Australia’s favourite sports presenter, the charismatic Tony Armstrong shares his mixtape, life lessons and the highs and extreme lows of his AFL career with Zan Rowe.
Tony Armstrong burst onto the Australian media landscape and straight into our hearts. Blending exceptional skill at presenting live television with charisma money just can’t buy, it’s no wonder Tony received the Graham Kennedy award for Best New Talent at the Logies this year.
But beneath his charming exterior is a story filled with bumps in the road.
In this episode of Take 5 with Zan Rowe, Tony shares the highs of being a professional AFL player:
“It was one of the only times I’ve stopped to smell the roses… I’ve just kicked it to Goodsey. He’s like Aboriginal superman.”
As well as the crushing lows:
“People start to do revisionist history on your behalf. They’re like why did you retire?
I didn’t retire. I got sacked cause I wasn’t good enough. And that’s fine, but it’s pretty brutal… I was gutted. It took me years to get over.”
We see our favourite sports presenter like we’ve never seen him before, as he generously shares the lessons life has taught him so far, all through the lens of music:
“It soundtracks everything I do. It makes everything infinitely better or it makes you feel whatever you’re feeling way more. Sometimes when you’re feeling a bit sad it’s ok to lean in I think.”
Production credit: Take 5 with Zan Rowe is an ABC Production. Created and hosted by Zan Rowe, Executive Producer: Nikita Agzarian, Series Producer: Josh Schmidt, Director/DOP: Aaron Smith, Double J Content Director: Ryan Egan, Head of Music: Meagan Loader, Executive Producer Arts: Kalita Corrigan, Acting Head of Factual and Culture: Richard Huddleston.
