Tony Kemp: The Full Story - Childhood Trauma, 25 Kiwis Tests & The Truth About The Warriors Years

Tony Kemp: The Full Story - Childhood Trauma, 25 Kiwis Tests & The Truth About The Warriors Years

From The Dom Harvey Podcast by Dom Harvey

May 31, 2026 · 2h 30m

About this episode

Tony Kemp shares his journey through childhood trauma and his rugby league career, revealing the man behind the public persona.

Tony Kemp (“Kempy”) had a massive career in rugby league playing for the Kwis and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. He was assistant coach of the Warriors when they made the NRL grand final in 2002. And by the age of 34 he was the head coach of the Warriors, with Ivan Clary as his assistant, before a very public sacking. He’s also done a tonne of media work where he has a reputation for his strong opinions. We discuss all those parts of Kempy in this podcast.  But this conversation is more about the man underneath all of that. Tony talks about his childhood: the family tragedy that saw three of his siblings drown, being raised by his grandmother and initially believing she was his mum. Then growing up around chaos and domestic violence and the PTSD and depression that this unresolved trauma caused much later in life.  There are some heavy moments in this one. But there’s also humour, warmth and a lot of wisdom.  I came away from this conversation seeing Tony completely differently. I think you will too. ****  Massive thanks to Generate for sponsoring this episode. We’ve all got that one mate who’s convinced they’ve worked out how to beat the market…

People in this episode

Host: Dom Harvey

Guest: Tony Kemp

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Warriors, Newcastle Knights

Places: Kiwis

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