When did you realise that this could be a career for you, playing

footy? Probably not until I was around...

And under 16, I kind of made like the junior origin side out of the Cyril Connell comp that was going at the time.

So I think around then I had an idea or I was like, oh, maybe I could do something with the sport and had a real passion for it.

And I'd always had a hardworking sort of mindset.

So I was like, oh, I guess put my mind to this and who knows.

And yeah, so I reckon around 16, 17 was probably when I was like, oh, I should give it a crack.

It can be footy or away from footy, doesn't matter.

Mm.

And a lot of times when guys are out and about or out, um, socializing, it's not just by themselves.

They're generally with one of the boys or they're in a group of people who, um, are there to look after them, are there to look after those side of things.

And having that strong leadership group, then everyone kind of, um, respects that and they know that if they get to a point where they might be a little bit, or not, on edge or a little bit like feeling like that they might do something irrational or something stupid-

Mm

... um, consistently, and then y- y- you l- you earn their respect and the, the trust in those guys when you're out there.

And that's all I've ever wanted as a footy player.

Like you said, when you don't have, or don't have the flashy brilliance of some of the, the, the league players in the competition now, like, you gotta try and find your, your strength that you can bring to a team.

Mm

... um, could barely sleep.

Woke up game day and then had a, a bad headache, like just was not in, no, not in a good space and then took some Panadol 'cause, again, thought it was just the infection and started to feel all right.

Well, not all right, but better than I was.

And I remember running out for warm-up and I had these bad pains like going through my g- guts and chest and stuff and again, you just...

W- my, my whole thought process around it was like, "It's some chest infection.

Like, I'll get through it.

Yeah

Would that be the one highlight you do have out of your career? Or is there another one that, you know, maybe your first game? Is there another one that we don't know about?

Yeah, obviously the on-field performances would be the grand final and obviously my debut.

For me personally, I've said it a few times, like I try and, I don't know, try and help out younger guys or guys coming through the ranks as much as I can.

And I think for me, just seeing the rise of some of the young individuals here at the club.

And I feel like I've had a little bit to do with not just their on-field progression, but off-field stuff as well.

I guess I try to be a little bit of a mentor off the field for a lot of these guys.

And when I first came to the club, a lot of them were just coming out of school and now a lot of them are dads and husbands and stuff now too.

It's one

How important has she been in your whole journey? Oh, it's

huge.

It's kind of hard to put into words, to be fair.

She's seen the highs and lows of what it takes in the NRL.

And there's obviously a lot more lows than what people see out there.

I wish it was all rain, rain, sun and rainbows and stuff like that.

But it's so hard and so demanding, not just on myself, but obviously on your family members and your partners and And they read all the scrutiny that gets written about you.

broncos as a whole obviously released the full black jersey probably one of the coolest jerseys i've ever seen um but it was within linked within the black dog institute and i know you did some work with them i saw the video broncos posted why was that so important to you I

As much as it was difficult to hear the news that you were out, leading into it, Did you give yourself an opportunity to think, well, if they do rule me out, there's some upsides to my career and my footy?

Yeah, for sure.

I think over the last sort of six months, although like the...

the understanding of if I'll be able to play or not was also a bit of an unknown, but I was able to reflect on my career a little bit there.

And like you said, I've had a great career, both at the Cowboys and also at the Broncos.

And not many people can say that they got the chance to play in kind of two grand finals and obviously totally win one.

It's a pretty surreal feeling.

You haven't been on the field for the majority of this season, but can you try and explain what's gone wrong in 2026 for the Broncos?

Was there ever, was there any talk around that or was it just this is what, this is just the job we need to do?

It was more than just a job.

Like obviously we all knew, and I know like Hunty probably downplays it and no one ever like obviously blames him for what happened in twen- 2015, but I knew that it was a chip on his shoulder.

He's had to have that for 10 years now.

So for him to be able to get the premiership that he finally deserves off the back of what happened 10 years ago now is something pretty special and something I'm so thankful to be a part of.

Because like I see how much of an ultimate professional he is with how he looks after himself and how he gets up, how competitive he is.

So for him to be able to, or be, or for me to be able to be a part of a premiership that, um, for somebody who deserves it so much from what he's been through, was something pretty special.

He's just like, just backs himself in anything he does.