If we loved one another less

I could not have written this.

Aug 17, 2024

“A tree always grows in two directions at the same time. We only see what is above ground, but the root system is just as extensive and intricate. Trees are both gravitropic and phototropic, growing in the direction of gravity and the direction of light. A seed must first grow into the ground and toward resistance, where it’s dark and damp, before it can grow upward in the sunlight.

This is a metaphor for people. We don’t see all the work that took place in the dark, enabling growth in the light. Everyone wants the nice visible part, but few are willing to do the work of developing the root system.”

No. 10 Stephen Crichton (Centre, Bulldogs) | NRL Top 10 Players 2023

Stephen Crichton, centre, and captain for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs came into this year as the 10th best player in the NRL.

I think there’s a case that, 23 weeks into the season, he’s now the best, and building into being the defining player of his generation.

Sport is just stories.

You do not need to understand the intricacies of weightlifting to get emotional watching German weightlifter Matthias Steiner win gold in Beijing. The win fulfilled a promise he’d made to his wife before her tragic death just months beforehand. Two people were lifting that day.

Matthias Steiner wins an emotional gold at Beijing 2008 | Epic Olympic Moments

So, let’s consider Stephen Crichton’s story. At just 23 years of age, he has already:

made it to four Grand Finals, scoring a try in each, and winning three of them.
captained both his club side, and his country, leading the Samoan team to the Final of the 2021 World Cup, defeating England in the semi-final by scoring two tries, and kicking a game-winning field goal.

It’s all the more remarkable that Crichton has had this impact as a centre. In rugby league, games are most often determined by the ‘spine’, a team’s fullback, five-eighth, halfback, and hooker. Centres are often only touching the ball as the third, or fourth option in a passage of play, and their impact is determined by the lines run, and passes thrown of the spine before them.

But Crichton is winning games from centre by being the best defender at his position, and by finding his way to the try-line. Just look at the individual brilliance of his two tries week, against Canberra.

Stephen Crichton's 2023 try-scoring season

The best sporting stories have historical, and cultural overlays - think of how much better LeBron’s story is for the fact he was drafted to his long-suffering hometown of Cleveland, bringing them their first NBA title. If he’d been drafted a Laker, a Spur or a Celtic, the tears of victory would not have streamed so unbidden.

For Stephen Crichton, that overlay comes from his upbringing. Born in Apia, Samoa, Crichton moved to Mt Druitt in Western Sydney. He recalls: “Mum and Dad raised six kids when they first landed in Oz, then eight of us all together, in a three-bedroom house,” Crichton said. “I’ll always look after them because they looked after me.”

Mt Druitt came into Australia’s national lexicon in 2015 when the ABC aired a documentary - Struggle Street - that shared stories of the people living there in public housing. Spanian’s recent walk-through gives you a perspective on Mt Druitt today.

Inside Sydney’s MOST Dangerous Suburb - Mt DRUITT Walk Through - Into The Hood

But what’s emerged from this community, 43kms west of Sydney’s CBD is a seam of extraordinary rugby league talent: Critta (Stephen Crichton), Bizza (Brian To’o), Leni (Spencer Leniu), and Romy (Jarome Luai). Four childhood friends, who went on to form the core of the dynastic, Grand Final-winning Penrith Panthers sides, the current NSW side, and the Samoan national team.

Before we go deeper, it’s worth just connecting with what representing Samoa means to these players.

The moving national anthems, electrifying war cry and Haka: Kiwis v Samoa

If you didn’t want watch the full eight minutes, just skip here, and watch the tears roll down as an entire stadium sings Sāmoa Tulaʻi.

To’o said in the lead-up to the 2021 Grand Final: “It’s the best to represent the area. That’s something we’re proud of. Mount Druitt gets a bad rap, but I feel like we’ve changed that a bit. Showing that positivity. It’s our happy place.”

There were 337,000 people of Pacific heritage in Australia at the time of the 2021 census, twice as many as in 2006. And the Pasifika share of Australia’s total population is growing more than twice as fast as the total Australian population. More than just population, the cultural impact in Australia of those Pacific heritage is arguably as high as it’s ever been.

Crichton mission is the same as To’o: “When I was younger, nothing positive came out of Mt Druitt… ever since we started playing footy… we made the promise that we want to be that light coming out of Mt Druitt, showing these young kids that violence isn’t the only thing there. You don’t always have to fall back on violence because that’s what Mt Druitt looks like. You don’t have to be that.

Ever since starting, me, Bizza, Romy, Spenny - that was our core group from the start - we’re going to stick together, and we’re going to be the light for the younger generations.”

Stephen Crichton might be rugby league’s best player. But he’s also an idol to a generation of young fans, and a totemic representation of the changing face of Australian sport and culture.

In his new series ‘I Was Actually There’, Kirk Docker lets people who were actually there, tell the stories of their experiences at events like the Port Arthur massacre, the Boxing Day tsunami, and the Beaconsfield mine disaster.

The series is masterful. Docker’s brilliance is his ability to create the safety for people to be their true selves. Every episode is good, but the episode I’ll recommend is Nicky Winmar’s. It’s a moment most Australian sports fans will think they understand but the detail is remarkable.

“When you’re favored by God, you’re also favored by the devil. He's coming for you, too.

Whose side you gonna go on? He's gonna give you power, too.”
- Mike Tyson, speaking to Francis Ngannou

Generally, Branches editions anchor on a single thing: The Bear, Letterboxd, Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ (sidenote: I recently found a Fred Again cover of this song buried here in his Lockdown Live 002 | Rinse FM set), the Matildas’ 2023 World Cup penalty shoot-out against France, Jerrod Carmichael’s HBO comedy special ‘Rothaniel’, or Fleishman Is In Trouble…

I want to anchor this edition for the first time on a podcast episode: Jim Loehr’s recent conversation on Farnam Street:

I don’t know what else to say except that if you only set aside time for one thing in this email, make it this episode.

Jules (who only sometimes takes me up on my recommendations) listened to this episode just once and was immediately able to articulate her life’s purpose.

I’m not saying you’ll be able to do the same, but I’m saying there’s a chance.

Frances Ha (2013) - 'What I Want' Monologue

“Last night, I ate dinner with my friend Jenny. In real life, on a warm London evening, forking up aubergine from the same plate. We laughed, shared family news, told each other the things we’d been worrying over.
At home, alone in my study, they’d felt insurmountable, a sign that something was irredeemably wrong with me. Under the gentle scrutiny of my friend, they diminished to a normal size: just the grit of everyday traffic with other humans. I walked home feeling buoyant, nearly invincible. I need my friends. I bet you need yours.”
- Loneliness: coping with the gap where friends used to be

Branches 🌿

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If we loved one another less

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