Sam Lane
Journalist, Author, Keynote Speaker & MC
An award-winning journalist, author of ROAR, and one of Australia’s most respected sports broadcasters. A Walkley Award winner and AFLW trailblazer, Sam Lane is also a sought-after keynote speaker, MC and moderator, engaging audiences on leadership, gender equity, high performance and cultural change.
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A pioneering broadcast journalist and author, Sam Lane is co-host of ABC radio’s flagship national sports program, ‘Summer Grandstand’, and hosts the ABC podcast, ‘The W – with Sam Lane’.
A trailblazer in Australian sports media, Sam forged new ground in AFL men’s telecasts and coverage, was an inaugural member of Channel Seven’s AFLW broadcast team, and a voice of authority since season one.
A sought-after specialist interviewer, Sam was engaged to lead an audience with Andre Agassi at a leadership summit in 2024, conducted powerful interviews with Jelena Dokic at the Australian premieres of her documentary ‘Unbreakable’, has worked closely with Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, and co-hosted the acclaimed national speaking tour of basketball legend Luc Longley in sold-out theatres.
In diverse settings, and for a broad range of clients, Sam is consistently praised for enhancing events through her research, delivery, engagement and warmth.
Sam’s first book, ROAR, is the definitive account of the birth of the Australian Football League’s elite competition for women. Published in 2018, ROAR was formally endorsed by Australia’s first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. ROAR became part of the global movement for gender equity, diversity, and inclusion, with the AFLW catalysing profound change on and off-field. Sam’s keynote presentations include one at the Australian Embassy in Paris.
Sam’s second book is the biography of sporting luminary, Erin Phillips.
Sam’s journalism awards include two Melbourne Press Club Quills, a Walkley, two VicHealth awards, the AFL Players’ Association and AFL Coaches’ Association media prizes, and an Australian Sports Commission media award.
In her distinguished journalism career, Sam wrote for Melbourne’s The Age and Sunday Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers for 13 years, reporting from Beijing, London, Rio and Delhi at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
She has reported from the men’s Tour de France three times, and the first women’s Tour de France in 2022 on ABC television, radio and podcast.
Sam covered men’s AFL on Channels Seven and Ten for over 15 years. In 2013, she joined Channel Seven’s prime time Saturday night footy coverage and was part of Seven’s record-breaking broadcast of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Sam was a panellist on Channel Ten’s Before the Game for 10 years and also featured in the ABC’s Agony Aunts.
Sam is an ambassador for Flourish Australia, sat on the Sydney Swans’ AFLW steering committee, and was a member of the Australian Institute of Sport’s Athlete Wellbeing and Engagement Advisory Committee, chaired by Olympic icon Ian Thorpe.
She was a member of the Board of Directors of The Chappell Foundation – raising funds for homeless youth.
Sam wrote, produced, and hosted two series of the number one-rating ‘The Originals’ podcast for the Richmond Football Club in 2020-21, and hosted a podcast for the Sydney Swans.
She speaks French, studying at the Université Michel de Montaigne in Bordeaux to complete a Diploma in Modern Languages, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne.
Sam is an experienced keynote speaker, MC, conference host and panel moderator.
