Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Thunder on the turf hear the crowd ignite perk Bears charging in red and black tonight from the try line battles to the lead wide steps we break it down, we bring it home these are the bare facts Per Pride game on, let's attack this is the Bear Facts.
Hey, we are roaring with the bears and a real story shaking up the air Big hits, big hearts, never looking back, back Tune it in, get the bare facts Perth pride game on, let's attack this is the Bear.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Hey, grizzlies. Welcome back to the Bare Facts, the show that delivers more Bears energy than a packed North Sydney Oval on a Sunday arvo. Tonight we've got the full crew in the den. Can we say den? Maybe we should say studio or student. Anyway, who really knows? Anywho, Johnny's ready to break news before anyone else whispers. It just Todd's already arguing with someone who isn't even on the call. And Roggy is here keeping the whole circus running with that trademark WA sparkle. It's a big one, it's a fun one. And yes, producer Paul is lurking somewhere in the background waiting for the perfect moment to jump in and derail the run sheet. But tonight's extra special because joining us is a man who's been steering the ship for rugby league in the west, the CEO of nrlwa, John Saxon. Big insights, big conversations and probably a few big laughs coming your way. Settle in, crank it up. Here's Roggie.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Facts. Firstly, I want to just apologize for my voice. I have lost it, but thankfully you don't hear me too much on this podcast.
But I want to remind everyone to follow the socials for all our news and anything we have going on and then also to look at the fundraisers we got. Buy me a coffee.
Everything goes to amazing proceeds just to help with the Fairfax and to go out and enjoy the nrl.
So tonight we have a special guest, John Saxton. But firstly, I want to invite Johnny on just to do our hellos.
Hi, Johnny, how are you?
[00:02:13] Speaker D: Hi. How you doing?
[00:02:14] Speaker C: Good. Obviously not too good. My voice is like not even there.
But thankfully it's mostly you and Todon and then also John tonight. So are you excited for this week's guest?
[00:02:29] Speaker D: I am, I am. John is very integral to rugby league in Western Australia for the good part of almost 20 years now. So ready to rip in?
Yeah.
[00:02:42] Speaker C: All those questions. Ready to go?
Yeah. I like to invite Todd as well. On to do our hellos. Hi, Todd, how are you?
[00:02:55] Speaker E: Hey, guys, how are you?
[00:02:57] Speaker C: Good, good, yeah. You've been partying Roshni a little too hard maybe.
But are you excited for today's guest?
[00:03:07] Speaker E: Yeah, it's good. It's good to have Johnny Saxon on. Like he's been involved with the rugby league in WA for many years and yeah, it'd be good to just talk to him what he thinks of the Bears and you know, the development and the progress they can do in the next few years. So. Yeah, very interesting.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
Let's have the whole team on and we can get started.
So we've got the cup, the Bear cup. That would happened over the weekend over the Pathways.
Yes.
[00:03:41] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah. And the Pathways North Sydney Bears, they will start off with the Howard Mats SG ball. Lisa Fiola and Tasha Gale, they came up. The Harold Mats came up against the Canberra Raiders. That was a very close game. Round 5 of the Harold Mats competition and the Bears got up 16, 14. Good win the SG ball. The boys also played the raiders in round five also and the Bears got up there as well, 24, 16.
Then the girls, they traveled out the. They played Parramatta. They did in both games and unfortunately both teams went down. Elisa Fiola went down 54 to 14 and Natasha G under 19s they went down to the 32 to 14.
And yeah, then in the men's. In the New South Wales cup, the boys came up against Penrith Panthers in round one of the New South Wales cup.
And yeah, it was a very, very good game for the Bears. Like we haven't got a feeder club this year. So they really, I think they virtually led most of the way against Penrith until the last few minutes. And then Penrith got two quick tries and.
But they got it. What happened at the end, you know, I felt really sorry for the fullback, Jake Toby. Like the ball. Pennif went to kick the ball out and you know, he as, as the fullback does, he ran across because he knew he could get to it and he batted it infield but as he batted it infield, the wingers weren't there and the ball sort of did a loop and went like 10 to 20 meters further downfield and then found touch which just sit, set it up, set it up for Penrith just to attack the line. And it was, it was strange because Jack Cole, who the Perth Bears have been eyeing off from Penrith, got the winning try, sliced through and dived over and then he kicked the winning. The goal as well. So that was a 20 to 16 victory.
And yeah, just if you're a North Sydney fan, that's just part and parcel following the Bears, unfortunately, you just get used to it. Just another week. It doesn't matter what year or what squad we've got or what level.
It's just unfortunate, you know, but you know there's a lot of positives. Like Penrith had a fair few NRL players in that New South Wales cup game and Octagon was dropped down and Jack Cole and there's a few others in there and Johnny's more Penrith and I am he'd know more. But yeah, like it was Penrith always sitting a benchmark. It doesn't matter what age group, what grade, you know, like they're always up there, they're always tough. And to go to lead most of the way for most of the match and to go down by four points with, you know, because you know, it's just a really, really good effort and the North Sydney boys should be very proud of themselves.
And yeah, that's, that's my update on the North Sydney Bears.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: So okay Johnny, how about your Queensland?
[00:06:58] Speaker D: Yeah, so there was, there was a couple of games not played. They're going to get played later. But the Cyril Connell boys had a good win 20 to 14 over the Dolphins.
That's good. Dolphins are a strong junior catchment so any win over them is a good win.
The girls, Harvey Norman which is the under 17s 2016 over the dolphins as well.
That's two from two. And then the Tigers, the Queensland cup men's side went over to toowoomba and beat him 22:12.
Hard fork game. And I gotta say Toowoomba have had very far and few in between wins and in the last three years since they came back because they, they were in obscurity for a good portion of over a decade. But the Walker brothers, Sam Walker's dad and uncle are coaching them this year and just for them to even be a little bit of a sniff away from the Tigers, really good improvement. And who knows, maybe Toowoomba one day might be a passway team as well because they don't have a feeder either. So yeah, that's the update on the Tigers. Three. Three from three.
Yeah, it's been a good weekend overall I think.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: Sounds great.
Sorry, I'd like to invite John on.
He is on here to say our hellos.
Hi John, thank you so much for joining us.
[00:08:23] Speaker F: Hey, pleasure. Rossi and g' day Johnny. Good to meet you. Good Queenslander. Good Queenslander. Mate.
Toddy. Good. Good to meet you mate. But no matter where we, where we all come from, we, we're all united in the, in The Bears course.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right.
To start with questions and anything you guys get up to.
[00:08:50] Speaker D: Awesome. Thanks, Roshni.
Hey, John, 16 years running the NRLWA as the Chief executive officer and you would have seen a big change from the start to 2026. And the big change that's about to come with the Bears being introduced.
Can you tell us how you got into that position and how you found your way over to basically wa how you became half sand graver, half cane toad and how's it been running the nrl? Wa.
[00:09:24] Speaker F: Yeah, Johnny, a few questions in there, mate, but yeah, Queenslander by origin, still a proud Queenslander, but I also spent a lot of my life in Sydney as well.
Most of my life I was in the music business working for Sony Music and at one stage I was.
Well, I mainly did that in Sydney, but also I spent three years working for Super League in Sydney. I was, I was working with Super League during the court loss, the hiatus period and of course the court victory and everything after that. They were fascinating times in rugby league and you guys will clearly relate to how fractured the game was in those days. But it was an amazing experience to be involved with Super League. But in terms of getting to Perth, my, my wife at that time was a Perth girl and we, we actually moved to Perth. We moved to Perth and went back to Sydney on a few occasions but ended up settling in Perth and I, I sort of, I was asked to go on the board of the WIRL at the time, back in around 2009, I think. Yeah, 2009.
And that sort of transitioned into me being asked to be CEO of the, of the warl, which I, I jumped at and I saw that as being a fabulous challenge.
And of course the, the thing that really drove myself and everyone involved in rugby league in those days was that, that, that burning passion, that desire to one day again get a franchise back into Perth representing, you know, Western Australia, representing the city of Perth.
And, and of course, as you guys know, we, we had a few false starts. It was an incredibly, it's been a very, incredibly frustrating 16 years, I guess because whilst we've grown the game and, and that was a hard, it's always been a hard fought battle over here in Perth. But to, you know, we had a few false starts where we thought we were close to getting a chance to get back into the big time, back into the elite, the nrl, only to be let down.
And so it was quite a, you know, topsy turvy sort of roller coaster ride over the years. But of Course and in that time, guys, we as a game here, we did everything we possibly could to grow the game, to demonstrate to the decision makers at NRL headquarters the massive potential that existed in Western Australia for the sport of rugby league.
You know, we did everything we could to get really great crowds attending the rare NRL elite games that came through the city. Our rep teams always did very well, particularly in the senior levels and very competitive in the junior grades as well.
But we always fought for as much media coverage we possibly could to just to try and put rugby league in the spotlight and give it the respect that our game deserved.
And so over here, of course it was difficult because of the four football codes, we were the only one which didn't have any elite presence compared to AFL Rugby Union, of course soccer.
But on May 8th of last year, of course things changed.
You know, thankfully for, and brought it put a smile on the face of all the, the wonderful patient North Sydney Bears fans and and certainly the rugby league faithful in, in Western Australia and, and the, the Bears, the Perth Bears was born and, and it's going to have an exciting future guys.
[00:13:26] Speaker E: Was during that time, John, was it really hard to keep the flag flying like you went for when they, you know, when the Perth Reds finished at the end of 97 and then you somehow just kept it running along like did it, did you keep the Reds for a while before going into the Pirates?
[00:13:47] Speaker F: We yeah Toddy, we kept the Reds. We kept the Reds as I recall, you know. You know because we, we, we got, we made an application request to field an SG ball team as you, as you you're probably referring to.
And in the initial couple of years it was the Reds and we were competitive. I recall in that first year we actually brought in 11 kids, 11 kids from, from the east coast who were just on the fringes of making SG ball with Sydney based clubs and there were some very, very good kids that came over and the rest of the balance of that, of that squad was local, local talent.
The following year we tried to wean ourselves off that, that you know, that high number of imports and, and gradually we you know with the intention of trying to get it down to all local kids. But around 2013 we, you know, I think it was David Gallup, I think it was at the time, you know the word was that that expansion was put back on the table and we really set about trying to make another pitch to get back into the nrl. We rebranded because we in the marketplace over here with the Reds, the, with the, The Western Reds 50 of the market liked the brand.
50% unfortunately associated the brand with failure and it wasn't you know and we, we felt we, we chose to create a brand new like a brand new image, a new brand that was the West Coast Pirates.
And then we, that was just purely for SG Ball and we, we, we kept the West Coast Pirates in the SG ball for several years right up until Covid I think it was and, and then basically we, you know we, we obviously didn't compete for a few years and and we chose not to go on with it beyond COVID 19 it was an incredibly costly exercise for, for us of course but thankfully we had a number of really generous sponsors. Of course Cash Converters being one of them.
You know Peter Cummins and co have been incredibly loyal and supportive for the journey and I'm delighted for Cash Converters to be back on the front of the the Bears jersey for 27.
But so, so the Pirates we thought was it was a pretty good brand but you know we sort of did not re. Enter into SGBoard post Covid.
Instead we just wanted to focus on trying to develop local talent and get our own infrastructure working more efficiently as best we could with always with an eye on the future to get a franchise back into Perth. And as I said, I think you mentioned. What was it like?
It was very frustrating at times. Very, very frustrating because we, we thought you know we were you know things like we were selling out state of origin games here with 60,000 people. We were pulling really good crowds as you guys will recall into the, the NRL club games that we played at HBF park or the occasional double header at, at, at Optus. In fact I think the, the first double header, the second double header there we pulled about 47, 48,000 people.
That's, that's a. And that. And when you consider that none of those four teams were Western Australian team, all out of town brands so no real local tribalism to note, you know. But that'll change with obviously with the Bears being, being a Perth a Perth team. But look, suffice to say that the whole community worked very, very hard, was very focused and and now well rewarded with this amazing opportunity to have a team back in the nrl. And I guess the way I've always looked at it is that you know we, we always, we, we can. We existed here but we didn't compete if you want to put it that way.
You know it wasn't a level playing field against the other codes and particularly head to head with say rugby union which is more of A direct head to head competitor.
But you know, so we existed but we didn't compete. But I think now with the Bears, with the muscle of the NRL coming to Perth, I think, you know, I think rugby league can absolutely flourish and grow really sustainably and successfully off the back of the Bears brand.
Getting the Bears on the paddock and I think the game, the game is going to grow, participation is going to grow off the back of the Bears re entry into the market.
[00:18:45] Speaker D: Yeah.
And have you already seen that growth? Because Todd mentioned a good thing to me the other day that obviously the senior club land has increased its clubs this year for the senior competition and obviously you can only increase clubs participation if you have club the players there. Right. To, to fill those spots. So are you starting to see growth through, through both grades at school and in club land as far as participation goes?
[00:19:16] Speaker F: Yeah Johnny, we are. It's. It's still early days but having said that, some really good green shoots.
You know, for example Our registrations for 2026 comparatively are up 9% 8 to 9% this year on last year which is pretty impressive.
And as you mentioned our first grade premiership in the field to go and play premiership quite exciting actually going from six teams last year. I think the previous year was five teams but to go this year it's quite a jump up to 10 teams with the addition of the Quinana Titans and the Alkamos Tigers and the re entry into first grade for the Ellenbrook Rabidos and also the Kalamanda Bulldogs.
And look, that's really exciting to see but you know we, we put a lot of pressure and demands on the clubs. We had to be convinced that if they were coming back into first grade then they had to have the depth, you know and the capability to you know to, to be able to compete in first grade, particularly with their numbers and because the last thing you know the game needs here is any club forfeiting. That's this. We just can't have that sort of thing. And look, we do know and I think you know like the, the you know, no pain, no gain. Yes, those four clubs will probably be a little, perhaps a little weaker. I think they'll be, I think they'll be competitive but against the more established clubs. It would be, you know, very ambitious to, to, to think that they're going to be, you know, really, really strong in their, you know, in their, in their first years, first year back into the competition.
But look it's, it's great to get the numbers and you know, certainly we want to make sure that younger players in Perth have that aspirational target of playing, of wearing the first grade jersey for their, for their clubs, for their respective clubs.
And you know, we, that that's certainly very important to us and, and very important to those clubs that they continue growing, continue getting their numbers up and obviously, hopefully we can contribute to creating better training environments to, to ensure that we're producing better quality, you know, better quality, better equipped players moving forward. And again, of course that all flows into, into the pathways that will eventually feed the Perth Bears.
[00:22:01] Speaker E: Right. With last season you had another new team. Is it Willagy or Willagy?
[00:22:07] Speaker F: Willa.
[00:22:08] Speaker E: G. Yeah, well, G. Bears. Yeah. Like that was their first season after seven years out of a competition and they won the competition like, and they come up against like established sides like Fremantle Roosters and North Beach Sea Eagles who have been at the top of a competition table for probably the last three, four years.
And to just come and beat the Sea Eagles in the grand final last season, like, that's a great effort.
[00:22:35] Speaker F: Yeah, Toddy, it was, it was an amazing achievement. And I think, yeah, as you say, they've been years since Willagy had been in the, in the first grade in, in the Perth league. Very proud, rich heritage, an old club, went through tough times.
I think if my memory's right, I think they played in one previous grand final which was about 1982, I think it was. They got beaten in that particular game. So this was their first ever premiership as a club and it's a full, it's a real credit to their administration, to their president, to their administration. The way that they've, they just have built the club, attracted players, built a really good strong culture down there and an amazing achievement for them to win that premiership. It was a cracking grand final and I think, you know, I think we're all very thrilled for their. And I can say that their determination to go back to back is immense.
And you know, they, they. I'm seeing how active they are in the training space and in the, in just in their branding, their marketing.
They're very, very determined to really sort of be right up there again in 26. And of course they're going to be the hunted, you know, and you know, but I'm hearing a lot of great things about our other local clubs, particularly in first grade who have recruited well that there, there is a, a steady flow of players coming in from the east coast. There's players coming in from New Zealand, some from England and uh, what I am Hearing more and more of guys is there seems to be more rugby union players knocking on the door too from the local club competition here, which, which is we obviously we want to see that happen too. So, you know, I think this is directly or indirectly connected to the Bears impact, the Bears X Factor. We always felt that nothing would accelerate the growth of the game of rugby league in Western Australia than then again having an elite franchise representing the state.
We've got that. There's an enormous amount of excitement about that both here in Western Australia and of course in New South Wales and right around the country for, you know, for all those loyal Bear supporters and you know, the, the, the future, the future looks, looks, looks great, you know. And anyway, I'll leave it to you to ask the next, next questions.
[00:25:15] Speaker E: That must be a huge positive. But for the four new teams for Willagy, like when they saw Willagy win it in their first year back after seven seasons, the four new teams would be thinking, well, why can't we do that? And it must be a real positive for those four new teams. And I've also noticed teams that have been up there, but not quite like South Perth Lions, they've gone and got Cade McDonald who used to play for the Sea Eagles for years ago before. Did he go to England, John, for a short while or.
[00:25:44] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, yeah, guys, I heard that he did.
I'm. I'm not sure. I have a feeling he may play some lower grade. I'm not, I haven't got the full details but Kate, Cade's been in the game here. You're aware of it obviously for a long time here. A super talented young kid and he was in the Pirates, you know, he was in the state program. He was in the Pirate squad and play for the Pirates and I saw him then progress into first grade with a couple of clubs and just a freakishly gifted player.
And he's back with South Perth this year, which is good. But I'm actually really excited about the year ahead.
And you're right about the success of the Willigee Bears will inspire these new teams coming into the competition that, you know, miracles can happen. And if, if they go about the right way, if they work hard enough and, and if they're, if they're well organized off the field as well as on the field.
[00:26:51] Speaker D: That's awesome, John. Obviously the Western Australian government has made a generous contribution to getting the Perth Bears up in the form of pathways, development, cash incentives and just bringing up the infrastructure to a point where I personally think there's going to be uber competitive. Kids coming out as early as in three years. Like I don't think that's a stretch at all. And when I mean competitive, I mean these kids could probably compete with the best. Cyril Connell, Harold Matt's grades of that age, SG Ball and Mal Meninga of that age. How excited are you about this?
That, that portion and, and the investment that you're going to get now, which I'm assuming is going to filter through the NRL wa to go to schools and junior clubs and all that.
Yeah. How excited are you about that and getting ripping into that and when do you reckon we will start seeing the fruits start bearing?
[00:27:51] Speaker F: Yeah, Johnny 100 right.
One thing I've seen over the 16 years I've been involved is the, is the incredible raw talent that exists in this state in, in young rugby league players.
I mean, I will say rugby league, you know, young men and young women. I mean we'll park the women over here for a moment because I mean obviously that's part of the Bears plan and, and we've, we've had tremendous success in the, you know, with our women's programs and, and there's a number of players you'd probably be aware of who come from Perth.
Yeah. Who play in the, in the, in the women's competition in the nrlw.
But look, there's so much talent over here. It just, we just need to, need to be able to have the resources, the funding, the expertise to create those professional high performance environments, academy environments for that, for that talent to be harnessed, you know, tweaked and, and to, to get them, you know, get them sort of ready for professional football in years to come.
And you guys know as well as I do the number of West Australian players who who have gone on to succeed at different levels through the, the NRL and other competitions, Q Cup, New South Wales cup, et cetera, et cetera at higher levels of the game.
And, but they had to leave this state to achieve those sorts of things. And now these kids can, can, can stay in Western Australia, you know, and pursue the local pathways here with the objective of trying to get into, you know, to wear the red and black of the, the mighty Bears.
But, but the money you talk about, Johnny, is well, Premier cook of the 65 million.
He has specified that 35 million of that has to be ring fenced to go 100% into game development here with a particular focus on investment into schools. Like at the moment we've got eight or nine high schools in the Greater Perth metropolitan area. That have rugby league on the curriculum.
The objective is to get that over a number of years, up to over 20.
And, and if we do that then we're going to be, you know, the whole profile of rugby league here and, and its capability of producing more players and converting the raw talent into, you know, perhaps NRL ready talent, you know, is going to be. The chances of that happening is going to be greatly enhanced.
The questions at the moment is that, that's yet to be determined is how that, what that money, how that money is going to be spent.
There's quite a lot of planning going on and strategic considerations being given to how that money is going to be spent, how what that's going to look like, how the NRL WA game development teams are going to be working with the Bears through the school system, through the junior club system, through the, the Bears academy that, that is evolving and developing at the moment. But to have that generosity from the government is a big statement of belief and if the money is spent wisely, we are going to get a fantastic return on investment that is going to really benefit rugby league and the Perth Bears.
[00:31:32] Speaker C: Perfect. I'm going to give Johnny and Todd a little break and I've got a few questions to ask you. John.
So just like you said that the NRL WA is being enhanced in schools through the curriculum and everything.
What can local businesses do to support rugby league WA in Australia?
[00:31:55] Speaker F: Look, I, I think local businesses, well, what I'd love to see and sponsorships have a big, been a big part of my focus over the years trying to generate, you know, attract more money being pumped into the game to benefit the local game. But what I'd say to those people is, you know, you know, really consider, you know, investing, you know, sponsorship, building sponsorship relationships firstly with our clubs, with our club network here, our local clubs throughout the, particularly the greater, the Greater Perth region, but also up into Pilbara and those other and the Kimberley where we also have a good, a good presence. But get on board with your local club and discuss that with the club administration. But also for the bigger companies obviously getting involved with NRLWA and our state teams and our various programs that NRLWA controls, but certainly for the bigger boys, get, get on board with the, with the Bears but also looking at how you can get involved from a corporate hospitality point of view for the, for the games coming up in 2027, the historic first year back in the comp, you know, you know, explore all the corporate hospitality and membership opportunities that, that will be there once they're, once they're structured and, and can you know, communicated to the, to the market. But certainly that sort of interest is welcomed by the game of rugby league in Western Australia. Always has been, always will be.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: Yeah, no, definitely going to the Perth Bears their signings. If you have kept up the signings of the Perth Bears, what do you think of the team they've got so far and do you think they're going to get a Premiership within the first year of laying back in wall?
[00:33:55] Speaker F: Oh boy. Gee I'd love to. Wouldn't that be wonderful guys? I don't think we'd ever stop celebrating, would we? We'd be.
But Rosly, look, I think, look, to be honest, I think probably a little bit too ambitious, you know in year one.
Look, look, I'm inspired by the success of the Melbourne Storm. If if you recall guys that when the Reds folded over here the core, the central core of that team moved to Melbourne to form the. The Melbourne Storm.
And the Melbourne Storm played finals in their very first year. Won a Premiership in their second year in a. In an AFL dominated market. So that's, that in itself was remarkable.
So you know that that's, that's. That that's obviously something that the, the Bears can be motivated by.
But look, I think in the first year I think what we all want to see we just want to see a really competitive Bears team.
A Bears team that gets out there and proudly you know represents that, that, that, that the heritage of, of that, that jersey and the history that is the Bears and gets out there and really puts in and has a feral crack and, and it's competitive and when I look at the, the players that have been signed to the present.
Gee, I'll tell you what, there's some really, really good names in there and a good mixture of more experienced players with younger players and I'm really liking what Mel and Dane Campbell and David Sharp and, and, and the crew have achieved to date and I, I know how active they are even, even presently and I think there's going to be some, some pretty big names announced before the end of this year and I think they're doing a terrific job. Mel has done amazing things over here with his profile, with his presence. He's just such a wonderful ambassador for rugby league and an awesome ambassador for the Perth Bears.
And what I will say too guys, just getting back to your points earlier about the talent in Western Australia we quite a few major events late last year and even earlier this year we had our junior, our first ever standalone Junior Harmony cup tournament.
And we had our senior Harmony cup tournament in early November last year. But the Bears footy, footy crew, you know, foot football department, including Mel included, including David Sharp, Ben Gardner and Ian Millwood, they've all come out, they're keeping a good close eye. They're very interested in getting, you know, an early look at, at the, how the game is played here, the talent that's running around out there.
And so, and they're going to maintain that sort of monitoring of, of local talent which, which is good. And, and they're the experts. They'll identify the talent that they think they can mold into, you know, you know, the, the, you know, professional players.
But no, very excited by the players that have been signed and the way that this team is that, you know, the foundations of this team are shaping up.
[00:37:30] Speaker E: Yeah, we've got a few, we've got a few Pathways WA kids with North Sydney at the moment. Like there's three girls in the Tasha Gale, there's a young fella, JK S Mabbit in the SG Ball and Palace Coyer is it. And Elisa Fiola. So, so that there's just five kids there.
And then you got Amaran Cudgeon, he's in the New South Wales cup team. He's a brother of Kanoa who's like your WA fullback and captain of the representative team over there.
And yeah, it must be good. Like you've also got Darius Rogers, he's over at Parramatta I think this year in the Jersey flag.
And Kurt Delewis, who used to, he was. Used to be captain of the North Sydney Bears New south cup team a few years ago. He's up at Burley at the moment. And Josh Rogers is also up at Burley at the moment. He's a bit injured like he signed the Broncos, but he usually. He led that Burley team to that grand final last year. So there's a lot of talent coming through and out there in the various grades and all of that. Would you like to see a lot of that talent, especially the NRL talent like Josh Rogers, Royce Hunt head their way back to the Perth Bears one day?
[00:38:50] Speaker F: John Toddy. Look, I, I think it'd be fantastic to get. To get players of that caliber, you know, coming back over here, particularly the younger players that, that, you know, we're still going to be young enough to, you know, like young Darius Rogers, for example, you know, is still very young. He's cutting his teeth at Parramatta.
You know, he's. He's the sort of, the sort of player that, you know, you'd like to get a hold of back here. He'd probably love to come back here, too, back to his home state, you know, but you look at a guy like Joshy Rogers, you know, he's, he's. He's now probably getting up there probably around what, 30 or so. Is he high 20s, you know, but a guy, a young guy like that, he could come back and have some involvement with this club potentially, you know. You know. You know, obviously he's probably not. Not really in the frame as a player at, you know, come. Come 20, 27, I wouldn't have thought, but maybe, I mean, that's, that's up to people who know more than I do. But. But you, you think a guy like that coming back and possibly sharing his knowledge and his experience, he's traveled a pathway out of Perth and he's a great ambassador for, for West Australian Rugby League and obviously what he's achieved and playing with the Bronx, you know, he's done some wonderful things and also, you know, playing great footy, you know, over the years with, with Burley, the Bears up there. But yeah, I think there's a number of players that would have come out of this state that would love to return in some capacity to be involved in the NRL team in Western Australia.
I'm excited about the connection with East Tigers as well. And, and I proudly, I proudly say that as a kid growing up in Brisbane, I was a East Tigers fanatic and I used to get down every Sunday to Langlands park and it wasn't as flash as what it is now, Langless park or whatever the field is called now.
But I used to watch, you know, Johnny Lang and the Desi Morris and Rod Morris and Jeff Fife and all those, all those players from that era. But I was a big Tigers fan. It's. It's fantastic to see how that club has become such a successful club again on and off the field.
And, and David taught me how the CEO of the, of the Tigers, just his attitude to supporting the Bears Academy and Bears Pathways and, and forging that relationship.
He said he couldn't be. He could not be more generous and enthusiastic support of this opportunity. So a big, A big shout out to the East Tigers for what they're, you know, what, what they're agreeing to do to support our Perth bears 100.
[00:41:49] Speaker E: I sort of think, I look at the experienced players like Josh Rogers and Royce Hunt and I sort of think there's still a place, like, Even though they're 30, like, they'd be good, like, sorry Josh isn't getting used much at the Broncos at the moment, so he had great experience to the Perth Bears. Say if Toby Sexton got injured or, you know, if Tyrone Wishart was injured at five' eight, if he was playing five' eight, like he'd be a good backup and a, you know, and in the meantime he could play for East Tigers up in Brisbane if that's, you know, because he's settled up there pretty much at the moment. But players like that would be great backups. And I, I also forgot to mention the females in the NRLW like Kennedy Cherrington and there's a few others as well, like, you know, they're pretty high profile and it would be great to sort of, you know, get them back into the, you know, like, WA scene, I think with the Bears, so.
[00:42:46] Speaker F: Oh, definitely. And, and Toddy, I think you'll find that if you to ask those individuals you're talking about, would they love to come back and be involved in this club, I think most of them would probably say yes.
You know, Kennedy Charrington is one of the pinup girls and has been for, you know, a number of years, you know, in the nrlw and you know, she cut her teeth at the Rockingham Sharks and you know, just, you know, her and her sister are both achieving great things, you know, in the nrlw. And you mentioned Royce Hunt who came out of Kalgoorlie, you know, and I remember his dad was, you know, did wonderful things up there to sort of try and reignite rugby league in Kalgoorlie, you know, 12, 13 years ago.
But.
And Joshi Rogers, of course, just such a class player. I remember seeing him playing for north beach in his earliest, you know, he was, I think he was playing first grade when he was about 18 or something like 17 even maybe. And he was just, he was, he, he was a fairly lanky, skinny kid playing 58 for North Beach. And yet he just had, he just had amazing skills and courage and obviously over the years he's bulked up a bit. He's a lot stronger and he's just, he's just such a talented all round player. And me being a Bronco supporter, I was just wrapped in the day that he actually signed and still is involved in the Broncos 30 and I'd love to see him get a bit of game time, you know, throughout the year. Fingers crossed.
[00:44:21] Speaker D: John, a serious question.
The genius coming out of wa, are they going to be considered Queenslanders come state of origin time?
[00:44:37] Speaker E: Give it up, Johnny.
[00:44:38] Speaker F: They will if they have anything to do with it mate. They will.
Don't worry about that mate.
I'm very, I'm very, very proud Marone and it's almost a prerequisite to work for NRL WWA these days.
No, we've got. No wonderful, you know, West Australians, they're loving their state of origin and you know, it's so exciting. You know we've had three origin games here now all three of them have sold out.
But to go to a sold out Optus Stadium and to see, I'd say everybody in that crowd was wearing either blue or wearing maroon. You know, they really have bought into to origin. Who would have thought 20 years ago that watching Queensland play New South Wales in origin in a sold out Perth Stadium of 60,000, who would have thought it was just.
Well, all I can say Toddy is I'm so pleased we broke the hoodoo because we, it was a, it was a graveyard the first two years for our, for our Maroons and I was just delighted that we, we broke that hoodoo and we got, we got the W last year and, and it's back here again in 28, 3, 3 yearly cycle.
But just on that point too, if I can just mention, you know, as you guys would be aware again that you know, we got the big NRL Telstra Premiership double header here on April 11.
You know, rabidos Raiders and Cronulla v. Roosters. I mean two cracking games with four glamour clubs of the competition.
All who you would expect would be, you know, you'd probably be banking that top eight come the end of the Telstra Premiership later in the year.
And, and just for people who might be tuning into this, tickets are at Ticketmaster Saturday April 11, which is actually round six of the Telstra Premiership.
Ticketmaster and family friendly prices too from 39 bucks. So I think that also coincides. It does coincide in fact with the AFL's gather round. So all those games will be in Adelaide, so there won't actually be any in the AFL in Perth that weekend. Another opportunity for, for AFL fans and sports fans, no matter who you follow to come and watch what, what I expect will be two absolute cracking games with four glamour teams of the NRL at one of the best stadiums in the country.
And of course we've got the Storm playing Manly. Storm is the home team on, on the 8th of August, round 23 at HBF park and of course the World cup coming up in October too where we're going to see England v. Tonga and England v France in the men's and England v Wales And Australia, the Jillaroos playing England in in. In the women's. So so we've got some, some good elite content coming through this year and of course goes without saying that both NRL WA and the Perth Bears will be doing everything we can to leverage those high profile opportunities to promote the code and promote the Bears and promote Bears membership and promote Bears merch and everything else, you know, that we can do to, to really support the Bears in laying really strong foundations here in, in in in west in Western Australia for, you know, for their debut into the Premiership in March of next year. So we'll certainly be harnessing those opportunities.
[00:48:25] Speaker D: That's fantastic. That's really good.
[00:48:27] Speaker E: I went over about 2023 for the double header. I think it was the Sharks against Rabidos and Dolphins against Knights and that was adopt us and that was a good experience. And yeah we, we enjoyed our time and the following weekend I thought I'll go and watch a local game. So I rocked up at South Perth Lions playing Fremantle Roosters. Both were sort of at the top of the table.
So and then we went over again, watched the nights play the Dolphins at HBF and state of origin, sorry went on the Wednesday State of Origin. Then we went on the sack day to hp. I noticed when you sort of do have NRL games your local competition isn't on that weekend. Do you do plan the local competition around the NRL fixtures, John?
[00:49:23] Speaker F: Yeah we do Toddy.
It's a good question actually.
But interestingly what we've done this year is our fuel to go and play Premiership will actually, will actually be played. We actually be playing it on the Friday the 10th that like nighttime so that the comp can get up and running but also it gives all those players and their families and friends and supporters the opportunity of getting out to support the, you know, the NRL fixtures as well. So. Yeah, but we are conscious, we are conscious of programming around, you know, scheduling around the big events.
So. Yeah, yeah, good.
[00:50:12] Speaker D: Awesome.
[00:50:12] Speaker E: I'd also noticed with your representative schedule like I've started watching pretty closely the last two, three years since the Perth Bears were sort of in the pipeline and everything. So I've sort of watched you guys in the combined affiliated states competition and WA's always fared very strongly in that like I, I didn't know how strong. Like I knew you had won a lot but I didn't know you Zed won 18 out of the 25 contested and like you won last season.
Like that was a good game against Victoria winning 168 but you had lost very close matches at two years prior, like the year before that and the year before that again, Victoria. So I was just wondering. Yeah. Is that competition gonna feed players through to the Perth Bears or.
[00:51:07] Speaker F: Oh, it's a good observation, Toddy. And yeah, you're right about, you're right about those, those, Those games. Yeah, we did. Victoria tends to be the, you know, the.
Usually when, when Victoria plays wa, they schedule that game to be the last game of the, of the. Of the tournament because inevitably it turns out to be more or less a grand final. And yeah, we did win in a very tough. Victoria is very, very tough. We won last year. We lost in a, you know, in a pretty bitter fashion, I think, the week, the year before. But there was a stretch there where we won.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a stretch that we won. We won. We won nine straight. And then we went up to Darwin and I know from an NRL way point of view, I said to the boys, I said, you know, to win 10 in a row would be just, just that magic 10 figure.
And we just fell short up in Darwin. Victoria got us and I think they, I recall they slowed down the play. There was no time off. And anyway, we, we got rolled by about a point, which was a great effort by Victoria, but we just fell short. But then I think we came back and won it the next year and so on. But yeah, a really rich, proud history and track record.
You know, a lot of players respire to wearing that black and gold of Western Australia because there's a very, very proud history.
Look, this year the NRL has decided not to do the cas senior men's and women's.
They're sort of going in a bit more of a different direction, which is, which is unfortunate because again, you know, we, we, we really appreciate the history and the heritage of that state jersey.
So what, what we're doing here is we're trying to find maybe some other options to, you know, still do something to enable players, senior players here to, to play for the state and, and to have some sort of a, you know, a trip to play against suitable competition opposition. So that's as well.
Yeah, an incredible history, mate. Incredible history. You know, going back to where state teams played against Turing French sides or, you know, touring, you know, elites from the east coast. I mean, you know, you, you get with a guy like Peter Cummins who's the head of Cash Converters, and he played something like 350 games for the Fremantle Roosters and also played for the state as predominantly a 5 8, but just amazing Stories when you hear from these guys that, you know, are, you know, old boys of the game here and life members and past players, the, the history, you know, I, I would just, I'd love, I'd love people in Sydney to really take some time to maybe educate themselves, you know, as to the, the rich, proud history here.
I think a lot of people sort of unfortunately dismiss some of that and don't really fully appreciate the depth of the game here.
It is quite unique and, but you know, that's all, all part of the foundation on which the Bears, you know, the Bears are going to be built.
You know, all the work done by the old timers over the years is all going to sort of, you know, contribute to, as I say, the foundations on which the Bears will be built and you know. Yeah, so, so look again to, to your point.
Look there, there are players who play, have played in recent years for the state in senior level who are young, you know, they're not all, you know, guys like Delane Edwards, you know, who is an absolute veteran and a champion of the game here. But there's younger, younger players, you know, 18, 19, you know, so they're players that can be in the frame for consideration for, you know, for the Bears and as long as their club form is good and the Bears football department around out there monitoring, you know, then, then it's certainly achievable that players from that sort of representative area, you know, can possibly get the breakthroughs that, that they dream of.
[00:55:28] Speaker E: It's a shame that players like Delane Edwards, June Butler, Joel Irvine, they've sort of near the end of their careers like, like I watched Joel Irvine in that cass knockouts in 23 and he really caught my eye. I went, wow, look at this guy go. He's. And the last Irvine name also caught me being a Bear supporter, so I paid extra attention to him. And then Butler caught, you know, Joanne Butler caught my eye as well. And Delaney Edwards, I think he's a coach now, you know, current coach of rep. Yeah, Dwayne.
[00:56:03] Speaker F: Dwayne, Dwayne just coached him for a couple of, you know, a couple of years and terrific bloke and a terrific player. Guys, I just had another thought too. Just, just one thing I want to mention too, just about achievements of the WA stateside, but I can't remember the exact years. It may have been 2,000, you know, maybe 2013, 12, 13.
Our stateside played a curtain raiser against the New South Wales Country Bulls and the Country Bulls team under the, the, you know, the Sort of under the leadership I guess of the late Terry Quinn who ran New South Wales country Rugby league.
They they came over, they came over to play at Western Australia in curtain raiser to it was a rabid O's warriors game. I think huge crowd. I think it was actually sold out. It was about 22,000 people at HBF park and and it was I think like the administration of the team actually admitted that he came over and they initially thought that you know that that that put 60 points on WA pre confident but they, they got, they got embarrassed in a really high level game but WA got up and then I think a year later was it two years later they came back and determined to to really just do a job on the WA side in a similar curtain raiser type arrangement. And again another super high level game and Western Australia won that game as well. And for those who may not know the Country Bulls were were. Was a team selected out of regional New South Wales. I think I think simply put excluding Newcastle, Canberra and Wollongong. Is that, is that it Toddy? I think that's why they did it.
[00:57:58] Speaker E: They have the country championships over here because you know like I was pretty heavily involved with Central coast and that and yeah like you still have your Newcastle like you have your lower tier local competition Newcastle which is probably next level under New South Wales cup in New South Wales.
So yeah so that would have been a very strong side when you take the players from the local Wollongong competition in areas like Wagga and Bathurst and you know like yes. So that's if people knew had known WA had had them victories like that's you know that's very impressive like against the country New South Wales countryside.
[00:58:37] Speaker F: Yeah they they were really high level scalps and really proud proud moments and it was a terrific reflection of the quality of rugby league in Western Australia and but quite often you know sadly over here, you know sometimes it's not just in sports sport but in in some other areas too but you can be a little out of sight out of mind and you know I've even noticed it with a lot of media on the east coast, particularly in Sydney and and some in Brisbane where where over the years they've just really dismissed you know and and at times been pretty disrespectful to rugby league in Western Australia with some of their comments just you know which I felt were pretty unnecessary and pretty based on pretty well naivety and ignorance and not really, not really scratching under the surface to see you know the history of this great Game in, in Western Australia. And yeah, that's been disappointing over the journey. But, but, but also, you know, those same people, of course, you know, thankfully they've jumped on board now and, and, and you know, will be obviously monitoring the progress of the Bears.
So. But you know, there's certainly going to be people out there that, you know, we still get that sort of commentary about, you know, the, the, the Reds failed all those years ago, you know, you know, therefore rugby league's got no, no home, no future in Western Australia. Well, that's, you know, that's, that's, that's rubbish.
And you know, people should understand the reasons why. The Bears. Sorry, not the Bears. The, the, the Reds failed over here. It was a whole set of circumstances, but most people are not, are not aware of.
But I like to refer to the core of that Red side going to Melbourne, forming that Melbourne Storm team that obviously now is just one of the greatest sporting success stories in Australian sport.
[01:00:35] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:00:36] Speaker F: In an AFL dominated market.
[01:00:39] Speaker D: Couldn't agree more. And the Reds never failed. If anything, the game failed the Reds.
You know, it was a volatile time in rugby league at that point and it failed a lot of clubs, you know, Adelaide as well and the Gold coast and second Brisbane. But the Reds copped the worst of it, I think because the area was absolutely booming. And people need to remember that Western Australia is the third rugby league state. It does produce resources. And by having the Perth Bears there, having this funding going into the pathways, the people that don't know like Western Australia will in time be producing the resource player pool to source the nrl. Not just for the Perth Bears, but for other clubs as well, which they're already doing anyway. As Toddy suggested, with the Royce's Hunts and, and the Josh Rogers and the likes. There's been players that have come and gone and. Exciting times though, John, exciting times coming up. And we're all excited to see what happens in the next five to 10 years and how it all kicks off. I think, I think your legacy is going to be really well remembered because you've come, you came at a time when it probably was at its darkest, I guess rugby league in Western Australia, post the Red. I know it was about a decade after the Reds or thereabouts, but to where it is now. What a journey. Absolute journey. You need to write a book.
I mean that wholeheartedly. You need to write a book detailing your story through it all because what. It would be an amazing read.
[01:02:11] Speaker E: I've got something to put to you, John.
Like, okay, say we're in 2027. We're all getting hyped up for Bears and that and there's a trial game on in say at HBF park out there. They just got a trial game.
Would you like to see like the WA rep team maybe go up against the North Sydney Bears New South Wales cup team as a curtain raiser before the Perth Bears run out for their like first trial match?
[01:02:43] Speaker F: Wow.
What a mouth watering prospect.
You know, to, to, to, to think, to think that I, I boy
[01:02:57] Speaker E: our,
[01:02:57] Speaker F: our state team would have to be very, very well prepared, you know and very fit and chomping at the bit to play. You know. Obviously a well drilled, well organized, well conditioned team like the Bears in the, in the New South Wales Cup. But that the notion of, the notion of a, of a, of a game like that Toddy would be amazing to have that again. What. It's very symbolic too, wouldn't it? You know you got, you got a state, the state team there with the state jersey that has so much history and pride and, and the North Sydney Bears, you know and everything that goes with, with that in terms of history and pride and and so on and man that would be, that would be something to be, be a joy to attend, wouldn't it?
[01:03:48] Speaker E: Just for that match? I would definitely yeah.
[01:03:52] Speaker F: And it would generate enormous amount of publicity, media coverage, media attention which again just continues to be. Put the game of rugby league on the map over here and gets people talking and you know, no, it's a, it's a, it's never say never, you know, but it's guys, it's. I know as I said from the get go we're all united in this. We, we're all excited about it.
We've, we've all, we've all sort of put in in our own ways to, to, to get a franchise back here and um, it's now a reality and I know that the team at the Bears are working very very, very hard to, to ensure again that the foundations of this club are very strong and sustainable and you know, and on a short Runway. I know it's well documented that the amount of time that this team has had to, to, to you know, to establish a brand new startup club effectively, it's not, not ideal. It probably could have done with maybe another year but not to be. But it's a terrific challenge and I know that the Bears team are working incredibly hard and it's. I don't think it's going to be long now until they have, they have membership packages and and, you know, I think they're pretty close to getting all of that.
Well, well, sort of bedded down in terms of the membership packages, which take into account, you know, east coast memberships and all those sorts of things. So that's not too far away. Obviously, everyone will be keen to see the jersey when it's all done, and that will be part of their, their marketing strategy later in the year.
So it's going to be. It's going to be an exciting season and watching how that.
How the Bears sort of are integrated into all the excitement around the. The. The Telstra Premiership this year and, yeah, it's just great to. Great to be a part of it and very rewarding for, for all of us to see what's happening and, and certainly for the broader rugby league community in Western Australia. It's very exciting times and I just think the future is looking great for, for rugby league, for our code in this state.
[01:06:10] Speaker C: It definitely is. Just before we wrap up, I couldn't have said it any better than what Johnny said about you and your legacy. So I echo everything he just reiterated to say about you.
Before we do wrap up, I want to let everybody know that the cheerleading is still on. I'm gonna plug it in here.
So the trials are still in April. From the 13th, the 15th, the 20th, the 22nd, 27th and 29th auditions are open. We just want boys and girls, 18 plus, so it's easy to make schedules, go out to media days, go out to local WA games.
And the first training, the first, like, formal dance session is on May 25, so you can come along to those as well.
And it will be hosted by me. I am your teacher and your choreographer. So I can't wait to see whoever decides to come.
And then. Yeah, I just want to thank you, John, for coming on, talking to the boys, talking to me about what you see the Perth Bears becoming, giving us a little bit of history.
Do stay on so we can chat to you a little bit after we finish our live as well.
[01:07:23] Speaker E: I got one question.
How'd you go on the weekend?
How'd you all go on the weekend with your tips?
[01:07:31] Speaker C: Oh, I got four.
[01:07:32] Speaker F: Had a shotgun.
[01:07:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I did. I got all of mine except for the Broncos.
[01:07:41] Speaker E: Oh, you got seven.
Yeah, yeah, you got.
[01:07:44] Speaker F: You got seven, Johnny.
Anyone who got over, over six is killed it.
[01:07:52] Speaker D: I changed, I changed my. I changed my Warriors Roosters literally five minutes before kickoff because I had the Roosters. And then, and then I, I heard through the grapevine, Spencer Linear was injured. I was like oh, they've lost a bit of impact there. And then Blake Steep wasn't actually starting, so I'm like, I'm gonna change to the Warriors.
So it was just got. It was just vibe. That's all it was.
[01:08:12] Speaker F: Yeah, good, good.
[01:08:14] Speaker E: Yeah. I was at the Melbourne game. You know, we're down in Melbourne for a wedding, so I thought, oh, well, I'll call in and have a watch from the family.
And that was a very exciting game. Like, despite the score line, it was just end to end and both teams attacking and it's just great to watch. And I'd never been to Melbourne before for a rugby league game and, you know, like, I expected a much bigger crowd for their first game of the season, but it was a Thursday night, the Grand Prix down there, so maybe that impact.
[01:08:42] Speaker F: Yeah, I spoke to just on that point mate. I. I actually spoke to Michael Christo, who's the head of strategy at the Melbourne Storm, just in fact, on the eve of the game. And I said, how's the crowd looking? And he. He said, I actually was. In fact, I think it was the day after the game. And he said there was 18,000. He said was disappointed, disappointing. But he said when he considered all the other aspects of it, the Grand Prix was going on in Melbourne. And also he said that Thursday night games are notorious for being not. Not big. Big draw, you know, big drawing nights for. For the Storm in Melbourne. He said that sort of worked against them as well, but still, 18,000 still, you know, in Melbourne. Still pretty. Pretty handy crowd.
[01:09:30] Speaker E: Yeah, there's a good atmosphere.
Everyone's tips for this week, let's go through them. So we got Broncos, Eels, Broncos.
[01:09:40] Speaker C: I'm going for Broncos.
[01:09:42] Speaker F: Broncos, please.
[01:09:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. Last week I cried. It was horrible.
What. What a game that was. God.
[01:09:51] Speaker E: Warriors, Raiders.
[01:09:53] Speaker F: Oh, I'm gone, right?
[01:09:56] Speaker C: Yeah, same.
[01:09:59] Speaker F: I'm gonna go.
[01:09:59] Speaker D: Warriors at home. Warriors at home. Yeah.
[01:10:04] Speaker E: Okay. Roosters. Rabbit eyes. A rivalry.
[01:10:08] Speaker F: I'm going rabbit eyes.
[01:10:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:10:12] Speaker D: Yeah. I think the rabbit eyes left edge is gonna destroy the Rooster's right edge defense. If that left edge clicks, it's game over.
Yeah.
[01:10:21] Speaker E: Tigers. Cowboys.
[01:10:24] Speaker F: I'm going. I'm going Tigers.
Yeah.
[01:10:27] Speaker E: I'll go Tigers.
[01:10:28] Speaker F: It's in Sydney.
[01:10:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:10:30] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:10:31] Speaker E: Yeah.
[01:10:32] Speaker B: First team.
[01:10:32] Speaker E: I named a home team, so. Dragon Storm.
[01:10:36] Speaker C: Storm.
[01:10:37] Speaker F: Storm.
[01:10:39] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[01:10:42] Speaker E: Panthers. Sharks. That'll be a good game.
[01:10:44] Speaker F: Oh, that is a good game. That's. That's. Where's. Where's Penrith playing this year?
What's their home ground this year?
[01:10:53] Speaker D: Combank the Eel Stadium. But this game's being played in Bathurst. So shout out to all the country people there at Bathurst. I hope he's get out to this game because it's going to be spectacular.
[01:11:03] Speaker E: Be good.
[01:11:03] Speaker F: Yeah, I might. I'm thinking I'm sticking with the Panthers.
[01:11:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:11:11] Speaker E: Yeah. Don't have to ask Johnny about one. Okay.
Manly Nights.
[01:11:18] Speaker F: I'm going Manly. It's that. It's at Four Pines as well.
[01:11:22] Speaker E: Yeah, unfortunately I'll go for Manly.
The last one will be Dolphins. Titans.
[01:11:33] Speaker F: I'm going Dolphins.
[01:11:38] Speaker D: I have no idea. Yeah, but I wouldn't surprise me if the Titans actually win this. Like. Yeah, I think last week's a write off. Forget about last week. But yeah.
[01:11:52] Speaker E: One last question for John before we wrap up. John, who do you see as the Perth Bears main rival? Like you know how you got your South Sydney and your Sydney Roosters and Manly and north obviously in the past and the Sharks, the Dragons. Who do you rate as a possible rival for the Bears?
[01:12:17] Speaker F: Traditional rivals. Like guys, I think you'll agree there's only one team that sort of really instantly ticks that box for me and that's Manley.
[01:12:26] Speaker E: Right. I thought you were going to say Melbourne with the old Melbourne. Victoria.
You know, like Victoria. Sorry. Wa. Rivalry. I thought you might have gone down that track.
[01:12:35] Speaker F: Oh, I, I just, I just think. I just think again I guess I'm reflecting on, on. On obviously the, the history of, of you know, the Bears. Manly, you know, history. And, and I think that's going to be rekindled and, and I think that that will be. I, you know, I think that will always be a, a big grudge match. I think that's the way it'll be promoted too, you know.
And
[01:13:03] Speaker E: yeah, Johnny touched on a good one the other week. He was playing the Gold Coast Titans. Could be a possible rival as well.
[01:13:14] Speaker F: Yep, yep.
Yeah, it'll be, it'll be very interesting.
But every game, every game in that in 2027, whether they play in on the east coast to play over here is going to be just going to be amazing. Amazing to watch and a dream come true for all of us and hopefully with a few W's.
[01:13:38] Speaker C: Definitely.
Thank you so much, John for joining us. And stay, stay on so we can chat to you a little after.
Thank you.
[01:13:46] Speaker F: Thank you very much guys. Been a lot of fun.
[01:13:48] Speaker E: Thank you guys.
They go to Bears.
