Kurt Eklund - What a Lad
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Yeah, I probably just enjoyed myself a little bit too much. It wasn't the rugby, it was the mates, it was the boys, it was the feeling of earning a beer. So you weren't chasing a rugby dream? I just thought it was never really a possibility, to be honest. I made Auckland, I think, the following year. Blew my knee out, eh? Yeah, that was me done rugby. And I was like, fuck, that's... Might just call it. Around the same time, my mum had just got... re-diagnosed with breast cancer. When she passed, that was the turning point. Oh, yeah. I just wanted to make her proud, bro. Yeah. You know, I started taking things a bit more seriously then, and, bro, I started really enjoying it. Yeah, bro, debuted for the Blues at 28.
There's a few moments, you know, probably when I had my son. When I made Maldi's captain, I probably started for the Blues that you want to share with mum, eh?
Well lad, well today's guest is one of those players who proves perseverance pays off. He's built his career through patience, resilience and years of consistently performing whenever an opportunity came his way. Starting out with Auckland before finding his home at Bay of Plenty where he developed into one of the most respected hookers in the country. His form earned him a shot with the Blues where he worked his way up from a squad player to a leader, eventually captaining the side and and also helping them win their first Super Rugby title in over 20 years. Along the way, he's represented the Māori All Blacks, captained them as well, overcome a serious knee injury that threatened his career, and become the sort of player that every coach loves having in their team.
Off the field, he's known as a genuine good bloke of New Zealand rugby, and he is one hell of a lad. It is, of course, the great Kurt Eklund. Welcome, mate. Stop it.
Thank you so much. Where'd you get that? Wikipedia? Yeah. That's so nice. Was it true? No, because I put all my own facts in there before I came in. Just to make sure of it.
It's good stuff. Am I right in saying this is your first podcast? Because I tried to listen to one on the way out.
No, just as I was taking a piss before we came in here, mate. I was trying to think. Because I've had interviews and stuff like that in the microphone. But no real sit-down podcast sort of setup.
No, I'm excited. The thing I found was a lie-detecting test with Kaito, which was good value. Yeah.
Do you know the story behind that? Nah. Okay, yeah, so they got us up for this lie-detecting test, which is what I thought it was, you know, so you go in there. And they come to us, and we were supposed to work out our own questions and all that sort of stuff, so we were trying to stitch each other up. We get to the end of it, And it was all, that was a lie. The lie detecting, the lie detecting test was a lie.
And bro, we were going at each other.
This dude's telling us. I didn't watch the whole thing. Yeah. I love how Tom was so gutted that his personality was a front or something. I loved it. I loved it, eh?
And he's going, oh, what was the question? And it's, um. He's going to hate me for bringing this back up. Are you yourself?
When the camera's on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The same person when the camera's not on. Yeah.
And he goes, oh, no. I'm living my life as a fraud. And he goes, well, you know, sometimes you put a pizzazz in it.
You know, you jet off a little bit. It's all they wanted to hear.
It was a pretty silent car ride home after that. Is there any?
No, nothing on here. But the other footage that comes up a lot is the Bateman and Rodden content, which is good stuff as well.
Quality fishing content. Well, quality, I don't know if you could call it fishing.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:14
2
How did Kurt Eklund go from builder to professional rugby at age 28?
5:14–7:56
3
What changed for Kurt after his knee injury and his mum's cancer diagnosis?
7:56–17:26
4
Why is Kurt moving to Japan and how will his family adapt to the move?
17:26–1:01:32
5
How did Kurt balance working as a builder with chasing rugby opportunities?
1:01:32–1:19:38