บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Mark My Words: Footy Pranks, Front Door Fires and the $300k Panther Heist!

were pretty loose. Um, and I remember, I remember I, um, I, I suppose I can at him guys and Rosie, I think it was guys. Rosie might have been someone else. They all through like 50 bucks in each and they went and bought a red Ford Falcon station wagon. Right. So I was like an old shitty long. 00:03:35 S2: What you're doing. Everyone said that when they went to England for the Kangaroos. 00:03:38 S3: They bought one. Right? And they were just like driving it around, crashing it into things. Didn't care. But what they did one time, because we used to all meet for dinner like I might have been after training Thursday night, we'd all go and have dinner in Wollongong. 00:03:51 S2: Pasta and beer. 00:03:51 S3: Yeah, pastors and that. And then we'd, um, go and do stuff and whatever. Anyway, so one night they all went, they got um spray cans and they drew in glow bright yellow and glow green like all cocks and balls on the side of the car. But what they did, the reason they did that was because Baz Trent Barrett, he lived in like the ritzy street in a suburb called Balgownie down in Wollongong. And there was this one street, I think it's Wellington Street, and it was all the mansions. So what the boys did, we all went and had dinner, and then they quietly drove it up to Baz Street, and they parked it on his front lawn with all the cocks and everything on it, glow hubcaps, and then just did the bolt and left it locked on his front lawn. 00:04:46 S1: How was that received? 00:04:47 S3: So when he walked out the next morning, there's his big old red Ford Falcon with cocks. 00:04:54 S2: Well, well. 00:04:55 S3: And all his neighbours were fucking blown up wanting to get rid of it. And he couldn't get rid of it because he had no keys to get rid of. 00:05:03 S2: No, I've got one that is a bit, I don't know. This one's a little bit gross, but it was something that we did at Royce's house once. I'm not sure whether I should say it or not. 00:05:14 S3: Is it. 00:05:14 S2: Bad? Bad? Well, we can always cut this out, can't we? If it's too bad. Yeah. We're out of the drink at the Pioneer Tavern. And Royce lived around the corner, and I was with Ben Alexander, Steve Carter, Freddy, uh, my mate spook. And we said, let's do a prank on Royce. And Scotty goes, yeah, let's Edgar on a bit of paper and then light it like you see everyone do. 00:05:38 S3: At the front door. 00:05:39 S2: Front door. So knock on the door and then you light the fire up. There's this big fire. Royce comes out going. 00:05:45 S3: Oh. 00:05:48 S2: Shit. But not just shit. Human shit, which is worse than anything. Wherever you are, the bush is blowing out. 00:05:56 S3: Oh. Yes. 00:05:59 S1: Did he get his back? 00:06:00 S3: Oh, yes. 00:06:03 S2: World's best bloke. No. He never. That's the best. But he was. He was like he on the drink in the day. He was such a fun bloke to be around. He was just. His eyes would go like Barney Rubble and you could hardly see him. His eyes could hardly see him. He'd

get you know um he was just a, he's just a great bloke. And, you know, we knew it was because we could hear him in the bushes like this. In the bushes. 00:06:24 S1: You two are scumbags. 00:06:25 S2: Yeah, mate. Mate. I'm sure. 00:06:28 S3: I'm sure there's more. I just can't remember a lot of them. But there's a couple. 00:06:33 S1: The other one I wanted to throw at you. How did you boys celebrate your grand final wins? And how long did you celebrate? 00:06:38 S2: A long time. Uh. 00:06:40 S3: Run us through it. MM. I want to know, like. 00:06:42 S2: So we were. 00:06:42 S3: In the. 00:06:44 S2: 91. 00:06:44 S3: Sunday. That was afternoon. 00:06:46 S2: Sunday, 3:00 game. So we finished at 430. 00:06:49 S3: Yeah. What did you do from there? 00:06:50 S2: So we went straight to the dressing room, had showers. Bobby Hauck come in with the drinking beer with Bob Hawke. Yeah. Then we got a call on the bat phone inside this Stadium in the dressing room saying, there's 30,000 people back at the Leagues club and there's people on the roads from the M4, which had stopped at Strathfield back then. Yeah, as soon as we got on Parramatta Road on the Strathfield. Strathfield, yeah, there was cars and it took us like two hours to get back to the club because it was just kind of like. And then we got back to the club. It was about, I don't know. So that's the best thing about playing grand finals. 00:07:25 S3: So much. 00:07:25 S2: Time. So we had so much time. We got back there about eight, 830. Oh, and the bus driver said, I can't go in there. So we went around the back of the ski park and come through the back way, and everyone realised that we'd come through there and it was. It's the first and only time I ever felt like being one of the Beatles, because they were rocking the bus with all of us in it, and we got out and they were carrying us through the the club and everywhere we look in Panthers was just people ten deep, and there was like four big parties on in different bars in in Panthers. And we'd go to each bar and each bar we'd go to, we'd just. 00:08:01 S3: King. 00:08:01 S2: And then what? Then next thing you know, it's six in the morning. Like that's how partied all night. And there was all these. We're walking out, going back to the Pioneer Tavern, and all these cop cars are coming in the Cobb the club got, um, robbed that night, 300 grand the night we won the comp. Really the night we won the comp. 00:08:21 S3: No way. 00:08:22 S2: Yes, 300 grand and how? Well, still don't know. 00:08:27 S3: This wasn't like your sunglasses story, was it? 00:08:33 S2: I don't know, but that much money is fucking heavy. 00:08:37 S1: And MG bought a house. 00:08:40 S2: And a car for you. I was like, I know, but we were drunk. What the fuck's going on here? It wasn't till about 2 or 3 hours later at the Pioneer Tavern, because they opened the pub for us to go up there and get out of trouble. And, um, this word started the filter that the club had been robbed by blokes with balaclavas and. Yeah. 00:08:58 S3: Wow. 00:09:00 S2: They always thought. 00:09:00 S3: These are all in there. 00:09:02 S2: While we're like, just as we were leaving, like just as the. 00:09:04 S3: They robbed it. Yeah. 00:09:06 S2: Like we're walking out the back way. 00:09:07 S3: And the police were coming in because they're just. 00:09:09 S2: Coming in like 20 of them. 00:09:11 S3: 20 away. Imagine the robbers bumped into all the boys out front, got their timing off. 00:09:17 S2: So the worst thing about that was you'd have to go to England to play against Wigan because Wigan won. 00:09:23 S3: Yeah. 00:09:23 S2: And in the Charity shield, what is it called. Not Charity shield. So I said, I'm not going. There's no way I'm going there. There's no way I'm going England. It's it's on the way to the airport. Um, when we're supposed to be on the way to the airport. I rang Don Felder to see you and I said, mate, I've lost my passport. I can't it takes a week to get it. Yeah. I'm done, I can't go. He was angry. Um, but I said, anyway, I've got to trip the goal. I didn't tell him, but I had to trip the goal. 00:09:49 S3: Yeah. So you're back late in the sun. 00:09:51 S2: Got a free drink, Panthers. 00:09:52 S3: Yeah. 00:09:53 S2: Oh, no. I should be in England. 00:09:55 S3: Oh. Fucking bullshit. 00:09:58 S1: Yeah. 00:09:58 S3: Good. Did any of the other boys pull out or. No. Just me. Just you. Yeah. 00:10:02 S1: Wow. That's a good. 00:10:03 S3: That's a good story. Okay, I want to keep going. Sorry. I'm. I love these stories. That's why. So you walked out six in the morning and you went to the pier. How did the next day go? And then the next day, it. 00:10:14 S2: Just we went into like, civic receptions and, um, ticker tape parade. 00:10:19 S3: Did they all start dropping off the boys like after. 00:10:22 S2: Some would go then come back. Yeah. And some would like, you know, it was, but it was a good four days until they had to go four days without sleeping. Yeah. Like everyone was just, well in the end was so crooked. Yeah. And that's when I thought I said I'm like in England. I can't get on a plane now like this. I'm just past the horrors. Yeah. But then, you know, they went over there. I think Wiggins spanked us as well. 00:10:45 S1: So what did you what did you get back then. You didn't get a ring. What did you get it look like. 00:10:50 S2: I know I think we're going to get them. Uh was it possible posthumous. Yeah. Um I was speaking when we did the, I did an outside broadcast with at Bankstown recently with, um, with Wally Lewis and the guy who does Z and Z jewellers is there. 00:11:06 S1: Alan Shreck or whatever. 00:11:07 S2: Yeah, he said, he said, I'll make you up a ring for your 91. 00:11:10 S3: Oh, right. 00:11:11 S2: So I've always wanted a ring. Yeah. Because they look so good. After you win the comp. But I never we never got one. We just got like a medal which I don't know where it is. We'd have a clue. But a ring is you can

give that to your kids and your grandkids. And so yeah. Um, was this a, it was, it was a celebration to end all celebrations. And it kind of picked up again when they got back from England as well. We had presentation night, which was massive. Right. That went for three days. Wow wow wow. 00:11:39 S1: Wow. Righto, piggy. Um, you won a Super League with the Warriors with Wigan. 00:11:44 S3: Yeah. Um, yeah. Ours was similar because we were Saturday afternoon. Pretty sure. I think it was like a 515 kick off. 00:11:52 S1: And was that at Wembley? 00:11:54 S3: No, we were at Old Trafford, Old Trafford, yeah. Man United's home ground, Old Trafford. So that was 80 plus thousand. There we won the grand final. Did the same stuff go back to the dressing room, party with the boys? Then I remember one thing we did was, uh, once everyone sort of partied there, showered and everything. Madge got. 00:12:13 S2: A bath. 00:12:14 S3: Bath together? Yeah, Madge got all the team, just the team. And we all went back out onto the field. Wow. And because it was Old Trafford, I think we weren't allowed to take. We were only allowed to take one beer or something like that. But we all went back out and stood in a circle and just had a beer with each other and sort of said, you know, this will be the moment we'll all never forget, you know, like, uh, so good. But then we went, went back to Wigan, went back to our home ground and we had a function there with all the families and everything like that, all the fans. And then, uh, the Sunday we had a big ticker tape parade, so it was open bus. 00:12:51 S2: Oh, okay. 00:12:51 S3: And we went all through Wigan like all over and the streets were just lined. Then we ended up in Wigan town centre, had a big you know, they put the stage and you go up on the stage, do all that sort of stuff, drinking and then drank through Sunday, then met Monday morning, drank all Monday, met Tuesday, and then most of them had dropped off. There's probably about half a dozen. 00:13:15 S1: This is sounding like our trip to Vegas. 00:13:17 S3: Well, we drank, we drank, we drank till about Tuesday. Probably not late that night because on the Wednesday night we had our presentation night. So we all sort of got enough sleep Tuesday night to go into Wednesday fresh. And then I went Wednesday night right through the night. Carly was pregnant with Harry and we were flying home the next day on the Thursday. So I was like. 00:13:43 S2: Business class? 00:13:43 S3: Yeah. I was like, I'm going out all night. And then sleeping bags are all packed and then I'm just going straight to the airport with Carly. Went straight to the airport. I slept the whole way home to Sydney and Carly was like nine months pregnant. No, it wasn't that far. Probably seven months pregnant and she couldn't sleep a wink the whole way. And she reckons I just laid there snoring. 00:14:05 S1: For 20 something. 00:14:07 S2: Did you gather somewhere to watch the game together? Like straight after it? Like on a Monday or Tuesday? 00:14:12 S3: Well, the game actually, yeah, the Walkabout Hotel at Wigan. We went there during the day and they played the game and we all sat around and there was no one else around, just all the boys. 00:14:21 S2: Yeah, that's a special one. 00:14:23 S3: SAT around and watched it again. That's what we did. 00:14:26 S1: Good stories boys. Well done. 00:14:27 S2: Thanks for the question. 00:14:29 S1: Let's get into the questions. Jimi. If rugby league was a movie, which current figure plays the ultimate villain? 00:14:35 S2: Oh, Jerome. Jerome. 00:14:38 S3: Oh, he's not a villain because I love Jerome in the game. 00:14:41 S2: But he is. He loves he plays that role like he has like the the cartoon character. 00:14:45 S3: Anyone else? 00:14:46 S2: Jacob Saifiti after the last week. Wow. That's a that's a. 00:14:51 S3: Bad. 00:14:51 S2: That was shocking, wasn't. 00:14:52 S3: It terrible. 00:14:53 S2: And he's but he was so remorseful. I know straight away. Straight away he knew. He stuffed up. 00:14:58 S1: What about Spencer? Oh, I'm scared of him. 00:15:00 S2: Oh, yeah. Spence. Spence is a bit of a villain. 00:15:02 S1: I'm scared of him. 00:15:03 S2: Yeah, he definitely. He's a lovable man. Yeah, but. Yeah, but I reckon Jerome plays it well. He plays it well. Bruce Walsh is probably a villain. 00:15:11 S1: Todd wants to know, will the women's game eventually feature the exact same season length as the men? 00:15:16 S2: Piglet. Um, I it possibly may, but it won't be for a while. Um, I think from I actually heard that they may be extending the season next year. That's great. Of the women's, which I think is the way to go about it. And I don't want to take a deep dive into the women's game here, but the the next step for the women's game is to extend their season, to get them used to playing more games and get them more footy in general. Obviously the more footy they play, the better they get, then the better the product. But that's the answer to more so than putting in more teams at the moment, so I think they will, but not for a while. 00:15:49 S1: Sammy says what happens behind the scenes at half time that fans would be shocked to know, for example, needles, deep massage stitches, etc.. 00:15:57 S4: Oh, coach's rants. 00:15:58 S1: All of the above. 00:15:59 S4: Yeah. Um, like there's a yeah, there's, there's an amazing amount of needles that get done from injuries. Like it could be a sternum injury, it could be shoulder, it could be a knee. Um, a painkiller usually just helps you get back on the field for that extra 40. Yep. Um, whether it helps you go any longer than after that, but it's a lot of needles, a lot of deep massages. Um, you know, everyone gets there. So what I, we didn't do in my day is what a lot of them do now. They get in their sides, the pods, the pods. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. 00:16:30 S2: Yeah. So metals edges. 00:16:32 S4: Well, the guy, the guy who spent most time with. Yeah.

It should be on the same page as them. 00:16:35 S2: Well, it's an opportunity to sort of talk about your defensive defense because you're on that side together. Middles can talk. Then the other edges can talk. 00:16:44 S1: I, uh, when I was doing sideline, I for the continuous call team, I'd go and sort of stand in the, in the tunnel. Okay. And I had a habit if it was pouring of rain, I'd sort of get into the tunnel early. I've seen a few NRL coaches spray referees when they come in. Oh yeah. And they get fined and they're like. 00:16:57 S4: Oh yeah. 00:16:58 S1: Yeah. You know, the players and the referees walk off together. Sometimes the players will have. 00:17:02 S4: A fair dinkum. 00:17:03 S1: Yeah. And so it's there's a bit that goes on behind the scenes. 00:17:05 S2: Oh there's plenty. 00:17:06 S4: There's a lot. There's a lot of tension, man. 00:17:08 S1: Daisy, if you could mic up one player for an entire game and broadcast it raw, who would it be? 00:17:14 S4: Oh, that's a good one. 00:17:15 S1: One of the big talkers. 00:17:17 S4: Wow. 00:17:17 S1: Mitchell. Moses. 00:17:19 S4: Yeah. Mitchell. 00:17:19 S2: Oh, he'd be great. Yeah. He'd be. 00:17:21 S1: Mitchell. Moses. 00:17:23 S4: I think. I think conversely, someone like, um, Nathan Cleary would be really? 00:17:27 S2: That'd be a deep dive. 00:17:29 S4: Yeah. 00:17:29 S2: Interesting. 00:17:30 S4: You know, because you don't see him talking that much on the field. It's kind of it's all by actions. Yeah. But to hear what he says to his players in a huddle and that and I say yeah, because I mean they've won four in a row. So obviously Yowie or or Nathan would be great to see what they say to their players. 00:17:46 S2: Yeah. Yeah. Especially like when they're behind the tryline they've had a try scored against them. What are they talking about. Yeah that'd be pretty cool. 00:17:52 S1: And Blake says his schoolboy football getting so professionalised that young players are burning out before the age of 20. 00:17:57 S2: Jeez, that's a very full on question. 00:17:59 S4: That is a full on question like this. 00:18:00 S1: Blake, we're not in America. It's an S in personalized, not Z champion. 00:18:03 S2: Yeah, that might have been funny. 00:18:11 S4: Why do you do it? 00:18:11 S2: Uh, schoolboy footy. Yeah, I'm not too sure. Like, it's pretty full on schoolboy footy. Some people take it very, very serious. Some some players don't. But there's so much footy now. Those young ones playing like you think they're playing like Harold Matthews or SG ball, plus they're playing footy, then they're playing like the trials for the school. Yep yep yep. Then you go into Australian schoolboys. 00:18:35 S4: So yeah, that was around when I was around all the you know, University Shield, Commonwealth Bank Cup. That was it didn't have all these other things. But um I think to a, to a degree. Yeah. I think a lot of kids, if they haven't made it by the time they're 16 or 17, they give it away because it's so no, they shouldn't, I didn't make any rep sides until I was 17 and that was under 23 seconds. I didn't make Harold Matthews ball Jersey Flegg, none of them. 00:19:00 S1: I never made a time in my life. 00:19:02 S2: That's what I tell you. 00:19:03 S4: You left a lot of them. 00:19:04 S2: I tell all the young kids that I coach. I'm like, don't. Don't worry if you don't make it at 14. No, I. Because if you work the hardest, you'll get there. That's right. Eventually you'll get. 00:19:13 S1: There. You know what is ridiculous? NRL clubs signing young kids. 00:19:17 S2: But mate, you know what? I'll stick up for five years. You go, you go. 00:19:20 S4: No, I think, I think no, I've got really nothing to say on that, except if you've got to give one piece of advice to any up and coming rugby league player, is to train as much as you can. When people aren't watching, everyone can train in front of people and do win the beep test and win the the malcolms and stuff. But when you do stuff on your own away, like in the middle of summer when no one else is doing it, that's the advantage you get. 00:19:46 S2: Yeah, 100%. What was the question again? 00:19:49 S4: The young kids. 00:19:50 S2: Just. 00:19:50 S1: Like signing players too. 00:19:51 S2: Young. Well, the one thing I'll say about the whole signing thing is, is that every club's doing it. So if a club decides not to do it, you're. 00:19:58 S4: Behind. 00:19:58 S2: The eight ball, they're behind the eight ball, and then they lose all their juniors. And then if you don't do it, then everyone goes, oh, look at that club. They've lost all their duties. So every club's doing it, so you've got to do it. But one thing I'd say is to the kids again and what MG said there is 100% right. But the other thing is if you sign a contract, that doesn't mean you made it. 00:20:15 S4: No. Like because so many young kids want managers, don't they? 00:20:18 S2: They all want managers and they want a contract. It might be for $100 a contract or 250 bucks or a thousand bucks status. But but that doesn't mean anything. It means absolute jack shit. If you get a 15 year old on a contract, like in a way, you'd probably rather them parents to get it your kid, because then they're going to keep striving and keep working harder because they don't have anything. And then in the end, when you get to the 17, 18, 19, you make a great point. 00:20:44 S1: All right, we've got to go. See you. Oh, okay. Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye. Thanks very much for your company. Keep those questions coming. Make sure you subscribe. Check out the YouTube channel. Uh, this has been another edition of the Mark My Words podcast.