Wingham captain-coach Mitch Collins is this week's On The Bench guest
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00:00 Good afternoon and welcome to On The Bench as the Group 3 Rugby League season moves into
00:04 the semi-final phase and we're very fortunate today to have the Wingham captain and coach
00:09 Mitch Collins as our guest. Very fortunate that he actually remembered.
00:12 He remembered. I'm here on time this week.
00:14 It's actually early. It's actually early, yeah. This is going
00:17 to be a funny old day. I'll be asking the questions and both Mitch and Gary will forget
00:20 the answers. But anyway, we'll push on. Of course, as I said, the first week of the semi-final
00:26 is in Group 3 and the draw is on Saturday. The elimination games at Bird Street over
00:30 at Kempsey. 10.15 the league tag Port Sharks v. William. 11.30 under-18s Tarry City v.
00:37 Warhope. 12.45 reserve grade Tarry City v. Old Bar. And at 2pm the first grade, Maclay
00:42 Valley v. the Wingham Tigers. Captain and coach of course by Mitch Collins. And at 3.30
00:46 the Women's Mid North Coast Rugby League Grand Final between Maclay and Sautel will be played.
00:51 That's what we'll be having the early start tomorrow. On Sunday the preliminary semi-finals
00:55 at the Port Stadium. 11 o'clock the league tag Foster-Toncurry v. Tarry City. Noon the
01:00 under-18s Port City v. Maclay. 1.15 reserve grade Port Sharks v. Maclay. And 2.30 the
01:05 first grade Port City v. Port Sharks. And the Menning Hotel player of the week for the
01:11 very last time for 2023 is Ashley Smith from the Tarry City Women's League tag side. And
01:17 we thank the Menning Hotel, Jessie and Rosie out there for their support this year. And
01:21 if you're looking for a beer in Tarry or a feed, or to play the paper machines or do
01:24 whatever, go to the Menning Hotel at Chatham. It's a great spot. Mitchell, hasn't been a
01:30 great week for you guys. Bit of a towel up last week. But then there's news of course
01:33 as we said in today's paper that Gary Lowe, the new New Guinea winger you brought over
01:38 your fortnight ago can't play in the semi-finals. Yeah mate, so obviously last week's game was
01:45 pretty ordinary. That was sort of on Tuesday we just said that's one we'll put behind us
01:49 and sort of look forward to the next couple of weeks. So obviously we made the semis,
01:54 that was our goal at the start of the year. So to still get there after the year we had
01:57 I was pretty happy with. Gary Lowe, that's a massive blow for us. So we've been trying
02:05 to get him here since I think May and just with visas getting knocked back and stuff
02:11 like that. It obviously delayed it all. So he actually didn't even play footy this year
02:15 over in Papua New Guinea. He had the year off because he was meant to be coming over
02:19 here for the whole season. So we finally got him here I think the day after his visa got
02:24 approved we flew him out and he gets to play two games and then there's a rule apparently
02:30 that none of us knew about, I don't think many people knew about it, that you've got
02:34 to play four games to qualify. So that's the New South Wales Rugby League rule. So they've
02:37 just put it out. So disappointing for us, disappointing for him and pretty well a lot
02:43 of wasted time and cost. It's pretty disappointing. And we'll emphasise it's a New South Wales
02:51 Rugby League, not Groups 3. Yeah, so it's not a Groups 3 rule, it's a New South Wales
02:55 Rugby League rule. Most Country clubs wouldn't know anything about that. We registered him
03:04 before June 30th so his clearance went through, everything went through so we thought he's
03:08 not playing anywhere so obviously he'll be right to go. Week of the semi-finals they
03:14 send out this rule. Had you known that you wouldn't have bothered to get him here? No,
03:20 exactly mate. I've spent a lot of time and money getting players from overseas and I
03:25 think they realise how hard it is to get them over here. Just disappointing mate. And he'd
03:32 been playing pretty well too, the two games he had played. Yeah, he looked pretty handy
03:38 for us and obviously with the injury rumble we've had this year we've been struggling
03:42 to keep players on the field. It's just another setback but there's no changing it.
03:48 Have you tried to change it? You haven't appealed it? Yeah mate, we put an appeal in but that
03:55 was unsuccessful. It wasn't too much, they saw it pretty well. It's a law, it's part
04:03 of the rules unless there's a by-law that can change it which obviously there's not
04:07 because no one really knew about the rules. The most frustrating thing was for us, most
04:13 country footy teams, everyone pretty well in groups for these committees are saying
04:17 they've all got full-time jobs so they're all volunteers, no one's going to go through
04:21 and read every single little detail in the rules. It is what it is but it can't be changed
04:27 now so we're just looking forward to what we've got. So will Gary be staying here for
04:32 the next year? Yeah mate, that's what we're hoping for. He's working up at the Wynn and
04:38 Beith exports at the moment so we've got a fair few Pup and New Guineans working there.
04:45 So it's good, like I said, hopefully we can keep them here for a few years and that's
04:50 sort of the grand plan of things. And the idea was to get a couple more guys from New
04:53 Guinea? Yeah, like I said, it's pretty difficult to actually get their visas and that sort
04:58 of thing, everything moves pretty slow there. So hopefully, ideally, if we can get Gary
05:03 sorted then we obviously know how it all works, what's the best process to go through to get
05:08 them here. Going back to the stunts we had you at the start of the season, Mitch, and
05:12 we looked at the season header, you had Nathan Campbell, you had Nathan Ross, Tim Bridges
05:19 had come back to the club, the winger from Fosterton, K. Ronald Ulloy, things were looking
05:25 fairly rosy but we go into the semi-finals and Tim Bridges is the only one of those players
05:29 who's still got and he's only just come back in the last couple of weeks too, it's been
05:33 a pretty difficult year. Yeah, it has been, mate, it's been a hard year. We're probably
05:36 lucky that we did have so many good quality players come to the club at the start of the
05:42 year because I think we worked out we used 35 or 36 players in first grade this year
05:48 so just with injuries and that. Obviously you get injuries, that's part of footy but
05:52 therefore sort of long-term injuries. They've been your better players so that's probably
05:56 the reason we've settled all those. Yeah, they have been. As I said, mate, to make semis
06:00 with the side we've got, we all believe that we can do it. It's probably a good sign of
06:05 the depth that we actually did have this year so it just makes it a bit more difficult,
06:09 mate. Yeah, and you'll be right to get playing. Yeah, mate, I'm 100% playing. I'm sweet.
06:13 The last two weeks I'd sat on the bench but obviously didn't want to play unless I had
06:17 to and then last week I definitely wasn't going to change the scoreline so we just made
06:25 the decision sort of early in the week I wouldn't play unless I had to just to make sure it
06:29 was right for semis. Is Andrew Gill that's down on the bench there? Mate, Gillie's actually
06:34 hurt his knee so he's pulled up a bit sore but we'll give him the last minute, mate.
06:40 If he's sweet we'll definitely carry him on the bench sort of as a utility. Yeah, even
06:46 last week, despite the scoreline, he was pretty good last week too, wasn't he? Yeah, he was,
06:50 mate. That was his 150th first grade game. 150th first grade game, mate, it was a 20-year
06:55 reunion since he won the comp in 2003. And his son presented him with his jersey. Yeah,
06:59 his son presented him with his jersey, mate, so it was a pretty special day for him. Obviously,
07:05 unfortunately, we didn't give him a real good victory to win or anything. That never happens.
07:10 But no, it doesn't, mate. It never happens when you celebrate something, you get beat
07:13 all the time. Nah, it's still a massive achievement for him. Like I said, mate, it's awesome that he
07:18 helped us out for the couple of games he did. You played Clifton-McLean twice this year,
07:23 lost both of them, but it wasn't a lot in the game. Up there I think you got beaten 16-12,
07:29 was it? Yeah, I actually don't remember. Well, I know it was close. They pretty well come back
07:33 at the death. Same as what they did at Wingen. Yeah, so same thing. Their aside, you've got to
07:38 play for 80 minutes and both times we played, and we probably played for about 60 or 70 and then
07:42 had a good lead. Yeah, the last 10 minutes, they can score points, there's no doubt about that.
07:47 They won't have Ant Cown, though. He's still pretty pivotal to what things they do. He seems
07:52 to settle things down when things can get a bit wild there. Yeah, he's a massive loss for them.
07:58 The game at Wingen, their first game, he pretty well kicks them around. But they're still being
08:04 pretty competitive with the Udding. So, like I said, it's going to be a tough game, especially
08:09 up there. Hopefully, we show up and get the job done. Yeah, and Gary, look, at the start of the
08:14 year we were hoping for a Southern resurgence this year. And I guess to a point, that's in
08:19 first grade, the whole bar of the minor premiers and Wingen's fifth, so they're involved in the
08:22 semi-finals. If you look at those preliminary semi-finals on Sunday, they're pretty well
08:26 dominated by those northern clubs, aren't they? Obviously, that's where still the power of the
08:31 group is up north. Yeah, it still is. And obviously, the population up there is massive.
08:39 It just keeps growing and growing and growing. I know that Taree's got three of the lower grades
08:44 in, the girls, the under 18s and reserve grade, which is good. I think Old Bar's got all their
08:49 minor premiers in first grade and their reserve grade, so at least one, well, no, one Southern
08:53 side will be going through on reserve game. So, yeah, it is disappointing. But I think if you,
08:58 I mean, I know Taree's pretty happy with what they've done this year. They have beaten Port
09:03 City and they've beaten Kempsey, so two teams still in there. From where Taree's come last year,
09:09 I think they've made up, pretty good things there. So, if they can get another couple of quality
09:14 players next year, keep building. I think they're right in to doing that too. And Grinder's been
09:20 playing most of the year. Busted, yeah. Busted, and as I said, he'll get that all sorted. So,
09:27 hopefully, Mick, we can get Old Bar again, can play the host of their grand final and
09:33 William can come from fifth and work their way through. Yeah, we did last year, Mitch,
09:37 when you came here, I mean, it was a 5-4 last year because of the way the season panned out
09:40 with wet weather and the like. Yeah, and we just snuck in, mate, and beat Foster. So,
09:44 like I said, we all said- You beat Foster, Foster, and Tunkurri too.
09:48 Yeah, which was, they had a pretty handy side. So, we pretty well, yeah, we'd said if we got
09:53 the semis, we'd believe we could do it. So, that's obviously what we're going to aim for.
09:58 Yeah, that's right. And your halves this year, like, a bit of a question mark over them,
10:01 Harry Lewis and Nash Ekins. Well, Nash has not actually done a bloke anymore, he's been-
10:05 Nah, he's been there a couple of years, so- But they've both been pretty good,
10:08 I thought they'd be developing into a first grade-
10:10 Yeah, they are, mate. They're getting better every week. Harry Lewis is-
10:13 Kicking game's a bit wayward sometimes, but- Yeah, it is. That comes with experience, but so,
10:18 as the year's going on, our kicking game has been getting better, and Harry's probably been our
10:23 most improved player through the year, I think. He had- No, he played last year out of the year,
10:29 before off, so he's only played two years of first grade, but each game he's getting better and
10:33 better, and sort of starting to take control, and sort of make the team his own, which is good to
10:37 see, so- And you've got a couple of good young
10:39 kids on the bench too? Yeah, mate, so young- This year,
10:43 we've actually used a fair few 17-year-olds here. Our 18s aren't that real young, so I'd-
10:47 Layton Moore's played most of the season with us. He would've played more games, but we played
10:51 him back, so he'd still play at any rate if they made the semis. Ricky Carrington's another
10:56 fella that's been going real well for us. Young Kyle Marron, and then obviously young
11:00 Jack Gilbert. He would be playing first game, but he's too young, so-
11:03 Too young in a year. I said, it's good signs for us moving
11:06 forward. We've got some good young kids coming through, which is good to see, so-
11:08 He's a big fella, Carrington. I watched him when they played the Bulls that day. He came
11:11 off the bench there, and he's a- He is, mate.
11:12 Solid young fella. He doesn't take it backwards,
11:14 does he? He's a good young kid coming through, so it's good to see. Hopefully, we can hang
11:18 on to him. Is he a local junior?
11:20 No, mate. I think he's actually from Foster. I'm actually not too sure. I think he-
11:24 I know he works away a lot, so- Oh, right.
11:27 I'm not sure if he lives in Foster or he lives in Newcastle, but-
11:31 No, right. He's a good player. That's my-
11:32 Yeah. And he goes on like that.
11:34 Yeah, young Benny Guy. He's another one. He actually played on the bench for us a couple
11:38 of times through the year, and then he was actually named in our side this weekend,
11:43 but he's torn his shoulder or something to his shoulder. He's been playing with it for
11:47 two years or something, and it's finally given way, so he's got to have six months off all
11:52 sports. Oh, really? Okay.
11:53 He's a good defender? He's only 17, was he? Yeah, he is, mate. Yeah, he's only 17 as well,
11:57 so he's another good young kid coming through, so it's good to see.
12:01 Going into the semi-finals, Gary, do you think Port City are the favourites?
12:04 Well, if I can get through- Do you think Port City will beat Port Sharks on the weekend?
12:13 I think so, yeah.
12:14 Yeah, if Olba can get through, because Olba's been hit with some injuries late in the season,
12:17 haven't they? And that's what they sort of got through early in the year. As long as
12:21 they're playing at Olba, it's- we've said it before, they call it the graveyard, and it's
12:27 hard to win out there, so everyone you speak to thinks that Port City are the team to beat.
12:32 They're just starting to hit their straps, and Mitch, as you said to me, we spoke during the
12:37 week, we spoke last Sunday after the game, how Port City's forward packs, they said they were
12:43 too old, but they certainly know what they're doing, don't they? You can't beat experience.
12:48 Nah, I think with what you said, I think up to probably a couple of weeks ago, before Olba lost
12:52 Will Clark, Turt Lewis and Isaac Warboys, I think they probably were the team to beat, but
12:58 after seeing breakers on the weekend, mate, they were missing a few too. Chris Piper,
13:02 Jesse Douglas, Dumas, and the young kids that they had playing, mate, they were nearly better
13:08 than the older blokes. I don't think Daniel Dumas has played much all year, has he? Nah,
13:12 I think he's been carrying injury, but they're still three big players, and they had a couple
13:17 of young kids, I think Sam Watts was one, mate, and they just tore us apart. Terrell Dungo,
13:22 is it, the front row? Terese, yeah. Terese, he's a player. He's, although, yeah, on the weekend,
13:27 although he was probably their best, and then the other front row they had, I think he's played
13:31 reserve, most of the year, he tore us apart as well, but they've got a good side across the park
13:36 and got a group with bench, which goes a long way. That Dungo, that Olba there, a fortnight ago,
13:41 or three weeks ago, whenever it was, he was the best player on the field, and it was a tough game,
13:45 it was almost NRL defence that day, both sides just whacked one another, and he just kept coming
13:49 back for more, and I think he played under Ademins last year, or the year before, he's only young,
13:53 though. It's a wonder somebody hasn't... Well, I said the same thing at Wigan there last week,
14:00 because you guys didn't play well last week, as we said, that's been a bit disingenuous to the
14:04 Pragers as well. They were very, very good. They were. We didn't play too, well, yeah,
14:09 we definitely didn't play very well, but they were still a very, very good side. Their practice
14:13 rolled. And they've got a habit of winning the big games too, haven't they? Yeah. Olba, Vigie,
14:18 too, not a few problems too, not just those injuries we spoke about, where they scored six
14:23 tries against Maclay last week, and only kicked one goal, and I said that was in the 80th minute,
14:28 and then they go in, you know, semi-finals without a recognised kicker. Did the young
14:32 five, is he playing? Yeah, he played, Zach Butler, he had a couple of shots, but he's got a little
14:37 hamstring problem. Oh, okay, so you need to convert some tries, don't you? So I wonder who they're
14:42 going to use next week? Well, I guess Simon Wives has been a big... That week before, when they
14:46 played Foster, and that Lincoln final score was 44-6, which, the way Foster's gone this year,
14:50 you almost say that's not a bad effort, but you look at the scores, and they scored even tries,
14:54 and they kicked three goals, so that's a... I think it's a problem for them. Yeah, we'll come
14:59 down to do that, mate. You can't just score tries and expect to win games if you're not kicking
15:04 goals. You might come down to a shot of penalty goal towards the end, and if your goal kick's
15:08 not a confident kick, then what do you do? Yeah, and of course, they're saying they've got the
15:13 major semi-final at Olba next week. No place to play Olba, Mitch, I'm... It is, mate. It's
15:18 in the park when I was... Well, you run out. Yeah, you run out, mate, you run out through the hole,
15:23 where all the blokes are on the grog, so it's a good spot to run out there. Oh, yeah, and they
15:29 let you know you're there. That's it. I think they'll be hard to beat there. They will be, yeah.
15:34 Them two are probably the two benchmarks, I suppose, while they're still 1-2. Well, they'll be
15:36 too, haven't they? Yeah. So, they've got big outside backs, which probably help them getting
15:41 out of trouble a lot, I think, so yeah, they'll be tough to beat there. And you said, Gary,
15:45 the Bulls are looking for... Obviously, they lacked a couple of Conway players, but the Bulls,
15:49 didn't they? They left 14 in last week, as we said, and just couldn't carry it on. Yeah.
15:53 Christian Nazar, he's going for knee surgery, I understand, fairly soon, but are they looking
15:58 overseas, do you know? I don't think they're looking overseas. I think they're... Hopefully,
16:03 Christian might have some contacts when he played in the Q Cup up there, and I think they've just
16:09 identified a couple of positions that they need to get some players in, and I think they're going
16:16 to look pretty hard at doing that, and just seeing what they can come up with. Because they'll lose
16:20 Nat Willow as well, if they do. Yeah, that's a massive loss for them. Yeah, so that's a fullback
16:24 spot straight up. Well, even though Trey Clark can play back there, but I think Trey's been playing
16:29 well in the centres with his defence and everything, so that would be one, I think,
16:33 be nice to see if Jake ends up winning another Premiership with Port City. Well, he played
16:41 hooker last week, didn't he, Jake Hazard? Did he? He did, mate, he actually went real well. He's a
16:47 very good defender, Jake. So, I think they're hoping that the three boys might play together
16:53 for a year and see what happens. That'll work out to the advantage of Tarek. He'd be a huge
17:01 game for them, Jake Hazard. He's probably just a good player on the other side at Port City,
17:05 but he'd be a superstar down here for the ball, wouldn't he? Yeah, he is. I've seen they're not
17:10 real big, the Hazard boys, but do you see they can defend. They make a statement and tackle,
17:17 don't they? Jake's probably one of the best defenders in the comp. Yeah, he's only little.
17:20 Yeah, I'll remember him. He's just got a real good technique. He's lost a bit of beef,
17:23 too. I noticed in their last week, too, when he came on there. He was a, how would you say,
17:28 came with a couple of kilos when he first came back to group three, but he's certainly trimmed
17:31 down now. Yeah, well, he probably does. Yeah, well, it's training. Training. He's been off the
17:36 rums, mate. Yeah. And Mitch, what are you doing? Are you coaching next year? Yeah, mate. Yeah,
17:41 I'm going around once more. So, yeah, I said it was going to be two years, but after the sort of
17:46 the year that we have with injuries and that and whatnot, I'm going to go one more year. And
17:51 already spoke to most of the boys that are playing this year and pretty well should get,
17:56 I think, nearly every single player back next year. So, that and hopefully get a couple of
18:00 extras and give it a good red hot crack. Where are you looking to, what position are you looking to
18:05 improve? I think, I don't know, it all depends, mate. Will you get Matthew Campbell back? Nathan
18:13 Ross? I don't know about Ross, yeah, he did say he was going to play again, but Timmy Bridges will
18:20 play again, Jackson Mullin, Kieran Bubbs actually moved up here, so that's one less traveller, so
18:25 that helps. Matt, are you going to play again? He says he's not. Yeah, he said that, but if
18:31 his brother comes up to play, he might play again. But I think if we get the side back that we had
18:36 at the start of the year, I think we've got a pretty good side, so we don't need to add too
18:40 much to it. You say you've got a couple of younger players coming through. Yeah, so we've got that
18:45 18-side, mate, there's a lot of good kids in that, so I think we'll probably stick with what we've
18:48 got and if we can pick up one or two other good players, it'll make a big difference. Because if
18:53 you talk about Premiership window, as we spoke about Old Bars possibly coming to the end of
18:57 their Premiership window maybe this year, how long is the Premiership window there for you guys?
19:02 You're getting a few blokes there every year. Yeah, we are, mate, we're probably a couple of
19:08 years behind Old Bars, so with that, we've got the majority of our team's probably around the 28-year-old
19:14 mark, so there's a couple of years, but we've got some good young kids coming through, so if we can
19:20 put them with the older blokes we've got, hopefully we can give a red-hot crown to them.
19:26 How's it looking with the juniors though, because the junior kids are coming through,
19:30 grades coming through consecutively, it was a bit of a problem a couple of years ago when you were
19:34 on the team. Yeah, so with the 16s this year, they're actually, I think they're called Wingham
19:37 Rovers, so they're like a merged side with Red Rovers and Wingham, so they're merged.
19:42 The 18s this year, they're about 25, 26 kids, so they've got a massive, massive squad,
19:48 so I don't think they lose too many. So 18s this year and next year, sorry, next year,
19:54 we'll have good numbers, but after that I don't think we've got a 16, so we might sort of struggle
19:59 the following year, but we're working on that with junior league, we're going to sort of try
20:04 and get involved as much as we can and try and get a 15s and a 16s back at Wingham, so we can
20:08 get them filtering through. Yeah, that's obviously a problem when you get that little gap there,
20:13 that was always a bit of a problem for Albar too, but now they've sort of gone all the way
20:16 through now. Yeah, they've got 16s and 15s this year. Yeah, the 15s got beaten at major semi
20:22 last weekend. 13-12. Yeah, that's a bit of a thing, they're doing the, because I know Foster
20:28 won the major semi-final of the 15s last week and they're playing things Warhap on Sunday with
20:32 Wingham and I couldn't understand how that worked, but they do the old NRL, the 1997 Australian
20:39 Rugby League system for the semi-finals. What's that one? Well, it means that they play in the
20:43 grand final qualifier against the lowest ranked side on Sunday. Oh, right. Yeah, which has confused
20:48 me a bit, but I get confused fairly quick. Tony Clifton coaching that Foster's under 15 or is
20:52 he the 16s? He coached the 18s this year, I'm not real sure. Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he's coaching
20:56 a junior side as well. He shall not weary. Big weekend in sport this weekend too, we've got the
21:01 hockey semi-final starting and congratulations too to the Sharks men and Tigers women who won
21:05 the Mid North Coast Hockey League grand finals last week. Oh, we beat the port side too. Oh,
21:09 beat one port side. Oh, that's good. We got a victory there. Yeah, we got a victory,
21:15 lower, the southern side. Well, and speaking of winging, winging Warriors are the top side in the
21:19 Southern League football. And what about the Rugby Union? Oh, the Rats. Yeah, the Rats are in the
21:26 grand final next weekend. Men's and women's. Yep, they're in the grand final next weekend.
21:30 Grand Park next weekend, we'll be there. We'll be playing next weekend. Oh, we won't be there.
21:35 If you blokes get beaten tomorrow, I'll be definitely there next Saturday, but if
21:38 obviously you guys are playing, I'll have you, we'll be playing in Gary. Big golf day on Sunday
21:44 too. Yes, it's pro-ends. You're playing in that? I'm playing in that, yeah. You'd nearly win that
21:49 wouldn't you? Yeah, no, not if my wife played. I was going to say, if they're playing in pairs mate,
21:53 then you're playing in one, you might be correct. Yeah, nah, it should be, what is it? What,
21:59 are you saying your wife's not a very good player? I'm saying she's a very good player.
22:02 Yeah, she's better than me. I was going to say, she's a better player than you. Yeah,
22:06 no, I'm not playing with her next week. I'm just playing with a couple of mates of mine.
22:11 Percy Snyder and Murray Nelson. Yeah, and with a pro he's joined in. No, I don't know who it is.
22:17 I hope he sort of can play. Carry them through. Because it is, it counts to our score as well if
22:25 he has a good round. So, let's hope he does. No, on our luck, we'll probably, yeah, we'll be right.
22:31 Play well, man. Of course, I also said the Junior League semi-finals, finals,
22:37 tonight at Tarree, the league tag, Moorhap tomorrow for the, what do they call them,
22:41 the Mod League is it? Mod, yeah. And then three girls' grades and Sunday at Wingham for the 13th.
22:46 Oh right, that's when it's played. So, where's the grand finals of the Juniors played?
22:49 Is it Tarree? Tarree's got one of them. I think the Saturday games are at Tarree.
22:57 That'll be the Mods then, won't it? Yeah, I think the league tag's at Lake Caddye.
23:01 Friday night? Friday night. And the...
23:03 Internationals? Internationals, I'm guessing,
23:05 that'll be up north somewhere, because they're not at Tarree, not at Foster, I don't think.
23:09 Oh right. I'm guessing at Port Macquarie,
23:11 but we'll confirm that next week. But good luck this week, Mitchell.
23:14 Cheers, mate. Yeah, mate.
23:15 Next year, your brother-in-law, I know we've asked this before, when's he coming home to play
23:18 footy? Mitch Barnett. I think he's still got a couple of years left to have a New Zealand mate,
23:22 so, still a couple of years away. He's not playing? No, I've got to get his phone,
23:28 I've got to give him a ring. He's not playing this weekend,
23:32 Mitch. I didn't see him in the... He's not in the draw or in the paper.
23:35 He had something done, so I've got to cut or something.
23:36 Did he? Oh, right, hey? I don't know.
23:38 But they'll be right in there, they'll be looking at playing...
23:41 Yeah, they're looking good, the Warriors, coming through.
23:43 Yeah, they might be playing Penrith. I think Penrith want to play them and don't want to play
23:46 Melbourne, that's why they lost last night. That's what you reckon they threw out?
23:49 I'm thinking they might have, that's... Yeah, you've got a very good conspiracy
23:54 theory going. He's definitely just made that up there on his phone, that's all.
23:59 We might have to cut that out, Scott. Anyway, good luck this week, Mitchell.
24:03 Again, thanks for coming in and more importantly, thanks for remembering.
24:06 Long time, mate. You're almost perfect,
24:08 didn't you, except for your jean... I've got my shirt, mate. When did you get
24:09 changed in the car and realise you're actually left hanging over the fence at home, mate?
24:12 But thanks to the Hogan Group for giving you time off to come here as well.
24:15 That's right. And good luck to all sides of the footy
24:18 this weekend and next week. We're running out, I'm on the benches. We'll have
24:21 Jordan Warboys next week. Just tell them they're all... Tell Jordan he should be quiet for next
24:27 week. Marty Ball from the Port News will be coming down for the final and hopefully we'll
24:31 have Mick Henry here for the... Well, hopefully we'll be in Old Bayou, Wigan grand final on the...
24:35 Well, both of you see I'll get out and let you out.
24:37 No, no, we'll just move the bench a little bit. Yeah, you can sit on the front. You can be the
24:42 mascot. No, Mick could sit there.
24:46 No, he's going to ask, I'll be like Dickie Billy. No, not you, the other Mick Henry.
24:50 Anyway, we'll look forward to that Wigan grand final weekend, but first this weekend,
24:55 semi-finals. Good luck to all involved, but particularly good luck to the Wigan Tigers
24:59 and all the Southern sides.
25:00 [END]
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