Tell us what happened today.

I mean, they've been in eight of the last nine grand finals now, so I think the last time they didn't make the grand finals, 2015, they've been in pretty much every year except 2019 when they got out in the semis.

That was the last time.

So they were in the game.

I mean, again, you've got to win three in three days.

It's very tough.

But, and, you know, there was a couple of times where I thought, yeah, we're going to overtime here.

Great to see Newcastle get a national championship.

Paint the picture for us.

Yeah, business end of the season.

So prelim, semis and grand final is how the format works.

So it's basically one and done, similar to NFL or NCAA Frozen Four.

So prelim final one tomorrow is the Canberra Brave and the Sydney Bears.

Three play six.

And then prelim final number two is the Perth Thunder and the Sydney Ice Dogs at seven o'clock.

Do you have those conversations at league headquarters of expansion or doing more as far as three-game series, extending the season? How do you pace it so you don't go too big too quick?

So, you know, are you guys looking to kind of grow out the knowledge of it and spread the awareness of, you know, of this Australian Hockey League?

Oh, 100%.

Look, so I've been associated with it since 2011.

I've played since the 90s.

I was a Mighty Ducks kid.

So there's a generation of Australian players that the Mighty Ducks happened and we all went, what's hockey? And inline was big in the 90s.

That's how I started.

So what do you see with that?

Stephen White, a counterweight? Is that how you see his approach?

Yes, but with a qualification.

I mean, I, I, I think it's, it would be, um, it would be foolish to suppose that the pope is not aware that he's an American, and so is, is Trump, that the, the, the role America plays is unique in a certain sense.

But I wouldn't expect, um, uh, Pope Leo to define himself or his pontificate sort of i- in distinction to or contradistinction to Donald Trump.

I think he understands the, the papacy to be something that's bigger, that the, the, uh, organization, the institute- institution which he is the head of, um, is much bigger and older and has a very different horizon f- of self-understanding and interaction with the world than, than just the political sphere.

So I think it's, it's true what Joe said, but I also think, um, that to conceive of, of Pope Leo, his role, or to think that his conception of his own role is thought of mostly in geopolitical terms is to, to miss a, a much broader picture.

Mm

... who comes into a position where he's, uh, facing death.

you

know which of those is a better call you know category for identifying care for the poor i'm not sure um but all of those on all of those metrics priests saw that as a priority um which again is edifying uh how well we as a church to carry out those those priorities is is a different question um what was what was kind of interesting is that Among these priorities, you also saw differences between generations.

So on the highest priorities, marriage and family, taking care of the youth, evangelization, pretty much everybody thought that was a good idea.

But like I said, I think 94% of priests saw that as a priority.

It didn't change much from one generation to the next.

And other things, some that stood out, for example, synodality was not seen as a priority among younger priests.

Older priests were much more likely to see that as a priority.

What does that mean for us as a church? What does it mean for our parishes?

White says hearing questions and concerns of the watching world does have value, but not for deciding what to say about the Gospel.

If the Church comes to the world and says, "We don't know what the truth of the Gospel is, can you help us find out?" You're not gonna have a lot of credibility.

White says he's watching to see what Pope Leo does with the synod going forward.

But to this point it's, it's created more smoke than light, more heat than light.