Between Two Beers Podcast: Steve Price Reflects on Rugby League Career, Losing his Father, Sonny Fai and more!

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On this episode of Between Two Beers, we talk to Steve Price.

Steve is a legend of Rugby League on both sides of the Tasman.

In Australia, he played 222 games for the Bulldogs and 16 for Australia before moving to New Zealand in 2005 to captain the Warriors.

Steve's impact on New Zealand transcended Rugby League, where he racked up 91 caps for the Warriors across four years,

but also opened a supermarket in Waipu, coached Rugby League at Mount Albert Grammar School and became a pillar of his community,

which was recognised when he was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010.

In this episode, we talk about Steve's high-achieving family and how two of his kids are now professional athletes,

the tragic loss of his father to suicide last year and how it impacted him,

what makes a good leader and how he navigated challenges across his career,

like the scandals that enveloped the Bulldogs and the loss of sunny fire at the Warriors,

that origin fight behind the scenes of the supermarket business, Celebrity Treasure Island and much, much more.

Steve may well be New Zealand's favourite Australian, and after listening to this, he'll be easy to see why.

He's achieved incredible success in all facets of his life and has so much brilliant wisdom to share.

This was a really special one.

Listen on iHeart, wherever you get your podcasts from, or watch the video on YouTube.

This episode was brought to you from the Export Beer Garden Studio.

Enjoy!

Steve Price

Oh, yes, a frothy one.

Haha, welcome to Between Two Bears.

How are you mate?

Yeah, very good. We're excited to have you in the Export Beer Garden Studio today.

Shay is very excited for this episode.

He might have to rain the big guy a little bit, okay?

I've been frothing all morning, to be honest with you.

Like, I got into The Winner's Bible, a book a few years ago,

and it talked about kind of improvements you can make to your life,

and they spoke about if there's people that you know that are inspirational you want to aspire to be like,

have imagery of them around.

So as a man in his late 20s, early 30s, you were a photo up on my wall.

Oh, wow.

As someone that I aspired to be from what I'd seen.

So to have you in here today is pretty amazing for me.

I also stalked you a little bit on the netball courts here in Auckland.

My niece, Eddie Teana, played with Jamie Lee through the years,

and I had a copy of your book that I always wanted you to sign,

but I was always too shy to come up and ask.

So I've actually brought it here today.

So after this, I'd love you to sign this book for me.

My pleasure.

I've got Stephen Price anecdotes and notes in my head from woe to go,

but like Stevie said, he will reign me in because I'm already babbling,

and fanboying hard out here.

Do you get a lot of 40-year-old men coming up to you and sort of can't control themselves?

Oh, certainly the age has changed over time.

There's no younger ones now, they just walk past you.

They're more my age that come up on Saturday, which is really cool,

no matter where you are, it's awesome.

You're in New Zealand.

This is the last stop on a three-day sort of media tour to promote Celebrity Treasure Island.

How's it been being back in the spotlight?

Which also is one of my favourite shows too.

Regular listeners will know I'm a big reality TV fan,

so I'm all coming up Millhouse today, it's great.

Yeah, that's good.

It was great to be flying back into New Zealand.

There's so many great memories here in the country,

and then to catch up with the people that I spent some time with

in a beautiful place that I hadn't been to much when I was living here.

So down in Wanaka, what a beautiful place.

I didn't know the people before the show,

and to get to meet them and play a part in the show with them was really, really cool,

and learn a lot about them.

You know, some really great opportunities.

Tummy E.T. lying under the stars, just chewing his ear off,

listening to all of his stories of his life, and yeah, it was awesome.

Yeah.

I can't wait to rip into that.

That's so good.

So part of our process is we reach out to your friends and family

and anyone that we can think of to help uncover some good yarns,

which sort of helped paint a picture of Steve Price perhaps the public hasn't seen.

Three of your family members sent the same story,

so I was hoping you could indulge us.

This is a bit scary.

It's a piggyback incident with Casey,

and it was a number of years ago, but quite an interesting anecdote.

Yes, so my mother-in-law was down at the time,

and I remember taking the kids to bed,

and so instead of just, you know, walking the kids into the bedroom,

the kids go, oh, can we have a piggyback dad?

And so, yeah, right, I jump on, so I think Casey was first,

Jamie was second, and then Riley was last,

and Casey's quite, like, skinny bony,

and she's just wrapped around me, straight,

and I'm walking past saying goodnight to the mother-in-law and the wife,

and then next thing, just passed out.

She put the sleepbelt on me, and we've all just hit the floor,

and I was actually, like, out for about five or 10 seconds,

and I'm woken up, and my wife is standing over me, laughing at her.

My mother-in-law, I'm worried about the kids, they're all right,

they're laughing.

So, yeah, I've been taken out by my,

what she would have been, probably five at the time.

Is that where the voice went back in those days?

It would have been, obviously, no oxygen to the brain, mate.

I was gone, so, yeah, maybe a few other opposition teams

should have taken up my daughter's technique

of how to dominate me.

That would be quite a scary sight, big unit like you.

Yeah.

Just going down, like, just face first, holy shit.

Yeah, I hit the floor, we had a timber floor, so it was a fair noise,

and, yeah, don't remember any of it, to be honest.

Before Stevie jumps into the next one, Casey did want me to ask,

have you got a favourite child?

No, I love my children all equally.

It's the one constant, because she's always in me,

because, obviously, J.M.A. plays netball and Rollies playing league,

and she's sort of like, oh, I'm the weird, the misfit, you know,

obviously, they're the favourites.

And I said, no, sweetie, you're all my equal favourites.

There you go.

Well played.

So, the other one that popped up from multiple was,

a few times, apparently, there was a family game of touch,

and there was one game in particular,

Boys vs. Girls at Marist High School Fields.

I love a guest's reaction when they know the story,

and they're going, I'm going to have to actually unveil this one.

And I've got Casey's version, but I'd love to hear your retelling of it.

So, yep, Just Family.

So, myself, my wife, Joe, Jamie, Casey, Riley.

I think it was me and Riley against Joe, Casey, and Jamie.

And, yep, just a general game of touch.

Good game, you know.

Anyway, my wife has made a break down the wing,

and she starts commentating that she's away,

and she's going to score, and I go, oh, is she just?

So, I don't know, there used to be a fox teller.

I don't know if you ever saw it,

but there was this old lady running along,

and then this guy just comes across and levels up.

I actually did that.

I said, nah, you're not.

And so, I raced across.

It was probably one of the best cover tackles of everyone.

She dropped it, and she's got almost double jointed knees.

Brent always hated it, because he had four knee-recons.

He goes, if I had Joe's knees, I'd have never had a knee injury.

But it has almost wrapped around me and her and everything,

and I thought, oh, no, she's done her ACL,

and she's got up saying, you effing idiot,

what were you doing?

And just got the football through it at me,

and then just started walking home.

Come on, we're going home.

Your father's just ruined this game.

What's your reaction on that point?

When you're playing with kids and you go a little bit,

as an adult, you go a little bit too far, rough and tumble.

When is your wife?

Are your tail between legs kind of skulking back home

a little bit later on?

Well, I was sort of confused.

I'm going, like, it's a game.

And, like, you sort of were igniting yourself.

Amazing.

Don't carry on, like, you're going to score,

and, yeah, I'm away, and she thought she was Ray Wine.

Oh, so good.

Yes, Joe Price is up the sideline.

Steve Price can't catch you.

It's all gone.

I'm over, blah, blah, blah.

No, you're not, Douse.

So Casey's retelling of it was, he said,

you came out and your sort of Aussie socks pulled up.

It was a family game attack.

Full noise.

And you've come up, your Aussie socks pulled up,

and they're like, right, he looks like he means business.

And he said, there's another one,

like, you put this big bomb up.

I kicked off.

I kicked off.

And Jame is quite, she's quite similar.

Jamey, Raleigh's underneath it, and he's tiny, Raleigh.

And Jamey's just absolutely come through

and in the air court and knocked Raleigh out,

like, actually knocked him out.

And Joey's like, up me.

I said, mate, I only put the kick up.

Like, what about Jamey's the one who knocked Raleigh out?

And Raleigh gets up after that, and he's OK.

He probably should have went off for a HIA.

They weren't the thing back then, but...

The same game.

Same game.

And this is, sorry, that's the opening act of the game.

That was before, yeah.

Oh, mate, amazing.

Yeah, that was before, say, I think the girls scored

and we kicked off.

And that was the kick off.

Jamey's just wiped Raleigh.

And then, yeah, I finished the game by taking out Joey.

Amazing.

She didn't talk to me all the way home.

We used to live in Taylor's Raid.

So, it's only up the Raid.

And, yep, she was off, gone.

And I had to pick up the footy, and the kids are going with her.

I got a little duck behind Mum, and I'm by myself.

Full kit as well.

Full kit.

So good.

Luckily, I was close enough to be able to get inside

before she locked the door.

I can see what it locked me in.

The question for you too, and probably more prominent for you

with adult kids, is there a point where you stop

with the physical challenges against your kids?

Because they've outlasted you.

They're faster than you now.

Even as a retired athlete, Stephen, with all due respect,

you're still in that.

The kids are still coming up, and you're a good regional athlete.

But as a former pro athlete, is there a point where you go,

ah, look, we're done with the running races.

We're done with the bench press comps.

Yeah, so Jamie, that happened in Auckland.

She was at the Magic, and she'd have this training stuff

that she'd have to do.

So, I'd retired, and I'd put my hand up to, you know,

yep, let's go, Jamie, we'll do it, you know.

Anyway, so I'd go, and I was beaten up all the time.

And then there was this one time where we did it,

and I didn't beat her.

And then I'd just go on, that's it, you do it now.

And then I just started just doing the watch.

It was before I was actually running with her,

and that's the time when I've gone, oh, okay,

I couldn't keep up with her, which was great for her.

Good confidence for her, and yeah, demoralising for me.

But Rosie, Jamie would always be the dominant one

in the family with the kids, and always picking on Rolls,

being the youngest.

And then one day, he took her on, and yeah,

she didn't beat him.

Yeah, right.

And so that stopped between those two.

But between him and me, he's always young buck.

Come on, Dad, you know.

And I learn a few tricks in my time,

so I've still got a few more up my sleeve,

so I'm still getting him.

But he's 22 now, and he's doing pre-season every year,

and all the wrestling techniques,

and so he taps out most times.

But yeah, I'm sure there's going to be a day not too far away

where I'm not going to be able to control him.

That's such a different perspective on rough housing,

like a dad with a son as well,

when you've got a former rugby league player

and a current rugby league player going at it

in the lounge floor.

Imagine there's some sights there.

Yeah.

Oh, no, we don't do it in the house.

Not allowed.

Not allowed.

Joey said no.

No.

Yeah, we both scared of her.

So those yarns are great.

Because from the outside,

it seems like you've cracked the code with family.

You met your wife when you were teenagers.

You've been together since.

You've raised three amazing kids.

Jamie's a world champion.

Netballer, Riley, professional rugby league player.

And Casey, as we mentioned, affecting lives as a nurse.

But most importantly, it seems like

there's just so much love and respect there for each other.

And I've got a young family,

and I would love them to have the bond

that you share with your kids now sort of later in life.

So I guess the question is, what advice do you have

for dads or parents to create the bonds

and the love that you have?

Yeah, I suppose we had Jamie very young.

Oh, not very young.

We were 21, which we weren't expecting to.

But it's been the greatest thing that's happened to us

because we were quite young,

and we had no idea how to be a parent.

And we've learned each time.

We've hopefully got better as we went through.

Parallel J-Mo had us at our rawest.

And then by the time Riley arrived here,

he had support with Jamie, but also us.

And I suppose we both grew up in,

our parents both got divorced.

And I think one of our goals was to marry someone

that was your hope is forever.

But we're really good.

We're great mates, first and foremost.

And I think the biggest thing to do is just be genuine.

And you can't say something and not do it.

So whenever we do stuff and say stuff

and whatever, we've got to be able to back that up.

And I think they're your best examples for your kids.

You can't protect them from the badder elements of society.

So there was times where Jamie would want to go to a party

and she was quite young.

And instead of saying, no, we'd go.

Absolutely. That's fine.

If there's any issues, like give us a ring.

And to her credit, one of the first times that she did go,

it was over here in New Zealand, she went

and it wasn't a real good situation.

And she obviously was aware of that.

And she rung us sort of straight away

and she actually brought three or four of her mates home with her

to take them out of the situation too.

And I said to Jamie that night, I said,

this is amazing.

This is what you pray your kids are going to do.

And they're not perfect.

They're going to make mistakes.

We all make mistakes.

But yeah, I think that's one of the biggest things

they've obviously from a professional sporting perspective

have seen the goods and the bads as well through my career.

And also their uncles with Brent,

there's nothing that they wouldn't have seen.

So they're fully aware of what they're getting into

and you just hope your kids do what they're passionate about

and they get really excited about doing so.

And the three of them are doing that, which is great.

And they're with really nice people.

They're beautiful people that they've actually connected with

in the way their partners and who they hang around.

So that makes you really proud.

I saw some internet video a week ago that stuck with me

and it was someone talking about what success means

and it's not all the money in the world

and it's not all the achievements.

It's your kids wanting to hang out with you when you're older.

And I thought about you

because in talking to all of your kids,

the way they speak about you is just so great.

Yeah, well, Jamie has brought up actually Christmas this year.

So between Christmas and New Year's,

she's taken it upon herself.

She's gone, we're going somewhere together

because they've got partners and stuff, so they do, you know.

So actual Christmas and New Year's, we may not be together,

but she said, I don't care.

We're locking this away for this period.

And we're going up to 1770,

which is a beautiful place just up around Gladstone there

in Queensland on the coast.

So we're going up there for three or four days

with their partners and Joe and I, and it'll be awesome.

And Jamie has really pushed that.

So that's great.

Rather than us being the ones who are always,

come on, you know, come up.

And Jamie, whenever she gets a chance,

she always wants to fly up in case

she's on the sunny coast.

She's just finished building her house, her entice,

and then rolls his in Townsville.

So he's on his way to Sydney,

but yeah, he comes down when he can, when he can.

And I just really enjoy the conversations that we have.

And Joe speaks to him a lot every day.

I don't speak to him as much just because I'm away working,

which, you know, I'm disappointed with,

but I think you look back at your own life.

And my mum and dad split when I was younger.

So did Joe's mum and dad.

I was brought up by mum and my stepfather.

I didn't have a lot to do with that.

And I suppose all the things that I felt as I missed out on,

I want to make sure that my son doesn't and my daughters don't.

And that's being around for their big moments.

And, you know, feeling as though they can ring you anytime

and talk to you about anything, no matter what it is,

rather than hiding stuff.

And, you know, I don't prefer that I'm going to have all the answers,

but if you're aware of it, then you can either help them in doing it

or find a way to find someone that can help them

or teach them about understanding how they can help themselves

or avoid things, you know.

We'll be right back after this short break.

From the outside, like I said,

and what you've just spoken about is so much happiness and warmth and love.

But there's also been dark times

and there's been some difficult times lately.

If you're open to it, would you be able to talk to us

about what happened with your dad recently?

Yeah, so February 11, 20, what are we, 23?

22, 2022, I got a phone call from my half sister

to say that dad had passed, which was a huge shock

and then found that he committed suicide.

So dad was someone that I didn't have a lot to do with when I was younger

but would sort of be there every now and then.

It was almost so I could avoid paying maintenance to mum,

but mum wasn't worried about that.

But back then the government would find him

and pretty much make the make payments

and so he'd just go underground basically

and as soon as we'd find where we were, it was just more to say at A.

And he sort of felt as though he just had to spend money on us all the time

to make up, but I just wanted to spend time with him, you know?

So over the time as we got older, you know, I talked to him a lot more

and yeah, it was really cool.

And then towards the end there was moments where he'd just sort of say,

Stevie, I'm tired, I'm worn out, I'm done sort of thing

and he'd said that a lot through his life.

So I didn't really see it as what ended up happening

but now I look back on it and I sort of thought,

well maybe I should have said I've done something more,

but you know, talking to people in that situation,

you're always going to have unanswered questions

and you can't wrap yourself up in anxiety and that about what you could have done

because at the end of the day it's done

and that's the saddest thing about that situation, it's forever.

So at least a lot of people behind that missafe person,

like it was his birthday the other day,

you'd get a random call ordering him

and he was very unique, very different to me and that type of thing

but you'd really look forward to it.

So I just disappointed I suppose for the kids,

their grandfather's not going to see their kids and that type of thing

and he would have loved that.

But yeah, it is what it is.

I was on the show on the first anniversary

so I didn't really know how to handle it

and yeah, a lot of the guys on the show really were amazing,

spoke about it around the campfire one night

and sort of opened up a lot of people

to talk about different things in their life as well

which put things in perspective and really helped.

So I didn't really know how I should have felt that was the hardest thing.

In a weird way, it's amazing that you were able to share that experience

with some people who maybe have some tools in their tool set

through the show to be able to kind of help you around that period.

Well, and then to actually understand that there's some people

that had a bit worse off experiences, you know, and I didn't say anything

on the day because I didn't want, I don't know,

I just didn't want people to feel sorry for me or anything like that.

So you're trying to be this big tough person

but people could tell that there was something wrong

and they kept asking me, are you alright?

And I go, yeah, I'm all good.

But then, yeah, it was that night where I just sort of said, I'm really sorry.

There's nothing going on here because you're in a game

and you don't want people to feel as though there's any underlying issues.

They've taken the rice and not asked permission for it.

So, yeah, that was one of the things that I wanted to be really open

in the show and just be myself.

So it took me all day to build the courage up to do that.

And then when I did it, yeah, it was incredible how then the conversation

and I think if anything, it taught me that by talking to people

that I suppose you can trust,

the actual benefit you get from it is unknown and so huge.

It was so soothing.

I wish I had spoken about it earlier that day

because I would have had a lot better day.

I didn't have a great day in regard to, it wasn't a terrible day

but it could have been a better day and it was my fault

because I was too scared of talking about stuff.

Have you taken that out of the show

and put it into your everyday life now?

Absolutely.

So, yeah, things like that were really good

and that was the thing I was saying about talking to a guy like Tummy

like so wise and so passionate about what he believed in

and had to work so hard to get other people to start to understand

why he was doing certain things even if they didn't feel at the time

it was the right thing or saw him as a danger or saw him as an enemy.

He just stuck with it and believed in it.

Anyway, that was probably my biggest concern going into the game

because I knew that it was that time period

and I was wondering, no matter where I was,

when it happened I go right in 12 months time

what is going to happen on this day?

How am I going to feel?

That exact same thing.

Similar time of year is where my father passed away, February 17th.

I know it's imprinted into my head and it is like that

when it's coming up to that date you clam up and you're thinking

how am I going to feel about this?

What's going to be dredged up?

What's going to trigger me?

And it's an interesting thing, isn't it,

an experience to kind of go through

knowing that there's going to be grief there

and you're going to have to deal with it?

Yeah.

One of the great things I suppose when I was here

was when we had Sonny Fye who, you know, he drowned

and it was terrible, I got on really, really good with Sonny

and so I then decided to get a tattoo, you know, in honour of Sonny

and my wife sort of said,

so someone special means so much to you in your life,

you're going to get a tattoo every time they pass

and I go, well, no, no.

And she goes, well, why are you just going to get one tattoo?

Why don't you get a tattoo that represents

whatever it is that you're trying to represent?

And I said, okay.

So I was good mates with Tiki Tane

and so, you know, I was, I rang up Tiki

and probably the best person to ring up about tattoos

because he has got a lot.

He's got a couple.

He's got a lot.

And yeah, so I rang Tics and I sort of said,

you know, I want to get this tattoo to signify that

and so his cousin or his bro, Inia Taylor,

and Inia's, like he did once worries all the tattooing on that

and he's done Case Muse and a few famous New Zealanders.

I went to him and it was out sort of towards Bethel's way

where Sonny drowned and the tattoo I got,

it sort of goes from here to here.

It's like a sleeve.

It's got a whole lot of stuff that's my story

because it's sort of like a moldy sort of Pacifica type sleeve

and I didn't want to come across as being a plastic

just turning up here and he's an Aussie trying to carry on

and be like, I sort of said Inia about that

and Inia said, mate, it's like Chinese,

you don't have to be Chinese to eat Chinese.

You know, and it's your story

and as long as you know what all the things mean to you,

that's what's most important.

And I go, sweet, that's a great way to explain it.

So it took 24 hours to do this tattoo

and the last bit was tap tap.

He did the old style.

So it's got, you know, indigenous in it

for obviously where I'm from, Australia.

My heritage is Celtic.

So it's English, Scottish and Welsh.

So it's a lot of those patterns in there

as well as Pacifica like moldy, tongan, Samoan, Fijian

because of the people that I played with

or had a lot to do with.

And yeah, it's got a toodle in the middle of that

and it's my spiritual side.

So he chose the turtle because in Pacifica

they were saying about, you know,

a man made an agreement with turtle

that when someone passed it was important

that in return the turtles would come

and lay their eggs on the beach

and then the turtle would take the spirits

and free them to the ocean as a, you know,

as a interaction.

And we did the turtle and while we're going

through that process it was three weekends

of eight hour sessions in a row

and it was before the 2009 season

so I got it done before the season started.

Sunny went missing on the 4th, I think, of January

and 4th or 5th, 4th, I think, we started training on the 5th

and he's telling me all the stuff

as we're going along of all the meanings,

you know, the shark teeth, about continuous strength.

They just keep on coming forward.

Waves, another one that's continuous strength.

All of these things and then I've got the turtle

and it's got two eyes on its shell

which is spiritual eyes overlooking me

and my family and friends that are here

and it's the people who are no longer here

that are very special to me.

The four legs are the kudus, obviously my grandparents

who are very important to me

and the shell is obviously protection

and shelter and that type of thing.

So we're going through this process every time.

You imagine 24 hours of spending time with someone

and he's so knowledgeable.

Anyway, the tattoo was done on the Sunday night

on the Monday morning early he rung me

and he goes, Bro, he goes, they're not going to find Sunny

and I said, how can you say that?

And he said, I'm telling you they're not going to find Sunny.

There was a turtle washed up on Murai Beach this morning

and he had a fight over it and there was a person lying beside it

and it was almost toe to toe, right?

So it's a very old turtle, big old turtle

that's washed up and passed on the beach.

He goes, the ocean has given something special

from it to the land to say thank you

for giving something special from the land to the ocean in Sunny.

So he said he'll never be found and he hasn't to been this day

and the turtle was what he chose as the spiritual side of it.

So it's crazy how that happened the next day

after the tattoo was finished.

So it's quite crazy.

I'm not writing a whole lot of stuff

but I do believe there's something else

and I am very spiritual in regard to that.

So it's a really special tattoo to me

and it was quite ironic that Sunny was the one who possessed me to do it

and all the people who have passed even dad,

they're a part of that turtle now, which is cool for me to know.

There's, thank you firstly for sharing that incredibly personal story

and there's a part of me that's curious about your feeling towards your family.

I've heard you speak about it actually before

about the influence that New Zealand had

and then hearing you retell that story and the layers to it as well.

Did that New Zealand experience really impact you and your feelings towards family?

Yeah, 100%. Family is so important to me before I come to New Zealand.

Like, it's not, that wasn't the case.

But being here over the time that we're here,

just the interactions that you have with every family,

go under my eyes, like all that type of thing just reinforces the connection

and the bond and the tightness and the strength of what family means and brings

and even the boys, you know, training wouldn't be a training

because something happened at home.

Like in Australia, that was not acceptable.

You've got a job, you've got to be at work

and that would be not constant but you understand and appreciate it

and it just sort of hit home to what is most important in life

and it is the people you come home to every night.

That's how I ended up in New Zealand.

You know, I'm not saying that I was being done wrongly done by the Bulldogs

but I thought I'd be there forever

and then I saw some other people who were true blue,

born and bred Bulldog people who were then not given the opportunity

of working at the club anymore for not their fault.

I've just gone, that could happen to me.

And then I realised, wow, who I come home to every day is the most important

because they're there forever.

Football or sport is for a period of time.

These guys are forever.

So to come to New Zealand, I knew it would be a different experience

but I knew it wouldn't be completely different.

So if we went to the UK, for example, it's quite different.

During the time there's sort of terrors and stuff was happening

and I thought, I didn't want to go to England

and then get caught over there and not be able to get home.

I still love playing in the NRL.

I still love playing for Queensland, Australia and the club.

We're really happy for me to do that.

My biggest fear coming to New Zealand was how my wife and kids would feel

and mate, I've got to say it was the greatest part of our whole experience.

Jamie was eight, Casey was six, Riley was three.

And I think Rosie left when he was 17.

Jamie would have been about 20 and Casey would have been about 18 or 19.

So a huge part of their life and it's really shaped them as the young people they are today

and they've got such a beautiful connection with New Zealand

through friends, people and the country.

That'll be something they'll have forever.

So it's really cool. It's very unique.

To give a bit of context for the listeners,

so you were a huge deal, right?

Bulldogs played 222 games.

The captain played for, you're an Aussie icon

and the decision to come to New Zealand was huge news.

The reasons you've described, but there's also like a Warriors video,

I think she said there was, like a combination.

Like players, as part of their recruitment, I think it was twofold.

Mick Watson was really creative.

So when they first reached out to me,

because we had the salary cap situation with the dogs

and I'd agreed to a deal, but hadn't actually signed it yet.

And then the salary cap thing hit and then we got a new CEO

and he was saying, oh, we want to sign you first as captain.

And I said, well, we've already agreed to a deal.

When he saw the deal, he goes, oh, we can't do that.

We can't honor that.

So pretty much stayed on what I was on,

which was cool.

And they said, we'll do a two year deal

and then it's two year in your favor.

And no one knew that except for us.

But a guy who was actually Mick's brother-in-law

worked at the club at the time

and he knew the contract, say he told Mick

and then they just reached out to me out of the blue

and said, he just said, would you actually be interested

in having a chat?

And I said, why not?

So we had a chat and that actually got me interested.

The Warriors were a team that were always tough to play against.

I always felt as though they could be a superpower of the comp.

I went to the Bulldogs and the culture

and they'd been so successful and there was a standard set.

If you couldn't attain that, you didn't survive.

And I didn't feel that that was the case at the Warriors.

I had some success, but it was fleeting, it was up and down.

And I thought, how cool to be at my stage in my career

to be able to go to a place and have an impact

on what I walked into at the Bulldogs.

And when they were talking about Reuben Wiki also,

I go, oh, one of the most fiercest competitors,

but you hear every guy talk about

one of the greatest teammates you could play with.

And I thought, in New Zealand, Reuben is the king.

These young Kiwi kids that are coming through

would absolutely love to be playing with Reuben Wiki.

I thought that'd be a cool thing to be a part of.

And I was sick of getting run around by Stacey Jones too,

to be honest.

Was he one of the four that recorded a video?

So there was, I think it was Monty,

Modibene Stace, Arwen, and Modibene Brent Webb.

And they honestly spoke about what it would mean to them

to play with Steve Price at the Warriors.

And I was just, I don't know,

where there was ego that took over, but I've gone, wow.

Like, that's mad.

You know, like, I've only looked at them as opponents

and to actually then tweak that and go,

far out they actually would love to play in a side with me.

And like, I've always, you know,

admired how skillful and talented all the boys were.

But I'd never actually thought about it like that.

So that wasn't the reason why I came,

but it certainly was, yeah, there's a piece in a puzzle

and that's another piece that starts to make a beautiful picture.

And you speak to family.

I think they brought Joe over for a weekend

without anybody knowing as well.

Yeah.

So I was in Origin Camp and I just said to Joe,

I said, I can't make a decision about going to the Warriors

unless I know you are comfortable with going to the place

because you've never been in New Zealand.

So I said, I'm not going to make the decision.

I've been in New Zealand.

I know what it's about.

I reckon we can have a great time.

But most importantly, if you're not happy,

happy wife, happy life, right?

So it won't be cool if you're not happy.

And yeah, so the club organized it.

She stayed at a hotel and, yeah, Donnie May and he organized

going on a barbecue and all this doing the big, the big sell.

And I just sort of said,

the only question I'll ask you, could you live in New Zealand?

And she goes, yep, I could live in New Zealand.

No problem.

And so that was it.

So then I made the call.

I had some come back from Origin Camp,

got to the Leagues Club at the Bulldogs.

I don't know.

They must have heard that I was really contemplating on going.

And I spent from seven in the morning till 11 that night

at the Leagues Club just talking to the Bulldogs

about what they wanted to do to keep me.

And I went home that night and I sat down with Joey

and I spoke to Wayne Bennett about it.

He said, mate, I don't see it being a problem for you.

I think it'd be good.

I think you'd be great for them and they'd be great for you.

And then I don't know what it was,

but I just said to Joey, I said, I reckon we should go.

You know, and it was a big decision for me

because I was captain and it was something I dreamt of.

And I'm a very loyal person.

So I was committed to the dogs.

I just want to be a one club man.

But this was something bigger than just rugby league,

in my opinion.

And made the call.

And when I told my manager, he was like, hey, are you serious?

Because he didn't have any guys at the Warriors.

There was a manager who had probably most of the boys.

And he didn't know the owners.

He didn't know the management.

He was just really unsure about it.

And he goes, are you sure?

And then I go, yep, 100%.

So we met with the Warriors that next morning and told him

I was signing, signed the contract.

Who was it?

You or was it Joe that put in the fine print

that they had to sign Brent Tate in a couple of years time?

No, that was...

For unaware listeners, Brent Tate is Joe's brother.

Little brother.

Who is your brother, obviously.

Which the family keeps saying he's the mistake.

And he says it's a bit...

He says he's to his mum, it's the best mistake you've ever made.

Ah, it's a good comeback.

So I think he's eight years younger than us.

So Peter, it's Joe's sister.

She's the oldest. She's two years older than us.

And then Joe, and then Brent, he's eight years younger.

So I've known Brent since he was three.

To see him come through and achieve the things he achieved

is so humbling and proud, you know, of him.

And it almost got to the stage.

I was at the Warriors, we played the Broncos in Brisbane

and Brent was playing.

And there was a family wedding on out in Roma

and they couldn't beat the game.

So I ran at Brent as much as I could

and he used to wear that neck brace.

He did a little rabbit killer and jarred his neck

and he stayed down.

I didn't...

Well, Brent's family didn't talk to me for two and a half weeks.

I got blacklined.

Really?

Yeah, it was quite...

And I just said, stop being a winger, man.

Like, seriously.

Okay, you can come play with me at all.

So that's fine, man. Come over.

I said, well, that's what I said to him.

I said, the only way it's going to change

is if you're on my team.

Otherwise, I'll just keep doing it.

Yeah, nice.

And Warriors, we were looking for someone like him

and experienced a super competitor.

Because what was your impressions of the joint

when you first arrived?

You've played against them.

Yeah.

You've been at a very successful organisation

and the dogs very...

And then you come into a brand new,

a bit like us, playing in an away studio today,

a new surrounding, new environment.

What were your first impressions

or your first takeaways?

It was really different to what I thought.

Yeah.

They'd just had success, sort of 2002,

Grand Final, 2003.

It was pretty good.

2004, equal last.

Wasn't the worst of worst that they've had?

It was the equal last.

No, equal last.

So I think Souths were fine against Got the Wooden Spoon.

So I went from the Penn House.

We won the comp at the Bulldogs.

And I moved to the Warriors.

It was, yeah, the doghouse.

They're lowest.

Yeah, very different to what I actually thought.

I thought it would just be a case of just getting the boys

pretty excited.

Very talented group.

Will be sweet as, you know.

But yeah, there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes,

players being sent to England.

And yeah, it was quite crazy, actually.

And I suppose John Hart coming on board,

Wayne Scarra coming on board, you know,

Campy was there and then Ivan coming in.

We started to get a bit of consistency and solidarity

and we were able to then build a solid squad

instead of losing quite talented players,

Ali Lahtiti and Louis Anderson and his brother Vinny.

And we were sort of losing these Brent Webb, Francis Melly,

some superstars that I really looked forward

to come to play with.

Even Stace, like, he went to Catalan's.

Yeah, but then we're, I've did a great job.

Recruitment did a great job and we were able to put

a bit of a squad together that was really consistent.

We'll be right back after this short break.

I'm really keen to get your take on leadership

because across 17 years in the NRL,

you were a great leader at the Bulldogs and the Warriors.

You helped them rebuild.

But I'm sure you also witnessed and experienced

some really weak leaders or bad leaders.

What is it that makes a good leader

and what was your style of leadership?

That's a good question.

I always was a leader when I was in the juniors

and then when I got to the Bulldogs,

it was almost like the King of England,

like you've got to wait your chance and you might

get it because...

Captain and waiting or whatever it was.

Terry Land was captain for so long

and then we had Simon Gillies and then Darren Britt

and then Darren decided to go to England

which gave me the chance.

I really wanted it but the big thing that Steve

folks had an issue with was my inconsistency.

I wasn't consistent and he said,

I can't have a captain who's not consistent.

So that'll answer probably your first question

is you've got to be consistent.

You cannot lead if you aren't performing.

He said his biggest question mark over me was that,

so I had to try and find a way to show him consistency.

I was always a good trainer.

I loved trying to lead and push myself

and that type of thing.

So I just continually start to do stuff like that.

When I got the situation where I might have been a chance,

I went and saw a sports psychologist at the time

and he just says, right,

what do you think it's going to take

to be the captain of the Bulldogs?

And so just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then he just said, you've got all the answers, mate.

I don't know why you're here.

So that gave me a bit of confidence.

I had a deal of fair bit like,

so first game I was captain of the dogs,

we lost to the West Tigers who we should have won easily.

First game of the year and then the second game

we drew against the Broncos.

So after two games, we're one of the favourites.

My captain's ship and we haven't won a game yet, you know?

So it's starting to get some question marks asked.

And then we went on this 17 game winning streak

and it was a time where I'm not being arrogant

or up ourselves,

but I never felt we were going to get beaten

no matter what situation we're in.

That's just how we were playing

and the Warriors were the one who beat us

over here in Mount Smart.

They did a bit of a job on us actually,

and we won a real more steam roll on it.

Then we came up against the Warriors

and they taught us a lesson.

Then the salary cap thing came out a week or so later

and we're out of the comp

in regards to being able to win the comp.

What did that teach you about leadership?

Yeah, honest, just being honest,

I always sort of thrown in front of the cameras

to be the representative because Mace

and a few others started having their opinions,

Mace being Willie Mace, who's not short of them.

Well, speaks and then thinks, you know.

And at the time, we needed to be really consistent

and very respectful.

We had a real chance to,

I thought to really make a real progressive march

in a way that would never have been imaginable.

So, yep, put our hands up, we've made a mistake.

We're committed to continue to play in this competition

and to the rules that we've been given.

We weren't going to play in the semis, sweet as.

You know, Dave, that's fine.

David Gallup, who I spoke to a bit.

We played Canberra after we got tied the decision,

which was devastating.

We got 39 points taken off us.

So, you take 39 points off a team,

they're going to be negative most of the time.

Well, that's our good will going.

We played Canberra first 20 minutes,

we were down 20 mil.

We came back and I think we lost 32-28.

The next week we played Melbourne and absolutely give it to them.

And then we played our last game at home against Brisbane,

who, if they won that game, become minor-premiers.

We won, and I told Wayne, I said,

we're going to win tonight.

And he goes, no, you're not.

And I said, we are.

The crowd around onto the field,

we got cheered around on their shoulders.

It was a day we won the comp.

It was one of the most emotional nights

I've ever been a part of.

Club like the Bulldogs were running really high.

You know, everything was going good.

Pre-season, 2004, there was from Cross Harbour,

there was Sexual Assault.

Alligations made against members of the team.

And again, we felt the best way to approach it

was to have minimal voices and be very consistent.

So, again, it was mainly me,

not really the CEO or the coach.

It was predominantly me.

We were in very different situations.

So, we're dealing now with sexual assault accusation.

I've got two girls.

I've got a son, I've got a wife.

I was on the trip.

So, to come home first and foremost,

that were you one of them?

There's a question that's asked.

And then, you know, not being able to go to schools,

which we did a lot of school visits

because of the height of,

and totally got it right.

So, what we decided to do was all sort of be

a part of the process investigation

to try and get it done as quick as we could

because we believed that there was nothing to be.

So, we all got DNA tested and interviewed the police

and quite intimidating,

never been in that situation before.

This thing went on for six months.

So, we're the front three pages,

the back three pages of all the papers.

And it was a task force put in place.

It was huge.

So, eventually it came out that there wasn't enough evidence.

This was a thing that is sort of really hard to cop

because it wasn't finalised in regard to saying,

no, they're not guilty.

It was almost insinuating we believe they're guilty.

We just didn't have enough evidence to prove it.

And so, every time there's anything to do with

a sexual assault accusation or the Bulldogs 2004

get brought up every single time.

So, that was quite daunting

as a person to have to speak to the public

about something that is massive.

Like, I know having girls, like if it was my daughters,

man, I'd want to find out what was going on, you know?

So, that taught me a lot again.

And then I signed with the Warriors and I come to the Warriors

and I didn't come to the club.

We're expecting to be the leader.

I just thought Rouge was going to be the man

and that was cool and I was OK with that.

And then when I got asked to be the captain,

I was like, wow, really me?

And I thought, OK, well, I've experienced salary cap,

I've experienced sexual assault accusations,

been a captain for three years in the field.

I can handle this.

And, yeah, not even a clue

what I was getting into at the Warriors.

Very completely different dynamic,

very different individuals, very different club,

very different environment.

And I actually learnt so much about leadership.

Under Ivan and the players that I played with,

they weren't sub-leaders because they were huge leaders

in their own right, they just didn't have a C

on Game Day beside their name

and really learnt to, not to rely,

but to communicate with everyone

and to be able to have 30-plus players

and to have a coverage of 30-plus players

making sure that everyone's OK,

you can't do it yourself.

And we had a high number of Aussies in the team,

so there was about 11 in the squad.

So they'd probably predominantly talked to me,

some of them wouldn't because we didn't have that personality.

That's cool.

But then the Māori, Tongan, Samoan,

they'd be talking to Rouge or Stace or, do you know what I mean?

And if one of the boys wasn't quite right,

instead of me going and ripping into him

and saying, what's going on? You're trying like a bastard.

Rooms or someone might come to me and say,

oh, you know, only this week is some stuff going on.

He'll be right by the weekend. It's all good.

Sweet. Learned so much, mate.

So to answer your question, it's been a long answer,

but I totally think there's no hard and fast one-way to be a leader.

I think it depends on where you are, what you're doing,

who you're with, who you are.

I think the best thing that you can do is be very genuine

and authentic as an individual,

because as soon as you try and be someone else,

people see through it.

So I couldn't be Darren Britt or Simon Gillies or Terry Lam.

You know, I wasn't those people.

I had to be Steve Price,

and that was probably one of the biggest things I learnt

when I come to the Warriors.

I made some decisions early in games

when I came with an injury.

So my first game for the club was against Manly.

First game of the year.

And we got a penalty, and I went to take the two,

and all the boys are blowing up on the tap.

You tap and go, yeah.

Because that's what they did.

And I almost said, boys, I watched the last year,

and the tap and go didn't work.

We're taking the two.

And we ended up losing by two points in that game,

but I think it was really good for me

to understand what I was getting into,

the experience on the field with him,

leading to that game.

And then as we went along,

I was learning about them and each individual,

and they all learned about me and at the Bulldogs.

I'd been at the club for 10 years,

and all those boys that I was in the team with,

I saw come through as kids.

So I knew how they ticked, everything about him.

Braith and Asta, if he wasn't having a good day,

you wouldn't have a gallery,

because that was his way.

He'd react back to you, and that wasn't good.

Whereas Brent Sherwin, if he put a rocket up him,

he'd almost reset, and he'd be right.

And so those different personalities,

it's not how they tick, and the Warriors,

it might have been Roobs, just having the arm to Benny Matz,

or someone like that, that would work.

So yeah, it's really interesting that dynamic.

It can be very, very different, depending on where you are.

One of the biggest challenges you faced

in your leadership at the Warriors was Sunnyfyre.

Looking back now, I mean, dealing with loss of a teammate

and the trauma that you're going through,

you probably didn't really appreciate it at the time.

But reflecting back, would you do things differently

across that year?

Yeah, I reckon we would have,

whether it was as a group or individually,

we would have done a lot more work on each individual

to deal with it.

Because we're rugby league players, but we're human beings,

and I think we just thought,

we're going to go and do this for Sunny,

and his number and his signature on our jersey for the year,

and we were playing for Sunny,

and we didn't make the finals that year.

And so, I was really embarrassed about that,

because that didn't represent what Sunny meant to us at all.

So, either you don't say something like that,

or we need to go about it very differently.

And it probably really hit home to me

when I watched Manu on 60 Minutes at the end of that season,

and he was his usual self, the gold teeth,

laughing and giggling and all that.

And then at the end, the lady sort of said,

so what impact has the loss of Sunny for I had on you?

And he just lost it.

He completely changed.

He was crying, and there's snot coming out of his nose,

and you could just, and I was doing it too,

and I know that there would have been 20 or 25 or 30 other guys

who were in the squad doing exactly the same,

and I go, wow, like this should have happened,

back in January.

You know, like, it's not dealing with it.

It's just almost putting Sunny at rest

and being able to go, you know, we're going to do so much,

and we're going to do it for us in representative of you,

more so than we're doing this for you,

and didn't fire a shot, really.

I do recall you, I think it was at a stand-up out at Bethel's.

I think it was at Mount Smart.

When you know exactly where I'm going with this,

and that endeared you to me, again,

as something that you look up to.

Well, I was embarrassed.

At the time, I was really embarrassed,

because I try and be a strong individual,

particularly for me teammates,

and particularly during that time,

I thought we needed to have that real strength,

but when I look back on it,

we probably needed more of what happened.

So, yeah, the reporter asked me very much the same question,

and it was very...

it was almost straight after it had sort of happened,

and, yeah, so I'm trying to be as normal as I can be,

and then I just lost it.

I was blubbering and could hardly talk, and, yeah.

So, I don't know,

there's no perfect way to deal with things

as we were talking about before,

but, mate, he was such a beautiful, beautiful soul.

So, ahead of his time,

he packed so much into nearly 21 years of his life

and impacted on so many people,

and would have been a huge star in our game

with his athletic ability,

and I'd spent a lot of time with Sonny,

because, you know,

he was someone that sort of really looked up

to probably, to us, I mean, Rubz,

and I loved doing stuff with him,

because he took it on board straight away, you know?

Defensively, he was a big beast,

and I just said, if you get yourself a little bit lower

and you don't even have to try hard,

you're going to empty blokes out,

and we started working on that,

and he did actually start to,

and he goes, this is so easy, bro, you know?

But I'd always rip into him at training,

he was really strong in the gym,

and he'd do, like, 200 KLA bench presses,

and I said, mate, you've got to stop doing

these Tyrannosaurus rex bench presses,

like, it's touched titties,

and then go, full length's not these

little half-little Tyrannosaurus, you know?

And I'd say, right, let's stop doing that,

let's do full-length ones,

and he couldn't hardly do two then, right?

And I'd go, now, let's take some of these off,

and let's get your real bench press weight, right?

Same with chin-ups, like you'd be doing these

You've got to completely release those,

and then go, and little things like that,

but my favourite thing about Sonny

was I'd come to training early,

and all I'd hear is laughing out of the team room,

and what he would do,

he'd come to training early,

because he didn't have Wi-Fi at home,

or internet at home,

so he'd come to training

and say he could watch all the YouTube stuff,

and he would just be sitting in there,

he'd be there two hours before training,

sitting in there watching YouTube stuff,

cracking himself up,

but this is a diversity of his impact,

was there'd be a five-year-old

to a 95-year-old grandma

who would absolutely love him in the same way.

That was his impact.

Was there a good yarn about him

winning a Warriors karaoke competition?

Yeah, so I used to have a night

at sort of the start of the year before the first game,

so I'd invite all the players, the staff,

and their partners or wives,

and I'd always have a theme,

so to be, say, P,

so you'd have to dress up something,

P, pirate, policeman, whatever.

Glad you clarified that,

that could have got us in a lot of hot water

for methamphetamine use,

so it's good that we got there.

None of that, none of that.

So we'd do that,

and then I thought,

what else can we do,

but with the boys,

and you probably know better than anyone,

you've got to have prizes, otherwise they won't.

So I saw Mr. Rapati,

he gave me some long board skateboards,

which the boys thought were pretty cool,

so Best Female, Best Male Dress,

they won that, right?

And then I thought,

let's have a karaoke machine,

just to add a little bit.

So I did that,

and I thought, if we have that,

no one's going to get up and use it,

it's going to be a waste,

so we'll have a prize for that.

So we had an iPad and an N.A.,

which back then...

So anyway, I let the team know,

boys were having the night on Saturday night,

iPad and N.A. for karaoke,

Best Singer,

you know,

long board skateboards for Best Dress,

blah, blah, blah,

anyway,

Sonny pulls me aside,

and he goes,

bro, I really want that iPad and N.A.

And I said,

all you got to do is sing,

mate, you're singing,

you're the best,

you get your iPad and N.A.

bro,

I'm not real good at singing,

though.

I said,

well, you got to have to do something,

mate.

Anyway,

on the night,

Rubz was absolutely slaying it.

He's sung about 10 songs.

It's all over, right?

Next thing,

the music starts

and it's banger boys,

banger bus or whatever it's called.

The banger bus is coming.

Yeah.

You got the one,

you got the one, Steve.

So anyway,

so,

Sonny comes out

and we're going,

oh, here we go,

what's going to happen here?

And he starts to sort of

not sing,

because he was miming

and it wasn't good,

he wasn't even in time.

And all of a sudden,

he got to the beanie bit

and then he started just

doing his chest

and wiggled his hips a little bit

and then

started undoing a button

and mate,

all the wives

had just started to lose it.

I'm going,

oh, here we go.

He was chiseled,

absolutely chiseled.

He was a beast, man.

He was a beast.

So then he started undoing the shirt

and then he gets his shirt off

and he will flicks it.

I think

Grant Revelli's Mrs.

copped that one on the face

and she's like nearly melted

on the spot.

And then

he ended up getting down,

I think,

through his speedos

by the end of the song.

And yeah,

it was done, man.

Yeah.

Reve, sorry, Kaz.

Sonny's got it.

Sonny's got it.

And yeah,

it was,

oh, mate.

It was awesome.

That's too good.

I spoke to

Tady in the buildup to this

and I sort of

asked him a little bit about you

and

he had some really nice

words to say

what I'll get to later.

But he also mentioned something

which caught my interest,

which was a clairvoyant.

He said,

there's a clairvoyant

into Wumba

and there's some interesting yarns

that you see.

You're both seeing her

and she's come up

with some interesting...

Yeah,

a lot of things that actually

happened.

When I was saying before

about the tattoo,

I do believe there's

something else and

I don't know

whether it's the people

that are no longer here

who help

guide you

or direct you

or whatever,

but yeah,

Kara, her name is

and

she was on a

couple of TV shows

a few years ago

and one of her friends

went there

and they just sort of

said when I was at the

Bulldogs,

I was like,

okay,

so I went and saw her

and I remember

the first time I went to her

and she said to me,

you're going to win a big award.

And I was at the Bulldogs

at the time

and I was going,

I think I was 20,

I'm going,

there's no big award.

I'm going to win

like I'm not playing regular

first grade.

Yeah,

no worries,

that's cool.

Another one

she was saying about,

Jo was pregnant

and we didn't know

that she was

and she actually was.

And it was like,

obviously in the early stages,

but yeah,

it wasn't after that

that obviously,

I got a pregnant.

It was like,

she was pregnant,

we didn't know.

And then

the award,

I got clubbing of the year,

which I don't know why

I got clubbing of the year,

like I was young

but obviously other people

at the club

thought I was doing great

and that type of thing.

So,

yeah,

it sort of got me thinking,

wow,

like this,

and then as we went along

and particularly,

she brought stuff up about

Peter Moore

and how he

still has a big part

to play

in my life

and

grandparents,

great-grandparents,

people like that,

that I was sort of close to,

that I no longer hear

how they

are around

and just sort of say

they're

doing this

or helping with that

or,

yeah,

so I haven't seen it

for a couple of years.

I'm going to go and actually

see her next week,

so,

well,

it's weird

because I'm doing it by Zoom,

so,

I'm not sure how that's going to work.

Yeah.

Because I said to her,

I said,

it's hard to see her

because of my work and stuff

and her husband

who's organised

and he's just saying,

mate,

we just do Zoom now

and Rolly's done it

and so is Joe

and

they'll blown away

but what she said,

I just don't know

how that can connect.

Yeah.

But he just goes,

just give it a go,

mate,

and if you're not happy with it,

that's fine,

we'll sort it out

but

it's no different.

You just ask Rolly and Joe.

Did she pick your ankle injury

that eventually finished

your career?

Some of your injuries?

Yeah,

she did talk about pain

and I think at the time

I did have some pain,

but it wasn't the pain

that I was going to have.

Because were you getting

injections every couple of weeks

to get you through?

Yeah,

I was getting a local

into my heel

for two years.

So,

we're talking after origins

straight into a worries game.

So,

yeah,

I ended up,

it's quite funny,

Brendan McCallum

was

with Puma

when I was with Puma

and

he was wearing rugby league boots

at training

and I needed to wear

different

because of my heel.

So I was wearing

cricket shoes

and I just got

tagged,

I was doing tags for training

because I found it really hard

to run

after a game

so I wouldn't really

do anything until later

in the week

or if it was after an origin

I wouldn't train at all

until the game.

And I just

take painkillers

during the game in there.

And the,

I got a quarter

zone

before an origin,

it was on a Monday,

origin is in Melbourne

and my origin was on Wednesday

and they actually did it

via MRO.

So they went straight into the Bursa

and

that's probably one of the most painful

things I've had is a needle

straight into the bone of your

of your

heel

and couldn't walk after it.

I'm thinking

how am I going to play

an origin in two days?

But

yeah, within the next day

I couldn't even feel it.

It was unbelievable.

So I had the operation

because I decided

2010 was going to be

my last year.

So I ended at 9

had the operation

so I could have a good season

not having to have

locals

every game

and I could train

every day of the week

and stuff like that

really wanted to enjoy my last year

and

unfortunately I got

golden staff

and end up having

three operations

and not playing in 2010

which is a real shame

but

when I look back

it was probably the best thing

that happened because

if I had played that year

every game

I might have wanted to play again

but by that

ban

you can't play mate.

So I made it final

and I hated it

because I hated missing games

but

it was probably the best

for the club

and probably the best for me.

We'll get to the transition

into life afterwards

but injuries seem to be

a theme

in big matches for you.

I think you were ruled out

of

the grand final

in your last season

with the Bulldogs.

Mr Rugby League

World Cup final.

Lost to the Kiwis.

And

missed your last season

that you were contracted

to play.

Like that's a fucking

shitter of a run-of-luck.

It is.

I always try

and look at the positives

on things

and when you look at it

to actually be in a situation

like that

to be in a situation

to miss a World Cup

to be in a situation

to miss a grand final

to be in a situation

to miss your 18th season

I'm pretty proud of that.

Yeah.

If you know what I mean

like

you actually up yourself

to think

oh

it ruined my career

because I missed

out on those opportunities

they would have been

magnificent

to have had

just to be able to be on the

field

on that night

on grand final night

last game for the club

blah blah blah

same with

you know

the World Cup

my last origin game

I got in a fight

in the last minute of the game

I didn't have a fight

on the footy field

in my whole career

really

and that

it wasn't me

and I don't blame Brent

or

you know like Brent

Brett Wyatt

or

you know anybody in that

like at the end of the day

I remember having that call

and I'd been punching the mouth

plenty of times in my career

and I just copped it

and walked away

and that time

for whatever reason

I don't know why

I was probably sick of

being that bloke

who just got

not picked on but

you know

you cop a punch in the mouth

and then

oh yeah

what are you going to do mate

I don't know why

but I decided

nah

buggy

I'm going to stick out for

myself

and it didn't end up

working out for me

but

this disappointment

I have about that

is that was my last

origin moment

and I played 28 games

but that's the most

things that people talk about

everyone that I

come across almost

talk about

that moment

more than any

in 28 games

and

I'm really sad

because that doesn't represent

my career

but you know what

like I learned

a big lesson

and I'm proud of myself

for not having fights

in footy games

and I had one

I call it

was a professional fight

that was me

watching and

I'm none from one

it was a TKA

but I got TKA

and I woke up

to Kevin Rudd

you know which people

it's a strange referee

yeah

no

in the dressing room

I was

I was snoring

you were out out

and then

yeah they took me off

and I woke up

in the dressing room

which is quite

not

weird because

Justin Paul

who

picked me up

looked at me and dropped me

he states that

I was giving him

verbal

and that

I was

playing it up

when he picked me up

like he was basically saying

I was going to punch in the face

because you were

giving me

giving me lip

and then that's why

I did what I did

well mate I was

snoring

yeah

and the doctors

were out

that I was snoring

I was

as a Queensland

I remember being incensed

at the time

and like Justin Hodges

reaction

the team's reaction

I guess spoke to what

you meant to them

as a player as well

because

yeah it was

another part of disappointment

was

we had a chance

to win a

clean sweep

that game

and Pat

was injured or sick

he didn't play

and we didn't have

a good camp

and I was crook

and then

played

a couple of the boys

didn't

prepare

the way they should have

and

a couple of them

are big names right

and

one of them

almost didn't

make it onto the field

it was that bad

oh wow

in the

captain's run

like

I'm talking not good

yeah

so Mal almost

made a call

that he wasn't going to play

and it would have brought a guy

and he became

very very good for us

but

I think it was a line in the sand

for our team

we were achieving

pretty good things

but it was a wake up call to say

you could

achieve greatness

but

you're hiding

yourselves to blame now

and you saw

Wales didn't want to be beaten

and they came with real aggression

so

there's no guarantees that

if we had a prepared better

we would have won

but

we didn't give ourselves a chance

that game

and I

never got to be a part

of a clean sweep

and it ended up being

my last series

ended up being my last game

yeah

I suppose it just puts

in perspective

that

when you say

literally

every opportunity

you got on an origin field

was a privilege

and it could have been

your last

and it actually was

so I was playing 2010

thought I'd

hopefully get to play

three more games in

2010

and I didn't

because I didn't play

so

what a way to finish

my origin career

and I'm like

not sort of cool

I'm quite proud that

we didn't bring that up

after talking about

how everybody else

brings it up

no no

not having to go there

it's fine with my story

yeah yeah

but it's

it's nothing

that everyone remembers

everyone remembers

and

yeah I don't know

it's just disappointing

because it wasn't my career

that wasn't how I played

and I was almost

you know

when people say

oh you're one of the toughest

I wasn't one of the toughest

like

I was always challenged

when I was coming through

the grades

I've not been tough enough

or aggressive enough

or

and like

one of my proudest things

was that

I don't believe I changed

I was still me that kid

who came through

and I was still able to

make it

with all those people

back home

who didn't think I was

because I didn't have

this this this this

now I'm not being rude

or

or trying to be a smart ass

but

when I heard those

remarks

I looked at those people

and I go

you don't know

what it takes to be an

NRL player

because you haven't played

NRL

so

I'm not going to listen

to what you're saying

because I believe

that I can be

and I'm going to try to be

if I don't

that's cool

I'll give it my best shot

but

I don't need you

to basically

tell me

that I won't be able to make it

because I don't think

you are credentialed enough to

unless you've done it

then I'd go

fair enough

like because you know what it takes

and there's people

that almost

boast that they're a big part

of me actually making it

well they sort of were

because of what they kept saying

to me

and you don't go to say

I'm going to

do that to you

because I wanted to make it

I didn't want to make it

more because

they said I won't

but it just continues to add

to it and

I almost look at those people

and sort of go

yeah like you were

a big part of me making it

but it's not the one

that you thought

like they thought

I had run up Peter Moore

and I told him about this kid

in Tuumba

no he didn't

well if you did

he didn't listen

because I know

when Peter Moore

wanted to know about me

and it was for completely

different reasons

so yeah

and that's what I feel

so really sorry for kids

coming through

no matter what it is

that they're trying to do

where there's people

not around them

to actually pump

their tyres up

you be what you want to be

and do the absolute best

to try and get there

if you don't

that's cool

because it's going to give you

so many like lessons

that are going to help you

in other parts of your life

yeah

we'll be right back

after this short break

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there's so

we could spend hours

in your footy career

but there's stuff

I want to get to

past it as well

and so you finish up

at the Warriors

in the last season

and you're injured

and then it's time to

come up

but you don't leave New Zealand

and I think we've

heard the reasons

why you stayed

but then you got into

the supermarket business

I'm quite keen to hear

about like

why you got in

and why you got out

yeah just

stumbled across some people

who were in it

they spoke to me about

why aren't you doing this

and I sort of said

actually I don't know

mate

let's go and have a coffee

and I have a chat about it

so I had that chat

and was really impressed

I'd never thought of anything

like that

and then spoke to Bruce

he's my mate here

Bruce Sharik

and sort of said to him

about it and Bruce

he goes yeah man I know

a fair few other boys

that are doing the whole

foodies thing

and yeah

they love it

you know why not

the chat out in the world

for the uninitiated

licensed to print money

in the supermarket industry

fact or fiction

because we've got a mate

who's just got into it

yeah

Willie's down

round

yeah

yeah it is man

but it's

he'll be able to tell you

it's not an easy track

which is

why right

it's like being a professional athlete

like

everyone wants to be it

but not everyone can be

so psychometric tests

doing two years

packing shelves

not getting paid

everywhere

because

you've got to see

how the different setups are

meet the different owners

and the owners

get to have a say on

you as a person

and your traits

and

so you're

it's almost

you're an advertising

little bandwagon

road trip

going around

is that right

100% man

you've got to go to other stores

and

100% cut your teeth

that's to get

approved as an operator

so

you have to

you have to

earn the right

to be

approved

to be an operator

and then

once you're that

then you can then look at stores

that are available

and then you apply for those stores

and then you go through

another process

three people

that's narrowed down to

and then the interviewed

and then they'll decide

foodstuffs will decide on

who

the potential new owner

will be of that store

and then you negotiate

with the current owner

and you have to come up

with a deal on guidelines

there's strict guidelines

within that

and it's a process

mate

then you get the store

and then

black and white

how you perform

will be basically

like NRL career

how you progress

was this

were you thinking about this

in your last years

of what you know

no

no

just

it was random

so random

so

I was coaching

man amic grandma

first 13

and

I

I think

I went

to the local new world

and sort of said

hey

I want to

give these boys

an opportunity

that is different

the rugby league

program at mags

was rugby league

is not seen as

the high

you know

it's not first 15

not first 11

mags is like royalty

right

rugby

and then league

was a fair way down

I'll train up

in the archery field

I'm man

I'm man over here

right

so

so I said to Dale Burton

who was the principal

at the time

my wife seemed to me about coaching

and Dale seemed to me

about coaching him

and I go right

alright I will

but

I go

we've got to be able to

train and play on number one

like

the first 15

I said end

I'm going to do New Jersey's

and

I'm going to be doing this and that

and blah blah blah

yep and he's gone

yep yep yep all good

so yep he did

to his word

he did

and I took that on

and what I could see

was the boys weren't

the best behaviours at the school

all the best attenders

and I go right

this is going to be a way

to get the kids

to come to school

every day

because they all want to be

in a real place

and I go I'm not going to be

a superstar

but not all you are going to play

in the NRL

that's real

alright so you've got to have

a backup plan

so the only way we're going to do this

is to learn

what we need to learn

to be best prepared

for the next stage right

so I went to the local

New World

and sort of said to him

this is my plan

I've got a footy team

I said I want to get them

working

to earn

opportunities to grow

what they're going to receive

or when we do the nationals

we go and stay at a camp

rather than at home

with the family

and whatever situation there

and I can be consistent

and we're together

and all this

so yeah

went to him

and he goes

mate

this is awesome

he goes

yep

I'll do what you want me to do

so what we organised

was two boys

every Friday, Saturday, Sunday

from four o'clock

would come to the New World

and would collect trolleys

and they'd be in their number ones

so they'd represent in the school

and they'd be collecting trolleys

and if they had a good attitude

and that type of thing

they'd have to do the induction

to be employed

and they'd get offered a job

if they show the right attitude

and six of the boys got

offered a job

and six of them stayed there

for a good period of time working

which is great right

so it taught them

really good lessons about that

the other bit was

must attend every day

you can't get in trouble

so

Sir Tilly Tupinua

who's at the roosters

Tilly was in our team

and he was

pretty much going to school

one day a week

and the reason

it's as simple as this right

he would get into trouble

because he didn't have

the right school shoes

so I'd break every individual down

and go okay

what's the challenges we've got

what are we going to work with

so I went and bought him

a pair of school shoes

he stopped getting detentions

the reason why I wasn't going to school

because as soon as he'd get there

at form class

he'd get a detention

so there's my lunch time gone

I'm not going to school

I don't want to be spending

more time in the classroom

he's an active kid right

so he played one game

it was a trial game

he was in another school

killed him brain him

I said

did you like that

he goes yep

loved it

I said alright

if you want to play rugby league

in this team

all you've got to do

is come to school every day

behave yourself

and you'll get to do that

right

so his turn around was unreal

he's come to school every day

he stopped playing up in the classroom

because he wasn't getting into trouble

because of the bad start to the day

and I was getting complaints

from teachers

because he wasn't being engaged

so I go

mate you used to complain about

the guy who wasn't happy

and now he's quiet

and you complain

that he's not engaged in your class

this is a guy who wouldn't hand assignments in

or do tests

and straight away

he got like a C

for the first time in his life

and then he got a B

and then there was one thing

he got an A in

and you could just see

this kid completely changed

he got so much pride in himself

so all of these little things

I was doing with these boys

I'm trying to think of the guy's name

as the owner

he's such a great bloke

he goes mate this is amazing

this is what we're about

so then he got me an interview

at foodies

after we had the coffee

and I went in

and had to sit down

with the gatekeeper

and I got through that

interview

and then had to do the psychometric tests

and do the two years

lucky enough that I was doing

ambassadorial stuff

so I had that flexibility

and I was getting paid

so I could cover

not working

in the stores

and then got approved as an operator

and put in for Waipu

and got the store

I'll visit there later on

I've just come down from Mungify today actually

I'm staying up there for the weekends

we'll head up to Waipu

tell me

has that experience ruined

supermarket shopping for you

now on the other side

no I love it

you don't go in and like go

they could be facing things up

a different way

signs of shopping mate

is that right

there is

absolutely

absolutely and

foodies are one of the best

there's a whole world

that we don't know about

I'll bet you still want to have a sick handshake

and everything

three shoppers

snake walkers

boundary riders

and fuzzy wuzzies

really?

what's the difference

so fuzzy wuzzies are the ones

who go in

they know what they want

they get it

and get out

so probably your tradies

who are going in for smoker

just no time

get in the store

get me stuff

get out

boundary riders

they'll go and get

milk

produce

meat

that's me

pretty much

around the outside of the store

which is where it all is

so you've got to do the whole store

and then out

it's good

and then snake walkers

they'll do every aisle

probably mum

doing the weekly shop

they'll be there for over an hour

she's doing the whole lot

in different stores

I'm a snake walker

in different stores

at different times

those shoppers will be in the store

predominantly

and so

the science of the shopping

is to put different things

in different places

yeah that winds me up

that winds me up

chocolate bickies

like somewhere else

I'm going why are they here this time

why is the toothpaste over there

so you can buy them

I read some interview

it's really good hey

you did where you talked about

you'd be like stocking shelves

and people would come and say

pricey

you've fallen on tough times

what's going on

what the hell are you doing here

in your Mount Albert Grammar

number one

stocking shelves

no so yeah

that was when I had the store

and I'm just sort of going

so there's a real misconception

so

you sort of see it as printing money

but there's

it's like

not a trade

but it's a profession

and you look at the people

who work in the supermarket

there's butchers

and there's bakers

and they're

they're professionals

but

like even I had that philosophy

when I was a kid

like

everyone who worked at a supermarket

is sort of someone

that didn't qualify at school

or

but it's definitely not the case at all

and

that was one of the things

as I went through

and I did a lot of that

internal sort of studying stuff

and I really

encouraged my stuff

to be doing

that sort of stuff as well

because it really

they would grow as individuals

and you'd have a

15 year old young female

who's at school

and

spent three years with me

and then we'd be leaving

to go to university

and completely different kids

to when they first started with you

and that's

what part of the four squares about

is

given that confidence

and

you know being a bit more outgoing

and being able to deal with

different people

and

you know all that sort of stuff

having responsibilities

you know being disciplined

being on time

you know working hard

during the whole time

all of that sort of stuff

and

yeah I loved that

I loved it

and it's

probably the closest to rugby league

that I've ever

experienced

since playing footy

my understanding was

once you get into that game

you're in there for life

but you did

four years and then got out

three

three

how come you left

I

yeah I

I just knew

we were getting older

obviously our parents

are getting older

and I

I just didn't want to be away

from our parents

not having spent

real quality time

we're in Sydney 12 years

and we're here 13 years

25 years away from

our family

and all the lessons

we were talking about

before of what New Zealand

had taught me is that

to be around your family

and Joe

they're a really close family

that

you know Joe's family

and

we had been away

for a long time

so

to have the kids come back

just before they left home

like Jameau went to Sydney

before we come back

so she'd sort of

fly on the coop

but

Kase and Rolls

came back with us

Rollie still had a year

to go at school

Kase just finished

I thought it'd be really cool

good timing

to get him back there

otherwise

we'd be coming back

they'd be probably staying

or

you know

otherwise I would still be in here

mate

I don't say this

disrespectfully

but I just think

of how much

energy and focus it takes

to run a supermarket

and mine was

an A grade

smaller version of

the big picture

it only gets bigger and bigger

as you go up

which I was really looking forward to

but

I could see how challenging it was

for time with family

and that type of thing

and I didn't want to

challenge that

so

I knew that if I took the next step

we're

we're riding it now

because

there's a lot of money

that's involved

as well as

you're stepping into a new world

which is a lot more

responsibility

and

and that type of thing

and

yeah I was just a bit

concerned about

losing

especially when the kids were still around

and I

probably now

it would probably a lot better

if I was doing it now

so

if it was 5 years

or 10 years further down

than where I was

I'd still be doing it

because

it'd just be me and Joey

and the kids would be doing anything

but

yeah just timing was

I thought

we've sort of got to do this now

there was some chat

towards the back into your career

that you might be

an NRL CEO

and waiting

as well

is that

like you think you were doing

at the time

is that still something

which may be on the horizon one day

or are you done

with footy admin

you know what

I'm really confused

about actually what

I want to do

yeah I did my MBA

I love

leading people

I love

helping people grow

and becoming better

rugby league is my passion

so I thought

wouldn't that be a great fit

you know both worlds

I did the gym

and footy at the dogs

it was only for 12 months

I signed a three year deal

but

there was a lot of stuff going on at the time

and

I think there was a little bit of fear

of me taking roles

and

all that sort of stuff

but at the end of the day

I probably wasn't prepared

as good as I could have been for it

and I suppose

when I retired from footy

I probably should have

I was almost hoping or praying

for someone to

take me under their wing and say right

this is where you're going to get to

this is where you're going to start

and this is what you've got to do

between now and then

to get to there

instead

I sort of went back to Aussie

got asked to go on the board at the Bulldogs

did that

then the opportunity come up as gym and footy

I've always wanted to do that

yeah jump in and do it

it's a big job mate

Bulldogs are a big club

things weren't going great at the time

dealing with salary cap

big turnover of players

and all sorts of stuff

bit of fighting going on the background

because of the board

so it was probably wrong time

wrong place

and the wrong person

our CEO

first time he'd been a CEO

first time a gym or footy

first time our chair had been a chair

there's a whole lot of firsts

taught me a fair bit

didn't scare me

but there's a lot of politics

and I think I'd have to be better prepared

and you've got to have a lot more support

if you don't have the support

you're wasting your time

and I've got a lot of respect

for the administrators in the game

because I know now what goes on

behind doors

and in front of doors

and mate it's a tough gig

so then the coaching side

I never thought I wanted to be a coach

but when I coached Mags

I loved it

loved it

then I did some stuff

and Sonny coached a couple of years ago

with the under 20s there

and really enjoyed it

but again how do you

get into coaching

like you've got to start

and I need salary

to survive

and yeah I wouldn't be able to do that

so and if I commit to something

I want to be able to really commit to it

like I did at Mags

it was almost a full time job

like my wife used to say

mate it's not an NRL team

it's a schoolboy team

and I said yeah but

if we set a standard

you treat the boys like dogs

I like like dogs

you treat the boys with respect

and at a standard

there's no excuses

they'll do that

and it was awesome

got them a fitted mouth guard

and skins

and we went swimming for recovery

and you know all these sort of stuff

so it just got the boys to start

to think about what professionalism looks like

Transport us to current day

you're a bit confused

you're not really sure what you're doing

you get a call to go on Celebrity Treasure Island

I'm assuming a call is out of the blue

how long did the decision make

mate it's not a brain

New Zealand's favourite Aussie

coming back for my favourite TV show

is it a year straight away

or is it another

oh shit I don't have to think about it

so that was Brucey

so Brucey rings me

because Bruce sort of looked after

all my off field stuff

when I was in New Zealand

but I did do some stuff

for celebrity speakers

when I was here

doing circuits with corporates

and so those guys run Brucey

and said

they'd really like to have Steve

on Celebrity Treasure Island

and he said

I don't know what you're thinking

whether you want to or not

but I'll leave it with you

and you get back to me

and let me know

so I rang Joey

I said what do you reckon

and she goes

well you're the one who's got to do it

pause there

do you even know what the show is

before you've agreed to it

not really

good

yeah not really

and so

tried to look it up

and being an Aussie

I can't download the app

and all that sort of stuff

like geo blocking it

pisses me off too

all the stuff that was on there

was quite short snippets

so it didn't really

show me exactly

what the show was about

you're on an island

with some people

and there's some sort of

it's not dancing with the stars

so already I'm okay with it

well Joey will never let me

go and dance with the stars

she goes because they all end up

oh yeah

yeah so she says

you're not going on that

straight inside secrets

sorry back to Celebrity Treasure Island

carry on

so

yeah

and then I've just gone

through all the process

I'm going well why wouldn't I

why wouldn't

what would stop me from doing it

yeah packing my pants

I thought do I try and

learn as much as I can

or do I just go in and go

you know what

whatever it is it is

and let's

I went with the latter

and yeah

I reckon it was a pretty good way

to go in

so literally no

no idea

and when I start half talking

to James and

few of the others like

mate they're in psychopedias

oh really

like seriously they love it

and

I was just going

oh maybe I should have

learned a little bit about

what's going on

but as soon as you get there

you touch down on the island

I'm assuming

no it's a big island

yeah

yeah

on location

on location

is gamesmanship

Steve Price kicking in

are you

are you all in

as soon as you get there

can I throw one of my random

analogies like I normally

is it like walking into

a new dressing room

of new teammates

and you've got a size

people up and go

okay this is the pecking order

this is how I can work this

that's how I think

I fucking

I'm pitching myself to get on the show

alright

but is that like

is that what you do

Fly Brisbane

Queenstown

go to the hotel

and I'm staying at

and I'm going for dinner

and at dinner

I'm going to meet

people from the game

and the first person

to walk into the room

it was a private room

walk in was Tummy

and I'm going

hey mate

and he goes

hey mate

I go

are you here for

did you know him prior

not really

yeah wow

but I had seen him

yeah

but yeah

I'd never spoken to him

and

yeah then we sort of got

chatting like

this is sort of weird

and all that

and then other people

started walking in

and

yeah

then

it was like okay

and

so

got told a little bit

what was sort of

the gist

and

had no idea who

who were up against

because two teams

yeah and didn't

meet them until

we'd done a challenge

and

then

our challenge was against them

that was the first time we saw

oh wow

so it was proper like

no smoking mirrors

and proper you walk in

and you go

oh okay

oh

oh

and they're doing the same to you

100%

100%

amazing

how tight are the NDAs

like when you leave

yeah

like there was a

um

treasure

treasure island party

last night

what's an NDA

like non-disclosure

like

oh yeah

you can't say who won obviously

does everyone know

I don't know

you don't know

no I swear I don't know

that's so good

yeah

wait we might have given it

no no

we might have to reiterate that

no

that means you didn't win

no I'm not saying that

hahaha

but what's an NDA

was a good one

can't have a fucking NDA

and not know what an NDA is

well brilliant

brilliant brilliant

I'm saying I don't know

I don't know

yeah yeah

so that's the company line

I don't know

everyone gets asked

I don't know

I don't know

yeah very good

yeah

interesting but

the people

the other people you met

does it become a family

like do you develop

close enough bonds with them

that

well I didn't know

them

and they all do

and

yeah catching up

like last night

it was like

a reunion

like it was cool

and

yeah

and mate

strap yourself in

because there's stuff

that it's

it's happening right

so that's cool

when

when that's like that

that you can catch up

and

it's very much like footy

where there's

mate you're gonna have

some battles man

but yeah after it

like

yeah we'll

we'll get on well

and respect

and it's really cool

also it's a place

take you out of your

element

I mean

you're saying you're at a place

you're not really sure

what you're doing

and you're confused

I'm sure after this trip

to New Zealand

even this little junket

and these experiences

and that one back then

it just changed

your perspective on things

a little bit is it

give you a bit of a shift

yeah I'm really looking

forward to seeing the show

because I know

what I went through

and

and how

in my head

things were going

but then

how it actually

is presented

it can be really different

and I'm really looking

forward to that

because

when I did my

work like that as well

like

did Nepal

and Katmandu

Keena Mustang

and

I remember

all of the

experiences that I had

but then

other people's vision

of that story

was a little bit different

to what

mine was

but it was so cool

to see it

in that light

yeah

and that's going to be

this as well

like there's some creative

people

who are part of the show

who are going to have

all of this footage

they're going to put together

in a way

that's going to be

absolutely mind blowing

and next level

that

I probably wouldn't have

any idea of

oh my god

I didn't realise

that's how I would look

or

do you know what I mean

sound or come across

or

I didn't know that person

was thinking that

or said that

or

do you know what I mean

like they're all the things

that still don't know

so

how are you going to watch it

in Australia

unsure yet

yeah hopefully

I'll be able to get something

but that's

yeah it's something

that I would have said

to the guys

at Warner Brothers

and TVNZ

is

I've had a lot of

people

reach out to me

and say

mate we want to watch it

like they're in Australia

and

yeah because it's a New Zealand

thing it's only

here in New Zealand

so

yeah we'll have to

all

make a trip over

and have a view

we'll just take a cinema

or just

we'll just have a junket

just watch the whole

hey

I won't keep you much

long I know you've got

a flight to catch soon

but the thing

that I want to talk about

she might have

a few bits and pieces

but the New Zealand

Order of Merit

yes

as an Aussie

who came over

and spent

the time you did here

you received that acknowledgement

I understand there's a story

that you thought

it was a wind-up

when you first

100%

got a letter

got the

royal logo

on it

and saying what it was

yeah so I thought

it was the boys

just

jammed me up

because

there's some real pranksters

in every team

and so I rang the B-Hope

and just said

like

I've received this letter

and then

she sort of

confirmed my details

just to make sure it was me

and I said

I just want to know

whether this is legit

or just someone's

mucking around

and she goes

oh no no

it is

someone's nominated you

and it's up to you

you look

whether you accept it

or not

and I said

oh absolutely

this is huge

like I can't believe it

and she goes

well someone is

and I said

but I'm Australian

here in the Commonwealth

and you

you're living here

and blah blah blah

so yeah

I was blown away

Mum come over

Joe and the kids were there

Government House

amazing ceremony

and there was some

truly incredible people that were

I was very

well not very embarrassed

I was very

proud but I was

sort of embarrassed

when you're looking at people

who've done so much

in a community

for 50 or 60 years

and I'm

sort of a

Aussie who

you know

who's been

rewarded

with something very similar

to them

so I

wear it very proudly

on my LinkedIn

as a

you know

as a

I don't know what you'd call it

as a

part of my

story

and it's really cool

to be able to explain to people

what it means

because so many people do ask

oh what does that mean

and then I tell them

and they go

what so like

you're like

an order of Australian metal

but in New Zealand

I said

yeah and they go

how did you get that

look

it's so impressive

I wonder if the clairvoyant

time stamped her

big award

which you should be referring to

this one

you know

there you go

there you go

just on that same

Aussie New Zealand tangent

Arwen Gutenbeil

retold a great story

of doing the Huckabucking in Palace

for the Queen

the late Queen

you were on that tour

as playing the

Delhi messenger role

the one Australian

that was in that group

in the group

did you get to do

did you partake

in that Huckabucking as well

I was trying my best

yes I was in the Huckabucking

amazing

yeah it was amazing

and spoke to the Queen

after it

and she pointed out

that my Huckabucking

was a bit different too

did you really

the other boys

and then I told her

that I was Australian

and she goes

I could tell

there was a little bit of a difference

but with that

I'd been out of the Aussie side

for a few years

Ricky Stewart called me

back into the team

we played in Wellington

on the Saturday

and that was when Mark

Gazinu got knocked out

by Steve Maddow

so

we won that game

pretty easy

I even scored that day

well that

next morning

I had to get on a flight

with the Kiwi boys

to go to England

so

I was really weighing up

I'd never really done the Hucker

so

I knew I had to do it

and I'm thinking

when I'm going to learn it

and I didn't think

it was appropriate

leading into a test match

against New Zealand

sneaking off to learn

the Hucker with Rubz

or whoever

Bailey Mack or whoever

it was going to be

so

basically left it

until I landed in England

with the boys

went to the hotel

we then went

and had a quick training session

come back, had a shower

and then we're on our way

to the New Zealand Embassy

to meet with the representative

of New Zealand there

for a cup of tea

and then on to Buckingham Palace

and so

I'm like the Wiggles

I'm learning

20 minutes to learn the actions

20 minutes to do the words

20 minutes to put it all together

and then on the bus doing it

and even at

the Embassy

I'm doing it in the background there too

and then get to

Buckingham Palace

and amazing

to go through those gates

like I've been to the gates

outside of them

standing there taking photos

but to actually

go through the gates

and in behind

and you see what's there

and then you're going to these

incredible rooms

and then for

you know the Queen

and Prince Philip

to come down as well

and then introduce themselves to us

or us to be introduced to them

and sort of splitting the forwards

and backs

and the Queen spoke to the backs

and Philip

spoke to the forwards

and then swapped around

and then we went and did the Hucko

and they got I think 200 staff

in the palace

and majority of them

all of them were Australians or Kiwis

I don't know the Queen had

something that she loved having

Australians and Kiwis so

they're all on the staircase

watching us because

they know what's going on as well

and yeah then we

we started into it

and Rubez led that one

and after he couldn't talk

he couldn't talk for about three days

so we did it

in front of the Queen

and then we did it

at Leeds Station

because the Orgulls did that

100 years earlier

and I'm at peak hour so five o'clock

and in that one

Dave Kidwell led that one

and we're doing Kamate

and we're doing the slap

and I thought he was going

ah to start into it

but he's just going

ah and he kept going

and I started into it

and Tommy Tupo

Billy he was beside me

and he lost it

because I've started

and no one else has

and I'll try to recoup

and I go back to that

and be quiet

and he's losing it

we're both in the back

I wouldn't go in the front

that just would not be good

so I'm in the background

and trying to

re-gather myself

and he's losing it

and ah and then we did it

before the game

and then we did it after the game

because Stace retired again

I think it was for the fourth time

but he retired again

and um yeah so we did it

in honour of him

um so I got better at it

by the fourth time

but certainly

yeah it probably wasn't

I'm a big cup of tea man

and the best cup of tea I've ever had

was at Buckingham Palace

is that right?

and I thought it would be the little cup

you know like

twining sort of thing

but it was mug

and I so dearly wanted one

and I think ah I think

um ah and talked about

some boys became

um new owners of some tea

teaspoons which I wish I had

I've got one of those as well

but I really wanted a tea cup

I was almost going to ask the Queen

if I could

ah respectfully

but um yeah

I didn't have the brass monkeys

judgment

it's like asking for a signature

on a book

I think they know what happens

but yeah I just wanted to be out front

and she might have made a joke

about it she might not

but I just didn't have the balls to

to do it

but cool experience

hey this has been such an epic chat

um I'm going to start to wrap us up

I was just reflecting on

talking about your dad

and talking about Sunny

and being in the press conference

and showing that vulnerability

I think it's really important

now I mean we have a lot of these conversations

on this podcast

of men of a certain age

who never used to show emotion

and now they do

and the way that you talked about

your dad on the island

with the contestants

and you've shared with us today

and just the value

and speaking about it

when people are going through hard times

there's just

as a strong male role model

it's just so valuable

so thank you

yeah it is a hard one

and I sort of don't blame mum

but certainly mum's the emotional one

of our family

um and yeah

when I'm proud of something

or very honoured

or something means something to me

I do quite easily get emotional

um and it's something that's always bugged me

I've always tried to

um be in more control of that

but um I haven't been able to

and I'm actually surprised

that I didn't lose it

in this to be honest

um the last couple of times

I've spoken about that

I've actually been able to

to hold it together a bit

so yeah maybe I'm getting more mature

or maybe um yeah I'm just

proud to be talking about it

rather than really upset

to talk about it because of

not that you blame yourself

but whether you could have done

anything else

I think I've actually grasped

the fact that none of us

could have done anything else

it was his decision

and he's his own man

and uh something I regret every day

but at the end of it

there's so many things that happen

in our life that yeah

can never change

um and you learn from it you know

so I'll learn from

signals I reckon

if I do speak to people

to be very honest

and upfront and be not afraid

to ask those questions

of being there to support

because you know sometimes

that's all it can take

I know my mum one day ran into a lady

she hadn't seen for a long time

gave her a big hug and a kiss

said to her how great it was to see her

and that afternoon

she got a um a bouquet of flowers

sent to her house from that lady

and she said I was in the darkest place

I've ever been in my life

and running into you

changed that

and it just it reset me on

what life and what my life's about

and having such beautiful friends

like yourself thank you

like mum was losing it you know

but you just don't know

what people are going through

and at different times say

um yeah whether people

have the courage to ever tell you that or not

but sometimes that's all it can take

you're so right um you don't know

what people are going through

and but your your sunny disposition

and life and in the way that you've become

a leader in pretty much every environment

you've entered into

it's just so inspiring like it's been

so cool Chandia

I'm just going to finish with

before I throw to Shea

with what Tady said

I asked him what makes

um Steve so special he said

he's one of the most giving blokes

you'll ever meet in your life

he's such a giving person

he's always helped others

he gets a kick out of it

that's the way captain the club he's played for

and the reason he was skipper for so long

he genuinely cares about them

you won't find a better bloke

and after talking to you today

I mean it's pretty clear

but I'll throw to Shea for the big outro

mate you talk about um

the courage to say things you didn't want to say

I didn't want to tell you

that I had your photo on my wall

at 29 30 years of age

but one of the reasons I did

was for that vulnerability

and that ability to show emotion

during a time where emotion was needed

and like I've listened to you

sat here and listened to you

as a son, as a father

as a husband, as a brother-in-law

as an uncle

I'm sure you're doing amazing things

as a boss, as someone who looks to lift other people up

it's incredible there's been so many

lessons and takeaways from this

episode that I think going to resonate

with a whole cross-section of people

it's wonderful to have you back in Aotearoa New Zealand

even for a short space of time

I'm sure people are going to fall in love

with our favourite Aussie again

on Celebrity Treasure Island

and we hope the whole family

will be back here sometime soon to enjoy the Aotearoa

that we have for Stephen Price and the kids

Thank you mate

it's truly humbling when

you're here even with what you were saying

to have an impact on people's lives

when you're just a normal person

having fun doing what you do

and it's really cool

so thank you for sharing that with me

and thanks for having me on your program

like yeah

it was really cool to get a message from you guys

to follow you and I did

and I've loved watching

the stuff that you're doing

cheers Steve

amazing

thank you mate

that was awesome

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.