#4 - Neroli Meadows

Welcome back to the Mason Cox Show. Now today we've got one of my favorite people in media. She is a lovely, lovely lady. She's actually one of my mom's favorite people, and I think she messages my mom back and forth on Twitter. But we'll give it a bit of a background. She's nine years at Fox Sports, AFL cricket basketball, worked across all different sports. Started in Perth Radio at six PR in two thousand and six Tonight sorry today tonight for seven Network before the Game? Have

Thank you very much. That was a very kind intro. I take that.

That's good. Well, you've got an impressive resume, I must say. And I was ignorant come to this country, but I love the fact that you are. I feel like the in my mind, probably the number one person I feel like I've got along with probably on air whenever I do things in the media. I feel like you're very obviously you've got the podcast ordinarily speaking, which we'll talk about, and it's all about kind of mental health and showing

Can I just get that audio clip? My ring tone one?

I love it? Brand can give it to you?

That is very kind of you, Thank you?

And yes, your mom does I do love your mom because I think I interviewed your parents who managed to make it via deboot game and it was antag day right, and your mom was just such an absolute sweetheart, and then from there she's just loves it, followed what I've done and sort of sends messages of support.

Does my mom d.

Has DMD me, but mostly it's published. Sorry you to be honest.

Yeah, it's better. My mom's a lovely lady, but the fact that she's dming friends of mine and her colleagues of mine is very questionable. No, I love it.

She she's amazing and she's such a supportive woman. I think just in general. And yeah, like you say, I think she recognized.

Early days that I was more of a human.

Story type journalist and she jumped on ball with that.

And I love your mom. She's absolutely fantastic.

But she's going to love this, no doubt, no doubt. She was asking about I told her I was getting you on. She was very excited for this. So she's going to be very excited for this podcast and what we go through. Big shout out to Jay Cox. We love her on the pod. You're going to get a DM within the week. I guarantee it.

Next time I'm in the States, I'm just gonna like the house.

She will full kit out the whole house ready for you to go down, will cook a barbecue. It'll be a whole thing. I'm telling you, it's going to be narrowly is week in Dallas. Taxes the biggest week of the year, probably better and me coming back. In all honesty, we'll jump in that. We'll talk about your early life. Now you're born and raised in Collie, w a outside Maga River. Now, Mogo River's on my top list of places I haven't been yet too.

You need to go. I go at least every every year.

My best mate lives there and works a vast Felix winery, which is one of the top notch wineries.

Yeah, so it is, and I was there just a couple of weeks ago.

Actually, it's top pless a top thing to do in my river besides go to the winery.

Well, I go to the wineries.

I mean, the beaches are fantastic, but the long lunches that you can have with you know, with your mates is just like it's the stuff that you make memories out of.

You know.

It's just an epic place to be. Beautiful coastline, beautiful cafes.

Yeah, I love very relaxing holiday.

Very relaxing.

It's that it's that beautiful sort of bush meets ocean aussieva.

Yeah yeah, So did you say Collie is the bush side?

So Collie is inland.

So we're about forty five minutes inland from Bumbry and as we got teased back in the day, you go up hill to go down a hole. Yeah, but it's a beautiful town Collie, some amazing little water spots and everything like that, and a great outdoor town, so big sporting town, country town sort of every you know, everywhere had to like a network club and a footy club

You wouldn't know what a marin is? Would you give me?

Give me in Australian says I need to learn this, so you please please inform me.

A lot of at don't know either because it's from that region. So it's basically freshwater crayfish. It's delicious, delicious, but really really hard to get, really expensive. But we grew up marining and on that little bit of river and we had marin ponds and stuff like that. So yeah, yeah, and like little cricket setup and basketball and netball. We had a bit of everything. So it was an epic place to grow up. Yeah, I was very lucky.

Did you did you play sports growing up? Like? What was your top sport?

Like?

I feel like I've dabbled in different sports growing up, and a lot of people do. They play different sports. They kind of find their niche and go towards it, Like what was your niche sport that you loved?

Basketball was always my favorite, Like, if I could have chosen a career, I would have been a professional.

Basket on my shout out You've got the Valley T shirt too. She's a fair say she's a fan of the NBA and a fan of the Suns.

I would say, yeah, and Da signed on, so I'm happy we kept the boys together.

So another.

I was like, she's really investigating.

That's when the siblings grew.

Really glad gets on a high is when there's signing news the whole.

Family, whole family supported someone. Yeah, so how did that come to it?

Well, basically, my oldest brothers five and a half years older than me and in the early nine Yes, that's Ross Ross, Yeah, yeah, so ross. He played hockey for Australia and he's now a teacher and he was so he always set the standard with sport in our family. And he yet loved Charles Barkley as so many people did back in the day and just hardcore went in on the Suns and so we followed him basically as

I was, they were great. That was confused while you were actually so excited as Chris came around, I feel like things turned around.

Yeah, exactly.

So it's so exciting now to actually be in and amongst it. Obviously it was devastating this year to get knocked out and not get that run at the actual final series. But we're going to talk about but yeah, I got the opportunity when I was covering the Super Bowl and All Star NBA All Star Weekend earlier this year, I did like a sort of twenty two hour stopover in Phoenix to watch them, and I dropped a k at the Suns.

Star thousand dollars of American dollars Okay, so like twenty bucks, that's too bad.

Right, because obviously I got my two big brothers, five nieces and nephews, so myself.

A lot of colleagues.

Exactly, it's hard to.

Come by, although it's easier now because they're actually good, but for years, you can get anything. So I was the full blown uffew with two bags of merch watching the game by myself. But anyway, my brothers appreciated it, and my eldest brother, Ross, who I got the DeAndre eight and shirt for, so he's very.

Relieved that da Is signed off huge.

But yeah, so I played basketball, but as I say, I was always too short, too slow, and just not good enough to play for a living.

So I decided to watch for a living instead.

A celebrity termament or something. I feel like you'd probably would just be that secret, just undercover person that rolls in just she dominates no one expects. It's like it's a bit shorter side like we own. She just absolute murders everyone.

I am the person that does all the one percent is because I'm no good at anything else. So I'm setting the screens. I'm doing like hard day, I'm like delivandover without being able to shoot basically.

Yeah, well that was my college career of basketball. So you've really summed it up in one. Now you talked about Ross. You've got another brother, Ian who this is an interesting kind of like fun fact. I didn't know about Ian. I was on Home and Away and we're recently talking about this. He also had a Netflix series come out, which is I love to hear it because I know you love your family. I love my family.

So it's funny because Home and Away, obviously you know it's it's in the institution in Australia, but also in like the UK and places like that, and his storyline is still to this day one of the most popular storylines that ever.

Existed on the channel.

Will give it to us, what is it?

Sally?

Sally?

Anyone who.

Sally is Kate Richie and she basically just grew up on the show and no he didn't collect. But the cliffhanger for the summer was will Sally survived it. And I remember when he first got that storyline, he sort of he was like, You're never going to believe this.

I stabbed Sally.

Did you get the did you get like the inside Infhon? And You're like, I'm literally sworn to secrecy. I can't sell anything.

I'm quite good at that.

So I have Sally what known for.

It's actually more people know him for a show called The Moodies and a Moody Christmas, which has sort of become a cult classic on the ABC and and a lot of families watch it as their family tradition now. So it's this amazing comedy show on the ABC. And it's funny because he gets recognized most of that. And we were at the footage just the other week and

And I was this, like so close.

Because it was in context at the MCG, I.

Was you or him though, I was I was this.

Close saying you, no worries.

And then he turns to my brother and says, I'm a massive fan of the movies.

And so good also degrading for you. I was like, oh no, I don't really want I was.

So relieved that I didn't say yeah, no worries or how embarrassing.

I've heard people be like, oh I can I get a photo? And then it's like to the person next to me and then they just hand me the phone and I'm like the best, Yeah, yeah, we'll do all right.

But yeah, And so he's he's created a show called r FDS, which was a big success on Channel seven as well. We sort of wrote and created that and it's been renewed for a second season and clickbait. So yeah, he's doing stuff, which is awesome. I'm really proud of him because it's it's obviously a really tough industry.

Yeah it's crazy, come all the way from Collie to to the.

Big smoke of Yeah, it's pretty cool.

And that's the thing, like RFTS is all about telling those sort of outback stories of Australia and telling them in a really compelling way, because I think a lot of the time, you know, it's the same as the States in a way, like people refer to rural places in a kind of dismissive or Hicksville kind of way, and.

It's yeah, and it's just not true.

Like there are so many amazing people who live in the country that just didn't want to live in the city and that doesn't make them dumb or whatever. Like so I think, you know, the beauty of the storytelling that he's doing is pretty cool because it is those inclusive sort of stories and a.

Small town like family type place, you know, everyone knows everyone. I love that of like maybe colors like this you talk about Minor River. You like walk into a place, I mean you had your local cafe here, and I walked in and you like instantly knew who the person was that was behind. I was like, I don't need to introduce anyone Like this is like.

Like all our friends are so tall, and like not this tall.

I would think I'm on the higher end of the structure, but yeah, no, it's I love that kind of family feel like something in Australia. I've noticed as people here very generous and just very caring and like everyone's a family here. It's kind of a weird, weird thing to I guess so much try to describe to people, but that's kind of been my experience. I feel like the Australian culture.

Yeah, like the mate ship.

And so Dad was the country doctor and he had quite a unique land Cruiser car.

It was a unique color. No one else in town had it, so every time it.

Was like sort of this brownie sort of tinge but nothing fancy, but no one else had it. And because we were in the town of just under ten thousand and when we were learning to drive, if you were behind his car, you had to do the two fingerways single.

Country.

No, it's like Dad's car. So yes, the two finger acknowledgement off the steering wheel.

If you're all lazy, just the one. Yes, it's cool.

But yeah, that full blown country thing that you've got to say hello to everyone and.

You'll be in the small town doctor, I feel like you'd be the most important person in the town.

Yeah.

So the year before me, my year and the year after me, he was the only doctor doing obstetric So if you're my age, you were delivered by my dad. I was delivered by my dad in our house.

How many deliveries you reckon?

He's done I think like a couple of thousand over the years.

So he's delivered like a tenth of the town. Probably.

Well he's moved on.

He's moved on from from Collin now they now live in Perth. But yeah, I mean a big chunk of it, Like he's either he's and there's a few people that he delivered both generations, which is which is pretty cool.

So it's yeah.

And I don't think the country GPS get enough credit as well, because everything that they do it impacts them. You know, they know the people they're dealing with. And mum was the psychologist in town and dad was the country doctor.

So smart family.

Yeah, I mean I'm a real letdown.

I just watched that's what you're going to say next. You're like, oh, I'm not a doctor or a lawyer into psychology, but I think you're the most well known person of the Meadows family. I mean, look, just say yes. I now, I'll take it. I'll take it. Thank you for the compliment. I appreciate it.

May be advantage of India that my brother, Yeah.

You've got the most followers of everyone. I would say that, let's just go with that. I do want to ask you something because you had an experience that I've had. You went to university in America at the University of Tennessee. Go balls because of the balls. Bright unch.

Be a Tennessee ball.

That's awesome. I did not. I've been it, but I want to ask you. Obviously going to university, you've probably been to a football game. Tennessee balls, massive, massive stadium. I'm not sure how many they would fit. There be coursed off. One hundred and.

Four thousand, I think from memory Nayland's scene. Yeah, and it's sold out pretty much every game. And they were pretty crap when I was there. It was Phil Former and they couldn't pick a quarterback and it was hilarious because I was doing an internship at the local TV station and they obviously loved the fact that it was a chick from Australia who loved sport. And I remember turning to them going what they need to pick and stick?

Though the shit again, so why do they not get it? Kind of thing? But yeah, it was an unbelievable experience.

What was your favorite, Like, I know, obviously you've got Alabama is probably like one of the biggest games you will probably play, But was there any experiences that kind of stick out in your mind of like college, because I feel like a lot of people in Australia don't quite understand it and it's tough to describe it until you've actually experienced it firsthand. Of the tailgating the game being amateur level, but having is just as much, if

Yeah, so it's it's like every movie you've ever seen, and then some it's it's like the movies actually happened. Yeah, yeah, but it's it's like On Royd's kind of thing. So like a couple of experiences that I had. Kenny Rogers came and played at halftime and played the Gambler and the band spelled out Kenny with their bodies there were I wex you.

Know after every touchdown.

Peyton Manning because he was a role He had his jersey retired homecoming.

While I was there and gave it the older. I don't want to be remembered. It was a great football. I just want to be remembered. It was a great man to play football. And everyone's just like.

Loses their mind.

The icons of every exactly, the icon of exactly. And Candice Parker as well, from her basketball perspective, she was around, she was playing when I was there.

I didn't know where, but his basketball be a massive there.

Yeah, well there's the basketball stadium is about twenty five thousand capacity as well. So yeah, just an epic life experience. And yeah, loved every every second of it. So but yeah, the tailgating, all of that, it's it's very much real.

It's very much rare. I feel like it's a it's a bucket list starting for people. They need to experience it before you have to do it firsthand. Like you can't like people can talk about tailor getting, but it's literally you could walk up in the middle of a football game, not I know anyone in the like the parking lot and just walk through and people like, ah, have a sausage, have a hamburger. Come in. There's like six TVs underneath like a gazebo, and everyone's got satellite

And the hatred.

You know, it's been like Collingwood Carlton, like Alabama and Tennessee for example, Like my mom's best mate is from Alabama and she's constantly buying my family merch and you know roll Tide role and I'm.

Like, stop wearing it. Your blood went to Tennessee.

We go for the voles like this is offensive, but they just they don't care.

They're not you have no idea how I mean, like Alabama next level, like they're just the top tier of the top tier. But awesome experience. I love whenever people talk about your college and you can't dive too much into it because I'm sure you had some fun in college.

I drank more in that six months than I did probably the rest of your life. And it's hilarious because I was nineteen when I went over there, so I.

Wasn't legal, but i'd been leaving this well. I had been legal in at for like almost two years.

And turned twenty over there, so I had to use a fake ID, and I used the ID of a woman called Anally up a friend of mine. She was from Estonia. And this is a classic passport. No, it was like a driver's license. And I'm sorry to say, but most Americans didn't know what the hell Estonia was, so I just told them it was a state of Australia and they were fine with that. Didn't work for me was when one guy said, I mean the same class as Anally, So this I know it's not you. Yeah,

Kind of thing. And I came home and I was just.

Really white in the middle of the Australian summer, overweight, and I just came in with my two giants suitcases, said I had a well inside.

Oh my gosh, I love that. You just told us you just literally did something illegal on the podcast, Like I right, my mom listens to this podcast, so I have not mother. I love you very much. Every once or twice we'll tell that story, Thanks Nolan. Now we'll move into obviously you've got your own podcasts ordinarily speaking, and you've got some amazing people on there. Some some people obviously you're mastermin cricket with the stuff you do there,

Getting the feedback from people that it's actually helped them, Because, as you said earlier, my podcast is sort of a really heavy focus on mental health and overcoming adversity and resilience and celebrating that resilience and the human stories of athletes.

Because I don't think we do that enough.

I think it's a really critical industry a lot of the time, and particularly in AFL, and I like to celebrate people, and I think it's really inspiring when people see athletes as human beings and realize that what.

You've achieved is achievable for them too.

Why not so when you get feedback, like for example, I did one with Greg Higher and he received a message and he put it on Instagram that said and trigger warning here for anyone who's listening, but it basically said, I was driving home to end my life and I

Like there's no money out of it or anything.

It's just my passion project of you know, I love doing in depth interviews. Grew up with a mum that's a psychologist, so I learned really early on about you know, the importance of silence and listening and empathy and to be able to meld all my sort of worlds together, of having that passion for psychology, having the passion for sport, but ultimately seeing myself as a storyteller. It's it's awesome to be able to use all those facets and hopefully try and help people.

She loves it. Yeah, and she actually it's quite funny. She will often that was a great question. That was a really good hollow up question there.

Or I loved how you left that silence there, you know, And a lot of the time I will call mum and I think this is really important too, to debrief because sometimes it's really heavy and you need to be able to talk to somebody to be able to go bloody hell, mom, like he just said, X, Y and Z A Like, I don't even know if this is ever going to go to air because it's so intimate what he shared, and you know, sometimes people like regret stuff and say, oh, I don't actually want that out there.

I have all the control here.

There's no boss telling me no, no, we have to use this, or we're going to promo this or whatever, and so it just gives an extra layer of security I think for people that they can trust what their words will end up sounding like. And like I say, when you give people that level of assurance, it's amazing

Yeah, you create that safe space for someone to be able to properly open up and tyrte things that a lot of times, like I feel like you just keep it and bottle it up for a long time and then eventually you get to the point you're like, man, maybe this actually can help someone else in the same situation or whatever it may be. And you know, some people put I guess, athletes and people on a paddestal one. At the end of the day, we're just normal humans.

One hundred percent.

And the point that you just made there is something that really matters to me is a lot of people find it a cathartic experience. I have people, you know, guess who end up thanking me for what I've given them, or family members, which is even more incredible when you hear from a family member, And yeah, I think that is really important to me, and I lose a lot of sleep over how will this be viewed? Will that person regret saying that?

Will?

You know?

I think about the impact on their lives, and I think that's why no one has ever regretted, because I sort of think through all of that and the potential to cause harm run than do good.

So yeah, that cathartic nature.

I would hate it if somebody regretted doing an interview with me, whether it's a podcast or on air or whatever.

I that to me would just be the worst thing.

Yeah, Non, I want to ask you this in the podcast, if you had one episode that you would want someone to listen to. I know this is gonna be tough for you to answer because all these people are probably your friends. Now one podcast episode you could promote to say this is what it's all about? Which one would it be?

I mean it is.

It is so hard because they're all so unique and interesting and.

Like I love them for different reasons.

But still one of my favorites I think will always be Peter Siddle, which was one of the earliest ones I did because he was, you know, and still is a friend of mine. I'm going to be catching up with him in the in the UK next week and so for your knowledge, he's a former Test cricketer.

Cricket, by the way, Creet does not know much about it, So Peter Sile give you an idea cricket.

Well as a Victorian and Australian. Now, Peter Sitle is it an important but he was also a good friend of mine, and I sort of said to him, would you be willing to come on this podcast? And I'm starting out and it didn't exist at the time, and so you're kind of just hoping, you know. Adam Trelaw was another one former teammate of yours early days who came on and I said to him, you know, would you be willing to talk about when you gave up drinking?

That's another one that I have got a lot of feedback on.

And you know, one guy said, this is the podcast I needed to hear right now I'm trying to give up drinking. My family doesn't understand, but I've been able to send them this podcast and say this is why he's speaking on behalf of me almost, And so it becomes this tool sort of as a communication tool for other people. And there's times where my friends are going through stuff and I can say, hey, listen to the Kate Campbell episode because she articulates it so beautifully.

And I think it's going to really help you.

So if something can become like an actual tool like that, it's pretty awesome, I think. But yeah, the SIDS one is still one of my personal favorites.

But it's hard.

It's like choosing your favorite kid.

Yeah, I was going to say, like favorite movie, but yes, favorite kid. Yeah, that's that's totally the same. We all know a mom don't have a favorite child. Though, Let's be honest, it's my brother at the moment. It's not me. It's back in America. They're like, I haven't.

Produced any grandkids. Way down the TI.

My mum does tell me that my stories are way more interesting to see.

My most is the same thing. I think that's the way of saying, like, we love you, but you're just not that, just not you know, at the top of.

The tod As mum would always say when we brought our projects home as kids, it's got character it.

It's like, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. We'll talk about a bit of your your career, and we briefly mentioned this because cricket obviously, I think a lot of people know. Not being Australian, I'm a bit ignorant as well. Some people might say I've tried to learn. I've tried to learn, don't get me wrong, but this is what you're doing now, and you're traveling the world doing it

Yeah, I mean it was just a big bruise for betting or in the end, wasn't it.

On some farmers, like just with questionable gear.

And just just throwing the ball.

Over whatever you want to call it.

Pitchy. Oh, this is going to be interesting.

She's gonna hate you this. I don't mean this a disrespectful idea.

It's just me and my pretty hard to offend me. Yeah, it's it's enormous. It's huge.

It is like people say, it's like a religion. It is kind of like a religion. It's like the I p L is the biggest.

Domestic cricket league in the world, so all the biggest stars go and play there. From all over the world, and you know, there are times where I've covered a game and there's been four international captains playing in the

Because obviously now.

With huge streaming giants and you know, Disney is ESPN, but it's also Star Sports and all this sort of thing, how can we piece all the puzzles together. So that's how enormous it is. It's it's become like the NBA rights, the EPL rights, those those sort of things from an international perspective. So it's it's enormous and it's so much fun. I came on board during the pandemic, so I mean just the.

Kind of experience itself.

I feel like, yeah, like most of it's been in the UAE that I that I've done and in a bubble environment. We didn't have crowds for the first couple of goals. But this year I find got to do

And they've got a real big too for.

A while, massive, and I like, I mean, I'd been banned from my home state for a year, and now I was banned from my entire country, Like we couldn't get home because Scott Morrison decided that India was banned. So all of a sudden, you're in a foreign country and you don't like, you can't direction no. So even that in itself is kind of a crazy story that ended up in the Malders for two weeks just to be able to come home in you know.

I know it's alternative.

It's such a bizarre life experience. You know, with thirty of Australia's elite cricketers.

You become closer. I feel like some of them I would have been kind of cool like experience.

Yeah, a lot of them were already my mates, so you know, that wasn't a problem at all. It was just kind of this weird like And I remember remember Kane Williamson, who is a New Zealand's premium cricketer, basically.

Describe everyone that's listening knows these people just look at my blank face and just say yep, maha and just roll through the next.

He's the he's the skipper of the Kiwi's and he's a very quiet, yeah, softly spoken guy. And I remember there was sort of sting rays being fed and he sort of just looks at me and goes, how did.

We get here?

I'm still wondering because we've just gone from this you know, crazy scenario and we're all so concerned about all of our mates in India, and that was like the original point is that I was, you know, obviously in an environment that was a little daunting because I couldn't get home and didn't know what was happening.

But I knew it would be fine.

I'm not a sort of panicking type person, and I'd played out a lot of these scenarios before getting on the plane in the first place. And my parents are pretty good with the fact that I'm that kind of person as well. And I was also I'm in the same place as Ricky Ponting and Pat Cummens and Steve Smith. It's okay, They're not leave me behind, don't you go. The Indian mates that I had were unbelievable because they were literally every day making phone calls to find oxygen

Are you okay?

Nearly?

Is your family okay? Just the kind and.

Compassion of people to still ask me how I'm going when I know my family was relatively safe, right, Just unbelievable human being. So I will always have such a special connection with that country from here on in.

Because of that experience.

Yeah, and as you know, like it's when things are hard, that's when you find out people's true character. True so true, so an incredible experience in so many ways, through highs and lows.

We'll move to another place, maybe a bit closer to my home now. You recently covered the Super Bowl in Miami. Yes, tell us about that experience.

Yeah, so did Miami in twenty twenty, which was amazing, and then LA this year. I was supposed to do the one in between as well, but you know pandemic.

So the way you look at is not a fan of that.

Yeah, yeah, I miss I miss Brady, but you know he's unretired, so maybe I'll get another one. Crazy, but well, is just unbelievable. It's like nothing else in the world for a like, I know there's a season, but from a global perspective, it's a one off event, right, I guess a football World Cup final, maybe competes, but pretty much everyone has also watched the entire competition unfold as well.

There's hundreds of them.

I've never experienced anything like it in my life. And in Miami, for example, the set was like five hundred meters of purpose built sets on the beach and that's not even for the game, that's just for the build up for the week. So they're bigger sets than anything I've ever worked on in Australia and they're just there

Its next level.

So there's this huge set that's in front of the world famous like Disney, Mickey Mouse, Ferris Wheel, just crazy and our show this is hilarious. And you will find this funny now being in a you know, an American who plays in the AFL is that our show was going to air on the big screens around Disney, but it was our Australian one.

So I'm like, for.

Example, interviewing a feature story with Ben Griffith's former like Richmond, Yes, exactly, really good guy, but like people.

In Disney like, who the hell's the dude with.

The mustard does have an Australian accent.

And so that was so cool when we realized we'rend the picture.

Were like screen.

They got the photo of me as a twelve year old with Dopey and I'm like how it started?

How?

And then it was really.

Cute because there was this little kid he would have been, i know, eleven or twelve at the super Bowl.

Came up to me, little American Kidney.

Because excuse me, are you the woman that was hosting a disney Land? And I'm like, yes, this is the colose moment of my life, getting recognized at the Super Bowl from hosting a Disney.

It's so cool.

So he's like, can I yes.

That's it? You're like I would love to.

It was so cool.

So and it was funny like different people because I had told people I was going, you know, to the super Bowl. Obviously that was what I was excited about as a sports lover. But when they were watching on Instagram and stuff, They're like, hang on.

What you're a Disneyland Like.

They were more excited about like the lightsaber that I got given, which is basically like a real life lightsaber.

More people were interasion.

Okay, well, Nick Revolt, for example, was like how much I I swear to God.

I will buy it? And I was like, no, that niece and nephews are getting it.

So it's did you ever go any like pre parties or anything like that.

I didn't this year because I really wanted to avoid COVID ahead of NBA All Star Weekend because I knew that I had that to look forward to it and I didn't want to put that in jeopardy. But in Miami I did, yeah, because that was just BEFOREVID.

Miami in l A. You've picked really good spots.

I know next year, I'm like, I only do hot super.

Bowl being a son's lover. That's it. Games. At the same time, exactly do you picked all the places you essentially wanted to go to. This is what's happened. But it is an amazing experience. It's tough to describe people how big the sorry the Super Bowl is in America, and it's cool that, Like, I love the fact that you've got to experience not only one like media and America at its best and its biggest kind of like production. But I think the game itself. Were you in the stadium? Yeah?

Yeah, okay, so hosted from within the stadium. The first time was outside stadium, but went inside to watch the game. This year was hosting inside the stadium and then watching the game as well from there. So and I got I got really lucky with the two halftime shows as well, because I got like Jalo Snoop and then this year I got like eminem and yeah it was.

How good was that halftime show?

It was so good. I mean, I'm very lucky.

I'm very jealous such as I've got to You've done some amazing things as we've gone through. I want to talk about, I guess, being female in sporting culture here. I know it's it's kind of crazy because there's not it's it's changed quite a bit over the last few years. Females are now kind of with AFLW being a big push in Australia, I feel like there's a lot more females that are now commentating there on panels and everything else.

Yeah, and look, I'll give a shout out because there's obviously women that came before me, and every generation of women push it a little bit further. And the times that I've sort of wanted to give up, and there have definitely been times that I've wanted to walk away because it's all too hard, I then think, well, wherever I quit is where I'm leaving it for the next

She goes for freo.

Because I go for Freo and you know, all of a sudden, not only does she have an actual platform to advance in that sport that I never had. I never to play footy as a kid. I played soccer with all the boys, but footy didn't exist where I was anyway for girls. And I would have loved to have played cricket, for example, as a girl, and that

At the end of the day.

Because you're sharing ideas and exchanging thoughts and opinions and values, and you're going to just get a better product rather than the same type of person in the room over and over and over again.

Yeah, do you have any role models growing up? And when you looked up to in the media so like Landscape that you go, oh, if I can be somewhat like her and look up to the way she kind of handled the situation, I can only imagine being one of the originals. And I'm not sit here to I kind of be detrimentally talking about kind of media and the lack of female representation over the past however many years.

Yeah, Joe Green and Karen Tie.

With the two for me, there were pretty much two of the only women on it when I was younger, Tiff Cherry and yeah, those sort of figures as I got older, got opportunities. But yeah, Karen Tie has been around for quite a long time and he's just an incredible person, and so is Joe. You know that whole thing, And don't meet your heroes those two you can absolutely tick off their unbelievable human beings. So they were probably the two that I looked to. And it's not in

Oprah. Yes, you get the car, you get the car, you get car. She is she is redefined I think like women in media.

And to be a black woman who had the upbringing that she did and has achieved what she did in the era that she has unbelievable. We I know this sounds a bit silly, but we undervalue Oprah because her impact on you know, that's what I would watch. I found her so impressive in the way that she interviewed. She knew when to be humorous, she knew when to pull back, she knew when to be a little bit

And I kind of, you know.

Like to be sort of similar in the way that sometimes she does really fun stuff and sometimes she does really hardcore stuff. And I like to see myself as being not Oprah but that versatile.

I've got a good name for it though.

And I just but she was sort of and so many things that she, you know, would speak about over and over and over has been the way that I view, you know, the world, listening to the little voice in your head and make you know, acknowledging when you feel a certain way, because there's a reason why.

You do all of those sorts of things. Yeah.

So she was and still is one of the great influences of my life. If I could meet anyone, it would be Oprah.

Oprah. If you have three people you wanted to go to dinner with, oprahul be one of them.

I like this question.

My answer this is Barack Obama, Oprah, and my best mate Errand so that we could talk about it for years. Aaron is gonna get Aaron's getting a set at the table?

Wow?

Can you argue with my logic? Though?

I just FaceTime someone in to the table. I would just like use the magic of technology, so smart thinking.

Because then you can sit back, have ones at vast feelings and you know.

Just talk about that.

I reckon they would they would be able to rif off each other very.

Well to exactly like you've got to be strategic about this.

Oh my gosh, like Oprah, I remember Obra was doing the interview with the Duke and Duchess something. I'm still trying to get my head around the girl family, but that interview is awesome. I love that because she she's coming back to the back end of her career. Hour she doesn't have to deal with it as much like she's made her money. She's like done what she wants to do. She doesn't have to prove anything. And she did that to really kind of like tell their genuine

She's amazing.

Honestly, my childhood is just dotted with the Oprah Winfree Show.

I never saw this going Oprah coming on the podcast.

I have girly things.

I mean, Oprah, I just love that. Next is gonna be all de generous. I'll ask you this, for female and sport, what do you think is the next big hurdle to overcome?

I like, I say more women behind the scenes. So, for example, I flw in coaching ranks as well. Why has it not worked out as well as it probably should have. What are we not doing the support people? What can we be doing better behind the scenes in the media, As I say, there should be female executives, there should be female producers. And I've actually worked with more female producers in India in the last two years in cricket than I have in Is.

There a comparative India media and Australian Is there a lot more female representation India than.

Australia behind the scenes in my experience there has been. Yeah, there's still a long way to go in India as well, but I think we can definitely do more here in Australia for those sorts of roles and I would love to see that happen. Just trying to increase the diversity on all levels. And we're talking before we started recording this about Nadini, your new comms.

Manager's skilessness, very happy.

I mean, she's a massive, like just a star twenty eight year old woman who's just dominating in the AFL landscape and just makes me feel brighter and happier about the future to come because she's just an incredible person and just sees the world differently because, as you say, every lot of women coming through have, you know, hopefully a more positive experience than the previous generation. So she makes me feel happy basically, Like talking to her, I

It's like we did a little bit of a TV thing called on the Mark. I don't know if you remember this back in the day, and it's all female cast. I loved it. It was good. Fine, I could just stay there all day. Now. I got a pie out of that day too, which is awesome. It's delicious. It was delicious. It was like it was thank you Independent day and that was all female cast, and I found

See yeah, And I think like I sort of always describe myself as a little sister.

Although I'm older.

Than pretty much everyone in the AFL now except for David Mundy keep going, please, David.

In roles in commentary teams.

And stuff, I always sort of describe myself as a little sister. And I think, you know, you do talk to your sisters, to your your girlfriends, your mother, as you said, more openly, I think about emotional stuff and you do because it's not as combative or competitive or whatever. And you know it's great that boys are getting better at talking about their feelings. I think, yeah, but I think, yeah,

That's so true. Is there anyone you look at now that's coming through the ranks, even for me, if I wor anything like that you just thoroughly impressed with.

I mean, I'm a big fan of Chloe Malloy, who's obviously your She.

Actually stocked me one day going to get a scanned, and she was like apologizing as she was stocking with.

Us friends with sorry. Yeah, it's like it's like she.

Was kind of like she was apologizing but also having to ask the questions. Yeah, it is, you like walking up me like I'm not going to tell you anything. I don't know anything yet, and then she sends me a message after she's like, oh my gosh, I'm so so, I'm so embarrassed. I was like just doing your job, like it doesn't really bother me. But it was weird seeing like someone who's like on partophilel like program and then also like asking me like questions that the media

She's absolutely gone you know, basketball as well obviously as well as footy and just a lovely person. And yeah, so she's probably the one that i'd pick out of that.

Yeah, so what's next for you?

So I am heading off to Europe in about twelve hours still pass right, Yeah my flats like two weeks ago. Yeah, so I'm heading over to Europe just for travel because usually, as we've sort of touched on, I'm doing footy, but sorted most of my work is overseas at the moment. And with the Indian Premier League and stuff, so I get to just travel for fun over the next few weeks, which.

I'm really excited about. I've never been able to.

Do it this time a year usually sort of go on that October November range, so I'm excited for that. And then yeah, Women's Basketball World carp and Men's Cricket World Cup later in the year, so it's good.

It's fun.

I'm sort of my two pass in you know, the professional environment and live live sport, you know, major events and long form interviews. So if I can keep sort of ticking those two things off and then have time to travel and spend time with family and friends, and I'm pretty happy.

I'm very jealous of this whole trip to Europe. It is sumwhere it's prime time. It's one of the downsides of playing AFLs, you never get the European summer, but I'm glad you get to experience it. I want to say personally a massive thank you for coming on. My mom's gonna be so pumped for this podcast. I'm not gonna lie, but and honestly, you're breaking the glass ceiling

Well, thank you very much for having me in all the kind words as well.

And you may not know this name, but as Rove McManus would always finish his show with, say how do your mom for me?

Oh, Rove, I do know.

Rov got Sen