IT may seem like an unlikely pairing, but it turns out an ex-AFL footballer and a farmer who loves to cook, who ended up on the same stage at the McIntosh & Son Mingenew Midwest Expo, goes back to last year.
Former Eagles star Matt Priddis and Watheroo farmer Brad Millsteed, who is well known on Twitter as #cockylikestocook, prepared a feast as part of a Paddock to Plate show at the expo, with the duo revealing that they met each other at a blokes' get together in Manjimup last year.
The event was a 6Bs gathering, an idea formed by Mr Millsteed in 2017 that stands for 'blokes, barbecue, bonfire, beers, bonding and bullshit' and aims to give men a safe space to chat to each other.
"Blokes by themselves will tend to talk a bit more than we will around our families, so it was started to give blokes a safe and neutral platform to get things off their chest," Mr Millsteed explained while he was cooking a pork pasta.
"It's now become about wellbeing as well, us blokes are pretty useless at going to the doctor so we talk about some of that stuff as well.
"It's all about blokes reengaging with themselves and their mates and reinforcing that it's OK to be a bloke as we need to appreciate ourselves a hell of a lot more than what we do."
The event that the pair met at was hosted in Manjimup last year by local farmer Jamie Nicolaou, who Mr Priddis knows from childhood as he grew up in the town until he was eight.
"I saw it as an opportunity to get back down there and see people again, but also for my old man, who hasn't really been back there too many times, to have a few beers over the bonfire and talk to a few mates was really great and he's still talking about it more than 12 months later," Mr Priddis said.
"The more awareness there is about mental health but also for blokes to be able to see that it is OK to not be OK, the better it is for everyone.
"It's so important for us to be able to talk about it and seeing that there are other blokes going through the same thing will help more people to seek out support and mates who can help them through it."
