Healy & Hookesy were sensational - both gifted sportsmen but never came across in their shows other than they were interested in all sports - DW Hookes was my idol as a kid - loved his attitude and outlook on cricket and his honesty
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Sports Today was the show - 6pm - 8pm on 3AW back when it was king of AFL broadcasting. You had two gun sportsmen who were very grounded and across all sports. They worked perfectly together Hookesy was the Agent Provocateur, Healy the straight man. If you listened to them they never once pumped up their own tyres in fact the opposite. As a young professional at the time who occasionally worked late or spent a bit of time on the road it was essentially listening for a sports nut.
I asked the question because Healy has the format perfected but when he left AW a lot of the talk was about how he was a pioneer and not being a trained broadcaster (isn't he a physio by trade?), I thought he might have evolved over the years to what we hear today. Trying to think back to our UK equivalent in the mid 90s, someone of his ilk wouldn't have been involved with fronting that format of sports show (5 Live Sport).
Hookesy is the only other person I've heard speak with the random Luke Darcy pauses when commentating and yet his voice sounded so unique that it never bothered me.
I also think that the iteration with Dwayne and Gerard is the reason I am the only one who likes Pipe on the whole forum as it's what I started listening to on Australian radio.
Please don’t ever mention David Hookes and Luke Darcy in the same sentence ever again…I am not a religious person but that is sacrilege.
Dwayne inherited a tough gig - you cannot replace the irreplaceable. Fun Fact, Dwayne had a short lived stint as a playing Coach in my league and had an infamous run in with one of my clubs players that left him shitting himself - often when in the car - I would call in to 3AW and ask to speak to Dwayne and telling them I was player X, I never got thru…
Rex was a loser when he was a copper ,. sh it bloke
Hooksey was a ripper , Darcy a turd
was compulsory for me,the looseness depended on wether hed remembered to take his medication or not
i miss this version of Rex,bc this loose & wild period of his show also coincided with Richmonds flag run over 4 years
and it was good having a prescence in the media that wasnt afraid to voice his proud RFC connection and stick up for the club and tell it like it was bout the current state of things(the game) etc,unlike Matthew Richardson whom knows we're his breads buttered & is a fully pledged member of the w***rs club these days keeping a vow of silence
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du ever listen to the interview mike,sam and don had with rex on theyre podcast back in 2020 i think it was ? maybe even 2019 ?
had me rolling round on the floor,its a HOFamer,hed just been released from a mental facility after defending himself against a group of would be thieves with a baseball bat
Edit: October 2019
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I'm so naive, I thought Rex was mucking around
Are there other huge Hookesy fans on Big Footy? I vaguely remember chatting to Adelaide Hawk about him a long time ago.
Loved Hookesy , met him in Norm Browns pub in Port on the rest day of the Centenary test
I’d go as far to say that he had close to one of the best cricketing minds around
It’s funny, but it’s not really, there’s an element of sadness about it, a mate who went to a show in Melbourne about 6 months ago that featured Rex and he reckoned he had totally lost the plot - that’s not necessarily new I’ve been to a couple that he got loose at but he seemed totally lost
He was a prick in real life
Tandy
Norm Smith Medallist
That was gold. The sam.don and Mike pod was listenable back then too! Actually surprised AW let Rex on for those last few years. He clearly wasn't well but he was a loose cannon. Still as funny and witty as ever.
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Have you got his biography?
Oh no doubt - my old man took me to a fishing show when I was about 12 and he made an absolute campaigner of himself and gave the main sponsor a”pardon me for talking while you’re interrupting” which the benefactor did not appreciate resulting in a grovelling apology
Remembering Hookesy is one of my favourite all time books
You might've heard about the time someone approached him with an autograph book or something. Hookesy apparently grabbed it off him and threw it across the pub.
On the other hand, I liked the story Hookesy told about Geoff Lawson being a bit of a campaigner after they played golf one day in Sydney.
From what I recall, Hookesy had organised a game for Lawson, so the played together. Not only did Hookesy get Geoff a free game on a nice course, he also got him some free clothes and other apparel from a sponsor. When Lawson was driving David back to his hotel, he dropped him off a few hundred metres from his destination, making him walk a fair way with his clubs and other stuff, because it was slightly inconvenient for Henry to go through a few extra sets of lights. It sounded just like the scene in Seinfeld when Wendy Mallick made Elaine walk for ages with her skis
From what I recall, Hookesy had organised a game for Lawson, so the played together. Not only did Hookesy get Geoff a free game on a nice course, he also got him some free clothes and other apparel from a sponsor. When Lawson was driving David back to his hotel, he dropped him off a few hundred metres from his destination, making him walk a fair way with his clubs and other stuff, because it was slightly inconvenient for Henry to go through a few extra sets of lights. It sounded just like the scene in Seinfeld when Wendy Mallick made Elaine walk for ages with her skis
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understand completely,it was sad but i laughed all the same as it did reveal the human condition in all its rawness and of a soul not in a glowing space ,deeply troubled with a beef hed yet to unburden himself with & sure he wasnt goin to let the opportunity then presented, pass him by.
Mark Jackson also didnt mince words with Mike Sheehan when presented with the opportunity,as crazy as Jacko was Mikes comments
about Mark when Marks father had passed away obviously touched a raw nerve and mostwere probably insensitive @ the time so mike had it comin on both accounts its pretty safe to say.
I’m a bit critical of Sam who seems happy to take the piss out of him when it suits him but then pretend concerned later - in his own words he’s “not a well man”
never liked that aspect of sam either.
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