Commentators

[forever demons 2,340]

18 hours ago, Fanatique Demon said:

I'm in France so the only Australians I hear are the commentators on the footy on the AFL app through my Melbourne overseas membership. No offence, but the Aussie accent is a shocker if you're not used to it. And Kellie Underwood has the worst accent by far. Her voice makes me cringe and our windows rattle.

Brian Taylor doesn't know the rules. Eddie is annoying... Somehow there's a reference to the mighty Pies no matter what the game. Dermott is a mansplainer. Meanwhile Dwayne Russell finds everything incredulous and Huddo screams at us. And Bruce is... well, Bruce.

At least Dennis Cometti was entertaining, but I don't get him any more. 

agree underwood is a shocker but thought dennis was great

 

[dl4e 5,851]

I used to like Bietzel. He was an ex umpire so when he was commentating just to listen to him going off at umpiring mistakes was funny.

The 2 best I thaught were captain blood and the major. 

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

1 minute ago, dl4e said:

I used to like Bietzel. He was an ex umpire so when he was commentating just to listen to him going off at umpiring mistakes was funny.

The 2 best I thaught were captain blood and the major. 

C.B.Dyer was magnificent 

“If you don’t mind Umpire...”

[forever demons 2,340]

13 hours ago, dl4e said:

Did leek play for carlton or am I dreaming of someone else.

think it was essendon

[loges 6,767]

Brayshaw : Very happy with himself.

[Anti-Saint 245]

5 hours ago, forever demons said:

think it was essendon

yes leek might have snagged a flag

[Anti-Saint 245]

6 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Channel 7

Taylor – it’s about me
Bruce – topping up super
Darcy – thinks he’s hot
Richo – dopey but loveable
Brayshaw – it’s all pretend
Basil – broke my TV
Hammish – he’s a sycophant
Carey – hits up target
Matthews - threw my remote
Daisy – she’s our leader
Abbey – prepares her questions
Ling – broken record analysis
Hodge – needs speech therapy
Tim Watson – no new insight
Bolton – panders to Sydney
Campbell Brown – get him off
McAdam – soft spot for
Soderstream – has no idea
Bennett – who, what, where?
Carmody – impossibly conflicted commentator
Goddard – need an interpreter
Jobe Watson – learning, trying hard

Fox
Derm – would you shut-up?
Hudson – rehearses fake enthusiasm 
Russell – where’s my mirror?
Eddie – what a t$*d
Lynch – no new thought
Johnson – be more concise
Brown – contributes something regularly
Ricciuto – dopey conflicted p*^@k
Mooney – where my pay-check?
Lyon – never nails it
Lewis – say what Jordon?
Riewoldt – worth listening to
Dal Santo – dead air time
Pavlich – Perth games only
Ben Dixon – boundary too close
Montagna – where’s my brain?
Papalia – community radio graduate
Underwood – can’t warm to
Dunstall – past used-by date
Healy – FMD
King – goes in hard
Howard – gee I’m smart

ive counted 3 callers worth listening to!  i agree - they r shockers - bring back afl to abc

[Nelo 813]

1 hour ago, Anti-Saint said:

ive counted 3 callers worth listening to!  i agree - they r shockers - bring back afl to abc

Yep a lot of shockers. Bruce is well past it, don’t you think? 

[daisycutter 29,909]

richo has to be the dumbest commentator going around, drives me up the wall

i get more sense from my wife talking in her sleep

[Biffen 12,949]

6 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

richo has to be the dumbest commentator going around, drives me up the wall

i get more sense from my wife talking in her sleep

Maybe Richo should sleep in the other room DC.

Some things are best done in the privacy of your own home, no matter how boring it gets in Burwood.

[FritschyBusiness 1,478]

11 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Channel 7

Taylor – it’s about me
Bruce – topping up super
Darcy – thinks he’s hot
Richo – dopey but loveable
Brayshaw – it’s all pretend
Basil – broke my TV

thanks basil. i just want to give you a bit of an insight into the saturday afternoon team. we’re a bunch of unique individuals – malthouse, harley, zempilas, mclachlan and myself. we’re gonna engage with our minds and our hearts. we’re gonna exchange ideas, thoughts and even our energy. and to speak from your heart you need to have courage. you need to be honest and authentic. we’re not always gonna get it right. and sometimes, you’re not going to agree with us. but that’s okay, because just like you we care. just like you, we’re passionate about the game. so if you want to come along for the ride, join us on saturday arvos, because we just love the footy.

[a la johnny beckwith 25]

On 9/4/2020 at 9:35 PM, Sir Why You Little said:

Both Doug and Geoff are here in this clip

 

 

Thanks for posting SWYL - brings back some fond memories. 

Was fortunate enough to have met Geoff Leek on a few occasions back in the day - and a throughly decent bloke he was. The Gentle Giant was always up for a chat about his playing days with Bombers - some of them hilariously funny.

When Geoff was recruited to Essendon, Doug Bigelow was an established senior player there. The story Geoff told of his first day at the club and his first experience as an Essendon player was of being approached by a gruff Doug Bigleow in the change rooms. From memory the exchange went as follows; 

DB - "Welcome to the Essendon Football Club son"

GL - "Thanks very much Mr Bigelow. Are you playing this Saturday Mr Bigelow?"

DB - "Nah son - I've got a boil on me ar**"  

He played with some of the all-time greats too - Coleman and Reynolds immediately come to mind. Used to stand in the forward pocket next to John Coleman and just stand there and marvel at his work apparently. Little known fact about Geoff was that at times early in his career he would play whilst wearing a hairnet - as the attached ABC footage shows he had no need to continue this practice later in life!

Doug Heywood was also a favourite of mine - ex MFC player who played in the 1948 drawn GF against the Bombers. Unfortunately was dropped for the replay and I don't think tasted premiership success despite playing in the era in which the MFC were dominant - long before many of us were around. I vividly recall Doug Heywood often using the phrase "a la Johnny Beckwith" as a player would kick long down the line and manage to dribble the ball out of bounds and force a boundary throw-in. Not sure if he coined the phrase - but it was one of his staples!

Doug Heywood was one of the best - can you believe he would also do live commentary of the tennis on ABC radio? I used to find this fascinating listening - doubt many others could match Doug's abilities behind the mic. 

Like many others I choose to lower the volume whilst watching these days - McAvaney is an insufferable try-hard and the sycophants along side him induce nausea. What's with the constant rhetorical questions - and the obvious need he has for affirmation? He does my head in!

Edited September 6, 2020 by a la johnny beckwith
Could have used the word "backside" but the actual quote is better.

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

2 minutes ago, a la johnny beckwith said:

 

Thanks for posting SWYL - brings back some fond memories. 

Was fortunate enough to have met Geoff Leek on a few occasions back in the day - and a throughly decent bloke he was. The Gentle Giant was always up for a chat about his playing days with Bombers - some of them hilariously funny.

When Geoff was recruited to Essendon, Doug Bigelow was an established senior player there. The story Geoff told of his first day at the club and his first experience as an Essendon player was of being approached by a gruff Doug Bigleow in the change rooms. From memory the exchange went as follows; 

DB - "Welcome to the Essendon Football Club son"

GL - "Thanks very much Mr Bigelow. Are you playing this Saturday Mr Bigelow?"

DB - "Nah son - I've got a boil on me [censored]."

He played with some of the all-time greats too - Coleman and Reynolds immediately come to mind. Used to stand in the forward pocket next to John Coleman and just stand there and marvel at his work apparently. Little known fact about Geoff was that at times early in his career he would play whilst wearing a hairnet - as the attached ABC footage shows he had no need to continue this practice later in life!

Doug Heywood was also a favourite of mine - ex MFC player who played in the 1948 drawn GF against the Bombers. Unfortunately was dropped for the replay and I don't think tasted premiership success despite playing in the era in which the MFC were dominant - long before many of us were around. I vividly recall Doug Heywood often using the phrase "a la Johnny Beckwith" as a player would kick long down the line and manage to dribble the ball out of bounds and force a boundary throw-in. Not sure if he coined the phrase - but it was one of his staples!

Doug Heywood was one of the best - can you believe he would also do live commentary of the tennis on ABC radio? I used to find this fascinating listening - doubt many others could match Doug's abilities behind the mic. 

Like many others I choose to lower the volume whilst watching these days - McAvaney is an insufferable try-hard and the sycophants along side him induce nausea. What's with the constant rhetorical questions - and the obvious need he has for affirmation? He does my head in!

Thanks

Yes i had heard that story with Geoff and Doug! Classic. 
i now remember Doug Heywood doing the Tennis on Radio, not easy. 
Mr Heywood loved Commentating a Robbie Flower game!!

I didn’t get to meet any of those guys at the ABC, except for Tim Lane, who still calls today on 3AW Top Guy Tim. 

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

23 hours ago, daisycutter said:

i get more sense from my wife talking in her sleep

Don't do this! My mind is racing.

"No Daisy ... no Daisy ... keep your hands to yourself ... I've got a headache Daisy ."

(Later) "Oh Rhett ... oh Rhett ... no, I can't ... don't ... Daisy's outside mowing the lawn ... I can't ... oh Rhett ... OH MY GOD ... OH MY GOD ... YES I'LL DIVORCE HIM"

[Biffen 12,949]

Bring back Drew and Sandy.

 

[Moonshadow 17,678]

1 minute ago, Biffen said:

Bring back Drew and Sandy.

 

And Jack Dyer!

[Biffen 12,949]

Just now, Moonshadow said:

And Jack Dyer!

I didn't mind Louie either.

[Demon_spurs 1,929]

I used to like Phil Cleary, Clem Dimsey, Peter Gee and Peter Donnegan, doing the VFA on Sundays. 

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

2 minutes ago, Demon_spurs said:

I used to like Phil Cleary, Clem Dimsey, Peter Gee and Peter Donnegan, doing the VFA on Sundays. 

All good guys too

[Vagg 2,449]

Ron Casey, Tony Charlton  & Peter Landy were all pretty good, too!

[titan_uranus 25,209]

On 9/4/2020 at 10:30 PM, Gunna’s said:

Papalia is the best modern day commentator. No profile = no BS

 

Jason Bennett is also good, but never gets used by Channel 7.

The worst thing about Richo is that he's everywhere. He's hopeless and ubiquitous.

There aren't many good commentators at the moment. Papalia gets very few games. Hudson's the best Fox has to offer but he gets a bit over the top at times (and his comment about us celebrating a GF win when Bennell kicked his first goal for vs GC was pathetic).

BT's OK when he focuses on just calling the game as he sees it but when he veers off into hyperbole he's intolerable. Bruce just pads out his slow commentary with rhetorical questions. Hamish McLachlan has a job based on his name but can't call football to save himself. 

Commetti was 10 times the commentator anyone on TV now currently is.

1 hour ago, Biffen said:

Bring back Drew and Sandy.

 

Sandy Roberts' final few years on Fox were excruciatingly bad.

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

I'll say this for Brayshaw: on the limited hearings I have (watching/hearing highlights on melbournefc and AFL websites) he is clearly trying to forge a style of commentary based on soccer rather than the traditional Aussie rules "horse racing" style.

"Horse racing": Jones kicks it to Fritsch, who goes for the mark but drops it ... spills out to Spargo who tries to kick but is tackled ..." Yes, yes, we can see all that. We can see he went for the mark, we can see it spilled out, we can see he was tackled. You don't need to tell us what we already know.

Soccer: "Jones ... Fritsch ... Nurk with the spoil ... Spargo ... Blow putting on the tackle ..." And soccer style leaves more room for the experts to say how it was that someone was in position to effect the tackle (for instance).

Horse racing style is good for radio but pointless for TV. But our commentators are generally slow on the uptake. They don't think about their craft. Try getting away with that in any normal vocation.

Soccer style is more succinct, less mindless, and I commend Brayshaw for trying to introduce a new style (to AFL at least) rather than the laziness exhibited by so many commentators who obviously don't think about their craft, to the point where they don't bother to learn the players' names.

[Biffen 12,949]

21 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Jason Bennett is also good, but never gets used by Channel 7.

The worst thing about Richo is that he's everywhere. He's hopeless and ubiquitous.

There aren't many good commentators at the moment. Papalia gets very few games. Hudson's the best Fox has to offer but he gets a bit over the top at times (and his comment about us celebrating a GF win when Bennell kicked his first goal for vs GC was pathetic).

BT's OK when he focuses on just calling the game as he sees it but when he veers off into hyperbole he's intolerable. Bruce just pads out his slow commentary with rhetorical questions. Hamish McLachlan has a job based on his name but can't call football to save himself. 

Commetti was 10 times the commentator anyone on TV now currently is.

Sandy Roberts' final few years on Fox were excruciatingly bad.

Jason Bennett has been working at his craft since 1988 when he made VHS recordings of my teams games and called them.

He doesn't get much of a go because he probably doesn't gel with the knuckleheads.

He has a brilliant sense of humour but he doesn't try it on TV.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,071]

12 hours ago, Demon_spurs said:

I used to like Phil Cleary, Clem Dimsey, Peter Gee and Peter Donnegan, doing the VFA on Sundays. 

Poor Clem had to cope with the nickname "Dim Clumsey".

In the late 1980s, Ten's commentary team for the then VFA included some relatively unknown blokes called Bruce McAvaney, Eddie McGuire and Stephen Quartermain. 

[Kent 2,920]

On 9/4/2020 at 4:59 PM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I spent much of yesterday's game trying to determine whether Brereton is a smart commentator or just wants us to think he's smart. Some of his comments seemed insightful; others seemed like flights of fancy with no justification on the vision available. Either he's a genius or he's got us bluffed.

I just wish he would shut up some times 

Drives  me insane with his faux intelligent commentary in which he takes 100 words to make a simple comment that requires 3 or 4