The 14th Immortal Ron Coote joins Breakfast with Vossy and Brandy

[Music] Vanessa thank you we are powered by cabota take on any job with Cabot's range of tractors mowers and utility vehicles Andrew oh yeah now here's the big moment ladies and gentlemen uh last night the announcement of what was just one added to the immortal class in rugby league the 14th Immortal the Prime Minister Anthony Albany on hand to make the announcement ladies and gentlemen the 14th Immortal is Ron coup and the honor is all ours right now the great Ron coot The Immortal Ron coot is a special guest on breakfast with vossy and Brandy good morning Ron good night fossy and Brandy how are you boys good Ronnie congratulations congratulations it's it's what what a moment it was for you last night certainly was mate it's um what a what a great thing I mean i' I've been in rugby league a long time and um I'm I'm I'm going on 80 so i' I've had a had a good life and that's ugly league has been a big part of it yeah in that room last night um you get to share the moment with your wife Robin uh flash to the table if you don't mind me saying Ron Bob McCarthy was my football hero as a young bloke and then all around the room it's greatness that you are the center of attention up on stage that's almost you were almost lost for words Ron well I was I was a bit empty for words at this stage but anyway look it's it's just one of those things I mean I just just rugby league has been part of my life for all my life I should say and uh even as a young kid my old man played rugby league and uh he played with the roosters and uh and was you played first grade for many years and uh um I used to get the all these War Stories have a dinner of a night time so I sort of become addicted to it yeah so your first year at South Sydney was 64 Ron um and Ronnie your first I'm losing you yeah oh can you hear us how how's that can you hear us now I can hear you now yeah okay um 64 to 71 with with the bunnies you then moved to e suburbs and we had a text this morning that said was Ron coot Nick Otis's first big get um how how did it come about you leaving south and going to the roosters um well um let me think about it for a but uh yeah well what I Nick was the man there when he first went to the roosters that was in the early days I think when he first went there and he was the the um he was the boss this then so he done a he done a great job and and he he uh well i i s s was struggling and um you know I mean you you get you get a um a certain time in in in rugby league to to um to get try and get ahead as a young BL and uh um so I done that and uh and I I moved over to to The Roosters because South was struggling and uh and so that's it there there are players in the Hall of Fame who never won a grand final what about your record you you win six of them you play in nine grand finals in an 11-year period how fortunate do you look back on that and say well you know the the season never finished early for you you were there on the big day nine of 11 years incredible Across The two clubs yeah it was a great was a great um time for me um you know I love the Lov to make it to the end to the Grand finals and was a it was a big uh a big effort or big deal for me yeah um 23 times you played for Australia Ronnie um so there must be some fantastic memories uh playing with uh you know some of the players that weren't part of either the souths or the roosters lineup um and and and we were just talking about some players like Mike clear who you would have played with at South but say Ken Irvine you you you know you would have played with him Australia yeah I mean there's many players who I I I played with and and they were they were great bikes you know and it was always great to to go into camp and and play with these these guys and uh and what we did and and you know and and the and the I love the atmosphere of being in in the camp and and you know training and the hard training he used to do and which suited me fine I was I've always been a hard trainer and uh and enjoyed it and I think that was the part of The Secret of My Success was how hard I used to train can we just get back to the award last night when the actual announcements made because I said at the top of the show this morning on that you know rugby legs known for leaking like a Sie but but no one knew they may have had a stab and thought that you were getting it but no one knew and I spoke to you remember we had the chat last night before the event I was hosting I didn't know you were going to get it we've just had a chat for 10 minutes you and Robin it was great to catch up and I know that you didn't know because you went up to the stage with your jacket on everyone else getting inducted into the Hall of Fame knew to have their jacket off so they could get the jacket put on them you went on to stage with the jacket on proving you had no idea Ron that you were going to have that I didn't have a clue I mean I I knew I was in the mix but I mean I I couldn't uh I couldn't say that I I I had any no no one give me any um any um suggestion that I well you know that I didn't that I would be the the next Immortal so I was d dumb founded yeah cuz you've been sitting in this position for for for a number of times haven't you wrong like everyone's someone said the last the last four times come out I've been in it yeah well all of them that's from the from when that started I was I was in the in the mix then so i' everyone that's come up i' been been in it on it and I finally made it yeah yeah look a lot of fans have come on today they're talking about the Ron cot cover tackle and and Gary Jack who we just had on the show said Ron cot was his football hero you were his hero and Ron and Gary became a great cover tackler that part of your game Ron a skill learn or just something you love doing and you were bloody good at it well I sort of copied Johnny raber uh he used to do it and and you know of course that was part of what what rugby league done then I and George probably um instigated it where they had the lock forward would stand back behind the the rck and and cover cover the fence so as he'd get the Wingers and all that and and you do away with a with the extra forward in in the in the rcks in the Clos rucks so that's how it happened and uh and then that's I I just followed on what what chu was doing who was a great friend of mine and we were good old good mates and we we gro together in England in 1967 when I went to the kangaroo tour okay so the so the locks used to just roam behind the defensive line and then that morph to the halfbacks doing that Ronnie you know and then Jack Gibson when Jack Gibson come on he thought well I won't we won't do that when Jack Gibson come in to coach he changed it and said um we won't we won't have a a player standing back behind the Rocks we'll put him up in the line so with with the pro with the idea that you'd stop stop the line being broken not trying to defend it when it come when it was back there we go see Jack Gibson Jack Gibson a thinker like a thinker of like you know do something different to what other teams were doing um yeah exactly yeah yeah you you have touched so many lies both directly and indirectly Ron either you know fans of the game feel like they know you who who had the pleasure of watching you play then um since then what you've done in the game of rugby league with the men of league but then today we even have people saying they've come across you in your time running McDonald at New Town they said there was one text earlier today he said he saw you mopping up a mess and said well GE you've hit hard times Ron you had yeah you were hands on that was part you were a business success too Ron but there were no shortcuts no well I I had McDonald I started in McDonald's and they put me into the McDonald's at New Town it was a pretty tough store so they thought I was the ideal Blake to go out there and and I remember that day when I was I was uh someone had um been sick on the foot path out right outside the front front of the store so I was out there clean it up there was no I had staff but there was no one around so I thought I'll do this myself and get so I went out I was doing it and the black said to me excuse me you said he he come up to me he said are you Ron C I said yeah he said Jesus how bad are you going he thought I was an employee the place and that's my job they gave me the puke off the path in you what a story what a great story Ron um you're very much in demand today and and we've been told time precious quite obviously um I'm going to say on behalf of every rugby I'm going to take the license and saying on behalf of every rugby league fan in all my time of the game and when there's a Delan Medal winner there's always someone the next day saying no he shouldn't have got it Universal approval of you today respect Ron maybe that's the respect that's been given to you today via people you've never met maybe that's the greater honor than the actual being awarded Immortal status from do you feel that yeah I agree with I agree with that the amount of people who come to me and shook my hand and and uh and and I certainly certainly appreciate it um I I mean I love rugby league and i' I've enjoyed the game and it's sort of made my life so much easier and my family uh as the same thing and uh yeah it's really good well we we said you can't you obviously can't think about Ron curon not what he's just done on the field but what he's done and I know they judge what's done on the field Ron but everyone takes into a the man that you are off the field and you have been all your life um I've been lucky enough to have chats with you over the years um I've always enjoyed it congratulations on being named the 14th thanks mate thank you thank you ladies and gentlemen the 14th Immortal Ron C right here on breakfast with vossy and Brandy home of sport and today home of the great sport of rugby league what an absolute gentleman and champion