BigBlog

It’s been a good week for me with the exception of Cronulla’s big loss in last Friday’s preliminary final. I think everyone in the Shire was a bit disappointed after that game, but these things happen and then you move on.

The Storm and Sea Eagles have certainly moved onward and upward into the grand final this Sunday and I reckon the game will be a corker!

They have been the two best sides all season and probably deserve to be there in the decider. As for whom I am tipping,  I was originally going to tip the Storm but then I had a chat to Andrew ‘Joey’ Johns at the ‘Men of League’ ball and he convinced me the Storm may have trouble dispensing with the Sea Eagles minus Cam Smith.

How can you go against the best player to pull on the boots? I don’t think you can so I am going to tip the Sea Eagles. If I’m wrong it was Joey’s tip!

As for where I will be watching the game I think I will be doing so from church.

The Men of League ball was a pretty good night. I actually had the honour of singing the National Anthem on the night and it was a nervous version of me who took to the stage.

Warming up alongside Anthony Warlow probably didn’t help, but I had the backing of his orchestra from “Phantom of the Opera” and they were amazing. I might have to check out the show now.

Overall though I think I went alright on the night.

I’ve been keeping busy with acting and writing classes and I will be on Sunrise tomorrow morning for about a minute to discuss my beef, which will be with a particular profession.

Last but not least this week it was my girlfriend Bec’s birthday on Saturday night and we had a great party at my place. There were plenty of our friends there enjoying themselves be it watching the footy or the jukebox we had going.

I think a highlight was having my good mate Guy Sebastian around to sing a special ‘Happy Birthday’ to Bec. I think she enjoyed it.

We had plenty of good food brought to us from both our mothers, which was great. Not so great was the clean up the next day, but that has to be done.

Until next time take care - Jason

It’s been a big couple of days in league land and at the moment everything seems to be falling into place for Cronulla. Their opponents, the Storm, have been decimated by injury and suspension, losing Ryan Hoffman to ankle surgery and both Jeremy and Cam Smith to suspension.

The latter’s suspension caused an uproar south of the border as the Melbourne and Australian captain was found guilty of a grapple tackle.

I have spoken to a few people at the NRL about the ruling this morning and the general consensus is that there was no way other than to suspend Smith. Even though it hurts the game with the Australian captain suspended at this time of the year,  that sort of tackle needs to be eradicated from our game.

Despite all the mud slinging that is going on between coaches Ricky Stuart and Craig Bellamy before the game, I thought Sharks halfback Brett Kimmorley was dignified in his response earlier in the week when he spoke about Smith.

Speaking of Noddy, he is very close to fulfilling the prophecy of Chris Anderson who I believe once said “he will bring a premiership to the Sharks before he leaves.” Well the Sharks have all the momentum, but what about Noddy’s sense of timing!

I also think his new halves partner Blake Green will do very well and fill the shoes of Brett Seymour. Blake has talent and also plenty of very good players all around him.

At the risk of jinxing the boys I really do believe this may be the year the Sharks break their duck.

How good would it be if they played Manly in the Grand Final and exacted revenge for 1973 and 1978. The Shire would certainly be rocking!

Of course both teams have to get to the grand final first and while I believe in the Sharks, Manly have a difficult challenge when they take on the Warriors in what I believe is a 50-50 game.

The Warriors are red hot right now, but so are the boys from the insular peninsula and they both are looking to farewell two of league’s great ambassadors in style. The Sea Eagles looking to do it for Steve Menzies while the Warriors for Ruben Wiki, and don’t they look intimidating with their beards!

If that’s not enough I suggest you all watch the slow motion replay of Ruben Wiki destroying the Roosters’ Iosia Soliola last week, it was brutal.

Outside of football there is a bit going on. My church’s new church has finally been completed and it’s great to be in such a welcoming place. The old church was a bit dilapidated and didn’t look or feel as nice as the current one. My pastor has done a terrific job to get it all together.

Also this weekend is my girlfriend’s 30th birthday so a happy birthday to her in advance.

Stevo

Probably one of the highlights of recent times for me has been going back on the Channel 9 Footy Show. I was asked to go on the show and talk about matters surrounding the Greg Bird incident. So it was good to be back on the show. But that in itself wasn’t the highlight – the highlight was getting to meet Pamela Anderson backstage!

She was an absolutely cool woman, so friendly and she really gave everyone a lot of time. Even though she’s a big star, she was amazingly relaxed and happy to have a chat. She was also happy for us to snap a few photos of her with the boys. I’ll put some up on the blog just to prove I’m telling the truth about meeting her.

We also got to speak to the massive Pam fan who was on the show, who was a Pamela lookalike. I’m telling you, she knew more about Pamela than Pamela knew about herself. Apparently her dream was to meet Pam so she wrote into the show. They got her on and I guess her dream came true and she had the time of her life. It was pretty freaky how much she knew about her.

I’ve also recently started an acting and scriptwriting course. That’s been really good, to put myself out of my comfort zone and have a bit of a challenge of a different sort. It’s at a place called On-Camera Connections and it’s really fantastic and pretty full-on. You have to memorise a lengthy script and you perform it in front of two cameras. Then they critique you at the end. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but this is the first course I have done.

Another thing is I have been invited to perform the national anthem at the Men of League Awards. It’s a big call! I’ve been practicing like crazy, so hopefully it will be all right on the night as they say. The Men of League is a great thing for charity so I’ll do my best to hit the right notes.

Another recent highlight was interviewing Sharks player David Simmons at my church last week. He came along and we had a bit of a chat in front of about 500 people. He’s a member of a different church but he came along and I think everyone enjoyed that. He’s a very open and honest bloke, but I did stuff up at one point. His daughter is named “Andi”, but I just assumed it was a boy. So I’ve said, “how old’s your son?” and he replied, “It’s a girl”. It got a few laughs at least.

Footy-wise, it’s a great shame to see Brett Seymour get ruled out for the rest of the finals this week. He has been great for the Sharks this year and I guess that raises the question of whether Greg Bird will come back into the picture. I’m not sure what the latest on that matter is at the moment so we’ll wait and see.

The premiere of ‘The Disposable Ones’ went really well last week. I think it has been received fairly well and they have had a good response for it at Hoyts. With it being World Youth Day this week, hopefully there will be a few more people who go and see it.

Speaking of World Youth Day, I think it is a great idea and a really good opportunity for all Christians to come together and meet others.

I also believe it’s really important for young people to catch on to the teachings of the bible and see the relevance of God. The celebrations certainly seem to have been done the right way and there is something for everyone, including plenty of entertainment and I know Guy Sebastian is featuring.

While I would love to take the week off and enjoy the festivities work must be done and, for those who don’t know, I will be leaving my post at the NRL as their Player Welfare Officer.

I just have too many things on at the moment and need to balance out my life, plus I have also filmed a pilot for Channel 9 and I am really hoping it leads to a new gig.

Leaving the NRL means they have to find a replacement and one player who I spoke to as a potential candidate was Steven “The Beaver” Menzies.

Continuing back down the religious path, I took about 40 NRL players including Lopini Paea to a Hillsong Conference the other week. Aside from the players I had former Canberra and Dragons prop Paul Osborne for company.

Recently I got to take part in the best interview I have ever had with Tracey Holmes on ABC Radio. Tracey really did her research by reading my book ‘Stand Tall’ and I want to commend her for her efforts.

On the footy front there has been a lot happening, including Queensland winning the Origin series for the third straight year. I know I said the Blues would get up but the Maroons deserved to win what was a very close game.

The other big news is that Mark Gasnier announced he is leaving the NRL at the end of the season to play Union in France. I think it’s a huge loss for the NRL and the Dragons.

The name Gasnier is synonymous with the Dragons club and even though they have invested a lot in getting Wayne Bennett to the club, I think this will be a huge body blow.

Take care - Jason

I’m really looking forward to State of Origin III at ANZ Stadium this Wednesday. I will be tipping the Blues to get over the line and reclaim the trophy, not that I’m at all biased!

The reason I am tipping NSW is because I believe they have made some really good changes. While they’re going to miss Greg Bird, they have found someone who’s been there and done it before at the Australian & Origin level in Braith Anasta.

Braith has a great kicking game, great vision as well that long cut out ball when the time is right and defensively he reads the game well.

He’s had lots of critics throughout his career but I don’t think he needs to prove anything to anyone. Braith has bounced back each time and I’m looking forward to watching him play as he is in the form of his life right now.

Anasta is also just the right bloke to bring along a young player like his Roosters’ halves partner Mitchell Pearce. For his part Mitchell reminds me of his dad Wayne with his fitness, strength and determination and I reckon, even though he is only 19, he will handle the pressure of Origin football as well as anyone else.

The Blues also have a really strong forward pack who will be keen to fire after being beaten in the second game.

I thought the second game was dominated by penalties and I’m really hoping this game is a lot more free-flowing to make it an even contest. Penalties in Origin can crucify you as it’s such a quick game. No one wants to see a game that is stop start anyway, they want to see two sides with great attack go at each other.

The other reason I am leaning towards NSW is the fact the game is being played at Homebush. No matter which way you look at it the Maroons do not have a good record at ANZ and that can only give NSW confidence.

ANZ can be a funny ground to play on and if the weather is poor Queensland may have to forget about the expansive game they played in game II.

As an aside I am relieved for Greg Bird. Watching at Toyota Park I thought he had done his cruciate ligament for sure. It wasn’t the case and he will be back sooner rather than later. As for Origin footy, he has the rest of his career to play that.

Off the field I have been doing plenty including an appearance on ‘The Footy Show’ where I got to meet Aussie soccer star Harry Kewell. It was actually the second time I had met him, the first being when he was playing for Leeds and I was on a Kangaroo Tour. He’s still the same good guy he was then.

Today I have a meeting with Jay Laga’aia.

For those who don’t know, Jay is a really good presenter on ‘Play School’ although I remember him from Star Wars. Jay also played the Lion King for many years in the Sydney musical.

We are trying to get Jay involved with helping all the young Polynesian kids coming through the ranks as they need someone to look up to as a role model and we think Jay fits the bill.

He has a got a great, strong personality and we think he can really show these kids the right way to deal with moving away from family and also help them out.

Nigel Vagana regularly supports them, but they need other people who understand their culture and we couldn’t think of a better person.

That’s one reason for the meeting. The other is I want to get some singing advice from him so I can end up on ‘Play School’.

Other than that I have been really busy working on different script ideas for TV as well as meeting players and helping them to get work after footy. For instance I’ll be touching base with Nathan Hindmarsh to have a chat sometime soon.

Jason Stevens