Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Why Dan Carter Was On A Boat With Tom Brady & Bella Hadid

Episode Date: July 25, 2023

We catch up with Dan Carter after the release of his brand new book!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dan Carter joins us in the studio. We just managed to get you into the studio, like not arranged or anything, but it's great to see you. Thanks for welcoming me into the studio to be honest. We caught you coming down from a far superior radio show, Mike Hosking, and he spent 30 minutes talking to you about the Warriors. Yeah, so I thought I'd better find a radio station that will promote my book. Who do I know well, Jono and Ben. Similar salaries to Mike Holston too. Yeah, definitely.

We just don't have the helicopter just yet. We're getting to the helicopter. Are you being well, mate? Very well. Yeah, school holidays were fantastic. Got over to PG, which was nice. Somehow the older you get, the more handsome you get. How does that happen?

Look at me. Look at me, Dan. You're looking great, mate. You're looking great, mate. You're looking great. Jeez. Seriously, you look in the mirror and you should be having a big smile from ear to ear. You're a good looking man. You've got a new book out.

It's called The Art of Winning, but it's not a rugby book. It's a book that a lot of people can, well, everyone can take something out of. Yeah, it's something I've been working on for a couple of years and it wasn't until I finished playing that I realised how passionate i was around leadership how obsessed i was with winning throughout my career yeah and how much i loved uh giving back and helping people so i wanted to share some knowledge and experience of playing professional sport for close to 20 years and just and just to help people and i was pretty lucky to play 13 of those years for the All Blacks,

which is a pretty special, unique culture, and there were just so many learnings, not just for athletes. What's the most important thing you think you learned through your years playing professionally? I think in my position, performing under pressure, because I didn't really like pressure a lot as a young country boy. It was all pretty simple lifestyle, and then all of a sudden you're thrust into the all blacks representing your country there's so much pressure

right you've got to win for the country that feels like it sometimes right i think domestic violence goes up if the blacks don't win a rugby world cup yeah the country goes into a minor state of depression as well if the blacks don't win world cups there's a bit of pressure on the boy's shoulders yeah so you've got to actually learn to embrace that. And we really struggled in 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cup, so around performing under pressure. We got to play off games and we didn't embrace those moments. So we spent a lot of time with the likes of Gilbert Anoka, who's part of the All Blacks set up,

and Kerry Evans, a forensic psychologist as well, about controlling our mind and learning what our mind does when you're under pressure whether it goes into a state of freeze uh fight or flight all right yeah and you still start you you learn what state you went into when you're under pressure and also your teammates to help them get out um of those those states because you know i used to go into a state of freeze and as a playmaker supposed to be calling the shots state of freeze and as a playmaker, I was supposed to be calling the shots. State of freeze, he goes quiet, he kind of goes still. I kind of disappeared a little bit in certain games,

so guys would snap me out of it by asking me a question. And we got to a stage where we just loved pressure, even now. I've learnt the most successful people in this world live with pressure every day. Actually, it's a privilege to have pressure in your life. It shouldn't be a weight on your shoulder. It's something you walk towards and embrace

because if you can overcome those situations, then you're on the verge of reaching your goals, being successful and achieving things you set out to do. Yeah, that's very interesting insight.

It's a very honest book. I managed to read a couple of excerpts. But even talking about, which I really hit home with me, about going from being Dan Carter, the rugby player, what dan carter is you know what are you what are you doing next you know same i had the same sort of thing i think we did with any of our tv show where you're like well that's this thing and now what is it what is it we do when everyone's

talking to you about when you guys get it back on tv when you get you know it's probably the same situation for you as a rugby player transitioning to what's next yeah it's quite a challenge i talk a lot about that at the start of the book around repurposing because i knew what my purpose was for 18 years to be the best rugby player i possibly could and that's what was driving me every morning i go to bed well what do i need to do today to be better than yesterday and to be the best rugby player i possibly could and then all of a sudden it's finished you hang up your boots you're like well what next yeah you know and? And a little bit of loss of identity,

well, who am I if I'm not the rugby player, and what does my future look like? So I was quite vulnerable. You soon refocus and find out who you are as a person, look at your character and your beliefs, and that really helps. Gratitude? You write a gratitude sort of journal as well? Is that something you still do?

Yeah, I do. Wayne Smith was big on that and pushing the players towards that. So at the end of each day, I kind of write three things that I'm grateful for. Would this be in the John Owen B&A today? Have we made the cap for today? In bold letters.

There's still a lot of day to go. So far, yes. I could probably put it in now. It's going to be my first thing I write when I do my gratitude book tonight. That's a really cool thing to do. Just before you go, I mean, obviously, there's little teasers to what's in the book. And it's obviously great messages about the art of winning,

but also about you ending up at parties with Kardashians and Tom Brady and stuff like that. I mean, how surreal was that? I know the Hits audience would love to know. How surreal was it going from a country boy in the South Island to ending up in a party where the Kardashians are there? Yeah, it's weird. I feel completely out of place, to be honest.

But through the success that I was having on the rugby field, a lot of opportunities opened up, particularly when I was living in Paris. But every time I went to a fashion show or an event that there were celebrities there, you kind of sit there and I'd be really shy sitting there going, what the hell am I doing here? You'd have imposter syndrome.

It was really weird. You'd be on a little tender boat, you know, with Tom Brady and Bella Hadid going across the air. And Tom's asking questions about rugby. And then I quickly crack a beer open from the fridge. And then Bella was like, can I have one too? I was like, yeah, of course. So you're kind of cheersing Bella Hadid with a beer.

You kind of have a sip. And what the hell's happening here? You're kind of looking around going, what's going on here? This is weird. Surreal. That is weird. So Tom Brady, I must say, legend when it comes to American football. So he knows you, knows

rugby. Yeah, he was with his team and I went and visited the Patriots back in 2013. That's right, I remember you talking to us about it before. And his team knew all about it and they're like, oh, why didn't you try out? And I told them I kind of dropped my nuts and couldn't actually kick an American football. I tried. And decided to sign a contract in France

instead of a tryout for American football. And then the Patriots went on to win three or four Super Bowls after that. So I could have been sitting here with a lot of rings. So were they interested in you? They'd obviously done some research. I went to just go have a look at their facilities. They obviously jumped on YouTube or something, saw that I'm a kicker.

As soon as I arrived, they go, right, we want to see you kick. I was like, oh, man, I thought I was just here for a look around the facilities. I just injured my Achilles tendon, so I was like, I can't. I'm injured at the moment. He goes, okay, the owner, Mr. Robert Craft, he wants to meet you. I was like, oh, that's nice. He's going to welcome me to the Patriots facilities. Walk into his office.

How long have you wanted to play in the NFL? What are you going to bring to this team? And I'm like, oh, this is a job interview. Yeah, it was. And that's kind of just made up a whole lot of stuff. Oh, a childhood dream of mine and, you know, all this stuff. Okay, right. And he sent me down to the special teams coach.

Two hours with a special teams coach. Go through all the kickers in the NFL, technique, what they look for in kickers, straight to the head of scouting to go, okay, well, normally we pick players through the college system, but Mr. Craft, the owner, kind of thinks outside the box a little bit.

It'd be a great story for you to be part of the team. And I'm sitting there going, man. I just want to go look at the building. Eventually I got the look around the building, incredible facilities. And then just as I was leaving there going man I just wanted to look at the building eventually I got the look around the building, incredible facilities and then just as I was leaving they gave me a ball we want to see videos of you kicking this and if you're good enough you can come to try it next

year, so this is end of 2013 I'm like okay I've kind of got a world cup in a couple of years, it's very important but maybe after the world cup I always joked it would be a great retirement plan, put the helmet on go kick it so it'd be a great retirement plan yeah put the helmet on yeah so it's a lot harder to kick than the rugby ball yeah so you're at the back of your run up when you're kicking a rugby ball yeah the ball's sitting on the tee nothing changes american

football nothing's there so you start your run up towards the ball nothing's there nothing's there just as you swing your leg is when the ball is getting placed. Of course. Really? And then you've got to get a lot more elevation sort of immediately as well because of the line of scrimmage trying to charge you down. And it's a really hard ball to kick. It's so pointy. So I struggled a little bit.

But I did. I took a few videos, but by this stage it was 2014, and I was like, oh, man. I probably had second child on the way at that stage. And I was like, okay, I could probably go to America, take the family there, be awful, get a red card and change rooms, send back to New Zealand. I took the easy option of signing a contract in France for three years.

So that was my American football dream. But Tom Brady's team knew all about it. That is a hell of a story. Dan Carter, a true gentleman, one of the great New Zealanders. Congratulations on all the good work you're doing. And this book sounds like a must-read, mate.

Yeah, I'm sure there's something in it for everyone. It's been a passion project for me over the last two years and pretty proud to finally have it in all good book-selling stores. So, yeah, go grab a copy. Stan Carter, The Art of Winning is the name of the book if you want to get it. Thanks for coming in or letting us pull you into the studio.