Wandering Bear Sports

Toby Booth is the Head Coach of the Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

Mike Rogers is the Head Coach of Manawatu in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship. He is also the Director of the Inside Running Academy.

Brendon James Botha (BJ) is a 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok prop and the current SCT Rugby Head Coach at Glenstal Abbey. He is also the UL Bohemians Men's Head Coach and a world-renowned scrum specialist.

Anthony is the Managing Director of Elite Performance.He was originally a Physical Education and Psychology Teacher and has spent the last 30 years working as a Psychologist and Performance Coach. He has worked in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, in government and non-government education and consulted to a wide variety of corporate organisations.In sport Anthony has worked with Australian teams internationally and at the Olympic Games, with national sporting bodies, AFL clubs, Tennis Australia, Motor sports, Rugby teams and with a wide variety of other sports and individual athletes.He has also competed and coached in track & field and a number of other sports.Anthony's qualifications include:Masters of Management & International BusinessMasters of PsychologyGraduate Diploma of PsychologyBachelor of EducationHe is also the author of the fantastic book “The Performance Mindset, 7 Steps To Success In Sport And Life” Buy Anthonys Book “The Performance Mindset, 7 Steps To Success In Sport & Life” https://www.amazon.com.au/Performance-Mindset-Steps-Success-Sport/dp/0730394689Contact Anthony https://www.eliteperformance.com.auhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-klarica-118b139b/

Glen Jackson will take over as Head Coach for the Fijian Drua Super Rugby team in 2025. In addition to being an international standard referee, Glen had a long career as a player, representing the Maori All Blacks, the Waikato Chiefs, and Saracens in the English Premiership.

This week on the podcast, we sit down with Rear Admiral Lee Goddard to discuss life, culture, and leadership.

Dave Wessels is the former Head Coach for the Melbourne Rebels & The Western Force. And is the current Head of Rugby for the Stormers.

Petrus is an ex-professional rugby player and current professional rugby coach working with teams like Kobe in Japan & the Leicester Tigers in England. His most recent job has been as the Scrum Coach for the Wallabies under Dave Rennie. Petrus also runs a physiotherapy business.

This week on the podcast we sit down with the Queensland Reds Forwards Coach Zane Hilton

This week on the Podcast is Wallabies & Brumbies Prop Blake Schoupp.

Anthony Eddy is the current Director of Symmetry Sports a company focused on Elite Athlete Management and Representation, Coach and High Performance Management& High Performance Health Assessments. www.symmetry-sports.com.In his coaching career Anthonys has been the Director of Rugby Sevens for the Irish Rugby Union, the National Programs Manager For Rugby Australia, the Director Of Rugby For Sydney University, the Head Coach of Worcester as well as being an Assistant Coach both the Brumbies and the Queensland Reds.

Craig Wilson is the Director of Rugby and Head Coach at the prestigious Ivy League school, Yale.. He is also a leading rugby analysis content creator with millions of views across social media channels with his company The Contact Coach (@thecontactcoach).

This weeks guest is 1999 World Cup Winning Tighthead Prop & one of the worlds best Scrum Coaches Mr Andrew Blades.

Billy Melrose: How To Find What Makes You Unique & The Importance Of Caring.

Matt Taylor is the current Director of Coaching For Ricoh in the Japanese Top League. During his international coaching career (over 100 Test Matches) he worked as a Defence Coach for both Australia & Scotland. Domestically he coached for the Glasgow Warriors and the Queensland Reds.

Andrew Fraser is the General Manager for IRAA (International Rugby Academy of Australia) and the Defensive Coach for Bond University Rugby Club in the Queensland Premier Rugby Competition.

This week on the podcast we sit down with NSW Waratahs Forwards Coach Pauli Taumoepeau.

Ben Batger is the Head Coach of Eastwood Rugby Club in the Shute Shield, the premier grade rugby competition in Australia. During his playing career he represented the ACT Brumbies, the NSW Waratahs, the Greater Sydney Rams as well as a distinguished career for Eastwood Rugby Club.

Brian Doyle is the Boxing coach for the Gracie Jiujitsu Smeaton Grange Fight Team, home of former UFC Champion Robert Whittaker and one of the most renowned MMA Teams in Australia . In his boxing career he trained under legendary Boxing Coach Johnny Lewis and was the main sparring partner for Jeff Fenech & Kostya Tszyu during the World Title Runs.

This weeks guest on the podcast is West Harbour Pirates First Grade Head Coach Cam Treloar.

This weeks guest is Warringah Rats Head Coach Michael Ruthven, we reflect on the 2022 Shute Shield Season, the importance of having mentors and being true to your values, learning from mistakes, how to stay true to your values and much much more.

Chris Delooze is the Head Coach of Manly Rugby Club in the Shute Shield Premier Grade Competition. During the pod we talked about theming, building people, learning from failure, being true to yourselfhow neither of us enjoyed the 2022 Shute Shield season, how we can learn from disappointment and much much more.

Zak Beer is the Head Coach of Northern Suburbs Rugby Club in the Shute Shield Premier Grade Competition. During the pod we talked about the rapidly improving standard of the Shute Shield, how neither of us enjoyed the 2022 Shute Shield season, how we can learn from disappointment and use it to our advantage, the importance of self care and much much more. Zak was incredibly honest and open with his answers and gave some great insights into the ups and downs of coaching, why Norths have had so much recent success and what it takes to have sustainable long term success.

Toutai Kefu is the Head Coach of Tonga, and a Wallabies Legend (1999 World Cup Winner) who earned 60 caps playing at number eight during a golden era for Australian Rugby

Mick Byrne is the Head Coach of the Fijian Drua Super Rugby Team. As a skills coach Mick has worked with the Wallabies, All Blacks, Scotland and Leinster. As an athlete Mick played professional Australian rules Football for Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney.

Matt O'Connor is a former Wallaby and professional rugby union coach with a long track record of success at the highest levels. Matt has held head coaching roles at the Leicester Tigers (Winning the English Premiership in 2013), at Irish province Leinster (where he won the Pro12 in 2013–14) as well as the Queeensland Reds (co-head coach) in 2016.

This weeks guest on the Podcast is Simon Strachan. Simon is a co founder of Gain Line Analytics http://www.gainline.biz a company he formed with former Wallabies Prop Ben Darwin. Gain Line Analytics is an operations and management consultancy with a unique perspective on success in professional sport and business. Their work has shown that great teams are more than just the sum of their parts and that great teams are the product of linkages and connections within the organisation. Through their work they help sporting clubs, organisations and businesses build these linkages and connections with a view to sustainable. Gain Line places a strong focus on data analysis and quantitative research using the unique field of Cohesion Analytics. This podcast is a fascinating look at how some of the most successful teams in the world built these connections from the ground up.

This weeks guest is Mr Aaron Walsh. Aarons work includes developing leadership, culture and mental performance programs for teams in sport and business. He is currently working with the Chiefs in Super Rugby as well as consulting to Harlequins, Texas Rangers and Basketball New Zealand. His work also includes coaching multiple corporate leadership teams in creating and maintaining a high performance working environment. In addition Aaron Has worked in MLB, NRL and with with various national teams.

This weeks guest on the podcast is 2022 Sydney University Head Coach, Shute Shield Coach of the year, Shute Shield 2022 Premiership winner, former Melbourne Rebels Attack Coach & the current Head of Coaching for the international Rugby Academy Mr Sean Hedger.

This week on the podcast we sit down with one half of the joint Shute Shield Coaches of the year Scott “Bubba” Coleman. We talk about forming the Hunter Wildfires, building an identity and a culture from scratch, lessons learned and some of the main takeaways from the crazy 2022 Shute Shield Season.

After a brief hiatus we are back. Last year I learned an incredible amount from some amazing guests and i'm looking forward to seeing what we can learn from this years guests. The plan will be to put out as many podcasts as consistently as possible, improve our production and hopefully all of you can spend a little time each week learning along with me. This is a solo episode so we can get the feed rolling again. As always please reach out and let me know what you think and what guests you would like me to talk to.

Royce Simmons is an Australian former NRL Player & Coach. During his playing career he represented the Penrith Panthers, NSW Blues and Australian Kangaroos. After he finished playing he moved into the coaching world and ended up coaching the Panthers, Hull FC, St Helens and later worked as an assistant coach to Tim Sheens at Wests Tigers. When Penrith Panthers' rugby league legend Royce Simmons disclosed in January 2022 that, at age 61, he had been diagnosed with dementia the previous year, many were in shock.Typically, the former Kangaroos hooker immediately set about not only exploring what he required to do to slow the dreaded condition's progress, his thoughts turned to assisting others who were affected by the disease – not just sufferers but their supporting families too.Within months, Royce's Big Walk (a registered charity foundation) as a reality and the support he has received by not just many VIPs of rugby league, but the Penrith district's community and beyond has been extraordinary.So, among other fund-raising initiatives for Royce's designated not-for-profit support organisation, Dementia Australia, Royce will walk – from May 17-26 – the 300km from his small hometown of Gooloogong (population less than 300) through Cowra, Carcoar, Blayney, Bathurst, Katoomba and across the Blue Mountains, arriving pre-match at Penrith's Bluebet Stadium the night the Panthers take on North Queensland Cowboys.Along the way there will be several sportsman's dinners or lunches, and a coaching clinic, to help raise funds for local rugby league on the route.You can support Royce's mission, Dementia Australia, junior rugby league and, in particular, the families who have or will go through what Royce himself is confronting, by donating or attending some of the functions from May 17-26.The tough-as-nails former Panthers skipper is tackling his Alzheimer's diagnosis just as he would any other opponent on the footy field – head on and with the benefit of his ‘team' and their supporters as his major priority.If you would like to donate and support Royce please visit the link below. https://www.memorywalk.com.au/event/royces-big-walk

Richard Harry was a halfback, who became a flanker and finally a loosehead prop in order to realise his dream of representing Australia. Harry's first taste of representative football came when he attended Scotch College in Melbourne and was selected at halfback for Victoria in the 1979 National Age Championships. In 1980 his family moved to Sydney and he attended Barker College. It was there that his size and speed prompted a shift to flanker. On leaving school he studied for an economics degree at Macquarie University and played for the Eastwood club. He then spent a year in London where he played for Harlequins. On his return to Eastwood, he represented NSW `B' as a flanker before former national coach Bob Dwyer suggested to his dad that Harry consider a switch to the front row. In 1994 he moved to the University of Sydney under the tutelage of Brian Burnett and within a year made his debut for New South Wales against Otago in Dunedin. A strong Super Rugby season in 1996 was rewarded with a Test debut against Wales in Brisbane. Harry went on to play a role in the 1998 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand, the Rugby World Cup victory in 1999 and Australia's first Tri Nations title in 2000. Richard Harry played 37 Tests for Australia in his five-year international career.

This week on the podcast we sit down with one of the godfathers of Australian Scrum coaching former Wallaby Mark Bell. In Bellys playing career he played his school rugby at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill - Australia's leading rugby nursery. A consistent hooker, Bell played in the undefeated 1st XV premiership team of 1986. That was the springboard to higher honours as a record-equalling ten players from that side were picked in the GPS 1st XV and from there Bell was selected for the Australian Schools tour of New Zealand. He played his club football in Sydney with Northern Suburbs and his strong performances were rewarded in 1992 with a debut for New South Wales against New Zealand. The following year Bell was a member of the Australian squad for the short tour of North America and France but he did not play in any of the Tests. In 1996 both Marco Caputo and Michael Foley were injured in the second Test of the home series against Wales. As a consequence Bell was called into the squad and made his Test debut the following week against Canada in Brisbane. During his coaching career Belly has coached at the Queensland Reds, Japan Rugby National Team, Australian Rugby Union, Suntory, Canon, Easts Rugby Union, Sydney University, Merewether Carlton and the mighty Hunters Hill Under 14s.

This weeks guest on the podcast is Martin Bingisser. Martin is the founder of HMMR Media, Swiss national hammer throw coach, and 11-time national champion.. During his athletic career he worked extensively under Anatoli Bondarchuk, the most successful Olympic throws coach of all time, and writer of fundamental coaching text “Transfer of Training in Sport”. Martin is currently doing some continued education projects with the Australian Rugby Union.

This weeks guest on the Podcast is Winter Olympian Matthew Wekpe. Matthew is a member of the 2022 Jamaican Bobsled Team representing his country at the Beijing Olympics.

This weeks guest on the podcast is Scottish Rugby Royalty Dan Parks. During Dans professional career he won 67 caps for Scotland as well as representing the Glasgow Warriors, Cardiff Blues and Connacht. Dan is the Glasgow Warriors record appearance holder as well as holding the record for the most appearances for the club. Until recently Dan was also the all time leading point scorer for the Pro 12 (now The United Rugby Championship). Dan also represented Scotland in 2 Rugby World Cups winning Scotland player player at the 2007 tournament. As well as doing commentary and media work, Dan has recently taken up the role as the Sydney University Director of Colts in Sydneys Premier Grade Colts competition.

This week on the podcast is Brumbies Head Coach & Wallabies Forwards Coach Dan McKellar. I have been a massive fan of Dans for a long time and it was an honour to sit down and pick his brain on all aspects of how to build teams & the unique challenge of getting 8 massive humans to work together.

This week on the podcast we have part 2 of our chat with current NSW Waratah Head Coach Darren Coleman. During Darrens coaching career he has won the Shute Shield with both the Warringah Rats & Gordon Rugby Club. In addition Darren was the foundation coach for the Los Angeles Giltinis in the US Major League competition taking them to a championship in their first year. Darren has coached professionally for 20 plus years and has had experience working previously in Italy & Canada as well as being an assistant coach at the NSW Waratahs, a Skills Coach at the ACT Brumbies and head coach in the Shute Shield for Penrith Emus, Northern Suburbs & Eastern Suburbs.

This week on the podcast we have part 1 of our chat with current NSW Waratah Head Coach Darren Coleman. During Darrens coaching career he has won the Shute Shield with both the Warringah Rats & Gordon Rugby Club. In addition Darren was the foundation coach for the Los Angeles Giltinis in the US Major League competition taking them to a championship in their first year. Darren has coached professionally for 20 plus years and has had experience working previously in Italy & Canada as well as being an assistant coach at the NSW Waratahs, a Skills Coach at the ACT Brumbies and head coach in the Shute Shield for Penrith Emus, Northern Suburbs & Eastern Suburbs.

A solo podcast giving an update on everything going on in the Wandering Bear Sports Universe

This weeks guest on the podcast is former Waratah, Brumbies and Wallabies back rower Stephen Hoiles. Stephen is currently the head coach of the Los Angeles Giltinis in the US Major League Rugby Competition.

This weeks guest on the Podcast is Brumbies Forwards Coach Laurie Fisher. Laurie began his coaching career with the Brumbies in 2000 when he was appointed head coach of the Brumbies Rugby Academy and later assumed control of the Brumby Runners and the Canberra Vikings. He implemented a rugby program aimed at developing the cream of local ACT rugby talent into players capable of competing for training contracts or full contracts with the Brumbies squad. Guy Shepherdson, Matt Giteau and Julian Salvi all made successful transitions to the professional game under his guidance.In 2003, Fisher was promoted to the Brumbies forwards coach under David Nucifora and contributed to their success as 2004 Super 12 Champions.Fisher's contribution and devotion to the Brumbies as an assistant coach saw them earn success from 2000 as semi finalists, two time finalists and two-time champions. Throughout his career Laurie has been a Head Coach for the Brumbies and Gloucester as well as serving as a Forwards Coach for Irish Province Munster.

This weeks episode is a bit different. I sit down with Hawkes bay Scrum Coach Francisco Deformes to talk all aspects of scrum coaching.

This weeks guest on the podcast is the head coach of the Kobe Steelers Dave Dillon. I loved talking to Dave. This podcast is such a great resource for people who want to learn how to get the most out of a group of humans. We talked about dealing with conflict, how important it is for people to feel a connection to the organisations they are apart off, coaching teams, learning from mistakes, why building relationships is critical and plenty more. My biggest take away from this chat was that Dave had such a genuine interest in people and its made me reflect on how I can strengthen my relationships and do more to stay in touch with my people.

This weeks guest on the podcast is Anthony Seibold. Anthony is a former head coach of the Brisbane Broncos and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. This season he worked as a coaching consultant for the Newcastle Knights before taking over the as the teams defence coach. Anthony has recently taken up the role as the defence coach for the England Rugby Team working with Eddie Jones. I was really excited to talk to Seibs as he has been someone I have admired for some time and he absolutely didn't disappoint. He has had to overcome some well publicised adversity and I was fascinated to hear about what he learned from that experience. There is so much valuable information in this podcast from tools to help you build culture, putting a coaching team together, how to deal with and handle adversity, how to look for ideas, book & podcast recommendations and how important it is as a coach and a human to have a growth mindset. It was an honour to spend some time with a great human and a great coach.

This week on the podcast we sit down with Pete Fairbairn the Director of Sport for Thrive PR & Communications. During his career Pete has worked as a Media Manager for the Melbourne Rebels, he's worked as the Communications and Commercial Manager for the Rugby Union Players Association and in his spare time he works as an Adjudicator for Guinness World Records. During our conversation we talked about Petes journey in media, how important relationships are whilst working in and with the media and what he believes athletes can do better to further enhance their profiles away from the sport.

This weeks guest on the podcast is Austin Gilgronis backrower Lachlan McCaffrey. As well as representing the Brumbies, Western Force and The Waratahs Lachie has played overseas for London Welsh, Leicester Tigers and Kyuden Voltex in Japan.Lachlan has a unique perspective on a career in professional sport and is refreshingly open and honest about the ups and downs in his career. He has a great story and it was a pleasure to speak to him.

This week we are trying something a bit different and putting out a bitesize episode. What makes the ACT Brumbies So Special with Lachlan Mccaffrey.Lachie Mccaffrey is a former Brumbies Backrower currently playing for the Austin Gilgronis in the US Major League

This weeks guest on the Podcast is known by many in the rugby world as “The Greatest Coach Ever”. Wayne Smith is one of only 2 coaches in history to win back to back Rugby World Cups. During Waynes career he has won Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders and the Chiefs and is considered to be the tactical genius behind the All Blacks Success during his 16 year tenure.As a young coach it was a privilege to talk to one of the greatest and whilst the conversation is focussed a lot on Rugby, its really a podcast about life.

This weeks guest on the Podcast has played Super Rugby for The Waratahs, Rebels and the Brumbies as well as representing the Maori All Blacks. Currently playing for Auckland in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship Robbie Abel has experienced a lot is his Rugby Career. He has experienced the highs and the lows and has one hell of a perspective on a career in professional sport.