Yeah, he's

going good, Crackers.

He's the reason I became a chalky as school teacher.

But, yeah, one day, mate, I was being that complete lunatic smartass, again, trying to fit in, trying to feel like I belong, not being the real me, you know, trying to be the center of attention.

And Crackers, five minutes before he'd pack up, Crackers would go, rodeo, pack up.

So about six minutes, I'd start walking around, you know, a minute in front of him going, rodeo, pack up.

And he walked over me one day and he just said, hey, mate, He goes, imagine one day using your voice for something else other than being a dickhead.

But, yeah, and I'd go, I'm homesick.

You can be doing better than

this.

Mate, call me tomorrow when you sorted this shit out.

And he goes, I'm actually really looking forward to chatting to you tomorrow.

And I remember sobering up like straight away.

And I passed out like I always did, woke up in the morning and it was pretty ginger around the house.

I was a beekeeper at the time.

Because I do want to get that right.

But going back to your workshops, I'm interested to know, is it for all students or are they selected students? Are they only for males?

No, all students, so girls and boys.

And that's the beauty of it.

Like, call it a whole cohort inoculation.

You know, you'll have a workshop where... someone will share something incredible.

Like a young person, you know, at a year six workshop got up in Sydney and he stood up and he just said, hey, I'm exhausted.

I get bullied every single day.

how has this work changed you tommy

Like, it's just inevitable that sometimes we get sold this message that you'll have one crucible moment that then life's easy.

It's like, that's just not how it works.

Mate, it's like a, it's, to me, I look at that, like, I love my sport.

Obviously, you know, you might've picked up, but I look at like any workshop or anything that we're doing with a psych or anything like that.

I look at that like a pre-season in footy and you know, that's just the start from then on after that, you know, that's when the hard work kicks in and we have to push with it.

And the thing is too, mate, is anyone that tells you they're an expert in this field or with life, you know, straight away you go, geez, mate, you're probably the opposite and you're probably struggling with it.

Mate, we do an activity and I do an activity.

They'd say, can you

How good has it been, Tommy, to have the Sharkies for the last three years really driving this for you?

Yeah, mate, huge.

And, I mean, Nico's just an incredible ambassador.

The Cronulla Sharks, last year we got around to all of the schools.

This year we did the same.

Worked with every single footballer here last year, from Harvey Norman girls to the Harold Matts boys, through the NRL, NRLW.

Worked with all of their staff.

What are your thoughts on that?

What- what's Tommy done for you, and what does it mean to you to be sort of partnering with Find Your Feet?

Yeah, I appreciate those words, Mark.

That's, um, really [chuckles] nice of you.

And yeah, look, I try to live, um, by my values and my morals, and I'm a very authentic person, and, um, that aligns well with what I do, um, away from the field.

And yeah, like, I went through a bit of a, a tough time there at one stage of my life, and I'm, I'm lucky that I come out of it, and I just thought sharing my experience was a way to help the next generation coming through, or even someone in a similar path to me who was trying to crack it or, um, just trying to live their life how they wanted to.

And, and unfortunately, some people go through hard times and, um, yeah, I just wanted to be, uh, someone they can listen to and, you know, you know, if Nickco Hynes can, can get through it and, and, and end up getting to his dream, um, career, then why can't I? So, but yeah, there's gonna be a time where I wanna share more of my story, um, maybe at the end of my career, and then hopefully change more lives.

But the reason why I linked up with Tommy is because those things fill my cup up, and, um, seeing what Tommy was about and who he was and, and what he was doing for, for people was something I really wanted to align myself with.

Can you, can you shed a bit of light on, on that for us?