April 19, 2023

ANZAC spirit with Adam Walsh 23'

For us here at Ringers Western, ANZAC day is a very heartfelt day and means a whole lot more than a public holiday. Many of our staff, including CEO Andrew Macdonald have a military background so it made perfect sense to create a limited edition shirt in honour of our troops.

We're extremely honoured to have the one and only, Adam Walsh as the face of this release, and had a great chat on what ANZAC day means to him, and how its significance has gotten him where he is today with the Brisbane Broncos.

Lest We Forget Unisex T-Shirt in Black, $49.95

After moving down to Sydney from Ballina for university, Adam enlisted in the army reserve in November of 2001, after seeing an ad in the paper. He fell in love with the structure and routine, and in 2004 he was deployed to East Timor.

In 2009, he undertook SASR selection in Perth, where he was selected and served for a further 8 years.

So we asked what ANZAC means to him:

"This is where the Australian/NZ spirit and ethos comes from...It's about Mate ship, Sacrifice, it's something higher than you...its a team."

Adam continued by taking the recent floods and bushfires as an example of the kind of community spirit that is bound by what it is to be an ANZAC.

"When things are down, making the best of what we've got - that's what ANZAC means to me, what it is to be an Australian/New Zealander and those things being the foundations of our societies.".

We then got to talking about his career with the Broncos, and how his service has impacted his career today.

"Like everything in the world, it's always who you know. I've been lucky to have a really good mentor and friend being Wayne Bennet."

In December 2014, Wayne Bennet returned to coach the Brisbane Broncos and asked Adam to run a pre-season boot camp for the boys. It was then that Wayne suggested Adam return to study psychology, to which he did, and a year later, he was offered his current role at the Broncos.

Adam likes to refer to his role as the "Big brother at the club", otherwise known as the 'education manager', where he councils the boys through their traumas as well as provide mindset coaching, all while mentoring their post-NRL careers. Adam uses his service and background as a leader working with elite teams to help the boys on their paths.

"NRL players tend to have 'short' careers, averaging about 3 years/30 odd games, therefore it is important these young men are setting themselves up for their lives post footy. I see a lot of similarities between an SASR troop and a team of highly motivated young athletes."

We then got to talking about Ringers Western + Brisbane Broncos Partnership.

"I like brands that stand up for what they believe in and acknowledge service of others before their own brand - I think that the shirts Ringers Western have offered up are a wonderful example of a brand that are willing to acknowledge A) the service, but also the sacrifice that others have gone before us to live in this beautiful country we call Australia."

"I think Ringers Western have done a great job, I love the shirts and i think they have a great meaning. I hope the general public like the designs as well and want to get behind it because it's a great brand and they're great shirts."