Wallabies Special Mark Nawaqanitawase And Angus Bell

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

we've crossed codes today i've got a couple boys up and coming really excited to talk to these boys

belly mike and mark thanks for jumping on thanks very much brother thanks for having us bro i don't

want to do your last name you need to serve us so can you teach me how to pronounce it yeah it's

our no no one can it was there the cues pronounces the g yeah no one gonna need to watch yeah don't

be confident with it bro i was practicing it but i just didn't want to do to be any like disrespect

there so bro thanks for jumping on all right boys obviously i'm a kiwi um jake a bit of a win on the

weekend talk about the blizzlo cup from you guys were up in the first 40 playing very well do you

want to talk about that game yeah yeah it was a hard one um nah look i felt like the first 40

minutes was so much fun like that's probably the most fun i've had playing a footy game in a long

time just because you know like if you you're winning as a team it's unreal it's great fun and

obviously it's a good thing that you're winning as a team it's unreal it's great fun and obviously

it's a good thing that you're winning as a team it's unreal it's great fun and obviously it's a good

against the all blacks in dunedin mate all they do down in dunedin is play footy like it's all

rugby so it's like the atmosphere is unreal and um the crowd was gone and that first 40 minutes

and coming off half time like mate it was like so much confidence yeah like we had so much going for

us and we yeah they just chased us down yeah yeah um what's it sort of like getting into those sort

of experiences like you see you guys have grown up and i've seen what year you guys were born

i'm old enough to remember when the wallabies were the best side so over the course of the

course of your whole life you've just seen the all blacks i want to say this respectfully smacking

the boys um what's it like to be out there and seeing the hawker seeing the anthem being in

being at the g all that sort of stuff what's that library yeah well um like like just seeing

the hawker like you know to think that we're the ones standing there now watching it's pretty

pretty special um also you know the big crowds you know the way they you know they get around

this game you know but that's how special it is uh you know it's pretty pretty crazy um

and then you know versing the all blacks you know in the period they have been at the moment where

they've been so dominant um i guess the game the game that just happened you can see why they're

so special you know to be able to come back from where they had been uh you know it was for

us but um it shows you you know how how good they are and you know we've got to i guess step it up

if we want to take them on at the world cup yeah um what was the guy when you guys come into the

international game especially the all blacks what was the one guy that you looked across from the

that's him did you have one of those moments bro bro yeah

yeah um my first test when i was like real young i was like wow this bloke is a beast like even

like on the weekend my first character picked me up and walked me backwards i'm 130 kilos he just

picked me up and walked me back so it was like yeah now someone like artie who's just you know

he's just one of those blokes he's like similar to our hoops like our michael hooper like he just

is always there doesn't go away fittest bloke on the field most aggressive and he's a leader he's

ruthless so it's um he's not he's not that um big too like like when i watch him play in the first

time i met him in person i was expecting this like really big and i look at you boys you boys

are massive but like the way he sort of plays the game he plays well above his weight doesn't he

yeah yeah i say the same thing i'd even like make the way he's been going over the past few years

um obviously like we've reversed him sometimes in club but i guess when you put on the you know

the jersey it's he changes and he the try saving tackle he did you know that's we could have i

reckon we could have won if we got that yeah you know he does where you don't see as much um goes

to show how special he is and yeah it's pretty crazy to think yeah you know we're going up against

him like that so yeah what about in the back one you sort of look across obviously um we're pretty

stacked in our in our backs and bro you to be fair give you boys both your flowers been holding it

down individually

um been playing very well um who are you looking across at that side is it like a will jordan is it

like caleb clark or i'd probably say like boden either boat oh he's a freaky like i grew up

watching him as well and richie like any of those two when they you know when they're on the field

they're just the way they do things it's like you know it's just it's special to like watch

obviously it's like reversing them but um yeah it's pretty cool pretty cool to go up against them

um oh sorry here you go different yeah just different sort of power that you're going to have

is bloke say like our backs are powerful as some like it's hard like when you like playerのは iyi

play as a forward and like you play like say in league you play in the middle and you're mostly

running and tackling forwards yeah like in union with all like the kick chases and the counter

attack and that sort of things like you always find yourself tackling those blokes but like

you got caleb clark running back he's bigger than most forwards

so you don't want to get bumped by you know you don't get bumped by my back

but did you see that part of the game when wall cranked somewhere

ended up on the ground before dude shout out to me um yes i had quite an ear uh sort of yesterday

talking about you boys and had great raps on you told me that you're very bad at playing cards i

was like bro what's about like he goes right he's a shitter's card player you've got some stories

about punishments give us some stories on those man i've had because i was i was the youngest in

the squad for a long time i had this little like toy his name's wally he's a little kangaroo and

you have to carry him around everywhere bro lunch team dinners you know training and like

for me like lung he's got it this year and no one has touched him that's why i'm so

it's like the three years i had a boat i had to look i had to strap him to myself like i ended

up just strapping him to myself because like i was paying fines i was you know i had to

i'll give you a good one like we had our forwards coach dan mckella who's like a

notoriously pretty hard bloke like um very like um like aussie i'd say he's just aussie like he's

just all

like um like i'd say he's just aussie like he's just all

like um like i'd say he's just aussie like he's just all

about getting in the rough and tumble, that sort of thing.

And I had to go into like a team selection

and team training as he put it up on the board

and had to say, I had two choices.

I had to go into the skill session

and drop every single ball I caught.

So I had to, every ball that came my way,

I had to drop and make a mistake and no one else knew.

And afterwards they would tell them

or I had to in the team meeting say,

like speak up and be like, nah, this is, you know,

this is bullshit.

Some of the fines that like boys come up with.

Man, I was like.

Those are worse, you'd rather pay money.

So I'm like talking to this guy that like,

he's my forwards coach and like a lot of respect for him.

And he's like cranky, like he gets angry quick

and I've got to say to him, nah, this is, you know,

this is bullshit.

We're not doing this, bro.

We've done too much contact this week.

I'm not doing it like, and properly.

And if I don't do it, then I gotta do another thing.

So I had to do it proper.

So like, there's so many things, bro.

Like I had to go swimming in New Zealand

when it was like minus three.

So much stuff, bro.

Have you ever played the game

when no one's allowed to talk to the head coach?

No.

Next time you go out for dinner,

play that game with Eddie Jones,

that'd be a bit of a giggle.

Oh no.

I wouldn't play it.

There's no way I'd play it.

Yeah, it's pretty funny

cause they try and talk to you

and all that sort of stuff happens.

Just to swing it back to rugby,

that game against RG, obviously one of the great tries

and I thought you guys were home.

What was that experience like?

Obviously growing out around those areas,

wearing the Aussie jumper.

Thought you sealed it, bro.

What was that like?

Man, yeah, look, it was,

man,

it was a lot of fun, obviously.

Obviously we didn't get the result we want,

but man, like all the family in the crowd,

some of my mates in the crowd,

it was pretty special.

And then, yeah, like you said,

like that last moment where I thought we had it after that.

I still remember running

and just looking at my family and friends

and just thinking, shit, like, oh, sorry.

No, you're swimming.

Swim when you want, bro.

Just thinking like, this is happening.

Pretty special.

There's one of those moments I'll always remember.

Yeah.

Was it, when you're running, was it going quick

or was it going slow?

Could you like really absorb it?

Or were you just like, fuck, just get me there?

No, just get me there, bro.

You should see when I got there and I was like just blowing.

You know, it happened so quickly,

but yeah, I just felt like I was on a treadmill for a second.

You didn't look like you're on a treadmill, you were flying.

Yeah.

So obviously you guys got World Cup preparations

coming up now.

Give us a sort of behind the scenes of what's happening.

And I'll ask about Eddie Jones a little bit later,

but just from a training perspective,

coming off a pretty rough campaign,

going into a pretty nice pool over in World Cup,

what's the confidence like and how's the training been?

Yeah, oh, well, I'd just say, yeah, obviously we've,

like you said, we have a bit of a rough patch,

but I guess that's the way you look at it.

And I'm pretty confident with what we've done so far,

where we went from the first game, you know,

just playing our first 20 minutes good

and then kind of dying off.

And then, you know, we thought we played most of the game

last week pretty good.

So we're kind of building.

We've only been together for a short time.

So I guess now for us, you know,

not much time left leading to World Cup.

It would just be about, I guess,

just building those connections a bit more,

and you know, keep doing what we've been doing

because it's working and just staying confident with that.

Because you know, we've got the team

to be able to do a lot of things.

Yeah, for sure.

I think one of those things is winning the World Cup.

so um yeah just have a crack yeah what about you bro yeah 100 i agree with marky like cohesion's a

massive thing in our sport i think like if you look at the all blacks for example they're a team

that have been so dominant over the last decade and if you look at their spine not much changes

like maybe one or two swap out but they sort of get picked up in that and get brought along in

that leadership journey i feel as though we've had like a spine and a lot of older players that are

vastly experienced that have like sort of been that rock for us and now for like guys like me

and marky who are obviously the younger guys it's sort of allowed us to develop and um and as a team

it's been like a massive thing like we've you know obviously we started terribly against you know our

first game against south africa which we weren't happy with as a whole and then you slowly built

on everything i know you boys are big but they're they're big big aren't they like man

when you like i went that's my first time going over there and like you obviously you hear about

seeing how big like obviously seeing how big the players are but you just go over then everyone's

just like i don't know what they're feeding them over there next level like there's some of their

boys man like six foot nine and way bigger than you and can move yeah that's the crazy part about

it you're not spotting them up behind them they can follow you like it's yeah it's next level like

i don't know what they feed them over there yeah all right

uh the coach eddie jones uh i think he's great for rugby um obviously i'm a levy he brings a

lot of attention to you guys and i don't know if it's always good or bad attention but behind the

cameras behind the press conference behind his podcast what's he like to deal with on a day-to-day

basis i think he's really like he's for me that sort of head coach is something that i probably

need um he's someone that like it's a tough love it's like you know he pushes you to be your best

and he comes from like the position of you know you don't want to look back in five years time

something he said to me that i can share is like i don't want to look back in five years time and

you know i could have been this player and i could have had this effect on

rugby in australia but then you don't and you don't want to have regrets and

that's something that he harps on is that you know he's just going to keep us accountable and

obviously training like the the amount of training we're doing and how hard we're working is crazy

but it's it's to break those bad behaviors and and get better as a team and then and then it'll slowly

off but we're in a moment like you know in a phase now where it's a lot of just storm everything is

crazy but it's we're getting better dramatically and that's what we need to do to get to the where

we need to get to the world cup who are you bro yeah i'd say yeah very similar um probably sum it

up like he he's very good at challenging everyone and like that's from staff to plays um and um you

know as much as we work hard he um he's very good at motivating us to do it like he's you know as

a coach um you know there's always a lot of positive reinforcement as well which is good

yeah um and that that actually i guess for me personally like he gives a lot of confidence

in me to go out there and and you know do what i can um for the team um and i guess that's what

he's trying to build um with everyone just having the confidence in what we're doing

but um but making sure we're challenging ourselves to get better while we're doing it as well um so

yeah no he's been really good um obviously we heard you know back in the days you'd hear stuff

him but yeah he's he's he's good to be around he's actually quite a laugh as well like i see yeah

something like just like just that dinner's like team dinner or even the meetings like he'll be

roasting boys like in a good way not in a bad way but like um he keeps it yeah it keeps a smile on

all the boys faces which is good um the banter's funny yeah it's funny like has he got it like

that does he yeah it's real good his banter's next level is hilarious we've got this bloke in our

team blake shop he's like uh he's built like a fridge man like his um this is brother yeah

yeah yeah so um he's built like a fridge man like he's a prop he's of same position as me

unreal bloke he's he's like he calls him brick shit house and he calls it he calls him that in

the media and everything and he's just like every morning it's like hey you going shit house like

just like man the banter is hilarious and yeah he just like has nicknames for everyone i was

half body for ages because i got small legs are you all torso i am yeah yeah bro that's like me

one stomach bro one nickname was sausage dog back in footy so

all long talk

um yeah so we'll touch on world cup pretty soon but i want to talk about like like i said earlier

to you boys i remember the wallabies like we're the team in early 2000s you guys got probably the

most important part of rugby aru over the next four years you got world cup this year obviously

the british lions are coming down there heavily boys smack them and the world cup comes comes here

from i know your guys job is to focus game by game and world cup and just do your best but do you

feel like you guys are getting lifted out a little bit uh yeah look um like like you said it's it's

evident rugby isn't what it used to be um and and yeah it's sometimes it does get brought up

like like for example eddie you know eddie has told us like we we have the opportunity you know to

um to bring that i guess that uh that passion

that drive for the game back that we haven't had in a while so it's definitely it's definitely there

um i guess it's just yeah it's just up to us to to be able to go out there and change it i guess yeah

yeah like my thoughts around it are like if you're successful you get the game grows like obviously

in new zealand had so much success that's your sport generation sport it's something that's

followed so closely in sydney there's you know there's so many rivals so many rival codes um

there's so many different sports now that are that are competing

for that market and you've got to look at it that way because it's you know it's not in sydney

there's like how many league clubs like eight yeah eight or ten or something so it's like too much

yeah it's like so like we're competing with them but it i think it just comes down to winning like

if if we start winning you know we we push this world cup to try and win it and we get there and

we win it and then we come home for a home line series and a world cup you'd be surprised man

like that lion series like um it's a different world over in europe like

rugby is rugby is everything in europe like it's a different world bro like you go over there for

a spring tour and the crowds everyone knows like people like in japan like they turn up with dolls

like of you like you won't get a long time yeah yeah yeah well what's mine but like yours got a

six-pack right yeah exactly but yeah like it's like overseas it's crazy bro and it's it's like

it's bigger than anything like it goes like football and then rugby union and then like a

league wasn't a real thing over there but no

like when the games are playing in those towns like you've got cardiff uh murrayfield like

scotland all those places twickenham the stadiums they're amazing it's always packed out starred

where um played there and and where we're going for the world cup bro it's it's a different world

and that's something that like we'd love to bring back yeah like that's the thing that's what you're

talking about like you know at the moment we don't have that but like yeah we we do have

the opportunity to to bring it yeah so we do like you do think of it sometimes here and there um

well i was um at the g when you guys were playing and i remember just sitting there looking around

and 100 you'd never be able to fill a league international game if you had um australia

versus new zealand we'd probably struggle to fill out like banquets so if you look at international

rugby in australia it's still very well supported it's just the club game like our club game in nrl

and afl is really big afl's afl's like i was at collingwood the night before same crowd bro it

was crazy yeah so their club football was really good yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

nrls thing but you guys internationally it's exciting bro yeah yeah because you know what it

is right in nrl like they'll have an international comp maybe a couple guys from england will come or

a couple random dudes from like lebanon but it's basically just basically it's just nrl just playing

each other but they play things like when the lions come down like farrell might be coming down

there's guys that you've never seen play in person and you understand or intimate when you guys play

france like i understand their history so i want to go see those guys play live where we don't

have a lot of time so i think it's going to be a prime time for you guys to come through yeah it's

it's going to be a lot of fun i'm like if we get to be a part of it it'd be unreal i don't know

about marky's year-to-year basis mate save the notes save the notes you're gonna have to contact

his manager to ask about that one no well uh that segues nicely right so you're sort of signing um

year-by-year contracts i got a quote from you in there in a perfect world i like to stay in rugby

but there's always a but there's obviously other things out there that might interest me

quote from you soccer bro what does that mean well the way saudi arabia is going yeah

you play golf bro or try and try and get on that little crew

yeah that's just i guess um you know being like enough to play footy at the moment and

i guess yeah look i'm signed for another year i've still got another year here but

you know after those um you know the next years after that i guess they're open um so yeah like

quote says i'm open to anything um but yeah at the moment just focusing on the next few steps

you might have a um future in politics after that answer um i'm just going to ask a question for you

league uh obviously you got the build for it um very invasive the way you play very active

i watch you and korea b to get around hulley everyone you wing taking carries all the time

um and that's like in rugby league big work ethic they carry 20 times are you sort of looking over

the fence i don't want to put words in your mouth but is that sort of something that excites you

yeah look it's i'm not i'll say it's there like it's uh definitely an option um like i've grown

up playing playing league um so it's definitely something that's you know i feel like i have a

connection to um so that's why i guess in the sense that you know i'm open to to the things

that that may come or may not come who knows but um yeah at the moment obviously just playing my

year you're good the way he's playing now maybe he won't be going anywhere yeah yeah deals coming

out soon oh man um another league question obviously swally coming over she's sort of

seen that the type of money he's getting and obviously hopefully the rising tide raises all

ships and all that sort of stuff what's some couple league guys from nrl that you'd love to

put the gold jersey on with is there any guys that really stand out to you oh that's a good question

um cam mary 100 would be one everyone

everyone says that as it was he that good was he bro when i was at school i was in year

uh year nine and i was watching him play first like 15 in our school system and

mate he was the best player on the field by country miles every single time he took the

field and like i'm not in the position of inside center just like suits him so well like he's not

he's not huge he's very evasive uh unreal ball carrier like the courage 100 out of 100

um what would you at the moment Girls

maybe nl bugs box called teams 21 20

300 and he would just be i reckon the best inside center jerkini i know it's more of a luxury but you can it's nice to have a 12 they can kick so i look at like geordie barrett he hit some sweeter the most um we that way i'm down or just put it around there's guys yeah there's guys who don't kick oh yeah who don't generally kick yeah um so i don't think that will be that would stop him from stop happening from i guess he

been effective yeah yeah being effective like you can do it like like i said you can ball if they're having

carry he's got some good hands so yeah he'd be able to use that i guess um it just depends on

how the team would work around him that makes sense as well like who's around him and stuff

like that yeah yeah tweed and union like there's a lot of dynamics like jumping in line outs that

sort of thing so like you know a beast ball carrier who's a back rower could end up not

getting picked because you know you need to pick a six or something that can jump in a line out

because you don't have enough options oh okay so it's like it's a it's a weird thing like that's

something we face this year like obviously with big willie skelton 150 kilos it's gonna be hard

to get in the air so you know you got like people like him but then you got like you know people in

the back row like tom hooper who can who can then take his line out load and then we can have him in

the you know what i mean like it's a it's a big seat bro how big super tom hooper because he just

ran over d-mac pretty easy yeah he's huge he's half body as well apparently yeah he gets that

as well he gets that in the chat nah he's like he'd be six four six yeah five maybe the big build

big like big fella

yeah um any other guys obviously cam morris like the obvious one a lot of people say uh any

like uh i'd probably say um i'd put pain has in there for sure eight

yeah or yeah six i probably put him six yeah like big boy just carry and tackle the ball bro

that's like keep it simple for him i think he'd do some damage obviously he's look at him

obviously doing a lot of damage in the nrl and

yeah i think he'd do some damage yeah i think he'd do a lot of damage on the ball

and i think we'd be really good if he'd do a little bit of damage on the ball

yeah i think he'd do a lot of damage on the ball

yeah he'd be uh he'd be pretty good it's pretty exciting eh um i honestly like um because i'm a

rugby fan and i hope a few of those boys come over and i'll give you guys um like as i watch

you play right in new karabiti guys are so hard to tackle and i watch the all blacks like their

whole back line is like a little bit annoying to tackle you know i mean it makes a difference and

obviously you guys got to lay a platform for them to do that but i hope it comes

man it's gonna be exciting time for rugby over the next couple of years

what was it like um alatoa going down obviously achilles in the scrum does that does that does

that shit sort of scar you uh or you're all right it would scar like a player like scrums are just

a weird thing bro where like you've got like tons of weight going through your body like and i just

say tons like i think it's like two tons of something going through your back like especially

at the front oh really is that the weight behind yeah yeah so like it's you're transferring a lot

of force through your body so there's obviously always a lot of injuries in the front row and

there's so much weight and load especially on a tight head on the right side of the scrum

al's a beast he'll come back better than ever but it's just unfortunate like he's he was our

captain he's our leader he was probably one of our better players and he's like tight head we

need some tight heads like he's he's world class so it's if you i don't know the difference i know

where they sort of stand but what's the big difference between those two tight and lucid

well i reckon lucid's like a lot easier and i'll say that that's because i play i play lucid but

like

tight head you have to be crazy strong like you just have to be very strong like i'm just in the

scrum mate it's just like technically a lot is it like a different type of strength yeah yeah like

you look at taniel artupo he's yeah he squats like 300 kilos and benches over 200 and he's 145

kilos and he's huge and he's so strong bro yeah but like i i could never replicate that on the

right side of the scrum it's like left side's like you're you're against my head's on the outside i'm

against one person

another flanker he's in the mix bro he's but he's got two heads each side and he's pushing

against like five other people so he's like you gotta be proper strong um like it's part of the

game that like union guys and league guys always talk about like union guys look at league and go

that scrum's a waste of time we asked league he's watch a union scrum it collapses three times we're

like you guys are wasting time what's it like being uh rolling into a scrum the first time

because i hope he'll

he'll he'll he'll he'll he'll he'll he'll he'll he'll

hear phil coons talk about it like oh this is the part of the game that we love and sort of

shit like that is it actually like that i feel like he's throwing that off to you bro um it's a love

hate relationship it's good but it's going well but it's like definitely a hard thing i've had to

learn like you come up against blokes that are 33 years of age and 145 kilos so my starting debut

for wallabies was against the spring box and i went up against franz malherba who's 145 kilo

farmer from bloomford got that country strength and like i got pumped and my my first scrums in

super rugby nella sent me off like i went off the field i got carded for scrums which is like

unheard of so like it took took me like a lot of lessons to learn actually how to scrum and

how to do it especially as a young bloke but like it's but i love hate like training scrums

no not great yeah training malls not great yeah like it's all in a grain of salt but in a game

if your scrum's going well it's not great it's not great it's not great it's not great it's not

and you're dominating the other team there's no better feeling so it's yeah it's very it's

interesting i was um i was talking to quade about and obviously he he made them that mistake when

he was saying like if we he goes i made the mistake like i own that but like if we had all

the boys on deck for the scrum it like doesn't sort of collapse and they don't get the penalty

and from someone who doesn't really understand the game as well as you guys i just didn't realize how

important set pieces was until sort of quade sort of breaks it down for me bro yeah um bloke's in

40 kilos he can't do anything else around the field yeah but scrum and they get paid like

whatever like in france like you get paid near a million dollars to be just a scrum like that's

yeah like your point what you said there how important the set pieces like that's crazy you

know as unfortunate that that happened knock on and then there was a scrum we we could we still

we can still win that if that makes sense yeah and that's exactly what he was saying yeah like

we still have the capability to get the ball back um and that's yeah i guess that that gets in the

to your point of you know how crucial the set piece is like like he was saying there's some

guys who literally just get paid just to scrum like have a good little gig like big coin bro

like tight heads in europe are the highest pay flat stick ask anyone who's the highest paid prop

in in the world i get another scraps man no um yeah

i'd say nella's one of the better tight heads in the world scrummaging wise when it's on his day

but like those south african boys they all play all over europe all the argentinian boys all over

europe yeah in europe in europe so what we're getting at europe there's a lot of set piece

like this is a big thing over there wet like colds yeah so so yeah lots of ball drop are going to lead

to scrums and stuff like that so um there's a lot of i guess big dogs that play over there yeah

um in the set piece kind of one thing i like about rugby is is like obviously different countries

play different ways and you see english sides they're always keen to have a shot at goal and

i don't know if that comes off of like soccer history or because the weather's wet all the time

like that's how they build the game or maybe it's because wilkinson was so good

um but like i just feel like the way we play rugby down here and when it's flowing like you guys in

that first half and it's just back and forth um is there like a downside to playing that more

of expensive style of football um depends if it's going well isn't it 100 uh yeah i'd say like it

depends um or like it can depend on fitness sometimes it depends on the style of the game

sometimes um or even like the conditions like if it's you know wet and rainy and windy and stuff

and you're throwing the ball a bit too much sometimes it might not help you out yeah so like

yeah it differs i'd say like you can play we can play that expensive footy

yeah yeah it has a lot to do with our like i reckon like the people we have in australia like

obviously we have a lot of um we're usually the most like fit like endurance wise skill pretty

powerful like we have a big polynesian contingency in our team like a lot of power runners like a lot

of people that are so powerful that's crazy like so it's like you got to like weigh that up like

obviously we want to go to set piece and slow the game down and stuff like that if if it's the right

time but in saying that like if we've got blokes like mark on the wing we need to give them the

ball we've got blokes like you know rob valentini in the pack or taniela we need to give them the

ball because you know that's their thing like that's what they're good at that's what they

expose teams with so it's like yeah we we play a lot of good football we play a lot of good football

that way because that's the australian way that's australian rugby yeah um but yeah it's something

that we have to learn and and get used to is like if we go over to europe and we go to france and

it's a rainy day and they've got a big pack you know we're going to have to change our game to

that slow well scrubs french side's cool they got a cool side eh dupont and all those boys

yeah man pretty cool at the moment yeah sorry what were you going to say no no i was just

going to go on about the point like um as you know as much as we

we want to play our own footy like yeah we're going to have to uh adapt to certain situations

and um but at the same time we've got to stay confident and play the way we do because it works

we know it works that's why people have done it for years um yeah so yeah that's all i was going

to say um who you see as biggest threats for the world cup threats plenty on the other side of the

pool yeah it's weird because the first time in a while that we've had like sort of a world cup where

a lot of the i think they say the left side of the pool the left side of the pool is like

sort of uh really stacked like you got ireland south africa new zealand england france all like

sort of like have to play each other before they get to like the real top end oh nice

yeah so um yeah look it's going to be i don't like i think france are favorites yeah like yeah

obviously there's you know france and ireland been doing well um but i think we like we shouldn't

think of people as threats if that makes sense yeah yeah but like france and ireland have been

doing so well

over the past

few years

New Zealand

always come good

you know at the

World Cups

all the big stages

so I think

we're lucky

like you said

we're on the

right side at the

moment

and I think

you can like

I know games

are measured in

wins and losses

but like at a

deeper level

when you actually

play the game

I think from

four games ago

to Weezer

against the

All Blacks

down in Dunedin

a chance to win

the game

the growth's been

there and it'd be

a good chance to

roll in against

like Georgia

and build confidence

again

you just need to

go on a run

don't you

that's the goal

yeah like you

said yeah

just try and

build and then

hopefully you know

go right through

and try to

take that cup

100%

QC

my boy

Sid used to

sort of follow him

around that training

when you were a

little bit younger

sort of pulled him

up when he was

older

still now as well

still hold his

pocket bro

nah

he was

yeah so my

old man

actually coached

the Reds

so like

we'd

sort of like

full circle

sort of

stuff like

when Quade was

at the Reds

playing at the Reds

when the Reds

were really successful

when the Reds

were the Reds

yeah

when the Reds

were like

you got

Wilgenia

Quade

all those

sort of boys

Digby

Higginbotham

all the

that was a

time

and you were

there

as a kid

yeah my

old man was

the forwards

coach

and so like

slips now

Rob Simmons

when he was

in the Wallabies

a couple years

ago when I was

just starting

and Quade

would see me

running around

as the ball boy

I was like

six bro

there's a photo

actually of me

and Simo

who's the

Rob Simmons

who was in

the Wallabies

a couple years

ago with his

hand on my

head

for a photo

and I had my

Reds jersey

on so

go the Tars

but

yeah

it was like

yeah it was

pretty cool

and they felt

terrible as well

because like

obviously it's

pretty funny

like a kid

used to pat

on the head

is like

yeah but he's

now packing

behind me

in a scrum

it's like

sort of

really weird

like

that must be

cool for you

bro

oh bro

it's like

the coolest

thing ever

bro

like

yeah

it's

it's

it's

words can't

explain

like sort of

you play

with the people

you watch

bro

like

it's crazy

I get to see

Michael Hooper

every day

I used to

think like

this

like

he was

like

everything

it's crazy

what about

you obviously

sort of

look after

yourself a bit

kind of look

like Quade

with the eyes

and shit

like that

with the

influencer

not

I wouldn't say

influencer

but Instagram

but do you

look at him

for like

motivation

not so much

as well as

on the field

because he

prepares

fucking better

than most

and I've hung

out for him

and like

we're in

Japan

we'll fall

asleep

he'll wake

up and do

his like

fucking half

an hour

stretching

routine

is it

cool

to see

that type

of preparation

through someone

who like

been in the back

and stuff

I'd say

I just go back

to the

like it's cool

because you know

growing up

watching

you know

Quade

when he was

like obviously

he was a superstar

you know

back then

and still now

but yeah

it's cool

to see how

he does

things

and I guess

yeah

you take

certain things

out of

you know

how he

prepares

and

you know

how well

organized he is

like after

training

he has a set

plan as to

what he does

and stuff

like that

you know

it goes to

show

why he does

so well

it's because

I guess

he's just

consistent

with the

dedication

that he's

been doing

for the

past

however

long

and still

so

yeah

it's pretty

cool

I guess

pretty cool

to see how

he does

his things

it's just so

detailed

that's the

thing

I was talking

to him

yesterday

I was like

oh

talking to you

kicking routine

he's like

oh well

on Monday

I do

like

shapes

or he's just

saying all

this random

shit

he was talking

about 15

minutes

about a

kicking

routine

I was just

like

oh

yeah

that's the

crazy part

like the

detail

of it

like

but that

shows how

smart he is

as well

like that's

one thing

I've taken

out

I guess

from the

time

that

because

this is

my first

time

I guess

being

around

and being

a part

of team

when

crazy

and

the cool

thing

is to

see

how

smart

he is

you know

just with

footy

and the

things that

he does

and I

guess

that comes

from the

detail

like

just the

detail

that he

puts into

everything

yeah

it's

pretty

cool

yeah

that must

be

cool

I talk

to him

a little

bit

about

rugby

and we

sort of

have these

conversations

about

like

players

can't

really

be

themselves

and

same

conversations

I have

with

Artie

where

because

they're

all

black

systems

been

so

strong

for

so

long

that

culture

that

developed

is all

about

team

and

then

I

wouldn't

say

it's

not

celebrated

but

it's

hard

to

be

in

an

individual

person

out

there

but

one

thing

that

Quade

always

he

said

this

a

couple

times

and

I

think

super

rugby

is

great

because

it's

had

its

time

and

obviously

the

South

African

teams

have

left

do

you

think

it

would

be

better

if

the

Australian

teams

pulled

out

of

super

rugby

but

you

need

some

sort

of

representative

footy

between

the

Wallabies

and

club

level

they

did

it

a

long

time

ago

early

2000s

where

you

would

get

picked

out

of

your

club

team

to

play

for

the

Wallabies

so

there

are

a

few

blokes

that

are

playing

first

grade

for

Sydney

Uni

on

Sunday

and

then

the

next

week

they

are

in

Wallabies

camp

playing

against

the

All Blacks

so

it's

like

I

obviously

there was

the

NRC

for a

bit

which

was

another

step

that

was

when

we

came

through

that

was

the

last

year

of

it

so

we

played

for

country

we

played

for

New

South

Wales

country

and

yeah

I

just

think

like

yeah

the

Waratahs

and

the

Reds

will

always

be

there

I

just

think

like

I

think

that

we

need

like

a

South

Africa

we

need

like

the

Argentinian

team

the

rough

few

years

with

Aussie

teams

and

the

New

Zealand

teams

but

I

guess

that

experience

has

actually

helped

us

it's

weird

is it

yeah

because

when you

go to

play

the

All Blacks

it's

not like

oh I

haven't

seen

this

dude

before

like

he

was

just

wearing

red

and

black

before

he

was

in

a

Chiefs

uniform

before

but

now

they're

just

all

together

in

black

yeah

it's

hard

because

you go

like

if

you

dress

up

someone

in

a

bib

on

the

other

team

who's

not

playing

and

you

go

he's

DMACC

don't

let

him

go

anywhere

and

then

they all

come

together

for

the

All Blacks

and

every

single

player

is

at

that

level

everyone

can

do

everything

so

there's

no

weakness

there's

nothing

we can

go

after

we

just

got

to

buy

into

the

team

plan

and

hope

that

our

team

plan

and

we

do

it

as

hard

as

we

can

produce

a

result

but

one

of

the

theories

you

brought

up

in

club

rugby

was

that

because

you

guys

haven't

won

for

so

long

it'd

be

nice

to

see

I

remember

when

the

Tars

won

maybe

five

six

years

ago

how

big

that

was

so

the

Australian

public

isn't

used

to

an

Australian

team

winning

and

therefore

they

go

follow

that

and

like

you

said

you

guys

struggled

in the

bleed

for

the

last

20

years

and

it

hasn't

been

your

guys

fault

but

you

still

pack

out

the

G

it's

fucking

crazy

you

know

what

I

mean

so

I

think

that

was

the

point

he

was

always

getting

across

yeah

100%

like rugby's

always gonna be

big over here

I believe

yeah

it's just

gotta get

bigger

and through

success

I think

that brings

it

so

it's

like

man

there's

so

many

Kiwi

supporters

over here

even the

G

after the

game

most of

them

were

all

black

supporters

so

it was

like

we're

getting

some

all

black

chants

going

for a

bit

it's

probably

not

your

realm

but

it's

a

realm

that

I'm

actually

interested

in

but

the

media

side

around

it

and

I

know

it's

a little

bit

traditional

do

you

think

is

there

anything

that

you

feel

that

it

could

improve

on

because

I

look

at

league

like

we've

got

all

these

I

call

them

sub

medias

so

we're

a part

of

that

with

YKTR

sports

bloke

in

the

bar

you

got

hollow

sports

who

just

fucking

talk

like

rubbish

but

it's

absolutely

so

funny

there's

definitely

a space

for that

here in

Australia

and I

feel like

it's

really

missing

I

know

there's

pick

athletic

club

and they

sort

of

do

their

thing

but

like

that

next

evolution

or

that

next

sub

media

I

think

that's

where

the

growth

really

lies

within

the

game

100%

like

I

think

like

you

said

it's

very

traditional

like

there's

not

much

going

on

if

that

makes

sense

that's

the

difference

I

feel

with

the

AFL's

media

compared

to

us

there's

so

much

going

on

and

there's

definitely

a big

space

for

those

other

little

sub

medias

to

get

talk

in

and

get

more

action

on

unit

and

that's

part

of

how

we

can

grow

the

game

it's

definitely

something

that

you

see

some

talking

shit

sometimes

Eddie

throws out

things

but

that

gets

people

talking

I

guess

that's

what

the

game

needs

something

just

to

get

the

game

there

are

some

interesting

guys

in

union

like

Quaid's

exhibit

he

would

be

,

probably

the

most

well

prepared

person

or

athlete

going

around

in

team

sports

he's

next

level

always

doing

the

same

thing

same

routine

prepares

every

day

like

it's

his

last

he's

so

strict

on

his

preparation

so

someone

like

that

you

would

have

had

him

on

here

and

he's

number

one

probably

for

podcasting

because

of

his

stories

and

stuff

but

he's

the

exhibit

of

someone

that's

so

interesting

that

people

would

want

to

hear

about

it

and

that's

something

that

I feel

like

we

miss

in

union

yeah

100%

do

you

know

what

I

think

really

misses

in

union

and

like

I've

grown

up

watching

it

a lot

of

it

but

like

I

still

don't

understand

the

nitty

gritty

of

it

and

like

the

scrum

chat

we

just

had

before

like

I

find

that

stuff

really

interesting

and

then

you

see

a lot

of

Australian

people

or

New

Zealand

we

watch

American

sports

and

NFL

is

amazing

because

just

how

technical

that

sport

is

and

league

is

to

me

checkers

it's

fast

it's

fun

like

it

transfers

well

to

social

media

because

there's

impact

and

we're

10

meters

apart

but

unions

like

chess

and

you

can

play

union

in

so

many

ways

I

just

don't

see

anyone

breaking

down

the

game

for

us

common

is

to

understand

yeah

100%

but

as I

said

before

it's

so

weird

how

someone

with

the

scrum

stuff

and

the

tight

head

no

one

would

look

at

a

scrum

and

be

like

the

scrum

is

being

dominant

that's

on

the

tight

head

that's

why

the

team

is

going

so

well

there's

been

games

with

a

tight

head

won't

do

anything

else

in

the

whole

game

won't

touch

the

ball

won't

make

a

tackle

won't

clean

out

a

ruck

won't

do

anything

crazy

just

nothing

but

he'll

scrum

the

other

team

off

the

field

and

he'll

walk

off

the

field

into

the

changing

room

he'll

be

celebrated

there's

so

many

different

things

you can

be

good

at

you

don't

have

to

be

the

best

runner

as

long

as

you've

got

your

niche

if

you

can

kick

goals

60

meters

out

you'll

have

your

thing

you're

really

good

at

that's

a

little

piece

of

the

puzzle

you

can

add

to

a

team

that's

why

it's

a

game

for

everyone

I'm

a

prop

me

to

transfer

to

league

now

would

be

virtually

impossible

because

I'm

too

big

because

of

how

I

have

to

push

in

scrums

and

same

as

the

other

boys

who

are

like

tight

heads

and

stuff

it's

like

you

his

niche

is

in

rugby

union

as

a

tight

head

because

of

what

he

brings

to

a

team

so

it's

yeah

everyone's

got

their

individual

assets

yeah

what

are

the

positions

like

say

like

we've

broken

down

the

scrum

pretty

well

like

how

important

is

like

a

line

out

is

that

just

as

important

as

a

scrum

more

important

or

even

there's

line

out

callers

so

like

that's

the

other

crazy

part

like

I'm

a

back

but

it's

so

cool

to

watch

these

guys

like

do

their

stuff

like

the

second

rowers

like

the

tall

timbers

we

call

them

right

the

stuff

that

they

have

to

know

and

like

just

the

way

they

call

it

and

they

have

to

work

with

the

back

line

because

we

need

to

know

how

the

ball's

coming

out

if

it's

going

to

be

thrown

off

the

top

it's

like

yeah

like

usually

it's

either

like

a

pre-call

or

a

bunch

of

code

that

we'll

select

for

a

game

and

the

second

number

is

where

we're

going

to

throw

it

to

or

if

there's

like

a

spelling

out

of

like

a

,

you

know,

if

it's

like

busy

or

something

the

word's

busy

B's

the

front

Y's

the

back

that

word

in

that

code

or

combination

is

where

the

ball's

going

to

go

and

that's

where

we all

have

to

go

so

like

for

example

like

we

have

like

a

tight

head

who's

like

our

main

scrummager

who

locks

down

the

scrum

as

a

set

piece

you

know

you

pick

Will

Skeleton

behind

him

because

he's

150

kilos

and

he

can

get

the

scrum

going

forward

and

then

you

pick

like

someone

like

Nick

Frost

who's

six

foot

nine

and

light

and

can

operate

a

line

out

really

well

around

him

so

like

he

would

like

he'll

go

and

talk

to

Quade

or

Carter

and

get

the

call

or

the

play

sheet

that

we're

going

to

run

like

the

pattern

for

example

and

then

he'll

come

back

and

make

a

decision

on

the

line

out

call

whilst

looking

at

the

opposition

so

like

if

Sam

Whitelock's

talked

at

the

front

obviously

we're

not

going

to

go

there

because

like

we'll

go

in

the

ball

yeah

and

then

he

tells

the

hooker

and

then

and

then

yeah

the

hooker

will

come

in

so

you

guys

kick

out

you

guys

are

sort

of

walking

is

there

conversation

starting

there

yeah

oh

okay

it's

something

that I

like

struggled

with

originally

as well

because

it's

like

there's

so

much

information

you

have

to

process

every

play

you

gotta

process

all

the

information

understand

where

you're

going

and

what

you're

doing

it's

like

and

where

you

have

to

stand

whether

you're

gonna

get

the

ball

whether

you're

gonna

be

like

a

decoy

or

and

everything

like

in

our

attack

has

to

be

moving

so

like

it's

deception

everywhere

so

hopefully

where the

ball

goes

we

break

the

line

so

next

minute

hooker

yeah

not

straight

what

are

you

doing

yeah

um

interest

outside

of

football

obviously

we're

talking

a lot

of rugby

you do

a lot

of stuff

of

water

ability

yeah

yeah

um

very

good

on

you

that's

that's

pretty

cool

what

made

you

get

into

into

that

um

well

yeah

it was

um

after

barbars

are cool

club

rugby

why

they're

one of

the

coolest

teams

ever

because

they

just

play

footy

hectic

week

bro

so

we're

in

london

in

mayfair

like

probably

one of

the

best

places

in

the

world

and

um

we did

the

whole

week

like

it's

a

week

of

drinking

and

we

had

heaps

of

Aussies

in

the

team

just

a

week

of

drinking

had

so

much

fun

like

travelled

all

around

one