A cross-code football podcast is starting in February and promises insightful analysis from experienced athletes and some light-hearted banter.
Oval Balls will premiere on Thursday February 5 and will feature a former rugby league player (Steven Mullins), a former rugby union player (Matthew Thorton-Bedford), and a former Aussie rules player (Paul Collins).
The first episode will introduce the hosts with their favourite stories, including Steven’s wild stories from his two rugby league Ashes tours (“It got very messy, especially with the Emu boys who were only playing mid-week games”), Matthew’s one game of social mixed netball after he’d retired (“I didn’t know the rules, I hated it, and I wasn’t invited back. I switched to touch footy and then took the first Super Rugby assistant coaching job I could find.”), Paul being kicked out of a junior cricket academy because he wasn’t good enough at cricket (“I loved mixing cricket and Aussie rules as a kid, but I was s**t at cricket and much better at footy.”).
The weekly hour-long episodes will feature 10 minute sections from each host about their respective code, summing up the NRL, Super Rugby/Internationals, and AFL. That will be followed by general discussion and the promised light-hearted banter. The podcast will run until October before their summer break.
“We’re not going to play the ‘My code is better than yours’ game as that can make people very angry, but we’re allowing a little bit of chirping for some light humour,” said producer Charlie. “There’s a lot of specialist football podcasts for each code, so hopefully this gives a point of difference for people who want a bit of everything.”
