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Chapter 1: What major construction project is starting at Victoria Park in Brisbane?
Now, back to Waitley.
This really is that signature project. It really is that centrepiece and people just want us to get on with it. We've released the plan and I want Queenslanders to know when the eyes of the world are on us, we're going to get this right, not just for the event, but for generational infrastructure. always respect people's right to have a different point of view. That's healthy in a democracy.
But from today, it's a construction site. So it wouldn't be safe for protesters to be there, nor for the workers who have to get on and build it. We set a window of $7.1 billion, and we've been well supported by the federal government in helping to fund that.
The Queensland Premier, David Crissifulli, who's been walking with a shovel over his shoulder. Today's the day construction on the Olympic Stadium begins at Victoria Park. So Robert Craddock is in Brisbane. Hello to you, Crash. G'day, Gerard.
Yes, it's all about one kilometre from where... I'm looking through the windows out there thinking that in six years' time, it'll be about a month away from the Games. Has Brisbane got time? Have they got time? I mean, you want that stadium in a year before the Games. I'm telling you, there's so many things can go wrong. You want test events and everything.
And I'm not saying they're out of time, Gerard, but I will say this, the clock is ticking fast.
So protesting had to essentially be removed to turn this into a construction site from today. So there has been angst around it.
Oh, very much so. There was a couple of hundreds of protesters set up at basically a tent city there over the weekend, and there was a lot of action, and they will run into more of that. Chris Ofuli today said, you know, it is now a construction site, it is illegal to protest, but there's so many things that can slow down construction. I mean, I've got a friend who's an apprentice.
And he said to me already he's heard union meetings in his trade where, oh, gee, we're going to have some fun with the Olympics, you know, just stop works and things like that. So it's the new stadium. And one thing I've got to salute is the role that the Brisbane Lions, we had Chris Fagan pop into work. I had to interview him last week.
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Chapter 2: How does Robert Craddock assess Brisbane's readiness for the Olympics?
And I think a similar thing is happening to the Brisbane Lions as well. I thought Chris spoke beautifully when he was in the office last week. You should have seen it, Gerard. You know Chris Fagan well, though. You've got... 35 sort of award winners of our new Settlers Award from around Australia, average age about 38, a lot of them young kids and some aren't interested in football.
And you've got a guy up there on stage saying, oh, gee, over the journey I had my self-doubts and, you know, I lacked a bit of confidence. And, you know, I had people come up to me after it and say... Well, gee, that did a lot for me because I'm thinking if a guy who's just won two premierships has occasional doubts, how am I travelling? But you're right.
And I thought your point was terrific last week when you mentioned about the volume of football the Lions have played over the last three years in their March to the grand final. But the thing is, they just can't afford to think that way. As soon as you think you're tied, you are tied.
Yes, yes. So you have to live the delusion to some degree, except that when you watch them, and it must be how it feels out on the ground, it's all I can see now. They're exhausted.
Yep, yep. Yeah, and, you know, it was funny. It was such a similar look to the Broncos yesterday. And there used to be a saying in rugby league for most of this century that when you win a premiership, you can never win two in a row because once you've climbed Mount Everest and you celebrate, you're just never as hungry again.
But then the Roosters won two in a row and then Penrith won four in a row. Yes. But guess what? Now we're back where we were about 15 years ago with that saying. And the Broncos just look like a team to me that just had a, you know, just had a lovely dined out on success and a nice full tummy and just haven't got that. Hey, one thing interesting did happen after they lost yesterday, Gerard.
Michael McGuire, the coach, who's very restrained publicly, gave him a fearful serve in the dressing room, we heard. The paint would have come off the walls.
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Chapter 3: What challenges are posed by the removal of protesters at the construction site?
And it... Focus the attention on the value of a serve in the modern world. Most coaches believe you can only do it, oh, you might have two a season, two really big ones where you just go off. Remember the days of Rodney Ede in your sport where, you know, phones would disappear in boxes and all that. But what's your thoughts about the big serve, Gerard?
Yeah, Simo thinks six. You have six shots in the locker throughout a season. You have to use them judiciously. I think that that'd be the extreme end. That's interesting that you mentioned that with Maguire, because Fag said that that was as angry as he's been at three quarter time. And he really dug into the pride side of things to see if he could sort of sting a reaction on that front.
Who's more likely to recover or are they both likely to live this season, the Lions and the Broncos?
I tend to think the Lions are more likely to recover because they're probably a tighter group. The Broncos are in an identical position to where they were this time last year, five wins, seven losses, and they won from there. And, Gerard, here's the most bizarre statistic of the weekend.
The Dragons have played Brisbane three times at Suncorp in the last three years, and each time the score's been the same. You can't believe that, can you? No, you can't. And they've just feathered their way to victory, the Dragons. But I'd be very surprised if the Broncos won this year. Last year taught us you can only really have one miracle.
Reece Walsh walked with the gods with the Broncos in the final series last year. You can only do that once. There was all these things that had to add up, balls hitting posts and not going over, which would have cost them a position, which produced an easier final. There were so many things needed to go place. The Broncos, to me, have not got a system that's repeatable.
They rely on the big play all the time, the miracle play, where the lines are more... And they've been anchored in the top eight, haven't they, for about six or seven years, three grand finals in a row. So slightly more likely, I would say. But I wouldn't want my money on either of them at this stage, would you?
No, no. I can't see it happening for either of them. State of origin, so you're a game down in Queensland and there was a send-off, so it was an incredible climax. The theatre of it, the last play, but it was made possible by the send-off of Caelan Ponga. How's the demeanour in your state?
It's still too soon to ask about it.
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Chapter 4: How do the Brisbane Lions' recent performances impact the stadium discussion?
And you can go, because you basically ruin the game as soon as you send someone off. And it wasn't a vicious act. It should be often reserved for really nasty acts and things like that. There was head contact, there was shoulder contact, but there was just a feeling. And the next day or later that night, the NRL judiciary came out and said, oh, he's only getting a fine.
Well, if it was a nasty send-off, even though they've changed the rules, he should have got some sort of suspension. Like, was it a nasty act or wasn't it? So, yeah, there's been enormous debate about it in Queensland. But that's what makes State of Origin great. It really ignited a flame between the states and they're going back and forth.
And New South Wales are defending Klein and said he had a blinder. And Queenslanders are blowing up and saying, you know, that was a shocking decision and It's sort of, and that's origin, Gerard. That's why we love the sport. It's good fun.
The bit I don't understand, I'm reluctant to stray into something like this, but why would a sport with interchange have a send-off rule that leaves you a player down? Why not just have Ponga ruled out of the rest of the game? He can't return.
I get it in, I do get it in football where there are substitutes but not interchange, but I can't understand why, because as you say, it ruins the game immediately. Why not just have him excluded for the rest of the game rather than be a man down?
Well, I'll tell you why. Because back in the, probably 30, 40 years ago, when rugby league was a really nasty sport, and there was really savage high tackles all the time, you had to have a vehicle to send someone off the field. And they've always preserved that, just so that no one can go absolutely crazy knocking someone out. And it's the last resort. And it doesn't happen very often.
It's happened seven times in origin and four by Ashley Klein, that referee. But some people say, we should get rid of the send-off. Nah, maybe. I like having it there for the occasional act where someone completely loses their rag and attacks their head. I think that might happen there. But that was, it was an accident by Ponga. Sure, he was in the wrong, but he's not a malicious player.
There was no malicious intent. He went in awkwardly on a tackle and, you know, he hit Cole, the winger, on the head. But it wasn't one of those ones, hey, pal, I'm after you. So sending him off was a bit extreme. All right. What was the story around Gary Sullivan? Well, this is a story and a half.
There's a former Australian representative who played for Newcastle in the 1970s, and there was a robbery at Chadstone Shopping Centre, an armed robbery in 1993, where a man in a balaclava walked in, and just as some security guards were getting $80,000 out of a shop, he burst in and shot three of them in the leg and took the money.
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