My special guest is Grant Atkins. Grant is an NRL referee who has officiated in over 200 NRL first grade games. He has been to two World Cups in 2013 and 2017, was a touch judge in State of Origin in 2013 while he also hosts The View from the Middle Podcast which features the stories of sports officials from around Australia.
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TIME STAMPS & TOPICS
4:23 – Welcome Grant Atkins
5:18 – Insights into the NRL offseason
5:58 – Self development
6:51 – NRL debut ages
8:18 – Social media
9:24 – Culture of Rugby League vs Rugby Union
13:45 – Abuse of officials
14:28 – Backstory of the Atkins & the Parramatta Eels
16:55 – Graeme Atkins & the 1981 Grand Final
18:10 – How he found refereeing
20:33 – Stepping outside his comfort zone
21:59 – Memories from his first State of Origin
24:22 – Dealing with the criticism
26:14 – Rewards of the job
27:30 – Advice from the Gavin Badger
28:42 – Coaching
29:26 – Development through the grades
31:23 – Changes to his work ethic
36:12 – Michael Maguire
38:50 – Rebounding from a bad game in Brisbane
42:33 – Accessing your performance
44:21 – Setting your goal as a referee in an individual pursuit
46:10 – The leadership group in the NRL refs
47:35 – Lessons from Ben Cummins
50:15 – Gavin Reynolds
51:25 – Being a role model
53:33 – What made him do extra study at Uni
56:17 – NRL touch judge first grade debut in Canberra
59:42 – First NRL refereeing game and his connection to Parramatta
1:02:18 – World Cup 2013
1:10:10 – First head ref – Sharks vs Panthers
1:13:39 – Examples of training specifics under fatigue
1:16:00 – Preparation for a game
1:18:23 – Meditation
1:21:29 – Why they call him Joey
1:22:51 – Best referee outside of the current squad his seen
1:25:17 – Biggest influence on his career
1:27:09 – Favourite ground to referee at
1:31:57 – 5 people he would invite to a private dinner party
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