Yeah.

Because Fremantle, they're coming out to win.

So Brisbane are coming out to win their third, Fremantle are coming out to win their first.

But I wanna see Fremantle get pushed around or bullied.

So Brisbane have been there before.

They are an aggressive, tough side.

Um, but I wanna see Freo walk out and say, "No, no, no, we were the best side all year."

Calf

Ended

up playing senior footy and we won a premiership.

And I remember I had a really big pre-season of me and I feel my mates.

We didn't go home for uni break or anything like that.

And we just hit the gym and trained hard and had a bit of fun and headed out a lot, had a few beers, all that.

So, it was a really fun summer.

And I came back and started to play really strong footy at senior football in the Ballarat Football League.

Can you tell us some of the differences in both of the organizations? Yeah, I think

Is there part of you, part of you that is still there like hurting a little bit for your former team?

Yes, I was all in.

Geelong were out the week before and I'm very fortunate that I've got two teams to follow.

And I think more fortunate than me is my kids.

They just pick and choose whenever they want.

So one day they'll have their Hawks jumper on, the next day they'll have their Geelong.

But No, we are very much 50-50 household at the moment in terms of who we support.

Well, how important is it for Freo to have a strong start?

Mm

... specific change rooms, and another team's gonna be in the Southern Cross stands.

They've knocked out walls because the big defensive ends and the big offensive tackles can't fit through some of the doors.

So they've knocked out doors and made them bigger than what they are.

They've put a million dollars' worth of cabling in to the MCG, which they didn't therefore have.

Roads are completely closed.

It's a full terrorist lockdown, uh, from 24 hours out.

Yeah.

This is just what you blokes do, isn't it?

Yeah, well, I think they were pretty confident, to be honest, Roo.

They went over and played West Coast two weeks ago and they sort of set it up as a mini preparation to what they'd be doing in two weeks' time and they rolled out pretty much the exact same plan and that's Mitch.

So I was fortunate enough to play a long time with Mitch and he was meticulous in his preparation and understanding on what he wanted to achieve, not just week one, say, but how they wanted to roll out and They've put a lot of work behind the scenes.

And what I love most about this Hawthorne team, and I mentioned it pre-game last night, is they're a team that actually love the spotlight and they embrace it and they don't shy away from big moments.

And I thought a lot of their players stepped up last night and obviously the Wizard and James Sisley were the two that really took Friot to town.

Is that as outward with his emotion as you've seen him?

Maybe publicly, but privately he was always like that.

But just take us behind the scenes of some of these absolute, especially like Dusty and Bud, who we don't hear from.

Mate, to be honest, it was brilliant.

I was talking to someone during the night and all you guys would know through footy and sport, you build great relationships.

And because you come up against a lot of players, you don't get to spend a hell of a lot of time with them.

But last night, everyone was so relaxed.

Everyone was so generous with their time.

For me, Bud was a teammate, so to catch up with him and Jess and the kids was a lot of fun.

Who was physically perhaps least conditioned to be out there?

Especially like Dusty and Bud, who we don't hear from.

Uh, mate, to be honest, it was brilliant.

It was...

I was talking to someone during the night and, um, and all you guys would know through footy and sport, you build great relationships.

And because you come up against a lot of players, you don't get to spend a hell of a lot of time with them.

But last night everyone was so relaxed, everyone was so generous with their time.

But, um, for me, Bud was a teammate, so to catch up with him and, um, Jess and, and the kids was a lot of fun.

The pipes on the man, Isaac.

I can feel it less back here and more up here, but maybe I swilled it around wrong.

If I was gonna pay for it, and I don't know what the price of this bottle is, I reckon I'd be happy to pay 75, $80 for that bottle.

I'm not a big Shiraz fan, but that's leaning in, and I don't know much about wine, but it's giving me more Pinot vibes.

I'm saying that's the 100 point one.

It tastes like a half blend of Pinot and Shiraz.

[laughs]

Because we got told no smiling, and that especially is aimed at you, Isaac, 'cause we know you can't not smile for a minute.

So, uh, and my wife was in the crowd, and I am so thankful that they gave me a pair of sunglasses, because you can just put yourself behind a wall, uh, and just hide.

But it, it was very uncomfortable.

A lot of fun.

The adrenaline rush I got after it, uh, was unbelievable.

But my phone has lit up today.

[laughs]

You love him

...

but consi- uh, consistency, he'd be number one.

But I'm going all-time guys that could absolutely turn a game off their boot and do some of the most special things I've ever seen on a football field.

So number five, I've got a premiership captain of mine, Joel Selwood.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he, he was brilliant.

And, and from the moment he stepped on to the scene, oh, I just loved him at West Coast when he was playing against the Sydney Swans.

Mm.

Mm.Yeah, they were just like- [laughs] You know, I would just- I could never ...

I would just be directing.

Also, sometimes when I'm, like, filming the videos- Yeah ... from the point of view of the cameraman, they don't really know what video I'm necessarily filming.

Okay, okay.

'Cause I won't, uh, necessarily go through it with them.

I'll just say, "Okay, can you just hold that there?" Oh, okay.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, I look forward to this.

Uh, no utes in the valet if you're here on Spotify or anything like that.

But, uh, she told a story.

I said, "What's your worst horror story modeling?" And she said she was the face of a, a major global fashion brand, and they went to South Africa to film, uh, to photo, uh, a new collection or whatever, and she was the number one girl.

And she said they were in an unsafe area, and she said she, her gut started to go a bit funny, and she got a little food poisoning, and she thought she'd just maybe let out a little bit of a fart.

[laughs]

Yeah.

So you'd take it on board.

Imagine if

you took two.

It's a good point though, Mitch.

No, it's a huge point.

And for Mitch Lewis, and I've obviously got a good relationship with him, good mates with him, played football with him, but he's had a wretched run with injury and he hasn't been able to really have a good go at it.

It's great to see him start to put it together because you see when he takes those clunks and those kicks from 45, 50 metres out, he's a beautiful set shot at goal and he could have easily been...

Clearly the best man on the ground.

As you would expect, they pluck him out and he would be filling his pockets like Billy Brown was grand final week at this time of year.

It's Isaac Smith, penthouse or outhouse.

Yes, well, let's just have a little look inside the penthouse, Jay, because there's been a lot of people put in the penthouse lately and it's getting very busy inside.

And we put West Coast in there last week, mate.

What's that? And they were, well, it's the busyness of the penthouse.

There's plenty going on, but there's a lot of fraudulent behaviour in there, Jack.

It's a rooftop bar these days.

Extra craft.

said.

Does this present a pretty significant challenge to one of the superstar players in the competition team? How do you think this could play out for Cozzy Pickett and the Demons this season?

It's a challenge for him personally.

His child is in the Northern Territory and he's in Melbourne, but I think Stephen King spoke beautifully this week about how they're going to handle it.

Stephen was obviously captain of the Geelong Football Club, but also went back there and spent time the last few years.

It probably opened my eyes to how you deal with personal situations when I got to Geelong as well.

And a lot of it is it's the player, it's the individual.

Nothing to say here.

going straight to the outhouse.

Yeah, that's what I

studied as well.

But now I'm in here with days talking a bit of dribble.

Are you an MBA? Oh, maybe, yeah.

But no, it's funny.

Like you play with players days and you have so many players throughout your career that miss a whole season.

And so many of my good mates missed a big chunk of footy and they reckon the turning point in their careers was missing that time and being able to lock into something else and then really learning their craft as well off the field, being able to do a little bit of coaching and as you said, put some time into doing some study or work placement somewhere and they get real growth out of it.

but mart have you no you just cop uh you're gonna win a game this year yeah mate we try

stage of fitness are you at this stage?

No, well, I do a fair bit of stuff around home, but other than that, I don't do a hell of a lot.

So I haven't trained seriously since I finished.

So that was 18 months ago or 20 months ago.

And the phone, phone rang and I took the call and, I had to be a little bit strategic how I dropped the news to my wife.

So we had a three week, we had a three week hold at home, our third.

And she organised lunch about three days after I received the call.

so give us an obvious example of what you'd do now that you perhaps weren't doing before this event