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Season 2 Episode 9: Surfin' Bird with Mason Bragg
66 Plays7 months ago
Squin took to the bench this week for personal reasons, meaning Lachy was team captain, PG and starting centre!
He went 1 on 1 with Mason Bragg from the Manly-Waringah Sea Eagles.
Big thanks to Lachy for carrying the team this week.
We will be back to our regular programming next week for Round 8 of NBL1 East.
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Transcript
Gwyn's absence and Lockie's solo interview
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey Eastcott Game fans, it's just Gwyn here, just with an update about this week's episode. Just before we were about to record, I received some pretty sad news at work and I didn't feel fit enough to record and participate and be able to guarantee that I'd be able to give my best and ensure that we had another great episode of Eastcott Game.
00:00:26
Speaker
So I needed to take a time out and look after myself this week and Lockie very kindly volunteered to step in and conduct our player interview solo this week. So first and foremost a massive thank you to Lockie for stepping in at the very last minute and of course a big thank you to our guest this week Mason Bragg from the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
00:00:52
Speaker
We will be back with our regular programming next week but in the meantime don't sleep on
00:01:09
Speaker
Our guest tonight is a new player to MBL One East, but he is not short on experience at all, having played at MBL level, as well as in the NZMBL and in plenty of states around Australia.
Mason Bragg's basketball journey
00:01:23
Speaker
He's now playing with the manly Waringa Sea Eagles, who are absolutely flying at the moment. It's Mason Bragg. Mason, lovely to have you with us. Yeah, thanks for having me, mate. Good win on the weekend against Hills. Yeah, yeah, really, really good win on the weekend.
00:01:39
Speaker
out of the eight games we've played so far it's probably been our first start to finish game where we've actually led from the start and finished the game through strongly in the fourth. So yeah and hills were looking pretty good as well too especially after beating Maitland the week before so we knew we had a tough one against us but we were ready to go so it was a good win. Excellent. As I mentioned you've played in plenty of places but as we like to ask all our guests
00:02:04
Speaker
How did your basketball journey begin? Yes, my dad was actually an import. He came out in 1985. So I was born in Tassie in 93 and I think I had a basketball in my hand ever since I was born. So there wasn't much choice in what sport I was going to be playing. But lucky enough, I love basketball. It's a huge passion of mine. So yeah, it was always easy to latch onto that. You were born in Burney. So where's your
00:02:33
Speaker
Was your dad playing as a state league import or did they move to, your family moved to Burney? No, he was a state league import. Yeah, he was playing for, I think they were called the Bogues Originals at the time, playing in the, I think it might've been called, I think it was just called the ABA back in the day, back at that time. So yeah, he was just playing state league. Nowadays Tasmanians have the jack jumpers, but growing up, there probably wasn't as much
00:02:58
Speaker
as many Tasmanian basketball role models, at least playing locally. So, who did you look up to when you were a junior? Yeah, it was, it's such a different time these days where everyone's got KO and the NBA is so much more accessible and the NBA was so big these days that, you know, basketball is just our fingertips, we've got Instagram and Facebook and
00:03:19
Speaker
all sorts of social media devices that we can use to watch basketball but back in the day we didn't really have any of that so we um i just kind of went on my local legends i mean these names probably don't mean much to anyone probably new south wales but guys like scott and lee mcgaffin and ben and sam armstrong and nick hayward guys that i grew up watching that were veterans of um tasmanian basketball and did quite well in the um scavl back in the day um were guys i kind of leaned upon um
00:03:47
Speaker
Ben Armstrong is actually the dad of Taran and Trey Armstrong. They're pretty good up and coming. Juniors that some people might be familiar with, but yeah, those guys were kind of the guys that I leaned on and was kind of a sponge for knowledge. You talk about how different it is now. How important do you think it is having a team like the Jack Jumpers down in Tasmania for Tassie players to look up to?
Tasmanian sports culture and support
00:04:10
Speaker
Oh, massive, massive, huge, especially like
00:04:13
Speaker
Not even just being able to see the jack jumpers play every week but it's watching the other players that come down and play as well too like getting the opportunity to see XMBA players live in person would be would be something that be really special and also just kids to go and see the environment of an MBL game and you know.
00:04:32
Speaker
Kids that have aspirations to go play MBL have a whole new understanding of what it's like to play in the MBL now. It's totally different than watching it on TV, so it's massive for any kid in Tassie growing up right now. Definitely important that the MBL got in there before Footy could grab the stronghold as well, because I imagine the AFL is going to be pretty gung-ho on getting in there into the scene in Hobart.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Sports massive in Tassie, but now that the AFL team is coming to Tassie as well, too, I still think it's going to work. Sports huge for Tassie. There's not much else to do apart from play sport down in Tassie, unfortunately. So I'm sure there'll be people that will be flocking towards both the footy and basketball games. You have played, you've played in obviously Tasmania, but you played in Perth, Victoria, Queensland, and you played fourth Hobart team in the NZNBL.
00:05:26
Speaker
So tell us about that. Yeah, it was pretty interesting. This was kind of before all the jack jumpers momentum picked up. And there was just a couple of local guys trying to fund an MBL team prior to the jack jumpers getting their license. And they thought that it'd be best idea to fund the team and put it in NZMBL and see how that panned out and kind of use that as their proposal towards getting a Tassie and MBL team. So they managed to somehow pull off a license
00:05:55
Speaker
to play in the New Zealand National League. So we put a team in for a year. So that was pretty interesting. So you'd be traveling back and forth from Tassie to New Zealand. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, pretty much every weekend we're in New Zealand. We had 60% of our games were in New Zealand. We had a home game every now and then, but most weekends were on the road. It was pretty grueling.
00:06:17
Speaker
So what's it like for a player like playing that in that situation where it's literally an overseas trip every week? Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. But I mean, like most of us high level players, there's not really any excuses once you once you start playing, you know. So it was it was really, really tough on the body and the
00:06:38
Speaker
like the kind of mental side of it because we were you know flying from we'd go from Hobart to Sydney, Sydney to like Wellington or Auckland and then we'd get on another plane that would take us to like a smaller town like Nelson or
00:06:50
Speaker
Um, one of those other smaller towns. So it was, it was pretty tough, but, um, it was awesome to be able to see and play in New Zealand at the, um, state level or the national level.
Comparing NBL leagues
00:06:59
Speaker
Sorry. How does the NZ NBL actually compare to NBL one? Because we see a lot of players. Click back and forth between, you know, the two, the two leagues. Yeah. The, um, NZ NBL would be really tough if we grouped that in with.
00:07:12
Speaker
all the Australian leagues, it would definitely be the highest. There's a lot of high level talent. Obviously you've got all the majority of the New Zealand breakers that are all playing in there and there's a lot of high level MBL guys that go play there because the season's shorter and the pay is a lot higher than the state league levels here as well too. So it's quite appealing for an MBL player in the off season. They're able to take a couple of weeks off when the MBL season finishes, they can go play NZMBL and then they can actually be back
00:07:39
Speaker
prior to all the pre-season stuff, so it actually works out really well for the MBL players. And that has been a bit of an issue in MBL 1, is the availability of MBL and WMBL players, especially at national finals. We've seen players not being able to play, so I guess that shorter season is a real boon for New Zealand, real smart on the other side. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But you have played in
00:08:04
Speaker
other conferences, other leagues in Australia. You played up in North and you played in Victoria. Where has been your favourite place to play? In terms of stadiums or in terms of teams? Run with it however you wish. Well, man, I don't want to like pick favourites out of teams that I've played with. So I'll stick with the stadium ones, but I think
00:08:31
Speaker
thinking back on it, I think my favorite stadium that I've played in at a state league level would be up in Rocky, up in Rockhampton.
00:08:40
Speaker
Their stadium is like this like two-story layout kind of small enclosed old-school stadium. It probably only fits maybe like four or five hundred people in there but it is easily the most loudest stadium I've ever played in. I think we might have beaten them by 25 or 30 but I don't think I heard anything my coach said from the sideline the whole game like it is
00:09:01
Speaker
so loud and the sponsors and the fans that come support are just giving it to your game. It was a really cool environment to play in. So that's definitely one that stands out to me for sure.
00:09:12
Speaker
I have heard a lot of stories about Rockhampton. And playing up in North, there's a lot of teams from regional centers that like to get behind their teams, isn't there? Where the MBL one is, maybe they've got a Queensland Cup for an MBL team, but it generally is one of the main games in town for the entire team. Yeah, for sure. It's really cool to see, like the fans are super passionate and it makes it just a better environment for anyone to play in as well too. So yeah, it's really cool. Is there anything even close to comparable in East or do we have to step up our game?
00:09:42
Speaker
Not that I've seen just yet. I heard Maitland is pretty tough to play at on a Saturday night. So I think we play there in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to that one. But I haven't seen anything close to the Rockhampton away game yet, but still a long way to go in the season. So I'm sure that I'll get my fair share of experience as the season goes on. I certainly like to pick out a couple of the big name players and give them plenty of being up there.
00:10:11
Speaker
I've been to plenty of the regional centers as an away fan, just keeping an eye on it. Yeah, that's right. I'm used to it by now. So I'll be looking forward to it. So good. I mean, one of those reasons that you're known as your NBL experience and you are an NBL champion, tell us about your time.
Experience with the Wildcats
00:10:31
Speaker
It was with the Wildcats, correct? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about your time with the Wildcats and the kind of players you were playing, playing alongside there and what that experience was like.
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, it was pretty, pretty cool. Bit of a whirlwind experience. It kind of all happened super fast. It was like the story goes for a while, but I got picked up just at the start of the 2004, maybe the 15-16 season or 16-17. I think 16-17. We weren't actually doing too well. We actually bought them a ladder at Christmas time. Individually, it was good for me because I was getting to play a lot because a lot of the
00:11:06
Speaker
the senior guys when playing many minutes cuz there's a lot of injuries and some guys when playing that well so it gave me an opportunity to play a lot which was really really cool but on the flip side it wasn't so great cuz we're losing a lot of games so um but then we picked up rice cotton halfway through the year and then the rest was sort of history from there so I went back to the bench and Bryce came in and average 30 game for the rest of the year we won the championship my first year so it was awesome I got a bit of both um
00:11:33
Speaker
Got the team success and individual success in the one season, which was awesome. So you get to play alongside a guy like Bryce, but I guess for you coming off the bench, more importantly, you get to train alongside him and learn from someone like that. What do you take out of training alongside someone like Bryce Cotton? Yeah, absolutely everything. Anything you can. I mean, our two point guards were, um, Damian Martin and Bryce Cotton. So, um, every day at training was, um, was pretty tough and you never had an easy
00:11:59
Speaker
assignment training. And as a young kid, I probably didn't realize how much better that was making me until I left the MBL system and came back and started playing the state league. So, you know, any, any opportunity to play with players like that is super valuable. But yeah, I think just even though I wasn't playing, I probably learned more from training than I did actually the games. Yeah. Cause I guess you're defending Bryce and then you've got Damon defending you. So yeah. Yeah. For sure.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah, whenever we were put into the one-on-one drills, I wasn't overly excited to be matched up against those two either way.
00:12:37
Speaker
So you had a second season with the Wildcats. How did that one pan out? Yeah, second season was awesome. There wasn't as many injuries. I didn't get as much opportunity in my second year, mainly because Bryce was back again in the second year. But we still made the playoffs, but didn't make the finals. We lost in the semis too. I can't even remember now. Maybe Cairns or Sydney or one of the two.
00:13:05
Speaker
Um, but it was still an awesome experience. Got to play with JP Tokido and Derek Jr were our imports, um, that year. And we had a really senior veteran group as well. Outside that Jesse Wagstar, Sean Redditch, Maddie Knight, Greg Heyer, um, Daniel Martin, Jared Kenny and guys like that. So even though I didn't get to play much, it was like every day was a learning experience for me in the sense of like professionalism on and off the court. So, um, my two years in Perth were something that I'll never ever take for granted.
00:13:34
Speaker
And now that you are a senior player at pretty much any team you go to, what are the main learnings you try to pass on to other players that maybe you're mentoring in your clubs? Yeah, I guess it's just the same things that they pass on to me, just that professionalism on and off the court and those behaviours and habits that kind of lead to being successful, a successful basketball team, even if it's not winning the championship, but it's just becoming a better player or a better person on and off the court. That's what I really strive to
00:14:04
Speaker
to be, regardless if we're winning or losing, it's just being a better basketball player or a better teammate. So yeah, I guess just being a leader of a group is something that I'm massive on. So we circle back to before you were in the NBL, you well, first of all, you didn't go to college like so many players have done. Was there a particular reason for that? Did you did you even look into it in the first place?
00:14:31
Speaker
Uh, well, yeah, I probably wasn't really, I was a bit of a late bloomer with my basketball career. Um, I didn't make all the state teams I tried out for, um, even in like, um, local Tassie leagues, I wasn't even playing much and the state teams I did make, I didn't start for them. So, um, I guess I was just kind of spurred on by a lot of that. Um, kind of like, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
00:14:58
Speaker
Kind of disappointment and neglect of actually getting playing time and making certain teams.
Mason's career progression and future
00:15:03
Speaker
So that spurred me on a lot as well too. And I guess kind of the way that I got better was just sticking around to the, back then it was SCABL, but obviously now it's MBL one. So sticking around to the MBL one team, Northwest Tasmania Thunder. And I just kept showing up every week, every year and gradually getting better every year and improving small parts of my game that needed to get better. And that's kind of how I kind of blossomed.
00:15:28
Speaker
I talk about this with players from regional centres a lot or smaller clubs. How important is it as a young player to be able to go against what is essentially a team full of grown men when you go and go to those seable teams? Yeah, it's huge. And I guess growing up as well too, our MBL1 team had a lot of older experienced veteran guys, which I was able to play against every day. And that was massive for my basketball experience too.
00:15:55
Speaker
Probably the reason I'm the player I am today is being able to train against those guys, you know, like age 15, 16, 17 growing up in those crucial development years, being able to play against grown men who are smart and know how to play the game and you kind of just picking up little things here and there. So I reckon it's massive. How did you make the jump from State League to MBL? Who called you up? Who found you? I guess you can credit Jamie O'Loughlin with that one. He was their assistant coach at the time.
00:16:23
Speaker
He, and then in the off season, I'm pretty sure he was coaching the Geelong Supercats in the MBI on South. So he just coached against me a few times and they were short of numbers for a preseason trip to Cairns. And I just finished work one day. I think I might've been maybe 20 or 21 and just finished working at the childcare center that I was working at at the time. And he gave me a call and asked me if I'd like to come on the trip with them to Cairns. How many games did you need to play up in Cairns? Was that the Blitz or just a couple of games?
00:16:52
Speaker
No, it was just a two game, a two game stint up in Cannes. So it was, it was a super nerve wracking for me at the time. I'd never watched an NBA game live in person, let alone playing one. So I was pretty, pretty daunted by the experience of flying up there and meeting the team at the airport. And I'm pretty sure we had our first game before we even had our first training. So I was throwing straight in the deep end, very first possession, turn the ball over.
00:17:22
Speaker
To their import who went down did a windmill dunk. It was actually at Rockhampton Stadium funny enough the one that we mentioned earlier So it's funny how those things work, but
00:17:30
Speaker
Yeah, played a couple games and did okay, I suppose. Good enough that they brought me back just after the start of the season. And then ended up keeping me on for the rest of the year. And then during that first season, I signed a contract extension for two years. So kind of all snowballed pretty quickly. But yeah, that's how that worked out. That's quite a story, doing nothing two games to have them call you back.
00:17:52
Speaker
Pretty impressive. Yeah, I actually didn't think I even played that well, to be honest, but I guess credit to the coaching staff that Trevor Gleason, who was coaching at the time, and Matt Nelson, who was assistant coach as well, too, along with Adam Ford, who's coaching Cairns at the moment, and Jamie Lachlan, obviously, saying something to me that not many other people did. I was only averaging nine points and four assists at the NBA One South level, so I wasn't exactly
00:18:17
Speaker
lighten it on fire but I guess they just seen small parts of my game that they felt could help the team and I'm so glad they did. So do you have a desire to get back to the NBL? Oh I mean it would always be cool to play in the NBL again but I mean realistically there's so many good young guards out there like
00:18:36
Speaker
you're looking at guys that are coming back from college and guys that are playing in state leagues today. The talent pool is so much bigger these days just because basketball has just become such a bigger sport in the country. I mean, there's kids that are five, six years younger than me that are probably way better than me right now. So as much as I'd love to play back in the MBL and I'd never say no to a team that called me out tomorrow, I've got to be realistic about my chances of
00:19:01
Speaker
NBL team picking me up but i mean it always be nice i love to play one more game would be really cool but i'm yeah we'll see how it goes. It would be very cool to see you back out there but for now you're at manly how did this come to pass.
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I just know actually Alex Delaney from the women's team. Just know her through the basketball circles in the basketball world. It's obviously pretty small here in Australia that everyone in the basketball world knows of each other. And we were just chatting one day about what I was up to next year. And I said, I wasn't sure. And then she just put me in touch with Tim Hill. And then, yeah, I guess the rest is history there. We just kind of end up working out.
00:19:40
Speaker
working out a deal and then I made my way down to Manly. Did you have any other teams interested in you at the time that were reaching out at all? I don't really think so. I think it was just kind of just either staying at the sunny coast or heading down to Manly and yeah, just thought I'd make the jump down to Manly. There was a few changes at the sunny coast meets where I was previously. They just fired their coach and there was a few things happening in the board room there. So I just thought I'd make the jump and go down to Manly.
00:20:08
Speaker
I guess you've got Tim Hill as coach, who I think everybody in New South Wales knows, is a manly coach of several different teams over the year, plus doing his work with New South Wales. Did you know about his coaching resume before you made the decision? No, I mean, I had no idea who he was, to be honest, until I moved here. And now it seems like everyone knows him. He's like a local legend in the northern beaches area.
00:20:33
Speaker
everyone knows who he is and he's a really good coach. I think this is his first year coaching MBL1 men's which is like super surprising if no one had told me that prior to this year I wouldn't have believed him you know so he's doing a really good job with us this year and I couldn't be happy with having him as a coach.
Life and coaching in Northern Beaches
00:20:49
Speaker
And so up in Manly have you managed to scout out any local spots while you've been up on the beaches? Yeah well I'm a pretty big coastal boy so I love the beach so I've been in checked out pretty much every beach from
00:21:03
Speaker
from Manly all the way up to like Palm Beach.
00:21:07
Speaker
I've been at the beach most weekends. I've checked out the nightlife every now and then with some of the boys on the team, which is pretty cool. And the food and the restaurants here are really amazing as well too. So I've definitely been playing the Tourist role for the last three months. And of course you've got a new import in Jonas Harper. So it's almost like having two new players, especially because one of your imports is returning and Matt Eldridge. So have you sort of like cozied up together?
00:21:36
Speaker
As kind of bros you and Jonas you certainly look like it on the court Yeah, yeah, yeah, we definitely we definitely play well together on the court and Maddie as well So we we all get along pretty well on and off the court But yeah, I mean like it's as much as you think like me and Jonas being the new guys coming in the team That we kind of just be best mates. It's kind of like everyone gets along super well and we're all just kind of one big family so I kind of like to jump in and out of my American citizenship when I when I get the chance to so
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah me and Jonas are definitely American brothers but at the same time I'm also Australian so I get along with all the Aussie boys as well too. As far as Manly on court goes, I mean this has been an almost polar opposite to what last season was. Were you aware of how Manly went last year? Yeah I did have an idea that they weren't so great last year. I think they just kind of went through a development phase where they're just trying to bring up a lot of the local talent. I know that they had a pretty
00:22:35
Speaker
pretty big veteran core that played for a lot of years and won a lot of games together and they all kind of hung up the boots at the same time so I think it was just kind of a weird crossroad season they had last year but I mean I'm sure it was definitely beneficial for some of the local boys that we had this year that we have this year that got to play a lot last year. Coming off the win against Hills who had just beat Maitland,
00:22:59
Speaker
is how are things in the locker room? Are you confident, have feeling good about your chances at going all the way or at least deep in the finals?
00:23:07
Speaker
Well, we haven't to be honest, like, obviously, I think there are only one four or five games last year. So I think just kind of getting off, getting off to a good start in the season was all anyone was worried about. And I'm sure as the season goes on and, and the, the lattice seems to shake itself out. And if we keep winning games, I'm sure eventually we'll start talking about making this, this deep playoff run and eventually winning a championship. But at this point in time, we're just taking one week at a time and pretty much for us every week's like a grand final. So, so we want to treat it like that.
00:23:37
Speaker
every game is a big game and there's actually no easy beats in the league right now so every game is a big game at the same time but I definitely have an eye towards the NBA one championship it's something I haven't done before in my career so that's something that I'd love to add to the trophy cabinet. Heavy game against North coming up not too far away I'm pretty sure. Yeah next week. Yeah next week so local rivalry you heard much about that from the boys?
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they've told me that it's one of the craziest rivalries I'll ever see. But I mean, I was part of the Sunny Coast rivalry for two years with Rip City and Phoenix. And that was definitely something that was super intense. And then also, we have a pretty big rivalry back in Tassie with the Hobart Chargers as well on the Northwest Thunder. So I've been part of rivalries my whole life. So I'm looking forward to getting to experience another one. I'm sure it won't disappoint.
00:24:31
Speaker
No, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty fun. You mentioned you like, there's a lot of things you want to pass on. And you mentioned when we were setting this interview up that you are coaching straight after this. What level are you coaching? Who are you coaching at the moment? I'm just coaching, I coach at like three different schools in the Northern Beaches area. So anywhere from, from year seven to year 12, boys and girls. So I'm actually really enjoying that at the moment. So that's, that might be something that I might pursue.
00:24:58
Speaker
later on in my career when I'm done playing, but we'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, because you mentioned earlier that you also were working at a childcare centre at age 21. So is that something you like working with younger people? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I've been doing like youth support, disability support ever since I stopped playing professionally. So helping people is definitely a big passion of mine.
00:25:20
Speaker
and I enjoy like the school system and helping out young kids as well too. So definitely in that sort of support role, I definitely see myself getting into. Northern Beach's school kids think yourselves very lucky. You got an XMBL one player for a coach, an XMBL player for a coach, I'm sorry, current MBL one player.
00:25:37
Speaker
What we always ask people that come on the E-Scott game is when he's not coaching or working in youth support or dishing and switching for the man we're in to see who is Mason Bragg when he's off the court.
00:25:52
Speaker
To be honest, I probably spent half my week on the course. In terms of my spare time, there's not too much of it, but anyone that knows me knows I'm pretty big into taking care of my body. I'm always at the ice bath or recovery centers or stretching or getting massages or getting the salt water. That's definitely
00:26:10
Speaker
a big passion of mine and then I guess I'm pretty big into my music I don't play any instruments or anything but I'm pretty massive into my like Australian music or indie alternative rock stuff so generally not the stereotypical music of a basketball player but music is a big passion of mine and then I guess whenever I do have the spare time I like to get in the salt water and have a bit of a surf from time to time as well too so those are definitely three things about me that I like to get up to off the court
00:26:39
Speaker
So have you been barred from the pre-game playlist then? Yeah, definitely. The boys aren't the biggest fans of my music at all, but that's okay. I've been listening to Rapid and Changer and it's from a whole career, so I can definitely get used to it. Yeah, I can understand that. I can't even get a track onto the
00:27:01
Speaker
sound system at Sutherland. Hey everybody, turns me away. So surfing. Is that something you took up in Tasmania? How's the surfing on the northwest, on the northern Tasmanian coast? Pretty cold. Pretty cold. I actually got put onto it by Nick Haywood. He's kind of like a role model slash basketball mentor for me and a really close friend as well too. And he grew up surfing and then he put me onto it when I was about 18, 19.
00:27:29
Speaker
I've been surfing pretty heavily ever since, so I've just been pretty lucky that everywhere I've played has been pretty coastal, so I've always been by the water, so I've always had the chance to go and get out of the water. So a Sydney winter is just a nice spring day for you, really, with the water. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, people are complaining when it gets down to like 12, 13 degrees, but our winters are pretty heavily down into like the four or five pretty quickly, so yeah, the cold weather doesn't bother me at all.
00:27:57
Speaker
Well, it won't take you much longer because you do have, you do have to go coach some of those kids you talked about. Before we let you go, is there anybody you'd like to shout out for getting you to this far in your journey? Oh, man. Well, geez, there's probably countless people I could probably thank for that. But I guess Nick Heywood is probably someone that will probably listen to the podcast that I'm always happy to shout out about helping my
00:28:23
Speaker
My personal development on and off the court. Oh man, guys like Phil Thomas and Robbie Thompson, some Tassie local legends who were pretty instrumental to me in terms of coaching wise, I'm on Northwest coast. I don't want to go on because I'll end up being here for 15 minutes naming guys, but those three are definitely big influential figures in my basketball career.
00:28:48
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming on tonight. My first time doing the interview solo, so thank you for putting up with me. Yeah, it's best of luck for the rest of the season. Yeah, thanks so much, mate. Thanks for having me.