I remember sitting where you men are sitting now but at my own final Marist rugby presentation in year 12, in 1993 and the lessons I draw and advice I can give are based on the following:  

 

There are known unknowns when we think about our great game.  What does that mean?

 

When I was in year 12, I knew I wanted to play rugby when I left school, test myself against better players and be part of rugby teams and clubs – keep playing sport.  What I did not know is that after a little more than a year out of Marist, by good grace and good fortune I would end up facing the All Blacks at Eden Park, proudly wearing the Wallaby jersey and taking up the challenge of the haka.

 

The other thing I knew about rugby was that my best mates would be my team mates.  The beauty of rugby is that if you have a pair of boots you can walk into a rugby club anywhere in the world, from Dubbo to Dublin and from Canberra to Canada, and when you do you have an instant group of friends and community.  What I did not know was that 12 years after leaving Marist I would walk into the pavilion at Oxford University and introduced myself to a young man called Craig McMahon.  He was in year 7 when I left Marist and was in the senior hall on this very night 32 years ago – It took me 12 years to meet him and we shared two incredible years playing rugby together.

 

If someone had said to me when I was here on that night in 1993 that I would be playing for the Wallabies in a years’ time and that one of my best mates was sitting in the hall but that he is in year 7 and you don’t know him yet… I would have simply said ‘I don’t believe you’.  

 

And so my advice is this… be grateful for what you know about our game and why you love it, and stay open to the opportunities that are as yet unknown in the years ahead, because they will give you the best experiences in sport you could wish for. 

 

You carry forward a proud tradition, congratulations and Servo Fidem.     

 

Joe Roff 1993 Marist Old Boy