Glenn Coughlan was born and bred a Halswell Hornet. It’s in his blood, his DNA, and he grew up to captain them to a premiership in 1993, and win a dramatic grand final by a point with a last-gasp try in 1995.
Glenn was a part of the historic Canterbury side that played the Auckland Warriors in their first ever match in the 1995 pre-season at Addington Showgrounds, being the first ever person to score a point against the Warriors by opening the scoring with a penalty goal.
Glenn went on to play for the 1995 New Zealand President’s Xlll, and then went all-in by signing with the Parramatta Eels in 1996, and playing the reserve grade grand final for the Auckland Warriors in the 1997 super league grand final.
If that wasn’t enough, Glenn transitioned to rugby union in 1998 with Sydenham, before playing for Canterbury in the NPC.
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Hey 40 fans welcome to the point of difference rugby league podcast I’m your host Dave and today I have a sensational guest on the show we’re going back with a canb league Legend they call him the Iceman it’s the one and only Glenn cogin welcome to the show mate how you going
Thanks Dave thanks for having me great to be here oh mate it’s so go I’ve been super pumped about this one all week it’s awesome to have you on the show and I know there’s lots of viewers out there very keen to hear your story cuz you’re pretty popular and very highly regarded
Down here in Canterbury which leads me to ask what have you been doing with yourself down here ever since you hung up the boots so uh once I finished footy I finished at a pretty young age actually I retired at 28 and I um carried on working I actually started
Work for a removal company when I left school okay and I worked for them for 27 years so once I finished footy I um I carried on with that company um and because they allowed me to progress they allowed me to leave and come back um
When I was in Australia I worked for them parttime and when I came back it was just a progression for me so uh big thanks to Ethel Clark who’s a horal um stwart as well Ethel Clark um employed me when I first started out of school how cool that you’re still with them
Yeah so that was for 27 years and I just changed jobs probably about 7 years ago so I’ve only had two jobs in my life W yeah so I currently work for a a company called Telly lift and we do teley handlers okay not not well-known Machinery but we hire sale machinery for
For customers around New Zealand yeah oh sweet is man so so have you always enjoyed living in Christ Church cuz cuz I think it’s a beautiful place I’ve only been here just over a year have you ever thought about leaving or is this home for you I’m born and breed in Christ
Church I did a a stunt a couple of years away um but no I always wanted to come back to Christ Church and uh and raise a a family here yeah so it’s a pretty awesome Place yeah it’s great I think it’s um it it opens up um whatever you
Want to do whether it be outdoors sport um leisure activities um the south island is a pretty cool place it is cold in the winter but you do get used to it I it’s worth it like for sure it doesn’t matter what sport you’re into like
You’ve got a beach with surf but then you’ve got a harbor that’s flat you’ve got mountains you’ve got the red zone for running you’ve got golf courses everywhere you can do anything here it’s amazing got plenty of golf courses and CES and I do enjoy that that’s good man
So um and also by all accounts you’re a bit of a sports junkie you pretty much play every sport known to men and uh I hear you’re pretty handy off the golf tea yes I um I do get told from time to time that um that I am
A bit of a I w’t say sports junky but anything I sort of put my hand at in terms of sport generally comes natural to me you’re one of those annoying people yeah that’s what I get told I am annoying um so so yeah I try a lot of
Outdoor sports I’m rid into my golf I’d say rid into my golf I really enjoy my golf yeah um but you know bit of running bit of squash just finished playing tennis for the season so yeah just anything to keep me active yeah and uh so you’ve done some Marathon with your
Wife as well yeah yeah that’s right so we we got a we had a running group um a bunch of friends we called ourselves The Arc right which is ancient running club and so we would go away and do trips all over the over the world um mostly New
Zealand Australia and we’ just do half marathons marathons just an opportunity to get away and um spend some time together um and the opportunity came up to for Paris so my wife trained for the marathon that was a sort of a bucketless thing for her so
So yeah so we did that went with with a couple of friends and stayed in the south of France for a week they went up to Paris did the marathon um she actually didn’t know I was going to run with her I actually got injured with my
Car for about 3 weeks before and I didn’t lead on to it but um I end up running with her which was great because I really enjoyed it yeah um so first time we sort of we’re into into the Paris City for the um to see all the
Sites and it was it was pretty spectacular and it was great to be um there for with her as well that’s so cool man yeah it’s pretty special running with my wife done a couple Marathon events with there it’s it’s the best day super something together pretty
Cool and you got to T every every one or two c you got to taste a different wine yeah oh wow really yeah it’s fantastic they have entertainment right throughout the whole course so well it took us 5 hours it was it was yeah just went like
That that is such a cool Marathon I need to do that yeah wi tasting how good okay so let’s wind back the clock so obviously you grew up here here in Christ Church but what was life like for you as a young fell yeah so um so I got
Um raised up in shorton Street in Nino okay I know that is y so so I was there for probably about um six or seven years okay and so I went to aroner primary chiswood intermediate and then Shirley boy High School okay so yeah so I started football when I was um about
Well when I was 10 years old yeah and but I didn’t play for the local Eastern side I played for hille right cuz my family um was really involved with the HW rugby league club okay so my grandmother she was a foundation member um at H rugby league so her photo was
Always up at the club rooms amazing yeah Flo hogland and my grandfather they so they were all a big part of building the H of rugby league club okay and so that was on my dad’s side and my mom’s side um my grandparents were also heavily involved with um the local community hor
Of rugby league and my mom’s got a big family and her her brothers were playing rugby league for horsell my Uncle David he was in the first premier team at hell wow um and my other Uncle Chris he played league for horal and Gary was a
Horel man so even though it was a long trip along across town yeah um my mom got an opportunity cuz my grandparents lived over there so she would take me to training at R have right and um when I was 10 years old and she would just go
And um have a catch up with her parents and then take me home so that was two times a week when I was 10 years old so yeah so big big UPS to my mom for doing that for two or three years good on your mom that’s what we love that’s so cool
So what was it about rugby league that got you interested obviously your family’s pretty much entrenched in h rugby league was that kind of just was just what you did yep my dad played also he played um some Premier Football for hille and he played for hille when he
Was young as well um so it was just a natural thing for me if I was going to play I was going to play for WW and that’s what I wanted to do so yeah way you go it was great yeah so you played for a few years um you guys were
Championship winners and going undefeated in your first sort of season is like 10 year olds 17 out of 17 that’s pretty fantastic yeah I turned up to when I was 10 I turned up to a pretty good side I think they’ won well they’ probably gone unbeaten until they were
About 11 and uh and I do remember um in the eights and NES that when I joined them in 10 they hadn’t been beaten so you know I was probably fortunate enough to turn into turn to a side that was a pretty good side to start with and there
Were some really good players that are still friends now you know some some wellknown names Steven hickling and Lance Owens were probably my best mates and I’d always even though I lived on the other side of town I’d always want to stay over there and stay at their
House and and stuff like that cuz they were sort of like even though I had friends at at primary school they were my football friends and I really wanted to spend a lot of time with them so so yeah yeah so they were a very good side
Yeah so I was I was very lucky yeah man and you like made your first kenry rip side as well as was a 10-year-old and you guys beat West Coast in the Mercer cup you know so that’s going way back but your you know your talent was
Obviously noticed you know way back then yeah well I think um obviously being in a good team always helps um so so that was probably the the best part of it and I do remember the the you know in the younger grades the T 11s and tws for
Example um going over to the coast and playing the coast and the coast would come over here alternate years and um it was really like a vivid memory was going over there in a bus and and you this used to be the staircase which is now
The viaduct and all right the old buses sort of struggled with a bus load of boys and um parents going over there and I think one of them stoed and we had to all get out and push the bus up the hill they were great trips and wingam park
Was a great Park I still remember it when it was pretty much up to the rim with water was totally flooded and we couldn’t play yeah oh well yeah but they were they were great times when you were young yeah yeah I mean those were the days before we had all this technology
At that like you know just St kids did right and like you know they must been pretty special memories yeah they were yeah yeah they were great um sort of right through um that younger grades anyway yeah so you actually did jump ship and play for Eastern suburbs uh at
Shirley boy High where you were crowned Canterbury Champions and it just kind of seems like success followed you everywhere you went well that’s right yeah so it sort of got to the 13s and we were still living in out Ani and um got to a stage where my mom was probably it
Was a bit a bit too much for her to take me across to training so I decided that I would play for the local team e they based out of hempshire Street and um so and again um they had a really good side that that year the year
That I went to them and so I stayed with them for a couple of years and um yeah obviously a lot of good schoolmates as well so um I was able to sort of progress with a with a good team into the canbury teams and sort of make some
You know they had a southern Zone back then yeah right back at the age of 13 where you s sort of start to travel away and sort of get sort of an idea of where you compare with other players around the other regions other than the coast obviously so um the southern Zone
Tournament was sort of taneki Wellington canbury and the coast okay so that’s where it sort of started and that sort of led into the high school year with Shirley boys yeah nice where you became the black sheep of the family yeah well yes um I had two two um
Older cousins that went to Shirley and and you know know it was just down the road um from from me but um I you know sort of looked up to them a lot and so my goal was to to go to Shirley boys and
And um you had to go on do exams and stuff to to get because you’re outside of zones that type of stuff but um I got accepted and I really enjoyed the time that I had there year that’s awesome man so what position did you play back in
Those days cuz you you sort of floated between fullback 58 lock you know what were you primarily back in those days so um I pretty much played either um at standoff or in the centers when I was younger so most of that sort of the younger years I wasn’t really in
The Fords at all I was I was very small for my age um oh yeah yeah okay um I guess when you’re when you’re small and and I do remember like 11s and tws you’re probably very similar age and there was a couple of people that
Normally stand out but when you get to sort of 13 and 14 to me some of the the boys that were the same age were they look like men yeah they were big boys my David is a classic example Steven hickling classic example they were big boys they’re very good players um and
They’re well above their years um but they were big and so um obviously as a as a small boy you sort of have to adapt your game around that and for me it was trying to get some speed um and um I had a s side step and and that helped okay
So did you enjoy the physicality of the game or is it something you sort of like hide me in the har you know let the props look after you yeah when I was younger it was probably hide me yeah um you did have to learn tackle technique
Because if you didn’t you got bruised arms forearms and stuff like that but um as I as I got on later on in the years and had some really good coaches um at H when you know when we first started Steve Anderson was a great coach for me
He was he was my first coach for two years and so it was really a shame to leave but um you know I wasn’t going to get myself across town so I was very lucky with the coaches I head Through the Ages as well that sort of developed
My game okay so and to skip forward like when you played like more like you know prims and and further on in your career like did you start to enjoy the physicality cuz most players love folding guys like you know was it yeah well I didn’t think I was um right into
Physicality I didn’t mind the the contact the contact was fine um I wasn’t still wasn’t a big person um there was players around that you got avoid yeah like Jason Duff for example he you know he he would cut people in half so you just knew which players when you were
Running to avoid um but when players ran at you because you you know from sort of 13 14 15 as you sort of got bigger some people got bigger yeah um you sort of had to start learning more technique than anything so it didn’t worry me and
Playing closer in the halves and I probably did play in the halves right up until was was probably into Premier Football okay um so it was sort of close to the action and whether that I was targeted I don’t know but you sort of had to start learning pretty quickly how
To tackle properly okay all right so what about the fitness side of things like were you a fitness junkie back then did you do extras like you know get up before school or train after school what was it for you yep so um I think I was
Pretty fit um we were very active When We Were Young so I had a lot of friends around the area that we would just go and explore whether it be over to K Stadium which is an area we’ just run around some mates were or down to the
Park playing Cricket we were always sort of pretty active um I remember back in those days when you do the City to Surf so we do the City to Surf when it actually was from the city well it wasn’t to the surf it was to qy2 okay so
I remember doing sort of those when I was younger um and so I was pretty ham Street was wasn’t probably the the best street for for me a little white fellow um going to practice so I think I got quite quick yeah I’m running from Henry Street to Short Street to get home
Pretty quickly yeah I’ve run around down there when we when me and Tracy run out to New Brighton you know we go past um the Eastgate Mall and you just sort of run all the way out and you see Short Street and of like yeah she’s she’s
She’s a little rough over there yeah I yeah I’m I I do recall being bullied a few times so you sort of do you know you do adapt and you’re try and become quick or elude people cuz they’re chasing you or or whatever so um I was pretty I was
Pretty fit Naturally Fit when you are young and active but um definitely was um I I do recall doing runs so you know down to Eastgate for example from home was probably there and back was about 8K so decent forid yeah so I was um yeah so
I was pretty keen on the running back then not it was really just to keep fit more than anything I wasn’t really a runner I did have a friend who did Athletics um back in that those days so I did a little bit of Athletics as well
Just to sort of keep in touch with them very nice very nice so um did you think that it was something you really want to pursue playing rugby league like right up through the grades was sort of first grade like even looking at Australia or
Going to the UK like a lot of people do did you have a dream of doing that as a young man like not really I did I really enjoyed it I guess that was the main thing I I love playing the game and I never really look past just the Love of
The Game and spending time with your mates and stuff like that so probably not until you know when I thought that there might be an opportunity when you sort of start to get recognized as an older um you know sort of an older teenager so right through the younger
Grades now I just enjoy the game and fair enough too right um so then it starts to get a bit more serious you get to the 16y old you’re playing back at Hallsville you’d be very happy about that U playing right through the premieres but firstly um what was it
Like pulling on your first Halls Jersey you know you you’ve grown up as the younger grades but now you’re starting to get into those serious years and you’re you know playing against the big boys the hallw Jersey what’s it like for you yeah so we actually moved from um
From aranui we moved out to hille so I was able to get myself to training um so from 16 on um so it was great to be back at hille and not have to rely on my mom to take me to to to training so that was
Really good I really enjoyed it and I still reconnected with some of the old mates that I had played with back in the younger years cuz i’ played against them obviously going through the sort of 13s to 15s um and it was uh 16s was a really
Big year for me sort of leading up to the to the sort of the senior sides because I’d missed out on the canary 15s the year before which is a big year for school boys because you have the school boy kiwis so I missed out on that team
So I had to reassess you know you know what I was doing wrong or what could I improve on so um so 16 was a big year for me moving back to horsell and I was really lucky because um Aaron Whitaker was he was a premier player at that
Stage yeah um and you sort of looked up to those Premier players so when I was back at hille Hors was starting to sort of be recognized as one of the top teams in the in the Premier competition right um and Aaron coached us oh cool yeah so
As a 16year old Aaron was only a few years older than us but um it was it was great to have him because you know he was very very dedicated to the sport as you as you found out AB love it and um so that was really good for me and from
A training perspective I actually started going to the gym with him because I was still quite small at 16 okay and um and so yeah so that was that was really good for 16y old so that sort of progressed me through to sort of getting into the the senior senior
Grades very nice very nice so 1990 you’re named as the junior cany Sportsman of the Year alongside Kelly Wilson and Aaron Whitaker who was the senior so what’s it like to win a pretty awesome award like You’ you’ve just been knocked back from the canary side but then you’ve obviously you know fought
Your way back and then won yourself a pretty amazing Awards so how’ they make you feel yeah I was um it was great at the time it was um it was it was I guess it was a good thing or great thing for the club because we’re all from hille
And we we had the sen senior Junior and um and uh um and obviously with Aaron as well so it was um it was really good 17 year old we had a really good 17y old side um so to be recognized that was probably the first recognition from sort
Of an from canbury as an individual award yeah sort of that’s when you start thinking oh well maybe it’s it’s not about me always being in a good team and and getting sort of the accolades of Representative stuff it was probably more about oh maybe I’m not so bad yeah
So was that sort of that point where you think well maybe I can reach for some higher owners here yeah well I obviously you you follow the um the competition in Australia and that was you know the big boys play in that competition and I’m
Not sure even at 17 probably not so much um but probably getting into 19 because you played two years in 19 so because there only you from 17 to 19 um that’s when you sort of start to realize that you know you sort of you’re playing against players that are older than you
And not in your same grade yeah so it sort of start to you sort of think oh well I can still match it against some of the older boys and and that leads from 19s to Premier because it’s an open grade right so you know the best players
Are playing so you know even though it took me a we while to find my seat that at my feet um that’s when you sort of start to think oh maybe I’m okay okay nice very cool so uh that same year you were selected to play for the New
Zealand under 19 tournaments team and 1990 and 91 and you’re playing alongside guys like Ruben W Steve Kerney Willie poaching you know Cid in those two years what’s it like receiving that first like National rck Jersey yeah that was um that was really uh that was huge
Especially for two years you know um that was from the tournament you sort of go up to I think it was um hoppu hoppu I think from memory up in I think up sort of Hamilton way yeah yeah and um so they’re big tournaments and and well I
Missed out on the the the Junior Ky was you’re sort of um you got to to play in tournaments against the best teams and um it was I guess it was just recognition for again um having a good tournament over a number of games yeah um so that was yeah that was really
Pleasing and that’s that’s the opportunity you start to get and recognize from New Zealand rugby league because from that you got invited to to camps okay and they were really good because you sort of started to meet some of the guys from around the country and you sort of got some professional
Development um I still remember a story from from one of the camps about um you’re sort of sitting down with the you because they talked about you know what’s what’s in the future what’s the opportunities and you’re sort of talking about nutrition and it’s starting to get
Really serious right it’s like you start W this is a new world for me it’s like as a teenager you sort of just do what you want and you get get through it but now it’s becoming fairly serious okay and um I remember a guy they were talking about drugs and sports
Even and I remember one young fellow was saying oh is it okay to smoke marijuana before I and um they said I know you he said I know but I takeen it makes me fly of course it probably doesn’t you head you’re crap on the park but you’re flying all right
Brother but yeah that type of stuff that you sort of start to get recognized for and um that was really yeah that was really good because you start to build sort of friendships with guys who are outside your region yeah so when you sort of go to those types of things it
Makes you a little bit more comfortable when you meet up at tournaments in the bigger grades yeah yeah oh that’s cool man um so what learnings J can you took I guess the nutrition all that professionalism I’m guessing that’s what you took away from that take back to
Yeah yeah so the nutrition was was was big in terms of training um the way that you should be eating the way I should be training because it was starting I was sort of starting to probably develop a little bit you know better at that time
And I was sort of starting to will grow um obviously so that you can sort of start competing against the big you know the big boys and and then into the open grade so that was pretty a big thing training wise um Aaron was still at the
Club so we would train together um especially in the sort of the right up you as a premier player they sort of had training programs we probably didn’t but I would train with them we’d go to the gym together so that was really cool I remember doing that you he’s talked
About the 5:00 gyms we were doing that Andra and that’s a sort of the dedication because you start to think about well if you do take it if you do want to take it seriously then this is what you’ve got to do yeah yeah so with
Nutrition cuz cuz cuz I do a lot of running I like always treat myself to like my favorite pork ribs or whatever afterwards like was there anything like you like had to sacrifice or was it easy for you was it just like this is what I
Need to do that’s what I’m going to do I think it was more about me putting uh putting stuff into my mouth just to sort of try and build some weight okay yeah need to eat more yeah I didn’t need to eat more so it was pretty much anything
What a horrible situation to be in yeah so my son’s going through this right now cuz he’s at the same age he’s 17 now so he’s trying to yeah he’s trying to put a little bit of weight on yeah and he so he’s eating all the the
Shakes and and all that type of stuff that goes in the body oh awesome so uh 1992 you play Premier for hsw Hornet what’s that step up like to prems yeah you know you finally you’re with the men now yeah it it was it was a big stepping
Stone um and I do do remember remember playing my you know my first game of premieres and I I was put on the wing and I and while I was sort of fast I wasn’t really fast okay and so but it was some somewhere just to give me a
Taste and we we were I was lucky enough Gordon Smith who was a kiwi um he was coaching at hor we’d come across from the coast good deal yeah so it was really good to to be able to have those types of people to sort of help you get
Step into that role cuz now it was a big step for for me because I was still 19 at that stage so playing 19s and then I sort of had my had my chance at Premier so I was still quite young and I was and
There was you know there was a lot of kiwis playing in the cross competition was it was back in the day when you know all the kiwis would play for their clubs and there was some big boys you know around you know I thought the age group
Guys were big but when you get to Premier um yeah it’s a huge step well you got guys like yourself on the way up then you’ve got like these old guys who are like probably 30 32 on the way sort of down but the mix is like th
Experience and hardened did and your raw ass yeah did right and there there were some some of the guys who probably played Premier for 10 years that they were and they were they very experienced so they knew their way around the track um but it was it was good for me I was
Like it was a good learning curve I did get injured um and I’d never really experienced injuries right up really through the younger grades I was you know I was injury free touchwood um but in my first full year in ’92 I um I dislocated my shoulder a ouch yeah and
It was it was horrible and I remember at the showgrounds um I I dislocated and I had to go into the changing rooms and they pulled the doctor and because it was the first time it was it was was pretty horrible from my point of view pretty excruciating pain because the
Bone was rubbing on the bone oh stop it and um the doctor he tried to pull my arm out to to put it back into the socket wouldn’t go a and so I had to go to hospital to um to get it put back in take some laughing gas work so that was
That was a little bit disappointing so I had to sit out a few weeks and then You’ I came back and then I did it again and and I know um we actually play and I do remember happening this time and it was um we were playing hor were playing East
On the number one ground and Terry Hermanson was playing Center yeah cuz I remember Terry saying he actually played a little bit Center and I was making and Terry was he was a be big man he was a big fast beast and and I was scared of it because I still
Quite knew it this grade and um he had gone gone you know he and he it was very mobile and and I remember reaching out with my because I did my right shoulder yeah and I and I reached out and that was enough to take it out
Just yeah basically it went again so another 3 weeks and then I did it again that was basically my that was enough to say that’s that’s the season yeah I um I remember throwing a cricket ball just socially and it would dislocate or sublux really so I was able to in the
End it was just so loose I was able to put it back in myself crazy so that stopped my season so I had to have a shoulder reconstruction at 19 19 far out that’s crazy any other good injuries during your career um I had a couple of good rugby injuries okay let’s then
While we’re on injuries let cover so um so we were playing syon was playing New Brighton over at row domain okay and um I can’t remember I think it was my second year and I was still sort of the Ley playing rugby right and uh I got
Caught up in in a rck and some some grabbed me in the genital of course and I took exception to it I bet yeah so um the next the next play I was playing first five at that stage and the next play I saw the guy who was about to do a
Run so I lined him up and basically went up and just put a big hit on him so and broke my thumb damn it yeah yeah yeah and that was the day on my birthday cuz I remember going into town um and I said oh no no it’s all right it was swollen
And all stuff oh no I’ll be right and we were in town for dinner yeah and it was getting so my hand was getting so swollen H yeah so I end up having to go to the hospital and yes it was it was broken that crazy yeah but other than
That I did get stomped on in a rock as well playing rugby yeah um and I broke three bones in my hand my other hand but other than that yeah injury free not bad yeah it’s great and it’s been great sort of Post sports with the running for
Example I still I get bad cramps um for long distance but no real bad injuries um other than the shoulder which restricts me a little bit in some sports but it does help me and others yeah I know a few old boys uh when I was up in
Hamilton working with this fell John Herbert uh Big League fan played heaps of league and I be growing up but his knees for running are just forget about it just no good very fortunate still be um still have good well have legs that can still allow me to run around and do
The things I want to do awesome man loving it okay so um what sort of style of footing was going on in Canterbury at the time in prims like was there that old school thuggery or did you have to avoid anything like that or step up and
Take on any old boys picking on you like what was it like well I I wasn’t never really won for for confrontation I was lucky enough that I had some big boys when I was at hor we had some some good senior players Glen Gru Steve Davis
Colin tenant um Denny pille um so there was some some some some guys that they could hold their own and they were very good you know leading for me especially for me as I sort of come to the open grade that they would look after you
Good um so that was really good so now I stayed away from it but the contact it was very physical back there there was some some very talented um players in the half so it was it was quite an open game still okay um but it was it was
Very physical as well from what I remember yeah okay very cool um so yeah that 92 season um that’s the one where you did end up getting your shoulder reconstruction but you guys won the gore cup ‘ 92 so you at least you’re a part of winning some silver Weare for the
Year even though it’s the lower half of the letter but still good in your first year of PRS y to walk away with something yeah it uh it was it was a really good because um what it what it did for me is it got me prepped for the
Next year um and so because I was a little bit older a little bit more wiser of spending some time up playing Premier Football um I was ready and I had an offseason basically I had a big offseason because it was basically four to six months okay that I had off to for
A full con reconstruction um and it’s was good I actually had an opportunity to go and see Aaron he was playing at a Steelers at that stage I went he was yeah yeah so I went over there and um caught up with him spent some time with
Him and Andrea yeah um he was playing penth who’s my favorite team Steelers were playing pen out at um at pen stadium so an opportunity to go over there and yeah so that was really good so and so as soon as the the training sort of soon as my shoulder was right um
I was ready to get into it for the for the 93 season yeah right that was a huge season for you personally uh came down to a classic hsell Hornby Grand Final yeah me this is the Jersey you wore that’s right unbelievable thanks for bringing these around these are
Unbelievable like wow um and you were Captain you know yeah um so Jared Stokes took took us um in ’93 cuz um so that was great to have another as I said before you know when I was growing up I was had some some great coaches right
You even the 19s we had Ray bendale who was a former kiwi player from the coast um so I was I was very fortunate with um with coaches but Jared Stokes was probably the at that stage and playing senior football he was probably the best
Coach I’d had right um he was a good people’s person and and I found through my career that the best coaches that I’ve that I’ve sort of related to were really good people people and um he could sort of get you up yeah um for a
Game and so it was a big season for us and we we had a lot of good players you know Aaron obviously wal Wilson FY Ty played for the kiwis first war jxon came over from W um so yeah we so we had really good team and um and I think he
Gave me the Jared gave me the capy cuzz there’s probably a lot of players that probably were better than me but he sort of to gave it to me and sort of get everyone to focus on what they were going to do for the year yeah so it was
Probably a good tactical and and I played fullback at that stage so I did a did a lot of talking don’t do a lot of talking off the field but when I get onto the field yeah especially at fullback I did a lot of talking that’s your job to communicate with everyone
Well that’s right we were talking about you know tackling before if I do my job probably at fullback no one gets through and I don’t have to make a tackle yeah that’s helpful so all I have to do is you know do the um the offense side of
Thing so um so so that worked out really well so yeah so at 20 years old I was I was Captain in the H Premier side pretty amazing and a and a great side with some great players Gary PLU you know and you know there’s some there were some
Fantastic people in that in that in that side so and you know I thought well the world’s Meister in 1993 hadn’t turned 21 at that stage that’s amazing man and H were great it was you know back in those days even in beforehand Grand finals were the
Biggest thing and it was all about the journey all the way down from you whether it be from horby or down Lincoln Road hell Road um all way to the showgrounds and they had some great crowds it was fantastic to play in oh great days wer they you know provincial
Footy oh yeah you know and it was the same up in the The W where I’m from you know like and and I was more like in my like you know 8 nine 10 years old like we had like Rugby Union was massive in Hamilton like League’s barely been a
Thing but the mulu parades for the ranfurly shield like the whole city would come out for that and get down the Main Street it was you know that type of Fan Fair is amazing it’s just so cool and it was great cuz and I do remember
From a younger age because used to have a lot of ball boys and H so me and my mates were Bull Boys At A lot of those games at Premier games and you look up to these these players that were just the outstanding and the it didn’t even
Matter if it was a Wednesday night midweek game or or a Premiership game the there was always really good crowds there which was great that’s so cool man so you go into the Grand Final You’ you’ve got there and it comes down to a gritty 86 victory over Hornby I mean
Just how good was that like how did the match play out um from your perspective yeah I think it was a pretty to to be fair I think um even though it was only 86 I think it was an open game okay yeah it was um Mark Nixon was was and um
Cherona Simon was you know he was a massive when you know back in those days as well there was a lot of great Hornby players a lot of great hille players Chris NE was my training partner at the time and so I did a lot of training with
With Chris NE and he was an outstanding player there they just the players from from from my experience were just I thought they were all legends I was just part of a really good team and it was just a great battle and that’s what it was there was nothing in it the whole
Way and it could have gone either way really yeah so come down to like a pen go to the difference two tries yeah we got two tries yeah um I think Gary pluck scored one I’m not sure if Daren Avery Darren Avery always pops up with tries
Somewhere so he probably scored one um but I think it was very it’s very forward orientated that day okay um we both probably wanted to play in The Backs because we had Aaron and fetu playing in the centers okay um we had D pson at halfback or and Gary pluck at
Hooker and Justin Nixon so both teams and and they had some very good players as well out the backs and I I think um Marty Creer was playing for them yeah so it yeah it was Prett stack yeah it was it was stack and that’s what you wanted
Yeah but it was a ding-dong battle awesome man I think it’s fantastic you got the win and and and what’s like that feeling like the final hooa goes off the teams all cheered like big night you know it was yeah it was it was a great
Night and and I think after those types of um finals whether you won or lost You’ always do the courtesy of going to the other club yeah and H and Hornby while we’re you know huge rivalry over the years we’d always have the respect afterwards and and we would go to their
Club and they would come to our club but um I still remember walking into the Hors Club after we’ done everything and it was you could hardly move it was it wasn’t the biggest Club rooms but it was jam-packed and and that was the greatest thing is you know for a small community
At that stage it was horel um they’ve done some some great things over probably the last 5 years and 93 was um was just awesome for me because it was the first time I’d actually been involved yeah Captain all the way the Premiership that’s so amazing how good
That awesome man um so speaking of Jared Stokes you said you know was a great man manager you know and yeah what what was he like as a coach in terms of how he prepared you guys as a team yeah he was um he was actually very thorough he I
Remember getting call not so much because I was the captain but just in terms of tactics during the week like he was just I want say OCD but it was like you’d get calls during the week about found out this about this player and you got to do this and you got okay
Trading’s Tuesday Thursday he was but it was great because you know he was just so th left nothing unturned um he’d always you know not just work on ours game but he would also look at the opposition he probably study the videos from previous weeks and that’s why he sort of progressed through
To higher honors um because that’s the type of Coach he was he had the experience as well um from playing some higher level kiwi stuff yeah um and yeah he would analyze it he’d give you sheets about the teams about what their strengths and weaknesses were where to
Focus you know in terms of where do we go to on certain places on the park to attack a weakness and stuff like that so it was it was great cuz you just soak it in at that age and it’s probably the first time you sort of experienced that
Type of stuff and how the game had developed over from a just a a big slug Fest up the middle and then spin it out into you know swapping your centers or getting your fullback in the backline and how you do all that type of stuff so
It was really good and I really enjoyed it it sort of LED on to you know the higher honors as well right especially when the lon read cup came yes um speaking of which that’s what we uh want to talk about um you sign with the Canter Cardinals for
The lion red cup that’s right and so that’s the New Zealand domestic competition that formed around yeah ‘ 94 cuz the Oakland Warriors came into the comp and from what I read they wanted to raise more awareness in the public in New Zealand for rugby league like at the
Domestic level so we had two teams down here in canbury the shiners and the Cardinals so how did you end up at the Cardinals and was there any pull to go to either team like how did all that fall out yeah well I think so certain
Clubs I’m not sure if it was regions but I know horswell and Hornby and I think panoi were sort of allocated to the I think they were called the can country or and so later became the Cardinals because they were Cardinal network was a major sponsor okay um and then sub some
Clubs were more to the shiners which was mostly the East Side the eastn the the lwoods and the syams and so forth so that’s how it started um but yeah it was um it was great because a lot of um a lot of what the Warriors had we’re
Starting up in the in the in the Australian competition helped New Zealand rugby league and formed this competition cuz we would have representative stuff and it was still going on 93 obviously a big year for canib with the ockland stuff 94 you got to do this every week um which was great
And there was teams you know we were we were the only two teams in the South Island I think at that stage and then so you had Wellington the taranaki the Hawks Bay and cougars yeah g Hill cougar I remember playing G Hill down here at
The I used to go watch them I live by rest HS Park so I used to go down and have a watch yeah it’s great cuz I do remember um Gavin was uh he’s a goal kicking prop and I was a goal kicker as well of course and so I I remember
Playing wetto at the at the show grounds and and they were very generous size ball so they had a good sweet spot so you could actually kick a ball quite a long way okay and I remember kicking one from about 50 55 56 M yeah and it was
Like gav Hill was like I can do one up and I reckon it was like 62 me he did one he was a fre he was he was unbelievable yeah yeah but it was the competition was great and it was great for New Zealand domestic football um as
Well as developing the New Zealand Oakland Warriors at that stage because I know that players from from Christ Church had gone up to there and they were playing in those feeder clubs like Fu played for the Cy’s manare yes um I think they were called The Stingrays um
Yeah something like that um so that helped them that competition as well right so again Jared Stokes was your coach is that right that’s right yeah and you played alongside like Logan Edwards Shane UT M Nixon eron Whit we’re talking pretty big names you know and so
What what was it like for you running around with those BLS you know and taking on like players from ockland and the rest of the country you must have loved that oh it it was great it was um it was a great opportunity to further develop your career um put yourself
Against the best players in the in the country week on week week so it wasn’t you know it wasn’t like the the can or the Wellington you know every sort of 3 or four weeks for a sort of a month period it was like every week so you had
To sort of work out you know it was all about after the game as well and so you’re sort of nutrition and you’re you’re resting and and getting prepared again for the next week because if it wasn’t at home you were traveling so getting used to travel and what do you
Do when you travel and all that downtime that you have and how best use your energy and all that type of stuff so it was it was really exciting semi professional very very much so I’m sure we even got paid I can’t remember if we got you’re still
Working full time y so all that I know it was it was it was hard but I guess we were lucky to have um some good employees at the time as well I guess I guess if I was an employer and I had a know a pretty Elite Sportsman in my
Staff you know you’d be waning to give them every opportunity especially if you’ve got a boss that loves footy or whatever that’s pretty handy you know that’s right Ethel clar was a hoel guy so he did love his footy so we were we were very lucky very lucky and so and
And the and the the competition um was outstanding you know there was some and it was a stepping stone for a lot of players that if they didn’t go to Oakland they went overseas okay um so yeah it was it was pretty tough competition yeah and and Jared from from
His coaching he it was just up as alley because it was just another because he was full-time at that stage so he got the opportunity to do more of what he was doing from hell to leading into that year he had all day every day to do it
Pretty much yeah pretty much yeah that’s so cool man and you guys actually did all right you finished fourth on the lad qualified for the finals uh you beat the star start at Oakland City Vulcan side 30 to 22 and then you knocked out my w
Cougars 32 to6 gave me hiding but um so what what’s the feelings like going into those finals are they like quite full on tough matches yeah all the teams who were very star sted it was um they were hard matches as you mentioned with the players that we had it was great being
Able to sort of Step Up from club stuff and join them and a representative football so it was the first time you got to sort of play with the likes of Logan and mark and um so that was really awesome because not only did it help you you know you personally their advice
Because they had been there and done that with a lot of rep stuff um so it helped grow your own game personally um so yeah it was it was awesome yeah man so you went down to the hyro osini Captain C’s manaco in the preliminary final but yeah pretty safe to say you
Guys had a pretty awesome season eight and uh you know it must be special that New Zealand had that competition and it’s it’s such a shame we don’t have something of that now like it’s what even is out there now like I’m not that sure yeah no um I think they just have
The championship and the Premiership now okay but I do remember that um with that counties game I think hyro was playing hooker yeah and um he was actually quite quick for hooker cuz I do remember the game we played out um at manare um I think it was around a greyhound Stadium
Or something like that okay but anyway I remember running from dummy half and hyro might have been sick and Mark and he just stepped out and just smashed me and I and I reckon I was concussed I didn’t really know it at the time but I
Did afterwards we jumped on the bus and we and we went home and I I wasn’t too good he got hit it he could hit you hard then he could run off The Back Fence too and I wasn’t running fast but he could hit hard and it was good because
Obviously um later on I got to got to sort of play with hyro a few games so yeah that’s pretty awesome man so cool so uh something really special happened 1995 this particular Jersey here is your playing Jersey from when the Oakland Warriors played their first trial match
Yes at Addington Stadium uh you played for Canterbury that’s right pretty amazing uh so what was it like to be part of the hype um know the Warriors of this Juggernaut that’s taken over the country everyone’s excited but you get to play in the very first match against
Them that’s right pretty special man that’s a historic match in my opinion it was it was it was great we um I guess it was a step up from um from the line red cup because the two teams the the Cardinals and the shiners joined forces obviously and so it was representative
So that was again it was good and we were we had lick Clark as as our coach and Lex was a very good coach he had done the Junior Ky we was going through so he was a very good coach um I do recall us getting together as a team
Prior to the prior to the game and staying out at the rustley hotel so we bonded really well yeah um and he made us believe um so it was just a matter of turning up yeah obviously the spectacle on the day was just unbelievable to be huge I’m nervous you I can’t really
Remember being nervous okay but um I probably was yeah cuz it was a it was a big crowd it was a great occas as um and to be part of it it was just outstanding so yeah so I was lucky enough to to get the Jersey keep it somehow don’t know
Found it in in a bag not long ago when we were sort of working through some stuff so yeah brings back some fun memories um they were really um they were really good the the Warriors at the time um afterwards we all got medallions I think um Darren showed his off on on
Facebook not long ago yeah so it was it was a and I was uh I think we played four quarters as I mentioned before and that number I got number 13 on my back there so I was actually playing lock that day okay and um I ended up playing Center for one
Quarter fullback for another corner and a quarter and 5’8 for another quarter played four different positions that day yeah wow versatile ironic also and it’s a quiz question I I put out to some people I was the first person to ever score against the Warriors cuz I got a
Penalty goal okay it was the first point score before they played in the competition obviously but first game that they played that’s a good one man pretty awesome piece of History got the man on the couch how good as that oh awesome stuff man um so yeah you guys
Actually did go down 2612 but that’s a pretty fair fight you know against a star started team like you know they had some pretty amazing players they did they you know obviously kept in by Dean Bell and um but we had some some great players marking up against some BL
Harding marked up against Dean B and had fantastic game and I think that led to um some higher honors for BL okay um so there was some good matchups but obviously they are quality team and they done a big preseason training because they were building into their first year
And they had some fantastic players and you still looked up to those players absolutely as the as the Pinnacle for New Zealand rugby league yeah um so yeah the score is probably a fair indication of the game and yeah we um we gave it
Our best but at the end of the day it was was a great spectacle it’s just yeah I it’s just amazing you know I think um so you played another season for the Cardinals in ’95 but you also went back to Canterbury and played for the hell
Hornets again so how did that come about because you were was that because of injuries that you got to go back and play for horwell cuz you were with the Cardinals that’s right so yeah so we we played again the lion red cup um was on
Again in ’95 and I think the the Vulcans played for ockland they were sort of like the junior Warriors back then so I do remember playing against them as well um the our team has sort of depleted a little bit a lot of the players had
Really good 94 seasons and so they had gone on to other things um so the the the competition was sort of maybe a little bit diluted in ’94 ’95 because a lot of players had gone moved on but there were some players coming through so the Cardinals didn’t have the best of
Years okay but personally I did have I had a pretty good year I think I was a top Point scorer in the competition wow and um and at the beginning of the year when we played the Warriors so we were fit and ready to had a pretty good
Offseason so yeah so personally I had a pretty good one 95 was probably one of my better years and and that helped um go on to sort of higher honors yes it did but but leading into that um back into the club football so once the once
The line red cut finished you because you had played rep football for a certain amount of games I believe okay um you couldn’t go back and play Club liel but um Hors there was a there was a way out of it and H had some injuries so
That if they got an injury you were able to bring someone in okay and they did U Phil Prescott was a coach of hor that yeah yeah and so um they had an injury in and I don’t recall if it was in the halves or fallback or or anything but um
He asked me to come back and play in the semi-final so I said yep be Keen to come back and play as many games as I can so so I played in the semi-final and so we won that yeah I’ve got a good story that I got off Facebook that this guy wrote
Sammy L mu I’m so sorry if I said your name wrong you’re absolutely broke his hat because the major semifinal the swans versus the Hornets you remember this so at the Addington show grounds he said the usual interchange for the swans didn’t happen that game due to a sin
Binning of the star swans prop so sami’s usual interjection was later in the game with 15 minutes left to go in the second half the score was 248 to the Hornets mhm he came on within 5 minutes he scored off his own chick chip and Chase and then Kelly hanani kicked the
Conversion to draw level and then Halls were at the safety net of coming out of their own and goal it’s the fifth and final tackle what happens next i’ know well you came out for 52 M out and Slot a bloody field goal oh I
Didn’t oh I’m so sorry with 2 minutes to go uh 2524 heartbreaking win for the Hornets GL Kong well that’s tradition for we had Phil brro back in the day probably kicked a couple of field goals I remember watching one of them it was just a floater I don’t know how it went
Over but it did so was that for like their first ever Premiership way back in the day yeah I think so yeah yeah yeah so it’s probably something that H was lucky enough to have over the years but oh jeez that’s a shame and Kelly hanani was actually a school friend from
Illinois yeah yeah good yeah very good good sports person because he was very good at touch as well yeah but yeah so do you remember that I I don’t I don’t remember that game specific ly because it was more about the final for me yeah um well that’s what you did yeah well
There we go jeez that’s such a cool story when I read I was like I’m so read out on the podcast no but it didn’t end there obviously we go to the Grand Final one of the great grand finals and you were the star of the show and the end of
The match you’re up against Lynwood you know you’re actually 15 n down yes into the game um and let’s remember Lynwood the great side and you guys are pretty injury ravaged going into the match uh so how did how did it go down 15 n
Down take this set to Stage Glen yeah so um lywood were definitely one of the dominant sides um that year they had a very good side and not that hor didn’t but and it wasn’t anything to do with me but we were fortunate enough I think the
Week prior must have been after the semi-final some of the boys might have gone out in town and um had a good night I think they got injured okay injured hurt yeah May doing something so we lucky enough cuz Walter played in the Cardinals as well wal Wilson so so allow because another
Player got ruled out injured he was able to come into the final yeah yeah lywood probably didn’t like it at the time but um so I played I played 5’8 and Walter came onto the onto the bench for the final and yeah we were we were down I think Glenn Gru who was
Who was our captain yeah Bert gury was a fantastic player and um I think he he either got sent up very early in the match for a tackle and I think he it might have been 10 minutes 15 minutes into the game and sort of just caught us all off
Yeah so we were down sort of 15 n at half time and I remember Walter coming on he came on at fullback and wer just ignites anything right so um whether it be the football field or the NTI waler is very entertaining great to have by your side
But anyway so it was a fight back and um yeah the second half it got to what was it 15 154 or something like that yeah 15 yeah 1514 and um with only minutes to go yeah and it was just an opportunity it was
Yeah I just got the ball and I was able to sort of get through a gap was probably you couple of bus wides anyway I got through and scored and that was that was basically the final Hooter yeah you guys won 2019 yeah unbelievable so
You must you must have been down 1915 or something like that yeah it would have been 195 something like that 19 1916 1916 yeah yeah it didn’t matter about the kick cuz it was just enough to get the try yeah and I do remember cuz I
That was probably the first time in a long time that lwood had been in the in the finals so you did feel a little bit sorry for them um not and so again we went to their Club rooms and sort of had a bit of a celebration after that but
Again you know was great to go back to the H club and have a great celebration yeah man yeah yeah yeah that’s pretty cool 95 was a for a really good year for me very big year so it didn’t stop there either because uh you got selected to
Play for New Zealand president 1 to play Tonga and you you know you had guys like like who went on to you know Nigel Vagas Logan and Anthony Swan you know the pretty pretty big names and you pumped them 44 to 10 it’s bit of a hiding you
Took five goals had a great day out what’s it like pulling on like a proper like k at like a serious level now what’s that like for you yeah well it was it was hugge because it was probably the first time I’d sort of earned a
Jersey to to play in a game because the tournaments in the 19s it’s really just a paper team right you’ve got that Jersey here don’t you yeah yeah I do let’s have a look was it I think it’s this one here um is it this one was it a
White was it a white one or was it be the black one black one here you go there we go look at that beautiful yeah let’s put that up there for everyone to have a look that’s his playing Jersey versus Tonga I mean that’s that’s pretty special right there yeah all I remember
On that game is the Tonga were very physical and and the score probably didn’t ref how it was but there was some yeah as you mentioned you got um Anthony Swan Nigel vagg were in the centers um I was playing fullback so had some some great players and in the
Forwards it was was like a second kiwi side it was well it was New Zealand 13 or New Zealand um resident so was still a very good side so it was a huge honor to be to even be part of it so um yeah we had a um good buildup up in Oakland
Played at um at Ericson Stadium or whatever was Co in days and all I remember is um I was playing fullback and I was trying to save a try and I got kned in the head I got split um I’ve still got the scar really and I think I
Got stapled I put Staples in oh that’s gross Chuck some Chuck some um blue in it and way I went get back out there yep pretty much yeah yeah that’s what it was like but that was that was a first taste of that type of stuff um which was yeah
It was pretty special that’s pretty amazing man it’s so cool to see the actual Jersey that’s blown my mind love it um and you also got selected which was the other Jersey you got for the president team against the 1995 kiwis World Cup squad um you unfortunately
Went down 20 to 4 but you had the Fab Four from Canterbury yourself Aaron Whitaker Walt Wilson and Darren Avery how Cool’s that man yeah all from the same Club so it was it was pretty cool so so let’s Chuck that up there that’s that’s pretty special going with the
Long sleeves yeah oh it’s pretty awesome pretty funny the old three4 sleeves anyway um yeah that was that was great and and probably not so much fun memory there was a couple of memories from that game I I do remember um and I and I became good friends with Gary Freeman
The year after but um they were sort of building into the World Cup that year so it was a big year for them so they they needed to hit out and um it was a great opportunity for for those that probably weren’t up to that level some of them
Probably thought they might have yeah they definitely Fringe players and so it was a good opportunity for them to show why they probably deserved to be in the side um but there was two things one I think I’m not sure if it was Aaron or Phil Bergman involved with a bit of anation
With Gary Freeman on that one was Phil Berman the old W came in yeah Phil burman’s known for that I remember on a couple of the 19s trips Phil ber he’s a classic um great to have on your team yeah yeah to take your sort of Mind away
From football so during the downtime Phil bman is just a he’s just he’s a great great guy to have around but um in the second one was um I was playing fullback and Jason Williams it was just an absolute speed St he so quick and he
Made me look like I was walking I probably was walking but he went around me just so fast and I was like wow this is just it’s a different level yeah yeah um and that was a little bit of reality check okay for myself but um it was
Probably more positioning but um yeah he was just a he was quick it was very quick I remember he scored a try in the 94 Grand Final against R he took an intercept touched them mean they lost but put a hand on him he was fast he was
Yeah he’s from Ken too yeah yeah unreal yeah yeah so 95 say 95 didn’t forgot about those ones but 95 was a big year for me I was yeah yeah very special so cool so cool so um 96 turned out to be another huge Fu where after your grand
Final heroics for hell you found yourself flying to Australia to play for paramed eels Reserve grade so how did that whole Unity come about yeah so obviously I did have a good year and um there was a big thing with um the Australian competition cuz they had the
The Super League War yes was going on so there was a lot of players going between the um the ARL in the Super League yes and um I think because I had a good year and and because the the liner cup was on TV and I was a top Point score for the
Competition there was an opportunity for um for someone and I didn’t have to go on trial or anything they just rang me up and said we’re after a goal kicker really yeah yeah so basically yeah here it is here’s the contract if you want to come over okay
The spot’s there for you so was that Reserve grade specifically or actual par that was for param yeah so working cuz it was um so that was that was Serious Coin back there it was for me it was so that was professional fulltime full work that’s right oh that’s so cool
Everything was you know sort of laid on you know accommodation anything I really oh it was so um I’d actually um been approached by The Warriors at the same time oh really yeah okay and I and I I think I went because talk about out of
The comfort zone I thought well if I’m going to do this I’m going to go to Australia and have a CRA I’ve never been to Australia and played so bra it was Brave yeah um but it was reassuring as well because um they had a lot of unbelievable players that they’
Signed I know I was going to some of them out in a second when I was going to ask you what’s it like walking in to see like Jason Smith Jim dimick Jared McCracken you know amazing Dean P G Freeman like keeps going you know the side was unbelievable um and so yeah
They’ spent a huge amount of money and and I guess they needed someone to to kick all the goals up for from all these guys score and try so that’s basically how it came along and um so I went over in in November yeah and signed and
Trained with them and so it was it was a huge step up again from what I’d been used to in terms of preseason training it was just um just unbelievable and I think that’s one of the things you sort of realize and I do remember at a
Younger grade you know whether it would be tws or 13s that the Australian teams would come over and you’d play against them and they were just way above yeah they’re just way above you and so not that I was wanting to Aspire to at a younger age but when you got older
You’re sort of what what do I do to be able to get better and this was the environment so professional and the warriors were as well but the warriors were in their first second year where a club like param it was their 50th year so it was a
Huge year for them and they had a huge amount of history behind them so um so it was a great opportunity for me to go over there and see where I basically would land in the big time well Aaron Whitaker said illa Steelers made him
When he went over cuz the train he just was just he got so fit and when he came back to New Zealand he had to like pull back a little bit when he playing provinal because he felt like he didn’t want to be a show Pony you know like
Yeah that’s the type of training you would have been put through yeah did right and and I still wasn’t a big player you know in terms of weight I was probably only about 88 kilos when I was in in New Zealand and then they wanted me to get to 92 kilos playing fullback
So I still and so I had to try and keep my Pace as well so there was a lot of weight training at the beginning of it and then and there was a lot of Fitness um so we had you know we had Sprint coaches we had dieticians we had
Everything everything was on on tap basically so it was fantastic um I got um so the accommodation was just down the road from paramet stadium so everything was you know laid on and really all you had to do is sort of just be committed and and I was committed
Yeah um so and then there was some kiwis and so they owned a set of flats and we all sort of lived in and I am my own flat and I had a couple of kiwis Matt Spence oh Matt Spence he come back to the Warriors
2000 over there um twoy boy and so so he was next door and another um boy from Wellington Chris 54 he played Junior kiwis um Chris passed away but he was there as well so it felt at home it was definitely wasn’t feeling like it was
You know in another country so it was was really really good um we helped each other probably along the way and um yeah so then so I came back for for Christmas and New Year and then straight back into into the um preseason games Okay um into
The 96 season so how did that season pan out for you so it started off really well um I played all the um all the preseason games we geez we we went everywhere it was great um it was you know this is what professional sport was like go away you stay at
Resorts We we played against South Sydney up and kandra and went down to Griffith and played um just a sort of like a group team down there and and I do remember um it was probably the biggest game at that stage and we were playing at param Stadium and it was like
A week or two before the season started we played the I guess they were easts or the roosters Y and um I was playing fullback and we had you know the full side was on you when you when you go through it you had Adam Ritson Adam
Ritson was just a young fell yeah Peter Peter Johnson was and then Aaron Raper and as you say all the yeah he had the tape around his head yeah that’s right um and Gary Freeman so Gary Freeman was really good for me um for you for that
Placez he was the captain of the and he was a kiwi so you know they’ really sort of look after me as well and made it easier for me to settle in which was really good and um so that was the game against the roosters was probably the
Biggest game and they both teams are basally pulling out their number one side had like Terry humon and Jason Larry up front absolutely steer rolling your got got a good story about that and my idol was Brad fitler and he was playing for them as well talk about so
Playing against your Heroes oh yeah that’s what it was like but and so it was a big game just leading into the start of the competition and I do remember taking taking a ball from fullback and um thinking oh great you know there’s a quite a big gap there and
I I re I can take that Gap unfortunately Jason Larry was on one side and Terry her was on the other side and I got smacked um and I think Terry actually said to me welcome to the ARL well You’ been around for a few years by that
Point yeah yeah so that was a big big wake up call so the timeing so you didn’t have enough as much time as you used to and playing lion R cup or Club football just felt it so much quicker did it ever slow down for you though um
Not at a high level it was always so fast yeah and that’s what you had to train for it was just so fast so um so I don’t think we we won but it was it was it was a good game and so so I was feeling confident leading into the
Season um I’d done enough and I was kicking goals and stuff like that so and I even scored a couple of tries in in the trial so I was feeling fairly confident leading up to the first game and so the first the first team we got
It got named to start the season and I I think what happened is because the the Super League ARL was was still going on um there was a forfeit in the first round there was um I think it might Adelaide might have been one of the teams basically it was all the super
Leagal Line clubs basically didn’t play that’s right yeah and I think Adelaide had a team but then they didn’t so what happened is that Adelaide all the players from there went to ARL clubs that’s right yeah because like Kevin Campion who I had on the show he went to
St George and yeah like yeah clubs that didn’t already exist yes like Hunter Mariners and and Adelaide Rams at the time they all had to find new homes yeah so unfortunately for me um Adelaide had a fallback called Rob Maan who was played at St George a very good fullback
Y um so that was basically my I was I was done so that’s not fair well it was tough it was a reality it was a reality I just wasn’t good enough um to play so I played Reserve grade for the whole year um but it was it was really Jeff
Gerard who was a legend out out west he wasn’t he like the first player to play 300 games oh he might have been yeah I’m pretty sure he was cuz he was like Manley and then pen yeah so pen my team so so he was our Coach Ron HRI was
The the first grade coach um and so so I basically played Reserve grade and there was some very good Reserve grade players because param had obviously purchased a lot of players from good dep yeah they have really good depth um so we played some St Kelly was he I think he’d come from
Queensland so fast he was he was outstanding player 998 he had a Blinder of a season yeah and then he went to the Broncos or something yes that’s right so 96 he that was his first year as well um there was Nathan Barnes he’d come from Newcastle so there was unbelievable
Talent there um so Stu Kelly started in reserve grade and he was outstanding in reserve grade and by the end of the year he was playing first grade so it was um so it was really good it was still a step up from what I’d used to and I
Really still really enjoyed it absolutely um but that was it basically once that season’s done um I was done and yeah okay came came back home how did you how did you land at the Warriors so you signed with the Warriors for the Super League season and with the whole
Super League dramas going on like were you approached by Super League or you approached by The Warriors how did that all shake out so I was approached by The Warriors because I um I was talking to them previous year and went to param meta when I came back they knew I got
Released so um they said would you like to come to Oakland so I said yep no right opport wouldn’t turn it down so same sort of thing um basically it was a it was a full-time gig up there I think I was I’m not sure what the number
Situation was but um basically moved up there straight away yeah stayed with Aaron and Andrea oh how good yeah so and then they just had their first Jackson their first their first child so it was a better move out give them their family time but um it was good to be settled in
With him and a lot of the players that were in the residence or presidents um were at the Warriors as well so you know I felt like I sort of worked in quite well so made it quite comfortable and Oakland’s fairly close and um so was it
It was another great year again played Reserve grade um Matthew Ridge was the the first pretty tough to knock them out it is and you got to sit on the bench it was a little bit different back in those days you got to sit on the bench and so
If someone specialized when injured you could go on okay um so you’d play your reserve grade game and then um John Mooney and then Frank I took over um as a coach so you have sort of a huge number of um interchange players two reserves could
Go on and you had a bunch you could pick up that’s right so did that a few times but never got the opportunity which which was fair enough but um really enjoyed playing Reserve grade and seeing some of the younger boys cuz they had the younger team coming up and and there
Was some very experienced players like hro Ando Phil Blake Phil Blake he like one of my Idols oh Phil Blake was I think I CER partners with Phil he he played a bit of 5’8 and I I was actually playing a lot of Center because it was a young fellow Joe nello I
Remember Prem he played fullback he so um so so it was really just a um it was just a good opportunity to play some really good footy again and the great thing about being in New Zealand um was that every second week you go to Australia how that so the alcohol
Cabinet was great because you just go through judy3 and get alcohol every hour the week back from the Johnny walking every time did right yeah yeah awesome man oh what an experience so what was it like um being under Frank cut yeah you know the canbury connection and all of
That yes Frank would been one of the best coaches I’ve had you and it’s no disrespect to any other coaches but um again great people’s person and that’s for me that’s made a really good coach and what you want yeah did right yeah man and you know you’ve reconnected with
Aaron and Shan indot as well pretty special and then you guys Henry was from CR oh yeah some good some good CR players you went to the Grand Final that’s right let’s tell us about the Grand Final um you know I mean these are pretty special
Moments you know and and I know it’s Reserve grade but the quality is still very high and um you know tell us how it all went so yeah so um we we went to brisban and the Grand Final was in Brisbane because it was the first Super
League year and I think whoever was the leader or won the premiership got to host the so Broncos and sharks played the Grand Final yeah and it was a 60,000 stadium so it wasn’t wasn’t jpack when we were playing but it was there would have been 20 30,000 at that stage and so
It was yeah and and we had some we had some outstanding players and and we’d gone through the the semis to to make the final and we played um canbury who have had some very good players as well and uh my memory of that is I actually broke
My foot oh really yeah so I went off got an injection and then came back on St but uh they were just too good for us on the day they had some there had some class young players coming through Hughes Brothers coming through is that Steven and Glen yeah yeah yeah so they
Had some really good players and we just sort of you know it’s on the day sometimes and we just sort of yeah and even though that the Warriors they were used because they’ made the Grand Final the year before so um just not yeah just
Not this time so you got a bit of a momento from that game you might want to show off so yeah so during the game once the game had finished you got to sort of swap jerseys with a player so that’s amazing I got this one here so it’s a
It’s a canbury bankstown one and I got to swap it cuz you had your own you had to keep you can keep your own numbers back in those days so yeah Paul mow was the number 48 um that I got to swap my jersey with That’s So Co way too big for
Me he’s a big lad but the were so baggy back then yeah they were baggy he he was a very good player so um playing in the centers but um yeah so it’s a a momento over there I’ve still got my playing Jersy my father can’t find at the moment
I would have been been great to bring that so I was number 37 for the year so you had your own number so everything you got was number 37 um in terms of jerseys and boots and boot bags and every bag you got so yeah I love Super
League jerseys I think that was the year I really really got into rugby league like properly like obsessed and it was super league I just remember all the jerseys and yeah and they played the um I think they played in the um they played the UK stuff as well yeah that’s
Right carved up all the UK clubs like Bradford a 60 point hiding I remember that was awesome yeah so no that was F that was fantastic and um yeah so all I remember is coming back for a Mad Monday um on after the Grand Final and the club
Was really good they you know they really looked after you as a lot of the clubs do you all I remember is being right in town and um I wasn’t one for drinking beer but um I was right into I’m a rum Drinker right and um I think
I’d had a bit too much and there was a couple of bars down Fort Street and they had the were old style where they had their Windows where they sort of lift up yeah from the outside yeah and I think I was sitting on a Ledge and I basically
Just fell out the window onto the footpath so Shane and Shane and Aaron said well this boy had a bit too much so they put me in a cab and sent me home but yeah was you know when you reflect on it was a it was a really good
Year had some some really good wins played some really good teams and um yeah great memories they’re playing with guys like you know Aaron W he’s you know one of my favorite people in the world now since I’ve met him through doing this you know it’s unbelievable and but
When I had him on the show and I asked him who was the one player you love playing alongside during your career and he said Glenn coglin was his answer and U just cuz you’re so reliable and call Under Pressure hint the nickname The Iceman so um you know that’s pretty
Fantastic to get those echad from your teammates oh for sure yeah um yeah Aaron’s a great friend um he was man at my wedding with Welter oh good yeah so um and it was great playing with him you it’s just so professional um right you know from from Monday through to the
Game yeah so um many of uh chicken lasagna when I was staying with Aon of and the pre leading up the the old 40330 diet that we used to have um some some great times and U yeah it was it was great to have him playing at hor cuz
That’s basically what started my my senior career really having someone someone like him by my side yeah pretty cool man so uh 1998 we move on to Rugby Union playing for syam and Aaron Whitaker put in one of the fan questions he wants to know what was the reason
Behind changing codes and was there an opportunity to stay with the Warriors or any other league club or was it just time for a new challenge well I actually got offered to go to the UK okay to the north of England um but I thought there
Was a b to far from home okay yeah and so it was a chance to it was really a chance to come home um being a couple of years away and I didn’t know what I was going to do okay so um and the the the
Rugby league scene in chist was sort of tapered away from you know from the Pinnacle of the late 80s and early 90s um and there was some high scoring games and some of the teams probably went just up to Premier Football so when I when I’d finished in Oakland and came back um
Steve Hansen who lives who lived in h at the time um found out that I’d coming back and he approached me I had a meeting with he was a policeman back in the day Mee him me out at the HBY police station and said oh would you like to have a go
At Rugby Union okay I said you this would be something different so I’m Keen to try it so so that’s how it started and so it was really about finding a club in Christ Church a rugby club and and it was still that sort of the rugby
The rugby league you know that type of stuff back back then and um Steve sort of said I will I’ll put you in the country competition just to get you keep you away from sort of anything and I said oh I don’t want to I don’t want to
Be traveling out to the country so um I’ll play in town and so it led from that and then um Dave rhods who was the president at sdam rugby right must have got out somehow and so he he come and said I’ll come and have a chat be Keen
For you to come to sdam okay well sdam had been a successful team for the last the previous two years yes so I thought well the best thing for me to help my Rugby or learning how to play rugby um would um would be syum so go to a good
Club they right absolutely yeah and so it was the first time I’d really played rugby since the school days like okay at Shirley boy um like they do now I know St Thomas’s because my son goes to St Thomas’s they’ve got the rugby in the league and a lot of players into change
Well back when I was at school a lot of the players did actually Shirley boys had a very good rugby team and me and another friend Michael T who actually he went to param meta okay and then he came back and he played rugby for can well so
Iort of followed him but together we were both Lees back in the day and we had a game of we Tri for the school first 15 rugby team and and I think I was second five and he was Center but um rugby back then was a little bit more of
A 10-man game and we really never got an opportunity to sort of show our skill so didn’t really sort of pursue playing rugby but some of the rugby boys um did play league for us at school and we were successful and won the championship both teams won the championship so that was
Quite good but so really what I was looking for is a club that would really help me sort of understand a little bit more about rugby and what might be my position and um sdam was a really good successful team so brilliant y awesome so how did how did you find the
Crossover the change in code was was there anything you carried over from League that was helpful or was it just completely different um it was definitely some some interchangeable skills y um I definitely learned along the way um and I and I got told in
Plenty of time to kick it when you know kick it or run it when I probably should have ran it or kicked it right um but it was it was a great experience and and at that stage I was playing fullback and so I was pretty comfortable in playing
Fullback and rugby and and I had you know was I could kick a ball so there’s no worries about that so um at fullback it was a position where you sort of had to determine whether you kick it further down or you have it run because you’ve
Got your support there so a little bit of trial and error as I went along um and I got sort of told in no uncertain terms and certain times that that I should have done things differently but um it was great and I was and I was
Supported by a great bunch of guys who are still friends to this day that’s cool man well I got called a really good story on Facebook about your first game at fullback for sdam playing against Maris so Steve Baker was coaching Marist he told the team to kick High balls to
Test the Ley at fullback all day because you’d be tempted to run the ball and they’d smash you that’s that was the game plan and so Dave Barker the fiz for Mara said to Steve I know the guy Glen cogin from the Cardinals bombing to him
Is a bad idea don’t do it to which Steve replied stick to beger physia just do your job so the first kick goes up you catch the ball Under Pressure avoid the tackler and you’re run 70 M score to try what Steve said to the coach don’t your
Say yeah that’s right um great story a very good story Steve Baker was actually my teacher at Shirley boys oh how cool how good and he was a very good rugby player obviously but and that’s that that’s the way I obviously played fullback and rugby so it doesn’t in
League so it didn’t make a difference you you know you still got to take High balls um under pressure so that was one thing that was sort of interchangeable with the with the two different codes and um as I said before about whether I
Run I kick it I was under pressure so I had to run it um and I was just lucky enough yeah that’s just the that’s right that’s pretty funny though yeah yeah did right it is yeah there was there was lots of examples where um that type of thing would happen and
And when I should have kicked it but I ran it and I tell you my Fords told me pretty quickly afterwards they don’t like running backwards so she must have progressed pretty quick because you actually got all the way up to NPC for canbury division one and two so um you know how
Was that progression um pretty incredible feat really cuz not everyone crosses codes so well yeah well I I think in the in the fullback position everything was fairly similar obviously you just had to determine whether you held on to it or whether you got rid of
It so a lot of it was the skills were interchangeable I felt and I sort of was I was quite open and and in the way that I sort of ran and I think I had pretty good Vision about what I should do so as well that yeah definitely did yeah um
And and again when you got a really good team like so we well they’d won the final two years previously and they won the final two years when I was there so when you’re in a good team it always it makes a big difference as well so you
Got a lot of support there so when you’re in a good team environment again I think that helped me with the accolades of getting into the rep stuff so okay yeah so the first year I made the canb bide and then um the following year the the Crusaders went away to a
Tour over in Australia and I actually been on holiday to to Barley and I got back and then got told pretty much the next day pack your bags you’re off to Australia you’re going to the the Crusaders are taking a development side so good so I start to sort of build some
Connections within that rug fraternity as well so and it was quite it it was quite hard cuz obviously the syum syum rugby was very much about family and it was really good um and so developing onto getting into the higher level of the rugby it was sort of sometimes you just felt there
Was like a well he’s a Ley you know okay not going to give him some information about how really oh it definitely was a bit of that most people were pretty good but you did feel a little bit little bit of politics did right there was um so
That was that was a great opportunity as well because there was another level um so I went from so kenary B and then in 1999 um had another year of sdam and and we won a championship so then I got promoted to Ken aside and that was that
Was helped by it was a World Cup year so a lot of the World Cup players um had been they were going to the World Cup so they were sort of leftt out of the stuff okay but it was still good you know Captain Todd blackhead and there was
Some really good Robson who was now the yeah so he was there and Steve Sage Aaron Flynn great matate still to this day yeah who I played with at sdam Dion there were there some there were some very there were some very good players and it was you know very comparable to
The the 93 when I was at H there were some fantastic players in that team and and at sdam and the and the senior team there was some fantastic players in that team as well pretty so I right person right time yeah right T well yeah you’re
A very humble guy I understand that but you know you’ve got the talent you got that’s pretty impressive definitely made it a little bit easier yeah man yeah so when all said and done with your rugby you you got to the end of it you know you’ve played for Canter did you feel
Like quite satisfied with your union career did right yeah yeah yeah I was um pretty much the end of uh well I I knew I was pretty pretty honest with where my level was and and I’d realized that in rugby league that you know Reserve grade well it was it was
Was fantastic that was pretty much my level and it was probably the similar in rugby to you know even to get to NPC level was was a huge feet for myself and I was yeah and there was some great players in the can team that I played
With um the majors they were very Aaron and and Nathan they were they were quite now they really like rugby league so I got on really well Ben bler was playing fullback back then so he was a young coming through he was another one who liked League yeah um so it was quite
Good in that regard to sort of get a connection with those types of people bril um so it was really good but that was pretty much where I was at and I was and I was happy where I’d got to no dreams to get that Crusaders Jersey at
All no no just quite happy I was just yeah I was happy at Club level to be honest oh that’s awesome yeah really enjoyed it really cool so then you finished off playing a bit of AFL so where did that all come about and who
Did you play for well I go back one year and I actually finished in 99 um playing rugby for syum and then um Aaron Flynn um was playing down in mid Canary because it was part of the Crusaders franchises and okay um their first five got injured so Aaron said to the coach
Down at Mid cany said oh I know this guy that be Keen to play so I end up playing second division for Mid canbury for a year as well okay so yeah that was pretty much it so it came to the end of that and that was great because all the
All the NPC the first division you go to the major towns of Wellington the ockland for example but the second division they went to the smaller towns it was really good competition yeah so we played against the likes of w rapper Bush and harur and um Hawks Bay okay and
So Hawks Bay was actually my last game right and we Hawks Bay actually needed to win to get a home semi-final or something like that and we went up there and beat them and I had a I you know it was my last game and I do remember my
Last game I had a really good scored a couple of tries quite a lot of goals High yep um so and so that was pretty much me I was I was going to retire I was I was finished and I was ready to sort of start my personal life with my
Family my wife and and so forth yeah nice but AFL came up yeah what happened there so um it was just it was a summer sport at that stage okay and I don’t know how I got into it but it was um and I think Aaron might have been playing a
Little bit of AFL as well and it was just really probably a bit of Fitness yeah and we played for the Burnside barracudas out at Burnside Park okay and so they had their AFL grounds up there who knew that was a thing I know and U
Anyway so was so I was still quite fit and obviously I could kick yeah was Taylor M for you hon so I we we I think the the been the barracudas I think they were called they went unbeaten the whole year far out so it was great fun yeah it
Was was a lot of fun yeah and um they actually LED on to um there was a few of us that got picked for a North vers South team okay and that was at westpack stadium in Wellington and we were the first ever game that must have been just
Been built and we were the curtain raiser to a Hawthorne endon AFL game that they’ b over from Australia wow and from that North vers South they were picking a New Zealand team to play in a Oceana tournament okay which was in I think it was in Fiji okay so and then I
Made the New Zealand team for that but the coup had just happened so they they canned it okay but it was it was AF was great fun yeah so it was just something different yeah it just happened to be there and yeah that was even a thing in you just
Don’t hear about it you just don’t oh it’s brilliant okay so I got a few fan questions for you from the Facebook group Darren Avery wants to know who was it that split your eye open in the final against the New Zealand moldi in the oceanana Cup Final that’s right that was
At kylo Park great K historic grounder player and um it was it was a great game it was a very close game and was probably the smallest player on the field actually it was I think it was Daryl Beasley okay yeah he was playing I
Yeah um and he just he just happened to clip me across the the forehead I think I was stepping and he sort of put his arm out and whack just how I broke my thumb but um but yeah I clipped me and yeah opened me up pretty pretty easily
And she was gashing out in fact I thought this this jersey I’m not sure if I one but it might have had blood on it it might I can’t remember it was the same one it’s still got a bit of blood on it somewhere it might be another one
I’ve got that yeah the blood’s still on it oh brilliant brilant so yeah okay so Walt Wilson wants to know who was the first person to give you the nickname The Iceman Walter would know that because it was him there we go so yeah that was um that was after the 95 um
Couple of games I played for hell okay yeah yeah when when we both both came back for the final but I went back for the semi-final and and I was just yeah that’s how I got the such a cool take that one to your grave it’s a good one
So Eric Whitaker you might know him um he was who was your favorite coach and why was it him you know well yeah I guess um you you’re thankful for all the coaches you have right through the grades and I mentioned Steve anerson when I first started at hell and he was
Fantastic and then Mike Burke at Easton went for the three years there Aaron at 16 so that’s when I’d first when I came back to hor Aaron was a coach and and he had sort of open to me up to sort of going that next level because that’s
What he was doing playing Premier Football that stage so while he was there I was only 16 yeah even though I do remember when I was 16 a story cuz we made the Grand Final for section 2 okay um and I got glandula fever oh that’s rough it was rough that
Is rough I never forget my dad had that when I was a young well I tried to prove my fitness so I said cuz I lived out at Hors at that stage um and to prove the fitness to the doctor I said I’m oh I’m
I’m fine I can play so Aaron and I ran out to tight him back it was about 20K far out and I said look no fine I’m ready to play but the doctor said no with glang fever if you get a knock you can actually die from it far out so
There was I missed the grand even though it was section two I still missed the Grand Final it’s a fair run out there yeah yeah it was a good yeah yeah anyway so yeah so in terms of coaches Aaron was in terms of players playing with Aaron
Was definitely one of the best so but in coaches oh it’s always hard to separate them but I mentioned Jared um Frank yeah Steve Hansen with cany pretty awesome yeah pretty big names and all of them you know the same thing Steve Hansen very good people person Frank great
People and so was Jared so that sort of worked for me yeah and they were all very successful coaches as we know absolutely okay so Scott russan wants to know what position did you enjoy playing the most um probably fullback I enjoyed playing fullback yeah it was um it was
An opportunity for open space and with my ability to be able to move step or whatever um and get someone one-on-one that was probably the biggest opportunity um from I enjoyed 58 as well because it was probably more tactical um so it was about supporting players and
Putting players in gaps and so forth so I really enjoyed that especially at a younger age um but as I grew up and sort of yeah sort of developed steps and stuff like that was the trying to get one-on-one with people so yeah you like running yeah I did yeah yeah fair enough
Too tackling yeah it’s good at the back so c b double want today how many times have you won the Green Jacket and which one of those was his highlighted Victory and why yeah so the green jacket for for those who don’t know it’s actually a family golf tournament okay yeah yeah
And so my uncle CB um Chris bexter who was my coach as well and I know that um unfortunately Chris passed away a we while ago but um he was a mentor for me as I was growing up okay um and my son backer was named after
Family so the Green Jacket is a golf tournament we play every year and we’ve played it since 1992 I think and so Chris was a coach at um well he was at horsell through and through he also coached at Maris western suburbs okay and they had the green Blazers right so
Um that green Blazer became the green jacket for our family golf tournament which we still play to this day awesome and um so um the highlight of winning it especially this year as um one of our family members passed away okay um and
Had W it last year so oh wow and so play for it yeah played for it in January and yeah he just passed away just recently so to get it from from Sam was um pretty special yeah oh wow awesome man okay so let’s finish with a few fun questions
Yeah actually before I do that you had a Cardinal’s Jersey a replica with the master name on it let’s have a look man this is amazing this jersey here so let’s talk about this for a sec yeah so Cardinal Network one so my sister actually found this somehow and
She um she gave it to to me um so it’s yeah and I haven’t got much of the Cardinals but that was definitely a good good time of my career CU it was a it was a huge step from going from club stuff to representative stuff and you
Sort of um yeah got to and the Cardinal two years in the Cardinals was was awesome it’s gorgeous JY yeah it pretty cool Jersy yeah doesn’t look like a league juy but it was actually a really good juy it is so cool yeah yeah man got
The name backer on there so good yeah so cool yeah yeah right so I’ve just got a few questions for you to finish with that I ask everyone so were there any players you loved playing alongside or against during your career um I like playing against all the competitive
Players so anyone who was sort of my opposite number I’d always like to sort of measure myself against so in terms of players playing alongside um 93 I love playing against playing with all those players on that side yes um the same with that syum there was some some great so I enjoyed
Playing against and with the best players and I could possibly play against you I mentioned bradf because you know oh dude Idol um for me Greg Alexander was also an idol because they were all at penth penth is my club but right um to play against those you
Always sort of try to sort of set yourself with a goal of trying to play against the best people um and it sort of gives you an idea of where you stand yeah um so Aaron Walter was also my best man at my wedding so best mates
We played a lot together during the years whether it be horse or representative stuff so that was good and Darren Avery was always a good player to play with as well because it was just it was just there it was like for a Ford he was one of the fittest
Fords you’d know and he’ just do hard hard work hard work so always sort of getting on the coattails of of AES yeah um in terms of playing against the best players against um oh it’s always a hard one yeah it is yeah oh it’s great everyone who was
Competitor was Yeah you sort of doesn’t matter whether it was Club football or representative stuff um I enjoyed playing with and against everyone yeah man yeah okay so who is going to win the NRL in 2024 you said you’re a Panthers man can they go four in a row they can
Definitely simple in I know I found out I I mean um clear’s out for three weeks four weeks thanks Nathan my trouble is that hamstring injury or something like that so they might struggle a little bit but got coming in he’s not a bad play
He’s a good get I think he’s all right fantastic Place penth yeah it’s awesome so that’s love them ever since they were the chocolate soldiers back in the day you would have seen some amazing players come through Brad isard Steve C ryy Simmons double in the Grand Final how good was
That yeah right it’s just yes players and Peter um yeah Paul Peter Kelly Paul Kelly back in the day with the he gear just right back from the early days yeah really always liked them they were sort of The Underdogs to start with were yeah um but yeah obviously they’re going
Through a golden period at the moment just a bit okay so what’s your favorite TV show of all time oh TV shows um not really into shows as such probably Netflix I just yeah anything that’s Netflix um just sit with the wife and watch different Netflix episodes of anything
Really yeah cool cool wins and if you were on death row what would your final meal be okay anything that’s salmon salmon oh salmon yeah salmon through and through it’s beautiful on bagels cream cheese de right loving that e salmon it yeah awesome stuff man oh thank you so
Much for coming on the podcast this has been so cool man like hearing about all your career like see all these jerseys absolutely a male here really appreciate you’re getting out of your comfort zone to coming on the show man I really appreciate it thanks for having me it
Was it’s been great fun so oh that’s good man so uh and thank you to everyone out there for watching and going back in the day with the amazing ican Glen cogin and um yeah man everyone get on the Facebook group everyone’s on there all the league
Legends uh it’s growing like wild five of fun you know everyone posts all their old photos and team photos and get amongst it there’s heaps of old people on there having a good time that’s what it’s about yeah man so uh again thank you Glenn for coming on the show and
Everybody out there we’ll see you next time for kickoff full time yeah
1 Comment
Steve Arneson, great bloke. My father and him met refereeing touch in Halswell, one a league ref , the other a union ref and got on like a house on fire . Great mates for a long time.