Fox/Free to Air TV Commentators

[Squawk]

Well from the games I've watched this year, TV commentators are slipping further and further downhill. Fox is especially bad. Port v West Coast yesterday had Matt Campbell, Glen Jakovich, Alastair Lynch and Rohan Smith (boundary rider) and they were shocking. Today for Adelaide v Sydney, it was Dqayne Russell, Danny Frawley, Liam Pickering and Leigh Colbert (boundary) - and they were worse.

I'm sick of cliches and couch talk being dressed up as 'commentary'.

The payers have a Tribunal for reports. The umpires have a panel for performance assessment. Why cant there be a panel for TV commentator assessment? The punters are paying good money and they are being served up crap. Why can't radio commentators graduate to TV more often? Past players are not always the best at commentating or making special commentators. Clintonm Grybas, Bruce Macavaney, Denis Cometti, Tim Lane have all proven that.

[sapaul]

They should never put Lynch & Jakovich together.

[HH3]

I never watch the footy with the sound on. Always have music cranking from my stereo. For the simple fact that the commentators dont talk about whats happening on the field half the time, preferring to talk shit about what a certain player did in the offseason, which players have what haircuts, and stupid catch phrases that arent funny.

Channel 7 are the worst in my opinion. Ox thinks pretty much any contact is "outrageous" and "needs to be outlawed by the AFL". Dennis doesnt even talk about football anymore and Bruce...dont even get me started on Bruce.

[Squawk]

I guess my point is that almost every aspect of the game has been transformed and professionalised in the last 10 years particularly. The AFL employs tens of thousands or people directly and indirectly. It tinkers with the rules of the game to engineer the brand it wants to be. Yet the one thing that hasn't stepped up to keep pace with the rest of the industry is the TV commentary.

Yesterday at half time of Port v West Coast, Rohan Smith interviewed Woosha at half time. Now pre-match, mid-match and post-match interviews are all part of the game now at the behest of the TV stations paying big money for broadcast rights. Yet I think of about 4 questions that Smith asked Woosha, 3 of them made direct reference to "the boys are this" or "the boys are that". It was almost patronising that Woosha had to put up with that poor questioning.

I think Cometti has gone downhill since he started rehearsing cute one liners to throw out. Macavaney is not the greatest of football commentators but he is at least a professional sports commentator.

All I'm saying is that I'm surprised that all these commentators are gettingf such good money but really, to describe them as being professional in terms of A1 quality is a big stretch for many of them.

[Mr66]

IIt was almost patronising that Woosha had to put up with that poor questioning.
.

My pet peeve.
People shoving microphones in front of emotionally and/or exhausted particpants then asking 'How do you feel?'

[Squawk]

IIt was almost patronising that Woosha had to put up with that poor questioning.
.

My pet peeve.
People shoving microphones in front of emotionally and/or exhausted particpants then asking 'How do you feel?'

Yeah - it makes you wonder if it was inspired by the swimming - poolside interviews that are more huffing and puffing than speaking because the athlete has literally just climbed out of the pool. You're right tho - the types of questions are pretty much "you must be pleased with the way the boys...." or "the boys really lifted in that second quarter, didn't they......". As if an interview pre or mid match is going to uncover a bombshell.

[footy1992]

correct me if wrong but is the tv rights up at the end of this year?

[bloods08]

correct me if wrong but is the tv rights up at the end of this year?

Next year.

[Gozu]

I agree with all your posts Squawk. While one of a few things the appalling standard of AFL commentary over the last ten years or so has contributed to my declining interest in footy as each year goes by.

[tiger07andbeyond]

Glen Jakovic is awful

[Pag]

A lot of the past players are awful. Lynch, Jakovich, Schwarz, Frawley and Lloyd especially. I don't mind Pickering however, and Hird wasn't too bad on Fox last night for the Richmond/Bulldogs game. Buckley, although not the most charismatic of people, gave some really good insights into the way the modern game is looked at when on Seven last year.

For me, Bruce hasn't been the same since Seven won the rights back. I watched a Carlton/North Melbourne game from 1999 on Fox the other day and his work was much better back then.

Still think Brian Taylor is the best caller in the country, radio or TV.

[Wedgie]

Except for Commetti Channel 7 is easily the worst.
My preference:
Channel 10
Fox
Daylight
Channel 7

[NFC]

That commentary on Sat night was awful.

Jakovich, Smith and Lynch, 3 of the worst going around, in that order. It was horrific.

[Rik E Boy]

Agreed. They are all shit. Lloyd was diabolical today. Talked up the Hawks all day and jumped off with about 90 seconds to go. A trully turdworthy effort from a man who has a great face for radio but alas not the voice to go with it. Bring back Kelly Underwood.

regards,

REB

[redden whites]

Except for Commetti Channel 7 is easily the worst.
My preference:
Channel 10
Fox
Daylight
Channel 7

totally agree

[NFC]

Agreed. They are all ****. Lloyd was diabolical today. Talked up the Hawks all day and jumped off with about 90 seconds to go. A trully turdworthy effort from a man who has a great face for radio but alas not the voice to go with it. Bring back Kelly Underwood.

regards,

REB

[westozfalcon]

The best exponents of sports commentary are British soccer commentators. The standout feature of them is their fluency and strong grasp of the English language. With them there are no cliches or colloquialisms or talking about players like they're their best mates.

Some of our AFL TV commentators would improve dramatically if they took a trip to the UK to receive some instruction from these skilled media men.

[Swooper16]

The best exponents of sports commentary are British soccer commentators. The standout feature of them is their fluency and strong grasp of the English language. With them there are no cliches or colloquialisms or talking about players like they're their best mates.

Some of our AFL TV commentators would improve dramatically if they took a trip to the UK to receive some instruction from these skilled media men.

Ever listened to Andy Gray or Jamie Redknapp...?

[OnSong]

The best exponents of sports commentary are British soccer commentators. The standout feature of them is their fluency and strong grasp of the English language. With them there are no cliches or colloquialisms or talking about players like they're their best mates.

Some of our AFL TV commentators would improve dramatically if they took a trip to the UK to receive some instruction from these skilled media men.

Ever listened to Andy Gray or Jamie Redknapp...?

If ye don't hit the target, ye never gonna score. Lol

[OnSong]

Anthony Hudson calling the game yesterday

"And it goes out wide to Alice"

"Great mark by Cally"

Of course, he was referring to Xavier Ellis and James Kelly.