Moved Thread The standard of commentary is hurting our great game

[Rod Stroker]

2) Fire Glenn Jakovic, Brett Kirk, Cameron Ling, Richo, Leigh Colbert. Replace them with well spoken (and let's be honest, attractive) women to report on interchange movements, weather changes, injuries and substitutions, without offering absoluteley pointless cliches like "Carlton need to get a move on here boys".

So you want to replace mimbo's with bimbo's?

I don't mind Richo and Ling because at least they speak their mind and add something, Colby doesn't offer much apart from appearance (no homo), Kirk and Jako can go.

 

[Rod Stroker]

You know that type of movie where the guys are set for a monumental night out of ill-advised and disreputable high jinks and then, at the last minute, one of the buddies turns up with some gangling gawky stranger and says, "Hope you don't mind, guys - he's my girlfriend's younger brother." Anyway, on a completely separate note, so what about that Basil Zempilas?

Observations on football commentary​

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Good article.​

Interestingly, that "tag-along" situation could actually apply to Hamish. I wonder how long he'll still be on the scene once his brother defects to the NRL. For the good of our game hopefully not too long.

 

[HawkMongrel]

I think it needs to be made ABUNDANTLY clear that it's not the commentators themselves.

It's the AFL. They AFL have the media companies that pay these commentators by the balls. All you need to do to understand what I'm saying is listen to ANY of the commentators that you think are poor when they're commentating on a radio station instead of Foxtel or Channel 7.

Channel 7 have the integrity of a politician. They take good commentators (BT, Dennis, Bruce, etc, etc) and RUIN them. They dumb them down, force them to simply call and not react. Foxtel now do the same.

It's no coincidence that this got worst this season as the new rights agreement was signed.

The AFL is engineering how the game is to be presented to the public. There cannot be any hint of dissent. And the worst bit is that they've placed their puppets in the prime spots to defend them at all costs (Matthews, Bartlett, etc).

And then as if all of that isn't bad enough, they send out one of the worst coaches in AFL history to defend every incorrect umpiring decision at the beginning of the week for an added slap to the face of every person that has any sense of logic in their head.

Our game has been hijacked. I just wish there was a way to take it back.

 

[benbanjo]

I think Eddie Mcguire does a pretty decent job.... generally calls it as he sees it.... and knows a fair bit about the game.... he probably should call Collingwood games due to the bias he would bring... which is no fualt of his we would all be like that....

it also seems that currently the panel jumps on a team and has one hand on each other dicks.... bruce has gone downhill.... dont know what has happened to him....

 

[laxation]

Hudson or GTFO

Was atrocious in Adelaide/Bombers

I like the MMM team. Brayshaw gets into it.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

I would've thought Peter Donegan had booked himself a spot on the Fox Footy coverage, starting immediately, after his sterling effort calling the track in London.

No histrionics, no long-winded anecdotes, no frivolous and unconnected statistics passed off as somehow meaningful and no inserting himself in the action. Allowed the action to be the centrepiece and he merely added to it when he thought it necessary to do so.

Instead he comes back and is stuck calling Werribee vs. Frankston at some suburban dump.

I remember Donegan calling AFL games in the early days of Pay TV - never gets it wrong, doesn't play a character, calls the game straight down the line. Why the hell he hasn't been picked up to do the AFL is beyond me. I actually watch VFL games over the AFL on Saturday simply because the calling is better.

 

[Armadeo]

I have no idea why any of the following happen on a regular basis:
Tom Harley @ Geelong games
Glen Jackovich @ West Coast games
Brett Kirk @ Sydney games
Luke Darcy @ Western Bulldogs games

I'm sure you get the idea. To me their opinions regarding the game mean nothing and therefore add nothing. Each will find a way to prop up their former clubs directly or indirectly.

Not a fan of this and it happens way too often.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Bring back Kelli Underwood.

Or not... Just a reminder that the commentary can still get worse.

 

[Parquet Court]

Like test cricket I prefer the ABC for my call. Love listening to footy on the radio except if the tigs are playing, but I'll settle for wireless if I can't get to the screen.

Gerard whately and Anthony Hudson are streaks ahead of everyone else but in the the end it doesn't bother me that much.

 

[saintsrfreak]

I have no idea why any of the following happen on a regular basis:
Tom Harley @ Geelong games
Glen Jackovich @ West Coast games
Brett Kirk @ Sydney games
Luke Darcy @ Western Bulldogs games

I'm sure you get the idea. To me their opinions regarding the game mean nothing and therefore add nothing. Each will find a way to prop up their former clubs directly or indirectly.

Not a fan of this and it happens way too often.

How could you leave out Roos?

 

[Armadeo]

How could you leave out Roos?

I could go on, there are a few. Roos is definitely another one.

 

[wcesam]

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Up there with the greatest AFL commentary of all time. Huddo and Christian, absolutely brilliant.

 

[RodneyMaynard]

So you want to replace mimbo's with bimbo's?

lol, sortof. Ideally they'd be well spoken women who know something about the sport, but the role itself doesn't require a greta deal of background knowledge beyond player names, which can be learned quickly. Just report things that happen on the boundary. Interchanges, injuries, subs and weather. How many times on a Friday night has Richo not mentioned a substitution because he was watching the play instead of doing his actual job. It seems almost every week the sub will take a mark and Dennis will ask Richo when that happened and who was subbed off. These women boundary riders would ask sensible questions during interviews (anyone with any sort of media degree will be capable of constructing a decent series of questions, and if not, have the ground producer write them). Kelly Underwood, for all her faults as a commentator, was a sensational boundary rider. Just reported facts. Left the special comments to the special comments people.

Though she did use the term 'boys' an awful lot, but I think she was just trying to fit in.

 

[amer]

I think it needs to be made ABUNDANTLY clear that it's not the commentators themselves.

It's the AFL. They AFL have the media companies that pay these commentators by the balls. All you need to do to understand what I'm saying is listen to ANY of the commentators that you think are poor when they're commentating on a radio station instead of Foxtel or Channel 7.

Channel 7 have the integrity of a politician. They take good commentators (BT, Dennis, Bruce, etc, etc) and RUIN them. They dumb them down, force them to simply call and not react. Foxtel now do the same.

It's no coincidence that this got worst this season as the new rights agreement was signed.

The AFL is engineering how the game is to be presented to the public. There cannot be any hint of dissent. And the worst bit is that they've placed their puppets in the prime spots to defend them at all costs (Matthews, Bartlett, etc).

And then as if all of that isn't bad enough, they send out one of the worst coaches in AFL history to defend every incorrect umpiring decision at the beginning of the week for an added slap to the face of every person that has any sense of logic in their head.

Our game has been hijacked. I just wish there was a way to take it back.

Mate you're ****ing spot on.

 

[tek87]

with the exception of hudson and healy all other victorian commentators should not call fremantle games. lack research and don't hid their agendas/bias. shockers include david parkin, gerard whately, tony shaw, dwayne russell, luke darcy, david schwarz, jason dunstall, dermott brereton etc etc

 

[radiojake]

Dwayne Russell makes me angry -

For the most part, I have to go to the local pub to watch most Crows games as they are rarely on FTA TV in Melbourne, which is good because you normally can't really hear the commentary because the pub is generally loud itself - Occasionally I will hear Russell make some remark about a Crows player who used to barrack for Port, but then it will be drowned out and I will feel better again.

Interesting analysis by HawkMongrel, I hadn't thought about it like that at all but I would not be suprised for it to be true -

 

[Partridge]

1) The word 'boys' is banned. It's extremely unproffessional to refer to the commentary team as the 'boys'. You're not playing football anymore. Many of you are over 40. You're not boys. "Back to you boys in the commentary box', or "yea boys word from the trainers is..." should be suspendable offenses.
2) Television is not radio. The viewers are seeing what the commentators are seeing. Tell me player names, describe basic ball movement. I don't need to hear that 'Dangerfield handpasses to Sloane'. I just saw that with my own eyes. 'Dangerfield to Sloane' is fine.
3) No nicknames. Unproffessional, too familiar.
4) Stats are not analysis. They can be used as part of analysis, but a statistic alone is not an insightful piece of analysis. David King, who can be quite a good special comments man, is the worst at doing this. Merely stating that "<Team> are number one in the competition for <Blank>" isn't analysis, it's reading off a screen.

It's difficult to express how much I agree with this. Absolutely correct in every way. Points 1 and 3 should be tattooed on each commentator's forehead. In the case of (the hopefully soon to be unemployed) Brian Taylor, with a hot branding iron.

 

[Jmac2225]

I have no idea why any of the following happen on a regular basis:
Tom Harley @ Geelong games
Glen Jackovich @ West Coast games
Brett Kirk @ Sydney games
Luke Darcy @ Western Bulldogs games

I'm sure you get the idea. To me their opinions regarding the game mean nothing and therefore add nothing. Each will find a way to prop up their former clubs directly or indirectly.

Not a fan of this and it happens way too often.

Dunno about the rest but Harley goes out his way not to talk up Geelong and appear unbiased and it actually makes him worse!

 

[Gizza]

The current crop of ex-players trying to make it in the media are atrocious. Jakovich, Ling, Darcy, Kirk, even Voss before he went into coaching, all bloody horrible and sometimes even struggle to put a sentence together. Richo is ok, but still mostly just states the obvious as his special comments, but at least I get a laugh out of him every now and then. Actually, Ling probably isn't that bad either to be honest, but the rest need to go.

 

[johnno77]

Great post. I thought this same thing over the weekend.

If they commentate on the game, they should live and breath it. Some of them make comments that show clearly they are only watching the games that suit them rather than having well rounded knowledge of all teams, Tony Shaw being the leading culprit.

I reckon the umpires know more players names than half the commentators.

 

[HawkMongrel]

Dwayne Russell makes me angry -

For the most part, I have to go to the local pub to watch most Crows games as they are rarely on FTA TV in Melbourne, which is good because you normally can't really hear the commentary because the pub is generally loud itself - Occasionally I will hear Russell make some remark about a Crows player who used to barrack for Port, but then it will be drowned out and I will feel better again.

Interesting analysis by HawkMongrel, I hadn't thought about it like that at all but I would not be suprised for it to be true -

I'm not sure where you're based, but the Internet makes it possible to listen to all radio streams live.

So my suggestion, if you want to hear it for yourself, is to pick the commentators that irritate you the most on the TV stations and find out which radio stations they commentate for.

Tune in the next time they commentate a game on radio and you'll notice the following:
- They yell, scream, and get very passionate
- They lose it when an incorrect or soft decision is made made by an umpire
- If an umpire in particular is having a shocker they'll point that out too

Radio is basically no holds barred. But they're muzzled on TV.

The BEST example of this is BT. I'm still amazed at the difference between his commentary on radio and on Channel 7. He's a completely different person on C7.

 

[Partridge]

I remember Donegan calling AFL games in the early days of Pay TV - never gets it wrong, doesn't play a character, calls the game straight down the line. Why the hell he hasn't been picked up to do the AFL is beyond me. I actually watch VFL games over the AFL on Saturday simply because the calling is better.

I'd guess because he's competent, impartial and professional. Some sports have these types as regulars.

Bob Connell would be a good addition too.

 

[vast]

Huddo died as a commentator as soon as he said "who would have thought the sequel......" his pinnacle was the 05 semi Sydney v Geelong, now he is just a biased hack.

As bad as all the commentators and combinations are now, nothing will ever be worse than BT, JB and Lyon absolutely disgusting and I only watched Essendon games on mute if they were commentating.

Harley is a loser who only knows the names of Geelong players and a few of the other stars of the comp. Same goes with Kirk just replace Geelong with Sydney.

Things I never want to hear from the commentators again.

-Bruce and Dennis giving verbal BJ's to Lethal.
-The beasts visa problems
-Bruce's love of the Carlscum no1's
-Commetti talking about Lady Gaga or any young female singer
-Any of the footy factories
-Luke Darcy speaking at all

There are many more which I cant think of right now.

 

[feenix67]

Roos and Lynch on the weekend were shockers at the Crows v Lions game. Neither wanted to be there, Roos' voice is worse than a nagging wife and Lynchy is basically inarticulate. Im so sick of Roos rambling on about unrelated stuff during key passages of play, to the extent that the main caller has to interrupt him to call whats going on.

I'd love a "no commentary" button on my Fox remote. Pretty much any of the radio commentary is better.

Bring back Rex!!