Owning Mistakes And Paying The Price Curtis Scott

hey guys welcome back to ebbs and flows we talk about the highs and lows on and off the field

today joined by curtis scott what's up bro hey mate how you going

obviously a big fight coming up let's just dive straight into it barry hall

um this is your like second professional fight yeah third sorry third professional why barry hall

um i got i got tipped up before the joey fight so the day of that fight um i think

they're trying to get gal back into the ring um so they told joey about potentially calling out gal

so just whispers i've heard and um they told me barry's keen to fight and i met barry the week

before at a um a fight card at the hoop center it was a no limit card it was just a smaller show

went up and introduced myself and i just got chatting to him and he said he's keen to jump

back in the ring and thought if i win i may as well call you out you can get back in there and

i'm keen to stay active

um it's middle of the season there's not many boys that are um free to fight so um yeah i called

him out after so yeah um so when you when when you do call outs and i've always been interested

in this because there's a dramatic side to it but a lot you've just said that a lot of it's

planned isn't it well for me like i was he it was kind of the two things i got told that he's

he's wanting to get back in the ring and fight again and then but when i met him the week before

and he's keen to get back in and he brought up trying to fight gal or sunny bill again and

um my ears picked up a little bit and i thought if i'll get the wind um you'll find me i love that

how's the joey fight bro how was that whole experience because in all honesty like i thought

joey was gonna win yeah you come up and touched him up what was that experience like um yeah that

was pretty much the a lot of people thought that um i was telling bit feel threading back myself

actually i checked the sports better um recovery as well on my first day of this tournament as well she saw a released egg on him, seriously, p12, it's a bout of Omewima she has a huge�

um the odds and they're playing out a bit i think i was about three bucks or 3.40 when i opened up

and um yeah i was i was um pretty surprised but i think everyone was just worried about the weight

and um he had a bit of experience um but i grew up doing a little bit of boxing and always had

that fight in me always had a bit of mongrel in me and i um never shied away from a blue so um

i backed my ability in that so um yeah the whole experience like i was i was yeah training really

hard boxing's giving me purpose and kept me on the straight and narrow keeps my head down and

you know i need that in my life otherwise it's a slippery slope when you don't have anything to

focus on so um yeah i just put everything into that camp trained extremely hard um kept my

circle really small and um we had a game plan and i just stuck to that what's the

difference between a boxing training camp and somewhere like say a melbourne pre-season

oh it's just lonely like it's a lonely lonely lonely sport i've picked that up i'm happy that

my coach is a legend and we get on like a house on fire so um that helps a lot but some days where

it's just you and your coach in the gym and you've got to find that you know drive inside you to push

yourself because it's tough training like it's hard you go on and run like a run three or four

times a week and i've got

to run on my own or or with my mate brock and um yeah it's pretty pretty hard you got to have

a lot of drive and um discipline to you know stick to it so um like this yeah it's different like i

felt like the boxing was more rewarding after the fight like all the work i put in um with the team

sport you know you work hard with the team and you have that you know that team culture you got

all the boys around you know you celebrate celebrate with all the boys and and do all that

i think just you know doing all the hard work on your own or with your coach or maybe with one or

two other guys um that have been there through the whole camp you know it's it's a completely

different feeling to you know winning in the team i feel yeah you're kind of surrounded by like a

lot of people yeah and even if you have a bad game and your team wins it's kind of like all right yeah

it's not a lot but you feel a lot better yeah if you up once in the boxing ring yeah

lights out you're down yeah that's it so that's what i mean like if you

have chance like there's no next week for boxing you know what i mean like you fight every and it's

on a win basis if you lose you kick to the to the curb you know what i mean like records are

important yeah yeah so you gotta make sure you tick every box leading up to the fight so you know

when you get in there that you know you've done everything you need to do to get the win i've

asked a few boys about this that have been in the boxing game but what's the workout like

yeah i was nervous i jumped into the deep end like i went down it was a

sold out show in Wollongong the crowd was you know the roof was nearly blowing off of off the

place and we were walking out to watch a bit of the prelims just to get a feel of the stadium and

yeah it's it's pretty nerve-wracking um you know I was looking around and um you know everyone was

right into it all and the walk out like it's kind of like a blur you know what I mean like

I think I'm gonna walk out to this song this song's gonna pump me up and like

strut out but I was just fully focused and zeroed in and just thinking about what I need to do to win

um yeah so and then you get in the ring and the ring's so bright like it's just like

bright as and then you look like into the crowd you can't see nothing oh you see you can't see

yeah you can't really see unless you like look closely into the crowd but like in the ring all

the lights are on it's just like lit up like a Christmas tree does the ring feel smaller or

bigger when you get in there it felt big when I got in there

okay it's pretty happy because I seen Joey get into the ring and I was like

you feel smaller when you go yeah I was like he's a big man and come out look like Mike Tyson he's

fucking jacked and I'm like I remember looking back at my corner and my mate's like stay away

early stay away so I had to focus on that but um yeah once once the fight started adrenaline

kind of takes over and um you just fall back to what you're learning you're

learning uh Mike Tyson's got that great quote like everyone's got a plan until they get punched in

the face and I've seen you play football and when things happen you've got a natural reaction to you

and you lean towards sometimes violence what's it like being in the ring trying to control troll

that as does it come fall back onto your training or when you get clipped in the face it's just like

oh fuck it I'm just going to keep swinging oh it's yeah I've had to work with that like ever

since I've been a kid I've always been a bit fiery um it's helped me probably got to got me where like

the highest just from having that inside me and I'm not too sure where it comes from but

um you know I have that lick where I don't really back away I kind of um you know put everything

into everything I do and it drives me like I've never been the biggest fastest strongest person

but I don't know I just got something inside me that pushes me and drives me and um yeah in boxing

you can't lose your head like it's you think it sounds surprising but I'm I'm calm I'm

like I love it I love it like it's it's not like I get punched in the head and I'm like see red

I'm calm like I love being in there I love just the whole battle of like the fight I just love

like if someone does get me good I'm like I think we've learned like I don't want to put my head

there anymore I don't want to rush in I don't want to do that so um yeah it's something that you're

gonna work on you're gonna find the balance of um you know having aggression but using it in the

right way can you

is it like much like football where you can sort of waste all your energy and that sort of lead up

towards it because like a lot of times in football if you waste your energy early you kind of get

your team to look around and they set line speed and you go off them and you get a try you get

momentum or sometimes you're under pressure like when you're on your own it's such a different

vibe isn't it yeah so I learned that in my second fight so I had a fight on a local card I took it

on a week's notice and um I fought this Fijian guy and I come out and I had in my head all week

I shouldn't knock this guy out in round one so I went in the bell rent I went out and I was just

loading up on this guy and I was hitting him hard with some big shots and he wasn't going anywhere

and I was thinking this guy's got a chin on him I'm thinking I just stopped Joey in in two and if

you look at Joey and you look at this guy as a big difference um and then you kind of just got to dig

just dig deep and push yourself because you always have that in the background like you can't quit like

I don't have quit so like that starts to come out when you're tired and when you're fatigued and

things aren't going to plan so you just got to push yourself like that's just my mind just push

myself don't give up don't give up and just keep going like that's it because footy you you can

front load all your energy in the first 20 20 minutes and your whole game can come off that

first 20 minutes like you could have a line break a try um a try assist and then you might not do any

anything for the rest of the game but you you look back at the film and then you'd be like oh you had

a good game you had a one try assist one try um had a line break in the first 20 minutes but then

if you look at the blast 20 minutes you might just be cruising out in the centers and you know just

going for the motions because you've got the game in the bag with boxing you can't switch

off for a second because if you do you get clipped um actually our first episode of the series this

year was actually with Dylan Walker oh yeah and you just called him out like that that day yeah

his name and I was like what do you want to do you want to call him out yeah call him out if the

money was right um you probably passed that phase now when you're sort of fighting all the

footballers but I think the Barry horse step is I don't know boxing well enough but I feel like

it's a massive jump am I correct in saying that yeah well he's fought gallon and Sonny Bill so

they're the two you know arguably the best crossover fighters Sonny Bill's had over 10

fights he's fought some world-class guys I think he won a belt early in his in his boxing career

and um everyone knows what Gail's done you know what I mean he's fought the best in Australia and

um he went the distance Barry went the distance with um all but um I backed my ability you know

what I mean I love a challenge and um if I want to keep moving forward in this sport these are the

guys I have to have to beat to keep stepping up how you're surprisingly bigger than I thought

you'd be yeah normally said this about you too he goes bro he's a lot bigger than you think

four six foot five oh so just a little bit but he looks better yeah he looks a lot bigger he looks

big um we had a promo thing the other day and we had to get dressed up in suits and I was thinking

keep all his size and I've got skinny legs myself I've got a little little legs and I'm I checked

these suit pants suit pants are size 32 and I'm like all right oh is he size 32 yeah he's pretty

similar to me in the leg department but he's big up top like he's a big big man you know what I mean

yeah he's got them crazy eyes as well so we did a lot of the stare off and that he's got like them

crazy like kind of like the pit bull eyes like piercing so yeah there's some dudes when you look

them in the eyes you know like there's something missing up there isn't it yeah the other ones

you've got to worry about yeah yeah um how do you enjoy all the like theatrics of uh boxing

because you football especially coming from like a Melbourne system where like everyone was kind of

the same at the time they didn't really have cheese and Munster who are a little bit leery

and you're told what to do how to play how to speak

what's it like going into this boxing world where you almost have to self-promote yourself and and

do things that are a little bit out of line and the best interest of the fight because it's going

to make you more money what's it been like moving into that space yeah well that's that's been kind

of hard for me because I I um you know I'm pretty respectful guy like I um you know keep my cards

close to my chest I don't really want to go out there and out like in in the footy world if you

go out there and say I'm the best center in the comp everyone go shut up mate you're an idiot you

know what I mean chop you know

but boxing you have to be like I'm the best fighter I'm I'm the best no one no one can beat

me and I'm just trying to move into that space of you know being confident and be kind of outspoken

you know what I mean like you look at the Conor McGregor's and that like he um he's great at it

and he's one of the highest paid athletes in the world um so yeah it's it's it's difficult like you

get told to say things you think I don't really want to say that so I kind of just hit him with

the truth and um just tell him what I want to say and that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

what I'm going to do and what I'm thinking I don't because if it doesn't come naturally you

sound more like a decade as well so if you come out you're jumping around the press conference

with the code on or whatever they'll be like man this isn't you so it's got to kind of come across

natural so just trying to find a happy medium in that yeah um it would be hard too because obviously

when you're on stage and you've got people looking at you and the p and guys are coming in with loaded

questions from like journalists and stuff like that so yeah it'd be hard to sort of find that balance

normally man he can teach you enough you always leave thinking I should have said this I should

have said that like it's it's just one of them things like oh when he said this I should have

said that but at the moment you're like oh I ran Joey sat down and we I don't know if you've seen

it we did that like across the table thing it's awkward as like we're sitting like this and then

we just got to bag each other sitting there I was like I don't know if I'm getting dumb or just

sitting here talking but this is this is um this isn't going anywhere we're just going around and

going in circles and I'm not looking around like I'm gonna I'm gonna knock you out it's like oh I'm

gonna knock you out it's like yeah it's hard eh and like the balance is like when I'm thinking

about it just trying to put myself in your position you can't fight but we'd love that

theatric sides of it like you'd almost want to tap into the personal side but you can't go too far

yeah yeah yeah yeah talk about family and share yeah yeah you just got to go back and talk about

old footage yeah yeah that's what it was like it was like oh I was the best center and I was like

it was it was hard it was it was yeah it was it was like awkward awkward that we get up and we

shake hands like good luck mate have a good fight I hope you're the best because um a lot of people

watch people play footy and then afterwards we shake hands and it isn't personal it's just a

physical game but then I watch boxing and you guys punch each other in the head yeah and then is it

the same sort of vibe where like it's not actually personal but if someone hit me in the head I'll be

like so yeah for so long yeah well like you gotta it's kind of like you've got to like you've got to

think you gotta hate you gotta like hate a guy for no reason like I've nothing against Barry at all

nothing at all but I would try and find a reason not to like him on the night to knock him out you

know what I mean like you make that up in your head or it's it's not that it's just I don't know

I just I found it harder with I find it harder with Barry than with Joey because we had like a

footy rivalry all that stuff like but then I know Joey is a as a bloke like he he's he's like always

he's he's never disrespectful like he might be confident in ways but um you know like I had

nothing against Joey either but with Barry it's like I don't even know this guy I got nothing on

him at all like I used to watch the Swans as a kid and I liked him you know what I mean yeah I

love what he was about I used to feed off his it's probably not the best thing to say but when I used

to see his fights in the AFL I used to think oh at least someone's having a go in this sport like

it was exciting but now it's like yeah it's weird it's it's a weird feeling yeah um obviously semi

we all know semi but he was talking about first time his fight was against Justin Hodges and he

said the same thing he's like I grew up watching this dude and idolizing him and he was talking

mad too he goes when I'm getting this press conference I'm going to talk that much

yeah I'm gonna blow the whole fight up because Georgie Rose was saying like yeah this is your

one chance even if you can't fight make the start of the fight in the end to fight heaps of fun and

um lunch like the day before and Hodger's buying him sandwiches and Hodger had no clothes so we

gave him heaps of like YKTR clothes and shit like that and he goes ah he got me man he took me in

early but it would be hard to fight someone I guess I've never been in the sport but hard to

fight someone that you don't really hate yeah yeah well you know what he is getting in the way of

your next phase of boxing exactly that's that's why I look at it I look at it like I'm taking

steps forward and it's someone I just could have take out that's it like I'm

trying to move forward I don't have many other options like I'm not playing footy anymore I

train every day in boxing and um this is this is my shot you know what I mean so I just train

extremely hard and come fight not I'm gonna be ready so um and that's it like I've got goals

bigger than this this isn't just this isn't about money for me this isn't about

this is something that I really enjoy this is somewhere like something I want to take as far as

like it isn't a hobby this is my life now so um yeah I train every single day like I work extremely

hard at this I'm not going in there to take the piss and just do it for a trend or golf

footy players crossover like I grew up doing bits and pieces boxing as a kid and always loved the

sport so um I take it very seriously you know what I mean I'm like I'm coming into this like

trying to make enemies and I'm coming here to create a path for me to you know support

my family and and myself I love that bro yeah yeah um give us footage yeah I do miss it there's

like times where I miss it but I don't miss what comes with it you know what I mean all the all

this like it comes with it like look at my my um history like a lot of that stuff isn't even

you know true or it's just someone else's opinion and you know I've got to wear it and it's because

I had a um you know profile and you know it gets spread everywhere and everything it's like yes

it's that's the stuff I don't miss sometimes I wish I never played or even got involved in it

really yeah it's given me so much but it's taken a far lot from me from what it's given me um so

if someone coming off a contract tomorrow and go would you sign it um probably I probably would

like I love the game

like I love being around the environment um I've grown so much as a person I'm not a kid anymore

I've grown up so much and um I've got a lot more responsibilities these days and it is a young

naive kid coming into the system thinking this is going to last forever um when something gets

taken away from you know like I've wasted so much energy on on the game like trying to get back

working extremely hard and taking all the right boxes and I just feel like just roadblock off the

ground um do you feel like you're being blackboard a bit yeah I do I do I do I feel like um I've been

hard done by actually I feel I'm not really happy with it at all um I feel like there's a lot of

people out there they've done far worse things than me oh bro way worse bro and they get back

in but even they get let a path back in they get something to give them hope to get back in I

haven't I haven't got that I haven't got that at all um didn't you have a theory on or a reason why

um I do but I don't want to get sued I just feel like there's a bigger agenda apart from rugby

league um obviously I had that police incident and um I had went to court and I got cleared of

all them um allegations and charges what happened when I fell asleep under the tree and um I don't

think the police would you know too happy about that so um I'm not too sure but um yeah it's got

theories and stuff but um I don't know if this is the right place to get into them yeah it'd just

be good to know hey yeah just for peace of mind bro so it's just like it just feels like there's

a hidden agenda behind it because you know I've ticked every every box I've done it and I've done

it on my own as well I've done it as a 24 year old I mean I was in the middle of covid when I

got sacked from Canberra for the nightclub situation and even for that I got um I got

sacked before I went to court I went to court and I got off on self-defense so

um pretty much you can't go out if someone puts it on you and does something to you like I I can't

react I can't defend myself that's that's the picture pretty much that I've taken from it

because I went to court in the eyes of the law what I did was um you know reasonable you know

what I mean like yeah I didn't get charged with assault I'm not saying it's right I definitely

could have handled it better but you know I got sacked before I even had the opportunity

to go to court and clear my name and then I did clear my name and they still it was too late you

know what I mean I packed it packed up my house contracts gone can you go back for like unfair

dismissal or within law I don't know I'm not a lawyer yeah look uh it's kind of if you've been

in the in the court system and that as long as I have it's kind of you don't want to you don't

want to deal with it anymore I could absolutely fortune and gone through all the things I've had

um yeah it's it's tough and I did that always a kid you know what I mean um I think I was 21 or 22

when police thing happened in Moore Park and then um Canberra and then I had you know allegations

from when I was 18 years old 19 19 years old so and then I had to go back and did everything I

possibly could to clear my name there and unfortunately um things didn't go to plan

for me there and um you know I don't agree with with the with the

outcome on it but I've got to live with that now you know what I mean um I've got to accept

it and and move forward which I've have and um I just continue working on my goals and and not

giving up on myself because I think a lot of people expect me to just give up you know what

I mean like people think I don't know if it's an Australian tall poppy syndrome like someone

does something wrong it's like or they being perceived like they've done something wrong um

it's um

everyone's like well why why should he be allowed to box again well why should he be able to do that

it's like what do you want me to do I can give up and go live under a rock somewhere and and not

chase a goal or a dream ever again like um but that's been all part of growing up man like I've

I've um definitely done it the hard way but um I'm in a great spot now in my life and um you

know go to sleep every night and um keep my head up high and I'm proud of myself which is

um probably upsets a lot of people but I just continue doing me and keep my circle small and

that's it um I've heard you say you keep your circle small a couple of times what does that

mean to you like yeah well kind of in the football world like you have a lot of you know a lot of

people but a lot of them aren't you know your mates like what I learned with footy which I

understand as well like everyone does their own thing but like when you're in the shed you think

these guys will be best mates forever you know what I mean like fuck you guys I'm not gonna lie to you

like he's my brother I love this guy but like when footy dries up and it's all said and done like

I'm still mates with these people but it's not like it used to be so now I just focus on things

that are really important like my family um and that's it like I've got my small circle people

that you know care about me and want the best for me um yeah I always say that to the boys that play

football I was like like when you're at your peak like take away all your followers all your money

and still pick up your phone who'd still pick up the phone yeah like double down on those people

while you're at the top because like you said brain you played in some really good sides and

had a lot of success like there's a lot of attraction that comes to success and they're

not always good things bro yeah so when I got sacked like it went on like literally from the

penthouse to the house like it's just everyone gone you know what I mean I had yeah

a partner had my family a handful of mates you know what I mean

like on one hand like that that's it and that's kind of what I've kept now you know what I mean

I haven't you know now I'm back you know boxing now and a lot of that stuff's coming back I don't

really fall into it you know what I mean like I don't fall into or come do this or come do that or

it's just um yeah purely just focus on looking after people around me and doing my best for them

um so obviously you had a great success down

in Melbourne what was some of the best lessons you learned from that period from obviously being

within the system and someone like Craig Bellamy just a work ethic it kind of suited me I always

really like worked hard I always trained hard um it's like everything I did inside inside the

stadium and inside training was great it's kind of the stuff that outside of it that shot myself

in the foot with so yeah you get rewarded for hard work down there so if you work the hardest worker

you're gonna be playing first grade you're gonna be um you know you're gonna be in inside week in

week out if you're working hard and you're doing your job properly um there's no real politics or

anything around it wasn't like oh this guy's on this much money he needs to be playing every week

like I come in I was about 83 kilos freaking dripping wet and Craig didn't give me any anything

in my school footy and then I come down with a bit of a reputation like I can play and but I was

built like a minute to six I wasn't big at all and um he um he just threw me in with everyone and you

know it's sink or swim you know what I mean if you if you can't keep up you just get you know kind of

yeah you're not going to get picked and I just worked hard and competed and everything

you can compete really hard and Craig liked it and round two of my first season there I got

um I got picked so I was 18. crazy yeah I was playing um Cameron Smith Cooper cronk unfortunately

Billy wasn't playing because um shoulder yeah your shoulder and like you look like him a bit

obviously um you watch a lot of do you watch football and that stuff now or just um yes and

no like if I hear there's a good game

I might watch the highlights in the app but I won't like on the NRL app I won't tune in and

watch a full game from start to finish yeah oh didn't even watch the origin yeah like I watched

a bit of the origin I seen the warm-up and I was like I don't even know who these guys are like oh

so you don't watch like yeah yeah I didn't really I was like who's this guy he's playing origin I was

like I was like I've been out of game for a while now it hasn't been that long but it feels like a

long time so like I remember playing I was versing like Sam thigh day and Darius Boyd and and stuff

when they retired does that feels like so longer and that's when I was paying I was it because I was

so young and yeah yeah yeah it was weird like when I was looking at um like your history it's like

yeah playing at 18 but you're only like 26 now yeah yeah so yeah you could still be riding me

with my primer that's the thing that probably eats me up right now yeah eats me up that's the that's

the main thing it eats me out like I know I'm in my prime now like if I was playing NRL now I'd be an

was 18 playing and i was you know playing so well that's the thing that eats me up the most where

i'm like i could be i could be knocking on the door to play origin you know what i mean like

yeah yeah you're in that way yeah so it's um yeah that's the frustrating thing where

you know you go through stages where you're like oh i don't give a shit about football

hate the game whatever it's but then you think i'm in my prime like fit strong healthy you know

what i mean and um yeah that's the only thing that annoys me and then you're playing park footy

like i play park footy um i'm not playing at the moment obviously for the fight but

and just like i'm fucking wasting away out here and you know it's just it's yeah yeah

normie said he loves playing a feast it just gives you the ball

he's going is this sweet

he's good value

you're like oh i'm playing out there with him

you're like oh i'm playing out there with him

you're like oh i'm playing out there with him

great yeah for sure bro um what made you go to camber

um yeah i kind of just wanted to get closer to

my family a bit of a cop-out though like they offered me a pretty good deal

um i had a four-year deal there and um yeah i probably wasn't in the right frame of mind at

the time of my life to i probably should have just moved back to sydney that's what i should have done

but do you have options to come to sydney i did i did have an option to come sydney it was a pretty

good one i think as well and i chose to go to canberra i thought oh go to canberra it's quiet

some of the i heard it's a really good you know bunch of boys and that down there and

um which it is like it's a really great playing group all the boys are great team down there

like some of my closest mates i've made from from football down from canberra so

yeah kind of the it was a money money thing it was a it was a good good deal

ain't nothing wrong with that bro yeah taking the money yeah and um obviously i think melbourne

we're having some salary cap issues i've just come off a broken foot i missed um big big chunk of the

season i think i played eight or nine games and i was coming into a pretty big contract um money

wise and probably wasn't in the best position you know mentally and um i think they just yeah i

didn't get the tap on the shoulder it was kind of like oh i want to get closer to my family but

um yeah i just yeah and then i got offered a good deal from canberra and i took it

nothing wrong with that um looking back in hindsight would you change much of that would

you have to just take it yeah i would for sure for sure like i would yes and no like you always

think the grass is going to be greener you know what i mean like you always think oh if i go there

the grass is going to be greener but isn't always the case um i probably i probably should have

yeah put some things into place

the season i got injured and you know a few things leading up to that i didn't really have

the right people in my corner and um kind of fell off track and um went down the rabbit hole

what used to happen just get caught up in benders or just love a beer or what

um not so much that i just had um the wrong people around me at the time you know what i mean um

yeah and it kind of just yeah yeah i was just yeah battling down there at a time when um

when i kind of needed some

someone to put their arm around me and say come on mate like um got your back or whatever like or

someone like that i kind of needed that because my early years in in canberra i had in melbourne i

had uh i had cooper cronky really took me under his wing and and helped me out and then he went

to the roosters and i kind of didn't have much stability down there and i was living with

uh the cheese scotty drink water and uh nico hines and a few other boys who'd come down from

queensland cup and that

so it was a pretty pretty rowdy crew they're all all my good mates still today and um yeah i kind

of just wasn't in the best point um frame of mind like i went through an injury i wasn't really used

to having injuries um yeah yeah just battled did um like i spent a lot of time in rehab when i

played football and that feels super lonely did those rehab sessions set you up for like your

boxing because it feels like that i guess so like i'm just so much mentally stronger these days like

i'm just more locked in and focused on what i need to do and what i have to do to get to where i need

to go yeah um so have you had any like mental coach or training or has it all just been like

i've just learned i've just learned the hard way bro this doesn't work this works don't do that

don't do that i gotta like oh fuck bro i just test myself i just treat it as like a game in my head

i'm like i fucking think oh right the world's against me fuck the world then i'll just i'll

fucking show them i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know

i just make up scenarios in my head like that to push me through whatever i need to get through

yeah like this is a test like these everyone's testing you this is but back when i was younger

i'd be like fucking fuck this this is so hard and fucking play like a victim you know what i mean

i'd be like oh this is this is tough like i should be playing first grade i fucking shouldn't be

injured but now i'm like oh fuck this is a test like this guy wants to knock me out like this is

something in my head like it's fucking it's not very it's not normal not normal people should

think when we're talking about like um ufc fighters attack yeah i think you might fit in

i feel like there's more pressure on kids now more than ever i'm sure there's another kid that's

exactly like you how should they deal with pressure um being through what you've been

through and looking back on hindsight i think they should like i think there should be like a mentor

um structure thing put in if you're talking about football players like there should be mentor

mentors because people say like go speak to a psychologist or that but psychologists haven't

been in our shoes you know what i mean like they they they haven't done what we've done or come

from where we've come from or done you know any any of that like they learn a lot of the stuff

from a book i'm not saying every psychologist is the same but i'm saying majority i felt like when

i was in a class where i don't get anything out of it i thought when i was having my best years i

had you know good people around me that have been there done it that you can lean on that you

respect and look up to um so that's that's kind of what i think you'd love to see implemented yeah

yeah like i'm sure there's a lot of clubs that do it where they have mentors through but then

unspoken mentors like i had will chambers looking after me when i was down there and

bronc and you know these guys like i idolized and and love watching growing growing up and then

had like cooper invited me over to his house to have dinner and i was like just felt safe and

wanted and felt good like i grew up in a small town small family we're all tied as and i moved

to melbourne i was 17 years old and you know living in a big city melbourne's his own world

yeah massive city like walk around thongs in a sinkhole

it's like 16 degrees i'm like thinking i'm still back at home like like staring out like dog balls

like i have no idea what to do i'm used to having my family around having my brother with me my

brother can help me through everything like i didn't have that and that's what i struggle with

the most so i don't know i just think clubs i think from what i've been i haven't played for

three coming up three seasons now i think a lot's changed like i think a lot of the young kids now

are really focused on you know they don't drink they don't go out after games and they're like

which is good to see like when i was coming in like it was like i have a beer mate like after

the game then you'd be like fuck he's asking me to have a beer i'm like i don't know if i have a

beer with with you like you know what i mean and then one thing's later the other you don't have

you're on good money you you don't you're probably not as disciplined as you should be

you think rugby league is gonna last forever you think like you can hide in melbourne a bit too

yeah you get away with it melbourne as well like you're not gonna be able to do that you're not gonna

like you can get away with heaps out there like no one knows you're like especially me like no

idea and um so you and then if you turn up and train well no no like it's no one knows you know

what i mean but it's almost it's almost a badge of honor yeah you know in football like if you're

hung over and you can train and normally you always said that about him yeah where like

then it starts getting spread around nrl yeah you kind of feel like you have to live up to that

yeah sort of expectation like oh he's a party boy they can back it up yeah yeah yeah well it was a

little bit like that but like if you could do it go back and do it all again like you wouldn't i

wouldn't have social media i wouldn't drink i wouldn't i wouldn't it's not just just be purely

focused on what you need to do because at the time when you're there you think like i can get away

with this i can do this i can do that i'm still playing well i'm still doing this well i'm still

doing that well i train hard like why can't i have a beer but when it gets taken away from you which

is like you start to think i should have done this i should have done that bit better you know what

i mean is there any way in your mind that you feel like you can get back into football like is that

playing like a higher grade than you guys are playing right now or yes like a club just offering

your training trial putting your hand out like i did get offered a contract for this season and

then i went to the nrl with my application and it was just a word agreement like if the nrl clear you

to play we'll sign you and then

i didn't want to stick their neck out and say we're going to sign curtis scott because you're

going to get bad press there's always that opinion of oh good you're going to give him a chance and

there's always no he should never play again he should never do this again um based off yeah

things that i don't agree with but anyway it's it's like and then they never signed off on it

well because they they didn't want to stick their neck out and get bad press okay they didn't want

to put their neck out and then the nrl turned back turn around and say no

and then the nrl just used well we don't have an official contract then we can't take this

application serious so it's like it's a they use that as a bit of a cop out and it's like well what

do i have to do for you to clear me and then it's like we'll get an official contract forward to us

and then we can consider it and take the steps to get you back in but then it's like well no club's

going to go well i don't want to stick our neck out if you're going to be able to do that and then

he's 100 not going to come if the nrl can turn around and say no yeah oh you're just a little

cycle hey fuck that must be annoying bro yeah and it's like i've done everything under the

like you can imagine like i don't drink i go out i do nothing done aa done everything everything

like for myself it's not they didn't ask me to do any of this stuff you know what i mean like i've

done all this on my own like the nrl didn't give me a plan and steps to come back i thought they

normally do don't they

i've heard like um like i don't want to speak out of school but you know i think that dragons

player down dragon that he got terminated i think he has a plan to come back which is

which is um yeah which i didn't which i didn't get but i could be wrong i'm not too sure it's

just from what i've what i've heard yeah fuck my name is chad tenuto after well that's what i mean

like yeah the the rl player like i'm filthy with them they they talk about looking after

the

player i don't feel like they've looked after me at all like at all that's good to know bro

yeah i think they just you know they work for the nrl at the end of the day like that's their

that's who they're employed by so i don't think they are actually employed by them but i can i

can understand like where the frustration is yeah well okay that is their job isn't it look

after players i can i didn't hear from anyone really like not really i didn't really like i

tried to reach out last started this year last season and it's like i don't know i don't know

it's just like oh well and no one's got back to you no they've gone back to it's just like

it's just it's just like no well like you don't have a contract or you don't have this and it's

just like yeah okay just go around in circles and then i could just get frustrated like that

doesn't matter i imagine if this is the podcast that starts the cycle you know it's just like

you see other players yeah you see other players like i don't want to i know everyone i see both

sides of everything all the time like that's a good way to look like i i see

like i don't want to like see michael jennings for example he's back playing that's great that's

great for him it's great for his family it's great for himself i couldn't imagine the time

that he's had away from the game and he has had to go through a lot of things and you could imagine

yeah that's what i mean i'm doing it now and and then to see i don't know anything about his stuff

like you read the stuff on online and and in in the thing and i've been in his position he he's

probably thinking this this is not going to work i don't know what to do i don't know what to do i

this didn't happen this isn't true or i don't know it had something around it but it's it's like

it's watching him play it's like why why can't i play yeah you know what i mean that that's that's

that's the frustrating thing seeing stuff like that like there's no consistency in it

there's no consistency at all and we lodged our applications at the same time and um i thought if

he's going to get the tick of the tick of the green that i thought i was going to get to the

i think he might have had the backing of the club that he went to and um yeah i think there's a lot

of moving pieces behind the scenes that um get people over the line bro i know for a fact normie

looks at this and i'm going to ask you the same question you ever look at other centers that are

playing right now and think fuck i could bust this dude i looked at the origin team and i thought

i would have been close if i was playing well i reckon i would have been close

like that's where that's where i'm is that what the mentality

is that i just think like fuck it's yeah i got like i regret a lot a lot of things and it's

frustrating now i'll put myself in these positions and i've lived and i've gone through it like

people will talk about punishments like i fucking lost everything everything man everything you

know what i mean like it's it's like i've been hit by the law i've been hit by the media

i've been hit financially like my whole life

was rugby league you know what i mean like from 14 years old i all i cared about was playing nrl

that's it like from four years old i dreamt of being an nrl player that's what all my energy

went into like i trained harder than anyone anyone bro to get to where i got to like if you

ask me it's 14 if you ask anyone that knew me at 14 if i would play first grade they'd laugh in

your face and be like there's no way this kid's gonna play first grade i remember you done the

bloke interview and you sort of said like i just got picked because i kept turning up yeah yeah

like years ago yeah yeah so like and then you know some of the things that's happened in my life

like i could i put myself in that position like that's the thing i've i've done it i put myself

there but i feel like i've i've paid the ultimate price you know what i mean like

you go from earning x amount of dollars and then you're like scratching around thinking like i

never used to look at the what fuel prices were i never used to look at fuel prices when i was

playing nrl i go to nrl and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna go to nrl and i'm gonna go to nrl and i'm

gonna fill my car up to the top now it's like $2.20 might go to padstow dollar 80 over there

that's what it's like yeah and and that's just the the top of the iceberg bro the stuff that

you know i deal with now and have to you know like yeah it's it's tough bro you know what i

mean like it's tough like you go from playing nrl and then you're working like you have

had all these things and you could cover the cost and all that all that stuff you know what i mean

and now it's like fuck like what do i do you know what i mean you feel like going like just get like

you feel like giving up you know what i mean but i don't i don't give up i just keep trying to do

my best thank you bro um what'd you learn in aa oh yeah it's good that probably helped me the most

aa i reckon aa had like a great mentor that you know really really you know helped me through that

period because this is when i got sacked so that so what what my cycle was like i would kind of like

self-sabotage a bit and like if i nothing was going well in my life i'd be like oh fuck i'll

just have a beer i'll feel good for you know four or five hours however i'm drinking for

sometimes six

sometimes three days

a long time ago but yeah it's like it's i'll drink to feel good and then it'd be like fuck it and you

just fall into that cycle like when i lived in canberra i thought i don't want to go out and

have a beer i'll i'll build a bar in my garage and get a beer keg in my back in my garage so

then i'll just eliminate any risk of me getting in any kind of strife and the one like one of the

few times i go out i end up getting

you

you

you

i just end up going down having beers in my garage just and that's what i'd turn to so i

didn't really have anyone around me it was the middle of covid everyone was battling away with

all the restrictions and that like you couldn't even go for a walk down the street and do stuff

like that so i'd just have a beer and try and feel good that way that's the only place yeah

on my own you know what i mean like you sit there having a beer on your own and it's like

yeah it wasn't it wasn't um it wasn't great so sorry oh sorry no

but yeah hey like you just i'm not an alcoholic you know what i mean i'm not an alcoholic like i'm

not someone that wakes up and has it on their weekbooks in the morning like i'm not i don't

need to i don't need to turn to um you know drinking every day you know what i mean but

people get mixed up what an alcoholic is i think like it's not someone that's on a park bench

drinking every day it's someone that can have like i couldn't have three beers and i couldn't have

years and go oh i'm gonna go home now and put slippers on and go to bed i've had three it's like

one's too many and then a thousand yeah thousands on enough that's that's how i would fall into it

like or i would like yeah you just put yourself in positions where you know you i didn't think

about the consequences when was the last time you had a beer oh man i haven't i haven't drank i i

drank once this year yeah that's it

sure yuck afterwards or was there a weird feeling after yeah yeah it's kind of like

yeah it's like why why bother these days you know what i mean like

yeah i went through a three-month period started this year where i didn't touch alcohol

like mentally everything just felt better like yeah you get like a little bit bored in those

first couple weekends because that's how you associate your life with like alcohol and going

out and the boys yeah and then once you get past that little boring phase you actually feel good

all the time and you don't want to you slip back you don't want to you don't want to

different hobbies out you find different hobbies that like help you that's what i found what i

found like i did lose a lot of like mates at the time which i'd party with or whatever but

you ought to think like they they didn't want the best for you at the time you know i mean like

they would wanted they wanted someone to have a beer with so it didn't really matter like oh i'll

go have a beer i didn't think oh fuck he's gonna go to training the next day or he's got to do

this they're like oh fuck we'll go here

whatever like that type of thing um yeah like um they say so people learn martial arts so they

don't have to fight or like fighting so they don't have to fight you're in a position now where you're

a professional boxer uh for that circumstance happens again when someone comes up to you

in a bar or on the street and they want to fight you how you're acting now are you going against

everything that you've done as a kid what skills are there bro yeah

that's what i mean are you i don't even put myself in that position and i don't even

don't even dip a toe in it is it hard to walk away from a scenario like that for you

oh you know i could walk away easy yeah i can't fight like it's i always i'm always gonna have

like if they cross a line like it's it's on like i don't i'm not like it's it like if the line they

cross that line like it's someone that just like if someone's having words to me or whatever i can

yeah but if someone does something to someone that i care about a lot and some family or anything

like that then you know i'm willing to cross that line but like if i went out to a club or whatever

like i could easily yeah just walk away from it like you know there's always that line where

you'd be the same everyone's the same like if they cross that that line where you you would

you know stick up for your family but

or what you stick up for for your your morals you know what i mean you stick up for what you

stand for you know what i mean so um yeah i mean yeah like i'm not gonna yeah i'm not gonna let

someone just you know walk up and punch me in the head or whatever like that you know what i mean

like putting a footy fight out and fell me the guy tried to pull my eye out that crossed the line

that crossed the line for me you can palm me in the face you can elbow me in the face

finger in the eye that's across the line brother you're getting a couple of knuckle sandwiches

eyes biting yeah what else is there yeah those are the main ones yeah yeah that that's it that's

an example for me like i don't care if someone elbows me in the head or the crowd's giving it

to me all game like it's like i'll be filthy but i'm not gonna lash out you know what i mean but

i um i watched a video uh i watched a video and it was from the crowd yeah and i was like

like pretty racist towards all the boys it must be crazy out there oh man it's ruthless like

they they love their footy so much out there you know what i mean like it's a credit to the

comp like it's it's a tough comp for park football like they draw we've just picked it and it feels

like there's like feels like there's 20 000 people there but there's probably like i don't know

three or four thousand cars all parked around the field that's cool yeah and like it's cool

for picking they rip into us that's like the derby that's like the derby that's like the derby that's

like the derby match so um yeah it's it's a good good tough comp out there but you know it's pretty

ruthless in the crowds and what things get said sometimes you know what i mean like i was playing

with the ferg out there and i was happy that he was playing with me because he took a fair bit of

heat off me put him on the wing yeah give it to him a bit more than me and then and then he left

and i was like fuck it's all on me now pop it all no that that is that's kind of sad but

um it's good that they love their footy yeah i was laughing with me and normans were over in bali

a couple weeks ago he goes now i'm flying back we're playing like the best team in the comp

yeah they need me and got 50 put on them i felt so bad i messaged you i said hey bro i'm sorry i

can't play yeah i said i'll be back after the after the fire i said sorry bro you fucking come

fight come back from france playing there you get 50 put on you i was like what 50 how you

50 put on you oh i had a thousand excuses

all right brother i just want to say thanks for jumping on um obviously great to meet you i heard

a lot about you i really enjoy interviewing people like you where there's a public perception of you

and sitting down and getting to know your uh champion bro so i wish you all the best thanks

for boxing hopefully see you back on the footy field one day that'll be the one hopefully mate

thank you