DSPN - Devlin Sports Podcast Network

The DSPN summer series rolls on with one of the great characters of New Zealand cricket. Danny Morrison joins us for a wide-ranging chat about his Black Caps career, the era that shaped him, and why test cricket still matters. We dive into replacing Richard Hadlee, touring with legends, facing the West Indies at their peak, and what it was really like being part of the so-called Wild Bunch. Danny...

Another Formula One season wrapped, and there was only one person we wanted to call. Vincenzo Landino joins us to unpack whether the right driver won the championship, why Lando Norris deserves the title, and why the debate around it misses the point entirely. We dig into the final race drama, steward decisions, team politics, and what really separates champions from contenders. There’s also a dee...

Two PGA Tour wins in one season should feel like pure celebration. For Ryan Fox, it came with pride, exhaustion, and some hard reflection. We catch up with Foxy as he opens up about winning in playoffs at Myrtle Beach and the Canadian Open, what it really takes to stay competitive at the highest level, and why chasing perfection can be both the best and worst part of golf. He talks honestly about...

We love chatting footy with Andrew Webster, and this one’s as honest as it gets. The Warriors coach joins us to reflect on the 2025 NRL season, what finals footy really exposes, and why this year felt different to runs past. We get into the Pacific Championships and why Webster reckons representative footy deserves a proper place in the middle of the season. He opens up on injuries, squad depth, d...

Martin Devlin and Lachlan Waugh sit down for the first ever DSPN Rugby awards. They talk about the highlights, lowlights and surprises from throughout the year as they present awards in categories such as Best Player, Best Game and Biggest disappointment. 04:34 Biggest Disaster and Memorable Matches 05:25 Team of the Year 07:42 Player of the Year 09:31 Most Disappointing Moment 11:50 Memorable Gam...

Martin Devlin joins Mark 'Watto' Watson and John Day for their weekly roundtable to discuss this year in rugby and give predictions for 2026. 00:54 Best Winner of the Year 03:02 Biggest Disaster of the Year 03:53 Team of the Year 06:10 Player of the Year 08:00 Most Disappointing Moment 10:22 Best Game Experiences 11:51 Memorable Matches and Surprises 13:45 Key Players and Positions 15:30 Biggest D...

We wrap up the year on the DSPN with Tony Johnson, breaking down what 2025 really told us about the All Blacks, where the pressure points sit, and what’s coming next in a massive year of rugby. We get into the Six Nations, England’s rise, France’s uncertainty, and Ireland’s changing guard, before turning our focus back home. Tony gives his read on the All Blacks season, the South African reality c...

Pat Lam doesn’t mince his words. And honestly, that’s why we wanted this chat. From his base in the UK as Bristol Bears Director of Rugby, Pat joins Martin to talk about where New Zealand rugby really sits right now, and why pretending we’re still the best is holding us back. They dig into Super Rugby without South Africa, the state of NPC and club rugby, coaching structures, and why fundamentals...

Greg Martin rolls in for his final DSPN appearance of the year and he is absolutely in holiday mode… just with two trolleys of alcohol to get through first. Before he disappears to an island for five weeks, we run through his best and worst moments of 2025, from wooden spoon stunts to beer-stuffed bachelor’s handbags on breakfast radio. On the rugby front, Greg’s highlight was beating South Africa...

This week’s DSPN Marty's Mailbag absolutely lit up, and to be fair, we love it. Nothing says rugby season like passionate fans firing off takes about the All Blacks, the Springboks, the laws, the refs and everything in between. We sift through the best (and wildest) comments and unpack the big talking points shaping the sport right now. Martin and Lachlan dive into the eye-gouge saga, the 12-week...

The DSPN's Rugby Roundtable gets spicy fast, as Martin, John Day and Mark 'Watto' Watson dive straight into the mess around the All Blacks coaching group. Jason Holland heading back to the Hurricanes has everyone raising eyebrows, and the boys don’t hold back on what it might say about life inside the current setup. From there we rip into Eben Etzebeth’s eye-gouge defence, Razor’s role being “re-e...

Today Marty dives into the heat around Scott Robertson, the All Blacks review, and why NZ Rugby’s delay and vague explanations aren’t sitting well with fans. Razor’s the head coach, that much is clear, but does the setup around him actually stack up when you put it under the microscope? We talk through what this review really needs to uncover, why the public deserves more transparency, and how lon...

We’ve got Wallabies royalty on DSPN today, and honestly, it’s a treat. Matthew Burke joins us to talk through the state of Australian rugby, the messy World Cup draw, and why planning too far ahead in this sport is basically asking for chaos from the rugby gods. Matt opens up on everything from the physicality gap in Super Rugby to why Australia’s depth up front matters more than any superstar in...

This week on DSPN, we hand the whiteboard to Tony Johnson and ask him to redesign rugby. Not all of it… just the parts that are driving us all a bit mad. Tony turns up with a Christmas wishlist of six ideas, from reducing TMO interference to rethinking scrums, kicking contests and the chaotic length of modern test matches. We get into the balance between human error and over-officiating, whether b...

Martin Devlin and Lachlan Waugh dive into a brutally honest look at next year’s All Blacks tour to South Africa, and Martin makes his stance crystal clear: offer him a two-all draw today and he’d take it without blinking. This isn’t defeatism. It’s rugby logic. The Springboks are operating on a different level right now, and the numbers back it up. We break down why this four-test stretch is shapi...

This week on DSPN, we dive into the rivalry that shapes modern rugby, and there’s no better guide than Harry Jones. He joins us to unpack Rassie Erasmus re-signing through to 2031, what that means for South African rugby, and why Springbok fans are so welded to the man who rebuilt their entire identity. We also get Harry’s brutally honest read on where the All Blacks sit under Razor right now. Are...

This week’s DSPN mailbag is stacked, and honestly, the game keeps giving us material. We kick off with the Eben Etzebeth eye-gouge saga and the eyebrow-raising drop from an 18-week ban to 12. We’ve all watched the footage. No excuses, no mitigating fairy dust, just a dirty act that should’ve stayed at the top end of the scale. From there, we dive into the R360 delay and whether “strategic timing”...

We got Matt Williams back on DSPN because the rugby world has been flipped on its head again, and we needed someone unfiltered to walk us through it. This World Cup draw has landed the All Blacks and South Africa on a quarterfinal collision course, and Matt doesn’t hold back on why that simply shouldn’t be happening. We dig into why World Rugby keeps repeating the same administrative headaches, ho...

The World Cup draw has landed and, honestly, World Rugby has cooked it again. The All Blacks are likely to face the Springboks in the 2027 quarter-finals, and everyone’s asking the same question. How does a sport end up with its top two seeds crashing into each other that early? We dig into the mess, the maths, and the madness. Martin breaks down the draw logic that somehow rewards the loser of th...

We’ve got Tony Johnson back from the Northern Tour and straight into the fire, because there is so much to unpack. The World Cup 2027 draw is out, and yep… the All Blacks have copped the toughest path. Tony walks us through how the seedings landed us here, why New Zealand and South Africa are staring at a quarterfinal collision, and whether World Rugby has painted itself into a corner by locking d...

Martin Devlin, John Day, and Mark 'Watto' Watson run a full All Blacks selection review based completely on this season’s performances. No predictions, no World Cup chatter - just a hard look at who should be on the plane to South Africa next year. We break down every group: props, hookers, locks, loose forwards, halves, midfielders, and outside backs. Expect strong takes on Luke Jacobson, Samipen...

Naas Botha knows Springbok rugby better than almost anyone, and today he gives us a brutally honest look at how South Africa have become the top team in the world in 2025. We rewind the season, the early stumbles, and the moment the Boks clicked into a different gear. Naas talks through what’s changed in attitude, selection and belief, why that second half in Wellington was the real turning point,...

R360 was meant to breathe new life into rugby. Instead, it’s been shoved all the way back to 2028, and no one seems convinced it’ll ever actually launch. So, on the DSPN we brought in two of the best: Christy Doran from The Roar and long-time rugby journalist Chris Jones, to help us figure out what on earth happens next. Christy talks through what the delay really means, why key investors walked,...

We’re wrapping the season with one of the sharpest minds in New Zealand rugby media. Jamie Wall jumps in with us to take a clear, honest look at where the All Blacks really sit right now, and why Scott Robertson’s second year has created more questions than answers. Jamie talks us through the coaching setup, what Razor actually does day to day, and whether the assistants should be feeling a bit ne...

Greg Martin is back talking Wallabies, and how Aussie has managed to sink to their worst calendar year on record. It’s a rough watch for fans, and even Marto admits the players coming home are “embarrassed” about what 2025 has turned into. We revisit that false dawn in Johannesburg, the Lions series they could have won, and how everything since has unravelled. Marto talks openly about constant sel...