 When Jack Darling dropped that sitter in the goal square moments later, what was going through your head then? I think it's fair to say if we lost he wouldn't have been on the plane on the way back home. He's the first to put his hand up for that. People give JD a hard time and I'm probably the only West Coast supporter or West Coast person that's happy he dropped that mark because if he marked it and kicked the goal we win by two kicks and then all of a sudden that play that ended up in my goal it doesn't mean anything because we run by more than a couple of kicks so I'm like hey thanks mate I've bought him a few beers today so yeah. Welcome to the Sevo show. We have Dom Sheed from the West Coast Eagles former player of the Subiaco Alliance and a fellow Calgoolean going way back to the early days. Dom thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me mate. How does it feel never having to pay for a drink at the pub? I reckon that lasted about a day and a half mate to be honest. We were actually midway through celebrations two days after and I thought I'd say how long I could go without buying a beer and then Chris Mastin, fellow team mate said no mate it's your round get the the fuck up it's your round to buy a drink so it lasted about a day and a half mate. So you've been injured over the last year or so. What have you been doing in the meantime? Yeah it was a frustrating year for me because I did a full pre-season and then I did my syndosmosis, knaded surgery, returned to play, played one game and got stress fractures so I got a little taste of coming back to AFL level and then I was done for the year so you know I was just training to work back to play and then when I got ruled out for the year I was a bit sort of cool so I went on my honeymoon to Europe. I saw that so where did you go with what's the wife's name? Brooke. So you and Brooke got married where did you get married? We got married at Vast Felix down south and yeah it was a beautiful spot. Big turnout boys get around it? Yeah we had quite a small crowd I think we had 60-odd people there so they had a capacity limit and we sort of pumped it out engaged and married within a couple months so looking back now is probably the best thing for us but yeah got to I was lucky enough to do my honeymoon in Europe. I've never done a European summer before so because the footy season is always during the summer months in Europe I've never been before in the summer so I loved it there mate I didn't want to come home. We were there around the same time too. Yeah we were because I messaged you. We got stuck in Amsterdam airport eh? You messaged me about that and I said to you get there early. Mate I got there so I had a 10 o'clock flight and I got to Amsterdam airport at 4.30 in the morning so I got there five and a half hours before my flight and I waited three and a half hours in line just walking two steps waiting walking two steps I walked over two k's in line in the Amsterdam airport mate because I think the staff were on strike or something like that over pay or something so it was an absolute nightmare. Yeah did you get did you make your flight? Oh I made my flight but only because my missus flew out a couple days before me and was like this place is cooked mate sure you get there early she had to go skip the whole queue and yeah. Shipple good old shipple airport. I don't know if you had the same experience. Yeah we went there um and we got the heads up come four hours early yeah we got there four hours early and we just went straight into the line we waited for a bit and then we moved like a snail and then there'd be the bags you know the x-ray section yeah they locked it off because they didn't want it to be overwhelming for the workers and then they kept us all like sheep like the cattle yeah and then they would release us in increments so it was a good system but yeah but like to be honest three hours went not that like slowly yeah yeah but yeah where did you go um in Europe you went to you went to Holland or Netherlands yeah I went to Amsterdam and then I went I did London I did Marseille I did um Kitties a small little town called Kitties in Spain and where else do we go we did Paris as well which was cool so um got a range of experiences and um ate lots of good food and drank lots of good wine so Spain was my favorite two kitties yeah beautiful spot yeah do you bump into any Collingwood supporters no no that's great no no one's a fan over there it's nice yeah great I walk around and people just look at me because I'm tall yeah yeah I know I know I had a couple people in Venice um my last trip just gone um recognised me though yeah from Sydney yeah I'm just like it's crazy worldwide mate you are yeah it's cool but yeah um but yeah so you're you're back now and how's are you ready for the next preseason what's your yeah absolutely I'm sort of feel like I'm ready to get back to I felt guilty because I felt like going into this off season I didn't really deserve a break so I'm sort of ready to get back into it straight away but I've enjoyed some downtime and um ankle's all good now so yeah I can't wait for the warmer months and pre-season to kick off so a bit of a disappointing year last year for the boys but you know everyone starts on zero points next year so I think we're pretty keen to uh get better yeah yeah such a such a media trained answer yeah I mean but it's you know it's how it is like I love it no it's cool yeah it's going to be a bit of a different looking club next year we're not having JK there and all the senior blokes are another year older we'll probably go hard at the draft and pick up six or seven blokes there so it'll be quite a young this so it'll be interesting to see how we go yeah you picked up a couple from over east who you're excited to play with um coming in look I'm excited to see Campbell Chesa here he'll be going into his second year next year he was I think he was pick 11 pick 11 last year I think but um once again he heard his ankle like me so he missed that his whole first year so I'm looking forward to see what he can do because he was quite a high pick for us and he looks like he's moving well at the moment so yeah but there's plenty to look forward to and what about your younger kind of doppelganger Josh Waltham what are your thoughts on him yeah no he goes alright doesn't he so do you know him yeah he grew up on the same street oh there you go um yeah no he's going well I think hopefully he's in for a big year you know he's sort of a lot of the time being lacked opportunity for our back line being so strong so you know we'll see what happens this year with him but you know he's going to have to have another good preseason I think but I reckon he's ready to go yeah yeah who's your who's the toughest player that you play against well across the AFL um Patrick Dangerfield is it was always difficult at a stoppage anyway um he's like 190 something centimetres and you know 90 something kilos he's you can't even move him so you have to try to play him in a bit of a different way because he wants to feel your body and you know the minute he touches your body he's okay you can control you and put you where you want so you sort of have to start off him and then if you start off him he'll just get the ball so in terms of stoppage play Patrick Dangerfield but then around the ground you've got blokes like uh Tuke Miller who I reckon is a gun Deon Prestia they just run so hard and so well and especially offensively they really test you out um on that side of it so yeah there's plenty of good players around the common they've all got their strengths for all different reasons but they would be sort of the players which are hardest to play on I reckon yeah how was it like building that tank up of running you you go from amateur level to waffle level to AFL level and and then you have to get into that elite mindset how do you get from just going through it and then having to probably yak yeah a couple times and then just you're just going up and down how do you get to that point it uh it took me years to get to like an elite level not an elite level but um you know a level which is acceptable so you know you come out of um you know state 18s or junior levels and the fitness and the speed it just goes to a whole nother level um at AFL level and that took me years to get some people are very naturally fit who slip in quite well straight away but I was never a bloke I wasn't I was I was my fitness was okay didn't really have much speed so I sort of just moped around and that sort of doesn't cut it at AFL level so I had to really work hard on building up my tank and I did a lot of speed training just to get to a level where you know I'm still probably the slowest out there but at least I don't look too silly um so it takes years I mean I remember my first uh 2k time trial was 648 when I first come to the club which was okay but then um you know just slowly I've nudged that all the way down to sort of like 612 so um I've worked hard on it and you know a lot of these boys are um they've all got their different sorts of strengths and you know my my strength wasn't exactly running so I don't think I have a hit I don't know I don't think I have a broke seven oh really oh well you're a rugby mate you don't you don't need to ask Nick Nat what what he runs he'd been over eight I reckon yeah oh man so um back tracking to you mentioned state 18s what was your journey like going into AFL so you well let's actually go back to Calgoole yeah you're born in Calgoole yeah you're in it you've got some indigenous in you uh no no I don't no I must have read the wrong thing yeah someone someone mentioned that I get asked all the time but no not as far as I know anyway yeah yeah um yeah so I grew up Calgoole I was um you know born and bred they are two brothers and a sister and um you know I loved I love playing sport so I played a wide range of sports I played tennis hockey cricket basketball um you name it I would have played it and living in a in a town of Calgoole you get so many opportunities to play a wide range of sports because everything's only two minutes away and there's nothing else to do or it's the next field over on a Saturday you know so so I love sport and um you know um I got asked once to come try out um what was it Oz kick I think to come fill in Oz kick level so I went and filled in Oz kick level and I loved it so I kept playing footy and um you know before that tennis was probably my number one sport growing yeah my parents met playing tennis so um yeah that was sort of our family sport but then I just love footy I love the team aspect to it I love the team dynamic I loved how competitive it was loved running out with 21 of your mates trying to tackle and beat the opposition so that eventually took over and um yeah um ever since then I got to an age where I think people started to say like maybe you should move to Perth and give footy a go because I was going okay in Calgoole but I was traveling back and forth from Calgoole to Perth to try out for the state 15s team the schoolboy state 15s and um I ended up making that team from living in Calgoole but my old man was forking out so much on plane flights to get me to training once a week in games and stuff so eventually I moved to Perth and I was lucky enough to play state 15s we won that tournament it was played in WA I played state 16s the following year and then I played two years of state 18s so I played as a bottom major and then as a top age of two and you know from there I went got drafted at pick 11 which I was very fortunate to and drafted to west coast who club I barracked for so I had quite a smooth sort of ride into the AFL system different to a lot of blokes I was very I played in a lot of state teams and did the AIS academies and stuff like that so there's all different ways and pathways to get into the AFL but I'd say that mine was pretty smooth in the end yeah did you did you even play waffle at all yeah I did I think I played about 10 10 games for subi that's right I'm fucking subi echo just going blank yeah listen to your story and how smooth it is yeah but um that's the thing I only played 10 games that year because it would have been sort of a full year of waffle level but then these AIS teams and the state 18s sort of take over and take priority so I would have loved to have played more um subi at subi league level because I felt like I probably got a bit more out of that playing against men and that quicker pace rather than playing against sort of 18 year olds but yeah it is what it is yeah I remember the the brief moment you were there because I was there at the time and then you came in and we'd be like oh look at this kid he's doing well the next minute you're drafted I'm just like that's sick yeah that's awesome where did you um where about did you grow up in Calgary was it like Hannan's Way or Somerville I was in Somerville so um Carrow Street um sort of as you come into town greatest and hallway just on the left there past Anzac Road yeah yeah around there I was at Broadwood right across the road oh there you go yeah I love that area there were nice big blocks there we had sort of a basketball court room to keep the 40 room to play cricket it was awesome she's got fucking hot but you're climatised pretty quickly yeah yeah you just jump in the pool which club did you play for in Cal? Mines Rovers so you're a red leg weren't you yeah there you go we didn't never used to like you blokes but um yeah I didn't get to play too much league footy there four Mines but I played all three Colts level in that yeah but I actually played for JPC Saints as the junior the school team or whatever first so yeah I remember I remember the JPC boys yeah in my year um we had Gavin Armstrong and oh yeah a couple of other them remember those yeah yeah I ran into Gavin occasionally yeah he's I think he's living over in Sydney at the moment yeah working away sparky I think he is yeah on the tunnels yeah done well done well so um so you got drafted and then you're you're already living in Perth so that's sweet yep and then how long before you got your first game uh I got my first game did a full pre-season in my first year um and then I got a debut round one actually I'm a debut round one in my first year so I remember we were playing the western Bulldogs and Simo said you're gonna play your first game um couple days out I said sweet how good he said but you're the sub and I hated the sub I reckon my first 15 games I was a sub 10 times I think everybody hates it yeah so um yeah I yeah round one I was a sub and come on at the start of the last quarter and um yeah I remember Nickna tapping the ball down to me and got tackled holding the ball and that was it and then I got dropped the next week so in my first year I played 10 games but I was sort of in and out a little bit but um I think I was better for it in the end yeah and then did you play um state footy there um waffle footy when you yeah you were dropped yep yep so we were aligned with um East Perth at that time so I played I played a lot of what waffle footy waffle footy yeah yeah yeah so when when you were kind of getting getting to that point again backtracking a little bit when did you know you were like I have a chance I have a chance so you got you said you got told yeah I should give it a go yeah I was living in Cal Gully at the time and um you know I was I thought I was playing good footy there but I just never knew I never quite knew unless I moved to Perth how um how I'd match up you know so um but when I played I think I probably thought that if I give it a real shot I'm a chance of making AFL was when I made the state 15s 10 yeah yeah so that was when I thought hey state 15s I could from here I can make 16s I can make 18s and that's going to hopefully be the way that keep that momentum yeah yeah so um yeah I think around that age who was your who was your favorite player growing up I loved I loved Chris Judd Ben Cousins Daniel Kerr Dean Cox I was a mad west coast supporter growing up so watching them win the 06 flag and um just the way that midfield operated um yeah it was amazing so that they were sort of my idols growing up yeah and um when you when you got in because you came in after McGovern did right uh yes yeah and then and then did he take you in first or because he's a Cal Gully boy as well uh well he didn't spend too much time in Cal Gully um but nah he probably wasn't the one probably Chris Mastin was the one that sort of took me under his wing which was good um we had a lot of good times together and you know he he taught me you have to train extremely hard he taught me training standards and it took him years to get to an elite level of training um but he sort of took me under his wing and taught me that so um yeah we're still good mates at the moment it was sad to see him get uh get the flip happens to the best of us yeah you got a premiership though and we do and and yeah when that when that final siren went um I was actually in Europe the summer yeah and I was watching I was I wasn't even watching it but I had it on the phone like the stats and I was looking at half time and I'm like oh well that's that sucks it's a bummer it's a bummer and then I was like all right let's let's bring it up let's have a look see where they're at and then I'm like fuck like two and a half minutes to go and then I was like all right I'll tune in the radio the first name I hear Dom Sheehan's taking the mark and I'm like oh I know that guy there you go and then and then I'm just like kind of like just sitting there but we're having breakfast in Delft in the Netherlands and my wife is like oh what's what's happening you know I'm like oh Dom's kicked the go ahead you know and then and then yeah I had a win but um you're you're going you're going um through the motions and uh you had all the boys are getting around each other what was your um what was your first kind of thought after the siren went like obviously you won yeah what's next in that mindset oh um you know your body just sort of takes over with emotion you don't know what to do so I think that's footage of me sort of jumping up and down not really knowing what to do where there probably wasn't that we didn't win the game until that final siren like you look at last year's grand final and the game has probably done it you know half time three quarter time so they've got an opportunity to sort of soak soak it up soak up the crowd enjoy it with your teammates whereas us it was right up until the siren actually went so when the when it went and you just realized it was like nobody knew what nobody knew what to do yeah nobody knew what to do so it's just such a long year you know you start pre-season in November and then you're playing a grand final on the last day in September it's such a long season so you know you're absolutely exhausted by the time that final siren's done when Jack Darling dropped that sitter in the goal square moments later yeah what what was going through your head then oh I think it's fair to say he would have been if we lost he wouldn't have been on the plane on the way back home he's first to put his hand up for that but nah look I people give JD a hard time and I'm sort of look I'm probably the only West Coast supporter or West Coast person that's happy he dropped that mark because if he marked it and kicked the goal we went by two kicks and then all of a sudden that play that ended up in my goal it doesn't mean anything because we won by more than a couple of kicks so I'm like hey thanks mate I bought him a few beers two days so yeah nah but yeah it's just one of that one of those moments you make mistakes and yeah you get on it in that moment it's it's super hard to train for it it's impossible to train for it you literally that's what I say you literally cannot train to kick a goal in front of a hundred thousand people like I don't care how many kicks that you have out on the training track you can have your routine you can do everything right in the lead up to it but until you actually have the footy in front of a hundred thousand people you just don't know what you you just don't know what's going to happen and yeah yeah mentally physically so exactly yeah I mean there's players that put the headphones in with the crowd yeah going through and you can do all of those sorts of things right but is it the same yeah what's your what's your like kind of superstition when you're training um before a game day even yeah look I wouldn't say that I've got any superstitions you know bloke bloke's having but I think the best preparation is a flexible one so you know if if something doesn't go your way that day it doesn't really matter you sort of adjust and just get on with it so yeah you know bloke's have weird ones like putting the left boot on first or you know you know nobody's allowed to touch their boots or I don't it's just weird things but I don't have any of that mate who's got like a weird one that you can think of um well I'm pretty sure it's yoie who you're not allowed to touch his boots pregame or something like that but yeah weird have you given it a crack no no I don't want to wing him out because we need him we need him in pilot yeah um um what's been your biggest kind of setback I mean obviously your injury um let's say let's go pre-premiership yeah you've played your first game you've had your first season in and out of the team and then second season you're rolling a little bit more what's been kind of the key element the x factor in your career um the x factor or the setbacks let's start with setbacks yeah um look my transition into the afl was quite smooth in the end obviously hard to move away from family and stuff which was difficult but um you know when the hard work really started when I got into the afl system and I reckon I've been at the club for 10 seasons now so for 10 years and I reckon seven out of those 10 years I've been dropped at least once in that year so um you know I've played 140 something games but they haven't been consecutive I've been in and out of the team so sort of dealing with playing waffle and not being informed and coming in and out and trying to continue to get better and you know keep keep that focus on what you want to do and the confidence in your ability there's been plenty of times where in 2018 for example the grand final year I I got dropped three times that year three times that year so here I am as a 24 year old in and out of the team thinking am I even good enough to play afl like is it for me so you know just dealing with those sorts of things and overcoming that have been sort of my biggest setbacks apart from injuries so how how mentally do you how do you go through that mentally because I remember Monday night vision in the waffle level yeah and I just feel like fuck I did I didn't do that good that game I'm gonna get roasted here yeah what about you when you do you know you're gonna get dropped or is is it sometimes a surprise or I'm I'm always sort of I've always sort of expected it I've thought I was one of those players who have always been three games off three bad games away from being dropped you know that's why I've sort of yeah not completely just back to the waffle so I can probably get away with playing one bad game I play two bad games I'm oh shit three games I'm dropped you know I'm back to the waffle so but you know dealing with that I think it's more so just coming back to one footies not the be all and end all and secondly is you've got to you've got to be able to take feedback in those meetings and you've got to be open minded and you've got to be willing to to learn and put your hand up when when you haven't been good enough but also above all I think it's just I call it the balance wave have you heard of that you know so and you know things are never as good as they seem or never as bad as they seem so people in the AFL who ride this emotion of I've had a great game I'm the best player ever to oh no I'm the worst player ever and they just on this constant yo-yo tend to not make it in the AFL system whereas if you get players you know like Luke Shuey does it and Matt Prittis I remember does it they just these balanced people who whether they play a good game or a bad game they never get ahead of himself or two down so they just keep this consistent personality personality and attitude towards football which I've tried to take on board enough feel as though that's really helped me especially when early days I was in and out of the waffle a lot yeah that really applies to a lot of different areas in life as well business absolutely well it's like uh for me I call that day one it's like it's always day one yeah I mean appreciate and I enjoy the enjoy the wins yeah get around it but then you're back on the plane or the next day you're on your recovery and you're just straight back into all right thinking about the next week absent there absolutely when you are dropped what is how do you get back into it in terms of in terms of the side you just you've got to go back and do what the coaches have asked whether that's you know skills better GPS running wires better defensively you just got to do what your coaches ask of you and you know apply that at a lower level and string together a few good games yeah yeah and what's been like a long the longest stint whilst you're being a listed player of you outside um I played probably half a season I reckon in my third year yeah half a season in the waffles straight yeah yeah what did that feel like for your kind of yeah all right but once again you just go back to hey it's not the beyond end all as bad as it seems you know let's just play some good footy and enjoy it and I find that um when I've played my worst footy in my career it's always because I haven't really quite been enjoying football so I guess I really just try to get back to hey go out there you play foot you up a played footy as a kid because I loved it and I had lots of fun and that's what got me to this point so I've got to always whatever I do just continue enjoy what I'm doing so when I took the pressure of performing out of it and just said let's go you have fun um that's when I started playing you know a lot better and um building momentum through the waffle and those weeks to just have fun playing waffle and string together some good games in the end so you're you're saying it's not the be all end all um but you haven't had a job you know in a while outside of footy job yeah exactly uh the uh the the basic jobs yeah what do you think you'd be doing right now if you didn't pick up the ball the footy um I'd be sparky I think so yeah my my old man has an electrical business he's had it for over 30 years and my brother Alex you know Alex my brother Alex shade Alex yeah he was at yeah he was at subi when you were there I think and trying to remember um yeah so that we run a family sparky business and um you know that's what I'd be doing yeah is it moved over to Perth yeah it was just a cow branch Perth and Cagooly brother so yeah it's nice yeah what's it called give it a plug sheet of electrical I've got the hat on mate oh there it is yeah I can't see it from this side yeah so um I remember when I moved to Perth I went and told my old man that I wanted to move to Perth to give footy a crack and obviously he was a gave me every opportunity to do what I wanted to do and I went and told my brother Alex who I'm super close to he's a year older than me um that I'm moving to Perth to play footy and we're living in cowl at the time and he said oh right all right well I'm gonna have to come with you and I so he moved to Perth him and I together and then he started up the she electrical branch in Perth and yeah sort of gone from there it's been around for about 10 years now here yeah so when you did move to Perth you were doing something yeah I was mid halfway through a sparky apprenticeship yeah so I was twisting wires at the time so that's something that you're probably looking into when the day comes yeah yeah I mean I'd say I wouldn't want to be crawling through roof spaces at age 30 or 35 but um you know being in the business management side of the business yeah of the tools yeah is something that I'm more interested in for sure what about um keeping yourself involved with the club on a coaching level or anything like that um look I sort of haven't ruled that out but I sort of always told myself that once I was finished um playing AFL that was sort of I was happy to get out of that industry and um and do something different I don't think I don't think um coaching is something which right now really interests me yeah do you have um other future kind of aspirations in terms of um yeah it's a good question I mean there's obviously certain goals that I want to hit and stuff but I just really want to um over the next few years entrenched myself in um the family business and find a role there and then sort of reassess as as time goes by yeah yeah yeah and uh back at back at the club again and when you do start up what's something that you reckon you'll do do first or focus on first what's your first goal um it's gonna be to get my body which I'm working through at the moment is to get my body to a position where it can hold up doing a full preseason um so that would be nice um you know because a full preseason the AFL means absolutely every like means a lot goes a long way to having a good consistent year so it'd be that but um you know making sure fitness levels are right and got enough speed under my belt but then I really want to start um you know I really want to use my smarts this year to help a lot of the younger boys and stuff around stoppages and midfield crafts so that that's probably something that I'll look at doing this year especially with a lot of younger blokes at our football club and we're about to bring in six or seven more yeah something which um I feel as though I'd like to take the lead with yeah a bit of a leadership role yeah yeah and it's a um time flies right I'm one of the older boys now which is a weird weird thing yeah I mean you've got the accolade of Premiership player and then they'll see that and obviously you've got the accolade of go ahead goal in that but um yeah no it's just it's a bunch of respect it's about respect talking about I had another question in mind the endorsement deals yeah have you had a few yeah a few little ones here and there but um you know you get you know your big endorsement deals go sort of to your knickknots your patty creeps your patty danger fields you know your big dogs there's probably a bunch of you know 10 20 blokes in the AFL we get the real big endorsement deals but you know I'm signed um I'm signed up with ASICs and a few little things on the side but nothing nothing major if you could choose any brand to do a kind of endorsement deal with anywhere in the world what would it be any brand yeah or any any collaboration dom sheet asics or yeah dom sheet vans um but I haven't really I haven't really thought about what would be yours do you have any mind oh it depends on um where they're at with integrity and all that sustainability and and because there's a lot of fluff about it yeah I mean like would be cool yeah um but oh dear um I need I did a pentonet thing that was cool oh yeah yeah I was on the buses and billboards and stuff did you see that I saw your head everywhere on the back of those buses mate um um owner of that business good bloke is me Steve Cornish yeah he's a good fella yeah um no but that's a good question um that's something I'll go away and have a bit of a think about yeah yeah have you bought a bully butcher if you can get me on board mate uh bully butcher is like a dream I I'm shouting them out all the time and yeah the the meat's quality and amazing isn't that such a good thing and the whole the whole influence the thing is I haven't blown it out of proportion I don't think yeah um take an advantage well I can but at the same time I know there's an end point much like there's an AFL players end point yeah what do you do to make that I don't know prolong that if you wanted to but obviously you get older you get to that retirement age what's next and for me I see very similar alignments between the celebrities or the influences of the world and and 40 players obviously not physically but you know you get drafted you have to work through the system you have to have a mental sort of the mental game you play to get into the to get the games yeah right yeah you get a base salary and then you get match matches as well if it's in your contract yeah yeah and then with influences you know you get a you get a gig here and there you may be good for two three years but then you just spat out but we're going to go with someone else yeah there you go and um yeah but you're you're you're not in the waffle phase anymore are you're in the AFL you've broken through that barrier have you I don't I don't know how I rank that I think I'm definitely more national now obviously yeah being recognized wherever I go um definitely more recognized when when I was more than when I was in the waffle yeah but um I'm noticing that the kids nowadays that unless they're fully obsessed with AFL yeah they don't really care yeah they they notice more of the people on there on their phones yeah no absolutely you know yeah the kids are glued to their phones these days aren't they yeah yeah but it's like it's what they watch that's what I want to help with yeah yeah but um are you're uh you mentioned your missus she's on uh on the tiktok all the time um surely she knows me she's seen me on the screen yeah so I actually told her I said I'm going on the SEVO SEVO show tomorrow and um she goes who's that um I explained and um she was actually like sort of stopped me I was like hold on no I've seen I've seen him somewhere is he on tiktok I was like I was like yeah yeah I'm pretty sure he's a big on tiktok and she got up a few of your tiktoks and stuff like that but I um I personally don't have tiktok but she's um she loves it she flicks through all the times um so what she does she might get one good video in every 50 she watches and then that's the one she'll forward to me so I'll let her sift through the garden she's your filter she's my filter what about like you've got you're on Instagram as well um you're you're watching my stories which is cool and do you do the reels at all you watch do you get sucked in in that I do yeah yeah yeah I watch the reels so what's your what's your general theme if you opened up your discovery page right now what would it be on look to be honest a lot of a lot of cooking and a lot of golf really yeah so I'll follow a lot of cooking pages and stuff like that so there's golf oh yeah there's golf oh yes um a lot of the formula one put that to the camera yeah um but yeah and right now it's a lot of NBA stuff popping up but I love watching the cooking reels yeah I'm really interested in that like have you have you seen a guy called Chebo Chebo's burgers no I highly recommend you you go to him he loves his burgers there um kid over in the uh yeah Chebo ch e bb o from Sydney great great guy he's got he's got some he's got a wicked following and um yeah I'll definitely get him on the Chebo burgers yeah yeah dude he's making some cracker he's making some cracker videos yeah cool um but yeah what what got you into cooking that's cool mate I yeah I love cooking I do cook most nights and love trialling a few different things in that but I think because I moved out of home at age 15 and moved out with my brother um I had to learn how to cook because I had to eat food so um you know a lot of people these days are moving out of home at I don't know 19 20 21 or whatever but I was 15 so I had to learn to sort of fend for myself and just over the years just eventually gained an interest in it and become more confident and yeah so you cook your pre game meals as well yeah cool I'll cook all that so what's your what's your go-to pre game meal you cook for yourself um well there's probably you know my my favorites probably like the traditional carbonara very easy to do it's fire ingredients um you know with your guanciale and yeah it's beautiful but um all sorts of pastas I love to cook I love to sort of smoke a lot of meats as well so that's where Nate that you're not even dirty yet you're not loud yeah I know you love cooking I've smoked yeah I know I feel like an old man I need you I need you obvious mate but um you like mowing the lawn as well you like keeping the lawn fret yeah I do I do I know but um yeah I know I'm an old man at the moment I saw on Instagram there was like the the dad um pack or whatever and it was like mowing the lawn barbecuing yeah that's it yeah I'd take like three the four boxes I'm definitely I'm definitely I'm not really a big fan of golf I'd like I do watch the golf stuff yeah but if I cooked it yeah I'm so shit and I get frustrated so quickly as well it's not it's not my game well I used to get frustrated as well but then I go back to once again why am I playing golf I'm playing it's have fun yeah don't get frustrated I like going on the driving range when Wembley driving range yep is elite yeah and then go for there it's uh yeah um when you did when you did go and start cooking for yourself what was your go-to meal then it was that strictly it was steak with no seasoning on it and then um yeah and then boiled veggies oh yeah yeah so yeah like no not not quite like you but um yeah just yeah shocking but just over time yeah I just go hard on the meat now like it's been serving me well oh I avoid I try to avoid the the heavy carbs because the meat's doing me wonders yeah I did keto actually for um when I was I think it was when I was at West Perth yeah and I was really strict on it yeah and when I first started it was fucked yeah but then I just hit like a this point and it was just I was just on um so what are you still doing the keto diet no no I'm not doing any diet at the moment just trying to go heavy mate yeah as much as I can there's no like it's it's really hard to socialize on a on a strict sort of thing when you're when you're a player because I remember when when I was at subi um I'd quit drinking completely yeah like two years and I saw a big difference yeah and then when I went to West Perth I was like all right how can I get my energy levels up yeah because I'm like super pumped before a game and then um first second quarter in I'm like lapsing yeah and like guys are taking no-dos yeah or like some some like weird potions and shit yeah and then I'm just like what the fuck how can I get the edge for myself yeah and then yeah keto was for me oh there you go and then I was pretty depleted at the end of the game and then I'd have that one sugar rush like the can of coke at the end of the game paying for the power yeah yeah but yeah so um yeah you're 27 now yeah and you you're yeah you love your cooking you love your golf you've got a wife kids thoughts uh at some stage in the future yeah I think um my wife and I just loving life at the moment being how we are so it's um you know freshly married and yeah you know Brooke she's got a good job she loves her job and yeah we're just enjoying cruising along at the moment but at some point for sure yeah yeah does the AFL have or does the eagles have a rule of uh no unprotected sex in in January right well it's not going very well because uh is there any kids at the football club um but no well Luke Luke Shewie had a kid born on grand final week in 18 oh shit it was grand like literally born the net no so his misses couldn't his wife couldn't come to the game I think it was born like the day after or like a day or two before so that would have been pretty hectic to deal with yeah but worked out well for him he's a normal Smith medallist so it's probably the probably the opposite yeah he was buzzing yeah whatever it's probably jam boys go for it I think someone else did that had a recent one um Melbourne player get his name um uh Dana the the one with a mullet what's his name the Melbourne player the Melbourne player um he had to go for a run uh and uh go see see his pregnant wife he had to travel back or something yeah they're trying to remember do you remember who it was no but yeah um so giving giving the kids some value now your your mindset clearly is you love what you do yep and that's worked out for you and you've had setbacks and you came overcame them and just stuck to it you listen to someone like chris master took him under he took you under his wing um and then now you're giving it back to the younger kids which is cool um say I'm in my starting high school and I love footy and I love everything live and breathe it and I've got a pretty decent left foot on me yeah you know from the boundary and and I just want to get to AFL what do you suggest for me to do well you're going to have to um make sacrifices right like you're going to miss out I missed out on a lot of things as a young kid you know parties and you know all of that so you're going to have to make sacrifices you're going to have to work extremely hard um and you're going to have to enjoy the hard work you're going to have to you know so running and throwing up all the time and you know working on your skills and you know kicking on both feet you've got you've got to find a way to enjoy that because it can get quite difficult so um I'd say train extremely hard really narrow in on what it is that you need to be better at to make it um try to find a good mentor of some sort and then above all you have to enjoy you have to enjoy what you do you just have to it doesn't matter and that that's not even footy that's I feel as though that's any job that's any industry you're in you're only going to do good if you enjoy it so and that's probably the biggest learning I've taken and would pass on yeah yeah and your your biggest skill set early on what did you hone in on uh mine mine a lot was my fitness but also it was building so I knew that I had to put on weight um to become an inside midfielder so I was about you know 70 kilos or something like that it's sort of 10 15 kilos underweight so I worked hard on putting on weight and um midfield craft and being out of run yeah yeah if you were um if you were never drafted to the Eagles which other club would you have preferred um that's a good question I'd love a I'd love Gold Coast yeah I reckon I because Beach Boy I'm from you know I'm country town small country town yeah out back west in Australia um I can do Perth because it's not too big and crowded and um very easy sort of slow going lifestyle here which I love so I don't think that moving to a Sydney or a Melbourne based club would be for me I'd love to be you know Gold Coast you know it's not not a big footy state nice beaches nice weather that's what I'd love to get around and still get around yeah so um but yeah I never really thought about that yeah yeah and what about Perth in general if if there was another city you've travelled now yeah where where else would you live in the world where else would I live in the world say it's funny you ask yourself having this conversation with Brooke the other day and you know we would love to go and get a one-way ticket to Spain and go live in one of the small coastal towns where you know life's easy you walk everywhere it's good weather yeah it's beautiful food you know um just go do that for sort of six months or a year and just live this really slow paced life yeah that's what I'd love to do we went to a town called Alicante which is in the south of Spain and it was that coastal slow paced town you woulda yeah you just mentioned and it's just like a couple hours train up to Barcelona did you go to Barcelona yeah went to bars flew in there yeah yeah um and I was magnificent the sangrias yeah get on the sangrias Tinto de Verano Tinto de Verano is it cold yeah it's like red wine with lemonade yeah beautiful yeah it's like a sangria but it's just like it's and that's what they were drinking in Spain everywhere you went sun goes down at 10 30 at night then you got like amazing a siesta in the middle of the day yeah my kind of life I thought yeah it was unusual at the start but then I was like no this is great it's great I have a big feed in the morning and days are so long pass out yeah yeah so you're where would you live in the world what would I would I was the oh I'd go to Netherlands Netherlands yeah where my wife's from it's gorgeous there and everything's accessible and I mean it wouldn't mind Spain either um but yeah anywhere in Europe that has a decent healthcare system yeah I'm pretty stoked with but um the Netherlands have very high tax I don't and yeah you don't yeah you just get by and and that's enough yeah you know but um yeah Netherlands for me yeah we went to Paris as well but I wouldn't live in Paris maybe south of France yeah um Italy or I would definitely give that a crack yeah I didn't get time to go there heard good things it's great it's great but yeah you you mentioned um the the alcohol for a second are you a connoisseur of anything like you've got your cooking do you like your reds I love wine yeah yeah I love wine um you know I wouldn't say that um you know I can taste a difference in a $50 bowl and $100 bottle but I'll drink something and I'll either like or not like it but yeah I'd you know Chris Mastin's in the wine industry at the moment so he's always bringing samples around to my house and oh yeah he loves it so um yeah that's yeah your taste palette does mature a little bit for sure when you get older yeah and I I always thought I was allergic to wine because it would fuck me up straight away I remember when I was 18 when I turned 18 yeah and my my birthday's also my birthday's on the first of January so it always been New Year's Eve sort of thing oh yeah and um Calguli the scene is Calguli mates come over we're playing beer pong but the alcohol of choice is a goon oh cooler bar fruity lexia and little bits of it's okay yeah we were playing all night and I was just yacking just bad never again but ever since then I didn't drink wine for the longest time so I think you only need a bad experience on a one bad experience on a certain drink and it turns you off and so mine was Carlton dry yeah beer and um you know massive night on that and yeah took it too far and then now just can't like can't drink Carlton dry yeah a lot like a lot of beers but I think you only need that one experience and yeah mine was my first beer that I had experienced with in Calguli you know teds to dry yeah and the in the railways club rooms yeah never again yeah and then um beer in general I was off it for years yeah because we had a rookie day at subeako oh yeah yeah that's fucked and then and then after like the the footy trips yeah the footy trips oh I was I was off I was off wine and I was off beer well doesn't leave you as much no because I started drinking ciders yeah and then and then Jackson Coke was a good one and then any any spirits mixed in yeah then I just felt like a teenage girl drinking all the time like that but then at 26 I got a red wine bottle of wine gifted to me and I'm like I'll give it a go yeah loved it done I was like what the fuck yeah and then but white wine no oh really still fucks me up yeah it gives me a headache instantly yeah so I love I like white wine I think I think people give white wine a bit of a bit of a hard time because you go to all of these events right and you're big you know bowls or whatever and you drink white wine and you drink in the house white wine which is obviously very sort of cheap headache you sort of it's a hangover in a glass but if you drink like a nice bottle of white wine that's just as good as a nice bottle of red I think do you have a go to I like to try all different things I'm right into a lot of the natural stuff at the moment a lot of the natural wines so if you drink organic stuff yeah a lot of the organic stuff there's a lot of people down south Marguerite doing a lot of cool things with like bio dynamic and organic and stuff maybe that's your endorsement deal well hey who knows but yeah so but I like to try a lot of different things right yeah yeah I'm open to anything for sure have you been to the states yes I have did you go to Napa Valley no I didn't that's the place to go for wine yeah there you go and have you been to Barossa in the South Australia no but I wanted I want to do that I haven't had time to get there but I want to go to the I want to do Barossa and then I want to I want to do Tassie yeah I'll do Tasmania I'm there later in the month again there you go Tassie's great yeah Tassie's amazing everyone shits on Tassie because everyone's in bread yeah yeah but they're not they're mostly just immigrants from the mainland who just want to get away a good food good wine oh my and it's not bad badly priced yeah petrol prices still shit but you know one other recommendation is Chianti okay the Italian wine okay it's from that region yeah yeah I've seen it before that stuff's good yeah that's stuff's good and I've got a few got one bottle there that's a cab so you go yep um but uh my go to is Barossa Valley Pepperjack oh yeah there you go the Shiraz there you go Shiraz for me is like the bee's knees big and bold big and bold or it's too it tastes like water scotch man by the look as well yeah scotch man got a few there and a few other things but yeah this vibe here is just more a gentleman's club sort of thing yeah it's the right right stuff um try not to overwhelm it with things but I want to add some stuff on over time you go the gold and black so yeah um in summary where do you see yourself in 10 years after all of this is I mean 30 you'll be 37 yeah maybe maybe still giving it a oh no no no no I'll be I'll be done with footy by then I think you'll be you'll be a sparky you'll be uh yeah hopefully um hopefully sort of got a family and stuff by then and still in Perth um and yeah enjoying life working as a um as a sparky or anything else really have some kids yeah travel some more and enjoy some more as well yeah I might like cash in on my one way ticket to Spain then yeah around that time yeah but no it looks like your love and life and it's great it's good to see and every time I watch in the footy which is very rare now um I don't have really don't have time but I'm like looking for you looking for Josh looking for Oscar um and just a few others I remember like yeah through the waffle and stuff and it's always good to see um and then like what's going on there and how your life's going outside of it no it's good that you're doing well um sorry to hear about your injuries and you're on the mens now it's part of it if you had one piece of advice you give anyone about anything or would it be my one final question oh no I'd you can repeat anything you said before what's something that you live by yeah I'd just it'd be things are never as good or as bad as I say yeah I think if you have that attitude in life then you'll get through it right yeah easy easy all right I've got uh quick and I can do some quick shots for you um what's the best thing about your life uh my I think I've got a good group of family and mates I've got a great support network yeah um what words do you always struggle struggle to spell correctly what's our what words do you struggle to spell correctly anything that's like longer than four letters usually if someone assigned you a random job to start what's the worst career for you a random job to start um at probably be um in the middle of the city sitting in a desk all day yeah at the moment I'm I feel as if I'm too young and have too much energy to sit behind the desk yeah I like that's a gold one uh what thing um that you've made uh you're most proud of uh saying come the most proud of yeah um I guess I'd I'd like say I'm pretty proud of you know the way I've grown up and matured over the last sort of 10 years and I grew up quite early and um to get to the position I am now I guess a young naive kid from Cagooly I guess I've sort of surprised myself with where I got to yeah 27 you're doing well what are your bad habits bad habits call yourself out there that's probably a question for bro yeah not me um bad habits apparently I leave stuff like I'm no good at cleaning the kitchen properly apparently hey you cook it you don't have to clean it um do you like to plan things out or be spontaneous uh I like to do a bit of both I think there's an element of things which need to be organized and planned but then you know there needs to be a spontaneous side to it as well yeah and um do you read books uh no it's I think I'd like to do more going forward there yeah what sort of books would you read if when you start um I'm very like I like to read like a lot of self development things I listen to a lot of self development podcasts or finance podcasts yeah the sort of things that I'm that I'm into yeah or educational things yeah and then deeper into the uh into the AFL questions um just again quick quick fire um favorite player to play with Nick Nat because he keeps me in a job most most annoying player to play with uh Elliot yo talks too much who's got the worst habit on the team uh who's got the worst habit on the team oh Luke Shuey's hamstrings yeah have the worst habits and um if you could pack one thing with you um on a flight every game or what what is it what's something that you always must have um it will be like and uh we play a lot of cards yeah that kills some time which is cool what's the go-to game of cards uh we play presidents yes that is the best game of all time he's he's loving it I taught him how to play you can play that for hours only you can absolutely lose such like track of time when I was a school teacher I taught the kids how to play it oh there you go and they were just obsessed every year group yeah yeah who's the best of presidents um Gaffey's pretty good yeah yeah Gaffey's handy he loves it he's the one that holds onto the cards and takes him so yeah I'd like to say I win my fair share of hands yeah yeah I just never get dealt a good hand one one destroys me she kills me at it she absolutely destroys me and uh video games no I've never been a video gamer I've never no I remember living in Cagooly I had Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and that was about the last time I picked up a remote easy easy yeah well thanks for coming in Dom and it's been good to catch up and uh yeah see where you're at and yeah I mean you're doing super well the wife having a wife now having that having that broke a few hearts maybe you're always wearing a hat how's the hair going uh bolting bolting yeah yeah just embracing yeah just embrace it yeah just embrace it yeah definitely not josh rotham now you nah nah no way that's all right don't try to be someone I'm not that's it love it thanks for having me yeah you're welcome all right guys give us some feedback on the episode and uh let me know what you think about it what questions you would have asked I've forwarded to him and Dom will probably not reply for a few weeks because his pre-season's about to start but yeah as always good thanks