Between Two Beers Podcast
by Steven Holloway & Seamus Marten
Good questions. Great guests. Few beers... Steve and Seamus like asking good questions. And they love good answers. After over 20 years of friendship, they bought a microphone and started a podcast, allowing them to sit with, and learn from, the most interesting people they can access. From Kiwi legend Marc Ellis, to media personalities Jeremy Wells and Paddy Gower, Rugby coach extraordinaire Wayne Smith, sexologist Morgan Penn, and Olympian Dame Lisa Carrington... Between Two Beers has produced countless hours of incredible stories, career highs, lows and moments of raw vulnerability. All from the One NZ Studio. Acast
Episodes
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Mils Muliaina Breaks His Silence on His UK Arrest, 100 All Black Tests & Buying Mum a House
In 2015, Mils Muliaina walked off the field in England and into four police officers and two cameras. [Verified outcome, e.g. “The charge was later dropped.”] For more than a decade he’s never really spoken about it. Here, he talks about the silence, the headlines, and finding out who his real...
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How to Scale a Business in NZ: Rowan Simpson Answers Your Questions
What changes when your business gets bigger than you? Rowan Simpson, employee #3 at Trade Me and an early Xero investor, is back for a second session with Steve, Seamus and business coach Di Foster. This time he’s answering your questions on scaling, from your sixth hire to your first…
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Kane Williamson: The Full Story - Walking Away, The Virat Kohli Call & the 2019 Final
Five months after retiring from international cricket, Kane Williamson sits down for a rare long-form conversation. He explains why he stepped away between tests against England rather than hang on for a farewell tour or the 10,000-run milestone, and the conversation with Virat Kohli the day…
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Paddy Gower Returns to Discuss Election Night, Kane Williamson’s Golf Sim Obsession & More!
Five years ago Paddy Gower came on Between Two Beers over a lockdown video call, sitting between about seven craft beers. He’s back on Hambassadors, and he’s now off the drink completely. We talk about what giving up drinking and the Newshub redundancy did to him, why election night is “the...
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Dame Catriona Williams: Paralysed at 32, Raising $28 Million for Spinal Research & Standing Again
NZ showjumper and eventer Catriona Williams broke her neck in a fall from a horse and became tetraplegic. Fourteen months into her marriage, she told her husband Sam to leave. He stayed, and 23 years on she calls herself lucky, not inspirational. Through her charity CatWalk she has helped raise…
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Trade Me & Xero’s Rowan Simpson Picks Apart Our Business
Is your business a pet or livestock? Rowan Simpson, employee #3 at Trade Me and an early Xero investor, sits down with Steve, Seamus and business coach Di Foster to pick apart the business behind Between Two Beers. What’s really holding it back, where it could grow, and what should we stop doing?...
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Brad Iles: The Golf Prodigy Who Survived a Coma, Beat Rory McIlroy & Walked Away From It All
As a teenager, Brad Iles was a world schools golf champion, and Michael Campbell called him one of the best talents to come out of New Zealand in a long time. At 20, he fell off the back of a golf cart in the US, suffered a life-threatening head injury and woke from a coma to be told he might…
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Off Grid with Gemma McCaw’s Group, Becki Ross’ Farewell & What We’ve Learned from Life-Story Interviews
We reflect on Becki Ross' beautiful send-off at Lake Karāpiro, hearing her mum mention Between Two Beers in her speech, and what happens for guests long after the mics go off. Plus: the post about a “90s childhood” street that struck a chord, and why who you live next to might matter more than…
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Sex & Relationship Coach Melissa Vranjes: How to Fix Mismatched Libido & Reconnect in the Bedroom
This one’s an adults-only episode - sexual themes and language throughout, so maybe not for the school drop-off. 18+. Melissa Vranjes is a certified holistic sex and relationship coach, and she joins us to tackle the stuff most couples never figure out how to talk about. Steve plays the…
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Switching Off, Exiting Survival Mode & the Stories That Hold Us Back
What if the thing holding back your business - and your life - isn’t a strategy problem, but a story you’ve been telling yourself? This week, business coach Di Foster sits down with Steve to pull apart the quiet narratives running his days: the belief that being constantly connected matters more...
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Mike King: Comedy, Rock Bottom & the Truth About I Am Hope
Content warning: This episode contains frank discussion of addiction, depression, suicide and self-harm, and may not be suitable for all listeners. Please take care while listening. Support details are at the end of this description. Mike King is one of the most recognisable figures in New…
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One NZ Warriors CEO Cam George on 2026 Season, A Tribute to Becki Ross & Why We Turn Down Politicians
Content note: this contains a tribute to our friend and former guest Becki Ross and touches on assisted dying - please listen with care. In this one: we open by accidentally reading each other's minds (one name, one count of three - you'll hear it). Steve buys a TV with five kids in tow and zero...
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Nathan Fa'avae: New Zealand's Greatest Adventure Racer
He's one of New Zealand's greatest ever athletes - 7x Adventure Racing World Championships, a decade unbeaten on the biggest races on the planet, and a record-breaking 1,000-mile paddle down the Yukon. And he's done all of it with a heart condition. But this conversation goes way past the trophy...
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Seamus & Di Foster 1:1: How to Find Your Voice & Learn to Say No
Di sits down one on one with Seamus for an honest session about the thing he finds hardest: using his voice. They get into why he defaults to making everyone else okay at his own expense, where that started (being the youngest, and a childhood of "seen and not heard"), and the real cost of…
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Gilbert Enoka: The All Blacks' Mind Coach on Pressure, Loss & What Actually Builds a Team (Re-Release)
Gilbert Enoka is back with the All Blacks. After 23 years and 304 tests as their mental skills coach - two World Cup wins along the way - he stepped away in 2023, worked with Chelsea and England cricket, and has now returned to the team as leadership and mental performance coach ahead of the 2027...
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The Halberg Golf Day, Embarrassing Hobbies & Questions for a Sexologist
Steve reports back from the inaugural Halberg Golf Day at Royal Auckland - a celebrity auction, a plus-handicap playing partner, a 21-under round and a great cause. Meanwhile the office golf simulator is quietly destroying everyone's productivity. Dave Wood's back on the show, and the boys are...
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Dave Wood: Be Your Own Voice - Pressure, Performance & Knowing When to Pull Back
The thing that gets you to the top is rarely the thing that keeps you there. Dave Wood is the first guest ever invited back on Between Two Beers three times. A former lifeguard and intensive care paramedic, he turned his own battle with chronic pain into a career as one of the world's leading...
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We Asked Geoff Ross & Grant Baker What They'd Do With Our Business
Steve, Seamus and Di sat down with two former Between Two Beers guests - Geoff Ross and Grant Baker, the founders behind 42 Below, Moa, Trilogy and Ecoya - and asked them one question: what would you do with the audience we have? This episode is the debrief. The three of them unpack what came out...
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Gloria Masters: Surviving Child Abuse, the Signs Every Parent Should Know & Finding Hope
The silent epidemic harming Kiwi kids - and the survivor determined to end it. For the first sixteen years of her life, Gloria Masters endured abuse most New Zealanders would refuse to believe happens here. She survived - and went on to become a teacher, a child psychotherapist and a…
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Mark Law Returns to Answer Your Questions, Our Office Golf Simulator & Kane Williamson Live
The boys are back behind the scenes of Between Two Beers. This week a golf simulator lands in the office, the Kane Williamson live podcast at Made, a debrief on meeting Grant Baker and Jeff Ross, Father's Day as a new dad, and Between Two Bets. Plus Mark Law returns three weeks on from his…
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Louis Davis: NZ's Biggest Content Creator on Belief, Fatherhood & Living Off the Land
Louis Davis is the biggest content creator in New Zealand - 3.8 million followers, 3.5 billion views in a year, and TikTok Creator of the Year. But the numbers are, in his words, background noise. In this episode he takes us back to where it started: a kid from Te Tai Tokerau whose mother told…
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How Marcus Logan Built a 10-Person Agency from 0 - Niching, Balance & Hiring
Every founder hits the point where the business stops being something they do and becomes who they are. Marcus Logan - "Marketing Marcus" - built his agency from a one-man band to a team of ten, and in this one-on-one with business coach Di Foster he gets honest about what that actually costs. No...
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Gemma McCaw on Olympic Career, Motherhood, Identity & Leaving Richie McCaw on Seen
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...
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Checking In With Nate Alley: 500 Messages, 10 Weeks On & a Proud-Dad Moment With Kiwi Music Legends
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...
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Mark Law: SAS Soldier on Surviving Death Six Times & The White Island Rescue
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...
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The Marketer Behind Between Two Beers - Marcus Logan on Social Media for Businesses in 2026
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...
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Sean Fitzpatrick: Winning in South Africa, Jonah Lomu & Leading the All Blacks (Re-Release)
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,...
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Israel Dagg Checks In, MC'ing for John Key Goes Wrong & A New SAS Guest on the Way!
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...
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Grant Baker: The Business of Going All In - 42 Below, Turners & Liam Lawson
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...
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Auditing Our Own Podcast - What the Whole Team Told Us to Change
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…
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Living with Incurable Cancer: Becki Ross on Planning Her Own Funeral & Learning “Not to Give a Sh*t"
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…
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Behind the Izzy Dagg Episode & Our New Dream Guest List (Post-Graham Norton)
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...
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Israel Dagg Comes Clean on Addiction, Depression & Getting Sober After Rock Bottom
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...
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“Is This Still the Dream?” - Consolidating, Stepping Back & Building the Team
We are back from the World Cup with a case of post-event blues and a bigger question: we built our dream - but, is it still the dream? In this consolidation episode, we share our lists about what we want the next two and a half years to look like - and discover how closely aligned we’ve become.…
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Justine Smith on 7 Days, Surviving as a Female Comedian & Her Incredible Adoption Story
Justine Smith has been a fixture of New Zealand comedy for more than 30 years - a Seven Days regular and one of the few women who lasted in a room that pushed most others out. She opens up on the comedy environment younger women were up against, the treatment she swallowed to keep going, and how...
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The Graham Norton Debrief, World Cup Conspiracies & Why New Dads Are a Spare Part
We debrief on Seamus' dream guest, Graham Norton - with Sammy and Char on the mics to break down how it went, and how dusty Steve was at the 5.30am start. Then the boys dig into whether there's anything to the Argentina World Cup conspiracy doing the rounds, before Steve gets Che’s take on...
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Graham Norton: The Hidden Psychology of the World's Biggest Chat Show & What Success Really Means
He's spent nearly 30 years getting the world's biggest stars to open up - but Graham Norton rarely sits on the other side of the mic. The most famous chat show host on the planet pulls back the curtain on his craft: the psychology of who sits where on that famous sofa, why the guests always…
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The World Cup Debrief: What Went Well, What Didn’t & What We'd Do Again
You can pour everything into the biggest thing you'll ever build - and still find the part you remember has nothing to do with the work. Fresh off three weeks at the FIFA World Cup in North America, Steven and Seamus sit down with their business coach Di Foster for a proper mid-year debrief: the...
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Golden State Warriors Psychologist Scott Goldman: The Science of Winning
He's got a championship ring his own kids have never seen - it lives in a closet. Scott Goldman is a high-performance psychologist who's spent 30 years inside some of the biggest teams in world sport, including the Golden State Warriors, and works across five professional franchises at once. His...
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Our Chaotic World Cup Tour, A 6am Graham Norton Podcast & Catching up with Steven Adams
The boys are back on home soil to unpack the most chaotic three weeks of the show's life. They relive the Radio & Podcast Awards and unpack the World Cup experience: 19 daily shows in a row for Between Two Goals, the flying Kiwis march to the Egypt game, Finn Surman's header, and 45 minutes of…
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Jason Gunn: What a Heart Attack Taught Him About Success, Family & Grief (Re-Release)
Jason Gunn is one of New Zealand's most beloved entertainers - but behind the energy, the warmth, and the laugh, is a man who has faced some of life's hardest moments. In this episode, Jase opens up about suffering a heart attack at 47, and the moment lying in a hospital bed when his life's...
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“What Are You Actually Building This For?” Seamus & Di’s Emotional 1:1
Seamus arrives feeling it: New baby at home. A World Cup project about to go live. A calendar that was built before either of those things was certain, now collapsing on top of each other. He's saying yes to everything - commentary gigs, MC slots, the lot. And somewhere underneath all of it, he's...
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Rob Cope: What Parents Don't Know About Keeping Kids Safe in 2026
Rob Cope has spoken to over 40,000 New Zealand parents about the dangers hiding in their children's online world. In this episode, he delivers the talk every parent needs to hear - and pulls no punches doing it. They cover the reality of what kids are accessing online, why good kids in good homes...
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All Whites vs Iran: Watching History from Inside the World Cup
New Zealand drew 2-2 with Iran in one of the great All Whites performances - scoring twice, leading twice, and finishing top of Group G on goal difference. Eli Just became the first All White to score twice at a World Cup. Steve and Seamus were inside SoFi Stadium in LA when it happened. This...
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Inside the Polkinghorne Case & the Mind of NZ's Greatest Writer - Steve Braunias
Steve Braunias sat through every day of the Polkinghorne trial - the society murder that gripped New Zealand - and wrote the bestselling book on it. He liked the accused. He chatted with him every morning. And he more than entertains the possibility that Phil Polkinghorne is an innocent man. In...
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Our Business Coach Quits On-Air? Why Fun Is the Strategy Right Now
Di Foster arrived ready to coach. Then she realised the smartest coaching move was to stop coaching. In this episode she explains why: Between Two Beers is in ‘execution season’, and what sport understands about seasons and rhythms is something most businesses never name. We get into why Steve…
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Futurist Frances Valintine: NZ's Looming Demographic Crisis & the Future of Work
Futurist Frances Valintine (founder of Academy X and Tech Futures Lab) joins the show to map what New Zealand actually looks like in twenty years, and it's a sobering picture. We're one of the fastest-changing populations on earth: ageing fast, with a birth rate well below replacement and a...
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Exclusive Access to Tim Payne? Our Football World Cup Trip Shapes Up
The boys are back behind the scenes, and the World Cup is almost here. Seamus and Steve break down the wild Tim Payne phenomenon - how an All Whites right-back with 4,000 followers became bigger than the All Blacks in 48 hours after an Argentinian content creator made him the face of the...
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Matthew Ridge Tells All: Wrongful Conviction, Addiction & Working with Marc Ellis (Re-Release)
Matthew Ridge is one of New Zealand's most recognisable sporting figures - All Blacks captain, NRL star, television personality. But behind the swagger and the highlights reel is a story most people have never heard. Originally released in 2024 and one of our most popular episodes, we're bringing...
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“Don’t Believe You Own BS!” - Behind the Scenes of the World Cup, TVNZ Deal & Steven Adams
It’s been our biggest six months ever - landing on TVNZ+, heading to the World Cup, and sitting down with Steven Adams. Steve and Seamus sit down with business and mindset coach Di Foster to pull back the curtain on how it all actually came together, the chaos behind the scenes, and what it…
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About this show
Good questions. Great guests. Few beers... Steve and Seamus like asking good questions. And they love good answers. After over 20 years of friendship, they bought a microphone and started a podcast, allowing them to sit with, and learn from, the most interesting people they can access.
From Kiwi legend Marc Ellis, to media personalities Jeremy Wells and Paddy Gower, Rugby coach extraordinaire Wayne Smith, sexologist Morgan Penn, and Olympian Dame Lisa Carrington... Between Two Beers has produced countless hours of incredible stories, career highs, lows and moments of raw vulnerability. All from the One NZ Studio.
Acast
Hosted by
Steven Holloway & Seamus Marten