Gemma McCaw has played over 250 times for New Zealand and been to three Olympic Games - but this conversation is about who she is when the hockey stops.

In a rare long-form sit-down, Gemma opens up on the reality behind high-performance sport, the grind and the near-misses, and what it took to be okay with herself beyond the medals.

She talks honestly about motherhood and the invisible load mothers carry, building an identity of her own, and the wellbeing philosophy she now lives and teaches. And yes - she tells the story of how she left Richie McCaw on seen, and what happened next.

Warm, funny and refreshingly open. This is Gemma, in her own words.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

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Behind the scenes on a big week: Steve's son takes the stage at Clarence St Theatre in Hamilton, sharing the bill with some of New Zealand's best-known musicians - a proud-dad night to remember. Plus a Thunder Donk session that shaped a Monday, and a Saturday-morning football stand-off over throw-ins.

Then a proper catch-up with Nate Alley, ten weeks on from his episode. He figured a handful of people might hear it - instead 500+ messages landed from around the world, and blokes who'd never said a word started reaching out. Nate on burnout, divorce, the silence in the trade, and what happens after you finally say the hard stuff out loud.

Plus reflections on the Mark Law episode, and a look ahead to Gemma McCaw - out next!

Hambassadors is proudly sponsored by Stark Property.

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Mark Law passed New Zealand SAS selection at 18 - the youngest ever to do it - and his life since has read like fiction.

In this episode we trace the whole arc: a rugged Whangamōmona childhood, the New Zealand and British SAS, private security work in war-torn Angola, and a string of near-death experiences that would have ended most lives - a parachute that opened at 60 metres, an ambush he barely escaped, and a flesh-eating disease that nearly cost him his leg.

Then there's Whakaari. When White Island erupted in December 2019, Mark flew his helicopter to the island and helped carry survivors to safety - an act later recognised with the New Zealand Bravery Star, even as his company faced a WorkSafe prosecution over matters predating the eruption. It's a remarkable, at times harrowing conversation about risk, resilience, family, and what it takes to move toward danger when everyone else moves away.

Mark's book, Lucky, You're Tough, is out now.

This episode contains descriptions of the Whakaari/White Island tragedy and other themes that may distress some listeners.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first-ever guest steps into the Accidental Business Owners studio - and it's the man who markets our show, and who’s content you see on our social media channels.

Marcus Logan (aka "Marketing Marcus") runs Sapiens, the agency behind Between Two Beers and a stable of NZ's biggest podcasts. In 2026 so far, his team has driven 75 million views for Between Two Beers across social media and YouTube. This episode pulls back the curtain on how it's actually done.

Marcus gets into what he calls "platform-driven content" - making content for how each platform is actually watched, not just reposting your podcast everywhere - and why YouTube has become the number one podcast platform on the planet.

Plus, the leap from audio-first to video-first, the counterintuitive marketing truths most business owners get wrong: why a post with 80 of the right views can beat one with a million, and his business' rebrand from Via Digital to Sapiens.

Learn more about Marcus and Sapiens by visiting: https://www.sapiens.nz/

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Sean Fitzpatrick is one of the most decorated All Blacks of all time. A World Cup winner, one of the game's great captains, and the man who led the last New Zealand side to tour South Africa and win a series there.

With the All Blacks back in South Africa for the first full tour in 30 years, there's no better time to hear it from the man who did it.

We sat down with Fitzy for a wide-ranging yarn: the Sacred Heart teacher who gave him three messages he still lives by, the lineout throw he trained nine months to fix, the captaincy he never wanted - and the advice that made him a leader, "be comfortable in your own skin." Plus Jonah Lomu the shy giant, the 1996 series win in South Africa, and 20 years living in London.

Then he opens up on the part of his life most New Zealanders have never seen: chairing the Laureus Sport for Good academy, and travelling the world watching sport pull kids out of impossible situations - from India to Sierra Leone to a midnight basketball court in London. A different side of one of our most familiar sporting figures.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two weeks ago, Israel Dagg sat down for what's become one of the biggest episodes we've ever released, and it turned his fortnight upside down.

So we brought him back to find out what all of that has actually been like: the messages from players he hadn't heard from in years, the days he had to switch his phone off, and why he'd still tell anyone in a dark place the same thing.

This is the first of something new - we're reconnecting with past guests a few weeks on, and we want your questions. Keep an eye on our socials for who's next and send them through.

Plus: The Foursquare conference saga that nearly took us both out, and the moment Steve had to physically hook Sir John Key off stage in front of 350 people. We recap Grant Baker's massive episode on why New Zealand needs a better attitude.

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Grant Baker started with nothing - biking to sales meetings and hiding the bike around the corner so clients wouldn't know he couldn't afford a car.

He'd go on to build and sell some of New Zealand's best-known companies: 42 Below vodka (sold to Bacardi for $138M), skincare giant Trilogy, and the automotive empire now known as Turners.

In this episode he tells the full story of going all in - selling everything he owned to bet on one company, the years of "drinking from a fire hose," the midnight deals that nearly sent him broke, and facing a cancer diagnosis at the height of it all.

He reflects on his mentor Eric Watson, his partnership with Geoff Ross building 42 Below, why he believes the real key to success is how much pain you can endure, and how he came to back Kiwi driver Liam Lawson's rise to Formula One.

Now a Ferrari collector - 50 and counting - Grant shares hard-won lessons on ambition, resilience, giving back, and why you should never die wondering.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

or the first time in seven years, we got the whole team in one room and did something uncomfortable: we audited our own podcast.

Eight people, one question on the table - if we rebuilt this from scratch, what would it actually be? What came out of it changed how we think about nearly everything we make.

We sit down with Di Foster to work through what's changing and why: why "platform-driven content" is reshaping how they approach every show; treating YouTube as a shop window and audio as a routine, and what that means for the work; the football-team analogy for figuring out who plays which role as the team grows; managing contractors and when to bring them in-house; refining five company values down to three; and why the smartest growth move right now is consolidation - slowing down to speed up, no shiny new things.

An honest look at what it takes to keep building a podcast business well past the garage-and-a-microphone stage.

Thank you to Odoo for supporting Accidental Business Owners.

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Becki Ross was given two to three years to live. Diagnosed at 42 with stage four, incurable bowel cancer, she's a mum of two teenagers, a teacher, and one of those rare people who lights up a room the second she walks in.

When we recorded this, Becki had just been told her treatment options had run out - that the cancer was, in her words, "declaring itself," and that her time is now very short.

In one of the most powerful conversations we've ever had, Becki talks about planning her own funeral - the plywood coffin, the celebrant, the plan to climb in herself just to make everyone laugh - and about the parts that aren't funny at all: the fear, the reality of leaving her kids behind, and the perspective that's come with facing it head-on.

It's a conversation full of light and shade. We talk about the Cancer Crushers, the village of friends carrying Becki and her kids, the health system she's had to fight through, her daughter Maddie's unforgettable words, and the humour that's got her through all of it.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steven and Seamus go behind the scenes of the Izzy Dagg episode that's gone massive - the research calls, why Izzy almost didn't tell his story, and the reaction that's followed since.

Plus: the new dream guest list - who's next after Graham Norton - a big week for the team, emceeing the Master Builders House of the Year awards, and commentating Auckland FC v Tottenham.

A very special episode drops next Sunday too, and it’s very different to anything we’ve done before. Full tease in the episode!

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Israel Dagg had everything he'd ever chased - a Rugby World Cup, a young family, the life a kid from a Hawke's Bay state house could only dream of. Then he retired, and the question underneath it all hit at once: “if I'm not an All Black, who am I?”

In one of the most open conversations we've had on the show, Israel comes clean on the five years that followed - the addiction, the depression, and the spiral he kept hidden while the world saw a highlight reel.

After his mum passed away he hit rock bottom: he left his family, moved to Auckland, and spent a Father's Day alone in an apartment wondering how it got so bad. He's honest about what it cost the people who loved him, and clear that no one could have pulled him out but himself.

This is the story of how he did it - how ownership became the first step back, why nearly three years sober is the best decision he's ever made, and how he came to see that the happiness he'd been chasing had been in front of him the whole time.

Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform.

Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.