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
GEORGE BURGESS
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From a burning desire to forge a career in rugby league alongside his brothers as a tribute to their late father, to becoming NRL Rookie of the Year and a premiership winner, life has been a roller coaster ride for George Burgess.
Now balancing fatherhood, providing for his family, a growing career in the movie industry & ambassador roles, and preparing for his upcoming boxing bout against Nelson Asofa-Solomona in June, George joins LA for an honest and powerful conversation.
Episode sponsor - https://clubdraws.com.au/sports-clubs/
One of rugby league’s most feared front-rowers of his era, George reflects on a remarkable career at the highest level. From his rise through the English system, he opens up on the highs, challenges, and sacrifices of professional rugby league.
A proud representative for the England national rugby league team and Great Britain national rugby league team, George shares stories from some of the game’s biggest stages, life in Australia, and the bond of the famous Burgess rugby league family.
A raw insight into footy, family, resilience, and life beyond the game. Enjoy legends!
This episode has been brought to you from the DGMS studios, 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_01G'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. G'day, Legends. On the potty today, we've got Big Georgie Burgess. How are you, George?
SPEAKER_02Very good lately. It's been a few weeks trying to get me on air and we've been like passing ships, haven't we? Keep missing each other, but yeah, finally got in today and happy to be having a yarn with you, mate.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for coming on, mate. We'll delve into the Burgess backstory and where it all started from soon. But tell us what you've been up to recently, mate. Bit of a movie premiere, a few things going on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's been a bit of a nation over the last couple of years. Beast, the film that I've spent a lot of time on and a lot of time preparing for, finally premiered in in Australia and had a couple of weeks in America before that. Starting to get some really good reviews and everyone's getting to see it, and it's great. It's when you put a lot of time and effort into a project like that. It's very satisfying when it starts to come off and people start to see it. So and it was a project that I was really passionate about. Sportsman who's retired and you know lost his way. We can all relate to that as athletes and ex-athletes. So it was a really cool project to do, and you know, I got to work with some amazing actors and develop myself as an actor. So yeah, on to the next.
SPEAKER_01And how many films have you done now in your your acting career?
SPEAKER_02Well, if you look up an IMDB, I think there's about 14 or 15 credits. But I'd say the last three or four things I've done have been solid roles, whereas the ten before that were probably five, ten second cameo appearances in films, which is great. I got some great set experience, but the last three or four roles that I've done, I've really been able to sink my teeth into a character and create like a real character arc. So I've been happy about that and been happy with my performances and looking forward to these next couple coming out as well. So where can people watch based? So at the minute, you can actually buy it online. It was in the cinemas, there's been a bit of a mess up with the with the distributors and some fallouts there, but which is a shame because it really should be in every cinema in Australia. All Australians should be able to watch these great Australian stories. But it's going to be on Stan anyway in I think the 4th or 5th of June. It'll be on Stan. Everyone can watch it on Stan. But yeah, you can actually buy it online at the minute. Oh, there's probably about 10 cinemas around the country. But people from around this area, and it's actually showing in Nambo.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02So you can actually go and watch it at Nambo. I think there's showings at 2 30 p.m. every day. There we go. So get down to Nambo. I might even go watch it one day.
SPEAKER_01On the way to a Crushers game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, why not?
SPEAKER_01Actually, your first game for the pirates was this against the Crushers, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02What about that, mate? Talk about knee deep in mud and everything else. So it was it was uh torrential rain, gives him the call-up saying, can you can you come play? I was like, ah, gotta haven't really trained for a bit, but got in there and uh we got a win, which was good. And uh yeah, I'm feeling a lot fitter than I was in that first game now. So got a couple games this year, and hopefully we can make a little charge to the finals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it's sort of part and parcel of being an actor and playing movie roles, so you've got gotta make yourself look and fit the stuff you casted for, and not everyone's gonna realise that at the time, hey.
SPEAKER_02I remember when when I was came here at Tanusa and I was kind of in the middle of preparing for Neil in Beast and had the long hair, the beard, I'd gained like 20 kilos of bad weight. Everyone's like, come on, it's like you alright, mate. Like, it's everything alright, you need to talk about. And I was just kind of tunnel vision with the whole thing. That's the the places that I like to go to anyway when I'm trying to. For me, this role was like the first big one for me. So I wanted to look not look like myself. I didn't want to look like George Burgess. I wanted people watching the cinemas and be like, not realise it was me. I think if they're watching the movie and thinking that's George Burgess, the NRL player, it's gonna be off-putting for them. I know it would be for me. So uh it's nice that they can see me in in just a completely different light.
SPEAKER_01And has this role on Beast opened up some other opportunities for you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, big time. It's been like a domino effect, really. You know, I started this journey officially when I retired, you know, in 2022. Went straight into this great movie in in the goal course with Russell. I was able to just shadow him on this movie called Land of Bad. And it was really on that set that I met the riders of Beast, the producers of Beast, and three or four years later we ended up making them the movie. But yeah, just I find myself on each project because I'm being used to being in a team and and working with team members. I get to know the producers and people working on the movie and the set, and you know, more often than not, they they're going straight into another project. At the end of the day, they just want to work with people that they can get along with for a couple months. You know, the rest you can really work around. So I did two movies After Beast, one of which the producer was directing his own his first movie straight afterwards, small budget. He's like, mate, do you want to come and do this role? I was like, Yeah, yeah. I did a horror comedy movie called The Only One, which which was great. It's gonna be coming out at some point this year, but that's a completely different character again. I won't give too much away about it. But it's I've got a man bun. And so I went from the long hair to like like a man bun, and I've got glasses, and I live in my my mum's garage in the back garden. I've got my own samurai sword, and I've got and I wear a kimono. So he kinda he's like one of those big man child guys who's smokes a bong, and it's just it's a really comedy character, and uh I had so much fun playing that guy, and I went straight from that into this big movie in in Germany, which is my first American movie, with Ethan Hawke and you know Russell again, and that was amazing, and yeah, that was probably the biggest thing I've done so far. That got into Sundance Film Festival, and it's unbelievable to get to that kind of festival and you know it do really well, and and then it's just been bought from by the distributors, and it's gonna come out in in America in uh on September 18th, I believe. So yeah, it's been uh a whirlwind since then, and then since Beast has come out, casting directors watch it, and then they're like sending me all I had six auditions come through in the last week, so it's been like a crazy. So I think the second half of this year might be a bit busy. We'll see, see what happens. But yeah, I'm I'm just loving it because it's really is really what I've always wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. In the space of four years, you've gone from being a professional rugby league player, and that's sort of all you've known to I suppose finding yourself again, stepping into a movie role, relocating, settling down, father, big transition.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it definitely was. You know, it's the retirement's really tough because when you play the game for so long and and you you are attached to it, and I was very emotionally attached to the game, you know, through my connection to my father. So when I stopped playing, I kind of realized all that again, you know, and and it was hard. So that's my whole I I really haven't stopped playing though. Every year I can't really stop. I tried to stop, but I just keep coming back. Hence me being with the pirates, you know. But uh I love it. I I do love it uh still, and uh it's something that I have to keep doing. I've when I first retired, I played in Cannes for four months, and I was working as a community engagement officer in Cannes with all these you know young kids and coaching, and that was a great experience for me, just a life experience, just to help those these young kids who are a bit disadvantaged. We won a premiership in Cannes, and I was like, Alright, I'm definitely done after that. And then I ended up back in Sydney working in property, working for this company and trying to do the acting stuff on the side as well. The whole acting strikes were happening, and it was uh it was a hard time. I was in Sydney, I was going through relationship problems, and then I was still playing for a team in Sydney, Southeastern Seagulls. I think I played five or six games. Uh but yeah, I just had to get my fix and coming back to Noosa and goes walking the kids to school one day, and some block clocked me walking the kids to school. They're like, hey, you better uh get down to the pirates, mate. So, like a dog with a bone, I might make the call, and next thing you know, I'm playing for the Noosa Pirates. That's it. Can't stay away. That's it. I think that was Ballsy, actually.
SPEAKER_01You probably seem ballsy at home.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the one that made it happen. I think he gave me your number. Yeah, we caught up and had a coffee and it all sort of went from there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you you took one look at me and was like, man, he's a bit out of shape. I was like, we can work with him up. Mate, I was pretty bloody out of shape at the time too, so I wasn't throwing any stones. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's good, it's good to be involved in a community and move into Noosa. You know, I've spent a lot of time in Noosa with Joanna and the kids on holidays, and we even got married here. I felt like I didn't really connect with the community until I started playing for the Pirates, you know, and started until even now boxing, going to the Noosa box office and being around the community of people that go there and that all together now. I really do feel like Noosa has become a nice home for me and my family.
SPEAKER_01I love the community in NUSA. We're very lucky to have the community feel that we do here.
SPEAKER_02And I it was like the community is very staunch here, and it was like, if you're not gonna get involved and contribute to the community, we don't want to borrow you. So I was like, alright, I'm gonna you know, do the nippers, I'm gonna play for the pirates, I'm gonna box, got to get involved, do what I can, and then from then the community embrace you and uh and then make you one of their own, which is nice. Start to accept you into the community, which is cool. They don't, it's not an easy acceptance from this news and community. You've got to work for it, which I love about that kind of community.
SPEAKER_01And you're feeling any better than the community now? You seem really settled and yeah, I do.
SPEAKER_02You know, I'd I think last year I was probably six months out of the country doing different things, but you know, when I was back, I was uh I was pretty getting pretty involved, and this preseason was great just to be solidly training with the boys, you know, even going on the on the army camp with the boys, getting around some of the training sessions with the younger kids. It's it's definitely helps. And and then starting this boxing venture now, it's it's a whole other group of people there, which you you know about from your time boxing. And and yeah, the everyone's it's a small community, everyone's connected and and everyone's helps each other out, which is nice.
SPEAKER_01Everyone will be flagging the flying the uh the big Georgie flag in a couple of weeks' time. Let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's been great to train down there at Nisa Box Office. I remember telling the boys so it's all came come from pirates really, because when I started talking about boxing to the boys, first person they said was Ghost Easy at MBO and just rocked up there basically, uh unannounced. And he's been such a welcoming figure for me and and and a good coach. Uh someone that's just hasn't asked for anything in return. He's just like, Yeah, I'll I'll help you. And and we've been training pretty hard. You know, we were building up for that first date, which was the 6th of May, and then got delayed seven weeks. So we took a little break, a couple weeks, but we're back into the thick of it now, just come straight from boxing, and yeah, man, it's a different kind of training. So I'm enjoying it. It's it's taking me to some difficult places mentally, and I'm enjoying that part of the of the training. The challenge of it all. Yeah, so you just you're getting punched in the head, it's different, you know, tackling and it's it's rugby training's hard as well, but it's when you're not feeling it, when your body's not feeling it, it's really hard to get yourself motivated to go and get punched in the head.
SPEAKER_01Well ring fitness is definitely different than field fitness, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, you gotta kind of have a different mentality to it. I'm I'm really enjoying stepping into that that world because you know, I'm actually getting I'm involved with a a boxing project, a movie project from a new so local actor that's gonna be later this year. Matty Wilson, who used to be on Neighbours, is it neighbours? I don't know, one of the so one of them big ones. But anyway, Matty Wilson, great guy, mutual friend, introduced us because we're both living here and you know he's doing a an Australian story about a boxing, you know, in Australia in the 1920s. He only got all this information from his family heirloom, and it's about Harry Stone, this American boxer who was like the first boxer to be promoting his fights in the 20s, which is a really an amazing story. So yeah, I thought if I'm gonna be doing a boxing movie, I'll step into that world and and see what it's like.
SPEAKER_01So good. Yeah, shout out to Box Office and Izzy. I can't say a bad word about Izzy or Box Office, they've been fantastic to me over the time. I've actually got a a pair of Izzy's fighting trunks. I went to one Mad Monday as Connor McGregor. Oh yeah. And I hit him up, he gave me a pair of his trunks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's a weapon.
SPEAKER_01He's so good. They fit me somehow.
SPEAKER_02Oh mate, he's uh he's he's really good fun to be around and got some good stories. I actually had no idea you were involved with him until I you know went over to the water fountain and seen a picture of you there from uh from when you'd had a boxing fight. I think it was uh Liam Lucky and Lazarus and they had the hair, the locks were flowing long then. Yeah, before I lost it all.
SPEAKER_01Uh mate, it was looking uh made me laugh when I saw that. Quick gave you it to that. I'm definitely no boxer, bit of a brawler. I've had a couple of charity ones, but I wouldn't class myself with the real boxers of the world. You looked the part, mate. Thanks, man. Thanks. We used to do Sunny Coast League ones and Battle of the Codes in Noosa with all the different sporting codes. It'd be awesome to see it back. Need to get it happening.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hopefully, you know, this will inject a bit of life back into the scene up here, and there's gonna be a fair bit of media around Noosa box office in the next couple, three or four weeks leading up to this fight. So, you know, it's good. I think the the the participation in the young kids there in the gym is great, and it's awesome to see parents getting the kids into sport, and you know, it's the same with the pirates. I can't believe every time I come down and see the kids turning up to training and parents bringing them out, and it's really beautiful to see because it's such an important part of a childhood. It was for me, and you'd probably say for yourself as well. Definitely, man. So it's it's a great community, and yeah, when we've got to keep moulding.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. And it yeah, shout out to all the people that work behind the scenes in sport and all the respective codes that make it happen because uh not much is given. We don't get funded by local government or anything like that. So yeah, it all comes off the back of Ollies and the the legends out in the community that sponsor it and the people that put their hand up to do the hard work. So you know who you are, guys. Shout out to you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's unbelievable figures in the community out there that give up their time, give up their money, and and uh to help these kids have a better childhood, you know. It's really cool. And shout out to the mums and dads, you know, who work their asses off all week and they get on from work and have to take their kids to footy training or boxing training, and it's it's hard, you know. It's I've got three kids myself, and sometimes you don't feel like doing it. Yeah, um, but yeah, it's it's worth it for them in the end.
SPEAKER_01And sacrifice to find the money to buy the boots and the kit and the registrations and the travel and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, not cheap, but yeah, can't remember. I don't know how my mum and dad did it back in the day, to be honest. Must not have been registration back in those days. I think my dad was the coach, so he was just like, Yeah, all right, you're in, no worries.
SPEAKER_01Well, mate, that's a great segue. Let's talk about the uh the Burgess origin story from the north of England. Tell us a little bit about growing up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, north of England, you know, it's rugby league heartland. You know, the rugby league was born in Huddersfield in the George Hotel, 1895. So, you know, I grew up not far from there, and it was very much the same for myself. You know, my dad came from a tough family in East Yorkshire. He found rugby league. I think he was the first person in his family to start playing, kept him out of trouble. But he was tough bloke, and I think my mum kind of w mellowed him out a little bit. She was, you know, a bit more uh I don't know how you say, but she she took him away from that life a little bit. And I think they just when they got together that and they chose where to live. They just picked a point on the map, a random point on the map with with a pin and said, uh, let's live there. And it just happened to be Liversidge in West Yorkshire, and that's where we grew up. And our local rugby league club was Jewsby Moor. You know, Dad retired when he was 30, and he was the captain coach in the last few years of his career, but his body was knackered, his knees and he's getting knocked out every bloody game. Yeah, a lot of concussions back in those days. Yeah. So when he retired, he he was coaching and you know, he sell fruit and veg. He was a builder by trade and plaster, bricklayer, everything. He was a hard-working man, and I think he used I remember always remember him selling, walking up the s down the street, selling potatoes out of a sack, carrying two big sacks of teddies over his shoulders. So yeah, he was he was kind of a community man himself, well known within the community for helping kids come through and and coaching kids. So he coached all of us as juniors. When he stopped playing, actually, my mum started playing. Couldn't both play at the same time. One of them had to be with the kids. So my mum had a 10-year career playing rugby league from 30 years old to 40. So she's got bloody two knees blown out from that now. But she she was a tough woman as well, you know. We I grew up watching my mum play, not my dad. So I kind of experienced sitting on the sideline, you know, freezing cold with my brothers watching my mum play. And I remember one game specifically was seeing her get her nose broken by someone, and its nose is bleeding. That you just ri reset the nose. I felt I heard the crack and she carried on playing. You know, it was like you grow up as a six, seven-year-old kid, and your mum does that. It's kind of sets a pretty strong example for you as a young man. So, yeah, I think playing rugby was kind of our religion, you know. It was our church on a Sunday. We didn't go to church, we went to the Jews Memorial Rugby Club and spent 8 a.m. till uh end of the day, you know, every Sunday. And that was our childhood, and it was it was really cool. It was the way we it should be, really.
SPEAKER_01You were the youngest of the brothers. Well, only bought a couple of minutes from Tom, but you're the youngest of the four, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 15 minutes between me and Tom. That would have been a lifetime for my mum waiting for me to come out. I was always the the stubborn one out of the two, so yeah, it makes sense that I was hanging around in there, enjoying the space. But yeah, yeah, we we were always together growing up, you know, me and Tom. I think the only time we really spent any time apart was when I signed to South Sydney and he stayed in at Bradford Bowls. That was two years we spent apart, and and then yeah, just he's he's over in England at the minute. Yeah, it'd be good to all get back together at some point. Maybe we'll get him on the Pirates one day.
SPEAKER_01Must be a good reunion when you get all the brothers together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it doesn't happen enough as much as I would like to these days because of where we're all living. But yeah, we'll try our best to get reunited soon.
SPEAKER_01So is any news on Sammy? Has he got anything locked in back in the NRL or has he re-signed Super League? I haven't been following it.
SPEAKER_02I don't know, to be honest. He'd been focusing on this season so much. Like he just had a bad loss in the Challenge Cup semi-final, which I know he would have he'd be hurting. So I haven't spoken to him in a few days since since that game, so I'll have to check in with him soon. But I know he's he is off contract at Warrington. Uh, there's clubs over here needing coaches. There's not many coaches knocking around, so you know he could be on the radar for a few NRL teams, which I think he'd be a good fit for. Uh, but we'll see. I think he'd probably do another couple years in in Warrington before he comes back, but he'll definitely be coaching NRL one day. Be good to see him in the uh CS system. That would be be the ultimate goal to get him for the fans, you know. Just for the fans to see one of their favourite sons come back, you know, who won a premiership for him. Coach, yeah. I think he he'd love to be able to say that it he's won a premiership as a player and a coach. That would be a good thing to have, you know. Pretty fulfilling thing on the Bajume A. Yeah, I know he's got a lot of goals. He just recently interviewed to be the coach of England. Yeah. And he was down to the last two or three, and they just went the other way in in the end. But I think that's definitely in his path as well to to coach England. And he was a very proud captain of England when we we played, and he's always destined to be a good coach. Everything I really have as a player is due to Sammy. Yeah. There's a deeper story behind all of this when because I mean Luke and Tom were not going to be professional players really at all. We'd resigned to the fact that we didn't quite have the ability that Sammy had. Sammy was making all the rep teams growing up, and you know, he was he made his debut for in the Super League when he was 17. And it wasn't really until dad passed away that we kind of, all right, well, we're gonna leave a legacy for dad. So what does that mean? It means we'll play professional together. So we kind of really knuckled down and doubled down on efforts at that point and kind of used that sadness and and you know grief. We balled that all up and used that in our training. I don't really know if if that didn't happen, if I would have made it as a professional player. Because the last few couple of years of dad's life, he lost his speech and he used to write down everything. And Samuel was his primary carer, very strong, mentally strong. The young man was Sam. He was primary carer for my dad. We were too young. Me and Tom were too young. Luke, he was down in London playing for a team down there. And so Samuel was looking after him and and he gave all of his secrets, all of his lessons that he'd learnt in his life. You know, he was a really great coach, my dad. He wrote all this stuff down and he gave it to Sam and it and he made him promise that he would share it with his brothers, you know, with his twins and and and with Luke as well. When dad died, Sammy became, in my eyes, the keeper of this knowledge, you know, that my dad had passed on. And it was quite a powerful thing. So when Sammy then moved to Sydney and I was like left in England, I was like, fuck, you know, I want to be be there. I want to be with I want to be around Sammy. And I I flew to Australia, didn't have any money, I spent all my money on this plane ticket. And it was basically a three week piss up in Sydney. But in that holiday, that's when I got offered like a contract from Russell Crowe to play for in the team. And he'd never seen me play, but he he knew about the family, he knew we were close, and he had this idea of putting brothers in a team. So he took a chance on me and my brothers. Tommy didn't sign because it was shit money. I signed. Because I knew if I could be around Sam for a couple of years intensely, it would really improve my game and and my being a man. And it did, you know, we from eighteen to twenty, I lived with Sam pretty much and trained with him every day. And I he became like I became his shadow basically for two years. You know, the third year I was Dalian rookie of the year, you know, in my first season in the NRL. So it was like it paid off. I was like the student, you know, big time and and took in everything that he had to offer and everything that my dad had taught him in those last few years. So it was that was a really pivotal time in my life. Those first two years in Australia, my development was crazy. And that just showed me that you can really do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to it.
SPEAKER_01What a beautiful story and beautiful gift from your dad and your brother.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, definitely, man. It's for him to have that thought of you know, it's just my time's up, so I've got to do something and pass it on in some way and and and trust one of his sons to do that, you know. And it made Sammy the man who he is, you know, he's such a powerful figure now because of it, and and he's a great coach. He's I would have loved to be coached by him. I was I'm crazy with Tommy because he's playing for a team, he's still he's still playing. I'm like, mate, just go take the money's not everything, but I would have gone and played in the Super League for Sammy, took a pair-up, but yeah, maybe he'll do a year, we'll see.
SPEAKER_01And am I right in saying the first rep team that you made was just before you came to Australia? You opened up some eyes to your ability and stuff when you had a bit of a tear-out tour, is that correct?
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. I'd never made a rep team. The catalyst for me was so I think I got picked in the England under 18s, but I chose to go on holiday to Australia to visit Sam because I knew if I got there, it could make something happen. And then big, but because of that, I missed out on this England camp, and and because of that, they dropped me out of the team. So I was a bit happy because I got this contract to play in Australia, but a bit upset because I'd missed out on playing for my first you know national jersey. And then I'm on the plane landing back in in England. You know, I'm thinking I'm going back to get ready to come back to Australia. I'm literally landing on the plane and I get a call saying someone's pulled out of the England team, uh front rower, and uh we're gonna call you back in. So I get called in for these two games against Australia in the time that I'm back in England, and it was like, all right, this is my moment now. And I had the two best games of my life against Australia. Because I was like, I'm I'm going to play in Australia, so I need to play good against these guys. We beat them 2-0, and then my after those games, my contract at South Sydney got upgraded from a part-time contract to a full-time contract, and I was like, Oh, this is all working out, you know. And Tommy was filthy because he we both originally got offered part-time contracts, and he turned it down, and then after those games, he got upgraded. He's like, I would have said yes if it was a full-time contract. But I was like, sometimes you gotta take a leap of faith. And he had a really great couple of years in the Super League when I left. He got that spot there at Bradford Bulls and played 50 odd games in the Super League. But yeah, both had different developments, but yeah, sliding doors moment was was that crazy how things work out.
SPEAKER_01It is, mate. What's your honest opinion of the difference between the NRL and the Super League as far as sort of the top-tier competition and the pathway stuff coming through?
SPEAKER_02Do you know what? Both leagues, both competitions are always changing. And in the last 15 years, they've drastically changed both of them. So it's really hard to keep tabs on the difference. For me, I'd never played Super League. I came out to Australia and and the NRL was what I knew. So when I went back to playing the Super League, my body was a bit busted and it actually felt harder than the NRL. If I'd have done it the other way around, who knows? I think I really enjoyed playing in the warm weather. I think my body liked playing in the cold. As like the hips problems started getting worse, and yeah, it was just harder to get into it. And pre-seasons as well. I think people underestimate how important having a pre-season is in warm weather, because the work you can get in in pre-season compared to what you do in England. Like the all the teams try and go to like Spain two weeks. That the two weeks you might get like a few good field sessions in. But when I was at Wigan, we did nothing. We were training on the 4G pitches, which is terrible for your joints. Then we were training inside on the track, you know, on the hard track, and it's just like yeah, not good for you for your joints at all, especially for me. I was I needed some warm weather footy at that point in time. But that's really important. And and as well over here in Australia, the junior development is a million times more advanced than what it is in England. Don't get me wrong, in the north of England it's crazy and everyone loves it, but across the board in in England doesn't exist. If you go to parts of England downstairs, the rugby league doesn't exist, which is a shame because big divide in in England with rugby league and rugby union, middle class and upper class and working class, and a lot of politics involved with the games over there. And I've actually we've got a whole script myself and this other fella and gentleman in the New Orleans got a whole script about the history of the game and the split. So it's quite interesting. But it's a long-winded answer about the difference in the two codes, but NRL is the premier competition by far. The money in the game, participation in the juniors makes it a better product. Just the fact they've got pool of talent of kids to choose from. Whereas in England, all the young, talented athletes want to play soccer or football, as they call it. So I think the best player that came from England, the Herbie Farmers. He was a gun soccer player as a kid. Like he wasn't even gonna play league, but he's he switched to league. So that's the kind of athletes they have in England. But yeah, they all get poached by soccer.
SPEAKER_01He's got a massive talent, old Herbie. He came over as a teenager, didn't he? Came over for his school years, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I remember um yeah, he did a bit of training at South Sydney. Brian Foley, who was good friends with my dad. Coached with him, and he came over and he was filming all his training sessions for him and mentoring. Shout out to Brian Foley.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good. Well, I better mention our episode sponsor, which is our great friends at Club Drawers. So shout out to uh to Club Drawers and mate, you're also an ambassador for them too.
SPEAKER_02So Club Drawers, family of league, two dollars a week, and when you're 2,000, how about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, club draws, guys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, club draws does great things for Family League, does great things for local clubs like the Pirates too. So if you jump into that draw, a bit of money goes back to the home club, money goes to Family A League, and biggest funder of Family A League that helps retired players and grassroots people from rugby league as well. So, how are you enjoying the uh the ambassador role with Family League? Uh with Club Draw, sorry, I shouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's great. It's all it comes back to community, really, and it's a great initiative that that Paul has. He's doing something to help the local community, give them a vessel to give back to their community financially and also go in the run to win some money as well, which is always nice. But you know, people would donate that money anyway, I think. But it's just a great way of getting people give back in in any little way that they can.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, get involved with club draws, guys. Great initiative. Shout out to Paulie and and the team.
SPEAKER_02And if you win the $2,000, I might be the one knocking on your door and giving you it one day in cash.
SPEAKER_01In a sack of one dollar coins, you're like yeah, get that into your crispy hundred dollar bills. There you go. So Sydney is an 18-year-old, couple of years coming through the system there, debut, breakout season, Dalian rookie of the year. What was that first year in the NRL like?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I actually 2012 I was firing, I was playing well, and I made my debut, and then I had this terrible thing happen to me. It was like one of those bad things that happen that ends up being a good thing. I was in hospital for a week and split my stomach and intestines open, you know, really serious thing that happened. That happened after my third game in the NRL, so which meant in 2012 I'd only played three games, and which meant 2013 I was still eligible to be a rookie. I was I was still classed as a rookie that preseason because I'd had a setback. The 2013 preseason, I was just like a man possessed, basically winning all the fitness, doing all the army camps, and I was leading the way basically as a 21-year-old in that South Pack in the preseason, and and uh I was like, this is my time now to go. Yeah, I think I started round one. I came off the bench round one, scored my first try, and now that was it off of the races after that. I think I played nearly every game that season, and it was good because I was on match payments. So I was like three grand a match. I was like, yes, this is this is I'm an NRL player now, you know. And then we just miss out that year, should have won, but we uh just miss out in the prelim against Manley, and obviously that kind of led to the the next year of going the whole way.
SPEAKER_01And what do you chalk that breakout season down to? Just belief, belonging, you felt like an NRL player. Yeah, you brought the work in.
SPEAKER_02I'd had setbacks, I'd had a few little injuries, you know, a few things happened, you know, coaches. I think Madge's first year with Madge, 2012 preseason, he he nearly sent me back to North Sydney Bayes part-time because he wasn't happy with what I was some of the stuff I was doing. But that's the kind of coach he was. He was pretty ruthless. So that kind of woke me up a lot. I used to work really hard on my lateral movement. That was my big work on area, and I always tell young friend rowers if you can fix up your lateral movement and get that really crisp. That's really the game. If you're a big guy playing against the likes of Cameron Smith and Billy Slayer and you know these amazing players inside, in and around that rook, you have to be really crisp with your movement. I worked really hard on that, and as soon as I got that part of my game right, the rest of my game was was on.
SPEAKER_01So and your lateral movement work is that tamboing, is that footwork?
SPEAKER_02Is I had this one drill I used to do over and over, like over and over. It was just basically you kids listening can do it. I show the kids down on training. You put nine cones out in a grid, and you stand in the middle, and you have a partner that calls out numbers, and you have to go to the corresponding cone, whichever number, and it's just you do four sets of six. I did four sets of six after every train session, sometimes before. And yeah, it just became repetition, repetition. What it does is it teaches you to keep your feet underneath you and and balance and everything else. And that's basically the rock. That's the washing machine basically in the in the middle of the field.
SPEAKER_01And is that stationary in the middle or is that tempo in your feet and moving? Fast as you can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Maximal effort, moving to the cone, moving back to the middle as fast as you can, and always staying forward with your body. So hip square, not turning your hips, keeping your eyes up, ready to make a tackle, short feet, getting all the power from your base up. Yeah. That one drill really made my career. That was simple one simple drill. Because when I got into a game, got a bit tired. I knew I had this this drill, just went straight back into muscle memory. I recommend all I always tell young front rowers to do it. Especially if they're a bit big and a bit lumbering like I was.
SPEAKER_01Look, it's it's good for everyone. Every time I see, well, majority of the time I see defensive mistakes in juniors, it's because footwork's wrong. So yeah, it's something we need to work in. But reflect back, it wasn't until I was in a cult system that I did any work, any ladder work. It's important.
SPEAKER_02I love it doing it with the young kids. I always, if I ever get a chance to coach any young kids, I always do some single leg work with them. Balancing, so that's super important to do, start doing with them from a young age. Uh so they can get start getting that coordination of using the single leg and balancing and and all that kind of stuff is really pivotal to them being a good athlete, but also preventing injuries as well.
SPEAKER_01Do you find all that work you've done on your sort of your feet base and feet movement? Is that helping in boxing? Has that helped?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, big time. You know, balance being able to shift from one foot to the other is big. And it's even more so in boxing. I'm learning an even deeper level of it in boxing, which is great. Because I've always found playing, I was quite body weight over my feet, whereas you don't really want to be that in box. It's kind of like staying smack bang in the middle of your base, so you can kind of move either way like in a neutral position and nice, balanced, even weight between the two feet. So yeah, I'm learning about that with Izzy, and he's great.
SPEAKER_01What day do you fight in Nelson? Have you got the date?
SPEAKER_02So press conference will be this weekend and it will be announced this weekend, but it's gonna be basically 24th of June on a Wednesday night. And that's Brizzy now, the card? Brisbane, yeah. You heard it here first. Pat Rafta Arena. There we go. This will probably get come out after the press conference so we can say it. Pat Rafter Arena Wednesday night. I think it's the Parro card, Liam Parrow. So that'll be it'll be a good decent Wednesday night card.
SPEAKER_01And can you tip us into a table? Like, can we, as a pirates, get a table or something, come down and cheer you on?
SPEAKER_02I don't know if there's tables, but they'll I'll get a lot of tickets, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01For sure we'll get we'll fly the flag, mate. Get down and get vocal.
SPEAKER_02Everyone there after uh after training.
SPEAKER_01Good big George, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if we've got a game that week, so we'll uh good enjoy the night.
SPEAKER_01So it's a Thursday, do you say Wednesday night?
SPEAKER_02Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01That'll be around origin time, hey. There'll be an origin game either that week or the week after or something.
SPEAKER_02Knock knock Nelson out on the Wednesday and come play for the Pirates on the Sunday. How about it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Is there been um do you know Nelson personally or has it just been the media sort of stuff?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I know him a little bit just from playing against him, players that I've played with that have played with him, and we were both involved with the run it stuff at the same time, and he kind of stepped away as I stepped in. So we've kind of been overlapping a little bit, and I don't know. I just think he's a bit of bit of uh full of hot air, you know. He needs a bit of to check a little bit and take him down a peg, eh? He's a pommy lad to show him uh how it's done. Are you excited about it? Yeah, it's really exciting for me because the first time stepping out of that team environment, you know, it's just yourself and you've got your team around you. But when you step in that ring, it's just you and I'm excited about that. It's gonna be adrenaline, high adrenaline, and it's kind of an experience in life that you can't really buy. I don't know how many people, I don't know what the percentages are of people that can say in their life that they've stepped in in a ring and had a professional boxing bar. So it's it's one of those money can't buy experiences. And for me as an actor, I'm always just that's all I'm doing. I'm drawing from life experiences, and and for me, this is up there with a life experience. So I'm uh I'm excited just trying to make sure that I'm putting my best foot forward with my training and make sure that I step in that ring. Once I step in that ring, not a stone is left unturned with my training.
SPEAKER_01And you're going in there trying to knock him out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. That's heavyweights, you know. We're in 10 ounce gloves, so it's it's not gonna feel like we're boxing bare knuckle, basically. And either one of us clips each other, we we're going down. You know, you saw him in his last fight, he got clipped by Jay Wall. He didn't like it, so I think I've got a bit more in my punch than Jaywall does. Yeah, I reckon you'd be pretty heavy handed, mate. I don't think I'd want you to chin, mate. Yeah, it's not about going for the big knockout, it's about wearing down, move him around and take his petrol a bit and pick him off with some nasty punches and hurt him. You know, I want to hurt him in there. I want him to have an easy fight, I want to I want to put him through a bit of pain. It's gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01Awesome, mate. We'll be cheering you on. So, boxing, rugby league. Obviously, we've touched on you being a family man and what's next after fighting Nelson, filming a few more movies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, definitely acting is the the path for me and doing some big projects. I spoke about a little bit about the boxing one, but there's it's gonna be busy. I'm gonna do some more great projects and get some big movie roles, and there's a few uh exciting opportunities that I can't really speak about, but watch the space, it's gonna be exciting. I'm just getting started really with with what I want to do as an actor. This boxing is helping me get into a good shape physically and mentally sharpen up anything that's lingering in the in my mind about who I am. It's gonna you find out a few things about yourself mentally when you're stepping into that space. So for me, that was a big factor in taking the fight. It wasn't about trying to be a boxer and and and trying to be ego and all that stuff, it's kind of figuring out a little bit about myself and then I I need that motivation to get in and train, and it's been good, especially after putting on all that weight for bloody Neil. Yeah, it's been good to uh give me that because it's hard getting in your mid-30s of trying to wake up in the morning and train. But if you know you've got a fight prepared for it, it's pretty easy.
SPEAKER_01And those little uh those little burgesses are looking up to you and the man that you are too, so it's good to keep challenging yourself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they love it. They're starting to get into boxing training now as well, and footy and all stuff. So you're constantly setting an example as a father and whether you like it or not, so you have to keep putting your best foot forward. That's it, man.
SPEAKER_01This streaming age that we're in seems to have rejuvenated the Aussie film scene. Is that how it sort of feels from the inside?
SPEAKER_02It's a shame because I feel like the cinema scene, they're not really promoting Australian films and Australian-made films, and it's a shame. But yeah, I mean it's changed a lot since COVID. Everyone's kind of not going to the movies as much, which is a shame. And the movies that are playing there now are really just the big Bollywood budget movies that that are throwing heap of money into the cinemas to get them in there. So yeah, it's been a bit of a challenge with Beast trying to get a run-out throughout the whole cinemas throughout Australia. So, you know, streaming might be the way forward, but it's from watching Beast in the cinema with the sound and the big screen, it really is the best way to watch that kind of movie. Um, so it's a shame really. But maybe we can change the the scene in the next few years. I know there's Russell's playing a big part in all of that and making his studio off Sabre. He's he'll have a thing or two to say before he's done with that place. He must be a cool guy to have as a mentor. Yeah, man, he's been great for me. He's he's a hard ass, you know, he's he doesn't mess around, which I like. He's doesn't mix his words and gives me a few uppercuts when I need it. We've actually he's falling out with me at the minute because he doesn't like the boxing stuff. So but yeah, I'm sure we'll we'll speak again after.
SPEAKER_01Well, credit to you with the NAS thing, because you you really went after it. Yeah. You really went after getting this fight with him, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I just felt like he was felt like he was a bit of a fraud with it all. I just anyone else, I don't know if I would have been interested, but because it was him, I was like, uh pour a bit of petrol on it. Yeah. So yeah, get to the fight and I'm out.
SPEAKER_01If this ever um ever makes its way to your ears, Nas, I'm I'm happy for uh retort on him, mate. We'll uh we'll get you on for an episode.
SPEAKER_02Uh he's too big he's too good for this kind of stuff, his big Nas. He'd have to be paid for you know all this stuff. Bit of a big note.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, do you talking with your fists in the 24th of June, hey?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_01On the footy side of things, is it second second game for the season on the weekend for you at Pirates?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I played a little trial and then had a break. And yeah, two games. I've been kind of juggling a lot at the minute. Last week I didn't train all week with the boys and I played and I kind of felt it in my first stint. My legs felt a bit heavy, but the second stint that I played, I felt really good. Got a little bit of injury, but it's feeling pretty good today. But yeah, I love it, you know. But it does take its toll on your body. Yeah, definitely. Monday, Tuesday, waking up, I'm like, geez, not getting any younger. So yeah, I think that'll have to be it for until after the fight now. So we've got the bye, and then after the bye, it's gonna be too close to the fight.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, you can't get split or anything, eh?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just too much at a player, really. Gotta focus on a boxing training. As the weeks hit closer, we'll be getting more intense.
SPEAKER_01On the weekends, boys knocked over, Coolin' at Coolin', which is always special. That was for the Rich de Kavanaugh Shield. So, did was there much chat in the playing group? Did you hear anything about what that shield sort of represented during the week?
SPEAKER_02During the week I wasn't there. Oh, yeah, of course you would have missed it. Um, I missed out on all the build-up, which was a shame. But it was nice to uh be a part of of the win and and see just how much it meant to the boys, you know, and even boys who weren't playing who had been there before. And yeah, I just love being a part of that kind of stuff, contributing in a little way.
SPEAKER_01So Sammy was a really promising junior coming through when he died as a young man. I think he won an A-grade premiership as a as a bit of a puck coming through, and then passed away as a young man, which was really sad. And everyone from Weissord era will know Sammy. How did he pass away? On the drink. Yeah, just accident on the drink. So it was sudden, sad. Really rock the community and stuff. And then um the Coulomb side of that shield is is Pat Kavanaugh, who's done lots of stuff with the community down there, and Pat was there to present the shield on the weekend. So yeah, we play for that every time we play Coulomb, which adds a bit of extra spice to it, but always a local derby. And it was cool, you running out for us and Cartwright playing for Coulomb as well. Did you know him much before?
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, I know his dad and he and his brother, Jed. So it was good. I played against Bryce a lot for Penrith. Great player, unbelievable player. So it was nice to see him looking fit and still going. And he had a bit of a abrupt finish to his his playing career, so it's nice to see that he's he's he's hanging in there and and still contributing, giving back in his own way to the game.
SPEAKER_01It's pretty cool seeing so much ex-NRL talent on the Sunny Coast now, and just bush footy in general. I feel like for a big period of time you didn't see much of it, you see a lot of it now, which is awesome. So, you know, credit to everyone.
SPEAKER_02To be honest, like nowadays, bush footy is really like the way the NRL's gone, it's a certain style of play now. Not many big guys left the NRL running around, so it's nice to see the old school way of footy in the bush and in the local communities in the air-grade teams. So it was definitely like that when I played in Cairns, it's like that here in in the Sunshine Coast comp. Yeah, it's it's enjoyable for X players, retired NRL players to come and play that style of footy again, you know. You get to a point, it's like NRL's just too fast. I came back for the dragons, I really fit, really fit. Uh, this is just too much now. Young man's game.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, and it's such a business too, because you your your hip was only just holding on when you're at the dragons, and yeah, well, I was putting back, I was coming back from big surgery, but yeah, it was probably just too much of a push.
SPEAKER_02I always believe they should have a gold league in the NRL for like uh retired players to transition, different rules. Maybe there's definitely something there like for transitioning players to play in go from NRL and what's really you don't want to go play reserve grade against all these. It'd be good to create like a gold league with all these legend players. Where they can still play quite competitively, and maybe it's only ten rounds a year, and it's just like people fans would love to see the old legends still playing, you know.
SPEAKER_01Take it to the bush, do something for community rugby league.
SPEAKER_02Well, still involved with the legends of league games, and and that that's a similar concept, but it was an official league with a good standard, I think, and they still got paid, would definitely be something for them to look at. But I know Valandis would get on it because he could people betting on it and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01So flick him a message for us. Yeah. We'll host the first one at this point.
SPEAKER_02Gold League, NRL Gold League.
SPEAKER_01There we go. Awesome, brother. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on. Before we wrap things up, is there any parting messages, things you want to chat about?
SPEAKER_02For me, it's it comes back to community that we spoke a lot about. You know, we all play a part in our community each day. We've got choices, we've got options. So, you know, us three sitting here now, we're doing something for our community. So I'd I just encourage everyone out there to be aware and just have some thought about what it is that they're contributing to their community and and how important it is. So 100%. Thank you, brother. Cheers, Georgie. Legend. Thanks, mate.