What a Lad rova | James Marshall

Sam Whitelock is one of the all-time greats of rugby! In this episode he discusses his recent decision to retire from Rugby and future plans. The man who is the most capped All Black ever has had an incredible career which was so cool to go through with him. You will be sure to learn plenty in this one!

I loved hearing around Sam's mindset to the game, his consistency to perform in some of the biggest games has been special to witness. Also his leadership is something that has really stood out for anyone who has played with him and when you hear the detail he would go to to make sure everyone was on, you can see why that part of his game is so well respected.

As you'll hear Sam is such a champion lad and you will realise why he has had so much success in his career.

Chapters

00:00- Introduction and Retirement Announcement

02:31- The Decision to Retire

07:47- Life After Rugby and Future Plans

10:00- The Challenges of Life After Rugby

11:11- The Influence of Family and Multiple Sports

24:49- Joining Canterbury and Playing with Legends

30:04- Transitioning to Canterbury and Making an Impact

31:09- Introduction to Canterbury Rugby

33:18- Journey to Becoming an All Black

41:08- Challenges of the Earthquakes and the Rugby World Cup

45:08- Captaining the Crusaders

55:17- Leadership and Developing Future Leaders

01:03:47- Transition to Japan and New Challenges

01:08:18- Memorable Games

01:08:22- The Importance of Family Support and Enjoying the Journey

01:11:15- From Good to Great: Consistency and Continuous Improvement

01:13:29- Questions

01:31:53- Setting Goals and Celebrating Achievements
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Dexter Dunn is one of the greatest Harness Drivers ever, period. His strike rate since he started out as a teenager speaks for itself. He was NZ's leading driver for 10 years straight, winning almost every big race there is to win in Australasia. He then moved over to America where he has quickly becoming the leading driver in America and the world winning over 50 Million in stakes!

In this episode you will hear an incredible insight into the life of a world leading reinsman, from how hectic his schedule is having up to 8 meetings a week to handling the aftermath of a bad drive with online abuse being a big part of it. You'll also hear the genuine love and care that he has for the horses with a pretty cool story about the horse Christen Me who is still with him today.

I really enjoyed this one, although a completely different sport there are so many similarities between harness driving and almost every other sport. Dexters mindset and competitiveness are what help him be so successful as well as some incredibly soft hands. As you will hear he is also just a massive lad, he loves a beer, loves his footy and can tell a yarn! 

 
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Will Jordan is one of those rugby players who is just a joy to watch. He's fast, he's got all the skills and of course he scores plenty of tries. His strike rate speaks for itself, having scored 31 tries in 31 games for the All Blacks at international level and he's quickly approaching 100 if to add on his Tasman Mako and Crusader ones as well.

However as we always hear on these episodes, the rugby professional rugby career is not just all good fun and scoring tries there are always ups and downs to go through with Will himself having had a tough run of late. Last year he suffered an unusual injury which had no time frame and left him struggling in a race against the clock to get back in time for the RWC. This year before the season has even started he's had to go under the knife on his shoulder which has ruled him out for the Super Rugby season.

It was awesome to chat to Will about how he has handled some of these harder points in his career, as well as all the incredible things he has done recently including a very strong Rugby World Cup. As you'll hear, Will is one of the easiest guys to have a conversation with, he has a great mind for the game and is just an all round champion lad!
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What a Lad is a podcast by James Marshall who talks to some of the biggest names and best lads on the planet.
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Matt Todd is one of the most understated Canterbury, Crusader and All Black legend there is! A man who just went about his work consistently every week racking up 20+ tackles, missing none and doing it all again the following week! There’s not many tougher than the great Matt Todd!

Some highlights in this episode were…

How much passion he has for the game from a youngster up until now.

What he lacked in natural ability he made up for with hard work and the ability to keep turning up.

Why he never saw Richie McCaw as a road block for his career more an opportunity.

How he became the Crusaders defence coach a year after playing.

Whether he thinks he could throw the boots on for the Crusaders this year?

And heaps more, including some classic questions from some of you.

After this episode I’m sure you will appreciate why there is so much respect for the great man down here. Tough, hard working and enjoys a good time which means he is of course a massive lad! An honour to get him on the podcast, I hope you enjoy the episode.
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Mulls & John from The Sporting Rumble and Jimmy Marshall from What a Lad have joined forces to bring you the the perfect poddy to get fizzed up for Super Rugby Pacific.

On the show we preview the 6 kiwi teams (including Moana Pasifika), look at the Coaches, All Blacks Bolters, who'd you live in a tent with on a deserted island, and who will win Super Rugby Pacific? 

Follow The Sporting Rumble here: https://bit.ly/4bjy96U

Follow What A Lad here: https://bit.ly/3SFcJsi
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