The season kicks off tomorrow, and with it the continuous media coverage on TV, radio and in print, plus there's the actual game day coverage on Channel Seven and Fox Footy.
We all bitch and moan about the footy media. What is on your AFL media wishlist?
We've started a list at Me? I Like Football, but there's plenty more. There's an excellent (and funny) conversation taking place on Twitter at the #AFLmediawishlist hashtag. The full piece is published below to comply with BigFooty guidelines.
For me, there is just a shocking lack of diversity. No Indigenous voices in the mainstream footy media, and seldom women. It's just not representative of the audience or the issues in the game.
Also the blokey back-slapping or giggly banter during commentary is rubbish - it has to stop. And people who are capable of calling the game well hve been sucked into that vortex as well.
Bringing back Clinton Grybas from the dead is unrealistic, sadly.
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Our AFL media wishlist
The cricket has been won and the sporting media’s attention is now devoted to footy again. The next six months will contain wall-to-wall examinations of games, tribunals and footballers’ Instagram shots of the renovated pub they own with Corey McKernan and that guy who was on The Block once.
As footy fans, we’ll all no doubt be outraged by the AFL media’s coverage of the sport numerous times throughout the year. Here’s a quick wishlist of what I’d like to see – and not see – across all forms of media this year.
The Fox Footy boys’ club to end
A 24-hour channel devoted to “the world’s greatest game” (their description) should hold great promise, but on the eve of the fourth season of the second coming of Fox Footy, it’s hard to label it anything but a disappointment.
With the demise of AFL Insider, only David King’s “war room” on match-day coverage attempts to bring us the secrets of the game, leaving us with more time to fill with stale anecdotes about ‘Sellers’ and ‘Johnno’ and ‘Roo’. It’s a shame so much energy (and no doubt production cost) is sunk into a variety hour like Bounce when there’s no longer a show dedicated to the tactics and trends of the game.
Some new and original faces are needed to keep the analysis fresh. Fox Footy subscribers are the game’s tragics and are thirsty for something well beyond the usual free-to-air fare. Fewer yarns about Melbourne nightclubs in the 80s, more insights into why Team X can’t mark the ball inside 50, thanks.
Realism
No, Dwayne Russell, the team that’s just reduced the deficit to 32 points with eight minutes to play in the last quarter is not “still in it”, and the crowd at Etihad Stadium is not in the mid to high 40,000s. There should be a running count on how many “of the year” claims he makes about goals and marks in 2015 – can Dwayne set a new PB?
More women!
It’s hard to believe a sport with such a large female presence in the outer hasn’t been able to translate it to the TV screen. The only regular female presence on TV and radio is Sam Lane’s appearances on Seven’s Saturday night coverage and Caroline Wilson’s Footy Classified and 3AW slots.
The world is well ahead of us. You only need to watch Sage Steele on ESPN’s NBA Countdown or Rebecca Lowe anchor NBC’s Premier League coverage from the US to know the talent is out there – if the networks are willing to find it. Someone, please give Emma Quayle a regular TV gig, and do it now.
A woman writing regularly about footy for Melbourne’s top-selling newspaper would be welcome too.
Ling and Richo to escape the Saturday night dungeon
They’re both better than that, they really are.
Gerard Healy to call the right Boyd
Brad Boyd retired in the late 1990s, he doesn’t wear number 5 for the Bulldogs – nor number 17. While you’re at it Gerard, please come up with other excuses apart from “work rate” for why one team may be losing to another.
Bruce to find one more year of 90s form
Dennis Cometti has signalled his intention to hang up the microphone at the end of the current broadcasting deal in 2016, but his commentary partner Bruce McAvaney seems to be the one struggling with the demands of describing the action on Friday nights. Some of his noises more appropriate for the late night slot on SBS as he struggles to enunciate, and just don’t get him started on Cyrrrrril.
An AFL media wishlist must contain a request for a time machine and McAvaney’s peak years in the mid 90s to early 2000s, when he was unmatched across all of sport. Maybe he’s just pining for his King?
A doctor on the boundary
He might have a sizeable ego but Dr Peter Larkins knew what he was diagnosing on the boundary when someone was limping off the ground. We’re not sure that Dr Barry Hall’s medical qualifications have quite come through yet.
Every game of footy in high definition
Well, maybe in 2021.
We all bitch and moan about the footy media. What is on your AFL media wishlist?
We've started a list at Me? I Like Football, but there's plenty more. There's an excellent (and funny) conversation taking place on Twitter at the #AFLmediawishlist hashtag. The full piece is published below to comply with BigFooty guidelines.
For me, there is just a shocking lack of diversity. No Indigenous voices in the mainstream footy media, and seldom women. It's just not representative of the audience or the issues in the game.
Also the blokey back-slapping or giggly banter during commentary is rubbish - it has to stop. And people who are capable of calling the game well hve been sucked into that vortex as well.
Bringing back Clinton Grybas from the dead is unrealistic, sadly.
--------------
Our AFL media wishlist
The cricket has been won and the sporting media’s attention is now devoted to footy again. The next six months will contain wall-to-wall examinations of games, tribunals and footballers’ Instagram shots of the renovated pub they own with Corey McKernan and that guy who was on The Block once.
As footy fans, we’ll all no doubt be outraged by the AFL media’s coverage of the sport numerous times throughout the year. Here’s a quick wishlist of what I’d like to see – and not see – across all forms of media this year.
The Fox Footy boys’ club to end
A 24-hour channel devoted to “the world’s greatest game” (their description) should hold great promise, but on the eve of the fourth season of the second coming of Fox Footy, it’s hard to label it anything but a disappointment.
With the demise of AFL Insider, only David King’s “war room” on match-day coverage attempts to bring us the secrets of the game, leaving us with more time to fill with stale anecdotes about ‘Sellers’ and ‘Johnno’ and ‘Roo’. It’s a shame so much energy (and no doubt production cost) is sunk into a variety hour like Bounce when there’s no longer a show dedicated to the tactics and trends of the game.
Some new and original faces are needed to keep the analysis fresh. Fox Footy subscribers are the game’s tragics and are thirsty for something well beyond the usual free-to-air fare. Fewer yarns about Melbourne nightclubs in the 80s, more insights into why Team X can’t mark the ball inside 50, thanks.
Realism
No, Dwayne Russell, the team that’s just reduced the deficit to 32 points with eight minutes to play in the last quarter is not “still in it”, and the crowd at Etihad Stadium is not in the mid to high 40,000s. There should be a running count on how many “of the year” claims he makes about goals and marks in 2015 – can Dwayne set a new PB?
More women!
It’s hard to believe a sport with such a large female presence in the outer hasn’t been able to translate it to the TV screen. The only regular female presence on TV and radio is Sam Lane’s appearances on Seven’s Saturday night coverage and Caroline Wilson’s Footy Classified and 3AW slots.
The world is well ahead of us. You only need to watch Sage Steele on ESPN’s NBA Countdown or Rebecca Lowe anchor NBC’s Premier League coverage from the US to know the talent is out there – if the networks are willing to find it. Someone, please give Emma Quayle a regular TV gig, and do it now.
A woman writing regularly about footy for Melbourne’s top-selling newspaper would be welcome too.
Ling and Richo to escape the Saturday night dungeon
They’re both better than that, they really are.
Gerard Healy to call the right Boyd
Brad Boyd retired in the late 1990s, he doesn’t wear number 5 for the Bulldogs – nor number 17. While you’re at it Gerard, please come up with other excuses apart from “work rate” for why one team may be losing to another.
Bruce to find one more year of 90s form
Dennis Cometti has signalled his intention to hang up the microphone at the end of the current broadcasting deal in 2016, but his commentary partner Bruce McAvaney seems to be the one struggling with the demands of describing the action on Friday nights. Some of his noises more appropriate for the late night slot on SBS as he struggles to enunciate, and just don’t get him started on Cyrrrrril.
An AFL media wishlist must contain a request for a time machine and McAvaney’s peak years in the mid 90s to early 2000s, when he was unmatched across all of sport. Maybe he’s just pining for his King?
A doctor on the boundary
He might have a sizeable ego but Dr Peter Larkins knew what he was diagnosing on the boundary when someone was limping off the ground. We’re not sure that Dr Barry Hall’s medical qualifications have quite come through yet.
Every game of footy in high definition
Well, maybe in 2021.
