NFL hall of famer Patrick Willis (11.09.26)

0:00Say yes, IDD to going out after the game. Unlock your warehouse's potential with the latest innovations from Dexian. Switch to a Kogan mobile low price phone plan. Kogan.com. Click and Awesome. Kane and King. King. Feel well, compatriot. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you for having me. I must admit, I'm a baller. That's all we needed from that tour. David from New York. How's it been? When did you get out here and have you enjoyed it? We got to hear on I flew out with the team. It has been absolutely amazing the way the fans to see all the excitement and feel the passion.

1:08You can tell the sports really mean something here. So the better brain the NFL over here for the first time is really been remarkable and I'm just grateful to be a part of all of it. Did you ever think this was a possibility? The game would expand so far internationally. You know, I'm a firm believer that anything is possible, but you know, I've been fortunate to be able to play in a couple of international games, primarily London. That was awesome, but I will absolutely say Ben here has been absolutely tremendous. Just the love, just everything about it. The food, I mean, it's been great. It's hard not to say that ring when you flash it. Just tell us the story. Yeah, so this is my Hall of Fame ring. I wasn't fortunate enough to get a Super Bowl though I did play in 1-0-47. Well, we felt short, but this right here is the, this is football heaven in our world. What I this right here is the highest accomplishment, the highest accolade that you can receive.

2:08And yeah, this is my Hall of Fame ring. I am Hall of Fame with 378. So yeah, I'm truly grateful. It's a moment. So you were, it's not, it's in Australia, we would say that's not very humble, but it's that trick to it. It is amazing. So tell us about what, I heard Michael Irving speak yesterday to lunch and he talked about where the game took him from a young man with not a lot of opportunity in life to a pathway of just amazing success. And then, and then what it's both for him after his time as a player. Yeah, you're a similar story. Yeah, yeah. So, man, football has been great to me. It has allowed me to see places, gold places that I could only have imagined in my mind. You know, I'm from a very, very small town in the States. I'm from Tennessee. My town is so small that if you blink, you wouldn't even realize it was a town. But one thing that I can say is that I've always had a big imagination and always wanted more.

3:16And I didn't know exactly how that would come in life, but I knew that at a young age, I really enjoyed sports. And I really felt like I took a liking to it to the point where I was like, man, I really want to do this. So I believe it was like in the sixth grade, I was watching this Walter Peyton, autobiography. And the one of the things they talked about was work ethic. And though I didn't have much, though I didn't come from much, one thing that I was, one thing that I am proud of is that my dad, my family, they had work ethic. So I remember watching that autobiography and hearing them talk about work ethic. Now, remember after it was over with, I was like, man, I don't know exactly what I just watched, but I did hear them speak highly about work ethic. And Walter Peyton is from a very small town in Jackson, Mississippi, which is another state right over from mine. And I say, you know what, if he can make it and it took work ethic, I got this. My dad instilled this in me when I was a little boy, I'ma get there. And so you fast forward 2008, I'm walking out on the, on the 49ers field. And I looked to my right and I looked to my left and I looked right behind me. And I saw three of the same guys as I saw when I was in the sixth grade watching that autobiography when I said, I'ma get there.

4:26And so I said, let the same man, anything is possible. You put your mind to it. You willing to dedicate yourself and give it everything you got. And most importantly, keep the faith. Man, you can be standing in an amazing place and you can find yourself in Australia, a place that you only saw on TV. And I will say, I will say, growing up, I was a big crocodile dundee fan. I was born at 85. I remember growing up in those 90s or whatnot. And I remember just seeing him, but seeing all the sun. And I would tell my dad, I was like, man, I don't know where all that sun is, but I want to go there one day. And now he's with us on, unfurlable now. Feesome lawn back and competitive tough for those. We've got a lot of NFL fans here, but we've got some casual fans as well. Like lawn backer, can you explain to us that position and what your role was? So lawn backer, I like to say lawn backers are the generals of the defense. I feel like I don't want to say it starts with us, but a lot goes through us.

5:26We are the ones who direct traffic. We are the ones who makes the call. We are one to get the guys lined up. And most importantly, we are the ones to, I call we are the thumpers or whatnot. And so for me, I really took great pride in playing the lawn back position. I like to say I'm an athlete. Well, I am an athlete in our play. I'm a position truly grateful to a player to land back position. You retired quite young. About the age of 30, you had some issues with your body. Did you, did you, you ever tempted to make a comeback? Were you saying Aaron Donald making comeback this year? Did anyone try and get you out of retirement? Was that tempting? No, you know, it was, that was interesting dynamic. You know, I was, I've always had, I've always had a great respect for the game of football for sports in general. And I remember just growing up and seeing some of the guys who I idolized. And I didn't understand that there was a certain point when I remember seeing them to the point where I was like, oh, man, you don't look the same man. You looking old. Yeah, I remember telling myself I didn't want to be that type of player.

6:29When I, one day, if I ever made it there and I remember my rookie year having that conversation with myself, I was like, man, every time you, anytime you start anything, there would be a time that it would end. There would be a time that you have to transition home to something else. And I remember just when that time came, it was tough. It wasn't easy, but I knew that it was time to step away because Warren, I didn't want to do that to my teammates. My, my rookie year, I told myself, I said, wherever I go, I want to give the city, the fans, the organization, everything I have. And when I can no longer do that, then I don't step away from the game and allow someone else to be able to feed their family and play the game of football and enjoy it in the way in which I did. And so at 28, I felt it. I wasn't just at 20. I started feeling it a little bit before then, but at 28, it was when the reality hit in. And I'll tell you, I want the hardest things to do in life sometimes is to be honest with yourself. And that was that moment for me.