SPEAKER_00: 0:00

In this exclusive season, we meet with high-profile, incredibly successful athletes who achieve the greatest heights on the sports field and are now dominating the finance world. Joining us is none other than Chris Jones with Jonas, Ted Richards, Brands, Shane Wakeland, and Kid Andy Gowers. Izzy? Chill Cop. Jack Trendrove. Hello, Sienna. How are you? I'm good. That's good. We're here on a Thursday morning. Yep. Just had some issues with the uh recording, but we're good. We're good to go. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01: 0:40

It's okay.

SPEAKER_00: 0:41

It's interesting because we were just uh talking about when we had Jack Trengrove on the podcast before the Adelaide. Poor Jack. And uh we had some technical issues to say the least.

SPEAKER_03: 0:51

To say, yeah, to say the least. Literally everything that could have gone wrong that day basically went wrong.

SPEAKER_00: 0:56

But Jack had very exceptional patience.

SPEAKER_03: 0:59

Oh my gosh, what a gentleman.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01

Very thankful. I don't know how he listened to me talk to him for an hour, but and then we had to do it all again. But no.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07

It's right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08

We deal with adversity. We got there. That's right. I think that's that's probably almost been a theme for season three deal with adversity because Absolutely But uh resilience seems to be the theme, adversity, desire to win and be successful, passion as well, passion. Yeah, so yeah, we should we should maybe do a little recap of each season three, but also each each episode because there was so much, like I don't know, we we started with like the legend, arguably, of football, episode 12. Sort of your idol, would you say?

SPEAKER_03: 1:48

Yeah, my whole family's idol.

SPEAKER_00: 1:50

Yeah, a great guy. And one thing that stood out for me was how he he ranks really highly on disagreeability, yeah, if that's a word, I think that's right. Um, and just saying that he's always looking for ways to do things differently to get an edge, yeah, and that uh talks to him as a football player and also as uh an investor. Yeah, and he's had a cracking yeah, one of the leading um investment funds globally in the last 12 months, which is just remarkable.

SPEAKER_03: 2:24

Yeah, yeah, his episode was uh just amazing. It was amazing that we could have him on the podcast and him setting up the season was I think really uh suitable because of how every other episode that followed kind of went. Like everything he talked about from you know his passion, his um motivation, but also just being disciplined. And yeah, he was just so intelligent. Everything that he talked about, um, yeah, and that I guess what you said about he him scoring so low on agreeability and how that's a strength that you know not always saying yes to everything is a good thing, um, and having that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00: 3:07

Yeah, definitely. Well, we we are in Melbourne, so we did have a few uh AFL football players on the podcast. Uh Ted Richards as well.

SPEAKER_02: 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:16

Uh center halfback uh for the Sydney Swans, also played for Essendon for a little bit, all Australian premiership player. But what's really interesting, he he I wouldn't say struggled early on in his career, but he probably didn't reach the peak because he was trying to do everything, but then he just one thing he did say to us was he just focused on doing one thing and doing it well, yeah, and that set him apart from the rest of the centre half backs and the competition, and that helped him to win a flag and be the uh all Australian for that year.

SPEAKER_03: 3:49

There's such life lessons, like everything that they felt in sport and what they went through in sport always trans transferred over to I guess their life, and and you can take it. I mean, a a lot of our listeners probably aren't like you know, same AFL players, but there's so much you can take from just simply that statement. Like he was trying to be everything, and instead he honed in on being the one thing that he was good at, and he became the best at it, and that's exactly how you know you you should probably approach life.

SPEAKER_00: 4:22

Like you learn so much from that, yeah from all their experiences, and also having good mentors, I think, is important too. Absolutely. And we had uh uh when Shane Waitland was on the uh podcast, I think it was episode 24, he had uh Mick McGuan and Eddie McGuire driving the Collingwood Football Club, and he talks about uh when he was had a bad game and he was a bit upset, and and Mick Moldhouse just said to him, mate, toughen up, get over it, and just get going. And that and that's been Shane's mindset, you know, things aren't gonna go your way. Don't don't cry, just get up and get going and move forward.

SPEAKER_03: 4:59

Exactly. He talked about like how he was feeling so sorry for himself, and maybe rightly so, you know. I think he said he thought he was playing his last ever game of football and he was really down, and Mick just said, like, suck it up, basically, and he took that through the rest of his career and and it shows.

SPEAKER_00: 5:18

Yeah, it did. I want to go back to Jack because one thing I did like about Jack is he really, you know, his career, he had a very successful football career up until the age of 21. He was the captain of the Melbourne Football Club or co-captain, I think at 20 or 21. Youngest ever captain, which is is extremely impressive. But the thing is, he got told, you mentioned to us he had a really bad leg injury, and he got told by the doctor he might not ever walk again or run again. Yeah. So, like, just to be told that at such a young age when you're so promising, and you know, you're you're one of the arguably the best 20 or 21-year-olds in the competition would be tough. Yeah, and it just speaks about you know resilience and just working hard and get to a point where you know it might not have got back to the level he was playing at, but just that resilience to keep going and and just push through. Uh, and now you know he made a decision that uh at you know pretty early on in his in his his career in football that he wants to move into finance and investment management and now you know he's doing exceptional work at Lanyan Investment Partners.

SPEAKER_03: 6:22

Yeah, um it his episode was I think an amazing note to finish the season off because his his I guess story was unique in the fact that everything that happened to him happened to him when he was so young, yeah, and a lot of his success happened so early on, and the fact that he has been able to build on that success and learn from those experiences and bring it into his career within finance was so impressive. Plus, he was a a major gentleman because of all the technical difficulties that day, yeah. But um, yeah, he was he was amazing to to listen to.

SPEAKER_00: 6:57

Always welcome back in the podcast, Jackie.

SPEAKER_03: 6:59

Back anytime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

Um, and what who was what was your favorite episode, Sienna? I know we don't have favorites here on the Finance Friends podcast, but uh if if if we weren't if we weren't recording, who would be your uh other other than Chris Judd? Who ours?

SPEAKER_03: 7:15

Aside from Chris Judd, because he's just such a legend in my family and my life. Um I think probably one of the most inspiring stories was Izzy's for me.

SPEAKER_00: 7:25

Yeah, was that episode 27, I believe?

SPEAKER_03: 7:28

Episode 27, second last episode of the season. Um and she was so inspiring to me because of how much she has like did during her sporting career. I think a lot of the episodes talked about the transition out of it and finding footing after. But Izzy had begun her career as she was playing in Australia, as she was playing basketball. And I think she's she's just a big inspiration because of the fact that she was a woman in both of these sectors that are really dominated by men, like finance and sports, and she succeeded so highly in both, and she just seemed like someone who really backs herself and is confident and will do the work, and you know, she just really inspired me, and I hope a lot of our female listeners that you can do anything that you want.

SPEAKER_00: 8:21

I agree, and she was a professional basketball player, but wasn't earning enough of an income to to only focus on sports. She she had to have a full-time job.

SPEAKER_03: 8:33

That was another major difference, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 8:35

Yeah, which I struggle to I struggle to get up in the morning, go to the gym and go to work, let alone be a professional athlete, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03: 8:42

Yeah, so her discipline, her um resilience, like we've been talking about, was yeah, really inspiring.

SPEAKER_00: 8:49

And she also went to college overseas as an 18, 17 or 18-year-old. So to be overseas on your own, 17 or 18-year-old, um, on a sports scholarship, traveling lots, but also having to study, that's that's challenging being away from your family at that age.

SPEAKER_03: 9:05

And she talked about as well, like taking her studies really seriously. Like she majored, I I've I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, listeners, but I think it was in finance and commerce as an umbrella. Um, and she did well, like that was really important to her. Her education was important to her, and it shows through her career, like everything she learned wasn't just to you know experience being in America on a sports scholarship, she was still disciplined even then, and so how much it brings into her life uh thereafter is just yeah, it was really inspiring.

SPEAKER_00: 9:38

Talking about another international star, we had Luke Jones on. Uh I think it was the second episode 21 of season three, and which he of he moved to France and he had young family living in France. I think he had two children at the time, uh, playing professional rugby in France. Like, that's that's an inspiration on its own.

SPEAKER_03: 9:59

Yeah, his episode was really amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 10:01

It's it's not all roses and lollipops, and one thing that we did learn, it's it's the transition's not always easy. Yeah. So Luke did say, and one thing that stood out that you know he was in a meeting with his boss, uh and his boss said, I'll send a calendar invite to the client for this meeting. And he's like, you know, I don't know, maybe 30 at the time or 32, and he's like, I don't know how to do that. And you think, Well, how do you not know how to do that? But it just shows you um, you know, when he was playing as a wallaby, they have his passport, they'd organise his food. You wouldn't have to do much, you just have to focus on on sport and be the best athlete you can. So that's quite interesting, and that sort of uh uh it also talks to Tom King, episode 25. And Tom, like his whole career, like as a teenager, his goal was to win a gold medal.

SPEAKER_03: 10:51

Yeah, it was very clear. It was very good.

SPEAKER_00: 10:53

Very clear, that's right. And when he achieved that and won a gold medal, he felt lost. Yeah, and it took him a bit of time to realize that you don't actually need to reach that pinnacle again, and corporate life, there's no such thing as as a gold medal in corporate life. You know, you're continuously learning and developing, and companies grow, companies shrink. Um, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_03: 11:18

Yeah, I think that's something that really was beautiful about this season is that all of our guests felt comfortable enough to talk to us about uh the struggle as well as all of the success, because all these people have been so successful in in sport and then in finance and found their footing, and it's really beautiful to see that. But what was even more, I think, impactful and inspiring was hearing them talk about how they got out of feeling lost because that's a very normal human feeling. Um, and and everyone at some point is feeling lost and undecided and like they have no real clear goal.

SPEAKER_00: 11:59

And Tom talked about that, yeah, and unsure about what your career is, where what's next, and it could you know be based on what's happening in your personal life, and everyone goes through that and and that's okay, and that's one of the key messages. Um, have we talked about everyone? I think maybe have we talked about and we haven't talked about Andy Gowers yet, episode 26. He was he's full of energy. He made me laugh so many times. He was so good, he's got the best stories. Obviously, now he's the president of Hawks and also runs a very successful succession planning business.

SPEAKER_01: 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:30

Um, one thing that made me laugh was he he when he first started Hawks, he was, you know, a young, young chap, uh 17 or 18, and you know, he had Dermot Beridan, um, Jason Dunstall, and you know, the the arguably the the greats of uh you know AFL and he walked in and his team won four premierships in a row. Um he was fortunate enough to play in the fourth one, and then he ended up going to Brisbane. But it was pretty funny when he went to Brisbane Bears at that point that he said, okay, I'm on a job, I'm doing marketing. Uh I just don't, whatever I do, I don't want to sell marketing at the GABA. And next minute, what is he doing?

SPEAKER_01: 13:11

Selling marketing at the GABA. Oh, sorry, doing the footy record.

unknown: 13:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:17

So it's quite funny, and he's had um very interesting career as well as uh, you know, a bit of diversity too. You know, he was in a marketing agency and he was the only male and he was playing professional sport, but it wasn't professional at that point, it was semi-professional, so he still had to travel um while working, and he actually had to work harder because you know, football in Brisbane bears in you know, the what is it, the sort of late 90s or whatever period it was or mid-90s was just was just barely any recognition.

SPEAKER_03: 13:47

Yeah. Yeah, I think it was interesting to hear him talk about how he was the outlier in the corporate world when being the only male in a team of females, especially in that time, and how that fact, plus the the fact that he was, you know, an AFL football player, that that was actually to his detriment almost within his professional career because he had to work twice as hard to you know prove that he deserved to be there. And I think as well, him talking about how being the president of the Hawthorne Football Club is a voluntary position, and kind of how that that sense of juggling two things at once and trying to, you know, pursue both sides of you know being involved in sport and finance, he's still doing, you know, he's the president of a major football club and he's running his own business, and so you know, those ideas or those kind of points of life that were happening really early on have actually carried through and in a really successful way.

SPEAKER_00: 14:48

Yeah, definitely. I feel like we could talk about these stars for another hour. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 14:52

Grant Hackett, especially. Yeah, I don't have he spoken about Grant yet.

SPEAKER_00: 14:57

No, we haven't. Sorry. Yeah, he's episode 23.

SPEAKER_03: 15:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:03

How can I forget Grant? I can't forget Grant. I see him all the time in College Street.

SPEAKER_03: 15:08

No, his episode was amazing. He's he was just like on a whole like other level of discipline and it's almost as if drive. Yeah, like he almost treats his professional career as he treated his swimming career.

SPEAKER_00: 15:27

Yeah, if not more discipline.

SPEAKER_03: 15:28

Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:30

Well, he was I think he was a world record holder for 12 years. Wow. Which is incredible. Yeah, he's you know, arguably one of Australia's most successful athletes. Um But he he I think he mentioned again, this is coming back to episode 23, so quite a few weeks ago. Um, but when he first was in the Olympics or his first uh race um over the 1500, he finished. When the winner finished, he was still four laps behind. And he was just so determined to make up that time, then he ended up being the world champion for 12 years.

SPEAKER_03: 16:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:07

It's remarkable.

SPEAKER_03: 16:08

It's amazing. Uh like kind of how Tom King was talking about seeing that gold medal as like the ultimate goal and doing absolutely everything in your power to get there. He was talking about how when he went into the corporate world, he didn't realise how many public holidays there were because he, you know, there was just that just didn't exist for his training with with swimming and stuff. And yeah, I think being on the same playing field as people who are much older than you or are from completely different backgrounds, like he said that some people competing were like army seals, and yeah, you know, you just don't know how much experience your competitors have, so you absolutely have to do everything in your power.

SPEAKER_00: 16:52

Yeah, every every inch, yeah. So, should we talk about season four? Yeah, talk to me, Sienna. You're the boss of the podcast. What's in store for season four?

SPEAKER_03: 17:01

Season four is gonna be incredibly exciting. I think we're we're being a bit more directed in the topics um for season four. So I think like wrapping up season three, it was amazing because a lot of our listeners knew the people we were having on as guests and looked up to them and watched them on the TV and stuff like that. And so now when we're moving into season four, we want to kind of get our listeners involved in the in the conversation with investment and educate but also have an open conversation about current news. So move away from like maybe personal stories, although that's part of who you are, I guess, as a host. Yeah. Um, but yeah, we're we're honing in on investing.

SPEAKER_00: 17:48

Yeah, that's right. So we're we're gonna be talking to investors about you know their background still and what they do today, but also what advice around what learnings around investment and and maybe some some tips on on what to look at for investing and um and then potentially you know if if you you like the investor, you might want to invest with them, and that's an opportunity to invest with them as well, um, through their through their funds. Uh so but what's most important, you need to share uh stories, follow us on Instagram. What do we do these days? We do TikToks, yeah. No, you talk to me. I'm a bit old for this stuff.

SPEAKER_03: 18:30

No, not not at all. So, yes, we're on Instagram, we're on TikTok, we post on our LinkedIn page as well. Um, we link the LinkedIn, yeah, link the LinkedIn pages of all of our guests on in the show notes. So um, yeah, we want to keep all of our listeners connected. That's basically the point of Finance Friends. We want um everyone who tunes in and follows us to be a part of the conversation. That's been the point from day dot. Um, so yeah, I think this season forecoming will be really exciting, especially talking about the investment philosophies of all of these people and how that differs and their back and how their backgrounds kind of inform all of their theses around investment. And um, yeah, so it's gonna be really exciting. We have a a really amazing list of guests lined up.

SPEAKER_00: 19:19

I know, and it's actually our first guest is arriving in five minutes, and he's text me and said he's here, so we better wrap it up, we better wrap it up there. So thank you, Sienna, for all your hard work. You do all the work behind the scenes and uh and now in the scene on this occasion. So thank you and um I appreciate all your work.

SPEAKER_03: 19:40

Oh, thank you, and we'll see you guys in season four.

SPEAKER_00: 19:42

See you then. Thanks for listening this week. Stay tuned for our next episode and keep up to date with us by following the Finance Friends podcast on Instagram and TikTok. Plus, connect with us and our guests over on our LinkedIn page, all linked in the show box.

SPEAKER_02: 20:15

Disclaimer, this podcast exists for information and entertainment purposes. The personal opinions of the speaker and guests do not represent the view of any other party. If this recording contains reference to financial products, that reference does not constitute advice nor recommendations and may not be reliable.