Sprinter turned broadcaster Matt Shirvington excited for looming Rugby League World Cup

Matt Shirvington knows a thing or two about running.

As one of Australia’s fastest ever sprinters, his pace in the 100m is a thing of renown — but even that couldn’t prepare him for the marathon he is about to face.

On Thursday morning he will be up while most of us are still snuggled under our blankets to host Sunrise, before he backs it up at the other end of the day for the Rugby League World Cup opening match. When that ends he will catch a few hours sleep before he is back in the studio for Sunrise and then it is a race to the airport to get to Perth for a big weekend of football, and another event very close to his heart — the Telethon.

“Telethon is such a huge weekend, with so many fun activities, from lip-syncs, dances, ‘the phantom pier’ and all sorts of challenges, but at the heart of it is something incredibly special: an entire State coming together to support children who need it most. It’s an incredibly worthwhile cause, and I’m always blown away by the generosity of the people of WA and the way they get behind Telethon,” he told STM.

“One of the most rewarding things is seeing kids helping kids. You see young children bringing in their own pocket money or choosing to forgo birthday presents so they can make a donation. Those little moments really put into perspective what Telethon is all about. It’s pretty special to see that generosity being passed from one generation to the next.”

As a kid growing up on Sydney’s golden, Northern Beaches, Shirvington’s life was running, surfing the iconic breaks at Freshwater and watching the the men in the maroon of NRL’s mighty Manly Sea Eagles.

Before he made his name on the track, Shirvington grew up idolising Manly premiership winners Des Hasler, Geoff Toovey and Steve “Beaver” Menzies — their efforts on the pitch at Brookvale Oval and their thumping defeat of the St George Dragons to deliver the Sea Eagles the 1996 premiership closely mirroring the success the sports-mad schoolboy was about to have.

And after he swapped the athletics track for the television studio as he segued into a broadcast career, it was the likes of former Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans, who last weekend kicked the defining field goal that saw his new club, the Roosters, lift this year’s trophy and Kieran Foran, the Sea Eagles legend who returned to the club this year and brought them tantalisingly close to the top eight, he came to love.

Now, with the Rugby League World Cup looming large on the horizon, the current Sunrise co-host’s excitement is palpable about hosting Channel Seven’s coverage of the Australian-hosted blockbuster tournament, which begins on October 15.

Having already hosted Olympic and Commonwealth Games coverage, Shirvington says the looming event sat in the same realm.

“Across the board, this will be potentially, particularly in the men’s and the women’s, the most competitive World Cup we’ve ever seen,” he tells STM as the phone line crackles, presumably in anticipation.

“There’s no argument the two biggest footy codes in Australia right now are AFL and NRL and given the fact that we saw the highest rating grand final ever in the AFL, and then the biggest ever broadcast deal in the NRL being $5.3 billion, we’re lucky to have an amazing talent pool of great footballers in both codes.

“But for us to host a Rugby League World Cup in our own backyard is really special and to be a part of the broadcast team to do that is equally as exciting.”

Like the previous instalment, the 2026 edition will feature the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments running simultaneously. This year the Physical Disability Rugby League World Cup will also be held at the same time, with the final taking place ahead of the men’s and women’s finals in Sydney.

A change of eligibility rules for players with heritage from multiple countries has allowed for a broader distribution of top-end talent and Shirvington believes it will only elevate the tournament.

“Given the spread of origin nations for both NRL and NRLW teams, the talent’s really widespread across everyone from England to the Pacific nations to New Zealand and then Australia,” he says.

“It’s interesting to see where their hearts lie and the reasoning behind it. That passion is going to really run through this tournament.

“At the end of the day, when you have a more competitive tournament, the more interest there is. We love winning, and Australians love watching other Australians win but when there’s half a dozen nations that essentially can win it, it’s even more satisfying.

“The crowd will be vocal and in many ways, will drown out the Aussies in the crowd. I’ve seen Tongan matches, I’ve seen Samoan matches, you see the Haka for the New Zealanders, it’s just an amazing vibe and it sets the tone for the matches themselves.”

Shirvington knew a thing or two about the roar of the crowd in his past life as a fleet-footed runner, but given it has been more than 20 years since he first dipped his toe into the world of television, he now feels more presenter than athlete.

“They’re very different, and I’ve definitely been lucky enough to take a skill set or processes from both: the consistency of work, the research, the attention to detail, the determination, the willingness to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, the analysis of the work that you’re doing, all of those things cross over both sport and TV,” he says.

“I feel like I’ve done enough to call myself a broadcaster, I’m a person that works in television and really proud of that but I’ll always remember the lessons I’ve learnt in my athletics career.

“They’re are two defining chapters in my life, and who knows, there might be another one after this chapter.”

As a sprinter, Shirvington was always chasing perfection and consistency.

Whether it was his explosion out of the starting blocks, his acceleration in the first 10m, his stride length or body control, there were always hyper-specific, incremental gains within arms’ reach.

“The idea of perfection in sprinting is basically a mirror image left and right, at high speed to deliver the most consistent power application,” Shirvington says.

“That sounds a bit nerdy, but the whole idea is, in terms of sprinting, both bilaterally, left and right, it’s the largest range of movement that you’ll do as a human, left and right, and you need to stay in a straight line. It’s really hard to do.”

But where his skill set for running 100m was granular and narrow, Shirvington admits the breadth and scope of broadcast news and the need to stay across a gamut of topics was the hardest thing he deals with on a daily basis.

“Sometimes it’s live breaking news. Sometimes it’s a confronting, sad story. Sometimes it’s a technical, analytical story where you don’t ever feel equipped to understand the whole depth of the story, or you don’t have the time to be able to explain it,” he says.

Having celebrated his third anniversary as Sunrise co-host this year, Shirvington feels it was only in the last 12 months comfort arrived in the role, with any nerves or feelings of impostor syndrome now just a dot in the rear-view mirror.

“As as my boss Sarah Stinson always says to me, ‘the training wheels are off, it’s rubber on the road, it’s time in the seat’. . . I think I just gave you three good cliches there,” he chuckles.

“I feel comfortable, but that’s the beauty of this show too. You don’t know what you’re going to confront on a daily basis.

“There’s always challenges in that way but in terms of sitting in the seat and feeling comfortable, and the lights going on in the morning, I feel super comfortable now. I feel super relaxed.”

Rugby League World Cup kicks off Thursday October 15 exclusive to Seven and 7plus