GOLD DIGGER: The search for Australian rugby
42 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingA podcast that investigates the mysterious decline of Australian rugby union and a fan who made a documentary that took him through a journey into the void to pick up the pieces of Australian rugby to find a path forward to fortune and glory.
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Episodes
EPISODE 39: The year we didn’t need to have + Announcements
December 20, 2023 08:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MB2023 can probably get in the bin. Okay, it wasn’t all bad. Some of us had a great trip to France and it’s great if you follow 7s rugby, but otherwise, it’s been tough. Joining Matt to have a quick review of the year and where to next for Australian rugby is Blake from the Rugby Report Card with a slice of umbrage but plenty of strong, honest views. We talk about the Eddie show, Hamish McLennan vs the Rebel Alliance but also look at the positives, our women’s 7s, the opportunities for buildin...
EPISODE 38: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Eddie Jones
January 16, 2023 23:00 - 1 hour - 43 MBIt was an interview that was months in the making. Then he was sacked but still the opportunity was there. At the time of recording in early January 2023 he was a former Wallaby coach and at the time of publishing he is now the current Wallaby coach. Eddie Jones, a man who needs no introduction to Australian rugby fans. We dig into his origins at Matraville High playing with the Ellas, his coaching journey, the rise of Japan and how he changed their mindset, the evolving professional player...
EPISODE 37: Since when do we lose to Italy?!
November 12, 2022 22:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBSince when do we lose to Italy? Another historical Wallaby loss surely requires a response and with a little wine in hand, Matt decides to give it a go. Not much here except a good old fashioned cathartic whine about the bleeding obvious. We dwell on the Italian game, touch on some points around the business of rugby and also raise a glass to the Black Ferns victory and why that could matter for Australian rugby. Pour yourself a strong drink and dig in!
EPISODE 36: Q and A with Director and DOP
October 08, 2022 19:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MBWe made the call and many of you answered! A short but sharp Q and A session with writer/director Matt Durrant and Director of Photography Majdi Slaibi on the newly released feature documentary Gold Digger: The search for Australian Rugby. Some background on how the film came together, technical aspects of making it, more anecdotes from the production and the questions from the many and many listeners out there! If you're in Australia, you can now watch the film On Demand via Fox Docos whic...
EPISODE 35: Aussie film release 15th September 2022!
September 13, 2022 08:00 - 36 minutes - 25.4 MBFinally, the documentary we've been waiting to share with Australian audiences will get a local release this Thursday the 15th September 2022 on the day of the Bledisloe Test Match in Melbourne. The film will be screened on Fox Docos via Foxtel and Binge. Director Matt Durrant and cinematographer and co-producer Majdi Slaibi from Thiqa Media share a few stories of how the film started almost 3 years ago and the journey of getting it from concept to broadcast. A battler story of two guys wit...
EPISODE 34: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Glen Ella
July 22, 2022 22:00 - 1 hour - 47.6 MBThe Ella brothers are synonymous with Australian rugby and especially the era in which the Wallabies and the "running rugby" style took over the rugby world. Glen Ella, the twin of Mark and older brother of Gary, lived and played through it all from that Invincible Schoolboy Tour of 1977/78 to the dominant Galloping Greens of Randwick in the 80s and then the highest honour of playing for the Wallabies with his brothers. We talk to Glen about his thoughts on the state of rugby now in Austra...
EPISODE 33: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Simon Strachan of GAINLINE Analytics
June 28, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBEddie Jones talks about it, Scott Robertson swears by it and cohesion has certainly been a frequently mentioned topic across all sports lately, but GAINLINE Analytics is a company that has devoted itself to using cohesion to search for that elusive answer of what makes teams successful. With the success of our previous episodes "The C Word", we talk to the other half of GAINLINE Analytics founding partnership, Simon Strachan. Simon is also a former Wallabies performance video analyst and sch...
EPISODE 32: Show me the money!
June 07, 2022 19:00 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBWe're back after a bit of a break to pull out our calculators and dig into the financial inner workings of the business of rugby. Following Rugby Australia's announcement of a $4.5M loss in the last financial year, the prospect looks more positive with the news that Australia will host the Rugby World Cups in 2027 and 2029, along with a lucrative British and Irish Lions tour down under in 2025. To help us make sense of it all, we speak to Dr David Bond, a qualified accountant and professor f...
UPDATE: Some film news!
April 11, 2022 00:00 - 6 minutes - 4.62 MBNot strictly an episode but an update on the latest exciting news that our documentary feature film Gold Digger: The search for Australian rugby is going to be released this coming week in South Africa on Saturday the 16th April 2022 on SABC2! The reason for the release in South Africa and not Australia is explained by Matt and rest assured the pending release in Australia and other countries later this year will be made shortly. More podcast episodes to come so stay tuned and keep on digg...
EPISODE 31: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Stuart Lancaster
March 30, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 51.8 MBWe've talked cohesion in the past and you just can't mention the word without mentioning the most cohesive professional rugby club in the world right now, Leinster Rugby. So who better than Leinster's current senior coach and former England head coach Stuart Lancaster to come on to the pod and talk to us about the success of the Leinster system, how Ireland is benefitting right now from it, his career pathway through the English RFU coaching system, the trials and tribulations of being Engla...
EPISODE 30: The C Word - Part II
March 11, 2022 22:00 - 1 hour - 60.4 MBWe continue to dive down the cohesion mine but instead of a historical interview, this time we get to have another candid interview with Ben Darwin as he travels through London in March 2022! Ben and Matt sit down and discuss the many questions and queries posed by the findings in Part 1 as well as respond to the explanation video that was released this week on Youtube detailing the rise and decline of Australian Rugby Union. We go through what Australian rugby needs to grapple with to impr...
EPISODE 29: The C Word - Part I
February 15, 2022 18:00 - 1 hour - 47.9 MBIt's a word spoken about in sporting terms by players, coaches and pundits alike but never has "cohesion" been so articulated and detailed by none other than a former Wallaby in Ben Darwin. Along with his business partner, former Wallaby video analyst Simon Strachan, they have founded an Australian business called GAINLINE Analytics that consults to both sporting teams and the commercial business sector. Focusing on cohesion analytics and developing sophisticated and data driven metrics such...
EPISODE 28: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Sir Clive Woodward
February 02, 2022 22:00 - 49 minutes - 33.9 MBWelcome back for 2022 and we're giving a nod to the pending Six Nations series by travelling north and interviewing rugby royalty in the form of Sir Clive Woodward, the former England and British and Irish Lions player and coach...and of course that little thing that happened in Sydney back in 2003. We tackle the politics of being England head coach, the difficulties of coaching the Lions and we dive into Clive's time when he was living in Manly in the 1980s and playing for the Marlins again...
EPISODE 27: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Ollie Hoskins
December 07, 2021 21:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBOne of the magical stories of the recent Wallaby Spring tour, tighthead prop Ollie Hoskins was playing Dungeons and Dragons one minute and then the next, he was being summoned to the Wallaby training camp to debut against England at Twickenham 6 days later. Matt had the opportunity and privilege to sit down with Ollie in London and chat over a coffee about his journey from junior rugby in Perth, getting his first professional opportunity with the Western Force, learning the front row craft a...
EPISODE 26: The tale of the Western Force
December 01, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 59.2 MBA historic new expansion that turned into one of Australian rugby’s most bitter civil wars, the Western Force is a franchise that has ridden the rollercoaster of excitement and devastation. This is an episode that looks at how the team came into existence, how Australian rugby and Super Rugby evolved over that time, the inside story of the controversial axing of the team and how the Force managed to rise again from the ashes. With first hand interviews with former ARU Board director and WA ...
EPISODE 25: Wallaby Therapy Session
November 21, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 76.6 MBIt's been one of those weeks, hell months, if you're a Wallaby fan. Within hours of that devastating loss in Cardiff to Wales we pour a glass of whiskey, press record and let it all out. The Welsh loss, the TMO, the Spring Tour, the Giteau Law, 2021, everything. We ask how the Wallabies have performed, where do we want to see them go from here and what questions the administration has to start answering. To help us out we talk with our very own rugby agony aunt Mitch "Rev" Evans from the Ru...
Episode 24: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Sera Naiqama
October 19, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 51.7 MBDividing her time between training in the Wallaroos squad, being a STAN Sports pundit, ABC Sports podcaster and public speaker, Sera Naiqama is one of the busier rugby personalities going around. She drops in for a quick chat to dissect Australian rugby as we experience that post domestic season lull before the Spring Tour/Autumn Internationals commence! We discuss the difficulties the Wallaroos are facing having played no games in 2 years and being a year out from the World Cup in New Zea...
EPISODE 24: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Sera Naiqama
October 19, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 51.7 MBDividing her time between training in the Wallaroos squad, being a STAN Sports pundit, ABC Sports podcaster and public speaker, Sera Naiqama is one of the busier rugby personalities going around. She drops in for a quick chat to dissect Australian rugby as we experience that post domestic season lull before the Spring Tour/Autumn Internationals commence! We discuss the difficulties the Wallaroos are facing having played no games in 2 years and being a year out from the World Cup in New Zea...
EPISODE 23: Wallabies v Springboks
September 28, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBThe Wallabies and Springboks continue to have a decorated rivalry with the men in gold taking the latest chocolates over the reigning World Champions. But when it comes to peaks and troughs, both Australia and South Africa have many parallels in terms of controversy, challenges and dire patches in performance. To unpack this we speak with Thala Msutu from the South African rugby website and soon-to-be podcast “Rugby Bits” and cover the recent games between the Wallabies and Boks in Queensl...
EPISODE 22: The Wallaby school
August 03, 2021 21:00 - 1 hour - 52.7 MBImagine having Toutai Kefu teach you the ins and outs of back row play, or having Elton Flatley give you a personal kicking course, or perhaps a one on one exclusive from George Smith on how to jackal at a ruck? Welcome to Wallaby school and two different academies that are designed to pass knowledge from some of Australia's best and most experienced players to the emerging youth coming through. Firstly we speak with All Black legend Murray Mexted about how he set up IRANZ (International Ru...
EPISODE 21: Rise of the Highlanders
June 28, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 48.6 MBFrom rugby battlers to reigning Shute Shield Premiers, the Gordon Highlanders have a long history of achievement but a recent one of survival and reinvention. We talk to club stalwart and Gordon rugby life member Peter Sherwood about how the club went from being on the brink of insolvency and struggling for numbers to now being one of Sydney club rugbys power houses. Along the way we get a history lesson, discuss the current controversy around the SRUs plans to impose new conditions that mi...
EPISODE 20: Perilous in Penrith
June 07, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 39.5 MBThe “grassroots”, the beating heart and soul of our game where rugby is often discovered, life long friendships formed and even future Wallabies are discovered. Well in Western Sydney the grassroots are being dried out and left to be paved over with countless other sports. Right in the middle of this is Penrith and the many historic clubs and rugby union diehards who are powerless to the pain impacted upon their existence due to rugby’s waning popularity in the area. We talk to Adam Fletche...
EPISODE 19: Where are the Waratahs?
May 30, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 45 MBIt’s the biggest rugby market in Australia, with the most clubs and players yet it’s currently the lowest ranked rugby franchise in Super Rugby AU. Just what has happened to the Waratahs and NSW rugby since the giddy height of that Super Rugby championship of 2014? We talk to former cop and Manly, Waratah and Wallaby die-hard Carrick Ryan about the blooding of the 2021 Waratahs, the lost identity of NSW rugby, the struggle to make the Shute Shield that next level competition and what change...
EPISODE 18: The Golden Geese
May 11, 2021 22:00 - 48 minutes - 33.6 MBThe Brumbies and the Reds, two powerhouses of Australian rugby both historically and right now in the wake of the 2021 Super Rugby AU final. But why is that so? What made these two teams so dominant back in the 1990s and what was that correlation with the Wallaby success of the Golden Era? We speak for the first time with foundation Brumby and former Wallaby Rod Kafer about how the ACT became a hotbed for excellence that made the Brumbies instantly successful. We also hear from their first ...
EPISODE 17: The Rugby Royal Rumble
May 02, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 62.8 MBIt’s grand final week of Super Rugby AU, and a special podcast episode sees a four way dance between Ando from Pick and Drive Rugby, Mitch from Rugby Fixation, Nelson from Draft Rugby and yours truly. An Australian rugby podcast "Royal Rumble" where we review the season so far, examine the semi-final in Canberra and make our predictions for the slobber knocker of a grand final in Brisbane this week between the in form Reds and the reigning champions, the Brumbies. We also talk about the cha...
EPISODE 16: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Dan Leo
April 29, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBSamoan international test rugby player, welfare advocate and now filmmaker Dan Leo never took any prisoners on the field and isn't afraid to hold back when it comes to speaking out. His debut film "Oceans Apart: Greed, Betrayal and Pacific Island Rugby" shone a light in 2020 on the darker side of rugby and pitted Dan directly at odds with some of the game's more influential bodies. He joins the pod to talk about the film, the impact it has had and the ongoing role he plays as the director of...
EPISODE 15: Union vs League
April 01, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 52.4 MBIt's the age old question in Australian football, rugby union or rugby league? To help us navigate this we are joined by actor and raconteur Ben Wood whose voice will also be known to Sydney listeners as the Waratahs and Wallabies match day ground announcer. These days he's also one half of the popular podcast series Woody and Slugs Do League, about rugby league and punting. We dig into Woody's cross code knowledge as he talks about growing up in Sydney as a "leaguie" before discovering uni...
Episode 14: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Geoff Parkes
March 17, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBOne of Australian rugby's best journalists going around, Geoff Parkes is a weekly contributor for the The Roar sports website and author of "A World in Conflict: The Global Battle for Rugby Supremacy", in which he details the complicated and at times controversial business of rugby union. We dig into Geoff's deep knowledge of the game, both on and off the field, discussing the key financial and structural hurdles that Australia has to leap over in order to keep up with the rest of the worl...
EPISODE 14: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Geoff Parkes
March 17, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBOne of Australian rugby's best journalists going around, Geoff Parkes is a weekly contributor for the The Roar sports website and author of "A World in Conflict: The Global Battle for Rugby Supremacy", in which he details the complicated and at times controversial business of rugby union. We dig into Geoff's deep knowledge of the game, both on and off the field, discussing the key financial and structural hurdles that Australia has to leap over in order to keep up with the rest of the worl...
EPISODE 13: Women in union
March 07, 2021 22:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MBRugby union is a game for all and in Australia the rise of the women's game stands out as one of the few positive narratives in recent years. We talk to Wallaroos captain Grace Hamilton about how women's rugby is on the rise and the current challenges faced by the Wallaroos to deal with the pandemic related pause to international rugby with the New Zealand world cup now postponed till 2022. Along the way, Grace talks about how she got into the sport, her comeback after not making a 63 playi...
EPISODE 12: Motivations of our youth
February 28, 2021 22:00 - 59 minutes - 41.1 MBJust what exactly motivates our schoolboys, colts and junior players who are the future of our professional game? Is it for fun, trophies or just all about getting that all important professional contract? We have an exclusive chat with Jonny McMurtry, a lifelong rugby devotee in Queensland who now does research to ask these questions of our youth and has just completed a study of participants from Super Rugby academies. We examine the implications around his findings and look at the broade...
EPISODE 11: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Rugby Reg
February 18, 2021 12:00 - 1 hour - 52.9 MBHe’s one of the godfathers of Australian rugby podcasts, a fountain of knowledge on all things rugby and a rabid Queensland Reds supporter, the one and only Rugby Reg. We chat with Reg about the current prognosis of Australian rugby in 2021; the upcoming first round of the Super Rugby AU season, the “reset” of 2020, the watershed STAN Sports broadcast deal, the Wallabies prospects, the Wallaroos and the Women’s Rugby World Cup later this year and the evolving landscape in rugby content and w...
EPISODE 10: The Player Talent
February 15, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 43 MBDo we have enough talent in Australian rugby? It's a question we ask an ensemble of former Wallabies, such as Adam Freier and Ben Alexander, as well as John Eales, Michael Lynagh and a host of others. We examine our player pathways and how they have evolved, looking at whether our rugby participation is broad enough to create a talent pool to choose from. Do we have enough development at the bottom of the base and what can we do about the talent drain overseas? This episode is more like ...
EPISODE 9: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Barry Honan
February 02, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 47 MBDoes rugby need to change? It’s a question we ask of Wallaby #518 Barry Honan who has played at the highest level and devoted his entire life to skills coaching and analysing the modern game of rugby. The creator of the “Honan Drills” that introduced the rugby basics to several generations of Australian players, we talk about the missed opportunities to utilise our intellectual property, the statistics that underpin how the game is becoming less of a spectacle and an exclusive insight into t...
EPISODE 8: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Matthew Alvarez
January 24, 2021 22:00 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBIt’s all just a little bit of history re-repeating, or is it? Classic Wallaby statistician and all around oracle Matthew Alvarez joins us for an exclusive interview about how he collects statistics, data and fascinating stories about every Wallaby game and player since the game began. We look at the exhaustive investigative style of research that goes into compiling this information and along the way examine the 1920s Waratahs/Wallabies, the link between Queensland's rise and the Wallaby suc...
EPISODE 7: The Golden Era
January 19, 2021 23:00 - 55 minutes - 38.1 MBSomeone call Doc Brown, because we're going back in time to a point when the Wallabies ruled the world, and we're hearing it from the troika of legendary captain John Eales, the highly successful coach Rod Macqueen and the man in charge of the code for over a decade, former Australian Rugby Union CEO John O'Neill. So strap yourself in and take a walk down memory lane as we hear about how the Wallabies dealt with some record losses and a slump in form to beat the All Blacks 3-0 in 1998 and t...
EPISODE 6: We bleed gold
January 10, 2021 22:00 - 55 minutes - 38.2 MBFirst pod for 2021, and it's about us, the fans. Just how hard is it to be a Wallaby supporter at the moment in Australian rugby? Matt shares the email he sent to Rugby Australia that kicked off this whole quest and then we speak to Wallaby fan and Facebook ranter Jack Quigley about "That Post" and "That Call" he got from Michael Cheika. We also sit down with Matt Rowley, the CEO of Green and Gold Rugby who talks about the Australian rugby website's origins and shares his views on the Aust...
EPISODE 5: Three Wise Men
December 24, 2020 00:00 - 46 minutes - 31.7 MBMerry Christmas and here's some gold, frankincense and myrrh in the form of interviews with three former Wallabies; Michael Lynagh, Peter Fitzsimons and John Eales. They describe how they started playing the game and how they made the Wallabies. In addition, Michael covers the 1984 Grand Slam and the significance of Australia winning the World Cup in 1991, Peter looks at the changes that professionalism brought in to the game and John details just how important it is to get the balance right...
EPISODE 4: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Michael Lipman
December 20, 2020 07:00 - 53 minutes - 36.8 MBA special episode interview with Michael Lipman, the former England International, Australian Schoolboy and Melbourne Rebel. Michael talks about the current pending legal class action against World Rugby regarding player concussion that he and former internationals Alix Popham and Steve Thompson are part of. He also shares his experiences of coming to terms with his diagnosis of early onset dementia. In addition, he also talks about playing schoolboy rugby in Sydney, a hilarious misunderst...
EPISODE 3: Let's make a documentary
December 17, 2020 22:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MBMatt has a new co-host Majdi Slaibi, the director of photography and co-producer of the Gold Digger film. Matt and Maj talk about how they started making the film, Maj's lack of knowledge about rugby union and why that's important and Matt's inability to deliver a punchline about when the boys first met Gordon Bray. There is rugby talk too, and Matt goes over the recent letter by Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke that was issued to the "Australian Rugby Community".
EPISODE 2: The Voice
December 15, 2020 12:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBHot off the press, we’re talking about the new Rugby World Cup 2023 draw and hearing from Gordon Bray, the “voice of Australian rugby”. Gordon talks about how he almost sold coffee in Papua New Guinea instead of sports broadcasting and his favourite Wallaby moments. Matt talks about the importance of “that tackle” and the debate begins: is this a True Crime or Sports podcast?
EPISODE 1: The search begins
December 11, 2020 16:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MBDoes the world need yet another podcast? Well filmmaker and rugby tragic Matt Durrant thinks so and argues his case in this first episode of a series based on the feature length documentary he's made called Gold Digger: The search for Australian rugby, about the rise and fall of Australian rugby union. Matt gives a brief background on why he decided to make this documentary, teases with a quick snippet of some of the people he's interviewed (guess the voices!) and why it's important that th...