As a kid in the 80's used to love Peter Booth and Smokey Dawson, with special comments from Doug Bigelow on ABC Radio. Absolutely sensational call - and great around the grounds men too - Swan McKay, Len Thompson, Michael 'Gladys' Moncrieff, Doug Heywood (who used to do TV as well). Good times!

Yep , Doug Heywood was famous for "The hustling , bustling Timmy Watson" and Doug Bigelow's "Flower supreme" was another beauty .

Cheers

I also wish Kerry O'Keefe had played footy. His cricket commentary is very good when he sticks to actual commentary.

It's also good when he doesn't, really. it's why I don't think his style will carry across. I love his Test commentary, not so much in the limited overs format. He needs that extra time to build a story up.

Skeeter Coughlan was a classic and Geoff Leek.

Over the years I rate commentators as follows:

Brilliant- McAvaney,Huddo,Rex Hunt,Ox,Lyon,Brayshaw

Good- Commetti,BT,Lloyd,Blight,Walls,Christian,shaw,Lane

Bad- Russell,Pickering,Matthews,Lynch,Quarters

Terrible- sandy Roberts,McGuire,underwood.

Over the years I rate commentators as follows:

Brilliant- McAvaney,Huddo,Rex Hunt,Ox,Lyon,Brayshaw

Good- Commetti,BT,Lloyd,Blight,Walls,Christian,shaw,Lane

Bad- Russell,Pickering,Matthews,Lynch,Quarters

Terrible- sandy Roberts,McGuire,underwood.

hahaha, McGuire = Underwood = Terrible, love it

How many others here remember "Captain Blood"? He was a classic.

And, although he's not a caller, Mark Robinson = serious [censored].

I used to like Quartermain until three or four years ago, then overnight he made me want to kick the TV in. Not as much as Russell and Tony Shaw mind you...

Still like Huddo but this sort of thing is so subjective that I suspect nobody else does.

Dunstall's commentary in the Hawks game was ridiculous. At times he would actually exclaim, "oohhh no.." when it looked like Melbourne were about to score. It would've been funny if it wasn't so shamefully biased.

Anyhow, Commetti and Whateley, and you can't go past Bruce, are the ones I most enjoy listening to.

Dwayne Russell needs to be dealt with. He ruins games of footy with his zany catchphrases ("get and go", "outside the paint", "plays for the free", "gives it some toe") etc etc) and complete misreading of the play. It takes a particularly bad commentator to actually ruin a game.

Edited March 15, 201213 yr by P_Man

Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley

Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley

I respect gerard whateley but i find myself, on occasions, having to turn the radio off when Scwabb & Walls and Whateley are commentating on ABC radio. I find that they can very easily get into a negative rutt of bagging teams or players.

Give me the light hearted styling of Brad Hardie, Graham "Smokey" Dawson & Adam Papalia any day of the week! haha

Loved reading the comments. Here are mine:

Commetti - egotistical but okay

McAvaney - enthusiastic

Huddo - unbiased and very good

BT - thinks it's about him, but ok

Tim Lane - numero uno; favourite commentator ever

Gerald Whately - almost excellent and his star is rising

Drew Morphett - hard to criticise a guy you grew up watching!

Clinton Grybas - much missed

Rex Hunt - quite appalling; thank God he's gone

Bruce Eva - rapt he's on AW; adds a touch of class to NIRS (who are actually very good at what they do)

Quartermain - wishes he was a commentator

Matty Lloyd - a breath of fresh air

David King - he's damaging his brand!

Dermie - out of his depth

Peter Schwab - bit like an older Lloydy

Mark Maclure - entertaining

Chris Grant - see Lloyd & Schwab

Tony Shaw - embarrassing!

Jason Dunstall - hard to listen to

Alastair Lynch - unintelligent

Gerard Healy - egotistical and ignorant

Dwayne Russell - that's as bad as it gets!

And a few from yesteryear:

Lou Richards - loved him

Mike Williamson - left way too early

Frank Adams - fine

Jack Edwards - painful

Peter Ewin - one year says it all

Peter Landy - makes it hard to watch the old replays

Don Scott - antagonistic

Geoff Leek - cool

Harry Beitzel - miss ya, H

Can I put in a vote for my least liked? Mark Robinson, hands down.

But to answer the question, I like Commetti and for special comments Matthew Lloyd and Robert Walls (but the latter on radio only).

Runs a close second to B Taylor What a dribbler!

Dunstall's commentary in the Hawks game was ridiculous. At times he would actually exclaim, "oohhh no.." when it looked like Melbourne were about to score. It would've been funny if it wasn't so shamefully biased.

Anyhow, Commetti and Whateley, and you can't go past Bruce, are the ones I most enjoy listening to.

Dwayne Russell needs to be dealt with. He ruins games of footy with his zany catchphrases ("get and go", "outside the paint", "plays for the free", "gives it some toe") etc etc) and complete misreading of the play. It takes a particularly bad commentator to actually ruin a game.

Yes a bit like old Rexy you knew everything except where the ball was and who had it quite appalling

I don't know about commentary, but I love Mick Malthouse on special comments. His insight into the game is first class.

Gary Dempsey - much maligned

Rex Hunt, fantastic. As above, Mick Malthouse on special comments is great.

Taylor by a country mile.

McAvaney, Walls and Matthew Campbell are the least preferred.

Edited May 31, 201212 yr by Deez Nutz

Clinton Grybas was easily the best. Very nice guy too.

I think Mick Malthouse could be used more as he is on top of the current game and very much the same for Cameron Ling, you can see the respect he gets from and gives to the players in his boundry role but he would be a world ahead of most of those masquerading as expert commentators (Luke Darcy a joke for one, Kingggy, Lynch...........................).

Still like Huddo but this sort of thing is so subjective that I suspect nobody else does.

I like Huddo... but I can't quite shake the feeling that I'm listening to a work experience kid when he's on (which I find quite refreshing - he always seems in awe of those around him) :-)

Keep an eye out for the amount of times Bruce McAvaney calls someone with a 'good kick' that manages to miss the mark or even be turned over to the opposition.

He does at least once a quarter. I think he likes the kicking action more than the result sometimes.

I do think the AFL needs to get involved with the relationship between commentators and player managers. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Ditto with anyone that sits on a board.

Pick a side and then be as good at it as you can be. It's why a lot of the best callers historically haven't been players. They understand their role and people trust them for it.

7 are wasting their money covering live football, they should have paid for replay, crowd and bench shots and left the football to someone who actually want to cover what's going on. I swear I'm going to throw something at the tele if we miss any more live action tonight or if the producer looses the f..in ball again.

Good game though.

Matthew Richardson: "Uncontested possession hasn't been a problem for Melbourne this year".

Can we stop giving dead**** footballers commentating positions?

Like Dunstall, Richardson and can tolerate Commetti

Worst would be McGuire by a landslide

Like Dunstall, Richardson and can tolerate Commetti

Worst would be McGuire by a landslide

Sorry to disagree but Brian Taylor is the bottom for me.

He has no idea