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Katie Woolf spoke with Parramatta Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the Paramatter
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  Speaker 1: Eels CEO Jim sarantine Us. Good morning to you, Jim.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Hi Day, good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Great to have you on the line now, Jim big announcement.
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  Speaker 1: The Paramatter Eels are going to be taking on the
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  Speaker 1: Brisbane Broncos in the NRLs and Zach Ground next year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great it's terrific for our club and
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  Speaker 2: it's terrific for the partnership that we have with the
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  Speaker 2: NT We've been fighting long and hard for a number
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: of years to get the Broncos up to Darwin and look,
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  Speaker 2: it was planned for twenty twenty but unfortunately, as we
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  Speaker 2: all know, things been quite code of plan. But through
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  Speaker 2: some great support from the NRL and the broadcasters, will
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  Speaker 2: be bringing the Broncos up to up to Darwin for
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  Speaker 2: the Antac Day clash on the twenty third of April.
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  Speaker 2: So it's really exciting. It's exciting for our club, it's
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  Speaker 2: exciting for the game minute, it's hopefully going to be
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  Speaker 2: a great weekend for.
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  Speaker 1: The territory and oh it's going to be a phenomenal weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Us Territorians love our footy and we particularly love our NRL,
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  Speaker 1: and I tell you what doesn't get much bigger than
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  Speaker 1: the Brisbane Broncos and the Paramatta Eels.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't. Look we're probably the two most follow
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  Speaker 2: teams in the NRL. I know certainly from some of
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  Speaker 2: the broadcast numbers. Our two teams were the two most
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  Speaker 2: watched teams over the twenty twenty season, and it's kind
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  Speaker 2: of been the case for a long time. We actually
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  Speaker 2: play the Broncos in Round one to kick off the season,
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  Speaker 2: so that kind of tells you how big that match
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  Speaker 2: up you and for us to be able to bring
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  Speaker 2: that game up to the territory for the Enzact weekend
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  Speaker 2: I think is great for our club and as I said,
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  Speaker 2: great for our partnership. Really excitingly, it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: broadcast on Channel nine, so there'll be a massive freeoware
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  Speaker 2: audience for it as well, So it's really exciting and
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  Speaker 2: something great for us to look forward to.
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  Speaker 1: And Jim, as you said, twenty twenty, well, it really
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  Speaker 1: didn't go to plan. It's been an unbelievable year and
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  Speaker 1: I've got to say at the beginning of the year,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's lots of things that you can sort
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  Speaker 1: of deal with not happening throughout the year, and I
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  Speaker 1: know that so many people have faced such hardship, but
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  Speaker 1: I really could never have imagined in Australia without football
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  Speaker 1: and it was amazing then to see the way that
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  Speaker 1: the NRL and also the AFL were able to get
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  Speaker 1: things back up and running. But gee, it's been a
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  Speaker 1: tough year when it comes to sport.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look it has been, and it's been a really
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  Speaker 2: real time for no doubt cans of all the clubs
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  Speaker 2: and people that sort of really live and breed their sport.
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  Speaker 2: But it's been particularly for our players and our staff
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  Speaker 2: who have been really disrupted and have really had their
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  Speaker 2: lives impacted quite significantly. But without question, the administrators of
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  Speaker 2: our game and other games have done an amazing job
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  Speaker 2: in really setting aggressive targets, recognizing how important sport he
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  Speaker 2: is in the cultural fabric of all Australians. And I
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  Speaker 2: feel as though, certainly from an NRL perspective, the clubs
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  Speaker 2: and the governing body have never worked closer to really
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: be committed to the same task and make sure the
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: game got back up and running. And I think whilst
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  Speaker 2: there was a difficult period there where the game was
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  Speaker 2: suspended for a couple of months. I'm sure the fans
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  Speaker 2: were all incredibly grateful to get some sport back on
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  Speaker 2: TV and eventually get back to the stadiums once once
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  Speaker 2: some of those restrictions were lifted. So I'm hopeful and
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  Speaker 2: I have my fingers crossed that we don't have to
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  Speaker 2: deal with the same issues next year. If we do,
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  Speaker 2: we'll obviously we'll obviously contend with it, and we now
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: have a little bit of experience in it now.
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  Speaker 1: I know when you travel to the Northern Territory, the
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  Speaker 1: paramatterials usually do a phenomenal job at going out and
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  Speaker 1: visiting the schools and going out to remote communities and
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  Speaker 1: really engaging with the community. Is that something that you're
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  Speaker 1: still going to be able to do for next year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's certainly the plan. I'm hopeful by that
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  Speaker 2: time that many of the jurisdicians in terms of players
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  Speaker 2: being able to interact with general public will have been
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  Speaker 2: lifted and it will allow us to do that. We
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  Speaker 2: typically spend two to three days before the day of
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  Speaker 2: the game engaging with the community and engaging with schools,
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  Speaker 2: so it's certainly the plan to do that again, and
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  Speaker 2: I know that the Broncos will be very keen to
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  Speaker 2: do that themselves as well, so hopefully we have that
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  Speaker 2: opportunity and I think particularly in and around Anzac weekend,
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  Speaker 2: I think there'll be an extra special buzz around the
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  Speaker 2: game and hopefully we'll be able to connect with footy
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  Speaker 2: fans up in Darlin.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be a fantastic weekend of footy,
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  Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Paramatter Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos, we
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for breaking that
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  Speaker 1: news with us.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie, thank you for having.
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  Speaker 1: Me wonderful thank you And how good is that going
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  Speaker 1: to be? The Paramatter Eels taking on the Broncos in
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  Speaker 1: the NRL's an Zac Ground at TiO Stadium Friday, the
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  Speaker 1: twenty third of April. I know that it was something
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  Speaker 1: that we're all pumped about for this year. And as
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  Speaker 1: you've just heard them with Jim, who is the CEO
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  Speaker 1: obviously of the Paramatter Eels, you know, the best slave
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  Speaker 1: plans didn't happen this year, that's for sure. COVID really
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  Speaker 1: threw a spatter in the works for everybody, but it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be happening next year. The twenty third of April.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be phenomenal, and those teams don't get
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  Speaker 1: much bigger than the Paramatter Eels and the Brisbane Broncos