September 25, 2023 • 35 mins
How did the Brisbane Broncos go from dead last to Grand Finalists in two years? Can Penrith Panthers secure a third straight Premiership? This week, it's your guide to the big one in the NRL, with all the storylines you need to know before your mate's Grand Final barbecue.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Two Good Sports would like to acknowledge the traditional owners
of the land on which we record this podcast that
will rundery people. This land was never seated, always was,
always will be. Hello and welcome to two Good Sports
sports news told differently.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Georgie Tunney and I'm maybe Jelmy, and I'm about
to watch Georgie have one of the moments of her life.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I honestly may never feel this again. We should bottle
this because two teams from Brisbane are in the Grand Finals,
both the AFL and the NRL, including my beloved Brisbane Broncos.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Regular listeners will know that Georgie's been having to wear
her beanies on the plight until the Broncos win a premiership. Well,
the beanies are on, the lids are off. And I'll
be the first to say I'm a casual observer of
NRL as a girl that grew up in Perth. When
I was interviewed at Fox Sports saying what do you
think of NRL, I said, you know what, I love
the Wallabies. That's genuinely what happened. Since then I went
(00:57):
on to cover Origin. I got into it, but I
do not have the passion that you do. But I'm
excited to watch this Grand Final on Sunday because it
is the best two teams all year. And George, you're
gonna tell me why it's so interesting and why we're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
From spoon to boom. Tell me how did the Brisbane
Broncos go from dead last to NRL Grand finalists in
just two years? Spoiler alert? It involves a evolution of
the coaching staff. Yes I've used that term. It's technical.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We'll get to it, and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The recruitment of a whole bunch of rock stars. But
the million dollar question is, and it's actually a million
dollar question because if keV Walters does win on the weekend,
the Brisbane Broncos win, he gets a million dollars. That's
part of a clause in his contract. That's quite the bonus.
It's quite a bonus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'd be like, listen here, you jumps.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You know what we do.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
We we win.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
But what is standing in their way is the Penrith Parade.
The Panthers through to their fourth straight Grand Final on
the hunt for their third straight premiership. Yadi da dy
da all of that. So what does the Brisbane Broncos
need to do to win this is your objective.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
God, objective has an asterisk. This is a small one,
but you can't see it. And there's also the AFL
Granny happening this week, so we better get to the headlines.
Headline number one like.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Lions Hip, what's good?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Picked up that valley and it's the Brisbane.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Lines who make the Magpies in.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The twenty three the Gavasium interraptures. That was the game
that decided who we were going to see in the
twenty twenty three AFL Grand Final. And it is a
clash of the Titans, the two best teams that we've
seen all year. It is the Collingwood Magpies taking on
(02:45):
the Brisbane Lines and it happened in prelims for the ages.
You would if you were going to advertise AFL to
any audience and show them two games. The weekend was
just an incredible example. The Pies sneaking home by one
point one point? How do they do that again and
again and again? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Over gw Wes who I have to say, surprise packets
for me this final series. I mean I guess for
the season as well, but they just overperformed. I would
say it may not be a fair adjudication of what
they were able to do this season, but they came
so close, so close against the team that has been
largely tipped for the entire season to be the Premier.
(03:24):
It's like the champions.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We love the Orange Tsunami more the point I love
their social media team, however, is doing this. Instagram needs
a raise. That's going to happen. But Collingwood being in
a Granny just brings a level of villain because you
either support them or you don't. And the way they've
been playing recently, people have been getting on board. But
classically in Australian rules football, if you don't love Collingwood,
(03:47):
you only wish them poor things.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yes, it's really interesting to me to come into that
dynamic being from Brisbane, moving to Melbourne and having people
just either love or loathe this team. But the twenty
twenty three Magpies, the way that they play, the players
that they they're so likable, they're so likable, Darcymore after
his speech, the ANZAC Day game could have run for
(04:10):
Prime Minister and one how overwhelmingly Yes, would have one
like that. There is something about this team. They'll be
taking on the Lions who defeated Carlton on the weekend
after a come from behind performance and look, we were
really on the blue Bagger's bandwagon last year. Was down
in the most Carlton of Carlton things to do.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
They lost me going da da da da da. I
was like, well, aren't we oracles? Literally they're going to
do the unthinkable?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And then I have had tickets from my girlfriend here
and it was sent at five thirteen nine. I've timestamped
at five thirty nine pm on Saturday evening and there
was six minutes to go in the first quarter of
the Carlton Lions games. And she says, how can I
get GF tickets? Oh no, so she Carlton fans. If
you're looking for someone to blame, yeah, that was the Moles.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That was it. That was it because they did, as
I said, overcome a five gold deficit to Carlton, who
just shot out of the blocks to storm home to
a sixteen point win. So confidence would be high with
the Lions. However, there's the curse of the g Brisbane
had lost fourteen of their last fifteen games at the
home of football.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Not a great stat, not a great stack. It's not
a great one.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Slightly different to the fact they didn't lose at the
gap of this year, so they liked playing at home.
The forecast is twenty eight degrees. That's good for them,
that is good for Brisbane, so it's a balmie g.
I don't know if temperature makes them feel differently about
going out there. Recent history was the Lions actually beat
Collingwood one hundred and twenty four to one hundred. That's good,
but that was at Marvel. Oh, so that was round
(05:39):
twenty three. Lions have a significant lack of Grand Final experience.
Unless Formerhawk Jack Gunston has recalled for the Granny, Josh
Dunkley will be the only Premiership player in the Lions squad.
It's the lions first Grand Final in nineteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I remember at two thousand and four. I remember that game.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
How old are you?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Oh gosh, where's my mask? For thirteen? It's it's unbelievable
what's happening in Brisbane? And I mean it's my hometown.
So I might be slightly biased, but I'm just so
excited for what's ahead of them, and I hope that
they can enjoy this week. But the Lions, what they
need to do is figure out how to not get
stage fright because you can't have the scaredy line. It's
(06:16):
the Wizard of Old storyline. We can't have that, which
is what we saw in the first quarter against Carlton.
You cannot give the Collingwood Magpies five goals a five
goal hitster.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
The wonderful thing and the exciting thing is you have
the two best teams all season and on their best day,
either could win. Which is what you want? Which is
what you want? I genuinely don't know, and there's something
so exciting about that. It's Queensland versus Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
We are the pride.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Of Headline to Headland, they twist enough and Catlan's men
complete an absolute humiliation?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Are the Aussies?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
One of the more distressing things that you'll see in
Australian sport for a long time. It is the Allaby's
out of the World Cup in the group stages for
the first time in tournament history. The word humiliation was
used there, George, and it's accurate. The final score forty
to six against Wales. Now that comes after last week's
(07:15):
lost to Fiji for the first time in sixty nine years.
There are so many questions being asked of Eddie Jones
and his selection calls, he has very clearly gone for
a younger, less experience side and former Wallaby Drew Mitchell
had this to say on his podcast, and I think
it echoes what a lot of Wallaby's fans are thinking
right now Eddie.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Since heern goes, yeah, it's my fault. I take full response.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Really, what does that mean though, Like he doesn't get
dropped this week, he's not not coaching next week, Like
it's just like an empty line in a press conference.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, I take full response. Really, Like what does that
equate to? Like nothing? Why have you not selected? Michael Hooper?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Quayed Cooper, Like, come out and actually tell us as fans,
why have you not picked these guys?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Because now we're seeing the result. If you're not picking
some of these guys.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I think we just lost our g rating.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
More the point, I love that his voice is horse
because he's clearly been.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Screaming, screaming at the TV watching his beloved Wallabies. I
mean that is one of the most capped Wallabies. I
think he scored the most tries for the Wallabies in
a World Cup. Like this is a figure in Australian
rugby that's super respected and he is giving it to
the current Wallabies coach.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And in that clip that was recorded via podcast, because
I think you can only be that candid in a podcastcast,
he was wearing a Wallabies strip and you can tell
how much pain he's in watching his beloved team supposedly rebuild.
But we're not in a rebuild phase.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We're not in a rebuild phase. There's also you don't
rebuild going into a World Cup. You've had four years
to rebuild. This should be where you're built. You are
ready to go. You have a fully constructed team. And
what he is calling for there when it comes to
transparency is Eddie Jones. You know, he is a larger
than life figure. Love him, hate him. He is divisive,
but he was brought into this team to take them
(09:04):
to a World Cup, to steer them to a good performance.
And now we're going to have our worst performance ever
at this tournament.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Last week, Georgie, you said that rugby in Australia was
at a crossroads. Yes, they were standing at the crossroads
and just got hit by a bus.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They did, And the headlines are backing that up. Well,
there was one headline I saw this morning that literally
said the day Australian rugby was broken. This is it's
a failure. It's a huge, huge failure.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
As Drew Mitchell said, where is Quaid, Where is Hooper?
Where are those experienced figures that can be like, come on, kids,
like we've got a pulling together here. But it is
for me. When I think about the Wallabies growing up,
I think of George Gregan I know, and John Hills
and household names in this country, and when the Wallabies played,
the pubs were full, and we want to see it
(09:51):
get back to that. But it looks like a very
very long road.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
Headline three, it's the first time that Oscar Piastric pecks
up a trophy, first rookie since lave stole him back
you in twenty seventeen to finish up the podium.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Is it just me?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Or do commentators, even in F one sound like aristocrats?
He sounded wealthy that like, didn't he? But that is
not our headline.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I had a cigar in one hand and a kangnak
in the other.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Why wouldn't he and why wouldn't Oscar py Astri as well?
Though he's twenty two, so I don't know if kgnak
is his thing. But the Aussie rookie has secured his
first podium in Formula One, finishing third at the Japanese
Grand Prix. Go you, Melbourne, and.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
This is huge, Like, this is massive. I mean Formula
one has just I mean we talk about resurgences. This
is the biggest growth in any sport I think in
the world, maybe bar the Matilda's that we've seen in
the last five years.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Drive to survive, Drive to survive. Yes, and the numbers
and the change in demographic that we've seen in the
Australian Grand Prix alone in terms of young women going,
oh my gosh, they want to go watch Lando Norris
like it's just a different demographic. And I must admit
I binged it. Yeah hard. I was obsessed.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And hats off to the sport for letting that happen
because they're seeing the results now and to be able
to watch Oscar Piastre, you know, this baby faced kid
from Melbourne and see him become kind of like the
new Daniel Ricardo, the new Mark Webber and have this
success in his first proper season in a car is
just is just huge.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You mentioned that he's a new Dan Riccardo, who literally
replaced Riccardo at mccaren so. That works. He qualified second fastest,
ahead of his teammate Lando Norris. This is the part
of F one that I just couldn't do. Got the
call from Master Control saying let up to your teammate.
Let Lando through. So he was actually coming second behind
Maxrestappan and you met.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You couldn't do that. No, no, knock me down with
a feather.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Lando Norris had fresher tires, et cetera, et cetera. There's
a lot going on there. But just imagine being like, guys, guys, guys,
I'm doing it. I'm gonna get second. Can you please
just let Lando pass?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Mate? That wouldn't go down to Mario out with us.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You would turn around and ran me banana. What's a
ban I think we're done now?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yes. Exactly three years ago to the day, Brisbane Bronco
staff arrived at their HQ and Redhill and were welcomed
by a unique site, something never seen in the club's
(12:28):
decorated history. Not one or two, or three or four,
but dozens of wooden spoons scattered haphazardly across their perfectly
manicured training ground. In video footage that I would not
have believed if I hadn't seen it myself. A man
in a blue T shirt hurries between the kitchen utensils,
(12:49):
struggling to hold them in all of his hands and
failing to erase the existence of them before anyone else sees.
The entire Brisbane media pack saw this cutlery. The night before,
the Brisbane Broncos had sealed the Wooden Spoon, last place
on the NRL Ladder for the first time ever in
their history. They'd been around since nineteen eighty eight, and
(13:10):
they lost to the North Queensland Cowboys that night, demoralizing
the hypothesis being that disgruntled fans came straight from lang
Park to Redhill threw the cutlery over the fence and
onto the field in revolt. Brisbane had only won three
games in twenty twenty. Their coach Anthony Sebold, was sacked,
their players were despondent, the culture was broken and in
(13:32):
a one team town that is unforgivable. But jelmy, you
can't start a rebirth without a death, and September twenty five,
twenty twenty was, for all intents and purposes, the lowest
the Broncos My Bronchos had ever been. The only way
was up. It wasn't a linear up. There were peaks
(13:57):
and troughs. The Glamour Club tried and failed to leure
champion coach Craig Bellamy away from the storm. That was tough.
That was tough for good as well. We settled. That's
really what it did feel like at the time for
a former great player, a premiership winning captain, a Broncos legend,
Kevin Walters. We love Kevy, great guy, can maybe coach.
(14:18):
He'd done most of his apprenticeships over in the Super League,
but was also the Queensland coach from twenty sixteen to
twenty nineteen. Four series, two series wins, two series losses,
so a pass mark. With Kevy in charge at Brisbane,
they went okay but not really, finishing fourteenth in twenty
twenty one. They then scooped up playmaker Adam Reynolds in
(14:39):
the off season, who'd been discarded by his beloved South
Sydney Lo Lo lo lo lol. How'd that work out?
Rabbit Os and got to work rebuilding properly. Younger players
were recruited and blooded, and the team finished ninth in
twenty twenty two, but twenty twenty three. It may be
the year of the Rabbit, but I'll tell you right
now it's actually the year of Reese Walsh Ezra man
(15:03):
an As.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I could have sworn you about to say the year
at the Bronco.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That would be too simple. And indeed the man who
brought them all together, Kevin Walters, because they are in
their first Grand Final since twenty fifteen, as clear as
day as this beanie on the top of my head.
And if the Broncos can win against the Panthers next Sunday,
the kevolution will be complete. So how do they do it?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
On a scale of one to ten? Yep, give me
your level of just is anxiety? Is it excitement? What
are you feeling this week? Because, dear listener, when Georgie
watches the Broncos, there is an alter ego. Yes, it
comes out, yes, and this sweet, kind, caring human being
becomes borderline feral.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That's right, that's right. I was full feral. Yeah this weekend. Yep,
if you bleed Maron I do, I do so for context,
dear listener, I growing up was Brisbane Bronco's member for
thirteen years. I would go to the games every single
weekend with my dad and this team I have grown
up with them. It's been so hard the last five
(16:10):
years to find anything to get excited about, to cling
to the hope. It just has been non existent. We
have been When I say the players were despondent, that's
like a reflection of the fans, because the fans booed them.
The fans wood and spoons Wooden spoons at the class.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And again this was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, it's only three years ago that this all happened,
Like Wooden Spooner is in twenty twenty to fourteenth to
ninth to finish second and now hopefully win the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So from your perspective, what has changed in that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Growth it literally is the evolution. So it is a
complete cleaning out of what was going on behind the scenes.
So new coach, new CEO. And that's not saying necessarily
anything was wrong with the old one, but it had
been in place for a long time. Like when you
talk about Glamor Clas in the NRL, the Brisbane Broncos
is the Collingwood of the NRL. Got you like they
(17:04):
have that much gravitas and When they are winning, nothing
else matters. When they are losing, nothing else matters. Okay,
because it's just that is how intrinsically they are linked
with people's feelings there.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
And when you talk about glamour clubs, we know across
all codes there tends to be one player above all
others that he's elevated to a demi god like status. Yes,
and that is the Harry Styles of the NRL in
Reese Walsh. Yes, how good is he?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
He is the best player I have seen in ten years,
with no exaggeration, and I include Nathan Cleary in that.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
He is the most exciting player I have seen, probably
in more than ten years. He is the fastest player
I have seen in the last decade. He is the
type of player that you cannot coach. Reese Walsh has
this next level of He's got anticipation, he can read
the game. He is just his blistering speed that is
(18:02):
unlike you cannot beat speed, you cannot you can't be replicated.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And all of that is packaged in a bloke that
looks like he could be in one direction.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
He honestly is a pop star like he is a
rock star of the NRL. And that was I actually
got emotional watching on the weekend, it was the Billy
Walters try who will get to the whole father son
dynamic coming up? But it was Billy Walter's scoring, but
it came from a Reswalsh break and I can only
say that he would have clocked like some usane bolt
speeds to get this line break and he passed it
(18:31):
back on the inside Billy Walter's scores and it was
the slow mo replay because they're kids, They're just kid.
Reswolsh is twenty one, Billy Walter's is you know, twenty something,
and Ezra Mam I think is twenty who's the five eighth?
And it was the three of them just like standing
up and it was all in slow mo and they
were just like God's and the crowd was just going wild,
and I was like, these are just kids having fun, but.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Are you also going sign them? Sign them? Now, sign
them for ten years.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I am for Reswolsh because he actually fun. Fact is
on a bar a bargain contract, so he was with
the Warriors last year. I think we got him on
a two year deal for about four hundred grand, which
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Is about a dollar for every Instagram follower he.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Honestly, honestly though, so like the Broncos are there just
counting their pennies getting the advocates out, and he saw
the player. He's the future.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Everyone has his number on the back of their guns.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Oh, there are fans that are lying down in front
of the team. Buses stop because they don't want the
bus to move, because they want to see Reese Welsh.
There are thousands of fans going to their training sessions
because they want to see Reese Welsh. Roads are being
closed so that fans can get into, like access the facility,
so they can see Rees Welsh over the weekend. They
put up letter boxes outside the stadium so that you
(19:40):
could write, like a little note to your favorite player,
like getting weathers.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
At this point, it's.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I've not seen anything like it, and I'm not sure
if it's because you know, I didn't grow up with Instagram.
I didn't grow up with the social media. But now
that that exists, he is. There's no better way to
say it, Harry.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Styles of the NRL, Well, the only comparison I can
to afl is Nick Dakos had a book signing this
week or didn't appearance this week and there was five
hundred people that lined up to get his signature. Yeah,
but that's nothing on someone lying down in front of
a bus. Imagine going, I'm willing to sacrifice my life
unless you give me walshit.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
But think think Nick Dakos, but think he had a
bit of you know, Jordan to go edge to him.
That's Reese Welsh. Like Reese Walsh. You can love him
and hate him, but everyone would want him on their team,
got you. Like he has been suspended for swearing at referees.
He has been and missed an Origin game for doing that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Well, teen girls hate a bad boy exactly lying in
front of a bus exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Like he's the tattered up, beautiful green eyes, the fastest
thing you've ever seen, and he is who the club
needs to build everything on. And honestly, it's made me
excited about footy again. So I'm just thrilled. I'm trying
to enjoy the week. I've had fourteen different personality changes
in the space of forty eight hours where I'll be like,
oh my gosh, let's enjoy Grand Final week. It's hard
(21:00):
to get here. You know, we haven't been in one
since twenty fifteen. Let's just enjoy it and then like
the next second, I'll be like, okay, but seriously, what
happens if we lose? No, we can't lose. We must win.
We'll have to win. We're definitely not losing, we're winning,
and then it'll be like this, just enjoy it is.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
The push and pull of every fan when their team
makes it to the big dance. You want to be
elated that you got there, and then it's so close,
the ecstasy and the agony.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, I can't enjoy it. It's like this is all
that I've wanted and now I'm like, who wants this pain?
Who wants this terror? Who wants this anticipation? Like it's
I guess is why you play sport and why you
watch sport.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
But honestly, you can honestly draw parallels as to people
being like why would you fall in love? Honestly your
heart can be broken, but oh the highs Like that
is what sport means to Australians, and particularly this week
because as the siren sounds on both Saturday and Sunday
and their respective codes, there are going to be grown
adults crying. Yes, it'll simultaneously, and that will be from
(21:57):
extreme joy or from it extreme pain. And I think
we've established it. The Broncos are playing in the Grand Park.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The Broncs are playing. They plays a little known team
they've got set up. Do we have time?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And this is the headline that really got me and
I mention it to you and you said, that's perfect.
The Brisbane Penrith NRL Grand Final is a clash meeting
between the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Correct the
Broncos being the unstoppable force, youthful enthusiasm stars, they're just
(22:32):
rock stars. They're young kids. They're having a crack. It's
a evolution. But they come up against the Panthers. They
have gone back to back to now they are undisputedly
the best team in the competition.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yes they are, and I say that with a Broncos
spanie on top my head. They are the best team
in the competition and they have been for the last
four years.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And they don't look like slowing down. They have young
talent coming through. It's not like when you see dynasties
in the AFL and you're like, yeah, but I can
see you know, this is their era and that will
pass and these players are going They've just got young
talent coming through. Sorry, George, I feel like I feel
like I had to do this because you were being
capable this week. But the only again, according to this article,
(23:16):
the only team in the NRL with a prayer of
breaking down Penroy's iron will and suffocating defense is Brisbane.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Again correct, It is because the Panthers are such a
well oiled machine. They know their systems, they have trained
for it to the nth degree. Ivan Cleary, their coach,
is a mastermind. Each completely revolutionized that club and put
it into the stratosphere when it comes to achievements in
the game, and made them the team to beat. His son,
(23:46):
Nathan Cleary, is the playmaker.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Can you imagine being coached by your dad?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, and we're not talking it. I was kick Can
you imagine being missus Cleary and being like Ivan and
Nathan had a tough day at work. Better call my
son than called like It's It's just it's rare. I
can't think of when have you ever been coached by
your dad and not had other players be like, well,
there's some preferential treatment, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And the best thing is that we're seeing it for
both the Broncos and the Panthers because keV and his
son Billy are playing, and then Ivan and then Nathan
of course, but this is something we don't usually see
in league. We see it all the time, do we
see it all the time? The father's son?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
See we see father's son as in you after your
dad has played one hundred games and I think in
AFLW it's twenty games. You qualify then to be able
to select that you would like to go to that club.
So that's father's son rules. So that's where you see
the day Cosses opt in Silvanni. There's a lot of
things and it means a lot to a lot of people.
I cannot think of how bizarre it would be to
(24:43):
have a Grand Final where there's a family tree of
a dad and a son on both sides.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, I remember so the two thousand Grand Final which
was the last, oh second last premiership. We wont in
two thousand and six as well, but was the first
premiership that I saw as a kid. I was nine,
I started watching rugby league and nine so it was
my first year in league and we won the company.
I's like, gosh, this is easy, this winning premierships thing.
And I remember seeing Kevin Walters he was playing for
(25:08):
the Broncos at the time, and I remember him holding
his son Bill, So there is footage of that. And
now they're going into a Grand Final twenty three years
later with Billy at hooker number nine and Kevy is
the coach, Like it's wild, it's wild that this is happening.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And we need to discuss Nathan Cleary. Oh yeah, okay,
because if not for Reese Walsh, he is the rock
star of the league.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
He is he one thousand percent is Before Reese Walsh,
he was on every single billboard that you could possibly get.
I mean he still is. He's on all of them,
just not in Queensland. Just not in Queensland. Not in Queensland.
He is one of the most marketable people in the
game because he is that good. He was from the
get go. I'm the best player in the competition.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And he performs in origin as well.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes, yes, and so on the big stage he always delivers.
And so this is the thing when it comes to
the two teams, the experience of Penrith like they're going
into their fourth straight Grand Final.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah, versus they don't book holidays in September.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Versus the Broncos, who haven't been in a finals series
for the last three.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Or four years. Okay, that doesn't sound as long as
what we're just talking about Brisbane when it was a
little bit different, when it's nearly two decades for the Lions.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Yeah. Yeah, but it's just I mean, the Penrith Panthers
are the best team in the competition because they can
attack and they can defend the iron wall of defense.
But I stand by what you said in that article.
Brisbane is the only team that could beat them because
they can pull off magic that you cannot defend.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And you cannot coach.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
And you cannot coach.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You just need Keevy this week.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I want to know what he's doing because he's probably
just like, guys, you got this, go forth be you.
I mean people would say it's arrogance, because I'm a
Broncos fan. I think it's endearing confidence around the players
where they are just like they invite the attention, They
invite everyone talking about them, Like Reese Walsh plays to
the crowd. They all do because they want that. They
(26:59):
feed eat off it. The thing that impressed me on
the weekend was they're inviting all of that attention, they're
inviting all of that scrutiny, and when they make a mistake,
they're like goldfish. Honestly, they like forget. And it's this
exuberance of youth and that's what's got me on the
train instead of yeah, they're literally they're not like, oh god,
thinking about it as I would for like the next
(27:20):
fourteen years, fourteen seconds ago.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's what's defined as a sports psychiatrist dream. All they're
trying to do is get their players to be in
the moment, and they do it just because they're young.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, And that's the thing. You've got one of the
best football brains in the game, Nathan Cleary, going up
against the goldfish of the NRL, can you.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Explain to me again, I'm going to draw parallels to AFL,
particularly because it's the Grand Final this week. We have Collingwood,
the biggest club, the glamour club. Yes, incredibly successful, powerful, wealthy,
all of those things. Yes, but Collingwood is in the
Grand Final this week against Brisbane and a lot of
Melbournians will adopt Brisbane hoping to see Collingwood lose. Yes,
(28:00):
when we then take that to the NRL. Will Cowboys
fans will other Queenslanders that don't support the Broncos get
on board? Do they encapsulate the whole state? Or is
it you either love them or you hate them? It's
the latter, Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
I would like to say it was the former, and
that the state of Queensland will get around them like
an Origin series.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's not the case.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
It's not really the case. Like Cowboys fans can hate
Brisbane Broncos fans and so same with the Gold Coast Titans.
But but a caveat, I think that they're all united
in their hatred of Penrith. More so they might by
default just want Brisbane to win because they don't want
Brisbane to win, they want the Panthers to lose.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Got you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, So it's like the Collingwood in the NRL in
terms of just like, you know, you just hate them
as a team is manly or has traditionally been manly.
So that's like the most hated team in the NL
unless you're a Manley fan. So Penrith don't engender that
kind of dislike. But because they've had such prolonged success
for such a long period of time, people are like,
is it changing of the girl.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Or at all poppy? Well, it's like it's like in
recent memory, it's like Richmond, they win their first lag,
around's like that's exciting. They get to like their third
and it's like, ohf love God. Like, yeah, if you're
not with them, you're against them.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yes, yes, so I will be watching this weekend. I
actually don't know how I'm going to co like I honestly,
you've watched a game with me?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
No, I have, and but never never to this gravity.
And yeah, so just dear listener. Georgie currently has a
beanie and a suitcase in the room because for her
other side job, this is our main job, but for
her other side job they are sending her up to
Queensland to be the Queensland Correspondence, so this has basically
been research for the rest of her week.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I love that you get to do what you love
for a job. Some people get to say that and
they don't really mean it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I know, I get to go to Brisbane and covers
and literally and then and then go cover the lions
and just feed off all the energy that is because
in all seriousness, this is wild, like will we ever
see two Brisbane teams in the Grand Final. There's a
chance that they could neither could win, but we're not
focusing on that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We jokingly but also not to say, is Brisbane the
sporting capital of the world right now?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I actually.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
NRL And then they've got the games coming up.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, I think there's a strong chance.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I think Paris, who currently have the Rugby World Cup
and the next Olympics, would be like, hold my beer.
But but never let the truth get in the way
of our own exaggeration. Not that we do in this room.
But and again we know, we know that this has
been very Brisbane skewed. But this is the thing that
blows my mind about rugby league is that I grew
up in a big state that are obsessed with sport,
(30:34):
do not have a rugby league team.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It doesn't it's weird, the literacy doesn't go national.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
It'sat is a weird fraction, not a position in a
sporting car like and again I love watching Origin mostly
because you can see how insane the fans. It's tribalism, yeah,
it is tribalism, and tribalism that you usually see in
football in Europe. Yes, is The only thing that you
can apply that to Australian sport is state of origin,
(31:00):
and yet it's two states. When I moved to Sydney,
someone said let's try it out football and I went, yeah, great.
Went to the pub and it was Raiders Titans and
I went pardon. I remember watching Sunrise as a kid
and they would be like, who are the Cowboys? This
looks exotic because it's just it doesn't permeate. And that's
why I've fully taken a back seat in this one
(31:21):
and been like, tell me what I care about, because
while I don't watch the home and away season, it
does come to the Grand Final and I want to
know what are the storylines. And I feel that you
have very aptly, with some further dejectivity to the Broncos,
given us a picture of what we're looking to see.
The Broncos who have had the evolution, yes from Wooden
(31:41):
Spooners in twenty twenty to Penrith who have a chance
to go back to back to back and have no
sign of stopping. And like in the AFL, we are
seeing the two best sides all season go head to head.
But the rock Stars that you need to look at
Cleary Walsh father so father son, Yes, Georgie crying ideally
(32:03):
with security around her.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
So she came in crying up. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying
to bask in it, but I just am also so
nervous already. And where are week out?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
If we come back next week and it's one good sport,
you know what's happened. You know what happened, Georgie. Fun fact.
We know Australians are obsessive sport, Yes we know this,
we are. But here's the fun part. We now have
evidence and a study that tells us which sports Australians
are most obsessed with.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Gosh, I love random studies.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Don't you love random? Stufy? So Australia's top one hundred
pastimes based on report commissioned by eBay from Pulsa is
where we're pulling this from. Okay, But essentially, a nationwide
analysis of search engine data and more than sixteen million
social media posts revealed a diverse range of passions did
assies go to get their mojo from? So it's essentially
what are we searching, what are we talking?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
What do we love the most? Okay, that's number one, Broncos.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
The top eight are sport, all sport, pastimes, top eight
all sport. Wow, I've given your prop. Would you like
to flip over and have a look at what's number one?
And you have to say it.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Flipping AFL, that's number one. People love that the most.
I don't know about these figures, do.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
You, listener, Let's have a look AFL, NRL Soccer UFC.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
UFC at number four.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
NFL is ahead of cricket. Whoa gaming are we calling that?
A sport? Will claim it? And tennis that is the
top eight.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That's the top eight. All of those beat out like
home improvement and anime is what I'm seeing. Oh and
Pilarate isn't a number twenty.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Gore running at thirteen, Cycling thirty three, Cycling pipped by
badminton at thirty two. But the bit that got me
was that muscle cars at eighty nine just happened to
edge out chierleading at ninety one. But it does speak.
And I saw this during the week on Morning Telly
and I just went, we're nuts for it, aren't we?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Oh, we're obsessed. Australia is like we're talking about sporting
capitals of the world. It's Brisbane this week. But Australia
in general is like the sporting capital of the world
that we will watch paint dry and time it and
consider that an Olympic event.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And think that we could do it better. Yeah, is
a roller, you're rookie. But do we want to really
address the fact that AFL piped NRL or you? Are
you good?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I think I'm good? Yeah, I think I'm good with
like going into that. Look, I guess it makes sense.
But after this weekend, they'll get back to me. Let's
do this. Let's run these results again after the weekend.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
So essentially what we wanted to confirm here is that
it's a fact, a fun fact, that Ozzie's an obsessive sport.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
That's it for today. Guys too, sports love and gals,
Gellmy and I thank you for listening to Two Good
Sports and iHeart production. Make sure you follow us on
Instagram at two Good Sports podcast. We will catch you
next week. Will I be here? Will I be a phantom?
Could I be a specter? Or am I Georgia static?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Will you take over the two Good Sports Insta to
give us updates of how you survive?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yep, I will. It may not be pretty though it
may not be pretty, but hey, if that's what the
fans want, then I'll do it. Dear listener, I'll do
it for you.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Follow us because if you haven't had the delight of
seeing Georgie's face, it's one of the more expressive that
you'll ever see. We're about to go on a journey.
Good luck to the Broncos, and also be a sport
loving fans this weekend for the Grand Final. Be safe,
be fun, enjoy it, but most of all, Beaker sport.
Two Good Sports would like to acknowledge the traditional owners
of the land on which we record this podcast that
will rundery people. This land was never seated, always was,
always will be. Hello and welcome to two Good Sports
sports news told differently.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Georgie Tunney and I'm maybe Jelmy, and I'm about
to watch Georgie have one of the moments of her life.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I honestly may never feel this again. We should bottle
this because two teams from Brisbane are in the Grand Finals,
both the AFL and the NRL, including my beloved Brisbane Broncos.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Regular listeners will know that Georgie's been having to wear
her beanies on the plight until the Broncos win a premiership. Well,
the beanies are on, the lids are off. And I'll
be the first to say I'm a casual observer of
NRL as a girl that grew up in Perth. When
I was interviewed at Fox Sports saying what do you
think of NRL, I said, you know what, I love
the Wallabies. That's genuinely what happened. Since then I went
(00:57):
on to cover Origin. I got into it, but I
do not have the passion that you do. But I'm
excited to watch this Grand Final on Sunday because it
is the best two teams all year. And George, you're
gonna tell me why it's so interesting and why we're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
From spoon to boom. Tell me how did the Brisbane
Broncos go from dead last to NRL Grand finalists in
just two years? Spoiler alert? It involves a evolution of
the coaching staff. Yes I've used that term. It's technical.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We'll get to it, and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The recruitment of a whole bunch of rock stars. But
the million dollar question is, and it's actually a million
dollar question because if keV Walters does win on the weekend,
the Brisbane Broncos win, he gets a million dollars. That's
part of a clause in his contract. That's quite the bonus.
It's quite a bonus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'd be like, listen here, you jumps.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You know what we do.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
We we win.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
But what is standing in their way is the Penrith Parade.
The Panthers through to their fourth straight Grand Final on
the hunt for their third straight premiership. Yadi da dy
da all of that. So what does the Brisbane Broncos
need to do to win this is your objective.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
God, objective has an asterisk. This is a small one,
but you can't see it. And there's also the AFL
Granny happening this week, so we better get to the headlines.
Headline number one like.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Lions Hip, what's good?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Picked up that valley and it's the Brisbane.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Lines who make the Magpies in.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The twenty three the Gavasium interraptures. That was the game
that decided who we were going to see in the
twenty twenty three AFL Grand Final. And it is a
clash of the Titans, the two best teams that we've
seen all year. It is the Collingwood Magpies taking on
(02:45):
the Brisbane Lines and it happened in prelims for the ages.
You would if you were going to advertise AFL to
any audience and show them two games. The weekend was
just an incredible example. The Pies sneaking home by one
point one point? How do they do that again and
again and again? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Over gw Wes who I have to say, surprise packets
for me this final series. I mean I guess for
the season as well, but they just overperformed. I would
say it may not be a fair adjudication of what
they were able to do this season, but they came
so close, so close against the team that has been
largely tipped for the entire season to be the Premier.
(03:24):
It's like the champions.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We love the Orange Tsunami more the point I love
their social media team, however, is doing this. Instagram needs
a raise. That's going to happen. But Collingwood being in
a Granny just brings a level of villain because you
either support them or you don't. And the way they've
been playing recently, people have been getting on board. But
classically in Australian rules football, if you don't love Collingwood,
(03:47):
you only wish them poor things.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yes, it's really interesting to me to come into that
dynamic being from Brisbane, moving to Melbourne and having people
just either love or loathe this team. But the twenty
twenty three Magpies, the way that they play, the players
that they they're so likable, they're so likable, Darcymore after
his speech, the ANZAC Day game could have run for
(04:10):
Prime Minister and one how overwhelmingly Yes, would have one
like that. There is something about this team. They'll be
taking on the Lions who defeated Carlton on the weekend
after a come from behind performance and look, we were
really on the blue Bagger's bandwagon last year. Was down
in the most Carlton of Carlton things to do.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
They lost me going da da da da da. I
was like, well, aren't we oracles? Literally they're going to
do the unthinkable?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And then I have had tickets from my girlfriend here
and it was sent at five thirteen nine. I've timestamped
at five thirty nine pm on Saturday evening and there
was six minutes to go in the first quarter of
the Carlton Lions games. And she says, how can I
get GF tickets? Oh no, so she Carlton fans. If
you're looking for someone to blame, yeah, that was the Moles.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That was it. That was it because they did, as
I said, overcome a five gold deficit to Carlton, who
just shot out of the blocks to storm home to
a sixteen point win. So confidence would be high with
the Lions. However, there's the curse of the g Brisbane
had lost fourteen of their last fifteen games at the
home of football.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Not a great stat, not a great stack. It's not
a great one.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Slightly different to the fact they didn't lose at the
gap of this year, so they liked playing at home.
The forecast is twenty eight degrees. That's good for them,
that is good for Brisbane, so it's a balmie g.
I don't know if temperature makes them feel differently about
going out there. Recent history was the Lions actually beat
Collingwood one hundred and twenty four to one hundred. That's good,
but that was at Marvel. Oh, so that was round
(05:39):
twenty three. Lions have a significant lack of Grand Final experience.
Unless Formerhawk Jack Gunston has recalled for the Granny, Josh
Dunkley will be the only Premiership player in the Lions squad.
It's the lions first Grand Final in nineteen years.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I remember at two thousand and four. I remember that game.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
How old are you?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Oh gosh, where's my mask? For thirteen? It's it's unbelievable
what's happening in Brisbane? And I mean it's my hometown.
So I might be slightly biased, but I'm just so
excited for what's ahead of them, and I hope that
they can enjoy this week. But the Lions, what they
need to do is figure out how to not get
stage fright because you can't have the scaredy line. It's
(06:16):
the Wizard of Old storyline. We can't have that, which
is what we saw in the first quarter against Carlton.
You cannot give the Collingwood Magpies five goals a five
goal hitster.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
The wonderful thing and the exciting thing is you have
the two best teams all season and on their best day,
either could win. Which is what you want? Which is
what you want? I genuinely don't know, and there's something
so exciting about that. It's Queensland versus Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
We are the pride.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Of Headline to Headland, they twist enough and Catlan's men
complete an absolute humiliation?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Are the Aussies?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
One of the more distressing things that you'll see in
Australian sport for a long time. It is the Allaby's
out of the World Cup in the group stages for
the first time in tournament history. The word humiliation was
used there, George, and it's accurate. The final score forty
to six against Wales. Now that comes after last week's
(07:15):
lost to Fiji for the first time in sixty nine years.
There are so many questions being asked of Eddie Jones
and his selection calls, he has very clearly gone for
a younger, less experience side and former Wallaby Drew Mitchell
had this to say on his podcast, and I think
it echoes what a lot of Wallaby's fans are thinking
right now Eddie.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Since heern goes, yeah, it's my fault. I take full response.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Really, what does that mean though, Like he doesn't get
dropped this week, he's not not coaching next week, Like
it's just like an empty line in a press conference.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, I take full response. Really, Like what does that
equate to? Like nothing? Why have you not selected? Michael Hooper?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Quayed Cooper, Like, come out and actually tell us as fans,
why have you not picked these guys?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Because now we're seeing the result. If you're not picking
some of these guys.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I think we just lost our g rating.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
More the point, I love that his voice is horse
because he's clearly been.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Screaming, screaming at the TV watching his beloved Wallabies. I
mean that is one of the most capped Wallabies. I
think he scored the most tries for the Wallabies in
a World Cup. Like this is a figure in Australian
rugby that's super respected and he is giving it to
the current Wallabies coach.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And in that clip that was recorded via podcast, because
I think you can only be that candid in a podcastcast,
he was wearing a Wallabies strip and you can tell
how much pain he's in watching his beloved team supposedly rebuild.
But we're not in a rebuild phase.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We're not in a rebuild phase. There's also you don't
rebuild going into a World Cup. You've had four years
to rebuild. This should be where you're built. You are
ready to go. You have a fully constructed team. And
what he is calling for there when it comes to
transparency is Eddie Jones. You know, he is a larger
than life figure. Love him, hate him. He is divisive,
but he was brought into this team to take them
(09:04):
to a World Cup, to steer them to a good performance.
And now we're going to have our worst performance ever
at this tournament.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Last week, Georgie, you said that rugby in Australia was
at a crossroads. Yes, they were standing at the crossroads
and just got hit by a bus.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They did, And the headlines are backing that up. Well,
there was one headline I saw this morning that literally
said the day Australian rugby was broken. This is it's
a failure. It's a huge, huge failure.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
As Drew Mitchell said, where is Quaid, Where is Hooper?
Where are those experienced figures that can be like, come on, kids,
like we've got a pulling together here. But it is
for me. When I think about the Wallabies growing up,
I think of George Gregan I know, and John Hills
and household names in this country, and when the Wallabies played,
the pubs were full, and we want to see it
(09:51):
get back to that. But it looks like a very
very long road.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
Headline three, it's the first time that Oscar Piastric pecks
up a trophy, first rookie since lave stole him back
you in twenty seventeen to finish up the podium.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Is it just me?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Or do commentators, even in F one sound like aristocrats?
He sounded wealthy that like, didn't he? But that is
not our headline.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I had a cigar in one hand and a kangnak
in the other.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Why wouldn't he and why wouldn't Oscar py Astri as well?
Though he's twenty two, so I don't know if kgnak
is his thing. But the Aussie rookie has secured his
first podium in Formula One, finishing third at the Japanese
Grand Prix. Go you, Melbourne, and.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
This is huge, Like, this is massive. I mean Formula
one has just I mean we talk about resurgences. This
is the biggest growth in any sport I think in
the world, maybe bar the Matilda's that we've seen in
the last five years.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Drive to survive, Drive to survive. Yes, and the numbers
and the change in demographic that we've seen in the
Australian Grand Prix alone in terms of young women going,
oh my gosh, they want to go watch Lando Norris
like it's just a different demographic. And I must admit
I binged it. Yeah hard. I was obsessed.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And hats off to the sport for letting that happen
because they're seeing the results now and to be able
to watch Oscar Piastre, you know, this baby faced kid
from Melbourne and see him become kind of like the
new Daniel Ricardo, the new Mark Webber and have this
success in his first proper season in a car is
just is just huge.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You mentioned that he's a new Dan Riccardo, who literally
replaced Riccardo at mccaren so. That works. He qualified second fastest,
ahead of his teammate Lando Norris. This is the part
of F one that I just couldn't do. Got the
call from Master Control saying let up to your teammate.
Let Lando through. So he was actually coming second behind
Maxrestappan and you met.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You couldn't do that. No, no, knock me down with
a feather.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Lando Norris had fresher tires, et cetera, et cetera. There's
a lot going on there. But just imagine being like, guys, guys, guys,
I'm doing it. I'm gonna get second. Can you please
just let Lando pass?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Mate? That wouldn't go down to Mario out with us.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You would turn around and ran me banana. What's a
ban I think we're done now?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yes. Exactly three years ago to the day, Brisbane Bronco
staff arrived at their HQ and Redhill and were welcomed
by a unique site, something never seen in the club's
(12:28):
decorated history. Not one or two, or three or four,
but dozens of wooden spoons scattered haphazardly across their perfectly
manicured training ground. In video footage that I would not
have believed if I hadn't seen it myself. A man
in a blue T shirt hurries between the kitchen utensils,
(12:49):
struggling to hold them in all of his hands and
failing to erase the existence of them before anyone else sees.
The entire Brisbane media pack saw this cutlery. The night before,
the Brisbane Broncos had sealed the Wooden Spoon, last place
on the NRL Ladder for the first time ever in
their history. They'd been around since nineteen eighty eight, and
(13:10):
they lost to the North Queensland Cowboys that night, demoralizing
the hypothesis being that disgruntled fans came straight from lang
Park to Redhill threw the cutlery over the fence and
onto the field in revolt. Brisbane had only won three
games in twenty twenty. Their coach Anthony Sebold, was sacked,
their players were despondent, the culture was broken and in
(13:32):
a one team town that is unforgivable. But jelmy, you
can't start a rebirth without a death, and September twenty five,
twenty twenty was, for all intents and purposes, the lowest
the Broncos My Bronchos had ever been. The only way
was up. It wasn't a linear up. There were peaks
(13:57):
and troughs. The Glamour Club tried and failed to leure
champion coach Craig Bellamy away from the storm. That was tough.
That was tough for good as well. We settled. That's
really what it did feel like at the time for
a former great player, a premiership winning captain, a Broncos legend,
Kevin Walters. We love Kevy, great guy, can maybe coach.
(14:18):
He'd done most of his apprenticeships over in the Super League,
but was also the Queensland coach from twenty sixteen to
twenty nineteen. Four series, two series wins, two series losses,
so a pass mark. With Kevy in charge at Brisbane,
they went okay but not really, finishing fourteenth in twenty
twenty one. They then scooped up playmaker Adam Reynolds in
(14:39):
the off season, who'd been discarded by his beloved South
Sydney Lo Lo lo lo lol. How'd that work out?
Rabbit Os and got to work rebuilding properly. Younger players
were recruited and blooded, and the team finished ninth in
twenty twenty two, but twenty twenty three. It may be
the year of the Rabbit, but I'll tell you right
now it's actually the year of Reese Walsh Ezra man
(15:03):
an As.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I could have sworn you about to say the year
at the Bronco.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That would be too simple. And indeed the man who
brought them all together, Kevin Walters, because they are in
their first Grand Final since twenty fifteen, as clear as
day as this beanie on the top of my head.
And if the Broncos can win against the Panthers next Sunday,
the kevolution will be complete. So how do they do it?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
On a scale of one to ten? Yep, give me
your level of just is anxiety? Is it excitement? What
are you feeling this week? Because, dear listener, when Georgie
watches the Broncos, there is an alter ego. Yes, it
comes out, yes, and this sweet, kind, caring human being
becomes borderline feral.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That's right, that's right. I was full feral. Yeah this weekend. Yep,
if you bleed Maron I do, I do so for context,
dear listener, I growing up was Brisbane Bronco's member for
thirteen years. I would go to the games every single
weekend with my dad and this team I have grown
up with them. It's been so hard the last five
(16:10):
years to find anything to get excited about, to cling
to the hope. It just has been non existent. We
have been When I say the players were despondent, that's
like a reflection of the fans, because the fans booed them.
The fans wood and spoons Wooden spoons at the class.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And again this was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, it's only three years ago that this all happened,
Like Wooden Spooner is in twenty twenty to fourteenth to
ninth to finish second and now hopefully win the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So from your perspective, what has changed in that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Growth it literally is the evolution. So it is a
complete cleaning out of what was going on behind the scenes.
So new coach, new CEO. And that's not saying necessarily
anything was wrong with the old one, but it had
been in place for a long time. Like when you
talk about Glamor Clas in the NRL, the Brisbane Broncos
is the Collingwood of the NRL. Got you like they
(17:04):
have that much gravitas and When they are winning, nothing
else matters. When they are losing, nothing else matters. Okay,
because it's just that is how intrinsically they are linked
with people's feelings there.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
And when you talk about glamour clubs, we know across
all codes there tends to be one player above all
others that he's elevated to a demi god like status. Yes,
and that is the Harry Styles of the NRL in
Reese Walsh. Yes, how good is he?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
He is the best player I have seen in ten years,
with no exaggeration, and I include Nathan Cleary in that.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
He is the most exciting player I have seen, probably
in more than ten years. He is the fastest player
I have seen in the last decade. He is the
type of player that you cannot coach. Reese Walsh has
this next level of He's got anticipation, he can read
the game. He is just his blistering speed that is
(18:02):
unlike you cannot beat speed, you cannot you can't be replicated.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And all of that is packaged in a bloke that
looks like he could be in one direction.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
He honestly is a pop star like he is a
rock star of the NRL. And that was I actually
got emotional watching on the weekend, it was the Billy
Walters try who will get to the whole father son
dynamic coming up? But it was Billy Walter's scoring, but
it came from a Reswalsh break and I can only
say that he would have clocked like some usane bolt
speeds to get this line break and he passed it
(18:31):
back on the inside Billy Walter's scores and it was
the slow mo replay because they're kids, They're just kid.
Reswolsh is twenty one, Billy Walter's is you know, twenty something,
and Ezra Mam I think is twenty who's the five eighth?
And it was the three of them just like standing
up and it was all in slow mo and they
were just like God's and the crowd was just going wild,
and I was like, these are just kids having fun, but.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Are you also going sign them? Sign them? Now, sign
them for ten years.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I am for Reswolsh because he actually fun. Fact is
on a bar a bargain contract, so he was with
the Warriors last year. I think we got him on
a two year deal for about four hundred grand, which
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Is about a dollar for every Instagram follower he.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Honestly, honestly though, so like the Broncos are there just
counting their pennies getting the advocates out, and he saw
the player. He's the future.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Everyone has his number on the back of their guns.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Oh, there are fans that are lying down in front
of the team. Buses stop because they don't want the
bus to move, because they want to see Reese Welsh.
There are thousands of fans going to their training sessions
because they want to see Reese Welsh. Roads are being
closed so that fans can get into, like access the facility,
so they can see Rees Welsh over the weekend. They
put up letter boxes outside the stadium so that you
(19:40):
could write, like a little note to your favorite player,
like getting weathers.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
At this point, it's.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I've not seen anything like it, and I'm not sure
if it's because you know, I didn't grow up with Instagram.
I didn't grow up with the social media. But now
that that exists, he is. There's no better way to
say it, Harry.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Styles of the NRL, Well, the only comparison I can
to afl is Nick Dakos had a book signing this
week or didn't appearance this week and there was five
hundred people that lined up to get his signature. Yeah,
but that's nothing on someone lying down in front of
a bus. Imagine going, I'm willing to sacrifice my life
unless you give me walshit.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
But think think Nick Dakos, but think he had a
bit of you know, Jordan to go edge to him.
That's Reese Welsh. Like Reese Walsh. You can love him
and hate him, but everyone would want him on their team,
got you. Like he has been suspended for swearing at referees.
He has been and missed an Origin game for doing that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Well, teen girls hate a bad boy exactly lying in
front of a bus exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Like he's the tattered up, beautiful green eyes, the fastest
thing you've ever seen, and he is who the club
needs to build everything on. And honestly, it's made me
excited about footy again. So I'm just thrilled. I'm trying
to enjoy the week. I've had fourteen different personality changes
in the space of forty eight hours where I'll be like,
oh my gosh, let's enjoy Grand Final week. It's hard
(21:00):
to get here. You know, we haven't been in one
since twenty fifteen. Let's just enjoy it and then like
the next second, I'll be like, okay, but seriously, what
happens if we lose? No, we can't lose. We must win.
We'll have to win. We're definitely not losing, we're winning,
and then it'll be like this, just enjoy it is.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
The push and pull of every fan when their team
makes it to the big dance. You want to be
elated that you got there, and then it's so close,
the ecstasy and the agony.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, I can't enjoy it. It's like this is all
that I've wanted and now I'm like, who wants this pain?
Who wants this terror? Who wants this anticipation? Like it's
I guess is why you play sport and why you
watch sport.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
But honestly, you can honestly draw parallels as to people
being like why would you fall in love? Honestly your
heart can be broken, but oh the highs Like that
is what sport means to Australians, and particularly this week
because as the siren sounds on both Saturday and Sunday
and their respective codes, there are going to be grown
adults crying. Yes, it'll simultaneously, and that will be from
(21:57):
extreme joy or from it extreme pain. And I think
we've established it. The Broncos are playing in the Grand Park.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The Broncs are playing. They plays a little known team
they've got set up. Do we have time?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And this is the headline that really got me and
I mention it to you and you said, that's perfect.
The Brisbane Penrith NRL Grand Final is a clash meeting
between the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Correct the
Broncos being the unstoppable force, youthful enthusiasm stars, they're just
(22:32):
rock stars. They're young kids. They're having a crack. It's
a evolution. But they come up against the Panthers. They
have gone back to back to now they are undisputedly
the best team in the competition.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yes they are, and I say that with a Broncos
spanie on top my head. They are the best team
in the competition and they have been for the last
four years.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And they don't look like slowing down. They have young
talent coming through. It's not like when you see dynasties
in the AFL and you're like, yeah, but I can
see you know, this is their era and that will
pass and these players are going They've just got young
talent coming through. Sorry, George, I feel like I feel
like I had to do this because you were being
capable this week. But the only again, according to this article,
(23:16):
the only team in the NRL with a prayer of
breaking down Penroy's iron will and suffocating defense is Brisbane.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Again correct, It is because the Panthers are such a
well oiled machine. They know their systems, they have trained
for it to the nth degree. Ivan Cleary, their coach,
is a mastermind. Each completely revolutionized that club and put
it into the stratosphere when it comes to achievements in
the game, and made them the team to beat. His son,
(23:46):
Nathan Cleary, is the playmaker.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Can you imagine being coached by your dad?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, and we're not talking it. I was kick Can
you imagine being missus Cleary and being like Ivan and
Nathan had a tough day at work. Better call my
son than called like It's It's just it's rare. I
can't think of when have you ever been coached by
your dad and not had other players be like, well,
there's some preferential treatment, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And the best thing is that we're seeing it for
both the Broncos and the Panthers because keV and his
son Billy are playing, and then Ivan and then Nathan
of course, but this is something we don't usually see
in league. We see it all the time, do we
see it all the time? The father's son?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
See we see father's son as in you after your
dad has played one hundred games and I think in
AFLW it's twenty games. You qualify then to be able
to select that you would like to go to that club.
So that's father's son rules. So that's where you see
the day Cosses opt in Silvanni. There's a lot of
things and it means a lot to a lot of people.
I cannot think of how bizarre it would be to
(24:43):
have a Grand Final where there's a family tree of
a dad and a son on both sides.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, I remember so the two thousand Grand Final which
was the last, oh second last premiership. We wont in
two thousand and six as well, but was the first
premiership that I saw as a kid. I was nine,
I started watching rugby league and nine so it was
my first year in league and we won the company.
I's like, gosh, this is easy, this winning premierships thing.
And I remember seeing Kevin Walters he was playing for
(25:08):
the Broncos at the time, and I remember him holding
his son Bill, So there is footage of that. And
now they're going into a Grand Final twenty three years
later with Billy at hooker number nine and Kevy is
the coach, Like it's wild, it's wild that this is happening.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And we need to discuss Nathan Cleary. Oh yeah, okay,
because if not for Reese Walsh, he is the rock
star of the league.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
He is he one thousand percent is Before Reese Walsh,
he was on every single billboard that you could possibly get.
I mean he still is. He's on all of them,
just not in Queensland. Just not in Queensland. Not in Queensland.
He is one of the most marketable people in the
game because he is that good. He was from the
get go. I'm the best player in the competition.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And he performs in origin as well.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes, yes, and so on the big stage he always delivers.
And so this is the thing when it comes to
the two teams, the experience of Penrith like they're going
into their fourth straight Grand Final.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah, versus they don't book holidays in September.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Versus the Broncos, who haven't been in a finals series
for the last three.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Or four years. Okay, that doesn't sound as long as
what we're just talking about Brisbane when it was a
little bit different, when it's nearly two decades for the Lions.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Yeah. Yeah, but it's just I mean, the Penrith Panthers
are the best team in the competition because they can
attack and they can defend the iron wall of defense.
But I stand by what you said in that article.
Brisbane is the only team that could beat them because
they can pull off magic that you cannot defend.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And you cannot coach.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
And you cannot coach.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You just need Keevy this week.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I want to know what he's doing because he's probably
just like, guys, you got this, go forth be you.
I mean people would say it's arrogance, because I'm a
Broncos fan. I think it's endearing confidence around the players
where they are just like they invite the attention, They
invite everyone talking about them, Like Reese Walsh plays to
the crowd. They all do because they want that. They
(26:59):
feed eat off it. The thing that impressed me on
the weekend was they're inviting all of that attention, they're
inviting all of that scrutiny, and when they make a mistake,
they're like goldfish. Honestly, they like forget. And it's this
exuberance of youth and that's what's got me on the
train instead of yeah, they're literally they're not like, oh god,
thinking about it as I would for like the next
(27:20):
fourteen years, fourteen seconds ago.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's what's defined as a sports psychiatrist dream. All they're
trying to do is get their players to be in
the moment, and they do it just because they're young.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, And that's the thing. You've got one of the
best football brains in the game, Nathan Cleary, going up
against the goldfish of the NRL, can you.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Explain to me again, I'm going to draw parallels to AFL,
particularly because it's the Grand Final this week. We have Collingwood,
the biggest club, the glamour club. Yes, incredibly successful, powerful, wealthy,
all of those things. Yes, but Collingwood is in the
Grand Final this week against Brisbane and a lot of
Melbournians will adopt Brisbane hoping to see Collingwood lose. Yes,
(28:00):
when we then take that to the NRL. Will Cowboys
fans will other Queenslanders that don't support the Broncos get
on board? Do they encapsulate the whole state? Or is
it you either love them or you hate them? It's
the latter, Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
I would like to say it was the former, and
that the state of Queensland will get around them like
an Origin series.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's not the case.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
It's not really the case. Like Cowboys fans can hate
Brisbane Broncos fans and so same with the Gold Coast Titans.
But but a caveat, I think that they're all united
in their hatred of Penrith. More so they might by
default just want Brisbane to win because they don't want
Brisbane to win, they want the Panthers to lose.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Got you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, So it's like the Collingwood in the NRL in
terms of just like, you know, you just hate them
as a team is manly or has traditionally been manly.
So that's like the most hated team in the NL
unless you're a Manley fan. So Penrith don't engender that
kind of dislike. But because they've had such prolonged success
for such a long period of time, people are like,
is it changing of the girl.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Or at all poppy? Well, it's like it's like in
recent memory, it's like Richmond, they win their first lag,
around's like that's exciting. They get to like their third
and it's like, ohf love God. Like, yeah, if you're
not with them, you're against them.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yes, yes, so I will be watching this weekend. I
actually don't know how I'm going to co like I honestly,
you've watched a game with me?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
No, I have, and but never never to this gravity.
And yeah, so just dear listener. Georgie currently has a
beanie and a suitcase in the room because for her
other side job, this is our main job, but for
her other side job they are sending her up to
Queensland to be the Queensland Correspondence, so this has basically
been research for the rest of her week.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I love that you get to do what you love
for a job. Some people get to say that and
they don't really mean it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I know, I get to go to Brisbane and covers
and literally and then and then go cover the lions
and just feed off all the energy that is because
in all seriousness, this is wild, like will we ever
see two Brisbane teams in the Grand Final. There's a
chance that they could neither could win, but we're not
focusing on that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We jokingly but also not to say, is Brisbane the
sporting capital of the world right now?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I actually.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
NRL And then they've got the games coming up.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, I think there's a strong chance.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I think Paris, who currently have the Rugby World Cup
and the next Olympics, would be like, hold my beer.
But but never let the truth get in the way
of our own exaggeration. Not that we do in this room.
But and again we know, we know that this has
been very Brisbane skewed. But this is the thing that
blows my mind about rugby league is that I grew
up in a big state that are obsessed with sport,
(30:34):
do not have a rugby league team.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It doesn't it's weird, the literacy doesn't go national.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
It'sat is a weird fraction, not a position in a
sporting car like and again I love watching Origin mostly
because you can see how insane the fans. It's tribalism, yeah,
it is tribalism, and tribalism that you usually see in
football in Europe. Yes, is The only thing that you
can apply that to Australian sport is state of origin,
(31:00):
and yet it's two states. When I moved to Sydney,
someone said let's try it out football and I went, yeah, great.
Went to the pub and it was Raiders Titans and
I went pardon. I remember watching Sunrise as a kid
and they would be like, who are the Cowboys? This
looks exotic because it's just it doesn't permeate. And that's
why I've fully taken a back seat in this one
(31:21):
and been like, tell me what I care about, because
while I don't watch the home and away season, it
does come to the Grand Final and I want to
know what are the storylines. And I feel that you
have very aptly, with some further dejectivity to the Broncos,
given us a picture of what we're looking to see.
The Broncos who have had the evolution, yes from Wooden
(31:41):
Spooners in twenty twenty to Penrith who have a chance
to go back to back to back and have no
sign of stopping. And like in the AFL, we are
seeing the two best sides all season go head to head.
But the rock Stars that you need to look at
Cleary Walsh father so father son, Yes, Georgie crying ideally
(32:03):
with security around her.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
So she came in crying up. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying
to bask in it, but I just am also so
nervous already. And where are week out?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
If we come back next week and it's one good sport,
you know what's happened. You know what happened, Georgie. Fun fact.
We know Australians are obsessive sport, Yes we know this,
we are. But here's the fun part. We now have
evidence and a study that tells us which sports Australians
are most obsessed with.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Gosh, I love random studies.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Don't you love random? Stufy? So Australia's top one hundred
pastimes based on report commissioned by eBay from Pulsa is
where we're pulling this from. Okay, But essentially, a nationwide
analysis of search engine data and more than sixteen million
social media posts revealed a diverse range of passions did
assies go to get their mojo from? So it's essentially
what are we searching, what are we talking?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
What do we love the most? Okay, that's number one, Broncos.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
The top eight are sport, all sport, pastimes, top eight
all sport. Wow, I've given your prop. Would you like
to flip over and have a look at what's number one?
And you have to say it.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Flipping AFL, that's number one. People love that the most.
I don't know about these figures, do.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
You, listener, Let's have a look AFL, NRL Soccer UFC.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
UFC at number four.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
NFL is ahead of cricket. Whoa gaming are we calling that?
A sport? Will claim it? And tennis that is the
top eight.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That's the top eight. All of those beat out like
home improvement and anime is what I'm seeing. Oh and
Pilarate isn't a number twenty.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Gore running at thirteen, Cycling thirty three, Cycling pipped by
badminton at thirty two. But the bit that got me
was that muscle cars at eighty nine just happened to
edge out chierleading at ninety one. But it does speak.
And I saw this during the week on Morning Telly
and I just went, we're nuts for it, aren't we?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Oh, we're obsessed. Australia is like we're talking about sporting
capitals of the world. It's Brisbane this week. But Australia
in general is like the sporting capital of the world
that we will watch paint dry and time it and
consider that an Olympic event.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And think that we could do it better. Yeah, is
a roller, you're rookie. But do we want to really
address the fact that AFL piped NRL or you? Are
you good?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I think I'm good? Yeah, I think I'm good with
like going into that. Look, I guess it makes sense.
But after this weekend, they'll get back to me. Let's
do this. Let's run these results again after the weekend.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
So essentially what we wanted to confirm here is that
it's a fact, a fun fact, that Ozzie's an obsessive sport.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
That's it for today. Guys too, sports love and gals,
Gellmy and I thank you for listening to Two Good
Sports and iHeart production. Make sure you follow us on
Instagram at two Good Sports podcast. We will catch you
next week. Will I be here? Will I be a phantom?
Could I be a specter? Or am I Georgia static?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Will you take over the two Good Sports Insta to
give us updates of how you survive?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yep, I will. It may not be pretty though it
may not be pretty, but hey, if that's what the
fans want, then I'll do it. Dear listener, I'll do
it for you.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Follow us because if you haven't had the delight of
seeing Georgie's face, it's one of the more expressive that
you'll ever see. We're about to go on a journey.
Good luck to the Broncos, and also be a sport
loving fans this weekend for the Grand Final. Be safe,
be fun, enjoy it, but most of all, Beaker sport.
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