This Is How We Play - NRLW Cronulla Sharks Podcast with special guest Rhiannon Byers

[00:00:00] This is how we play the Cronulla Sharks NRLW Podcast brought to you by Quest Apartment Hotels. The Cronulla Sharks NRLW team are more than footballers. They're teachers, tradies, students, coaches, mums, mentors.

[00:00:24] Women who live double lives in pursuit of the game they love. By day they clock in and by night they suit up. Join us in celebrating the strength, determination and resilience of our Sharks NRLW superheroes. It's not just about what they do on the field, it's about everything they do off it to keep the dream alive. Our women play it their way.

[00:00:54] Hey there, welcome. This is how we play the Cronulla Sharks NRLW Podcast brought to you by Quest Apartment Hotels. My name is Sam Schnazzi. I love the Cronulla Sharks and I'm here to co-host with our favourite fullback. Don't tell Will Kennedy, don't tell Liam Eison. I'm here with my co-host, or I'm her co-host, Miss Jada Taylor, birthday girl from last week. I know, I was hoping for a win as well, but anyways, we won't go there. I like that. Favourite NRL fullback, NRLW fullback.

[00:01:24] Now we are here not to talk about you as such. You will intertwine in this episode. But we are here to talk about your teammate, one of my favourite NRLW players. She has been at the Sharks since 2023, I'm led to believe, and is a vital part of our crew. Let's just get straight to it. Rhiannon Byers, welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I want to start with breaking news, and it sort of involves both of you and our awesome, awesome club.

[00:01:53] Our very good friend Jada Taylor has been nominated for the 2026 Veronica White Medal. So congratulations, first of all. Thank you, thank you. I'm sitting here with the 2025 winner of the award, so it's nice to be nominated. I've been nominated once before as well, back in 2023, and yeah, it's an honour. Yeah, so Rhiannon, let's get straight to that. What does it mean to you? Tell us what it entails for people who don't know maybe what goes on in that world.

[00:02:19] What is the Veronica White Medal, and how did you get involved, and tell us everything. Yeah, so the Veronica White Medal is a community award. It's all for all the nominees. A club can put in one person to nominate, and Jada is nominated this year, which is awesome. I was nominated last year, but then it's up to the community to vote for who they would like to be in the top three. Every nominee will get $1,000 to the local rugby league club,

[00:02:46] and then once you're in the top three, they will then go into a judge panel, and then once you're in the judge panel, if you win, you get $2,000, goes back to your junior rugby league club, and then the other $2,000 goes to an organisation that you would like to donate to. So last year I donated to Find Your Feet, and my local rugby league club is Warrior of Wombats. So yeah, they finally got some new jerseys and fixed up their change rooms and stuff, so yeah, that money went a long way, which was cool.

[00:03:14] So Jade is nominated this year, so... So go vote for me, thank you. Yeah, so go vote for Sister Girl over there. But no, like we were just saying, like you were just saying then before, like it's just your job, but I think it's more than that. Like you're closing the gap for young Indigenous kids here in the Southern Shire, and you know, we don't talk a lot about our health. You know, it's a massive topic that goes sort of under the radar, and yeah, I think the work that you're doing here in the Shire is definitely making an impact,

[00:03:44] because I see kids walking around with their little Deadly Choice shirts, and it's mad to see, so yeah, don't ever think that it's just a job. It's actually more than that. So Rhiannon, with you, tell us about your background and what you do that got you nominated. Yeah, so I work with Caronella Aboriginal Corporation. I'm the youth coordinator, so I sort of work in children's and family support with, like funded through DCJ, and then with NIAA we do their Aboriginal youth mentoring. I'm in 21 high schools here in the Shire.

[00:04:12] I deal with 391 students, and I mentor them once a week, fortnightly, depending on the school and their availability. But yeah, I go there for an hour, and then we discuss obviously health, you know, mental health, physical health, and then, yeah, just sort of like their connections with mob. We've got a lot of kids obviously here in the Shire that have sort of disconnected through their culture, so, you know, reconnecting them in any way, shape or form is massive impact, and we've noticed that, you know,

[00:04:41] our little dance group that we had that performed at the NRLW and the Community Day, a lot of those kids actually don't know where they're from, and like they know that they're Indigenous and they can feel that connection. They're still trying to follow in those pieces, and yeah, that's sort of what my job is, is just to reconnect them and give them that cultural safety. Do you have a similar job, Jade? Like we've spoken a bit about what you do, but it sounds very similar. Yeah, similar in some ways.

[00:05:08] I think obviously Deadly Choices, you know, they have the program, but not sort of the connection to the local area and those sorts of things. So that sort of falls on me in what schools I go to, and I guess I have a little bit of freedom around that. But yeah, ours is very based around healthy lifestyles and those sorts of things, whereas Ree, you know, she's got the community, I guess, aspects of it as well, where she's like you meet with community groups and stuff like that,

[00:05:36] and I think it's pretty cool that I've got a connection like that in the Shire as well, and we can sort of bounce off each other and go, hey, I don't know anyone to get me these clapsticks sort of for this weekend's gift exchange, and she's all over it. So obviously have a lot to do with planning Indigenous round and stuff and reworking in the local community. I learned on her a lot this year to try and get me some kids who could dance and those sorts of things. So yeah, it's been pretty mad to bounce off each other. Now, big two weeks, Indigenous rounds over two weeks, a lot of awareness.

[00:06:05] I was down here for the, what would you call it, Jade? It was the Captain's Run, Deadly Choices. Yeah, the Community Day. Community Day. First Nations Community Day. And that was awesome. There was like hundreds of people here soaking it in. So congrats on that. That was really just well done. Everyone was so happy. But a big two weeks for both of you, I guess. Like a focus on your other job, the Cronulla Sharks NRLW, but incorporating your Indigenous history and even your other work. That's a huge two weeks for you, right?

[00:06:32] Community Day, like you said, that's probably something huge for our area. Again, Reece touched on how this area can be generally disconnected and those sorts of things. But we also know that a lot of our Indigenous people don't often go and get their health checks at a health service because there's that distrust and sort of things. But when you invite people to come watch the Sharks' captains run, everyone wants to turn up. So that's just one way we're trying to close the gap, I guess, to access,

[00:07:01] to be able to come here and watch footy and go, oh, you know what? I will just get my health check instead of having to go to the doctor. So, yeah, I think that's something that we did really well. And, yeah, really, really proud of the last couple of rounds when we've been able to wear that jersey. But Riri, what does it mean to you? I feel like that was my first time I got to actually play in the jersey. I've been injured every other year. So grateful that I was uninjured this year. But what does it mean to you? Well, I scored my first ever try for NRLW in the Indigenous jersey in that 2024 year.

[00:07:28] And, yeah, every time I think about the Indigenous jersey, it just gives me goosebumps. Like, so mad to, you know, represent culture. But also just, like, knowing that our Pacifica sisters, too, they're First Nations from their countries as well. And I feel like we, you know, we talk about our Indigenous culture and that they just, they absorb it like sponges and they want to learn more. And, like, last year when we did that weaving thing, like, I think a few of the girls ended up outweaving us.

[00:07:53] Like, you know, it's just, I don't know, like, it's just literally, it's so humbling, the Indigenous round. It just makes you recenter yourself and understand why you play football and why you do it. And inspire, like, new kids that, you know, from the country areas that are, you know, looking at us going like, oh, that's Jada Taylor, that's Reon and Byers. Like, they're from Tamworth, they're from Maury. Like, that's what's mad. Like, go home and you can have a coffee and the next minute, like, little Indigenous kids are running up to you and asking for photos. Like, that's what's mad. Yeah.

[00:08:23] And that's why I love it. Super special. And having the role with Deadly Choices and this year, you know, we have the mini league every year play on Indigenous round. And this year, Grace from Deadly Choices, my boss, she asked me, she said, oh, do you want to put the girls' last names on there? And it sort of threw me a little bit. I was like, oh, my God. So it was a nice little surprise for the girls to, you know, have their name on the back of a jersey, you know, at an NRL game where kids want to be you. I think that's so special.

[00:08:50] And I hope you saw that, Riri, on Instagram. No, I seen it. I shared it on my story because I was like, what Deadly Choice tagged me in? And then I looked and I was like, oh, my God, that's like, that's my name on there. I was like, oh, look at that kid go. So special. And I know you touched on it briefly, Riri, but you're a country kid. So it's hard being a country kid, living here, the sacrifices. You know, everyone talks about sacrifices and a lot of people make sacrifices to be professional athletes, especially women.

[00:09:19] But there's extra sacrifices when you're away from home. You know, just even the ability to get into footy is harder. So tell us a little bit about your journey. I was born in Moree, grew up in a small town called Palomelowar. You know, it's probably maxed like 200 people. Knew everyone in that town. And then I went to school at Wariota, Wariota High School, and started my rugby journey up there. And there was no pathway programs or nothing. There was literally a regional zone that you put a rugby team in.

[00:09:48] If you won that, then you would go to CHS state finals. We played everyone around that area and not many people had a rugby team. So, like, we would win and we would go to Sydney. And the next week we were versed in, like, Hunter Sports High and Hill Sports High and all that type of stuff. And we were like, oh, God. But, like, literally half the time we couldn't even field, like, a 12-a-side. We ended up, like, getting a couple of players from, like, Moree. We had two from Inveral. Brought them into the team.

[00:10:14] And it was sort of like a combined northwest region team underneath the Wariota High School banner. And we won the state championships one time. And it was mad because we versed Hunter Sports High and we beat them. Mind you, we flogged them. We were shocked. Like, we literally didn't have all the bells and whistles. We didn't have flash kit. We literally had boys-sized shorts and, like, not even women's cut jerseys that were just massive. Had to tie a little hair tie at the back to make sure that no one could grab your jersey.

[00:10:43] And, yeah, we just, like, we just played for each other because we knew how close we all were. But then now, like, seeing the pathway sort of growing a little bit more in the sense for, like, women back at country towns. Like, you know, they don't necessarily have to drive, you know, nine and a half hours just for one training session and go back to school. The next day it's now sort of going. And they have, like, a week's camp, say, based at Tenworth. And then they'll go from Tenworth into Newcastle and play out in Newcastle there.

[00:11:11] And that's what's, like, really cool to see is, like, it's just starting to grow more and more country kids are striving to be like us. And, like, when I think back, it's just, like, so cool because, you know, Jada and I have got a little bit of history. Like, when we played Central North together and she came in for a trial and there was this little... All 40 kilos of me, probably. Not even 30. That's dripping wet. Yeah, and we were playing. We had this fitness session. It was, like, these 300s.

[00:11:40] And Jada went out hard and she burnt everyone. And then the coach was like, you've got four more to go. And she turned around. Devastating. Yeah, she turned around and she just looked at me like, oh, no. And I was just, like, sort of pacing myself, going through it. And she just went hard out first one and then died in the butt. And then, yeah, from that time onwards, I was sort of like, oh, this kid's got a bit of bite about her. I sort of said to the coach, because they turned around and said, oh, she's too small. And I was like, nah, she's not too small. She's a little pit bull. Like, you've got to give her a chance.

[00:12:10] And then you got selected. And the next minute, like, you went ahead and you got, like, you went to New South Wales. And then seeing you play up there and then, yeah, seeing you play, obviously, for the Roosters and getting your first try and stuff like that. That was mad. And I was like, oh, yeah, go JT. You know, I've always been a massive big support role for you and have always, you know, cheerleader on the sideline. But mad to see, like, us now back in, you know, cronolled shirts and being together and working in the community and stuff again.

[00:12:38] Like, we've done it back at home and now we're here. So, that's mad. There's this real connection with the NRL W team, especially this year with players coming back after 10 years in Madison. And, you know, she had that connection with Quincy. And you guys have the connection. All these little connections where you just find yourself in the right place. It's very beautiful. It is very beautiful. Small world, they say. Yeah. No, but it's nice. I think everyone here wants to be here. And I think that it's certainly the vibe that we have at this club.

[00:13:06] And, yeah, not all the bells and whistles, which very much reminds me of home. So, yeah, that's why I love this place. I like how Rhiannon was talking about you being a little – what did you call her? A pit bull? Yeah, a little pity. So, Rhiannon doesn't know this, but I've said this in the show that my day job is I work at a – we'll say a media corporation where I watch football for a living and I do stats and that kind of stuff. And so, on the weekend, I was doing your game after the fact. But it's my job to identify who's who and what they're doing and collate it all.

[00:13:36] And I know who Jada Taylor is. She's my new buddy. We're all good. But every now and then, I'd see someone doing maybe first or second hit-up, making, I don't know, eight, nine, ten metres, just going straight into that line. And I was like, no way that's Jada Taylor. It was Jada Taylor. You're a tough little thing. No, I think I've changed my game a lot this year. And it's something that I've probably been working on since I came to the Sharks. And Tony was sort of like, oh, the highlights sort of just happen. But it's the work.

[00:14:03] Work ethic, I think, and the work off the ball and coming out of yardage and all those sort of things that we really, really value. And this year has been a massive emphasis on that's where I want to work on in my game. And it's – yeah, I feel a little bit sad at the moment that it just feels like the highlights are going away. But the work and the metres are looking a bit better than previous years. But, yeah, I thought you were going to bring up on the weekend how I spat the dummy.

[00:14:29] I blew up on the big screen and all of a sudden they're doing a slow-mo replay. And I was like, oh, gosh. Rhiannon, on your journey to Cronulla, tell us about how you found yourself here. And I also want to get your first thoughts on you coming to the area and the club and that kind of thing. I was in the Aussie 7s in 2018 to 2022. And so I had two back surgeries and sort of had a conversation. And they just said to me that I would never make it back to the elite level. Took that as a challenge.

[00:14:59] And my partner, he's a shy boy. So, you know, I didn't have a job or nothing like that after the 7s career. So I sort of was like, well, I'll go to the Sharks training. Will was like, we'll come to Harvey Norman's training. Quincy, you know, she works for NRL. So, like, we might see if she can get a job there. And so I rocked up to training. And Quincy's come over with a bubbly smile and introduced herself and that. But as soon as, like, she did that, I was sort of like, oh, yeah, this club's pretty cool. And then Tiana came over.

[00:15:29] And then Cass, who also experienced being dropped in 2022, we sort of like obviously had that connection as well. And Quincy offered me a job. We did an interview in the car park. Typical Quincy, nice. Yeah, and got it working for her, doing little casual jobs just as a teaching kids how to play rugby league and become the student of the game. And then, yeah, Tony sort of said, we'll see how you go with your back and progress from there. And love the Shire. Love how it sort of, you know, it's like its own little world.

[00:15:58] You wouldn't even know you're in Sydney, to be honest. Coming here in the Shire, I'm right across from the beach. So I can, I'll go and have a watch at the beach and watch the sunset and sunrise. And yeah, playing for them is a massive honour. And I was actually talking to Tony this afternoon. I was just saying how, like, I appreciate him as a coach because he's, he was the one that actually gave me hope again. And after everyone doubting me and obviously giving me a second chance to be back here and be like being in a professional space is,

[00:16:27] I'll always do this jersey with so much pride and I'll always do the honourable things and do those one percenters. And sometimes that's why I'm always injured is because I'm just, I'm busting myself to make sure like, you know, we can get a dub or we can get a change of momentum. So definitely been a, you know, tough trot for me. Like being here in the Sharks, but like love every second of it and love the space and love this club to bits. So yeah.

[00:16:54] What was the situation where they told you you wouldn't play again? Is that, did they just get it wrong or did they doubt you or should you not be playing? Like what's the deal there? With the two back surgeries, I had three bulging discs that were compressing my spinal cord to the point where I just couldn't walk anymore. All of my... You couldn't walk? Yeah. So my partner had to carry me, you know, into the actual hospital to go get an MRI because I couldn't walk on my own. And it was real hard because for the first eight weeks,

[00:17:23] I was practically bedridden. Yeah. Couldn't walk to the bathroom and back without assistance. Couldn't really like bath myself or anything like that. So I had to, yeah, really learn back the basics of like walking again, running again, you know, being tackled and getting and tackling. Probably took a good year and a half before it, before I actually started to feel so-called normal. But my day-to-day life, like I've got like, you know, consistent, you know, nerve pains and stuff like that because of the back surgery.

[00:17:52] That's just because of the complications on that surgery. It's a risky surgery, but had to be done. Crazy situation because, yeah, like, you know, I can't feel my front of my shins and my feet and stuff. So people can tickle my feet and I won't even know. Oh, hell no. Don't do that to me. Yeah, no. Yeah, people will step on my feet and I won't know. I'll have bruises all on my foot and stuff. And I'm like, where did that come from? That's just mind-blowing. On behalf of all the Sharks fans, we thank you because like,

[00:18:19] what a courageous thing that you're doing week in, week out. Funny story. And I do want to ask you about the first ever game we played here and on this beautiful field behind us. In that game, our first ever game, Rhi was on the field and she broke her, was it your thumb, your wrist, something. She looked at me and I was like, oh, gave her a mouthful about getting back in the line and making tackles. So, you know, it's my job and I didn't know

[00:18:48] and I have apologised since multiple times. But what was that like? Because obviously like it's so hard to put into words what it was like running out here and in a moment where you knew it was going to be history. Like a lot of the times, usually you don't know you're being a massive part of history until it's over and you look back and you go, oh, wow. But like we knew this is going to be the first ever team. Like we're the first ones to pull on this jersey. Our names are going to be up on this wall here. Like we knew all of those things. What was it like running out there?

[00:19:16] And then obviously what was it like then missing the rest of that season? I remember when we got our jersey, we did our like little individual, you know, jersey presentation with the boys and we did the opposite numbers and they gave us their jerseys and stuff. And I had Jack Williams. And when he gave him the jersey, he was like, oh, ripping big dog. And I was like, you don't even know me for a bar of soap. Like. So lovely. Yeah. And he was like ripping big dog. And I was like, right, we'll do. And then when I stepped on the field, it was just like seeing the crowd get around us.

[00:19:46] Like they've never, you know, like our Harvey Normans, we never really had much of a crowd. And then next minute, like NRLW, we had this huge crowd and they were like screaming for us. Like that was unreal. It definitely overtakes like, you know, any of the sevens, like memories that I have of singing the national anthem and all that type of stuff. Because like all the younger generations that were sitting on the sideline, like screaming our names, they didn't even know us. And next minute they're screaming our names and was so excited for us. And obviously first Carrie,

[00:20:15] when I came on, I ran at Samarma Taupha and palmed her and broke my wrist. She's the wrong person. Yeah, I don't even know why. I just thought, yeah, I'm big dog. So I may as well go for a big dog. Ran and then palmed and I played 26 minutes with a broken wrist. And yeah, it was when we were in the halftime, I said to the doctor, I said, can you look at my wrist? And she looked at it and she was like, is that sore? And I was like, yeah, don't touch that again because I'll probably punch you if you do. And then Tony came over and he's like, you right, mate? I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm sweet. Just strap her up.

[00:20:45] And then, yeah, got out in the second half and then my hand just blew up like a balloon. And good old Crossy was running out telling me to hurry up and get back in the line. And then you were spraying me, get back in the line. And I thought I was looked down at my hand and my hand was purple. And I was like, turn around to Crossy. And I said, I need to get off. And he's looked down at my hand. He goes, yeah, you do. Good old Ryan Crossy is the best. Yeah. And then so I ran off and then had the surgery, had a reconstruction of my scaphoid

[00:21:13] because it was completely broken and busted. So couldn't play the rest of the season. So yeah, that was tough sitting on the sideline. But, you know, I was on a one-year contract. So I just worked hard on the game and studied it. And yeah, just learning, obviously, my position. I was playing prop then, but I wanted to be an edgeback rower. So I was like learning the edgeback row when studying that. I had like two people that I would watch attack and a defense edgeback rower.

[00:21:39] And so my attack edgeback rower was Angus Crichton and my defense was Liam Martin. They were the two edgeback rowers that I would literally like study on in those areas. And I just love the way Liam competes in like the kick pressure and kick chase. Like I was always admired that. And then the way Angus Crichton runs those hard lines, I just, yeah, I was like, nah, this is what I need to bring to my game because I'm not flashy. I'm not, I can't step in and like burn people sometimes.

[00:22:07] So yeah, just running hard and being that bulldozer is what I love to do. I don't know about that, Rhi, because you have played in the centers as well. Yeah, you're versatile. People like often hate being changed positions and stuff. And we had Chyna on the show as well and she's played every position. Rhi, what's it like? Like, do you like that about, you know, being versatile or would you rather just stay at edgeback row? Do you like the middle more? No, I feel like it just makes you appreciate other people's roles too in the team.

[00:22:35] Like, like center, you would think, you know, you're two men out from the sideline. It's not a hard job. And it actually is so much harder. You think that you can, you've got time, but you don't before you know it. Next minute, the ball is on your outside of your shoulder and you've got to make the tackle and well, you've got to make a decision whether you're hitting the fullback or the lead. So it's sort of like a hard role, but it's very similar to the edgeback row. So it was just two men out. And so for me, going into the middle as well, like I just run hard.

[00:23:03] So it doesn't bother me as much. Being that kick chase, because sometimes the edgeback row is sprint and then, you know, we've got to be that next high up. So you might be gassed and the next minute you've got to sprint hard. And so like full credits in mids, because it is hard, because a lot of our strength does go through the mids. Obviously the edgeback row is the connection between the mids and the edges. So you've got to obviously talk to your mids and then talk to your edges and it's just a constant conversation. So I feel like it just makes you appreciate those roles.

[00:23:31] But they're very similar in those aspects as well. We have the Quest Apartment Hotels question of the week for Rhiannon. And this one is from Emily. We got a few, but we chose Emily. And she simply wants to know who had the biggest influence on your career. Tough question, I know, but that's the question we have for you. There's a few, eh? But they had different types of impacts, obviously. So like Andrew Walker, I call him Monk. He's been a massive mentor through sport, just in general. So what's the connection there?

[00:24:00] So he grew up with my mum up in Bombardary. And he's practically been my mentor throughout the whole junior pathways to now. Could play. Probably still can play. Oh, he still does play. Does he? Yeah. Amazing. Yeah, he practically coaches and plays. Sits on the wing and tells everyone what to do and then jumps in for the limelight pretty much. Nah, he's amazing. You know, he calls me Ria. Yeah. When I said to him, I'm thinking about making the switch to league, he told me, Ria, just have a crack.

[00:24:29] So like, I thought, righto. Well, if he's telling me to do that, I'll do that. And obviously like my family, my partner, he's a massive league head. He was more than happy to sit there for hours and hours and teach me the ins and outs, take me to the oval and teach me wrestling and all that type of stuff. So yeah, very grateful for him. And then my best mate, Mason, he's no longer with us, but he was massive. He sort of came down and, you know, told me some kind words

[00:24:58] when I was sort of, you know, not in the mood to go back to football. And yeah, he just pretty much told me that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Yeah. So that's what I'm doing. I'm making lemonade and I'm loving every second of it at the moment. Two more things before we let you guys go to training. I want to ask you about Find Your Feet, which is a organization that I love seeing on social media. I find it so inspiring. I'm always sharing their clips and everything. Tell us how you got connected with them and about Tommy

[00:25:27] and just if people who don't know, maybe just give us a bit of a short history in what they do. Yeah. So Tommy Herschel is a one man show. It's a non-for-profit organization. He's practically a travel man. Hey, he travels around Australia and he's also gone overseas a couple of times now and it's a workshop where Tommy sort of just gives you some questions and it's not necessarily like talking as such. It's, we're sitting in a class, like in a classroom or a circle or whatever, you're sitting on your chairs and he'll just say find your feet if you're struggling with anxiety and stuff like that

[00:25:57] and he's able to squeeze information out of you without even you speaking words and like you look around the room and you think that you're struggling with anxiety and the next minute you turn around and you've got, you know, Jada, Tiana, you know, and all those girls that might be standing up and you sort of just go, oh, okay, it's not just me. Yeah, he does, he mainly focuses with men's mental health. He's branching more into that women's space as well. I connected him up with our, we'd run like a use suicide prevention day

[00:26:27] and so he becomes a facilitator for us and we run workshops with men's business and women's business so the boys can go stuff as well and that's how I sort of like got more connected with him was through sharks from Nico and then furthered our relationship more from that but yeah, you can donate to Tommy to keep him traveling around but yeah, he's doing amazing things and now he's part of the League Ahead

[00:26:56] program now too so he goes and does all the NRL and NRLW clubs workshops for the mental health stuff so yeah. like a conversation starter so for a team so important that like we get we get him early on in the year and he's sort of you know, if the team hasn't already broken the ice with each other that's what he does and you know, just the ability to say find your feet if you've been struggling the last week and girls, it might be a handful of girls stand up but all of a sudden the rest of the room knows that

[00:27:26] so you're able to go hey Ray, like I noticed today and I just wanted to let you know I'm here and just something like that and how that can change a life is so impactful and yeah, the work he does is incredible and he doesn't do it for a cent like I know he wants to deliver the programs for free and all of these things and I know Aramex you know, one of our sponsors have donated a lot of money this year and stuff as well so he can continue to do that and yeah, I think he loves the Sharkies. Yeah, he does

[00:27:56] and all of his little videos and stuff too he's got two books now and he's definitely getting more further into conversations that people are constantly having now so yeah, I've seen like a couple of times some kids walking around with a Find Your Feet hat and that was from our workshop that we did I bought like 200 hats to donate money towards him because he wouldn't wouldn't charge us for the workshop so I said well I'll donate money by buying your hats and all the kids walk around so it's cool because the kids said they went to the shops and they asked what this Find Your Feet hat

[00:28:25] was and where'd they get it from and then yeah, they start conversation there so it's cool he's getting some merch out and getting some books out and stuff like that because he's just getting around The work he's doing in schools as well is from what I can tell is unbelievable like it's literally life changing Yeah, yeah, there's been like kids that we didn't know that were struggling in a couple of our workshops that we'd done and then they actually ended up was, you know, Tommy just said oh this kid might need some more help out of school and yeah, we sat down with the kid and got him

[00:28:54] all the help that he needs and now he's flourishing at school because he was really struggling he had a lot of disengagement and just in the classroom not necessarily not attending school but just in class and now he's, yeah, now he's flourishing he's getting good marks and it was just all because he was stressing that he wasn't smart enough and like just that type of stuff that you wouldn't think that would affect too much but yeah, he just somehow he can squeeze it out of them it's crazy. He'll tell you about stories you know, where, you know, kids say, you know,

[00:29:24] this has saved my life and things like that but I can't help but sit there and think how many that he doesn't know that he saved and how many kids in that room who have had an impact on the kids sitting next to them even though they didn't say something. It's one of those things where you can't quite put into words you've got to be sitting in the room to be able to feel the feelings and there is not a dry eye when we do it. Everyone is in tears and I think they generally give us about an hour for the workshop we usually go for like two and a half and we still don't want to leave

[00:29:52] so that just says how comfortable you get in that space and you know, for a lot of people that's a taboo topic no one wants to talk about their mental health and all of that sort of thing and it's, everyone's got it. Everyone's got mental health it's just, you know, how you deal with things and those sorts of things so to be able to get rid of the stigma and Rea, you've been a huge part of that in our space in the women's space but to be able to get rid of that and for people to be be able to walk in and be themselves and go, hey, I'm actually struggling today I need a bit of help like that just creates a culture

[00:30:22] that we want to have here so thank you for organising all you do in our space and yeah, big shout out to Tommy he's the man. Last note which we haven't prepped Rhiannon on but I'm sure she'll have a great answer because there's no wrong answer we're going to finish with a bit of light-hearted but important information we want to know about your musical tastes so it could be a song, an artist, a band, a genre there's no wrong answer okay? I'm a Springsteen guy she's an emcee

[00:30:52] I'm a guy and Jason Derulo and I'm sure a bunch of other people I don't want to like just limit you there but we're here to ask Rhiannon what are you like? whether it's game day whether making dinner at home give us something It's actually crazy hey because I actually contain my music when I'm here you guys don't hear it when I'm in the car but when I'm driving I actually listen to like Metallica Yes Motorhead Oh my god Yeah

[00:31:21] So like my dad's favourite song is Ace of Spades So this is why I'm excited right I'm not really a metalhead For years I've been coming here and talking to the guys Yeah What's your favourite you know da da da and we get lots of answers there's no wrong answer and then a couple of years ago we had a listener write to me and say is any one of them a metalhead and I'm like oh there's got to be one there's always one I mean I've asked all the guys probably the last three years we thought maybe Jack Williams we thought maybe Ken McGinnis we thought all these guys we stereotyped who it might be

[00:31:51] maybe Toby went I like into Sandman or something but you're the one I actually went to Metallica concert in November last year and I was in the mosh pit with my mum little head banging Okay Your mum? Yeah Yeah mum Nah so like Metallica is like a pretty cool band they talk a lot about mental health men's mental health and so my uncle Uncle Boone he committed suicide but he was a mad Metallica supporter Mum's got a tattoo and it's

[00:32:20] A Memory Remains and that's one of Metallica's songs and so yeah it was coming up to his 18 years Memorial Day and Metallica were playing in Adelaide so mum and I we've never been to Adelaide Metallica's playing I tried to get tickets in Brisbane and Sydney obviously they sold out so then I was like let's go to Adelaide and it actually ended up rolling right near his Memorial Day so it was really cool because mum was drinking Jack D's and that's his favourite drink What else are you going to drink in Metallica? Yeah

[00:32:49] so she was drinking them and loved every second of it and Ace of Spades is my dad's favourite song and yeah so I always listen to them and other like heavy rock like everyone knows that I listen to like country music and stuff and I always put country music on when people get in the car with me Don't be shy bro So you're a closet metalhead No It's in your closet No it's It's out It's out when I'm in the car by myself Well I think that's still in the closet No No When I'm in the car with my mum or with my dad

[00:33:19] I'll play it Yeah she loves Metallica so a couple of times when we've driven into training we've been blasting and Metallica and we're headbanging as we're coming in and people have given up a couple of sight eyes Awesome There's a few people that know that I like to listen to heavy music Well everyone's going to Obviously now everyone knows My playlist before I play I'm making an announcement in team media I'm making the announcement Well a couple of times I've played it in the gym and someone's gone whose music's this and I was like Turn up It was probably me I was like This has been such a good episode we found out about your life

[00:33:49] about the charitable things you both do Journey to get to the sharks You can't feel your feet but you found your feet excuse the pun and you're a metalhead Yep Amazing How good You learn something new every day Alright Jada We're going to wrap this episode Thanks everyone for listening Thanks to Quest Apartment Hotels for their support This is how we play Thanks for coming on Riri Thank you for having me Appreciate it Up up Up up

[00:34:13] This is how we play The Cronulla Sharks NRLW podcast Brought to you by Quest Apartment Hotels