How can we explain that, Burge? On this night of nights, with a week off beckoning and a preliminary final beckoning, the right to host a match to play in the grand final, how can we-- you explain players not being there mentally, physically, whatever it is?

is?It's a hard one, I mean, 'cause this team has proven this year that they have actually, um, handled occasions.

You know, they had big games at Suncorp.

They've had other big matches in Christchurch, big matches at Mount Smart.

They've handled them.

So I think it was a combination of maybe a few players got a bit, you know, got a bit complacent.

They've been getting a lot of praise from all of us, from the fans, from the media, and they've been going really well.

Does last night's loss change your belief in them as a genuine premiership team, or do you still think this side has what it takes to go the long way around and win it?

you explain players not being there mentally, physically, whatever it is?

It's a hard one.

I mean, 'cause this team has proven this year that they have actually, um, handled occasions.

You know, they had big games at Suncorp.

They've had other big matches in Christchurch, big matches at Mount Smart.

They've handled them.

So I think it was a combination of maybe a few players got a bit, you know, got a bit complacent.

Does last night's loss change your belief in them as a genuine premiership team or do you still think this side has what it takes to go the long way around and win it?

Can you explain why?

Well, the ninety-five percent is, is sort of calculated as the, uh, [clears throat] the optimum amount to protect the largest number of children.

So I, I think the takeaway that parents need to be aware of is that if your child is not vaccinated, the risk of encountering one of these illnesses is now higher than it has ever been before.

Uh, one of the things that worries me is there's a sense of complacency about some of these illnesses because no one's ever really dealt with them for the past two generations.

But if they're now coming back, again, parents need to be aware of that.

This is-- You can't just assume that everything is going to be okay because as these rates get higher and higher as far as on the exemption side, the risk of your child getting an infectious disease is going to be higher.

So it makes me wonder, are these state lawmakers defying the will of the people, or is the polling wrong? Because it can't be both.

No, it can't be both, and I don't think the polling is wrong.

Can we write this off as an off night for the Warriors, or did the Bulldogs actually expose a couple of genuine concerns?

Yeah, I mean, [laughs] great question.

I think, I think your concern would be the fact that the Warriors weren't great last week either.

You know, against the Dragons, they, they were a bit sloppy.

They-- It was much closer than one thought, and so we thought, "Oh, that was an off night." So, so what has this become? I mean, the one thing about playing the Bulldogs is, um, they play exactly the same style as the Warriors, and, and last night they just did it better.

So they are a hard team to play.

The Warriors struggle against them, let's be honest.

What will they look to get out of this afternoon?

What do you make of that?

Well, I mean, uh, I can understand some of the sentiments.

I wouldn't say they're a disgrace.

They're still a fantastic footballing nation.

They've, they've made six or seven World Cup finals.

Uh, they've got Lionel Messi, probably the greatest player of all time.

So today they had to do what they had to do, you know? Spain are such a good team.

Unfortunately, yes?

What is one pivotal moment in your life?

So I've had several as it relates to this business.

The pivot for me was the economic downturn in 2008, 2009.

I was working a corporate job, doing corporate sales.

And while working for this company, our sales cycle and the close ratio started to stretch farther and further apart.

And it got my mind moving back towards the entrepreneurial spirit that was kind of...

in, I guess, hibernating while I was working in this corporate environment for all these years.

whoa, like, what is that?

Would you say that this team is better than the 2010 one, which famously went through the tournament unbeaten?

Yeah, I mean, that's a good question.

It's one everyone's been debating.

Uh, definitely it's better skill-wise and, um, you know, we've got so many more players playing in, in Europe now.

That 2010 team you mentioned, we had six players in that squad in Europe, and some of them were p- with due respect, were pretty small clubs.

Uh, now we've got players, you know, got Chris Wood in the Premier League, of course, but we've got a couple of players in the Championship.

We've got, um, a player who's been in Serie A. We've got a player in France.

Are you daring to hope about this?

We instinctively go to naming and I sit there going, well, if you're naming, what does that say about the behaviour? What is it that we're actually identifying? Michael?

Yeah, that's an interesting one.

In the workforce of schools, of course, everyone's got their role and everyone is expected to achieve those.

And although you might have a bursar or school business manager, they're responsible for the finances and the financial decisions.

And so it's an interesting one as far as me being able to answer because they're each responsible for what they're expected to do.

My role is to oversee how that is all performing.

And over 22 years, I don't think there was many times at all that I had to go and have that balance of making people accountable for it.

I actually encourage you to make them.

I thought that was fascinating.

No, OK.

So, well, first of all, I'd say that any organisation, I'd like to think the infrastructure isn't that backward because I think ESG should be at the centre of every company's, every organisation's strategy, should be at the centre.

And the way I think organisations can go wrong is that they...

They focus on nice shiny objects, nice strategic things that are standalone.

And in my view, that doesn't work.

You have to build from a basis of strength by getting fundamentals right.

So how would you counsel them to balance today's issue with tomorrow's competitive advantage?

But what was it like in venue? How many sort of smattering of New Zealand fans were there? And what was the noise like during those big moments, four goals in all?

Well, that's the thing.

There was so much drama in the match, but there's always also so much drama before the match.

Like just speaking to fans outside the ground, there's a lot of Iranian fans milling around.

And I was talking to one of them and then another couple come running over and there's a big sort of scuffle and argument because two of them were sort of pro-Islamic Republic and two of them, of course, are pro the old Iran with the different philosophies.

So they're arguing something like, geez, what's going to happen inside this stadium? There had been talk that a lot of Iranian fans would be protesting against their team.

That didn't really eventuate.

from what you've heard from the team post-match and also from speaking to New Zealand fans on the ground there and in the US heading into another game where there feels like there should be an opportunity based on the evidence of this afternoon.

I guess with everything going on outside of sport, is it proving to be something of a distraction? That's all anyone seems to want to ask the players about.

It's been a massive distraction.

It was very interesting at the press conference yesterday with the Iran team.

We were told, OK, there's no questions about anything other than football.

But of course, all the questions were about everything other than football.

So, yeah, it's been it's been a crazy build up.

The press conference was incredible yesterday, but 100 journalists, only a single question about New Zealand.

Who are you expecting to field as their starting 11?

Because I understand Iranian fans might have a little bit of trouble getting into the country.

[laughs] Yeah, I mean, to answer your first question, it was, it was an open training session today, so they invited along about ...

They invited all the students who wanted to come 'cause we're based at the San Diego University, and there was a great turnout.

I mean, football or soccer is big at the college level.

To answer your second question, there'll be a massive crowd at SoFi Arena in Los Angeles.

It holds almost 80,000 people.

There'll be 60- or 70, so that won't be a problem.

Do you think this could be our year? [laughs]

Is that true?

It is, Heather.

I mean, I haven't seen anything like it before, like, I was just thinking, I was in Beijing at the Olympics in 2008, and we know the Chinese love their security.

I was in Russia in 2018 when you got Putin, one of the world's great tyrants, I guess, and the Russians are pretty firm on things.

But I've never seen anything like it here.

I don't know why, but the security is just way over the top.

I think it's a combination of FIFA's pretty paranoid, and then you've got, you know, the Trump administration is super paranoid.

Do you think it's killing the fun of this event with the prices and the security and the you're only allowed to take one water bottle in and any other water bottle is going to basically cost you your mortgage? Is it just not becoming fun anymore?

Do people in America know who Tim Payne is?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think my Uber driver did want to ask him and other things, but certainly the buzz around tim payne is is crazy like just just at training uh today a couple of instagram influence influencer type people turned up and they wanted to speak to tim payne and it wasn't possible but they were talking to other people as well but yeah um i haven't seen anything like it no one's seen anything like it it's just it's just absolutely nuts and it's kind of feels like something that um it's now creating its own momentum you know it's becoming even bigger than it should be because it's just self-perpetuating.

So, yeah, it's crazy.

Tim's yet to do any real media so far.

They've certainly had a lot of requests, but I think they're planning on putting them up putting him up soon because I'm sure he wants to get it out of the way as well and just focus on what he is here for.

Will this be a successful tournament or not? Or could it be a fizzer with only the travelling fans into it?

Ah, good question.

Cause you've asked people what you do.

it might be on the whatsapp i haven't

checked okay yeah antony just said that there was they're picking up on some lightning it was a fair way away but they were saying possible 820 standby for evacuation so

um i

don't know how i don't know what their policy is and how far away it yeah well how close it has to be but anyway um