Old Bar Pirates president Andrew Wilkes talks footy today On The Bench
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00:00 last round of group three rugby league or group three rugby league competition
00:03 proppers on this weekend and we'll talk about it today on the bench of course
00:06 sponsored by our great friends classic design jewels and we'll talk about it
00:09 with Andrew Wilkes the president of the Old Bar Pirates. Thanks Wilkes for coming in.
00:12 Thanks for having me. Before we get into that we'll do the last round it is.
00:16 All three four games three games directly affect the top five the one that
00:21 doesn't will decide the wooden spoon but matches this weekend with Old Bar
00:26 versus McLeod Valley at Old Bar. The William Tigers versus Port City at
00:30 William and Warhope v Foster-Toncurry at Warhope and on Sunday the Port
00:35 Sharks host Tarry City and for last weekend the men in hotel player of the
00:39 round goes to Harry Lewis the Wigan Tigers halfback who's had a blinder in
00:43 the 20 to 16 win over Tarry City which is bad news for Gary the Christian
00:47 Learbridge Cup that we'll talk about a bit later on too. Donnie the Pirates I
00:52 think they're gonna claim the minor premiership? Yeah sort of one of those
00:56 never can't chickens before they hatch but we've got a reasonable differential
01:01 lead at the moment and like I said with this end of the season you want
01:05 to be winning games anyway so we sort of think positively and get the win on the
01:09 weekend that's done and dusted anyway but I think there's a point
01:13 differential there of 40 points to play with two and I think with obviously
01:16 Wigan have got plenty to play for on the weekend at home against the breakers too
01:20 so hopefully that's a really good game they get stuck into each other.
01:26 And I said to Mick Henry during the week, it's not really a nothing game but the first
01:33 grade side wouldn't want to go into the semifinal series with two losses from the last three games.
01:36 No and sort of going back to the first round the Mustangs gave it to
01:43 us up there away on a Sunday Arvo so we came away with our tail between our legs
01:47 well and truly that day sort of I think 38-16 or so I can't remember the final score
01:53 but it was a good win to those guys up there.
01:57 You were without your imports that day. We were yeah.
02:00 Either way if the impossible does happen you don't get the minor premiership
02:05 as I don't think it's going to but you're still gonna host a semifinal
02:09 down at Olba some way through the track. What did you learn from last year's grand final?
02:12 At the end of the day we sort of walked away from it.
02:18 The hardest thing last year that we're not going to have to deal with this year was
02:21 the wet weather and one thing that a lot of the other clubs are lucky is they've
02:26 got their fencing in place they've got their seating a lot of those things so
02:30 those things last year we couldn't get machinery onto the field so there
02:34 was a lot of a lot of manual handling to get grandstands into position, temp
02:38 fencing and all those type of things so we're sort of on the front foot this
02:45 year with planning around all of those things so I think last year definitely
02:48 definitely gave us an idea of what we what we needed to look like.
02:52 It's an interesting sort of field Olba because everyone does levitate to that I
02:57 guess southwestern corner and then they sort of fan out from there so we're
03:03 sort of thinking about the smaller bar we're probably looking at moving the bar
03:07 to a more friendly friendly location where we can have more lines of people
03:12 to get get a drink and the barbecues last year we had split over a couple of
03:16 areas I think we'd continue to do something like that so yeah from there's
03:21 plenty of learnings from last year and hopefully if all going well we get
03:25 another chance to improve improve on that effort this year.
03:28 The hurdles you had to overcome last year of the ancient man of almost I
03:33 would have thought what Scott, Calvin and I were down there to do a story on the Tuesday
03:35 and it was a beautiful day in the Newer Hill and things were starting to play fine
03:41 day the kids are running around on the field and it started raining on
03:43 Wednesday and basically didn't stop till Friday evening and we had Wayne Bridge
03:48 who was the chairman of the group he came on and said that on a Friday morning to
03:52 confirm was actually gonna head a job I was even talking about taking it to
03:55 Wyngemot one stage so you did a remarkable job. Oh they were I was not
04:00 gonna give it up there was and what we were lucky we had like we had a lot of
04:04 volunteers put their hands up so Wednesday Thursday Friday to go down
04:07 there and see the amount of blokes that had noodles zip-tied to brooms brooming
04:11 water off the playing surface and cut little drains in just to just try and
04:15 get as much water off the playing surface especially down the southern end
04:19 where there was a lot of water laying it was an unbelievable effort from a lot of
04:23 people and yeah it was the end of the the end of the day we didn't get the
04:27 result but it was still a really good really good opportunity for the club to
04:31 host the grand final. And Saturday dawned fairly well and then of course you had the storm at lunchtime
04:37 which was exactly the time we didn't want it and it looked like it set in too.
04:39 Yeah. I reckon I spoke to 30 people since then and said they were going and then they said no it's still wet in here.
04:46 Yeah the way the way that storm blew up it looked like it was it looked like
04:51 we're in gonna be in for all sorts of dramas but luckily it passed fairly
04:55 quickly I think from memory we we only just caught the northern tip of what was
04:58 a fairly savage storm so we did get lucky with that but um just to rub salt
05:04 into the wounds at the end of the day we got a heavy rain when we were packing up
05:07 after after the loss and it started to pour after the grand final so that all
05:12 the volunteers had to hang around and do a majority of the pack up in the pouring rain.
05:15 Because you also had to talk the group into letting you have a downer.
05:19 I know there's a lot of skepticists in the group that haven't had them and I
05:22 you came on this segment last year to state your case basically and I must
05:27 admit I was a bit doubtful as to whether you could hold it down there and by the time
05:32 we finished talking I would have taken Matilda's game.
05:36 I think one thing we've got a really hard-working committee there and we're
05:40 keen to keen to have a crack at things and and I think that was one of the
05:44 things that always was always a bit of a frustration is that was not things can't
05:49 go to old bar like that and we're sort of saying well why not give us give us
05:52 one go at it and we'll prove that we can do it and it was nice to get that
05:56 opportunity and hopefully I said I'm based on the based on the figures from
06:00 the day and the crowd and everything I think it shows that um it shows it can
06:03 be done there you can be done successfully.
06:05 Well the group always likes to aim for the $20,000 gate.
06:08 That's working on $10 a head which has been in place for a number of years now.
06:12 I think it was $18,900 the gate last year. Had it not been the weather problems you had
06:16 there would have been comfortably $20,000. Easily $20,000.
06:20 I think the last game they had at Port Macquarie might have been 2018 I think the gate was
06:23 a touch over $70,000. It wasn't $80,000 so that just goes to prove how popular it was down here compared to up there.
06:31 Yeah. No, as you said I think the weather. The weather certainly did impact the
06:35 impact the crowd on the day. It was pretty pretty ordinary and there would
06:38 have been people that probably watching the earlier grades come to watch the
06:42 early grades and we're gonna hang around all day and thought that when we got
06:44 that wet weather and thought that was a cue to to get out of there as well so
06:47 I think back and there was still a good there was still a good crowd in for the
06:52 for the day but yeah we get one of those nice sunny Saturday Sunday afternoons
06:58 down Lower Bar that we can get through September I think that had um that
07:01 certainly helped see those numbers. That was another thing too. All the minor grades were all Northern teams.
07:05 There wasn't a Southern side involved. Unfortunately might be the case this year as well.
07:09 Foster might have a, or will have a league tag side in you think but the rest
07:12 are probably be Northern sides. I think they're all donning the
07:15 18's in reserve. I know Taroo might be a smoking reserve. They started their last
07:23 five weeks a lot better than what they were at the end of the year. So they're looking they can finish higher second.
07:27 Really? Yeah. Yeah they're actually built pretty well in the last few weeks.
07:30 I know they put Old Bar to the sword down at Taroo a few weeks back.
07:35 Which is a good, but we're in the fumpin' too. Yeah, so they're sort of one that's, they're looking, you speak to them,
07:42 that they're looking as though they want to burn that top three and thinking that
07:47 they can get them. Well let's hope so. Because we've got another game at Old Bar. Hopefully we win in a couple of weeks time.
07:54 And then here we go down there again with a Taroo reserve grade and we'll
07:57 certainly, pretty sure the Foster will make the, it'll be the Foster of Taroo
08:00 will be in the league tag. Yeah it'll be great to see. Obviously more Southern
08:04 teams. I think that's exactly right. When I put the home and away shed stuff up last
08:07 year, we were weren't we? Only Southern team. Only Southern team. Yeah. Wasn't quite the result you got then.
08:14 No. Maybe that'll change this year. Looking at you, Donny, at the start of the year, you made the decision to go overseas looking for players.
08:21 Is that something you'll continue to do you think? At the moment, there's a
08:26 couple of things that have all sort of merged at once and part of it's the
08:32 PPIS system that's been implemented. New South Wales Rugby League. Obviously Old
08:38 Bar's been a club that hasn't had a full junior roster ever really and
08:45 under-16s teams have been sporadic over the years. So those 18s feeding, those 16s
08:50 feeding into 18s into our first grade has always left a bit of a gap that we've
08:54 had to plug some way. Obviously this year Jamie Morette, he's sort of a
09:01 guy watching video, footy players all the time and on the phone
09:07 talking to guys locally around the state up in Queensland and they
09:12 ended up with this connection with Ronnie from Port Moresby and talking
09:19 about these guys and yeah the discussion was sort of keen to come over and
09:23 have a game and have a bit of a look around and they've been really good.
09:27 So I guess the short answer is we'll continue to do it within reason.
09:32 We want to make sure that we're fostering a lot of our
09:36 locals but I think most clubs, like the battle of filling a reserve grade and
09:41 filling in under-18s is just becoming more and more challenging.
09:45 Again now you take one of these kids that have got four year junior
09:51 history with another club here locally and they're worth 25 points and when
09:55 you're only trying to manage a first grade roster with 75-80 points
09:59 depending on where you finish that previous season.
10:02 Just on that too, you've got to look at the situation where you were talking about the point system and really no one sort of knows what the point system is.
10:10 But I was just talking to that young fella yesterday that did his ACL last weekend
10:17 and I'm saying that if Tauri City Bulls don't make first grade
10:22 semi-finals, Nav Willer will come back and play the 18s and they said well he's
10:27 played too many games in first grade so he can't come back to the 18s.
10:30 I just said well that's detrimental to the young fella. You always want to play at a higher level.
10:35 But if you've got a chance that the higher level you finish with can't make it,
10:40 go back and play with your mates in the 18s because it could be the last time
10:43 you play with your mates because you're off somewhere. You've got to start having a look at this.
10:47 I still haven't got as good an understanding as I need to have
10:53 but I don't see the PPIS system at the moment being good with where we've got a shortage of players in the bush at the moment
11:01 so I don't see how long term this is good to keep as many people playing footy as we need.
11:06 Especially if you've got a young fella who goes well I don't necessarily want to play at another club
11:10 and you've got that club saying mate we can't take you here because you're worth 25 points.
11:14 And then he goes well I'm just not going to play footy. So there's a scenario you don't want to see.
11:19 And you might get a club that's got, I think we've spoken about this before, got too many under 18s in the club.
11:24 A couple of kids say well we'll go and play for Bulbarra or Otari or whatever and we'll wing them.
11:27 And they go we can't take you because you've got too many loading points.
11:31 Particularly they're not real great players, they just want to get on the footy, they're not superstars.
11:36 That's exactly right. I think we need a system in place here at the moment where they say
11:40 we need as many kids playing under 18s as we possibly can and sort of push that other stuff to the side for the time being.
11:45 Because you don't want to see clubs start falling over or only fielding one or two teams out of the lot.
11:51 We dropped our league tag team this year which was really disappointing but there just wasn't the interest early on.
11:56 So we're running around with three teams this year and it's not ideal.
12:00 You've got a lot of un-Avalanche kids coming into your sides in the next couple of years
12:07 but that's not for a couple of years yet so if you're still going to fill those spots for the next two or three years
12:12 you're probably not going to get the benefit of them yet.
12:14 No and that's the problem. I don't know what the answer is but at the moment the player points index system
12:21 is probably causing a lot more headaches than good.
12:26 When it was initially sold to us it was sold like it was going to be a really positive thing
12:30 but as you get into it you realise that there's a lot of tricks in there.
12:35 We've had any number of people on this segment this year and I don't think anyone's sitting nice about it.
12:40 They sort of don't know how it works. The system, how many points, it's too hard.
12:47 So how many of those folks you've got from New Guinea and Fiji, how many points do they work?
12:51 They vary. I haven't got the points right in front of me but I think they vary from about eight down to
13:00 we've got young Ruben who's come over from New Zealand this year, I think might sit on two.
13:05 He hadn't played footy at all, had he?
13:06 He hadn't, no, which makes me wonder why he's worth two to be honest.
13:10 But as I said there's reasons around it and as I said I don't question how it's being applied,
13:18 I just question the need for it or the way it's set up at the moment and it might work well in some competitions
13:26 but I think there's other competitions you've got to look at.
13:29 So there's certain circumstances with certain clubs and Old Bar's a really good example.
13:34 I'd be happy to talk to them about how Old Bar's really only developed in the last few years
13:38 and with their junior league and things like that we're a really good example of showing how it can cause
13:42 a real vacuum of players over the next few years. It'll be all right in four years, five years time.
13:49 As you said, yeah, because the premiership window is probably after this year it mightn't be jammed shut
13:55 but it's going to be very narrow after this year because you're going to, they've already had Jordan on this year
14:00 and Mick Kennedy this year, they said their time has come to an end and blokes like that aren't easy to replace.
14:06 No, those guys, they're guys 30 plus, having families and things like that now and you can understand things change.
14:15 Hope that they've still got a year or two of footy in them but maybe certainly want to step back from the responsibility
14:20 of captain coaching and things like that which does take up a lot of time. There's a lot in it and they do a really good job.
14:26 They're not only involved in that but any of the charity days or anything they're front and centre trying to help get things sorted.
14:33 So yeah, their input's huge but that window with that particular team is definitely closing that we've had there.
14:43 Next year you've got to go back to the drawing board and think of another four or five positions that we might need to start looking around for.
14:51 Another reason why you're better with the competition this year, just to make sure.
14:54 Yeah.
14:55 The Albar plan of management, I said the plan of management for the Albar Reserve, obviously the pirates are going to be very heavily involved in that.
15:01 What's your wish list there?
15:03 It's a long wish list. I guess the main things, one of the things that was obvious last year was the need for drainage.
15:14 Once you get something drained properly is irrigation. So drainage and irrigation are two things.
15:20 Lighting upgrades, there's actually, I don't know how much but the scope to hopefully, I'd love to see another two sporting fields built to the northern end
15:30 along the airstrip. I don't know if that is viable but I know this year when we've got all these teams training in juniors and seniors,
15:39 those two fields get absolutely flogged. So to have that extra space to train would be fantastic.
15:47 I think amenities upgrade with the girls game growing rapidly in both tackle and league tag, especially in Albar, is really popular.
15:57 I think those improved amenities with the men's and women's change rooms is obviously something that would be good to see.
16:06 Even our canteen, it's a small canteen when you compare it to some of the, like even Taree's is probably twice the size and then you see something like
16:14 Wingham run, Wingham operate out of, it's a really, really good facility. So yeah, as I said, it's a long wish list.
16:23 It's a good venue there but it would be great to see some upgrades.
16:29 Looking into the footy this weekend though, Gary, can the Blues get there do you think?
16:34 Well the beauty about it is they've got to win. They've got to win to finish, they can either finish fourth or fifth.
16:41 If they win and Wingham get beat, they'll finish fourth. If they lose, they're out. It'd be Port and Wingham, Port and fifth.
16:49 I suppose it's good that you're playing your last game and you've got something to play for. Obviously Christian's not 100% but the dugout out there will give you 110 like he does every week when he goes out and plays.
17:02 I just think it's good that you've got to travel and you'll know exactly what they're going to do when they get up there because there's three games on Saturday and one on Sunday.
17:11 It's all in their hands. Let's hope that they get through and we get another southern side in the semis.
17:19 We've got a perfect world for us down here at least. I don't think it's going to happen somewhere other than here.
17:25 They did blow up a shooty last week, didn't they?
17:28 Yes, they did. It was a game of two halves. I think if it was another five, ten minutes, they'd probably win.
17:34 Our long game is 40 games, 80 minutes so you can't say if and when. Sometimes the day might get to them a bit but as we've always said, because it's the Bridge family, two of my nephews played the other side.
17:52 One of them scored the first try. If they're going to play next year, one's got to play with us and one's got to play with Wingham.
17:58 Tim was the team player of the player of the match.
18:04 It's the first time Tim's been up to play in it because he's been in Newcastle.
18:06 He played last year.
18:07 I didn't think he'd be back because he was injured this year. It was a good day. Unfortunately, we didn't win and we've got to win this weekend.
18:19 The Tigers have a big game tomorrow too. They're not sure of a spot yet but they win their end.
18:25 They win their end and it just comes down to Durrey City and Port next day.
18:28 Remarkably, Andrew Gilbert plays his 150th first grade game tomorrow.
18:34 Tomorrow?
18:35 He retired on 148 and didn't know because they dragged him out of retirement last week.
18:39 To fill in the Hawkins spot.
18:41 Tomorrow will also be the 20th reunion of the 2003 Premiership winning side, which he hasn't played in.
18:49 Four more minutes and he'll be able to see him run around and play in the first grade, which is a bit amazing.
18:55 I didn't know he wanted to come back. A lot of plans happen. You like to play one game with your son.
19:03 His son's a pretty good footballer. He's a strong little bloke and he's tough. I don't know whether they've played together yet.
19:14 Ian's been playing reserve and Jett hasn't.
19:17 Ian hasn't played that much. He did his AC in the first spot.
19:21 I don't think they have.
19:23 I don't know how old he'll be to play reserve.
19:26 I think it is 17.
19:33 Jett can't go up because he's not turned 17 until after the footy season.
19:39 He's still at the Ellersmere Frannies.
19:41 Peter, you're getting imports. They're import.
19:45 Graham Larling, you might have played with him.
19:48 He's international, isn't he?
19:50 How many points would he be worth? He's international.
19:52 He'd be 25.
19:54 You would think. But as I said, I just haven't got a good enough handle on it. I have a look at it at the moment.
20:01 You'd think it probably should be obvious, but you have a look at it and think, "Am I interpreting that the right way?"
20:07 The guys you've got this year, are they going to stay next year?
20:11 I want to sit down and have a chat with them really soon because they've been really, really nice blokes.
20:17 You're not going to meet nicer guys. They're really thankful for everything that's been done for them.
20:25 To sit and play footy, to sit and watch those four guys bring the ball out of the backfield is something that I've not been part of in a team in the bush.
20:35 To see them fire like that. The short answer is, "Yeah, we'll certainly be having a chat with them and see if they're keen to come back."
20:43 They're certainly invested in the side. Is it Sean Nigel that's out at the moment?
20:47 I think they were out a couple of weeks ago, whoever you beat up the other day, and he was jumping up and down at full time.
20:51 They're not just here to hand out the money.
20:54 No, no. As I said, they're really nice guys. We've had them around for dinner one night and just really thankful and just really polite.
21:04 I guess it's completely different too. Like I said, I've never been over to Papua New Guinea and spent any time,
21:12 but I'd imagine the sort of life over here is completely different.
21:16 I'd imagine too. It was a problem Wigan had with trying to get more players in, but they lived outside Port Moresby and just getting them from wherever they lived to Port Moresby is not a nosy thing.
21:26 No, I think up in the Highlands where I think two of our, Manu and Aaron, they're in the Highlands and then Shane and John are from down Port Moresby.
21:38 I think, forgive me boys if I've got that wrong, but I think that's, yeah.
21:43 Speaking of Wigan tomorrow, it's also a fundraiser for the Mark Hughes Foundation.
21:47 I understand Wigan first grade side will be wearing replicas of the Newcastle Knights 1997 Premiership winning side, and you guys have got a fundraiser too tomorrow, have you?
21:56 Yeah, we have. I just brought this jumper along. I thought I'd quickly show it.
22:00 We've got a fundraiser tomorrow for MND Day, and obviously the last few years we've picked a charity to support that's probably close to someone in the club's heart and said we'll get involved around that one.
22:17 And this year, for those who know Brad Ezzie, he's suffering with MND, been diagnosed a little while back now.
22:28 He's coming down tomorrow, which will be good to see because we've also got our Old Boys Day there tomorrow as well, so hopefully we'll see a lot of old faces around the place.
22:35 But Brad's going to come out to the footing. It'll be great to catch up with him there.
22:41 We'll go back to the club later that night, and we've got an auction where we'll auction off all of the jumpers.
22:48 And then we've got a few other signed NRL jumpers and bits and pieces as part of the auction, and try and make a bit of money for the foundation, which is MND Queensland.
22:58 We've ended up going with those guys because they're someone that can directly help Brad and other people up in that area locally that are struggling with MND.
23:11 But yeah, it'll be good to catch up with him.
23:14 Speaking of fundraisers, Gary, last week, the Christy Lee Day for the Canna Sisters was an amazing success.
23:20 An amazing day. The weather was great. The crowd, the game started from 8.30 in the morning.
23:26 I want to say a big thank you to Turrey City Bulls for the effort they put in.
23:31 They were there from 7 o'clock Saturday morning until the game finished Saturday afternoon, and then back at the Sponsors Club after that.
23:39 But to the committee and to the workers and everything, it was a great day.
23:44 Breakfast, lunch, we could have had tea there too, we probably could have if we had to play a bit later.
23:50 But a big thank you to them. Without their support for the charity day, we probably wouldn't have raised as much money as we did.
23:58 Speaking of what we raised, at this stage we're around, I think, $45,000 we've raised for the day now.
24:07 A big thank you to the community in Turrey, William, Olba, Foster.
24:11 Everyone that, people that travelled from Sydney up the coast to be here for the day.
24:17 They know what the day is about. The people that purchased the shirts that we get done every year in remembrance of my beautiful daughter, Christy Lee.
24:26 They saw that for the first time, didn't they?
24:29 Yeah, unbelievable.
24:30 It's a great effort, isn't it?
24:32 It's a great effort. And the beauty about, as we said, we're doing it to help people and the local Canna Sisters.
24:39 More money goes to them and they help people in the community.
24:41 And there's about 93 families in the last 12 months that they've helped, given assistance and everything when they're going through a tough time.
24:51 So, very much appreciated by the community and, you know, it's unbelievable.
24:57 It's a great initiative that they originally started with William and Turrey, back then when it first started.
25:07 Just the support of the local community. A big thank you.
25:10 And that auction, what, Maddy Cracker's jump?
25:12 7,000.
25:13 Now, that was a jumper that Maddy wore.
25:15 It wasn't even framed. It was just a jumper.
25:17 Yeah, wore that day. I wore it on Anzac Day.
25:19 Have you watched it?
25:21 I think he did, yeah.
25:23 But, yeah, it was unbelievable.
25:26 But he rang my son and asked him if we could donate a jersey.
25:31 And Todd texted me and I said, "Yeah, we could." And I didn't think it wouldn't have been his playing jersey, but it was his playing jersey.
25:37 And a lot of people said, "How does he get into that?"
25:40 I said, "Have you seen how they get their jerseys on now?"
25:43 Three or four blokes get it on or get it off.
25:46 But a big thank you to Maddy. A big thank you to all the sponsors that all come on board for the day.
25:52 And all my mates and friends of mates that can get me stuff done like that.
26:00 It's very much appreciated. I can't thank yous enough.
26:03 Beautiful day, too. They were thirsty, though.
26:05 They were telling me last night the bar was $15,000.
26:08 That's a fair five dollars a can.
26:10 It was a very hot day.
26:12 That is a massive day, isn't it?
26:16 Some of us had to work and can't drink, but anyway, that's the lot of my life, I suppose.
26:20 Anyway, last round tomorrow, then we talk semi-finals from next weekend.
26:26 We're on a bit of a roll on the bench, too.
26:28 Two of the last three weeks have been our highest figures for the year.
26:32 We had Chris Hollis from Red Ravens a couple of weeks ago and Ashley from last week.
26:37 Mate, what's going to happen? Let's see what happens.
26:41 Ratings crashed.
26:43 Sorry, but Ashley's at rated when Jordan was on, comfortably at rated when Jordan was on.
26:49 She's won the Menning Hotel Play of the Week this year.
26:52 Jordan hasn't, so she's got all the bragging rights at the helm at the moment.
26:55 Pressure's on Jordan this weekend, maybe.
26:57 The last Menning Hotel Award this weekend.
27:02 Donny, good luck with that day tomorrow and good luck with the semi-final series.
27:06 We'll be going out to Albarra at some stage.
27:08 I really hope we're going out there for a grand final.
27:10 So do I. I hope we see you out there a couple of times.
27:13 It's those couple of big days, but the guys have got a bit of work ahead of them.
27:17 We're going to start with a bit of a horror run with injuries, so hopefully we can get over that and get in the right direction.
27:25 I suppose the one thing, as bad as those injuries are, you've got players to move in there.
27:29 You're fairly well equipped in those positions, on the back row and the front row and at 5-8, you've got players who can step in there.
27:36 I think you'll be playing Port City in a couple of weeks' time.
27:40 And then of course, semi-finals, hopefully a grand final on September 16 at Albarra.
27:44 It should be the last round of footy this weekend and we'll be back next week for On The Bench.
27:49 Donny, again, thanks for coming in.
27:51 Thanks, Donny.
27:52 Thank you.
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