Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, legends, Welcome back to the Mason Cock Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today we look back on the interview of Eddie McGuire,
a man, a myth, a legend of the media sphere
in Australia, has accomplished so much and we look and
talk to him about his backstory and everything else and
how he's become such a successful image in the media
sphere in Australia. Sorry, it's an incredible interview. Really excited
for you all to be able to hear it again
and hopefully you may learn a thing or two about
(00:30):
the great man. So without further ado, let's get into it.
Good everyone, Welcome back to the Mason Cock Show.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Today We've got a special guest, a man that I'm
very close with. He's one of the uh He's known
as the man that is everywhere. He is one of
the most iconic people I feel like of Melbourne and
of the country. He's known. First time I ever met him,
I think he was I thought he was a regius
filming of Australia. I was kind of confused on who
he was until I saw him on the back of
a taxi. I thought, Oh, this guy's pretty big deal.
(01:01):
I'd say but he's a game show host. He's a
member of the Order of Australia, he's an honorary doctorate
from r MIT, Sale of the Century winner, former CEO
of Channel nine, a journalist and AFL commentator, and I
could go on and on and on about all the
different things he's done, but he is one of the
most probably influential people in my life. I'd say coming
to Australia and it's so great to have you on
(01:21):
The Man the myth Legend Eddie MacGuire Show.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Good to see that, Thanks so much for coming on.
Interviewing football is not the other way around.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I know this is I've been nervous here and usually
you're the one on the other side of the mic,
so I'm going to have to really take control of
this conversation. But I find it amazing because you've got
such an amazing story, and I think a lot of
people gravitate you you to you because you've come from
broad Meadows and you've been able to create a career
of yourself and it's come through a lot of hard work,
a lot of dedication. I think you're probably the hardest
working person I've ever met in my life. You're constantly
(01:51):
on the go, You're constantly doing something. So I know
this whole interview, I want to say thank you for
taking the time to come out and do this. It
is amazing to have you on. And something I said,
I think a lot of people gravitate to you, and
you've got some amazing stories that we're going to go
through on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, you know, in a lot of ways, Mason, what
you said there is what I'd like to be doing now,
which I am doing even through our business at GMTV,
and that is over the journey. Over my journey, so
many people have given me a hand up. You always
hear about the discrimination against people. I've always found that
coming from broad Meadows, if you had a bit of go,
people go, jeez, that's pretty good. You know this kid's
(02:27):
got a bit of go about him. Well, they would
never know where you're from. I just found over the journey,
so many people gave me a leg up. Not one
of them going buy me a car or And I
think they just gave you a chance, or they let
your door, not even they didn't have to be that.
They might just say hello to you. You know. I
remember the first time Bobby Rose introduced me to someone
(02:47):
said he's one of us. He's a great Collingwood med
It was one of the proudest moments of my life
that Bob Rose anointed me a Collingwood person. I mean,
the club meant so much to me as a kid
coming through. But people like Lindsay Fox who was the
killed a president back in those days, and I remember
bringing him up one Sunday morning something had happened down
at the Saint Kilda Social Club, which was a regular account. Yeah,
(03:09):
I can tell you I was either most of them
or a reporter on the rest of them. And then
after that, Foxy has looked after me. We became close friends.
I'm going on his eighty fifth birthday cruise. The family
are close family friends of ours and Foxy has a
great line he says, to have a friend, you have
to be a friend. And I've always been conscious of
(03:31):
that along the journey, that you have to give yourself
to people as well. So as my time has come around,
you know, I looked at what I was doing with Collingwood.
I really saw that as my way of giving back
to the community without getting into politics. So putting in
the housing for the homeless and things like that. That
was part of what we need to do. It couldn't
(03:51):
just be about trying to win the premiership. Of course
that's the thinking about it all the time, but it
needed to be something bigger than that. And the saying
that we sort of had a calling Wood was if
you didn't stand for something, you stood for nothing. So
that was sort of the ethos we wanted to bring
back to the club that maybe had missed for a while,
but was really what the club was based on.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I've got to ask you this, as you brought the
club already and I was going to bring this at
the end of the podcast, we'll bring it forward. Is
it true that you became a Colling fan because the
Colling the theme song was on the back of a
packet of chips? Is that story actually true? I've got
a bit of dirt on you. We're good mates, I
know if you.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, sort of right the right, but close enough.
It was a doughnut bag, not a But what happened
was in nineteen seventy I was in great prep. I
was five years of age and I idolized my brother
and clearly my dad, who because we lived in broad Meadows,
the closest team was Essendon basically although were in North
(04:44):
Melbourne zone, but they were no good at the time.
And if I was on the other side of the fence,
I would have been in Carlton's zone.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The family.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So there I issen'd and so I idized like I
carried my brother's bag. He was everything to me. So
I don't even I still don't even realize how I turned.
But what happened was I fell in love with Petty McKenna.
Nineteen seventy the Price, you know, it should have won
the premiership. We were right in there going well. McKenna
kicked one hundred goals and every time you turned on
the TV in nineteen seventy the football you saw Collingwood
(05:12):
was basically in the replay every week. There was no
live games in those days world of sport. I remember
sitting there and finding out for the first time that
Lou Richards played for Collingwood, that he was a premiership captain,
and that was like Hollywood had come to broad Meadows.
If you liked that, Lou was Wow, Lou Richards, you know,
and all that sort of. Anyway, this particular day, Frank,
my brother was in there, come back, you know, all
(05:35):
the come back to as and all that. And I
was walking back from lunchtime from school and there was
a Jiffy donut bag that used to have the Jiffy
donuts right the gym donuts, and it used to have
the themes ones on the back. And I saw the
paper about twenty meters from home as I came around
the corner, and I said to myself, all right, this
(05:55):
is a site now remember on five. This is sort
of points to how mad I was even back then.
And I said, if this has got the Collingwood theme,
so on it, I'll take it as a sign. And
that's it. And I opened and I'm sure enough the
universe is talking about and the univers was talking to me.
And that was my moment. And then Frank came home
a couple of weeks later and he said it was
(06:16):
he nearly fell over because Dad had bought me a
Collingwood jump and a mom had so number six on it.
That was it.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That was that your assault from that day? Well, I
want to ask you this to start off. I know
you as a person. I find you amazing. Whenever I
see you work a room, I know you do a
lot of hosting. You've done some amazing things for brush
fire relief, flood victims and everything else. And I see
you work a room and it's it's something that's a
talent that not many people have. Now I want to
get some advice from you. Right, So let's say someone's
(06:41):
listening and they want to get a bit of advice
on maybe let's story this. How do you Is there
any tricks you use to remember someone's name? Because I
feel like you're really good at this, so you can really,
like work a room, remember everyone that's there.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
The first trick is I don't think about it. To
be honest, I don't go want to go. I have
to work a round. People talk about networking and contacts
and things like that. If you're trying to do that,
I find it's pretty awkward. And that goes back to
probably being a journalists from such a young age, when
you're thirteen and fourteen, you had to actually introduce yourself,
have a connection with people, and you always remember their
(07:13):
stories and so there's always that part of it. I'm
finding these days. I realized that up until about five
years ago, I had really good eyesight, and so that
would give me the chance so I'd see people from
right across the room and look at them, picked them,
see who this, and with work out the connection to them,
and I'd be right. These days they are almost upon
me put the goggles on. So it's not as good
(07:38):
as it used to be. But it's about being interested
in people and knowing everyone's journey or their connection, and
you know, without pumping the tires up. I genuinely liked
meeting people, not what they can do for me. I
liked their stories. And I suppose going back to being
a journalist, you're always looking for the story, as opposed
to these days. You see a lot of stories on
(08:00):
television in the newspapers, and they're really just feel everyone's
got a story if you, if you kick the rock
over a little bit and find out what's there. So
from there I was able to do that, and I
genuinely was an and continue to be an enthusiast. I
look forward rather than backwards, and so from that point
of view, every time you walk in the room, it's
(08:21):
full of possibilities for a bit of fun.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, exactly. I think there's a great quote someone said
it was be interested, not interesting. Yeah, I feel like
that's very much of it.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's the quote. That's the short line to a long answer.
So well done. You've edited me beautifully. Yeah. But then
when you know, when you are things that at collingwod
for example, when I was president, and you know, part
of what you need to do is make people feel
special as well. I feel the president of the club.
You know, at the president's lunch, I would go around
every table because they baughter table to beat the president's lunch.
(08:51):
And part of the thing I know is that they
wouldn't have come to see the footy, but to you know,
I was entertained and as a well known president and
your celebrity and all that type of thing. So you
go around to these people and you have a bit
of interaction and they want to have a photo with you,
and it makes their day. That's what my job is
as president of Collingwood. Part of what I brought to
that job was my celebrity. You know, people like Jeff
(09:14):
Kennett brings his political acumen, Jeff Brown now the president
of collin brings his business acumen and his connection to
the club. You've got everyone's got to play there, get
their role and my role is was exactly that. It was.
You know, when you're hosting functions, don't just get up
and give a speech, go and find out what's going on.
And then you know, inevitably I'd find out this blocerus
(09:36):
you know, wants to be a sponsor of the club.
I've brought him on. I'm not give you a name,
thank you, close that deal and anywhere you go.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It's one of those things. I feel like that's something
I've realized, I guess in my time here, is that
like the littlest of things, he makes someone's day or
makes someone's weak even in like month or year, and
they'll talk about it for you, like I'll meet someone again,
you know, two years down the road and be like, oh,
I took a photo with you this time doing that,
you know, And I was like, yeah, yeah, of course,
I'll take a million photos made bike. It is. So
it's to see the.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Give a bit of yourself. I think one of the
great things about Australia is and particularly Melbourne, particularly Melbourne,
is the access to everybody. You know, so I don't
worry about paparazzi. You don't have Pepperitzis in Melbourne because
there's no need. You see what's every week. You know,
we are everywhere Whereas in the States, I always found
even going to the super Bowl, you go into one
of the top hotels and they say, oh, you're here,
(10:23):
what are you for it? Super Bowl? Oh the parties,
Yeah you're not going yea, and they go, you're going
to the super Bowl. Whereas where we're sitting, I think
this has been this place had a major impact on
my life.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Let's give it people listening in and watching. We're at
the MCG, iconic MCG. So is my office actually.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Exactly a box at the MCG. But what I've always found,
even the difference between Melbourne and Sydney is that all
our major events are open to everybody. There's one hundred
thousand seats in this place. You know, maybe the Grand Final,
maybe the occasional Lands day you might struggle to get
a seat, okay, but every other thing you can go to.
(11:05):
So as a little boy, we would come here. I'd
sit over there in half Wood, Flint when Purna mckinna
kick nine against Richmond one day. I was here in
the old stand in seventy two when we got beaten
in the Pulminary Final. Life having led by forty two
points at halftime. I stood over there for the first
Anzac Day game between Collingwood and Richmond, right on send
a wing under the old clock when they reckoned it
(11:25):
was ninety thousand. It was about one hundred and ten thousand.
In this particular. I sat over there for the first
Collingwood Essendon all the things I called, the Grand Finals, everything,
but not only that, but I was over here as
a kid on the Centenary Test, the day when David
Hooks hit all the boundaries and Rick ma Cosca came
back unto the ground. I see it. For the Commonwealth Games.
I sat over there as an in grade one when
(11:48):
the Pope was here. So all these things happen. You
go to the Melbourne Cup, there's one hundred thousand people
get into Flemington for the four days of the carnival.
You go to Moomba, which everyone sort of laughs at.
But if you're a kid out in the housing house
in broad Meadows, member was massive. You know. My dad
was smart. It was Scottish, so he's tight right, and
he worked out that if you stood opposite the town hall,
(12:10):
that's where all the performances happened. Because all the vps
are sitting in the town hall. We're sitting on the
other side of the road and in the sunshine. We
thought this was better because they're sitting in the shade,
which is a bit like here. You had the MG.
We used to sit in the in the southern stand
in the old days, and we thought this is great.
As all the noises and it's so vibrant, the members
are so boring, and they're in the cold, you know,
(12:30):
and so whatever. Whenever he sat, it was my dad
who said, you know this, this is the best place
we could be. And that was our whole enthusiasm for Australia.
You know. I lived in broad meadows that may as
well have been Beverly Hills compared to women dad came
from and my mom. So each generation gets its go
and he just he and Mom just drilled into us
that this was the greatest place on earth and if
(12:51):
you had any amount of ability or get up and go,
this was the place to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Is it true you hit a hard teck on this
still get my well?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
It was a hetag and I took two wickets and
then it was a media game and Kevin Bartlett was
actually facing up and I was being an idiot mucking around.
So I actually went through the fence up into the
back of the stand to start my running. But I
got true morphort and I've got David hooks.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, I'll you, I got hooks.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You try to try to put me over the out
of the stand and he said he got caught on
the boundary line. But he said he said it. I said,
I sucked you in here. That was great on the
on the m c G.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, You've got an amazing amount of memories here, mate,
I know you you've been here, You've been part of this,
this building and this structure and this coliseum that is
and you definitely make it up. But we'll go back
to a bit of I guess your origins. Really you
talked about your parents were immigrants back from Scotland and Scotland.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
My dad Scottish Mom. I like a drink as long
as it's free.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, it's yeah. I've got to ask you this because
I love my parents, you know, my parents, and those
are very valiably people. Now I've got to I've got
to ask you this. What is the biggest life lesson
you've learned from mom and dad?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Optimism?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Optimism and education?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Education, and unconditional love and tough love. You know, there
was tough love. It was pretty pretty brutal experience they
were coming from, so there was no other way. There
was no easy day in their life until both really
came to Australia and started their family here. But they
were both pulled out of school at a young age.
Dad was working in the coal mines of Glasgow looking
(14:29):
at running the pit ponies when he was thirteen or
fourteen years of age. His big break to get out
of the mines was World War Two. So you know,
Dad's life really didn't start until in his forties when
we came out to Australia and Mum worked hard and
then when she came to Australia, she was working all
the factories at broad Meadows. But you know they were
able to provide for them every year. It was the
(14:50):
battle to get the books and the uniform and play
the school fees. And you know we were pretty lucky
in that. You know, we won scholarships and my elder
system the frame, my young sister Bridget and myself, so
that gave us a chance here. I went to CBCS
and killed her, so it was great again. It was
education by Osmosis. I'd get on the train every morning,
and my brother actually brought this to my attention because
(15:12):
he did the same thing. And you get on with
all the working class people in broad Meadows and they'd
go into be getting off the various factories along industrial
broad Meadows Line in those days, and you know, on
the way up you'd smell then Abisco factory and work
out whether they're making Vita bridge that day or chocolate
or whatever, you know, And then I'd get on and
read the paper. Bought the paper every morning, and you
(15:33):
go to Flynn Street and as you've got to Essendon,
sort of more professional people getting on, whether they were
public servants or lawyers and things and sort of different
people in the suits. And then at the end of
the day and then when you know, you go to
the city, you get off at Flinnis Street and out
would go to windsor go past the Rosella factory in Richmond.
You'd smell where they were.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Cooking making that day effort to get to school.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So it was an effort, but it was also it
was good fun. It was late coming home when you're
footy training and things. So quite often in Windo you
go to school in the dark and come home and dark,
and you know it, you learned how to It's a.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Wake credit to you work, I think probably comes a
little bit from that that does.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, well, you were you're working twelve hour days at
school and go home and do your homework. But most
importantly you'd see at the end of the day and
you'd see that, you know, the working class people getting
on and you know, they had the dirt on them
and things going home and they worked a really hard day.
And you know that to me was inspiring to see
(16:28):
people who were literally doing pick and shovel jobs like
my dad was, who were doing it and for their families.
And then you know, you might even up to church
on a Sunday and you knew all the faces and
all that sort of stuff, and you'd see them dressed
in their Sunday best and they were doing great, and
they would be the president of the local football club,
so Dominic Football Club or Broady Footy Club or those things,
(16:50):
and you'd see these people in different different guyses and
then you'd work out that they actually just good, hard
working class people. They're hugely inspirational and at the same
time you'd see the professional people and go all right,
there's another way through this as well. And that was
inspirational for so. You know, I remember one time saying
to my dad, I want to get a job apart
time job. You know my mates at school we're getting
(17:11):
making money packing shelves at coles. And I said, he'd
think this is great. I want to step up. He said,
you kidding, said I haven't come twelve thousand miles for
you to stepselves. He said, get in there, do your homework.
And he said, oh, clean your boots, your jobs, to
get them dirty, you win the trophies old, clean them
was his motto. And that was it and okay, he
(17:32):
said you were here to study, get the marks, get
the results, and get on with your life. So that
that wasn't pressure. It was inspiring. But at the same
time you knew that people were sacrificing their lives and
you know, you know, the letters would come from Scotland
from an island every week, and the airmail and things
like that, and as you've got a bit older, you
(17:53):
realized how much they left behind. It suck and so
it was so from there you were you were obliged
to have a go and then you know, as you know,
you start to win a few things, so that's to
become a habit, and then you start to get the confidence,
and then you back yourself in. And then sometimes people
think I might have backed myself in too much. At
times I got over confidence. But you know that's what
you needed to do, because, as you said, you'd walk
(18:14):
into a room, you're in your brother's suit, you don't
know anyone, and you're eighteen, and you go right here
we go it an adventure.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I actually saw Xander and your jacket recently. It was
outside the club here, you kidd and I'll look at us,
So that looks a little bit. Does it look like
it's tailored for you? Mate? He just goes, it's my
dad's jacket. Well, I said, yeah, I thought that was
this iconic little black Trenchcoe.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
But he's taking more than my jacket.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I wouldn't done it. But I'll ask you. The last
thing on growing up and everything else. Now, someone who's
been massively influential is sister Matthew. Yeah, Now, can you
tell me the most influential thing that's kind of stuck
with you from her? Because I know we all have
these people. I think we all grow up and we idolize,
and someone who's kind of shown us the ropes and maybe,
you know, pointed us in the right direction whenever other
(18:58):
things may have joined us away. But is there one
thing that kind of sticks out that she maybe taught you?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I think what was her name was Sister Agnes Murta,
and she was a nun of the Josephite Nuns, and
she came out for a while. She was Irish, and
I found out later on her sister was a nun
as well, and they got every bad job going around,
so the end up in Broadways. She was an old
woman by that stage. And in grade five I had
a really hard year. Was my mum was really sick
(19:26):
and there was you know, there was a fair bit
of tumult happening around the family at that stage, and
it looked like I wouldn't be able to go to
CBC's and killed Christian Brother's College and Kilda, which was
all I wanted to do because of the finances and
different things. So anyway, Grade five had been a disaster
(19:46):
for me, and the school had changed a little bit
out some Dominic's, which was a great school, great kids,
great friends out there still have them to this day. Anyway.
So I walked in the first day of grade six
and I know, I've got to go for this scholarship
exam in March, first of February or something. And she
looks at me. I've heard about you, and I'm trying
to be a good you know, the good boy, to
(20:07):
be honest. And I said, well, let me tell you
what's happened, which was a bit bulshy now that.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I look back on it, great for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Well, I was pretty confident in those days, and reading
was my salvation. I just read papers and books and
history and things. So I was I had a little
bit more life experience and life experienced the hard way
as well. And I said to her sister, I have
to go for this exam, and she said right. She
looked at me and she said, right, okay, you sit there.
(20:38):
And I came in the next day and had you know,
we had kids who couldn't read through to kids who
were brilliant, you know, not just wasn't just me who
was had half a brain. There was some really, some
really good people to compete with and against. And she
just put it up, she said right. And by the
time I went for the exam. I'd done every entrance exam,
scholarship exam known to mankind that she collected over forty
(20:59):
years of me a teacher, to the point when I
actually sat down and did the exam, I looked around
and I finished it that quickly. I thought I must
have missed a couple of pages or something. Really, and
so I got I got the entry exam, got invited
back to the scholarship, got the scholarship. And I remember
coming home at lunchtime because Um was sick. I'd come
home at lunch time, go and get all the shopping
and come back and then run back up so I
could play footy at lunch time. She cooked me a
(21:20):
warm meal. It was great. So we had this all
work done. I'd run from school to time myself.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Everything was competitive and about trying to you know, I
wanted to play footy and everything and and win trophies
and all that sort of stuff. And I remember coming
home this day and Mum was waiting at the letter
box and she had the letter in her hand. Oh really,
She said, right, okay, here's the letter. It was it was,
and opened it up and it was like Willie Wonker's
Golden ticket. Yeah, okay, And I remember she said, don't
tell anybody at the school, just keep it quiet'd be
(21:48):
saying anything, and then but I knew that was it.
It was up from as Ron Brossy says, if it
is to be, it's up to me. It is up
to me, all those words to the letters profound, And
from that moment on, I thought, right, okay, I've got
the entrance pass. If it is to be, it is
up to me, and was fantastic for me.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It's amazing, Like I've talked about multiple times on this podcast,
of teachers being such a guiding light in this world,
and it's like they're very for how influential they are
in some people's lives. Especially the early years, there was
so much undervalued and underpaid and under.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
A teacher started teaching when she was nineteen and she's
now dobber and she's now seventy, and the amount of
people over the years have come up and said, your
sister taught me, And I said how she was a
great teacher, you know, and said she's a great sister too.
So yeah, I'm big on that. I'm massive on education.
Some of the things I have sort of rolling around
(22:43):
in my head that I'm trying to work on. As
big projects at the moment are all in education and
trying to inspire kids and get the particularly working class
kids to get the opportunity. The private school system is
enormous in Australia. I think I think Australia's secondary education
is probably the best in the world. I'm not so
not as uh not as boying on tertiary education for
(23:05):
another day, but yeah, that's something I'd really like to do,
not teach, but actually facilitate opportunities kation and stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah that's awesome. Well, we'll move in something else. And
this is this is how I actually got to know you,
And I mentioned this at beginning of the podcast year
the Regis filming of Australia. Now a lot of people
probably don't know Regis Filming is in Australia, but he
is the main he did. Yeah, but he started that
he wants to be a millionaire.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Now he followed us, he followed you, Well, we followed
Chris Tarran in England did the first who wants to
be a Millionaire? And Australia and Holland with a second. Okay,
and it took off and it was an enormous show,
and then Regis later on.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
You've been doing this for years now, and I've got
so many questions because I think it's such a unique
game show. It's lasted so long. Now I want to
ask you because I watch it right, and I say,
every time someone answers a question right or wrong, you've
got this equip it this all you know, this little fact,
little factoid or whatever it is, what is on your
screen whenever you actually are there, you know the answer
before that.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I don't know the questions. I haven't got time. I
not at six in a day, so I don't look
at the questions.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I know that's not six episodes a day, So.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I look at the fastest finger questions because they come
up quickly, and then what we do, and because there's
insurance involved in things like that, I don't know the
answers until they're locked in and then on the screen.
I do get some cheat notes on some things, but
a lot of times, you know, I'll add the bit
that I know of and connect it through and the
hosting of the show or whether the person's from America,
(24:29):
for example, if you're on there, you know suddenly there's
a connection to something that that's all add lip. But yeah,
we get a little we get some I have a
little bit on my screen. I have the question the
answer where they are on the money tree, and that's
and that's about it.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Jeez. I was really thinking they gave you like a
video and a full script and everything else.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
They get a couple of things on you know, a
little bit of factoids if you like. But but that's it.
But there is that we're making up.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Now do you have a do you have a fair?
In moments, I feel like that is such a life
changing show to win that amount of money. Is there
anyone that you've you've heard the story of and it's
just kind of really hit you hard in the heart,
you know, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Time Yeah, you know, I'll take you back at not.
One of the funny stories which people don't know is
I'm sitting at home one time. I remember I'd been
out every night this particular week, and I had a
Collingwood board meeting in Carla and said my wife, As
had come home tonight, I'm going to cook a roast.
I haven't seen you for a better week. Let's sit
down and as it might have been even before the
boys were born. Anyway, the night before Millionaire, the old
(25:28):
millionaire who wants to be a millionaire, Molly Meldrum, who
had won five hundred thousand dollars and it was going
to charity. And you know, I knew Molly to be
highly intelligent, and it changed his life. The next day
what happened and the way people looked at him, But
the money was going to charity. Anyway, I walk in.
I'm on the phone, color phone off, come on, get off.
(25:48):
So I tend the phone off and she pulls out
the food and the home phone rings. Now the home
phone is Ali.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Mam, Hello old schools.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Ali, And I said, oh, you know, that's fine. She knows,
you know, I'll tell that I'll talk to her tomorrow
or something. Ah Kerry and she looks up. It's Kerry Pecker.
So she says, puts the food back. Ins to this
is going to take you well anyway, He starts, easy
to me, what are you doing? I saw you last night.
(26:19):
What are you doing giving all my f and money
to all yourf in mates? And I start laughing. God thought,
because it riding through there, if it was a messive
show and he said, I saw you, you know, and
he said, I said, hey, listen, there was a charity
night as a text induction. He starts laughing and he
said to me, he said, listen, son, don't be helping
(26:40):
any of those doctors or lawyers from t rec Ord
Bellevue Hill. He said, don't worry about them. He said,
but if you get a battler on, you know, so
I've got permission to do what I'm doing anyway, but
I don't. You gotta be careful because you don't want
to give a hint to somebody when there's other people
who have got their opportunity. They're getting the one chance.
So we do that pretty straight. But sometimes when we
(27:02):
get to the last couple of questions and only one
person left in the.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Direction, are you sure? Are you.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Not quite that bad? But but but the funny thing
is sometimes I could say the answer is D and
they're just not listening.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
They think you're playing them.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
No, not even playing, They're just they're that focused, not
even focused there the lights, the camera of the action,
the television. It wouldn't matter what happens. It's it's a
it's an amazing insight into human nature. When you get
people when everyone comes on going, I shoot the lights
out at home while I'm cooking. Okay, well you are
doing it. Let's see what happens.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Have you ever, what's the Have you ever had someone
really like miss a really easy easy question that's like
super embarrassing. You just feel terrible.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
For well, I'll give the best example was the first
person ever not to get to the first five answers.
It was a guy called Richard Hatch, the first winner
of Survivor. Guy got round in the nude. Yeah. So
he came on and it was what is twelve times eleven?
And he at the end and he blew up, and
he really arked up, and he was saying, ah, this
(28:09):
question was I think there's question three or something, and
he said, we do times tables to ten, you know.
I said, well, we'll do ten times eleven and had
twenty two doing that type of thing. And he blew up.
And not long after he got done for text avoidance
and in jail, and I thought, god, I must have
we might have burst his bubble. But there's been there's
been some beauties. There was the girl who entered you
(28:32):
know what type of ring? You know, I can't remember
the question now. But there was wedding ring, engagement ring,
you know whatever, ring had at a burger ring, and
she went burger ring because she had heard the story
of Adam Cooney, the Grandway medalist, who proposed with a
burger ring, and she just got herself completely confused. And
she was a really smart girl. In fact, when I
(28:53):
looked at her card, I thought she could go really
a big chance, and she was. She was a really
vivacious person and fun. I thought, I'm gonna have a
lot of fun with her. It's good because you love
getting I love getting the young women on because when
people at home are watching younger women going, we don't
really get a chance at these type of things, and
it's inspiring for them to go fantastic yeargo girl, all
that type of roteae. So she was. I thought, this
(29:14):
is going to be a good, good air of TV,
half hour of TV, and I am bank. She was
out straight, became an internate sensation. That's the but you know,
she was great fun. And people started the usual thing,
people start becoming mean and all the rest of it.
And I rang her up and she said, hey, listen,
don't get caught up, and all this it's fun and
(29:34):
you'll laugh at it down the track and she said,
I did. I laughed my head off and then it
got really mean, and she said, but I'm right now,
it becomes a footnote in in life. Don't worry about it.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Now. You've done a lot of You've done a lot
of media reporting, journalism, everything else. Now I'm all about
a bit of a laugh here and there, and now
is there. I'm sure you've done some wild crosses in Australia,
and I've come to this country and I've seen some
stuff in the media and I'm like dying life and
the way some reporters have to kind of maneuver their
way around, or the awkwardness of an interview or whatever
(30:05):
it may be. Is there anyone that likes stick out,
sticks out in your mind and maybe something weird you
have to talk about it or report on.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Well, there was, there have been plenty. I mean, first
of all, I remember being petrified and as a naden
I was doing crosses and just oh, and I was
hopeless and I was trying to learn it. And you know,
there's a video of me when I'm seventeen, the first
time I ever stood in front of a camera and
I was like that, and I was actually Bruce mcavanny
who grabbed me one day said, listen, if I ask
you a question about football, you can talk for three
(30:33):
days about it. He said, you're over over preparing. He said,
just stand there, and when I throw the question to you,
he said, you know it inside out. Just answer it.
Don't try and quote Shakespeare or anything else, like, just
do what you've got to do. And so i'd nearly
been put on the not to be used again on
live crosses really and you know, well for a little while.
(30:54):
And I saw in those days, because it was so
new to cross live into television and into news thoughts
that they you know, I saw some really good reporters
lose their lose, lose everything, and and you know, full
by the wayside. Anyway, so I'm thinking, God, I'm going
to be out of here. I'm going to be back
the broad Meadows in no time. And anyway, the next
time Bruce crossed to me, I've shot the lights out
(31:16):
doing it. And it was and it was all happening,
so it was even it wasn't even time to react,
it was what was going on. And I was moving
around and getting interviews and came back and almost got
a ovation from the newsroom that was fantastic, and so
the confidence grew and then I became known as one
of the best live performers. That's that was it. And
and then you know who would have thought that Dan
(31:38):
the track the Footy Show was all live. I don't
use a Q me in a hot set. I don't
use o Q except for the names, and you know
a couple of little things like that, and that became
what I was all about. And so from there I
developed what you said, able to be able to walk
around back myself in do all the homework beforehand, but
just know you've got the knowledge and back your knowledge
bank in. So there's that. But I remember the one
(32:00):
time down at Hawthorne and in the eighties we're doing
a lot of crosses at Hawthorneess because they've played the
Grand Finals. So Durmott was one of my best mates,
and Dipper and Johnny Platton and all those they're all
lunatic scening out there. They've got the camera set up
and there's nothing behind me, nothing behind me, just to
you know, like you see sometimes I'm doing stuff, but
everyone was behind the camera that all decided, are they
(32:20):
going to make me earn my money?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Faces and stuff like.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
That's the start of it, right, so they started They're
doing all that sort of stuff. So then I'm interviewing Dermot.
I turned to Dermott and of course as I turn,
he drops drops his towel, standing of it from here up,
you know, So that's funny. And then John Platten crawls
underneath the camera shot and gooses me. You know, goozy
is doan't you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
The story all the way here? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
This one? And then I turned back to camera and
Dipper standing behind it, jumping up and down in the nude,
and everyone's doing all sorts of different times, and I've
got to do another three stories, and I did like
to do meantime in Canada, the Canadian Grand Prix, you know,
and center these things. And then they're starting to throw
things that.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
If you can handle that, you can handle any.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Hilarious. But you know, it was a baptism of fire
and it was like an initiation and some people cut
up raf and oh why do you do that? I laughed.
I loved it. I actually loved the acceptance that these
all these lunatics were being were being the pell and
and at the end of it again they got a
standing ovation and Bobby Youngman, the legendary trainer, brought out
(33:27):
a sausage on it with with onion and Sanuell played,
you know, and all that tope of thing. And from
that moment on knew were accepted and you're part of
the action. And it was great and for me getting
involved in VFL football and then AFL football. You know,
the first night over went to something, Sam Newman and
I went out for dinner and we would yeah, pepper
(33:50):
Steak nearly burnt the roof out of my mouse, you know.
And then but Drew Morphord introduced me to everybody, and
I met Lou Richards and Jack Dyer and the maptain
and the major Ron Casey Hern Channel seven and was
basically the godfather of footballer and Coco Roberts and all
these superstars that were mythical and magical figures in my life.
(34:13):
They were my cartoon characters about the whole on Superman.
These were the guys Captain Blood and you know, these
guys who I met and they brought me in and
Ted Whitton grabbed me. I don't never break my hand
with his famous handshake and poured me a long neck
beer and them, yeah, well Ted would break your Handdaugh
actually break it, and all that sort of stuff. And
(34:34):
then afterwards Drew and Sam took me around for dinner
and took me to the first night club and got
me my first drink card and all that sort of stuff.
And ten years later, I'm being asked by Anne Johnson,
what do you think of Sam Newman being on this
show we want to do? And I said, He's a legend.
I love him, He's so funny and John o'ska, really,
I said, oh no, I think he's absolutely the I
(34:54):
couldn't think of anyone better. And that was the magic,
that chemistry from that night where I turned eighteen, the
week before I was drove my father's car had five
bucks pocket money got down to the top of gas
which is down into our raade still it's I think
it's closing now. And you seemed, realizing I had no money,
pays for dinner, takes me across the road, introduced me
(35:16):
like I was some superstar, and you know, dre faans
Abroady that night thinking that's the best, that's the greatest,
Not well.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
I mean that's Australian culture I've talked about on the
podcasts before is it's very much people just look after
each other. And it's something that's so unique to this country.
Is I feel like it's very much people live lend
out like a helping hand. It's has become a.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Lot mean spirited these days, you know, with social media
but also the media media, and they're always looking to
trip people up. And you know, it's not about how
you're going, it's when we can sack here. You know,
you're forced to apologize. Now, maybe I just apologize and
I made a mistake or something, or you know that
type of thing. And not that we need to be gentle.
I think we have to dig deeper on bigger questions
as opposed to going so hard on flippant questions. And
(36:01):
your point is right, we can't lose that great give
people a go routine, yeah, and give them a second
chance if required. I mean, bad people deserve bad results,
but good people who make mistakes you need to say, right,
we haven't enough of them. Now. That's why the other
thing people talk about conflict of interest. Now, sometimes there's
just not enough people in Australia to get everything done
(36:23):
and you.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Don't realize how small the country is comparatively to the
rest of the world that they see these things overseas.
Of the US, maybe there's three hundred and thirty something
million people and there's only thirty something here in Australia,
and it's like it's just a totally different kind of experience.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
You go to the big universities in American pleasures professional
yet well we'll talk about sport now.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I know you mentioned this before Super Bowl. You love
going to the super Bowl and being an American I've never been.
I've always wanted to. And there's a story I came
remember if you told me or someone else told me
about you somehow making it onto the ground. But the
super Bowl, after the thing was finished and you're celebrating
with all the confetti in there and everything else gone and.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Patriots, it is it's it's it's actually got a double
funny story this, right, because Craig Hutcheson, actually he loves
he does, and Craig does a fantastic business ballpark where
he takes people there and if you've ever want to
go to the super Bowl, it's fantastic. Right. So this particular day,
(37:23):
the day before I'd interviewed Bill Belichick and I asked
him a question and he actually said, that's the only
smart question I've had all day. So you know, he's
notorious for just beating.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Up the media.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So that was it. So so I thought, oh, that's
going right. Anyway, as we go from the media area,
we had room pass us to go in because they
let the international media. I think they've stopped them. Now,
this is the international media to go into the rooms. Now,
I've done that all my life in football. But you
walk in and there is Tom Brady, and there's Ron
Gronkowski coming out out of the share and standing there,
(37:58):
and you could interview every and Bob cra after I'd
met a couple of times. Jonathan, his son, I knew
from meetings that I had with him, so they sort
of knew who I was and and a bit different
to the American sports casters. Not surprisingly, I'm in a suit. Okay,
so that straight away elevated. They're not sure if you're
one of the owners or you know from Australia. Anyway,
we go downstairs and as we're heading towards the rooms,
(38:20):
I see all these people going the other way and
Jane Muller, the American producer of mine from Trip List
Breakfast Great Man, Jay, I said, cover up your credentials.
So I said, put him inside your shirt. And he says,
what what are you doing? Man? I said, just follow me? Said,
I said, just follow me. I said, don't get don't
drop off the back. I said, hold on to the
back of my jacket. I said, we'll see what we
can do here.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Okay, Jay's a big dude. He's like six for't six,
so you can pass as an athlete, I feel like.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
But the thig with Jay, though, is he's very American,
as you know in that it's like you, yes, sir, yes, ma'am.
You know I've got a ticket that I have to
stand up here, you know where I'm a bit more Australian.
Let's see, let's see how far we get to this.
So I do a big you two and Jay slips
in behind me and it's the families. I've picked it correctly.
There are all the families who are going out on
on the ground. So we're walking out and suddenly we
(39:07):
come out the race and all the crowd realized it's
the families of the New England Patriots. So we're waving
to everybody and doing the whole routine. So out we go.
So I'm standing next to Tom Brady and cron Cawski
and Edelman and these guys, and we're standing there and Jay,
of course, he's got the microphone. So I said, well,
come on, this bang off a couple of interviews. So
(39:28):
everyone's jumping up and down, you know, cronquit, I reckon, yeah, man,
this is fantastic. You got anything to say to us
a straight goer? And I look up and up on
the stage. I look up and they're about to present
the the the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and Hutchie's got it
in his hands. He's up on the back of the
stage and he's got hold of it. So I start
(39:50):
laughing my head off. Anyway, it comes back down and
at every and you could see it on the telecast,
so this is then it comes down and I end
up with it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
It's mine, I've got it.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
The guy's going to said because somebody came over. It
was one of those ones where one of the players
had it and the family came in. I just said,
I hold it for you. And they're doing photos and
Jay's getting they're doing this one anyway. From there, it
all happens. I get a couple of interviews, and I
said to Jake, let's not over stay lucky, because we're
going to get everybody inside. Let's go. So we head
for the for the rooms, and as we're walking on,
(40:25):
I realized that's Bill Belichick's ten ten meters in front
of me, and it's like the parting of the Red Sea.
We get in behind him, a couple of steps behind,
and again I said, there's a Jake. Now pull out
their credentials, right, So I've got all the credentials there.
They know whether it was media or I was a
bodyguard or whatever the case of. So we go in
and they open it and we follow Belichick into the
(40:47):
rooms and we're the only ones in there, and he
doesn't know we're behind him, and we weren't going to
spook him or do anything. Anyway. I was able to
watch Bill Belichick go over and he went over to
a sink and he just put his head up against
the wall and leant his head on the war and
just took these deep breaths. And we just stayed right back,
but just to watch what was going on. This amazing
coach and what it meant for him, and you know,
(41:08):
you talk to people when they win premierships, particularly coaches,
and the overwhelming sense of relief. And you could just see,
you know, the blood drained from him and then come
back into him and threw water up on his face.
And he turned around and he walked over and he
looked up and he said, who are you, guys? I said,
coach Belichicker Eddie mcguiree from Australia with he said, oh good, yeah,
I remember, it's congratulations, you know. And I didn't pull
(41:30):
out the interview because it was more an observational thing.
I sort of, you know, I was kidding around as
a reporter doing that stuff, but I was more there
just to observe what was going on. And it was
a moment and you don't want to be an idiot
on those things. You got to understand it. And he
said all right, and he said and somebody else came in.
They said, oh, you guys supposed to be here. I said, yeah,
we've got these tickets. Were supposed to be in. You're
(41:51):
supposed to be outside, and you come into.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
So we walk get there's a q a mile long,
which is straight to the thing at the front of
your Thanks maybe, but yeah, and then we go in
and you know, you're literally they've got those open style
lockets that they're have and and there's Brady's locker with
you know, it's got the photos and also and that
was I think it was the year that they is
(42:16):
Jumper got knocked off and so we actually sent them
all the video that we had and it didn't see
you couldn't see that anyone, but at least I've got
a look of who was around the place. So then
we're going up and you know, it was funny because
I went up to to Bob Kraft and did an
interview with him, and I actually interviewed his wife, who
was fantastic, and I said, you know, Bob, I've got anything,
(42:39):
you know for the people in Australia. And he's the
first interview is down, so he's flying. He's so pumped
out Australia. You're going. So then the next one goes,
we're from Taiwan, what have you got to, Well, we're
from But it was great, it was it was an
amazing experience. And yeah, I've been lucky enough to go
to a number of super Bowls Now hosted them for
(43:00):
Channel nine back in nineteen ninety eight at San Diego,
and you know the one recently in the Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
At so Far Stadium was amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
But that was I was really getting into Gilbern maclachlin,
who couldn't go because you get your head kicked in
by the media because you're at the super was that
Anyone who's in show business, entertainment, stadium management and sport
who wasn't at that event needs their head red. It
was a master class. And you come back and you know,
we look at the MCG and you still got people saying, oh,
(43:31):
do we refurbish the southern stand when you're saying.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
You know, you go there, you see it.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
We're also but you also got to read the play
a bit. It's no point building a new stand here
and spending a billion dollars and it's going to be
outdated before it even goes up. Cricket is going to
change if the world keeps going the way it is,
whether it's weather patterns. No one's going to stand out
there from ten o'clock till six o'clock in the middle
of the blinding heat on boxing day. You're going to
(43:56):
have to have cover. The people aren't going to sit
up the back in July on Friday night football getting
their head bolded off with hail. You know, put a
roof on the feet. We live in Melbourne's you know,
Sydney had macked it up. They haven't put any rus
on their stadiums because they don't believe it. They have
bad weather up there. But Melbourne can't fall for it. Now,
I know that this is an iconic stadium, but it
(44:16):
doesn't have to be roofed all the time. When we're lucky,
we've got to rally out across the road. You can
have a sliding. The technology that's coming in is it's
so great. It's all there. And when this needs to
be in the top five stadiums in the world always
because it brings so much major events to Australia. And
we've got a Marvel Stadium down the road which is
a really good stadium, which we underestimate how good it is.
(44:38):
But concerts and all those sorts of things massive there
there And here.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
I want to ask you another story about sport. Now
you told me this story years ago and still was
blown away by it. And it's the Joe Fraser story
Joe Fraser on an airplane. Can you give us a
bit of a rundown of.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Well, I was lucky in that I met Muhammed Ali
and had dinner with Ali, and you know, it was
you know, for my fortieth birthday through Eloise Pratt and
Anthony Pratt were actually wrote on the you know the
usually in the books all the time, the big One
and did that and I had ordered one for as
my birthday present, and so that was good. I've got
(45:15):
two boys that I've got two autograph books. So anyway,
when I was up in Sydney, I went to the
fights one night. It was Mundane Versus Green and Joe Frayer.
I looked across the thing. It looks like Joe Frazier
and you know we're sitting sitting ringside. So the guy
who had him knew me, came over said I said,
I said, said Joe Frasier. He said, yeah, it is.
Do you want a meeting? I said, do I want
(45:35):
to meet him?
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Of course?
Speaker 2 (45:36):
So I go across and I meet Joe and he's
in a wheelchair and he staggers up to his feet
and having a bit of a chat and he is
great I love Joe Fraser. You know, my son's called Joe,
but it's not necessarily but it certainly was in the
back of my mind. So he's not named after Joe
Fraser as such, but it's part of it, right, Josephite
(45:57):
nuns Joe Fraser. You know, my middle names show Joseph,
but he just was a Joe when he was born. Anyway,
we get on the plane the next day, I'm flying
to America to go to the screenings over there, and
Jeff Brown was actually with us, and John Alexander, who
was the head of p B ALL at that stage,
(46:17):
was also Collingo supporter. As it turned out, first class
was full of Collingwood people and Joe Fraser. And as
we took off, we're playing Gelong this night, and anyway,
the games on, we're trying to get scores and things,
and couldn't quite get him. Anyway, we durned the course
of the night. I got invited up because Joe Fraser
remembered me from the night before and the guy who
(46:39):
was with him, et cetera. So I sat there for
about two hours on the flight, asking everything, all the stories.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
The man you'd want to hear stories from for sure
myself to you right now, he's.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
At a different level to me. You know, he was
in there with le he helped create the fable of
r Le. But he did talk to me about how,
you know, how he was that he wasn't invited to
do the like the cauldron at the Olympic Games, that
Arli got it in his hometown. And he said he
was from Louisville, you know, I was from Atlanta. I
(47:12):
should have done that. And when you look back on it,
they both should have done it. They should have got
them both doing it, you know. And he said, you
know that second that last fight, he said, you know,
I can't believe that I didn't go back out. You know,
he did the right thing, but he did the wrong thing.
And other three minutes I knew he couldn't come out.
I knew I was. I was still going, well, well,
you watch the fight, you know, both of them. You know,
that's watching two people kill each other live on television.
(47:35):
And but he then he said, he said, you know
that after that fight, he said, Ali was in hospital
for a week. We went to a nightclub that night.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
You know, becomes there like it's like Mayweather and McGregor.
They all come together after and.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Yeah, but there was there was still there was an edge.
There was an edge with them, you know, because Fraser
helped Ali when Ali had been rubbed out for Vietnam,
gave him money financially and all that sort of stuff.
Ali Ali had a mean side to him, But when
you go through the whole thing, you see how it
worked itself through and old Joe, you know, after it
(48:09):
got destroyed by Foreman. Yeah, I thought that that was
the end of it, the you're invisible to you're not
in boxing. And then of course you had Ali beat
beat Foreman, and then the two of them had that
the round three, the thriller in Manila was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Back to the back to the plane, back to He's
giving me.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
All this sort of information and we're talking. It's just fantastic. Anyway,
we land and and the news comes through the Pies
have beaten Geelong by a record margin. So we're all
linked up and we're saying good old Collingwood. Forever up
in the first class with Joe. Fraser didn't know what
was going on. He knew it was exciting, and he
knew that it was big and at all anyway, About
(48:46):
two months later, I met in the office up in
Sydney at Channel nine and you know, it was on
We're getting We're getting belt around the years a fair
bit and this package arrives. I don't know, I don't know,
it was ticking or whatever it was going to be.
And I opened it up and inside was a boxing
glove from Joe Frasier. Keep your hands up there, Joe Frasier,
which of course have So I've got an autograph boxing
(49:09):
glob from Joe Fraser and an autograph goat book from
Armored L And wow, that's it's pretty big. It is.
But they they don't forget. I was on a little
boy when they were the first big in Australia. They
were the first major events coming in via Australia on satellite.
And watching those fights and in those days world heavyweight total
fights on the front page, it was underlie. It was amazing,
(49:33):
shaking hands. Actually put my hand into the right hand
of Joe Frasier, you know, was watching the left was
But to know that Joe Fort and those fights and
he was blind in one eye and everything, and then
to see r L and Ali did the looked at
Carla and looked at me, looked at at Carla, looked
at me and said said to color you married him. Yeah. Yeah,
(49:58):
you just sit there going, Wow, what's the of life
as these Yeah, man, amazing people.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
I'm moving to the last time we go talking about here,
and it's it's someone who this is very recent, this
is all kind of happened, and You've had a very
close relationship with this man. I'm looking across and I
see his name and the Shane warn Stand. I want
to ask you, I guys, about your personal relationship with him.
I know you knew him very well and he was
someone that was very dear to yourself and I had
a lot of a lot of fun times, a lot
of a lot of good times with the man. I've
(50:25):
got a bunch of stories that you go through. I'm
not going to go through, and we'll be here for
another four hours.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
But picture look Warning was yeah to me, the quintessential
kid from Melbourne who came in and was the storybook.
I mean, his life is I mean, you know, we
only know parts of it. You know it was was
even bigger than what it is, and he was enormous,
but he was also a great friend. The phone call
would come, you know, what are you doing? I don't
(50:50):
know what it was, the phone of ringing you look
Shane Warning and said this is either going to be
the biggest story of the year and he needs help,
this is going to be a great night ahead of us.
And you know the amount of times that all happened.
But once what I loved about Warning is once he
actually believed you to be a friend, and you showed
to be a friend, then you were in again. And
I find that with a lot of the great people,
(51:10):
they they will bring you in and give you everything,
and they just want to have other friends and other
people that can rely on. So it was a terrible
tragedy when the news came through at one thirty that
morning that Shane had died. But you know, I remember
going around to his house one time and Dan at
Portsy and there's a guy there Ross. Hello, Ross. It
(51:31):
seems got a bit of an English accents. Obviously he's
an important character and Warning. So that we get talking
and start talking about in English soccer and well, they said,
it says to me, how do you find I said, well,
you know, nominally Manchester United, And I said, I still
as old as this is as a Manchester United guy
(51:52):
like Liverpool because Kenny Delglish became a friend and his
connection to Celtic. I said, look, I'm a Celtic man,
and yeah they're the big club and no, really you
like Seli's heah, yeah, so I start off. Yeah, the
first British team to win the European Cup of nine
at sixty seven won the you know, the Coronation Cup
of nine and fifty three and Celtic played Hibbs and
it was an all Green final and my father was
(52:13):
there at Hamden Parkers, one hundred and twenty five thousand
people there, blah blah blah blah blah. And I get
wound up into it and they asked warning, throws a
few questions. You know, I'm into it about all this
sort of stuff. Not unusual, you know that I've got
a bit wound up and going. And then Warne says,
oh yeah, I said, said, Ross is a Celtic man.
Really if you break for the Celtic I said yeah,
He says yeah, his family owned them. I said, I said, who's.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
Your last twenty minutes riff and I had just gone on.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
He said what I said, what your father? You do
them at Desmond, so he said, yeah Ross Desmond. I said, right, okay,
now he said, I didn't know half of that. It
was fantastic. So later in the air they're coming out
and Ross Ross came out for Warning's funeral down at
the Saint Gilda Footy Club and so the Desmonds are
coming out, so I'm looking for to catching up with them.
But one of my great memories was I took my
(53:02):
dad back and the last game he saw of Celtic
in Scotland was with me. The first the last game
he went before he came to Australia was a knee
deep in the mud, and this time we went, we
sent in the director's box. And then the last game
he saw just before he died, when his ninety four
was over at Amy Stadium and the Celtic we say coach,
(53:25):
but manager Neil Lennon actually came up and made a
presentation to him and became a jumper with Maguire ninety
or ninety four whatever it was, and there must have
been ninety four and in a beautiful tanker and a
ball and all that sort of stuff to my dad,
who couldn't believe it that after all these years in
Australia that the team that he loved. If we breathed
loudly on a Sunday morning when the BB said World
(53:48):
Service with no it was getting the results on the radio,
so you'd have to go this. That was English Premier
League and the Division one and again through all that
didn't Bet Division five, then Scotland Quiet, Celtic two Rangers,
and that was it happiness for another couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (54:04):
I must say, mate, I know you did the send
off with Warner here at the MCG and that was
a pretty pretty beautiful moment. I think it was very
well constructed. I know you're a massive behind it and
something I know he would have been proud of.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
Office was enormous and met Gadinski from Mushroom with the
staging and Coz cardown at GMTV and then the MCG
and Peter Jones who does all the big events in Melbourne,
and what I loved about it was it was Melbourne
coming together and because it was on all the stations,
none of the no one stuck their head in from
Sydney or any of the other and we're actually able
to do it. And as a turnout, I was actually
(54:39):
sick the week before I was and I was petrofied
I had COVID, so I didn't test myself. I stayed
home and on the Sunday, I thought, I'm going to
have to write this one because we had to put
it through protocol, and two because in case I couldn't
do it. So I was going to test myself on
the Monday and Tuesday and see how I was going.
As it turned out, it was a flu that was
going around Melbourne at that time and I tested negative
(54:59):
and I was right. But so I sat down on
the Sunday and wrote the funeral. I just sat on
the kitchen table and it knocked it all out because
we knew we had out, and we knew we had
been at Edge Sheer, and we knew we had Chris Martin,
and we knew that all these other things were falling
into place, and so then you're able to put it together.
(55:21):
And what was interesting for us was because there was
no ad breaks, we had to really almost do it
like a theater production where they wanted to or pull
sets out, and we had to get the kids from
their speech to the top of the stand unveiled. So
that's why we had the trumpet and then different things
like that. So it was actually great fun pulling it
all together, but at the same time making sure that
(55:41):
we used the mcg as a set rather than it
being the venue. So we use it as a set,
get the shots of Melbourne, get people realizing this will
be a show, not just a funeral, but at the
same time keep the solemnity of a funeral on what
we're actually doing and not turning it into a circus.
So that was what we were trying to do and
I think we're able to.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
Check you accomplished it so well mate, and it's it's
great to sit here and look across and see the
shame warns, so I'm sure you're pretty proud of that,
and probably gives you a bit of goose swamp seeing it.
Speaker 2 (56:07):
But it was great because the day he died, I
received the phone call from the Premier, Daniel Andrews, who
said we need to do a state funeral, don't we
and what do you think and I said, yeah, absolutely,
that'll be amazing for the family. And then I went
down spoke to the family and you know, they're really
taken by it. And then a couple of days in
the phone call came through again and you know, what
(56:29):
do you think about the stand? And I said, well, yeah,
it's again. It's a pity didn't happen when he was alive,
but yeah, what a great moment for the for the family,
and it's it's it's such a I mean, he's such
a Melbourne icon.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
You know, he's one of the first people over knew
shame warnings. So if you know anything about Australia need
no shame warn.
Speaker 2 (56:48):
Well he's got a statue at the front, and he's
got on the northern side of the ground. He's got
to stand on the southern side. And I'm glad that
the people have come out already and said it doesn't matter.
When it's redeveloped, there'll be a shame war, whether it
be the whole stand or part of the stand or whatever.
It's it's there. Yeah, beautiful. It's just enormous.
Speaker 1 (57:04):
You can see how much of a great friend he
was to you, mate, and just like you are to me,
an amazing friendship. With the amounts you've been someone I've
said it before, I'll say it again. You've been somewhat
of a father figure for me since I've moved to
this country. It made me too old, but we've showed
a lot of Christmas dinners. You've always taken me in
as one of your own.
Speaker 2 (57:21):
And do you bring a certain genes a quiet to
the equation as well. I remember the first time I
met you. I remember feeling you and Nol and your
brother just how impressive you were. And remember Derek Hyes
ringing me and he was over at the Combine in
America and I said, is anything anyone over there? He said,
there's one bloke we've got to get and there's a
couple of clubs into him. I said, well get him
out here. He said he's coming out and I said, well, yeah,
(57:43):
make sure we catch up and I'll do the full
court press on him. And as you said, you didn't
quite know who I was, and you walked out and
saw me on the bank of.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
A big deal.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
But it was great chatting to you. And also what
I think people estimate with you is coming with your
college education, you've brought an enormous maturity to football, not
just Collingwood, but to football and particularly calling Wood, and
the way you've been able to battle through your I
issues learning the game, the criticism that is coming your way,
(58:17):
which is quite incredible at times, but also then to
not only play that game in the Pulminary Final, which
is one of the most magical moments I've ever had
in my life. Watching you that day at the mcg
against Richmond was just one of the greatest things ever.
You know, to sit behind your parents when you had
your first kick on Anzac Day and you kick the
goal and nearly see them jump out of the out
of the off the second deck there only to probably
(58:40):
landed on me because I were jumping even higher I reckon.
But those they were their magic moments that you just
look at and you think wow. And then everything you've
brought and what you continue to do even with you
becoming an Australian citizen in recent times, these are things
that are important. We have to get past just the
media obsession with this week. You know, this week's game.
Here zero sack the coach, give him a five year extension.
(59:03):
This bloke should get you. Forget all that takes care
of itself. We need to get back to reporting the
humanity and I think you bring that embodiment to our
game and it's been great and long may you continue
to be involved in the game. The fact that you're
doing this, the fact that you are talking to iconic
people in Melbourne says to me, You've got a lot
more to give because you actually get it. Whereas most
(59:25):
footballers they come and they go and you know, they
come back for the past players thing, and you think, Geszue,
you actually might have had a bit more to give
if you had have been given your head. Possibly, I
think because you became as a mature age person who
traveled to the other side of the world for a
sense of adventure, and also because you had your college
education and you've played a few different sports and things
that gave you a completely different dimension and a capability
(59:48):
to get through what has happened.
Speaker 1 (59:50):
Yeah, and I think I'll look back to my career
and everything that I've done and everything else comes from zero.
I didn't know anything. I didn't know anyone in this
in this country. If I came here and now Bill
have this amazing experience, it's because of the people have
been surrounded me like in that time. You're a major
part of that. And it's like we talked about the
very beginning of this podcast, it's all those people that
reach their hand out and help you and that's what
makes it amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
And I think also, and ask you a question. I
always find that first generation Australians and all those who
have come from overseas see Australia for what it is,
even better than people have been here for generations. I
find one of the holdbacks on Australia is because it's
so good that people go, if it's not broke, don't
fix it. Whereas anyone who's into looking down the track
(01:00:32):
of life goes, well, if it's not broke, fix it
and make it better and do things and look further
down the track. So you know, we've got you know, unashamedly. Yeah,
my mother said the best day of her life was
and she stepped foot in Australia. And I took them
back forty two years later and she said the second
best day of her life was and she stepped back
into Australia. Really, So that's where our mindset is, or
my mindset is, and mom and dads were, So, you know,
(01:00:55):
I just love seeing what we can do in Australia.
I hate when we get caught up in nonsense.
Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Yeah, it's one of the most beautiful places with some
of the some just freedoms and things that we take
for granted every single day that whenever you look back
to the full picture of it, we're all quite fortunate
to be here in the circumstances we are. But I
just want to say a massive thank you Addie for
coming on. Mate. It's been a great chat. There's some
obvious here, so I've got a whole list of things.
Are gonna go through a million things. But I'll bring
a wine to Christmas next year. I don't think it'll
(01:01:21):
be as good as yours.
Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
But I'll bring you good wine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Someone's told me pretty well, so.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
It's just black. You know. I could have give him
a Cordy all the first streak game. Right now we're
starting with with a Burgundy or a pet the wine
glasses that were specific for the top of wine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I knew it was in for a lesson. So Mate,
thanks so much for coming on. It's been a great chat.
Like I said, Mate, you've been an amazing person in
my life. I'm so grateful to have as part of
my journey.
Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Say continued.
Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Thanks Ma, I appreciate We'll speak soon.
Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Got anybody.
Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Thanks brother,