I LOVE THE HAKA!

The Wallabies captain settles an old score

W hen Australian rugby legend John Eales turned his back on the haka in the notorious 1996 game against the All Blacks, it became the biggest regret of his career. “To this day, it still irks me – I’ve never felt comfortable with that decision,” recalls the 47-year-old former Wallabies captain. “If I look for a moment in my career where I’m like, ‘I wish I didn’t lead the team down that path,’ that was it.” Having carried the guilt with him for over two decades, John decided to right his wrongs and return to Aotearoa to learn the history of the Maori ritual – and he captured it all on film. “The haka is very interesting and the opportunity to face it is a very unique experience,” tells John. For the doco, he travelled across New Zealand, visiting Maori communities from Rotorua to Eden Park. The highlight of the experience for John was working with All Blacks legend Wayne “Buck” Shelford. “Buck is a guy I’ve got to know a bit over the years and really enjoyed his company, but it was great to get to know him that much more and understand the many layers of himself and his Maori heritage.” After Buck, John consulted some tough critics for the final stamp of approval on his debut documentary – his daughters. “My nine-year-old loves everything Dad does, so she was going to be an easy test,” he tells. “But I’ve got an almost 17-year-old daughter as well and she’s a tougher marker. But she found it pretty interesting, so the fact that she sat through it all and it held her attention, I was pretty pleased with that!”