People of the Pirates with LA
A behind the scenes podcast sharing stories, characters, and community that make Noosa Pirates RLFC more than just a club. From players and coaches to volunteers and local legends, hear the voices driving the pirates forward.
People of the Pirates with LA
TONY MCILROY
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TONY MACILROY
"Macca" or Mr Mac" as a lot of our listeners will know him.
Teacher, coach, motivator, mentor and all round good bloke, talks his journey through rugby league, a rewarding career change into a school PE teacher and revisiting his youth in the bush as a DRT District Relief Teacher based out of longreach.
This episode has been brought to you from the DGMS studios, the home of Don't Get Me Started, Lethal and Money Live, and SurfTown, found at Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and wherever you listen to your podcast.
SPEAKER_02G'day and welcome to People of the Pirates with LA. This is a feature of some of the amazing individuals we have around the Noosa Pirates Rugby League Club. Enjoy their stories. The opinions voiced on this podcast are our own and not the official position of the club or the league. And there is a mild language warning. Enjoy legends. Alright, so today on the mic we have Mr. Mac, Tony McElroy, back over from West. How are you, big man?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good thanks, mate. Thanks for the call-up. A bit of a surprise this morning to get that one. But yeah, so we've scraped the bottom of the barrel, so she's all up from here, eh?
SPEAKER_02Mate, I was thinking the other way. I was thinking we've got a winner here. We've we've jarged one. The legend's back in town. Let's get him on. Mate, currently in Long Reach?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, correct. Yeah, out west. So for those who don't know, 1200 kilometres from here, or if you go up to Rocky, it's 700 kilometres inland from there.
SPEAKER_02And you originally were from out that way?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so growing up, born in Bunderberg. I only lived there till I was about six, and dad was in the ambulance then. And so we moved around out west a little bit and went out to Mara, out to Blackhall, which is out near Long Ridge there, yeah. Yeah. So high school years and uh young adult. Well, I was aged as a young adult growing up out there, yeah. Awesome, mate. Blackhall, that's where you started playing footy. No, no, it started back in Mara. So that's where I did primary school. We got out there in about, this will give away my age a bit now, uh mid to early 70s, would have been, yeah, about 73, 74. Started going to school there, played under eight for the Mara Tigers when I was five. So played about three or four years of under-eights before I could graduate up to under tens. Yeah, then from there we went out. Dad got a job as a superintendent in the ambulance out in Blackhall, so we moved out there then, played older juniors, you know, 13s, 15s, then it was sixteens after that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Would have been pretty tough out in the sticks growing up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was, yeah. It was back in the day. Well, I remember just going back into the one of my first ever games, I can still remember it was with the full-size field, on a full-size field, under eights. You had 13 players on the field who packed a scrum, same as the big boys in A grade. And the ball was a big leather football, it was about the same size as us. And I can remember the first run I ever took. I saw a bit of space down the side, not knowing that I wasn't quick then. Worked that out over the years, and went for the sideline and got bundled into touch, so the ball flew, and I flew, and that was uh fell in love with it from there. Don't know why.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good barefoot back then?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it was actually, yeah, yeah. Yeah, up until about under tens, I think. Then you got boots. Steel tags, too, then. Yeah, that was steel tags. And the beginners you'd see them coming and they'd have these moulded things and you'd laugh at them and go, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Back in the day when the refs used to check your nails, check your studs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and touch your foot on behind. You had to lift your leg up for him to show him your studs weren't sharpened or anything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, how good. And then post school you moved down this way, is that correct?
SPEAKER_00No, no, so sorry, post-school went to Rockhampton for a few years. Start worked in the railways there for a few years, played football for no one north at the time. I was playing under seven eens for Norths. Can't remember what they were blue jerseys, a bit like Valleys in Brisbane.
SPEAKER_02The Chargers, mate.
SPEAKER_00No, there was before the Chargers. I think they had a name change. I can't remember what we were then. I could be wrong, maybe it was the Chargers, but uh I do I think that was Saturday mornings I'd play under seven eens, and then under a false name, I'd go and play for Fitzroy's reserve grade after that. So and then every once in a while I'd sneak out to Black or that's why I made my A grade debut at 17, I think. Went out and played A grade out West under my name, but it was in a different comp, so there didn't know transfers or anything, then it didn't matter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it would have been all paper stuff, eh? So you just signed it.
SPEAKER_00Signed to that competition, so that was Central West, so it didn't you could go and sign up for Central West or and you could sign up in Rockhampton or wherever else you were, you know, so as long as a different comp, but I've because I played in the same comp under seven eens and reserve grade, I had to go under a false name.
SPEAKER_02So you loved your footy growing up.
SPEAKER_00I think so, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good. Do you think that's driven your passion in the so actually I should have mentioned so Macca is is a primary school teacher. A lot of people who know him from Tawonton State School, Mr. Mack. Been been pretty pivotal in in local rugby league across the sunny coast in the schoolboys space, Tawanton State School, producer pirates. Just a real warrior for the game in a lot of respects over a big period of time, mate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't look at myself like that. But yeah, I'm just going out doing something I love. Just getting out there and just drawn to it. It's hard to stay away from.
SPEAKER_02And mate, I'm thinking of the roles that you've played at the Pirates over the years. You've been senior coordinator, you've coached seniors. Have you done much with juniors sort of formally at the club or mainly just schoolboy stuff?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the juniors, mainly schoolboys, but it was about 2013, I think, first started working with the Pirates as I was coaching girls' sides. The girls were just kicking off then. One of my daughters, Lily, she was really keen on playing, so she played a few seasons. Paula Dwyer had taken them for one year with Gabby Hill, who was our main superstar, building tied around her. From there, it ended up at one point there. I think I had four or five different teams on the go with the girls. Yeah, it was quite interesting. But we most of the teams were then also paired up with the likes of Nambour to split things. So there was a coach over there as well. So we'd do training and you know, I'd have the different groups, and we'd just train on the Tuesday and the Thursday, and then send the girls off on the weekend, and whatever side Lily was in was sometimes under 16, then under 18, so I'd take them as well. Does Lily still play at all? No, no, she stopped playing. Uh she started, she's become a teacher as well. So once she started studying, that sort of went by the wayside. So she still plays a bit of touch football to keep her hand and she loves it.
SPEAKER_02Awesome, mate. Actually, that's a good one to mention too. So Noosa Touch, you've been heavily involved in Noosa Touch for a long time. Not committee and stuff, just playing and being around the club.
SPEAKER_00Dabbled in the committee there a little bit, just mainly go out and annoy referees, I think. That's what I generally do out there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know. Our grey beard side seems to get on the wrong side of the ref too often. I don't know. I feel like we're pretty well behaved, but we always seem to upset the ref somehow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, those 50-50s just don't go away. I think it's over from me being involved with the side, they automatically go against us.
SPEAKER_02Bit of guidance and stewardship, eh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The growth of the girls' game has been monumental over the last couple of years, hey. Has it been pretty cool to watch the game ramp up in the way it has, knowing that you've put a lot of reps in, what are we talking, 12 years ago, 13 years ago in that junior space?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it's good. It's pleasing to see. And I noticed this year I had a message from one of the girls I um coached back in those days. She's now come back to the club. She sent me a message and said asked what I was up to, and I sort of told her I'm not there this year. Yeah, and so she's come back, she's a good kid. Uh, she went away and had a family on her own, family for herself, and obviously uh yeah, she's missed it and she's come back, so it was really pleasing to see.
SPEAKER_02Mate, round two this weekend. So while you're back for school holidays, you're gonna come and watch the boys and girls go round. Well, the girls haven't started yet, watch the boys go round on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so originally I saw that it was against Marichido, I thought that's a nice easy trip down the road, and then I've re-read that it's down at Narimba. So, yeah, I'll do the track down there, come down and have a look.
SPEAKER_02Mate, we'll get the whole story on what happened with the side.
SPEAKER_00I was just gonna ask what he what's the inside Goss on that?
SPEAKER_02I've sort of I can sort of guess a few things, but Yeah, I just I think seniors and juniors have been bluin for a long time, and I think it's just come to a bit of a loggerhead.
SPEAKER_00Do we throw fuel on the fire here now? And yeah, we can we can speculate if you want. No, they want to give him any ammo.
SPEAKER_02Bretto, he he was pretty instrumental in the pirates joining, like seniors and juniors joining together and amalgamating. And I I think he's doing a similar thing at the Swannies.
SPEAKER_00There's just there's a bit more internal politics down there than Yeah, and I think there has been over it for over a longer period of time.
SPEAKER_02And I think the junior club is the parent leaseholder, so they're in control of a lot of the financial stuff and have a lot going on there with OzTag and and other secondary sports that bring revenue in and the seniors get shafted a bit from the senior.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I hope it all works out well for them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, mate, yeah. Well, a year at November will test them out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It'll um it'll be interesting playing senior footy down there this Sunday. Hey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I've never been down there and seen it. Have you had a look at the grounds down there at all?
SPEAKER_02Mate, I don't know. I've I've been to an OzTag comp down there. I'm not sure if it was November or not. So I actually don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so they'll be searching on Satin over this Sunday.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's it. I'm sure we'll end up at the wrong place. Allow for the travel time. Yeah. You've been chatting to many of the guys from the club while you've been out west.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I've touched base with a few of the boys uh after the win the other day. I sent a message to a couple of them. Some good wins there for everybody. Good, really good start to the season. Got a young fella out there at the moment now at Western Queensland, Will Britton's made contact when he heard I was moving out there. He's just out of town, so some days I'll leave on a Friday and a Saturday night. I'll leave the uh door open and come out in the morning, and there'll be a Will Britton laying on the lounge chair, so I'll dish up some bacon and eggs for him, get him going again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good. Is he mustering out there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's working, yeah, he's giving away the contract mustering, I think, and he's just working permanently on one station. Good to catch up with him every once in a while.
SPEAKER_02I think we're up to our 11th Britain at the Pirates with little Ivy. I think I don't know if she's you've bone or not, but yeah, Ivy and Charlie and stuff are around, and yeah, the Britton family been part of the Pirates for such a long time.
SPEAKER_00Hey, legends, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's good. Mate Russ still shuffles around at training, he's still going. I think he'll pull the jersey on again this year, the weapon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I've tried to get Will to put on the boots out west, nearly had him signed up, but I think he's come home and maybe some parents might have talked some sense into him around his knee injuries, and he's come back out and he said, No, I'm not gonna do it this year. Fair enough. Gonna give it another bit more of a year rest, I think. Are you involved with footy out west? Not formally, because I grew up playing with the black or magpies. I've touched base, I've still got some mates out there. My ex-coach has got some of his boys playing, so they had a nines comp earlier on the year. I reckon Pirates should throw a side together maybe next year and send a team out on a bus, be a good bus trip. Might'd be awesome, hey. So, yeah, I helped do a bit of strapping with those boys and caught up with a few old faces out there. Yes, offered to help out there this year. You'll see how I go. A bit of travelling out there this year, so I'll be in and out a little bit. Are you enjoying a stint out west? Yeah, yeah, it's a bit of a change of scenery, a bit of a slowdown, I suppose, yeah, because doing the PE at Tawanton School for a number of years and then all the training with the pirates. Now it's sort of a bit different back in the classroom. Anything from kindergarten up to I've had year 12 metal work as well. So everything in between, so it's a lot of variety, a lot more travelling. I one week, uh one of the last weeks I was out there before the holidays, I did 1200k for the week.
SPEAKER_02Holy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so a lot of small schools right out in the outback.
SPEAKER_02So you're doing relief for all of the QED schools out there, is that right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we have a very large area from Longreach out to Winton, which is a couple of hours up to Mudabara, Aramac, Barclawden, Jericho, Alpha, down the line, down to Blackhall, and then back directly south of Longreach down through Stonehenge, Junder, Windora, and Birdsville, right down to Birdsville, which is about an eight, ten hour trip.
SPEAKER_02You became a teacher as a I suppose a mature aged man.
SPEAKER_00You know, well, I wouldn't throw the word mature in there, but anyway, older.
SPEAKER_02Older gentlemen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I think uh when I graduated I was getting on to 40, so it's nearly 20 years now. So doing it.
SPEAKER_02And am I right in saying you met your your beautiful wife in a teaching?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so out in Blackhall playing football out there, she uh came out as a teacher and interesting days. So we'd know when the new teachers were arriving in town, and so we'd all congregate down the pub and check out who was who's who in the zoo and getting around. So yeah, she was good fun days back then. Yeah, no social media, so luckily. Yeah. Yeah, so we met out there, yeah, and then uh she introduced me to the noose area, so she's a local family. Yeah, it's intragenal. I loved it. Just came here the first time, went wow, this place is all right. There's sand and that out west, but it's different sort of sand. Different sand, yeah. So then uh she ended up enticing me back to move move this way, so I didn't take too much really once I'd had a look at the place.
SPEAKER_02For sure. Is this the first time that you've done regional service with teaching?
SPEAKER_00No, back in uh what's about 2009 or 2010, did my what they call country service and moved out to Mitchell, which is about an hour west of Roma. Yeah, so I did three years out there. That was funny about myself there. Now I throw this bit in. When we got out there, I'd been playing touch football here, so I wanted to keep doing some sort of movement. So I there's no touch football comp out there as such, but the football trainer had started, so I went out there and started training and did the whole pre-season and that was all good. And then they had their first game of the year was a home game and a training. I'd just sort of walk off and let them have their team talk because I was just there that have a run around. And Wendy, my wife, she said, So you're not playing this year, are you not being sure? I was 40, 41 or 42, then it was the second or third year of teaching. And I said, No, no, no, I'm not playing. She said, Her first home game, she said, Well, what are the boots going in the car for? Well, I was just gonna duck into the reserve grade dressing room and see if make sure they had enough numbers. I said it's a home game, there'll be a thousand people. Yeah. Sure enough, I walked in with my boots in hand, looked around the dressing room was chalkers, and I looked at the coach and I said, You don't need me. He looked around, no. Well, okay, right, cool. At least I could have said it politely, but anyway, out I walked, walked past the A-grade manager and he said, uh, what are you up to? And I said, Oh, not much. I said, uh just checking that they didn't need any players. He said, They don't need players, do they? I said, No, thinking, oh, okay, I know I'm old, but you know, give me a break here. And then uh he said, What are you gonna what are you up to now? Then I said, Oh, I'm just gonna go and have a beer and a pie. And he went, What? What for? I said, Well, I'll just watch some footy. He said, You're not gonna drink before you play A-grade, are you? And I said, What? He said, You weren't there and you didn't hang around for the end of training. You got picked in the A-grade side, starting in the centres. I said, I don't play in the centres. I didn't want to play A-grade at 42, but anyway, so there played a few games of A-grade and ended up in the Toowoomba Base Hospital getting an MRI on my neck, and then so'd you go out in the centres? No good, no good. No, no. There was uh we I think it was Chinchilla we played, and there was a young fellow just come back from playing with Winham. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Off to get a scan for a bit of a knock.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, on the neck, yeah, a couple of crushed vertebrae or something on the neck. I think it was an old injury as well that had just popped a bit of a bump. Yeah, so then I saw out the season playing reserve growth and went, ah, too much playing.
SPEAKER_02So you've still played out the season. Yeah, yeah, I played out the season. Good fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, much to the wife's uh annoyance.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, our beautiful loved ones that care for us. Yeah, that's right. We've got a bit rugby. Rugby league players. Yeah, good. And then masters, mate. You've had a lot to do with the Noosa Cutters master side and the Greybeards establishment, our old boys' club at the at the Pirates. Tell us a little bit about that space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I can't even remember when it first started, would have been about 06 or something like that. No, no, mate. Oh, 2008. Knew a few teachers around the place. Mark Dwyer was quite instrumental early on. They're getting together a few old players just to go down to the Gold Coast. There's still the comp that runs down there now. It was only a second year, we went down for the second year of it. And I think from memory there was 30-something teams playing in it. And it just before COVID, we were still going. We were we went every year, and it was built up to well over 120, 130 teams down there. That was quite huge. But in the early days, yeah, we'd get together and we we actually called ourselves the Noosa Cutters because we weren't affiliated with the pirates, even though there's a few ex-pirates, but we were pulling in players from all over Queensland. Somebody had a brother in Gladsden, and somebody knew somebody out at Chinchilla, and somebody knew somebody at Toowomba, and we just get who we could. So we and we're called the Cutters because Jeff Matters and Tommy Hooper. Well, Jeff Matters had the trust business and Tommy Hooper obviously with the sawmill. So cut and blade, so we just went, oh, that makes sense. We'll just be the sponsoring us, so we'll give a bit back to them as the cutters. So we became the cutters for no other reason other than that, really. And then uh we did that for quite some years, and then we started getting more and more ex-pirates coming through that were joining in, so then we started having discussions around a bit of a name change, and I can't remember who it was, but some bright spark came up with the grey beards. That's it, mate.
SPEAKER_02Was that you?
SPEAKER_00It might have been Brett, I reckon. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the Greybeards and the Grey Bells. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00My one that I suggested didn't make it through, but I probably can't mention that one.
SPEAKER_02How many years ago now with Greybeards? 2019, 2020? Does it sound right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it sounds round about then, I think. Yeah, yeah, just around that COVID time when Brett was around and stuff like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Brad Pardo's the the man heading up Greybeards now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, with the help of Tommy Prosser.
SPEAKER_02With Prosser.
SPEAKER_00Who's nearly of age to play that? So he's getting in nice and that's good. Some new that's what the what that's what they need. They don't need the likes of me.
SPEAKER_02He's still trying to make up numbers. That's it, man. That's it. So yeah, we've got to get the actually the generation around my sort of age, we need to get them involved in playing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 35 to 45 or 50 year olds. Yeah, great thing to keep you going. Have a laugh, have a beer. Have a beer while you're having a laugh while you're playing.
SPEAKER_02Bit of fun, eh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And when they're played to proper masters rules, like it can be varying. You got you've got to be onto the ref and the organization and stuff on the day. Oh, definitely. Yeah, if you don't want to go out there and play masters and just get bashed up like a Reggie's game. Yeah, yeah. Well that's it.
SPEAKER_00Sometimes it's like a sometimes it can turn into like a C grade pub sort of a game where you know everyone's outside to have a win. Yeah, what it's all about is going out and having a good time, getting everybody to the bar safely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00From the bar back to the bar.
SPEAKER_02That's it. That's it.
SPEAKER_00All in one piece and have a bit of a giggle on the way.
SPEAKER_02And for anyone that doesn't know the rules of Masters, you you've got a pretty good handle on them, hey? Just the rough sort of Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So a lot of the refs don't even know half the time. They don't you know I asked them if they've read the book on the Masters. There's some amendments there for Masters, and most of the time being referees, they go, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know what we're doing. And uh they actually don't. Yeah. Yeah, so you've got the different coloured shorts, club shorts are tackle and be tackled, red shorts just grab each way. So if you're all and you've got red shorts on they're only able to just halt your progress, and same when you're defending with red shorts, and yellow shorts, so they're for oh, so the red shorts are from 50 to 60 years of age, and yellow shorts after that is just touch, they can just go out and play touch. It's quite annoying. If uh you're running the ball, you think you've gone through a gap, which I never did very often, but every once in a while I'd slide through, and then some old fella's standing back there with his hand in the air going got him. Oh no. But if they're in your side and you've got somebody big running towards you, you can pull out of a tack and let them make the touch. Well, I enjoyed that side of it. Yeah, that's the basic rules around it. So you need everybody being honest with that as well, you know, sort of playing with that in a bit of fun spirit.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, no lifting, no three people in the tackle, kick and regather.
SPEAKER_00If you'd put a kick in, you'd have to defend it, you can't go and regather it. Yeah. Side of stuff. Yeah, you can't get caught from dummy half. You can score from dummy half, but you can't get caught from dummy half. A few little things like that. And only 11 aside. I always said, I don't know why they make it less players when we're older and got less speed out. Why didn't it go to more on the side? But anyway, it does open up some space so it's more fun when you've got the ball in your hands end.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. We've got to set some plans in motion about the old boys' carnival in June. I think we've got a date set for June for the bye weekend. So yeah, we'll get back to all of the expressions of interest we had from earlier in the year when the complex was booked out and we didn't get told about it from council. That's frustrating. But anyway, we'll keep that rolling.
SPEAKER_00Lucky they got you on the job, I think. Yeah. All that frustration. Yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_02Uh, all good. Gotta have a laugh about these things, eh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, true.
SPEAKER_02End up with no hair otherwise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02All going grey. Yeah, that's it. Grey and bald. Yeah. When did you start at Tawanton State School?
SPEAKER_00So came back from Mitchell State, from Mitchell State School and went to Croy State School. I think I was there for six years. Whatever. What does that work out to be? I don't know. So 2018 maybe? 2017, 2018, down to Tawanton.
SPEAKER_02And would you have you seen any of the kids you coached and mentored through Tawanton State School come through to be coming through to seniors and stuff now, won't they?
SPEAKER_00One of note, did a presentation on parade at Tawanton State School with Bowie Condon when he first took on your role and Blake Wilson. So part of when I first introduced them, the first one of the first things I said is uh these two boys have got some things in common. They've been to Taunton State School, they've both been taught by a McElroy. So I said to Bo, Bo had a great year with Mrs. McElroy, learned a lot, and I'd just like to apologise to Blake for the gap year I gave him. But there was a good group of boys then. Venny Butler was amongst them. I'm gonna forget some boys here now. There was a big range of them. Didn't realise just how good they all were, took them to the it was the very first ever Billy Moore, but back in those days it was called the Titan Shield, it was run out of Marucci Dor, and it was an actual competition. So that side actually went on and won the day, won the whole Sunny Coast Titan Shield, and Blake Wilson got player of the day out of the whole competition. Goes on, and he's now with a bit of time with the doggies and now with the Sea Eagles. Yeah, good. So I was like catching up with Blake and having to say hello to him. He's a good laboratory. We'll have to get him on here sometime soon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we hadn't we had Maui up the last couple of days doing the adapt clinic with some kids, yeah. And it was brilliant. Hey, we had 50 year old kids the first day, 10, 11, 12 year olds, and then yeah, about 30 the second day, which was 13, 14, 15.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_02And majority were pirates kids, a couple of fresh kids, which was good.
SPEAKER_00That's always good to see, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a really good couple of days. Mo did the on-field stuff with Blakey Murray, the Malmaninga coach from Ipswich Chats, which was good. Yeah, good for the older kids just to get a bit of an idea on pathway stuff and bits and pieces. And then, yeah, Sunny Kids did a bit of stuff on mental resilience, and I thought it was super well run.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, very good. Yeah, that's great. The opportunities that are arising for the kids around the area here through those connections.
SPEAKER_02That's it, man. We'll have to um you haven't seen the gym or anything yet, hey. We'll have to take it down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But it's been just hectic since I've come back. I've been meaning to get down and yeah, got some friends that I've made in Long Ridge now. We've meeting them to sail for fish and chips, so I won't be able to make it to training tonight. But uh yeah, I'll get down next week, have a bit of a sticky beak around. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Looking forward to giving you the tour, brother.
SPEAKER_00Lovely. I won't use anything though, I wouldn't like to break it.
SPEAKER_02Well, mate, Ant needs you to do an induction before you lift anyway. So yeah, you can't be skipping for Procedure. Yeah. What's next? Are you planning on doing have you got a couple of year contract out west?
SPEAKER_00So it's called relieving at level. So that means I can go out there, spend one year, and then I come back and regain my job or my position. Not necessarily the PE teaching, but I've got a job back at Tawanton State School for next year straight away. If I decide to stay for another year, then I'll relinquish Tawanton State School, could end up anywhere in this vicinity, sort of thing. It could be that back there, depending who needs a teacher, but a bit undecided at the moment. Probably just do the one year and then come back at the moment. Yeah, it's good, good little refresh, go out and do something different for a bit and just refresh myself and then come on back, I I'd imagine.
SPEAKER_02It's always good to have a new challenge, A.
SPEAKER_00It is, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've always got a bit itchy feet moving around or trying different jobs. So within the education department, I've taught a whole range of year levels and finished up doing PE for a while now doing this other job. So yeah, just always looking for a different challenge, I think.
SPEAKER_02Is there anything like with PE teachers and stuff to mentor younger teachers coming through? Because there's a real good crop of younger people at the pirates that are studying at the moment to become teachers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know, I know. You're talking about those couple, yeah, yeah. And I was in contact with them and talked to them. Uh awesome. But yeah, through their degrees and that, yeah, they get out into schools as well, sort of a bit like an apprenticeship in the areas where they go out and they do some prack and work with different people and so to find their own self. Really, it's good to work with some people. Some you just think, well, I wouldn't do it like that. What works for one doesn't always work for everybody else. So yeah, so they'll get that they'll get all that experience. You know, I'm happy to talk with them. Um, Nicola Bradford, she's out at Chartable, so she's messaged me, so I've sent her some information and stuff like that. Yeah, she's just started out there.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. That's so good. Yeah, because I worry about sports programs locally in school. There's so many fantastic teachers that are getting a retirement age now. Like you've got Don't look at me when you say that. No, no, no, just generalizing, mate. Well, like Lursey's obviously having a bit of a sabbatical from Nousiville, and then yeah, the Ronnie Green trees of the world, yourself. Belcho's is Belcho still teaching?
SPEAKER_00Teacher Aiden down at Coulomb High, yeah, he's just back there now, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we need this next crop to come through, and I hope QED really values what you guys do in that sporting space. Oh, they do, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and everybody as I say, like every teacher will come through with a different thing, different backgrounds, I suppose. That's the hardest thing for me walking away from Tawanton was hoping that the next person had a love of a rugby league as well, you know. So not much I can do about it. Everybody moves on at some point, so and your spot always gets filled, so none no illusions there.
SPEAKER_02We had a leagues tag day at the end of turn one, and Tawanton did really well in that. I think they had two teams.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I saw I got sent a weird self. Yeah, you might have starred in it. That's it, that's it. Yeah, so I had a yeah, I got told I'm still in contact with a few people at Tawanton, and you know, yeah, yeah, and they keep me up to date with what's going on and stuff.
SPEAKER_02That's good. I need to get over there and do a bit of on field stuff. I haven't done anything turn one, so yeah, form of finger. Yeah, that's it. That's all right. We'll have put our heads together and book something in with the crew over there, hey?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely. They'll be up for it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sure. Sounds good. You mentioned Marky before, we've got the marked wire shield coming up. That's a good one. It's still the competitive primary school, which there's not many of now.
SPEAKER_00No, that's right. So for our under-twelves, I what's competition starts under 13s, isn't it? In the NRL. Yeah, it does. Yeah, so it's really their first taste of competitive football. I suppose you go you do go back to their the representative trials that they've just done as well. That's their really first taste of rep of competitive football when they're competing for a spot in a team. And then onto this one where they're in a team and they're actually competing for a for a trophy and for a spot next round of events.
SPEAKER_02And while we've got it, yeah, shout out to all of our kids that are in those Noosa district rugby league sides too. We've got a heap in 11s, 12s, uh it's 10's 11s and a heap in the 11s 12 side, which is really good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you probably taught half of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, not much, probably.
SPEAKER_02From moving to Noosa when you did, what are the things that you've noticed about town changing, especially over the last couple of years, I reckon?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just oh obviously a lot busier, a lot more people around all the time. Suppose with that you get better services too. You get some of the more the civics come on board, you know, things like the civic and that sort of thing. I never liked going to the plaza, so it's easier to duck into the civic. So don't want to leave the curly gate to do so, mate. Most of us get locked in the bubble, don't we? Yeah, that's it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Have you noticed much of a dynamic change within your time teaching in schools?
SPEAKER_00No, not really. Kids are still kids. Yeah, they you have them at mercy, I suppose, in front of you, uh, with no iPads or anything. So they don't act, especially when you're doing PE, they're pretty good. You've got the ball in your hand or whatever the equipment is that they want, so they're willing to listen to you in that regard. So whether it was 20 years ago or tomorrow, you know, they're all keen on uh when they don't have an iPad or something in front of them to get that little bit different in the classroom and stuff when they've got access to all that stuff and they'll a bit hard to keep up with there when they've got other tabs open that you're not aware of. Sneaky little buggers.
SPEAKER_02Chat GTP found its way into primary school yet?
SPEAKER_00Oh, not with me. I've kind of I've I've lost I've missed that boat. It probably has, but I wouldn't recognise it. A plus. Yeah. I didn't think it could do that. Well, well done.
SPEAKER_02Do you notice much of a difference between Bush kids and coasty kids?
SPEAKER_00No, not really. I think with I think years ago you might have seen a lot more difference. Country kids are still fairly similar. They'll come up and talk about their sheep or their cattle on their property or the bike, motorbike that they rode, that sort of thing. But then again, you get kids out here on acreage and stuff and talk to you about that same sort of stuff. And because even those country kids now have all got uh internet access and things like that, they're all up to date with all the latest music, the latest sayings with all the TikToks and tock ticks and whatever else goes around.
SPEAKER_02Six sevens.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, six seven, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Let's say 2025. Come on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, more volume. No, it's still doing the rounds. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not so not so bad, but it's still there. Is footy healthy out in the bush? So it's yeah, back in the 90s when I was out there, we had there was an A-grade comp and a reserve grade comp. Now there's just the one comp and they've shortened it right down because of the extreme heat. Like just when I first got out there at the start of the year, mid-January, it was topping out at 48, 49 degrees in the shade. Dropped down to 32 overnight, so needless to say, I ran an aircon 24-7. Now it's we're getting a bit more manageable. It's dropping down to 99 or 20 overnight, which is quite pleasant. Yeah. But tops are still topping out around 38. So they had the nines comp out there, as I was mentioned earlier. And I th luckily that day was overcast. I think it hit mid-30s, high 30s that day as well. Yeah, when I get back out after Easter, it'll be a bit big temperature drop out there. Winter time you're getting at around probably five degrees to 28 degrees. A bit better for footy. So because of that, there's only a short period of that when it's not summer out there. They've shortened the season right up. There's only five teams left out there now. So they'll play two rounds, play each other twice, so go for 10 weeks. So whilst I'm out there, I've also been looking out a couple of, I'll keep my eye out on a few players, so they'll be finished mid-season for us. So might be able to, if anybody's interested, send some recruits. The boys up in that mid-season injury prone area.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good, man. Have you seen much of junior footy out there? Do you know what numbers and stuff are like in the junior space?
SPEAKER_00No, so they haven't started they'll start off a bit later on, too. I think after Easter they'll they've done their schoolboy trials for the north west side, the central west and northwest side. So they've done that. I was talking to a few of the young fellas doing that. Then they out there now they have cluster days, so they'll all go to one plate, one town. They're travelling distances like from Blackhall to Winton's like 400 kilometres. So when the cluster days in Winton, they'll drive over there. Same with the A-grade and that. They'll back in the days, yeah. You should spend four hours driving over and about 12 hours coming home after stopping at all the pubs on the way.
SPEAKER_02And those big cluster days, they'd be pretty cool days. You wouldn't have been to one of what they wouldn't have had one yet while you've been back in the middle.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. But I'm sort of picturing the like sort of the Moses and by Billy Moore days that we have here with the school boys where they're the same teams every week going and just play each other and round robbing competitions. And and you said five clubs out there? Yeah, five and the seniors. I'm not sure what the juniors are running. Yeah, so you've got Black Hall, Bark Holden, Alpha, Longreach combined with Ilfra Combe and Winton.
SPEAKER_02I've got a shout out to the Wilkinson family and the Ficklings. I know some people from out Long Reach Way, still go out for the nines and stuff every year and big families out there in the in the community, I believe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, righty, eh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Have you do you know any of the Fickos at Wilkinsons? No. No, I don't know. Ah, all good. Yeah. Bit of a dead end there, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry about that, though. No, no, no. I'll make I'll keep my eye out for them. Yeah, fair enough. When do you head back out to to work? What is it, the 20th? Monday the 20th is my first day back at work, but I with this role I'm at Junder for the week, so I've got to leave on Sunday the 19th. So yeah, I'll probably head back out Friday week. Take a couple of days to get back out there. Blackall's playing Winton at home, so I'll probably stop in Blackhall and watch that one, then C on up the road to Longrich the next day. Yeah, then drive down to Junder, three or four-hour trip down there, and get ready to work there for the week before I head back to Longreach for the weekend and go and find another game of footy somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good. Do do you get a car with this role? Are you driving? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah, government car and fuel car too, most importantly, under with the way things are going. That's the real problem.
SPEAKER_02A hundred percent, yeah. Yeah, actually, I'dn't even thought and thought of that in this conversation. But uh, have you noticed are people hurting with the cost of living and stuff out around Long Range?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, oh I haven't seen it, but you do hear people, everyone sort of commenting on it. It hasn't really ramped up just yet, it's not continuous, so you know, a couple of weeks of it, everyone sort of wears that for a bit and have heard that they're a bit worried about what the uh tourist season might be like out there, whether people stop coming. If I look at it like this, if you're going that way, still go that way, they've still got fuel out there, might cost you an extra hundred bucks each way. You can shorten up your trip by a couple of days if you need to, if you're that. But if you were gonna go, you've generally got that cash there anyway. So maybe don't eat out one night, something like that.
SPEAKER_02Fair enough. Is it nice and green out there in the mountain?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I've never seen it so green out there. If you're ever going to go to the outback now, it'd be the time to head out there. Give you a false sense of what it's really like. But yeah, it's beautiful out there at the moment. All the creeks and rivers are full and just green grass for miles.
SPEAKER_02Kangaroos everywhere.
SPEAKER_00Well, no, not seeing them because generally you'll see the roos when it gets dry because I'll come on the side of the road for all the pick, all the emus and the all the wildlife will head to the edges. So, yeah, driving around, don't see too many roos or anything, which is good when you while you're driving.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you don't want to be hitting them. Hitting kangaroos sucks. Yeah. Especially if you're for them and you and your car. 100%. Especially if you're 200k, yeah. That's how you're way to work or something. Waiting for a tow truck for a whole day. Awesome, mate. Well, it's been a pleasure to have a Yarnti as always. Yeah, thanks for the invite. Mate, thank you for coming on. And mate, any parting wisdom for the listeners, mate? Go the pirates and the dragons.
SPEAKER_00Don't forget the dragons, even though we're on a bit of a slump.
SPEAKER_02Only one way from here and it's up, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00That's right, yeah. But no, yeah, pirates are flying and good flying start for the pirates. Great to see.
SPEAKER_02Good stuff, man. Thanks for coming in, brother. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00Not a problem.