TRANSCRIPT: Honey Badger's family tragedy

MELISSA DOYLE: He's one of our most original and lovable sporting heroes, very funny and incredibly talented. The colourful antics and gifted ability of Nick Cummins on the rugby union field saw him adopt his very own nickname and personal mascot, the irrepressible and fearless honey badger. But no sooner had he hit the top playing for the Wallabies - he bailed. He decided he had to go overseas for a bigger pay packet to help his incurably sick dad and two siblings with a crippling lung condition. Tonight, the Honey Badger as you've never seen him before, struggling with emotion, occasionally lost for words, as he and his dad and brothers travel the wild Kimberley, making the very best of what they're running out of - time together. Guest reporter Simon Reeve was part of the pack.

NICK CUMMINS: Here we are on the burst in the beautiful Kimberley with Dad, Joe and Luke. Time to kick the tyre and light the fires. Yoo!

COLDPLAY:# You make me feel # Like I'm alive again... #

SIMON REEVE: We're with a wild man of Australian sport on our way to one very wild and wonderful place. Why the Kimberley for this adventure?

NICK CUMMINS: I thought, you know, how good to get the family up there? It's such a remote place, untouched.

SIMON REEVE: Get everyone up here and experience something together that, you know, I suppose we can carry on in... ..in a sort of important time, you know?

SIMON REEVE: The family trip ahead may well be one of the most important times in Nick Cummins's life. One of his brothers, Joe, has an illness that makes life a daily struggle.

MARK CUMMINS: Just insane. I've never seen anything like this in my whole life.
And Nick's dad, Mark, has a disease that means life will be over well before time. Just amazing. I went and sat in the specialist's surgery and he spoke to me and he said, "Mark, I've got some bad news for you." And I said, "Oh, yeah? What's the go?" I was told that I had prostate cancer...and then he told me that it was incurable. It was terminal cancer.
It had spread to my hip and would continue to spread, and there was nothing they could do about it. My first thought was, "How am I gonna tell the kids? "How am I gonna do this, you know?"

NICK CUMMINS: How good is that?

MARK CUMMINS: Oh, wow! A bit chilly down the bottom. Oh, beautiful!

SIMON REEVE: You two are very close, aren't you?

NICK: I think a lot more now, yeah, since the call. It's sad that it takes something
like this for it to happen, but...we wait...we wait so long until it's too late, and then, uh...then they can be gone, you know?

MARK: If the chance comes to tell one of your kids that you love them, just do it, because you'll never be at this point again in your life, and if it's gone, if the opportunity
goes, you'll never get it back.

SIMON REEVE: For Nick, the wisecracker of Australian rugby, the bloke we know as the Honey Badger, this will be a journey of love and discovery, and for once, words may Be difficult to find.

NICK: You've got to. You've got to do it. You've just got to do it before it's too late. But it takes something like thi and then here we are. And I remember the first time I gave Dad, like, a proper hug, you know? And, uh...that was big.

MARK: Yeah, you know, spending time with you, with the boys, it's just every father's dream, just to be able to sit here, to talk, to be where we are in this beautiful place. Mate, I'm overwhelmed. It really is great. I want to thank you for.. you know, approaching people to sort this out and doing what you did. I mean, a lot of people wouldn't, and thanks very much.

NICK: You old shagger! (BOTH LAUGH) How good, eh? Plenty more to come.

MARK: Too good, mate. Yep.

VOICEOVER: The African honey badger is fierce and ruthless by nature.

SIMON REEVE: How did you get the nickname 'the Honey Badger'?

NICK: I'd spend a bit of time on Animal Planet and all that sort of gear, and I bloody came across this little mongrel. Just the way it approached life, I thought, "That's outstanding."

VOICEOVER: A honey badger seems to have found a midnight snack in a big, juicy puff adder.

NICK: They run 40k a day. They bloody... They attack the most venomous animals in the world and eat them, and then when they get bitten, which they're not immune to, they pass out for a good few hours and then wake Up and continue eating. I suppose taking that into rugby is something I wanted to do. You know, I wanted to call moves
after it, you know, in the back line, and things like that.

COMMENTATOR: Ashley-Cooper. Folau. Great ball, and a great finish
from Nick Cummins! The Honey Badger has a bit of meat!

SIMON REEVE: Is there a separation between Nick Cummins and the Badger?

NICK: (MONTAGE OF GRABS) No, absolutely not. It's... The whole Badger thing, it's a genuine thing. It's something you grow up with, something... It's the chat I never wanna lose, because I believe it's who we are. Hearing from the crowds that you're as tough as woodpecker lips… I was busier than a one-armed bricklayer in Baghdad…. Bloody caught it, off like a bride's nightie… Meaty, corner. Celebrations.com. It's bloody outstanding.... People ask about the Badgerisms, whatever it is they bloody call it. They're not...they're not mine. They're...they're Australia's… You've gotta be like a midget in a urinal - on your toes…. You know, I just bloody...I just throw 'em at 'em, you know, sometimes, 'cause sometimes it's the best way to explain something… If I end up getting a gig, mate, I'll be going off like a cut snake… People love it, and I don't know why they don't get on board and we'll bring it back… When we were back in our line here, we were digging like, bloody..like the boys in the trenches in Gallipoli there… There's really no-one else like him in Australian sport….Sweating like a gypsy with a mortgage, actually, when he got up after scoring that try.

VOICEOVER: As gifted with the ball...

COMMENTATOR: The Honey Badger!

VOICEOVER...as he is with the gab.

NICK: If I was to "get on the dog and bone, book a left jab to the billabong, "bend the elbow with a few pigs' ears "and chew a bit of fat with a couple of china plates, what would I be saying to you? This is crucial. Go! Which bit don't you get? Dylan?

DYLAN: Just all of it.

SIMON: Nick flew to the top of his game like a rat up a drainpipe. So when you're in the right spot at the right time, that ball comes to you and the line is open, tell us what that feeling is like. (CHUCKLES)

NICK: Yeah, jeez, occasion to pin your ears back and take no prisoners.

SIMON: From schoolboy rugby...

COMMENTATOR: Nick Cummins.

SIMON: ..to a standout on the Rugby Sevens circuit.

COMMENTATOR: And he's bounced through a gap, and they can't catch him!

NICK: The wind picks up behind you and just bloody pushes you through it, you know, and gives you the gas. And it also gives you that bit of adrenaline too, Where you can feel like you could do anything.

SIMON: Then the star signing for WA's Western Force.

COMMENTATOR: Cummins! It's his first ever try in Super Rugby.

NICK: At the end, they were like that kid that fell out of the tree, you know? He just wasn't in it.

CROWD: # Of beauty rich and rare... #

SIMON: And finally, our national team, the Wallabies.

COMMENTATOR: He's grabbed it. It's Cummins! Cummins is going to score
for Australia with a fantastic try. And that's Australian rugby as we know it!

NICK: It's bloody special, and every cell in your body just does not want to let it down.
So you do special things.

COMMENTATOR: Cummins back on the inside! He can't do a thing wrong! Another meat pie!

SIMON: He could do anything. And at the height of his powers, Nick did something extraordinary. He quit Australian rugby.

REPORTER: Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was first informed by the media and it came as a shock.

MICHAEL HOOPER: Has he?

REPORTER: Yeah.

MICHAEL HOOPER: OK, yeah. So, I just found out. Yeah, I mean, he's a quality bloke, first and foremost, and then, you know, a really good player on the back of that. So, yeah, it's gonna be a big shame.

SIMON: Rugby, family. Who wins?

NICK: Family's number one. Just...that's flat-out it. And I think a lot of people, when they're put in a certain position, will come to that conclusion, and you'll just do... you'll just do whatever.

SIMON: Mark Cummins, the rock at the centre of a big, rambling family, had received his diagnosis of prostate cancer. And with one daughter, Lizzy, and another son, Joe, suffering cystic fibrosis, the financial pressure went through the roof. So Nick stepped in.
He'd support them all by playing overseas for much more than he could earn in Australia.

MARK: When I quizzed him on it, I said, "Why, mate? Why do this?" And he said, "I want to find something to get you well "and I want to find something to get Lizzy and Joe well." And I said, "Mate, we don't need it We're cool. We can do this." He says, "No way." He said, "It'd be wrong of me, wrong of me, "to take the personal joy, the personal glory, to be the big man "when I could go over there, make a fair bit of loot, "drop it into an account, "and if there's a cure or if something comes up overseas, "hell - away you go. "Get over there and get it done. "That's far more important than me playing for the Wallabies."

SIMON: So, the Honey Badger went to Japan.

NICK: Konnichiwa. Coca-Cola Red Sparks no Nick Cummins desu... I bloody got over there and did my best for a couple of seasons in Japan. It was bloody... I made it a good time. (ALL CHEER)… If in doubt, go balls out!... Fairly lonely at times and you can't speak to many people over there.

MARK: I think he had little bit of trouble communicating at first. A LOT of trouble communicating at first. But, you know, Nick's pretty good. He'll fit in anywhere. He'll do anything, you know? And he was tonguing for a feed, so he learned some words. I mean, 'squawker' wasn't gonna give him a chicken over there, so he had to learn the lingopretty quick. And he did, you know, and he loved it.

NICK: The Honey Badger!

SIMON: And the money he'd make would help his family get through this toughest of times.

MARK: He would do anything. And he said that to me. "You know, Dad, I'll do anything
for you and anything for the kids." He just straight out... That's how it is. And it's not an empty promise. It's him.

NICK: Crushed up in Japan there in the high-rise shoebox, doing my best, having my bloody noodles and the whole bit. Yeah, it was bloody freezing cold outside, snowing, and I've got to get ready for training. It was one of those things - I was just, like, "You know what? "I need to get out to Australia, I need to get back to it, you know?" And somewhere like the Top End is something I've always wanted to do. I love having a great time. I like bloody having a laugh. Clearly not the full bucket of chicken. The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree here as well. (LAUGHS)

MARK: Hey! You little beauty! Crackerjack.

NICK: I love having a great time. I love bloody having a laugh,
chewing the fat... Whoo! ..telling lies, the whole bit. Lies that are obviously white lies.
Dad, is this what you mean by "all the gear, no idea"?

MARK: That's exactly what I mean.Come on. We're on. We're onto this.

NICK: That's what livin' is. And when you do it in the right company with the, you know, right relations and you just... it just makes life that bit easier.

SONG: # Lady, running down to the riptide... #

SIMON REEVE: The great Cummins Boys' Own adventure has arrived at Lake Argyle in the eastern Kimberley. There's dad Mark, stricken with terminal prostate cancer, and Joe, battling cystic fibrosis. They're here with Luke and the family's famous son, Nick, and they've got their eyes on this dizzying cliff. (SMACK!) (LAUGHTER) And Nick, the Honey Badger, is about to do what he's done all his life - throw himself into it.

SONG: # And she's been living on the highest shelf... #

SIMON: You described him as "a big unit when he was a baby. (CHUCKLES)

MARK: Mate, he was... He was massive. Massive is the word. I mean, you couldn't have gone over a weighbridge with him, he was that big. Yeah, yeah, I bloody hit the earth
at a fair rate. A 10-pounder. I'm sure there's bigger. But, yeah, no, I could put back a bit of tucker. I was hard in the tooth. Yeah. (LAUGHS) Yeah. And, uh, I suppose not much has changed.

SIMON: So, the old GoPro's become a bit of a part of you now, hasn't it? I mean, it goes with you everywhere.

NICK: Bloody oath…. Clearly...not cooked like a chicken. Oh, it's too late now!

MAN: (CHUCKLES) Oh, no.

NICK: To hit the water at Mach 2, it bloody... I got a bloody little enema there for free. (LAUGHS) Which was a beauty…. Oh, it's too late now!... Straight up there, tickling my tonsils. It just went right up... Yeah, she was impact. It was a solid impact. (LAUGHS)

SIMON: I think that we can see that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree here as well.
Would that be a fair description?

MARK: Look, if people suggested that I was something like Nick, um, or that Nick had taken after me. look, I'd be pretty proud of that, yeah. Nick, have you ever had to
ring the old man and say, "Dad, I got nothin'. Give me a line"?

NICK: Um... Yeah, actually. There wasa bloody...there was an ad…Holy tomorrow, fellas. How good are these Tradies?... I was rattling a few off and I thought to myself,
"My old man's gotta have a cracker for this exact scenario." They're a snazzy-lookin' tackle box to house your rod and reel. He'd have a beauty. Tradie underwear keeps your set-up intact. Movement, no. Secure, yes… And he bloody sent something through. And obviously, about 90%, I'd go, "Well, that's probably not acceptable. "But that one definitely will be legit… Fair dinkum, you'd have to be blind as a welder's dog
if you can't see that other grunters look like the south end of a northbound wombat.
You deliver it and you can see the whole bloody... ..all the roosters carrying on
in the bloody back room.I just like 'em.

SIMON: I reckon I left my rod and reel in Lake Argyle after that jump off the cliff.
(LAUGHS) I'm finding out now! (LAUGHS)

NICK: Three, two, one! Go!

WOMAN: (CHEERING) That was perfect!

NICK: With your tackle, I don't know what you'd be catching anyway. But, uh... (LAUGHS) But yeah, no, she was a fair hop, wasn't it?

SIMON: (LAUGHS) It's a fair jump! Won't be doing that againin a hurry.

NICK: No, no, no.

SIMON: Oh, dear.

MARK: There's nothing...nothing pretentious about Nick. Nick is who he is. If he's got to say something, he'll say it. And I remember him saying to me once that the truth is the easiest thing, because you haven't got to remember what story you told. (CHUCKLES)

SIMON: And the truth now is that family has never been a bigger focus.

NICK: It's a warm day. Gonna duck in for a bit of a cool off.

SIMON: And as the Cummins like to say...

NICK: Killing it.

SIMON:..it's a big unit.

NICK: Have a go at the size of this, but.

SIMON: He's one of eight. You are prolific.

MARK: (CHUCKLES) Well, we've got a TV now, so everything's cool. Uh...but, yeah, look, big families were the normal thing in those days, you know? I think that having a big family, you don't get too pretentious about things. You don't get worried about
the little things, you know? You just keep going.

SIMON: You must be very proud of all of your kids.

MARK: I am. And they've all achieved in a lot of ways. And even Joe and Liz,
who've been crook, and are crook, the way they face the battle they've got to face, it just fills you with pride.

BROTHER: How good's this? (LAUGHS)

SIMON: Younger sister Lizzie and Joe suffer cystic fibrosis, a debilitating and incurable
lung condition. Joe's with us on this adventure, and you can see he's an inspiration for Nick.

NICK: I feel like he's Master Yoda off Star Wars. You know that little wise bugger? He just knows. He just...he gets it. And even in the tone of his voice, it's like he's been through a thousand wars already. He has. He has. And serious ones. Close one. And he's got a fighting spirit that I would like to have. Mmm. He's a...he's a good kids

SIMON: But it's the bond with the old man that's in sharp focus here. His prostate cancer has shocked the family to the core and brought them closer together.

MARK: That's a bit of tucker for tonight. Might get a spoonful each.

MAN: That's a keeper.

MARK: We'd better get another one, eh? (CHUCKLES) Another couple of years. That's what they say. But, look, if I go down, I'm gonna go down standing up. I'm not gonna just chuck it in. One day, it's gonna get me, and whether it be in a couple of years, whether it be in five, six, ten years, I don't know. But I'm determined that whatever I've got left are gonna be the best years I've ever had, not just for me but for my whole family.

SIMON: There's stuff that you want to talk to these three boys about up here, isn't there?

MARK: Yeah. Yeah, I just want to reinforce
how I'd like them to be, what I'd like them to do and how I'd like them to care
for each other when I'm not here. I know how much you care for each other. I know what you've done for each other. And I know what you'll continue to do for each other.

NICK: Yeah. We'll, um... ..lead by example and we'll continue the process.

MARK: Yeah. Well, you've always beeN a generous man, Nick. And you've always looked after us and, you know, you've always done everything you can do. (CLEARS THROAT) I know what you've done with regards to Lizzie and Joe for the future, and I understand that, and I really appreciate it. You're a man of your word, so...so it's good enough for me and it makes me feel very relieved.

(REEL WHIRRS)

NICK: Old boy reelin' in a monster… I...I can tell you, it takes a big set of cags to stand in front, like, regardless of your environment and who's watching, who's around, and just flat out look at them and go, bang, "I love you, mate. "You've been here for me
in all these times," you know. Give him a big hug. He's your old man. Why is it so hard, you know?

SONG # So, come on, come on, I'm ready now # I got the feeling, honey, like I'm ready to roll... #

NICK: (CHUCKLES) You old shagger. (LAUGHS) How good, eh? Plenty more to come.

MARK: Too good, mate. Yeah. All good.

MELISSA DOYLE: Simon Reeve reporting. And thanks to WA Tourism for helping make that trip so enjoyable for Nick and his family. He's joined the Australian Rugby Sevens squad and hopes to compete with them at the Rio Olympics in August.