Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / "The King" Wally Lewis explain what fans can expect when the Brisbane Broncos clash with the Parramatta Eels in Darwin on Friday

Transcript

"The King" Wally Lewis explain what fans can expect when the Brisbane Broncos clash with the Parramatta Eels in Darwin on Friday · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, I think there's plenty of excitement around the Northern
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: territory as we get geared to watch the footy on
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the weekend or on Friday night. We know that the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Brisbane Broncos are going to be clashing with the Parramatta
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Eels at TiO Stadium and the King of Channel nine,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Wally Lewis, is touching down in Darwin tomorrow with the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: team and joins me now to well talk us through
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: what we can expect at the footy tomorrow night. Good
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Wally, let's try that again. Good morning
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to you, Wally, good morning, Yeah, wonderful, great to have
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you on the show. Now, how are things looking ahead
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of the footy on Friday night? I mean, we know
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: what the weather's like here in Darwin, Wally, it's been
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: glorious the last couple of days. But how are the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: team's looking and are you all pumped to get to Darwin?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, yeah, And it's one of those situations I
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: think that they've been talking about it all whole month
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: in in Brisbane. Certainly it's a game. I guess that
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: that the Broncos never ever get to underage. I know
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: that they certainly do really respect their opposition, who of
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: course are the home team here and that's such a
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: good record whilst they're playing in the Northern Ends.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems funny, doesn't it for the Paramatter Eels
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to be the Northern Territory Paramatter Eels. I'm a Queensland
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: girl and my brother coaches with the Redcliffe Dolphins, so
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely a Queensland girl. But I tell you what,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of Brisbane Bronco fans in Darwin.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah here there certainly is. My previous visits there have
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: always got involved in talk about who they prefer and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: certainly the Broncos have their their fair share up there
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and they will will need a fair bit of that.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Despite you know, being from Sydney. I think the Heels
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: certainly do get plenty of respect from people of the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory because they play an occasional game up there,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: hopefully get a game a year to play up there
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: and to be able to share that, perhaps even increase that.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: But they really do regard this game as one that's
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: important for the promotion of the game and they certainly
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: do not underestimate the conditions. They know that you know,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: it might be a little bit warmer that there are
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: no excuses offered or accepted when you're involved in an
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: NRL match of this importance.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: And Brisbane is currently top of the ladder, aren't they
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: So are they expecting to keep it that way?
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Well, they're hoping to. It's absolutely astounding Brisbane. They were
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: given no chance pretty much by all of the top
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: tipsters in town that said that they're about to pull.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: They'll make sure that they drop away. Can't be considered
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: as a genuine premiership contenders. Well, they're sitting at the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: top of the ladder and I think the most inspiring
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: thing came from the coach, Kevy Wants, who said that
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: we might be at the top, but we nowhere near
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: our best at the moment and that certainly does promise
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: great things for the Broncos band.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly does. Wally. How important is it that
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: we have games like this in places like the Northern Territory,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: in places like Darwin and other footy games that are
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: played in, you know, in more regional parts of Australia
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: in terms of growing the game.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the promotion of the game is an absolute priority
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: and to be able to take it to to Darwin.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Games have previously been played in Perth, We've had games
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: in Adelaide. Of course, a State of Origin game coming up.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: So that's that's taking it, and I'm sure that there'll
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: be plenty of people saying that, you know, we'd like
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to get an origin game back here in wa. It'll
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: be exactly what we're after, the finest, the finest game
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: from the finest players and certainly if that can go on,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: there will be an outstanding promotion for rugby League one
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: that can't be overvalued.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Now, Wally, have you had the opportunity to play footy
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: in the top end before over your years?
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: No, No, I'm I'm I'm very much in the old
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: timers come from coming up to being.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: That. God.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not far. I've ben a pensioner. I know
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: that all of my mates remind me of that every
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: single day. But I would have loved the opportunity. I
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: had a lot of opportunities that actually I often get reminded.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I had a friend of mine that attended luncheon that
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I spoke at in Darwin. This is a long time ago,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: probably ten years ago, where actually it was a long
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: way longer than that, where I was speaking at a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: luncheon and I do I did supple supper from epilepsy.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I was a long time epilepsy suffer. And about halfway
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: through my speech I felt a seizure coming on. This
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: isn't going to be good. Leak your pants, wet your
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: pants whilst you're standing up in front of a sports
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: loving crowd. And it didn't go too well. But thankfully,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: not long after that I got to be able to
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: head to Melbourne where the finest epilepsy surgeons and I
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: had it removed and I hadn't pantsy.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, Walie, you look honestly though, what you have done
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: in terms of raising awareness then around epilepsy has been
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a really important thing to do. And I know that
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: last time you were in the Northern Territory, last time
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  Speaker 1: you're in Darwin, you actually caught up with the family
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  Speaker 1: of a young girl whose life was lost due to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: an epileptic fit. And I know that you're a very
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: generous person, but to her family, I'm sure that was
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: an incredibly important thing to do.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I do those quite regular. One of my jobs
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: at Channel nine and working in the sports department is
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: also fielding calls from people that ring up and pretty
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: much the questions the same all the time. Their child, son,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: or daughter, you're suffering from epilepsy. What should we do?
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  Speaker 2: I explained that I'm a doctor. I can't tell them
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  Speaker 2: what to do. I can tell them what the options
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: may be and why I made the options. I was
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: just sick and tired of having seizures, particularly the ones
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that I had on air while I was reading the
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: sports news. So I had the option to go ahead
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: of the brain surgery, which I did, and that was
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: in February two thousand and seven, and I still haven't
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: had a single seizure since that day. So I get
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: to be able to speak to those dealings with you
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: and give them some advice. I do warn them that
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: we're not all the same and things could possibly be different,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: but if it's at all possible, get the best possible
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: advice and a decision will be a simple one.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Wally Lewis, I'll tell you what. You're the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: king mate in so many different ways. We love you
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: for your footy, love you for your commentary. You do
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: a phenomenal job. When are you arriving in the top
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: end and are you excited to spend a couple of
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: days in Darwin.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I certainly am. I'm coming up there tomorrow looking
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: forward to getting around a little bit throughout the course
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: of the day. I think we get in and around
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: about lunchtime. I've got some work on very early in
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the morning before flying up there and making sure that
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: we do get around and be able to to a
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  Speaker 2: a group of fans. I guess that that will be
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: quite inspired by what they're about to take part in.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: And you know, it's it's fantastic to be able to
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: go to a game of this importance, and it will
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: be a pretty serious event because the Broncos and the Yields,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: they're not best of friends. They never have been and
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I don't think they ever will be, but they do
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: respect each other and I can I can guarantee that
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: that this one will start in a real mood. It
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: will be quite fantastic to watch.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And while you're obviously tipping that the Broncos are going
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: to have a win tomorrow.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not with any great confidence though, And that's you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: despite Brisbane being on top of the ladder, they've had
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: a sensational start of the year. Kevy Robles, the coach,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: has done an excellent job looking after them, but the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: yields they really sort of haven't found their best form yet.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: That is just around the corner. Will it be tomorrow night, Well,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I don't hope that it is, but the Broncos certainly
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: will respect and this will be an absolute beauty of
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: this game. I think it'll be open, it'll be entertaining
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: and attacking football on show. Why bore the people that
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: have come a long way to watch a game. It'll
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: be certainly worth its way, most.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Certainly will Well, you find a lot of things in Darwin,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: so let's see where the Paramatta finds their form and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: no doubt it's going to be a fantastic game. Wally
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: lewis lovely to talk to you this morning and we
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: will see you in Darwin tomorrow. Thanks so much for
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: My pleasure. Indeed, thank you, thank you,