Dyl & Friends

Mark “Choco” Williams didn’t want Chad Cornes at Port Adelaide. He told him exactly that on day one. He even invented a drill just for Chad... then during the middle of it, Choco punched him.

Port Adelaide premiership player and two-time All-Australian Chad Cornes sits down with Dyl in Adelaide for a cracking yarn. He talks about growing up as Graham Cornes’ son at Glenelg, the brutal coaching from Choco and Phil Walsh that made his career, and beating the legendary Brisbane Lions in the 2004 Grand Final. He also explains why that flag felt more like relief than joy.

Chad opens up about playing alongside his brother Kane, the most intense player he’s ever seen. He talks about the tough home life that made him wait to start a family, and the footy drinking culture he’d now do differently. He was sacked by two of his best mates, first as a player by Matthew Primus and later as an assistant coach by Josh Carr. He also explains why a Leon Cameron spray at the GWS Giants was exactly what he needed.

There’s plenty of fun along the way: beers at Andre Agassi’s house, running through walls at Footy Park, Jeremy Cameron and the cricket ball, and the Giants’ early days at the Blacktown baseball diamond.

This episode of Dyl & Friends is brought to you by our mates at Revo Fitness and their surprisingly affordable memberships.

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Pick 1. A trade request after one season. The ice bath story everyone’s heard about. Jason Horne-Francis has been one of the most talked-about young players in the game, but we’ve rarely heard it from him.

Dyl sits down with Port Adelaide’s JHF in Adelaide to go back through all of it: leaving school for a milk factory job at 17, why he’d rather have gone pick 5, the truth about THAT ice bath, why he left North, and choosing Port over the Crows on Dad’s quiet advice. He also opens up about Ken Hinkley’s tough love, his Indigenous heritage, and the phone call to his stepdad Fabian asking to take his last name.

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Jordan Dawson opens up to Dylan Buckley about losing his brother Jaryd, and playing through the hardest year of his life.

When Jordan Dawson was dropped in 2019, the former pick 56 thought his career was over. But since returning home to Adelaide, he’s become one of the Crows’ most celebrated captains and a bona fide star of the AFL.

In 2026, he won his fourth consecutive best and fairest and his third All-Australian blazer. But he did so while grieving the loss of his brother Jaryd, and leaning on his wife Millie, his family and his teammates, to get back out there and lead the team he’s loved since he was a kid.

Dyl and Jordan talk about draft night and his early years at the Swans, “Horse” Longmire’s famous Monday meetings, the trade home (including meeting Port and the dinner at Rory Sloane’s that sealed it), stepping into the captaincy, and the pressure that comes with playing in a two-team town.

Then Jordan speaks openly about Jaryd: the people who carried him through, the handwritten letter that left him in tears, how to support someone who’s grieving, and the one message he wants everyone to hear: tell the people you love that you love them.

If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available 24/7 through Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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Brendon Goddard was the No.1 pick set to join Carlton, until the Blues lost their draft picks and he landed at St Kilda. He became one of the Saints’ most important players, played in the crushing 2009 and 2010 Grand Finals losses, then became the first AFL free agent when he left for Essendon... just months before the infamous supplements saga began.

Now a coach back at St Kilda, Goddard joins Dyl & Friends to talk about his intensity, expectations and demanding standards, and how he learned to give feedback. He also covers the phone call that told him he wouldn’t be a Blue, the driving range call that sealed his move to Essendon, turning up to the Saints’ footy trip as a Bomber, and the heartbreak of two Grand Finals. In the final stretch, he shares his golf stories with Shane Warne: the wig, the wads of cash and the Cathedral Cup tribute.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EnESqUwnN4c

We talk:

0:00 Highlights

0:43 Playing against Goddard: the hot head years

2:36 “I only cared what my teammates thought”

5:06 Not everyone trains like Goddard

6:48 Arriving at St Kilda at 17

8:43 Carlton, the draft pick and the phone call

12:07 Draft party, then training at 7:30am

14:03 Grant Thomas: father figure and brutal reviews

19:36 Sitting Year 12 exams in London at 3am

22:34 Ross Lyon takes over

26:16 Saints v Geelong 2009: the greatest home and away game?

30:16 Playing everywhere and the ACL that changed him

33:54 Favourite teammates: Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Sam Fisher

37:29 Life after footy and Covid

41:14 Back at St Kilda: from development coach to VFL head coach

46:22 First AFL free agent: how the Essendon deal happened

47:55 Hawthorn, Freo and the path not taken

50:23 The Saints contract stand-off

52:25 The driving range call

54:34 Telling his teammates and the Saints footy trip in Mexico

56:05 Why hard conversations matter

1:01:24 Essendon and the supplements saga

1:06:32 Training alone and Essendon’s 2016 season

1:11:38 Coming home to the Saints

1:12:54 2009 Grand Final: broken nose and collarbone

1:15:18 2010 Grand Final: the mark, the draw and the heartbreak

1:21:18 What a Saints premiership would mean

1:24:47 Brisbane’s sledge circle and Martin Pike

1:29:44 Best sledges: “a head like a chewed minty”

1:33:56 Golf, Geoff Ogilvy and paddle

1:37:31 Shane Warne: the Cathedral Cup and the Red Dogs

1:39:55 How Warnie psyched you out on the golf course

1:41:55 Warnie’s wig

1:42:41 Double or nothing with Sam Newman

1:45:03 Wads of cash from the golf bag

1:45:37 “The greatest competitor”: tapping the bronze cricket ball

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Travis Cloke won a premiership with Collingwood and became one of the AFL's most recognisable key forwards. But after controversially leaving the Magpies for the Western Bulldogs in 2016, his career came to an end out of nowhere… at just age 30.

Big Trav joins Dyl to talk about the pressure and anxiety that shaped his career, why he struggled to enjoy his success at the biggest club in the land, and how the expectations he placed on himself ultimately took their toll. Trav opens up about losing his sense of identity outside the game, the circumstances surrounding the end of his career, and what he wishes he could tell his younger self.

They talk his father-son connection to Collingwood, the five-year deal Richmond offered him, and the sliding-doors decision that saw him choose the Magpies to play alongside his brothers.

Trav reflects on playing under Mick Malthouse, the challenges of his final years at Collingwood, and the moment he was dropped for Mason Cox after helping develop him as a player.

Now working in player development, Travis talks about the importance of honest conversations, helping young athletes navigate the mental side of football, and why he wants the next generation to enjoy the journey more than he did.

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YESSSSS the Minis are BACK!!

Dyl, Ruby & Mitch are in the studio for the return of the Mini, chatting everything that's been happening at Clubby Sports, Dyl's marathon downgrade and our recent month of guests with Audible.

We talk:

Here's our streaming recs:

Dyl – Furious (Disney+) / Street Kings (Stan)

Ruby – Last Seen (Apple TV+) / Slow Horses (Apple TV+) / The Rehearsal (HBO Max)

Mitch – Widow's Bay (Apple TV+) / Mountainhead (HBO Max) / Hell or High Water (Netflix, Stan, SBS On Demand)

If you want to support the show, please click follow or subscribe wherever you are listening. Also, if you loved the episode, please share it with your mum, dad, friend or dog. Appreciate you fam. ILY xx

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This episode has been brought to you by our good friends at Audible.

Claudia Hollingsworth went to the Olympics at just 19.

The Australian middle-distance runner joins Dyl to talk about her first Olympic experience, the mental challenges she wasn't prepared for, and why she's now making the difficult switch from the 800m to the 1500m as she builds towards LA 2028.

Claudia opens up about the brutal competition within Australian athletics, the controversy surrounding that race with Jess Hull, being disqualified and then reinstated, and eventually sharing a Commonwealth Games podium with Hull and Abbey Caldwell.

They also get into the realities of being a professional individual athlete, from sponsorship and money to building a personal brand, as well as Olympic Village life, meeting Simone Biles, training around Europe and why Claudia believes “pressure is a privilege”.

Plus, Claudia's love of footy, fishing and abalone diving, her fascination with sharks, whether she could ever play AFL, and the possibility of Brisbane 2032.

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Richard Baker, one of Australia's leading investigative journalists, returns to Dyl & Friends for a deep dive into cold cases, conspiracy theories and some of Australia's biggest unsolved mysteries.

Fresh off the release of ABC's Lies In Lismore and the success of Conspiracy Cabal, Richard joins Dyl to explain what happens when criminal investigations go wrong, why some murders remain unsolved for decades, and whether Australia's most notorious serial killer, Ivan Milat, may have been responsible for more deaths than the seven backpacker murders he was convicted of.

The conversation then takes a turn into some of the world's most enduring conspiracy theories and mysteries, including the JFK assassination, UFOs and UAPs, the moon landing, COVID vaccine conspiracies, ancient civilisations, the pyramids and whether we're really alone in the universe.

They also discuss the Maria James case, The Confession, investigative journalism, police investigations and why some of the biggest mysteries may be hiding in plain sight.

In this episode:
• Richard's work on Lies In Lismore and Conspiracy Cabal
• The disappearance of Simone Strobel
• How police investigations can develop tunnel vision
• Interviewing people accused of murder
• The Confession and an overturned murder conviction
• The Maria James case
• Why conspiracy theories fascinate us
• COVID vaccine conspiracies
• The moon landing and JFK assassination
• UFOs, UAPs and Area 51
• The Dark Forest Theory and whether we're alone
• Ancient civilisations and Graham Hancock
• The mystery of the pyramids
• The conspiracy theories Richard finds most convincing
• Whether Ivan Milat may have killed more people

Check out Richard's new podcast series:

Lies in Lismore

And Richard's Conspiracy Cabal podcast via the links below:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

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Adam Gotsis spent a decade in the NFL... one of the toughest achievements in professional sport.

Drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2016, the Melbourne product built a 10-year career across the Broncos, Jaguars, Colts and Buccaneers, surviving the constant cycle of training camps, roster cuts, injuries and one-week contracts that end most careers long before they begin.

Adam joins Dyl to explain what life in the NFL is really like: the pressure of fighting for a roster spot, how contracts and signing bonuses actually work, the reality of being cut, the teammates and quarterbacks who stood out, and the mental health challenges that came with living in one of the world's most ruthless sporting environments.

A rare insight into the NFL from an Australian who lived it for 10 seasons.

In this episode:

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Brett Ratten is one of the most respected figures in Australian football.

From playing over 250 games for Carlton to coaching the Blues, St Kilda and serving as a key architect behind Hawthorn's dynasty, Ratts has seen every side of the AFL.

In this episode, Brett opens up about one of the most talked-about moments of his career: Carlton's decision to sack him in 2012 after starting the season as flag favourites. He takes us inside the boardroom pressure, the injuries that derailed the season, the conversation that ended his tenure, and the lessons he learned from one of the toughest periods of his life.

We also dive into his relationship with Chris Judd, coaching Dylan Buckley, the Carlton teams of the late 2000s and early 2010s, the talent of players like Chris Yarran, Bryce Gibbs and Matthew Kreuzer, his time at Hawthorn alongside Alastair Clarkson, and what makes great leaders, coaches and teams.

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