Grant Fox

So it is a really cool challenge to keep growing as a team and sort of fix or repair some of the things that haven't been as great the week before.

One of the things in sport I like to observe is, like Ryan Fox for a long time was Grant Fox's son.

Now Grant Fox is Ryan Fox's dad, that switch.

And I'm desperate to bump into your dad one day and just say, aren't you Whitney's dad? I think that would be quite a special thing to do.

But you've been around high-performing coaching with your dad your life.

Like, All Blacks used to come back.

We had Grant Fox as my first 15 coach.

all that sort of thing like I just feel like it's ingrained a little past players and that sort of attitude is just passed down and you almost although no one's watching you still have to look at yourself in the mirror if you say no to that

yeah top man top man and I'm always interested when the knees and the elbows and the shoulders cry enough of these scrummaging and these trainings and you go off and you do other things and I love to hear that you give back voluntarily of your time and that's a really important part but you You've got to earn a crust.

We played a Queen's birthday weekend game against Auckland.

I think it was 1989 and I was the young fullback for Waikato and Grant Fox put a big bomb up and smoking Joe Stanley come down to knock the... whatever out of me and I went straight through my legs I dropped it didn't even touch it you know and I think my brother said he was sitting next to my dad in the grandstand and my dad just put his hand his head in his hands and shook his head oh no and so but anyway at the end of at the end of that year um I got an offer from North Sydney, as did Paul Simonson, Bailey Simonson's dad, to pop across and maybe try some rugby league.

And the Winfield Cup was just in its inception in the 90s.

And it was sort of starting to get a little bit of traction through New Zealand as well.

come at the hour.

Any normal situation Grant Fox, you back him here but where you think he's been and the lack of rugby he's played and the occasion it's as big a kick as you'll ever get.

He's scored 95 points and Tess Rugby hears his kick and he's nailed it.

Yeah, the fourth choice, number 10, Stephen Donald, caught up over injuries to Dan Carter, Colin Slade.

The only thing with rugby and sporting memorabilia, you've got to be a wee bit careful because a lot of it is purchased...

My friend who's number two at Vero did a thing last week with Grant Fox and that.

I see they had all this rugby...

It's all purchased often for charity, but...

He said something really nice to me.

And then I got whisked off in- into a little room, um, sort of waiting for the presentation, and I managed to speak to my wife and, and my mum and dad at home, um, on the phone, and that was kind of the little, the little five minutes I got to go, "What the hell just happened?" Like, this is crazy.

Um, and then obviously you get whisked out on the 18th green and, um, through all the photos and the media and the next three hours is a bit of a blur as well.

When you were a little kid, Ryan, and you were dreaming about where sport might take you, 'cause we know you're the sort of sportsman that could've taken your hand to anything-

Mm-hmm

... and of course, with your family's, um, history in sport, your, your dad, Grant Fox, and your grandfather, Marv Wallace, um, you could've gone into any sport and probably emerged a, a great champion, but you chose golf, thank goodness for us.

Um-

And me.

Uh, All Blacks won six-three.

Uh, two penalty goals to, uh, Grant Fox, the other penalty goal to Michael Lynagh.

Millsy was running ball boy down the, uh-

[laughs]

the southern, uh, sorry, the old number one stand, uh, the southern stadium.

Uh, very boring game, but the kicker's just ...

You arguably say that Grant Fox is one of our best kickers we've ever had-

That's true