Roo's book. What did we think?

[Moods]

Got it for Xmas and just finished reading it. Really enjoyed it. He was incredibly honest I thought (about himself anyway) Found myself agreeing with 99% of what he said about footy re the coaching and the players involved. I loved reading about his German heritage and the other sides perspective from the war. Was fascinated at his love of Tassie. Never realised that he felt so close with the Apple Isle. I knew he considered himself a Tasmanian, but wasn't aware just how affectionate he was with the place.

I was stunned at how many wankers there are in the general public who have a crack at him publicly. I was genuinely stunned. I was unaware how deeply he was affected by the photo scandal. I always associated Gilbo with it and saw himself and Dal as collateral damage.

I found myself wiping tears from my eyes reading about his sister and her last few months. Sounded incredibly tough. Was amazed that he had the mental toughness to play the season and play so well.

Loved reading about how he met his wife and the lengths he went to in Las Vegas to impress her.

I loved some of his anecdotes. My favorite. When he was living in Sth Melb with his mates and his future wife Cath moved over from Texas. Roo and the boys sitting at home lounging around hanging crap on each other just talking s*** and Cath walks in after working all day. 'What are we doing about dinner?' she says. Roos mate "if you're not going to say anything funny, get out!" I laughed out loud at that story for some reason. I laughed even harder at the footnote to it - 3 weeks later the boys moved out after Cath had a quiet word to me.

I was almost as interested as to what he said as to what he didn't say. Spent a lot of time talking about all his coaches and their influences on his career - except one.....
He also pointedly made mention that it was impossible to be friends with all 42 players in a squad. That he had played footy with some guys for 10 years and didn't respect them for their lifestyle choices and didn't necessarily like them. Roo being Roo spent a lot of time talking about who he did like at the club. BJ (obviously) Kosi, Lenny, Bally, Milney, even Gwilty. Micky Gardiner got a mention.

Maybe it was just me but I was surprised that the only mention of Chips in the book was the story of Chips trying to call him on the night when the s*** hit the fan with Andrew Lovett... and Roo wouldn't take his call, because he thought they were just trying to get him back out on the gas. The other notable absentee for mine was Grammy. Lovett was at his house when that occurred. It was obvious by Roo's tone that he has no time for Lovett and what he dragged our club through.

All in all a great read I thought. Summed up by a mate at work who's a bomber fan. - "I always thought that Riewoldt was a bit of a wanker tbh. After reading the book it's obvious he's a good bloke. Hard not to like him."

[saynta]

Got the book, yet to read it.

Just thought I would mention that I saw Gardiner and Gwilt at the last Best and Fairest which was also a farewell to Roo, Joey and the Dumpster.

[jays]

i liked it

[magnifisaint]

Thanks for that summary. I'm going to buy it.

[George27]

An excellent read. Clearly Nick is a person of real substance . As a reflection of his good character, he does not take gratuitous swipes at people who do not impress him, but focuses instead on those who do. When he does take a swipe at someone - such as Tom Bugg - it is all the more telling.

[saint64]

I thought it was a great read - I read it over a day or two and usually a book takes me much longer. It wasn't your typical footy book - it was more about life in general, sharing the good and the bad.

[mr six o'clock]

I bought two copies as gifts , didn't read it as i knew i would probably receive it as a Christmas gift .
Lucky i was right !
Finished it in two nights . For me a good effort .
It was an enjoyable read .
To me a better than average sportsman book .

The old footy payola gave me a laugh .
Like when eddie was trying to get him to colonwood.
Sort of guaranteeing him free flights to the U.S.
Makes you wonder if the AFL ever crack down on this sort of thing.
But of course they don't as they live with their snouts in the trough.
We could ask our new CEO all about it.

[eel33]

Brutally honest. It's a book much more about life and dealing with it, and much less about football. Deserves every happiness and joy that comes his way post playing.

[elizabethr]

Ho Hum

[Winmar]

He also pointedly made mention that it was impossible to be friends with all 42 players in a squad. That he had played footy with some guys for 10 years and didn't respect them for their lifestyle choices and didn't necessarily like them. Roo being Roo spent a lot of time talking about who he did like at the club. BJ (obviously) Kosi, Lenny, Bally, Milney, even Gwilty. Micky Gardiner got a mention.
`
Maybe it was just me but I was surprised that the only mention of Chips in the book was the story of Chips trying to call him on the night when the s*** hit the fan with Andrew Lovett... and Roo wouldn't take his call, because he thought they were just trying to get him back out on the gas. The other notable absentee for mine was Grammy. Lovett was at his house when that occurred. It was obvious by Roo's tone that he has no time for Lovett and what he dragged our club through.

Interesting. Do you think Chips and Gram were the players he was talking about?

I haven't got the book yet. There's plenty of other unread stuff on my bookshelf, so I'll wait for the inevitable price drop.

[Moods]

He also pointedly made mention that it was impossible to be friends with all 42 players in a squad. That he had played footy with some guys for 10 years and didn't respect them for their lifestyle choices and didn't necessarily like them. Roo being Roo spent a lot of time talking about who he did like at the club. BJ (obviously) Kosi, Lenny, Bally, Milney, even Gwilty. Micky Gardiner got a mention.
`
Maybe it was just me but I was surprised that the only mention of Chips in the book was the story of Chips trying to call him on the night when the s*** hit the fan with Andrew Lovett... and Roo wouldn't take his call, because he thought they were just trying to get him back out on the gas. The other notable absentee for mine was Grammy. Lovett was at his house when that occurred. It was obvious by Roo's tone that he has no time for Lovett and what he dragged our club through.

Interesting. Do you think Chips and Gram were the players he was talking about?

I haven't got the book yet. There's plenty of other unread stuff on my bookshelf, so I'll wait for the inevitable price drop.

Yes I do, but I have nothing to base this on other than hunch. I went back through the years when Roo started playing and he pretty much discusses every player through the 04-10 era. Hardly a mention of any player after that time and he talks about a few before that time (namely Burkey, Harves, Loewey)

Grammy obviously left the club under a cloud and was sanctioned by the club a couple of times for failing to turn up to massages and other attention to detail type things. You get the sense that Roo just didn't tolerate this sort of thing. Like I said, just a gut feel, but Grammy departing the club for disgraceful behaviour probably annoyed Roo and I just got the feeling that they weren't close.

Chips is an interesting one. Chips appeared to me to be very professional about his footy and he achieved and brought lots to the team - something Roo was big on. Yet his only mention of Chips throughout the whole book is when he linked him with Lovett at Gram's house. He clearly had no time for Lovett. Obviously there was an article by Caroline Wilson a few years back linking Chips with Dusty Martin and insinuating drugs. Maybe I'm jumping at shadows, but Roo makes it clear there were guys whose lifestyle choices he didn't respect. He made a big deal of how Gardy was able to turn his life around at the saints (which Roo is obviously proud of, as the leader he drove a lot of the culture) I just get the feeling they weren't close and they probably should have been considering their careers and the other guys he was close with. Roo rarely bags any players in his book, particularly Saints players. In fact the only hint of criticism of a Saints player was Rhyce Stanley and one of his biggest frustrations was not being able to get through to him.

[prwilkinson]

Extremely critical about the move to Seafood. Great read. Haven't finished it yet. Been jumping around chapters.

[SaintPav]

Can’t see me in there yet. No mention of fish and chip shops

[SaintPav]

Extremely critical about the move to Seafood. Great read. Haven't finished it yet. Been jumping around chapters.

Are you like me and read the index first? I thought I was the only one.

Wow

Just

Wow.

[aussie sainter]

The biggest thing for me was the absolute lack of literate regarding Scott Watters...love the way he hardly mentioned Watters throughout his book...yet he was the Senior Coach for 2 years whilst Nick was the captain???? Reading between the lines, this says it all

[stevie]

Loved the opening chapters about his German heritage and Tassie.

Didn't like the way he was supportive of Fatson - no mention of the doping s*** just feeling sorry for Fatson.

Reading about Maddie's last moments was heart-breaking and I was in tears - my Mum passed away 4 weeks ago and I was camping in the hospital with Dad when it happened.

Overall, a great read and he certainly didn't write the 'cookie cutter' rubbish bio that he wanted to avoid lol.

[saint6709]

I thought it had some good stuff - I probably skipped about 70-80 pages of the family stuff I was less interested in -- the thing that stood out to me was not the lack of mention of Watters or chips -although I agree that was interesting I just hadn't noticed really. What I noticed was the lack of much of a mention of the new guys who are making a mark now but have been around for 4-5 years - it seemed to me that he grew apart from the team when he settled down and then had kids - all his mates were the guys his age - many of whom had departed for other sides - I would not be surprised if he could have gone around again this year - but it was probably decided Joey wasn't going to be given the opportunity and nick probably didn't want to go it 'alone' ( just a thought I had - there is no evidence for this)

[elizabethr]

Seems to crave to be a good 'ol Texas southern boy waving the confederate flag.

[Drake Huggins]

Seems to crave to be a good 'ol Texas southern boy waving the confederate flag.

And what's wrong with that? I lived in Austin for a while. I was expecting to be drowned in a sea of cowboy hat wearing cattle ranchers, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, thumping bibles and bashing queers at every opportunity. As always, the media (liberal left in the USA) has it completely wrong. I found the people to be warm, generous, caring of their fellow man (including the down and out) and a delight to be around. Hardly a fundamental Christian fanatic amongst them, much less KKK type Klansmen. A bit like when I worked in Iran for a while. I went with all the media garbage and warnings swirling around in my head and found the people to be warm, generous, caring of their fellow man (including the down and out) and a delight to be around.......Hardly a Koran waving, Sharia fanatic to be found amongst them. Some people will believe any old s*** the media feeds them. Lenin called them, "The useful idiots".

[BackFromUSA]

Seems to crave to be a good 'ol Texas southern boy waving the confederate flag.

And what's wrong with that? I lived in Austin for a while. I was expecting to be drowned in a sea of cowboy hat wearing cattle ranchers, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, thumping bibles and bashing queers at every opportunity. As always, the media (liberal left in the USA) has it completely wrong. I found the people to be warm, generous, caring of their fellow man (including the down and out) and a delight to be around. Hardly a fundamental Christian fanatic amongst them, much less KKK type Klansmen. A bit like when I worked in Iran for a while. I went with all the media garbage and warnings swirling around in my head and found the people to be warm, generous, caring of their fellow man (including the down and out) and a delight to be around.......Hardly a Koran waving, Sharia fanatic to be found amongst them. Some people will believe any old s*** the media feeds them. Lenin called them, "The useful idiots".

I love Austin TX. Everyone knows that Austin is not typical Texas!!! In fact the locals pride themselves on it. Much more left than right.

[elizabethr]

Seems to crave to be a good 'ol Texas southern boy waving the confederate flag.

This is merely an impression gained from reading the book.
Not a political statement or request in of some right wing protagonists views of the world.

[Drake Huggins]

The term, "good ol' Texas southern boy waving a confederate flag", is a pejorative term used as a dog whistle by liberals to indicate the person so described is a racist, hillbilly type. Nice try, elizabthr, but you slandered one of the greatest ever played of our club. What galls is you back away when challenged. You do have a rather extensive record of criticising our players. Some have even suggested you're a troll. Heaven forbid! It takes the common sense of right wing ptotagonists to recognise a slur when it is slung.

[SaintPav]

Brilliant

[suss]

I got a copy before Christmas but couldn’t start it. Just the thought of reading about the 2009 and 2010 grand finals and his sister’s death was too much to bear.

I might try again when we finally win a premiership (in 2059) and the pain subsides.

[parkeysainter]

The term, "good ol' Texas southern boy waving a confederate flag", is a pejorative term used as a dog whistle by liberals to indicate the person so described is a racist, hillbilly type. Nice try, elizabthr, but you slandered one of the greatest ever played of our club. What galls is you back away when challenged. You do have a rather extensive record of criticising our players. Some have even suggested you're a troll. Heaven forbid! It takes the common sense of right wing ptotagonists to recognise a slur when it is slung.

Good on Roo. He has married a top women and who cares if she is American or a Texan and Roo likes their culture over there. He is not an idiot and a club great. He is very happy in life after footy.

BTW, Yank chicks run rings around Aussie chicks. Just my opinion.