Bonus - Chat with Wests Tigers Faithful

The boys joined Reedie and Mac from Wests Tigers Faithful to deep dive on the Tigers and the Cowboys in the leadup to another of their historic Leichardt clashes.

Find them at: https://www.youtube.com/@WestsTigersFaithful

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
You there, boys? We are here.
Oh, hey, hey. Hey, look at that technical
difficulties. Yeah.
That's it's all good. It's all good.
The best for us For those of youlistening on Spotify, Apple,
YouTube Music and the rest, The On The Ranch boys have joined us
after some pretty glaring technical difficulties, but we

(00:22):
are back and ready to go lads, how are we?
Sensational mate, that's wrong. That's the way let's.
Just do some quick introductions.
So we've got Rob. We wanna stick your hand up Rob.
Rob's a little bit off camera for me, but hopefully everybody
else can see him. We've got Morgan and Bill.
Did Pete? Did Pete Sharp Gross?
Yeah. I'm Yeah.
Pissed away. There's Pete.
Pete Pete's referred to as an enigma, so I expect most of the

(00:44):
best banter to come from Pete. I thought I might have heard
loose unit slash loose cannon atone point as well.
We are. We can't Lord for rock it up
here ever. So tech.
Tech support's a bit difficult up in the northern sticks.
Thanks so much for joining us guys.
So as I was explaining to reading, my plan here is
basically to give you guys some time to tell W Tigers fans a

(01:07):
little bit about what's happening at the Cowboys this
year because obviously, you know, our focus is so much on
our club. We don't really know what's
going on. I know that, you know, you guys
have an ex Tiger and Todd Paytonthere is the coach.
There's so much history between the two clubs.
I thought it'd be a pretty cool collaboration.
And then, you know, obviously aswe discussed, we'll, we'll send

(01:27):
you over the audio file for yourown audience too.
So if you have any questions forus about, you know, what's
happening at the Tigers, any of our young players, how we're
feeling about the situation. Does that sound good to you
guys? Sweet.
As yeah. Awesome, Jared, over to you.
Beautiful. Well, that's obviously a very,
very Cowboys focused podcast, asyou can tell with the name and

(01:50):
and and the like. How how long have you lads been
doing it and, and, and is it a very Cowboy centric potty or do
you sort of talk about a bit of everything but NRL and other
sports or what do you? Do we started around 2019, I
wanna say somewhere around thereand it was a general Queensland

(02:11):
podcast, a Cowboys focus to begin with.
But Pete and I are sort of fans of just about every sport
imaginable except wrestling. Well, he is.
He likes wrestling, but I don't.I'm.
Pretty big fan of wrestling myself.
Yeah, yeah. I won't hold it against you.
What do you think of? The Cena Hill to.
Not very good to be honest, actually.

(02:33):
Right back, yeah. Anyway, so then it's sort of
evolved from there. So we've we've just gone from
recording on in his in his lounge room or his theatre room
with one microphone to the mess of cables and rubbish you can
see on the table now. And full setup.
So now there's four of us. We've got Billy who's just
outside smash our data. Thank you.

(02:59):
He's scientific term. We hope it's.
We hope it's a data at least. Yeah, yeah.
And he's he does the video now for us or basically sorts that
out for us. And we just we're just the
talent, if you could call us that.
But yeah, we mostly focus on theCowboys now.
Just a preview review type thing.
And then then we just do a few things on on the side.

(03:23):
Just talk, talk crap really. But.
We got, we got some segments. There's a few different segments
there. And segments are key ultimately
to to the evolution and growth of the podcast.
Obviously. Well, therefore, we might as
well stick to your bread and butter and the cows.
And I feel like our two teams are inherently tied to one
another. Obviously the O 5 grand final
story to bring it up, but also your head coach is a former

(03:46):
player of ours. We've played some absolutely
fucking crazy games amongst eachother in regular season matches
these past few years, so you know.
Getting stuck in Anthony Watson,the scrum, that was one of my
favourites that. Was good.
That was good. It's you guys beating US 7074
blot like the game at Leichhardtlast year with the Justin

(04:08):
Olumson off the game. We we've been used by 60 in
2023. Like there are so many crazy.
Soft whistle, soft whistle. Yeah, it's.
Yeah, Felty. Felty.
We're not Felty fans. I'm sure of that.
No. Oh.
No, no. But that's a question that
somebody asks on on our X account, 'cause I put up an X.
Like what questions do you wannaask the boys?
One of them was how much of AC bomb do they think Kyle Felt is?

(04:31):
So yeah, that'll like that's sort of puts.
That champion, do we think? A champion?
Yeah, it's a champion. That's why.
We ask. He'd be, he'd be very well loved
up in Townsville. But obviously, you know, you
guys have from sort of 22 onwards, you just sort of going
in and out of the Finals this this year.
It kind of feels like the writing's on the wall from our
perspective a little bit with Toddy Payton.

(04:53):
Where are you? Where's your head at?
Well, up in the air, I don't think we're any of us have
committed to anything. As in nothing solid in our minds
as as to what's gonna happen. We have a few theories because
we've had a few. Wow.
Arrivals arrivals at the airportat the airport that have been
spotted. So we've thought, you know,

(05:14):
maybe this is could happen that that could happen.
It's been a tough year for Toddy.
It's it's you know, we've we've lost a lot of talent last year,
a lot of experience. Val Homes Chad Townsend However
you rate Chad he he was experienced.
Absolutely. And Felty, of course, and you
know, you're talking 200 gamers and, and, and sort of that ilk.

(05:36):
Jake Granville. Jake Granville, of course, yeah.
So it's just an amazing amount of talent and amazing amount of
experience. They're just completely gone.
So it's a very young team in in sort of in that way.
Then you look at our string of injuries this year, it's it's
not quite Rabbitohs level, but it's not far behind it.
Yeah. We've had a lot of halfback
changes at the start of the yearwhich didn't quite work and the

(05:59):
combos have been nearly every week has been a combo change
somewhere in the backs, forwards.
You know, Tamilola was missing for how many games there and you
know, now we're missing Cohen Hess.
So that sort of, you know, any kind of shake up like that
messes any team up, as you guys know as well as as well.
Yeah. So it's it's it's a tough year

(06:22):
and I I would hope that the board, he hasn't got the full
backing of the board yet, but Tony paid his I I think they're
going to stick with him personally, I think I'll stick
with him for one more year at least.
And I mean that's his standard contract anyway.
And then we'll see what happens after that.
Maybe one of the airport arrivalcoaches will take over from

(06:42):
there. Who?
Who are you talking about? Who?
Who? Who was spotted at the airport?
I don't wanna get too much away.Oh is it?
Is it? Is it a bit?
Did you get some inside tips from the sushi chef at the
airport or something? Not quite that.
We've got a couple of insiders who sort of feed us information
from time to time. So.
Oh. OK, fair enough.
They're not like if we actually name names, whether or not that

(07:04):
gives it away, but he he was an assistant coach at, at the
Sharks. And favorite time?
Favorite time and. Queens and ex cowboy and
Queensland State of Origin assistant.
Pretty good kicker too. Very good, yeah.
Right and A and a 2005 grand final try scorer.
Yes. So that's a name that's been
spotted at the airport and floated around and could be

(07:26):
taking over. But you know, nothing's.
I don't think anything's gonna happen till the end of the year.
We might know what's going on. So fair enough, boys.
Like looking at the squad, I think that what the Cowboys have
done well for for the last couple of years is really build
their depth through the roster. You know, a lot of guys that are
genuine first graders that can do a job.
Now, obviously he's mentioned injuries and there was a lot of

(07:48):
experience that came out of the door, you know, sort of went out
the door last year. But it's something that I think,
you know, you guys can really pride yourselves on.
And then on top of that, obviously, you know, the junior
base of FNQ that you guys tap into quite obviously because you
just run it. I guess sort of looking at the
squad, there's a lot of talent already locked in for 26.
Like we don't know sort of too much about the Cowboys.

(08:09):
Where's your where's your cap at?
Where do you identify the weaknesses in the squad and what
do you think you guys need moving forward?
Well, we haven't really gone outto the market for recruitment
either, other than read money because Robbo's obviously
leaving. There's a lot of, as you just
mentioned, a lot of talent up here that they're not trialled

(08:30):
like Tom Duffy's leaving us at the end of the year.
And people go, how do you get there's no halves on the open
market available? Well, how do you become a half
without having experience? You know, so unfortunately you
can only fit 17 onto the field at one time and there is a lot
of base up here. Like we're, we're a region club,
not just a one town club. So similar to you guys like user

(08:52):
Wests, you're not just Balmain or all western suburbs.
So you've got a you've got a bitof region there as well, unlike
someone like the Roosters who are proverbial buyers and
players and talent. It's it's going to be
interesting times like we've unlocked Jackson Purdue this
year. He's actually 1/2 playing
centre, so I wouldn't mind seeing him actually drift back

(09:15):
to full back and put drink in atsix for those periods of three
of the year. But hindsight's a great thing.
It's, it's going to be exciting times.
And you know, yeah, we, we haven't lived up to the
expectation this year. But as Rob touched on before,
there's been so much soft tissuedamage injuries in this, in this
team. I, I don't, I can't remember the

(09:35):
last time we played the same 17 in a row for the whole season
for that matter. So when you have that
incontinuity, it's always going to be a hard ask.
And so everyone just looks at the coach or sack Payton because
he's not getting the results. Well, when you can't feel the
same 17 more than twice in a rowfor the whole year, it's it's

(09:56):
not going to be the greatest. But moving forward, there's
there's people coming through. But again, they're also they're
also kids. You know, you look at your
instance with Lucky Galvin, you know, he's he's the big prodigy
and the next big thing. He's 19 and obviously, you know,
he he left you guys for with something else.
But what happened to having the bloke in Q Cup or NSW Cup that

(10:21):
is now 2425 year old that has plied his trade.
No one wants to do that. They just want to get the the
latest sensation in And Oh well,you didn't, you didn't survive.
So you're outlook at Lockheed Ilias from Southend Dragons now,
like how has he not gotten the start is beyond me, but it's
it's always, always up in the air.
Yeah, it certainly makes you wonder.

(10:43):
Obviously, as you say, there's there's some guys sort of coming
through and sort of poking theirheads through.
Obviously Jacksons, the latest breakout staff for out of your
system, but give us give us somenames that you guys are pretty
high on, you know, sort of getting around for the
Blackhawks or the northern pride.
I thought, you know, I I really like what Molly Bitagane is

(11:03):
doing as a young middle in Q cup.
Nicholas Lanaz is another one. I've always liked the look of
Jamal Shiwasaki. I'm not sure what his contract
status is for next year, but whowho who are you guys really
bullish on? Who's Kate and Lars?
Oh yeah. He's played a handful this year.
He's got a bit of no nonsense. I'd like to see Tom Mckayleigh

(11:25):
get more of a run. He's a bit more of a journeyman
stalwart, but he's he's been bidding his time and you know,
we're going to lose Jordan McClain at the end of this year.
So there's a spot opening up in the front row for that.
And you know, Griffin names seemto find a lot of good form
towards the back end of this season until he's done his
shoulder the other week. So hopefully with the return of

(11:46):
him and then yeah, like you, youtouched on Nicholas and then
Venez. He's he's going to be something
as well. He I'm a bartender pouring beers
to you're playing first grade against had the who'd we play
the other week when he debuted it.
Was para wasn't. It yeah, Para meals, yeah.
So there's there's those sort ofguys coming through, but you

(12:09):
know, until you get that you youneed to have that benchmark.
You can't just make a cake out of icing.
And unfortunately we haven't hadthe cake base this year to to
provide. You know, we're a massive
different team with Tamilo. They plays no matter what people
say about him and watching his minutes the other the other day
and also the other week coming back against the Eels, he he's a

(12:31):
big difference to the club and so he can carry those younger
players through. At the moment it's those younger
players trying to do it on theirown so.
Or we'll get like a youngster inlike Derby and then he'll do his
knee or something. So he plays a handful of games
and then he's whole development sort of gets stored a bit as
well. Yeah, which these things are
most young players for sure. Do you guys struggle with young

(12:53):
players when they when they get brought through having their eye
on the big smoke? Like is that a thing that
happens a fair bit? Like young guys sort of get
developed and then they want to move to the city, move to
Brisbane, move to Sydney or is that not such a thing?
It seems from from our perspective to be a thing that
seems to happen a little bit. We've got makeup here, so.
Yeah, we've got. I don't think I want to get down

(13:15):
to Sydney do. I'm actually in Brisbane, so I'm
actually a Queenslander myself. So it's I'm not, I'm not, I'm
not all the way in the big smoke.
It's probably 5050. There's a lot of players who
want to stay here and and make acareer out of being a cowboy.
Tom did. And obviously Jackson Perdue,
they're, you know, they're all locals.
Jack Clifford's from just down the road so.

(13:36):
Felty was. Felty, of course, is a local.
Yeah, it's a lot of juniors. I think they want to stay
because they've grown up supporting the Cowboys, where
we've sort of got enough of a heritage now where, you know,
we're in our 30th year. So the kids coming through now
have actually been watching the Cowboys their whole life, so
maybe they want to play for us. Even players that have come to

(14:00):
the club, like you look at Jordan McClain, like he, he came
here on a three-year contract and he stayed for 10.
Yeah, Griff names come from overNew Zealand.
He's now he's pretty much in North Queensland local.
Like it's, it's a lifestyle thatthis club can offer.
A lot of those players like the big Smoke, like you look down in
Sydney as or Brisbane as you'd both be aware that.

(14:24):
And Toddy Pate mentioned this the other year when he was on
that. We may not pay overs for
players, but we're going to pay him what they're worth.
And also a lifestyle like you can, you can go down the beach
on a Saturday morning, go and have a mate's BBQ that
afternoon, go and have a drink somewhere else that night and
and have A and do it all. Whereas if you're down in Sydney

(14:46):
or Brisbane, you're picking one of those things and that's all
you're doing because of the commute, transport and the
hustle and bustle of the big smoke.
And so it's more of a a laid back, she'll be right attitude.
And I suppose that fits the personality of the player if
they're, if they like it up hereand they then you want to travel
15 minutes to training instead of an hour and a half.

(15:07):
You wait for the media bit too. I saw Mars Talong in came out
the other day. He was just wondering for no
one's bothering him or, you know, pestering him or anything
like that. That certainly helps.
Like, is there anything you guyswant to know or your listeners
might want to know about the Tiges?
I mean, we don't know everything, but we'll try at
least to answer your question. How sold are you guys on Luai?

(15:27):
Because he was obviously a big, been signing for years in the
offseason and I've got a couple of Tiger friends and they're
like, why are we getting that waste of time for?
I reckon he's a gun for you guysand.
Well, did you? Did you like him before he
joined? Yeah, Did you like you met Pat
Penrith before? And all of a sudden, did you
rush out and buy some of the white jerseys?
We've got different viewpoints. Matt can go first.

(15:51):
I'm not sold on him. I think.
I think I like him better as a six.
I think that he's played a lot better since Adam Dewey has
taken a leading hand as A7. I don't think Lachlan Galvin is
a very good 7 as we're starting to see at the Bulldogs.
So it's kind of taken, it's kindof taken putting Adam Dewey in
the seven jersey to start seeingthe best of Jerome Lewis, which

(16:13):
Lombold is in the position that he played, you know, 4 grand
finals in and played for NSW in.Obviously, you know, we we
wanted to make him Batman. He wanted to be Batman.
But it doesn't seem to be the case.
I think his best games of the season have been in the last few
few weeks. So the signs are promising.
I think what a lot of people think about Jerome Louis is the
value that he's brought is mostly in terms of the off the

(16:35):
field stuff, the culture, the way he is around training, just
driving standards. And I think he's a really good
conduit between the coach and the and the younger players too.
So he's he's brought a lot of good stuff.
There's no questioning that he'shad a positive impact on the
club. But in terms of on field
results, I mean, you can't really argue with the fact that
he's got barely any triassists and we've signed him on $1.2

(16:56):
million. So in terms of like delivering
value for money, I'm not sold. For me personally, I think that
he's creative output in terms oftry involvements has I I think
he's sort of been a victim of circumstance and his desire to
be so team oriented. I think that he was more than
happy to play second fiddle. Regalvan to appease, you know,
Lachlan at the time and obviously what the coaching

(17:18):
staff wanted to do and what theyhad built in the years previous.
And as a result, you know, he was sort of jumping around sort
of playing a a lot of seven in arole that didn't really suit
him. You are finding now with
Latufainu and Adam Dewey to, youknow, being able to be the past
before the past guys. And then Jerome, you know, being
able to make decisions outside of the, you know, the three men
or the four men and, and play footy off the back of that, that

(17:40):
he's really found his place in the side.
Obviously his leadership characteristics and you know,
the players that he's had a a massive role in bringing to the
club and the overall outlook of the club, you know, has has
changed entirely. I don't think we get Tyrell May,
I don't think we get Tito to River without him and the
players will continue to come. I think, you know, Jerome's
going to be front and centre of that.
But there was one part of the question that the Magnus was

(18:03):
about, did we like him before? I think when he first came into
grade he absolutely had a chip on his shoulder and I think he
pissed everybody off except Penrith players.
But I love a bit of ego in sport, you know, it's why I like
Latrell a lot in terms of, you know, we we need heels.
And he's a young fella. And we need faces.
And, you know, for, for Romy, I,I've always liked that about him

(18:24):
and, and that confidence, but also the way that he's grown and
evolved as a character throughout, you know, his time
in rugby league is something that I, you know, I actually
really like. And, and I think he's really
evolving into a leader and also a man.
So I'm very glad. Like old and white.
I think that's a good point. I think like Jerome, somebody
who while it may not have happened fast, has sort of

(18:45):
changed, like the Jerome Lewis when he was 22 is not the same
guy you see now. He's definitely a lot chiller.
He's taken on a leadership role,but I think there's a little
little bit of impostor syndrome.I can still sort of pick up in
some of the ways that he is like, I don't think he's quite
fully comfortable in that role as being and like, you know, a

(19:06):
grown ass, like leader of men. But he's certainly trying very
hard. And for our club, it's working
very well. And he hasn't really put a foot
wrong from a leadership perspective.
And what's most important for usis he backs the coach like he he
does not, you know, waver in hisresolve when it comes to

(19:27):
supporting the things that BenjiMarshall says.
What Benji Marshall wants, you know, he played as, as Jared
said, he played a second fiddle to a bloody 19 year old at the
request of the coach. Like that's that's for a guy who
supposedly has a pretty large ego.
I think that says a lot about what he's willing to do for the
team. You talk about the team, how

(19:49):
you've had look, you don't want to rub it in, but three wooden
spoons in a row. That's OK.
Is this what it is? That's from an outside
perspective looking in. And me brother-in-law, he's a
Tigers fan as well. But just having a board of
directors where you've got West and Balmain, it seems like user
at each other instead of being able to get on the same page.

(20:12):
Like what's what's the fallout since when you've when you don't
have Justin Pascoe or Lee, has your Patelis anymore?
Has the vibe changed a lot more down there?
And. Obviously results on the field
speak for like user compared to the last three years.
You haven't your best year in the last 10 really.
Yeah, most wins since 2019 so far.

(20:33):
And we're we could potentially get more than 2018 if we're
lucky. But well, from my perspective,
yeah. Well, it's been since 20/20/11
was the last time we played the finals.
Would you believe it's been 1414years, 15 years?
The the vibe has changed a lot. I think like from the outside,
people don't realize Balmain don't really have all that much

(20:54):
to do with things anymore in terms of the administration of
the company that owns the Tigers.
It's it's pretty much West's rebranded into what's called the
Holman Barnes Group. There's a couple of board
members that get sort of given to the Balmain side of the
group. Up until last year, they were
kind of a little bit of a rogue element, but they kind of got

(21:14):
both booted off the board and replaced by guys that I think
falled in, fell in line a littlebit more.
So it hasn't really been too much bored up people like if you
listen to this podcast, I, I hang shit on the Tigers
ownership pretty much as a, as, as a sport, like every week like
it's, it's something I, I don't,I don't really think that the
Tigers ownership groups still really have, you know, the best

(21:37):
interest of the, the on field performances at the club at
heart. Something that you guys might
not know. The tigers have received the
lowest amount of funding from any team that's owned by, by
leagues clubs and that leagues club are profitable, $9 million
in profit. So they're not really investing
all that much into the on field performances.

(22:00):
But in terms of like the administration putting Shane
Richardson in as the CEO and they've kind of really distanced
themselves from the football operation, it's pretty much
Shane Richardson gets what he wants at the moment.
And that's I think why we're starting to see results.
They're not really intervening so much.
I think when Lee was around Lee and Justin, what we see from Lee

(22:21):
had Japan tell us and Justin Pascoe is that they must have
been, they must have developed areally solid working friendship
because they still, they're still doing business and stuff
together. So I think that Lee being the
chairman and Justin being the CEO kind of was what was
creating this like influence in the football operation that was
actually coming from the board that's no longer there.
So yeah, I'm not a big, big fan of the of the owners, but what I

(22:45):
do like is that they've stopped meddling.
Yeah, Long story short, we replaced a divorce lawyer and A
and A and ACEO from AFL with A, a bloke that's taken teams from
the, from the shithouse to the penthouse and a, and a former
state premier is their chairman who knows, you know, everybody,
you know, at the top end of town.

(23:05):
We've installed some independentdirectors that have diluted the
ownership's influence, which is,which has helped us heap.
So yeah, it, it feels really, really different.
But they've also been extremely transparent.
You know, the the club's strategy for the next three
years is readily accessible on their website.
You know, Richardson isn't like Pasco or or Hajipan.

(23:26):
Tell us in the sense of, you know, he'll pick up every single
phone call, but you know, you can you can speak to him if you
choose to. And yeah, so you are you are
really seeing a change from. That I found his phone number
and texted him and he replied tome.
Yeah. So.
I I asked him to come on the podcast and he told me to go go
screw myself, but he did reply. Text him again.
Text him again. So it's not, but yeah, but much

(23:50):
different. It does look a lot different,
like the Tigers playbook for years gone by is right.
Oh, you've had another shit year, let's suck the coach.
And I think at once you're paying Jason Taylor, making
Potter something else. You probably had 4/4 coaches on
the books, like just guys get inthe One Direction.

(24:10):
And it looks like that's what's happened nowadays, which is good
because you want a healthy league.
You don't just want to see Storm, Penrith and Roosters
always at the top. So.
Absolutely. Take it, you're fully in on
Benji. Up and down all year for me.
Jared's been a little bit more steadfast in his love.

(24:30):
Yeah, got a lot of admiration for him.
I think he's a bit insane for taking on the job when he did,
but nonetheless, his self beliefand his and his ego to a lesser
extent, I think have really helped him.
I think that he's right in the sweet spot in terms of, you
know, a lot of the playing groupor cohort amongst the entire
league, you know, grew up watching Benji Marshall and he

(24:52):
was a big part of their formative years and he did
things differently. And I think that really helps.
He is the only Polynesian coach in the entire league.
And I think he I think he does alot of things well.
I think that he's coaching philosophies around the way that
he wants to attack, obviously around culture and, and, and
players, you know, expressing themselves in the way that they
want to be and in terms of, you know, unapologetically being

(25:12):
themselves. I think that's all brilliant.
I just hope that for the love ofGod, he does not sabotage
himself by not recognizing his weak points and, and, and, and
strengthening him around them. And, and for that, mainly it's,
it's around his assistant coaches.
I really hope that he looks intowhere his floors are and he
builds them up because if he cando that, then he will be in this

(25:34):
job a long time. You know he he he's continued to
show improvement year on year and next year should be no
different. Touch wood so you're.
Not to improve from coming last three times though.
But that's it. Yeah, I I am on the Benji train.
I, I, I, I think that what I seein Benji is he's a quick
learner, but it's, it's pretty ridiculous that we made a guy,

(25:58):
the head coach who had essentially no coaching
experience. He was supposed to do a two year
apprenticeship under 2 machines and ended up getting truncated
to like 6 months or something and then suddenly he's a head
coach. I think this year he has been
very quick to make the adjustments that, you know, we
think we've we've seen the need to make.

(26:21):
He's reacting in real time very fast.
You know, he's moving players. The roster movements that are
occurring are the ones that needto happen.
Last year we had a lot of issuesgetting out of our own and what
do they do? They went and signed Jarrell,
Skelton and Sunia to River. You know that he he's making the
right decisions, him and Shane Richardson both tactically from

(26:43):
week to week, but he's also still making plenty of mistakes.
And that's sort of the the problem, right, is that if he
hadn't done an apprenticeship asa coach, he would have seen
another head coach making those mistakes and learned that way by
the time he would have come intobeing his own head coach, he
wouldn't have been making those mistakes.
So we're we're having to experience the fallout of, of
that. But so he's sort of we've got,
it's like the first time we've ever seen, well, since the last

(27:05):
time the Tigers did it 'cause I think we had Alan Jones as a
bloody coach back in the 80s or something.
But yeah, the, the, we've got anon the job trainer as a coach.
Why don't we talk about the upcoming game?
Let's get on with the the the match preview.
Yes, indeed. Obviously Leichhardt was a, you
know, a bit of a graveyard for you blokes, but I think you guys
have beyond 2023 have won there the last few times.

(27:26):
How? How do you feel about last?
Year they won, yeah. It's always like, you know, was
it like, oh, my God, tigers at Leichhardt again?
Because it seems to happen everysingle year.
Is it something that you guys roll your eyes at now?
Is it kind of like, OK, you know, we're in with a shout
here. Look, I'll always believe our
team can win no matter who we'replaying, and Tigers and

(27:46):
Leichhardt's just going to be another.
Another notch in the belt, really.
Well, now that Jonathan Thurstonis no longer at the Cowboys
anyway, he couldn't win at Leichhardt.
I mean, Pete's going 50 plus aren't.
You have you guys had a beer with that?
Like at all. Jonathan JT.
I don't. Know the where's your birth and
where's your spirit now first and have you oh. 1st and 1st and
guy. I've seen him on the hill, I've

(28:08):
seen him on the hill. He, he, he looks as much like
Ben Ben Iken as he does in thosephotos, albeit as a methadone
addict. But I I haven't had a beer with
him, no. No, the icon the the only iconic
Tigers fans that that we know the the boys that were captured
on the hill booing us off the field during the Tommy Rodonicus

(28:31):
game. Yeah, yeah.
Was that 28 nil at half time, wasn't it?
Yeah. Yeah.
Was that a Cowboys game? Probably.
Cowboys game, Yeah. There you go.
There's another one. I was gonna actually ask you
guys. Like do you do, do the do the
Cowboys fanbase consider the Tigers to be like the the
Cowboys rival team? Because like, I know you got the
QLD rivalries, but like the amount of like ammunition that

(28:55):
there is between the Tigers and the Cowboys.
Jonathan Thurston's history, the05, you know, the, the punch on
the soft whistle, the the floggings both ways.
Like there's so much ammunition.It feels to me like it's, it
feels like to me like like the biggest rivalry game that we

(29:15):
have as a club. But it doesn't seem like the NRL
media get behind it in that way.What about you guys?
How do you feel about it as a rivalry?
I think the A5 grand final, since it was 20 years ago, it
was a big thing for probably up until we won our grand final in
15, it was probably that. It was every time Cows and Todds

(29:36):
that play each other as always, some staying in the game.
I remember coming home from we're going camping up north and
we came back to watch the game when Matt Barnes slotted that
field goal to make a 2524 in thelast two seconds of the game.
And ever since, like said that 5grand final, it was always a
rivalry game up until when we won 10 years ago and it sort of

(30:01):
has folded away off there but. I think Broncos have taken over
as our rival team. Oh yeah.
I mean, the the games from 2014 through to well, even now are,
you know, they're always a good game, minus a few of few
blowouts here and there. But yeah, it's always been a
good match since probably about 2014.

(30:21):
So that I think that took over from the Tigers rivalry.
The Tigers games are always theytend to be spiteful.
Definitely you can sort. Of and chaotic and.
Chaotic. That's right, they do feel that
way and they could go anyway at any time.
You don't know what's going to happen, hence that chaotic but.
Could be 60 nil on Sunday or it could be 1213 like you just
don't know, Yeah. You're absolutely right.

(30:43):
Well, how, how do you bloke see the Cowboys beating the Tigers
on the weekend? What's the blueprint?
Who, who do you see as a as a chink in our armour?
How, how, how are you blokes winning this game?
Do. You even think you can.
Yeah, yeah, we're. Gonna we're gonna sort some
errors out before. We we're just pass it to
theatre. If we can hold the ball.
Yeah. He does like playing us.

(31:04):
He plays very. If we can hold the ball and do
similar to what the storm did toyou guys early in the year at 64
nil and take Tyrrell may out of the game and just have like if
Tom Lolo and our pack can dominate the likes of Samuela
fine who and Tyrrell may. I reckon that's that's how going
to be half your battle because yeah, outside backs basically

(31:27):
rule each other out. You know, you've got Buller on
Drinky, you've got Purdue and Labour both playing centre.
They're coming up against you guys.
We have a Skeleton and Terriba our halves.
You've got Lui versus Dead and you've got Dewey on Clifford.
So our backs sort each other out.

(31:47):
Happy up against Robson, Happy doesn't want to.
You know, Robert took up his Blues jersey.
It'll be that 810-1112, you know, and we've caught it thrown
in at lock, like I think that's gonna be.
Who also plays well against us? Yeah.
Yeah, he's like a little Pitbull.
Yeah, that's a fairpoint and you're absolutely right.

(32:10):
There are weeks where our forward pack just lies down and
gets whacked and it can lead to,you know, it it blow out scores.
You reference 64 nil and you're right, they spot set it to real
mate, despite this, the size of his motor, if he's having to
make 3 or 4 tackles a set, it can it can really, really hurt
him. You know, it's it's certainly

(32:31):
going to be an interesting one. I I think the lighthart
afternoon sun, whoever utilises the best in terms of, you know,
the kicking games and putting itright in the sun could easily
force errors. There's errors in both back
threes from my from my perspective, but also in terms
of what gets brought off the bench.
I spit the violia is starting inthe centres and Zach Labour will
come onto the pine. Come off the pine rather Lawton

(32:53):
as a 14 sort of you know, the sort of the speed that he can
give you blokes around the rock lot too far, you know, for US
playing as a 13, but also like the big boppers like Michaela,
who you guys mentioned as a guy,he's really right.
Royce Hunt will come on and do his sort of pinch hit 2020
minutes with his eight hit UPS. It's going to play a.
Couple of games left in his career say him and Tom Willow

(33:14):
though, are going to. Be Oh, has he announced his
retirement? Yeah.
Yeah, obviously, probably you'llhave a point to prove as well.
I just realized. So yeah, it'll be a really
interesting game. As you say, it's pretty even
across the park. It's just in terms of which team
turns up, kicks well, does the effort areas right, Hey.

(33:34):
The weather you mentioned the Leichhardt sun, the weather, can
you know what, what's the prediction?
Is it sunny and over? Cold.
Get over, it's sunny on kick off, mate.
Yeah, it's giving away the sun. How?
Cold. Is it down there?
Is it like 8° at the moment or? No, it'll buy, buy, kick off.
It'll be about 7-8. Yeah, see, that's not too bad

(33:56):
for us because, you know, we train in the Heat all year long.
Well, especially in the offseason.
That's why if you notice now starts to the year, even though
we might get a couple of day games on a Saturday up here in
Townsville, like March, April, we've had to train in it for the
whole offseason and it's sappingly brutal.
So Oh yeah, when we actually play more in the cooler times,

(34:18):
it's beneficial to us because it's like, oh, how good's this?
We've got a respite from 4000% humidity.
Well, I know that you guys need to skedaddle because you got to
record your podcast at 6:30 and it would be good if you just
stuck around for a bit because it needs to upload.
So you'll see on the thing that it says 70% uploaded.

(34:41):
If you could just leave it up. Well, it uploads.
Before we do wrap it up though, let's do some predictions.
What we like to do here is probably no different to what
you guys do every week. Just go around the room and just
predict the score and predict the man of the match.
Do you guys want to stop? I'll let Pistol kick this off.
He's good at these. Well, every every Tigers game,

(35:03):
but especially 2023 when we dusted you 74 and nil.
I won a bit of a packet that night on 51 plus.
So did. You really?
Yeah, yeah. Put the money on that.
And we've never, never heard about it.
It's. Been the only bet win on the pod
for two years too, but hey, winsa win.
And it's like a good bet. Let's let's face it.

(35:23):
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go lightning the strike twice again
and have even first, second or third try scorer Chaos 51 plus
into drinking Nani anytime. Gutsy, gutsy Here I Leichhardt.
Leichhardt over. Here I was thinking 13 plus
might be a bit disrespectful but. 51 plus hey hey, hey.

(35:47):
For 10 bucks it it pays for itself.
No, that's fine. What about?
What about the rest of you? You can't.
Get a coffee in Leichhardt for 10 bucks.
You are absolutely right. Anybody else, ever, they're
going to make a prediction. I'm a little more conservative.
I think you're looking probably 2422.
I think it might be tight, provided the Cowboys can tidy up

(36:09):
their error error rate. That's been an issue.
So if they can tidy that up, I think it'll be tight.
Otherwise, I think the Tigers might actually get up in
Leichhardt this year. Man of the match.
I'm always going to stick by Tommy Dean.
It's hard to go past. He's got the form, so beyond
that, I'm not going to predict try scores or they're not going

(36:31):
to go 51 plus or anything crazy like that.
Yeah, I think it's going to be alot closer if the Tigers don't
get up at all. Fair enough.
I I'm actually different than tigers this week.
You can't say that I'll get podcasts.
I can I need to win a tipping. Con Don't worry mate, Jared
tipped Manly last week so it's all good.
You're in good company. Accountability.

(36:52):
I'll go, I've got us. I'll go 32 to 14 Tigers wager
emblem in the match. Yeah, I think that it'll be
close, to be honest. I think that it's probably given
the form lines coming into this game, given that like it's at
Leichhardt, I think a lot of people will be tempted to think
the Tigers are going to win thisgame.

(37:13):
But you guys may not know this about us, but we haven't won
three games in a row since 2018.So it's.
Online too. Yeah, Yeah.
Well, I mean, yeah, we, we are, we are playing for a
mathematical chance of making the 8:00.
But I, I, I gave up on that a while ago.
But yes, it seems like a bit of a difficult hump for the Tigers

(37:33):
to get over the three, the threegames, three wins in a row,
Mark. So I think as you said, if the
Cowboys actually do show up in in their best nick, I think it's
going to be a really close game.And if it is a really close
game, usually at Leichhardt, that does get the home side up

(37:54):
just fractionally. And I think with Dewey in the
seven, we do have somebody who can sort of win a game in the
clutch that we haven't really had lately.
So honestly, I'm feeling like 1918 W Tigers Dewey field goal,
Dewey man of the match kind of result.
That's feels like a Sunday afternoon Leichhardt Oval Tigers

(38:16):
Cowboys score to me. What about the rest of year?
I'm I'm going to go a bit different, although I hope it
doesn't come to that because ourkicking's a bit flaky sometimes
at the end of the game. I'll go 2418 Cowboys, I reckon.
Man of a match is my boy, dude. And my Smokey is Braden Burns,
who's on fire lately. He is great player.
And I'm just going to just quietly, I'm going to go the way

(38:38):
I tend in the bin as well. Yeah, that's not a bad tip.
I look I. I like earlier in the year.
Yeah, he had, he has been been. I'd love to see a bit of a bit
of fire to this game because I really want the Cowboys to be
like, I want there to be some hate between these two clubs
because there's so much good history.

(38:58):
I've been like making heaps of content.
I put up highlights packages allthe time.
And like it seems like every, whether it's cursed games or
whether it's legendary games, itseems like every memorable
moment that the Tigers have seems to revolve around the
North Queensland Cowboys. So it doesn't seem like you guys
feel quite the same way about us, but.
Look, we can make an exception, but I'm actually going to throw

(39:21):
out a little extra one. I'm going to I'm going to put
Bateman in for a triple. Just a real Johnny, just just
quietly on the if you Chuck Chuck up on the YouTube channel.
I put up a highlights package ofthat game the other night and
John Bateman actually carved youguys up that night.
I think he scored a try, set oneup like remember when he did

(39:42):
that little in and away and an unlocked ball?
It was beautiful. But yes, John Bateman can go go
jump off a Cliff. As far as we're concerned, we're
not big fans of John Bateman. We.
Got paid the brilliance. It's just there's, there's on
the other side of that is a bit of a handbrake in my in my.
It's a bit sunny up here for us.Yeah, it's a.
We call him. We call him Masturbateman, Yeah.

(40:03):
Right. Well, literally.
I call him that. We were up strongly and then you
guys came back to make it a goodgame in the end and almost
pinched it on us. Yeah.
And if we hadn't got that got home, then we might have still
been in the running for the 8 so.
But just for those playing alongat home, if you go drinky did
and Nanai cows 51 plus it's 2 1/2 to 1 so.

(40:24):
Is it I might have to get on? That there's 25K in your kick.
Can you just say that again? You go drinky did and nanai
anytime try. That's.
Kia's 51 plus. Yeah, I'll get on.
I'll get on in on that. I think if you want to, if you
want to go a Tigers multi, I think that the the Cowboys first

(40:49):
half lead Tigers second-half lead Tigers 1 to 12 anytime try
score Adam Dewey. That's probably what I would do
as a multi. That's not too bad either.
It's not, it's not 2 1/2 thousand to one.
Have you manifesto? It's not too bad for a cup of
coffee. 10 bucks in in Leichhardt, that's 25 grand.

(41:11):
That's a heck car. Well, I had a multi on Tigers
same game multi on a little while ago and I and it was I've
got 50 on it because I do some pretty cooked stuff and it was
the most ridiculous multi ever. What game was that?
Do you remember that? Really, it was.
Against the chalks. Yeah, when we won and I and I

(41:33):
needed the I needed the Tigers to score one more try and to win
18K and and the the yeah, so I needed the Tigers to score one
more try because I, I had Tigerslast try scorer in the multi and
the the Roosters scored with like 10 seconds left on the

(41:54):
clock. So when the Tigers kicked off to
the Roosters, the Roosters just started tucking the ball around
in their in goal to try to scorea game-winning try.
And I'm like, they're going to throw it to a tigers player and
I'm going to win 18 grand. No, unfortunately not.
Alex, 12, knocked on. But man, that was that was the
closest I came to a good multi, No.
But as long as you keep going, then you're always in with a

(42:16):
chance. That's how you, that's how you
get out of it, isn't it? You just keep keep hunting.
Yeah, yeah. A bit.
Bigger. All right, gentlemen, it's been
a pleasure. It's been it's been awesome to
have you guys. As I said, if you guys wouldn't
mind just sticking around so I could upload.
Did you want to do a tip as well?
There's one more of you that needs to do a tip.
Billy. Yeah, well, I was going to say

(42:36):
I'll, I'll better random trivia for you guys that after that 74
nil smashing, one of our fans went out and got a North
Queensland Cowboys number plate,personalized QLD number plate at
74 nil. Yeah.
And was that you? And I'm, I'm pretty sure I saw a
post on this Cowboy Stampede page that it got signed by the

(42:57):
playing group too. I'll say that's what.
That's awesome. Yeah.
That $500 number plate became a very, very, very expensive one
to any sort of fan. But my tip for the game, I'm
sort of, I don't know, I'm thinking I've got a hold in my
head of of a high scoring game, OK in like a like a 3236.
Yeah. I could say I could see that

(43:17):
happening. Is when I looked at the stats
the other day we were the leakiest team in the comp by a
bit. So I'm thinking wait what?
But we we can score tries and welet a shit load in.
So I'm thinking high scoring game but I can never not back
the Cowboys. Probably the only person other
than next to me that's backed them every single week in footy

(43:38):
tipping this year. Me and Rob like to win sometime,
Yeah, that's why. Well, you gotta sink.
You gotta sink reality into existence, right?
That's how it works. Report your team no matter what.
We're trying to win a prize. Well, the game earlier in the
year was a very high scoring game, so that's a pretty good
tip. And Leichhardt can be a fast
track, especially if it's not wet and it's not sunny day,
sunny Sunday arvo. Gentlemen, it was a pleasure.

(43:59):
Thanks so much for coming on. Why don't we do this again next
time the Cowboys play the Tigers, it seems like.
Seems like we could make it an annual tradition or something.
What do you reckon? Sure.
Absolutely. Sounds like a plan.
Next time I'm up in Townsville for work, I'll I'll drop you
some line and maybe we'll catch up.
Definitely. Thanks so much, gentlemen.
That was the On the Ranch podcast, boys.

(44:21):
That was our first ever. Oh, I hit the wrong guy.
That was our first ever Get out of Here ready.
That was our first ever cross podcast collaboration.
He's back pressed the wrong button.
That was awesome. Seemed like great dudes that.
That was unreal. Give the give the OTR boys a
follow even if you are an iron on Tigers fan.
They're great fellas and obviously I I love the

(44:42):
confidence of a pistol that's. Also a bit of a bit of a
larrikin, isn't he? Yeah, great fella.
And he's right. It is a $10.00 for a coffee in
Leichhardt unless you go to a Bar Italia and you just get a a
a short black for I think about 3 bucks. 50 cash only want you
cash only.