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only
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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thank you
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Runners only with dom Harvey and Chanel
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Harris tevita from the Warriors g'day
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mate
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get in nice and close to that nice nice
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place here you're loud and clear hey um
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so good to have you on the podcast mate
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really appreciate it and um the the
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craziest thing so you sent me a DM like
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maybe 15 minutes ago asking what sort of
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coffee I drank you turned up with a
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coffee yeah um and didn't even get one
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for yourself yeah no I had one earlier
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um if I have another one I don't think
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I'll be able to sleep
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yeah oh wow wow
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it is it's very important so um how are
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you how are you today
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I'm good I'm good um still recovering
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from last week's game it's been about
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four days but I'm still sore
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um yes so at the time of recording this
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it's um July 2022 so after being
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stationed in Australia for months on Ian
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you you finally came home and had a home
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game and you guys won yeah it was our
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first home game in three years
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um or first home game at home we've had
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a lot of home games at uh Central Coast
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stadium in Australia and
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um this year we've been our home games
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have been played out of Red Cliff
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Stadium right so we've basically just
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been borrowing everyone's facilities for
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the last for the last few years and it
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was good to be back back at home where
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or where I grew up playing from from a
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young age so
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yeah there's no place like home there's
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no place like that oh 100 100 and I I
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saw a few um Instagram stories and bits
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and pieces from um the team changing
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room afterwards what is what are the
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lyrics to that song you sing like
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there's a like a we are the Warriors
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song yeah what's the what's the words I
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can never sort of understand it when you
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guys are all chanting it after I went um
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yes we've got the power we've got the
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speed we've got the skill set that's all
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we if we need to stand up and shout sing
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it to the air we are the Warriors 100
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and then you just repeat it right right
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I love it I love it yeah yeah a few
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other boys don't know
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you don't get to sing it very often yeah
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yeah so hopefully we can get a few more
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wins so the boys can get some practicing
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yeah yeah hey now
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um the the podcast is called there's so
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much to unpack with you by the way we've
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been going back and forth since maybe um
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the February this year to try and take
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out this podcast
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um because you're such an intriguing guy
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and that's why I wanted to get you on
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but the podcast is called Runners only
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so we better um I I like have a
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guarantee that there's at least a little
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bit of running chat in every single
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podcast so what's what's your
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relationship with running like you
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obviously do it as um part of your
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cardio base but do you enjoy running I
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do enjoy running
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um when I was younger I always enjoyed
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weights more than running because
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weights you'd obviously you can see the
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results and other people can see the
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results as well like a vanity thing like
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a vanity yeah I'm pretty vain so when I
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was in school I just wanted to have like
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big arms and like a big chairs to be
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yeah it just looked good but um as I've
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gotten older and the more time I've
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spent in the professional environment
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you start um focusing on
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um improving
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your athletic performance and that
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that's what helps you on the filter and
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running is a major major part of being a
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pro rugby league player so
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um I've come to enjoy running I think I
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enjoy it a lot more than doing weights
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at the moment yeah
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um we we run an odd maybe eight or nine
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K's a game
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is that right yeah like just from just
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from a short bursts of little Sprints
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yeah yeah so
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um
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the there's certain players
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or they're playing certain positions
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that run further than other other
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players that play in other positions so
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the outside backs would generally run
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around eight to nine K's in the middles
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who do a lot more tackles and a lot more
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runs will run probably near six to six
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to seven K's yeah so you're you're gonna
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um you're gonna have a break uh from
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professional sport next year and we'll
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get to that soon but
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um like what will you do to keep fit
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when you're traveling do you think do
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you think like you'll go for runs that's
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a good question
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um I think I'll I think I'll keep
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running
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um
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I don't know what it is I there's
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something about running that
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um you don't you don't really enjoy the
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thought of going for a run but while
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you're running and the feeling after a
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run
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um there's not
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um
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there's not many other things you do
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that can make you feel like good about
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yourself yeah like running those I agree
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yeah the mental health benefits say a
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massive massive but the hardest part is
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actually going
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for the Run yeah yeah bringing yourself
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to run well there's um there's there's
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little tricks that um or they work for
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me I suppose every person's different
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but um like at night time I'll get my
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running gear ready and even if I'm not
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planning on running first thing in the
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morning I'll put the running gear like
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I've got the running gear on right now
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yeah and this means I'm more likely when
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we finish this podcast to go for a run
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yeah yeah is that is that your do you go
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for one run a day or do you go for most
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days most days yeah I have like rest and
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Recovery days and Depends depends where
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I'm at for a training cycle and what
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event I'm training for and things like
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that are you training for anything at
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the moment yeah I've got a couple coming
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up including like a couple of Ultras
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this one in December called the Kepler
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challenge which is 60ks
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60ks yeah oh my God you'd run there
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seven games
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oh my goodness yeah so you don't get any
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break like during that 60 I know but
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it's like a trail run so like on the
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real steep bets you you probably walk a
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little bit I guess and maybe take on
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some um nutrition I'm saying yeah so um
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anyway let's get into let's get into you
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so um you first came onto my radar
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um through uh your blog which is um
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simplelessons.com
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um you you're you're a deep thinker
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aren't you like you you actually don't
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sort of would it be fair to say you sort
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of don't fit the mold of a um
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professional you know contact Sports
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person I think that's fair to say yeah
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so the simplelistens.com blog um it says
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on the opening page this blog won't
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solve climate change and it might not
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end racism but it could help make you a
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better person and that's a good start so
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you when did you start simple lessons
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and when did the idea came come about
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yep so in um 2020
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we um
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the NRL suspended the competition and um
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we flew back from Australia straight
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back into lockdown all the Kiwi boys
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anyway from in the Warriors team and we
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were in lockdown for two weeks and we
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had no idea when the comp was going to
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restart again so
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um I was sitting at home I was getting
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so bored they'll send me these workouts
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to do at home and
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they'll be done in about half an hour
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but then you've got
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23 and a half more hours to go in the
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day
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um I don't know what made me do it but I
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I got into General writing I liked
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writing out
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um
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I started writing out my thoughts and
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feelings
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um which is weird so how do you get the
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time you're like 21 I was about
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yeah I would have been 20 or 21. 21 at
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the time yeah so where did the idea did
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you see it on a YouTube clip or a tick
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tock where did the idea come from to
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start journaling
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I don't know I think I I just opened
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Microsoft Word and I got I just started
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writing and then I thought after the
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first time I did I was like I'll try and
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do this for 50 days 50 days straight so
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what sort of what sort of things we we
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were you writing was it just sort of
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like a stream of Consciousness you were
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just writing what was on the top of your
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mind anything yeah yeah like how many
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how many sort of words
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change like the the first
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the first one would have been
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about
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100 words it wasn't it wasn't too
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paragraph yeah a paragraph yeah and um
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some days I'd write a few sentences a
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few sentences and then some days I'd
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write like four paragraphs okay it just
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depended or depending on how I was
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feeling that day and I'd write random
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stuff like what I'd have for breakfast
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and
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um I'd try to send things like I stopped
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drinking coffee for like a week and then
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I'd write out how that made me feel and
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uh swapped out swap coffee for green tea
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and then
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um I was just doing these little
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experiments because I was that bored
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like I had that much time on my hands
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and I thought okay I'm never going to
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get this amount of time to myself again
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so I better not waste it and it's such a
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such a profound way of thinking well
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most of us just ate more salt and
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vinegar chips and maybe drunk a bit more
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yeah oh don't worry I'll still wash it
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yeah yeah
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um
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but yeah it was a
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it was sort of like a
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like life so fast I feel like it goes so
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fast when you're you're just in the
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everyday motion of working and I'm
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hanging out with mate and
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um just doing whatever you do and then
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and that was sort of like a step back
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for me like I just took a step back and
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looked at everything from the outside
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like help me look at the bigger picture
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and it slowed down my thinking and and
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um
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yeah I I
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just found a new hobby for writing right
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and I've been doing ever since this see
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this is amazing I suppose by being a
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professional athlete you're you're in
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tune with your body like from from the
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neck down you're completely in tune with
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everything that's going on but to be to
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be that in tune uh with your mind as
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well especially at your age it's um it's
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it's [ __ ] awesome bro it's really
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cool yeah I mean I'm envious I'm a lot
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older than you and I'm still figuring a
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[ __ ] out yeah and uh you've you've
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you've you've you know you're doing this
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work and you've got there at a very
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young age which is cool yeah well I
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never like people always ask me like
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have you have you always been like that
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and in school I was just a normal
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always
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into sports and get to every other
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subject and I'm just dozing off
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obviously like I love I love training uh
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before before school I'd go and train
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with one of my mates at the gym and that
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was like the I'd get up at five o'clock
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and go and train with him and that was
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my routine but then I'd get to school
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and and in class I'll just doze off
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because I hadn't had enough sleep
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leading into the day you exhausted I'm
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exhausted yeah yeah exactly and that's
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that was the cycle for me like I go to
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school sleep
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and then go home or go and then go and
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train with whatever team I was playing
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with at the time go to sleep and then
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wake up at five o'clock to go to the gym
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with my mate right and there was a cycle
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for a good two to three years yeah and
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um I was never into writing or reading
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were you good at English though no no no
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no I was I wasn't good at it and
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that's why a lot of people were
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surprised that I wasn't good at it
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because
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um I something I really enjoy doing now
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it's amazing and and around about the
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same time
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um the the beginning of lockdown that's
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when you you invested in a Kindle as
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well yeah and uh you started reading a
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bit more yeah we were we were a reader
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when you were growing up or not so much
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no no same again same again reading and
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writing were probably my two biggest
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weaknesses at school
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um
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and uh yeah I bought the Kindle and I
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forgot which book it was I bought
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um
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around the same time I was actually
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getting into minimalism so it was I
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watched this documentary on Netflix on
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Netflix yeah I've seen that yeah and um
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it sort of it changed my
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um changed my perspective on consumerism
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because also at the time I was
00:12:30
I was getting paid well like for my age
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because I was a professional athlete and
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I was only 19 and um
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I had money to spend on the stuff that I
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couldn't afford when I was a little bit
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younger than that so
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um so you buy [ __ ] I was buying heaps of
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[ __ ] big screens what else how big
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screens like I was into shoes at the
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time oh you're a sneaker here I was a
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sneaker here I was I was I still I still
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like appreciate a good sneaker but I
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don't
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I feel like I can appreciate it without
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having to buy it now whereas back then
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if I saw a sneaker that I liked I was
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like I have to get there and I could get
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it
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but now it's like um now I have like
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three pairs of shoes I used to have
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about 15 or 16 so literally just wearing
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like a standard pair of like New Balance
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trainers yeah these were um these were
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recommended by a podiatrist sir right I
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was I was having trouble with my feet
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for actually my foot but we'll say that
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for another time
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yeah we've got to talk about the
00:13:24
injuries in particular the testicle but
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we'll get to there later so
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um okay so wow and so what sort of books
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are you reading on the Kindle yes like
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motivational books or yeah so I started
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off with reading the minimalist books
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and they're more like self self-help and
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Memoir type books
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um at the moment I'm into
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autobiographies
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um
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I just finished reading Will Smith's
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book it was um I thought it was pretty
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powerful
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um especially after seeing what he did
00:13:54
to Chris Rock
00:13:56
my parents actually bought that for me
00:13:58
for Christmas and like I never was never
00:14:01
a big fan of Will Smith I just I knew
00:14:03
obviously knew who he was and then I
00:14:05
started reading it
00:14:07
and it was two weeks into or two weeks
00:14:10
after I started reading it
00:14:12
um I might show me a video and it was
00:14:14
the video where he slept Chris Rock I
00:14:16
said oh [ __ ] I've got to read the rest
00:14:17
of the book I'm gonna see what's
00:14:19
happened and
00:14:21
um I thought yeah I really enjoyed the
00:14:24
read and he's a pretty
00:14:26
or he's a really talented person I I
00:14:28
couldn't I I forgot how much he's
00:14:30
achieved as
00:14:33
um an artist
00:14:34
and a movie star and just as a person
00:14:38
he's done so much you know it's Stellar
00:14:42
music career
00:14:44
um you know TV career films that the
00:14:46
whole thing after reading the book about
00:14:49
him can you understand sort of like how
00:14:51
how he ticks a bit more and perhaps why
00:14:54
he did that slapping thing yeah it's
00:14:56
funny asked that because when
00:14:59
when that happened everyone's
00:15:02
everyone's reaction
00:15:04
was
00:15:06
um
00:15:08
they reacted with a with anger and
00:15:12
um I felt like I had a bit more
00:15:14
compassion from because of reading I had
00:15:17
read the the start of his book and
00:15:20
and the beginning he talks about growing
00:15:22
up and his his father
00:15:25
abusing his mum and he he never stepped
00:15:29
in to stop that from happening but he
00:15:31
had a younger brother that would always
00:15:33
step in and
00:15:36
um
00:15:37
if not prevent try and prevent that from
00:15:39
happening yeah and that made him feel
00:15:42
like a cow would like deep down he he
00:15:44
felt like he like he never did enough
00:15:46
like he never did enough to protect the
00:15:48
people he loved right and
00:15:52
when I saw that happen
00:15:54
I was like he he didn't want to feel
00:15:56
like he didn't want to feel like a
00:15:58
coward
00:15:59
um
00:15:59
that that doesn't mean it's it's the
00:16:02
right thing to do but I just
00:16:04
it helped me understand a bit more
00:16:09
why why he might have done it yeah I
00:16:11
still like I still don't condone what he
00:16:13
did but I I had a bit more compassion
00:16:17
yeah than most people I'm sure I'm sure
00:16:19
he regrets it now like in hindsight the
00:16:21
correct thing to do I I suppose would
00:16:22
have been just uh for him and Jada to
00:16:24
walk out make a silent protest that way
00:16:26
and I'm sure if he had his time again
00:16:27
that's what I'd do but you know yeah
00:16:30
some sometimes you have like knee-jerk
00:16:32
reaction to things how I don't know how
00:16:34
you managed to do it on the field like
00:16:36
um when I was growing up watching rugby
00:16:39
league
00:16:40
um there was like a lot of a lot of
00:16:41
fighting that went on
00:16:43
um when you're when you're angry on the
00:16:45
field or you're stirred up I don't know
00:16:46
how you can how you can you know have
00:16:48
the discipline to control that like the
00:16:51
uh the the the the temptation to wake
00:16:53
one of your opponents must be there all
00:16:55
the time
00:16:56
yeah what yeah I've never grown up like
00:16:59
to be a real aggressive person
00:17:02
um
00:17:03
of
00:17:06
my parents always taught me to be kind
00:17:08
and
00:17:09
I think like I find it easy to separate
00:17:13
the game from
00:17:14
like my emotions from the game right
00:17:16
whereas I know some other people that
00:17:19
struggle with that they they use their
00:17:22
motion to drive them in the game whereas
00:17:25
I can I can see that it's a game and I
00:17:28
can separate my emotions from that yeah
00:17:31
um so I don't get as as angry as some of
00:17:34
some of the boys do during the game but
00:17:36
like I love seeing the the anger and the
00:17:39
passion that other people play with yeah
00:17:41
I feel like
00:17:43
yeah I'm not driven by anger or I'm not
00:17:46
trying to go out there and rip someone's
00:17:47
head off or try and
00:17:50
yeah do something like that I'm I'm just
00:17:53
trying to play the best that I can play
00:17:54
so I don't let my team down so um so
00:17:58
when you when you first played for the
00:18:00
Warriors you debuted for the um the
00:18:02
under 20 side on your 17th birthday
00:18:03
which is the the absolutely a minimum
00:18:06
age that's the that's the that's the age
00:18:07
you've got to be to play so were you
00:18:09
just like naturally gifted at League
00:18:11
or did you just like just have this
00:18:14
burning desire and you wanted it so bad
00:18:15
that you trained so hard all through
00:18:16
your sort of teenage years I think it
00:18:19
was a bit of both yeah yeah I wasn't I
00:18:22
was nowhere near as talented as some of
00:18:23
the the kids that were coming through
00:18:27
um my my age group
00:18:29
um
00:18:30
but
00:18:31
um
00:18:32
I I think I compensated for that time by
00:18:35
by working hard and like going back to
00:18:38
those those mornings where I'd wake up
00:18:40
before school I think that
00:18:42
um
00:18:45
doing that
00:18:47
over a
00:18:49
long period of time consistently
00:18:53
I saw the improvements yes and once I
00:18:56
saw the results there was no going back
00:18:57
I I knew that I had a recipe that would
00:19:01
that would help me get better on the
00:19:03
field and I was just going to keep using
00:19:06
that recipe to keep to continue to
00:19:08
improve and it just kept working like I
00:19:11
kept working hard away away from the
00:19:14
game
00:19:15
and I saw the results on the field and I
00:19:18
became a little bit addicted to addicted
00:19:21
to training harder than than other
00:19:23
people or other kids my age
00:19:26
and that's I think that's what
00:19:29
compensated for the the talent uh
00:19:33
um that I left
00:19:35
right so this yes so if you've got a
00:19:37
certain amount of natural talent and you
00:19:39
work hard at it you're going to be an
00:19:40
Unstoppable Force right
00:19:42
I feel you yeah you have an opportunity
00:19:44
to do something special yeah yeah
00:19:46
wow so and was it always your dream to
00:19:50
play for the the Warriors or did you
00:19:51
have like growing up did you have like a
00:19:53
favorite NRL team
00:19:54
um that was Australian based like I I'd
00:19:57
always followed rugby league very
00:19:58
closely yeah storm Melbourne storm were
00:20:01
one of my favorite teams when um
00:20:03
when Cooper crunk Billy Slater and
00:20:05
Cameron Smith The Big Three were playing
00:20:07
for them
00:20:09
um as soon as I
00:20:12
um soon as soon as I got invited to the
00:20:15
Warriors Academy
00:20:16
I've started watching The Warriors a bit
00:20:18
more um Sean Johnson was was there half
00:20:21
at the time
00:20:22
and I'd like playing in the NRL was just
00:20:26
like a distant dream it was something
00:20:29
that I would love to do but it was I
00:20:32
didn't think that I'd ever get there so
00:20:34
I
00:20:35
so I just kept playing and trying to get
00:20:38
better and
00:20:40
each year I ticked off a few goals and
00:20:43
then it
00:20:45
eventually led me to
00:20:47
get into the NRL team which is
00:20:49
they're pretty pretty crazy now that I
00:20:51
think back think back on it but oh it
00:20:53
made us remarkable yeah so so
00:20:56
um how old were you when you played your
00:20:57
first your first proper NRL game for the
00:20:59
uh the Warriors team I turned 20 yeah on
00:21:01
the week that I I debuted
00:21:04
so that's yeah three years ago now yeah
00:21:07
yeah and um the the this is probably an
00:21:10
incredibly um in polite question you
00:21:13
don't have to answer it but like so when
00:21:14
you start out what sort of money are you
00:21:16
making
00:21:17
um development so you have your top 30
00:21:22
um they're made up of your best 30
00:21:24
players in the squad and then you've got
00:21:26
six development contracts which uh
00:21:30
you're you're still in the squad but
00:21:32
you're just on On The Fringe On The
00:21:34
Fringe yeah yeah and um at the time I
00:21:37
was on a development contract and I was
00:21:40
earning
00:21:44
trying to think
00:21:46
I was earning more than 80k so yeah
00:21:48
you're 20 years old as a 20 year old
00:21:51
it's a lot it's a lot of Air Force Ones
00:21:53
a lot of users
00:21:57
wow yeah [ __ ] is that um is that um is
00:22:02
that like more money than what your
00:22:04
parents were making yeah yeah that's
00:22:06
what was crazy like because I'd still do
00:22:08
negotiate the contracts with with my
00:22:10
parents I was still living at home and
00:22:12
um
00:22:13
still immature I'm still immature now
00:22:15
but I was a lot more women I I disagree
00:22:19
you you I I feel like you're one of
00:22:21
these people you're a deep thinker and
00:22:22
you've got a you've you've got goals and
00:22:24
you know where you want to be so you
00:22:25
probably see yourself as being immature
00:22:27
but from where I'm sitting you seem like
00:22:28
a a real mature guy oh yeah yeah oh
00:22:31
thanks for that um
00:22:32
what was I saying oh you say yes 80k so
00:22:34
you're getting more than your P more
00:22:36
than the appearance at that beginning or
00:22:37
more than my parents at that point and
00:22:39
um but board goes up they start charging
00:22:41
you more to live at home yeah they
00:22:43
didn't even charge me to stay at home I
00:22:44
was still living at home earning 80k a
00:22:46
year didn't have any
00:22:48
um I had a partner at the time which
00:22:51
um
00:22:51
yeah that's where my money went to
00:22:54
on what what do you mean hey or just
00:22:57
like going doing doing activities doing
00:23:00
activities yeah yeah on my days off
00:23:03
um
00:23:04
but yeah I just had this
00:23:07
money and
00:23:09
um I was such a young kid at the time
00:23:10
but I just love playing rugby league
00:23:13
and
00:23:15
as I keep getting better I kept training
00:23:18
harder because I became addicted to that
00:23:22
recipe that I was telling you about
00:23:23
before
00:23:24
and um
00:23:26
I wasn't too until until I got into
00:23:29
reading and writing that I got to sit
00:23:30
back and like to see what do I really
00:23:33
want to do like
00:23:35
how do I want to live my life and
00:23:37
um
00:23:38
I think that's that planted the seed for
00:23:41
the decision I made this year
00:23:44
yeah which I I suppose leads leads leads
00:23:47
us to that now so at the end of this
00:23:48
season 2022
00:23:50
um you're retiring taking a year off is
00:23:53
that the plan or maybe longer or you
00:23:55
don't know I don't know I'm having a
00:23:56
break yeah yeah that's how I put it I
00:23:58
don't want to sound retiring because
00:24:01
if I'd make Jay-Z's retired about four
00:24:03
times Michael Jordan retired all the
00:24:05
time yeah no that's what I mean like I'd
00:24:08
rather say I'm taking a break and then
00:24:11
say I'll find something that I enjoy
00:24:13
doing I can keep doing that and I'll
00:24:15
just fade into the into the nothingness
00:24:19
um but if I feel like I have a burning
00:24:22
desire to come back and have another
00:24:23
crack at it I can say look of it I've
00:24:26
had a bit of time away
00:24:29
I feel like I'm still young enough to
00:24:32
add some value to some team and get
00:24:35
myself back into shape so I can do so
00:24:37
um I want to come back and play or at
00:24:40
least give it a give it another crack
00:24:42
um 100 okay so so again this seems like
00:24:46
um an impolite question but I I do feel
00:24:49
like it's reasonably important so you're
00:24:51
on 80 grand when you're 20. now you're
00:24:53
23. you're on like between 150 and 2
00:24:56
well over two yeah
00:24:58
been willing to wow
00:25:02
it is an impeller question but the
00:25:04
reason I ask is um I um I I I had a I
00:25:09
had a very successful radio career and
00:25:10
uh I was in the same job at the same
00:25:13
station uh for 20 years and and in the
00:25:16
last few years the the the passion
00:25:19
wasn't the same I still enjoyed it but
00:25:20
the passion wasn't there but it was the
00:25:22
money that kept me there yeah so the
00:25:23
fact that you're at this age you're
00:25:25
earning fantastic money probably on the
00:25:28
top two percent earners in the country
00:25:29
and you prepare to turn your back on
00:25:31
that man I'm an ore yeah full respect I
00:25:35
just think I'm I'm lucky like I'm lucky
00:25:38
to be in this position to step back from
00:25:41
from the game
00:25:43
and try something new what what is it
00:25:46
that you want to try well you don't know
00:25:47
yet I don't know I have no idea what I'm
00:25:50
going to do next year right that's the
00:25:52
truth um
00:25:54
I know I
00:25:56
when I was making the decision it was
00:25:58
more
00:26:00
like I'm if I resign for another year
00:26:03
or two years or three I know I'm exactly
00:26:06
how I'm gonna feel
00:26:07
in one year's time in two years time and
00:26:10
three years time which is what which is
00:26:12
wake up
00:26:14
go and take a few boxes and Groundhog
00:26:17
Day yeah and then go into the game and
00:26:19
just play my heart out as I usually do
00:26:21
and
00:26:23
and then I thought about like the other
00:26:25
if I was to step away from the game what
00:26:28
would that look like for me and I didn't
00:26:30
know and I still don't know but that
00:26:33
excited me more than knowing exactly how
00:26:36
I was gonna feel and see a lot of people
00:26:38
would be um have too much fear yeah or
00:26:41
there's definitely fear there don't get
00:26:44
me wrong I've
00:26:45
are still
00:26:47
um I still wrestle with the idea that
00:26:50
and wondering if you're doing the the
00:26:51
right thing or yeah oh of course yeah I
00:26:53
feel bad that you bought me a coffee now
00:26:55
what's that I feel better
00:27:01
um yeah so you mentioned before that you
00:27:03
um you you you watched the minimalist
00:27:06
Show on Netflix and you read their book
00:27:08
so since um adopting that sort of
00:27:11
mindset or lifestyle have you been good
00:27:13
at saving money yeah yeah okay so you've
00:27:16
got some you got some cash behind you
00:27:17
I've saved I've saved some money okay
00:27:19
um
00:27:20
so that'll
00:27:22
help a bit
00:27:24
um
00:27:26
yeah I I don't know how
00:27:28
I don't know how I'm gonna
00:27:31
live next year that's that's like the
00:27:34
honest truth
00:27:36
don't know where I'll be what I'll be
00:27:37
doing but that that excites me more than
00:27:40
knowing exactly how I feel next year do
00:27:43
you do you own your own place or do you
00:27:45
still live at home with your with your
00:27:46
parents
00:27:47
um so I live or we obviously live in
00:27:49
Brisbane I'm flooding with um my mate
00:27:52
Wade Egan and we
00:27:55
um we just rent out a place like an
00:27:57
apartment right near the city before
00:28:01
before then
00:28:02
or we were staying in Oz for a couple
00:28:05
years but before we moved to Australia I
00:28:07
was living with my parents and um
00:28:10
and yeah they they own that house but
00:28:14
um I've I've sort of just saved and
00:28:16
invested my money I haven't bought a
00:28:18
house so I'm not attached to anything at
00:28:20
the moment are you please tell me you
00:28:21
didn't put it in cryptocurrency
00:28:26
I'll be saying here you better sign up
00:28:28
for next year
00:28:30
yeah I don't understand it enough to
00:28:32
yeah I'll get on you
00:28:34
um wow your reports I've read about you
00:28:37
it says that your plan next year is to
00:28:39
um travel and write yeah so what is what
00:28:42
does that mean exactly what does that
00:28:43
look like
00:28:44
also have you got an itinerary
00:28:47
or a loose plan no loose plan at all
00:28:50
um so my
00:28:52
um like you said my simple lessons blog
00:28:54
I'll invest a lot more time into that uh
00:28:56
after after I finish up this year
00:29:00
um I'm going to Thailand
00:29:02
for New Year's with my schoolmates so
00:29:05
that's exciting that'll be the first
00:29:06
time I'll go to another country besides
00:29:09
Oz I actually went to Fiji when I was
00:29:11
three years old but it doesn't really
00:29:12
count
00:29:13
no
00:29:19
I've only been to Australia 450 times
00:29:23
and Fiji once wow but you're um you're
00:29:27
um you're part Maori part Samoan you've
00:29:29
played for some hour get your ass over
00:29:32
there yeah I know I know I'll get there
00:29:34
eventually yeah it's a great place one
00:29:36
of my favorite places to visit I love it
00:29:37
yeah I'd I'd want to learn a bit of the
00:29:39
language before I go back I don't I
00:29:41
don't really understand it at the moment
00:29:42
so
00:29:44
um that's another fear of like going and
00:29:47
going there and feeling like like I
00:29:48
don't belong there so
00:29:50
um is that right like you're not you're
00:29:52
not as connected with your culture or
00:29:54
your roots as what you should be so yeah
00:29:56
yeah that's that's it so that's through
00:29:58
no fault of your own yeah yeah but I
00:30:01
also like I I'm old enough to take
00:30:03
responsibility for it now and like I
00:30:06
can't control how how I grew up but I
00:30:08
can't feel what I do now so
00:30:11
um
00:30:11
I'll I'll definitely be Keen to learn
00:30:14
more of the Samoan language and culture
00:30:16
also my Maori side I'm
00:30:19
I know a bit more about my Maori side
00:30:21
than my Samoan side so
00:30:23
um
00:30:24
yes
00:30:26
once I step away from the game I need to
00:30:28
invest a bit more time into that
00:30:31
wow
00:30:32
do you think um do you think what will
00:30:35
you miss about it and what won't you
00:30:36
miss about it
00:30:39
um
00:30:40
I suppose like since you've made the
00:30:42
decision and you're at peace with the
00:30:43
decision you must have um you know have
00:30:46
time to reflect and think things about
00:30:47
think about things that you will miss
00:30:49
yeah yeah no no you're right
00:30:52
um
00:30:53
I'll miss
00:30:55
just the banter and the changing rooms
00:30:58
that's that's something I've always
00:30:59
loved is
00:31:00
not actually well I loved playing but
00:31:04
making jokes and making fun of people
00:31:07
off the field in the changing rooms and
00:31:09
just that team environment is the team
00:31:11
environment
00:31:12
um when you
00:31:13
you know what it's like if you're having
00:31:15
a bad day and then you go into training
00:31:16
everyone else is upbeat they sort of
00:31:18
lift you yeah of course and if someone
00:31:20
else is feeling down you try and lift
00:31:21
them so that's that's something I
00:31:25
um all really miss about the the team
00:31:27
environment
00:31:29
um
00:31:29
also winning winning is we haven't done
00:31:32
it much this year but
00:31:34
it does make the winning more yeah uh
00:31:38
enjoy enjoyable when you do when you do
00:31:40
when
00:31:41
um because you work everyone's working
00:31:43
towards the same same goal everyone
00:31:45
wants to win so it's
00:31:48
um
00:31:49
you spend a lot of time in pre-season
00:31:53
working on your craft putting hours and
00:31:56
hours into improving yourself just so
00:32:00
you can make the team a little bit
00:32:01
better
00:32:02
and when everyone comes together
00:32:04
and you achieve what you want to achieve
00:32:07
collectively it's it's special yeah yeah
00:32:10
okay so that's what you will miss
00:32:12
um what what won't you miss what are the
00:32:14
uh so I supposed to be being a
00:32:16
professional sports person is like um
00:32:18
it's almost like an iceberg so so people
00:32:19
see the bit that's poking out of the
00:32:21
water but they don't see the big bit
00:32:23
underneath which uh I don't know what
00:32:25
that looks like maybe it's boring
00:32:26
meetings maybe it's hard work yeah maybe
00:32:28
it's um you know media pressure I don't
00:32:30
know yeah I think the main one is
00:32:34
um like when people message you to do
00:32:35
podcasts
00:32:36
[Laughter]
00:32:41
by the way do you get asked through many
00:32:43
of these
00:32:44
cream [ __ ] doing a podcast now
00:32:46
yeah now I actually I love podcasts I
00:32:49
listen to a lot of them um
00:32:51
and like I always feel I'm grateful that
00:32:54
people actually want to want to hear
00:32:56
what I want to say um
00:32:59
but yeah back to things I won't miss
00:33:02
pre-season training so hard running and
00:33:05
tackling and wrestling
00:33:08
just getting flogged every day
00:33:12
um what else
00:33:16
um
00:33:17
meetings
00:33:19
we we have so many meetings as
00:33:22
for athletes we watch so much a video
00:33:25
and sometimes you over analyze what you
00:33:28
need to do in the game when it's a
00:33:31
sometimes it's a simple game
00:33:35
yeah that's gotta be that's gonna be
00:33:37
hard especially if you're um an
00:33:38
instinctual sort of player and uh yeah
00:33:42
I mean it's like um Graham Henry the
00:33:45
Elder black coach he's got a theory that
00:33:47
um a lot of good players rugby players
00:33:49
don't end up making good coaches because
00:33:51
they find it too frustrating because
00:33:54
um it's hard for them to like teach
00:33:56
someone what came naturally to them yeah
00:33:58
that's so true
00:34:00
um there's certain players that
00:34:02
that need that thrive on
00:34:04
having structure like they need
00:34:06
structure to play their best footy but
00:34:09
there's other players where you just
00:34:12
you only need to give them a couple tips
00:34:14
every now and then and you you have to
00:34:17
just let them play how how they play
00:34:19
because that's that's what's best for
00:34:20
them
00:34:21
so that I reckon that would be a hard
00:34:23
thing as a coach is understanding what
00:34:25
what a player needs to to be at their
00:34:28
best yeah
00:34:29
a little like it'll be hard to coach one
00:34:31
player let alone 36. yeah because um it
00:34:35
was one of the Warriors last year that
00:34:37
um um you know the the the the strapping
00:34:40
you have on your wrist yeah was it one
00:34:41
of the worries that had um fold some
00:34:43
[ __ ] yeah yeah so this is someone that
00:34:46
obviously doesn't need massive amount of
00:34:48
video analysis he just needs like a
00:34:49
simple instruction exactly exactly what
00:34:52
does that mean just basically basically
00:34:54
just tackle hard yeah yeah did he uh who
00:34:58
was that did he get in trouble for that
00:34:59
oh that was that was Kane Evans he's um
00:35:02
if anyone who knows Kane Evans he's one
00:35:04
of the nicest black she'll ever meet um
00:35:06
he's actually in the super league right
00:35:07
now so
00:35:09
um
00:35:09
yeah he's a he's a character on and off
00:35:12
the field but um
00:35:13
I love playing with him I love playing
00:35:15
it was a hilarious instruction yeah it
00:35:17
was amazing how someone spotted that
00:35:19
it's beyond me I know there's too many
00:35:21
cameras these days yeah yeah take it
00:35:23
away what do you write anything on any
00:35:26
instructions on your hand or no no no
00:35:28
it's all in it's all in here yeah
00:35:32
I don't want to waste the strapping tape
00:35:34
yeah yeah save the planet now wow okay
00:35:37
so um so
00:35:40
so the the last game of the year you
00:35:42
finish up then what's the plan
00:35:44
I'm still hoping to play in the World
00:35:46
Cup yep that's in England oh yeah now
00:35:50
um so you could play for Samoa or I can
00:35:53
only play for someone only someone okay
00:35:55
because I played in the test a couple of
00:35:57
weeks ago okay
00:35:59
um anyone who played him one of the
00:36:01
tests they can only represent that
00:36:03
country or
00:36:05
um Nation at the World Cup this year
00:36:08
right yeah okay so so you're playing the
00:36:10
World Cup assuming you're selected yeah
00:36:13
assuming I'm not injured and selected
00:36:15
yeah and um and and then what then what
00:36:17
after that that must be um
00:36:19
must be exciting exhilarating scary like
00:36:22
just just having having just you know
00:36:24
blank space in front of you pretty much
00:36:26
yeah that's it that's a it's like a
00:36:28
blank canvas just got it
00:36:32
um find out what um
00:36:35
what colors I want to paint with
00:36:38
um
00:36:40
I think I'll I'll hopefully do a bit of
00:36:42
travel
00:36:43
on the way back to NZ yep um after the
00:36:47
World Cup
00:36:48
because once you get to England then
00:36:49
you've got you can oh Europe is on your
00:36:51
doorstep yeah yeah and um since you'll
00:36:54
be traveling on a budget and watching
00:36:55
your money you can get like Ryan Air
00:36:57
flights and easy jet flights for like
00:36:59
two dollars exactly exactly I might not
00:37:01
even make it back yeah I might have to
00:37:04
find a job over there and then save up
00:37:05
for a ticket back but did you do you
00:37:08
want to find a job next year like do you
00:37:09
want to do you want to experience what
00:37:11
it's like to have like a normal yeah I
00:37:13
think I think I would
00:37:15
but I think I'd like to do it in another
00:37:17
country yeah
00:37:18
um I don't know what that country is at
00:37:20
the moment but
00:37:21
I think I'd like to experience just a
00:37:22
normal normal job and what's a normal
00:37:25
job for you like so like a barista
00:37:29
personal trainer something completely
00:37:32
away from
00:37:33
oh yeah Fitness I'm not I'm open to
00:37:36
anything right at the moment but
00:37:38
all I know is that I won't be playing
00:37:39
rugby league next year yeah that's the
00:37:42
and and for now that that Prospect
00:37:44
excites you yeah yeah and maybe um you
00:37:48
might maybe this break will make you
00:37:49
realize like what it means to you and
00:37:50
you'll want to come back that's what I
00:37:52
mean is that what you're hoping kind of
00:37:53
in a way yeah well I have no
00:37:55
expectations like I I just I've made the
00:37:58
decision that I'm going to take a break
00:37:59
and whatever comes from it comes from it
00:38:01
yeah well I suppose it's been um it's
00:38:03
been a dominant thing in your life like
00:38:05
when when the Warriors first signed you
00:38:07
as like a teenager you you know you're
00:38:09
living at home as you said and you had
00:38:10
braces you had braces in your mouth
00:38:12
right but yeah you're a kid braces when
00:38:14
I debude
00:38:16
um yes it's so embarrassing
00:38:19
why is it embarrassing no because you
00:38:22
look like I said before I'm vain so but
00:38:26
look how good your teeth looked out yeah
00:38:29
um but when I had braces I never smiled
00:38:31
with my teeth it was so funny all right
00:38:33
because you're embarrassed I always
00:38:35
smiling yeah closed mouth but as soon as
00:38:37
they came off I was like yeah
00:38:40
damn yeah
00:38:43
um wow that's crazy
00:38:46
um yeah I think any job
00:38:49
any job you do that
00:38:52
there's no chance of rupturing a
00:38:53
testicle I think has got to be a good
00:38:55
job that's a fair point so you um so the
00:38:58
statistical thing that um do you want to
00:39:00
talk about that and say we can talk
00:39:02
about it okay so so you had a game uh
00:39:05
earlier this year against um your
00:39:06
favorite team growing up the Melbourne
00:39:08
storm
00:39:09
um it's one of the worst losses in
00:39:11
Warrior's history like 7-0 or something
00:39:13
and you you end up rupturing it someone
00:39:16
someone from the Melbourne storm
00:39:17
accidentally need you in the my teammate
00:39:20
oh really yeah so I made a tackle on a
00:39:23
Melbourne storm player and
00:39:25
my teammate was coming from the other
00:39:27
side he jumped to try and Tackle him and
00:39:30
his knee swung around directly into my
00:39:33
groin so this happened
00:39:35
um in the first half right before right
00:39:38
before halftime and straight straight
00:39:40
away it's excruciating pain and straight
00:39:42
away you know something's not right yeah
00:39:43
well initially I thought it was just
00:39:47
like a normal whack to the to the nut
00:39:57
yeah yeah just for fun yeah and you know
00:40:00
who it's for a few minutes it hurts for
00:40:01
a few minutes but eventually the pain
00:40:03
goes away sure
00:40:05
um but after a few minutes it was still
00:40:07
there like it felt like
00:40:09
felt like my nuts had been like pushed
00:40:12
up into my chest that's what it fell off
00:40:13
and you couldn't even speak right I
00:40:15
couldn't I could barely talk I I meant I
00:40:18
barely managed to say what was wrong but
00:40:21
um by the position I was in my physio
00:40:23
new
00:40:24
exactly what was wrong right okay so
00:40:27
then you have the halftime break so you
00:40:29
get like 10 minutes is it 10 minutes 10
00:40:30
minutes so you you must have gone and
00:40:32
gone to a like a cubicle to to check it
00:40:34
out I didn't check it why not I went and
00:40:37
said so like when you go back into the
00:40:39
change rooms at half time there's a
00:40:41
semi-circle of chairs and there's one
00:40:43
chair that faces a semicircle and that's
00:40:45
for the coach and obviously the chairs
00:40:47
are for the players
00:40:48
I went straight to the
00:40:50
to the chair and sat down and the coach
00:40:53
started he spoke for about 10 minutes or
00:40:56
no not 10 minutes about five minutes I
00:40:58
didn't hear one word he said because all
00:41:00
my head was down here
00:41:02
all I was focusing on was breathing
00:41:04
I was in that much pain
00:41:06
that's the worst pain I've ever felt
00:41:09
and then
00:41:10
eventually stopped speaking
00:41:13
and we had to that they have like a bell
00:41:16
that rings when there's two minutes
00:41:17
before you run out
00:41:21
how am I going to get and we'll end the
00:41:23
game but at that stage like we're only
00:41:24
down by a try right so you can imagine
00:41:27
how poor our second half was wow yeah
00:41:30
down by it twice that was like six zero
00:41:32
at halftime oh it was like it would have
00:41:34
been like I think
00:41:36
18 12 or
00:41:39
it might have been two tries it might
00:41:40
have been eighteen six or something but
00:41:42
we had bombed a few tries right right so
00:41:44
we were actually pretty confident
00:41:45
heading into that second half
00:41:47
and
00:41:49
yeah Melvin Melvin stone were just too
00:41:51
classy and we
00:41:54
didn't help that we played poorly in
00:41:56
that second half why didn't you um why
00:41:59
don't you speak to Medical at half time
00:42:00
and say hey I'm not good
00:42:02
is this I was in the game right yeah I
00:42:06
was I didn't even think about going off
00:42:08
it was more just how am I gonna get
00:42:10
through the rest of the game that's that
00:42:12
was my mindset
00:42:13
that's amazing yeah
00:42:16
okay so then if so the whole second half
00:42:19
you're in you're in just a world of pain
00:42:21
yeah
00:42:22
um so how do you like how do you tackle
00:42:25
someone or how do you play the game when
00:42:26
I mean yeah I wonder this when I when I
00:42:29
see um I was watching the UFC the other
00:42:31
weekend you see someone with a cat eye
00:42:33
and then they get had on the same spot
00:42:35
again it's got to be aren't you nervous
00:42:36
about going into you know going going
00:42:39
into Tech with someone and getting like
00:42:40
knocked in the nuts again
00:42:42
yeah it was oh you're just in the zone
00:42:46
and you're not
00:42:47
you you sort of yeah you're in the zone
00:42:50
and your your mates or your teammates
00:42:52
help you stay in the Zone by talking to
00:42:54
you yeah
00:42:55
but
00:42:57
also you've got the crowd so that
00:43:00
creates a bit of adrenaline and you
00:43:03
don't feel the pain as much right
00:43:05
I just didn't want to go off that's
00:43:08
amazing you know what I thought of
00:43:09
because because it was the Anzac game I
00:43:11
was like
00:43:12
lock it
00:43:13
my nuts are so bought like imagine what
00:43:16
those soldiers were feeling when when
00:43:18
they were
00:43:18
when they were in the wars yeah like in
00:43:20
the trenches and the trenches yeah yeah
00:43:22
imagine what they were feeling like this
00:43:24
is nothing compared to that
00:43:25
and I remember thinking that I was like
00:43:27
now I'm playing the rest of the game
00:43:29
no matter what I'm playing
00:43:31
and it was it was actually lucky that
00:43:35
not lucky but they scored quite a few
00:43:38
tries so I got to rest but by the goal
00:43:41
post because all I was thinking about
00:43:42
was just getting through the game yeah
00:43:44
yeah and then straight after the game I
00:43:46
ran into the change rooms to check it
00:43:50
sorry the whole thing was Bruce we had
00:43:54
it swollen up with it yeah
00:43:57
and um
00:44:00
the doctor our team doctor
00:44:04
um did an ultrasound scan on it straight
00:44:06
away
00:44:08
most embarrassing thing I've ever done
00:44:10
really why so not not embarrassing but
00:44:12
yeah oh it was embarrassed it would have
00:44:14
been more embarrassing if it wasn't as
00:44:17
sore yeah but it wasn't too much pain I
00:44:19
was just like yeah hurry up get it done
00:44:20
I took my shorts off and she did the
00:44:23
ultrasound scan
00:44:24
and I was just sucking one hurry up and
00:44:27
then she told me everything was sweet
00:44:29
everything was fine
00:44:32
even though the whole thing was bruised
00:44:35
she said that everything was pretty much
00:44:37
still in working order and I was like oh
00:44:38
thank God
00:44:39
I was thinking look I'm not gonna be
00:44:41
able to have kids this is gonna suck
00:44:44
but then she told me that I'd have to
00:44:46
get a formal ultrasound scan and I was
00:44:49
like okay okay well um we'll do that
00:44:52
when we get back to Brisbane because the
00:44:53
game wasn't game was in Melbourne
00:44:55
and then I'm going to go to the formal
00:44:57
ultrasound scan and I said I'd ruptured
00:44:58
my left testicle and also
00:45:01
so what does that mean exactly
00:45:03
um
00:45:05
so so when the urologist was explaining
00:45:07
it to me he he told me picture picture
00:45:10
like an egg
00:45:12
and there's a crack in the egg
00:45:17
yeah
00:45:19
yeah so how do they how do they fix that
00:45:20
is it just one of those ones that heals
00:45:21
itself in time or yeah so that basically
00:45:24
they remove whatever
00:45:26
um
00:45:28
like a blood that needs to get removed
00:45:32
um
00:45:33
and they Stitch it back up and then you
00:45:36
you're good to go wow yeah and then um
00:45:38
so then when you return to playing how
00:45:41
long how long did you need off to
00:45:42
recover
00:45:43
a month a month and then um and then
00:45:45
when you start resume time training
00:45:46
again you're more like a like a cricket
00:45:48
box yeah like a plastic cap over over
00:45:51
top yeah yeah so I wore that
00:45:55
well that the first training back until
00:45:58
last week I think last week I forgot to
00:46:01
put it on for training but I didn't even
00:46:03
I didn't even think about it and then
00:46:06
after training I said I didn't even wear
00:46:07
my box but I felt I felt fine
00:46:10
and so I'll just keep playing without
00:46:12
because it's actually pretty
00:46:13
uncomfortable to wear yeah
00:46:17
yeah what it would chafe around the
00:46:18
science and yeah yeah and you've got to
00:46:20
wear two sets of undies and you know I
00:46:23
mean minimalists I don't have many many
00:46:25
undies
00:46:29
yeah so the the minimalist thing so
00:46:32
that'll be um yeah I feel like living in
00:46:34
the Nomad lifestyle next year traveling
00:46:36
around it'll probably suit you yeah yeah
00:46:38
I've
00:46:39
decluttered a lot since I've watched the
00:46:42
first documentary but oh I think I have
00:46:44
to downsize a little bit more oh mate I
00:46:46
did the same I you know what I I feel
00:46:48
like I probably watched the same
00:46:49
documentary about the same time as you
00:46:50
and at the time I was living in a big
00:46:51
house a big Villa
00:46:53
um uh yeah when when me and my um
00:46:56
ex-wife moved into this house it was um
00:46:58
there were some rooms that were empty
00:47:00
because it was that big and by the time
00:47:01
we left like 15 years later it was just
00:47:04
full of stuff and then you do a
00:47:06
declutter and uh I don't know if you
00:47:08
felt the same but made me angry like
00:47:10
just the amount of stuff I'd accumulated
00:47:12
ah it's
00:47:14
yeah that's
00:47:17
I felt similar I felt similar when I
00:47:20
when I got rid of all my stuff it was
00:47:22
like all right what like what now it was
00:47:25
I didn't realize it at the time when I
00:47:28
was buying this stuff but I was sort of
00:47:29
covering up other parts of my life that
00:47:31
I didn't want to deal with where how do
00:47:34
you mean so uh do you think buying
00:47:36
material stuff like gave you sort of
00:47:37
like a a temporary fax yeah yeah exactly
00:47:40
like a dopamine her a dopamine her yeah
00:47:42
but it didn't
00:47:45
there's more like I was treating the
00:47:48
the symptom than the cause and then
00:47:50
every time I felt
00:47:53
like
00:47:55
I needed to fix something I fixed it by
00:47:57
buying stuff yeah I didn't really deal
00:48:00
with the the Deep deeper problems yeah
00:48:04
because when um when you announced that
00:48:06
you weren't
00:48:07
um signing on for next year uh
00:48:10
like a lot of people I read this in a
00:48:12
lot of media reports a lot of people
00:48:13
just immediately ashamed it was
00:48:14
something for like your mental health
00:48:16
um but but it's not your mental you're
00:48:18
mentally you're in a good place
00:48:20
I'm in a decent place yeah yeah I feel
00:48:23
like I feel like you're really in tune
00:48:25
with what's going on in your mind which
00:48:26
is a great I try I
00:48:29
I feel like I shift like sometimes
00:48:32
I know
00:48:33
exactly how I'm feeling and what I'm
00:48:36
thinking but sometimes I move too far
00:48:38
away but then I'm
00:48:41
I'm better at recognizing when I'm too
00:48:43
far away from it so I can bring myself
00:48:44
back how do you mean had him in too far
00:48:46
away what do you mean so I start doing
00:48:47
stuff that don't align with who who I
00:48:50
want your values yeah with my values in
00:48:53
terms of
00:48:54
um like what like drinking I I know yeah
00:48:57
yeah well drinking and
00:48:59
um maybe gossiping about someone behind
00:49:02
their back wow
00:49:04
um
00:49:05
being a negative person right right and
00:49:08
not actually thinking before before I
00:49:10
speak
00:49:12
um and I'm much better realizing
00:49:16
when I'm when I'm in too far away from
00:49:18
yeah my neutral stay are you are you
00:49:21
religious is your family religious my my
00:49:24
grandparents are yeah my parents aren't
00:49:25
right and I'm not so
00:49:28
all right wow so it's not even not even
00:49:30
like a religious thing or a Catholic
00:49:32
guilt or a no well you're just a you're
00:49:35
just a just a GC
00:49:37
you are you're just a good a good person
00:49:40
yeah well like we'll we're all trying
00:49:43
like we all just try our best and that's
00:49:46
that's something
00:49:47
um I've learned over the last years look
00:49:51
everyone's just everyone's just trying
00:49:53
their best you're trying your best yeah
00:49:56
all right and mate and no one knows
00:49:57
what's going on we're all exactly we're
00:49:59
all we're all just making [ __ ] up and
00:50:01
figuring it out as we go along exactly
00:50:03
um but you're um a lot of us and myself
00:50:06
included like we're not prepared to I
00:50:08
suppose look under the Bonnet as deep as
00:50:10
what you've done and and do the work
00:50:12
that you've done are you still alcohol
00:50:13
free or you're drinking a bit nowadays I
00:50:15
know you like a funny funny you say that
00:50:17
because the the week I made that
00:50:19
decision I I had to drink
00:50:21
so um yeah so when did you when did you
00:50:24
stop drinking uh I stopped drinking
00:50:26
Halloween last year so it was October
00:50:27
yeah I went six six months without
00:50:30
drinking so we imagine for Drinker I
00:50:32
feel like you wanted like a problem
00:50:33
Drinker anyway I wasn't a problem yeah I
00:50:36
was a real happy drinker so it made me
00:50:38
feel so happy and I just love Everyone
00:50:41
likes being happy yeah
00:50:43
so I like drinking and
00:50:47
um my mates would would go out most
00:50:49
weekends and I didn't want to feel like
00:50:52
I was missing out on anything so I was
00:50:53
like oh fine I'll come
00:50:56
um but when I when I stopped drinking it
00:50:58
was like okay this is
00:51:00
this is hard but
00:51:03
like this is what I want
00:51:06
this is what I don't I don't want to
00:51:08
drink like
00:51:09
I feel much like a much better person
00:51:11
when I'm not drinking than when I am
00:51:13
drinking do you and like at the time or
00:51:16
the next day the next day yeah right
00:51:18
right you know what it's like yeah yeah
00:51:19
if you wake up a day after
00:51:22
like a massive night of drinking you're
00:51:25
hating yourself and then
00:51:27
if
00:51:29
if you go through the night or the
00:51:30
weekend without drinking you're like oh
00:51:32
man I'm so happy I didn't go out last
00:51:34
night
00:51:35
so it's just having that discipline to
00:51:38
say to say no and say yes to what's best
00:51:41
for you yeah so but you're drinking a
00:51:43
bit these days yeah well I had a drink
00:51:46
after the game right um last weekend I'd
00:51:49
I'd drink oh I had a few drinks yeah
00:51:53
um I didn't have a big night but
00:51:55
I know that
00:51:57
um
00:51:59
it's it's part of the footy environment
00:52:01
so it's hard to pull yourself it's hard
00:52:03
to pull yourself out of it yeah is that
00:52:06
right yeah that's that's terrible yeah
00:52:09
yeah or
00:52:11
it's but it's I you know what and I
00:52:14
don't think it's just necessarily part
00:52:15
of that funny environment I think it's
00:52:16
part of like um
00:52:17
New Zealand or even sort of uh
00:52:20
Commonwealth culture it's like it's the
00:52:22
only drug in the world that you have to
00:52:24
justify not taking yeah you know what I
00:52:27
mean that's right yeah you know if
00:52:28
someone pulls out a bag of coke no one's
00:52:30
going to be like why hey hey why are you
00:52:33
having a line yeah someone's like why
00:52:34
aren't you having a drink yeah it's like
00:52:36
you need to justify why you're not doing
00:52:38
it that's a normal yeah it's a normal
00:52:39
question
00:52:41
um why aren't you drinking but
00:52:43
you're pregnant bro yeah yeah yeah I
00:52:50
mean alcohol
00:52:51
it's it's not good for you it's
00:52:54
nothing nothing good comes from alcohol
00:52:57
except for that that moment but
00:52:59
everything else it's it's toxic not just
00:53:03
for yourself but ends up being toxic for
00:53:05
your relationships and
00:53:08
um
00:53:09
yeah it's so harmful to your well-being
00:53:11
short term and long term so yeah um did
00:53:14
you did you read about this or you watch
00:53:16
YouTube clips what what why did you come
00:53:18
to this conclusion experience right
00:53:21
I always wake up after the night of
00:53:23
drinking thinking what am I doing like
00:53:26
even if it was a good night I'd be like
00:53:28
man I feel so like
00:53:31
[ __ ] yeah yeah
00:53:33
[Music]
00:53:34
um
00:53:35
so
00:53:36
I'd want to give it up eventually it's
00:53:38
just trying to surround myself with the
00:53:41
right people to help me help me stay
00:53:44
away from it yeah right right
00:53:47
okay that's interesting so you you
00:53:49
travel next year I'd like it's not going
00:53:51
to be a massive piss trip or anything no
00:53:54
no I'm I'm looking forward to meeting
00:53:56
new people yeah
00:53:58
um
00:53:59
hopefully people that have similar
00:54:01
values to me and
00:54:04
um people that I feel comfortable being
00:54:06
the best version of myself around what
00:54:09
what are those sort of values like what
00:54:11
what are you what do you think are like
00:54:12
the cornerstones of what makes you uh
00:54:14
makes you a person or makes the person
00:54:16
that you want to be
00:54:18
um honestly I just want to be an honest
00:54:20
person
00:54:21
um I want to
00:54:24
be a bit more creative than I have been
00:54:27
um
00:54:28
I want to
00:54:30
be kind
00:54:33
those three things it's free to be
00:54:36
honest kind and
00:54:38
um creative so
00:54:40
but I think that it's so important and
00:54:43
we we underestimate the power of
00:54:46
of um those three values so
00:54:49
um
00:54:50
the more time I spin around people who
00:54:52
value those three things are that I
00:54:54
reckon the better person I'll become
00:54:55
yeah yeah geez it's like um it's like
00:54:58
you're uh you're a deeply religious
00:55:00
person even though you're not religious
00:55:01
you're just like a you're just a good a
00:55:03
good human
00:55:04
like even even if you're not those
00:55:06
things just your intention and your goal
00:55:09
to be those things makes you a good
00:55:10
person yeah yeah and
00:55:15
yeah I I just think
00:55:16
if you
00:55:26
I've always believed that good things
00:55:27
happen to good people um
00:55:29
and I know there's some cases where some
00:55:32
people are just unfortunate
00:55:34
um they
00:55:36
they've just been dealt a shitty hand
00:55:40
and no matter how
00:55:42
kind they are no matter how honest they
00:55:45
are or no matter how creative they
00:55:47
intend to be
00:55:49
they're never going to be able to live a
00:55:51
life that live the life that they want
00:55:53
to live so
00:55:55
um
00:55:57
you've just gotta try your best and be
00:56:00
grateful for what you do have because
00:56:02
there's always someone there to whistle
00:56:04
there's always someone that's worse off
00:56:07
and
00:56:08
yeah the the kind of we are the better
00:56:10
the better the World's Gonna Be yeah and
00:56:13
it feels good doesn't it feels good yeah
00:56:15
that's good yeah
00:56:16
um Chase no one could um you know from
00:56:19
an outsider's perspective and I suppose
00:56:21
like some League fans would be like this
00:56:24
kid's crazy like what's he doing he's
00:56:26
he's living every every young man's
00:56:28
dream and he's earning good money and
00:56:29
why is he turning his back on this this
00:56:30
is this is nuts but I think anyone that
00:56:33
sits down with you and hears your story
00:56:34
and here's your intentions no one could
00:56:36
no one could um try and talk you out of
00:56:39
it yeah well like I I
00:56:42
I know that I have a bit of a following
00:56:46
um as a league player and
00:56:49
like I'm just trying to do good with it
00:56:51
so
00:56:52
um I know I'll lose a few fans because
00:56:54
of this the decision I've made but
00:56:56
um there'll be a few that that it
00:56:58
that'll follow me on my journey and
00:57:01
um
00:57:04
I'll just keep trying to do my best I've
00:57:07
seen before we're all just doing our
00:57:08
best yeah and I I feel like that won't
00:57:11
um bother you too much I feel like you
00:57:12
want um you want fans or supporters that
00:57:15
like you for you not for your you know
00:57:18
prowess on the on the footy patch yeah
00:57:20
exactly you want to be able to sit in a
00:57:23
room by yourself and feel comfortable
00:57:24
yeah and you shouldn't need anyone else
00:57:27
to complete
00:57:29
you should you need to feel comfortable
00:57:31
in your own skin and
00:57:32
um I'm not saying I'll feel
00:57:35
comfortable in my own skin but I feel a
00:57:38
lot more comfortable than I did a few
00:57:40
years ago yeah right right have you seen
00:57:42
anyone at the moment are you single I'm
00:57:44
single single are you single a are you
00:57:46
single I'm seeing Gillum Wellington I've
00:57:48
seen a girl since the beginning of the
00:57:49
year oh nice it's nice how's that going
00:57:51
that's good it's going good yeah yeah
00:57:53
yeah we're going to turn this into a
00:57:55
relationship podcast
00:57:58
no no I'm wondering because you
00:58:00
mentioned before like when you're you're
00:58:02
drinking and it had a negative impact on
00:58:04
your relationship and I'm yeah I'm
00:58:05
wondering if you still have feelings for
00:58:07
that for that person or you just feel
00:58:08
bad about the way you act on that
00:58:10
relationship or something yeah it's a
00:58:12
mixture of both but is there a support
00:58:14
we don't have to go we won't go there
00:58:16
okay okay yeah were you unfaithful but
00:58:20
then were you unfaithful yeah I was I
00:58:22
was a bad right bad man that's but it's
00:58:25
you know it's it's hard because you're a
00:58:27
young man and you've got this temptation
00:58:28
and you're traveling a lot and yeah yeah
00:58:31
um she's like I can I you know I can
00:58:33
tell sitting down with you it still eats
00:58:34
you up now you feel bad about it you
00:58:36
feel bad about your actions yeah well I
00:58:39
just
00:58:39
because I've come so far now it's it's
00:58:41
hard to look back at where you were
00:58:44
um painful you've just got girls and
00:58:45
shame about it yeah it's and eventually
00:58:48
you've just got to let it go because
00:58:50
it'll you have to forgive yourself yeah
00:58:53
yeah that's it you have to forgive
00:58:54
yourself and
00:58:56
um
00:58:58
yeah
00:58:59
yeah and um and has has she forgiven you
00:59:02
that's a long time ago now yeah yeah yes
00:59:05
I I think she is yeah well you need to
00:59:07
forgive yourself yeah yeah that's true
00:59:09
um and just just know that um you know
00:59:11
even though you you you treated her
00:59:13
badly it's going to make you like a
00:59:15
better partner in relationships going
00:59:16
forward yeah yeah I think uh yeah I'd
00:59:19
only be able to forgive myself if I
00:59:21
learn from it right yeah you don't yeah
00:59:24
you can't just forgive yourself and then
00:59:26
make the same mistake you know what I
00:59:28
mean you can but it's um I think
00:59:31
Einstein had a quote the the definition
00:59:33
of Madness is doing the same thing over
00:59:35
and over and expect to get different
00:59:36
results yeah
00:59:38
um yeah wow do you have any um do you
00:59:42
have any like favorite books like books
00:59:43
that you swear by because it's like um
00:59:45
it feels like you've you've you've done
00:59:47
the uh you've done the hard work so a
00:59:49
lot of people that are listening to this
00:59:50
can probably learn from you like are
00:59:51
there any books that you absolutely
00:59:53
swear by that you got good stuff out of
00:59:54
or is it just easier for people just go
00:59:56
to simplelessons.com and read your
00:59:58
reviews and things
01:00:00
um well
01:00:02
um there's this book
01:00:03
by the minimalist it's
01:00:05
not really a book it's like a collection
01:00:07
of essays and they talk about
01:00:10
um like the most important parts of life
01:00:13
or the most important case of life for
01:00:15
relationships
01:00:17
um
01:00:18
Finance creativity
01:00:22
um love
01:00:24
and
01:00:25
I think it's Health as the fifth one and
01:00:29
um the essays about all five of those
01:00:32
things so I've I found that had a
01:00:34
profound impact on the way I see the
01:00:37
world right and the way I see
01:00:40
um
01:00:41
myself and what I want to do with my
01:00:44
life so
01:00:46
um if anyone's looking for a good good
01:00:48
book to read and a good self-help book I
01:00:51
highly recommend that one it's called
01:00:55
um
01:00:57
something that's with the minimalist
01:00:59
essays by the minimalists right yeah
01:01:01
yeah okay okay wow Jesus it seems like
01:01:04
it's had a profound impact on your life
01:01:06
it has it has reading has opened my eyes
01:01:09
to I always thought I knew everything
01:01:11
you know everyone thinks they know
01:01:13
everything but I
01:01:14
as soon as I started reading that book I
01:01:17
was like [ __ ]
01:01:18
[ __ ] I don't know I don't know I don't
01:01:19
know anything yeah let's not I don't
01:01:22
want to I don't want to end this on a
01:01:24
down bus but the older you get the
01:01:25
realizing the less you know yeah yeah
01:01:29
um so that yeah I remember like a PE
01:01:31
teacher at school
01:01:33
um when I was at school like I remember
01:01:34
when we were like 15 16 he looked at us
01:01:36
and goes he goes you you little shits
01:01:39
think you know everything about you you
01:01:40
know [ __ ] off yeah and I remember
01:01:43
whatever Dirk yeah but he was absolutely
01:01:46
dead right the older you get they
01:01:47
realize that how much how little you
01:01:49
know and how much more you've got to
01:01:50
learn
01:01:51
but that's exciting it is exciting
01:01:54
it is exciting so um so five years from
01:01:58
now like is is there any um like sort of
01:02:01
destination you'd like to be or or you
01:02:04
you honestly don't know I don't even
01:02:05
know what I'm doing yeah
01:02:09
six five years from now
01:02:12
um
01:02:13
but
01:02:14
I want to be a better person than I am
01:02:16
today and that's that's where I want to
01:02:18
be
01:02:20
hmm you're a good person already geez
01:02:22
like for me that'd be easy I miss that
01:02:25
person
01:02:26
so that's easier but you're all really
01:02:29
good hey
01:02:32
um thank you so much for coming over
01:02:33
today man
01:02:34
um yeah I've really appreciated the
01:02:36
insight and uh seeing saying how your
01:02:38
mind your mind tax that's a fascinating
01:02:40
story and um I don't know I can't wait
01:02:42
to follow the next chapter of um the
01:02:45
Chanel Harris to feed a story like I I
01:02:47
don't know maybe you'll get the passion
01:02:48
back maybe you won't just um yeah so you
01:02:52
think you'll keep you'll keep fit over
01:02:55
the next year uh with with sort of in
01:02:57
the back of your mind that you'll return
01:02:59
to sport yeah yeah I've always enjoyed
01:03:01
training so
01:03:02
I think that'll that'll be easy for me
01:03:05
to to stay in shape it's it's the
01:03:08
working hard like training my brain
01:03:11
that's that's going to be the hard ones
01:03:12
to
01:03:13
get into writing consistently
01:03:16
because
01:03:18
it's hard writing's hard yeah you're an
01:03:21
author so you oh yeah but if you read my
01:03:23
books like shitty books
01:03:28
written three but they're not they're
01:03:30
not deep thinking books
01:03:32
what do you want to write I just like
01:03:34
journaling
01:03:35
yeah or writing for other people to read
01:03:37
I like writing for other people to read
01:03:39
I like sharing
01:03:41
my own experiences and then people
01:03:44
picking out things that that they like
01:03:47
takeaways and taking taking what they
01:03:49
want yeah but at the moment my blog is
01:03:51
about reading
01:03:53
self-help or autobiographies
01:03:57
and writing about my favorite lessons
01:03:59
from those books and relating it to my
01:04:01
own experiences and then and then people
01:04:03
that read my stuff relate their
01:04:06
experiences to mind yeah or or the
01:04:08
people that I'm reading so yeah and I
01:04:10
like I like that you do that it means uh
01:04:12
you you do all the reading and heavy
01:04:15
lifting and um the other the rest of us
01:04:17
just get to reap the benefits yeah yeah
01:04:19
yeah so thank you
01:04:21
um so what's the best way for people to
01:04:24
follow you uh simplelessons.com yeah you
01:04:27
can um you can subscribe to my to my
01:04:30
blog
01:04:31
it's yeah like it's simplelistens.com or
01:04:35
um yeah on Instagram I'm on Instagram
01:04:36
yeah so you can follow me on Instagram
01:04:38
yeah what's your Instagram handle
01:04:40
um Chanel HT yeah Chanel HT okay
01:04:44
um you're gonna do lots of good
01:04:46
um travel posts next year yeah we'll see
01:04:48
we'll see
01:04:50
um
01:04:50
social media and other other subjects
01:04:53
though oh is that right yeah I could
01:04:55
talk hours I could talk for hours that's
01:04:57
an interesting thing I I reckon it's I
01:04:59
reckon Instagram is probably my my worst
01:05:01
addiction and I know it's I know it's a
01:05:03
terrible addiction and I can't help
01:05:04
myself I hate it I hate it it's so
01:05:08
addictive it's so addictive
01:05:10
it's like alcohol but come on you were
01:05:12
entitled to some advices you're entitled
01:05:15
to some vices yeah yeah yeah yeah
01:05:20
Instagram's a a hard one but
01:05:23
yeah it's hard to hard to break up with
01:05:25
you feel like you're missing out and I
01:05:27
know it's a negative thing and yeah you
01:05:29
know it's not a reflection of people's
01:05:31
real lives either like everyone's
01:05:32
bullshitting on there and it just
01:05:34
creates a culture of fomo yeah yeah
01:05:39
on the money they don't all right hey um
01:05:41
well Chanel it's been lovely to meet you
01:05:43
finally and sit down with you and um
01:05:44
yeah thanks for sharing your experiences
01:05:46
man and um I hope everyone gets a lot of
01:05:48
insight into um and to how your mind
01:05:51
takes it's a it's a it's a it's a big
01:05:53
brain man there's a lot going on in
01:05:55
there
01:05:56
you sleep well at night
01:05:59
I haven't really been sleeping well this
01:06:01
week but I I generally sleep pretty well
01:06:03
haven't you why haven't you been
01:06:04
sleeping well this week I'm in a new bed
01:06:06
right
01:06:08
still getting used to it but I'm leaving
01:06:11
on Saturday so I'll be on my own own bed
01:06:13
Saturday night yeah right hopefully
01:06:21
all right hey nice to meet you man good
01:06:23
luck with everything thanks Tom
01:06:24
appreciate it brother
