Hi, my Boris, and this is straight talk, ladies and gentlemen. Anthony Minchel, Well, we're straight talk. You were three hundred and two, orbo.
Got three or six, and now Jared's clips everyone three hundred and seven. You would have eclipsed all of them if you hadn't had those massive injury periods.
Mind you maybe if Jared added up all the time.
Well that's true as well. He had a few suspensions. He's been suspended the first six years. I didn't get injured, and I've played more games than anyone in a four or five year period where we were making Grand finals and I was playing for the NIS in Australia. But two thousand and six it all come crashing down. Chronic information bubbling beneath my body was out of control. You're eating out, you're drinking alcohol, prescription medication through the week.
So something had to give. Right two back operations, I had a smaller disk buldge in my thorasic and then I've got this huge dis bulge in my neck and yes, mate, just got your report back. It's showing that you're like one millimeter away from your spinal cord. That's when I really started to dive into nutrition and the role it plays in restoring the body. I've got four steps with my nutrition that I've still follow now. So the first
one is Russ has been my whole life basically. You know, I grew up as the youngster of the Roosters and they've certainly made me the man that I am today. An Okay, wait mate, thanks MAV, I appreciate it. Well.
We're straight talk and as put together by the Sydney Roosters Business Club, and we want to thank our sponsors, are and my HR thanks very much. And our live
audience is pretty good. A live podcast. I've known one of this since last one did of a live podcast I did with Bit of Landers had that he told me at the end of the podcast that I sort of hypnotized him and he said to me, I started talking about things I never thought I'd ever talk about, and and I wouldn't let him into the edit room either.
So welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks very much. So Ricco was.
Through in one games correct, yep, you with three hundred and two, Albo got three or six and now Jared's eclipse everyone three hundred and seven. What do you think of Jared's game for his three hundred and seventh game. I mean, in terms of the way he presented himself for the game.
It was pretty fitting on it he got sent for ten blood running down his face. It was just a perfect setting for him to break the record. You know, I watched him come over from Manley when he was a young kid, and you could just see this sort of ferocity in his eyes when he crossed that white stripe. My loveliest bloke off the field deal met him as well. The way he treats the sponsors and fans and around the people around the club as soon as he gets
on the field. He's an absolute beast. And to sustain that from a young age to his age now, I don't think I've ever seen a front row do that for so long, which has been pretty phenomenal, and yesterday it was just an amazing day. You know, we are the only club to have four three hundred game players club in history, so that's really proud moment for the club itself. No one's ever achieved that. Have three three hundred gamers, four thre hundred gamers at the club.
I mean, we're going to do a bit a bit later but to be frank with you, you would have eclipsed all of them if you had those massive injury periods for a quite a long time. And mind you, maybe if Jared added up all the time, that's true as well, had a few suspensions he's been suspended, maybe he might have eclipsed everyone by an even greater amount as we
are today. When I was walking here down George Street to walk past a rejuvenation clinic, and the first thing I thought of is when he never looks like he gets any older.
Actually looks like a few like you get younger.
To me, you and Wingy, I don't know what it is for you and Craig wing Ye both looks looks like you're still twenty eight or something. And to a large extent, and it's important, it's an important topic for me actually, but to a large extent about it healthy healthy living.
I want to go back to when you were a young kid.
Was this something that your family, because you know, you were an hour and for healthy living within our club and egg outside of our club as a young kid, was that something that was drummed into you or was that something you learned?
Well, it was basically just natural. So we've got Italian heritage. So we grew up on five acres just outside Liverpool, southwest of Sydney. Was it a farm, Yeah, well we had cows, we had chickens and eggs and fruit trees and veggie patches and all that type of stuff not to go to mark, just just for us basically.
Yeah.
So the Italian culture right is to grow your own, cook your own if you've got the room at home. So that's that's what we did. That's what we That's what the Italian culture does. And my mum's a pretty duncle cook. So she used to cook all that whole food nutrition up for myself and the family, my younger brother, younger sister, and without even knowing it how healthy it was. It was just how we lived our lives, you know. So and now I think back to my childhood. You know,
I never never got sick. I played many of different sports, never seemed to get injured at all. And then I signed with the Ruses at sixteen, and I wasn't a big guy in the NRL. I was like I had to push heavyweights and eat heaps to keep muscle bulk on. And you know, when I made my first grade taboo
at nineteen. You know, the first six years I didn't get injured basically at all, and I played more games than anyone in a four or five year period through that period where we were making grand finals and I was playing for nas in Australia. But it all come crashing down and when I was twenty.
Six seven six six, Yeah if I but if I go make Anthony minute Cello as a kid growing up in Liverpool on five acres and you know you're Mark's your younger brother, and you're a sister as we younger sister. Yeah, younger sister, she's the youngest. Yeah. I often thought to myself if I was trying to create a perfect specimen of a fullback.
And I've often thought this, I mean, apart from having.
The genetics to play the position and like something like you or Teddy and all those slated they've got some genetics associated with this, I would have thought. I thought to myself, gymnastics is a good bass totally. Who got you into doing gymnastics?
What's the story.
So that was my main sport as a young kid was gymnastics, gymnastics and.
Little athletics and Mark as well.
So no So Mark started league when he was six or five, almost like just went straight into rugby league. But I didn't want to play rugby league at that age. And my auntie's sister was a gymnastics coach out at Macquarie Fields, that a big gymnastics center out there, and my mum just enrolled me and I just started doing tumbling and trampolining at the age of six seven and
I did that from six to about eleven. And I was going to State for tumbling and a state competition for tumbling, and I was going to State for long distance. I was cross country. I was three k fifteen hundred, so I had a good aerobic base from athletics, but then I had sort of the power core foundation from gymnastics, which gymnastics game. I think gymnastics and athletics and to
an extent ballet as well. They're all foundation sports that really springboard you into other sports as you get older. So when I went into rugby, I started league at ten because of my mates at school. So we all
joining the local rugby league team. Come and join, soing, oh, yeah, well, my brother plays, I might join, So I joined, and you know, the aerobic fitness I felt I was fitter than everyone because of the long distance running that I was doing, And then I had this sort of quickness and sharpness that was developing because my brother went to State for one hundred two hundred and I went to State for fifteen hundred and three k. And as he got older, I had a gross burd He moved into
the forwards and I sort of started to get faster. And the explosive power definitely come from gymnastics.
I remember you when you're playing, obviously, remember your plane.
When you're playing, You're used to bounce off people, and I want to talk to you about it about that at the moment, I mean, I wonder if that was actually a strategy. So I don't know whether you just hit people and bounce back because of the weight difference, or whether you actually hit people and bounce and turned and then kept running as a part of your strategy. Has attack the lestra about it now, And it was a pretty obvious thing, and Teddy does that a little bit too.
Was that a thing?
Was that an ethan Minochello like tactic?
Well, you know, gymnastics, they teach you how to fall and dive, and like you know, when I was six seven eight, I was sprung floor in the gymnastics center and they're teaching you how to just jump and dive and roll and like they teach you all that type of stuff and tumbling and all that, so like being in space and twisting and all that just come natural to me. Like jumping trampolines and doing backflips and all that type stuff was just normal because I did it
for when I was so young. So you know, that teachs just spatial awareness, like you know, speed as well. It creates power. So when you're in a game of rugby league, if you've got that acceleration that creates the power that creates the tackle breaks and then being able to find little gaps and fall on your front and always land on your front, the twisting motion as you're going down, that all was natural because I did it over and over again in gymnastics, So it wasn't like
a thing. It was just because of the repetition in gymnastics and the tumbling and the trampolining that I did and diving and falling and rolling and all that type of stuff. Definitely brought it over to the league circles for sure, But it seems to.
Me that you had a bit of a You hit a pretty big engine as well. Playing fullback, you've got to have a b engine, and you know, because fullbacks cover more kilometers than anybody else in the game. Do you put down your bea engine too? Again, as a genetics, did Mark have a big engine? He was a big dude, But I don't know whether you had a big, big engine on him.
Maybe you did.
But do you put that down to the fact that you were more of a distance runner, because often, I mean, I remember Jay Gibson. You just say to me, the best rugby league player is someone who can do four hundreds, run four hundreds like at speed. If you can run four hundred like not a not one hundred meter sprinter, but a four hundred runner, do you put much weight in that discussion and the fact that you were a fifteen hundred runner.
Well, the long distance running definitely helped my cardiovasciar fitness, there's no doubt about it. But because growing growing up on a farm, but we'll never inside, we had motorbikes and back then it was slug guns and all that type of stuff and paddy bashes and cars, and I like the chop wood. That was one of my chores. So I was always outside riding bikes, driving cars, chopping wood, all that type of stuff. So that just built up
natural fitness. And then adding the gymnastics, then adding the long distance running. So when I first got to the Roosters and we do pre season, I was always up the top echelon of the fitness drills.
Well, just talk about the beep tests. Yeah, but were we in the beep tests?
Well, I was always in the top five without throughout my whole career.
And it just explained with the bea test.
Well, the beet test is just a twenty meter run back and forth, back and forth, and the beep gets faster and faster and faster, and you just keep lasting as long as.
You can, and you're how many repeats you can do? Is it becomes a measure of your fitness. Yeah, based on so in other words, the last twenty.
Meters you might be doing it.
They might be trying to get you doing in six seconds, whereas a lot of guys have be dropping out of that stage because you've already done the whole lot of.
Yeah, it starts really slow and it gets almost walking pace and it just builds and builds and builds, and you know you're there. You're there for almost twenty minutes doing this, so it's like you can get it in someone's head as well. But then the beat gets faster and faster and you've got to make the beat. But if you don't make two beaps, then you're out. So you know, by like the beep tests back then like you get anywhere above like thirteen, you're doing really well, and.
I used to hear quite often, used to get at fourteen's and fifteen.
Yeah, so we used to go like you know, we used to go up at sixteen at sometimes when you're feeling really good. But then Ricky Stewart used to stop it at fourteen. He goes, I'm happy with fourteen if you make fourteen, and we had we had the whole team getting fourteen, even front rollers back in Rickie Stewart days. Fourteen fourteen for me was easy back because we did it so many times, so like beat tests to day whatever, it's easy. But the front row was like ack beap
tests h h. But Ricky was. We used to do it a lot with Ricky and by the end of sort of a preseason you know Peter Cusack was getting fourteen, like you know Brian Fletcher fourteen like the front rollers and second roll morally one hundred percent more well more, he was a good runner. He was actually good runner.
He was a good runner too.
Yeah.
Yeah, he hit the run machine.
Yeah yeah, he trained hard. Molly was Freddy getting yeah, one percent, the whole team was getting like fourteen.
And then for everybody that to be able to do fourteen reps in a beep test as he gets faster, that's pretty that's pretty intense.
One pre season with Ricky, we trained some of their hardest training sessions. Ricky, I love him, But this was after New Year's Eve. We have the two week break Christmasing years outs marks and he goes beep tests straight away. So we're straight into the beep test first day and you know, the fitter guys get fourteen. Other guys just miss it, all that type of stuff. And then he go get a drink. We'll come back, and he goes
gets ever running. He goes, we're doing it again. What two beat tests and this is unheard of and he goes, we're doing it again. And if you don't make the same marker, then Ronnie's counting and we're going to add one hundreds, so just so if you got fourteen, then I end up getting thirteen. I missed it by ten points, so that's ten hundreds. And this is through the whole squad. So we do it again and no one gets the same mark except Craig Wing. He gets one better. Right,
We go get a drink. We come back and Ronnie's adding up all the numbers that everyone missed it by, and Ricky and I thought, Ricky's gonna just get into a sees we've missed the mark by heaps and he goes, so, Wingie, what happened? You beat your wings all proud of himself and goes, well, didn't get you didn't go hard the
first time. So he was in the wingie, but then he got Then we added it up and it was like through the whole squad, it was almost like ninety one or ninety two points that we missed it by and we had to do. He goes, I will with the ninety two hundreds. That's the deal. Everyone's like, what two beat tests in the ninety one springs?
The springs?
Yeah, yeah, and Ronnie's like, even Ronnie Palmer's like whispering the ricky gun. They've had two beat tests. You can't do ninety hundreds. I just give him fifty fifties. So we went two beat tests in the fifty fifties and that was our first day of training.
I just quickly want to ask me about this because here's an expert in these sorts of things. But you know, today you've got all these and we'll go back to your career in a moment. But today we have all these big name experts around the world like Peditere, Etceterater tear in talking about longevity and health span and lifespan. But one of the tests that they keep talking about is VIA two MAX. I don't know if you've done via two max or anyone there's rooms done via to max.
But basically what they're trying to work out is you're at at stress, at physical stress when you're either running or cycling or doing rowing, could be rowing, your ability to use oxygen. And what it is is there's a score you can get, which is you can't just do the score like a beep test, but the score is
done through meated masks, et cetera. To take taken an measure of the amount of oxygen and carbonoxide do you admit but today that is considered to be the gold standard of your as a NINDA cater or a benchmark of your potential for lifespan Vir two max. Do you still think and as you are a fit guy today, do you still think those sorts of things are important?
As you're in your forties now? Do you think those things are important?
Being able to do Vo two max and all, let's call them a beep test because you do a be tested into a calculation which virtwo max is.
Do you ascribe to those sorts of things today?
As Anthony Mitchello the retired footballer father but generally speaking epitomere fitness.
Yeah, so you know, I'm massively in the nutrition before we get into it a bit later, but I'm massively into the health space and longevity space for me now. My personal say, weekly training regime is varied, and I know we'll talk about minifit later, but if I'm running one of my PE programs in school, I'm doing like fifteen to twenty thousand steps a day. I'll probably go to the gym at Alliance now maybe once or twice a week. And I play tennis once a week, try
to play tennis once a week. I'm loving tennis. And then that's basically so I'm always moving. I'm always doing at least eight to ten thousand steps a day, just every single day. So moving movement for me is massive. It's huge. You know, the body is born to move, so if we stay stagnant or sit in a chair for too long, then all your tissues start to mold to what you do most So movement is huge for me. So I don't really actually flog myself too much anymore in the gym or go hard at any cardio. My
heart is probably is tennis. Or if I just go for a sprint on the treadmill for a bit, just the short burst and then do some do some weights or what.
Would be like that'd be like a two minute sprint.
Yeah, I get on the it's just a a self prepared yeah yeah one yeah yeah yeah. So I'll just do I'll do like a fifteen to twenty minute sprint, have a break, fifteen to twenty minutes, sprint fifteen to twenty minutes, sprint second second sorry second second second, not twenty so yeah, fifteen to twenty second sprint, just giving the body some type of adversitive with all the longevity
stuff too. It's like you know, heat therapy, cold therapy, fasting, giving this the body some type of hormesis it's called so some type of adversity which really activates your longevity
genes and keeps you younger for longer. All that type of stuff, and then you know there's there's heaps of stuff that you can do for your own health, like you know that you're in control of every day is the biggest one is what food you put in your mouth, how much sleep you get, hydration, all those things done consistently over time, that's when you get the real benefits, not just do it for a period of time then stop and period of time to stop. So with me,
I'm big on nutrition and hydration. I try and get eight hours sleep at night. I try and do something scheduling something that I love once a week, which is tennis, And then I move consistently at least eight ten thousand steps a day. And then you lift some weights every now and again for better testos, own production and all that type of stuff. So I do a vary of things to keep myself sort of fit and healthy.
If I go back now to Anthony Mitchell or the young kid at school, which good to go.
To Liverpool pats the Nutritionian brothers.
And you're playing footy there for the school. Were you a good student or was some year gave damn about Not.
Really, I was all about sport, like pe was my favorite lesson. Obviously, I actually wish I'd focus a bit more on my studies, but I was all just I never sort of had the focus to study. I was always focusing on playing sport. I was so Liverpool Ttritioni brothers went to year ten and then the year eleven and twelve school was called All Saints, which was at
Kasoula down the road. So I remember I was in year ten and when the science lab with one of my other mates was a bit naughty and we had these water bombs and we're doing some experiment and we ended up throwing them at the blackboard and the feature walked in and kicked this out and we actually got suspended for a couple of days. But two weeks prior to that, I got invited to play with Arthur Beats and invited me to play in a trial where we
trialed again with the Roosters. We trilled at Hanson Park and I remember but.
As an SG ball it was for SG boy. Yeah those days. Under fifteen, yeah, under it was I.
Think it was under seventeen, seventeens or eighteen's I think, yeah, I was sixteen. Yeah, And I remember playing that game and look I played, I was playing. I was right center back in the day. I played center and look I played. Okay. I went looking for the ball. I did a few dummy lots of dummy half runs, but nothing special. And I went back to school and I was just wondering. I didn't wonder if I was called whatever.
I ended up getting suspended and I got home and my dad just went off, you know, and he just bought me a new car. Wasn't new. It was a Laser t X three where I chipped in half and he did the rest and he has that's it. I'm selling it. And you know, I was doing all the chores for the next week because I was off school. And I remember the second day in Brian Kenevan rings the phone, the home phone back then, and my mum answers and they put me on and he says, I'd
like to offer your two year contract anyway. So I got offered a two year contract at sixteen, and I remember telling my family and anyway, all was forgiven about the suspension of school and I had the rest of the week off and I was killing it, and I was like, this is all obviously, play first grade for the roosters now. And I remember my dad saying, look, that's all. That's all well and good. You can play foot.
You know. There's no dramas there, but you either finish eleven and twelve or you get yourself a trade as well. So obviously, being all about sport and not focusing on school studies too much, I went, I'll get myself a trade. So my dad drove me around to lots of different I liked woodwork and metal work back at school as well, and so we drove around to lots of different joiners and cabinet makers around Liverpool and Hoxton Park.
And austral and plenty of Italian ones around.
There's lots lots of Italian ones around. But I I like to finish early every day to go train excite, to drive on the old M five which is almost one lane, and to get on Kenoby Road and go to Hanson Park or go to s Mark. So it was over an hour to get there. So I had to leave by three o'clock and most of the tradesman, all the bosses were like, naha, you know, if he's doing an apprenticeship, then he's got to work for five. So I reckon. We went around about twenty but that
just kept going. That just kept driving another one and another one another. Anyway, we found this guy's Italian dominic, Kimira West End Kitchens out of Austril, and he said, yeah, I'll give him a go, no dramas. He can start at seven and he can finish at three, and you do tafe on Thursdays and all good. So I was.
I was obviously getting up at six point thirty and driving out further west to work and then leave it three and then try and race into es Marks by four four fifteen every day, and then on Thursdays I'll go to Taife and Taye finished at five as well, but I'll leave at three in the afternoon tea break and my teacher Cotton underwe goes, mate, what are you doing? You're leaving at three every every week? What's happening? What are you doing. I said, I'm going to footy training.
I'm playing for the Roosters. And he was like, mate, that's no career, Like this is a creed what you're doing now, This is a career anyway. So I was like, okay, right, mate, kept leaving it three and yeah, I made first grade at nineteen.
What was like to meet someone like Jack?
Was a jackalslad to meet something like Arthur?
But did you know who he was? I mean, you're a sixteen year old kid, I mean, did you know who Arthur was?
Really not? At the start, I used to love Laurie Daily. I used to follow the Raiders because I love Laurrie Day, the way you played. And then my mum used to film every game of ours, like my brother's footy games, my sister's netball games, my games. So I a talent scout. Come up. Well, I was playing for East Valley United Talents.
Talent scout come up to my mom and said, I do you have any videotapes because I'm interested in number three and number ten was two guys and she has number three is my son Anthony, And yeah, I've got heaps of tapes.
Yeah Italian serious.
Yeah, we show the Christmas, so she gave it to him and then he took those tapes back to Arthur. But yeah, the after I got signed at the Ruses, then yeah, you get to know a bit of the history of the club and Arthur beats and now he's a legend in the game and the statue that he had, And then I had a really good relationship with him because you know, he signed me at the club, but then we developed a really nice relationship and become great mates over that period. And yeah, he was what do
you remember of him? He was He had a big aura, like you just lumbered into the room, big guy, and you can just you know, as soon as Artie walked in, you knew it was there. And just just subtle comments, you know, like he used to just come in and go, soe you catch those balls, make sure you get elbows in, or just like little comments that were okay, nowhere, he's already all good. But he loved to tell stories as well, so everyone used to listen, and yeah, he was the top guy.
Unreal who was in the who else was in the stuy ball? So do you remember that we ended up all knowing it.
Of well, Mark Ridell played with Mark Ridell, peg You Riddell, Andrew Lomu. He played first red for the Rusters. So we had heaps of talented guys in that but we won. We actually won that comp seventeen sixteen. I think we beat Newcastle at nor Sydney Oval that year in nineteen ninety seven it was and we had guys there that were more talented than me, but obviously they just didn't work hard enough. All they got distracted by alcohol or
women or whatever. It was well above yeah, yeah, yeah, So it was like out of the whole team, I was myself, Mark Riddell, and Andrew Lomu, and there's another guy called Nelson Lommie. He only played a few first grade games. Are those the only guys that really made first grade?
Really?
All the rest had more talent but then just fell by the wayside.
It's a very interesting thing point you just made.
Actually, it's very interesting, and you know, we can probably all of us have at some stage in our lives, at school or playing stu ball or whatever it is, have known guys and girls, probably in female sports, who are much more talented than most of the other people in the group, yet didn't get there and there's an old saying talent is great, but persistence is king, and persistency is the most important thing. Most of these individuals, the ones I knew as well, just didn't stick with
what they were doing. They just gave it away and they got distracted for some reason. What is it that sets someone like you aside and other people? Because here's an a stuy ball side won the comp. Only three or four paps ended up playing doing anything with their lives, and probably you and Rodella are the probably the most signifitant of that particular side. Every year, this happens every single year for the last fifty years. I mean, I played a shueball. All the kids in my only two
guys that are playing grade. But there were some really talented guys and there who should have played grade, but they didn't because they just didn't hang in there. What is it that brings persistence to a particular individual. I mean, consistencies are obviously an important thing, but persistence, in other words, stick at your game. Why do you think that you stuck at your game and others didn't. I mean, you just kept in front of everybody and just kept doing it.
What was it about you? I don't know.
To be honest, I don't know. I've always been sort of intrinsically motivated within myself. Like Susan, my alarm got up, went off in the morning, I'll get up out of bed straight away, I'll go for a run by myself. I was. I didn't have to get pushed by my parents at all. Oh you got to go out and chop wood? Okay, yep, sweet. I always felt like my mental prep. I always visualized my game from a young age too, And that's mindfulness, mental prep, that meditation, all
that stuff that's in our game now. I don't know. I just had a good ability to prepare mentally, I felt, and I had an ability. I felt that I could separate things. You know, if something was going wrong in say your family life or an argument whatever, I could come to training or just put that aside and I could just focus on training and play my best, where some other people can't do that. That comes into their training,
They train poorly, they play poorly well. I felt like I could always separate things and then visualize what I needed to do and try and execut the best of my ability. And then it was it was a repetition it's like as a fullback, you just got to catch, repetition a ball after the ball, ball after the ball, until it becomes automatic. Because you know, in the pressure of eighty minute Grand Final, when there's eighty thousand fans, people get overawed by it. But if you've just caught
that ball a thousand times at training, it's the same thing. Really, it's just a lot more noise around you. But if you can separate that and persist and consistently do your bit and train and train and catch and catch, it just becomes automatic. And then and then like after you've
done your physical prep, then the mental prep starts. Like and I was always visualizing, not doing like amazing things, so you'll do you would visualize that, but visualize like like just immense fatigue, but pushing through that fatigue to do something good like that. That was my visualization that I did weekly and see if I did my training regime, then I did my catching and my extras, then I did my visualization prep. I always felt I went into a game confident because I ticked all my boxes, all
my prep boxes. Always went into a game confident. If I didn't do something, then you goeshit. I didn't do that this week. It's in the back of your head straight away, and that brings doubt into your mind. And when it's when it's under pressure, you don't want doubt.
Do you remember having.
Dreams the night before a game or something like that that you perhaps forgot your mouthguard, or you had the wrong boots, or you didn't I've heard stories from guys who played first grade and probably in many grades where they had sort of dreams about not being prepared for the game that were about to play, dreaming, so it could be a bit of a nightmare to some extent.
But did you ever have experiences? Riquet used to me, You.
Know, it's really weird. I still have dreams now, like I'm like Robo calls me back in I'm playing, I'm on the field. That's weird. I do. I have not, not all the time, but it happened. It happens sort of quite regularly where you get one more shot and yeah, you play well, or you feel like you're out of the loop and you yeah, you wake up?
Was that real? Yeah?
I know, yeah, No, I have some of those now still. I'm thinking back when I was playing, I think I was okay with all that type of stuff. But I have more now I reckon And.
You would you say that your ability to You just said if if you had some drama somewhere, you could actually separate that from what it is the task at hand, get on the task at hand, and perhaps deal with the drama after it.
That compartmentalization.
That you were using, do you think that's a bit of a superpower of say, when your case someone like you, because I know other people who do the same thing in business and all sorts of things. Compartmentalization of something in other words, park something, deal with it later. I mean I have this process where I say I'll put some you know, in a not in a real sense, but I actually put something in a box closer they'd lock it.
It's there. Get on all that I've got to get on with. That's just a technique I use.
Is that something you use as a superpower in terms of being able to do your best on the field on the day.
Yeah, I felt I had that. I felt I had it mentally over other opponents because I could do that, I felt and you know, the I always the visualization part was massive for me. And then like even like you see people when they come off contract, they're always eager to sign a deal, like oh, they get really stressed. The last five years of my career, I just I did one new deals would David olam Menze will go to you guys on the board and Nick and going up and he's feeling good. You want he wants to
go one more year. Okayep, let's work it out. This was at the end of the season in September and October. Yep, we'll go one more. Yep, we'll go one more. So it didn't really bother me that I was on a one year deal or I was coming off contract. It was fine, but I can I can see in other players they get stressed. This is what I'm coming off contract this year, and I need to get this deal
done and I need security. That's that's That's why I've always felt I've seen other players get stressed in different areas, and I always felt that my mental prep was not better than others, but I could really excel and jump other other players in that area because in the NROL now everyone's pretty much physically matched up pretty well. They're all strong, they're all fast or powerful. But it's how you prepare in your head. That really elevates you from good to great. That's very interesting.
I can you said confidence of your own confidence felt to perhaps the confidence that others didn't have. And I know there's going to be hard question to answer, or maybe not a hard complex question to answer, given personalities, et cetera. When you run on a field, which front rower have you played with in terms of either for Roosters or Origin or Australia that would give you the most confidence that because the smaller guys, guys out of the back like to know they've got the big guys
up the front. Which, dude, do you just comes to your mind?
Oh well, it's pretty easy. Both of them are pretty equally there that I'll have in any team as my front rows, which will be Adrian Mullin and Jared were hard graves. Those two would be my front rollers any day of the week at any player in the it's ever played.
And of course both of the nicest blokes off the field. Did you like to meet?
I wouldn't say shit for a shilling, but what was the characteristic, the common characteristic perhaps for those two that when they're.
On the field, well, as you mentioned, off the field, they were just like the loveliest spokes, like by your beer, even Morley, even like back when the early two thousands, wrestling wasn't in the game that much, and then it sort of filtered into the game where we did wrestle sessions. I remember Moreley. He was just just to cuddle youer and just put you down to the ground and didn't want to hurt your teammate, where now restolession is a
bit different. Right, the boys go hard, but as soon as they get into the change room, same with Jared, and they crossed that white stripe and they run out and play. They just absolute beasts. Like Molly. His eyes used to flicker and you can see the glint and Jared's eyes. They have focused ears. You want to be playing with them, not against them. You know, I played against Morley in two thousand and three and when we played it was a last Ashes series ever played, so
I was great Britain forsus Australia. And you'll probably remember this way great Britain kickoff and I think Darren Locket catches it passes the Robbie Kerns. Anyway, Adrian Morley's five meters in front of his line of his own teammates five meters in front, coming down the bash Robbie Kerns. Robbie Kerns just puts a right foot step. Morley hangs out the arm, clips on the chin and knockout. Carried Robbie ERNs carried off. Morley sent off one of the
fastest send off send offs in history. He's just it was just like a ball. He just wanted to love the aggressive nature of it. And the same as Jared. And that's those two guys you want to be playing with, not against.
That's what's so important for a back or someone in the back line. Why was it so important for you to have these guys up front.
Well, you know they're the engine room, right, so they set the platform, set the tone of the game. So we're the little guys. We can't make big hit So I'm at fullback, so I don't tackle that much. So if you see your forwards going hard and they're making inroads and they're building momentum, that's that's what you want for confidence. It gives me confidence and it gives us room to move right, sob.
Them creating space for you.
Yeah, yeah, you want space and time, and that's that's what happened in Origin too, where the forwards got on a roll on and they are pushing coins m forwards back and as soon as you spread about wide, then the defence is on the back foot. So you've got time and space and that's what you want, and you know the forwards obviously create that.
For the people in the room, perhaps you can explain something and it's often something I look at sort of more in a mathematical sense, But basically, Joey Freddie, those grade halves always look like they've got more time than everybody else when they've got the ball in the hand. But is that because they is it because the forwards are creating the space for them? Because space and tom has sort of related. So the more space got more time you got. So look because he looks like everyone's
hanging off them. I mean, by the way, same have played for Lockyer and et cetera. I mean like Queensland players equivalent. Because is it because the forwards were making that space for you?
And is that?
How important is that in terms of selection?
Oh, it's so important. I would say those three players that you just mentioned, Joey Freddie and Lockey, they're the best players I've ever ever played with equally. But they're all different players, right, and I think those three, even though the momentum wasn't in our favor, those three could actually turn the momentum. That's how good they were. Whereas you know, you need the forward roll on which we
just spoke about. But Joey was like he was a massive thinker, so he would he would just work three players over, get them tackling, tackling, tackling, and you'll just mention the me stanly inside tackle four and you would have outside support ready inside in me. But he would get those three players tackling on the inside for the last three tackles, so they're tired already, and Joey will go to the line and weave his magic and just pass it inside to me and here's a half gap
or a gap there, I'll go through at pace. At pace. Yeah, yeah, he was all speed, but he had like he was like he was a massive thinker. So he'll get the A V to B, you know, get these guys tackling like he was unbelievable. Even that Origin game where he kicked the ball back hit the post, well, I swooped in. He actually told me about that I room with him that two thousand and five series where we called Joey back in game two playing at Home Bush, and he said,
Billy Slayter, fullback, mate, really good, fullback smart. I'm going to kick the corner, corner, corner, corner for twenty minutes, and he's going to start hugging the corner to get the ball in the full I'm going to kick back and try and hit the post. I want you swooping down in the middle. I mean, yeah, sweet, same way he kicks twenty minutes, kicking to the corner, Billy Slater starts hugging the corner and then I think it was like tackle three or something. I call for an inside
board because I was just always hanging inside Joey. And he does the kick and what do you know, hits the post. We've been the score the try. So it wasn't a fluke. No, it wasn't a fluke at all. He actually he mentioned that to me in my in our room like two days before the game.
So Billy Slater is mortal.
He is normal, So he's a freak.
He's so if I just go back to it, just I just want to cover off this before we get.
Moved on, but I've never spoke about Joey or Locke yet.
In two thousand and two, Villa Sandy put a good shot on Freddy and I don't know if everyone room remembers it, but.
Open him up a bit and it was a bit of a shock to us.
And at that stage I think we were they were leading Auckland were leading it in New Zumber.
I think it was twelve six maybe to us, but that they had all the momentum, they had the sndency at that point, we're one of the pump.
What was Morley's response at that point.
He's like, you see's eye steaming. So Freddie gets cut half, gets knocked out, and Villasany is standing over him and then everyone comes in and he's like, I got you. Like he's just pointing that, yeah, it's your mind anyway. So he's in the memory bank and the play goes on, and then I think Stacy Jones gets the ball and drops it under to villas Andy and Mos just come out flying out of the line and just wax him and just knocks him over and everyone's like, eh, they
momentum changes it massively. Yeah. Yeah, I remember one game in New Zealand. We'll come back with the Grand Final. But one game in New Zealand, Ned Caddick got hit by Owen Good and bild it was and it was a high shot and got knocked him out, carried him off anyway, Morley just went you mate, anyway you literally point to it. Yeah. Anyway, he didn't get him that
game anyway. A year later, a year later, we're back at Mount Smart Stadium and mate, he just tore on Good the shreds like he just asked him to come out of the line. And even Owen said, mate, I know more is coming for me today. And that that was a year later. He had it in the memory bank. He never never forgets. And then so that back to that Grand Final, that moment and change and then Freddy kicks at forty twenty fitsy scores and then we roll on and score all those points to win.
Because I remember Fitzi telling me a little bit after that.
He said to me that Freddy was behind the trial on one stage and he said to the forwards, just get me down there, get me down down to our try line and I'll do the rest.
Freddy was unbelievable.
He could actually the.
Confidence you must have got from someone like that just said, if you get me down there, yeah, I saw something out for him.
His instincts. Freddy's instincts was just phenomenal. Like he was just a footy player where you know, as you said, just get me down there and then he will look for certain things, weaknesses into the fence, like he was so quick at picking something and just give me the ball, boom, and that's that. That was Freddy's superpower. He's instinct was unbelievable. I spoke about Joey so Lockey. Lockeye was different. He
was just a smooth sort of operator. He would like, you know, skip this player, skip two players in a heartbeat and put you on a block or an overlap every single time because he's such a good mover and he could skip two players in so quick overlap every single time. So those three players were some of the best players I've ever played with.
Who was the in your opinion?
Put yourself out aside, because you can't talk about yourself. I guess of all the fullbacks us a great fullbacks, not just here at the Ruster, but just generally speaking, there's been Who do you think is a real standout fullback apart from Anthony Minchello.
Well, Billy Slater's no doubt so back back in the early two thousands, like fullbacks were known for all their attack, but then as you get into the mid to late two thousands, then the fullbacks really control the defensive line basically. And what I mean by that is, you know there's three people in the tackle and they're trying to slow the tackle down for a slow player the ball and obviously two markers. Then the third person comes out and
gets back to the line. But that third person needs to look at the fullback and they're pointing him where to go left or right. So you've got to get the defensive numbers right every single time to give your the best opportunity for your defensive line to combat their attack. When it becomes goal line defense, that's that happens to split second. You've got a pool players where to go, put them on the left or right. You get it wrong,
then there's an overlap for the attacking team. Billy Slater was one of the best defensive organization fullbacks going around plus then adding his attack and being a ball player as well. Like a second five eight. He was unbelievable Back in the was it late nineties or early two thousands when Brett Mullins was on fire at fullback, like I used to love watching him play as well. But
there's been semi wonderful fullbacks. But that's the big thing in today's game is how they can control the defensive line. That basically the defensive line is yours as a fullback, because you're you're controlling and putting the players where you need to put them.
Which means they've got to be super fit because you've got.
To be You got to think under fatigue, yep, and especially goal line defense. You're doing forty men sprints just in case they get around around the defensive line for you to cover. But you know, obviously the defensive line makes a tackle, so he've done a forty minute sprint for nothing. But you need to be there. That's your job. But then you need to look at the defensive line, see where the players are left right, pull that guy there, so you're under fatigue. But then you need to organize
the line as well. Billy was pretty good at that.
And I dare say, I don't dare say, I definitely say that you and Teddy's very good at that too.
Heels unbelievable. That ye unbelieva and you know you.
Saw a of great full ball, great fullbacks comes through.
Of course Roger was. We put Roger on the wing for a while and then you know it was the process. We put him on the wing. You were on the process on the wing for a while. Luke Phillips was full back. I think it was full back two thousand and two. I think wasn't he fullback? End the game where we played Brisbane too in the Grand Final he played two thousand and I actually to met good defenders.
I remember.
Wendell Saylor hurling down and Luke just he's not a big guy, like completely arm I.
Thought, because he was one of the hardest players at tackle. Wendell Sailor, he's a beast, unbelievable. He was fast, too, huge, and he had lots of skills. So you know, like the general process.
I don't know about this whether this is the case no other clubs, but at our club anyway, you play wing for a while and you get chooed into the full back position, into the full position, and so Roger was playing on the wing.
Were you were playing full back at the time.
So what was in two thousand and two we won the obviously one comp and then in the preseason that year, Luke Phillips retired and we thought Luke Phillis was still only twenty seven to twenty eight. What are you doing retire because he should all the stuffed And I said, what are you doing retiring? And you're twenty eight, head mate, I've been lying about my age for years. I'm like thirty four.
That's what he did.
Yeah, he used to lie about his age anyway, So he retired and then in the preseason we had Justin Hodgs, remember right center, and he played lots of fullback at the Broncos before we come to ass and Ricky goes, mate, what do you think about playing fullback? And I like, yeah,
give me a crack. I want to get the hands on the ball much more because I'm thinking about you or Justin Hodges, and I said, I'll give me first crack anyway, So he did, Ricky, and always praise Ricky for this because that sort of elevated my career to
the next level where I made Origin that year. So my first ever game at fullback was the World Club Challenge over in England when we play yeah two and three, when we were off the back of winning two thousand and two correct, yeah, and we went on the smash thirty eight nil. And that was the start of my fullback career. And then later that year making the Blue Squad at fullback and that was it. That was the
start of the fullback career. And then then in twenty fourteen when it was my sort of last year, I sat down and Robert at the start of the year and he said, we want to sort of get Roger a bit more involved. What do you think about whenever we go across the fifty meter line when we were attacking, you go to right wing, Roger comes into fullback, and then all the defensive organization, all the defensive play your fullback, Roger right wing. And I went, yeah, yeah, no dramas
if that you know, that sounds like a plan. I moved to the right wing. I think I scored more tries on the right wing that year. That's good, but it worked really well, just to give Roger a taste of playing fullback in that attacking zone where you can do some ball playing and just feel out how much running he needs to do before he takes over in fifteen, So that worked really well.
So your I think it was two thousand and six two seven.
Let's talk about your injuries. I mean, you had a horrific two or three year period with your back, and as a request Cynerical, we had two back operations.
Is that right?
Yep, I've had three now, but three now two dreams. Yeah, most this would be career ending back operations.
Just tell me quickly.
I mean, given your abs are so strong, I mean, you know you've been a gymnast, a professional sportsman, very conscious about your health and strength and speed and et cetera. I'm sure in those days you're probably doing lots of agility stuff and lots of stretching, et cetera.
Why do you think you had a back a back problem? Was that cause by game or was that genetic?
Now, so I'll tell you the story. So obviously I had that good foundation of when I was a kid, whole food, nutrition and all that type of stuff. But you know, as soon as I signed the ruses, I moved that a home at a Dean and I started living in the city with the boys and all that times of so you're burning the candle at both ends, right, So you lose that home cooked meals. You're eating out every night, you're eating poor quality food.
Who are you living with?
So two thousand and four we called this house the House of Grouse was in Bond. I had a big five bedroom houses, myself, Brett Finch, Chris Walker, Mick Krocker, Todd Payton and so that was a pretty madhouse for a year. And I remember we got the house and Ricky has, no, you're not living again, no way. And we're like, well, you can't really tell us where to live. If we're playing bad, then we'll move out. That's the deal, rick and he has all right, done, all right, you
play well, you know we're on fire that year. But go back to two thousand and six where the breakdown happened. So you know you're eating out, you're drinking alcohol on the weekends and even prescription medication through the week you know, everything like back then the voltarans and yeah, volta burns and sleeping tabors all around. And two thousand and five I had some flare ups in my lower back. So but prior to this, right, we had professional nutritus and
dietitians on board, and all that type of stuff. And that day, because I was always lean, I was lean as bloken the team and they were saying eight ninety killers. I played at eighty eight killer killer, but still I was still really lean. Skin fold is always the lowest, and they were just saying to me, you just got great jeans and genetics from your parents and grandparents. You're one of the lucky ones. You know, you can basically
eat what you want all that type of stuff. So you know, in the early twenties, when you get told that, you think you're bulletproof. Right. So I was drinking all weekend and eating out and eating whatever I wanted, and I wasn't getting injured through that two thousand and twousand and five period, so I thought, I thought I was bulleproof. I can do whatever I want because IVE got great jeans. But yeah, in two thousand and six, it all come crashing down. Two thousand and five, I had some flare
ups in my low back, got an MRI. It was two bulging discs L five s one L four five two lolls discs in your back. And I remember lizeed a physios I could look after your back. You go to make sure I was like, yeah, yeah, it's all good. I didn't even care about it. I just kept doing what I was doing on and off the field. And then it went from back spasms one time for a day, then I went to two or three days where they
was backspasms. And then in two thousand and six preseason, I was just in a scrimmage down down the South Coast and I just did this little click. I just got checked. There wasn't even like a bad tackle or anything, and I had this nerve pain running down my left leg. And I took two weeks to get over. And this was leading into the season where we were playing South Sydney for the first game, and I rehabbed it and I played the first six games and I played with
constant hamstring pain. I thought it was hamshing pain, but it was actually nerve pain running down my leg into my toes. But every time I warmed up it would fade away. But every time I'd warm down or around the house, it'll increase from week to week, ever so slightly. I got picked in the ANZAC Day Tests against New Zealand.
I remember coming in. Tony Abe was a physio and he been down Touchy toes all the things to get the tick of approval, and I was bending down and touch my knees before that sharp pain will dig in and I'll go back up and what are you doing go back down and touch it? I can't. I've got this pain that runs down my leg. And he was asking me more questions and more questions, and he said, man, I can't let you play with this, meaning there's no chance.
He ruled me out of that game. I was angry at the time, but he set me up a little specialists and I had an MRI and I had a ruptured diss in my L five s one the lowes diss in your back pressing on that sidic nerve. And I remember the surgeon goes, you need an operation. You need to get that just shaved off and through that for you because it just would.
Have been put. But the bit was protruding, hitting the hitting on the nerve.
Hitting on the nerve, protruding, hitting on the nerve. And that's that constant nerve pain that I was always there throughout the days, and trying to get your socks and shoes on was a nightmare. But you know, I thought i'd warm up the fades away. It's all good anyway. So the actually the surgeon explained what I was experiencing and that you need an operation, and I thought, you know, I played more games than anyone through this four or five year period. I get this operation and come back
bigger and stronger. So I'll get the operation, and I'm running within six weeks. I'm now taking more any inflammatories, thinking they're helping me. Two thousand and seven season rolls around. I play the first ten games and I'm in camp actually for Origin. Get picked in the Origin side again. It's game two and I literally just roll out of bed to put my socks on. This click in my back. My back goes in the spasm. This time nerve pain's running down my right leg. So I sort of crawled
the fall alert on the floor. Call Lizzy in the physio, and I'm sort of I was sort of stuck to the four for an hour or two. Anyway. This was three days before the game. The bus was going out to the home bush to stay last night. So the obviously the bus days on course, all the boys get leave and I get ruled out obviously because I couldn't move, and they called Brett Stewart in go back up to the s Vincent's, the mur and the surgeons, and they go them. I look, the disc above has done the
same thing. L four five is ruptured hitting the side nerve. Do you want to come back and play a contact sport like rugby league? Again?
Was Dr Tim Steel?
Now that I wasn't Tim Steel, was Richard Parkinson had some Vincent's And I go, yeah, of course I want to come back and play. I'm twenty seven, of course, I'm so young. And he has well, look well, had a lemonectomy the first operation. This one will do a micro to secting. It's a bit of a smaller operation. Similar operation, but a little bit small, but don't affect the structure of his spine. If you're going back in the contact. And he said you've got to take the
recovery a lot slower. I said, okay, sweet, get that operation. I take the recovery a lot slower. But I still hadn't connected to the dots with lifestyle and nutrition all that type of stuff. Yet I'll still doing the same things. Any inflammatories morning and night too, and morning two at night. I was doing four a day last I've had stomach ulcers and everything developed a year after that. Anyway, So two thousand and eight season rolls around and I'm preparing
for that season. I played the first six games. I'm on the bench press and I just push out a rep three days before a game. I sort of pinched a nerve in my neck. You don't really think too much of it. Go out and play that game. Towards the end of the game, I get the water bottle and squeeze the water out. I feel like my wrist in hand just didn't have any power. That's weird, right, And I finished the game off tell the dock and they're like, that doesn't sound right, like knowing your back history.
Maybe I should get an MRI. That was a Sunday night game, Monday MRI, and I don't. I didn't think anything of it. I'm training on field. It was a Tuesday night. We're doing scrimmage against reserve grade and our physio comes running out down the tunnel. Not he's screaming. One day, many many mini come off, come off, and I'll walk over to him, what's up? And yes, mate,
I just got your report back. You've got a like significant dispulge in your C five c six vertebra and it's like it's showing that you're like one millimeter away from your spinal cord. Anyway, so I was basically in shop two back operations. I had a smaller dispuldge in my thoracic and then I've got this huge dis bulge in my neck and we just sit on the side of the stadium and a million thoughts are running through
your head. Go back up to St. Vincent's and they do another MRI, and this is when the surgeon was looking at my spine and he was like, like, all your discs they're black. In someone that has a healthy spine, there should be white. They're your cushioning system for running, grappling, sprinting, all that type of stuff. Yours are all dehydrated. This is why they start to bulge out, tear and rupture. And I was like, Okay, well, how do you fix it? How can I fix it? How can I rehydrate my
disk again? And he was like it's pretty hard to rehydrate one, let alone all of them anyway, So you know, we've got access to all the best specialists. You go see another one, you go see another one else, giving me the same answers. And I remember I met my wife prior to this, and she's always asking me about you got to find out the reasons why you'r this there black and someone else's. Isn't that why I kept
bringing in my head? So I just went on. I just tried to find anyone to give me some answers or how to repair my body. And I went conventional holistic. I saw heaps of people, heaps of different people, and towards the end of that journey, I found he's a good friend of mine now, I Ara mackenzie. He's got a training studio in bond Ni Junction. Original Energy does all the gymnastic stuff. It does all the gymnastics and
functional movement type training. This is two thousand and eight where functional movement training wasn't really in rugby league yet. And yeah, he sat me down. He didn't even ask me once about injuries. He asked me about my childhood and what I ate in all these lifestyle questions, which I thought was weird at the time, but he was trying to get a picture of haw Shrong, my foundation was as a kid, and what I'm doing now to
improve my body. And he said to me, you can repair your body if you're willing to make some sacrifices and do things consistently. And I was like pretty much invested in that straightway, because you know, I saw on contract for another year at the Roosters and I had three spine injuries in the last three years. I played
minimal amount of games. So I started training with him where the last part of our session he would film it send it to my phone, and I would bring my phone into the Roosters gym, put it up on the corner, and I'll do all this sort of functional type movement training, which was all weird back then because there was all how much can you lift and squat and all that still, But you know, the Rusters were pretty good to me. They let me do what I wanted because they tried a lot of things that sort
of hadn't been working either. So I felt two thy and nine season now rolls around and I felt stronger in my core, ready to start the season, try and push out a full season this year. And it's around two down in Cambra and I do all my ligaments, my ankle and we did a sidneys mosis and I'd spiral fraction in my fibula. I thought I broke men be cause I heard this huge crack. So another operation.
I was out for twenty two weeks I think, so most of the season again, So that was four years in a row and I was coming off contract and I remember, you know, you guys gave me great support. A lot of the board rung me and said, look, well, I don't give you another year match payments and I said, yep, sweet, I'll you know, I'll take that. And that's when I did one year deals for the rest of my career.
But that's when I started really two thousand and eightousand and nine, that's when I really started to dive into nutrition and the role it plays in healing and restoring the body. And I really I dived into it like one hundred percent. I took a deep dive into it, and I was really meticulous with lots of the things that I still practice now. I've got four steps with my nutrition that I've still follow now. So the first one is get to know the source of food and
where it comes from. You know, everyone's heard of the saying you are you eat, but I take that a step further, so you are what your food eats so meaning like you know, if you're eating beef for lamb, it's got to be grass fed, grass finished, so they're on their own natural diets of the animals healthy themselves before you consume it, wild caught fish, organic, free range pork and chicken, seasonal fruit and veg, spray free if you can, or the washing process becomes important because lots
of herbicides and pesticides are sprayed on crops. Now the prescious food cutting down on ultra process food big time. Step two is the process of your food. Now, save you got just so you've got a lamb shoulder. Most people put it in the oven, put it one hundred and eighty degrees and cook it way too quickly, burning all the enzymes and nutrition out of it. So I'll just turn that doll down to one hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty or put it in a slow cooker, cook it over time.
Old school stuff, old school Yeah, And I.
Was thinking, this is what I used to do, this is what my parents used, It's how they used to cook. Right. I didn't get so really hit a chord with me. It was natural, so you know, cooking with the right oils, getting rid of all the vegetables industrial seed dolls which can harm your health. And then step three is that
cut down on the ultra process foods. And then step four, which I practiced now, which I didn't have the research behind me then was the weaving intimate fasting for accelerated healing. So they are my four steps of nutrition now. And you still do that now, yeah, big time. Yeah. I always create my foundation always. I do lots of speaking on nutrition now as well, but I always create my foundation at home and through the work week, so you have a good, strong foundation, and then when you have
a weekends, I'm pretty relaxed. Or if you have a function, you know, enjoy yourself. It's part of life. You've got to enjoy yourself as well. If you work towards the eighty twenty rule eighty percent whole nutrient dense foods twenty percent, enjoy what you'd like to enjoy. But when I was back then, I was like more ninety ninety five five or not ninety ten because I was really honing in on decreasing the inflammation in my body. I'll always show a photo of Arthur Beats and when he was handing
me the Golden Boodleward in two thousand and five. I'm playing for Australiam over in England. You should used to see the photo in My face is puffy, my eyes are almost closed over. I had like the oxidave stress and the chronic inflammation bubbling beneath my body was out
of control, so something had to give. Right for an athlete, that's an injury, but for a normal person that's illness disease, chronic disease, and that can be all reversed through what we put in our mouth, because we have the choice every single day or what we put in our mouth.
You said something really interesting in the beginning of this.
You talked about you do a bit of resistance work in order to help you with your hormonal balance, in particular, probably something like testosterone, because particularly you do legs, just trying to keep things at balance.
You're not trying to pump it up, You're just trying to keep it a balance.
How important is it to have a real in your case, at least a full picture as to your not only nutrition in your exercise, but things like hydration like you know, like because and not take things like voltauran for example, because and inflammatory, especially in essay. It's like voltan, which is, as I understand, it actually have the negative effect on your hormonal system, make you lose testosterone. They're trying to build testostera by doing squats for example or something like that.
And then the next thing, you know, because you get to saw back, you sho't have a couple of voltauran down your gob and it reverses exactly what you just did. So this whole process, Anthony Minochello is really good at this. How important is this whole process?
Oh? Massively? Like so you know, obviously they have a short term benefit. If you've got a really acute saw back or whatever it is, you take a voltaire and it gives you some these but if the long term use of that one hundred percent affects your hormonal profile, then it makes your gut lining compromise all that type of stuff. But also the biggest thing that hurts testosterone is plastics as well. If you.
So, do you stop eating fish though as a result of it, I mean, what.
Do you do like well, like, well, microplastics in yeah, yeah, there's a lot of research around. There's lots of microplastics in fish. If I get fish. I try, I always try and buy wild court. But even then, still there's there's some effects of microplastics in the ocean, no doubt. But the things that you can control more it's from your grass feed, grass finished beef, and more animal animal products rather than sea products. But the thing is if
you put everything together right. So if you're when I when I dive deep into this, and inflammation is the key driver to chronic disease, everyone will know that now, So how can you minimize your own information? Well? What can what can you can you control? You control your food intake, you can you control your sleep, you can
control your hydration, and you can natural sunlight's important. But then the plastic thing, like drinking out of plastic bottles consistently, all the skin care and all these products, right, they have just little micro toxins in them. But if you're consuming poor quality produce, you're drinking tap water, you're getting six hours sleep, you're not getting that much sunlight using conventional products. These are the things that all add up.
And as we age, the detoxification systems in our body just that slows down. It's just the aging process. So in your twenties, you can get rid of stuff quite easily. Thirties, still, forties starts slow down fifties, and that's when your toxic load just keeps building and building and building, and then what happens. Shit, I've got chronic disease, I've got top two diabetes, I've got this autoimmune disease. Where did it come from? It's just accumulation of what we've done to
ourselves over a number of years. So I've gone deep into all like, so my household all natural products, and my whole house is filtered, and so I'm meticulous of all this. But then I'm not.
I'm not like obsessed, obsessed.
Yeah, so you know, everyone, anyone knows me. We're on the sponsorship. I'm having a thousand beesving. I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying my time, right, But I know that my foundation is strong because I practiced this.
And you keep coming back to your foundation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I always keep coming back with my four steps that I'm meticulous with at home, with my nutrition. Then all the trying to decrease all the crap that's around train, you know, eight hours sleep, hydrate, good quality water, reverse filter at home, stop trying to drink out of plastics. Had to mate whose testosterone was really late. His estrogen was really high, right, this is from blood tests anyway.
So he cut out he actually cut out beer, and he cut out drinking from plastic bottles and plastic food containers. Got rid of all that, and his testosterone went up, and his estro and went down just from the plastic use and cutting out some beer as well.
I mean, we haven't talked about your family, and you have a wonderful family, and I don't think we'll talk about them today, but I could talk to you for hours, but within the interest everybody's time. What's Mini do now? Apart from you helping us, helping us with the roosters, and you know, we see you all the time down the grounds and you obviously, you know, always beautifully attired and you're a great representative, great representative of our club.
What does Mini do day to day?
Then?
In terms, and you said earlier on you do you know ten to fifteen thousand steps today? What are you doing to get those ten to fifteen thousand steps up? With the kids in particular your kids are the kids?
Yeah, my business minifits So I just registered the name Mini Fit in twenty ten, because you know, obviously, throughout injury period, I was like, shit, what if I don't come back. I don't want to go back to cabinet making. That wasn't really what I wanted to do. But I love playing sport obviously and working with kids, and Rusters used to do lots of holiday clinics, so I thought Minifield,
what a great name. I just registered that, and then in twenty twelve I sort of worked with a friend who was in the p space in schools and she helped me get One school was East Lakes Public School, where I used to go in there once a week and run a pea pregnant by I used to get someone else to run it for me as well because I was still playing footy. But then when I retired in twenty and ten, I still work full time at the Roosters, and I always say my transition was smooth,
but it will still like a four year transition. I felt for me to run my own business and feel comfortable doing that, so the transition was smooth, but I was at full time at the Rusters and I had Minifit on the side, and I started running holiday clinics.
For the club industries during the school holidays.
School holidays yep, so clubs like wwenty and Mountis and Rieesby Workers Club and all these big clubs that spend money on community. I will go in there run a holiday clinic for them on their field. And that was really starting to take off. And then I sort of started to transition from the Roosters more into my own business to start to grow that because I always felt like I wanted to grow something of my own. And then a few years after that, I had an email
from a past teacher of mine year six. He was my year six teacher and footy coach and obviously he's a primary school teacher. He'd been working in Hong Kong for eighteen years teaching and he was moving back to Australia and he said, I follow you love the Roosters and followed your career and see you've got minifit. Now are you thinking about going back into the school system.
We should have a coffee And so I've got him on board now and he's one of my head pe teachers that writes the program to the syllabus, and we've gone into the school program we found in the public school system they outsourced a lot of their physical activity where they don't have PE to part it's anymore like the private schools do. They just have PEA coordinators and
not many teachers want to really teach PE anymore. And in the syllabus, you've got to have a minimum of one hundred and fifty minutes of physical activity per week for the kids really yep, each kid yep, yep. So that's like two PE class a PE class P doubles on Friday, and then there has to be something else in there. So a lot of the public schools they outsourced to companies like ours, where we come in once a week and run a ten week program for them
in a term. Yep. So we'll go there, say a school on a Wednesday, and we'll go nine to three and we roll two or three classes will come out and we roll out the whole school in that day. If it's a big school, we'll go there two days a week. But my model is a PE teacher and athlete delivering a program. So the school loves that there is a PE teacher credit the PE teacher running it,
and then an athlete, which is the kids love. Is a rooster actually, and I employ a lot of the young roosters Sheridan here and it's the NROLW girls and every under twenty one plan needs to be working or studying otherwise and allowed to play in the NRL. So there's an access of a lot of the kids that want to work and have their working with children checks and so I employed. Yeah yeah, yeah, so that's great. So the kids love there's an athlete there, school loves it.
There's a PE teacher there, so that that's been sort of growing nicely. And then last year we last year we went into the special needs school space. So my Rick, my head teacher, is special needs trained and we just put on another PE teacher that worked in Hong Kong with him, and an Australian guy who's special needs trained
as well. So we started with one special needs school, Lucas Gardens in the Inner West, which is moderitor severe disabilities and now we're working with six this year already. So that's a real area of growth for Minifit this year where we can. It's a much needed area that needs more attention really because those teachers they're like angels.
They're looking after these kids with disabilities every day and they're trying to teach them, but then when it comes to sport that they sort of find it hard to have kids maybe in wheelchairs or non verbal or whatever it may be, what do we do with them?
Right?
So that's where we come in and run that ten week program for the disability kids, and that's been working awesome. They're they're unreal.
They'll be fairly fulfilling seeing that.
Yeah, I'll tell you it puts everything in perspective, that's for sure. If you think you're having a bad day, going into the school and seeing these kids and the challenges that they face each each day's phenomenal.
I guess it's a really good opportunity for you to be grateful to for what you have osed to what you don't have.
And I can't go.
I mean, we've talked about a lot of really serious topics, and you know you're going to get the Good Guy Award for being Anthony Minoicello the good guy.
But you were at one stage voted I can't remember. Now there's some of the sexiest.
Man and.
What was I think I come forth?
I'm not sure about that. Do you remember this? It was the two thousand and two or three yeah.
Before that was Wingy, right, he won Clean of the Year and you know that's all the girls loved him after that. They still do. Yeah, but yeah, you know the Errol used to run the sixtiest Mining League thing. Yeah, I think I got thrown in there one.
I think you won it, I think, And you're just for everybody in the room.
You had two nicknames, obviously Mini, but the other one was Count, and the players office often referred to as Camp when they were being interviewed and they were talking about if players were being interviewed during that during your playing period, they were to talk about Count, the Count, that's you.
What's what's the reference there?
So two thousand and one I made the City Origin team when the City Country was around still and Brett Kenney was our coach, and here's the guy that named me the Count. Yeah, yeah, like Count. So he's out of street, yeah straight, yeah, that's right.
So he was on his account, you look like the out of session.
Yeah.
And then all the fans ran with that actually, and then later in the two thousands it went to the Mountain Cat, the Italian Mountain Cat, the min Cat, all that type of stuff, because in back in the Monday Sports section. There was there's a section where fans could write in little comments about anyone, players, whatever, and one guy wrote, Anthony Minichello reminds me of an Italian mountain cat.
He always lands on his front anyway. Rico reads true. Though, Rico read this and went bang all the mountain cat, and that was it. That's how it started.
Maybe you've had a wonderful career, and everyone in this room would acknowledge that, obviously with a lot of ruster fans here the but you've had a wonderful crew just generally for both state, country, importantly.
Our club and our local area. But you're also a great.
In factor of prodigy of rugby league in that not just your own rugby league talent.
But I'm not talking about just talent.
I'm talking about the outcome of Anthony Milicello today, being able to get through adversity and come out the other side probably much better than you were prior to yourself going into adversity, and being able to be grateful and have a great family. I built a great career post rugby league and still maintain your fantastic and probably one of the most elevated reputations in roadby league. You never really get yourself in any trouble or at least that we know about.
Well, there's no social media back then.
Great, but you know, be in real terms.
And we think, I think, and I'm sure I'm talking on behalf of everybody, hit on everybody who supports Rus's that we think you're just a wonderful example of what it means to be a Rooster.
Thanks very much, mate, I appreciate it. Thanks Mane, thanks for having me. It's you know, RUS has been my whole life basically. You know, I grew up as as a youngster at the Roosters and they've certainly made me
the man that I am today. And you know, obviously through verity that's when you learn and evolve and adapt, and that's through that mid part of my career, that's where I sort of started to educate myself a little bit more through those injuries and I had massive support obviously from my wife and my family, and it's been a wonderful ride. Mate. So I appreciate you having me today.
Ladies and gentlemen,