May 3, 2026 • 27 mins
Brad is one of the most decorated dual-code athletes in history, defined by a legendary "serial winner" mentality. He achieved elite success in Rugby League with the Brisbane Broncos, winning four NRL titles and representing Queensland in State of Origin, before switching to Rugby Union. There, he became a cornerstone of the All Blacks, famously winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup and securing a Super Rugby title with the Crusaders.
Beyond his playing days, Thorn is respected for his incredible longevity—playing professionally until 41—and his subsequent six-year tenure as Head Coach of the Queensland Reds. Known for his "champions do extra" philosophy, he is credited with rebuilding the Reds' culture and leading them to the 2021 Super Rugby AU title. Whether on the field or in the coach's box, Thorn’s career is a masterclass in discipline, cross-code excellence, and leadership.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk SEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk z EDB, gid Ay.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And Welcome to real Life. I'm John Cowen. Brad Thorne
is a dual code rugby legend. He's had a huge
career playing both league and rugby union for both New
Zealand and Australia. In his book Champions Do Extra, it
takes two pages just to list as championship wins, four
League Premiership, State of Origin wins, Tri Nations, Ranfully Shield,
(00:54):
Heineken Cup, Super Rugby titles and of course the Rugby
World Cup in twenty and eleven. And that's just some
of it. His professional career started when he was just
nineteen and he was still playing at forty one, and
then he went on to be a successful coach, an
amazing career. Brad, Welcome to real life. It's a privileged
Davy on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks for having me, John, Yeah, really good to be
on mate.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Now you're an international guy. Whereabouts in the world are
you at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm in my home of Brisbane, which is where I
think of his home. Where I come from is New Zealand.
I'm very proud of where I come from. But I've
gone up here since I was pretty much nine years old,
and this is yeah, this is what we call home
the Thorn family.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So yeah, you still got ties to Malta at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That is through my wife, who is her mother is Maltese. Okay, yeah,
but so I go out. I did some coaching in
Malta last year with the national team, and whenever i'm
over that way, we will go there. And with my
rugby I always try and contribute with some rugby. I
(02:09):
love Malta, love it.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And what keeps you busy these days?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I am a coach at a private school, so I
coach first fifteen and I will say a coach sort
of like academies across the grades, and that's sort of
the main thing. And then I do things like Malta
or I might talk or do other things. It's an
(02:37):
interesting time, John, because for twenty two years as a
professional footballer from the age seventeen nineteen the Broncos, and
then that I had eight years with six of them
at the Queensland Reds, where I was the head coach,
so like thirty id years agoing foot to the floor,
(02:59):
just in the moment, trying to achieve stuff, and then
in the last couple of years just taking a breath.
But it gave me the time to do that book
you talked about before. Yeah, yeah, and then now now
it's an interesting time. You know. I had my last
my four children. My youngest is going to finish in
(03:22):
the last year of high school. So it'll be interesting
to see what God puts in front of me.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
When you're dealing with these young guys. I'm sure they
listen to you and are impacted by you, but you're
not their dad. And there are things that a dad
can put into a young guy's life that no one
else can. And you had that experience.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah. The role the father is so important, you know,
and I feel in society in the last thirty forty
years it's been diminished. And then I was lucky I
had a father towards My father passed away just before
I turned twenty. Me and my brother are so fortunate
and such a strength for us as sons. And the
(04:07):
way he treated my mother just as a as a man,
know his work, ethic, his care for his family and
provide and protect. So with the kids at school, and
that example was massive for me. I talked about that
in my book and stuff. But with the kids at school,
(04:29):
you know, there's a saying, isn't there a saying takes
a village to raise a child. So you'd like to
think that they're these young these young these boys, these
young men at school. You have good fathers and good family,
you know, with with their moms and their siblings. A
(04:50):
lot of the time, or you know, sometimes it's not
great whatever, but you like to think that I'd like
to think that I can have an impact on them.
The game team sport is a vehicle for for developing character.
That's the real drive for me. It's not actually necessary
so much the winning and the losing of the ruby.
(05:10):
It's impacting on these young these boys as young men,
and through forty three things you learned from it, the
resilience and the character and all that sort of stuff,
and you know, hopefully having a good impact.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, I've heard you speak and read in your book
about how your dad puts something into your head and
heart that perhaps no one else could and basically gave
a well placed boot where it was needed to change,
to change something not just in your muscles and in
your fitness, but in your head as well.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah, massive from mindset. My mindset was soft, was lazy,
you know, the funny one, the funny one. He never
would have realized, but my end of fourteen coach told
me that I was the laziest kid he had seen
at the club in fifteen years at coaching. You know,
(06:09):
the late think about that, fifteen years of kids, I'm
the laziest. People probably wouldn't be able to imagine that
with me because of you know, I just hungered and
just you know, it was so determined, and you know,
I guess that come across throughout my career. So but yeah,
it got to a point in those mid teens where
(06:31):
I had talent, but you know, as you know, talent's
not enough. You need to bring that mindset, that work ethic,
that discipline, and I didn't have that. So yeah, he
got to a point where he gave that kick up
the backside. I don't want to. I don't want people
to hear this and then everyone just goes home and
kicks their kids up the backside. But I just want to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It was a metaphorical one.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, So what I mean is he was happy to
give me a kick up about that, but he had
encouraged me he'd done you know, he's a deep thinking
my father passionate about us. And it was a time
where it was a line in the same time, we
need to you need to move on this or it's
going to go past you. Other other kids are moving
(07:18):
along with their footy. So yeah, there was a state
forest in their house. Basically, it was a run that
he used to do. Its basically sprinting hills. But the
key was not stopping at the end, jogging that was
flat or downhill jog, so never resting, learning to recover
(07:38):
on the on the run, you know. So I went
over did that run and it was midway through what
would be the eventual run where I actually I just
felt so good. It was so hard to explain. I
just felt awesome and remembers stopping and saying out loud,
(08:01):
this feels good, and yeah, I I did the run.
The key was that I went back a few days
later and I did it again. And because you can
do what you can do things once, but the key
was that I backed it up again and then I
got addicted to you know that that run, that work ethic,
(08:26):
that the feeling of fulfillment and purpose at the end
of that run as well.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So that served you well and your acceleration from that
point was incredible. By nineteen, you know, you're in the
Broncos and contracts, cars, houses. You were living the dream.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I remember going back to New Zealand for a funeral
when I was thirteen and I told my family. My
relations were there and they asked me what I want
to do when I get older. I want to be
a professional football player, I told them at thirteen, and yet,
like you said, signed at the Broncos a year later
after that run. At seventeen, I was signed nineteen first grade,
(09:11):
like you said, Origin twenty one, Australia twenty two, and basically, yeah,
had achieved all these things and had a million dollar contract,
a car with my name on it, and my driveway
twenty two, all these sort of things, and it was
it was a lot to take on, you know for
(09:33):
a young guy. And ego was soaring, and yeah, there
was a life that I was living that wasn't even
I had all these achievements and stuff. I was actually
falling a long way with the way I was living, treating.
I guess I was womanized and I was boozing, and
a lot of that stuff came with it. You know.
That was the life. We trained hard, played hard, party hard,
(09:57):
and it was actually it got to a space where
even though I had all that stuff, that was the
stuff I said, when I was a thirteen year old,
I was actually felt quite and uh and lacked fulfillment
and lacked a deeper purpose and had an actual bit
of a sadness. Not depressed or anything like that, but
(10:18):
just knowing that I had fallen quite quite a way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And in your book you called them the mush years.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that was four years of just hitting the booze.
And like I said, we trained hard, we played hard,
we parted hard. And the reason I called them mush
ears is they all blended into each other and it
was just yeah, it was it was just the life.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And but you didn't stay stuck there. That's a That's
an amazing part of your book is that you started
thinking and you started started pondering whether or not there
was a guy.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's when I started thinking about God again. Yeah. Having
grown up in New Zealand, we went to church and
I love Sunday school. I loved learning about Jesus. And yeah,
it was when we came to Australia, we went to
a church, didn't feel comfort we stopped going. So that
had been in a place where we no longer he'd gone.
(11:25):
I didn't know much about didn't learn about Jesus saying God,
and luckily my parents went back my brother. But yeah,
as I said, I was at that space and I
started to think about the Lord as well in my life.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, well, I'm talking with Brad Thorne and he's written
an amazing book, He's written an amazing life, and I'm
just talking to him about the thing that changed the
direction of his life. And I'm going to be talking
more to him about this and about how a significant
friend on a significant trip to Britain really changed things.
This is real life on newstalk Seed B. I'm John
(12:03):
Cown talking with Rugby legend Brad Thorne. Back with you
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on news talks.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It be Oh can you tell me you lovely? And
same for you that the sundown shine. Let me take
you by the hand leages through the Streets of London,
(12:34):
show you something to make you a change your mind.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Welcome, make to real life. On John Cown talking of
Brad Thorne, who picked some music for us. We're listening
to the Streets of London. Why did you pick that
one for us? Brett?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That was a song that my dad used to like.
He used to be better way on the guitar. He
tried to play that song and I actually learned to
play it as well, and my son plays it. It's
just a song that I really like, and having lost
my father, it's just a nice one and it's a
story the streets of London when you listen to the words.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So now, just before the break, you're talking about how
your life career wise was just taking off. You had
money and success and recognition, but somehow there was an
emptiness in your heart and you started thinking about God.
But it hadn't quite clicked for you yet, had it.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
No. Mum and Dad had returned to church, and I
sort of recommitted, and my brother had a friend at
school and who's a Christian, and the same for him.
I went along and belief in God and all that
sort of stuff to church, but I was sort of
like the guy that you know sits at the back
and leaves the first to leave, you know what I mean.
(13:53):
I was living my life and my way, and so yeah,
when I got all that stuff I talked about, it
was for me like a mass equation. I didn't understand
that I've got all this stuff. The more stuff I have,
I just want more to fill it, you know, And
nothing ever seemed to fulfill me. And I couldn't understand.
And I remember the good times of my youth, and
(14:16):
that just the piece that people were at my parents'
church and that seemed to have and I knew I
didn't have, and it was something I was thinking around.
Later that year, I represent Australia a tour to Great
Britain and my front row partner was a man called
Jason Stevens played for Coronella and he was a tough soldier.
(14:39):
We had plenty of battles that year and yeah we
played in the Grand We beat them in the Grand
Final that year. But yeah, we went on the tour
and we roomed together and he's the top man. I
got work with him really well. One day after lunch
he hit me up, just said, Hey, Thorny, what do
you stand on your faith or God. I remember saying
(15:01):
to him, you know, I like Christians. They're nice people.
You know, they're nice people. I like them, But I'm
not this very a nice person right now. You know,
I don't. When I'm a nice person, one day I'll
be a Christian. But you know, I'm not in that
space at the moment. So when I change that, then
(15:24):
I would consider being a Christian. And he said to me,
Jesus changes you. You don't change you. Jesus changes you.
You need to ask him to come into your life,
and you need to ask for forgiveness for the sins
of your.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Committed You know, did you do that straight away?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
No? No, I didn't know. I listened and I took
on board. I'd heard those things. You know, there's a
there's a saying that I like that is the teacher
will arrive when the student is ready to learn. And
I don't think with God, I hadn't been ready to
learn yet, and you know, and it was at that
(16:07):
space still I was searching. Anyway. I went back after
that tour to my back to my house. I live
with some housemates, and I actually got even looser than
I had me when I say looser. I mean, you know,
Karen on booze and all that sort of stuff that
goes with it. So when I hadn't changed, I was
(16:27):
thought he had an impact on me. Jason. I thought,
I'm going to turn this, get on top of this,
and I wasn't. And so yeah, one morning I got
up and I just thought, I'm going to give what
Jason said, I try. So no one was home. I
went into the landry and got down on my knees
because you know, I've done that as a little kid
when I used to say prayers with Mum and that
(16:51):
I said, you know, quite a funny prayer. I said, Jesus,
if you're there. I don't know if you're there, and
it's exactly what I said. I was very open to us.
But please come into my life and turn this life around.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Please forgive me for the things you know that I've done.
Some things I've had shocks, some things not so bad.
But please for the things that I've done, Please forgive
me for the sinder committed, and please come into my life.
And you know, here's the keys, like in the car
keys you know you drive now, so here's the keys.
(17:28):
You please come into my life and submit my life
to here as a surrender, Please turn my life around.
And that was the prayer I said. And I got
up and got on with my day, and I decided
I wasn't going to talk to anyone about it. I
didn't want to be some a hypocrite. You know, he's
going to talk stuff up and then nothing change. And yeah,
(17:49):
over the next few months things to change a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay, what way? What changed?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Probably the easiest way to say, I've been all about me.
First of all, there was something different inside. That's probably
the first thing. That's like peace inside. Hard to explain
to someone unless you haven't had that. You know, I
would every night, every morning I'd be thinking about you know,
(18:21):
I guess my woman eyes and all these sort of things.
It was just gone, wasn't there. And you know, I
was just saying before it was all about me, you
know what could I get what out of things? You know,
this sort of mindset and people were sort of out
(18:42):
of the picture, and I didn't think much about God.
That sort of swapped around if I started to think
about Christ, what he did for us on across his resurrection,
his living in him, fought with him each day his ways.
Started to think a lot more about other people. That
(19:04):
was so refreshing, so fulfilling, how they were going, how
I can contribute. And then following myself. I'm not saying
I still had a healthy ego and all these sort
of things, but yeah, so that that that sort of
covers it probably the last thing. Yeah, there's a lot
of things that changed. But when I read the Bible.
I decided to read the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke,
(19:26):
and John and I started with Mark and years gone by.
If I tried to look at the Bible, it was
hard work. It was it was slow going, you know,
to concentrate, and I was just living off every sentence,
every page. I couldn't put it down. And I go
on the church and I wasn't that guy at the
back first to leave. I'd be sitting, you know, there,
(19:48):
really taking him what they said. So the Lord. Yeah,
I felt a massive change.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And ye did your teammates notice? Did your teammates notice
or did you tell them? And because it would have
been a different culture in the rugby world back then,
I know, with a lot more PACIFICA players and things
and ranks. Now you know, there's a lot of a
lot of God talks on rugby teams these days, but
this was a different world back then.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, No, there's none of that then. And it was
wasn't looked down on. Well. And my roommate Seane Meek
definitely noticed the change, and because he'd been remembering me
for three four years, and yeah, I guess he'd seen
the antics. You know, he's a good, solid guy. So yeah,
and but yeah, it wasn't popular. It wasn't. It probably
(20:39):
put me on the outer quite a bit, mate, So
that was good because if it hadn't been like that,
I think I might have been fluffy about my faith,
you know, because I got a bit of heat around it,
I had to make a decision, you know, you know,
am I walking with the Lord or not? Yeah, And
(21:02):
because I'm getting a bit of stuff against me around it,
and and I trust in the Lord, I knew my
things had come into my life, and I fell a
peace and that's been my walk for the last thirty years.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
How has it impacted things like your mental health? And
because you talk a lot about mindset and everything like this,
but you're fairly driven guy, and how did it impact
your mental health?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
It's been got your walk with God, you know, thirty years,
I would say I've only probably just matured in my
fake to a space in the last you know, for
a period of time. And I'm a fifty one year
old man, so yeah, I've been a slow work in progress.
(21:55):
And it took me three years to get over to
deal with alcohol, you know, when I actually had to
walk away from it for six years because it wasn't
handling it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Do you feel like your faith is deeper now than
it was or different? How would you think you've changed?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I think yeah, I think it's like a relationship. God
wants a relationship with us. He created us, you know,
and he loves us. He wants a relationship. It's like
a family. A father wants a relationship with a son
or a daughter. So that over a period of time,
from my hand, it's definitely changed because I understand my
creator and my father and what's been done for me
(22:36):
through Christ and his whole experience at work in me.
And basically my life is just thank you. Basically that's
what I bring. I don't bring anything to the table
says thank you for this day and help me to
honor you through this and with the purpose you had
(22:56):
for me and just been grateful.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
You wouldn't have had the rugby career you've had if
it didn't work on the rugby field and in your team.
Do you think Christian values actually work within a Christian
with work in a team? The things that you get
from the Gospel, do they actually work in team dynamics
and your coaching and things like that.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Everything is a complete Yeah, yeah, think about what works
in a team. You have to stay humble. It's the
nature of God. You have to number one, care about
the cause of your teammates, that you love them, play
for them. That's God's love, Humility, work, ethic, discipline, wisdom, courage, resilience, perseverance,
(23:43):
you can get every part of the nature of Christ.
Is any any endw do business or in footy, team
sport is what gets result. So and you know the
potential of what they might not mean that a team
(24:05):
wins the Grand Final, but to their potential. So that
was what blew me away when I opened the Bible
and I went far out. Wayne Bennett's been stealing all
these you know, things written two thousand years ago. I
was like, far.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Right's something that you wrote a few years ago, said
when you like to smash in the tackle, run over
the top of someone of the ball and crush them
in the scrum, it's just as well that you are
a Christian because you do that. When you do that
without an email us or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I think people, you know, they got like the ned
Flanders idea of Christianity. You know, if you know he is, yeah, yeah,
perhaps read the Bible, you know, it's yeah. Like I said,
I was talking about my father. He was a man,
a man of strength. He gave me a kick up
the ass, I mean literally, not just And I think
(25:01):
every good guy I know, every good man I know,
got disciplined as boys in that and we're grateful, thankful
we've got smacks on the bottom or whatever.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So so maybe people's ideas of a Christian need to
be moved from ned Flanders More to brad Thorn. Brad,
thank you so much for taking time sharing some of
your story with us. Look, I've got about another three
or four pages of questions.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I've got your.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Book sitting here full of stuff. And by the way,
that book came out in January. It's still in bookshops.
Brad Thorne Champions do extra and it's a lot more
than just talking about footy. It's a lot about the
stuff that goes on in your head and how to
get the most out of life. And so thank you
Brad for taking time to share with us.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Thanks Sean. I really enjoyed it, mate, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
We'll go out with another piece of music that Brad's
picked and it's Pachial Bells, Canon and D something you've
enjoyed all your.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Life, well always. I like thinking the music, so it's
a thinker. Yeah, it means repeat, Canon means repeat.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Sorry, I'm John Cown. I look forward to being back
with you. Have more real life next Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
H For more from News Talks at b listen live
(27:02):
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk SEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk z EDB, gid Ay.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And Welcome to real Life. I'm John Cowen. Brad Thorne
is a dual code rugby legend. He's had a huge
career playing both league and rugby union for both New
Zealand and Australia. In his book Champions Do Extra, it
takes two pages just to list as championship wins, four
League Premiership, State of Origin wins, Tri Nations, Ranfully Shield,
(00:54):
Heineken Cup, Super Rugby titles and of course the Rugby
World Cup in twenty and eleven. And that's just some
of it. His professional career started when he was just
nineteen and he was still playing at forty one, and
then he went on to be a successful coach, an
amazing career. Brad, Welcome to real life. It's a privileged
Davy on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks for having me, John, Yeah, really good to be
on mate.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Now you're an international guy. Whereabouts in the world are
you at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm in my home of Brisbane, which is where I
think of his home. Where I come from is New Zealand.
I'm very proud of where I come from. But I've
gone up here since I was pretty much nine years old,
and this is yeah, this is what we call home
the Thorn family.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So yeah, you still got ties to Malta at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That is through my wife, who is her mother is Maltese. Okay, yeah,
but so I go out. I did some coaching in
Malta last year with the national team, and whenever i'm
over that way, we will go there. And with my
rugby I always try and contribute with some rugby. I
(02:09):
love Malta, love it.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And what keeps you busy these days?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I am a coach at a private school, so I
coach first fifteen and I will say a coach sort
of like academies across the grades, and that's sort of
the main thing. And then I do things like Malta
or I might talk or do other things. It's an
(02:37):
interesting time, John, because for twenty two years as a
professional footballer from the age seventeen nineteen the Broncos, and
then that I had eight years with six of them
at the Queensland Reds, where I was the head coach,
so like thirty id years agoing foot to the floor,
(02:59):
just in the moment, trying to achieve stuff, and then
in the last couple of years just taking a breath.
But it gave me the time to do that book
you talked about before. Yeah, yeah, and then now now
it's an interesting time. You know. I had my last
my four children. My youngest is going to finish in
(03:22):
the last year of high school. So it'll be interesting
to see what God puts in front of me.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
When you're dealing with these young guys. I'm sure they
listen to you and are impacted by you, but you're
not their dad. And there are things that a dad
can put into a young guy's life that no one
else can. And you had that experience.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah. The role the father is so important, you know,
and I feel in society in the last thirty forty
years it's been diminished. And then I was lucky I
had a father towards My father passed away just before
I turned twenty. Me and my brother are so fortunate
and such a strength for us as sons. And the
(04:07):
way he treated my mother just as a as a man,
know his work, ethic, his care for his family and
provide and protect. So with the kids at school, and
that example was massive for me. I talked about that
in my book and stuff. But with the kids at school,
(04:29):
you know, there's a saying, isn't there a saying takes
a village to raise a child. So you'd like to
think that they're these young these young these boys, these
young men at school. You have good fathers and good family,
you know, with with their moms and their siblings. A
(04:50):
lot of the time, or you know, sometimes it's not
great whatever, but you like to think that I'd like
to think that I can have an impact on them.
The game team sport is a vehicle for for developing character.
That's the real drive for me. It's not actually necessary
so much the winning and the losing of the ruby.
(05:10):
It's impacting on these young these boys as young men,
and through forty three things you learned from it, the
resilience and the character and all that sort of stuff,
and you know, hopefully having a good impact.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, I've heard you speak and read in your book
about how your dad puts something into your head and
heart that perhaps no one else could and basically gave
a well placed boot where it was needed to change,
to change something not just in your muscles and in
your fitness, but in your head as well.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah, massive from mindset. My mindset was soft, was lazy,
you know, the funny one, the funny one. He never
would have realized, but my end of fourteen coach told
me that I was the laziest kid he had seen
at the club in fifteen years at coaching. You know,
(06:09):
the late think about that, fifteen years of kids, I'm
the laziest. People probably wouldn't be able to imagine that
with me because of you know, I just hungered and
just you know, it was so determined, and you know,
I guess that come across throughout my career. So but yeah,
it got to a point in those mid teens where
(06:31):
I had talent, but you know, as you know, talent's
not enough. You need to bring that mindset, that work ethic,
that discipline, and I didn't have that. So yeah, he
got to a point where he gave that kick up
the backside. I don't want to. I don't want people
to hear this and then everyone just goes home and
kicks their kids up the backside. But I just want to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It was a metaphorical one.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, So what I mean is he was happy to
give me a kick up about that, but he had
encouraged me he'd done you know, he's a deep thinking
my father passionate about us. And it was a time
where it was a line in the same time, we
need to you need to move on this or it's
going to go past you. Other other kids are moving
(07:18):
along with their footy. So yeah, there was a state
forest in their house. Basically, it was a run that
he used to do. Its basically sprinting hills. But the
key was not stopping at the end, jogging that was
flat or downhill jog, so never resting, learning to recover
(07:38):
on the on the run, you know. So I went
over did that run and it was midway through what
would be the eventual run where I actually I just
felt so good. It was so hard to explain. I
just felt awesome and remembers stopping and saying out loud,
(08:01):
this feels good, and yeah, I I did the run.
The key was that I went back a few days
later and I did it again. And because you can
do what you can do things once, but the key
was that I backed it up again and then I
got addicted to you know that that run, that work ethic,
(08:26):
that the feeling of fulfillment and purpose at the end
of that run as well.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So that served you well and your acceleration from that
point was incredible. By nineteen, you know, you're in the
Broncos and contracts, cars, houses. You were living the dream.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I remember going back to New Zealand for a funeral
when I was thirteen and I told my family. My
relations were there and they asked me what I want
to do when I get older. I want to be
a professional football player, I told them at thirteen, and yet,
like you said, signed at the Broncos a year later
after that run. At seventeen, I was signed nineteen first grade,
(09:11):
like you said, Origin twenty one, Australia twenty two, and basically, yeah,
had achieved all these things and had a million dollar contract,
a car with my name on it, and my driveway
twenty two, all these sort of things, and it was
it was a lot to take on, you know for
(09:33):
a young guy. And ego was soaring, and yeah, there
was a life that I was living that wasn't even
I had all these achievements and stuff. I was actually
falling a long way with the way I was living, treating.
I guess I was womanized and I was boozing, and
a lot of that stuff came with it. You know.
That was the life. We trained hard, played hard, party hard,
(09:57):
and it was actually it got to a space where
even though I had all that stuff, that was the
stuff I said, when I was a thirteen year old,
I was actually felt quite and uh and lacked fulfillment
and lacked a deeper purpose and had an actual bit
of a sadness. Not depressed or anything like that, but
(10:18):
just knowing that I had fallen quite quite a way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And in your book you called them the mush years.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that was four years of just hitting the booze.
And like I said, we trained hard, we played hard,
we parted hard. And the reason I called them mush
ears is they all blended into each other and it
was just yeah, it was it was just the life.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And but you didn't stay stuck there. That's a That's
an amazing part of your book is that you started
thinking and you started started pondering whether or not there
was a guy.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's when I started thinking about God again. Yeah. Having
grown up in New Zealand, we went to church and
I love Sunday school. I loved learning about Jesus. And yeah,
it was when we came to Australia, we went to
a church, didn't feel comfort we stopped going. So that
had been in a place where we no longer he'd gone.
(11:25):
I didn't know much about didn't learn about Jesus saying God,
and luckily my parents went back my brother. But yeah,
as I said, I was at that space and I
started to think about the Lord as well in my life.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, well, I'm talking with Brad Thorne and he's written
an amazing book, He's written an amazing life, and I'm
just talking to him about the thing that changed the
direction of his life. And I'm going to be talking
more to him about this and about how a significant
friend on a significant trip to Britain really changed things.
This is real life on newstalk Seed B. I'm John
(12:03):
Cown talking with Rugby legend Brad Thorne. Back with you
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on news talks.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It be Oh can you tell me you lovely? And
same for you that the sundown shine. Let me take
you by the hand leages through the Streets of London,
(12:34):
show you something to make you a change your mind.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Welcome, make to real life. On John Cown talking of
Brad Thorne, who picked some music for us. We're listening
to the Streets of London. Why did you pick that
one for us? Brett?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That was a song that my dad used to like.
He used to be better way on the guitar. He
tried to play that song and I actually learned to
play it as well, and my son plays it. It's
just a song that I really like, and having lost
my father, it's just a nice one and it's a
story the streets of London when you listen to the words.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So now, just before the break, you're talking about how
your life career wise was just taking off. You had
money and success and recognition, but somehow there was an
emptiness in your heart and you started thinking about God.
But it hadn't quite clicked for you yet, had it.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
No. Mum and Dad had returned to church, and I
sort of recommitted, and my brother had a friend at
school and who's a Christian, and the same for him.
I went along and belief in God and all that
sort of stuff to church, but I was sort of
like the guy that you know sits at the back
and leaves the first to leave, you know what I mean.
(13:53):
I was living my life and my way, and so yeah,
when I got all that stuff I talked about, it
was for me like a mass equation. I didn't understand
that I've got all this stuff. The more stuff I have,
I just want more to fill it, you know, And
nothing ever seemed to fulfill me. And I couldn't understand.
And I remember the good times of my youth, and
(14:16):
that just the piece that people were at my parents'
church and that seemed to have and I knew I
didn't have, and it was something I was thinking around.
Later that year, I represent Australia a tour to Great
Britain and my front row partner was a man called
Jason Stevens played for Coronella and he was a tough soldier.
(14:39):
We had plenty of battles that year and yeah we
played in the Grand We beat them in the Grand
Final that year. But yeah, we went on the tour
and we roomed together and he's the top man. I
got work with him really well. One day after lunch
he hit me up, just said, Hey, Thorny, what do
you stand on your faith or God. I remember saying
(15:01):
to him, you know, I like Christians. They're nice people.
You know, they're nice people. I like them, But I'm
not this very a nice person right now. You know,
I don't. When I'm a nice person, one day I'll
be a Christian. But you know, I'm not in that
space at the moment. So when I change that, then
(15:24):
I would consider being a Christian. And he said to me,
Jesus changes you. You don't change you. Jesus changes you.
You need to ask him to come into your life,
and you need to ask for forgiveness for the sins
of your.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Committed You know, did you do that straight away?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
No? No, I didn't know. I listened and I took
on board. I'd heard those things. You know, there's a
there's a saying that I like that is the teacher
will arrive when the student is ready to learn. And
I don't think with God, I hadn't been ready to
learn yet, and you know, and it was at that
(16:07):
space still I was searching. Anyway. I went back after
that tour to my back to my house. I live
with some housemates, and I actually got even looser than
I had me when I say looser. I mean, you know,
Karen on booze and all that sort of stuff that
goes with it. So when I hadn't changed, I was
(16:27):
thought he had an impact on me. Jason. I thought,
I'm going to turn this, get on top of this,
and I wasn't. And so yeah, one morning I got
up and I just thought, I'm going to give what
Jason said, I try. So no one was home. I
went into the landry and got down on my knees
because you know, I've done that as a little kid
when I used to say prayers with Mum and that
(16:51):
I said, you know, quite a funny prayer. I said, Jesus,
if you're there. I don't know if you're there, and
it's exactly what I said. I was very open to us.
But please come into my life and turn this life around.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Please forgive me for the things you know that I've done.
Some things I've had shocks, some things not so bad.
But please for the things that I've done, Please forgive
me for the sinder committed, and please come into my life.
And you know, here's the keys, like in the car
keys you know you drive now, so here's the keys.
(17:28):
You please come into my life and submit my life
to here as a surrender, Please turn my life around.
And that was the prayer I said. And I got
up and got on with my day, and I decided
I wasn't going to talk to anyone about it. I
didn't want to be some a hypocrite. You know, he's
going to talk stuff up and then nothing change. And yeah,
(17:49):
over the next few months things to change a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay, what way? What changed?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Probably the easiest way to say, I've been all about me.
First of all, there was something different inside. That's probably
the first thing. That's like peace inside. Hard to explain
to someone unless you haven't had that. You know, I
would every night, every morning I'd be thinking about you know,
(18:21):
I guess my woman eyes and all these sort of things.
It was just gone, wasn't there. And you know, I
was just saying before it was all about me, you
know what could I get what out of things? You know,
this sort of mindset and people were sort of out
(18:42):
of the picture, and I didn't think much about God.
That sort of swapped around if I started to think
about Christ, what he did for us on across his resurrection,
his living in him, fought with him each day his ways.
Started to think a lot more about other people. That
(19:04):
was so refreshing, so fulfilling, how they were going, how
I can contribute. And then following myself. I'm not saying
I still had a healthy ego and all these sort
of things, but yeah, so that that that sort of
covers it probably the last thing. Yeah, there's a lot
of things that changed. But when I read the Bible.
I decided to read the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke,
(19:26):
and John and I started with Mark and years gone by.
If I tried to look at the Bible, it was
hard work. It was it was slow going, you know,
to concentrate, and I was just living off every sentence,
every page. I couldn't put it down. And I go
on the church and I wasn't that guy at the
back first to leave. I'd be sitting, you know, there,
(19:48):
really taking him what they said. So the Lord. Yeah,
I felt a massive change.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And ye did your teammates notice? Did your teammates notice
or did you tell them? And because it would have
been a different culture in the rugby world back then,
I know, with a lot more PACIFICA players and things
and ranks. Now you know, there's a lot of a
lot of God talks on rugby teams these days, but
this was a different world back then.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, No, there's none of that then. And it was
wasn't looked down on. Well. And my roommate Seane Meek
definitely noticed the change, and because he'd been remembering me
for three four years, and yeah, I guess he'd seen
the antics. You know, he's a good, solid guy. So yeah,
and but yeah, it wasn't popular. It wasn't. It probably
(20:39):
put me on the outer quite a bit, mate, So
that was good because if it hadn't been like that,
I think I might have been fluffy about my faith,
you know, because I got a bit of heat around it,
I had to make a decision, you know, you know,
am I walking with the Lord or not? Yeah, And
(21:02):
because I'm getting a bit of stuff against me around it,
and and I trust in the Lord, I knew my
things had come into my life, and I fell a
peace and that's been my walk for the last thirty years.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
How has it impacted things like your mental health? And
because you talk a lot about mindset and everything like this,
but you're fairly driven guy, and how did it impact
your mental health?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
It's been got your walk with God, you know, thirty years,
I would say I've only probably just matured in my
fake to a space in the last you know, for
a period of time. And I'm a fifty one year
old man, so yeah, I've been a slow work in progress.
(21:55):
And it took me three years to get over to
deal with alcohol, you know, when I actually had to
walk away from it for six years because it wasn't
handling it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Do you feel like your faith is deeper now than
it was or different? How would you think you've changed?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I think yeah, I think it's like a relationship. God
wants a relationship with us. He created us, you know,
and he loves us. He wants a relationship. It's like
a family. A father wants a relationship with a son
or a daughter. So that over a period of time,
from my hand, it's definitely changed because I understand my
creator and my father and what's been done for me
(22:36):
through Christ and his whole experience at work in me.
And basically my life is just thank you. Basically that's
what I bring. I don't bring anything to the table
says thank you for this day and help me to
honor you through this and with the purpose you had
(22:56):
for me and just been grateful.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
You wouldn't have had the rugby career you've had if
it didn't work on the rugby field and in your team.
Do you think Christian values actually work within a Christian
with work in a team? The things that you get
from the Gospel, do they actually work in team dynamics
and your coaching and things like that.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Everything is a complete Yeah, yeah, think about what works
in a team. You have to stay humble. It's the
nature of God. You have to number one, care about
the cause of your teammates, that you love them, play
for them. That's God's love, Humility, work, ethic, discipline, wisdom, courage, resilience, perseverance,
(23:43):
you can get every part of the nature of Christ.
Is any any endw do business or in footy, team
sport is what gets result. So and you know the
potential of what they might not mean that a team
(24:05):
wins the Grand Final, but to their potential. So that
was what blew me away when I opened the Bible
and I went far out. Wayne Bennett's been stealing all
these you know, things written two thousand years ago. I
was like, far.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Right's something that you wrote a few years ago, said
when you like to smash in the tackle, run over
the top of someone of the ball and crush them
in the scrum, it's just as well that you are
a Christian because you do that. When you do that
without an email us or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I think people, you know, they got like the ned
Flanders idea of Christianity. You know, if you know he is, yeah, yeah,
perhaps read the Bible, you know, it's yeah. Like I said,
I was talking about my father. He was a man,
a man of strength. He gave me a kick up
the ass, I mean literally, not just And I think
(25:01):
every good guy I know, every good man I know,
got disciplined as boys in that and we're grateful, thankful
we've got smacks on the bottom or whatever.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So so maybe people's ideas of a Christian need to
be moved from ned Flanders More to brad Thorn. Brad,
thank you so much for taking time sharing some of
your story with us. Look, I've got about another three
or four pages of questions.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I've got your.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Book sitting here full of stuff. And by the way,
that book came out in January. It's still in bookshops.
Brad Thorne Champions do extra and it's a lot more
than just talking about footy. It's a lot about the
stuff that goes on in your head and how to
get the most out of life. And so thank you
Brad for taking time to share with us.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Thanks Sean. I really enjoyed it, mate, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
We'll go out with another piece of music that Brad's
picked and it's Pachial Bells, Canon and D something you've
enjoyed all your.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Life, well always. I like thinking the music, so it's
a thinker. Yeah, it means repeat, Canon means repeat.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Sorry, I'm John Cown. I look forward to being back
with you. Have more real life next Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
H For more from News Talks at b listen live
(27:02):
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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