"Just keep an open mind. Whatever you think is cool at the time, just wear it, and wear it confidently. If you're confident in what you're wearing, you can pull anything off."

There is nowhere Chops would rather be for this than Northcote Rugby Club. The best rugby club in the North Harbour region, as he will tell you without hesitation, and the kind of place that says something about who he is before he has said a word. It is his first Father's Day and he is feeling it. Excited, a little overwhelmed by the questions, and already counting down to the whānau dinner that caps the evening off. His youngest brother has just become a dad too, which means this particular Father's Day carries something extra. Two brothers, a new generation, and a family table that is going to be full.

Fatherhood, he is quick to say, is one of those things that resists explanation until you are actually inside it. His mates who are fathers all told him the same thing and he did not fully believe them until it happened.

"You can't really explain what it's like until you're in it. But the sleepless nights are all worth it, bro. That's for sure."