Sportzfan Radio

We spoke with Shaun Ryan, former AFL umpire, shortly after he retired at the conclusion of the 2020 season after 17 years, 350 games and 8 Grand Finals. A wide ranging discussion with the panel from how he started in umpiring through to the difficulty in interpreting rule changes.

We spoke with golf professional and coach, Sandy Jamieson. Sandy is the former pro at Commonwealth Golf Club who left the world of private golf clubs to start up One Club Golf at public courses. He says golf is not a difficult game.

The panel spoke with rower Jack Kelly, a winner at the Australian National Championships on a number of occasions and a semi finalist at the Henley Royal Regatta. He says most of the Australian rowers today are mid 20's and to be successful you need to understand that it is a full time job and you can't do anything else.

When we spoke with Aleksandra she was a Ph D student in Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University in Perth. Aleksandra or Ola for short was involved in a Concussion Recovery study (CREST) and joined the panel to talk about the effects of mild traumatic brain injury or, as it is more commonly known, concussion.

Dane Roy was working as an ice cream sales representative when he won an AFL longest kick competition. That win catapulted Dane into US College football as a punter with the University of Houston. Dane played 50 games for the Cougars, won American Athletic Conference first team honours in 2019 and was a finalist in the prestigious Ray Guy award in the same year.

Luke came through the Penrith junior pathway and played over 350 games of rugby league for the Penrith Panthers, NSW State of Origin, Australian Kangaroos and finished his career with the Cronulla Sharks. He tasted success playing in premiership teams with both the Panthers and Sharks. He now uses his knowledge of the game in commentary for the ABC.

In part 2 of the discussion with Axel, we talk about how he got his role of Merumeru in Star Wars and the sliding doors moment when he had to make the choice between basketball and a career on the silver screen.

Sportzfan Radio's rugby league expert, Paul Dalligan previews the 2022 NRL season and predicts the end of season finishing places from 16-1. In 2021 he picked 7 out of the top 8 correctly and 3 of 4 preliminary finalists. Can he beat that record this year?

Axel Dench talks with the Professor about how he started his basketball career, being a member of the 1999 Gonzaga college basketball team that made the 'Elite Eight' at the NCAA championships, being selected as rookie of the year in the NBL in 2001 and he was a member of the Illawarra Hawks that were NBL champions in the same year. Perhaps he is better known as Wookie chieftain, Merumeru in the Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith.

The Professor, the Judge, Coutta and Paul Dalligan talk about the problems that face the AFLW with the gap between the good teams and the not so good and how those problems will be magnified when four new teams are admitted to the competition before the start of next season.

In part 2, we talk with Cameron about a Tasmanian AFL side, the fight to save Richmond FC, how Fitzroy would have survived under today's AFL administration and what makes a good coach.

Cameron Schwab speaks with the authority of having been the CEO at three different AFL clubs. Aside from his experience as a senior manager in sport, he is also a leadership mentor, writer and artist. In this episode we cover the draft, free agency, draft compensation, destination clubs and expansion clubs including Tasmania.

Amy has been playing baseball since she was 12 and played centre field for the Australian Emeralds from 2002 until 2014. She won silver (2010) and bronze medals (2014) at the Women's World Cup and represented Victoria over a period of 12 years winning 7 national titles. Her baseball journey started with the Kissing Point Angels.

After 13 years as the CEO of World Vision, Tim Costello is now a spokesperson for the Alliance for Gambling Reform. In this episode he talks about gambling developing to the extent that it has become an addiction and a public health issue.

Grant Thomas, the former St Kilda Football Club coach, shares his insights on how the club can make significant strides towards improvement. He emphasizes the need for a clear and cohesive long-term vision, stressing that the club’s leadership must be aligned in their approach. Thomas also highlights the importance of developing young talent and ensuring they are properly integrated into the senior team. Additionally, he talks about the need for a strong, competitive culture and the benefits of building a more resilient team that can handle pressure. His message is a call for both strategic planning and a focus on player development to achieve sustainable success for St Kilda in the future. Grant is well placed to comment having played 72 games for the club and coached St Kilda from 2001 until 2006. He has also written for the Age, appeared on SEN and was part of the Footy Classified panel on channel 9.You can learn more at sportzfanradio.com or on twitter @SportzfanRadio#AFL #GrantThomas #StKildaFC #Saints #aussierules #sporztafnradio #sports