Season 1 - EP #38 - Trade talk: from Vegas to the Crows

Season 1 - EP #38 - Trade talk: from Vegas to the Crows

It's that time of the year we're trades are on the up, listen to Duck wind the clock back and talk of the days he almost left AFL altogether, then joined the Crows!

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Transcript

Episode #38

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Ayrton: Well, we're here again for the Truth Hurts, a bonus episode this week, and it's in the spirit of Trade Week that we're going to wind back the clock to 2002, a rather rough time for the man across me. We're not gonna delve necessarily into why this happened. Well, well, I'm not, anyway, you, you can Wayne, if you, if you feel that 

[00:00:17] Wayne: way.

[00:00:17] Wayne: How long have you got ? 

[00:00:19] Ayrton: Uh, you had to leave. You can Google it. You can Had you had to leave North Melbourne? Um, for reasons. 

[00:00:25] Wayne: Well I chose to leave North Melbourne, yes. 

[00:00:27] Ayrton: You chose to leave North Melbourne, it was probably a situation where you had to get out of there. We've, you know. Well 

[00:00:32] Wayne: we, it's well documented.

[00:00:33] Wayne: Early, 

[00:00:33] Ayrton: early episodes of The 

[00:00:34] Wayne: Truth Hurts. Fifteen pages of the Herald Sun. Very well documented. If you want to 

[00:00:38] Ayrton: go back through that, episodes one and two of The Truth Hurts. Well let's not why we're doing 

[00:00:44] Wayne: this. So you, 

[00:00:45] Ayrton: you had a decision to make about where. You would go and that's what I'm interested in.

[00:00:51] Ayrton: Uh, how it is a different time for trading. Uh, no future picks, not as much, uh, flexibility in terms of how you could get [00:01:00] deals done. Um, but from your perspective, how did it play out initially when you knew that it was a possibility that you might need to move you 

[00:01:09] Wayne: on the phone, not need to move. So I decided to retire, right?

[00:01:14] Wayne: So I, I'd retired. It wasn't like I was looking for a trade. I then made the wise decision to go to Vegas. Yes. Um, which, clearly I'm being facetious, wasn't that wise. Yep. But it was while I was overseas, uh, during 2002, that I made the decision that I would, I wanted to play footy again. But it took, it took a good six months.

[00:01:39] Wayne: So for that first six months of 2002, um, you know, I was travelling and, and, and not thinking about ever playing footy again, which was, which was real. I didn't think I would even consider it. And it wasn't until I was over there and, um, you know, having a good time and everything [00:02:00] else. And then, you know, had a few phone calls and people saying, you know, there's been a few inquiries about, you know, whether you wanted to play again.

[00:02:07] Wayne: And the simple answer was no. And like, I was just having too good a time. Um, there was no way that I wanted to play footy again. Um, I wanted to just, you know, and given the, I guess, given the fanfare and the amount of media attention that it got, I've, I've figured, you know, fade away into, um, into the sunset and never be seen again.

[00:02:30] Wayne: How, how wrong is that? Um, yes, but made the decision while I was over there that, uh, I, I did. And this is now, like I said, halfway through, uh, 2002. And that's when the clubs, uh, started ringing, ringing my then manager, Ricky Nixon and, uh, the Chook. And it was, it was around the time the Chook, you know, I think, you know, and he, he's well documented as well as, you know, I think [00:03:00] he's started to make some life decisions that weren't that great either.

[00:03:03] Wayne: And, um, you know, he'd made a couple of comments. So during this whole process, I, I sacked Ricky Nixon. On air, on, on, 

[00:03:13] Ayrton: on Triple M. I didn't know that, so. So, what happened? 

[00:03:17] Wayne: Well. I'd got back from overseas. I had all of the, had all of these footy clubs, you know, um, wanting to have an interview process. And Ricky was asked on radio, I was actually triple M, I'm sure it was triple M, was asked on radio, you know, what, where's Wayne and you know, what do you think?

[00:03:37] Wayne: And so my own manager said, Oh, well, I'd be very careful. Um, you know, about, um, damaged goods, basically, is what he, he said on radio, and Really? Okay. And I then rang the radio station up. I was in Wagga, watching, 

[00:03:53] Ayrton: um So someone's called you to say this is what Ricky said on I heard it. Oh, 

[00:03:56] Wayne: you heard it. I was listening to Triple M.

[00:03:58] Wayne: Yeah, okay. I was watching my [00:04:00] brother play in a final at Mara Oval in Wagga Wagga. I'd trained that morning, so like I said, in my own head, I'd made up, I'd been training Yeah. And Sitting there listening to this interview, them talking about me, where I might play, and Ricky and Chicken at the time saying that, you know, uh, club beware.

[00:04:19] Wayne: I'm going, hang on. He's my player manager and I remember getting off the phone, by the way, chicken and I are, you know, fine now and um, you know, we're, we're mates and everything else, but at the time, as you can imagine, being his, his client, so I'm then trying to ring Ricky, Ricky's not answering the phone and then, 'cause he knows what's coming.

[00:04:37] Wayne: Then when he eventually I, I got on air and said, well, because Ricky basically said he didn't know where I was as well. Yeah. And I said, well, I'm in Wagga watching my brother playing a playing play, uh, football. And then said, well, um, I basically said, I can't wait to run into the Chook, um, again. And, and said, and he's no longer my manager.

[00:04:59] Wayne: So, [00:05:00] that's where the relationship finished with Ricky and I. And, and, you know, we've sorted everything out since. And, um, there's no, there's no grudges with how it finished or anything else. But that, that's where it ended. Um, and then we had to finalize, um, business, um, dealings that we had together. So that went on for, um, probably a year or so afterwards as well.

[00:05:23] Wayne: So that would be 

[00:05:24] Ayrton: complicated in terms of what cut, he got a certain 

[00:05:26] Wayne: deals. Yeah. So there were little, yeah. So I had deals in place. I had deals with Fox, uh, Fox, tell Fox footy, ideals with Nike ideals, all of these deals were, which were all still. So none of those sponsors, um, stopped. So all those deals I had in place, um, you know, no one dumped me, so to speak.

[00:05:46] Wayne: So, you know, there was, there was commission that was owing to him, but he owed me money. So there's all of these different things going on. So then one of my really good mates, Anthony McConville, which is Max Sports, and that's still there today. And [00:06:00] he's, uh, uh, Brett Delidio and his son Tommy, um, they're, they're the main men now at Mack Sports.

[00:06:06] Wayne: Um, I said to Mack, can you just get involved as a mate and, you know, tidy up whatever, wherever I decide to go. Can you be a part of that and, and help that and facilitate everything? And he said, yep. So he jumped straight in, um, as a, as a mate 

[00:06:21] Ayrton: and did that. So he would have been pretty young at that stage as well in that business.

[00:06:26] Wayne: Yeah, he was, yeah, well not a long time, so, and, you know, he did some, he did commercial deals and all sorts of stuff for me, um, during that time when I was at the Adelaide Crow, so he, he played a, Well, the key role, and especially having someone, you know, and a good mate, and someone who I respect immensely, and runs a fantastic business, because they're not, they're not a massive, um, they don't have a thousand players, they have enough players that they, they, They can really give their time to, so I, I rate Mac's sports really high and Mac is an absolute beauty.[00:07:00] 

[00:07:00] Wayne: Um, known him and his wife forever and the kids, grew up with the kids, Byron and Tommy, and Tommy's involved in the business and now Brett Delidio who he managed. He also had Trent Cotchen, he has, he's got Max Gorn. So he, he's, he's had some superstar players. Some of them have left him. He had Elliot. Um, you know, some leave because they get promised they can make, um, you know, bigger money elsewhere.

[00:07:21] Wayne: So anyway, that invariably. Um, all of that's playing out, and then I have to decide then once and for all whether I really, you know, do want to play and, and who are the suitors, and I think so how 

[00:07:35] Ayrton: many were there, how many clubs at this stage had 

[00:07:37] Wayne: made contacts? Well, it was ev just about every club except for Brisbane.

[00:07:41] Wayne: Brisbane didn't, but remember they had a young Jonathan Brown, uh, Lynch Bradshaw. So they had a, you know, they had a young, um, well, Lynch wasn't so young, but. The other guys were up and coming, so they certainly weren't after my services. Port Adelaide didn't, [00:08:00] I don't think. So it would have been 

[00:08:01] Ayrton: Treadrose's early years at Port 

[00:08:03] Wayne: perhaps?

[00:08:03] Wayne: Yeah, absolutely, it was, yep. Um, well he was All Australian in those years. So, All Australian Centre Hartford that is. So there was... So, yeah, just about everyone else, but I narrowed it down to the five clubs that I thought I'd go and have a chat to. So it was the Hawks, uh, Sydney, obviously Adelaide, which I invariably ended up, the Bombers and the Pies.

[00:08:27] Wayne: Yep. And I went and sat down and had an interview with all of these clubs. So I sort of, and that's, so remembering, this is my first experience of doing anything like this. Yeah, because you'd been one club player and you'd just, yeah. One club player, North Melbourne was the only team that ever approached me to play for them.

[00:08:43] Wayne: Yep. Um, you know, when I was 15 and a half. saw me in a school game, got bought off Sydney. A lot of people know this story. Johnny Longmire and I both got bought. He was 60, 000. I was 10, 000. I was a set of steak knives. Um, and that's how I played at North, not Sydney. [00:09:00] Cause I was zoned to Sydney being a Wagga Wagga boy.

[00:09:03] Wayne: So, so me going to these other clubs and speaking to them for the first time, I'd never, you know, even contemplated doing that. And I remember I went to the Hawks, uh, you know, showed me through. You know, basically spoke about, you know, where I'd fit in, said they'd give me the number 18 jumper. That was, uh, pretty short and sharp.

[00:09:25] Wayne: Flew up to Sydney, Paul Roos. How attractive was that? It was Sydney as an option. Sydney was a massive. Being a non, being a non footy town. It was a massive, uh, consideration Wagga Wagga.

[00:09:39] Wayne: You know, and, and Sally, and Sally's family was all from, um, Wagga, and that being halfway, you know, Wagga sits pretty much halfway between Melbourne and Sydney, so it was pretty much the same, um, going up there. Plus, you know, I guess getting away from, You know, the, the, the limelight of Melbourne, [00:10:00] um, and going up and, uh, you know, the beaches and everything else.

[00:10:04] Wayne: Used to go up there every summer, um, you know, with Sally and her family and, you know, spend time there. So really, really enjoyed Sydney, but, uh, they said, we'll give you the number 18 Guernsey. Obviously I knew John Longmire, he was the assistant coach at the time, Paul Ruse was the coach. Yeah. So, you know, there was a lot of things that, um, And that was a really strong pull and I had Sally's, um, Mum and Dad and Sally herself all saying, you know, they would prefer Sydney.

[00:10:35] Wayne: Everyone wanted me to go there. Uh, 

[00:10:38] Ayrton: So then Essendon and Collingwood were the other two. Which I find really interesting from where those clubs were positioned because at the time they were at the top end. Well Essendon had just made a few Grand Finals, won the Premiership in 2000, made another Grand Final in 01.

[00:10:52] Ayrton: had Lloyd Lucas and probably not a whole lot of cap room. Then Colin would have just played in the grand final against Brisbane. Well, they played later that year in [00:11:00] 2002. So how are they gonna, what was their pitch to you? 

[00:11:02] Wayne: Well, well the pies, the pies were brilliant. Mick Malthouse, Eddie McGuire went to Mick's house, sat down.

[00:11:10] Wayne: And I remember just, and I think Eddie said, Oh, Paul said he'll give up number 18. And he just, he had number 18 tattooed on his arm, liquor and a ripping guy. I just thought, you know, massive Club Collingwood in Melbourne. I, I think in the back of my mind, I always thought I wanted to get out of, yeah. Out of, uh, Melbourne.

[00:11:32] Wayne: So it was definitely gonna be either Sydney or Adelaide, I thought. But I thought go through with this process. So were 

[00:11:38] Ayrton: Essen and new Collingwood's in these clubs, were they, were they wooing you or were they also asking hard questions of you? 

[00:11:44] Wayne: Or how, how did that It was all wooing. There was no, yeah, there was no hard questions like, So despite everything that 

[00:11:51] Ayrton: happened, these clubs were just all out to, to get you at, and, and obviously at that time you still felt that you had some pretty decent 

[00:11:58] Wayne: footing in front of you.

[00:11:59] Wayne: Yeah, well I had [00:12:00] osteitis pubis, or whatever it's called. A groin injury. A groin injury. Um, and the year before, and I never had, and I realised how I got that, I'd actually bought a jet ski in the summer and was, you know, riding the jet ski a lot and jumping waves and doing things and, That's the only thing I can put it down to, the reason why I had that, that, that year.

[00:12:25] Wayne: Um, so, had a really good pre season in 2002, and like I said, at this stage when I'm going to have these interviews, I'd been training with a mate of mine, and back in the training, and I was pretty fit, and I'd trained pretty hard, so, then when I went and sat the bombers, the bombers, by far, was the best, um, process that I went through.

[00:12:47] Wayne: in the way they tried to sell it. So Kev, the great Kevin Sheedy. Yes. And I speak to Sheeds about it to this day. Him and I get along really, I love Kevin Sheedy. I concur when people talk about, you know, there [00:13:00] should be a statue at the MCG about what this guy's done for footy, the promotion of footy, um, what he did as a player and as a coach.

[00:13:07] Wayne: Absolute genius. And, and the psychology that he used with myself when, um, walked into the auditorium. at Windy Hill, and there's, uh, Herd, and Lloyd, and Lucas, and the Johnson boys, and Solomon, and they're all sitting there. Blokes have been trying to whack you for years, probably. Yep, and they're, but they're sitting there, and I knew going into that meeting, though, all I'd heard, and probably through Maka, because he's dealing with, um, He's dealing with players that are, you know, having to go and salary cap problems and, and different things.

[00:13:40] Wayne: And they had that at the time. And they were going to have to get rid of a couple of players. I think Carosella might have been one. Yeah, so 

[00:13:46] Ayrton: Blake Carosella, Justin Blumfield, Chris Heffernan, they lost at that time already. 

[00:13:50] Wayne: Yes, so they were, yeah, so they were players that they had to get out. And I've, and we, well, Maka and I felt that if I was to go to the Bombers, then [00:14:00] that, the supporter base would think, oh, well, you've had to get rid of all of these players for this.

[00:14:05] Wayne: So I didn't think that would be such a smart move. But as I said, the presentation was easily the best. So I walked into the auditorium, there was an Esky full of a slab of beer and it's sitting there and you had all those players. Fletcher was in there and yeah, so yeah, there was about 10 and they had highlights of me playing against the bombers on the big screen.

[00:14:28] Wayne: And she just pointed to the screen and said, we're sick of it. We're sick of this. And that's why we want you at this footy club. So everyone's just kicking back having a beer, are they? And we're all just kicking back having a beer, watching that. And anyway, everyone left and I sat there for the next two hours and watched my life.

[00:14:44] Wayne: Is 

[00:14:44] Ayrton: that awkward though, going into a room of 10 blokes you've 

[00:14:47] Wayne: played against for this time? Oh, it was, it was slightly, when I say intimidating, intimidating for the reason that I'd never been in their, in their company, in their cave. Yeah, yeah. You know, uh, [00:15:00] their club. And it's like all of, you know, you're sitting there now talking to these guys about potentially playing with them.

[00:15:06] Wayne: So that was, uh, quite daunting. Um, but deep down in the back of my mind I knew I was going to go to Adelaide. Uh, my dad, who was since pa I, I thought this might be a chance to try to reconnect or try to have some sort of relationship with him. Uh, it was never, it was probably never going to happen. I had a lot of school friends.

[00:15:28] Wayne: Uh, remember I did year Adelaide before I came to Melbourne and so had some really strong connections over there. I'd toured Ireland with Mark Rusciuto and Goody in 1998, uh, and, and also knew, you know, a few of the other Adelaide boys, but Adelaide to me was, uh, a second home, you know, Wagga was where I was born and bred, but I loved.

[00:15:53] Wayne: Loved Adelaide, loved every bit of it. John Reid was a, was an old school, um, [00:16:00] you know, a footy boss at the Adelaide Crows. Loved how he went about it. Uh, Gary Ayres I had the utmost respect for. So they had a lot of things. Went over there a couple of times. Roo was, Mark Rusciuto played a pretty big role.

[00:16:14] Wayne: Spoke to me. Andrew McLeod, you know, all of these guys. Rang Mark Bickley. They all did a video. Actually, I think I've got the video somewhere where they all did. Uh, they sent me a video, they all did a little piece saying why they wanted me to come to their footy club. So their, their presentation was, uh, pretty, pretty good as well and I guess they'd just piss in your pocket and make you feel good.

[00:16:36] Wayne: And that's what they, that's what they did and, um. And then decided to go there. I got offered more money at all the other clubs. 

[00:16:44] Ayrton: Yeah, so your North Melbourne salary would have been, you know, one of the highest, if not the highest in the league. It would have been up there. Um, were you having to take a significant pay cut regardless or?

[00:16:54] Ayrton: Well, I 

[00:16:55] Wayne: didn't come back to play for money, so that was never about me. If it was about money, I would have played for one of the [00:17:00] other clubs. Yep. Um, it was, it was... 

[00:17:02] Ayrton: Because you thought you had, you 

[00:17:02] Wayne: felt within you, you had... I just wanted to, I just wanted to come back and play footy and I thought I had another...

[00:17:08] Wayne: Good couple of years left, uh, clearly if the body was, um, sound and I did, so I, the Adelaide Crows did put me through a fitness, uh, test, uh, on a, on a treadmill where you, you know, they basically, I don't know what the test is called, but I did pretty well on that test and they were, they were more than happy with how, what condition that I was in.

[00:17:31] Wayne: So then the decision was made and. We made the announcement and, and, um, that's how I ended up at the Adelaide Crows. So the trade 

[00:17:41] Ayrton: for the Crows gave up for you picks two and, uh, pick 18. 

[00:17:46] Wayne: So North got Daniel Wells out of that pick. Daniel was, 

[00:17:49] Ayrton: Chris Shaw was the other player they selected with pick 18. So it didn't play a game of, uh, footy as far as I can tell.

[00:17:55] Ayrton: Um, so Daniel Wells, not a bad selection. Not a 

[00:17:58] Wayne: bad selection. So [00:18:00] North, North got picked two for a. Player that's just about cooked. That's pretty good. That's a pretty good deal for North Melbourne. Do you think you were just a, did 

[00:18:08] Ayrton: you, was it well known that you were just about cooked? 

[00:18:10] Wayne: No, no, no, no. I'd say that.

[00:18:12] Wayne: I'd say that. But a pick tooth at that stage you would think. Yeah, given that I'd had a year off 

[00:18:17] Ayrton: as well. I guess that, yeah, there's those like, because Chris Jardile, for 

[00:18:20] Wayne: instance. There's always, there's always a chance having a year off, like how is the body and invariably that's sort of how it panned out.

[00:18:27] Wayne: So it's got soft tissue injuries, which I'd never had before. Um. Yeah. So you 

[00:18:32] Ayrton: played, you ended up playing, uh, 28 games for 14, 

[00:18:35] Wayne: 14 in both years. Yeah. And 

[00:18:37] Ayrton: so your body at that stage just started 

[00:18:39] Wayne: letting, letting you, I wasn't, I don't think it was. To be honest, I don't think it was my body, so to speak. I think it was more the training that we did.

[00:18:46] Wayne: So we, it was a very different training program to what, um, we had at North Melbourne. So they were still running 5K time trials and things like that. You know, we were doing 2 and 3K time trials. And yes, we did do those in the [00:19:00] second year, um, at the Crows. But there were just differences. Um, I probably pushed, um, you know, I'd probably push myself in different ways.

[00:19:11] Wayne: That, you know, I didn't at North and then so I started getting like little hamstring injuries and things that I, you know, just never had. So I think there were, there were reasons. And then, you know, um, I think even going into the first game, the first game for the Crows was against Fremantle. I kicked four in the first game for them.

[00:19:29] Wayne: And I remember Mark Pickley came up to me after the game and said, well, if you do that every week, there's 80 for the year. You know, so, and I, I don't think I played all that well, but I'd still, you know, managed to kick four and we won and we played finals both years that I played, I think semi finals both years.

[00:19:48] Wayne: Um, not quite. And like I said, my, especially at the back end, then I ran into the point post and split my knee open. So I had a couple of things that just, yeah, just didn't go quite right. When you [00:20:00] look 

[00:20:00] back 

[00:20:00] Ayrton: at that decision, do you still feel like you made the right call? Yeah, I think so. 

[00:20:03] Wayne: The Adelaide people were just.

[00:20:07] Wayne: You know, the support that I got over there was, you know, great. Um, I just wish that I, you know, could have played, uh, well played a little bit more and played, with my body feeling great. Funnily enough, when I played against the Bombers, I kicked six against the Bombers, so Sheeds was right to, uh, I think I might have kicked four against Collingwood as well in that year.

[00:20:32] Wayne: Um, it's funny, the teams that, you know, after you, you... So 

[00:20:36] Ayrton: you'd never, previously in your career when you had a contract year, had any conversations with... So North, cause you know now, only the 

[00:20:43] Wayne: Adelaide, only the Adelaide Crows in 2001. 

[00:20:47] Ayrton: Cause players use other clubs now as leverage to get better money or better deals.

[00:20:51] Ayrton: Oh 

[00:20:51] Wayne: sorry, not in 2001. Uh, what am I talking about? In, um, when did they come in? The Crows? [00:21:00] Early 90s. Yeah, sorry, it was 91. 91. Not 2001, 91. So when they came in they tried to get... When they came in the Crows, yeah, sort of put a... Put a, uh, an arm out, so to speak, and say, well, you know, what if? Yeah. And it was, they offered me a hell of a lot more money than what I was getting paid at North, but I stayed at 

[00:21:20] Ayrton: North.

[00:21:20] Ayrton: You felt that at that stage that you had the... Yeah, it's, it's interesting how that works now, the, the, the idea of leverage and, but do you, you felt like throughout your career that what you were being offered was fair enough, regardless, 

[00:21:29] Wayne: and so... I, I, I was, I was probably overpaid in terms of what everyone else was getting at, at other clubs and...

[00:21:40] Wayne: If you look at what other players were, um, Greg Miller and it was predominantly Greg every year if I signed a three year deal and I exceeded what they thought in that first year, then they would, they would, you know, top it up and add a year on to it. And so I never got within [00:22:00] two years of being out of contract.

[00:22:01] Wayne: Basically, I never got to the last year ever. 

[00:22:04] Ayrton: Okay, so that's, that's really interesting because it feels like it's, there's different games now to, and, and maybe because that was of your status in the game as well, that, that that's how they dealt with you. But now there's a, a lot more byplay in terms of making out that extra, that extra year.

[00:22:19] Ayrton: Or if someone offered you a seven year deal at certain stages of your career like they do now, would you have, would you have gone for that or did you like the, that the three year kept you sharp or, 

[00:22:28] Wayne: well, I think four years at that time was, Yeah. Four year deal was, and guaranteed, remember, so there were a smaller percentage of players that got guaranteed money, now there's, you know, that percentage is a bit bigger.

[00:22:41] Wayne: But remembering, there's still a big portion of players out there that, that don't, their money, if they get injured or they're playing seconds, they're not getting the money that they might earn otherwise. Yeah. 

[00:22:52] Ayrton: So they're heavily performance based in terms of match payers. Exactly 

[00:22:54] Wayne: right. And, you know, even, even top ten finishers in best and fairest.

[00:22:59] Wayne: all [00:23:00] Australian squads, um, come into it, you know, that sort of money. And I remember my last contract that Ricky Nixon signed with North Melbourne, which was, um, I think 99, 2000, 2001, 2002. And it probably, no, yeah, and it finished in 2002, I think. Um, I think at the start of that negotiation, we, it was, you know, Probably, well, clearly the biggest deal then.

[00:23:30] Wayne: And still, the top players are only getting paid that amount now. So, in terms of inflation, it hasn't gone up at all. But I remember saying to Chicken, who negotiated that, I said, well, are we putting in Best and Fairest and All Australian and, you know, stuff like that? And we sat there with Greg and Greg said, We'd expect you to get all of those things if we're paying.

[00:23:53] Wayne: I thought, hmm, yeah, 

[00:23:55] Ayrton: fair enough. It's probably, it probably is fair enough. Yeah. That when the, uh, figures that [00:24:00] you were talking, which are over a million dollars a time, uh, a year at the time, you know, 20 odd years ago, um, a lot of money. Did you, in the process of getting that trade done to the Crows, there's a lot of buy play now in terms of he's worth more, uh, we want this, a lot more flexibility now too.

[00:24:17] Ayrton: But where it was. Was there ever, uh, any thought of that not happening, or was it all pretty straight forward because of the circumstances? 

[00:24:24] Wayne: Yeah, the Crows didn't want to offer, uh, pick two. Yeah. So what, what, what was part of that? I don't know how, yeah, well, I remember the Crows saying, oh, you know, we're not going to give pick two, or something around that.

[00:24:36] Wayne: I remember saying, well, if I'm committing to you, then, you know, you better commit the other way. Yeah. And that's just me trying to, uh, remember back, but there was definitely bi play about not wanting to give up. Yeah. Um, and fair enough too. 

[00:24:49] Ayrton: And that would have been, that part of it would have been another layer of stress I'd imagine for, for you at the time.

[00:24:55] Wayne: Yeah, well it is because, you know, they're saying they're definitely going to get the deal done. [00:25:00] We're doing it, you know, we want you no matter what. And then, and then. But if, you know, they want that pick and invariably I think they gave up what North wanted. So North won, I think North won on the deal because of my body.

[00:25:14] Wayne: Um, I did finish in the top ten both years in the BNF by the way, which everyone hangs their hat on these days as being something unbelievable. Um, and only played half the year in both years. So it wasn't all doom and gloom. I played some good footy for the Crows. And I do like to hang my hat on that when I was at the Crows, Mark Rusciuto won a brown low and came runner up in a brown low.

[00:25:34] Wayne: So I made him a better player. So you, 

[00:25:37] Ayrton: it's funny because you've become good mates with Ru. Yeah, no, Ru's a ripper. It was from that time as teammates that you, that you sort of forged that relationship? Or did you already 

[00:25:45] Wayne: know him? No, we knew, we toured in 1998. Of course. Yeah, and then in times I went to Adelaide.

[00:25:52] Wayne: I used to go to Adelaide quite a bit in the off season as well. So there was always, um, 

[00:25:57] Ayrton: I always get a bit of trepidation when I [00:26:00] haven't really prepped you for stuff that I'm going to ask you or anything like that. But do you remember the first few months at Adelaide and what it was like in terms 

[00:26:06] Wayne: of I was on the front page of the paper Because it's still a footy town Like it's still You know, I was on the You go over there with, uh, you know Everything, all of the, all of the stuff that had occurred and all of the media attention and just trying to fly, fly below the radar.

[00:26:27] Wayne: We've got our, uh, community camp. We're going to Broken Hill on our community camp and I decided to go to the, uh, the Grand Hotel, um, on a Sunday, uh, and anyway, um, I had a few mates there. There was a hotel room, there was a spa, there was a, the, the spa's overflowed. And the, the next day, the Herold, the, not the Herald son, sorry.

[00:26:53] Wayne: The, the advertisers at the front page was Wayne Carey's spa party in, uh, . [00:27:00] So Broken Hill, oh, this is week, this is week two at the Footy Club . Um, I remember, uh, read and, and, uh, Steven Trigg. Called me into the office and said, Oh, you know, what, what, I said, look, I can guarantee you that it's not, it wasn't my spa party and I didn't get in any spa.

[00:27:20] Wayne: Um, they're just having a bit of spa. They're just having a bit. Well, someone had a room there that had a spa in it, but how, just because I was at the hotel doesn't mean it's my spa. So, yeah, so once again, um, you know, in and around something that invariably, um, wasn't. Um, entirely truthful, but I was in that, I put myself in a situation, so they, they were quite, um, strong on, you know, you just can't put yourself in those situations.

[00:27:51] Wayne: I said, well, mate, I can't determine whether someone overflows a spa and it's not like if I got in the spa. And I was, you know, [00:28:00] then you put your hand up and say, well, you know what, I, I deserve that and that was stupid, but just like a lot of things that get written and, and get talked about the, you know, the truth sits a fair way away from, you know, what you read.

[00:28:15] Wayne: So you, you spoke. Or, or, or 

[00:28:17] Ayrton: see. You, you spoke about your, your first game as well that you said you kicked, you kicked forward. When you first put on the Adelaide jumper, did it feel a bit foreign to you? Cause that's the one thing that I. notice was it just didn't look right seeing you in a crow's jumper at that time because you'd associated you with being.

[00:28:32] Wayne: Well I'd played a State of Origin game for South Australia in 1992. Um, yeah, it all felt a bit weird. The fact that facilities, they had unbelievable facilities. We had, you know, we had, um, portable sheds. So everything about, everything about the Adelaide Footy Club was quite foreign. in comparison to North Melbourne.

[00:28:55] Wayne: They were very different. Both great footy clubs, great, great people. [00:29:00] Um, you know, the trainers, the staff, you know, everyone there. I got very well looked after and they've, you know, like I said, I've got friendships there still. Um, but yeah, the complete, complete, um, Um, different place than what North Melbourne was.

[00:29:17] Wayne: We'll duck great 

[00:29:18] Ayrton: insights into your move from North Melbourne to Adelaide. I mean, I know it's, I know you're smiling at me, but 

[00:29:24] Wayne: I hope I've been... No, no, no, no. It sort of brings up, it brings up memories. And, you know, there's, yeah, there's, yeah, there's so many little, you know, hidden, hidden stories in there.

[00:29:37] Wayne: Oh, you're thinking... No, there is. There's so many little things in and amongst the time that I was there. Yeah. Uh, you know, things that went wrong, uh, you know, in terms of, like I said, my body and other things and, uh, trips away and, um, you know, guys I met. Ronnie Burns had just got to the footy club as well.

[00:29:55] Wayne: Ronnie Burns got traded to, from, uh, Geelong. Uh, he, I, I wore [00:30:00] number two, he wore number five. So we, you know, we, we've become great mates. We knew one another beforehand as well. So there's, uh, yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of happy memories, but also a few little, um. You know, I wish I had my time again.

[00:30:15] Wayne: Memories. 

[00:30:15] Ayrton: Yeah, of course. And, and I understand that, yeah. There, there were a whole lot of difficulties that came with, with that move for, for the obvious reasons. But as a football fan, that Insight is, is great for, for how the process played out. And I, and I, and I don't know if you've provided that, that detail before.

[00:30:29] Ayrton: No, I 

[00:30:29] Wayne: haven't. Not, not publicly. I don't think that's what 

[00:30:32] Ayrton: we are about on the two thirds. I hope our, our listeners and our viewers have enjoyed that one. Uh, thanks again. And, and duck, uh, stay outta trouble and we'll, uh, and we'll see you soon.