Marc Ellis

I'm the blubber watching any movie in front of the kids and they sort of look at me and go, well, give them permission to feel emotions.

So he was incredibly empathetic.

And I think that empathy allows you to want to walk in other people's shoes, to have an interest in diving down the rabbit hole, to get to know more people from the various backgrounds, as many as you can, to give you more of an understanding as to who the average guy or average girl, and average is who you want to know, the top end of the bell curve and the bottom end, probably not your favoured chase.

But, you know, I guess...

Curiosity and the desire to swing the bat was what was sort of taught.

Oh, look, we had a few after-match functions when I got into the first 15 at our place, and I can't recall him being overly flamboyant.

He had a very flamboyant dress sense, you know, I recall.

He came back from some bloody trip to Europe, and he'd never skied in his life, but he came back with a full French après ski suit.

with moon boots which were for the 80s pretty pretty sexy things you know and it made him six foot right so that you know two inch heels on them and that big puffy things and like i'd be saying to my best mate at center in the willing college games you know yeah i'd be calling the moves from first five and he'd say i don't know how to fucking move look at your old man

So I turned around to the sideline.

It was like a beacon, you know, like some guys come off a fucking ship with one of those orange bloody waterproofs on.

So I guess that was my first experience of playing under pressure.

Don't worry about the crowds.

Always first five until I went to Otago and then they put me on the win-win Johnny team who went away for the World Cup.

And what age did you start your footy?

Five, I think.

I remember bloody playing with the full plastic moulded, they had plastic fake laces that were moulded.

So you'd have to slip into them like a dive boat.

And then running on Western Springs and there was ice on the ground and you'd literally, your little feet would clomp, clomp, smash and you'd smash the ice and people were getting cut on the ice and just standing there shivering and the backs were crying.

And then you'd jump in the old man's car and he'd put on the, you know, the heater and