This week Coach Jode Roach, and new Singleton Bulls Coach Tim Partridge go head-to-head as coaching rivals for the first time.

Former flatmates, great mates and both former greens players, these rugby obsessed individuals have spent many hours dissecting the game over a beer or thirty, but this is the first time they’ve had to go into battle. We caught up with these clowns intrepid leaders…..

ROACH ON PARTO

Roach – How was Parto as a flatmate? Any funny stories?
He was great, he was my second favourite after Ecca when the three of us lived together. Bit of a loud chewer but otherwise he “brought” or was it “bought” plenty to the table.

Tim was in charge of entertainment! Once he rang me and couldn’t believe his luck – a thrifty truck had pulled up at his work site with some cut price sound systems “Roachy it’s legit, they are from an electrical supplier in Western Sydney and have an actual ABN and it was their last one!” I asked for 2 minutes and I’d call him back but when I rang back and before I could tell him that the ABN didn’t exist he was proudly describing the $5000 Telefunken Home entertainment system, “apparently the leaders in german ingenuity” he had brought/bought for $1000.

You should have seen this thing it consisted of 6x 5ft Speakers, dozens of smaller speakers, a sub woofer and an impressive 8 stack system complete with double cassette deck. It was a spectical! Unfortunately wasn’t until all 28 items were in place that we realised there were no cords, plugs, instructions. It never worked but it made an impressive loungeroom that any german techno raver would have died for. Part of Tim’s Entertainment Role was also picking movies. Tim’s a huge movie buff and we would spend hours together on the lounge watching movies. Some memorable ones were Lorenzo’s oil, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, The Notebook and his favourite “We Brought A Zoo”.

What’s Tim’s most interesting quality?
His story telling! He loves a yarn. Tim is the only guy I know who can take 15 minutes to tell a knock knock joke. I’m sure he has the younger generation of Bulls in raptures with his sidesplitting arsenal of jokes and tales.

How do you think the Greens will stack up against the Bulls this weekend?
We never underestimate the Bulls, so whilst we will be hoping to take home the points we are expecting a big challenge. Tim adds an element of surprise to this team as he injects some new ideas. Tim likes to think outside the box so we can expect to see some of his signature moves over the weekend. His trademark being the 4 cut – 8 slice orange deconstruction. No one ever sees that coming.

Who is the bigger rugby fanatic, you or Parto?
I’d have to say Tim. Not only do his rugby stories go for hours longer than mine, he is brother to Anthony Partridge who is probably the biggest rugby tragic I know. Whilst Tim had a talent for the clarinet and linguistics in his younger years it paled in comparison to the rugby prowess of his more talented twin Anthony. Tim’s life become Anthony’s rugby! It was all he knew and it was all he wanted to know as impressing his slightly younger, more likeable and definitely unidentical twin, still to this day, was a priority to Tim.

Tim is a great mate and is as much a part of our club as he is Singleton. I’ll enjoy trading blows, beers and “yarns” with him come Saturday. I’ll have the spare bed made up just in case Tim wants to stay down for old times sake!

PARTO ON ROACH

Parto – Who is the bigger rugby fanatic, you or Roach?
I would say this would be an equal measure. Roach has two teams the Wallabies and Wales on the international stage, and we are equally passionate about local rugby. Both of us having sons, has just secured another 20 odd years of involvement this has both our respective partners overjoyed.

Parto – How was Roach as a flatmate? Many parties?
One or two….we were probably not the best of influences on one another, we both have some serious issues and being the social butterflies we made sure Tye Burford didn’t struggle financially when he purchased the Burwood off Barry. Monk (another great influence) was a regular at home and will have you believe we showered together to Elton John music. There is some truth to the story, on a Presidents Luncheon Monky walked in as Jode was leaving the bathroom and I was entering, the door was wide open and Elton was on, like refereeing it’s all about interpretation.

Parto – What’s Roachy’s most interesting quality?
Exam results would suggest he’s intelligent. But like most geniuses, struggles with the simple things, and has serious OCD. There are many but I will keep it brief:

• He can’t use high beams on his vehicle and drives only with low beams, complaining about the difficulty of seeing.
• He always talks on the phone with one hand down the front of his pants, right down there.
• Has 45 min showers
• Cannot bear to hear people chew or be in a room with others eating if he’s not
• Is the only rugby bloke I know who pirouettes
• He’s emotional, one of my favourites is the time he was at an airport and he watched a family saying goodbye to one another and found himself a sobbing mess.
• He cannot stand poor pronunciation (don’t use Bought and Brought in the wrong way)
• He’s actually a very good cook and if he invites you for dinner, make sure you go. He cooks like Heston Blumethal, but has an annoying trait of critiquing his food like a Matt Preston.
• Has serious FOMO issues (did I say serious)

On a serious note, he’s one of the most caring people I know and would do anything for anyone, but don’t be fooled by his kind heartedness. He has a heart of a lion, and would be my first picked if I needed someone in my corner.

Parto – tell us about your season so far as a new 1st Grade coach? Are you enjoying it?
I’m really enjoying the new challenge, the Bulls have struggled for a long while and there is value in that, it has given them desire and want.

My role is the forward coach – from a forwards point of view my instruction from Steve was fix our set piece, we worked hard on our scrum in our pre-season at the expense of our lineout, and in our Hamilton game, the boys chose scrum over lineout.

Since then we have put time into lineout, and as a unit are happy with its progress, it’s still developing but its improved to a point that has Steve happy. Wanderers exposed us defensively and we have put attention into that, holding Uni the following week try-less was a big booster for the team, Uni put 33 points on Lake Mac in previous weeks.

So we will work progressively on our game and be happy with small improvements each week, as they say its a long season.

And I’m used to difficult circumstances, I’ve experienced these difficulties before, haven’t I Nick Sickiotus (great game last week!) Clancy comes to mind, Flynne you just popped in.

Parto – Congrats on your win last week. How do you think the Bulls will go this week against the Greens?
Thanks, it’s a good feeling getting a win out of the way. There is a good feeling in the team and it was just what we needed after mixed fortunes in the opening rounds. We have some new faces who are getting a look at the NHRU for the first time, it’s looking like a very even comp and will be a grind for all teams. The new boys are settling into the Hunter valley lifestyle and are great blokes.

I will be happy if we achieve what we train, and continue to improve.

Our boys have viewed some of Carltons games as they are rugby-mad Kiwis, they were very impressed with how they just keep coming, the tenaciousness never-say-die efforts stood out for them, they know it will be a hard game. Our guys are doing enough to keep improving without being at the point of expectation.

I will tell you how we went in the Green room at 5.30.