# 273: Beau Ryan (Player Profile)

An episode of [The Howie Games](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1146329262), 8 Jul 2026, 10 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/wb7a8e2ts74iyp7wy1vqnubz.mp3

Few athletes have made the leap from the footy to tv and the media as seamlessly as Beau Ryan. After carving out his successful NRL career with the Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks, Beau's natural wit and infectious personality turned guest spots on The Footy Show into the launchpad for one of Australia's most successful media careers, leading to hosting roles on The Amazing Race Australia, Gladiators and now dominating Triple M Breakfast. Before next week's full conversation, Beau jumps into the Player Profile, including why Nathan Buckley is someone he'd "take a bullet for", the greatest athlete of all time in his eyes, and the players who left the biggest mark on his rugby league journey. Funny, heartfelt and unmistakably Beau, it's the perfect way to get pumped for the full story! Beau co-hosts the Triple M Breakfast show on 104.9 Triple M Sydney alongside Aaron "Woodsy" Woods and Cat Lynch. You can catch the show live every weekday morning from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM, or listen to the podcast on the LiSTNR App. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] A listener production.
[0:04] Okay, are you recording?
[0:09] This man, well, he's a rugby league player of great renown.
[0:13] He stars on Breakfast Radio on Triple M at the moment in Sydney alongside Woodsy and Cat Lynch.
[0:19] He hosts the amazing race.
[0:21] He does it all.
[0:21] But Bo Ryan, are you ready for the Howie Games player profile question?
[0:25] Starting.
[0:26] Nicknames, what are yours, if any?
[0:29] Oh, my wife calls me Bowie.
[0:32] Woodsy, they used to call me Axe.
[0:34] Axe?
[0:34] I just made up the nickname Axe, yeah.
[0:36] I just made up the nickname Axe, and our coach liked it, and he said, I'll keep it up my sleeve when I axe you to reserve grade, and he did in front of everyone.
[0:46] He used it.
[0:47] He goes, not playing this weekend, we'll be Axe.
[0:50] That was good.
[0:51] I'd come back to bite me like all the other decisions in my life.
[0:54] That's a good nickname.
[0:55] What's your favorite food, Axe?
[0:56] I'd have to have two meals, right?
[0:57] Yep.
[0:57] Because I'd have to, my wife would make the entree.
[1:01] Okay.
[1:01] It'd be the, she does this butternut, pumpkin and sage with oil, like a ravioli, but it's real thin.
[1:11] I'm not a huge pasta guy, man.
[1:12] I'm not.
[1:13] Okay.
[1:13] But she does this.
[1:15] It's like a butternut thing.
[1:16] I'd have that for the entree, but it'd be a big serve.
[1:17] And my mum's steak, Diane, for the main.
[1:20] My mum's steak, Diane.
[1:21] Can't be been.
[1:21] Unrivaled.
[1:23] Been all over the world, Howie.
[1:24] I've had Diane sauce all over the world, Howie.
[1:26] You will not find Diane sauce like it.
[1:28] What's your mum's name?
[1:29] Robin.
[1:29] It'd be funny if it was Diane, wouldn't it?
[1:31] I was thinking that.
[1:33] Okay.
[1:33] Now you are being forced to cook to impress someone that's coming around to your house for dinner.
[1:39] What are you cooking?
[1:40] Your best meal you got?
[1:41] I'm cooking steak.
[1:42] Steak.
[1:43] And getting my mum to make dying sauce, keep it in the fridge, and I'll heat it up.
[1:47] Okay.
[1:47] My wife does this beautiful butternut pumpkin stuff that I'll bring out for the entree and said something I prepared earlier.
[1:54] Three people are coming around for this ripped off meal that you've taken from your wife and your mum.
[1:58] Alive, debt, you've met, you haven't met.
[2:00] Three people to sit down and enjoy the pumpkin and the steak with you, are they?
[2:05] Well, I can't say my wife and my two kids, right?
[2:07] No, you can't.
[2:07] Because that makes sense.
[2:08] No, you can't.
[2:08] That's not that.
[2:13] I'd have me late manager, Wayne Beavis.
[2:15] He'd be the first one I'd have there, man.
[2:16] Right.
[2:17] I miss him.
[2:18] He'd be there because I miss him and I miss our calls and I'd want him to experience.
[2:25] Because you know when you're at Howie when you're with someone and something good, funny or embarrassing happens, you have that mate that you look at and go, oh, I'm so glad they're here.
[2:34] Oh, shit, I wish I was here.
[2:35] Yeah.
[2:35] He's been along the journey, so I'd want him there.
[2:37] Yeah.
[2:38] And in terms of like, we're going to make it.
[2:39] We've got to level it up here then because I've got Beaver with me already so I'm going to have to have someone that I'm idolising.
[2:45] I'd go...
[2:48] I love Bo Jackson.
[2:49] Bo Jackson.
[2:51] Two sports.
[2:52] Greatest athlete of all time.
[2:53] Okay.
[2:54] Bo.
[2:54] Check it.
[2:55] Bo knows.
[2:55] And I'd have Michael Jackson.
[2:57] I'd have either Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan.
[2:59] One of them.
[3:00] Either of them.
[3:00] So I'd probably have, you know what?
[3:02] I'd have Bo Jackson and Michael Jackson.
[3:04] Okay.
[3:04] They're related.
[3:06] Right.
[3:06] And he was the original, he was the original Bo knows.
[3:09] So I'd have me manager Beaver, Bo Jackson and Michael Jackson.
[3:11] Yeah, those night campaigns around Bo, they were, I can't remember those, they were elite.
[3:15] Well, brother, they weren't first.
[3:17] Nike weren't first until he started.
[3:19] Who were first?
[3:19] Reebok were.
[3:20] Were they?
[3:20] And everyone says it's the Jordan thing.
[3:22] Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
[3:23] Bo Jackson did it.
[3:24] And then Jordan took it from there.
[3:25] There we go.
[3:26] So you learn things on the Harry Games player profile.
[3:28] What, Bo, was your first ever car?
[3:31] 1994, Toyota Corolla.
[3:33] What was your first ever job, the first thing at any stage that you got paid for in life as a job?
[3:38] Cash or actual job?
[3:40] Well, the ATO.
[3:41] Okay, I'll say a courier then.
[3:44] A courier.
[3:44] Star Trek.
[3:45] Okay.
[3:45] I was a courier at Star Trek, employee of the month, short shorts, socks up.
[3:49] Too short, short, socks up.
[3:52] What are you currently watching?
[3:53] Now, I know with Breakfast Radio you don't get a great deal of time to be watching TV, but are you watching anything with your wife or your family at the moment?
[4:00] Bro, I'm on a mad run on Paramount.
[4:01] I'm a big Taylor Sheridan guy.
[4:03] Right.
[4:06] I mean, just went everything.
[4:07] Tulsa King, Merrick Kingstown, just looped into each other.
[4:09] You know, they just feed you.
[4:10] Yeah.
[4:12] The last thing I finished was Madison.
[4:15] I haven't seen that.
[4:16] Michelle Pfeiffer.
[4:17] Right.
[4:18] Quick synopsis.
[4:19] It's Taylor Sheridan.
[4:20] Well, you know Taylor Sheridan.
[4:22] I do.
[4:22] Who writes all the...
[4:24] Yellowstone and that.
[4:25] Yeah.
[4:26] It's a different, it's a different, it's different to all of his other stuff, which was surprising.
[4:31] Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer, he passes away right at the start, not spoiling it, but it happens right at the start.
[4:36] And he's always lived his life going out to the countryside and living off the grid.
[4:40] Like he does it a couple of times a year and he's always talking to his wife about it.
[4:43] And she was thinking he was going there for something else and all this.
[4:45] So when he passes, she goes there.
[4:47] And she feels his presence there and she's a city girl and she goes and lives him and they all come out and the family fight and she feels his presence there and it's deep, it's good.
[4:55] Right, I'm going to watch that.
[4:56] The Madison.
[4:57] Favourite movie.
[4:58] Watch it and you think of me.
[4:59] What's your favourite movie?
[5:00] Braveheart.
[5:01] Braveheart.
[5:02] Freedom.
[5:03] Yeah.
[5:03] Good film.
[5:04] Good, good film.
[5:06] Podcast, do you listen to them?
[5:07] No, I'm too busy making them.
[5:09] Yeah, well, that's true.
[5:11] Although, I tell you, I am.
[5:12] I tell you what, I'm listening to a lot at the moment, mate.
[5:15] My wife's sending me a lot of perimenopausal ones.
[5:17] Right.
[5:17] Okay.
[5:18] I listen to a lot of them.
[5:19] But we need to educate ourselves.
[5:22] I like the Hello Sport Boys.
[5:24] They're very good.
[5:25] I'm a fan of them.
[5:25] Yeah, they're very good.
[5:26] Got time for both of those guys.
[5:28] Known them for a long time.
[5:30] Triple M Breakfast podcast, mate.
[5:31] Get on the listener app or whatever we're on.
[5:34] No, the listener app.
[5:35] That's it.
[5:35] That's it.
[5:36] You got Woodsy.
[5:37] You got this man.
[5:38] You got Kat.
[5:39] Outstanding radio.
[5:43] Music.
[5:44] I know you have to listen to Triple M most of the time, but is there a certain genre?
[5:48] I don't really.
[5:49] I tell people, I make it very clear I don't.
[5:51] So what genre are you into?
[5:53] Or artist?
[5:54] All different, man.
[5:55] I love Drake.
[5:56] Drake?
[5:58] I love Prince.
[5:59] Okay.
[6:00] I love, I like Chili Peppers.
[6:03] Uh-huh.
[6:05] Um...
[6:06] I'm a bit everywhere with everything, yeah.
[6:08] I like that.
[6:11] I like Foo Fighters, which is, you know, triple M. But I love Drake, man.
[6:15] If I had to push and shove, it was Drake.
[6:17] He'd be my number one.
[6:18] Something, Bo.
[6:20] You used to.
[6:21] You used to.
[6:21] We could just get you to Singapore.
[6:25] Something, doesn't matter how minuscule or remote it is, that you're good at that we wouldn't know.
[6:31] And it can't be being a TV host or a rugby league player.
[6:33] Something you just think, you know what, I'm pretty good at that.
[6:35] Mow on the lawns.
[6:36] Mow on the lawns.
[6:37] I said it.
[6:37] Okay.
[6:38] Okay.
[6:38] That's the only thing I can do.
[6:39] Do you read books?
[6:41] Howie, do I look like I read books?
[6:43] I don't want to make generalizations.
[6:45] I don't have the patience for books.
[6:48] I need to read books, but to answer your question, no.
[6:51] Okay.
[6:51] I'll send you a couple of books through to read.
[6:53] I often recommend, start with one called The Alchemist.
[6:55] Don't believe anything you read and only 90% of the things you hear, because I work on radio now, I've got to say.
[7:01] No, this is a nice little book for you called The Alchemist about the journey through life.
[7:06] I think you'll enjoy it.
[7:07] Following your dreams, which is something you're doing.
[7:09] I've actually got it.
[7:10] I've actually got it, but I haven't read it.
[7:11] Just read it, man.
[7:12] Someone bought it for me too, Christmas.
[7:14] It's only a little one.
[7:15] Okay, I'll do that for you.
[7:16] Good, good.
[7:17] Think of me when you read it.
[7:18] Favourite holiday destination?
[7:20] Thailand.
[7:20] Thailand.
[7:21] Bucket list destination.
[7:22] And we talk about in the amazing race you've been just about everywhere in the main part of the show, but somewhere you haven't been you'd like to go.
[7:28] Split in Croatia.
[7:29] Split Croatia.
[7:30] Okay, beautiful.
[7:31] Someone you've met that we would call well-known of a celebrity nature for want of a better term that's made a positive impression on you, Bo.
[7:38] Nathan Buckley.
[7:42] Nathan Buckley.
[7:43] Nathan Buckley.
[7:45] Why Nathan Buckley, who is a great man?
[7:48] I've got a lot of time for Nathan Buckley.
[7:50] I would take a bullet for him.
[7:52] There you go.
[7:53] Were you in the jungle with him?
[7:54] Yes.
[7:54] There you go.
[7:55] Okay.
[7:56] Well, he'll be happy to hear.
[7:57] Very close to him.
[7:57] He means a lot to me.
[7:59] He's been there for me.
[8:00] I've been there for him.
[8:01] I've got a lot of time for that man.
[8:03] That's good to hear.
[8:04] That is really good to hear.
[8:05] Last couple for you.
[8:07] What, if anything, scares you?
[8:08] Even though I thought his name was Shane for the first three weeks.
[8:10] It just.
[8:12] In the jungle, yeah.
[8:13] I thought it was Shane Buckley.
[8:14] Shane Buckley.
[8:15] What if anything scares you, Bo?
[8:17] One of my kids getting sick, mate.
[8:18] I think about, yeah, that thing.
[8:19] I've been to a couple of things recently.
[8:21] That's probably going to be dark, but I've seen a lot of kids recently and that's the thing that scares the shit out of me.
[8:26] You can't control it.
[8:28] Also, Islanders on the footy field.
[8:32] Right.
[8:34] Big units.
[8:34] Big units.
[8:35] Big and powerful.
[8:36] Who's the best rugby league player you played against?
[8:40] Uh, for Darren Lockyer.
[8:43] Darren Lockyer.
[8:43] Who's the best rugby league player you've played with?
[8:48] Benji Marshall.
[8:49] If you could host any other reality show on the planet...
[8:55] What would it be?
[8:56] Well, there's two answers here.
[8:57] I'd go The Block because it's got episodes and you get paid per episodes.
[9:00] You mind game, there's 50 episodes.
[9:01] I'd go The Block for the pay packet.
[9:03] Good.
[9:05] But I'm not a huge fan of the show even though my mum is.
[9:07] I'd probably say The Block because that's where my mum would watch it.
[9:11] But in terms of a show that I'd want to genuinely host, I'm pretty lucky, man.
[9:20] I've hosted some crazy shows.
[9:22] Yeah.
[9:23] The new footy show.
[9:24] The new footy show.
[9:25] The new NRL footy show, when that comes back.
[9:28] I would like to watch that.
[9:29] Final question, I have your full episodes out next week, Bo.
[9:31] It's a really cool, uplifting...
[9:36] inspiring, have a crack episode.
[9:38] So people need to listen to it.
[9:40] This is the most important question I have for you, mate.
[9:42] This determines you as a Triple M Breakfast host, as the host of Amazing Race, as a rugby league star, as a father, as a husband, as a good man from New South Wales.
[9:55] Bo Ryan...
[9:57] pineapple on pizza, yes or no?
[9:59] Yes, sir.
[10:01] Correct answer.
[10:02] You're a star, Bo.
[10:03] I appreciate your time.
[10:05] Your full episode is out next week.
[10:06] You're a good man.
[10:07] Peace and love.
[10:08] Appreciate you, man.
[10:08] And Ryan goes the length of the field for the show.

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