Ground Up (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Returning your call, Premier.
We need that budget revised down.
And if we don't get it by Friday,
you are in breach
of the development agreement.
OK, bye.
Shitsticks!
You're lucky
soccer got that land at Kingston
you wanted for your T&A facility.
Soil tests show
widespread contamination.
I doubt it'll ever be used.
What I would love to see
is that we come on board
as a major sponsor,
with an agreement to be
the sole supplier of fresh seafood
to the venue.
The club and myself
are extremely excited
to announce today
that the inaugural coach
of the Great Southern Football Club
VFL team is Luke Gorman.
Tasmanians have had a bloody gutful
over your stadium and
Over to Marc Leishman.
He is teeing off on the 18th
and final hole.
Well
That is position A.
Biggest profit my company
has ever recorded
and we paid no tax.
Isn't that brilliant?
Or sickening
depending on your point of view.
Ask Hugh about Rosny.
Oh, Hugh,
did I hear there was some news
on the training and admin site?
Yes. We might have secured
the old golf course at Rosny.
I don't like to name drop,
but I am good friends
with Stan Foggo,
one of the counsellors
over at Rosny.
Wow.
I'm sure
he'll get right behind this.
Good, because I sense
not everyone at Rosny
is delighted about it.
Someone smashed this
through my window last night.
Oh, my God.
That is someone with some serious
club head speed.
Cheers, Wayne. I'll tell the cops
not to bother interviewing
any high handicappers.
Stop!
Wow! Emma's laughing.
At Revere Hutchins.
Em!
He's a freak, apparently.
He can do the impossible.
Yeah, so I see.
Revere, I think
you have met my husband, Wayne,
Head of Next Generation Academy.
G'day, mate.
Yeah. What's up?
And this is Zoe Newton,
Head of High Performance.
Ooh! Should get you
booked in for that one, Wayne.
Oh, you've gotta learn
to laugh at yourself, darling.
Yeah, I think you got that covered.
And this is George Kouros
from Salmania,
one of our key sponsors, Revere.
You know, uh, Rafael, is it?
Revere.
Raffir!
I am loving the look of that logo.
Huh?
Ah! It's incredible, you know?
When I first started Salmania
six and a half years ago,
I never would have dreamed
my logo would be on your shorts.
Right. Yeah.
I'm just so proud.
Can't stop looking at it.
Yeah, it might be an idea if you did.
Oh, shit! Oh, no. No, no, no, no.
You're safe, Raffir.
Rest assured,
George likes the ladies.
I'm sure they like you, too, George.
Well, what can I say?
"Not really."
We'd better head up, Revere.
Nice to meet you.
Yeah. Good on you, mate.
All righty.
Let's have some delicious
hot smoked salmon on the house.
No.
Ooh!
This is our premium product
at Salmania.
Sales of these are up 11.5%
in the last quarter.
-You beauty.
-Ladies and gentlemen,
if I could have your attention,
please.
Thank you. It's my honour
and privilege today,
in this historic moment
for the club
to introduce you to the first tranche
of six pre draft
concession footballers
chosen for selection
in the Great Southern Football Club's
inaugural VFL squad.
Would you please welcome
Jagger Gibbons,
Memphis Fishlock-Bragg,
Malachi Zoot, Bronx Cleverly,
Trident Pash
and Revere Hutchins.
Whoo-hoo! Go, boys.
Oh
The fuck?!
Look, we encourage all our employees
to be socially aware,
and it's great you feel passionately
about the salmon farming issue.
I do, too.
It's endangering
the Thornback skate.
I know. And it makes me damn angry.
But the other side to my fury
is that a salmon farming company
is paying us six figures
to put their name on your shorts,
and, to me, that kind of wins.
So, bottom line.
Hold your views by all means.
Be passionate about them, like me,
but be a bit more judicious
about where you express them.
I'm not wearing shorts
with the Salmania logo on them.
Listen, do you want to be responsible
for the loss
of a massive sponsorship
that would benefit your club
and your team-mates?
Better than being responsible
for the loss of a marine species.
I'm actually the CEO of this club.
It's already all over the media.
The fish haters are on the march,
so can you head out to Salmania
and placate George?
Tell him we'll sort something out.
Thank you.
This prat Bronx has been here
five minutes.
He thinks he runs the place.
Yeah, right.
You've been here months
and you know you don't.
Gentlemen.
Hey.
So we're just waiting on
Kieran's from IT.
Kieran, this is Luke, our coach.
Wayne, our Head of Next Gen.
And you know Zoe,
our Head of High Performance.
Yeah. Thank you, Kieran. OK. Um
So, as we all know,
the AFL has been trialling
the use of a chip
in the football
to help with video reviews.
But in the US,
they're experimenting with chips
in athletes,
which enable coaches
to monitor in real time
how far they've travelled,
how fatigued they are,
blood sugar, dopamine levels, etc.
Astonishing!
Right?
So I'm proposing
we trial this technology
by inserting a chip
into one of our new signings.
Brilliant.
Great.
The other thing
this technology allows you to do
is keep track
of a player's movements
outside of club hours,
which is useful
if there are curfews in place.
We would also be able to tell
if, contrary to team rules,
a player was, say, having sex
the night before a big game.
If, for example,
their dopamine levels shot up
but their cortisol
and blood sugar levels
dropped markedly.
Don't waste one on Hugh then.
Clipped.
Good stuff!
That seems a little unwarranted.
Everyone laughed.
Maybe Hugh's not looking
for a relationship right now.
Thank you, Zoe.
Maybe he's, I don't know,
embarrassed about his body.
Maybe he's impotent.
Are these really things
We should be laughing at?
Uh
Well, sadly,
I've got to be somewhere else.
Jameson. Thanks, Zoe.
And, hey, I'm happy to chat
about any of those issues
if you need.
All good.
You're looking
pretty damn comfortable
in that chair, Catherine.
Alistair.
Morning.
Yeah, I'll be there in five.
Alistair's got to head off
to a charity fundraiser.
Oh, good on you. Catherine.
Oh. Who for?
My polo club.
Worthy cause.
Oh, thanks, mate.
How'd the launch go?
It went very well.
Yeah. I've gotta say,
it's nice to finally have
some actual footballers
in the footy club
that I can now start to mould
into the valuable assets
our success will be built on.
Yes, I saw the press conference,
Hugh,
and I'm sure those assets
will be more valuable
when you explain to them
that you're a football club,
not a left-wing
anti-business protest group.
Yes. Yes, they will.
I haven't got long.
I didn't even know you were sick.
Get on with it.
Yes, Alistair,
I thought you should know
some of the protests
against the training
and admin centre
being built at Rosny Golf Course
are getting out of hand.
Someone used a golf club and a ball
to damage Hugh's house last night.
Badly?
Why would it be Aaron Baddeley?
They smashed a window
and egged the car.
So I'm rather friendly
with Councillor Foggo over at Rosny,
and I know from experience
that he and his fellow councillors
can make things happen over there,
given the appropriate encouragement.
Catherine, we can't use our funding
to provide
that sort of encouragement.
Sorry.
Are you sitting on Destiny's knee
with her hand up your back?
I know we can't, Hugh. Directly.
But, Alastair, if you
formally direct
that the football club
buy a second hand car for club use
just so it doesn't look like
we're behind it,
I'll organise the rest.
Probably best
you don't know any more.
But if we buy a car,
how is that not
going to come back on us?
Get Jameson to buy it
so no one suspects that
there's an ingenious scheme at play.
No offence, Jameson.
I'm proud to be chosen.
I'll talk you through it.
Sort of thing seems to come
very easily to you.
Mm! Thank you, Hugh.
It wasn't a compliment.
Alright.
I'm already late for canapes.
Shit, canapes.
Better wrap it up, everyone.
Canapes and polo.
He really is a man of the people,
isn't he?
Well, it's very easy to mock people
because of their wealth, Hugh.
It's fun too, Catherine.
And I mean, he's a kid,
he's idealistic,
he's thoughtful, he's passionate,
and he certainly means no offence.
Sack the prick.
George.
That is completely unreasonable.
I'm not sponsoring someone
who takes a dump on my product.
You sack him
or I'll withdraw my sponsorship.
Suits me.
You'll know Jameson.
He's good looking, smart dresser,
man-about-town type.
Gotta go. Someone else has come in.
I've transferred the money too
and sent through the bank details
for our Rosny friend.
OK. Leave it with me, Catherine.
You're a honey, Neil.
Can I help you at all, sir?
Yeah, I'm from
the Great Southern Football Club.
I'm here to pick up a car.
Oh, you're Jameson?
That's it.
Neil Young.
Amazing.
Hey, this is a superb motor vehicle
you've picked out here, mate.
Thanks. Glad you like it.
Just let me get this for you.
Doesn't need to be there.
Alright, well, here's the keys.
Drive it like you stole it.
Yeah.
What do you mean?
Just
Just have fun driving it,
you know?
I think I'd enjoy driving it more
if I knew it was mine.
Plus, I wouldn't have the stress
of maybe being pulled over
and arrested.
What's that?
Oh, your pro form a
threatening letter.
"Build the T&A centre
at Rosny and die."
Oh, my God.
It's fine. It's just an idiot.
I mean, wouldn't it be better
if I died first?
Then I couldn't build it.
If they can't get their logic right,
I'm not taking it seriously.
Or is it someone who wants you
to build it, but then die?
That's Alistair.
Have you told the police?
No, I'm not bothered.
Oh.
So brave.
Well, in better news,
George wanted us to sack Bronx,
but I put a stop to it.
Result.
Though, he has withdrawn
his sponsorship.
Ah, fu Destiny!
What?
We can't just let him stand over us
like that.
We can't lose that sponsorship
and as COO,
you need to sort it face-to-face.
God!
ISIS would look harder
for a compromise than you.
Oh, yeah.
OK.
It's number one, I think.
The fundamentals
of AFL player media training are -
keep your answers short
and pay due deference
to your team-mates.
It's about damage limitation.
We're having none of it.
We will not be trotting out
trite, cliche-ridden twak.
I'm banning right now
the use of the words "execute"
and "process."
Also, if a game is us versus Sydney,
that does not mean we are
versing Sydney.
Who are we versing then?
Sydney, but we're playing them.
Versing is not a verb
unless we're reciting poetry
about them,
and I don't want to hear about
gaining territory.
Well, so what do we say
instead then?
You kick the ball forwards,
and if you've basically won the game
off your own boot,
and all you can go on
about afterwards
is being proud of the boys
and a team effort,
I'm at home
stabbing myself in the eye,
thinking,
"You total wanker.
You don't have a mind of your own."
Successful golfers, they say,
"Yeah, I hit the ball
really solid today."
"Drove the ball great."
Not, "Oh, my caddie cleaned my balls
brilliantly."
Own your success, boys.
Be proud of it.
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Cool.
Alright.
Hell yeah.
What we're going to do now
is get each of you to
do a short impromptu speech
on a topic of my choosing.
So, if you're about to make
a public statement
or do an interview,
what's the number one thing
you do not do?
Oh.
Quite right.
Uh, Bronx. Can I just have a word?
Bronx.
I've just come from Salmania.
I think if you don't apologise
and make amends,
uh, your contract
is in serious jeopardy.
I'm not apologising.
I stand by my stance.
Go you!
We're sacking him.
Good.
So the sponsorship deal stands?
Of course.
Alright. Little sting.
How's that looking?
Yeah. Uh
It looks really good.
So do you.
Oh, well, his dopamine shot up.
You can't hang your hat
purely on results.
You concentrate on processes
and how you execute those processes.
The eagle has landed.
The used car.
Rosny Council donation eagle.
Right. Thanks.
Hard to keep up
with their topical references.
Look
I've rescued the sponsorship deal.
Huzzah!
How'd you square it off with Bronx?
Oh, well, he knows
we'll have to let him go.
No, no, no. No way.
No, we're not letting Bronx go.
He's in the top five prospects
in the country.
I'm not driving back out to Salmania
in that van
to deal with that numpty.
Take our new car.
Where'd this come from?
Sponsorship deal.
I'm not a hostage negotiator.
What what more can I do?
Be creative, Destiny.
Use your imagination.
Use my
Public servant - imagination?
Did you just make
some cliched comment
about public servants
not having imagination?
No. You must have imagined it.
What if the kid apologises
and makes a promotional video
for Salmania?
Sure.
Alright.
So, Memphis, Under-18 premieres
four goals for yourself
and several assists.
You must be wrapped to have performed
so well on the big stage.
Yeah
Sorry?
I mean, yeah, all the guys
No!
I mean, I had quite a good game.
I suppose.
You destroyed them.
You were a runner-up for the medal.
Say it. You destroyed them.
I destroyed them.
How do you think your opponent went?
I mean, not bad. And, you know,
I was getting service
No.
What did you do to his arse?
Nothing. What?
You whipped it.
Oh, yeah, I whipped it
Whipped it.
Whipped his arse.
You've ruined his chances
of getting drafted, haven't you?
Yeah. Yeah, I sup suppose.
Must make you feel pretty confident
that you can make it
on the AFL stage?
Jameson!
Jesus!
How about this, then?
You apologise to Salmania.
You agree
to wear their logo on your shorts.
You agree to make
a promotional video for them.
As if!
And we donate
part of their sponsorship money
to your preferred
environmental group.
How much?
5,000.
50,000.
10,000.
60,000.
I'm not sure you've grasped
how this works.
Yeah. Goes up every time
you don't agree.
40,000.
Sweet.
OK. Salmania can never find out
about this.
This isn't corrupt or anything?
Well, there's corrupt
and then there's corrupt.
Right, they do sound similar.
Hugh Shen.
Oh, good morning, Mr Shen.
It's Pamela Newbaum
from Red Rose Funerals here.
How are you today?
Uh, well, not that bad.
Yes. Mr Shen, I've been asked
to give you a call
because I understand
you're interested in arranging
a pre-paid funeral.
Uh, no.
Oh.
Well, I received a call today
from a friend of yours,
a Mr Cazaly,
asking me to arrange one for you.
Which office of Red Rose Funerals
are you at, Pamela?
I'm at our Rosny office.
Mm. Yeah, I think Mr Cazaly
is playing a practical joke here,
Pamela.
Thank you.
Who knew death threats
came as a total package deal
these days?
I gotta say, you're taking
all these threats in your stride.
It's called courage
in the face of adversity, Destiny.
Trying to set an example
for our players.
How'd you go with Salmania?
I was creative and it's sorted.
Nice work.
I, uh, took our new car out there.
And?
Any reason the club paid $60,000
for a second-hand car
with a market value of 19,995?
It's got really low Ks.
You know, that car dealer's
a friend of Catherine's?
Is he?
Morning.
OK
Thanks for coming in, everyone.
I just wanted to really quickly
bring you up to speed
with some great news.
The chip is working perfectly.
We've successfully recorded.
Revere's lactate levels
in his sweat glands,
cardiac output,
and many other
biophysical parameters,
including serotonin, dopamine.
Oh, Kieran.
Yeah. I can even tell you,
he was at 17 Roberts Street,
Lenah Valley,
for about an hour last night.
Oh, this is super exciting, guys.
Isn't it?
That's my place. That's my address.
His dopamine shot up,
cortisol dipped,
and blood sugar levels
dropped to four while he was there.
Taking our young guns
under your wing, Wayne.
Uh, I wasn't at home.
I was at Sorell Footy Club
last night.
So Revere broke in?
Mm. No, Emma was home.
Oh.
For a minute I thought we had
another drama on our hands.
Maybe he was out running and, um
stopped in for a banana.
Neil Young.
Hi, Neil. Destiny Pitt here.
Chief Operating Officer
at the Great Southern Football Club.
Oh, yes.
And I'm just following up
on the transfer of funds.
So, Catherine and Hugh, they, uh,
they copied you in
on the arrangement?
Well, I am the COO, so
Oh, good. OK. Oh, great.
No, I'm just being careful.
So which transaction
are you referring to?
Is that you to me
or mine to the Rosny counsellor?
Hugh.
Ah, the Sponge.
Kieran, Evan is Revere's agent.
Evan, Kieran, heads up our IT.
Hello.
Nice to meet you.
So we just wanted to follow up
on how the chip was going for you,
Revere.
Yeah. Uh, I'm not too happy
about this chip.
We'll come to your own happiness.
Yeah, look,
I don't even really notice it,
so it's fine.
Excellent.
Yeah, cause we've been getting
some really interesting data
from it, haven't we, Luke?
Very much so. For instance,
we know that you went
to Wayne's place last night.
Wayne heads up
our Next Generation Academy.
No, I didn't.
You didn't? Kieran?
You arrived there at 10:10 pm.
Oh Yep.
Sorry. No, I went to
go pick up my training notes.
I forgot.
From Wayne?
Yep.
Who was there and gave them to you?
Yep.
Wayne was there?
Yeah. Wayne, yeah.
Wayne's lying to us.
I can't believe it.
What's he trying to hide?
This is unacceptable.
Let's get him in here.
Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on.
He was I think
I'm meant to say his wife.
Wayne's wife was there.
Wayne's wife, Emma, was there.
But Wayne wasn't.
Yeah, I got confused.
Oh, yeah. Sure.
Man. Woman. It's confusing.
Look, is this going somewhere?
Yes. Maybe you'd like to as well.
What did you do at Wayne's house
while he wasn't there?
Just picked up my training notes.
Was there a box of 'em?
Like a
..heavy box?
No. It was training notes,
a couple pages.
Wow. That's weird.
Because, Kieran, tell
us what the data shows.
At approximately 10:14, you show
a dramatically elevated heart rate,
breathing rate,
blood pressure reading,
and increased muscle tension,
accompanied by an increase
in oxytocin levels,
which is associated
with sexual activity.
Followed at 10:18
by signs of fatigue,
plummeting heart rate, etc,
and increased prolactin levels,
typical of the post-orgasmic period.
Four minutes!
Let's hope you last longer
in a game, champ.
Are you trying to fill
the Next Generation Academy yourself
with the wife of the bloke
who runs it?
Alright. That's enough.
You wait till
the Players' Association
hears about this,
they'll blackball you.
In the meantime,
we are not leaving this building
until that chip is removed.
Your client
needs to pull his head in.
In fact, anything that sticks out
of his torso.
But you're right to stay on?
You're still comfortable
working here?
Yeah, I guess
things haven't been good at home
for a while, you know, sexually.
Yeah, right.
Without going into too much detail,
I haven't been able
to bring her to climax
for two years.
Despite trying every sexual position
known to man,
several known only to wildlife.
But when we do have sex,
I tend to finish up pretty quickly.
Yeah.
Once there's penetration,
party's over.
Mm. It's a tricky one.
Mm.
Destiny.
Oh, sorry.
Yeah.
Poor guy.
What about her?
Oh, good old Foggo's
come through again.
He secured us
three more Rosny counsellors votes.
That's why you weren't fazed
about the threats,
because you knew it was always
going to go through?
Hugh,
I have a serious problem with this.
Oh, don't be such a goody two shoes,
fuckstick.
This is the way
the real world works, Destiny.
Uh-uh. This cannot stand.
My job is to ensure
there's complete transparency
about the expenditure
of government money.
I'm I'm going to have
to report it.
You're right. I understand.
You might want to report this one,
too.
Hi, Hugh.
It's Hillary Dunwoody
from the Marine Wildlife Fund.
Just a courtesy call
to thank the club so much
for your very generous donation
of $40,000.
Be assured this will be
put to very good use.
So, yeah. Thanks, Hugh.
All the best.
I did that to keep Bronx here.
I was being creative.
That's the way, Destiny.
And that is not the same.
Oh, of course not.
Your misappropriation of funds
was honourable.
Is Ours really justified
just because it might save Hugh
from endless threats
against his life?
Quickly,
Memphis is going to be on the news.
He saved some old lady or something.
Councillor Foggo
described the football club's
Rosny development proposal
as, "Very persuasive."
And still on the AFL,
a rising Tassie star
has been involved
in a dramatic rescue
after a fire in Newtown
earlier today.
Long kicking inside midfielder
Memphis Fishlock-Bragg
returned home
to find his apartment ablaze
and the fire quickly spreading
to his elderly neighbour's
apartment.
So, yeah, I heard the screaming
and obviously
the building was on fire,
so I knew it was going to be
a pretty big effort.
Uh, I ran in there
faster than anyone else.
They were really scared.
I crashed through the door,
picked her up first try,
which is pretty good
considering the pressure
that I was under.
Whoa!
I carried her out on my own.
No one helped me.
They wouldn't have had
the core strength
that I have anyway.
So, yeah, I think
if it wasn't for my solo effort,
uh, she probably would have died.
So yeah.
But despite the brave face,
the stress of the rescue
was clearly
See what a little bit
of media training can do.
Listen, we are
a results based industry,
so I want results.
So pull your collective fingers out.
Especially you, Premier.
Oh, yes. Uh, well Uh
Some dickhead surveyors
made a minor cock up.
It's nothing really.
Just a bit of confusion.
Your monstrosity of a stadium
is going to be 200m
from our concert hall.
This may be distressing news
for you, David,
but more people want to see
football being played than Brahms.
Captions by Red Bee Media.
Copyright Australian
Broadcasting Corporation