Should I be worried?

Yes.

The real adversity came actually at the end of the trip.

One of the fun things is there's only one direct flight to Phuket, and it's a Jetstar flight.

Oh, is that right? And the way home was a red-eye flight.

A red-eye Jetstar flight.

A red-eye Jetstar flight.

We'll talk about some stuff.

Yeah.

And also, as you can imagine, the demographic of a Jetstar flight coming from Phuket, it's very football.

So I had 300 people who knew exactly who I was, saw the state I was in, and I had my heads around my... my feet around my ears-

So when you're on a footy trip now, are there still, like, are there still rules like you have to be by the pool by 10:00 AM? Does that-

It's a little bit lighter now.

My first one, so my first year, 2009, it's still the yesteryear, bit more your era, Nick.

Um, and that was rules and speak when spoken to, and young guys have to go get the drinks and whatnot.

Brown.

And it was a lot of comedy.

And then when I got up there for the All-Star and Captain, there was a few things I wanted to get out.

Yeah.

And one of them was obviously to talk about Jordan Dawson, who had a wonderful night in terms of the awards he got, but more importantly, the speeches and how he spoke.

He won best captain and most courageous, and he saved the most courageous talk to be courageous, which is unique in a way.

And I thought the way he spoke about mental health, but then in particularly spoke about the fact that Like he is the pinup poster boy of AFL right now.

What caused

I understand that.

We lost to Collingwood.

It was a nothing game.

Both teams couldn't make finals, and I was really upset we lost that one.

Like, really upset.

This one, I was looking around, and I was still upset, but I'm like, oh, we've managed to get ourselves on the biggest stage.

No one sort of tipped us, and we had a chance to...

I'm interested, when you get down to the rooms and we saw pictures of the entire club in and Stephen King addressing the group, is it reflective there or does he cast his mind forward a little bit to what the pre-season has to look like? Do you start to talk about how you come back, what sort of nick, all of that sort of stuff?

I understand that.

We lost to Collingwood.

It was a nothing game.

Both teams couldn't make finals.

And I was really upset we lost that one.

Like, really upset.

This one, I was looking around.

I'm interested, when you get down to the rooms and we saw pictures of the entire club in and Stephen King addressing the group, is it reflective there or does he cast his mind forward a little bit to what the pre-season has to look like? Do you start to talk about how you come back, what sort of nick, all of that sort of stuff?

Brown.

And it was a lot of comedy.

And then when I got up there for the All-Star and Captain, there was a few things I wanted to get out.

And one of them was obviously to talk about Jordan Dawson, who had a wonderful night.

in terms of the awards he got, but more importantly, the speeches and how he spoke.

He won best captain and most courageous, and he saved the most courageous talk to be courageous, which is unique in a way.

And I thought the way he spoke about mental health, but then in particularly spoke about the fact Like he is the pinup poster boy of AFL right now.

What caused that? He hadn't done that all year.

There you go.

I'm, um, I'm of the opinion...

I don't think this is actually how...

I've never been in a selector's meeting, but I feel like this is what they do.

If I'm the, if I'm the ruck of last year, someone has to un-place me to then...

So if I've had the same year as someone-

Can you patch up the back line?

Uh, I think so.

There you go.

I'm, I'm of the opinion...

I don't think this is actually how...

I've never been in a selectors meeting, but I feel like this is what they do.

If I'm the, if I'm the ruck of last year, someone has to un-place me to then...

So if I've had the same-

Can you patch up the back line?

Uh, I think so.

Well, you gotta be able to win on the G to win the, the grand, the premiership, don't you?

You do, yes.

And we...

To be fair, I've, I actually like the, the, the way it's been flown out for us.

Like, we love going to Adelaide.

We beat Port Adelaide there, um, not long ago, and I think it adds to the story.

I think it's gonna be one hell of a story.

Leave 'em alone

Well, you gotta be able to win on the G to win the, the grand, the premiership, don't you?

You do, yes.

And we...

To be fair, I've, I actually like the, the, the way it's been flown out for us.

Like, we love going to Adelaide.

We beat Port Adelaide there, um, not long ago, and I think it adds to the story.

I think it's gonna be one hell of a story.

Leave 'em alone

How quickly do you have to pick the group up?

Yeah, it's a warranted point.

And we talked about it straight after the game.

I mean, there was still a game to play, I think.

I think Giants could have beaten Crows for us.

But we sort of all sort of realised we were going to come seventh.

And Carlton have come the other way and won every game to get to tenth.

Leave them alone.

Well, you gotta be able to win on the G to win the, the grand, the premiership, do you?

You do, yes.

And we...

To be fair, I've- I actually like the, the, the way it's been flown out for us.

Like, we love going to Adelaide.

We beat Port Adelaide there, um, not long ago, and I think it adds to the story.

I think it's gonna be one hell of a story.

Leave them alone

Today to make strength replacement possible

Uh, big welcome to Max.

All-Australian squad of 50 announced yesterday.

No surprise that, uh, you were in there on the trail for your ninth All-Australian.

Mm.

You were looking a good thing.

Uh, it, it was a formality, but the squad comes out.

Yeah.

Uh, does it go too far sometimes? Should we be playing, paying players that, that don't show up to their club for, for months and months on end?

end?Yeah, I can see, um, your view on that, and I can see...

And I'm sitting at home, and I'm not a footballer.

I'm like, "Oh." But also, is the player putting his hand up to go home if that's not the case as well? So are we encouraging players to put their hand up and say, "I am struggling-"

Mm

... um, because there's availability to do that? They're, they're, they're able to get paid and be at home and take their time, and two, three weeks, and come back a more rounded and better person and a better version of yourself.

If we cut that off and say, "If you take mental health leave, you won't get paid." "Well, put, put mental-"

Mm.

Um, but also the energy in that room, um, and the talk of the town around how many people came, and they gave their time, and they all shouldn't really be here, but they've come to this two-day camp.

I'm all in on Boomers.

Yeah.

Um, my big one was how do they keep the momentum for this two-day camp and then they all go back to their own places.

Um, and I spoke about our AFL-VFL, um, combination and how we, um, the AFL boys get around the VFL boys when they play and make sure it's not fake WhatsApps like, "Oh, uh, hey, how are e- how's everyone going?"

Mm.

Um, but also the energy in that room, um, and the talk of the town around how many people came, and they gave their time, and they all shouldn't really be here, but they've come to this two-day camp.

I'm all in on Boomers.

Yeah.

Um, my big one was how do they keep the momentum for this two-day camp, and then they all go back to their own places.

Um, and I spoke about our AFL-VFL, um, combination and how we, um, the AFL boys get around the VFL boys when they play and make sure it's not fake WhatsApps like, "Oh, uh, hey, how are, how's everyone going?"

Yeah.

We kind of have to, um...

I mean, I watch Friday Night Footy anyway, but we have to watch Friday Night Footy the day be- the, the game before.

That's Collingwood vs Brisbane, and we're going for Collingwood.

Far...

That's hard to say.

so win and you're gonna be sitting in four... third or fourth spot at some point, uh, during the round.

Yeah.

You

have.

Big topics.

And now I'm here for a coach.

There's one getting done.

Appointed.

Which is exciting.

Have you belted?

Yeah.

Um, there [clears throat] is an investigation, and my thoughts are with, uh, the alleged victims here.

Um, your question, I, I can sure answer that.

Uh, what would I be doing if I was second on, on, on the ladder? Um, I think rules, rules have gone away a little bit from when I first started.

It was like you cannot drink on six-day breaks.

You cannot do this.

It's now more, um, just recommendations.

He's an appeal, yeah.

Yeah.

Um, there is an investigation, and my thoughts are with, uh, the alleged victims here.

Um, your question, I, I can sure answer that.

Uh, what would I be doing if I was second on the, on, on the ladder? Um, I think rules, rules have gone away a little bit from when I first started.

It was like you cannot drink on six-day breaks.

You cannot do this.

It's now more, um, just recommendations.

Yeah, yeah.

[laughs]

Um, and then since he's gone, we've now gone back to, um...

Yeah, they pay.

We actually...

We, we did one week, we, uh...

This is about a couple years ago.

One of our guys were getting tagged.

[laughs] Yes.

He finds a way with the

demons.

He's definitely not controlled.

If you take some sort of vision on him during that last quarter, he's incredibly vocal, and I'm presuming he would have been like that in that last quarter.

But he's got a little standard ovation I saw there on the wing when he was on his way off.

He's a breath of fresh air, to be honest.

He is.

So

Carrying cubes.

At the exact time that everyone else is doing it.

The...

Is there...

Is it $1.01 at the website? Has a malfunction It happened about three or four years ago, it collapsed Yeah And they had let us do it over a few days 'cause it wouldn't work Yeah, I didn't, I didn't get the warning the other day that came on the phones Neither did I Yeah

Eight-time all Australian, guess you're one of the 45

Sure Yeah, so there's only the allocated spots, and if you don't get in, it is a nightmare.

Like, you've gotta try and find a park Just park it on the sidelines That's what Roos used to do.

It was everything that you, you love in our game, and it was right on it.

Yeah, and famously coaches don't love these games.

Um, but that's what Kingy's sort of rewriting.

He doesn't mind them.

Um, ideally we do keep Freo to a lower score and win the game of footy, but we also won a game of footy against the top of the table in a great game of footy.

Mm.

And now you see a guy who's playing with confidence, and he's happy to do celebrations, and he's playing with anger out, out, uh, out there.

It's amazing what confidence does.

So this was such an important vital game for Melbourne.

Yeah, King is big on, "Don't worry about what's happening around the grounds" and, "We've got our own destiny in our own hands.

If we wanna finish top six, we just win every game of footy." Easier said than done, but come up against the lad- the ladder leaders and our job was to win the game of footy to stay in the top six.

So, um, that's what we'll keep trying to do.

It doesn't get any easier, to be honest.

We've got Port Adelaide in Port, and then we play Doggies, which will probably be a big game, um, for both teams in the last game of the year.

It was a good contest.

Yeah, I was, um...