] that's half your day where you're not filming.

[00:17:06] And then all of a sudden you've got a really good three page scene and you've got 47 minutes to shoot it.

[00:17:15] And so location one, it's so important because you've got to get the right place.

[00:17:20] And my show was all about authenticity.

[00:17:23] And it was all in the book and the location team were fantastic.

[00:17:26] And they work with production designer making sure aesthetically it suits it in terms of class, you know,

[00:17:32] where does brick takes them to for dinner?

[00:17:34] Where would plum go for dinner?

[00:17:35] Like it has to look real.

[00:17:38] It has to look like a place where Paul Gallant would go, you know, where Gavin Miller would go for dinner, where these got where this shit happens.

[00:17:47] And I really push for the authenticity.

[00:17:50] And then you compromise for convenience and all the filmmaking things of budget.

[00:17:55] And so sometimes, you know, like the hotel in Melbourne was the intercontinental double bay.

[00:18:01] You know what I mean?

[00:18:02] Because we only had one day in Melbourne.

[00:18:05] We couldn't afford to bring all the actors down and the crew to Melbourne.

[00:18:08] So we shot that there.

[00:18:10] Then we got some tram shots and bang, you know, so all that sort of thing.

[00:18:16] Fascinating.

[00:18:17] One question more on location.

[00:18:19] Where was Brick's gym?

[00:18:21] Where was that?

[00:18:23] That was Doyle's gym in Sylvania.

[00:18:25] On the highway.

[00:18:26] Okay.

[00:18:27] Yeah.

[00:18:28] It's a boxing gym.

[00:18:29] It's converted from a church.

[00:18:31] It's a boxing gym converted from the church.

[00:18:33] And gotcha.

[00:18:34] Pretty some tough boys in there, actually, like pretty serious boxing gym.

[00:18:38] Doyle's as you go up, you know, you, you take that right up to Sylvania, Como, Gen Alley, kind of up there.

[00:18:46] It's just on the right, you know, converted church.

[00:18:49] The arts department just did such an incredible job of that.

[00:18:52] Oh, yeah.

[00:18:53] It was just awesome.

[00:18:54] Sorry.

[00:18:55] One more.

[00:18:56] Where was the, the, the, the poetry club?

[00:18:59] Where was, where was all that shot?

[00:19:01] Uh, that was at a place in Marrickville.

[00:19:05] What was it?

[00:19:06] It's next to Hawke's brewery.

[00:19:08] Oh, okay.

[00:19:09] Okay.

[00:19:10] And it has, it's all the flamingo club or something.

[00:19:12] It's, it has like these amazing, like trans cinema nights and queer horror movie screenings and rave parties.

[00:19:23] And yeah, it's really cool.

[00:19:25] And we had a few in mind, but it was a big space.

[00:19:30] We could get a crew in there and we could kind of manipulate it.

[00:19:33] And they come up real nice.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:50] Yeah.

[00:19:50] Yeah.

[00:19:53] Yeah.

[00:19:56] And that's a really hard role.

[00:19:59] Yeah.

[00:20:00] And auditioning for that part was so hard because you just want to get this quality where she's really about the story, but she's got this grief of her dad.

[00:20:10] And sometimes you don't know which one she's doing and she wants back into the league.

[00:20:16] She doesn't want to destroy the league.

[00:20:17] She loves the league, but she's got a crusade, but she's also grieving.

[00:20:22] And yeah, there's a speech that I really love where she says that was the audition speech and no one could do it.

[00:20:29] No one could land it.

[00:20:30] And where it was like the thing with you men, you know, when you, you say, when you fuck up, you go into, you go on TV in a carpeted room with your wife and you say sorry and everything's fine.

[00:20:41] But when women fuck, fuck up, we stay fucked.

[00:20:44] And she just went bang.

[00:20:46] And I just, she just hit it like different for us in sport and journalism.

[00:20:54] And I went, yeah, that's her.

[00:20:57] And I've worked with Jenny on the 12 and, but yeah, there wasn't really, once she did her test, there wasn't really any other way to go about it.

[00:21:06] And, you know, she, she has close affiliation with, with dementia and she brought a lot to it.

[00:21:14] The whole cast is great.

[00:21:16] What's the story with, and I apologize if I should know this and I don't.

[00:21:20] What's the story with the fellow playing your son?

[00:21:22] What's his background in acting?

[00:21:23] Has he done a bunch of things?

[00:21:24] Vincent Miller, Vincent Miller.

[00:21:27] He is a 16 year old actor from the Northern Rivers.

[00:21:33] And he, you know, his dad's a plumber.

[00:21:35] He lives up there.

[00:21:36] He did a bit of a drama class with some mates for fun.

[00:21:40] He, he just come off a film with Guy Pearce called inside, which I behoover everyone to try it, track down and try and see when it comes out.

[00:21:50] Inside.

[00:21:50] It's a jail film.

[00:21:52] And he came straight off his first job in De Plum.

[00:21:56] Wow.

[00:21:57] So he's two jobs in.

[00:21:58] It's his first TV show.

[00:22:00] And the kid's a freak.

[00:22:01] You know, he's like a Daniel Galvin of acting.

[00:22:05] You know what I mean?

[00:22:06] He just came in and went, yeah.

[00:22:08] And Asher and I were like, how does he know how to stand there and do that?

[00:22:12] And then do that and then kick back and throw that and be there for that.

[00:22:17] Like just this whole kind of the craft and he's just got great acting instincts.

[00:22:25] Such a nice kid.

[00:22:26] He's such a nice guy.

[00:22:28] And, and he's, and he's got really brilliant instincts and he, and he, and he could look like a footy player.

[00:22:34] So I said, you know, in the audition, we got all the boys, cause some of them, you know, were fantastic.

[00:22:40] And then I went, fuck, what happens if we cast a footy player and he can't throw a ball?

[00:22:44] You know, so, and I can just about look like a footy player when I throw the ball.

[00:22:49] And so we got them to do a wide shot of left to right passing and kicking and catching.

[00:22:56] And I remember watching his tape at the, that he's, him and his mates had got to throw on the ball around.

[00:23:02] And I was just like, please, please be able to throw a ball.

[00:23:06] Please.

[00:23:06] And then he threw this beautiful torpedo and I actually sent it to Andrew Johns.

[00:23:11] And I said, can we get away with this?

[00:23:12] And he goes, yeah, I can work with that.

[00:23:13] I can work with that.

[00:23:16] Cause you know, you can, you can make average look great on TV with, with that stuff.

[00:23:22] He looked, he looked pretty legit.

[00:23:23] He looked legit.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] And he played a bit, you know, and yeah, it was good.

[00:23:28] So we all, we kicked the ball a lot.

[00:23:30] And yeah, he, he, he was a joy to work with.

[00:23:34] Then he just broke the hearts of audiences, you know?

[00:23:37] Yeah.

[00:23:38] You mentioned Joey Johns who appears in the show.

[00:23:42] We're not going to spoil that for the listeners.

[00:23:43] That's an amazing scene.

[00:23:46] So we won't spoil that on players that you have dealt with, I guess, during the writing process and then the filming process.

[00:23:54] What did they contribute as far as just what you needed?

[00:23:58] Was it, obviously you wanted some footy stuff, but as far as the central storyline of CTE, were they pretty open about that?

[00:24:05] How they feel if they're suffering from it, their friends?

[00:24:08] Yeah.

[00:24:09] I mean, if you look at the four guys that I chose, you know, except for Gal, the other three have been pretty verbal about it.

[00:24:18] I mean, yeah.

[00:24:19] Spud's all over the media about CTE and it was actually Spud talking about getting pet scans financed, $900 pet scans financed that became that last, the fundraiser in episode six was off the back of what Spud's doing.

[00:24:35] Yeah.

[00:24:36] Yeah.

[00:24:36] Plum sets up the foundation for brain health because Medicare don't help and the NRL haven't contributed.

[00:24:45] And it would be great if there was a yearly brain scan for X-players and or a place to go and talk.

[00:24:53] Yeah.

[00:24:53] But James Graham had a podcast called Head Noise.

[00:24:58] Yes.

[00:24:59] And Andrew Johns has written about his epileptic fits, his seizures and his experiences.

[00:25:05] And so it wasn't really me prying anything out of them and they all wanted to represent it.

[00:25:10] I found with all the players that I've spoken to, they've ended up calling me and wanting to continue the conversation.

[00:25:16] And I represented Plum at Dementia Australia event, a talk, a panel at Parliament House two weeks ago.

[00:25:25] Wow.

[00:25:25] And I was there with Amanda Green, Paul Green's wife and people that had lost Harriet Anderson, her father.

[00:25:36] Heather Anderson.

[00:25:37] I was an AFLW player and a number of sufferers and family members of people suffering or have lost their lives to CTA, dementia.

[00:25:47] Everyone spoke of how Plum has given them a river in which to communicate, a way of discussing what has happened to their lives.

[00:25:58] It's like, we can grieve now.

[00:26:01] We can talk about dad.

[00:26:04] We can talk about those years through Plum, through this show, through the storyline of, you know, when he did that, that was kind of like that.

[00:26:12] He must have been thinking this.

[00:26:14] And what's amazing is Plum's opened up and I have so many men coming to me.

[00:26:18] I usually have guys at the footy and say, I've gone, Brenda, I saw your show.

[00:26:22] Yeah.

[00:26:23] Oh, that was good.

[00:26:24] Yeah.

[00:26:24] Was that good?

[00:26:25] So they, you know, saw you in the 12.

[00:26:27] I liked that one, mate.

[00:26:29] I have a tale is good.

[00:26:30] But blokes are coming up to me now going, my brother and I watched your show and he actually, he was a copper, but he played rugby.

[00:26:39] And I watched it and I spoke to my wife and we said that this, and I'm having 10 minute chats with blokes.

[00:26:46] I've got ex-footy players calling me going, how did you know that was my life?

[00:26:51] And what do you think I should do about this?

[00:26:54] And I'm all, I'm not a therapist or a doctor, but I'm just a writer.

[00:26:57] But it's unlocked something in men.

[00:27:01] It's unlocked something in people who've been around brain injury.

[00:27:05] And that is beyond any award that I could ever hold in my hand is the power that this story has had to help Australians and those suffering or related or part of the ripple effect.

[00:27:19] Because I think in three and four, episode three and four, episode one and two, plums in trouble.

[00:27:24] Episode three and four, everyone around him is in trouble because of what's going on and because of his refusal to deal with it.

[00:27:32] The ripple effect is painful on others.

[00:27:34] And so that's, that's what's been really beautiful.

[00:27:38] I'm assuming you've seen the Mario Fennec.

[00:27:41] Was it the Australian story from a few years back?

[00:27:44] Like, like I saw that and that, that completely drove it home for me.

[00:27:48] Like I was a mess after watching that.

[00:27:50] I thought it was just overwhelmingly sad.

[00:27:52] And, you know, I was questioning, you know, I love rugby league.

[00:27:56] I work at Fox.

[00:27:58] I've got a part-time podcast.

[00:27:59] Like it's my life, right?

[00:28:00] And it's just like, this is what's happening to these guys that I grew up watching.

[00:28:03] And even my heroes today are at risk of all that.

[00:28:06] And I had a real, you know, it was on my mind.

[00:28:10] And then your show has opened that up for everyone.

[00:28:14] Uh, it's such an important story.

[00:28:16] I get really annoyed when people talk about they missed, not when they missed to say they missed the big hits, but they want them back and they want the shoulder charge back and all that kind of stuff.

[00:28:25] I'm just in my head, we can never go back to any of that stuff.

[00:28:29] Bring back the Biff.

[00:28:30] No, we don't need the Biff.

[00:28:31] That's how people get concussed.

[00:28:32] You know, like I don't want the game to be touch football, but I'm completely okay with what I'm doing.

[00:28:36] Whatever happens, the kickoff rule, do it.

[00:28:38] If it's going to save a life, do it.

[00:28:40] Who cares?

[00:28:41] Just a game, right?

[00:28:42] That's where I'm at.

[00:28:43] And I love this game.

[00:28:45] Like I love it.

[00:28:45] Like you love it.

[00:28:46] Now listeners love it.

[00:28:47] But your show has opened up for everyone to see in a very direct way.

[00:28:53] These guys and girls are at major risk.

[00:28:57] What are your thoughts on, on the game and how it is dealing with it?

[00:29:02] What it can do?

[00:29:02] How far would you like to see it go?

[00:29:04] Oh, well, I think the people, the men who were saying the game's gone soft, the notion that we should bring the Biff back and that the game has gone soft is probably one of the most imbecilic, insensitive, stupid things I've ever heard in my life.

[00:29:25] Go to bed with a mirror and wake up yourself.

[00:29:30] Seriously.

[00:29:31] There is nothing brave about hitting a man in the head.

[00:29:37] There is nothing tough about hitting a man in the head.

[00:29:42] There's nothing interesting about shouldering a man in his brain.

[00:29:48] There's nothing spectacular about it.

[00:29:50] There's nothing athletic, nothing balletic, nothing fascinating, nothing glorious.

[00:29:56] Look at Jake Trevojevic, the way he tackles.

[00:30:01] Luke Lewis used to cut people in half under the ribs.

[00:30:04] What we want to see is a combination of strength against strength, agility against agility.

[00:30:10] Then we're out the back line to these incredible First Nations Pacifica wingers.

[00:30:17] What are your Zach Lomax coming through with the bomber after the strength in the middle?

[00:30:23] Strength is what we want to see.

[00:30:26] Power and strength, body against body.

[00:30:28] It's just really, if you want to come behind the curtain and have a look at what it's like for people whose brains are injured, maybe do that before you start saying the game soft because it's really damaging and really ignorant.

[00:30:47] Yeah.

[00:30:47] And like all good things, like say the environment, maybe single use plastic and not keeping the lights on might save the earth.

[00:30:56] With rugby league, maybe losing the kickoff or something might save the game.

[00:31:02] Would you rather?

[00:31:03] It's still going to be tough, mate.

[00:31:05] I went and saw Australia v. Tonga.

[00:31:06] There wasn't a head high in it.

[00:31:08] I'm not sure.

[00:31:10] Oof.

[00:31:11] How did they do it?

[00:31:12] How does Isaiah Yeo tackle those guys after he played all year?

[00:31:16] Origen.

[00:31:17] Then he's playing for Australia.

[00:31:19] And you've got AFB, then Tal Malola, then the south second rower.

[00:31:24] Oh, God.

[00:31:25] There was nothing illegal that went on that day and it was one of the great spectacles.

[00:31:31] Well, so.

[00:31:31] And you've got all these Tongan fans.

[00:31:33] 93% of that crowd not drinking.

[00:31:36] Yep.

[00:31:36] Singing, rejoicing, body against body, athleticism.

[00:31:40] That, for me, is a great, sober, beautiful, healthy, powerful day of rugby league and sport.

[00:31:46] But all these guys on the amber canoe, oh, game's gone soft.

[00:31:51] Well, you go out there, mate.

[00:31:52] You go out there and get elbowed in the head.

[00:31:54] Brian, Jeremy, Daniel.

[00:31:57] You know what I mean?

[00:31:58] Why don't you go out there and have a crack and tell me if you think the same thing.

[00:32:03] It's just very silly.

[00:32:04] And it's time to kind of grow up and have a think about that angle.

[00:32:10] One more question about Plum.

[00:32:12] And, you know, if you don't want to answer, you don't have to.

[00:32:14] And this is a spoiler.

[00:32:16] So everyone turn off here.

[00:32:17] I haven't watched it.

[00:32:18] Plum dies.

[00:32:20] Now was that...

[00:32:22] This is a spoiler.

[00:32:24] Well, sorry.

[00:32:25] He eventually does.

[00:32:27] Titanic boat down.

[00:32:29] Yeah.

[00:32:30] Sorry.

[00:32:31] You kill him off.

[00:32:32] You killed him off.

[00:32:34] I like to think of Plum finds peace and emancipates.

[00:32:40] Beautiful.

[00:32:41] Into the world of the poets.

[00:32:43] Definitely.

[00:32:44] Definitely.

[00:32:44] Was there any part of you that was like, I'm doing this because it's going to drive home the fact that this whole situation is messed up and this is what happens?

[00:32:52] They die.

[00:32:54] Or was it just part of the story?

[00:32:56] It didn't have any kind of social context.

[00:32:59] It was just pure creativity.

[00:33:01] Okay.

[00:33:02] When I was writing the book, the publisher didn't like it.

[00:33:05] And then I said, I had this other ending where I tied everything up at his birthday party.

[00:33:11] And she goes, oh, can I read that?

[00:33:13] And I said, oh, it's too happy.

[00:33:15] And then she read that and she went, oh, that's awesome.

[00:33:18] Then he should die.

[00:33:21] And I went, oh, hang on.

[00:33:23] There's something there in this beautiful ending.

[00:33:27] And then he goes.

[00:33:29] But it definitely doesn't mean anything about anything.

[00:33:32] It's just plum.

[00:33:33] And it's not to do with CTE.

[00:33:37] It's more poetic than that.

[00:33:39] Yeah, sure.

[00:33:40] It's a man who finds peace.

[00:33:42] The way he did it is beautiful.

[00:33:44] Yeah.

[00:33:45] And that's when Plum's life ends.

[00:33:47] And it's, you know, it's a made up thing.

[00:33:50] But it's like he makes peace with his son, with the world.

[00:33:53] He says it.

[00:33:54] He gets it off his chest.

[00:33:55] He recites the poem.

[00:33:57] So he can go now.

[00:33:59] And it's almost like if he goes that night or in 30 years, it doesn't matter.

[00:34:03] Like that.

[00:34:03] The point is that he said it and he can go.

[00:34:07] Well, I cannot tell you how much I love that show.

[00:34:10] I could, but it would be the whole show.

[00:34:11] But just, you should be so proud of what you have accomplished.

[00:34:16] The book first.

[00:34:17] The TV show is just beautiful.

[00:34:19] A piece of art.

[00:34:20] It's beautiful.

[00:34:21] Thank you.

[00:34:22] I'm very proud of it.

[00:34:23] And I still can't really believe it.

[00:34:25] And there was a lot of risks we took with how the camera moved and casting.

[00:34:30] And, you know, if we were going to, if we were going to fail, we were going to fail gloriously.

[00:34:37] But it worked.

[00:34:38] All right.

[00:34:39] Let's talk something just as serious, but slightly more lighthearted for people who need to have a little drink now after our heavy conversation.

[00:34:46] And that is number one ticket holder, which has been floating around.

[00:34:51] Yeah.

[00:34:51] I've got a top three for you.

[00:34:53] And you're in the top three.

[00:34:54] So congratulations.

[00:34:55] You're in the top three.

[00:34:56] I've got another actor in the mix.

[00:35:00] I don't know if you're friends or not.

[00:35:02] Dan McPherson.

[00:35:03] You friends?

[00:35:04] Oh yeah.

[00:35:05] I mean, he's a lovely guy.

[00:35:08] Do you hang out?

[00:35:09] It's hard to hang out.

[00:35:11] I don't know where he is.

[00:35:13] Okay.

[00:35:13] So third option is come out of the blue.

[00:35:16] You might've met him at a function or two.

[00:35:19] Uh, Mr.

[00:35:20] Dylan Wright, Australian idol.

[00:35:21] I think he was at, he was at the game and they had him on the field once.

[00:35:27] Yes.

[00:35:28] You're not filming this.

[00:35:29] Are you?

[00:35:29] No, no one's listening.

[00:35:30] So I don't watch reality TV shows cause I'm a snob.

[00:35:34] Um, and I'm into reading books and watching drama.

[00:35:38] So I don't know you're my kitchen singing Island from, I've got no idea what's going on.

[00:35:45] Couldn't give a shit.

[00:35:46] But awesome.

[00:35:47] So what you're telling me is you should be the number one ticket holder.

[00:35:50] Well, can you just tell me what does it mean?

[00:35:53] Because I really wanted it last year and I got into a bit of trouble talking about how much I wanted it.

[00:35:59] And I've learned my lesson now.

[00:36:02] Trouble, trouble from who?

[00:36:03] Trouble from who?

[00:36:04] Never mention, never say anything about a national leader.

[00:36:10] Trouble from the world.

[00:36:11] And, um, even in jest cause it gets taken out.

[00:36:14] Cause you know, people pluck out what you say and they don't take with it.

[00:36:18] Yeah.

[00:36:19] I'll say nothing other than I don't really know.

[00:36:22] Do you get a ticket?

[00:36:23] You would get a pass to get into the ground.

[00:36:26] But what does it mean?

[00:36:28] Sam, you know everything about the shark.

[00:36:30] You probably, you probably named the blades of grass on that field.

[00:36:33] Like I wish I did.

[00:36:35] Um, what does number one ticket holder mean?

[00:36:37] Well, if you think about two of the earlier holders, cause everyone focuses on the one dude who

[00:36:44] Don't forget about, we had El McPherson.

[00:36:46] What's the position?

[00:36:49] I think it's so the cameras can go to this person of note and go, they're a sharks fan.

[00:36:55] So does it mean you're the most fan of fans?

[00:36:59] I think it means you have a really good profile at whatever you do and you're successful in what you do.

[00:37:04] You're successful.

[00:37:05] You can turn that heavy off.

[00:37:07] So you're the most high profile sharks fan we've got at the moment.

[00:37:10] Potentially.

[00:37:11] That's more of a wheelhouse.

[00:37:12] You know what it means.

[00:37:13] You don't know what it means.

[00:37:16] I got a feeling.

[00:37:18] Does anybody know what number one ticket holder means, Sam?

[00:37:20] I did ask Rob Willis, who you're probably friends with about that media manager extraordinary.

[00:37:25] And he said, ah, yeah, there's, there's no such thing.

[00:37:30] That's what I thought.

[00:37:31] Anyway, I did propose to Dino and Vince in the, um, in the marquee that I was ready to go on the field and take up the reins.

[00:37:43] And they both laughed uproariously.

[00:37:45] So I don't know who else has made a TV show about the club.

[00:37:49] You tell me, Sam.

[00:37:51] No one.

[00:37:52] 2016.

[00:37:53] You were not in the country.

[00:37:54] You were in England with a good friend of ours, Damien Irvine.

[00:37:57] Tell me about October 2, 2016.

[00:38:00] Tell me about that day.

[00:38:01] Probably one of the great days on earth.

[00:38:05] But, um, yeah, I'd stayed away from Australia cause my acting career was going very well.

[00:38:09] Um, and, and I'd stayed away from Australia and people was like, you're going to come back?

[00:38:14] The sharks won 15 in a row.

[00:38:15] You coming back?

[00:38:16] And I thought, oh, I don't want to come out.

[00:38:18] I don't want to jinx it.

[00:38:19] Um, so I found every Australian.

[00:38:22] My mother was also there cause she was over seeing me on stage.

[00:38:26] I think I was playing Galileo and no, I was doing Yerma.

[00:38:31] And then I was doing Game of Thrones in Belfast the next day.

[00:38:34] Oh, that's another story.

[00:38:35] And yeah, I got about 27 people in my basement flat at 9am on a Sunday.

[00:38:43] And I had a box of Coronas and on ice.

[00:38:47] And, you know, I remember at halftime we were, were we just ahead at halftime?

[00:38:53] Uh, 8-0 potentially.

[00:38:55] 8-0, 8-0.

[00:38:56] And there was 14-8, wasn't it?

[00:38:58] Or 14-10?

[00:38:58] 14-8.

[00:38:59] And the result was 14-12.

[00:39:01] 14-12, sorry.

[00:39:03] Yeah.

[00:39:03] And so at halftime I had to go outside and pass the footy with my mate Wayne Deacon,

[00:39:08] he's a comedian.

[00:39:09] I just had to do something.

[00:39:11] And then I came back in, I was basically watching the show, watching the game from the

[00:39:15] hallway, kind of like a horror movie.

[00:39:18] Like I couldn't quite sit down.

[00:39:19] I couldn't be in there.

[00:39:21] Yeah.

[00:39:21] And then I saw in the middle, cause I'm a genius.

[00:39:24] I saw in the middle, I went, we just need a big guy to go through the middle.

[00:39:30] And I yelled it out.

[00:39:32] I said, we just need one big guy to go through this.

[00:39:34] There's holes in the middle.

[00:39:36] We can't go around them.

[00:39:37] And then for Florida, for Florida.

[00:39:39] And this inside ball for feeder, one, two, three, four players.

[00:39:44] And it was the most extraordinary moment, one of the greatest moments of my life.

[00:39:48] And I later saw, I saw something this year that for feeder, for Florida, said that he

[00:39:55] couldn't get the ball down.

[00:39:57] He was over, but he couldn't get the ball down.

[00:39:59] And then Cameron Smith being Cameron Smith, he's in everything.

[00:40:03] He's come over the top to help out, push the ball down his court.

[00:40:09] Amazing.

[00:40:10] So he said, Cameron Smith scored that triathlon.

[00:40:14] And then of course, you know, I remember being with Damien at Amy Park, maybe a year or

[00:40:19] two before that.

[00:40:20] And then we were ahead and then Slater got the ball on his dead ball.

[00:40:24] There was 50 seconds, little, little, little, little score.

[00:40:27] Shark season over.

[00:40:29] And I was like, why does that guy always do that to us?

[00:40:34] Like every year, the storm just go, no, sorry, shark.

[00:40:38] And, and I was, I was there going on.

[00:40:42] Oh no, no.

[00:40:43] And then they did come back.

[00:40:44] And I remember, yeah, when they went right.

[00:40:47] And they should have gone left.

[00:40:48] And then Ricky Latelli, the ball and all tackle.

[00:40:52] And I remember I threw my chair.

[00:40:55] And I just hit my knees.

[00:40:58] I was praying or something.

[00:40:59] I was just, and my mom and I were hugging Damien.

[00:41:02] There was just tears.

[00:41:04] And like, I had a guy in there who's a Canadian ex Maple Leafs hockey player.

[00:41:08] And by the end of it, he was like, come on sharks.

[00:41:11] And he was crying.

[00:41:13] And I had girls from the local gym cafe who'd never walked, you know, all these people.

[00:41:19] Yeah.

[00:41:20] And I was crying because somehow we swept them up in this 1967, you know, 49 years, 49

[00:41:27] Aaron years.

[00:41:28] Like it was, yeah.

[00:41:30] And I was all over, I was all over Notting Hill singing the song.

[00:41:36] Awesome, dude.

[00:41:37] Let's talk some music before we say goodbye.

[00:41:38] Anyone who follows you on Instagram knows that you've been following Pearl Jam around.

[00:41:42] You've been following Tom York around.

[00:41:44] I know you've got a great love of Australian music.

[00:41:47] Talk to me about music.

[00:41:48] What floats your boat?

[00:41:49] What's your deal?

[00:41:51] What are you into?

[00:41:52] Yeah.

[00:41:53] I mean, I've got, this will be interesting to you.

[00:41:59] For the younger, younger people, that is what they call a record player.

[00:42:04] And that's some CDs over there.

[00:42:07] Nice.

[00:42:08] So that was the best thing about coming back to Australia was getting my storage unit out.

[00:42:13] And getting my CD player and my Hitachi record player.

[00:42:19] And yeah, I put a CD on.

[00:42:21] There's not, you know, people meditate.

[00:42:22] I listened to a whole album and often just lie on the couch and listen to the whole album.

[00:42:27] Just love albums.

[00:42:28] I love the artwork and the lyrics and the whole thing.

[00:42:32] But yeah, I think Eddie Vedder is like my soul guru.

[00:42:36] I met him at Toronto Film Festival.

[00:42:38] We kissed each other on the lips and had a great chat because we're the same height.

[00:42:43] So I had to go and see him three times.

[00:42:45] I went in Melbourne and twice here because why wouldn't you?

[00:42:49] You know, and I don't drink anymore.

[00:42:52] I haven't drank for five years.

[00:42:53] And so I just seek, I seek experiences that are going to just thrill me to the core spiritual experiences.

[00:43:00] And standing in a crowd, stone cold sober, three hours just with Eddie Stone,

[00:43:07] Mike McCready and you're just like, I feel alive.

[00:43:13] Watching Tom York was funny because I feel like Tom's found a way to play Radiohead without having to talk to anybody.

[00:43:20] You know, because I don't think he likes other people.

[00:43:23] So he's playing all the radio.

[00:43:24] It's like, why didn't you just bring the band, dude?

[00:43:27] Like, I understand if you'd gone solo and just played solo songs.

[00:43:31] He played mostly fucking Radiohead songs.

[00:43:33] Like, just bring the band, man.

[00:43:35] They're just sitting in Oxford waiting for you to like call them.

[00:43:38] Does that environment suit him at the upper house steps?

[00:43:41] I don't know.

[00:43:43] I mean, he's such a strange dude.

[00:43:45] He's music's just unparalleled in like, I mean, what he did that, that year, I think it was 98 when Bex Odelay came out and OK Computer.

[00:43:56] It was like, what?

[00:43:57] What's happening?

[00:43:58] I never heard the noises of Devil's Haircut and where it's at.

[00:44:04] And then all of a sudden there's paranoid Android and exit music for a film.

[00:44:08] And you're like, I've never heard this noise.

[00:44:11] What's going on?

[00:44:12] It just somehow captured the paranoia and the wildness of the late 90s, that great, you know, 89 to 93, like the music that came out then with all the grunge era.

[00:44:23] But then late 90s with all that kind of Radiohead and it was just, it was just, and Beck, you know.

[00:44:30] But yeah, love music, always making playlists and kind of listening to music the whole time.

[00:44:36] But when I write, I just listen to classical and film scores because I can't get distracted by the.

[00:44:43] But, you know, I really like that Grace Cummings, Australian artist.

[00:44:48] I used to love Art of Fighting, that Aussie band.

[00:44:51] I was a little bit disappointed by Fanning Dempsey's collaboration, but I, I love Paul Dempsey and something for Kate so much.

[00:45:00] Yeah.

[00:45:02] Georgia Mooney, my friend.

[00:45:04] I love what she's doing and, you know, middle kids, the panics.

[00:45:08] I just think we've got, we've got some world class musicians here.

[00:45:12] Yeah, for sure.

[00:45:13] Thank you for your time.

[00:45:15] You're a legend.

[00:45:15] That's right, Sam.

[00:45:16] You, I'll just ask you how you're feeling about 25 Shark.

[00:45:20] Dude, that window is so far open.

[00:45:23] There's no one crawling through it yet, but that window is open, my friend.

[00:45:27] Yeah.

[00:45:27] You mentioned AFP before.

[00:45:29] Ah, yeah.

[00:45:30] Let's go.

[00:45:30] Oh, like, can you imagine?

[00:45:33] Oh.

[00:45:34] Love to see Atkinson in the halves with Braden.

[00:45:38] Love to see Nico with some more space.

[00:45:41] I don't know.

[00:45:41] Just thinking freely.

[00:45:42] I did want to mention this on our podcast.

[00:45:45] We do call Nico the King of Karing Bar.

[00:45:48] We've been calling him that since he moved to the area.

[00:45:50] So I was really happy to hear about the King of Cronulla also as well.

[00:45:55] You think he can play fullback still?

[00:45:56] You think that's an option?

[00:45:57] I love Kennedy, but I think he's got those ball skills where he can chime in like a modern

[00:46:03] fullback does.

[00:46:05] Because you see Pappenhausen comes into the line and puts a grubber through and has pace.

[00:46:09] Like the same with Tedesco and Turbo.

[00:46:14] The modern fullback needs to be a second 5'8".

[00:46:18] You know, and I think Kennedy's got the skills to take the bomb and he's got pace,

[00:46:22] but you want someone to come in and be part of the playmaking squad as well.

[00:46:28] And that's where I fell in love with Nico was what he was doing late in that season for the Storm.

[00:46:33] Just come on and just make a difference, you know?

[00:46:36] Yeah.

[00:46:36] I don't know.

[00:46:37] I'd love to give Trindle the keys to the city.

[00:46:40] I think Atkinson's a goer.

[00:46:42] I think he's a goer.

[00:46:43] Clutch.

[00:46:44] Dan Atkinson, very clutch.

[00:46:45] And you need that.

[00:46:46] He loves the game.

[00:46:47] He doesn't seem frazzled.

[00:46:50] He's young too.

[00:46:51] You know, like Nathan Cleary.

[00:46:52] Like I'm not frazzled by it.

[00:46:55] Give it to me.

[00:46:56] You know, I've just been reading Ivan Cleary's book and he talks about how,

[00:47:00] like when Ezra Mam scored that third try, like Nathan's body language was up.

[00:47:05] You know, the hands went on the head.

[00:47:07] He was on his hips like, yeah, okay.

[00:47:09] What are we going to do?

[00:47:10] Like, you know what I mean?

[00:47:12] It's not that far.

[00:47:14] Yeah, I know.

[00:47:15] Yep.

[00:47:16] What's next?

[00:47:17] Okay.

[00:47:17] Well, let's do this.

[00:47:18] Let's try this.

[00:47:19] AFB will bring that experience.

[00:47:20] I think he's going to bring a lot of positive for everyone.

[00:47:24] Like, I think Blake Braley is going to have another great year.

[00:47:26] I think that there's so many positives.

[00:47:28] I love Stone Street.

[00:47:30] Yeah.

[00:47:31] I was Stone Street.

[00:47:33] Yeah.

[00:47:33] And I scored in the corner over the top of you and I planted it down in the corner.

[00:47:40] And then when I got up from the try, you were standing in front of me.

[00:47:44] Do you know what I'd say?

[00:47:45] That's the last time you come walking down Stone Street on a Saturday night.

[00:47:51] That's what I say.

[00:47:52] I guess that's the last time you'll be wandering down Stone Street.

[00:47:56] Have you got Sam starting in round one?

[00:48:00] Yeah.

[00:48:02] You do.

[00:48:04] I want more Stone Street.

[00:48:06] Stone Street's a goer.

[00:48:08] Atkinson's a goer.

[00:48:09] More goers.

[00:48:10] Who's leaving that wing?

[00:48:12] I'll leave that to you.

[00:48:13] I'm just a fan.

[00:48:14] I'm no expert.

[00:48:15] Okay.

[00:48:15] I just want goers.

[00:48:17] More Stone Street, more Atkinson, more AFB.

[00:48:21] And then when Stone Street scores, I guess that's the last time you come wandering down Stone Street.

[00:48:28] I mean, you could probably work that into your next book or play.

[00:48:32] I might write it right now.

[00:48:34] There you go.

[00:48:35] It's great to have been on SharkCast.

[00:48:37] I'll see you down there.

[00:48:39] Yeah, man.

[00:48:39] 2025 year of the shark.

[00:48:41] I think so.

[00:48:42] I think so.

[00:48:43] Appreciate you.

[00:48:44] Brendan, thanks again.

[00:48:45] I'm seeing you in recording.

[00:48:46] Here it comes.

[00:48:48] Hides for the win.

[00:48:50] Nico Hides is ice cool.

[00:48:54] It's Cronulla's night.

[00:48:56] They've done it again at the diff in the Shire.

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[00:49:24] And I should also point out their head honcho is a lifelong season ticket holder of the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks.

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