7 August 2021, Channel 7, Melbourne studios, Australia
Selfishly, I feel a part of it, to see Patty and the boys (celebrating)
Andy Maher: You are mate …
In ‘88, ‘96, 2000 (finishing fourth), they’re beautiful journeys. You don’t have to win a medal to have beautiful journeys. It’s about what we want to stand for in representing Australia and representing this sport.
I think of those that have been along for the journey (with the Boomers) that have their DNA on this (bronze win).
There’s so many that you look back on, y’know, when you don’t get a cent for playing the game, when you’re building stadiums, when you’re building a sport. You’re trying to generate it, and for me … I am so grateful … this is tough … but I am incredibly grateful that before the game, I called up my dad, and just to hear him talk about what this means to the sport, and the humility, nothing to do with him, just about how this is going to be good for the sport and for Australian basketball, and another tangible bit of evidence that we have arrived as a sport, both the men, and the women.
And he started when there were 200 registered players. And he toiled away as a coach and as an administrator, to build facilities, propagate the game. Take it to the people, and the whole way it was about the Olympics. The values of the Olympics, the spirit of competition were instilled in me at a very early age, and it’s all about getting on that podium and showing the friendship and love and making sure that you do the right thing by the game, and the nation and the pride that comes from pulling on a green and gold jersey.
Tonight we saw eleven athletes, a beautiful man in Brian Goorjan, John Rilly and Matty Neilson who’s pulled on a green and gold jersey to play, and get a reward that has come from the generations of work beforehand … and to those people, the Phil Smyths, the Ian Davies, the Eddie Palubinskus, the Larry Sengstocks, the [inaudible], Keith Miller the coach back in 1960, Ken Watts who coached in 56, for all they have done for the game that culminates in this tonight, is spectacular.
You feel like you’re responsible for some hardships, some devastation (for missing out on a medal in previous Games) but this is all part of the building blocks.