On today’s podcast, it’s Warriors heavy with It’s Only Sport host Martin Devlin along with producer Lachlan Waugh heading out to a club stand-up in Auckland, which featured head coach Andrew Webster. The Warriors are in a rut at the moment, losing four straight NRL games and failing to win their last five. Webster talks all about how the team is picking themselves back up, the areas they need to improve on, and much more. Devlin also delivers a sermon about the Warriors and the tall task that awaits this weekend in magic round – a clash with the three-time defending premier Penrith Panthers.
As well as that, NRL.com reporter Brad Walter briefly covers off David Fifita backflipping on his agreement with the Sydney Roosters, Miles Davis recaps Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in the Premier League and their likely title victory in a few days’ time, and Kiwi golfer Michael Hendry talks about his victory on the Japan Golf Tour recently.
Plus, Devlin and Waugh debate a variety of topics such as All Blacks selections and the Warriors on the Tight 5. All that and much more!
Want to hear all the best bits from It’s Only Sport? Check out the IOS podcast on all major podcasting websites. https://www.spreaker.com/show/its-only-sport
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diin unamed five 4 3 2 1 the platform welcome to the podcast people Martin Devin Lo War iOS it’s only sport the highlights of our program today which here 124 live on the platform Warriors heavy today we were at the presser out at go media Mount smart Stadium this morning Jaz Tanga spoke byy R4 Andrew Webster coach before we had to d a dash and leave fascinating it was you could really feel it from the players uh you know all the questions obviously to start with were you know how how’s the team feeling low on confidence all of this all of the players and the coach did the same thing here we are down we are low but they got to recover and they got to recover quickly because you know this isn’t an excuse league and it’s not a sympathetic League it’s a winning league and out of all the opponents that you want right now after four losses on the Trot with the injuries is this happens to be the penth Panthers you’re going to get a fair bit from that presser today and we’ll kick it all off with Andrew Webster also on the program Michael Henry what a great story this is Michael won a tournament in Japan on the weekend for the players by the players it was but the most significant thing is it’s almost a year ago to the day since he was diagnosed with leukemia so he’s bounced back from that he can explain exactly where he is his health is and everything else but just the change in heads space what does it mean to him now when he standing there on the tea thinking yeah I got a golf tournament to play and then he wins it great story indeed the English Premier League pretty much decided Well it is decided today man city aren’t going to bottle it against West Ham or are they Miles Davis lifelong West Ham fan talking about that today and the backflip that n konich would have been proud of uh Google that Millennials Deli Cherry Evans did a similar one David fa I’ve signed for the oh or have I oh no I actually want to spend my future now with the Gold Coast Titans I’ve always loved the Titans I believe that we can go on from here and I’ve yeah how come why Brad will kick that off for us we begin the show tablets in hand gather my flock it it’s time for a sermon R out where are we at with our Warriors then let’s go to the mountain top we live in an amazing amazing world and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled [Music] idiots the Warriors are in a rut yes we all know this low on self-confidence struggling four losses in a row yes we all know that for Coach Andrew Webster this right now was probably the biggest lesson in what coaching in the NRL is actually about because for the most part it’s not a success job it’s more of an a nutritional job it’s a job that for the most part is not about winning there’s a few coaches who succeed but even those guys have plenty of ups and downs in their careers who are the best coaches in the NRL right now you’d say Bellamy Clary Bennett Trent Robinson those names all have gone through their trials and tribulations Ricky Stewart add him to it for every success there’s more than a few failures so this is just the first big test of probably many for Andrew Webster as I said the team’s in the trough certainly the lowest E that he’s faced since taking over last year it’s not just the injuries it’s also a dramatic loss of form which means the players are down on confidence and we were told this at the press conference by Bounty by JZ Tang by the coach himself which means the players second guess themselves and start second guessing each other it’s a KnockOn effect losing is contagious both on and off the field so so how do the Warriors escape the snoo because that’s what it feels like right now this is just me of course looking from the outside in many of the players have been there before heck it was only two years ago that the club had one of its worst ever Seasons with just six wins let’s not forget that and most of those players are still with the club now this is a different Warriors side we know that we saw that last year it’s completely different but now they need to prove that they have to prove that I think one positive from the loss to The Roosters on the weekend was in the last 65 minutes the score didn’t blow out yes the roosters took their foot off the pedal but two years ago that could have easily been 50 or 60 points and probably would have been so things have changed but again this isn’t a talking League it’s it’s not an excuse League it’s not a sympathetic League it’s a winning League the only thing that counts in this comp is wins and the Warriors need 10 or 11 of those from now till season’s end just to make the finals which means it’s got to start with penth on the weekend penth the defending Premier they’re back to back to back Champs but a win has got to be found somehow somewhere before the game start running out it’s a simple recipe in this league isn’t it just win baby unfortunately with penth that’s probably more hope than reality different what do you want we want information information you won’t get it the planforms sports news headlines are H we’ll start off with sell uh in a stunning backflip goal Coast for David feda has turned his back on the Sydney roosters and taken up his 2-year option to stay at the Titans Now last week F had until something like Thursday at some point on Thursday to trigger this Clause that would allow him to extend to stay at the club and he signed a foure deal supposedly with the roosters he’s backflipped today the news has come out really really strange uh statements on both the roosters and the Titans websites uh The Roosters say that they have withdrawn their offer um despite his management making the initial approach to the club and for feda personally informing the Sydney Rooster’s chairman and head coach of his intent to join the club last week F has since expressed doubt about decision consequently the club has elected to withdraw its offer with a view that it is in the rooster’s best interests uh I would believe that more so than what the Titans have said they haven’t exactly said anything else but they’ve just said that for feeders changes mind oh commment to the club mate always believed in the Titans I think that they’re a Premiership Winning Side um a family compassionate claw what would uh what would actually be the reason to PR him to Mone money money but if he doesn’t trigger the clause and stays for another two years and the contract remains intact he doesn’t get more money oh he doesn’t oh he doesn’t cuz that’s the contract right he already knows what he’s going to get there’s not a big bucket of money that he trips over the way this is the thing that makes contract dealings a little bit Dodges the whole third party agreement because there’s no there’s no limit on how much you can get from third parties let’s just let’s just look at the sensibly and logically I’m going over there to sign a new contract which probably means I was getting a little bit more money than I was here to go over there right then at the very last minute after I’ve agreed to that I do a big backlip the dce the Delhi Cherry event the N common each for our older listeners and I come back over here and I stay for the same money that I was on before I went over there for more money and I’ve come back for the same money or or there’s a hell of a big incentive in front of him you choose okay I don’t think that’s that’s not being cynical that’s being real is what that is um Blues fullback Zan Sullivan has a miniscus tear on his left knee very bad news for Zan not good we’ve spoken to him I like that guy he’s been playing well too he has been playing well he’s a good play he’s a good fullback uh it’s an injury that requires surgery this after leaving the field and last weekend’s victory over the Hurricanes the extent of the injury will be known when Sullivan has surgery uh tomorrow but uh there is an expectation he’ll be out of rugby for a minimum of one month I would think it’d be long if you’re having your miniscus operated on that’s more than a month surely I was looking at either him or Ruben love being bolters for the All Blacks maybe not at the beginning of the year but certainly at the end of the year if they keep their form up both players uh Premier League this morning dham up against Man City uh Man City winning 2-nil uh the first go was a pretty standard easy goal on the in almost walked it into the back of the net second goal was a penalty both scored by earling Holland what it means in terms of the table with one week left in the Premier League Man City played 37 Arsenal played 37 City have 88 points Arsenal 86 it’s going to come down to the very last day of the season the Premier League title race City have West Ham is that at home yeah it is at home Arsenal have Everton at home you think they’re both gim me games would you uh I could I would have much more faith in Arsenal bottling it than City in terms of the result on the final day and Everton did get a win over R so they’re not an easy beat then again West Ham I don’t think they an easy beat either um actually know that’s not true they kind his last match now man said got this wrapped up and it was wrapped up when the Tottenham Ford son was one-on-one in the 85th minute it was one0 to City at that time that one chance great I think it was more more so a better save by the goalkeeper than it was a bad effort from son we talked to Miles about that in about 20 minutes but that that one single chance it’s amazing isn’t it in a season of 38 games that it can quite often come down to just single moments that particular moment all Arsenal fans would have been looking ah you’re joking he missed it now the result confirms that eston V are in the uh Champions League excuse me for next season so eston Villa at the moment on 68 Tottenham on 63 one game to go the most Tottenham can get to 66 so Villa in the Champions League woohoo good stuff oh the V oh the V uh an Poley had a couple of interesting things to say following the defeat this morning saying that the foundations at Tottenham are really fragile it’s inside the club outside the club Outside Inside everywhere it’s been an interesting exercise it’s just my observations mate he always likes to throw a mate in there doesn’t he uh Rory M has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years Erica sto is her name after claiming their marriage is broken this comes less than a week after he won the Ws farco Championship claiming $3.6 million us which is just under $6 million New Zealand dos taking his earnings on the PGA tour to 143 million over the past 15 years uh the NBA Playoffs continue today there’s a game on right now it is the Indiana Paces up against the New York next it’s in New York and the next are cruising 6954 I thought once the paces won game four that they would win the series The knck have a ton of injuries couple of key defensive players including OG and Obi but they’re up by 15 at half time here maybe the knck will actually end up winning the series they’ll get just absolutely trounced by the Celtics in the Conference Finals anyway uh later today at 2:30 the Denver Nuggets up against the Minnesota tber wolves the nuggets are at home but the home team hasn’t won a game in this series not yet out of the first four games the road te is won every single time really odd uh we’ll keep you updated on those two scores and for the time being M that’s what’s making new de you better believe it the platform first up on the show Brad Walter Brad’s going to join us in an hour for a good chat about the warriors uh but a little word on the faf thing because this is a hell of a shock Brad uh he has reneged on the deal with the roosters right yeah it’s amazing isn’t it so there’s a there’s a cooling off period um after players um sign contracts with new clubs uh there’s cooling off period um and you know the fer only uh signed last week he he he spoke he actually personally rang nick pitus uh The Roosters chairman and uh and told Nick that he was coming to the club uh spoke to him in Greek actually uh uh or or spoke a few words of of Greek uh with Nick and was tell him how excited he was to be coming to the club but um there’s a cooling off period um to allow suppos players to you know to to consider whether whether the deal that they’ve signed is is one that they actually want to go through with and David F had a player option in his contract and that expired last Thursday and that’s why the pressure was on David fi to make a decision on whether he wanted to stay at the Titans or whether he wanted to go somewhere else he explored his his options his head was turned I suppose by the uh opportunities at the Panthers and the roosters in particular um but after the weekend and he did have a cracking game for the Titans and they they had a win um as well against the Cowboys um and he was uh he was player of the match he’s obviously um he’s changed his mind decided he wants to stay he’s taken up the player option and he’s uh and roosters said they’ve withdrawn their offer and the Titans have announced that uh he’s he’s resigned for for another further two years taking up that player option so that’s a massive backflip it’s huge news it’s caught everyone by surprise it’s just uh yeah it’s it’s it’s incredible to be honest um um and people were wondering though how will the rosters going to fit him in not necessarily salary cap wise but SoMo because it’s a somero you know they have special rules for the roosters mate yeah you know that well no but I mean just because of players like Angus kryon you know like and the impact that that was going to have and Angus kryon was caught by surprise and wondering about his future and uh you know other clubs have have come in uh expressed interest now in Angus kryon so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens now because obviously the roosters what they you know what they can do and what they probably should have done was um uh resign Ang as cryon he’s playing he’s in he’s back to his best form so um but yeah it’s a it’s a a stunning turn of events and uh and and something that no one I don’t think anyone saw coming so huge news um huge news for the Titans huge news uh for the roosters and and and massive news for for the NRL no doubt it’s going to be going to be a big talking point people will be talking now asking questions now I suppose about the the the cooling off period and whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing so um but uh yeah certainly certainly certainly a big talking point and uh I said something that nobody nobody saw coming de oh my goodness me the platform I mean I think this is endemic now people you know I think that uh the NRL contracts are just a joke aren’t they um this is the taale absolutely wagging the dog there is no personal responsibility players get out of contracts for whatever reasons that want the compassion Clause is an absolute fast it’s a joke it is a let off Clause is what it is and for a guy to commit to signed to say yes and then to turn around for whatever reason whether he’s been offered more money or whatever but it just seems that there is just way too much power now in these players hands and if you’ve signed a deal and you’ve committed to something it’s like you sign a mortgage it’s like like you sign anything you sign a contract that’s your word that’s more than a handshake it’s actually a legal binding document that’s what it should be we absolutely gut to The Roosters but then again on the flip side of that argument if the guy doesn’t want to play for you well what’s he going to do he’s going to be a sulk isn’t he he going to come along he’s going to sulk and you’ve just spent all of that money for four years to get a Suk you don’t want to be there Warriors presser then today first up Coach Andrew Webster now Andrew is in his second season with the Warriors had a fantastic season last year but the wheels haven’t fallen off but the car is a bit clunky and a bit wobbly at the moment how does he resurrect that how much does it come down to him what does he have to do what does he have to say how does he get his players back up and and also in his mind what exactly is it that has been going wrong Andrew Webster at the Pres last year such a fantastic year and I remember asking you then about you know uh whether you thought you were a better Coach then how much you’d learned and everything like that how much you learning right now and is this the toughest time of all yeah it’s the the toughest time confidence is low we’re not playing the way we want I’m not hiding behind it like um but you know coming with the tough times is the excitement of you know how much you learn you want to be part of these moments in a way like we’d rather won the last four in a row and we’re flying on top of the table but at the same stage like you find out about everyone now and um yeah we I love this group I love the way they’re they’re attacking it we’re we’re definitely down on confidence but we got to find it and when we find it we we’ll be really confident that we’ll we’ll games we just had Jazz and Bunty comeing they said exactly the same thing they said yeah low on confidence and things so what is your role here how do you how do you inspire that in your players yeah there two things like one um got to got to keep reminding ourselves what the standards are and we got to find the standard and and raise the bar um and once we find the standard and we’re back to where we were because it’s not a new standard it’s just reminding ourselves of where our standards were and once we find that we’ll get confidence again um and it’s also how to instill it in them is like to celebrate when when we get it right um show them how they in the past had they’ve done it really well um 5 weeks ago like um our defense was really good we’re really proud of where we at but just can’t take it for granted you can lose it very quick we can rub your legs a long time and um yeah I think we can get that confidence back by by getting back to the standards where we’re at and also show them how it looks like sh them had they’ve done it really well in the past do you question yourself at any time like this I I question am my consistent am I doing the right thing like like do that if we win or lose you know what I mean um you have to cuz you don’t get better if you don’t question the way you’re doing things um the thing is if we if we were like what we were doing defensively if we if we needed to change everything there’d be something wrong by the way we go about it we need to change the way we execute it so what we want to do and how we want to do it we’re completely happy about it every player every coach and myself so I reflect are we happy with the way we want to do things yes are we doing it no so we got to I got to get creative I got to instill the confidence I got to get excited U May these guys excited about doing it again well is Andrew Webster we got a couple more quotes to come from him that was the end of my questions what normally happens is you ask two or three questions and obviously back off let somebody else ask the questions um just your first impressions lock on of him at that presser uh he wasn’t Grim he serious face um certainly not as happy and as bouncy as I’ve seen him in the past but that’s what you’d expect with the team that has lost four in a row and you know the players were a bit like that as well I worry when they all admit that they’re down on confidence because you know you keep saying that to yourself and it becomes very real doesn’t it they’ve just got to find it from somewhere and I started the show by saying well you know you’re up against penth for God’s sake you know I mean having said that a win against penth what would that do I mean they just completely it would do the David fito it’ be a back flip it flip the season right on its head wouldn’t it Andrew Webster uh this question was about tough conversations with the players because both Jazz Tanga and Bounty a when they came in said that there had been tough conversation so exactly what are those yep definitely I mean every we lost last year I still thought we like if it was unbelievable we just we didn’t know what we’re doing um I just feel like the the last couple weeks things things have dropped um I think we’re putting a lot of effort and overt trying at some stage and then I just think we’re putting our energy into the wrong things instead of put our energy and what’s most important um I’ve said it for 3 weeks now tackling our kick Chase those types of things they’re just they’re not where they were and um can’t take it for granted we got to get back to it and to me those are a couple of things that you can change this is what I like to hear in today these these These are really positive things you can change your kick chase you know that’s just effort desire commitment that’s all that is you know not missing tackles these kind of things and they do build confidence so I like the Practical aspect of that talk us through the changes at home carves of course these are enforced by the absence of sha Johnson and don’t forget that Luke meta is also injured both of those players you know the one two punch that the Warriors could have had don’t have but then again playing penth side without Nathan clear we all got to acknowledge this everyone’s got injuries but this is toar Martin at seven and Charles Nicole kstar at six I think if we try and complicate it um this week and we don’t have a running mentality um I think Chance would be great I think he’s a big body in the defensive line yeah like trust me we’re not going to come up with lots of fancy plays out this week but um we’re going to challenge the opposition um and I don’t mind saying that like we’re we’re going to play to our strengths this week not not to what sha would like to do it’s going to be what tomighty chance and T like to do again I like it you see you got to forget about the guys that aren’t there because they’re not there so no point thinking or talking about them is there how did chance react to himself being named to play six in the Hales did he know about this at all no he didn’t expect it no but he went um let’s go KN that’s you got to you got to be here every day that’s his favorite when he gets excited about something that’s what he says so he was pretty pumped um I’m sure he’d rather play fullback but he just does what the team needs and something different and train well today so he’s excited any regrets at all Andrew web this is at the pr you’ve just joined us on the platform myself and Lin we’re at the warriors uh just a couple of hours ago matter of fact they kicked off about 11:15 any regrets at all uh about at halftime about letting sha come back as opposed to looking at that injury and keeping him in the dress room keeping him off the field no no I mean we didn’t make the injury worse in the second half I mean how he was at half times is how he is now so I mean the feedback was they strapped it they felt it was safe it wasn’t in the tendon in the attachment um because if it was in the attachment trust me he wouldn’t have gone back out um so I trust him equal team I looked at Sean I want to do it and then when it got to a point where I thought this is it’s not it’s not working it’s so fair anymore um that’s getting out off so um yeah I I’m fine with that like um we take medical advice and I I backed them 100% And as a result of this if he was out for the rest of the season with Tom pek then I reckon he could come at our medical team and myself because it’d be dumb decision but um we it was it was no worse now than what it was at half again if you’ve just joined us San us when to say Sean C don’t know that well Sean Johnson walked past us as we first arrived there uh and my only experience and knowledge of this kind of injury Peck injury I remember when I was in New Plymouth years and years and years ago decades ago and Mark Allen bull Allen had the same kind of injury playing for tanaki in the rugby he was out for months but that was ripped off the bone so if it was anything like that as Andrew Webster says that no he wouldn’t have played uh final bit of him at this particular time is just about the the punishment to Carrie who gets fined what a couple of thousand bucks uh really does he even pay that you know me the tennis players get fined oh they get fined for descent $40,000 does is there somebody in an office somewhere who actually well how lo hasn’t sent us his check yet Novak hasn’t sent us that $40,000 check yet and when that a money right where does that go was it go to a charity is there a special fund for fines for players and uh so Andrew Webster’s reaction to to that and he’s got to be careful about this but you know I mean a guy now misses games because of that it’s an illegal tackle it’s something that needs to be ridded from the game we all thought it had been rided from the game it was very obvious when it happened I’m not saying he goes in there with deliberate intent but he certainly knew what he was doing when he was twisting the arm like that so was the punishment appropriate yeah I think they’re scary um I just don’t have like to get involved in the Judiciary um you just got to you guys are got to ask yourself like everyone’s got to ask themselves did that put it in a compromising position but Shan in pain Shan was in pain from that tackle and that um I feel like they think he was faking it or something like that um benan hindsight we all know he wasn’t um yeah oh at the end of the day they they think that it was it wasn’t that dangerous and only deserves fine so I don’t feel great about that I don’t feel great that one of our players has been hurt as a result of it but um the play on just move on and like I said the the ju there to to do those things and I’m just h coach theall you don’t want it coming back into the sport do you definitely I don’t want any chicken wings in the sport I don’t want any foul play in the sport but what I’m getting at okay if you want to ask me do I like chicken wings no do I like people attacking the legs no do I like Crush tackles head highs eye gouging pulling hair what else is it uh Christmas hold yeah that one that’s that’s not good I don’t I don’t want any of it I don’t want any of it but what I’m saying is they’re the ones who’ve got it on a daily weekly basis judge whether that one particular one was bad and if he’s got suspended and I just don’t want to dive into into that I just would love every player protected and safe and then they’ve got to come down hard on Premier League Manchester City about to create history since the Premier League began in ’92 993 noide has won four in a row noide has won six out of seven it’s an incredible run for Manchester City and this is a team that most people who follow the league are say no you they’re not having a great year they’re not having a great year the last 35 games well 34 of those have either won or drawn they haven’t lost in the Premier League since December the 6th since getting knocked out of Europe by Real Madrid and they didn’t lose either tie they got knocked out on penalties they’ve had five Premier League matches well they’ve won all five scoring 21 goals and consing one and away at Tottenham today 2-n in the end it was comfy and they just have to take care of business at home against West Ham and it is all theirs Miles Davis blah blah blah blah blah blah blah all about that was this the moment that the Premiership went to or the Premier League League rather went to Man City reminded me of Michael Thomas remember that Arsenal Liverpool 89 when he was threw on goal last kick of the Season well they W Mo yeah apart from that but it was just it was just from the fact that he actually scored and won the title for him up at hfield in 1989 yeah no no so I’m not quite sure what you mean what I mean it was it was a one-on-one and with the whole of the Season almost on the line it’s just a goalkeeper and a striker what happened well Thomas scored yeah but the goalkeeper scored the goalkeeper saved at this one and Thomas scored yeah I Robin against World Cup Final 2010 I mean I’m just you know same thing now but I do understand when I yeah but when when when that happened when that happened my I I thought well bang goes the the opportunity of you know for Arsenal to win the title but but even more important than that i’ put a little bet on three corners each har and Son both to score so up out of my chair going get in my little Korean friend and then I abused him abused him afterwards it’s it’s amazing how they managed I mean that really and it was a great save as well it wasn’t as if some Miss hit it or hit it poorly the guy stuck out his right leg you know at full stretch to to get a touch on that and save that so it’s a phenomenal save but you look at that and he then go on and they get the pen and they go on and comfortably win in the end but you look at now Arsenal have got one game left City got one game left but City have got the upper hand because they’ve got two points more a draw with Arsenal winning will give the title to Arsenal but unfortunately City are playing West H just before locky before and they’re up at the um they’re at the ety head as well they’re at home so I said the L before they’re going to West H ship six six so there’s absolutely no chance whatsoever I don’t think the moire is going to rise from the dead and and you know create another miracle there it’s all over yeah and look I’ve read a lot of traffic um social media Arsenal fans moaning and bitching they’re all bitching about the financial fair play regulations which city will never get punished for and everything else and Arsenal have won 15 out of the last 17 they’ve drawn of those one one what 14 no 115 drawn one and and actually lost one out of the last 17 games I mean that normally would win you a title but you’re up against a juggernaut here I can feel I can understand the frustration from the Arsenal fans but they also lost at home to Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago in a really crucial game at home that even if they got a point at n actually they would have had to win that game but look this is what a season is mate it comes down to margins doesn’t it and Man City over the last seven years this is going to be the sixth time they get it right I mean you know you can’t deny that exactly but you you look at their bench and it’s better than a starting lineup of most of the top six side absolutely ridiculous and and it’s one thing I noticed today you know that that the city group you know that own clubs all over the world I didn’t realize that they owned Jona in Spain who are at the moment second in in La Liga and I was thinking what a great thing for a little club like Tona you know to get champ League football I found out that I had no idea that they’re owned by the city group so that’s why they’re up there because all the money’s come into it um you need a little bit more of the money you can you can plow loads of money in I mean westl spent half a billion dollars and we’re still crap but if you’ve got it you’ve certainly got a massive advantage over everyone else well you should be getting your accreditation through the next day or so so you can go and represent us platform at the Phoenix on Saturday night they reckon it’s going to be 30,000 it might even be sold out biggest football fixture in Wellington since the brra game and obviously then you know the club games that followed since then uh is there is there is there no pun intendant a fever pitch happening in Wellington I can imagine that the city would be getting bulk behind this wouldn’t it yeah oh very much so you know what new zealanders all right about kiwi fans a real bandwagon jumpers you get the loyal core and then you get the B and fair enough too you know why not jump on the bandwagon why not it’s good it’s good for the club it’s good for the sport get more and more people interested fasc to know what the what the what the viewerships I’ve got no problem with what the viewerships like um town is is fizzing and and I I would expect a sellout I think there’s still going to be people who haven’t worked it out and will be turning up you know walking up on the day hoping to get in and I think they’re going to be disappointed um I just hope that your Moody request for a CR isn’t one of your usual efforts and I get left standing outside the stadium to hear the full interview download the platform at the App Store via platform plus you can go back and listen to the whole show and all of the interviews in full the tight five five separate sporting topics roughly a minute or so on each and when the bell reminds us on we go to the next topic Manchester City have won the Premier League is it that cut and dried now is there even any point talking about it is there any chance that West Ham can do a number on man this weekend in Arsenal con s the Warriors presser what did you learn earlier today Lan about the Warriors after listening to Jazz Tanga Bounty R and then Coach Andrew Webster NBA basketball godamn you Skys sport you just don’t give us stuff about us the customers do you and I say this most weeks and you don’t the NBA finals are on at the moment and you’ve got women’s NBA on uh playoffs sorry not the finals Lin uh this isn’t anything it’s nothing to do with that it’s about the quality and the level and the importance of the sport that is being played at the moment you you get this why are you choosing not to play it why are you giving us a WNBA game on at the moment of zero consequence to anything at the same time Nick’s are [ __ ] the Pacers not that you’d know about it halfast two today game five they what are you covering that are you you’re covering the Timber balls versus the Nuggets you got another NBA women’s game on have you why don’t you just make it women’s sport sky sport how about that why don’t you just actually change your business to just women’s sport see how many subscribers you have left by next week when you do that this is what frustrates the hell out of me about sky sport over 90% of the people that subscribe are men and quite a lot of them like about 85% of those are men who are over 40 years old how about doing some qualitative research into what we want cuz we’re your customers oh no hell no if it’s not diverse inclusive or whatever it just doesn’t doesn’t rate doesn’t doesn’t wash over there anymore does it a loose forward Trio of Dalton papali ADI savier Hoskins satu is that better than frelle ADI and Kane because that’s who we had last year uh David F and the backflip Jake Paul and Mike Tyson God we have to talk about that let’s start with the Premier League Tottenham Hotspur played hang on is all they did today they they just hung on you know man city had a couple of chances in that first half I watched this game uh Spurs never really in it maybe one on the break City got a goal uh they had two or three really good chances keep it saved was 1 n up until the 85th minute um son oneon-one after a defensive laps brilliant save from was it araa Orga the Man City keeper and this is a machine of a team is what it is uh you know since they got knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and they didn’t lose they hadn’t they they didn’t lose a single game in the Champions League this year they won every single one of their group games they won both of their round of 16 games both of their round eight games the semi-final of course they drew three or Drew one or win out on penalties since then they’ve had six games in the Premier League they’ve won five out of five they’ve scored 21 goals they conceded one and now they play West Ham at home is the title gone it’s over isn’t it oh absolutely it’s absolutely gone I mean if I was a beating a say I wouldn’t even take a bet on this miles is Right West Ham are going to go up there and ship a hat full of goals well West Ham can this is me being very half glass full in favor of Arsenal uh West Ham can be a niggly side to uh to break down in a way that play with this nine even 10man defensive block deep in their own half a lot of the time um but you know I I remember Liverpool playing them a couple of weeks ago and we just couldn’t really get anything through them but we were awful and then when West Ham played Chelsea who whose forms picked up lately they got just ripped apart Chelsea would put this long lobbed ball in one ball and West Ham had just broken up so no they’re not going to throw too many punches I do I tell you one thing quickly it’s a real shame because half of me would obviously have loved to have seen Arsenal win it because it’s someone different than Man City this league is is fast becoming um another Le of in France or Le of one if you want to say the English version of it uh or bundes Lea which is not really that anymore because we’ve just seen b Bayern Munich had won it 11 times B Munich probably going to win the next five after this year anyway this is an an half year for B but the the Premier League is becoming this and it’s becoming this because what doesn’t help is the other Rich clubs Chelsea and man united have been appalling the last couple of years so as much as City been great which is with there some truth in what Pips us today the other Big Rich clubs have been shin absolute um so it’s a shame that Arsenal can’t be a team to knock them off um at the same time I’ve seen some stuff from people on Twitter or people I follow on Instagram and obviously they’re going to be upset I don’t know what it’s like cuz my Liverpool went through this a couple of times losing out to City by one or two points when we got 90 or more and sitting there going well geez all the money they have all the resources and we we’re so close I I think it’s silly for anyone to sit there and say any Arsenal fan that Spurs were either going to try and help you guys out cu they’re your biggest rifles but also secondly they were good enough to actually take points off City they’ve been in seriously poor form lately um so man city done this in a caner yeah there 34 out of the last 35 games and this is they either one or they’ve draw and this is yeah sorry an offseason yeah and and a striker in Harland who’s having an average season he’s got 27 Premier League goals okay six more than the next dude uh the Warriors presser what did you learn and we’re going to um revisit because we’ll play the the standup with jazz Tanga in about an hour from now what did you learn from the two players are for Tanga and the coach Andrew Wister today um I’ll tell you one thing Tanga he was the first one to speak he just looked deflated didn’t he just the first question he answered was a great answer where the question was along the lines of how how’s the team feeling have you guys been the last couple of days he just said yeah I don’t feel good confidence said it in a really somber tone and I just thought geez like one thing I would have done if I was a player or coach I’m not saying they are doing anything wrong but I just would have done all I can to make it seem like you know we’re working hard we’re doing our thing here and we’ve got confidence we can get back on track and he just looked deflated that’s what the the message I got loud and clear from all three of them was exactly the same they all said that as well and I don’t know whether that’s been spoken about that they okay well let’s be open and honest let’s talk about the fact we got no self-confidence but you got to buy it if you don’t have it you got to fake it you got to get it from somewhere yeah because if I’m penth and I’m I’m going we’re [ __ ] these but I I think go harder than for 10 minutes and they’ll break that’s exactly the great thing about Webster and and he’s actually a real treat to be around and there’s one point where he said you know you guys are going to find this boring but and he spoke for about 2 minutes I wasn’t bored I was locked in I was thoroughly enjoying me and L were standing this close we’re only a couple of feet away from half a meter you know and I’m just absolutely zeroed in on his eyes and his facial expression and I want to know every single sen of that face and and and and every muscle movement just to and he’s real man he’s absolutely he’s honest he he knows how the comp Works he’s he’s sitting there saying look we’re not got to sugarcoat things we know that we’ve been poor but we also know that as you’ve said times of the show and he sort of said this but in a bit more detail that look A wi over penth like we know like that does change a few things and he sort of said someone asked him something along the lines of uh how long until you can get back to your best he said it only takes one game and the thing that I think Warriors fans should should be encouraged by is he’s saying we’re doing the right things we’re not executing it we’ve got the right idea we don’t have initial with what we’re trying to do it’s just the fact that we’re just not executing it plus he said a thing along that he said it’s muscle memory and what he was saying it’s not just you know in the physicality what do but he said you know we’ve got to remember how good we were and that we are that good it’s not like we’re no longer any good and the feeling he said the feeling that generates that there’s a muscle memory in that get that back F how surprised are you by this my initial reaction was wow did he really and then the more I think about the more I think no look I just don’t trust this guy there’s something about him he’s just it’s not that he’s flaky it’s just that I don’t trust him commitment wise for feta well did he sign a contract with the roosters he obviously told them yes no no but did he sign a contract those rumor those a contct I know I don’t care those words wouldn’t have come out unless he’d said yes the club yeah he’s admitted it he said yes he he’s spoken to the chairman he spoke to the head coach he he spoke in GRE to he spoke in Greek to the owner didn’t he yeah I know the owner who par the chairman he’s committed to it and then he here’s a thing look Ruben Wiki sign for the Warriors because what he did is he signed on a napkin at the airport remember and the employment Court threw it out he signed on a seriet at the airport when Ian Robson was the CEO to move this was years before he came back to the Warriors said yes then bked then decided no and stayed with the Raiders fine and look sorry if if he hasn’t signed on the dotted line of a contract it doesn’t mean anything this is how it goes like this could be quite an insular thing in New Zealand or Australia if we get to within our own heads in the UK and America and every country around the world unless the the the pen has been put to paper look so many football transfers for example that I’m sure your Club my club have been involved in that have nearly happened but a guy didn’t sign the contract and oh things changed and he backed out you can’t cry about it cuz sorry this is what happened with Greg engas and the Broncos in 2011 201 yeah well I I remember the English one really well cuz it was my club where he had told the Broncos I’m coming don’t worry I’m coming and the Broncos sat there and went oh sweet we’ve got it got G and then Russell Crow snuck in had a had a meeting with him said come to sou you you you totally reshape the club look you can like if you’re a roosters fan or you’re sitting there saying oh stuffed over for f what a dick excuse my French sorry if he didn’t sign the contract and and players are actually given this as uh Brad Walter called it what is it uh they gave it a something period what did he call it h period let’s let’s make an excuse to not to do what we a warm down period look if they’ve given that and that’s kosher in the NRL with these situations I mean I go back to what I said earlier M I just think these contracts are a joke you know no but he hasn’t sign you can’t make an argument about it he has no no but he hasn’t signed anything well what kind of person are you well he’s someone who made a choice maybe thought about a bit more when you know what no I want to stay with the Titans he didn’t want to stay with the Titans he’s been offered twice as as salary to stay with sit no you can sit there and say that you know you can what other reason well I don’t know I’m I’m the same as you I think it’s the same reason but look you got to look at the B effect oh fine he’s not coming here I would but I wouldn’t have him now M I think you’re a flake dude what you mean now he was never coming to the Warriors we don’t want you the Warriors mate yeah I’m sure he wants to come playing P if if if I don’t care if he’s on the phone as agent’s begging tell him to F off mate but but David we’ve got a great two bedroom flat in TI to what about that no I think he’s pretty happy in surface two quick topics to finish with Jake Paul he might be Iron Mike Tyson but I’m titanium Jake Paul I’ve never heard anything so Naf at a pre-fight press conference ever what ponytailed marketing tight panted tossa told him to say that what a stupid dumb thing to say yeah but why are we talking about this no but yeah but this is the thing you’re talking about a person who was a Disney Channel child who then was a YouTuber and earned millions of dollars from being a YouTuber which isn’t a bloody job and his now thinks he’s a boxer walks around saying I’m the best boxer of this generation you know I got you know Twitter knockout of the year or something and thinking he’s he he he’s the business when he’s not and then he makes this comment and you’re going to use logic to decide you know or or to work out whether we should actually be listening to these comments and taking them seriously go oh that’s interesting let’s run that on the news no the the whole thing’s a circus we can’t you can’t use logic to talk about a circus okay so let’s blame Ian Foster let’s blame Sam Kane it’s all their fault the All Blacks didn’t win the World Cup here you go Razer here’s your loose forward Trio doton Ry satu now now last year who’s the six well I whoever okay that but that that’s your loose forward Trio according to who well like I’m just putting that up there at the moment this is Martin Divino this is my this is so everything I’ve read from all the other all the other scribes all the other commentators at the moment are saying Dalton’s going to be seven you know ay will be six and sat will be eight or ADI goes to to eight and who’s your number six summer Penny summer Penny okay I think summer penny is the six and I think it’s a 22 or of the eight is he is he an 80-minute player for in a test match does he need well in his defense he’s only played one test okay so here we go is that loose Ford Trio either combination if you have samen in or satu in better than friselle Arian Kane I would argue no no I’d agree with that by the way just quickly have you seen that apparently Razer wanting to bring Shannon frelle back as well BR it’s not just Richie it’s not just same white it’s shanon forel as well and I can understand exactly why you know but this is the this is the point I’m continuing to make where is this magic bucket of world class players the leading players in their positions in the world that Razor’s got to choose from these same guys have been there for the last 12 losses in the last four seasons for the old blacks and two drawn matches and all the unwanted records most of those same guys are sitting in front of him that he has to select is this super rugby season convince you that all of a sudden those guys yeah Anton Browns and so forth are all of a sudden the world class player that we’ve always wanted them to be are they or is he picking the same players again thatan Foster supposed to be f this is the thing there’s probably four or five uh worldclass players that played under fuzzy that aren’t here in New Zealand anymore and that are either are got to be selected after a sabatical so Bon Barrett Assuming he’s healthy because he’s got an injury um and then the rest of them are guys who at least you and I agree on uh not average but they’re fine but they’re not going to be these World beaters that we need them to be against Ireland sou Africa France consistently so you’re either choosing out of a bucket load of guys who we’ve tried hasn’t really gone well or fresh Talent that’s it unproven fresh Talent Doon Pap at seven away Ireland away France and Away England at the end of the year yeah you can actually kind of I think you can compare this year really well to 2008 I tell you I don’t have a lot of confidence in that no a year after a um a year after a disappointing World Cup same coaching setup this is different but you had a lot of key players go offshore the difference then is you know we had a bunch of new or blacks in the team guys returning who had played a few years earlier and a whole lot of new caps like Rudy wol was picked and Bor was picked I think Steven Donald debuted that the difference then to now what makes at least me as a fan very worried about this year is back then we still had Richie mcco we had Dan Carter we had a guy Kieran Reed emerging Dr Koo came back into the team uh we had a lot of M M was on the team yjo who was still playing really well was there Brad Thor was in the team Al Williams M Conrad that was when the combination started you started talk about world class players so these are players who at the time when you okay we can kind of lean on these guys or they turned into World beaters who do we have now right who are our hard who’s who’s our captain and can we even rely on it like I mean Scott Barrett I want him to be the captain but this is a dude who seems to be getting a lot of cards on the field over the last couple years Reds and yellows not nothing against Scott bar I think he’s a brilliant player agree totally agree I’m just saying we just got a the Wilderness of it that’s it you know you know however good Razer is and the coach can be the best coach in the world does he have the cattle that is the question Michael Henry ladies and gentlemen he’s won 17 professional tournaments in his career he’s playing up in Japan at the moment he’s about to go we learned in the interview off to the British Open he was invited there last year but of course he couldn’t go because he got diagnosed this time last year with leukemia so what a comeback to win a tournament on the weekend it was a stable format uh he went in on the final day four points clear he won by a point he can explain all of this but how has life changed in every possible way for him as he battles back against that illness and he wins again here’s Michael talk us through that the last couple of shots mate when you know you thought I can actually do this what what was flooding through your body at that stage well you get pretty um engrossed in the process really um I knew obviously Where I Stood and what I needed to do and I just made sure that I uh I got it across the line basically it wasn’t until uh Monday morning I was traveling down from from Tokyo to Kyoto where were playing uh this week’s event and it wasn’t until I was on the train sort of having a bit of a loan time that I that I sort of realized what I’d done and that I’d actually achieved what I set out to do you know 12 months ago on the hospital bed which was get back out on tour and um and win again and it was um it was it was just yeah it was unbelievable it’s really great uh can I ask you some questions about this and you know please if you don’t want to answer them just don’t answer but but where are you at are you absolutely clear now uh not completely and utterly clear but um as things are tracking the I’m in complete remission lukim is a funny one because they can still even when you’re in complete remission identify uh leukemic cells the within the marrow tests that they do but as I’m told by my Specialists if they were to take any random person off the street and give them a bow marrow biopsy and do the same testing um that they do on me uh most likely they would find both sales and almost everyone because um it’s a situation where those cells pop up and the immune system deals with them um it just so happen that or it happens that people that get rinia for whatever reason their immune system stops doing the job it’s supposed to do and that and those types of cells start running a mck in within your uh immune system so in all reality I’m doing as well as anyone else on the street but um because I’ve got a history um obviously we’ve got to to monitor it carefully as we go forward how has it changed your golf have you you know just in terms of your your strength your resilience on court you know your breathing all of that kind of stuff does it how much does it affect all of that uh not at all thankfully um the chemotherapy is is very harsh on the on the neurological system so often when you’re taking chemotherapy they’ll run you through it’s almost like going through a sobriety test with they um you know test you for all sorts of different movement patterns and things like that to ensure that they’re not damaging your your nervous system too much so um it can have an effect on the neurological system um which was a bit of a concern for me uh but I pushed particularly hard through even periods of chemotherapy um in the gym with my trainer and um and made sure that my fitness level was high I felt that that was sort of one thing I could control in the journey through the chemotherapy process and and trying to get myself back and ready because um I’ll be honest after the first six and half week St that I stayed in hospital I came out and I was 17 kg lighter and Lord evening upstairs at home was particularly difficult um you know i’ I’d get to the top of the stairs at home I have to stand at the top of the stairs for a couple of minutes and touch my breath and I just kind of thought to myself look if I truly want to try and achieve the goals that I’ve reset myself I’ve got to do something about it now I can’t wait until the chemotherapy process was completely over because the roide back was going to be too long so uh I engaged a trainer early on in the piece and in some days it was all I could do was to just get through the warm up um before I was you know I didn’t have energy to continue but um we work really hard during that period and I’m convinced it was the one thing that allowed me to get back into go quickly um but also I’m pretty convinced it had a big effect on the on how I got through the treatment as well and I think it made it more effective um so yeah I mean physically I’m again I feel like I’m almost better than I was beforehand just like my mental attitude I think my physical stuff is is probably as good as it’s ever been as well did you consider the possibility or think to yourself or talk to you at those closest to you and say hey look you know maybe I might just be you know I might be going down to JK’s and hitting the box of balls in the future that might be my golfing career I might not be able to play this I might not be able to walk four days anymore you know absolutely I had that conversation with myself many times um but very much so early on in the piece once I kind of got my head around that okay I wasn’t you know death wasn’t imminent um and that I probably would make it through the other side of this I thought to myself what do I want to do and um you know my first thought was my children and I wanted to make sure that um obviously this was was going to be hanging around and I wasn’t going to die the next little while but potentially it was going to take me out sooner rather than later and I wanted to make sure that whatever I did um you know they could look back and be proud of what their dad did and um it was basically how can I how can I reframe this in a way that I can teach my children a lesson a really valuable life life lesson that you know life will kick you in the guts but how do you how do you come out the other side of it is is the most important thing so um I kind of thought to myself well if I can if I can do anything it’s I can play golf so let’s get back out there and show the kids that um you know it doesn’t matter where you are in life you can dig yourself out of a big hole and um and get back out there and do what you need to do and and be a success so um you know it became about inspiring my children more than anything to hear the full interview download the platform at the App Store via platform plus you can go back and listen to the whole show and all of the interviews in full that’s our podcast for today thank you so much for listening if you want to listen to the entire show one till 4 Monday to Friday download the platform app and Via platform plus you can go back and listen to whatever shows over however many weeks at your leisure at your listening pleasure platform plus first thing to do though is download the platform app dein unbelievable incredible the platform
