Sports Best Friends: Rugby League Podcast

Jamie Soward is an expert on FoxSports’ Backpage, an expect on NRLTV, an expect commentator on 2GB, and all of this since his long and successful playing career! He played over 200 games for the Roosters, Dragons and Penrith combined; he played in representative teams such as Country, NSW and the Indigenous AllStars, before spending time playing in England. We welcome him to the show.

Michael is the host of the world’s best podcast focused on growing the game of rugby league. He is a brand ambassador for Red Star Belgrade, a member of the Golden Boot committee, the only man who had ever hosted an official an IRL affiliated podcast, and the brains behind this double-header medley of a podcast episode. This episode doubles both a SBFs Story and an episode of Chasing Kangaroos.

David Trodden is an administrator extraordinaire. After his wonderfully successful time overseeing the Wests Tigers he moved into helping improve the state. He is the Chief Executive Officer at New South Wales Rugby League, and a very welcomed guest.

Andrew Ferguson (aka Andrew ALP, aka Rex Ferguson) is the backbone of rugby league research. He is a historian, a record keeper, a statistician, and a writer. Andrew is the author of  "The Story Of Rugby League", and is the best part of the podcast Fergo and the Freak. He is a father of a sass pot, and a great friend of the pod. In this episode Andrew details his life and loves of rugby league.

Clinton Schifcofske played top grade football for over a decade. He captained the Raiders to the finals. He won the Dally M fullback of the year in 2006. He was selected to represent Queensland and the PMs 13 in the mid 2000s. He is equal 15th for most points ever score in Australian rugby league. But most importantly, during the peak of rugby league playing cards, he dominated the print having a huge array of action cards depicting him stepping and exhaling.

Grant Atkins has officiated over 200 first grade games. He has been involved in state of Origin, the World Cup, Four Nations, All-Stars, Auckland 9’s, and other a number of international fixtures. He is the host of the podcast ‘View from the Middle’, interviewing referees and umpires from all different sports. But most importantly he loves a bad pun.

Ian Heads and Norm Tasker  are two giants of the literary world. Between them they have written a bijillion* books. They have covered everything from rugby league and union, Olympics and Olympians, cricketers, commentators, and coaches. John Coates AC, President of the Australian Olympic Committee, describes the two of them as “legends themselves”.

We strongly encourage you to go out and get their new book, 'Great Australian Sporting Stories' https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760787769/

Paul Gallen is a recently retired NRL great. He’s played 32 games for the Kangaroos and 29 for the Blues. He has more recently become a cultural icon having a mural painted of him, a whole set devoted to him in Rugby League the Musical, and has now written a book! Paul was very kind and generous with his time, and we thank him deeply for that.

Get his book. https://allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/biography-autobiography/Heart-and-Soul-Paul-Gallen-9781760293581

Matthew Elliot is an ex player, coach, analyst and commentator. He played for the St George Dragons for four years. He coached in England taking Bradford to a 72% winning rate from 1997 to 2000. In Australia he coached for over a decade, watching over more than 260 games for Canberra, Penrith and the Warriors combined. He’s been the mastermind behind the ‘Coaches Corner’ on NRLTV since 2015. He’s been the expert analyst on ABC Grandstand since 2015. And now he’s been a guest on Sports Best Friends

Siro played more games for the Balmain Tigers than any other human in the clubs 100+ history. He played for both NSW and Australia, with a 100% win rate in all his World Cup matches. In France they call him The Beast, as he was the star in Villeneuve-sur-Lot French title win in 1999. He was named in Balmain’s team of the century, and was nominated for the NRL Hall of Fame. Most impressive of all, he is the only player to have remained as a Lowe’s model since the campaigns inception decades ago.