Interview with Don Rogers (Musician/former Sharks player)

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[00:01:15] I got the best of her, just took me a little while to know it. Weren't hot like a raging inferno, it took 50 long years to get me here. And we're only getting started that is why.

[00:01:50] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast, a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world. And we are blessed with shark royalty, with country rock and roll royalty. This episode is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, our friends at the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking, and Jason Hawes at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate. We're here to talk to the great man and people who are listening cannot see his beautiful face, but people who are watching can. Old friend of the show, good friend of mine, Mr. Don Rogers. How are you, sir?

[00:02:21] G'day, Sam. I'm great, mate. How are you? I'm good. I'm glad we're on here doing this. We've been talking about this for a while and there's a big reason why we're doing it, but I'm good and yeah, really great to speak to you. And it's been a long time coming. Now, for those who don't know you from a shark's point of view, we will point out that you played for the club in lower grades, which we'll talk about. Yeah. And your dad also played for the club and your brother played for the club and it will become

[00:02:48] pretty evident for those few people, the younger people who don't know, it'll become evident who that is. Don, I want to talk to you first about some music and then we'll get into the footy and then we'll come back to music. Okay. A lot of our audience know you as a Southerl local junior footballer. Hoodlum. Sharks royalty. They may not know that you crossed over into the evil world of rock and roll.

[00:03:17] So I want to know how did you get here? Because I know your story is kind of interesting at your age. You're not a teenager anymore. No, certainly not. How did you get to where you are now, where you're releasing music, which we'll talk about of course, as well. Well, mate, you know, you can't make this stuff up, Sam. If you had said to me sort of three years ago that, you know, I'd be about to, you know, play music on Shark Park would have blown me away and I would have thought you were smoking something.

[00:03:44] But how it all came about, mate, I've always sort of played guitar. I guess I started sort of just tinkering around in the garage around the mid 90s and I always had a lot of music, you know. And then one of the guys on a work site that I was working on in Broadbeach about three years ago, Cameron, Camo. He, uh, um, Cameron Craig, his name is Shire Boy from Engadine.

[00:04:11] And, uh, Camo noticed on my Facebook that I play a bit of guitar and the boys have a couple of beers on a Friday and I wasn't drinking at the time. And he sort of said to me, mate, when we're having beers on the Friday, I saw on your Facebook, you play guitar, why don't you bring it in and play some tunes? And, um, and that's how it all sort of started, you know, and it wasn't, oh man, it's beyond my wildest dreams. I guess, you know, it wasn't what Camo said. It was how he said it. You know, I was with a group of about 40 guys and I played a couple of songs.

[00:04:38] And back then I only knew about probably six or seven songs that I was comfortable to play and sing. And I played a couple of songs and Camo was sitting right beside me and he literally just whacked me in the chest like that after like the second song. And he said, mate, what the heck are you doing here? I'm driving a crane. And I was like, I was like, what do you mean? But he's like, mate, are you kidding me? He goes, your music, do something with it, you know?

[00:05:05] And, and I guess that, that one comment to spark the tiny bit of belief. And out of the 40 guys that were there, probably 30 of them came up to me and said, mate, you've got a gift. You're going to do something. And gave me all these compliments. And, and that's the power of a single word of encouragement. You know, I can just change someone's life. And yeah. And I literally went home that night and I said to my wife, Kaya, I said, you know, John, there might be, there might be something in this music thing. I'm just going to go to a couple of open mics and see what happens.

[00:05:33] And, and so I went to a couple of open mics and every open mic I played, I only knew about six songs. The venue manager would come up and go, Johnny, like, when do you want to gig? And I said, man, I don't have three hours worth of music. I only know like, you know, eight songs. And so that's where I, and that's sort of where I got into country, you know, like we grew up and had horses and I can ride. And I'm definitely not a, not a, you know, I'm not country folk. Yeah. But we got a lot of respect for our people on the land and shout out to all the farmers and whatnot.

[00:06:04] And then, yeah, just, you know, and, and so I thought, how am I going to learn three hours worth of music so I can start playing gigs? So I just came home and I started Googling sort of country songs because they're, you know, as you would know, being a songwriter, Sam and a, and a well-versed one at that, I might add. Um, you know, country is just a lot of simple sort of three and four chord songs. So I just started learning country and then I fell in love with the storytelling aspect of it.

[00:06:31] And those open mics became gigs and the gigs became the voice and the voice became festivals. And I just met people along the way. And, you know, three years later, I'm about to sing in front of, you know, 17,000 people at Shark Park on Friday night, which just blows my mind, man. It's so special. Do you remember what one of the songs was that you played to your mates in the worksite? Do you remember what the first two songs were? Yeah. What were they? Yeah, I remember, I remember exactly what it was.

[00:06:57] The song I played was, um, Hurricane by the band of Heathens. And, um, you know, like I said, it wasn't what Camo said and what the boys said, it was how they said it. It just sparked this little tiny belief and, and, you know, and, and I've just been fortunate, Sam, to, to meet the right people at the right time. And, and connect and, you know, I've got a wonderful band and they're world-class musicians.

[00:07:21] You know, I'm, I'm the front band, but I'm, I'm by no means the boss, you know, we've got a musical director, which is my lead guitar player, Chris, Chris McKelvey. Um, he's the son of Red McKelvey, who played the guitar on, um, Richard Clapton, you know, Girl on the Avenue. Yeah. Yeah. So, so Chris's dad, Red played on that.

[00:07:41] And, um, and, and, and these guys have been doing it for 40 years, you know, so the only way I know how to get good at anything, whether it be football, business, relationships, music, whatever, is find someone that's done it. And that's doing it well. And so, mate, how do I do that? And that's all I've done, mate, really. I've just, but wow, it's, um, yeah, it is mind blowing where things are going, Sam. And what we've got coming where we're really excited. It's funny how you started out like that.

[00:08:10] And I had a similar thing a long time ago, to be fair. I started, I started a bit later in life to doing what you're doing, but not, not as late as you, but I had a friend that I really looked up to. She was a working musician, signed a label, et cetera. And I, I've had about 30 songs, which no one ever heard. And then one of my best friends heard the songs and, and I was, you know, really uncomfortable with my voice and the whole thing. I was just not ready to do anything.

[00:08:40] And he said, it's amazing. And I was like, oh, that's really kind. Thank you. And I was like, what, what's going to be like, he was like, what are you, what are you talking about? What are you doing? And that moment kind of shaped me as well.

[00:09:05] So it's amazing how the kindness of others really can get us on our way. Oh man. Unbelievable. And I'm, I'm forever grateful. You know, whenever Camo lives up here, Cameron Craig, he lives up here and you know, still, he comes to a lot of our shows. And whenever he, whenever he walks in the room, I always point him out from stage. I always say, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Mr. Cameron Craig. I said, if it wasn't for that man right there, I wouldn't be here doing what I'm doing now.

[00:09:31] And I just want to encourage anyone out there, any of the listeners, any of the Sharks family that, um, don't let age be a barrier because I never sang into a microphone until the age of 48 years of age. And, you know, I've still got mates in the Shire that ring me now. I had a mate ring me last week. He goes, Donnie, he goes, I didn't even know you sang. I said, mate, I didn't, I didn't know either, bro. I said, I spent my, uh, you know, formative years as a hooker, just screaming it forwards and projecting my voice. And maybe that just, I don't know.

[00:10:01] We are going to get to, we are going to get to footy. Let me ask you what kind of guts does it take to go on the voice? Oh, mate. Um, a lot. It was terrifying. And I probably went, you know, in, in, in sort of, I guess my defense or sort of, I think I went probably 12 months too early. I think my confidence got ahead of me and I allowed the, you know, I'm very, I firstly, I want to say I'm very grateful to the voice because I've got some fantastic relationships through there. Like Ruben DeMello, the guy that won the voice.

[00:10:28] He's a tremendous, a really good friend of mine. And he's been really supportive on this musical journey. I'd encourage everyone to get behind Ruben DeMello, um, fantastic fella. And, um, um, so I'm very grateful to the voice, but I got sort of, I guess, pushed into singing a song. I didn't want to sing and I was uncomfortable with it. And it didn't really feel like an accurate portrayal of who I am as an artist.

[00:10:55] And, um, but from that I've learned some really valuable lessons. I guess one of them is to, you know, like when, when we're on stage, we've got a few songs that, um, you know, let's call them PG, maybe M rated, you know, they're not R rated, but they're, you know, and when we, and I look at Chris sometimes if we're playing a golf club, for example, they might mention whiskey and other stuff. And, um, I'll say to Chris, should we play it? He goes, mate, we just do what we do. We do what we do.

[00:11:25] I said, yeah, we just do what we do. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. And so we want to be unapologetic about that. And we're sort of trying to, I guess, carve a little niche in that Australian country scene. There's no one really, I mean, and I respect every artist, no matter what genre, whether it's jazz, blues, rock, country, um, classical, whatever, because I know what it takes to, to get there and like to even get traction. And, um, they've spent hundreds of hours on the road.

[00:11:53] I mean, you know what I'm talking about, Sam. So I firstly just want to pre-curse what I'm about to say is that I've got tremendous respect for all my fellow artists, no matter what genre, but, um, I don't think there's anybody in the Australian country scene doing what we do and doing it well. So we want to carve out a little niche in that, um, we sort of call it country rock outlaw, sort of rock blues kind of line.

[00:12:18] Um, a lot of the country, you know, um, is sort of country and poppy or traditional country or Australian, which is all great. I've got, you know, I love all music, but, um, but we sort of found a little pigeonhole, if you like that, I think we'll fit snugly into, and you know what, someone's going to be the bad boy, Sammy.

[00:12:39] Well, as soon as, as soon as I heard you sing and I was blessed to hear some of your stuff early on, I knew that's where you'd end up because with your voice and, and the audience will hear your music throughout the show. So if you, if we haven't played that yet, we will later on, especially on the audio version of the podcast, all that drinking and smoking you've done after 48 years, it's come to something good. I get asked often, you know, where's, where's that gravel come from in your voice and that timber and tone.

[00:13:07] And I'd say, that's just a miss misspent youth. But, um, but it's also, I think there's a lot of emotion and I think as a singer, you really need to, and that's part of the, I guess the, the fear factor. Uh, I've sort of let go of is that you, you really do, if you want to sing well and, um, I want people to feel my music, not hear it. I don't want to make a pretty noise, you know, I want it to be visceral.

[00:13:35] And so to do that, there's a party that has to sort of bare your soul when, when you're singing, you know, and it's raw. And, um, and I want people to see that and more importantly, I want them to feel it, you know, I don't, I want, you know, um, yeah. And that's, that's really what we're about. All right. We're going to come back to music. I promise. And we'll just start also by saying that everyone coming to shark park ocean protect stadium on Friday night, manly game for the Steve Rogers cup, which we'll also get to.

[00:14:02] So we're blessed that you don Rogers and maybe a musical guest of yours. Yeah. Going to play a few songs, your new songs. And that's amazing. As you said, like, it's what a, what a great thing for them. And what a great thing for us. It will be great. I've got David, David Evans is a tremendous fiddle player joining me on the state on the, on the field. And that's, I just simply, I think I needed someone out there, a wingman.

[00:14:25] I can just look to because, you know, to everyone else, Cronulla sharks is a club, but to me and my family, I mean, to me and my siblings, Matt and Mel, it's a, it's a crèche. You know, that's where we grew up. Like I was born in 73 and my dad played there from 73 to 85. So yeah, no, until I was 13 years of age, we literally grew up in, on that ground in, in the dressing rooms with dad.

[00:14:49] And, and, you know, and, you know, the, the, the wives and the wives and the family used to sit up the southwestern corner right beside where the old scoreboard was with the big clock. And, you know, when I walk out onto shark park Friday night, I'll be, um, oh, I get a lump in my forehead and talking about it. I'll see me, but yeah, I will, um, I'll look at that direction of the ground and just, I'll see my mum there, you know, and, um, and just, you know, my dad's ashes are spread on the field.

[00:15:16] And now part of me even wants to walk out on that grass barefoot. Cause I want to be, I want to be as close to him as I can be, you know, maybe you should. And maybe I will, maybe I will, you know, I just, um, yeah, it's going to be a special moment. Let's talk about it. So the dad you're talking about, uh, the late, great, amazing Steve Rogers, who many of our listeners know, but, uh, we do have a younger audience, Donnie. So some of them have heard of him, uh, to be honest, some, I don't think they wouldn't have not heard of him to be fair, but it's a, you know, amazing career.

[00:15:46] One of the greats of all time. The year you were born played in our first grand final, which unfortunately we didn't win. Yeah. It's a manly. It's manly. Older brother or younger brother, Matt? Younger brother. Younger, younger. He looks older because he looks older because he's been hit around the head a little bit more than me. But yeah, he's my younger brother. Two, two years, my junior. Younger brother, who a lot of our listeners will know. We'll get to your playing days.

[00:16:11] I'm really intrigued by that, but tell us about growing up as, as yeah, as I guess as Steve's son start for starters. Oh, wow. Well, I mean, you know, I mean. I knew, well, it was pretty obvious from a very young age that dad was someone special. Every time we left the house, back in the day, it was autographs everywhere. And that's just the modern day selfie. The selfie today is just the modern day autograph, you know what I mean? But everywhere we went, dad would be signing things and people would be looking at us in the car.

[00:16:40] There were no tinted windows back there. So from a really young age, like three, four, from my earliest memory. But to us, he was just dad, you know what I mean? Yeah. But it was an amazing childhood, you know. I look back at, you know, at some of the things growing up, like being, you know, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, right through to thirteen. We'd come home and Sundays, there'd be half the New South Wales side there.

[00:17:05] Or you'd come back and after a game, instead of going out, because the boys would get, you know, just hustled when they went out. So dad would have a few of the players back if they played, you know, Manly or whoever. Because, you know, if there's other New South Wales team representatives that would go, bring the boys over, we'll have a beer. And, you know, they'd just sit around and have a couple of beers. I'd come home and they'd be, you know, well, just whoever.

[00:17:29] But they'd be, you know, all the old heads like the Graham Eadys and the, you know, and the Mick Cronins and the, you know, Wally Lewis's and the Malman Ingers. And they would all just be hanging at our house. And as a kid, I mean, they were every little boy's heroes, you know what I mean? Yeah. But thus, I was sort of like, it was a really, a great childhood. But, you know, it's a double-edged sword as well, Sammy, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:58] It's, you know, it's got its pluses and its minuses. But my dad was always just my dad, you know, and that's what I miss most. That's what, you know, when I accepted his immortalisation at the Sharks when they had the Immortals during the other month, which is a tremendous honor. My dad would hold that in the same regard.

[00:18:21] The pinnacle of any rugby league player is to captain Australia, win the gold Dallium, which he's done. That's gold Dallium right there. Amazing. Playing the grand final, which he's done. That's the 1973 jersey right there. Beautiful. There it is. Yeah. No sponsors, the big cloth shark. Amazing. Number three stitched into the back. But they'll be, you know, family heirlooms. And he did all that.

[00:18:51] But to be granted that immortalisation at the Sharks, he would have held that in high regard. And that's what I said in the poem that I said when I received Dad's award, you know. He was, you know, he was the captain of the team. He was the best on the ground. But that's not what I miss. I just miss him being around. I got to say, Donnie, that night was so intense for everyone getting those awards. It was so beautiful. I actually didn't know what I was in for. I thought it would be emotional, sure.

[00:19:21] But from E.T. to you, there was a whole bunch of guys who just left it out on the stage. And we were, as a crowd, we were just in awe, man. And you definitely stole the show, the poem, and just the beautiful words. Oh, thank you, Sammy. Well, I wanted to do that. That was very conscious on my behalf because, you know, that's my mum, Carol, there. And my mum, you know, she was a poet, you know. And that's the book of poetry.

[00:19:51] And there's pages and pages and pages of poems in here, man. And when my mum passed in 2001, she passed at the age of 46 from breast cancer. She left this book of poetry. She left a copy for me, for my brother and my sister. Yeah. And she said none of it's ever allowed to be published. But she didn't say I couldn't sing it, Sammy. So I'm currently trying to work. And I've checked with Matt and Melanie. I've said, look, is it right with you guys?

[00:20:20] Because mum said none of it's allowed to be published. And I was into a song, you know. And I said, mate, mum would love that, you know. So that's, you know, the poet and the baller. And we'll get to that. I promise you we'll get to that. If you haven't seen the Hall of Fame people, the Immortals and Hall of Fame, it's online. If you go online, I think it's just on the Sharks YouTube. And they've got all the different clips.

[00:20:49] And they've got you and Matt and everyone else on stage hosted by our good mate Vossi. And I think Edwan was there as well. Yeah, she was there. Beautiful night. And as you've already said tonight, you know, with the very unfortunate passing of your dad. And I think I'd forgotten the fact that his ashes were scattered at Chuck Park. Yeah, they are. Yeah. Why don't you tell that? There's a bit more to the story. Yeah, tell that story. It's funny, you know. And I don't believe in coincidence.

[00:21:18] And it just, my sister lives in WA, in remote WA up in the Pilbara. And so she only comes over the East Coast once in a blue moon, you know, once every three, maybe four years or whatever. So it was probably about, I don't know, it was probably about 12 months after Dad had passed. And Matt and I knew that Mel was coming. So we said, when the three of us get together, let's go and spread Dad's Ashes on Shark Park. And we did that.

[00:21:45] And our cousin, we had a cousin, Matt Rogers, different, not my brother Matt, Matt Rogers, my cousin. And he's a plumber. And at the time, just happened to be the same day that we were spreading Dad's Ashes on the field. He was in the home dressing room doing some plumbing works, like running some taps or some pipes in the wall or whatever. And he chased out, he chased out a big part of the, of the vessel block wall to lay these pipes in.

[00:22:15] So we, we spread Dad's Ashes on the field. And when Matt came out and saw us, we're like, oh, you guys, what are you doing? Rah, rah, rah. He's like, I'm working in here. So what are you doing? Had a look. So we actually put some of Dad's Ashes there inside the walls of the, of the home dressing room as well. What a legacy. Amazing. So we've got everyone. Amazing. That's so good. And we should point out that your dad did more than play. High in admin, particularly towards the later end of his life and did a great job there.

[00:22:42] And very heavily involved with the football team at some really key moments. So, and in case we haven't, we haven't said it enough, he's looked, he's regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Yeah. Yeah. He is. And, um, and he truly wasn't. He was very, very good. Oh, thank you, Sammy. And, you know, and I'm one of the biggest compliments I can give my dad. You know, there's a, there's a guy, Dino that, um, just drinks at the local pub and I ran into him the other day and he's a mad, uh, I don't even think he's a Sharks fan, but he's definitely a mad Steve Rogers fan.

[00:23:09] And he goes, mate, your dad growing up, he was my favorite and I, you know, blah, blah, blah. And, um, and I said to Dino the other day, I said, Dino, you know, the biggest compliment I can give my old man. And, uh, I called him Sludge because he was, he was, he coached an A grade team that I played him when I was 17. I was playing A grade. He was the coach. And I said, dad, I can't call you dad at training. I'm playing with 35 year old men up in Darwin. He goes, well, just call me Sludge, man. And I said, all right, I'll call you Sludge.

[00:23:35] So, um, but I said, I said to Dino, I said, mate, as good as Sludge was a footballer, said he was an even better bloke, mate. He was, he was just a great, great guy, you know, and, um, miss him every day, brother. Did you and Matt come to the club at the same time? Is that correct? Yeah, we did. Because the, the year we came there, not 1994, Matt and I joined the Sharks together. And, um, and funny enough, I was the one that had the raps on. Even dad was like, mate, you're going to be the one to make it. Your brother's too thin, blah, blah, blah.

[00:24:05] But we all know how that panned out. But, but, um, um, see, 1993, Matt was still at boarding school. Matt had gone to boarding school on scholarship at TSS. So Matt hadn't lived at home with us for probably, I don't know, about four or five years, you know. 1993, I was 17 playing A grade up in Darwin. Um, I was a hooker playing front row in Darwin with Steve Rogers, your dad, who's the coach. So you can imagine the attention I got on the field. It was pretty brutal.

[00:24:35] Um, and it was the old days, you know, where it'd be like a bit of this and a bit of that. And, you know, it didn't, didn't really matter. Well, it did, but, you know, thank God they've cleaned the game up a little bit since then. But, um, so I had a few clubs. I had a really good year that year under dad as a coach. He was a tremendous coach. And I had a few, I had three or four clubs chasing me on the go. You know, I had three clubs chasing me. Matt had three clubs chasing him. They were all different clubs. So dad was our sort of manager.

[00:25:04] Um, and he couldn't be a better bloke really. But he, he rang all six clubs and he said, look, this is a deal. My boys haven't lived together for five years. They're both talented footballers. You take one, you take them both. They're coming as a package deal. So the shark said, all right, we'll take them. So it was surreal. I remember walking into Cronulla Sharks weight room, 1994 preseason. It would have been around November of 93. I remember walking in there and you got blokes like, you know, Dan Staines,

[00:25:33] Andrew Reddinghausen, Danny Lee, um, young Adam Ritson. Like just like absolute, you know, monsters of the game. And you walk in and you, and you're just like, wow. Yeah. I just couldn't believe it. It's like, wow, I'm here. And, um, and Andrew Reddinghausen walked up to Matt and I in the, on the, on the first, on the first, uh, session in the gym. Ed comes up to us and he goes, how old do you blokes make me feel? And we're like, what do you mean? We're like, we're like Andrew.

[00:26:03] We're like inside you on Andrew Reddinghausen talking to us, you know? And he goes, he goes, mate, how old do you guys make me feel? And we're like, what do you mean? He goes, mate, I played with your dad. Yeah. Right. So it's like, it's first year. And yeah. So he played with our dad and he played with, obviously he played with Matt. He didn't play with me. I didn't make those grades, but, but that was an amazing year. I mean, I think if I had gone to any other club that year, I would have had a first grade career, but the under 21 side that we had that year is still to this date,

[00:26:32] the president's cup benchmark of the whole, it'll, it'll never, like, mate, we went through, I think we lost one game. And that was like by a point. And it was just, you know, like you had fullback David Peachy, you had Adam Dykes, Matt Rogers, Nathan Long, you know, the list goes on, you know, Adam Ritson. And like, it was just the who's who of the club fast forward five years. And, and that team and Dean Trinster was the hookup.

[00:27:01] And Dino and I were competing for the spot, but he got the start. And Dino's a great bloke. And shout out to Dino. If you see this, he's a great family friend as well. Nothing but love for, for Dino and all those boys, you know, but I just couldn't break in. And, and the difference was my brother, Matt was an outside back. So he could get slotted into, you know, winger, center, fullback. So there's potentially four or five spots he could slide into. I was, I was a number nine. I was a hookup.

[00:27:29] So, and, and when you're in a team that's winning every game by like 40 points and Dino just didn't get injured. So I didn't, I spent the whole year pretty much sitting the bench, but, but, you know, my, my attitude off the field and sort of once I could see that I wasn't getting a run, you know, my attitude wasn't conducive to getting picked anyway. And I was kind of like, you know, I was just young and young and young

[00:27:56] and naive semi, but, but I think everything works out how it should, you know, and, and it's funny, you know, like when Matt saw me play music, he just saw it in me. He goes, mate, this is what you're called to do, mate. This is what you should have been doing. Yeah. And I got that gift of pro soft, my mama on that creative side and that, you know, I look, you've got the big tough exterior, the tattoos and, and whatever, but I'm actually at heart, I got a pretty big softy, you know, and, um, yeah.

[00:28:25] Um, and even when I was playing in the middle of games, I remember being in the middle of games and just thinking, this isn't it. I'm not enjoying it. This isn't what I'm meant to be doing. And I didn't know it was, I didn't know it was a, I didn't know music was a thing until it was a thing. I can't recall if I saw you play third grade, but I remember you listed, I remember you on the bench. I remember seeing you at games and everyone knew who you were because of the family association. I definitely remember the time, you know,

[00:28:52] I remember you at the club and, and I was going all three grades as a fan, you know, as youngster watching all the games and, you know, I have good memories of you, even though I don't remember you, I have good memories of you. Like it's the honest truth. I remember Donnie. Thank you, Sammy. Yeah. I played some decent football. I think even, I think one of the games I started, I got man of the match or something, one game, but I just couldn't get a consistent run at it. And I, you know, and I think, you know, as it's all panned out, I think all the chips have fallen where they're supposed to anyway. You know,

[00:29:22] I got to watch my brother and support him through a great career. Um, you know, I remember I'd, I'd watch Matt play so many times and just think how good would it be to be out there on his hip? And then I, and then I'd see him Monday morning with ice packs all over him. And I'd be like, no, it wouldn't be that good. I mean, in the early days, it wasn't much of him before he, before he discovered weights or whatever he discovered, there wasn't much of him. I think people forget how skinny he was at the time and the big Jersey. Yeah. Well,

[00:29:50] when we walked into the sharks in 94, it would have been November of 93 when we walked in the gym room. And I think he was from memory. I think he was 67 kilos. Wow. So he looked, he looked like he should have been on the favorite at Flemington, not walking into an NRL grand final, NRL dressing room. You know what I mean? But to his credit, you know, one thing that Matt has gotten, I think dad instilled that in both Matt and I is a tremendous work ethic. Um, you know, like, you know, the only time success will become come before work is in the dictionary. And,

[00:30:20] um, and we saw what it took for dad to get to the heights that dad got to, you know, like, I mean, dad had natural, natural freakish abilities anyway, but my old man in the mid seventies was training like they trained today. Well, even back then it was like train Tuesday, train Thursday, play Sunday, and they had a full-time job. My old man would have sleds down at Anzac Oval pulling sleds on the Monday, go to training Tuesday, Wednesday, have someone like Johnny Lewis come around and do some boxing Thursday, go to training Friday, go and do some swimming.

[00:30:50] Like he just, you know, he just had a massive engine as well as a whole ton of natural sort of freakish abilities. I mean, you know, I think you can sum up sport in three words. You've got to have three ingredients. And if you don't have them, I mean, you can always work to get them, but I think talent and skill are different. You can learn a skill. I think talent is something you've just got and you can sum it up. I can sum it up. Balance, strength, timing, balance, strength,

[00:31:20] time. If you've got those three things, everything else you can learn. You can learn how to tackle. You can learn how to throw a long ball. You can learn how to do a gig, whatever, you don't need strength, but the timing is definitely important with music. But, you know, I just think, you know, dad had an abundance of those things, but he just, he used to say to Matt and I growing up, he used to always say, you boys are definitely not going to be the biggest. He goes, you're definitely not going to be the biggest. He goes, you might not be the best.

[00:31:50] You may be, you might not be the best, but you can always be the fittest. You can always be the fittest. So if someone said, if they're doing reps of eight, you do reps of 10. If they're running, if they're swimming 500 meters, you swim 800. You just, just that little bit, that little, that, that tiny bit more. And that's what it takes these days. If you want to be, and that's what I say to the guys in the band as well. Like I've got that mentality from growing up in and around that environment. And with that psyche. And I say to the boys,

[00:32:20] before we go on stage, you go, boys, let's be great tonight. I don't want to be good. Let's, let's be great. Let everyone leave here tonight. No one, they've been a part of something. They remember the band and then just, and just impart some fun and make sure everyone remembers us. Yeah. And that's, that's super important when you, when you're doing anything in the artistic world, obviously sporting world, but artistic world, I don't, I think a lot of people take it for granted, you know, like I'm from the same, I'm from the same work ethic.

[00:32:48] I think I represented a bit differently than the way you do it, but you know, with, with a guy like Springsteen being my lifelong hero, I have no other choice, but every night I play, it's like the last time I'm going to play. Now I might not be hanging from the rafters, but every word I say is going to be from the heart. It's going to be sincere, going to give you everything I got. And I think that if you don't do that, you're kind of taking everything and everyone for granted in a strange way. Okay. So I'm really happy to hear that. I mean, I know you, that's how you are anyway,

[00:33:16] but I'm happy to hear from a musician point of view that like, yeah, you got to do it. Oh man, you got, it's got to be all out there. Leave it all out there. You know, we played a gig on Sunday at the beach hotel at Byron Bay, iconic venue. And it was unbelievable. And it was probably one of the best. Oh no, it wasn't probably, it was the best gig we've ever played. The band, you know, just when you're sitting in the pocket and everything's just like, like every note was crisp. Every, every vocal delivery was on the point.

[00:33:46] Everything, I mean, couldn't have gone better. And, and, you know, we're hoping, I'm hoping I can bring that energy on Friday night because I'll tell you what, it's going to be, it's going to be tough to sing Sam with a lump in my throat. Let's put it that way, because there's definitely going to be one there. Yeah. I'm going to make sure, I'm going to make sure you warm up a little bit before, because you don't want to go out there and just let's, let's talk the, the singles. Cause you have, you released two songs recently running through that. Yeah. Our first single,

[00:34:12] our debut single came out about probably about nine or 10 weeks ago. Now that's called light, light it up. So, and that's just a song about, you know, basically the, the, the first verses knocking off. It's a Friday night. We're going to head out West in our four wheel drives. We're going to have some, um, have some, uh, I've forgotten the lyrics of my own song. That's all right. As long as you remember on Friday, it's all the best. We're going to sit around a fire. We're going to play some tunes. So it's just about, you know,

[00:34:42] knocking off on a Friday, heading West, packing up the, packing up the campers, loading the Eskies and just sitting around the fire and having some fun. And it's a, it's a really, um, it's a good time song, you know? And then, and obviously last Wednesday, which is, uh, what tomorrow, uh, you know, pretty much a week, a week ago, we launched the poet and the baller, which is a song written about, well, kind of about my mom. Well, mom and dad mentioned it, but it's also about, I guess, finding your purpose late in life. And,

[00:35:13] you know, there's some, there's some lines in that song that are sort of double entwanderous, if you like, like there's the, um, you know, and the chorus it's, um, you know, um, that's why I stand up on the stage. That's why I'm living like these are my last day. That's why I'm living like it's my last day in this place. Cause everywhere we go, we just want to like, you know, put it all out there. Um, yeah, that's why I'm turning every page. And that's a reference to dad. Cause my, my dad closed his book early, you know?

[00:35:43] And, um, and that's, there's a, there's a subtle, um, meaning behind that line, you know? And that's, that's why I'm turning every page is, I don't want to shut my book early and I don't want to leave any chapters unread, you know? So, um, um, I'm so grateful, Sam, to, no, I can't put into words. I, I, I don't know if you saw the post I put up on my socials, but I honestly, no,

[00:36:10] I cannot put into words the significance of playing that song on that bit of real estate, Shark Park on Friday night before the Sharks family, who, who I call all my shark spans and players and, and, and everyone there, you know, standing on the ground where my dad's ashes are looking into the stand where my mum used to sit. And I've got to try and do that without, you know, I get a lump in my throat even just talking about it, mate. So.

[00:36:40] Yeah. Yeah. That's a beautiful thing, man. And definitely don't, don't worry about that. Don't shy away from it. If you get a lump, you get a lump. Nothing. The other, the other thing I want to say is we've spoke about your dad's ashes being there. Let's not forget that he absolutely lit the place up. Oh yeah. Game after game. Like that was his home turf. And, uh, you're playing on that turf as well, you know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And Matt and I, and Mel, when we, when we spread dad's ashes, we, we put them in key places. So we,

[00:37:10] we can spread them all over the field. We put a good amount sort of right on the center dot where he would have kicked, cause dad kicked off every, every game. So he would have kicked off, kicked from that very spot, like, you know, thousands of times. Yeah. So we, we put a bit there. And then, I don't know if you remember, there was an intercept try that he took against St. George. That was the length of the field from the. South. Eastern corner to the. South, not the, the southeast.

[00:37:41] Was it the city? Yeah. So the northeast corner up that sideline. Yeah. And, um, big John Jansen was coming across chasing him in cover. And so we, we, we try it. We track that line right up that sideline. So I don't remember. We just put it in like in a few places, you know, that famous try where he did the bomb or he kicked it and caught it under the Northern, uh, goalpost. We sprinkled a bit on the, like 20 million line bit under there. So I remember him doing that and just, you know, trying to put him, uh,

[00:38:09] where significant things happened on that field for him. So hopefully he's laying at rest, mate. I believe so. Tell me, uh, was sludge into music at all. Do you remember? Was it the, the music? Mate, he loved music. He had a record collection, Sam, that you wouldn't, wouldn't believe. And someone who shall remain nameless sold it all in a, uh, in a, um, garage sale of all things. But my old man's record collection, if you stacked it end to end would be, uh, mate,

[00:38:39] be 30, 40 meters high. And it was all classics like Hendrix and all this stuff, you know, back in the day, Dr. Hulk. Yeah. Hello. The Clapton's. Who's a rock guy. Vinyl. Yeah. Yeah. He was rock. Just, he was a good time sort of guy, you know, just like having a good time. But, you know, and we play some songs that, um, that I think my dad would get a real kick out of us playing when we do some covers, like some Stevie Ray Vaughan stuff. And there is, you know, we do Copperhead Road and I always think of my dad dancing that song. Cause he,

[00:39:09] I might be, you know, I heard that spun and it was all vinyl too, Sammy. There was no CDs. He started getting into CDs, but he had the best vinyl collection that you, that you, that, uh, man, I'm even just in the lounge room, play guitar for him at all or? No. Oh yeah. My dad knew that I played. I used to play, I guess I started sort of strumming along semi-seriously or getting right into it. And when I say getting right into it, I mean, I played, you know, um, knocking on heaven's door,

[00:39:38] GC and D about a million times in the back, in the back garage. In 1997, I was trialing at the Western Reds living in Perth. And, um, I had this beaten up old Yamaha. And I remember Dean Lance, the coach of the Western Reds at the time, ex-Canberra great and a good fella. He came across and, and dad was the football manager at the Reds. And Dino was the, um, the coach and Dino would come around once or twice a week and have a meeting with sludge in the, in the, in the house.

[00:40:06] And I'd be out in the garage and I was training with the Reds and I was fit and that's, everything was looking really good. And I got an injury just at the 12 hour that sort of cost me that, uh, that opportunity, but Dino heard me plenty. So he's at Donnie out there. And he's, he's, mate, he plays the same song every night. I was just going around, just learning GCD. And, um, and Dino, he bought his, he had a, he had a beautiful fender acoustic that he bought his wife to have lessons on. And she,

[00:40:35] and she broke a nail at one of her first lessons, put it in the box and it never came out of the box. And Dino said, he goes, mate, that thing's been up the top of the cupboard for like 15 years. No one's touched. I'm going to give it to Donnie. So Dino gave me this fender acoustic and then, um, and I just tinkered around with it for the next, but you know, probably 30, 30 odd years until, until all this stuff started going down. And man, it's beyond my wildest dreams, Sammy. And I've got a, I've got a pretty active imagination, my friend.

[00:41:03] And it's just blows my mind. It really does. Once you get the bug and I'll use the word bug. I won't use the word drug, but once you get the bug for it, uh, it's, it's pretty addictive. And, you know, as musicians, we sacrifice a lot. Oh, mate, so much. Yeah. But what you get back on that stage is pretty worthwhile for the sacrifices. Yeah. Like, you know, talking to sacrifice, I mean, I haven't,

[00:41:31] I haven't seen my kids for like probably four weekends in a row now, you know, I mean, I spend time, I'm at home through the week and I get to see him a couple hours a night after, after work, but every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and, and the grind's real, mate, you know, it's, um, and that's why, as I said earlier, I've got so much respect for any artist, whether it's metal, blues, jazz, contemporary, independent, record label, like, I don't care because I know how one, how competitive is,

[00:42:01] but you said about that bug and, and, and I think the reason why I like it so much, semi, and I said this to Matt, I said, mate, I was talking to Matt about, at the other month and I said, man, you know, that feeling you get before, like before any gig I play, mate, I'm out the back and I'm just pacing and I'm just like, I'm so nervous because I'm just, the, the performance is, is, it's a performance sport, right? Like you've got to perform. You are literally front and center. And, and I said to Matt, I said, mate,

[00:42:31] it's the closest thing I've ever found to that feeling for a really big game of footy, where it's a whole mixture of like anticipation, excitement. There's a little bit of doubt. There's a little bit of like, is it going to go right? Like, you know, it's the lighting, It's the staging, right? Is everything that level's right? Is sound check good? It's like, but then just like a game of football, you get your hands on the ball, you make a tackle and you're in it. Like you're away. All that stuff goes. Yeah. It's the exact same, mate. As soon as like, you're nervous,

[00:43:00] as soon as you're in the second bar of the song, like, and it's the most grounding thing I've ever found to send me, you know, it's like when you're making the music, like when you're playing that G, that D, that C, that A sus seven, whatever it is, you're in that chord. You are that chord. You're delivering that vocal. You, you mentally can't be anywhere else. Like you have to be there. You know what I mean? It's so grounding, you know? And that's really, you know, music to me, it's just been a, um,

[00:43:30] uh, truly, truly a godsend. Like it's, it's, and it's so far removed from what I thought I'd be doing at this age. It's funny. It's funny what you just said, because I've been playing a bit over the past month and, and I don't play every weekend or anything, but when I play, Hey, we usually do a bit in a row, have a bit of break and I've done, you know, a thousand shows in my life, but I was just thinking the other week I was playing somewhere and my mind

[00:43:59] doesn't really wander when I play live. I'm like you, I'm in there, I'm singing about something. I remember when I wrote it, the whole thing. Right. Yeah. But you know, the moment your mind goes off track and you're thinking about, did I leave the toaster on or whatever? Right. And I caught myself doing that the other night for like the brief, first of seconds. Yeah. And I felt such shame. And I was like, I've got to snap out of this real quick. And not one person would have had a clue that that was going on,

[00:44:27] but it's funny as the guys, you and I, the guys singing into the microphone, like you sort of have that responsibility. Cause if you're thinking about like, I've got to get up tomorrow to take my kid to soccer or whatever, it's like, well, that's not what the people paid to see, or that's not what they're spending their money on the bar to hear. Right. They want to hear the song. That must, that must come after a thousand shows, mate. I'm only, I'm only probably, I think I counted them the other day. I think I'm about a hundred and it's a hundred and something.

[00:44:56] I think we've done a hundred and 65 gigs or something in three years. That's pretty good. Yeah. And we've got our foot on the gas, mate. Like we are working hard, but we've got some really great opportunities. We're working with a, where I got off the, off a zoom call on Saturday to a producer in LA. It's looking likely that that's going to start to develop. And, and mate, I know the songs that are coming next. So the light it up is out now on Spotify.

[00:45:25] And so is the poet and the bowler. The next one is going to be called mud and dust. And, and that's a banging. So I think that's going to be the breakout song. And then we've got another one called the requiem that's coming. And, and that's going to be a good song. That's a good song as well. These are all in production. How can people Donnie support you right this second? So aside from giving you a follow on Spotify, what are we doing? Are we sharing it around? Like what's best for you? Yeah, mate, well, mate,

[00:45:54] I'd be grateful for each and every podcast shark cast. it's a firstly, follow Don Rogers music on Instagram and Facebook, but have a look at our songs on Spotify, stream them when you can use them on your reels, make sure you tag us in them. You know, if you, if you don't have Spotify, you can go to Apple music and, and, you know, you can buy our songs for a couple of bucks each. And they really are good songs. And this is really only just the beginning. Sammy,

[00:46:24] you wait to hear these next ones, mate. They are, they are crackers. Well, in case you've forgotten, I have heard a unmastered version of the next one. It's very, very good. I appreciate it. Yeah, that's right. I am. I think I interrupted. You was saying something about fourth or fifth song. I happen to interrupt you there before. Oh yeah. Fourth or fifth song. I just don't know which order they're going to come out, but it's called shotgun pretty. And it's a, it's just a song about it. Just, you know, I want to write, cause everything I write is quite emotionally charged. Sammy.

[00:46:54] And I don't know whether that's been, you know, going through a lot of grief. Obviously, you know, we lost mom at a young age at 46. We lost dad at 51. So as a family and, you know, and I'm not the only one that's been through that. My heart goes out to anyone that is, or has gone through that sort of feeling to lose a family member at a young age before their time. Um, everything I write is quite deep. And I just wanted to write a song that was fun. Just, I said, man, everything's like, you know, I just want to write a fun song. So I was inspired by that,

[00:47:24] you know, that country girl, shake it for me country, that, that, um, that song. And so I wrote a song. I was watching a cowboy show or a hunting show. I think it was on Fox or something. And one of the cowboys on there, like proper, like, you know, like, you know, Oklahoma redneck or whatever. He was like, my girl, she's my, my, my daughter, she's so pretty. That girl shotgun pretty. And I was like, shotgun pretty. I was like, that's a good song. So I just, the idea came in and, man, it's a really good song.

[00:47:53] that's the one we're talking about at the moment is that, um, and, uh, the end, um, shotgun pretty and mud and dust. They'll probably be produced out of LA. So we're, we're, man, it's, it's incredible. It blows my mind. I mean, but what, what your listeners can do is just follow our socials, listen to our songs. If you like them, buy our songs, use them on your reels, make sure you tag us in the comments or whatever. And, you know, at the end of the day, if you, if we can get your feet tapping and your hips and your hips swinging,

[00:48:24] that's what it's all about. That's all the payment I need. You know, I get such a buzz out of that. And I guess when you come to the town that they're in, come out and see the Don Rogers band. Yeah, absolutely. Because we're starting to spread our wings and we're getting further and further from home, which is, you know, spending more and more weekends away from the nest, but, um, but we love doing what we're doing and we, and we're definitely going to go on some sort of national tour. So when we're in, in the area, we'd love you all to come out and, tip your hat and say, you know, and shake your, shake your butt and tap your feet. Now,

[00:48:53] brother Matt seems to be doing pretty good in the media world. I've noticed the past few years. And, uh, I read his book that came out, what a year or two ago, you featuring it quite heavily. Everyone should probably go get that book as well. It's his second, uh, autobiography, but it's definitely the one you want to get. Uh, he sees doing well. What is he on SEN every day or something? Yeah. I think three times a week him and, um, and, and, and toots Jared, Jared Croker. They're on, uh, sports entertainment network. Um, so I'm a,

[00:49:23] I'm a super radio network. You can tune into those guys and they have a great time, bit of banter and just talk a bit of footy and, and, um, a few dares here and there and always challenging each other and various things. um, but yeah, they're both, um, yeah, he's, he's doing really well. You've probably noticed, uh, Sammy, that us Rogers boys, we don't mind a chat. So he just gets paid to do it. Now you're on survivor recently, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. I was. Yeah. Can you run like, I'm not a survivor guy. Just as a heads up. Yeah. Run me through that.

[00:49:52] I know Maddie, Maddie was on there like years ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. Matt's been on there twice. And I, um, you know, I was approached by the producers, uh, to see, you know, with the, with the theme of this year's show being redemption, I think it just fitted the character of the, the country outlaw sort of rock vibe that we've got. And, um, well, I tell you what, Sammy, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. And I've played lower grades NRL and lower grades super league. I've, I've done a Hawaiian Ironman triathlon and, um,

[00:50:21] survivor is no joke. It's, um, it's real. So when you think, you know, they're out there and they're probably, you know, no, you're not, you don't, if you don't win food, you're not eating. And, um, you know, there's obviously some production around. I mean, you can't make a show like that without cameramen being around, but there's like a invisible wall between you. There's no interaction. You can't, you can't, they won't talk to you like, or, um, you know, there's like, you know, cause they, you, you've got to be immersed in the game.

[00:50:51] So when you were there, there's no, there's no niceness for anyone. There's just guys walking around with cameras and they'll just, you know, but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a strange environment, but it's, it's an experience I'm so grateful for though. You know, you learn a lot about yourself. Some of it I didn't like, to be honest, like, you know, in the real world, like, you know, my social game is pretty strong and I connect with a lot of people and I'm, you know, but out there,

[00:51:19] my social game just deserted me. I mean, you just, you're running on about three, maybe four hours of sleep a night. You're, you're literally sleep deprived. You're starving, hungry. You're trying to make all these strategic decisions. You're trying to work out who's talking about what with who. And, and it's, it's a, it's an experience I'm grateful for, but it was a, it was a very challenging experience, put it that way, but very grateful for it too. Yeah. I'm sure.

[00:51:48] Now let's get back to Friday night. So Steve Rogers cup, we're playing for the Steve Rogers cup. Yeah. We've owned that quite a lot since Craig Fitzgibbon came to town. Now I haven't thought about this as far as you and your brother goes, right. But, but we do have our worst win record against everyone. It's against manly. So the amount of times we've won the Steve Rogers cup is kind of minimal in this, you know, comparatively, but since Fitz,

[00:52:18] he came to town, we've won seven of eight. Well, let's hope that trend continues. And it all started back when this Jersey was worn in the 1973 grand final. That's the Jersey dad would have worn. The boys went down. I think it was 10, seven or nine. I don't know, but they went down in that game. Yeah. But, you know, and that's why it's called the Steve Rogers cup. Cause you know, 1973, we played manly in 1978. We played manly. Um, and I'm stoked that, um, Craig Fitzgibbon,

[00:52:46] Fitzy has turned the tables on that record because I think prior to me moving to Queensland, I think I presented the Steve Rogers cup. I don't know, at least, at least eight, nine times. And I remember I gave it to gal once, once. I'd always give it to, I'd always give it to daily cherry Evans or who was the captain of manly before daily? It was, um, you might've had a few with Jamie Lyon maybe. Jamie. Yeah. I've given it to Jamie. Like I've given it to Jamie like four or five times.

[00:53:15] I've given it to DCE four or five times. Yeah. I think I've, I think I've only from memory, I've given it to, um, Paul Gowan once. So, and it kind of grinds me when you've got the trophy and you're like, Oh, I just don't want to let it go. Yeah. But you know, DCE, I want to give, um, daily some props, you know, I was never a big DCE fan until I actually connected with the guy. Tremendous guy. I remember one of the years I gave it to daily. I was,

[00:53:45] I had my daughter out there eating with me and she was about nine, I think eight or nine. And daily came over. This is straight after the full time. Right. Still, you know, blood, sweat and tears all over him, grazed up. I gave him the trophy in the middle of the ground and this was off, off. There wasn't a microphone or anything. It was just him, me. And, uh, I think a cameraman there, but it wasn't video. And he said, uh, he said, I said, he go DCE. I said daily. I said, well done, mate. Shook his hand. I said, take care of it. And he goes, mate, we will.

[00:54:14] And he says, excuse me, mate. He said, is that your daughter? Is this your daughter? And I said, yeah, that's Eden. And he goes, well, Eden, he goes, my name's daily. It's very good to meet you. And she goes, she goes, and I want you to know that, you know, this, this trophy is named after your grandfather. And he was a wonderful, tremendous footballer. You should be very proud of him. And we're going to take very good care of it. And I just went, wow, you know, for a guy to do that in the heart of battle. And I've always had a lot of time for DC after that. It really did mean a lot. So, um, yeah, but you know, daily,

[00:54:45] I hope, you know, Manly. Well, I know he's no longer at Manly, but to all the Manly faithful, I hope it's coming home to the Sharks cabinet on the weekend, because that's one trophy that needs to live in the Sharks cabinet. Yes. And I don't know if you've caught up with the news or not, but, uh, your good friend, Nico Hines will not be playing. He's out with a calf strain. So we do have Nephi Peru debuting. So one man exits, another man comes in. I know the boys will be doing everything for that trophy.

[00:55:13] Fitzy instills history. In the modern, uh, in with the current team, they know the history pretty good. So there'll be extra incentive. That's for sure. Well, I want to wish Nephi all the best for his debut firstly. And one thing I do know about, you know, Fitzy's coaching style and whatever his depth, you know, like, um, and whenever you get to that level, whenever an opportunity comes, I mean, whether it be, you know, no matter what club, I mean,

[00:55:42] whoever's going to step up into that role, they have to be ready to put their best foot forward because you don't get too many second chances in the NRL. You know, you've got to, you got to leave from the front and then, and there's nowhere to hide out there. So Nephi, I hope you, if you hear this, mate, I hope you have a great game and I wish you all the best for your debut. And, um, you know, if you do your part and another 12 blokes or another sort of, you know, yeah, 18 blokes do theirs, then we should go. All right. We should go. Absolutely. Absolutely. We'll get that message to him. No, no worries.

[00:56:12] I don't know if you know this or not. Do you have a, do you have a kickoff time for your mini set or is it just sort of? Yeah, I think we do. I think, I think we've got an eight minute window. So we'll be playing on the ground from 7 40 PM to 7 50 is the window that we've got. That's pretty close. Yeah. It will be capacity. 7 40, 7 40 to 7 50 is our window. So we'll be, we need everyone there before then. We need everyone in there by 7 30.

[00:56:41] They got their beer in their hand. They're going to change you and everything. We need you standing or in your seat at 7 30. We'll put it out in our socials and everything. It's very important that everyone is there to see that. I don't want people rocking up going, where's Donnie? It's like, no, no, come on. It's Friday night, Friday night, country music. That's awesome, man. And I know all the, all the admin staff are right behind you. Like, yeah, it's not just because of your name and your history. Like I know a lot of people believe in what you're doing, man.

[00:57:09] So I hope you know that it's not some sort of token gig or whatever. Yeah. Thank you, brother. And I think a lot of the, a lot of the Sharks family have seen where I've come from, you know, I didn't, and it's no secret that I sort of, you know, I didn't, I didn't handle, you know, going through that grief, losing mom and dad very well and sort of went off the rails for a few years and, and, and, and did it hard there for a long while. And, and, you know, to come full circle, have something that I'm passionate about, focused on and,

[00:57:38] and to turn my life around in song is, is unbelievable, you know, so I'm just very grateful and I'm, I'm grateful for, you know, to Dino, um, and all the management there, you know, Melinda, Jess, or all the, all the guys, the media team, yourself, semi, everyone getting behind, um, you know, the, the Don Rogers band because it's, um, yeah, it doesn't go unnoticed and it doesn't go unappreciated, man. It's very, uh, very much valued at a heart level, man. Thank you very much. That's great. That's great.

[00:58:08] It's very mutual feeling, my friend. And I know that we, uh, you know, you and I had bummed each other throughout our lives, but we bonded, uh, when our mutual friends got Max where they got us together and we were doing, um, shark cast TV and that kind of stuff, like doing post games. He got us doing all sorts of shenanigans. and that's when you and I sort of started getting close and, and I could tell just then, you know, like, I think you were, look, maybe you were still going through stuff. I don't know, but I can tell you were coming out of it as well.

[00:58:38] And I could see, you know, the more things that, especially Scott, who it's no secret for you and I, he was a big, um, support of you. Oh, absolutely. I want to give a mad shout out to him. Hey, come and host this show or come and sit with Shanaz and Newman. And, and you were there, man, and you were involved and, and you could tell that you were getting it back together, man. It was good to see. Oh, mate. No, I love Scotty like family, you know, he, and it's amazing.

[00:59:05] The lessons he taught me back then in terms of the media training and just how to speak on camera, you know, how to be prepared or that sort of thing is I'm, I'm using it today when we do promos for our music or, you know, I might do a quick 15 second reel for a gig we've got coming up. And I just always, you know, start with a big smile, mate, bring the energy, bang, bang, bang. People haven't got a lot of time to deliver your message, get out, you know, like all that sort of stuff, be clear, be concise. Um, and, and he was a,

[00:59:35] he was a tough taskmaster in that regard, but I'm glad. And he's one of my dearest friends as well, you know, so it's, it's amazing that those lessons he taught us, well, me and I'm sure you learned from the study as well back in the day. Yeah. You get to apply them later in life and it's, it's amazing, you know, it's, um, yeah, just very grateful. And so big shout out, nothing but love for you, Mr. Scott backs, whatever. He'll be, he'll be saying this, he'll be loving it. We sit back on his little chuckle like he does. I had been a performer,

[01:00:04] like for 20 years or whatever, but I'd never done anything like that. And then we, Newman and I started the audio podcast and he was the one that went, Hey, come along and do a TV version. We were like, okay, this sounds like fun. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, Adam was more kind of, as you, you know, a bit more sort of upfront and kind of, he can be the guy. Yeah. And I was his little sidekick, but I'd never done. I'd made some video clips. That doesn't really count. Right. So. Yeah. Maxworthy was huge. Yeah. He's so good at what he does. And I want to,

[01:00:34] I want to give anyone, anyone out there that needs any media photography, whatever, look, Scott Maxworthy up because he really is not only good at what he does, but he's a tremendous, um, mentor to have in the space, you know, and, I'm very, very, very, very, very grateful for the lessons he's taught me. That's for sure. Yeah. He's a good dude. All right, Donnie. We'll, we're looking forward to Friday night. 7.40 is kickoff for the music, but we need people there. I'm going to say 7.30. I'm going to be a bit of a hard task, Marky.

[01:01:04] We need people that 7.30. And I, and when I say 7.30, I mean, I mean, I want them standing in their spot or sitting in their spot. I don't want them going through the gate at 7.30. Cause then you got to make your way. And I see your mates. No, I want you where you're going to be. And then Donnie will come out. Arrive at 7.15, get through the gate, grab your beer and then be, be poised and ready. Just, you know, 7.40. It's going to be on. So you want to be, you know, at your position with your beer in hand or your, you know, soft drink,

[01:01:35] pie, whatever, hot dog. All right. Sounds great. All right, Don, we're looking forward to it, my friend. I can't wait to see you there. Give you a big old hug. And yeah, everyone else who can't be at the game, obviously I'm sure you'll cover it on your socials. The sharks will have it on their socials. We'll do what we can as well. But for the people who can't be there. Yeah. Look up Donnie on Spotify. If you're on Spotify, I keep calling you Donnie. It's Don. I'm sorry. Don. That's all right, man. You can call me Donnie. Spotify, Apple.

[01:02:04] Have you got YouTube? Is that a thing? We do, but we haven't, we haven't done a lot on there. We've, we've got to, yeah, that's coming, but we have got a YouTube channel. Yeah. But basically we can find you online that the modern day version of doing things is go online and we'll find you. And of course your social media, your Insta is really great and your Facebook. So pleasure. Thanks for your time. I know I've kept you up a bit late tonight, but I really appreciate you doing this. Matt, that's all right. And I just hope the boys get the win on the weekend and it should be a good game. And up, up semi. It's great to connect with you again, brother. All right, Don,

[01:02:34] we'll talk to you soon. Everyone else will talk to you soon, but go seek out Don's music and his socials and tell him we sent you. Let him know that you've got some shark cast love. See you, Don. We'll talk to you soon. Nothing but love. See you guys. My daddy was a baller. And my mama was a poet.

[01:03:03] I got the best of him. I got the best of her. Just took me a little while to know it. Said never struck me down like a lightning bolt. We're not like a raging inferno. It took 50 long years to get me here. And we're only getting started. That is why.

[01:03:54] Beautiful words, but she was just too afraid to say it.

[01:04:49] And there's these three golds from this old piece of wood. Get fly.

[01:05:18] I'm turning every page.

[01:06:07] my God, the best of her. Just took me a little while to know it. Shark Cast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Caring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire.

[01:06:35] Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast. If you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips and Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450. Jason Hawes, Crips and Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies!

[01:06:59] In the Shire, turn your porch lights off because we're coming home with a trophy. But if you ain't problem with the Sony Yamaha didn't players off, The Shire is completly éneral in the series and rev races oneция of what kind of those games just aren't like. When these two games were begining. You're in partnership with an Italian mommygel1 417 417 at 417 7.