The Examiner’s Rob Shaw, Ben Hann & Brian Allen unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00 Welcome to episode 37 of the Pressbox Examiner's weekly sportscast. Josh Partridge still unavailable,
00:14 still seems to be on this mysterious annual leave he thinks he's entitled to. But we're
00:19 going to talk this week about the Tasmanian Football Club event that I went to at the
00:23 weekend which was held at York Park. They've been holding them around the state. Jack Riewoldt
00:27 and our own Abby Green going around talking to people about the proposed AFL team. It
00:32 was nice to get along and hear the message they had to say and have a chat with Jack
00:36 Riewoldt. I've interviewed him previously as a player but this was a much more human
00:41 interaction and a chance to talk to him about what he thinks. He was very passionate about
00:45 the subject. One of the interesting things he said was he compared the proposed team
00:51 to the Jackjumpers. He said they would love to emulate what the Jackjumpers have achieved
00:54 and he used that as a bit of an example of what can be achieved here.
00:57 Yeah, and I suppose they are a good example to follow. What was the reception from it
01:02 you could tell at the event?
01:04 There were about 50 people there and it was predominantly people who go along to these
01:10 are mostly people who are going to be supporting the project. But it was nice to talk to Riewoldt
01:14 and say obviously the AFL have said there's no team without a stadium and the stadium
01:20 is not universally popular. It's fair to say that. So it was nice to ask him how he felt
01:26 and he welcomed people coming along and not necessarily supporters of it but coming along
01:30 and saying, well, we don't necessarily think that the stadium is going to be built and
01:34 have their opinion. And he thought that was good to have an open forum to be able to discuss
01:38 it.
01:39 I think you put the key question to him, Rob, didn't you? Are you confident that the team
01:45 is going ahead? Is that what you put to him?
01:47 And he gave a really straight answer. And yes, he is. And he feels that the stadium
01:51 will be built and the team will follow. But he understands that there are always going
01:55 to be dissenters and it's not a universally popular project within the state. Just going
02:01 back to some of the things that he had to say. We'll just have a little clip from what
02:07 Jack had to say about it.
02:08 Funny how a guy from Ohio in the US has been the Pied Piper in all of that. So certainly
02:16 we draw inspiration from them and it gives us really good clarity that the path that
02:23 we're taking is the right path into building this the right way.
02:26 I'm really confident about the stadium and I can understand the trepidation with it.
02:31 And I think it's really important that Tasmanians have their say, whether that be pro or against
02:39 the precinct. And we're really passionately supporting the fact that Tasmania is a place
02:48 where you can do that. And that you can, if you believe in something, whether that be
02:54 in sports, politics, health, whatever it is, is that you feel comfortable actually standing
02:59 up for what you think is right.
03:01 And just following on from the Jack Jumper's example that he used, he's obviously a big
03:07 Jack Jumper's fan and he's met Scott Roth a few times. And he used this lovely description,
03:12 he described Scott Roth as being Tasmania's Pied Piper from Ohio, which made me chuckle.
03:19 But he's got a point in that he said, if you can get somebody who's really passionate about
03:22 the project, it doesn't have to be a Tasmanian. It can be a guy from outback USA who comes
03:27 over and just unites the state. And that's what Scott Roth's done.
03:31 Yeah, I think it's probably going to be the key for the AFL team is getting the whole
03:34 state behind it. It's what the Jack Jumper's have done so really well. And it's why basketball
03:40 has really took off in popularity in this state. It's going to be the key, whether it
03:44 succeeds or doesn't, is how much the whole state gets behind it.
03:49 Yeah.
03:50 I think Rothy compared the sort of string of losses as a great tragedy or something
03:56 which made for a great headline for himself, Rob.
04:00 Yeah. And just following on the other thing that Jack said was, he used the Jack Jumper
04:04 as the prime example, but he also said he got to the end of the Sydney Hobart and he
04:09 watched how many Tasmanians just claimed that race as their own. He said, how many of us
04:13 stayed up to watch Richie Porte when he was in the Toronto Farms? It felt like it was
04:16 a Tasmanian race. And he even said Mona, the museum down south, these are things that he
04:22 felt Tasmanians will get behind something they can claim as their own. And he used those
04:27 as classic examples. And he said, there's no reason why the football team can't be the
04:30 same.
04:31 Yeah, absolutely. I guess, Rob, I'm a Richmond supporter, so I've followed Jack Reebok throughout
04:36 his career. But what was it like to interview him now that he's probably let down the guard
04:40 of being an AFL player?
04:41 There was a real contrast. Yeah, I interviewed him as a player and he was like any other
04:45 AFL player. We'd talk about the game that was coming up that weekend, who he was going
04:50 to be keeping an eye on in the opposition defence, things like that. So to actually
04:55 interview him about a subject that he was really passionate about, it did kind of let
04:59 his guard down that all AFL players have when you interview them, you know what it's like.
05:03 So to talk to him about a subject that he wanted to talk about and he was passionate
05:06 about, I saw him in a different light. And he was very engaging, funny, informed, and
05:13 just passionate. He's really behind this project. And the same with with Abbey.
05:17 I think they've really struck, you know, a nice person to get to build the popularity
05:22 of this event. He's a pretty popular guy. He's a pretty likable guy, he speaks really
05:26 well.
05:27 So his role is ambassador and he is the epitome of an ambassador. He sums up what people want
05:33 from the project. He's one of our highest profile ever AFL players. And yeah, he's a
05:38 perfect person for that role.
05:39 Yeah, on his passion, I just read his book, which came out following his retirement from
05:45 AFL footy. And yeah, I guess that he's like, I follow his career. So I'm fairly aware of,
05:51 you know, what he's like and what the things he's achieved. But I think the thing that
05:55 stood out for me was his honesty. And like, he was very relatable in the book, he spoke
05:59 about some of the mistakes that he'd made. You know, some that I was aware of through
06:05 watching AFL, but just in his personal life and that sort of stuff. And that I think that
06:10 obviously, you want to be pretty honest in these books. But some of the things that he
06:15 talked about were just like things that you could really see yourself doing like those
06:18 mistakes and, you know, looking back on them and thinking, oh, gee, what was I thinking
06:23 at the time or whatever. So I liked that. And I think that probably the thing that stood
06:29 out to me was, he really wanted to break down, I guess, this maybe stigma or broad idea about
06:37 him having been, I guess, this selfish full forward at the start of his career that came
06:43 good once he realized he shouldn't be selfish anymore. And if he was more of a team player,
06:50 Richmond would be better off. And obviously, they went on to win three premierships. But
06:55 for Jack, he really wanted to get across that it was never about being selfish. He was always
07:02 driven by team success. And yeah, sorry to step back there, like one criticism of him
07:10 at some times was like leadership. Well, he said that I think he was the oldest of his
07:15 siblings. And he always felt like a leader within his own family. And it kind of hurt
07:19 him that people were saying, he's not up to leading and he kind of prided himself on that.
07:26 And then I suppose, when it came to the selfish idea, well, he said, it was the sort of idea
07:32 where he was always motivated by the team success. So I think at the start of the career,
07:36 he thought, I have to be one of the best players for us to win. And then I think he realized
07:42 that he talked about sort of channeling that passion and stuff to be like, I need to do
07:46 more of the one percenter type things to help the team achieve overall. So yeah, it was
07:53 something that really came across. And I guess like, we all kind of feel misunderstood to
07:58 an extent. And it was just interesting to read about how, you know, that feeling for
08:03 him.
08:04 Yeah. And as you would know, as a Richmond fan, he's a triple premiership player. There's
08:07 not many Tasmanians that can say that. So he's finished up as one of the state's best
08:11 football products without a doubt. Let's move on to local sport and cricket north. It was
08:17 another good weekend for Westbury then.
08:19 It was. They've had quite a few. Second grand final win in nine days. They did on Sunday
08:27 at home at Westbury. I think they came in as heavy favorites for that reason. They play
08:30 the ground so well. It's obviously really square. It's really big behind every square
08:34 and really short behind every straight. They just bowl on the stumps. They don't give any,
08:38 you know, sort of room to play with.
08:42 This was the one day final.
08:43 This was the one day final. You know, this was Kieran Humes' big day. He affected a run
08:49 out with a great piece of fielding, which, you know, on appearances, sorry, Kieran's
08:54 probably a bit harsh, I should say, but you might not expect it. But he's actually a really
08:58 good fielder. He's got great hands. He's got great technique. And then he takes 5 for 18
09:03 off his 10 overs and effectively limits Olesen to 140, which they were almost always going
09:09 to chase down. It took two great knocks from Saseka Jaisinger and Daniel Murfit to get
09:13 over the line. But yeah, they were too good. And they're a really big chance to win all
09:19 three competitions this year.
09:22 Just on the cricket north in the women's side of things, Riverside's Sophie Parkin and Elise
09:27 Page will play their 100th Cricket North women's match together this weekend, which is a great
09:34 achievement. It's obviously a lovely coincidence that they've reached the milestone on the
09:39 same weekend, but also it's very rare for women's players, I guess in this competition
09:45 anyway, to have reached 100 games. I'd be thinking maybe one or two others have actually
09:50 done it. So yeah, it's a real credit to their consistency and sticking at it over the years.
09:57 Cricket North just keeps producing good stories, isn't it?
10:00 Absolutely.
10:01 And so do you think Westbury will get the treble, putting you on the spot here, Ben?
10:05 They're certainly the favourites. They've only lost two games in all competitions this
10:08 year and they haven't lost at home, which it very looks like they're going to be playing
10:13 a lot of their games from here on out at home. So it's certainly in their hands.
10:18 Yeah. All good. I'm about to head off for a few weeks on annual leave myself. I'm heading
10:24 into the wilds as far away from mobile reception as I can possibly get. But Josh will be back
10:29 next week and there'll be another edition of the Sportscast to follow next week. Thanks
10:33 for tuning in. See you next week.
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