EP 18: Mitch Ryan

On this episode, we are joined by an amazing human with an amazing story, great friend of the podcast, Mitch Ryan.

On October 12, 2002, Mitch and his Southport Sharks teammates were drinking in the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, when a van laden with explosives, detonated just metres away from them.

Ryan, Cas and myself probably didn’t have a huge understanding of the Bali Bombings or the consequences it had on Australia for many, many years to follow. We were only 6 or 7 at the time so were certainly a bit ignorant of what actually happened.

Mitch disputes the fact that he’s a victim, pledging to take gratitude out of everything he can considering others in his vicinity weren’t so fortunate.

If this wasn’t already a bad enough hand to be dealt, Mitch lost his older brother, mentor and best mate in October 2020 to a freak accident while overseas. A lot of this podcast’s listeners would have known the great Jake Ryan in some capacity, and Mitch pays a beautiful homage to his brother.

Mitch is now in the business development and commercial side of proceedings at the Brisbane Lions, giving us an insight into how things work up at the Gabba. 

He’s the father to Ted, with another one well on the way. As a matter of fact, his better half Sherry is due on November 12, but there’s a feeling the baby might be coming earlier, so during this recording Mitch was very aware of any phone notifications he received. 

The best way to summarise this bloke, is that he’s a battler, who loves his family and mates, and would put anyone’s interests in front of his own. A truly great man.

We hope you enjoy the listen.

A heads up as well, there is some pretty heavy stuff discussed at times, and if anything has been triggering for you, there are some fantastic resources in the show notes. Also, a language warning for the next 90 minutes.

If this episode has triggered anything for you regarding mental health, the following are highly valuable services:
⚪Beyondblue - 1300 22 4636 / https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
⚪Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14 / https://www.lifeline.org.au/
⚪Men's Line - 1300 78 99 78 / https://mensline.org.au/

White Line Book Club
The Jungle Book - by Rudyard Kipling
Pushing the Limits - by Kurt Fearnley
At the Close of Play - by Ricky Ponting

Mitch Ryan
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chicken_snitzle

White Line Podcast
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whitelinepodcast
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/whitelinepodcast
Music by TVNXMI (https://soundcloud.com/tvnxmimusic)